A/N: Yes yes, I really am spoiling you aren't I?! Well I promised BarbMack that if all went well friday I'd post again this weekend so to make up for the lack of 'Who' on t.v on the weekends here you are. Another chapter! Aren't I a good girl!!!

Welcome back Starlite1, DoctorWhoRules and anybody who didn't get alerts but did get my message. I noticed regulars from Echoes were missing so thought I'd let those who were interested know this one was up. Never trust technology alone! lol And Blonde Dr.Who-Guru With Brains I do get out a bit but I get lots of free time to daydream at work which is always handy! lol

So the Doctor is abuot to explain at last what is going on!


Chapter 9

"It's not a signal, listen harder," the Doctor turned up the volume on the control panel.

"It just sounds like a beat to me," Owen shrugged.

"That's why you have to listen harder. What's under the beat?"

"Is that….?" Martha frowned. "There's like a song playing or something."

"Exactly." The Doctor started tapping away on the keyboard. "If I take the overlying beeping away….. you're left with this."

"That's kind of pretty," Gwen said smiling.

"Glad you like it. Only problem is it's a huge problem for me."

"But you're okay now," Jack pointed out.

"As long as I stay inside I'm hunky-dory. The purple cloud outside was a cover, it was carrying a toxin which alters state of mind in someone like me. It's a form of mind control."

"But why did it affect me? I'm not one of you," Rose asked, feeling more lost by the second.

"That'll be the anti-dote," the Doctor said, "that lost feeling, it's not you being thick it's the chemicals working their way out of your system."

"Did I say it out loud?" Rose frowned.

"No," Jack answered looking rather amused.

The Doctor blinked and frowned. "Looks like you're still in my head, can hear you loud and clear so be careful what you're thinking," he told her and winked. "Anyway back on subject. Rose is becoming more like me as time goes on don't forget so she will be vulnerable to the same things I am, although we haven't tried aspirin yet…. Best stay away from that one until I've checked. But she will have a higher tolerance still being part human."

"Hang on you said it affects your mind right? Does that mean Rose's mind is changing?" Owen asked.

"Uh, no."

"Now I'm really lost." Rose sat heavily on the jump seat. "I can be affected by but have a higher tolerance to the same things you do, right? So did I breathe that stuff in or what?"

"Or what. It only took seconds for me to breathe it in; you'd have to have been standing there for hours for it to have the effect it did."

"But it didn't take hours."

"That's because you didn't breathe it in." The Doctor looked at her pointedly.

"Okay, my brain really doesn't like this explanation. It's too complicated."

"But how you got it doesn't really matter, does it Doc?" Jack said.

"No, makes no difference at all." The Doctor silently thanked Jack for trying to move the conversation on.

"Well it does to me!" Rose moaned.

The Doctor sighed. 'Fine, two words; storage cupboard.'

"Oh!" Rose declared involuntarily then sank lower in the seat, burying herself into her blanket.

"They're…..oh how can I explain this in human terms?... Sirens! That's it; they're like Sirens and mermaids. Your legends and fairytales say they used to lure sailors to their deaths by singing to them. This lot are part of that species."

"But you said it affects people like you so that means they were waiting for you," Gwen said.

"They must've been following and snuck into the atmosphere while I wasn't looking. Sent out the cloud, bound to draw attention, the couple fighting may have just been happy coincidence…."

"They disappeared when we ushered everyone inside."

"Okay maybe not. Hmm….another piece of an ever growing puzzle. But what they want is me… or rather a completely insane me."

"But why?"

"Oh any number of reasons. Although if the past is any indication of the future then it's definitely not good."

"You've dealt with them before?" Jack asked draping his arm round Rose and rubbing her shoulder as she gave an involuntary shudder.

"A long, long time ago. Scopuli. They used to live in the neighbouring galaxy to us. They'd lure away the damaged ones from the safety of the citadel and take them away."

"Damaged ones?" Gwen asked.

The Doctor looked round the expectant group and leant back against the control panel and sighed, wiping a hand down his face.

"Doc, you don't have to share," Jack told him soberly.

"Yes I do. They need to know what we're getting involved in. Um…Time Lords aren't born. When a potential Time Lord is eight he or she is taken away from their family and has to take part in the initiation ceremony. You're taken to a gap in space and time called the Untempered Schism. You can see the entire Vortex in that gap, the raw power of time and space and they make you stand there and watch, just a child, so vulnerable. Some were inspired bit it, some ran the other way and others went mad. They're the ones the Scopuli preyed on."

"And let me guess you were inspired," Owen said, expecting the Doctor to have been the class swot.

"Me? Inspired? Pfft. No chance; ran as fast as my legs could carry me and a bit more besides."

Rose watched the Doctor as he stared vacantly at the grill flooring obviously contemplating his childhood when a woman's voice invaded her head.

"Answer me this, just one question, that's all. If the Doctor had never visited us, never chosen this place on a whim, would anybody here have died?"

The Doctor's gaze flicked up to Rose and saw the look on her face.

"You heard that," he stated, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah," Rose croaked, the harsh brutal truth of the question tugged at her insides and she knew the answer he must've given.

"Looks like I can't get rid of you today."

"'Fraid not. Just as well I don't scare easy."

"What's going on?" Martha asked as the group watched the pair.

"Rose's mind is sort of stuck to mine at the moment. She can hear everything, whether I want her to or not without even trying," the Doctor explained.

"So what's the plan?" Gwen asked.

"Don't know yet."

"You don't have one?" Owen's tone betrayed his annoyance.

"Nope." The Doctor popped his 'p'.

"He never has one," Jack grinned. "He just makes it up as he goes along, right Doc?"

"Always. Now if you don't mind I'm going to get some more clothes on. I don't fancy fighting another set of aliens in my jim jams."

XxXxX

"So who was it?" Rose asked pulling a long sleeved t-shirt over her head.

"Who was who?"

"The woman giving you a hard time."

"She was hardly giving me a hard time. She had a fair point," he told her, tucking his shirt into his trousers.

"Maybe, she clearly didn't know you very well. Anyone who knows you knows that would hurt."

"She didn't know me at all. Not really. That was Joan, she was in love with John and I took him away from her. Can't blame her for being angry. And she was right. If I hadn't gone there, no one would have died."

"And if that lot had found you god only knows what they would have done next."

"Rose you have to remember this was 1913, she did well to accept that aliens existed. Asking anything more would really have been pushing it."

"Doesn't mean I'm not annoyed with her for saying it," she huffed, pulling on her hooded jumper.

The Doctor smiled at her softly. "Rose, if you're still attached to my mind, you're likely to hear all sorts of things you don't like. That Donna had a mouth on her, bit colourful if you ask me," he chuckled.

"This friend of yours, just before she left, did she punch you in the face?"

Rose giggled. "That was Donna right?"

"Yeah, she didn't like me much when she met me. Was on her way down the aisle on her wedding day and the TARDIS transported her on board. She was not a happy bunny. Nether was I for that matter. Had enough to deal with without her yelling at me."

"What were you up to then?"

The Doctor sobered for a moment and scratched the back of his neck looking around the floor for a pair of socks. "I'd…um….I'd just said goodbye to you."

"Oh." She sat in the middle of the bed watching as the Doctor began to fumble with his tie. "Well I'm glad you weren't alone, even if she was a bit of a nightmare. Like mum says, 'doesn't do to dwell.'"

"You're mother never said that! Seriously? Blimey, she is deeper than a pancake."

"You mean puddle and oi! No insulting my mum! How many shirts have you got on?"

"Three." Rose raised an eyebrow at him. "What? I'm cold!"

"'S'alright, I've got two tops and a jumper. Plus two pairs of socks."

"Wimp," he teased then huffed as he gave up on his tie, throwing the offending article on the bed in front of Rose.

"What's up with you, you never have trouble with your tie." She picked it up and began to tie it round her own neck. "Come here."

The Doctor crawled onto the bed and knelt in front of her and she slipped the knotted tie over his head.

"There, sorted. So what do we do now?"

The Doctor thought for a moment his eyes searching Rose's, looking for the answers. "Find out what my old friends want with me. Which means a little play acting on my part. Ever fancy yourself as an actress?"

"Me?"

"Well, something made me jump you in the hospital for a reason. They'll be expecting a rather nutty Time Lord and his Companion."

"And that's why you've got the black suit back on."

"'Fraid so."

Rose looked down at her own attire. "Maybe I should change into something more befitting a horny twenty-something lover of a Time Lord."

"Now there's a thought, although save that one 'til we've made real contact."

"Tell you what though."

"What?"

"Be glad when I get you all to myself again. And before you say it, no I'm not still possessed or what ever it was. And that thing you did in that cupboard in the hospital, where you were inside my head at the same time? We have to do that again."

"Well unless we can get you unattached from my mind we're not going to have much of a choice. And believe me, long term it's not as fun as you might think."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that one. As much as I love you, I'd rather not hear everything you think about."

"Believe me when I say, and no offence meant, thank Rassilion for that. There are plenty of things in my head that no one should hear. All I can say for now is, anything you hear, it'll be the past. They're just memories that are flowing still while those chemicals carry on through my system. Yours finished long ago but mine are still going. 900 years takes a while to spring clean."

"I know, doesn't mean I have to like them." A small smile crept across her lips. "So, Martha loves you to bits, huh?"

"What? How'd you…?"

"Recognised her voice. She's got good taste. Although I think you let that one slip out earlier on purpose to make me jealous."

The Doctor smiled cheekily, "Did it work?"

"Nope, I already know you're my Doctor."

XxXxX

"Right then," the Doctor declared strolling back into the control room, rolling his shirt sleeves up he headed straight for the controls. "First things first, you lot are going home."

XxXxX


A/N: Ooo, Doctor sending people home!!! That's gona go down like a tonne of brick I'll bet! And now, without further ado...

Next Time:

"Because if you go through life believing that despair follows you and then the very people you save think the same, you'd keep people as far away from you as possible. You're not in his head Jack, you can't hear them."

"Hear who?"

"Remember when we could hear all those voices screaming from the war? Imagine that all the time and then add in people telling you and those you care about to stay away because you're dangerous, that tragedy follows everywhere you step."

"Blimey you make me sound like the Grim Reaper," the Doctor said from the doorway, buttoning his suit jacket.

Coming soon:

He stared at them through the flames for a moment, no one was moving. "Run!" he yelled at them over the rumbling that shook the building.

"Not without you!" Rose shouted.

"I'll find another way, just take Martha and go!" He staggered as the floor shook and gave way, the floor boards disintegrating to ash beneath his feet.

Told you it was a humdinger! You'll have to wait a while longer to find out what's happened to our hero! So folks, now it's that time again where I ask you all to click that button with your mouse pointer. No not the furry one hiding in the corner, the one that's attached to the computer. sigh no not the one in the wheel keeping it going, or is that just mine? Hmm, what? Oh, right, yes where was I? The button! yes, it's not threatening in the least and it doesn't bring people out of a trance but it makes me incredibly happy! So please please press it?! Pretty please with Bananas on top?!

"Catch ya on the flip flop!"