A/N: Right, on with the show! We have ghosts, kidnappings, authors and the Doctor getting sidetracked. Oh and Kaullus got angry. Methinks the bloodhead has a thing for Rose. What does the audience at home think? Am I about to go the way of Gary Stu? Hell no! Those fics are dull and unimaginative! I'm not just sticking someone in; I'm breathing life into a brand new character who's going to affect things further down the line!
Right, now that I've got any possible outcriers suppressed I say we get back to the story. Remember the poll's still up and will stay up until after 'Dalek.' So please people! Vote!
Okay, disclaimer. Don't own, might do one day but that's neither here nor there. Damn you BBC, etc, etc.

Now then, back with Rose…

Chapter 8

Corpses

The first few moments after she initially came to were filled with darkness, grogginess, and a series of differently toned noises all nattering around Rose's head. Everything was a blur of those noises and movement, and she was vaguely aware that she was being lifted up by her legs, then her shoulders also became weightless as something clamped itself around her waist, hoisting her up. After a moment she felt herself be lifted up a bit more as the rougher grips slid a little too high for her liking, any other day she would have reached up and given the cheeky bugger a proper swat but right now she was struggling just to wake up.

Her rather uncomfortable second journey came to an end shortly after it began…although at the same time it could have taken hours, her head wasn't exactly working properly right now. Hell, at the moment she couldn't even remember how she'd gotten into this whole mess in the first place and thinking hard got her nowhere because it resulted in a painful headache. The rough grips laid her down on a flat surface, her legs following a moment later, the decidedly gentler hold leaving almost immediately afterwards whilst the rough ones lingered.

Whoever is holding me is gonna get a slap when I get up! Oh good, her monologue was back. Maybe now she could put together just what had happened to her.

"-oor girl's still alive, sir!" The lighter noise finally tuned into a familiar welsh lilt, helping to stir her memory a bit, bringing up an image of a girl in a maid's outfit, black hair and dark eyes. "What're we going to do with her?"

"I don't know!" Another welsh voice replied, male and a bit panicked. "I didn't plan any of this did I? Isn't my fault if the dead don't stay dead." So that had to be the one who'd been holding her waist. Good, now she knew who to go after when the Doctor and Tahkaullus showed up. Of course she'd like to get up first to do said going after, her body still felt like lead. But at least she was starting to remember how she got into this mess; she'd followed the pair of them out of the theatre when she'd spotted them carrying that old lady away. When she'd tried to corner them, the girl had distracted her with a story of the lady having come down with a fever, giving the other one a chance to move away. She hadn't bought it though and had moved her out of the way to see for herself. If she could shiver properly she would have as the memory of what she'd felt next came rushing back. The old lady was stone dead, frozen to the touch. Rose had been so distracted by that horrifying discovery to have missed the old man coming up from behind her and sticking a cloth over her mouth and nose. The last thing she could remember was a dizzy rush setting in before everything going black. So the ruddy bugger drugged me as well?! She thought to herself furiously. Forget a slap. I'm gettin' outta this and then I getting him done in!

The other voice, the girl from before, returned "Then whose fault is it, sir? Why is this happening to us?"

Why was what happening? Did it have something to do with the blue ghost things they saw at the theatre? Had she been taken to some weird alien hideout? Oh god are the blue alien things taking over people's minds? Rose didn't know much about aliens but mind-control didn't seem as far-fetched to her now as when they used it in sci-fi shows. And human collaborators, that could be possible too – the ugly memory of Cassandra surfaced, she'd had human-looking attendants willing to help her kill all those people.

There was a slamming of a door somewhere in front of her, the voices still talking but now muffled on the other side.

Well, Rose considered, if I'm gonna get outta here, now's as good a time to try as ever. Slowly, painfully, she pushed herself up and immediately the change in vertigo slammed into her still very wonky head. Oh God, it's worse than that time with Keisha and Shireen in Norfolk. Her head was immediately in her hands, fingers massaging her temples as she tried to get some sobriety back. She needed to focus on something else, anything, to take her mind off the numbing headache she was sure to get in a moment; it really did feel like being drunk. Looking around gave her the temporary distraction she needed, the room she was in was some sort of parlour, dark but decently furnished, gas-lamps lit and hanging from every wall, and she was lying on a table of sorts.

There was a faint smell of something, light and airy. Glancing around the table she was sitting up on gave her the source. Lilies, just bloomed and decorated rather nicely around her, save for a little bit where her captors must've swept her over before placing her down.

Wait a minute. Something was niggling at her, something important about what she'd just thought. Lilies, lilies...what's wrong with that? There was one other time she'd been so close to a dead body, the funeral of her gran on her dad's side when she was six. She'd had an open-coffin procession before the wake, the whole room smelling light and fresh and airy…like lilies. Something she remembered from her English Lit classes; Lilies were a symbol of rebirth in some cultures, even in Britain for a long while, though more commonly they were more commonly symbolised as a representation of…Death.

Her head immediately shot up and looked at the other tables in the room, dreading what she would find. And she found it: There were coffins stacked up next to each other…she wasn't in a parlour, she was in a bloody funeral home! Something else about that one time she'd gone to her gran's funeral, she'd gotten curious about what a dead person felt like and had touched her skin. The terror at just how cold she'd felt on a summer afternoon had stayed with her all her life, hence the horror at touching the old lady and feeling the self-same chill. That fear had come to include coffins because that's where you could usually find those cold things.

Then things got worse. There was a faint whisp of a noise behind her, a low moaning reminiscent of the wail she'd heard from the creature in the theatre followed by a drawn out gasp. Looking around again she saw a young man, maybe a few years older than her with swept brown hair and sideburns, dressed in black, lifting himself stiffly out of the coffin on her left. For a moment she was frozen in shock, then the moaning started and she was on her feet.

"You alright?" She asked him, inwardly cursing herself when she heard the quiver there. It didn't get any better when the man just stared at her blankly, irises clouded and white. Throwing one rigid leg over the coffin, he stepped out, that blank look never leaving his face. Rose gulped, "You-you're kiddin' me yeah? Jus' kiddin'?" Oh god don't let this be real! Please don't be real! "You are just kiddin' yeah?" She tried again desperately. A lighter moan caught her attention and, to her horror, she saw the old lady getting up, the same blank, cloudy look in her eyes, limbs stiff as a post, staring at her. "Yeah, okay not kidding."

Oh god, oh god! Her legs were ordering her to run and she immediately obeyed – she had to get out of here! Get away from them! Rose went straight for the door and tugged at the knob, only for it to stay firmly in place. They locked it! They locked me in! Her terror was rising as the two very dead bodies lumbered towards her. Pressing her back to the door, she looked around for anything to use as a weapon or a defence. All there was was a vase of lilies sat on a table beside her which she promptly picked up and threw at the advancing male corpse. The vase shattered against him and for a moment he stumbled, and Rose felt a second of hope…only for it to be crushed when the man just straightened up and continued edging towards her.

Any remaining pretence of keeping her cool fled her and Rose turned back to the door, pulling frantically on the doorknob, slapping her hand on the solid wood. "Let me out!" She cried out, terror taking over completely, "Open the door! Please, let me out!"

Oh god I'm gonna die! I'm gonna be killed in a Victorian funeral home by a walking zombie! The thought ran through her head over and over, on repeat, all while she still hammered on the door, calling out, begging, crying for someone to get her out. And all the while, the corpses kept moving forward.

Even though it was rather interesting to meet Charles Dickens in person, which was far better than just going to a simple farewell recital by the man, Kaullus was too busying focussing on worrying over Rose and feeling incredibly angry with both the Doctor for not being his usual thoughtful self when it came to her safety, and himself for forgetting that one of these days he was bound to meet a version of the pair so early on in their timestream. It had to happen sooner or later and he'd made the stupid unconscious decision to dismiss such information; he'd already been put off by how…well grumpy came to mind when he looked at this Doctor, as well as just how quickly Rose had retreated from him. It was a sharp kick in the privates, when he'd gotten so used to a close knit friendship with the two of them, laughing, running, fighting together, even the odd bit of harmless flirting that they all knew would never go anywhere – or, not anywhere with him. They'd looked at him and all they'd seen was a stranger…and that hurt, that really painfully hurt. Oh they'd clearly met him a time or two, that much he'd discerned from the Doctor's wording, but not enough times for them to make a decision about him.

Is this what I have to look forward to from now on? He asked himself bleakly as the coach came to a halt, the Doctor and Dickens getting out ahead of him, neither looking back. Am I now at their starting point? He'd seen the…unfamiliarity between the two of them quickly enough, the shyness from Rose and the critical assessing eye of the Doctor giving away all too quickly that they'd probably only met a few days ago, a week at most. They were as much strangers to each other as he was to them. He'd grinned and taken it, made jokes and insulted the Doctor, thought up a new name for him to get on his nerves…all the while dreading what they were going to say when he got one of them alone for a moment to synchronise their positions.

Closing his eyes a moment, Kaullus took a deep calming breath that went unnoticed by the other men. Focus man! Rose is in trouble, drugged and possibly hurt, and you're here standing around, angsting over yourself! His own kick in the pants did the trick, and he funnelled that sense of loss he'd been feeling since he'd run into them, changing it into silent anger. They've taken Rose! They dare kidnap my friend?!

And like that he fell back into line alongside the Doctor, Dickens leading them.

The hearse sat abandoned and empty, no bodies alive, dead or unconscious within. The Doctor turned his gaze then to face the house they'd stopped outside of. "They must've taken her in there."

Then they're amateurs. Kaullus immediately concluded, his fingers drumming on top of the wooden box. A professional kidnapper would do a runaround, throw off any pursuers or at least misdirect them. And then they just left it outside for anyone to see. He turned to face the house as well, marking it straight away as a rather cheerless establishment.

'Sneed and Company.' He read on a sign hanging just over the front door. Even the name sounds downtrodden. Too bad Emily's dead. Heathcliff would've been right at home in a place like this.

Quickly he rid himself of those unimportant thoughts, none of them were of any use. All that mattered right now was getting in there and getting Rose out, and if he just happened to harm a would be kidnapper in the process that would just be considered a bonus. He was all set to storm the keep when Dickens called him back.

"Best let me lead, sirs. You, Doctor," he indicated the Doctor's garb again "are more likely to be directed to use the tradesmen's entrance" and Kaullus had to agree there, the man's choice of clothing this time around wasn't exactly what one would consider sophisticated, more street smart. "and you sir," the author addressed him now, "Yank or no, your choice of dress is not one that would garner any level of respect."

What's wrong with my look? Part of him wanted to demand, he rather liked the commander's waistcoat he'd gotten his hands on whilst he was in the states, it brought out his torso. The other part of him though, the one that beat down the other, reminding him that Rose was in trouble, kept him silent. Ribbing on fashion tastes could wait for later, and so he sighed and nodded stepping back to let Dickens promptly rap on the door with his cane.

Though Dickens couldn't hear it, there was a level of chatter going on inside the house, Kaullus' ears just picked up the tail end of an aged male Welshman telling someone to say he wasn't in – to tell them they were closed – anything to get them to go away. Seems Mr. Sneed has something to hide. He thought to himself, suspicions growing as he waited. Glancing at the Doctor did nothing to calm him, the man was just standing there, hands in his jacket pockets, bobbing on the balls of his feet. Git doesn't even look worried.

Again Dickens hit the door with his cane and this time he was rewarded with service. A young girl in maid's attire, not any older than Rose by the look of it, looking terrified beyond measure from just looking at the them, three men – one in expensive dress, one who looked ready to bash heads, and the other keen and relaxed (for which Kaullus would bop him over the head later) just staring inside – all stood in front of her. "I'm sorry sir, we're closed" she stuttered, still half-hidden by the door which she then tried to close again.

That's probably the worst lie an undertaker's maid could think up. Kaullus thought to himself.

Dickens' no-nonsense tone confirmed his thoughts, halting the maid's actions, "Nonsense, girl. Since when did an undertaker take office hours? The dead don't die on schedule." He drew himself up to his full height, aided by his cane which pushed him up from beneath, "I demand to see your master."

The girl, despite her fear, still managed to keep the not-very-good lie going, "H-he's not in sir." which flew completely in the face of her last statement. And again she tried to close the door, only this time to be met by Dickens' cane which he used to forcefully shove it right open bringing him face to face with her.

"Don't lie to me child!" His anger flared again in his tone, causing the maid's already wide scared-doe eyes to go even wider.

"I'm very sorry Mr Dickens," she apologised hastily, her voice pitching up a bit, "but the master's indisposed."

"Alright, that's enough." Kaullus at last pitched in, leaning forward over Dickens' shoulder so the girl could see him properly. "Now, I'm willing to consider you a mere accessory in all this but please stop lying, you're terrible at it. One," he raised his left hand and lifted up his index finger, "as Dickens here said, undertakers would be remiss to take office hours and so never close." First point made, he lifted his middle finger "Two, an undertaker would be an idiot to leave his establishment without leaving some form of notice, or to even live anywhere else even if you were closed for any reason – and we know he's in because your hearse is left out there not even covered up…" he leaned back for a moment to look at the steed, "and your horse is still reined up to it. And three," his ring finger came up, "even if an undertaker is indisposed it is a maid's duty to at least take a message to her master telling her that there are three gentlemen at the door, two of which saw said master drugging their friend, hauling her into the previously mentioned poorly hidden hearse, and making off with her as if she was some common trollop!" His own temper had started to spike as he went through his third point, his voice rising in volume causing the girl to back away from the door, eyes so wide they threatened to pop out of their sockets. Though Kaullus didn't much care, indeed he opened his mouth and kept going on, "So don't stand there, bleating out excuses and wasting our time! You can't bring your master here? Then we'll just-!"

"Having trouble with your gas?" The Doctor's still annoyingly calm voice interrupted his tirade, causing him to turn and stare at him incredulously. Now? He wanted to point out weird gas problems now?! But the Doctor just nodded past him to the house's interior. Snarling in frustration, Kaullus turned back, fully set on continuing his rant. But then his eyes caught sight of a brief flickering just beyond the maid and, unbidden, lifted to see what was causing the light show.

There was a gas lamp hung up in the hall, and the flame was dancing up and down, shifting size and intensity. So there's something faulty with the gas pipes, that's not exactly cause for concern. But then his ears pricked up – there was a faint, almost not there at all, whisper on the air. A shrill, cold sensation that crawled up and down is spine. No wait that's not a whisper. More like a moaning…just very high toned. Like a woman's scream mid-orgasm. Trying to focus in on the sound, Kaullus found his eyes lifting to look at the flame itself, "The hell?" Every time the cry came back, the flame shot up and died when it subsided.

"What in the Bard's name is going on?" It seemed that Dickens had seen the odd actions of the lamp as well.

Curiosity stopped him in his tracks, and so he was nearly bowled over when the Doctor shoved him out of the way and entered the house, ignoring the maid's pleas, and pressed his ear against the covered plaster. He stayed there a moment before murmuring, likely to himself "There's something inside the walls."

Rolling his eyes, Kaullus moved past the girl and put his own ear against the wall, and nearly jumped away immediately. What the hell is that? The faint moaning from before had tripled in volume, becoming more like a scream than anything else. Glancing at the Doctor, he couldn't refrain from muttering wryly, "Don't suppose it could be rats do you?" That resulted in a queer glance and he shrugged a bit self-consciously, "Rats that taught themselves to sing…badly?"

The Doctor just scoffed at him and pressed his ear back against the wall, a hand subconsciously running its way up it, trailing the path of the voice… "The gas pipe," he murmured, sounding a bit astonished himself, then looked back at the rest of them, "there's something living inside the gas!"

"Like Marley at the theatre?" Kaullus asked, pausing to listen again, though the wailing now seemed fainter, drifting away. A few moments later it was gone. "Where'd it go?" He pressed his ear closer to the wall, trying to find it again but all he got were traces.

Further investigation was put on hold however as somewhere down the hallway, someone was beating a hand on wood. A very familiar someone. "Let me out!"

Focus shifted again, and his gaze snapped back to the maid whose expression had shifted from fearful to resigned guilt. The Doctor was right there with him. "That's her!"

Forget about confirmation! What the hell was he doing, sticking his ear against a wall?! Abandoning the gas lamp and the Doctor, and reminding himself to deal with whoever was responsible for this later, Kaullus sprinted down the corridor, listening for Rose.

"Open the door!"

Oh Auren, she's terrified! Of course she was! He immediately reprimanded himself, cursing himself for forgetting Rose's aversion to anything to do with corpses. And they were in a funeral home. Corpses galore. Though by the sound of the frantic pounding you'd think she was being set upon by zombies or something. Do Cybermen count as zombies? No, focus Neuvo! Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, Kaullus was vaguely aware that the Doctor and Dickens were following him, and likely the maid too, but right now he was far more concerned about Rose than anything else. And so when a bald elderly man who had to be Mr Sneed the undertaker, and thus the one responsible for Rose being in the predicament she was in, stepped in his way to impede his progress, Kaullus felt no guilt whatsoever for what he did next.

"How dare you sir!" The undertaker demanded angrily, "This is my hou-!" He never finished because Kaullus suddenly rammed his fist into the crotchety old bugger's face, laying him out cold on the floor. Kaullus didn't even so much as blink or slow down, listening for Rose's calls for help.

"Let me out! Open the door!" He was close now, that cry came from right ahead, "Somebody please, open the door!" There was a faint groaning just barely audible over Rose's frantic voice but he could just make it out, a sort of throaty noise, and suddenly Kaullus considered that maybe that idea of corpses walking about wasn't too far off the mark after all. Which would be Rose's worst nightmare, a consideration that got him to the door all the quicker and tried to open, resulting in what he should have come to expect.

"It's locked!"

"And you bopped out the only chap who know where the keys are!" The Doctor snapped at him, pushing on the door himself.

"Get any more snippy with me, you'll be the next to go down!" Kaullus barked back, "And what the hell're you doing?! Just sonic it for crying out loud!"

"I can't!" The Doctor replied, "It doesn't work on wood!"

"Your screwdriver doesn't do wood?!" He shouted back, incredulous. Of all the things in the universe for the sonic screwdriver not to work on, it had to be fucking wood?! "Didn't you ever think of doing something about that?!"

"Well just use yours then!" The Doctor retorted, "Bet you took care of that!"

"What do you mean 'use mine?'" The question was cut off though when they heard a scream from the other side, which was quickly muffled out. Thoughts of ingenuity fled him and Kaullus resorted to his tried and true method of 'When in doubt, break it.'

"Move over!" He shoved the Doctor back, almost knocking him and Dickens over and backed up a bit before kicking out sharply on the door, sending it wide open and nearly snapping it off his hinges.

Inside, Rose was being held by a young man, middle class by the cut of his black clothing, one of his hands clasped firmly around the lower half of her face, suffocating her. There was also an old woman there, the same one that Sneed and his maid had made off with before taking Rose as well, just standing there watching on. The pair of them wearing completely blank expressions.

There are many things in the world that can make Kaullus angry: Genocide, tyranny, oppression, racial subjugation, slavery – hence why he offered his services to the northern American states – and so on. But it's when someone threatens people that he considered friends and family that he really becomes dangerous. As such he'd crossed the distance between him and Rose's attackers almost instantly and grabbed the offensive appendage by the wrist, pulling it back. With his free hand, Kaullus pulled Rose out of the man's grasp and wrapped his arm around her waist, all the while not letting go of the hand. Then he focussed on the man, glaring at him frostily.

"Big mistake." He whispered coolly, before tightening his hold on the wrist until a crunching noise could be heard as he ground the bone into dust. Eerily the man didn't even seem fazed by this and just stared at him blankly with those emotionless white eyes. Okay, backing away from the oddball now. Listening to his inner monologue, Kaullus led Rose back to the group, hands abandoning her waist as soon as they were back. This wasn't his Rose after all. It didn't mean he couldn't feel her shivering as she stared at the remaining occupants of the room.

For a moment the assembled group just stared at the two standing corpses that were now just staring at them, having made no movement since Kaullus crushed the man's hand. Then Dickens broke the silence. "It's a prank, must be." There was that voice of reason and logic again, trying to make sense of what he did not understand. "We're under some sort of mesmeric influence."

"No we're not," the Doctor responding, a touch of awe in his voice as he looked at the pair, standing stiff and rigid before them, "the dead are walking." Then he turned to grin at Rose, finally acknowledging her existence. "Hi." He said cheerfully.

"Hi." She replied, still panting a bit, getting her breath back. Glancing behind them she noted their new addition, "Who's your friend?"

"Charles Dickens."

"What?" She looked back at him again, slightly bewildered now, "As in David Copperfield?"

Smirking, Kaullus turned to Dickens "You'll get no rest from her now," he told him, "that's one of her favourites."

The leader of this merry little band however had returned his focus to the corpses still staring at them. "There's no need to be alarmed," he told them truthfully, "I'm the Doctor. Who are you? What're you doing here?"

And then the male corpse did something decidedly creepy. He answered, but the response was laid over with another voice that was decidedly not his own. "Failing – open the rift, we're dying." That was spoken by the man clearly enough by the movement of his lips and the first voice. The second however, mingled in with his, sounded almost childlike, innocent. Which made no sense considering whoever was driving that body had just tried to smother Rose!

"Trapped in this form," the corpse continued, "cannot sustain – help us."

Yeah? And why should we? Kaullus wanted to ask, however he never got the chance. Whatever was inside the man and old woman must have been telling the truth as both bodies suddenly went completely still, their heads stuck upwards and mouths wide open. Out of them streaked two long streams of blue vapour that swirled about the room for a moment, filling it with that awful screaming wail before retreating into the two lit gas lamps behind them.

Without the controllers inhabiting the bodies to guide them, the two very clearly dead humans collapsed in a heap of limbs and decay on the floor. And still nobody could say anything; this was a completely new experience, even for the Doctor. Oh Kaullus had had his run-ins with ghosts before, done more than a few exorcisms, and even been possessed himself once – it didn't end well for the ghost – but he'd never seen spirits animate already dead hosts, which ruled ghosts right out, they needed the life force of a living human to sustain their possession. Take that away and they had nothing to manipulate.

So if it's not ghosts…he glanced at the Doctor. This evening just got a whole lot more complicated.

Still, he couldn't help but worry as he stared at the gas lamps. Why would any sane person think opening the dimensional rift in Cardiff was a good idea?

They cleared up the chapel of rest quickly, Tahkaullus mocking the Doctor's sonic screwdriver for not working on wood – which was a good thing to know for future cock-ups. He could've said something though. Rose couldn't help but grouse. And when she asked Tahkaullus why he didn't just use his he looked at her as if she'd grown a second head.

"That's the second time someone's mentioned that." He told her, indicating the Doctor. And then suddenly his face became all joyous and a bit excited. "I get my own sonic screwdriver?" He asked, his previous non-understanding vanishing. "Ooh now isn't that a story." That was all he said on the subject before turning back to the coffin he was currently sealing shut with nails and a hammer.

Personally, Rose would be glad to never be so close to a dead body again even if her life depended on it. That had been decidedly the worst thing that had happened to her in the last couple of days, bar none. The sun had nearly burned her up but that was different! There was no desire or choice involved there! This had been an intentional attack on her…by zombies. Of all the things why did it have to be zombies?

The dizzy spell she'd had before suddenly came back in force and she had to lean on the wall for a moment. That bloody drug wasn't completely out of her system yet, it seemed.

"Rose?" Apparently she hadn't gone unnoticed as suddenly Tahkaullus was by her side, looking her over. "You okay?"

Shaking her head at the hand he offered, she tried to stand up straight again, "I'm fine, just a bit of the stuff they knocked me out with." She told him, only to feel the vertigo hit her again and she put a hand on her head.

Shaking his head, Tahkaullus reached into his coat and pulled out his holstered cane. "Here, lean on this." He held it out to her.

For a moment she eyed him oddly, trying to figure out what his game was. Even if he had seemed to be quite the charmer, he'd crushed that wrist as if it had been nothing. Then the dizziness struck her again, rocking her about as she tried to step forward. Tahkaullus was at her side in a second, but she waved him off again, though this time she did take the cane and leant on it as another bout hit her.

The Doctor, finished with his work on the other coffin (muttering all the way at having been lowered to such things as hammers and nails), must have spotted her because the next thing he said was, "Shall we move this to another room then?" For which she was grateful, a bit of a sit would do her a world of good right now. She could just hear her mum going on at her now.

"Now you sit down right there. Don't know what you were thinkin', havin' all that in one go. Look what it's done to you! Trudging around, not seeing anything before it hits you. Imagine if Bev saw you like this!"

And she'd probably go on and on and on. Could probably talk for England, her mum. Speaking of which she should probably call her up or stop round after all this was done, the line about her being out all night wouldn't work if she didn't come back for weeks.

Still that wasn't the important bit of the night, and she was brought crashing back to that when they were halted by Tahkaullus and the Doctor who were looking down at something. "Ah," the former was saying, "I forgot about that."

"You forgot decking him at forty miles an hour?" The Doctor snarked.

He just shrugged, "I punch a lot of people, I'm entitled to a bit of forgetfulness."

What're they on about? Pushing her way between the two of them, Rose found her answer in the form of an bald old man dressed in black attire, out cold on the floor with an angry red mark blazing on his forehead. "You knocked him out?" She asked, staring up at Tahkaullus, "You couldn't have just knocked him aside?"

Here he at least had the decency to look a bit sheepish, scratching the back of his head a bit. "Well I was in a rush. I wasn't thinking."

"Yeah clearly." She muttered, remembering watching him pull a gun on the person she'd thought had been her boyfriend just a couple of days before.

The latest victim of Tahkaullus' non-thinking approach began to stir a bit before opening groggy eyes and looking up at the assorted party staring down at him. Somewhere from behind them, the maid had pushed her way forward and was now kneeling beside him. "Mr Sneed sir, are you alright?" She reached to give him a hand up but he angrily batted her away.

"I told you to tell them I wasn't in!" He berated her, "I told you to get rid of them! Not let them step inside and start meddling in affairs beyond their understanding!"

At first, Rose would've snapped at him for being rude and ungrateful, the girl was just trying to help him up for crying out loud! But then she'd put a name and face to the voice of the man sprawled out on the floor, who was now sitting up and looking at them. This was the same man who'd been carrying her around the place! Who'd stuck her in that box! The same rotten bugger who'd put her in that locked room with a bunch of dead people who'd then got up and tried to kill her!

"On second thought," she said shortly, turning back to Tahkaullus, "good aim. Mind if I have a go next?"

He raised an eyebrow at her in…well she thought it was surprise, but the amused smile suggested otherwise as he replied, "Be my guest."

Stepping away from her, he reached down and picked Sneed up from the floor by his elbow and then proceeded to practically drag him through the hallway. The poor sod looked properly terrified as he suddenly recognised who was pulling him and he started spouting all kinds of nonsense. Behind her, Charles Dickens made a noise of disapproval. "I say, not exactly one for subtlety, your friend. That's rather a rough way of handling this situation, is it not?"

The Doctor shrugged, "A bit protective when comes to this one." He indicated her, though they both shared identical looks of lacking understanding the reasons behind such protectiveness. In the end, the Doctor just grinned and turned to the maid, "Sorry, what was your name?"

"Gwyneth, sir." She replied, though she looked properly frightened, probably expecting him to do the same to her as Tahkaullus had just done to her master.

But the Doctor just nodded, smiling away. "Pop the kettle on for us, would you Gwyneth?" That was all he said before herding Rose and Mr Dickens into the living room where Tahkaullus had chucked Sneed into an armchair, the old man having found some fire since being taken away.

"I'll not stand for this!" He was saying as they entered, though he was sat right back into the chair, probably hoping it would swallow him whole. "This is my house! You are breaking and entering into my property! I can have you taken in by the Gavers I can!"

"And we can have you taken in for kidnapping. You see how that works?" Tahkaullus snapped right back, arms folded and leaning against the hearth, though his face was a set expression of malevolence just waiting to get out. He glanced up as they entered, and his scowl transformed into a mean grin once the Doctor had closed the door. "Although first, I think I'll let you speak with the kidnappee. I do believe she has a few words for you."

"Oh I do." Rose muttered to herself, cane poised as she walked briskly to stand between him and Sneed, glaring down at the old man beneath her. "First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me," here she raised the cane up, brandishing the end right between his eyes, "and don't think I didn't feel your hands take a quick wander you dirty old man." To her left, she was mildly aware of the Doctor snickering from the spot he'd taken on the other side of the hearth, to which she rolled her eyes. So pleased you find this entertaining. You try having some stranger roaming around your bust.

"I won't be spoken to like this -!"

"In your own house, etcetera, etcetera." Tahkaullus growled from her right, and she could picture him cracking his knuckles. "I think you'll find that you will be spoken to, just like this, by her. Capito il mio amico?"

The Doctor snorted at that, "Italian again?"

"Napoli.Te lo sei perso da un continente. Fattene una ragione."

"And then!" She shouted, more to get their attention focussed again than anything else, cane back up and practically touching Sneed's red forehead. "You stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that weren't enough – you swan off! And leave me to die! So come on," this time the cane really did press into Sneed's head, "talk!"

"It's not my fault, it's this house!" The old bugger finally shouted, fear, anger and a nice shade of humiliation seeping into his tone. Suddenly realising his blunder, he looked around at the group assembled, noting the look of interest sparking on the Doctor's face. Sighing in resignation he continued, "It's always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had any bother until a few months back. And then the stiffs-" He paused a moment, regarding first her distasteful look and then the mildly offended one on Mr Dickens before rephrasing it to, "the, er, dear departed started getting restless."

At this, Mr Dickens snorted. "Tommyrot!"

Not exactly when you saw it happen Rose thought, suddenly feeling the need to stroke her neck. That grip hadn't exactly been a nice fondle.

Further to her disgust, Sneed agreed with her statement, "You witnessed it sir! Can't keep the beggars down! They walk. And it's the queerest thing," he frowned a little as he went on, "but they all hang on to scraps. One old fella, used to be a sexton, almost walked in on his own memorial service! Just like the old lady going to your performance sir," he said to Mr Dickens, "just as she planned."

But again he just wrote it off, "Morbid fancy." He stated bluntly.

"Says the man who writes about ghosts at Christmas and on Railways." Tahkaullus retorted. "You were there, and unless I miss my guess, your eyes still work. You saw it."

"I saw nothing more," Mr Dickens stated firmly and stoically "than an illusion."

"Brilliant. You're taking the path of denial," Tahkaullus snarked, throwing his hands in the air, "well then fine, but stop wasting our time. Just shut up."

The Doctor made no move to correct him, focussing on Sneed "What about the gas?" He asked, "The creatures coming out of the gas pipes, when did that start?"

But the old man just shook his head, looking as bewildered as the rest of them had been when they saw the creatures coming out of the two bodies. "That's new sir, never seen anything like that."

But the Doctor seemed to have taken that into account, "Means it's getting stronger," he said immediately, "the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through."

That still left one question unanswered for Rose though. "And what, for us mere mortals, exactly is 'the rift?'"

"A weak point in space and time." he explained, "The connection between this place and somewhere else in the universe." Well that answered the question but raised another…how could time have a weak point? Shouldn't it be unable to get weak at all?

"Think of the universe as a person's arm." Tahkaullus picked up, seeing her lost expression, "Somewhere, at some point in time, some idiot decided it was a good idea to mess with the laws of all known and unknown physics. As such he built himself the quantum-mechanical equivalent of a knife and cut a great big hole in the skin of the universe, all of time and space at his command. Eventually, said idiot was overthrown and chucked into the very hole in time that he'd created. The hole then sealed itself, but it left a wound that spanned the entire cut that was made in time and space. Here that wound happens to take the form of an inter-dimensional highway. In Cardiff." He smirked a little bit thinking about it. "After all, where else would you hide something that important? Stonehenge is taken."

"Okay…" that made a bit more sense, though it left one more question, "how did the idiot in the story get trapped?"

"Oh…" He chuckled a bit, pushing himself off of the hearth to stand up straight. "You know all good fairytales: A good wizard tricked it." He nodded a little bit to the left at the Doctor. "Mind you, good wizards got a bit boring after a while. They always turned out to be the same person."

"Getting off topic a bit there." The Doctor spoke up again, frowning at Tahkaullus' explanation. "Fact is, the rift's been letting something through from another location. Probably the source of many a ghost story with this place, yeah?" He directed the query to Sneed, who nodded along with a look of revelation.

"Indeed, exactly how I got it so cheap. Stories going back generations. Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air and this feeling like a…shadow…passing over your soul." Rose had to resist rolling her eyes, even if she did feel like there was something crawling up her spine, there wasn't any need for them to start telling ghost stories. There was no such thing…right? The whole room though had descended into a tense hush at Sneed's words. Even Gwyneth the maid (when did she sneak in?) had stopped cold still at her master's words, and she had to have seen some of this happen. Quickly though he snapped out of it. "Mind you, truth be told, its been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."

Yeah, very good sales pitch, Rose thought, 'Come to Sneed's funeral services! We'll give the dead the rest they deserve! And if you happen not to like it, we have the live selection of living dead zombies for you to be smothered to death by!'

She would have said as much, had Tahkaullus not spoken up before her. "Where'd Dickey boy go?" Looking up, Rose realised that Mr Dickens was missing from the group, the door to the hall hanging open.

"Slipped out whilst Sneed was giving us his story." The Doctor answered, trust him to be the one to notice and be engrossed by the weirdness of the night at the same time. Sighing he pushed himself away from the hearth and made for the door. "Well, might as well go and calm him down a bit."

Once he left, everyone else seemed to get busy as well. Sneed slipped his greasy way out of the chair and started giving Gwyneth orders, frankly reminding Rose of the stepmother in Cinderella. Except less evil…and male. Gwyneth however did everything he told her and was soon dashing out the door as well. Realising he was now alone in the same room as the man who had knocked him out and the girl who'd stuck a cane in his face, Sneed bade a hasty retreat and buggered off as well.

That just left Rose and Tahkaullus to themselves with nothing to do. He was the first to move away, plopping himself down in the armchair and stretching himself out over it as if he were a cat – Rose could've sworn she heard him purring. The sight of him so content and, well, relaxed despite the odd night made her smile a little bit. Regardless of the amount of arguing they did, he and the Doctor were a lot alike: Both dealt with aliens, both of them had a tendency of running into trouble…oh, and of course, they were both a pair of smug gits. If they took the time to note their similarities the two of them would probably get on like a house on fire.

And then the house probably would catch fire. She couldn't help but point out to herself, which elicited a small giggle. Small, but still enough for Tahkaullus to hear and he looked up at her, eyebrow raised – there was a faint scar running through it, you had to really look to see it, but it raised up with the eyebrow.

"What's so funny?" He asked, a touch amused.

But she shook her head, "Nothin'." She replied, and nearly broke out properly when he got a look that spouted complete offence. A look which forcefully reminded her of Mr 'I am so impressive!' Time Lord.

"What?" He asked again, now really curious.

"Nothing!" She replied again, trying to get her giggles under control. Look at him, all kicked-puppy and inquisitive. It'd be cute if he couldn't break bones with those hands. That thought sobered her up and she finally got control back, for once actually looking at the man before her. Though he looked relaxed, Rose could now see that his legs were jiggling just a little bit, as if anticipating the need to bolt out the door and do something at any moment, and his hands were digging into the fabric of the arms on the chair, likely to leave marks once he left it. Even his smile was duplicitous, because his eyes – those same stormy blue eyes that were so like the Doctor's it was scary – were assessing her, as if he was scanning her and looking for a weak spot. Thoughts like this made her stand just a little bit straighter before asking, "So is this what you do? Wander around the Earth and sometimes you just happen to run into us?"

Tahkaullus winced at her summary of it but answered nonetheless, "That's about the long and short of it. Though I bet I've probably missed you a number of times."

"But how?" She pressed, looking him over. He wasn't a day older than he'd been in her time. "How are you even here in this time? You're too young." Unless… "Are you a time traveller too?"

"Ooh…" Again he frowned, this time at the question, "That's a difficult question to answer, 'cos even I don't have the full story on that one." He leaned forward again in the chair, elbows now resting on knees, fingers locking together. "Let's just say 'I'm old' and leave it at that for now, yeah? As for the time traveller bit…I guess you could say I am…in the very basic term."

"An' what's that?"

"Rose…please," the resignation in his voice stopped her, and when she looked at him properly she could see a growing sadness in his eyes. "Please don't ask me questions you'll already know the answer to."

What does that mean though? She wanted to ask him, but again the distraught look on his face brought her up short. He really didn't want to say anything…or rather he did but something was keeping him from doing so. In the end she just let out an annoyed sigh and nodded, leaning on his cane a bit. Now that she really noticed it, the head didn't seem to fit properly. It was loose. Not as well to do then as he likes to pretend, then?

She was about to ask him that, but he beat her to it with a question of his own. "Right then, shall we synch up?" Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a small black leather-bound notebook (Is everything he owns black?) and opened it on a random page. "Now then, as we've already established…" he glanced up at her again, narrowing his eyes a little, "and going by the hair colour and amount of make-up it's early days for the two of you. Nevertheless, time can always be rewritten so…" he tapped something he had written down "the Town of Mercy, have we done that yet?"

If he expected that to mean anything to her he was sadly mistaken, all he got was a blank look that screamed 'What?'

"Okay, clearly that's still on to stay as is...hang on," and here he smiled a bit, "Bill and the Carrions, has that gone by yet?" Again, to his apparent dismay she just gave him a look of complete understanding, with a percentage of zero. "Clearly not..oy me, keeping track of you two is like pinning a dart on the bulls-eye, possible but the chances are never in your favour…ah how's about this one!" He was about to recite something that Rose was absolutely sure that she would have no idea what he was on about, but then he looked up at her and just…froze.

"Oh…" he sighed, still just looking at her, the book forgotten as he slowly stood up again, "but just look at you." And suddenly his hand had cupped her cheek and was stroking it gently, "You're so young."

"Ah…I'm er…" Oh god she was quivering, "I'm eighteen actually, so not young by this time. In fact I should probably be married at this age, right?"

"But not you…" He countered fondly, a small smile tugging at his lips, however it seemed forced and completely out of place. "But you are…look at you." He tugged gently at a wisp of free hair that had come loose what with all the carrying around that had happened to her today, "Still blonde…and way too much make up…and younger than I've ever seen either of you."

Younger than… She frowned a bit as she tried to work out what he was saying, "Have you seen us before then?" But he'd become distracted again, just taking her in and looking so incredibly sad. "Look…Tahkaullus, if there's something you wanna…"

"Kaullus." He stressed. Not getting what he was talking about she looked at him in askance. "You always called me Kaullus. No prompting, no mistaking it for offence…you just always called me Kaullus." But that meant nothing to her…but it clearly meant something to him as he went back to just caressing her face again…as if this was something he was used to doing. "Rose," He tried again, desperation seeping into his voice "it's me, it's Kaullus…" unnoticed by him, Rose spotted a single tear starting to fall down his cheek, "please…please tell me you know who I am."

And yet again, she didn't know what to say. She didn't know all that much, just his name and his penchant for turning up at the same places as them. But he spoke to her as if they'd known each other their whole lives. It was crushing him, she could see, by just how much she wasn't saying.

Thankfully, she suspected for both of them, Gwyneth made her return then. Immediately Tahkaullus dropped his hand down again, stuffing both in his coat's pockets and looked at anything but her. The maid however didn't see their interactions and just brought him a cup of coffee. "You always prefer coffee when you have something extraordinary to do, correct sir?"

Glancing at her, Tahkaullus gave her a strained smile and took the cup. "Thanks, love." He said quietly before looking at Rose again. "Well I…I better see what's taking his Big-eared-ness so long." That said, he dropped down and picked up his notebook, stuffed it back in his coat, and without so much as another glance their way, practically ran out of the living room.

The awkward air that left was not broken for some time as Gwyneth made a hasty excuse to get back to work and hurried out again, leaving Rose now with even more questions than before. Nevertheless they took a back seat as she recalled the look on Tahkaullus face when she didn't respond to his last questions. Sad didn't do what she'd seen there justice.

He'd looked…devastated.

A/N: "Napoli.Te lo sei perso da un continente. Fattene una ragione." Translates to "Naples. You missed it by a continent. Deal with it."
Well...poor Kaullus. Confused Rose. Uninformed Doctor. In denial Dickey-boy. Bashed and beaten Sneed (I'm going to have Kaullus punch at least one person per episode. Don't worry, the Doctor is on that list too). Gwyneth the psychic.
Yes, the notebook is Kaullus' version of River's diary but it doesn't come out much. Only when he's really uncertain of their positions in their respective timelines. It's not a keepsake that details every little thing. As was noted, he didn't initially recognise the Doctor. Like the name suggests, its just notes of what he remembers of the times he's run into them.
As for Rose's freaking out around the corpses, it always got me that there was nothing that really scared her. Even the Daleks and Cybers got a miss. Really only Satan really shook her up. With Martha...well I'm pretty sure anyone would be terrified of the Weeping Angels. Donna was decidedly freaked out by the Sontarans. And Amy...Angels again. Rory's only real fear, I guess, would be losing Amy.
So I figured, let's give her a real fear of something, and the idea was born. Yeah that's gonna contend with a few things later on, but hey! I'm the author here! That makes me God! BOW DOWN TO ME!
Anyway, voting on the interludes is still up. Please tell me. I wanna know.