Chapter Four

(Meanwhile, on Earth, Pete's World…)

Frank smiled when he heard someone knocking on the door of his flat. He walked over, opened it, and his smile widened when he saw Rose standing there.

"Hello, little lady," he said. "Get all that paperwork done?"

"Yes, finally, and when I report for work tomorrow, there'll be a lot more."

"Oh, you poor girl, come inside and have a nice bowl of my world-famous linguini."

Rose smiled, gave him a kiss, and stepped inside.

"Just make yourself at home," Frank said. "Do you want anything to drink?"

"Some wine, if you have it."

"One glass of wine coming up. Just have a seat while I finish up dinner."

Rose nodded and walked to the couch. She slumped down in the couch and relaxed, relishing the softness of it after a long, grueling day. She watched while Frank finished their dinner. He caught her looking at him and winked. He brought a glass of wine to her, kissed her lips, and went back to the kitchen. She stared at him and sighed wistfully when she took in his beautiful face. He looked a lot like him. He had the same tousled, brown hair, and sideburns, the same warm, brown eyes, the same winning smile. Yes, Frank was handsome, sweet, and loving, but he wasn't him, and that made her ache inside, knowing that she was doing Frank a disservice. She knew he loved her, and she loved him, but she wasn't in love with him. But, she had tried to honor her Doctor's request to live life to the fullest, and she had, to some degree. She had an exciting, fulfilling job at Torchwood, she had the love of family and friends, and she had Frank, but she would trade all of it in a heartbeat for the chance to be with the Doctor once more.

She was doing this sweet man a disservice by making him think that she loved him as much as he loved her, when all she really wanted was the man who resembled him. Frank deserved far better than that. He was one of the few men she had met, besides the Doctor, who hadn't been a jerk, or only interested in getting in her pants. Her mother had encouraged the relationship, however, figuring that perhaps if she was involved with someone, she would eventually forget all about the Doctor. Rose snorted. Yeah, right, like that would ever happen. The Doctor isn't one of those people you can easily forget, and Rose knew that no matter what happened from here on out, he would be in the forefront of her mind for the rest of her life.

While she relaxed on the couch and watched Frank cooking their meal, her mind drifted away, and she imagined what he might be doing at this moment. What monster was he battling? Slitheen? Gelth? Perhaps even Daleks, or Cybermen? Or, was it something else entirely? Something he had never seen before. She envied him. She would give anything to be at his side sharing his adventures, at this very moment.

"Hey!"

Rose was jerked out of her reverie. She looked up and saw Frank standing in front of her with a huge grin on his face.

"Don't sail away to La-La land yet, not without eating anyway," he teased.

He held out his hand. Rose took it and stood up. She followed him to the dining room table.

"So, what were you thinking about?" Frank asked, with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Something to do with me, I hope?"

"Um…yeah, it was."

"Thought so."

Rose smiled at him, but her guilt increased even more, and she wished fervently that she hadn't gotten herself into this mess, as she and Frank sat down at the table.

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Donna groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"Where am I?" she muttered.

"Lying on a sofa in one of the TARDIS's spare rooms."

Donna frowned when she saw Martha sitting beside her.

"Where's the Doctor? Is he alright?"

"The Doctor is…occupied, at the moment."

Donna put her hand on her forehead.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Martha rolled her eyes.

"It means that, once again, the Doctor has managed to stumble into trouble, and we have to get him out of it.

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"Once again, I stumbled into trouble, and now, I have to get myself out of it," the Doctor muttered to himself.

He was strapped to the table in Josiah's lab. He lifted his head up and looked at his surroundings. His eyes fell on the creature lying in the cage. He shook his head, as he watched it neighing softly while it flopped around its tiny prison.

"Oh, you poor thing, what have they done to you?" he murmured.

He glared at Josiah when he came into the room.

"What have you done to him?" he asked, nodding his head in the direction of the cage.

Josiah paused in mid-step. He looked behind him at the cage and looked back at the Doctor with a confused look on his face.

"Why does it matter to you?" he asked.

"It matters because you have obviously spliced two different creatures together and made something that shouldn't exist. The poor thing is miserable, and you don't even care," the Doctor said, angrily.

Josiah studied him.

"You care for a creature you've never even met before. That's interesting," he said.

"Well, first off, I don't think highly of people who take two things that don't belong together and create something that can't even move properly, and secondly, I don't like seeing things in cages."

"Well, that's gonna cause you quite a lot of discomfort then, because when I'm through here, you're getting the cage next to him."

"Why do you do this? What's in it for you?"

"I am a scientist. All of this is in the name of scientific inquiry," he said, waving his arms around the lab.

"And, how is splicing animals together serving science, exactly?"

"For your information, I did not splice anything. The animal you see before you is the result of a Dolphinin egg being mixed with a Phillipicorn sperm. I implanted the egg back in the Dolphinin, and she gave birth to this. As for what purpose it serves, I am trying to create whole new species. This creature here was a fluke, but there have been others who have been successful."

The guard with the Judoon head," the Doctor said.

Josiah nodded.

"Yes, that was a successful hybridization. Its growth was accelerated artificially, and then, it was put to work guarding my Lady. So, you see, these animals do serve a higher purpose, Doctor."

"But that's not enough for you," the Doctor said. "You aren't content with mucking around in this universe, you have to reach out and kidnap from other realities and screw with their lives, as well."

Josiah snorted.

"Oh, come now, Doctor. You were apparently traveling through space in a cramped, blue box before I brought you back here. You mean to tell me that your life is so much better than mine?"

"You don't know me. You don't know anything about me."

"Precisely. That's why you're going to tell me everything about you."

"Why? So you can know exactly what species to mate me with?"

"Perhaps. But, I'm more interested in what you are, and where you come from. You are obviously a very intelligent, articulate being. I'm interested to know why an intelligent man such as yourself would be flying around space in a little, blue box. And, I must confess, I'm wanting to know all about this Rose of yours. If you mistook my Lady for her, then that must mean that she resembles her. Is she a queen?"

"She is, in my eyes," the Doctor muttered, in a barely audible voice.

"So, your choice, Doctor. You can tell me who you are, and everything about your life, or I can extract it forcefully from your mind. What'll it be?"

The Doctor stared at him silently. Josiah threw up his hands.

"Fine, you want to be in pain, be my guest."

He went to get his mind probe machine, while the Doctor tried to break out of the restraints.