The lock clicked almost immediately after Jenny and Sabrina entered the TARDIS. "Did you do that?" Sabrina asked tentatively.
"Nope, not me," Jenny said, striding up to the console. "Dad didn't really forget his screwdriver, did he?"
"No way," Sabrina said, shaking her head. "And even if he did, Mum has hers. He just told us to come in here. So what do we do now?"
"We wait. Idris told me that we needed to be here." Jenny poked a few buttons noncommittally.
"Who is she? Mum seemed to know her, Dad not so much."
"She is the soul of the TARDIS that House put into a human body," the blonde said casually.
The room began to glow a dark green. "Very good, young one." House's deep drone filled the air. "You may be just amusing enough to keep around."
Standing up straight, Jenny looked around the room. "What are you doing in here?" she demanded.
"What I should have done half a million years ago, stretch my legs." The voice took on a more sinister tone. "Now tell me why I shouldn't kill you both right now."
It was Sabrina that stepped forward this time. "Because there wouldn't be any sport in that. You keep people around as pets as entertainment. Someone that you could make suffer. Kill us now and the entertainment is gone." While she was speaking, Sabrina had inched closer to Jenny. Now they were side by side.
"I'm game if you are," House said darkly. "Now run."
Sabrina grabbed Jenny's hand and the two of them took off down the corridor. "Now we just need to stay alive long enough for the parents to sort this out," Jenny laughed.
"Running for your life is a past time for us Tylers," Sabrina giggled and pulled her sister down the nearest passage
"It's gone," Rose said, her voice flat, not wanting to show her fear.
Swallowing hard, Idris asked, "Eaten?"
"No, it left." The Doctor reached out a comforting hand to both women. "Not eaten, hijacked. But why?"
Auntie trudged past them. "It's time for us both to go, Uncle, together." She sat down on a pile of rubbish and unfolded a blanket.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Go?" the Doctor exclaimed. "What do you mean 'go'? Where are you going?"
"Well, we're dying, my love. It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off." She helped Uncle with his blanket.
"I'm against it," Uncle added dejectedly.
"It's your fault, isn't it, Sweets?" Auntie said to the Doctor. "'Cause you told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on them if there's none more coming, can he?" She pulled her blanket over herself.
Uncle mimicked Auntie's actions. "So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDISES."
Rose's hand twitched in the Doctor's. "It won't." He said it more for Rose's benefit than the patchwork people's.
"Oh, it'll think of something," Auntie assured them before she collapsed. Uncle cheerfully said that he felt fine before he collapsed in death as well.
"We need to go this way, Doctor. Quickly," Idris said, pointing to a ridge in the distance.
"Why?" His words questioned her but his feet had already began to move in the direction that she indicated.
"'Cause we are there in three minutes. We need to go now!" Idris tried to run but quickly tripped, bracing her side. "Roughly how long do these bodies last?"
"Not as long as you'd hope," Rose said as she helped her upright. "Especially with you in there."
"You're dying." The Doctor's voice was fearful.
"Yes, of course I'm dying. I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time. No. Stop. Don't get emotional," Idris said, continuing to walk towards their destination. Although if she was leaning on Rose a bit, no one dared to say anything. "You're the Doctor. Focus."
"On what?! How? I'm a mad man with a box without a box." His voice raised an octave. "I'm stuck down the Plughole at the End of the Universe in a stupid old junkyard! Oh."
"Oh what?" Idris asked.
"I think he just came up with a brilliant but utterly mad plan." Rose beamed.
"Course I did, because I'm both brilliant and mad. Along with many other things." He straightened his bowtie. "Because it's not a junkyard. Don't you see it's not a junkyard?"
"What is it, then?" Idris asked.
"It's a TARDIS junkyard. Come on!" He quickened his pace for a moment before stopping and turning to face his two favorite women in the Universe. "Oo. Sorry. Do you have a name?"
"Seven hundred years, finally he asks," Idris said in an aside to Rose.
"I'm sure that rudeness is one personality trait that transcends every regeneration," Rose said with a giggle. "Although there is always hope for the next one."
The Doctor rolled his eyes. The girls, two of his daughters, were quite possibly in danger and these two were gossiping. "What do I call you? What would you like me to call you?"
"I think you call me... Sexy," Idris said with a wink, causing Rose to laugh harder.
He shuffled from one foot to another. "Only when we're alone. And I'm sure that you noticed that Rose is here."
"Oh no, don't let me stop you," Rose said quickly. "I learned a long time ago not to get in between the two of you."
"Oh. Come on then, Sexy." The Doctor strode off in the direction that they had originally been heading. A minute later the three of them stood on a ridge overlooking the remains of hundreds of once beautiful ships. "Valley of half-eaten TARDISES. You thinking what I'm thinking?"
Sadly, Idris surveyed her surroundings and sagged slightly. "I'm thinking all of my sisters are dead. That they were devoured. And that we are looking at their corpses." She tilted her head towards Rose, who mirrored her actions. The two women stood, foreheads touching somberly mourning the dead.
"Ah. Sorry, no. I wasn't thinking that." His voice showed genuine remorse for not sharing her thoughts.
"No. You were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models." Idris smiled. "And you don't care that it's impossible?"
"It's not impossible as long as we're alive. Especially with the three of us here and you know that Rose Tyler doesn't do impossible. Sabrina and Jenny need me, need us. So yeah, we're gonna build a TARDIS." The Doctor looked positively giddy as he and Rose helped Idris down the hill. In fact, he was bouncing with unrestrained energy as he began to assemble the necessary pieces together.
His mood didn't last long, though. It became clear that Idris and the Doctor had different ideas about how the complex machinery should fit together. It shouldn't have come as any big surprise, not with as many burns and electric shocks he'd received from her over the past several centuries.
"Rose, can you help me move this?" He indicated the heavy piece of flooring that he'd already attached a rope to.
"You okay?" Rose asked, walking over to help him drag the item over to its needed destination.
"Just peachy," he said a little harsher than he intended. There will still so many things that he wanted to ask his TARDIS while he had the chance. Things that he didn't want Rose or Rory to interpret her answers on, most of them about exactly what Bad Wolf meant. And right now a surge of jealousy at their ability hit him, hard.
"Bond the tube directly into the tacking diverter," Idris said as they reached her.
"Yes. Yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know. I know what I'm doing." Again his words had more of a bite than he meant them to. He could feel that need to lash out grow.
"You're like a nine-year-old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom," Idris tutted. "And you never read the instructions."
"I always read the instructions," he immediately shot back.
"You don't even have my instructions anymore. You threw them into a supernova," Idris tritely replied.
Rose rubbed her head. "And it had been going so well. Guess it was bound to happen, wasn't it? Especially with two such headstrong aliens." Her voice was barely audible to the other two.
"I threw it into a supernova when it said there was no way I could go and get Rose from Pete's World," he huffed as he dropped the rope he was holding, leaving Rose to finish hauling the heavy thing the rest of the way.
"And now you know why that was. She was in that other world to protect her, to start things in motion. The two of you had to be separated and I knew best in that regard." Idris refused to acquiesce to him on this. "And speaking of instructions. There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say?"
"That's not instructions!" the Doctor roared, not noticing Rose giggling behind them.
"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?"
"Pull to open," he spat out.
"Yes, and what do you do?"
"I push!"
"Every single time." Idris rolled her eyes and gave Rose a long suffering look. "Seven hundred years. Police box doors open out the way."
"I think I have earned the right to open my front doors anyway I want," he said stamping his foot.
"Your front doors? Have you any idea how childish that sounds?" she scolded him.
"Oh. You are not my mother," the Doctor replied flippantly.
"And you," she stood up taller, "are not my child."
"You know, since we're talking with mouths—not really an opportunity that comes along very often. Unlike some people I know." He shot a look to Rose, who crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. Obviously Rose wasn't happy with the way their conversation was progressing. Still he pressed on. "I just want to say, you know you have never been very reliable."
"And you have?" Idris shot back.
"You didn't always take me where I wanted to go." There was just a hint of hurt underneath his words.
"No, but I always took you where you needed to go," Idris replied calmly.
Realization hit him. "You did. Rose, she's right, she always takes me where I need to go." The Doctor grinned ridiculously. "Look at us! Talking! Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk, even when you're stuck inside the box?"
"But you know I'm not constructed that way." Her voice was a little sad. "I exist across all space and time and anyway I can always hear you. Rory or Rose can tell you what I'm saying. And besides, you talk enough for the both of us. And you run around and bring home strays!"
"You love us strays," Rose said with a smile. Idris started to turn towards her and nearly collapsed.
Skillfully, the Doctor caught her. "You okay?"
"One of the kidneys has already failed. It doesn't matter; we need to finish assembling the console," Idris said, uprighting herself only a moment before Rose got to her side.
"Using a console without a proper shell. Whew. It's not going to be safe." There was bit of fear but also excitement in his voice.
"This body has about eighteen minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach absolute zero in three hours. Safe is relative." Idris smiled and took a step back. "Wolf," She turned to Rose and patted the human, well, mostly human, woman's cheek. "There are several critical pieces that I am in need of. Can you get them for me?"
"Sure," Rose said as she brushed off her hands. "What do they look like?"
Blinking rapidly, Idris looked up at her and smiled. "I just sent you the images, dear. Now please hurry."
With a nod, Rose took off to another part of the TARDIS graveyard. Idris turned back to the Doctor. "Our Rose will be gone for 4 minutes 53 seconds. So whatever you want to ask, ask."
"How did you do that?" the Doctor asked quickly. "I mean, how did you tell her what we need? How are you able to communicate with her and Rory all the time? TARDISES aren't built for that type of communication."
"Rose and I share a unique connection. She is now a part of me and I of her. So many things happened when we were the Bad Wolf. It changed us, for the better, I think. And no, I am not meant to communicate with anyone but another TARDIS."
"Did that connection pass to Rory then? Is that how he can communicate with you and his TARDIS?" The Doctor seemed keen to get as many of his questions answered as possible.
Idris gave a small smile. "The power is only passed to the first born child. From Rose to Rory and from Rory to his first child. All of my Wolf's and my Cub's subsequent children will not possess the power. They will still be a part of me but will not hear my voice."
"Is that why the Silence were after Rory? The power of the Bad Wolf? Is that why they are after Amy now?" His voice was demanding now. This was his family's safety that lay in the balance here.
"My Doctor, I cannot reveal your future. You above all should know that." She turned around and began to work on a section of his cobbled console.
"What does it mean, though? Bad Wolf. I know the part about destroying the Daleks. But Rose harnessed it to pull her, James and Tony across the Void and back to this Universe. That shouldn't have been possible." He swallowed hard. "What does it mean?"
Idris stopped what she was doing and turned thoughtfully to him. "It is a great power, one always born out of love. The power to give and take life, to heal and to be so much more than they could ever thought possible." There was a faint golden glow behind her eyes as she said it.
"Do they know? Rose and Rory?" Do they know what being Bad Wolf means?" Momentary panic filled the Doctor. What if somehow Rose or Rory knew what kind of power they possessed and what if they decided to use it? That kind of power was dangerous.
"You know what, Doctor? They never thought to ask." Idris walked over and patted his arm. "Out of all the people in the Universe that I could have given this to, I chose the ones who would least want the power. So much so that they barely think of it at all." She gave a brief laugh and the Doctor sagged with relief.
Of course Rose wouldn't want to use the power of the Bad Wolf for anything more than protection for her family. And Rory was his mother's son. Now he only needed to worry about what was to be done to Rory's first born child.
"I think I've got them," Rose said as she appeared from behind a pile of debris. In her hand she held several crucial pieces of machinery.
The Doctor took them and hurried to the console to attach them along with the time rotor.
"Do you ever wonder why I chose you all those years ago?" Idris asked him as she picked up a clothes hanger to examine.
"I chose you. You were unlocked," he said as he passed Rose his sonic screwdriver to hold while he connected a pair of wires.
"Of course I was," Idris replied, picking up another broken bit of something. "I wanted to see the Universe so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away. And you were the only one mad enough. I chose Rose because she was the only one mad enough to love us both. At least in the way we deserved."
"And I always will," Rose assured her. The women's eyes met and they smiled as if sharing a secret. Which they probably were.
The Doctor took back his screwdriver, grabbed Rose's hand and bounced to the spot where Idris was standing. Together they took in the sight of the cobbled together, junkyard-made TARDIS console.
"Right." The Doctor rubbed his hands together. "Perfect. Look at that. What could possibly go wrong?" Something sprung loose and Rose raised an eyebrow. "That's fine. That always happens." He tried helplessly to sound reassuring.
"Time to go," Idris said, making her way towards their only way to make it off this rock and save the girls. She spent a few minutes examining her face in a small shaving mirror while the Doctor readied the controls.
"You're gorgeous," Rose leaned over and whispered to her. "Inside the box or out." Idris said nothing but simply smiled.
"It's not working." The Doctor angrily hit random buttons. "This place is full of rift; this should work. I've got nothing."
"Oh, my beautiful idiot." Idris took hold of Rose's hand. Placing two fingers to her lips and both she and Rose began to emanate a golden glow. "You have what you've always had. You've got me."
"And me," Rose added softly As Idris brought her fingers up to the time rotor, it flared to life. The familiar TARDIS sound filled the air and the Doctor practically jumped for joy. Soon they were spinning through space chasing the blue box.
"Can you get a message to Jenny? The telepathic circuits are online," Rose practically yelled over the loud noises rushing past them.
"Yes, I will send the girls to one of the old control rooms. They can lower the shields from there," Idris said, adjusting a slider.
The Doctor goggled at her. "There aren't any old control rooms. They were all deleted or remodeled."
"I archived them. For neatness. I've got about thirty now," Idris preened.
"I've only changed the desktop what, a dozen times?"
"So far, yes," she agreed.
"You can't archive something that hasn't happened yet," he protested.
"You can't!"
"You two fight like an old married couple," Rose laughed.
"Jealous?" the Doctor asked cheekily.
"Of you, the two of you?" Rose laughed. "Never."
"Hush now," Idris chastised as she readjusted the mirror. "Hello, Jenny!"
"Hello, Idris," Jenny beamed. "Sabrina and I have been running for our lives. What have you three been up to?"
"Making something impossible," Rose said, leaning into the frame of the telepathic messaging. "So typical day all around."
"You have to go to the old control room. I'm putting the route in your head. When you get there, use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields," Idris explained. "I'll send you the passcode when you get there. Good luck."
"What was that?" Sabrina called from below Jenny. They had been climbing a ladder in an attempt to shake off Nephew.
"Instructions," Jenny said back over her shoulder. "Basically now it's our turn to save the day. You up for it?"
"It's what I live for." They had reached the opening on the next level. Jenny slid through the opening and reached down to give Sabrina a hand up.
"So what's the plan?" Sabrina asked as she stood.
"First we have to find an old control room. Idris said that she would send the passcode once we got there." Jenny grabbed her hand. "Don't let go. We can't let House split us up now. And run."
The girls took off down the corridor, quickly winding their way through the maze of passages that Idris had sent. "Hurry up," Sabrina said, trying to stop herself from panting. "Nephew's right behind us. That is one fast Ood."
"We're here," Jenny said, skidding to a halt.
Idris filled her mind once more. "Crimson. Eleven. Delight. Petrichor."
Squeezing her eyes shut. "Crimson. Eleven. Delight. The smell of dust after rain." Her mind flashed on images she associated with those words.
A crimson flag flying in the sky.
Eleven family members. Mum, Dad, Tony, Trisha, EJ, Jamie, Rory, Amy, Sabrina, herself, and James. Her other Dad, and even though she would never get the chance to meet him, he was still very much a part of her family.
Delight in being told that she had found her family, her home, after so many years of searching.
Petrichor, a single drop of rain falling into the dust.
The door slid open and Sabrina yanked her inside. It was the Doctor's last control room, very similar to the one that Sabrina had grown up in, just missing the seatbelts and other restraints for the children of the family.
"Where did you find place? It's not on my internal schematic." House's voice boomed through the room.
"Guess we just know this place better than you." Sabrina shrugged and Jenny closed her eyes as Idris sent her final instructions.
The door slid open and Nephew entered. "I had hoped you two could join Nephew as my servants." House sounded almost bored now. "But you two are nothing but trouble. Nephew. Kill them."
The Ood stepped forward. Jenny slid the purple slider, then she pulled Sabrina back behind one of the coral pillars. The makeshift TARDIS control room materialized right on top of Nephew.
"Oh, that smarts," Idris said as Rose helped her out into the old control room.
"Mum! Dad!" Sabrina and Jenny called and ran over to their parents, hugging each of them in turn.
"Sabrina, Jenny, this is the TARDIS." The Doctor introduced his daughters to his beloved ship. "She's a woman. And she's the TARDIS."
Trying very hard to stop herself giggling, Sabrina asked, "Did you wish really hard?"
"Shut up!" The Doctor blushed. "Not like that."
"Hello," Idris said brightly. "I'm Sexy."
"And how does Mum feel about that?" Sabrina sassed. Rose swatted her arm and the Doctor blushed deeper.
"Oh! Still shut up."
"Doctor. I did not expect you." House's voice filled the air once more.
"Well, that's me all over, isn't it?" The playful, embarrassed lightness from his voice was gone now. It was time to deal with the entity that had threatened the lives of his daughters and his TARDIS. "The lovely old unexpected me."
"Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you now?" House asked.
"Check your engines; you don't have the power needed to get us back to the proper Universe." the Doctor explained as calmly as he could. "I can help."
"And why would you do that?" House probed.
"Because," the Doctor crossed his arms over his chest, "we would all like to get back to my Universe and mine's the one with the food in it. Look, I just need you to promise me that you'll keep us safe once we get there and I'll help you."
"Doctor, she's burning up," Rose said, gently stroking Idris' face.
The Doctor knelt in front of her. "Hey. Hang in there, Old Girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon."
"I always liked it when you called me Old Girl." Idris smiled.
"You want my word?" House mused. "Alright, I promise."
"Good." The Doctor brushed a bit of hair out of Idris' face, before he stood up. Jenny and Sabrina immediately took his place by her side. "Just delete 30% of the rooms and you can get the thrust you need."
"Thank you, Doctor. And I can rid myself of vermin by deleting this room. Goodbye, Time Lords. Goodbye, tiny humans. Goodbye, Idris." The last word came out with a bite as House began to delete the room around them. The old console room started to disappear and the current one shifted into view.
"Yes. I mean you could do that but it just won't work." His voice carried that smugness that he got when he managed to manipulate someone into doing exactly what he wanted them to. "Hardwired fail safe. Living things from rooms that are deleted are automatically deposited in the main control room. But thanks for the lift."
"Fear me. I've killed hundreds of Time Lords," House spat.
"Fear me," the Doctor said coldly. "I've killed all of them." Walking over to Rose, he pulled her to her feet. Immediately, he wrapped an arm around her, needing her strength.
Idris was whispering something to Jenny. "I don't understand. There isn't a forest in here," Jenny said, brushing Idris' forehead. But the woman offered no explanation, turning to Sabrina instead. The youngest Tyler leaned over and nodded as another message was passed to her.
"Yep, you've defeated us. Me, my lovely family here. And last—but definitely not least—the TARDIS matrix herself. A living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up into a human body. And look at her." His gaze fell upon the woman lying prone on the floor.
"Dad," Sabrina said quietly. "She's stopped breathing."
"Enough. That is enough," House said menacingly.
"No. It's never enough. You've forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely, a very long way away from this control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS matrix and live. Look at her body, House," the Doctor said darkly. Time to let House know that he'd already been defeated.
"And you think I should mourn her?" House continued to sound unimpressed.
"No. I think you should be very, very careful about what you let back into this control room. You took her from her home. And now she's back in her box again. And she's free."
Golden tendrils of light began to emanate from Idris' now lifeless body. It curled around the console, slid into the time rotor and the room began to light up.
"No! Doctor! Stop this! Stop this now!" House protested.
"Look at my girl." The Doctor beamed and tightened his grip on Rose's waist. "Look at her go. Bigger on the inside! See, House. That's your problem. Size of a planet but inside you are just so small." House protested again, begging the Doctor to stop this. He didn't. Instead, he encouraged his Old Girl to finish him off.
House was defeated. The TARDIS back where she belonged, and his family was safe, but for some reason all the Doctor wanted to do was cry. Dropping his head to Rose's shoulder, he pulled her into a hug, inhaling her scent and letting the warmth of her body begin to heal the wounds of today.
"Doctor. Are you there?" Idris' voice filled the air. "It's so very dark in here."
The Doctor turned and faced the holographic image that had taken shape. "I'm here. Hey."
"I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I found it now."
"What word?" His voice broke.
"Alive. I'm alive," Idris said softly.
The Doctor shook his head. "Alive isn't sad."
"It's sad when it's over. I'll always be here." She gave him a smile. "But this is when we talked. And now even that has come to an end. But I'm always here for you, my Doctor. There's something I didn't get to say to you."
"Goodbye." He held back his tears.
"I will never say goodbye. Not to you." Idris' avatar took in a ragged breath. "I love you. Have always, will always love you. Take care of our family." The image faded from view and there was not a dry eye in the room.
Idris' human form had died hours ago. Rose had piloted them to a lovely deserted planet and they had buried the flesh body of his beloved ship. When they had come back on board, Rose had started recreating deleted rooms, and he had gone to the Library to brood. Very rarely did he let himself fall apart but right now he was on the verge.
The TARDIS was still very much alive. It was just the human body that she had been forced into that had died. Alive, she was alive, not dead. He wasn't sure why he was letting this affect him so much. She hummed reassuringly in his head.
"She's your oldest companion. Just the two of you for the better part of 700 years. A man and his box, off to see the Universe," Rose said from the doorway, holding a tea tray in her hands. Swiftly she came towards him and set the tray on the table in front of him. "Remember Krop Tor when you thought we lost her. You said she was the only thing you had left, literally the only thing."
"Rose…" He started to explain that he hadn't meant to negate her presence in his life then, but Rose cut him off.
"This magnificent Time and Space ship is the only thing that you have left from before the war. The only thing that reminds you of when you didn't carry the weight of the Universe on your shoulders, she reminds you of lost companions, of a lost family. For a while she was the only family that you had and today you almost lost her permanently." Rose sat down on his lap. "It's okay for you to feel shaken."
"When did you get to be so wise?" the Doctor asked, bringing his forehead to hers.
"Probably sometime after I met this magnificently, daft alien who showed me what life could really be like." She briefly brushed her lips on his.
"Where are the girls?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her to pull her in closer.
"After I sorted out their rooms, Sabrina went to bed and Jenny said that that she was going to do some reading. Temporal mechanics." Rose smirked. "She also said that Idris kept repeating something. 'The only water in the forest is the river.' Any idea what that could mean?"
"Oh, I'm sure I could come up with hundreds of things that could possibly mean. And inevitably they would all be wrong."
"Did you hit your head today? Because normally you would never admit that you might get something wrong," she teased.
He gave a small shrug. "Must be having an off day."
"Sabrina said that Idris told her something, too." Rose picked at his bow tie absentmindedly. "A message for Rory. Only she won't tell me what it is. She said that she'd know when it was right to tell him. Could it… Do you think it has something to do with Amy?"
"More than likely," he said thoughtfully. "I'm close; we're close to figuring out who took her. And I think I know why. I think it has to do with Bad Wolf and not just that the baby is part Time Lord." His hand absently stroked her back.
"What does Bad Wolf have to do with this?" Rose asked.
"I asked her, when you left to get those parts. I asked her what Bad Wolf meant. She was vague, of course, but she told me that it was only passed to the firstborn child. The Silence wants the power of the Bad Wolf and a Time Lord. If you have someone from infancy you can mold them into almost anything."
Rose shuddered. "We have to find where they have her, have them."
"I think we'd be able to track them if we knew how they were able to have the real Amy with them and this Amy with us." He gently pushed her up and he stood, beginning to pace. "I have an idea. There's this planet. Relatively peaceful, unassuming really, but they developed an advanced cloning process in the 78th century."
"So do you want to check it out? We can go there now if you'd like," Rose suggested as she tried to tamp down her anger. The Silence had taken Amy, her daughter. And Amy was pregnant. They had Rory's child. Her grandchild, James' grandchild, the Doctor's grandchild and Rose hated this waiting game. She knew it was important, knew they had to have all their ducks in a row before they acted. They couldn't go in without a plan this time and just hope that everything worked out. Not with two precious lives at stake.
"No, not now. I think we need to have Rory and this Amy close to us when the final piece fits into place. Things will get hairy very quickly."
Rose pulled out her mobile. "I'll just give Rory a ring." Her phone buzzed and rang in her hand. "That's weird." She checked the screen before answering. "Hello, Trisha… Wait, hold on, what happened?" Rose went ashen as there was a long pause while she listened to Trisha. "Right, call Rory, have him meet us there. We're on our way." Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand and pulled him from the room.
"What's going on?" The Doctor was running beside her now.
"There's something taking over the children, all over the planet. Making them say things. And someone blew up Torchwood Three. Not sure who was there at the time but Trisha said the explosion was massive. We have to go."
They quickly reached the control room and before either of them could touch a single control, the time rotor sprang to life. The dematerialization sequence began with their destination already preset.
Reaching out a hand to caress the console, the Doctor said, "Alright, Old Girl, take us where we need to go."
A/N Up next Torchwood Children of Earth