By popular demand, I will be shortening the interval between updates to three days instead of a week. Thanks again for all the reviews, especially those anonymous ones to which I have no other way of responding.

Chapter Four "Reality"

"Reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn't want to live there."~Owl City

Rose felt as if she couldn't breathe. Was the algae killing her? She quickly realised, however, that it was only her mouth that was occupied. And she had felt this sensation before. A long time ago. She remembered the bright light, the burning. She remembered the Doctor taking it away with a kiss.

He was kissing her! The Doctor-no, not her Doctor. A different one. Oh, this had to stop. But she liked it. She felt so much better. She knew he would save her.

And she missed him. Her Doctor. The one who absorbed the energy of the time vortex to save her. The one she lost when he regenerated. She had always missed him, but she knew he was still there. Her Doctor wasn't the man kissing her, as much as it seemed like he was.

It ended though, and Rose was suddenly thrust back into reality. She was on the floor. The Doctor-but not her Doctor-had his arms around her. Something was making her neck itch, and she reached up to scratch it, but the Doctor grabbed her hand.

"Don't aggravate it," he said.

Then Rose remembered. The algae. The algae that was using her body as its new home. She could feel it again, pushing thoughts into her mind. It was afraid. Or maybe Rose was afraid, and the algae was feeling it too.

"Why isn't it getting on you?" Rose asked, looking at the Doctor and noticing he had no traces of the algae on him.

"I'm not from your universe," he replied. "It recognises you. I think it feels safe with you."

"It's in my head. It can feel what I feel."

The Doctor nodded. "I don't think it wants to hurt you."

"But what if we can't get it off?"

"We will. You just have to stay awake while I rip a hole in the universe. Think you can do that?"

Rose gave him a sleepy smile. "Think I can manage that."

"Keep talking," the Doctor said, standing up and going over to the TARDIS console.

Rose wished he could sit with her, but she leaned back against the railing and tried to think of something to say.

"I don't think our worlds are so different," she said. "You're just like he used to be. I'd forgotten how much I missed him. The way he was when he was like you." Rose laughed humourlessly. "I think I just miss him period. So much, I get confused sometimes. Can't tell what's real and what's not."

"What's reality," the Doctor said. "There's my reality and your reality, and here they are in the same place at the same time."

"A paradox," Rose said. "I look at you and I know we haven't been through all the things that happened with him, but I feel like we have. It's getting harder to remember."

"Could be the algae talking. It's in your head. What's it saying."

Rose had to concentrate for a moment. She could feel little pinpricks of thought coming from the creature. "It's still afraid," she said. "But not as much as before. It seems to be dreaming. Can algae sleep?"

The Doctor shrugged as he continued calibrating the TARDIS. "Apparently, it can."

"That's funny. I never thought of communicating with bacteria. Now it's like it's part of me, thinking in my head... I'm so tired."

"Don't go to sleep, Rose!" The Doctor came over to her again.

"I won't, I won't. Keep working."

He lingered a moment, watching her.

"We don't have time to waste," Rose said, looking into his eyes. Those same icy blue eyes she could never forget.

He nodded and went back to the console, turning his back to her. Rose watched him for a moment in silence. She had to keep telling herself he wasn't her Doctor, but watching him made her want to curl up on the floor and cry herself to sleep. She had lost him what seemed like such a long time ago. She was never getting him back, never going home.

Despair began to consume her like the bacteria growing over her skin. Tears fell down her reddening cheeks. In all of it she was silent, like the creature's cry in her mind.

Help me, it said.

Find me, Rose whispered back.

~oOo~

There wasn't time to keep an eye on Rose and set the TARDIS to jump the void. But excluding the latter would render the former moot, so the Doctor made his choice. He wished she would keep talking like he asked her too, but she was trailing off, and he couldn't spare the time to check on her.

This wasn't how he meant things to go. Not that he meant much of anything that happened to him, but he had fully intended to keep Rose safe. He remembered the promise he made to her mother not so long ago. It seemed like an eternity, even for him. Ever since Rose had entered the TARDIS and they'd started off on this adventure, the Doctor felt as if she'd always been there. As if she should always be there.

"Everything's getting dark," Rose said suddenly.

The Doctor spared her a glance, but he couldn't leave the console now that he had started the process.

"I feel so cold," she went on.

"Hang on, Rose." The Doctor said it more to himself, knowing she couldn't hear him any more.

"It's afraid, Doctor. It's so afraid. I have to keep it safe. Why is it so cold?"

Rose was still sitting behind him. Her eyes were open, but she didn't seem to be seeing anything. The creature was taking over completely now. The Doctor feared what it might do once it gained control of her. It could erase all traces of Rose from her mind, turning her into a shell to hold its own mind. He could only hope that he wouldn't be too late. That he would get Rose back home in time and that the creature would let her go. There was no other option. He had to return her to himself, to the world and the Doctor she knew.

All traces of the selfish idea of keeping her around were now gone. The Doctor had fully accepted that Rose would never be his. She belonged in another universe with another man. Though she claimed they were the same, they could never really be. They could never both have Rose.

He just had to get her home before any chance of saving her was lost. In a way he was doing this for himself. He had to get Rose back to that other Doctor, to give them a chance when entire universes tried to keep them apart.

Rose's voice broke through the silence. "Find me, Doctor," she whispered. "Find me."

"You heard her," the Doctor said. "I really hope you're out there because we're coming." With that, he threw the last lever to send them careening through the void, into darkness and silence, into nothing, into hell.

~oOo~

Rose couldn't feel anything any more. It was as if her mind had left her body lying on the floor of the TARDIS control room. And she was somewhere else. Somewhere cold and wet and dark.

"Is anyone there?" she asked, but her voice made no sound. It was as a whisper of breeze on a warm summer day.

I am here, she felt the words more than heard them.

Who's that? Rose answered.

The response was not in words, but a sense of togetherness. Something was telling Rose it was there.

Who are you?

There came an idea, a beach on the ocean, grey rocks covered in green algae.

You're the creature? The algae?

Are you taking me home? There was fear and hope behind that thought.

The Doctor's trying to get us home.

Doctor? I do not know Doctor. The algae seemed very confused by this, sending Rose images of everything it could think of to match the word "Doctor."

He's helping us. Rose assured it, unable to explain any better than that. He's my friend.

He will take us home? The hopeful thoughts returned, and the algae seemed to relax.

Yes. The Doctor will take us home. You just have to hold on.

You are kind, Rosebush. Kind to the Algae.

Rose imagined a smile. She couldn't see the creature. She couldn't see her own hand in front of her face. But she knew they were in this together. They wanted the same thing.

But the Doctor. He had told Rose to stay awake. Was she sleeping with the algae? Were they dreaming together?

I need to wake up, she thought.

Why leave? the algae replied. It's so nice here.

It's cold and dark. I need to help the Doctor get us home. Please. I need to wake up.

Rose sensed a sorrowful attitude coming from the algae. Go Rosebush. Help Doctor bring us home.

Suddenly, Rose felt as if something had let go of her entire body, as if she were falling through space with nothing to hang onto.