"How are they?" asked Rachel, as Owen came wandering into the kitchen.

"They're doing ok. Bit shaken up, understandably." He shot her a look.

"I didn't have any choice, Owen. I had to make Colleen believe I was on her side. We both did."

Owen sighed. "I know." He looked at the girl in front of him. She looked so tired, as if she hadn't slept for years. "I'm, um, sorry about what I said before. You know, about not wanting you around. I was angry, so I lied."

She looked up at him, surprised. "No you didn't. But thank you." She smiled at him. "How's the Doctor? Can I see him?"

"Not sure that's such a good idea." Owen advised her gently. Seeing the look of horror that came over her face, he quickly added, "He's fine. Just doesn't really, umm, want to see…you right now."

"Oh." she stared ahead of her, reflectively. "Could I see him anyway? I really want to explain…"


The Doctor glared at the person who had just walked in. he felt he had nothing to say to her.

"Doctor? Doctor, please listen to me."

"I have nothing to say to you, Rachel. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I don't know, I don't know. I just followed my gut instinct…"

"That's why you're never any good in a crisis. You can't think far enough ahead." Rachel looked as though she had been slapped, and the Doctor felt a twinge of guilt at his words.

"Fuck you, Doctor. Fuck you if you can't understand why I did it…" her voice was so cold, so full of hurt. The Doctor felt a sudden surge of anger at the fact she was making it about her.

"Oh, I know why you think you did it. But admit it, you enjoyed it. You enjoyed watching us suffer."

"No, I…"

"What if she'd killed me?"

"I wouldn't have let that happen. Doctor…"

"You weren't there! You were talking to the others!"

"I was trying to save you. It may not have been the best plan, I admit, but I did it to save you."

"Save me! You never wanted to save me!"

Rachel's eyes filled with tears, and she angrily brushed them aside. "Fine! That's what you think, fine! Next time you're in trouble I won't bother. I'll just sit back and watch you SUFFER AND DIE!" with that, she turned and ran from the room, the Doctor staring angrily at her retreating back.


It was cold by the harbour side, Rachel thought as she gazed out over the water. She had needed to get away from the Hub, get into the fresh air. Now she had cooled down slightly, she felt terrible about what she had said to the Doctor. She didn't want him to hate her, no matter how selfish that sounded. She should really go and apologise…

"You ok?" Ianto asked from behind her. "Owen told me about your little shouting match…"

"I'm fine. Thanks. I should apologise to him, shouldn't I?"

"Maybe. That was pretty harsh, what you said. Mind you, I can't say he didn't deserve some of it."

Rachel smiled at her companion. She couldn't think of a time without Ianto, how she had managed. You had the Doctor. A voice in her head said, but she pushed it aside.

"Come on, Yan. We need to go back." As they turned and headed back to the Hub, neither of them saw the shadowy creature, watching them, before it slipped back into the shadows.

"Is anyone here?" Rachel asked as they walked into the main building five minutes later.

"I think so. They didn't say they were going anywhere. HELLO?" Ianto called. His voice echoed eerily, but no answering shout came back to them. The two exchanged looks, and pulled out their guns. It could just be that they were being ignored, but better safe than sorry.

"Ianto, you check down in the cells. I'm going to look around outside." Rachel ordered. With a nod, Ianto headed down the steps.

Rachel swallowed as she stepped back out into the cold air. She felt adrenaline surging through her, felt as though she were being watched. She spun around full circle, but could see no one. Keeping her gun as low as possible, so as not to cause alarm, she began to circle the big tower that sat above the Hub. She could see nothing unusual. She was just about to give up, when she heard a noise from behind her. Sort of a strangled gasp. She whirled around and saw something stood not 10 feet away from her. She stared at it in panic. It had managed to get so close without her noticing! The creature was big, at least 10 feet, and dark, as though made of the night itself. Its face sort of shifted, so she couldn't really tell what it looked like. But it was none of these things that held her frozen in shock. The thing that made her so panicked, was the fact that It held the Doctor in its grip, its knife-like claw held up to his throat. His eyes were open bambi-wide, and he was staring at her, pleadingly.

"I NEEDED THEM" the creature spoke in a deep, gravely voice that made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. "I NEEDED THEM, AND YOU DESTROYED THEM."

"Needed who? Who are you?"

"MY NAME IS GAHL-HOOR. I CRASH LANDED ON THIS- PLANET ABOUT 400 CLUPS AGO. AND I NEED TO LEAVE."

"Ok, so who did you need?" Rachel couldn't take her eyes off the Doctor.

"THE SPIRIT CREATURES. I WOKE THEM FROM THEIR SLUMBER SO THEY COULD BUILD ME A SHIP. BUT YOU DESTROYED EVERYTHING. I KNEW YOU WOULD BE A PROBLEM, FROM THE MOMENT I SAW YOU AT THAT SCHOOL. YOU ARE NOT LIKE THE OTHERS, YOU HAVE INTELLIGENCE. BUT I LET YOU LIVE, AND YOU RUINED EVERYTHIN. AND BECAUSE OF THAT, EVERYTHING ON THIS PLANET SHALL BURN AND DIE" its head lowered, as if to look at the man it held. "STARTING WITH HIM."

"Rachel, help me…" she looked at the Doctor, frozen. "Rachel, please…" She couldn't move. Couldn't think. All she could concentrate on was how close the claw was to his throat, how she could never get to him in time, how easy it would be for it to… A shot suddenly rang out through the silence. Followed by another. And another. The creature bucked and swung around, dropping the Doctor. Captain Jack was running towards it, followed closely by Gwen. Both were firing, empting their clips into the creature. With a final roar, it fell. As though a spell had been broken, Rachel staggered. She looked wildly at the fallen figure, ran towards him. Had it just dropped him? Or had it… she didn't even want to think about that possibility. She reached the Doctor, tried to sit him up, but to her surprise he pushed her roughly away.

"I never thought you would…" he was staring at her as if she was no better than the thing that had grabbed him. "I never thought you would actually…you were actually going to let me die, weren't you?"

Rachel suddenly realised what he was thinking, what they all must think. She opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced by a look from Jack. He and Gwen helped the Doctor to his feet, and they set off towards the invisible lift, leaving Rachel kneeling on the ground.


"He hates me" Rachel sobbed into Ianto's shoulder. It was an hour since the confrontation with Gahl-Hoor, and the two of them were back at Ianto's flat.

"I'm sure he doesn't."

"He does! He actually thought…I thought he would know me better than that, know I wasn't capable…they all think I was going to let him die."

"Rachel, what did actually happen?"

"You think I wanted to watch him die too!"

"No!" the young man protested, hastily. "No, I don't. Honestly. I just want to know what happened."

"I saw him in danger, and I froze. God, that sounds so stupid, but I just froze. Forgot everything I'd been through, all my training, everything. I became that stupid, scared little girl I was when he first met me, unable to look after myself. And because of that, he thinks I was actually going to… she broke off with a sob.

Ianto sighed, unsure what to do. He wanted to make everything ok, but how could he? Rachel's sobs quietened down, and eventually ceased. Ianto realised she had fallen asleep. Carefully, so as not to disturb her, he lay her down and covered her with a blanket. He would try and talk to the Doctor in the morning.


"Hey, Doctor" Owen said as he walked into the autopsy room and saw him sitting on the autopsy table.

"Oh! Sorry, I thought everyone had left." The Doctor jumped off the table, as though caught doing something wrong.

"You're fine there if you want. I just need to check on some blood samples." Owen smiled. He began to get on with his work, when he felt the Doctor watching him. "So…I thought you would have left by now." He said, hoping to break the silence.

"I would have done. But my ship needs to refuel. Haven't really had a chance in a while."

"Refuel? What, you need to go to a garage or something? What does it use?"

"Oh, she runs off rift energy" the Doctor told him. "Nice and useful. Just park her somewhere in Cardiff and let the engines soak it all up."

"Cool. Is Rachel gonna grab any of her stuff out before you go?"

"Why would she do that?"

Owen frowned and paused momentarily. "Well, she left all her stuff with you, didn't she? I mean, you should let her take it back, it's the least you owe her."

"I owe her nothing." The Doctor said, icily. Owen turned and stared at the man in front of him. He didn't know why, coz Rachel wasn't exactly his favourite person in the world – to put it mildly – but he had sudden urge to hit him. He stopped himself. That wouldn't solve anything. Still, didn't mean he couldn't do something else… he grabbed the Doctor by the neck of his shirt and slammed him into the wall, causing him to cry out in pain.

"What're you…" the Doctor started to say, angry, but Owen cut him off.

"She went through hell for you! The things she saw before she ended up here, the things she endured whilst she was here! You have no idea what you owe her! I don't know exactly what happened out there, but I saw the state she was in when she came back inside. She was in bloody shock! But no, you couldn't see that, couldn't see beyond the empty threat she made in the heat of the moment when she was angry. Even I know she wouldn't be capable of watching a man die. You used to be her friend. How could you not even know her." He let go of the Doctors shirt and left, flinging him a disgusted look as he went.


"Rachel, can I talk to you?" the young woman looked up in surprise at the Doctor's voice. "I'm sorry. I should have known you wouldn't…"

"Yes, you should."

The Doctor looked taken aback at her tone. "Well, you can hardly blame me…"

"Can't I?" she frowned at him. "Doctor, I don't want you to hate me."

They looked at each other in silence for a while. "I don't hate you, I just…" he paused, unable to express his feelings towards her, not sure if he wanted to. "I'll be leaving in a couple of days" The Doctor said, "TARDIS needs to refuel. So I guess I'll, um…"

"Yeah" she gave him a small smile, which hid the heartbreak inside.


R&R please :D