A/N: Thank you for taking time out of your lives to throw me a review to reply to, it's really appreciated, and I'll go again at chapter 15. I hope it wasn't a complete letdown :o

And... we love Trevor :D

Chapter 11 - Trevor

There had been a particular time in Rose and the Doctor's life together, right at the start of their intimate relationship around three years ago when they had travelled to a planet called Kola. There had been a festival going on and people from the entire surrounding galaxy were there to celebrate an alignment of the planets that only happened every 1000 years. But a terrorist organisation had been hiding in the shadows, and a bomb had exploded halfway through the closing concert.

As thousands of beings fled in terror Rose had completely lost the Doctor; swept up by the crowd and straight into malicious hands taking advantage of a bad situation. Before she had known it she'd been drugged and bundled into a van with tens of other terrified woman, then driven off to, what she had eventually worked out, be sold into slavery. She had had all faith in the Doctor to save her of course, but the worst week of her life had gone by excruciatingly slowly and she hadn't seen anything of him.

She was sold by auction to some weird old alien man, who instantly chained his new slave and dragged her by the neck to a deserted alleyway. She had only dreaded to think what he was going to do to her, so when she had tried to resist and escape he had yelled abuse and jabbed her with some weapon, and she was given a huge, painful electric shock.

Then the Doctor had appeared, seemingly completely out of nowhere. She had never been more thankful to see him in her life. He'd grabbed the man and shoved him to the ground, buzzing her free of her restraints with the sonic before taking her hand and pulling her away in a run. But it wasn't until Rose felt a strange, warm feeling of something spreading across her back did a sudden, unbelievably painful burning sensation stab into the small of her back. It was quite shortly after that she'd realised she'd been shot.

She had collapsed instantly of course, crying out in utter agony. Her teary eyes had looked up to her partner, barely focusing through the shock and the pain, seeing him standing there staring at her like he couldn't quite believe what he was looking at. Then as quick as the flip of a coin his entire face had turned into something she couldn't even describe. Those eyes. Usually big, brown and happy, had suddenly turned so cold, so angry, so distant from any remnant of sanity whatsoever.

Nothing like the Doctor she knew.

He had stared at her with those horrible eyes, only for a moment, but for a flicker of that moment she had thought he was going to kill her just from those eyes alone. But then he had turned, looked in the direction of her enslaver, and strode straight towards him. She'd passed out then.

When she'd woken up she'd found herself back in the TARDIS infirmary with the Doctor sitting by her bed. The moment she'd opened her eyes he had been all over her like a rash, kissing her constantly, apologising repeatedly for not finding her sooner and on the verge of tears.

He had never told her what he'd done to the man, and she hadn't felt inclined to ask. But seeing as his clothes from that day had completely disappeared she could only think the worst. Those eyes had been the window to the darkest depths of his soul. She knew he'd been a soldier and an assassin in the Time War, trained not to care, not to feel – just to kill on cue. He had changed since then of course, renouncing violence altogether. But for that moment, that brief moment, upon seeing her bound and bloody body on the hard ground... the bond had flared and perhaps he had changed back, just for a second.

He would occasionally flashback to the Time War like shell-shocked soldiers she'd heard about, waking up in cold sweats and screaming out in the night. She'd never really asked him about it, because she knew she'd never get a conversation from it. In fact, the only conversation they'd really had on the subject was her asking him why she'd never noticed all the night terrors and flashbacks before they'd been torn from each other the first time. He had admitted that he had, he always had, it was just he knew how to be quiet. He'd never been open about it because he was terrified that she'd realise he was a mass murderer and be scared of him.

But those eyes...

She'd seen them flash up every now and again since that first time, and she now dreaded it. It was as though he had a split personality. One Doctor was the one she loved, intelligent, beautiful, happy and cute to boot. But the other Doctor, the dark Doctor (or 'Trevor' as Jack called him to try and lighten the situation) was this horrible, manipulating maniac who'd killed millions and was intelligent on an entirely different level. It wasn't until Trevor came out that first time did she really realise just how intelligent the Doctor was. With Trevor he entered a whole new level of consciousness. Like those animals with finely tuned hunting skills. Listening to every tiny sound, every little obsolete movement, becoming attune to their surroundings before they pounced on their prey.

But he'd seemed fine until they had got back to the ward, and she didn't quite know why he'd suddenly turned. Maybe it was coming back to the scene of the incident, or the reality had just found him. Whatever the reason, he'd stayed by his daughter's bedside for every second after the attack. He was holding his sonic screwdriver as though it were a deadly weapon, his eyes flickering around the dark room like he was daring the killer to strike. Rose herself was lying on the bed next to sleeping Leah, stroking the girl's hair and staring at her partner without saying a word. Just gazing at those eyes.

She didn't like him like this at all, but the fuse had just been lit by the attack and there was now nothing she could do. He hadn't even cleaned up from being smacked around by the invisible entity; dried blood still around his nose and mouth. And he didn't say a word all night. He just sat there, guarding his two girls.

In fact, the three hour silence to 6am became so normal that when her phone suddenly rang with the tinny sound of Lady Gaga's Pokerface it made them both jump about five foot in the air.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Hey, Rose, where's the Doctor?" Jack asked.

"Here," she said, tapping her partner on the shoulder. Without a word to her he took the phone and pressed it to his ear.

"Yeah," he said shortly, then listened. "... Jack, I can't come back right now. … No. … You're a big boy, handle it yourself. … Quite a lot has happened. … She's fine. … I'm not coming back."

"Go back," Rose interrupted suddenly.

He looked at her. "No, I'm staying here."

"The UNIT guards will get here soon and it doesn't attack in the day," Rose reasoned, trying to be his voice of calm in the stressful situation. "Go back."

"I'm staying," he grated.

"Doctor, I'll stay, I'll look after her, and Martha'll be here in a minute."

"What use are you two? Stupid apes," he spat, and Rose genuinely felt like he'd just punched her in the face. The shock on her face must've jolted him into remembering that he actually liked her, as suddenly those eyes turned from anger to horror at what he'd just said.

"Rose, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." he started in a clumsy gabble.

"Right," she said brusquely with narrowed eyes, cutting him off. "Go back to Jack if he needs you."

He swallowed. Those eyes of before were completely gone now. "... Okay. On my way," he directed down the phone, then hung up. He looked at her like a kid who'd just smashed her window with his football.

"I'm sorry..." he tried again.

"Go back to Jack," she said again, measured and calm.

"Rose..."

"Get out," she snapped. "And for god's sake, clean your blood up, yeah?"

He finally fell silent, just sitting there for a moment before getting up from the chair. He leant forward to kiss a still sleeping Leah, before making to kiss his partner. But she deliberately pushed him away, turning her head to look away from him. It broke her heart to do it, but she knew she had to. Trevor was best killed as soon as possible, even if it took a bit of tough love.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, and left.

It was twenty seconds before her phone rang again, thankfully still not waking up Leah.

"Rose?" Jack asked.

"He just left, he'll be there in a bit."

"Don't worry 'bout that, did I hear Trevor?"

"Yep," she replied, swallowing. "Leah was... Something happened last night."

"What's the problem?"

"The Doctor was with her last night, and they were attacked by something invisible. It tried to take Leah."

There was a pause.

"... I'll come back with the Doctor. See you in a bit."

He hung up.

Jack grabbed the Doctor's arm the instant he'd stepped out of the TARDIS door, pulling him forcedly across Torchwood.

"Need to show you something," he began, taking the Doctor in the direction of the computer bank. "It's about my investigation."

"Jack, I don't have time to..."

"No, really," Jack interrupted. "You're gonna find it interesting."

The Doctor sighed and resigned to it, letting Jack lead him to the computers. There Jack sat him down in the chair, spinning him around to face the screens.

"I've been tracing this hostile alien for days. It's been absolutely everywhere – these are the trace locations," Jack said, pointing to the computer on the left showing the Doctor red blips all up and down the UK and Ireland on a map. "I've been going to them and checking them up. For the most part the traces have just faded away..."

"And?" the Doctor wondered, wanting desperately to get back to UNIT.

"Lemme finish," Jack urged. "In every location of a trace, there's always some story about a person that died in the exact spot of the trace. I mean, literally right on it. And look..." He pointed to the trace location map again. "Where's the UNIT hospital?"

The Doctor leant forward, scrutinising the map... and suddenly realised. "Oh," he muttered.

"Exactly," Jack confirmed. "You said you've got kids dying? All the trace locations have been people 18 and under. 179 attacks, all of them teens or kids."

"We're investigating the same creature," the Doctor summarised, looking up at Jack.

The ex-Time Agent nodded. "Compare notes. Then I'm coming back to the hospital with you."

"What?"

"Rose told me about last night," Jack explained, and caught the Doctor's expression so he continued. "Ella's gone, she died forever ago and I need to focus. I love Leah, you know that. I really love that kid but now she's in danger and you really can't do this on your own. I'm coming to protect her."

The Doctor slowly but surely broadened a smile, every centimetre of it filled with utter gratitude. "Thank you, Jack."

Leah was beyond overjoyed to see her uncle for the first time in almost a week, the gigantic smile on her face being the first her parents had seen for what felt like forever.

"Hey, you!" Jack said happily, kissing her tightly and kissing her head. "How're you feeling?"

Leah made her 'bleh' face. "Sick. And a thingy's tryna kill me."

"Sounds like an average day to me," Jack joked, kissing her again. "Don't worry, me and you are gonna take over and sort this thing out, right?"

"Right," she repeated, still beaming away.

"Gang, let's talk about a plan," the Doctor said, gesturing to the far door.

"Back in a bit," Jack said to the girl, getting up. She looked disappointed that he was leaving so fast, but perked up when he gave her a constant farewell wave whilst walking backwards to the door to leave her in the protection of the UNIT guards.

They collected Martha on the way out, going to a small, deserted conference room with three chairs, a table and a whiteboard. They all took a seat, except for the Doctor, who stood at the head of the table. It was as though they were planning some kind of bank heist.

"Okay," the Doctor began once they were all settled, palms flat on the table as he leant to them all. "Facts we know about this creature, shoot."

"Shape-changer, or something similar," Jack began. "Uses kid's fears to create the image."

"Attacks at night," Martha put in.

"Only kids can see it?" Rose suggested. "And there was no image on CCTV."

"Only attacks kids," Jack said next.

Martha nodded at that. "It can touch and make sound."

"It's nationwide," Jack pointed out.

"What kind of time frame?" the Doctor asked suddenly.

"Within minutes of each other," Jack replied. "So either it can transmat or..."

"There's a whole ton of them," Rose completed quietly.

"We'll assume the latter," the Doctor said, wincing. "The fever, that's the really important thing. How are all the kids getting fever one after the other so precisely?"

No one answered that, so the Doctor looked between Martha and Rose. They gazed at him.

"You still think...?" Martha tested.

"Yep," he replied.

"Think what?" Jack asked.

"That something may intentionally be making them ill. Makes them weaker, less able to scream, less able to fight. Making them very easy prey. Or, in fact, whatever's doing this might not have anything to do with the creature. They could just... Just be doing it for fun. And the creature is taking advantage of that."

They suddenly all felt very cold inside. Even the Doctor.

He took a breath, and continued. "So Martha, I need you to spy. Keep an eye on all of the kids, take notes, see if we can find who thinks it's fun to make children seriously ill. Also make sure all the UNIT guards know their post, not one more child is going to die."

She nodded, and quickly went to do just that.

The Doctor watched her go, then looked at the two people left sitting there. "Jack, I need you to research. Find out if there's any mention, even a mythical one, about a creature with malicious intent that only children with fever can see. Possibly a shape-changer or a telepathic filter, or something similar. Then we might know what we're dealing with here and it'll hopefully give us a starting point. Use the TARDIS databases."

Jack gave an obedient half salute, and then left out the door.

Finally, the Doctor looked at Rose. Then in the blink of an eye he turned from master-plan-to-eradicate-mass-alien-threat maker to a pathetic puddle of 'boy done wrong' at her feet.

"I'm so sorry," he muttered, kneeling down next to her chair so she could talk down to him, his hands clasped in front of him as though he were praying to her. "It was really wrong to say that... I was being really rude and obnoxious and stupid and it was all my fault. Well, of course it was all my fault, really, because I'm the one that said it, so it could hardly be yours. Well, sometimes it is because you can be irritating..." He suddenly stopped himself, his eyes widening in horror as he processed what he'd just said. "But not in a bad way! I like your irritating nature... Wait. I didn't say that... Err, I mean, you're not irritating that much, every now and then, you know. Like, umm, once in a blue moon, as you humans say... But you know, that's okay, because I'm irritating too so it's like we're mutual in err... Irritating-ness."

Rose raised an eyebrow.

"But anyway," he continued brightly. "I just couldn't stop myself saying that... And I really don't think what I said, well, of course I know I'm probably cleverer than you and Martha but you know that already... though I'm not saying you're stupid at all! I mean, I wouldn't love you if you were stupid. Ha, it's sort of like if you were your mum we'd have never had Leah that's for sure... Um... Not that I'm calling your mum stupid or anything. I love your mum. Just not in that way. I mean, not in a baby making way. I'd never do that with her. Though she's a really nice person. Sometimes. Sort of platonic love, between us..." It was a strange feeling. The Doctor was very aware he was talking, but it was like his brain had completely gone to mush and he no longer had any memory or control over what he was saying. "... But I guess what I meant by that was that I just felt like I could do a better job. Not that your job would be any less better than mine, actually it'd probably be better... Ha, I just said less better. That doesn't even make sense. Less better. Oh blimey. What was I saying? I've forgotten... Err... Well, I guess... So, yeah. I love you. Forgive me?"

There was a very long moment of complete silence as Rose took this verbal car crash in.

"... Bloody hell, you'd better be glad I don't love you for your apologising skills," she eventually said, laughing and pulling him into a tight hug, kissing him. "Really bad apology accepted. But please don't talk about having babies with my mum again."

"... I said that?" the Doctor asked, still knelt on the floor in a complete daze.

Rose giggled and kissed him again, pulling him up. "Come on, we've got kids to save."