A/N: THANK YOU to everyone for all the support so far; I'm really glad everyone is still enjoying the story! There's some more fluff in this chapter… Enjoy!

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'Right then, tell me exactly how you did this yesterday.'

The Doctor and Rose were stood just inside the derelict baker's shop, the door cracked open slightly behind them. After an extremely long and slow night, spent drifting in and out of sleep and talking quietly about their plans for this day, light had finally begun to creep into their hotel room signifying that the curfew would be lifted shortly. A quick shower and one humungous breakfast later (neither of them had eaten since soup in the café the day before), they had left Ganjud's bar and come back to the place where this whole catastrophe had started. The Doctor wanted to know every tiny little thing Rose had done when she was here previously, so he would hopefully have a better chance of working out what had happened and would be able to explain everything to her.

'Umm,' she said, moving away from him to stand in the centre of the bombed-out shop. 'I had a bit of a look round in here, I guess. Then I tried to open that door.' She pointed towards the door that should have lead out to the back of the shop. It was shut once again, having slammed loudly when she had dashed out of here in a panic yesterday.

'Right.' His face set in a grim line, the Doctor strode over to the door, bending down to examine the handle. He tugged it lightly, feeling the mechanism give slightly where it had worn with age and strain, some of which was probably a result of Rose's little adventure the day before. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, fiddling with the settings until he found the right one and then he aimed it at the door. He frowned.

Rose came to stand behind him, and he could feel the heat of her body against his back. 'What is it?' she asked.

He stood and whirled round to face her, realising too late that she was closer to him than he had thought. She stumbled, and by instinct his hands shot out to grab her shoulders and pull her up against him. A draft from the door blew her scent across his face, sweat and sleep and the shampoo she had found in the bathroom to wash the blood out of her hair this morning. He inhaled deeply, for a second forgetting his purpose and allowing himself to become intoxicated with the smell of Rose.

'What is it?' she asked again, stretching up to see into his face properly.

Her voice broke into his momentary haze. 'It's strange,' he said vaguely.

She frowned. 'Why? I thought you said that there was nothing wrong with the building.'

'There isn't,' he assured her. 'And that's what's strange. There's absolutely nothing wrong with the building, because…' He trailed off, letting go of her suddenly and darting off around the room with his sonic screwdriver, holding it against the walls and random points in the air and baking equipment still left in the room. Eventually he came back to the door in the back wall, and he scanned it again. His frown deepened. 'It's impossible to tell whether there's anything wrong with this part of the building because, for all intents and purposes, it doesn't exist.'

'Right.' Rose frowned, completely perplexed. She decided that there was no harm in pointing out the down right obvious. 'But I can see it.' She nodded at the wall and then rapped the door with her knuckles lightly. 'I can touch it.'

He nodded. 'That's right,' he said. 'But according to physics, maths, and my immortal genius, it doesn't exist. It's visible, it's touchable, it's right there in front of us, but according to all of my readings, it's not there at all. Discuss.'

The Doctor turned his attention back to the door, turning the knob back and forth in an effort to make it open but it wouldn't budge. 'It did that yesterday too,' Rose told him.

'Mmm,' he replied distractedly. He knew he should be able to explain this if he put his mind to it, should be able to come up with a scientific explanation to explain all of the anomalies away, but with half a mind still concentrating on the revolution that was taking place later today, it was hard. 'I guess we should have a look inside then!'

Rose nodded hesitantly, not entirely thrilled about going back into the room of doors after what had happened the last time, even if it did manage to help them find a way home. 'All right,' she said, stepping closer to the Doctor and feeling herself relax somewhat when he took her hand in his and looked deep into her eyes before grinning widely at her.

'I love a mystery!' he told her as he adjusted the sonic screwdriver once more and held it to the door.

It swung open into the room that lay ahead of them. For a moment the Doctor just stood and stared, his eyes practically bulging out of their sockets at the sight that was in front of him. He was distantly aware of Rose pressing herself closer to him as they shuffled through the open door, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. 'Oh, wow,' he breathed, turning them both in a full circle as he tried to take in the whole spectacle. 'This is… This is… Wow, I'm lost for words!' He jumped on the spot like a giddy school boy. 'And well done you!' He turned to Rose. 'Congratulations on finding this place! I never would have come back to look here if you hadn't done it first.' He pressed a smacking kiss to her forehead and moved away, walking to the centre of the large room. 'And this… This is amazing!'

He laughed out loud, the sound echoing round the circular room of doors. He dropped to the floor to study the shimmering marble floor that Rose had told him about and then jumped up and down as high as he could to examine the star-flecked ceiling. He reached out and pulled Rose into him, holding her as though in a dance. 'Care to waltz?' he asked, his voice manic and excited.

Without waiting for an answer, he held her closer and whirled her around, skating out to the edges of the room and then back into the centre. He twirled her round and round until she shrieked with laughter and gripped onto him tightly, and then he dipped her so that she was horizontal, looking up into his eyes. The Doctor stared down at the woman he held precariously in his arms, elation flooding through him suddenly. He grinned at her, his head dropping down until his nose brushed against hers lightly. 'Hi,' he whispered.

She giggled nervously. 'Hey.'

His hands shifted on her back and his lips hovered close to hers. He cleared his throat and he pulled away reluctantly, setting Rose back on her feet and steadying her with an arm around her waist. 'Shall we have a look at all these doors then?'

She pulled in a deep breath. 'Yeah, I suppose.'

The Doctor shuffled away, feeling his cheeks flaming red and once again cursing this whole nightmare situation. If they had been away from here- if they had been in the TARDIS or on Earth or even just somewhere safe- he knew he would have kissed her just then. And he knew that she wouldn't have stopped him; she might even have welcomed him. But right here, right now, he couldn't afford to get caught up in his confusing feelings for Rose. He had to stay focused, had to save this planet and he had to get them home. He shook himself mentally to rid himself of all the thoughts that were telling him to sod the revolution and go back over to Rose and finish what he had wanted to start only seconds before. He squashed his desire down. 'Which door did you go through yesterday?' he asked her, head slightly bowed as he stared at a wall.

'That one,' Rose said, pointing at the one she meant.

'Right,' he said, his breathing raspy and hearts pounding madly. He still couldn't bring himself to meet her gaze.

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Damien is drinking for the fourth night running. He has barely slept in three weeks, instead surviving on coffee and cigarettes and the red wine he knows Airlia loves. It occurs to him that it might be wrong of him, the way he depends on her so much that he can barely keep himself alive when she isn't there. He wonders how he managed to get by before he knew her, before realising that much of that time is lost to him now, pushed deep down in his mind out of the way.

He drinks the dregs straight from the bottle, before adding it to his rapidly growing collection of empties and collapsing onto his sofa. His head is spinning from too much alcohol and too little sleep, but right now he is failing to see a solution to the problem. Part of him is elated however, that there is now only just over one month to go until he and Airlia can escape from Eustance and be free from all the pain.

He hopes that she is okay; he has had no word from her since they separated. This was what they had agreed beforehand, but in practice it was hurting him a lot more than he thought it would do. Damien groans and reaches for his next bottle of wine to help see him through the night.

This is the day Damien realises that love hurts, and obsession hurts even more. Everything will change in one month, one week, and twenty two hours.

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'We don't have to go through it, do we?' Rose asked the Doctor nervously as he stood up from his examination of the door that had led her to another world.

He smiled gently in her general direction. 'No, we don't. We don't have the time, and we can't risk being unable to find the way back. Especially not in these circumstances.' He turned back to the door, and the hard line of his shoulders told Rose that whatever he was thinking about was not exactly pleasurable. She wondered if he was remembering the story she had told him last night.

'Do you think one of the doors leads back to Earth?' she asked him.

The Doctor moved away from the door and led her back to the centre of the room. 'I think so,' he said, but he didn't sound one hundred percent convinced. 'Think about it. Eustance is a planet populated by humans, and so was that planet you ended up on. I think…' He trailed off and sighed heavily, a worried expression taking up residence on his face. Rose had gotten quite used to seeing that expression over the past couple of days, and she hoped that it would disappear as soon as they got back to Earth. 'I think something has gone horribly wrong somehow,' the Doctor said.

'Why? What with?'

'Didn't you ever wonder where the legend of Valhalla came from?'

Rose shrugged. She hated it when he answered her question with a question, especially one that was seemingly unrelated. 'Valhalla,' she repeated. 'That was the Nordic legend, yeah?'

He nodded. 'Yes. A great hall filled with over five hundred doors, out of which the soldiers would march into battle.' He gestured around the room. 'This place is never meant to be seen, but legend has to come from somewhere Rose.'

She frowned, thinking it through. Usually she liked it when he gave her clues so that she could work something out on her own, but right now she wished he'd just spit it out and get it over with. Especially as he seemed to have a revolution to lead in only a few hours time. The whole thing was making her head hurt. 'So you think that each of these doors leads to something human… Different planets?'

'Exactly!' he exclaimed, pride in his eyes. 'Knew you'd work it out!'

Her eyebrows were raised almost off her forehead. 'So behind each of these doors is a planet colonised by humans, and this room is like the central point connecting all of them. Is that what you're telling me?'

He nodded. 'Except this place is supposed to be impenetrable. There's been a legend, a rumour, as long as I can remember, that when races colonise planets they're connected somehow throughout the universe. It's somehow written into time and space, resulting in places like this. Except this shouldn't be here.'

'Because we came from 1959, and at that point humans hadn't left Earth yet.'

'That's right,' he agreed. 'Once we get back to the TARDIS, I'll be able to fix it easily. Hide this place and make sure that nobody else gets lost in the way that we have. There must be a glitch in the codes of the universe that ended up getting the wires crossed and opened a gateway from Earth to here. I'll be able to close it from the other side.'

'So it's all been a big accident.'

He nodded. 'Yes. I'm sorry.'

She waved him off. 'It's not your fault.' Rose felt tears welling up behind her eyelids, threatening to spill over and down her cheeks. They were so close to discovering the way home, but even if they found it they wouldn't be able to go back just yet. They still had to save this planet; as the Doctor would say, they were part of events now and they had to see it through to the end. She missed her own bed. She missed the TARDIS and she missed the easy fun of the carnival that they'd been so rudely pulled away from a couple of days before. Something occurred to her. 'So I guess it explains why we kept seeing strange things at the carnival.'

'Yes,' the Doctor said, something akin to sadness in his eyes although Rose couldn't find a reason for it. Maybe he was feeling guilty again. 'Times were overlapping and bleeding into each other, transplanting themselves into places they have no business being in.' He smiled suddenly. 'At least that would be my guess!'

Rose walked over to stand next to him, sliding her hand into his. 'It means we can get back though, yeah?'

He looked at her in that way of his that made her knees turn to jelly. 'I imagine so. The doorway came from the House of Mirrors, so all we have to do is find the corresponding door in here and walk through. Easy!' His tone was natural but there was a flicker in his eye that made Rose think that perhaps it wasn't as easy as he wanted her to think it was. After all, there were an awful lot of doors in here.

And, if she wasn't mistaken, another door was currently being created in the wall opposite them. 'Doctor, look!'

He noticed the new door at around the same time, his eyes bulging and his mouth hanging open as his hand tightened around Rose's. 'It looks like the human race has made yet another conquest.' A look of wonderment appeared on his face and he shook his head. 'Amazing,' he murmured. 'It's so amazing. Two days ago I would have questioned the existence of a place like this and yet here I am. Standing right in the middle of it all.' He tore his gaze away from the door to focus his eyes on Rose. 'And it's all thanks to you.' He kissed her forehead- it seemed to Rose that this was getting to be a new habit. Not that she minded, of course. 'You always challenge me,' he continued more quietly. 'You've reshaped my whole beliefs, and it's terrifying.' He bent so that their eyes were level. 'And I love it. You've saved me time and time again.' He straightened up, looking over her head at the new door in the wall, which was stronger and brighter and fresher than all the rest. A new triumph. 'Today is no exception.'

'Lots to do today,' Rose reminded him when the Doctor began to look wistful, a sure sign that if he didn't snap out of it soon then he would probably be introspecting for hours.

He snapped back into reality. 'Oh yes,' he said, as though it was possible to forget. 'We have some revolutionising to do. Providing the Alliance has kept up their end of the bargain, that is.' He turned back to the door that led to the baker's shop, clearly reluctant to leave this place and head back into solidly structured time and space.

'Doctor?' Rose prompted. She could understand his reluctance; now that they had found this place, and almost found a way back to the TARDIS, it was incredibly hard to leave it. But they had business to take care of.

'Right, yes,' he said. 'I suppose we should go and meet Oscar. Come on!'

They left the room of doors, and walked back outside with a long day and a mammoth task ahead of them. But, Rose reasoned, the people had been wanting freedom for a long time now and it seemed that they were more than ready to fight to get it back. How long could this revolution take?

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Damien has gone to Airlia's workplace on his lunch break. They always used to meet up and eat together, when they had they chance. It became a nice little habit of theirs that they would sit on the bench facing the park of Valtallahan and eat sandwiches and salad before Damien would kiss Airlia and leave to go back to his afternoon surgeries.

Today Airlia sits on the bench alone, staring in the direction of the rose garden where they first met. Her head is slightly bowed, and Damien can imagine her holding a book in her hands, just like on that first day. He imagines himself walking across the park to meet her; she would look up and smile when she saw him, kiss him when he sat down. Just like they used to do before this self-imposed banishment.

He watches her for half an hour; all the time he can spare, as ever. Her hair glints in the weak sunlight and he feels his chest constricting. She is so near now, but he knows that he cannot alert her to his presence. It would be ridiculous at this late stage to give themselves away in any way, to jeopardise their plans when they have come this far. It isn't long at all now until they are free. Just two more days apart from her, after this one. Damien cannot wait until that day; there is talk of unrest at the moment and more protests than ever, different opposition groups lining the streets with chants and placards and more people than is fathomable being arrested and killed by the guards. A member of the Freedom Movement was murdered on Hansley Bridge yesterday, and there is a rumour that the Liberal Rights Alliance is planning to make a move.

When his time is up, Damien walks away from Airlia without looking back. It would only hurt if he stayed to linger and watch her until she went back inside. Besides, it would make him late and if everything goes to plan, this will be his second to last day at work before they leave.

This is the day Damien begins to look forward to the rest of his life with the woman he loves. Everything will change in three days and three and a half hours.

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All around the grass was green, the wind was blowing gently and there was the scent of flowers in the air. The weak sunlight shone down; too far away from the planet to offer any real warmth like there would be on Earth but it was pleasant all the same. Rose sat leaning against the Doctor, his arm around her shoulders and her head nestled against his neck. If she stayed still and stopped breathing for a minute, she could feel the pulse of his hearts against her forehead; hear the rush of his blood through his veins. They were taking a few final quiet moments together before the revolution began and, most likely, all mayhem let loose.

'Do you think it will work?' she asked. They were being very careful not to actually use the word "revolution".

The Doctor sighed softly. 'I hope so. There's no reason why it shouldn't.'

'I hope it does,' she said, shivering slightly and shifting more securely into the Doctor's embrace. She moved her head to his chest and wrapped her arms around his torso, feeling him smile against her hair and hold her a little tighter. 'I can't wait to get back to the TARDIS.'

'I know,' he said. 'Neither can I. I think a well deserved break is in order after this to make up for it. That was all I wanted in the first place.'

She grinned. 'Maybe we should go somewhere other than a carnival then. A beach maybe. Or a nice forest on some alien planet somewhere. And you still have to come shopping with me, remember?'

He squeezed her slightly. 'I remember. We'll find somewhere to go and relax,' he promised. 'This is just a little detour; we'll get there in the end!'

'I know we will.' She freed one hand momentarily to gesture around them. 'This place seems nice though. The flowers are lovely.'

He nodded against her. 'It wouldn't be half bad if it wasn't for the social situation.' His smile against her hair disappeared. 'I'm so sorry to have got you all caught up in this.'

She slapped his chest lightly. 'Don't be ridiculous. I've already told you that it isn't your fault. How were you supposed to predict that there'd be a whole alien world outside of the House of Mirrors?' She pulled herself out of his embrace and looked up at him seriously. 'Don't blame yourself,' she said. 'Please don't blame yourself. I hate it when you do that.'

He studied her, an unreadable expression in his eyes. The wind blew Rose's hair over her face and the Doctor brushed it back out of her eyes, tucking it carefully behind her ear. He left his hand on her face, cupping her cheek tenderly as though he thought she might break. He leaned closer, his warm breath counteracting the cold breeze. The heat spread through her deliciously as he pulled her body against his, and she pressed herself more firmly against him. His lips were within centimetres of hers, damp and slightly apart, and oh-so-inviting. 'Doctor,' she whispered, intoxicated by the feel of him surrounding her, keeping her anchored, holding her safe.

He caressed her cheek with his thumb, his gaze flicking between her eyes and her mouth and then back again. 'Rose, I promise,' he whispered. 'I promise you that this will be okay, that we'll get out of it.' He took a shaky breath, and she felt his hand tremble against her cheek. 'But just in case…' He trailed off and pressed his lips against hers, his hand holding her mouth to his for just a few seconds before he pulled away slightly and rested his forehead against hers. 'Sorry,' he said. 'I just had to…'

'No,' she cut in. 'Don't apologise. It's all okay. It's all right, Doctor.' And it was all right. In fact, it was amazing. She had been waiting so long for him to do that. In fact… She leaned up and kissed him again, taking his bottom lip between both of hers and sucking lightly, giving it a light nip before pulling away and smiling up into his face. 'Okay?' she questioned.

He smiled gently, shakily. 'Of course,' he said. 'More than okay. Brilliant.'

They stayed like that, locked in a warm embrace, for a few moments more before someone cleared their throat behind the bench they were sitting on and they both whipped round to face whoever it was. A man stood there, looking nervous but still intrinsically confident, his clothes warm but loose and a look of determination on his face.

'Oscar,' the Doctor greeted him, and now Rose knew him from the story the Doctor had told her last night. He was one of the leaders of the Liberal Rights Alliance, one of the leaders of the revolution.

'Doctor,' Oscar greeted him. He smiled at Rose. 'And you must be Rose.'

She nodded. 'Yeah. It's nice to meet you.'

The man leered slightly. 'And you, sweetheart.'

Rose couldn't help the smile that crept across her face as the Doctor held her securely in his grip, a look of annoyance flashing across his face as he regarded Oscar.

Oscar cleared his throat and shuffled slightly before looking across at them with a huge grin on his face. 'I've come to tell you,' he said. 'That everything is ready and prepared.' He paused for dramatic effect. 'It's time.'

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Damien cannot sleep. Tomorrow he will be going to meet Airlia at her apartment near the government buildings and then they will escape together, never to return.

Everything is ready now, his single bag packed with the tickets and documents they will need to travel, and all of his remaining money that hasn't already been moved to an off-world account. His jacket sits on top of the bag, and inside is the diamond engagement ring for Airlia. He is going to ask her to marry him, although he is not quite sure whether he should do it before they leave or after they are safe and far away. Both options have their merits.

All he needs to do now is get through this night and tomorrow morning, and then in the early afternoon he can leave to collect his lover and take her away from here. He doesn't even attempt to go to bed, although he turns his lights out at a reasonable time just like he is expected to do. He lies on his sofa, staring at the ceiling and running through the plans in his head. He thinks he hears someone run past the building, and wonders briefly who it is. It doesn't sound like a guard, and so he assumes that someone is on the run. After all, who in their right mind would be out after the curfew? At least the guards will be busy with someone else and not him and Airlia, he decides.

He lies awake on the sofa until the sky eventually lightens, when he begins to pace nervously up and down the living room. Not long now.

This is the day that Damien is going to escape from Eustance. Everything will change in fourteen hours.

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The Doctor grasped Rose's hand tightly in his, determined to keep her with him, knowing he cannot lose her now. He needs to know that she's safe. The group of men are talking quietly up ahead; any second now.

And then Oscar turned around, the same grin on his face. He took a step forward. 'We're leaving,' he said. 'We'll collect everyone along the way, and there are three other groups coming from elsewhere in the vicinity. Let's go.'

They started to walk out from where they had been waiting in the storage space beneath Hansley Bridge. There were around two hundred people there, and they would pick up around twenty thousand others along the way before meeting up with the other groups outside the government buildings only a mile a way. Plenty of people to overthrow a government. Hopefully.

The Doctor quickly pulled Rose into a bone-crushing hug as the people all began to move, holding her tightly against him before reclaiming her hand and leading her to walk alongside the crowd. He grinned at her and she smiled back. They rounded a corner and began to walk up the incline to the bridge, an endless stream of people appearing out of nowhere (or so it seemed), and their numbers swelled and doubled, and then doubled again, with every passing second. The Liberal Rights Alliance was finally making its move, and something was going to change.

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A/N: Oooh what happens next, I wonder? The next chapter will be up on Friday providing the website doesn't break down… Please review! Jen xx