Hey guys, I'm back again! I've had to spend the last couple of weeks working on a project to get me (hopefully) into the art school I want to go to next year and I've been strugglign with some of my other lessons so my free time's been a bit limited... I'm back with more fic though =D

thanks for the patience!


CHAPTER 7

Almost an hour - and several platefuls of steadily more extravagant sandwiches - later Rose heard footsteps growing closer. She fetched some mugs from one of the cupboards and turned the kettle on. As she was pouring the hot water, she was joined by the Doctor an extremely shaky Ianto.

The young man glanced the room, attempting to quash his curiosity. When he caught Rose's eyes, he blushed and quickly looked away. The Doctor put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. He looked up and nodded slightly, letting the Time Lord guide him to a chair.

He looked over at Rose, who stood awkwardly by the work surface, unsure what to do with herself.

"Ianto, this is my friend, Rose."

The young man glanced up and Rose smiled tentatively. He returned it a little weakly and, encouraged, Rose handed him a cup of tea. She passed the Doctor one and took a seat opposite the young man.

Ianto opened his mouth slightly, as if to speak, but thought better of it, looking down at his hands with a frown.

The Time Lord grimaced slightly. "Rose, I need some help with a message I just got," the Doctor spoke brightly and nodded towards the door.

Without missing a beat, Rose smiled in return and followed him out of the room and down the corridor to the control room.

"He can't talk, can he?" Rose asked quietly, not waiting for the Doctor to speak.

He didn't need to. Instead, he simply shook his head. "At some point over the last few years, he just forgot how to. Whether it was forced or not, I don't know, but it's most likely reversible."

He leant against the console and Rose took a seat on the chairs, waiting for him to speak again. "A couple of hours ago, he remembered something which just made him click back together. It was like his identity was gone before, like he had nothing to ground him at all. All of a sudden, it was back and he didn't have to struggle to remember the basics anymore. He was able to wake himself up after that; to get a degree of control back, though I don't think it's easy for him."

"That's a good thing, right?" Rose asked, frowning slightly.

The Doctor looked taken aback and suddenly grinned. "Yeah! It's fantastic! But the thing is, once that barrier broke, his personality came back to him almost completely and now he wants to thank you for helping yesterday." The Doctor smiled warmly and Rose flushed slightly at the expression.

"But he can't speak, right?" she asked, looking a little dubious. "And I'm not psychic like you three…"

"Exactly. There is a way he can communicate though, but he wanted to make sure you agreed before he did it." The Doctor held out his hand. "It's very similar to what we were doing back on the planet surface, but it will be far stronger because you're more genetically similar to him."

Rose hesitated for a moment before grasping the large hand tightly. He beamed at her and she smiled back slightly.

"Don't be alarmed." It was the Doctor, but his voice was clearer and richer – and much easier to locate than voices had been whilst they were sightseeing. It was like when Mickey insisted she got new speakers for her stereo and all of a sudden, there was a new dimension to the music. She looked up at the Doctor in shock, but he squeezed her hand in assurance.

"I'm not. I can hear you so much quicker than the people back on the planet… It's like the difference between email and instant messenger," Rose replied, doing her best to just think the words rather than speak them.

"Yeah, just like that." The Doctor smiled and his face crinkled in amusement. Rose couldn't help but grin in reply. "You think you'll be okay doing this with Ianto?"

"I think so, yeah. I'd like to be able to talk to him." Rose nodded.

"Good. Although… Make an effort to speak out loud to him as much as you can. It might help unlock his speech," the Doctor added before letting go of her hand and speaking out loud. "He'll be wondering where we got to! Wouldn't want him to think we were up to anything."

"Oh, no. Of course not," Rose replied sarcastically, making her way back to the kitchen brightly.

The Doctor watched her for a moment before following her with an affectionate smile.

He slowed as he reached the room and saw Rose taking the seat next to Ianto. He sat leant back against the doorframe and watched as Ianto held his hand out tentatively. In much the same manner as she'd taken the Doctor's hand, Rose gripped Ianto's confidently, fixing her eyes with Ianto's. The Doctor listened closely, but it wasn't hard to hear their conversation from Ianto's mind.

"Hello, I'm Rose."

"Ianto…" He smiled tentatively, obviously making an effort to make eye contact. "Thank you for the other day…"

"It was all the Doctor really. There's no need to thank me."

"I heard what you said to the matron when we were leaving. She wouldn't have listened to him if he wasn't being the 'good guy'."

Rose rolled her eyes and the Doctor smiled at her, urging her to carry on. "So, what do you think of the TARDIS?"

"She's very… unusual. Very different to ships I can remember, but a good kind of different."

At his words, Rose got an image or an impression of the ship being completely alive; energy and life pulsing through her, the walls humming and weaving a warm calm around them. She guessed she was seeing things from Ianto's perspective and felt slightly jealous at the vibrancy of the thought.

Her first time onboard the ship had been only a fraction of what Ianto saw. She almost felt like a traitor for not seeing her in all her glory.

"Don't think like that, Rose," the Doctor said gently.

She looked up and grimaced, but he just shrugged. Rose was just about to turn her attention back to Ianto when she heard stomping footsteps getting gradually louder.

The Doctor only just managed to get out of the way in time for Jack to storm into the room and head to the coffee machine he'd insisted on getting that last time they had been on earth.

For a moment, no one spoke.

"Morning, Jack," the Doctor greeted brightly, as if nothing had happened.

Jack just grunted his reply as he turned the heater on to boil the water. He was about to speak again when he heard a question – slung like lightning – from Jack to Ianto.

"What were they called?" The sentence was seared with bitterness, fear and accusation.

The young man sat in stunned silence for a moment. "I… I don't know…" he managed to stammer back, his thoughts juddering with uncertainty.

Jack slammed a fist down on the work surface. "Bollocks! What were they called?"

"I don't know! I never heard them call themselves anything!"

The Doctor felt Ianto's mind cower from the distress and anger pouring from Jack and he knew that the progress they'd made was going to slip away in a moment; Jack's anger forcing memories of the torture back to the surface.

He was, however, intensely surprised at the strength of their link – especially as they'd not spent time together yet.

"Jack, I found some problems with the wiring in the console that I could use your help with," the Doctor spoke out loud once more, his voice commanding respect from the Captain.

Jack looked at him, his face grim and his eyes dark. He nodded sharply and grabbed his mug from the work surface, coffee sloshing wildly over the sides as he left the room.