The Doctor and Rose fought in whispers behind the men carrying Gwyneth all the way back to the parlor. Back and fourth in hushed voices, they went at it. No matter what she said, the Doctor had something smart to say back. It irritated the hell out of her to no end. This was a girl's life on the line, but she couldn't tell him that for a matter of fact without revealing how she knew. Finally, she just stopped talking to him all together. Mr. Sneed and Dickens laid Gwyneth down on a couch, Rose went to the kitchen and dampened a cloth.

As she walked towards where Gwyneth lay, her and the Doctor made brief eye contact. Simultaneously, they both huffed and looked away. It reminded her of the petty fights her and John had. They didn't fight often, but when they did it was always over something stupid, like who would pilot the TARDIS or who filled the dish washer last. They would explode at each other, then came the silent treatment. But one of them always gave in and apologized, usually John. She idly started thinking of that life, the life she was leaving behind for this second chance. Absentmindedly dabbing Gwyneth's forehead, she wondered how that was going to work out. Would John still get a chance to live? Or would her changes now mean no metacrisis later? If so, how would they stop the Daleks without the Doctor Donna? Would Donna even travel with the Doctor with Rose still around? That was assuming all this worked out. Rose almost didn't notice Gwyneth getting up.

"Hey, there. It's alrigh', you just rest." She soothed Gwyneth, getting her to lie back down.

"But my angels, miss! They came, didn't they? They need me."

"They do need you, Gwyneth." Came the Doctor's voice from behind Rose. She gripped the cloth a bit tighter. "You're their only chance of survival."

"Now stop it." Rose snapped, whipping around to look at him. "I'm not gonna tell ya again, leave 'er alone."

"But what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again." Sneed said, thankfully distracting the Doctor. "What are they?"

"Aliens." He said simply. Rose gave Gwyneth a glass of water, trying to keep herself from pulling out the old Tyler slap on the Doctor.

"Like, foreigners, you mean?"

"Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there."

"Brecon?"

"Close." Rose couldn't help but smirk a little. "And they've been tryin' to get through from Brecon to Cardiff, but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then, they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long. Then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes."

"Which is why they need the girl." Dickens slurred.

"They're not havin' her." Rose butted in, turning around.

"But she can help." The Doctor insisted. "I told you, living on the rift, she became part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge, and let them through."

"Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts, but beings from another world, who can only exist in our realm by inhabiting cadavers." Dickens swayed a bit as he spoke, clearly drunk after trying to calm his nerves.

"Good system. It might work."

"No!" Rose yelled. Why wouldn't he just listen?

"Wot? Because it's not decent? Not polite?" The Doctor yelled back

"Because I'm not gonna just hand 'er over to some aliens, who I don't trust, and risk 'er life. It's not happenin'."

"She wouldn't be risking her life! Why are you so convinced that these creatures are dangerous?"

"Because they tried to kill me! I dunno about you, but to me that constitutes as dangerous!" Rose was now toe to toe with the Doctor. She took a deep breath and continued without yelling. "If they were really as innocent as they claim, just wantin' abandoned bodies, why did they try and kill me?" He didn't visibly flounder, but Rose could see in his eyes she'd finally stumped him. "And can you really tell me, without a shadow of a doubt, that she'll be safe?"

"Don't I get a say, miss?"

"Gwyneth." Rose was afraid of this. The Doctor she could handle, but if Gwyneth made up her mind to help the Gelth, there was no way Rose could reverse what happened the first time. She kneeled in front of Gwyneth and said in a low voice, "You can see into my mind. Please, Gwyneth, you know why I don't want ya doin this."

"I know. Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind. Doctor? What do I have to do?"

"You don't have to do anything."

"They've been signing to me since I was a child, sent by my mum on a holy mission. This is what I have to do. So, tell me."

"We need to find the rift. This house was built on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed, what's the weakest part of the house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?"

"That would be the morgue." Mr. Sneed replied simply.

So, with Rose trailing behind, the whole lot of them made their way down to the basement. She remembered what the Bad Wolf had told her, how not everyone could be saved, but she was really hoping that wasn't true. She couldn't help that she wanted to save everyone, it was only natural. But she realized this moment was a fixed point in time. Gwyneth was always meant to open the rift, but that meant that Rose needed to stop the Gelth before they could succeed, just like before. It was the gas, turn up the gas and they would get out of the bodies and back into the air. But it had been Dickens who figured it out. Could she afford to wait for him?

"Huh!" Said the Doctor as they entered the morgue, "Talk about Bleak House. The Doctor looked at Rose, hoping she'd laugh at his joke, but only saw disappointment on her face. "Rose, y'know I have to do this."

"No. The Time War wasn't your fault. You don't have to do this." She took a step towards him and took his hand. "But ya don't gotta do it alone, either. I'm with ya, no matter wot."

The Doctor was shocked to say the least. He squeezed her hand, hoping it would convey everything he was feeling, even though he wasn't sure for himself what he was feeling. She smiled at him. It wasn't her usual bright smile, it was a bit sad, but it was determined. It gave him more courage than he deserved.

"Doctor," Dickens called. "I think the room is getting colder."

"Here they come." Rose muttered.

"You have come to help!" cried the voice of the Gelth as the forms begin to appear. "Praise the Doctor! Praise him!"

"Promise you won't hurt her!" Rose yelled up at them.

"Hurry! Please," the voice said, ignoring her. "So little time. Pity the Gelth."

"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer," the Doctor told them. "Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, alright?"

"My angels," Gwyneth looked up at them determined.

"Okay," said the Doctor, "where's the weak point?"

"Here, beneath the arch!"

"Beneath the arch." Gwyneth repeated, and she moved under the point where the leader of the Gelth stood. She was dead from the minute she stood in that arch, that's what the Doctor had said. Rose walked over to her slowly, trying to stop the tears from coming.

"I'm so sorry." She choked. Gwyneth took her face into her hands and smiled sweetly.

"Keep faith, miss."

"Establish the bridge, reach out of the void, let us through!" cried the Gelth.

"Yes. I can see you!" Gwyneth exclaimed. "I can see you! Come!"

"Bridgehead establishing."

"Come! Come to me! Come to this world, poor lost souls!"

"It is begun! The bridge is made!" cried the Gelth. Gwyneth's mouth opened, and beings began to flow out of it. "She has given herself to the Gelth!"

"There's rather a lot of them, eh?" Dickens noted with a gasp.

"The bridge is open. We descend." Suddenly, the figure changed, growing in size and changing from ethereal blue to demonic flame. "The Gelth will come through in force."

"You said that you were few in number!" Dickens cried.

"A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses." The leader growled. Bodies started rising around the morgue as the Gelth took over.

"Gwyneth…stop this!" Sneed shouted. "Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, leave these things alone. I beg of you!" But suddenly a body possessed by the Gelth grabbed him from behind.

"Mr. Sneed! Get back!" she yelled, just as the Doctor took hold of her waist and pulled her away. She watched in horror as Sneed's neck was snapped and a Gelth sped into his corpse.

"I think it's gone a little bit wrong." the Doctor said in a low voice.

"Oh, ya think?" she asked sharply.

"I have joined the legions of the Gelth," Sneed said as he approached them, eyes cold and dead. "Come. March with us."

"Oh, Glory!" Dickens cried, backing away.

"We need bodies," the Gelth said as the corpses advanced. "All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead." The Doctor pulled Rose behind him against the barred door.

"Gwyneth," he called, "stop them! Send them back! Now!"

"Three more bodies," said the demonic figure. "Make them vessels for the Gelth."

"I—I can't! I'm sorry!" Dickens cried as he bolted up the stairs. "This new world of yours is too much for me! I'm so—"

The Doctor glanced at him, and caught sight of the door. He pushed Rose in and slammed it shut, the Gelth trapped outside, reaching in.

"Give yourself to glory," the Gelth ordered. "Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth."

"I trusted you," he said. "I pitied you!"

"We don't want your pity! We want this world and all its flesh."

"Not while I'm alive," he vowed darkly.

"Then live no more." The Gelth shook at the bars, but the door was holding for now. Rose wondered how long until Dickens came back. He was coming back this time, right? Oh, no. This plan was relying too much on hope for Rose.

"I'm not dyin' down 'ere. I can't!" Rose muttered to herself.

"I'm sorry." The Doctor looked at her, remorse tinged in his voice. "Time isn't a straight line, it can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th. And it's all my fault."

"If only you had listened to me, yeah?" Rose tried for a joke, but she sounded too scared. "It's not your fault. I wanted to come."

"What about me?" The Doctor said frantically. "I saw the fall of Troy. World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm gonna die in a dungeon, in Cardiff!"

"It's alright. We'll go down fightin'. Together, yeah?"

"Yeah." He said, not taking his eyes off Rose. If he was going to die, he wanted to make sure her face was the last thing he'd see. She laced her fingers through his, and he squeezed. "I'm so glad I met you."

"Me too," she said, grinning up at him.

"Doctor!" Dickens yelled as he burst back into the room. "Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now! Flood the place!"

"Brilliant," he cried, as the spirits not possessing bodies began to scream. "Gas!"

"Am I correct, Doctor?" Dickens called. "These creatures are gaseous!"

"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!"

"I hope... oh, Lord..." He paused as the corpses turned and set their sights on him. "I hope that this theory will be validated soon. If not immediately."

"Plenty more!" the Doctor yelled, pulling at a pipe and knocking it out of the wall. The Gelth screamed and released the bodies, sucked into the gas. The Doctor unlocked the door and pushed it open as the bodies hit the floor.

"Gwyneth, send them back! They lied, they're not angels!" The Doctor rushed forward, Rose right next to him.

"Liars?" Gwyneth questioned in a daze. She lowered her arms and stared blankly forward.

"Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength, now send them back!"

"Gwyneth," Rose started, but then she started choking.

"Charles, get her out." The Doctor commanded, not tearing his eyes away from Gwyneth. Dickens made a move to lead her out but she shook him off.

"I'm not leaving her!"

"They're too strong. I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them here, in this place." Gwyneth deadpanned, then she reached into the pocket of her apron and pulled out a box of matches. "Get out."

"Come on," the Doctor held out his hand, "leave that to me." He stared into her eyes, and suddenly something dawned on him. He knows, Rose thought. As if to confirm it, the Doctor puts his hand on her neck, checking for a pulse. "Rose, get out."

"Wot?"

"Please, just go, now!" Finally, Dickens got fed up. He grabbed Rose's wrist tightly and dragged her out behind him. He didn't let go until they were back outside in the cold.

"Where do you think you're going, child?" Dickens asked astounded, reaching and grabbing Rose again. She moved to rush right back into the house.

"I have to go back!" she yelled, fighting against him. "I have to help the Doctor!"

But right as she tore away from his grip, the Doctor ran out the front door. Then, boom! Mr. Sneed's practice was up in flames. Rose immediately ran to where the Doctor stood. The second he made eye contact with Rose, his whole demeanor changed.

"I'm sorry." He started. "She closed the rift. I couldn't save her."

"At such a cost." Came the melancholy voice of Charles Dickens. "That poor child."

"I did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes. I think she died the minute she stood in that arch."

"It's not fair." Rose croaked.

"I know." The Doctor replied.

"Right then, Charlie-boy," the Doctor said as they approached the TARDIS. "I've just got to go into my, um, shed. Won't be long!"

"Have you got family for Christmas, Mister Dickens?" Rose asked him

"Not just now, but I will. I shall take the mail coach back to London. Quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital."

"You've cheered up!" the Doctor noted.

"Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world and now I know I've just started! All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor! I'm inspired. I must write about them!"

"Upgrading your ghost stories to aliens?" Rose asked.

"I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this earth. 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals.' I can spread the word! Tell the truth!"

"Good luck with it. Nice to meet you," the Doctor said, shaking Dickens' hand. "Fantastic."

"Bye, then, Charlie. And, thanks," she told him sincerely. "It really has been a pleasure." She gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, my dear," he stammered, taken aback. "how modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?"

"You'll see. In the shed," the Doctor said, turning to the TARDIS and opening the door.

"Oh, my soul," Dickens said. "Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this; who are you?"

"Just a friend," the Doctor said after a moment. "Passing through."

"But you have such knowledge of future times," Dickens said. "I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books, Doctor, do they last?"

"Oh, yes!"

"For how long?"

"Forever!"

Dickens smiled proudly.

"Right. Shed. Come on, Rose."

"In - in the box?" Dickens stammered as they both turned to go. "Both of you?"

"We'd invite you in, but it's a bit of a tight fit." Rose says, suppressing a giggle at the astonished and slightly mortified look on Dickens' face. "See ya!" and with that, she pushes a snickering Doctor into the TARDIS.

"He's never going to tell the story, though, is he?" Rose said as they walked up to the console. "He dies, what, next year?"

"Yeah," the Doctor said, bringing up an external view on the camera. "In a week's time, it's 1870. The year he dies."

"But you brought him back to life," Rose said, watching the man outside. "Look how much happier he is."

"Wasn't just me," the Doctor said, looking down at her. "But you're right. He's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie-boy. Let's give him one last surprise."

He hit a button and the engines wheezed. They watched as his face slackened in astonishment, laughing.