Rose was secretly relieved when she and the Doctor were hustled into separate cars back to Torchwood. Several senior agents had been clustering around her, giving her updates, and it was natural for her to wind up in a sedan with them. Now she finally had the chance to take a breath and think about things.

Once again, the Doctor had managed to turn her life upside down in only a few days. The world was being threatened, someone was running around with a device capable of bridging dimensions, and she felt completely confused about how she felt about this new version of the man she had loved.

This Doctor was more rough around the edges than her last one. He reminded her a little more of the first Doctor she had met, easy to snap at the stupid apes around him. Passive aggressive? It still irritated her to think about that comment. Yeah, she hadn't wanted to talk to him, still angry at the lie of his arrival. Maybe a bit hurt, too, that he hadn't even come to look for her. Maybe he was right. But it was still bloody rude.

She rubbed her head. As angry as she had been with him last night, catching the vortisaur had been just like old times. The running, the mad plans, or maybe the lack of plans. She had forgotten how much she missed it all. And that moment afterwards. What had he been about to say? And why did she have to care so much? She was angry at herself. It had taken her long enough to create this life in a new world, and he had just swept it away like he was knocking the pieces off a chess board.

What if he's trapped here? Worse, what if he isn't? She wasn't sure how she felt about either outcome. Well, no point in worrying about it now. They had a universe to save.

The Doctor climbed into the black town car with a scowl. He had wanted to go with Rose, but she had hopped into another vehicle, swept off by a bunch of nattering lackeys. She probably still didn't want to talk to him. Can't really blame her. He had changed so much. What if he had changed too much for her this time? He patted his jacket, vaguely wondering if he had a handy dialogue card for their next discussion. What would it say? Sorry I left you on a beach with my clone and went away for a thousand years. Want to hang out/save the universe/get chips?

An agent climbed into the seat next to him. It was Brian Parker. The Doctor rolled his eyes. That was all he needed. He studiously ignored the agent, who was happily chatting about the cleanup with the other agents getting into the car. The car started up and moved toward Torchwood.

"All right, McCrimmon?" Parker asked cheerily.

"Oh yes. Never better. I wonder, do you think it's safe, to fall out of a vehicle moving this quickly?" The Doctor left a hint of irritation in his voice.

"Uh, no, I wouldn't think so."

"Food for thought, I suppose."

"Er, well, I meant to say great work, bringing that beast down."

"I didn't really bring it down, the ceiling did. I brought the ceiling down. So where do you intend to keep it?"

"Well, it goes into containment from here until we figure out what to do with it."

There was a long pause. The Doctor stared out the window, attempting to let the conversation drag to a halt.

Brian leaned forward, a conspiratorial smile on his face. "I hear you managed to get Rose Tyler out to a pub the other night. That's record setting, that is."

The Doctor turned and lowered his eyebrows. "We were looking for somewhere to talk."

"Right, right. So there's nothing going on between you two then? Only I figured, she's a little young for you."

The Doctor slipped his hand into his pocket and thumbed the sonic screwdriver. The car s radio began to blast a punk song at a deafening volume.

IT WAS HERE IN THE OUTER LIMITS IT WAS OH SUCH A LONG LONG TIME AGO

Agent Parker turned toward the front of the car with alarm. The two agents in the front were futilely jabbing at the radio controls. The car began to swerve a bit as the distracted driver tried to help.

I WAS SO HAPPY, HAPPY IN THE OUTER LIMITS I JUST NEVER WANTED TO GO

"Pull over!" bellowed Parker, and the driver maneuvered unsteadily through traffic to the curb. The car stopped and as the agents were focused on the radio, the Doctor calmly climbed out of the car and started walking in the direction of Torchwood.

"McCrimmon! Wait!" The Doctor was already halfway down the block when Parker came running after him.

"Look, McCrimmon, I just wanted to say I hope I didn't upset you back there. Just a bit of fun." Agent Parker reached forward and squeezed the Doctor's shoulder, looking at him intently.

The Doctor suddenly felt an odd sensation, as though he were listening to the conversation from ten feet away. He sensed a shadowy thing hovering around the edges of his telepathic shields, lurking and gently probing at them.

He looked up at Parker sharply. Parker had gone quite pale, and took his hand off the Doctor's shoulder.

"It's fine, Parker. No harm done," the Doctor replied calmly, eyeing the other agent. The other man nodded and slowly backed away a few steps.

"Right, well," said the agent, recovering a little. "I'll see you back at HQ then. Better help these lads sort out that broken radio." The Doctor nodded and Parker hurried away.

Rose was sitting in her office when the Doctor arrived at Torchwood.

She looked up at him. "What took you so long then?"

"A bit of car trouble."

"Oh, sorry about that. I was just catching up on a few things. The vortisaur is down in containment... basically a big room. It looks like they've worked out a sedative for it."

"I can return it to the time vortex later. But for now, I think we'd better go check the first anomaly in Warehouse B and see whether it's still there."

"Warehouse B? You didn't tell me it was on Torchwood grounds. I guess that's why the TARDIS was in the closet." She paused, thinking about it. "Wait, do you think the thief is related to whoever created the anomalies?"

He nodded. "Yes, exactly. The anomaly likely was created in the warehouse because the device that made it was being stored in the warehouse."

"So the thief took the device from us? And how is that related to the other items that were taken?"

"I don't know. I didn't see a connection. Maybe the thief is much, much cleverer than I am. Unlikely. So perhaps he's just covering his tracks. If a bunch of holes in reality opened up, and only one thing had been stolen from the warehouse, you'd probably think that was the cause."

"Makes sense. Well, let's go see that anomaly."

They walked down together to Warehouse B. Harold greeted them both with a smile and they headed towards the back where the Doctor had first detected it.

"Gone," said the Doctor. "Just like the other one. This is very, very bad."

"Well, if the hole is closed, does that mean that the universe is not in immediate danger then?"

"This reality isn't, but I've no idea if the anomalies were closed in the other world. Not without returning there. We still need to find the device."

"Hang on, if the hole is closed on this side well, wouldn't it stand to reason it would be closed on the other side too?"

"No. Understand that the two realities are like a cosmic sandwich. And the void is in the middle. It's the cheese and pickle. You can cut a hole through the sandwich, but seal only one slice of bread. The other still has a hole in it and pickle leaking out, understand?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Good. I'm getting hungry."

They stopped by the cafeteria and picked up sandwiches for lunch. A few minutes later, they were back in Rose's office. "I'm gonna make you a badge, so you can get in and out without driving security crazy." Rose sat down at her computer and opened up the personnel files. She began making up information to fill out his profile. "Pete will have to approve it before it goes active, but we're going to have to talk to him anyway."

"Oh good, I'm sure having more family members involved won't complicate this further." The Doctor took a bite of his sandwich.

She gave him a mocking smile. "I think you're just afraid of running into Mum again."

He polished off his sandwich, licking the crumbs from his fingers. "Rose, can I ask you a question?"

She froze a little, and noticed her heart was beating a little faster. Why did he still set her on edge so easily? "Yeah, sure." She bit her lip.

"What do you know about Agent Parker?"

"What?" She wasn't sure what she had thought he would ask, but this wasn't it.

"Agent Parker, how long have you known him?"

"Oh." She frowned, thinking about it. "A few years, I guess. He's a good guy, always one of the first to jump in and help. Very popular around Torchwood in general." She paused and looked at the Doctor a moment. "Asked me out a few times too, after... But I wasn't feeling ready for that. Why?"

"I had an odd encounter with him on the way back. It almost felt like something was trying to get around my mental shields, but if he was telepathic, I'd have known."

"I'll print up his file and we can take a look if he's been tested for any psychic ability. My Doctor taught me a little about telepathy."

"Oh?" That made sense. Anyone he was that close to was likely to have had some telepathic contact with him. He felt slightly envious of his duplicate.

She was blushing now. "Anyway, he taught me how to do a bit of shielding. Told me, sooner or later we'd run into a telepathic race. So we practiced a bit, but I haven't felt anything like that since then."

"It's worth keeping an eye on Parker. I still think the thief came from inside Torchwood."

Rose shrugged noncommittally. "Sure, if you like. But Brian's always been a good guy, and a good agent. Saved my life on a couple of missions. I'm sure Pete's considering him for a promotion. I don't know why he'd want to screw that up." She finished entering all the personnel information. "Well, guess it's time to go upstairs."

Blake looked at the Doctor curiously, but buzzed them in without comment. The two walked into the Director's office. Pete was sitting at his desk working, and looked up as they came in.

"Rose, I read the report about the dino-" he stopped as he saw the Doctor walk in behind her. "Hello."

Rose looked back at the Doctor with concern. He was regarding Pete with a serious expression. She turned back to her step-father.

"Hi there. I wanted to introduce you to... ah, Jamie McCrimmon. You'll see his name in the report on the dinosaur."

Pete stared warily at the Doctor. "I saw it. I did wonder about that. Well, sit down. Rose has had a lot of good things to say about you."

The Doctor relaxed slightly and gave Rose a small reassuring smile, then sat down in one of the chairs by Pete s desk. Rose took the other.

"Dad, I have to tell you something..."

"That this is the Doctor?"

She looked startled. "How did you know?"

"Love, you've only ever looked that way at one man. Well, two men. I watched you spend years with that Dimension Cannon, trying to get back to him. You follow him last night, don't call me, then tell me to trust you the next day. Blimey, I can already see you two eyeing each other." He paused and looked at the Doctor. "It's good to see you again. Now tell me, have you come to take away my daughter?"

The Doctor leaned back in his chair. "Oh, I thought I d pop by for tea, and then stop your reality from falling into a formless void. Why, do you want me to take her away? Has she been bothering you?"

Rose spoke up hurriedly, her face red. "Dad, someone has been opening holes between worlds again. We think it may be the same person who was robbing the warehouses. The Doctor has come to sort it."

Pete frowned, looking over at her. "Do you have any leads on who is doing this?"

"Well, we do think it may be the same person as the warehouse thief-" Rose began.

"Do you know Brian Parker well, Pete?" the Doctor interrupted.

"Agent Parker? Yes, he's one of our top agents. I've been considering him for a promotion. Only a few years, and he's doing as well as some of our more senior agents. Saved Rose several times. You don't think he's involved?"

The Doctor smiled politely. "No, no, of course not. We'll be looking around a bit further. Good to see you, Pete." He stood up and walked out the door, with Rose close behind him.

Back in Warehouse B again, Rose found herself holding a large canvas bag which the Doctor filled with parts he pulled seemingly at random from various crates.

"Mind telling me exactly what we're doing?" she asked.

"Building a tracker. I told you about the tracker? No? Well, I built about half of it last night while you were sleeping. It's a simple idea. Something like a dimensional hole punch would need to build up an enormous amount of energy capable of warping reality before it actually created the hole. So this device would detect when a build-up of that magnitude was happening, and let us track its origin."

"So we'd know when someone was opening a hole before they opened it?"

"Assuming they open another one. I'm sure they will."

At last the Doctor looked over the heavy bag and nodded to himself with satisfaction. "I should be able to build the rest of this by tomorrow, and then it's just a matter of waiting. Time to go home."

"Home?"

"Well, your home. I did park the TARDIS there."

Rose started to feel irritated with his assumption. "Hang on, I never said anything about sharing my place with you."

He stopped and looked at her. "No, you didn't," he said softly. "Is it all right?"

The anger dissipated as he looked at her underneath his shaggy eyebrows. "Um, yeah. It's all right. I just wanted you to ask, is all."

He nodded, and Rose waved down a cab. On the way back to the flat, the Doctor talked non-stop about various alien races and odd adventures. It was unclear which had happened before he met her or after he'd left her. She suspected he just wanted to avoid the silence.

Back at the apartment, he stopped his chatter. In the uncomfortable silence that ensued, she began to wish he'd start up again. He was quietly watching her with those blue-grey eyes.

"So, um, I'll just get some take-away, then, yeah?" she asked him.

"All right," he answered, then lapsed back into silence. She knew they had a lot to talk about, but she suspected neither of them were eager to start.

Rose dialed a Chinese restaurant downstairs and quickly listed an order into the phone. "That all right?" she glanced at him. He nodded. She hung up the phone and put it in her pocket. Sitting on the couch, she nervously tucked her hands under her. Thirty minutes until the order was ready. Great.

He sat patiently with her, giving her his full attention, but still saying nothing. It wasn't what she was used to, she supposed. Her first Doctor had been eager to escape his demons with actions. Her second, with words. Well, sitting here was getting them nowhere. It was up to her to bite the bullet and start asking him some of the questions that had been nagging her since she discovered his identity.

She took a deep breath. "Earlier, at the office, you said it had been ten years for me, but a lot longer for you. How... how much longer?"

He smiled at her again, but it was a sad smile. "About a thousand."

She stared. "What? A thousand years? Mental. It's always mental with you." She shook her head. It was when he said these things that just for a moment, he seemed truly alien. "You... you weren't alone that whole time, were you?"

He shook his head. "No. I had friends, companions. I was married... sort of. It was complicated."

"Married?" She felt rather uncomfortable with the idea, but it seemed unfair to judge him after a thousand years. And she had been married too, after all, even if it was to him. She collected her thoughts, trying to figure out what she wanted to know next.

"How did he... you die this time?"

"I sacrificed myself for a man. Not a consequential man, as far as Time was concerned. But a good man. I had radiation poisoning. It let me survive a little while. I went and saw some friends. Mickey. He got married, you know. You were last. I saw you on New Year's Eve, 2004. Do you remember?"

Rose frowned. "That was just before I met you. 2004... yeah, I missed that party. I was walking along with Mum and wait - I remember it now. That man, I thought he was drunk, but..." She teared up, realizing what she had actually witnessed.

"I wanted to say goodbye, Rose. I couldn't reach you here." He shook his head.

"And then you regenerated like you are now?"

"No, there was one in between. That was the bulk of the years that passed. This life is more recent."

Rose felt lost, listening to all this. So much time had passed. How could he possibly feel the same way anymore? She was still angry about him leaving her on a beach, and that was ancient history for him. It left her at a loss for words. She glanced at her watch.

"I'll get the food," she volunteered. She needed the time to herself.

The Doctor watched Rose leave the flat. She didn't seem angry with him anymore. Worse, she seemed to have retreated further into herself. He knew that she had needed the answers, though.

He got up and paced the apartment, pondering Pete's earlier question. It had nagged at him, even as he had dismissed it. If he recovered the device, fixed the anomalies, and was able to depart before closing them, what would happen to Rose?

The brunette was sitting in an armchair, hugging the cushion on it.

"There's really no winning with you, is there?" she asked.

"Winning?"

"Before, you were upset that Rose was angry and wouldn't speak to you. Now she's speaking to you, and you're worried about that."

"I shouldn't take her away from her family. She has people who care about her here. And what can I really offer her in the end? I will still outlive her."

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Right, because working herself to death at a job because you've ruined dating anyone else for her is a vast improvement. Admit it, this isn't about her. This is all about you."

"I can't... I don t want to go through losing her again."

The brunette nodded. "I know. Before you spend too much time dwelling on that, you might consider that Rose hasn't actually asked to go with you."

The Doctor frowned. That thought hadn't occurred to him and now that it had, he found it extremely disturbing.

The doorknob rattled and Rose came back in with a bag of Chinese food. For a while, over dinner, he was able to forget his worries. He told her a humorous story about a sentient race that bore an unfortunate resemblance to spaghetti, and she was soon laughing and smiling again. The tension dissipated.

They cleared up the food, and Rose stretched and yawned.

"I think I'd better get some sleep. Hopefully tomorrow we ll have the tracker up and running?"

"Yes, I think so. I'll get the parts sorted out tonight."

They smiled awkwardly at each other, and then turned to their respective doors - she to her bedroom, and he to the room the TARDIS was parked in.

Before he could walk away, she suddenly stopped.

"Doctor..."

"Yes?"

"Back at the shop, just after you knocked out the vortisaur, you were going to tell me something. But Brian interrupted you..." She looked nervous.

He studied her for a moment. She looked so lost, and he didn't want to add to the confusion in her life. Her vitality drew him helplessly towards her. Her spirit and bravery, not just this morning, but so long ago. She was looking down at the ground in the silence. Reaching over, he put his hand under her chin and tilted her head up. He felt his breath catch, just looking at her.

The words came out softly. "I was going to say that you, Rose Tyler, are so very extraordinary."

She stared up into his blue-grey eyes. They were not as hard as her first Doctor's, and not the mischievous gaze of her husband's, but these eyes, more than any of the others, felt like they cut right through to her soul. She was barely aware that she was holding her breath until he lowered his hand and stepped back.

"Good night, Rose," he whispered, smiled gently, and left the room.