Chapter 12

Rose yawned as she stood at Jake's desk in the bustling atrium early the next morning. She had slept hardly at all as per the usual. The spat she had with the Doctor the day before had not left her in the best of mood, but it was her inability to be frank about the dimension project that had kept her up into the wee hours of the morning. She still couldn't let him go while he was off showing the stars to new companions as if she were hardly a blip in his timeline. But she just wasn't ready to admit to him that she couldn't move on, not yet. Of course, her nightmares weren't helping matters either.

Suddenly a flash of the agonizing dream she had awoken to that morning fluttered just under her eyelids, a memory crashing into her at the trigger of seeing the Doctor approaching from across the room. She struggled to blink the sleep away to no avail. Instead his image brought on another wave of hurt as she recalled the details of her torment.

She had been on the beach again, only this time when she reached out to him he had none other than Reinette Poisson beside him, his new companion, the one he actually wanted, not just someone to hold his hand and keep him company, but his mistress. Dressed in golden silk and dazzling pearls she sneered upon Rose's weeping form from afar as the Doctor took her hand. Rose struggled to call out to him, to beg him to stay, but instead he wrapped his hand around Reinette's waist and ushered her inside without so much as a glance her way. The nightmare ended with the slamming of the TARDIS door.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor's voice sounded beside her.

Startled, she jumped at his sudden close proximity. "Oh uh, fine," she lied as she snapped back to reality.

"Rough night?" he asked folding his arms as he leaned against the desk. She nodded curtly but gave no further details of the cause of her distress. Against his prying eyes her tired face remained reserved although, was that a twinge of... bitterness he detected in her eyes?

Jake unexpectedly sprang forward handing Rose a much needed cup of coffee. "Here you are, two sugars, just the way you like it."

"Hm, you read my mind! Just what I needed," she moaned taking a sip and sitting on the edge of the desk as Jake shimmied between them.

"So you didn't find anything? Not one thing?" Jake asked troubled looking over at the now glowering form of the Doctor.

"Nope," Rose replied for him, air escaping her mouth after taking a swig of the hot beverage.

"Huh. That's unusual. Well I have news," he said his voice lowering noticeably as he set his own coffee on the table.

"Yeah?" Rose asked him now intrigued, turning his way.

"Apparently someone hacked into the NOVAE computer files two days ago."

"What?!" Rose asked aghast as the Doctor raised his left brow. "How did they manage that?!"

"I don't know, no one knows. But Ross from team two thinks it has to be someone who works on the project."

"Why's that?" asked the Doctor.

"Probably because the badges are linked to bio data," Rose reminded him. "The best way to get around security-"

"-is to use someone who already has clearance," the Doctor finished for her. "Whoever did this didn't set off the alarms. Although that implies that there wasn't anything else at work here."

"Like what?" Rose prompted.

"Oh I dunno. Could be anything. It's a crazy universe, and one not even I know everything about," he remarked.

"Do you guys think the hack is related to the missing agents?" she queried straining her neck to peer above to the second floor behind her, the entrance to the NOVAE room just visible through the glass and steel bannister lining the upper level.

"Could be," offered Jake following her gaze. "Maybe whoever took the agents is trying to get closer to the project, use the technology for themselves. The agents just got caught in the cross fire. Could be anyone. Old friends of Cybus industries, Russia, China, New Germany, even the United Sates."

"What do you think, Doctor?" Rose asked.

He hopped to his feet and twirled to look at the floor above them. "I don't know, but I do know one thing, whatever this project is, it's a cover. Whether it be a weapon or an energy source for something more sinister, I'm going to find out." From his newfound view point he eyed the figure of Gareth Evans chatting with Yvonne Hartman just outside the entrance to the NOVAE lab. She broke off their hushed conversation and disappeared from view behind the heavy door with a click. Evans stood eying the Doctor from below, his face pensive and guarded. Slowly he turned and walked, exiting down the corridor behind a corner.

"Well I'm off to research Doctor Cummings," said Jake. "If this is about NOVAE, then digging into his past could point us in the right direction." He gave the Doctor's arm a pat as he walked past him, coffee in hand.

Rose watched as Jake faded into the crowd of passing agents and aliens, her mind swirling. Bringing her steaming cup to her mouth she took a slow sip.

"Rose, what's really going on?" the Doctor asked as he scooted closer to her now that Jake had finally scampered off.

"Wha-?"

"Is it something I said?" His mind played the past two days in reverse, searching for whatever offensive remark may have been the culprit. "You know I don't really want you to work in a-"

"No, that's not it," she spoke, cutting him off, setting her cup to the side. The painful memories of her nightmares surfaced once more in her mind. Swallowing hard, she looked at him carefully before answering. "It's- it's nothing you did." She supposed that was true. He was after all just a duplicate of the Doctor with borrowed memories. It wasn't fair to be mad at him for something he couldn't control.

He studied the contours of her face, her brows wrinkled in a mixture of both pain and worry. "Rose, you need to know that you can talk to me about anything, anything at all." He brought a hand across her tense back, closing around her shoulder comfortingly with a supportive squeeze.

Inside, her gut reaction was to both scoff and laugh as being open about her dreams concerning him was decidedly not something she wanted to do. Nor was she ready to admit that she still couldn't let go of the past. His touch made it all the worse; it was a reminder of her Time Lord's rejection. "Yeah," she muttered halfheartedly before shrugging him off.

Puzzled, the Doctor watched her flee with a sigh.


The man in a long camel overcoat and blue suit made no effort to be discreet as he waltzed up to the lab door on the second floor unannounced. He could have easily swiped his badge to enter the room as he had clearance to do so, but that just wasn't his style. Instead, out came his sonic and the door was swinging open. Inside there were but a few workers talking amongst themselves at the far end of the spacious lab, their voices subdued, no doubt still disturbed by the unsettling disappearance of one of their own. Yvonne Hartman and Gareth Evens were nowhere in sight, but as his eyes scanned the room he found a familiar face to his left, typing away on a computer.

"Hello there!" he said happily, extending his hand to the lovely black woman he had seen from afar during his initial tour at Torchwood. "I'm the Doctor!"

The woman in the white lab coat looked up, a bit taken aback, but took his hand all the same. "I'm Adeola, Adeola Oshodi."

He clasped both his hands around hers and shook them with far more exuberance than was necessary, the warm memories of his past companion surfacing at the sight of her face. "Pleasure to meet you, really." It wasn't every day he got to meet the parallel cousin of Martha Jones.

"You act as if you know me. Forgive me, but have we met before?" she asked looking somewhat amused by his overly enthusiastic greeting after he finally let her hand go.

"Oh, well, no I don't think so. Although you remind me a lot of someone I know. Do you happen to have any family? You could pass as my friend's doppelganger!"

"Oh well that explains it then," she muttered to herself with a nod of the head.

"Explain what?"

"The starring," she spoke with a bemused expression.

"The what?" he asked perplexed.

She laughed. "Every time you see me you stare at me like you've seen an old girlfriend."

"Oh, sorry," he said rubbing the back of his neck, somewhat embarrassed, his ears flushing pink.

"No."

"Hm?"

"I don't have any family that happen to look anything like me. I'm an only child."

He breathed a sigh of relief. Goodness the conversation was getting awkward, but his curiosity refused be stamped out. "No cousins or anything?"

"No," she said with a smile. "Was she... important to you, this friend you had?"

He smiled. "Oh yes, yes very good friend of mine. Martha she's called, Martha Jones." He couldn't help but widen his smile. "So tell me, Adeola Oshodi, what's NOVAE up to these days?"

Her smile didn't falter though her brow furrowed. "Well I could hardly tell you, could I? Without losing my job anyway."

"Oh, but I'm the resident senior scientific adviser," he pouted, suddenly wishing he had his physic paper, for once to show somebody the truth. "Didn't anyone tell you? I've got clearance. Perhaps I could be of service."

"Well then you're speaking to the wrong person. You ought to talk to Assistant Director Hartman."

"Oh, well yes I could, sure, but where's the fun in that?" He swaggered around to the front of her desk as he sat, putting on his most charming appeal, a tactic he often used when fishing for information. "She's just the face behind the project. I want to speak with the brains, the muscle, and the heart of the project, and that's you lot, am I right?"

Her resulting smile was brilliant. "Well..." She looked over her shoulders before lowering her head, her smile vanishing. "It's not been going so well, to be honest. What with the data breech and Dr. Cummings going missing, we've been rattled to the core."

He nodded sympathetically. "Can you think of any reason why someone would take him?"

She sighed. "Well, no except that if you wanted to talk to the brains behind the operation, he was it. I'm just a lab assistant. I help analyze the energy readings. Now..." she shrugged. "Who knows what's going to happen. We're all a little bit spooked."

"Was he behaving suspiciously at all before he left?" he inquired, folding his arms as he sat upon the edge of her desk.

"No more than usual," she responded.

His face asked the question he didn't vocalize.

"Well, I always found it odd that he was only here Mondays and Tuesdays," she explained. "The rest of the week he was off somewhere else and who has to man the tests while he's gone? Me. That's who. Thing is, he's on the full payroll. Full salary for half a week's work. Not fair if you ask me. But I think it's more than that." She leaned in as he responded in kind. "I think he was off working on something else, somewhere else. Something for Torchwood, off base."

His interest piqued. Now we're getting somewhere. "Something related you reckon?" he questioned in a hushed but energetic voice.

"Doctor? What are you doing here?" Hartman's voice rang out from his right, startling him to his feet. He whirled to find her eying him curiously.

"Me? Oh nothing. Just talking with young Adeola here." He smiled widely, patting Adeola's shoulder. He wanted to keep Hartman at ease. The last thing he wanted to do was spook her from making her next move if in fact she was the one responsible for the strange goings on. "How's it coming then?" he asked with a nod towards the machine.

"Fine," she said coolly with an air of reservation.

His faux smile faltered. "I'm sorry, about your employees."

Her face softened ever so slightly. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"Me? Nope. Not at all. Just dropped by to offer my condolences. Really, truly very very sorry. We're doing all we can do to find out how the signals are related. Please let us know of anything you can think of that might help with our investigation."

She stiffened. "I will. Thank you Doctor."

Rocking on the balls of his feet he looked at her expectantly but she didn't offer any further information. Great. Seems she would be of no help at all. "Right," he said clearing his throat. "Well then, better be off. Plenty to do." With that he retreated from her unsettling stare, itching to return to take a peek at the device for himself during lunch hour.

He didn't have long to wait. Fifteen minutes later the remaining employees who had dwindled behind filed one by one out of the room, Hartman being the last. Once they were out of view, the Doctor quietly peeked down the halls before entering the now emptied and darkened lab. It was silent except for the gentle crackle of energy emanating from the large machine in the center of the cavernous room. He perused along the line of computers before stopping in front of one at random, flipping on the monitor with a click. Plopping down at the table, he put his glasses on and let his fingers fly across the keys. The contraption to his left abruptly hummed to life.

"Hello there," he mumbled to himself, licking his lips in concentration. Suddenly the blueprints of the device popped up on the large screen hanging above the row of computers. He stood, stepping closer to the screen, shoving his hands in his pockets as he scrutinized the schematics above him.

"What are you really?" he pondered aloud. In a flash he pounced next to the device, screwdriver at the ready. It cooed softly, it's familiar glow lighting the wires and components hooked into the central metallic ring.

"Hm. They haven't even tried to retrofit the energy to be compatible with the grid. Hardly in line with the notion of lighting up all of England," he muttered to himself.

Now curious, he bent forward to have a closer look at the inner workings of the machine but it was something on the outside that caught his eye. Or rather, something that wasn't on the outside. Along the perimeter of the device were three equally-spaced ports, openings for something meant to fit in place.

Without warning the door beeped and swung open. Gareth Evans stopped abruptly upon seeing the Doctor kneeling upon the floor, his arm wrapped along the side of the massive generator, sonic between his teeth. The young man quickly shook off his surprise before speaking."Having a look about?" he asked far too nonchalantly as he slowly advanced.

The Doctor scrambled to stand up straight, grabbing the his screwdriver from his teeth to speak. "Um, yes I was just taking a peek. Never could resist a science project, me!" he said with a wide grin pocketing his sonic. "Senior Science Adviser and all that. What with all the odd happenings I came to discover what all the fuss was about."

"I see," he said, calmly as he strode forward inching closer.

"Right," the Doctor responded, scratching just beneath his ear feeling a bit unnerved. "Well I'll uh, just be on my way then," he said sheepishly, pointing with his thumb over his shoulder.

Gareth's brows drew forward. "Right, then. Have a nice day," he responded icily.

Feeling a bit like a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the Doctor hurried out of the room, glancing at Gareth sideways before passing through the door and down the steps. Well that was a rather odd encounter. He half expected to be scolded for meddling but instead Gareth seemed eerily clam, unnaturally so after the disappearance of one of their scientific team members. And what was he up to all by himself after the rest of the staff were out?

He watched the door warily from the floor below until Gareth exited, swiftly disappearing down the hallway, his head low. The Doctor jumped up to follow him but by the time he had made it back up the stairs and down the hall he found himself facing a maze of corridors, the man nowhere in sight.

Frustrated, and itching to divulge what he had discovered, he sought out Rose but she too wasn't to be found, not in her office, nor her now emptied lab. Suddenly seeing the merits in primitive human mobile technology he was determine to buy a phone at the next available opportunity. Begrudgingly, he had even gone to find Jake, but according to the others seated near his station in the atrium he too had gone to lunch. Blimey. He suddenly wondered if they hadn't gone... together. He hoped she wasn't still upset with him. In deep speculation, he soon found himself back at the inventory room for no other reason except that he had nowhere else to go.

It didn't take long for him to be accosted by Dr. Sighn and Dr. Hall. He mumbled under his breath at the incredible dependance on him they had acquired since his short stay. He wasn't eager to work on the distressing backlog of items now accumulating since his attention had been diverted to the investigation though his co-wokers were keen to try to make him. He batted them off, complimenting them on their brilliance and assuring them that they'd be just fine while he had other matters to attend to. With a quick bow he barricaded himself in his office, shutting the door with a sigh. He slumped into his chair and idly began fiddling with his favorite acquisition- the Terileptil sculpture he had cataloged his first day on the job. While he had accumulated several gadgets none of them were particularly aesthetic except this. Anything to help the dismal mood of the place was welcome. Distraction, that's what he needed.

As if on cue he heard a knock at his door. Looking up, his mood lept as he saw her standing there, bag in one hand, two beverages balanced in the other. He moved to aid her.

"Here you are," Rose said unceremoniously shoving a foam cup with a lid and straw into his hand.

"What's this?" he asked with a grin.

"A peace offering. Or, if you'd like technical term it's a milkshake, a banana milkshake. And this," she said hoisting the bag in the air, "is lunch."

Excitedly he snatched the bag from her hand to take a peek. Inside were nothing but chips, delicious warm chips. His beamed at her. It was the small moments like these that he secretly treasured. Never before had met someone who 'got' him on such a level. It was an effortless unspoken understanding that permeated their relationship on so many levels. "Oh Rose Tyler you are amazing, you are!" he said taking a sip of his milkshake.

"Blimey look at that!" Her eyes were mesmerized by the dancing colors of the sculpture on the desk before her. "It really is beautiful."

"Brightens the place up, don't you think?" he asked with a slurp of his shake. "Hmm, now that is divine!" he said enthusiastically as he rolled his office chair out next to the one she stood by. Taking a seat and propping his feet on his desk, he opened the bag of chips and plopped one in his mouth. "Oh yes! Brilliant combination. You are to be congratulated on your creativity," he said with a mouthful.

She giggled at his excitement reaching over to steal a chip. "Someone's in a good mood."

"Christmas has come early! I've got a Terileptil masterpiece, a banana milkshake, chips, and a gorgeous blond in my office. Frankly I don't think the day could get better," he remarked in between bites.

She nearly choked on her milkshake at his statement, her stomach involuntarily lurching. He had just called her gorgeous. She wasn't sure how to react to that. Perhaps it was meant as a platonic compliment, she rationalized. Or maybe he was being forward. Instead of addressing him, she cleared her throat and peered over at the fascinating movements of the sculpture before her. It was a worthy distraction indeed. Her eyes were drawn down to the center of the piece, a spiraled hole opening and closing in perfect sync by the winding of the tendrils. A glint caught her eye. "What's that there, in the middle?"

"Hm?" He shook the salt from his fingers before hopping up, his body brushing up against hers, his hand lightly touching her back as he peered over her shoulder. If she didn't know better she would have thought he was taking the liberty of getting as close as he possibly could.

"Looks like something's down there. Hold on a tick!" He grabbed his sonic and in an instant the sculpture had stopped moving. It stood frozen in place, the hole just wide enough for him to slip his hand to the bottom as Rose stepped to the side to afford herself some space and give him room. "No way!" he said in amazement holding up a tiny clear jewel. "You have got to be joshing me!"

"What, what is it?" she asked. "Is that a diamond?"

He shook his head, an open smile upon his face. "Nope. Better, much better. It's a transport crystal!" He darted behind her and knelt as he yanked his drawer open, tossing spare parts about until he found it: the leather wrist band.

"That's what you nicked off the table during your tour here. It looks like a-"

"Vortex manipulator. Yep! It was broken. It can bend space but not travel through time because the crystal was missing but this, this completes the puzzle." He put his glasses on for a better look. "Mind you it's not in the best shape. Looks like this crystal has a crack. Might be why it was discarded. Still, it could do a bit of traveling. There's some life let in it yet," he said putting the wrist band back in his drawer and slipping the tiny crystal into his blue jacket pocket with a pat. "But no matter. Won't be doing any time travel for the time being," he said with a grin.

She looked at him perplexed. It wasn't like him to pass up traveling the stars. "You mean you have a way to leave, and you're not gonna?" He had not been given a choice in the matter that day on the beach but now it would appear that he had one. Surely he would take it.

"Why would I want to leave?" he asked sincerely.

"Well it's just that, you were exiled here. I would have thought you would jump at the chance to get away."

His countenance contracted in concern. Did she really think he would be so anxious to leave her? "Rose, I'm not going anywhere. Not without you."

She blinked in wonderment. If only her other Time Lord had been so considerate.

His gaze was drawn down at her hands, her fingers wrapped around a chip half way dunked into her milkshake."What on Pete's World are you doing?!" he jested.

"Oi! Don't knock it til you try it," she said with a grin, scooping up a blob of shake with the chip and placing it in her mouth. She groaned. "So good."

He stood momentarily transfixed by the sight of her. "Alright then, I will!" Dexterously twirling around to the other side of the desk, he stopped just in front her, his sudden intense gaze commanding her full attention. For a moment she couldn't speak. He brazenly dipped a chip into her milkshake and brought it to his mouth. "Hm, you are right, that is good," he spoke deeply with a nod but her witty reply was lost in the shine of his dark, dark eyes. Her breath came out as an audible pant smelling deliciously of vanilla, banana, and salt as he took a step closer still, his eyes flitting to her mouth.

A knock at the door made them both jump. Jake stood in the door frame, looking between them as Rose took a tentative step back. The Doctor's jaw jutted forward ever so slightly in annoyance at his seemingly perfect timing.

"Hiya!" Jake said, still frozen ascertaining whether or not he was interrupting. "I've uh, got the list of employee names and times that corresponded with the same time period the NOVAE project files were lifted." Stepping forward he extended the manilla folder in the air. The Doctor didn't grab it, instead his eyes narrowed.

Feeling the tension in the air Rose glided forward and snatched it from his grasp. "This is perfect, thanks, Jake!" she said setting her milkshake down and falling into the chair behind her.

"Did you guys find anything else out?" Jake inquired.

"Well I didn't come up with anything on Rawlins. Just a boring ordinary life. What about you? Any luck with Cummings?" she questioned Jake without looking up.

"Nah. He's a closed case. It seems the records were conveniently 'misplaced' which is just another word for 'we don't want anyone knowing what he was up to'."

"What about you Doctor?" Rose asked, slurping her shake.

"Well apparently Dr. Cummings was the brains behind NOVAE. I think whoever took him knew who they were after. It seems the good doctor only came in half the week. And on the device there are junctions for missing components, ports for something. The machine is incomplete. If he was working only half of the week and we're seeing only half of the device..."

"Then he was working on the other half somewhere else," Rose finished for him.

"And it seems Torchwood has been keeping it quiet," Jake spoke bitterly. "Whatever it is, they don't want anyone knowing about it. Not even us, and we're supposed to be investigating his disappearance."

"There's more," the Doctor spoke. Rose and Jake both swiveled their gazes up to him. "I also found it curious that the energy is not meant to power the grid as they say- at least not in it's current state. It's only fit to store for now, not transfer. Unless they are planning to convert it later it's a power source for something else."

"What though?" Jake questioned helping himself to Rose's chips.

"Add it to the list of things I'm not sure about," he muttered, scrutinizing Jake from afar.