"Who's this?" Rose said, voice straining for composure. The Doctor turned to look at her, mouth about to form the words. But the woman in black got there first.

"Lady Christina de Souza. And you are?" She spoke with a voice full of self indulgence. Something told Rose that this woman had not had many people say no to her before.

It may have seemed silly, but the way Christina regarded her made her feel so very small. She had had people look down on her and her less than privileged upbringing her entire life. She wasn't about to let it happen again.

"Dame Rose Tyler." She answered, just as grandly. Christina's eyebrows rose in surprise behind her glasses while Rose smirked at the Doctor's barely disguised chuckle.

"Really? Well...that's surprising. I've met many Dames in my time and you, Rose Tyler, certainly don't look like one." Rose glanced down at her attire. The black dress paired with those hideous orange shoes probably didn't help her case at all.

"And you look like a Lady do you?" The Doctor placed a hand on Rose's shoulder, steadying her body and her temper.

"We're trapped in the middle of the desert; I think we have more pressing matters than the proper attire of a Dame or Lady." He said delicately, eyeing Rose over the top of his sunglasses. She raised her eyebrows imploringly at him, sighing when he frowned back at her.

"He's right. We've got to focus." Rose said to the group of passengers who had been watching the exchange in a stunned silence.

"That still doesn't change things though. What was that thing he had?" Barclay demanded, and everyone turned expectant eyes to the Doctor.

"If you must know it detected the hole before we drove right into it. It was a tiny little hole in the fabric of reality." He said defensively, his hand finding Rose's. She squeezed it in hers, an unconscious gesture, telling him that he wasn't alone.

"There's just sand. Everywhere. I can't see anything. I don't believe it." The bus driver looked around, and Rose suddenly realised how dire the situation really was. They were alone in the desert, no food and no water. And a bus that couldn't move. There was silence for a moment before the Doctor bounded over to back end of the machine.

"Fine. If you want proof, we drove through this." He picked up a handful of sand, throwing it in front of him. As it hit the invisible barrier, the air rippled visibly, like a stone thrown in a pond. Rose stood in awe at the disturbance.

"So that's...what, a worm hole or something?" She whispered, coming to stand at the Doctor's side. He glanced at her.

"Simply put, but yes. We drove through it and it spit us out here. Wherever here is." He finished and looked around, his eyes raking through each grain of sand, trying to find something remotely like civilisation.

"You're telling me that my home is on the other side of there? London's through there?" The bus driver strode forwards, yearning in his eyes. The Doctor however, looked less hopeful.

"Sort of. But the bus-"

"What are we waiting for?" The older man cried out, focus determinedly locked on the now invisible door in front of them. As he started to move towards it, Rose's eyes flicked up towards the machine. If that had happened to a strong cage of metal, then she didn't want to know what would happen to a frail human body.

"Wait, stop!" Rose lurched after him and cried out as she felt a hand on her collar, firmly yanking her backwards. She fell into the sand with a grunt, cheek scraping painfully against the scorching floor. As she lifted her head, Rose saw the man disappear into the hole, the ripples the only evidence he was ever there.

A silence followed.

Struggling to her feet, Rose looked around to see the Doctor staring solemnly at her. She looked at him incredulously, eyes wide and full of disbelief.

"Why did you do that? I could have saved him-"

"You also could have died." He said sharply. Rose's mouth opened and closed, not finding the words to speak to him.

"No I wouldn't have. I could have pulled him back before we even got near it-"

"It was still a risk." Everything he said to her was so simple. Yet she still couldn't understand.

"He died, Doctor. That man died. And I could have saved him...and you stopped me." She whispered. Her Doctor would have never done this. The very idea that he would have let someone die like that...

"He was just...bones...I can't..." Barclay stumbled back as he sat in the sand. This was a boy very much out of his depth. As the other passengers mumbled amongst themselves, the Doctor still continued to hold Rose's eye. The silence was thick with Rose's unspoken outrage and the Doctor's unashamed stance. It seemed to be the chance that Christina had been waiting to grasp.

"Everyone do exactly as I say and get in the bus immediately. We can discuss our options in there." Christina announced grandly, smiling as everyone did as she said. It seemed that she was more than happy to take on the role as the leader.

"Is it safe in there?" Rose heard a voice question softly a little way behind her.

"Oh, I don't think anything's safe anymore." Christina smiled. She offered some more instructions to the passengers, only stopping when she noticed the Doctor and Rose still staring heatedly at one another.

"That means you two as well. Get inside the bus."

"Give us a minute." The Doctor said quietly, and Christina shrugged, walking into the bus with barely a glance over her shoulder.

Quite suddenly it was just the two of them, standing under a scorching sun in a silent desert.

"I can't afford to lose you again, Rose. And I will take whatever measures I can to keep you by my side." Rose frowned at him. Half of the emotion in his face was lost behind the dark frames perched on his nose. It made him seem a little more powerful. A little more intimidating.

"Doctor, I risk my life everyday with you. It's a part of what I do. What we do." She stated. The Doctor sniffed and looked away from her, gazing out across the sand dunes.

"Not anymore. I want you to spend the rest of your life with me. And I need it to be a very long life." Rose was caught between folding him into a hug and slapping him back into his senses. Suddenly a thought occurred to her.

"Is that why we haven't been to the sort of places that we used to?" She demanded, the pieces of the puzzle locking together. And still he avoided her eyes.

"I don't know what you mean-"

"Yes you do! You know exactly what I'm talking about, Doctor. Everywhere we've been is nowhere near as dangerous as it used to be. Nowhere near. " Rose walked up to him, until their noses almost touched.

He remained silent.

"You need to talk to me, Doctor. I can't keep filling in the blanks for myself." At that proximity she could hear him swallow.

"I..." He stopped, glancing down at his shoes. Rose reached up and gently plucked the glasses from the bridge of his nose. That was better. She could see his eyes...and in doing so she could see how very scared he was.

"If I lose you again, Rose...I don't know how I'll cope. I couldn't cope. I couldn't-"

"Hush." Rose buried her face in his neck, sighing as he brought his arms around her, squeezing her as if she would fly away.

"You can't wrap me in cotton wool, Doctor." Her words were muffled in the material of his suit.

"I know...but I need to keep you safe, Rose. Pulling you back was a reflex. Would you have let me go anywhere near that thing? Knowing what it would do?" He pulled back to look at her, and under the scrutiny of his gaze, she couldn't lie to him.

"I...well, no." She finally relented. The Doctor stroked her cheek briefly.

"I'm sorry that that man died. So very sorry. But if it was a choice between him and you, I would pick you." Rose stared at him wide eyed. He said it completely without shame, and a dark stirring in her stomach told her that it was a dangerous way for the Doctor to be thinking. He must have mistaken the look on her face for confusion as he continued.

"Do you remember when we were in Downing Street, years ago when I had my old body?" He waited for her to nod.

"Yeah, I do." Rose answered, a fondness leaking into her voice at the memory.

"I said that I could save the world but lose you. And I did it, knowing that I could lose you. I could never do that now. If it was between the world and you...I would pick you." Rose broke the embrace, walking backwards away from him.

"Doctor, that's...that's ridiculous...that's mad, you can't ever choose me if something like that happens. Ever. It's always the world." He observed her panicked face for a moment before shaking his head slowly.

"No. It's always you."

"You're going mad, you know that?" He laughed, bowing his head as he did so.

"Yeah, I know." The spinning in Rose's mind was stopped as Christina poked her head out of the bus.

"Can you two hurry up? We are only stuck out in the middle of the desert, I know, but it's pretty important that we discuss it." She said in a monotone voice. The Doctor reached for Rose's hand, pulling her closer as he did so. As they walked towards the bus, Rose couldn't help but think that this new attitude the Doctor had grasped was a little more than dangerous.