(AN: In order for the Doctor Who universe to continue as usual, this has to happen. Don't worry, I'll try to make Rose not so whiny. And I know someone's gonna complain, but I saw that scene in "Destiny of the Daleks" and we did not see Romana's regeneration onscreen, she walked off and it happened. So I guess what I said still works either way.)


River and Rose

Four years after the Battle of Yavin

The Doctor had seemed to abandon her and forget his promise. Now Rose Tyler would be going into the midst of another battle. Not that she minded greatly: her time with the Rebellion had hardened her and when she believed the Doctor to be dead, she threw herself into the thick of the worst battles. Needless to say, fear was not a deciding factor. What angered her was that the Doctor was here - albeit looking like a child who had shaved his eyebrows almost completely off - and the TARDIS was here, fully functional, needless to say, and instead of keeping his promise, the Doctor was going off on this battle with the Rebels on this planet.

Maybe he's not really my Doctor, Rose wondered. Something happened on Bespin, I lost the real Doctor.

As she sat in the TARDIS, musing on how alone she was, trapped in the TARDIS with no knowledgeable way of getting home, she noticed the wrist-bracelet that that woman River Song had worn. Though she had been very helpful during the plan to infiltrate Jabba's Palace, Rose thought of her as a bit arrogant, cold and slightly mad. Nevertheless, she had forgotten this wrist-bracelet of hers, which she had called a vortex manipulator. It might come in handy - it had certainly saved her life on Tatooine - so she got up and picked it up off the TARDIS' console, then made her way towards the door as though she would inform them.

Then she saw the words, that seemed to appear on the surface of the vortex manipulator: Bad Wolf. She had seen Bad Wolf almost constantly throughout her time with the Doctor in this galaxy just as she had seen it in her own galaxy. It must mean something. Out of caution, she picked up her blaster rifle, put the strap on her shoulder, then looked at the vortex manipulator. There was a button, and for a moment, she saw the golden letters Bad Wolf flash upon it. She brushed at them with her finger...


Thirty-six years earlier

...and suddenly, the TARDIS vanished. She was standing inside a palace, huge and beautiful, like the ones she had seen in Italy on the tellie. She looked about, and she saw dozens of wrecked droids laying about, damaged beyond repair. Her first instinct was to take her blaster rifle and make sure the area was secure. She had just materialized inside a strange place and was suspicious of anything. As far as she could tell, she was the only one about, but she could hear the sound of blaster-fire coming from somewhere above her head. The palace looked big enough to be multi-storied, so she guessed that it was happening on another level. She made towards where the noise was loudest when suddenly she heard another noise that made her turn about in surprise.

The whirring of the TARDIS materializing.

Her heart leaped. Maybe the Doctor had remembered her and was come back to continue their voyage across the stars. Her lips curled into a smile as she heard the aged hinges of the TARDIS door swing back and prepared to come running along at the first beck. To her surprise and slight disappointment, the one who appeared in the doorway wasn't the Doctor, but River Song.

"Well, come along, now," she said to Rose. "Can't have you staying around here, now."

"Wait, what?" Rose asked. "You're piloting the TARDIS! How..."

"I'm the only one besides him who can do it," River said with a wink. "Come along, there'll be time for twenty questions once we're inside."

Rose slowly made her way into the TARDIS, and River shut the door behind her and walked over to the console.

"So, what happened?" Rose asked. "The last time I saw you, you were on Endor with the Doctor."

"Yeah, we won," River replied, not even looking at Rose. "But he sent me back, and now I know why."

"Why?"

"Several reasons, to be precise," River rambled, in similar fashion, Rose noted, to the Doctor. "But one of them involves you. It seems you came in too early."

"Too early? And came in where?"

"We're on Naboo, thirty-two years before you and the Doctor showed up on Tatooine," River stated. "The TARDIS detected your arrival in the time-stream and I went back to keep you from making a disastrous mistake."

"What mistake?"

"Living too long," River replied with a wiry smirk.

"Wait, what, are you going to kill me?" Rose queried, worry rising in her voice. She placed her hands on her blaster-rifle and pointed it at River.

"Not like that," Rose shook her curly head. "You came in too early, as I said before. If I open the doors and let you out onto Naboo, you would be stuck here for thirteen years. Now imagine that, Miss Twenty-Three, what's going to happen when you and the Doctor show up back in London and your mum sees her thirty-six year old daughter step outside of the TARDIS?"

"Why? Why can't we just go back now?" she asked.

"Because I'm the one who stole the TARDIS," River said. "And I'm not giving it back, not until my mission is complete."

"What mission?"

"Spoilers," River winked.

"Dammit, tell me!" Rose shouted in frustration. "Why can't you just speak straight for once?"

"Takes all the fun out of everything," River replied.

"You're mad!"

"Yes, I am, actually," River said, her voice falling to a dead sincerity as she eyed Rose with her blue-green eyes. "I was abducted as a child, stolen from my parents, brainwashed into a remorseless killing machine." She then smiled. "Feeling comfortable, are we?"

Rose certainly didn't look it. Her hands were shaking as they gripped the blaster-rifle, which had not left River's direction. She realized that she had been far too trusting of River during her year with her. It had only occurred to her just now just how dangerous she could be.

Suddenly, there was a clang on the TARDIS door and someone was knocking. Rose turned about, hoping for the best.

"Doctor!" she shouted.

"Wrong answer," the voice said, and then the TARDIS door opened, revealing a tall woman in burnt orange robes with a magenta lightsaber in her hand.

"Who are you?" Rose asked.

"My name is Romanavoratrelundar," the woman said. "I'm a Timelord and I'm coming with you."

"Timelord?" Rose queried again. "I thought all the Timelords were dead."

"Obviously we're not," Romana replied.

"I remember you," River said, turning to the Timelord. "What are you doing here?"

"The Doctor sensed the TARDIS' presence when his previous incarnation regenerated," Romana began. "He sent me here to make sure all was well, and to help you, Professor, on your mission."

"I don't need help," River retorted.

"The Doctor seems to think otherwise."

"Damn him and his insufferability!" River cursed.

"Wait, the Doctor?" Rose asked. "He's outside?"

"Not right now, love," River said, sealing the TARDIS' door, trapping them in the TARDIS with her. "Now, Romana, can I call you Romana?"

"No, you may not!"

"Very well," River continued. "Pookie, get yourself comfortable, we're making a little bit of a jump here."

"'Pookie?'" Romana asked incredulously.

"It's what I'm gonna start calling you," River replied.

"I think I liked Romana better," Romana muttered to herself.

"Now," River continued. "We're going forward a decade, because something's going on in the Inner Core, something that needs to be stopped." She turned to Rose and Romana. "Can I count on your support?"

"Support for what?" Rose asked.

"Killing Dark Jedi." River said as though it were nothing.

"I'm in," Romana stated. "They said you needed some help."

"Well they can bugger off," River retorted. "I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. You, on the other hand..." She said, turning to Rose. "You have to stay here."

"Why? Why can't I take care of myself too?"

River laughed. "You've got spirit, I'll give you that, but you're no match against a Dark Jedi. Now come on, you stay with us while we start hunting them down." She looked back and said with a wink: "It's for the Doctor."

Rose reluctantly grabbed onto the console of the TARDIS and braced herself as it shook about, the whirring of the engines roaring all about them. She had to hang on, for she was now going where she had never been before and, to her great alarm and quiet fear...

The Doctor wasn't there with her.


(AN: So hard getting this chapter out. But then again, I've been having second thoughts about Doctor Who and River as well. I'm definitely going to finish this story, but it's going to take a while.)

(Nope, no Nightsisters. Mostly because I do NOT want Asajj Ventriss in my story. Yes, I can say that she's a "Dark Jedi" and not an official Sith, but the cartoon and CG Clone Wars say she is, even though that violates the Rule of Two. Also, I'm not having anything from the cartoon/CG Clone Wars in my story [especially Ahsoka Tano], because it violates canon in so many ways [even prequel canon], it dumbs down the war into a cartoon adventure, ruins Dooku's character and a whole slough of things I don't have time to get into.)

(Nevertheless, review. It will help me get another chapter out soon[er])