Still working on chaps for the other stories and since I've had some pms about Tony I thought I'd put the next one up, which is a Tony chapter. :)

Tony opened his eyes and glanced around cautiously. He was lying in a dark street. London. From the look of the buildings he must be in the Banking District, but the streets seemed off. Parallel world, he reminded himself. That's where Rose said they were going.

Instinctively, he glanced up. The dark sky stared back. No zeppelins. Instead he could see the stars. So many stars. He grinned. They made it, but where was Rose? The sound of sirens drew his attention. His chest tightened as fear raced up his spine.

He knew they made it out, but still he couldn't help the fear. That somehow they'd been tricked. That Richard was trying to find them. He made his way to the end of the block and carefully glanced around the corner. There was an ambulance and he could make out two paramedics and an officer huddled around someone. A gurney was brought over and the person lying on the ground was moved to the gurney. That's when he saw who it was. Rose. His sister.

Part of him, the eight year old child part, wanted to run to her, find out what happened, cry at the men to save her, but the other part. The bit that had never really thought like a kid, at least not like other kids, told him to stay put. Stay hidden. He had the sonic and he could use it to find out. Breaking into a business to access their computers would be easy. Then it would be a simple hacking job to locate the right hospital and get into their records. He pushed the fear aside, something he learned to do over the past two years. It was harder when he was younger, but it came easily now, well, except when he was with her because she let him be a kid. Right now he wasn't a kid. He was on his own, again.

He slunk back down the street, keeping to the shadows. He wouldn't know anything for a few hours and he was tired, exhausted actually, but he couldn't give into it yet. He had to find somewhere safe and warm. He pulled the coat closed. Rose's coat. The one with the fur around the hood. She made him take it before they jumped and he was glad. If not for that he might be loaded into an ambulance himself and he'd had his fill of children's homes.

Tony opened his eyes. Early morning light poured in through the blinds on the windows. He glanced around a moment, feeling disoriented as his mind recalled where he was. Rose's flat, well, it was her flat back in the other universe. Here it was just a vacant flat waiting to be rented, which was why he stayed. He used the sonic to get the heating working then he found his way back to what would have been her bedroom and fell asleep on the floor.

Part of him knew that the living room would've done just as well and that sleeping in her room was a childish way to feel close to her, even though it didn't really make him any closer to her, but he told that bit to sod off. Something he knew Rose wouldn't be happy about. She was the only one who really knew him. The only one who didn't treat him like a freak, although, she said John treated him the same way, but he couldn't remember her friend. The human Doctor as she called him when she explained who he'd been before he disappeared. Blinking out of existence as if he never was.

Mum and dad didn't believe her. They tried, same way they tried to understand him, but even with Torchwood they thought a certain way and there were limits to what they could believe without seeing. He and Rose were different. She wasn't exactly like him, didn't think like him, but she saw things, got feelings about things and that's what made her believe. And he believed because she did.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he stood up. First he needed to find out about his sister, make sure she was all right. Then he needed to eat. After that he could find somewhere safe to wait for her because if there's one constant in any universe it was that she would always come for him. She promised and Rose never broke a promise.

He knew she might stop there when she started looking for him. He dug around in her pockets and his hand closed around something that made him smile. He pulled it out. A crayon, but not just any crayon. The one Rose called TARDIS blue. He remembered the day she pocketed the crayon. They'd been working on an experiment, something to do with wax and acid. The details were fuzzy, but he'd only been six at the time.

They were melting all the crayons in the new box mum bought, even though they knew she'd have a fit, but that thought just made them laugh. Rose picked up the TARDIS blue crayon and said they couldn't use that one. When he asked why she said it was a lucky crayon and it would do them much more good to hang onto it. He told her she was being silly, which, of course, make her laugh and her laugh always made him laugh. Then she announced that silly was good and she told him the story of a Chrysalis that almost captured the entire world using crayons.

As he held the crayon he realized that she was right. TARDIS blue crayons were good luck because now he could leave her a note and let her know where he was going next.

Tony's small fingers flew across the keyboard of the library's computer. It was easy enough to sidestep the safeguards before he began his search. The first two hospitals were a bust, but he found her at the third. She wasn't listed under Rose Tyler, but she'd been unconscious so he expected that was a possibility. Jane Doe. Right age range, nationality, and hair color. Her natural hair color, which he found strange because to him Rose had always been blonde.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he read through her medical chart. Exposure. Exhaustion. But they expected her to make a full recovery. He grinned. She was going to be all right. There was a seventy-two hour hold. Three days, but he knew she'd get out of it, which meant she would probably be looking for him tonight.

He removed all traces of his search…just in case. Nearly two years on his own in various children's homes had made him cautious. Then he headed for the door. His stomach grumbled reminding him that he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday. Money first, something he could get with the sonic, then food, then he could spend part of the day at the museum, the one Rose used to take him to, pointing out distant galaxies and telling him about the planets and people who lived there. His favorite had always been her story of Barcelona and how the Doctor had finally taken her there, but warned her that there's one thing she should never ever do, then he'd done it and they had to run for the TARDIS covered in mud and feathers. The memory made him smile and it helped stem the grief that was always there, had been there for nearly two years, ever since they lost their parents, but he'd lost more than that. He lost her too.

He stuffed his hands into his pockets as he started down the road. There was a little shop around the corner, he passed it on the way to the library, noticing the cash machine outside. After he used the sonic to pull some money out he could pick up some fish and chips from one of the vendors. It would be warmer to sit inside and eat, but he had to be careful. He might not think like other kids, but he looked like them and an eight year old on his own in a restaurant would be noticed. All he had to do was make it till tonight. Then he wouldn't be alone anymore.

Standard Disclaimer.

Thank you to all my brilliant readers!

Reviews are always welcome. :)