A/N- So, this is a rather brief chapter, but I plan to post more either late tonight or tomorrow. Thank you so much for reading, thanks to those following and favorite-ing. And thank you to FogsBlue, jo13, vampireboysfan, ValaEnVash, JollyRoger1, Velvetpru'd and Luize White for taking the time to let me know what you think.

I don't own Doctor Who. Tragedy and woe and all that.

Rose stood in the Tenth Doctor's TARDIS and fiddled with the controls. She was trying to ignore the unconscious form of the Doctor as she worked. She and Jack had stretched him out on the jumpseat, trying to make him appear more comfortable before she had sent him out to keep an eye on the other companions. She was trying to ascertain what exactly was causing the loss of power and had chosen this control room for the simple fact that it still felt the most familiar.

Martha was leaning on the railing watching her suspiciously and Rose tried to tell herself that it didn't bother her as she pointedly turned her back on the woman and kept working. She wasn't really surprised when Martha spoke, "Why didn't you go to your own TARDIS to do this?" She came closer when Rose didn't respond and looked down at the wires she had exposed. "And what exactly is it you are doing?" She put out a hand to block Rose's progress and Rose lifted her face to meet her eyes, causing Martha to take a step back. Martha looked into those eyes and tried to comprehend the inhuman look in those swirling gold depths, she broke eye contact and shook her head slightly. She looked back up at Rose and bit her lip slightly. "Sorry, I guess I can get a little overprotective."

Rose sighed and nodded, turning back to the console and working quietly for a moment before speaking. "I know it was difficult to be around him when you were. And, believe it or not, but I -am- sorry for the part of that that is my fault." She pulled the view screen around to face her before shoving the wires back in and stepping back in frustration. She looked at Martha and was pleased to sense less hostility. She ran a hand lightly across the console and sighed heavily.

"You can't figure it out?" Martha was pleased to find that she had managed that statement without snideness. She took a step closer and looked at the place where Rose was resting her hand and frowned as she noticed for the first time the rings there. She swallowed the last of her bitter hope and was surprised to find peace in it's wake. She swallowed and met Rose's gaze again, seeing some kind of understanding there that a moment ago would have made her furious. She smiled gently and nodded ay the rings, "They're lovely. They what I think they are?"

Rose lifted her hand and looked at the rings before looking back to Martha, "After a fashion I suppose. It is a bit complicated. I guess it always is with him." She walked over to a spot on the grating and knelt down, opening it and looking down. She sat back on her heels and looked down into the 'guts' of the TARDIS, trying to remember exactly why she had come over here and pulled this grating. She looked up at Martha and said, "You know, you have a brilliant future. I think none of us will remember any of this so I think it's probably safe to tell you. You have an absolutely brilliant life. Married to one of my very favorite people." She looked away from Martha's bemused face and leaned into the hole, inhaling deeply and closing her eyes.

Martha thought she might be imagining things slightly as she saw a wavering shimmer of gold in the air coming from the hole in the grating Rose was hanging down into. Rose sat back up and put the grating back into place before stepping back to the console and smiling brightly as the rotor lit up, albeit dimly. Martha looked on in bemusement as Rose ran her hand lightly up the time rotor and the light seemed to follow her hand almost with a sense of affection. Rose grinned as she pulled the view screen over and it lit up, spewing an unintelligible jumble of text. Rose followed it with her eyebrows lowered in concentration before she spun from the console to stare at the doors, leaving Martha feeling very unsure of what was going on. Rose turned to look at Martha and Martha knew for sure then that she really hadn't been imagining the flecks of gold in her eyes. She remembered what she had overheard between the Doctor and Jack, what felt like ages ago, about Rose absorbing the time vortex.

"It's still in you isn't it?" Martha said in an almost whisper.

Rose nodded, not bothering to pretend that she didn't understand. "Yes it is. It changed me forever."

"Are you like Jack then?" Martha asked, scientific curiosity nearly overwhelming her.

"No… It's different." Rose leaned back against the console and thought for a moment, her tongue caught between her teeth. "Jack… well, he's an impossible thing. He feels wrong, time moves around him in a way that is completely against nature. Which is my fault." Rose paused then and Martha thought back to the Doctor and the TARDIS both trying to escape the american, she also thought back to the easy and obviously loving friendship that he and Rose shared and realized how difficult it would be to know you had done that to him. Rose interrupted her thoughts by continuing. "Where as I… I -am- time, at the same moment that I am outside of it. I am the Bad Wolf." She said that last statement like it needed no further explanation. Rose looked at her then and pushed off from the railing. She looked at the doors again and then turned back to Martha, "I need you to do something Martha, you game?"

Martha nodded and followed Rose's gaze to the door and then back to the now partially working console, "They'll be happy to hear that there's progress."

"We-ell… That's the thing." Rose had turned back to the console and was spared Martha's eye roll at how look the Doctor she had just sounded. Rose continued, "How many TARDIS's do you remember seeing out there Martha Jones?"

Martha frowned and answered slowly, "There were five."

Rose nodded and turned to face her, "Yes, there were. And can you think what's odd about that?"

Thinking, Martha counted off the companions that were there, Martha herself had come with Donna, Rose had come with Jack, there was Sarah Jane, Ace, the one TARDIS that Rose had stepped into had not had anyone come out of it, that meant there was one extra companion. "There's one too many."

Nodding Rose smiled widely, "Exactly. So one of these things is not like the other, and the power from the TARDIS's is being drained, and sent somewhere. So what I need, is a distraction. I can follow the trail, but I need to make sure that no one misses me. Can you help with that do you think?"

Martha nodded carefully, "I could try, but their bound to notice you walking out the front door, don't you think?"

Rose grinned and caught her tongue between her teeth, an expression that Martha couldn't help but answer in kind. Rose nodded to the TARDIS and said,"There's more than one way to leave a TARDIS, he just hasn't figured them out yet."

At Martha's nod, Rose jogged off down a corridor and disappeared into the TARDIS.