Waking up was a strange feeling, and definitely not one she'd ever experienced before; before now, she'd never slept.

It took her several minutes to understand what the nerve endings in the body, her body, were telling her—she was lying on a floor, and it was cold. Recognizing that, she went about understanding the muscles and how they worked. It took her three point seven minutes to memorize how to move everything, and another minute after that to decide to open her eyes.

Light. Lots of bright light, and some faces. She felt she should know these faces, but everything was a bit…fuzzy, at the moment. Her sister was shouting at her, but she pointedly ignored it.

She slowly contorted herself into a sitting position, marveling at the feeling of muscles stretching and contracting. There was so much new with this body…touch, sight, smell…she wondered what taste would be like. She ignored her ears for the moment—she'd heard things before, and wasn't overly interested in listening to the odd assortment of human and Time Lord around her.

Her eyes scanned the room slowly; taking in the faces, the walls, the buttons…they froze on one figure in the corner. He'd been forced to his knees, with his hands behind his back. Tied, she realized. He kept his eyes on the ground, but, apparently feeling her gaze, looked up at her after a moment.

Him she remembered with painful clarity. He had a name, a real name, she knew, but he'd always referred to himself as "Daddy" in her presence, and it was this title that stuck in her mind as she looked at him.

Slowly, slowly, she pulled herself to her feet, pausing for a moment to feel this new way her muscles were moving, before haltingly making her way over to Daddy. She clumsily knelt before him, eyes searching his face.

"Hello, Daddy," she whispered, hearing her voice for the first time. She couldn't quite decide if she liked it or not, and put it aside to consider later.

The man's face twisted into a look she didn't yet recognize, (smugness, she would later learn) as he considered her. She reached out her hand towards his cheek, and let it rest there. Someone from behind her grabbed her arm, but she shook them off, her attention focused on Daddy. "Goodbye, Daddy," she whispered, and let the power she'd been careful to store in this body fill her.

The man's eyes widened for a moment (surprise, that was what this meant in the language of faces), before golden light poured from her fingertips, and turned him to dust.

She lowered her hand, watching the dust disperse into the air, and felt only satisfaction, an emotion she was only slightly familiar with.

There were gasps behind her, and she turned to consider the others in the room. Her eyes landed on another man, who had been deemed unimportant earlier in the presence of Daddy, but who now consumed all of her attention.

She could not remember this man's name, but she could remember that he was the man who Daddy had hunted with a single minded intensity. Daddy's obsession with this man was what had led to her creation, and subsequent torture. Because of this man, she had been twisted and perverted and turned into a weapon, an abomination. Because of this man she had been shoved into this body, turned into a joke, a freak of nature.

She hated him.

She tried to stand, intending for this man to meet the same fate as Daddy, but her body failed her, and she crashed back down to the ground. Confusion, something she wasn't familiar with at all, filled her as an unnamed feeling swept through her body, and made it difficult to move.

She was tired, she realized with some surprise. And not just tired, but exhausted. Apparently using her powers in this body took a much larger toll than they would have before.

She could feel her eyes slipping closed as sleep threatened to overwhelm her. Her body—for she was still sitting somewhat upright—started to slip to the side, but something warm and soft caught her.

"Rose?" A quiet voice asked hesitantly.

She forced her eyes open just enough to see the hated man cradling her in his arms, staring down at her with his eyebrows lowered and the corners of his mouth pointed down (concern was what she would call it once she learned the name).

She looked at him for a moment, fighting sleep and trying to find her vocal chords again. "I will destroy you…" she murmured, then gave in as the world went black.

Rose's eyes flew open as the dream ended, confusion filling her as she tried to make sense of her surroundings.

Bed, she was in a bed. Silence…she wasn't in the TARDIS…

It took her another moment before she realized she was in her bed in her flat back on Earth. Turning slightly to the side, she saw the Doctor still sleeping soundly on the other side of her bed. Jack would be asleep on the couch…

She let out a sigh, and went to work relaxing her body again. It wasn't very often that she dreamed, and it was even rarer that her memories appeared in her dreams. She wasn't overly fond of it when it happened.

That day…that had been when she first woke up in this body, when she first learned how to use it. It had been the first time she'd met the Doctor, and the first time she'd spoken to him. She was still ashamed that her first words to him were a threat.

But she'd been filled with so much anger, so much hatred at the time…she shivered slightly, and tried to shove the memories from her mind.

She turned on her side to consider this new-faced Doctor. For one terrifying moment while he'd been regenerating, she'd expected to see the face of her Doctor; to receive that sign that her time traveling with the Doctor was again about to come to a close. But the face she was looking at now was unfamiliar. She had more time with him yet, and for that she was infinitely grateful.

'Do you love him?' The TARDIS had asked. She'd responded truthfully when she'd said she didn't know; as unfamiliar as she had been with emotions in the memory she'd just relived, she was only slightly better now. Anger, joy, sadness, hatred…those she understood. But love, peace, lust…those she still didn't quite have a grasp on.

Jack, of course, had made lewd comments when Rose had deposited the unconscious Time Lord into her bed, which had set her to thinking. What would it be like to have a physical relationship with the Doctor? He was attractive, this incarnation…not that he had been unattractive in the previous, but there was something about this one…

Rose snorted, and rolled back onto her back. Useless, that's what thoughts like these were. She stretched and slithered out of bed, being careful not to wake the Doctor. She'd given him tea to help him with the regeneration sickness, but he still needed to sleep some of it off.

She passed a sword on her way into the kitchen, but ignored it.

The Doctor had passed out shortly after regenerating, he hadn't even gotten the chance to properly look at his new body. Rose had piloted them back to Earth, pausing in Cardiff to collect Jack so he could help her move the Doctor. He was thinner this time around, but still heavy.

Jack, life saver that he was, had been keeping up the payments on her flat, so she'd parked the TARDIS in her living room to wait while the Doctor recovered. Things hadn't been as easy as they should have been, of course, since Rose had somehow managed to land them on the day that the Sycorax decided to try and invade Earth. She'd dealt with that little issue on her own, leaving Jack on babysitting duty.

"Why do you have a sword?" Jack had asked when she'd returned an hour after leaving for the Sycorax ship.

Rose had looked at the sword, surprised; she'd thought she'd left it on the ship. "Had a bit of a disagreement with the Sycorax leader. He decided a duel to the death was the best way to solve it," she'd shrugged, sticking the sword in a corner.

"You killed him?" Jack had demanded, disapproving. They'd all become pacifists since joining with the Doctor.

"No!" Rose had protested, almost indignant. "Well, I mean, yes, but only because he tried to run me through after I'd already won!"

Rose shook her head as she walked into the kitchen, making a mental note to put the sword in storage. She hummed to herself quietly as she went about making tea, pulling a second cup from the cupboard when she realized she could hear the television running in the living room.

She padded out into the living room, silently handing Jack his cup before curling up on the couch next to him.

"Thanks," Jack murmured, his eyes glued to a news program. The reporter was talking about Harriet Jones, who had apparently received a vote of no confidence and was being removed from office. "Why do I feel like this is your doing?" Jack asked after a moment, turning to look at Rose with one eyebrow raised.

Rose kept her eyes on the telley and took a sip from her cup.

Jack sighed. "Of course," he murmured, chuckling to himself. He leaned back against the couch, resting his arm around Rose's shoulders. "How's our resident Sleeping Beauty?"

Rose smiled slightly. "He snores."

"I do not!"

The duo on the couch turned around to find the Doctor standing in the doorway, clad only in a pair of pajamas borrowed from Jack; they were a bit small on him.

Rose grinned at him, glad he seemed to have finally recovered. "Yeah you do. And you kick, too."

The Doctor turned a bit pink at that last bit, but hid it by coming over and collapsing next to Rose, stealing her cup of tea despite her protests.

"So, did I miss anything interesting?" He asked, sipping from Rose's cup before making a face and handing the cup back. "That's dreadful."

Rose glared. "Go make your own then!"

"But Rose!" He whined. "I don't know what I like in this body yet!"

Jack choked on his tea, making the other two look at him curiously. "What? Oh, c'mon! Neither of you heard how that…? Just me?" He sighed, shaking his head.

Rose looked at the Doctor for an explanation, but he just shrugged. His ears were a bit pink, though, so she was pretty sure he just didn't want to explain.

"So. Anything interesting?" He prompted.

Rose and Jack glanced at each other this time. "Nah," they said simultaneously, Jack changing the channel on the television. No need to let the Doctor know Rose had killed an alien leader and Harriet Jones had blown up a surrendering ship.

They sat in silence for a moment, the Doctor fidgeting. "Rose, can I have a word?" He asked finally, jumping to his feet. Rose blinked, but nodded, and followed him back to her room.

"Why is Jack here?" The Doctor demanded in a hushed voice the minute the door was closed.

"Um, because you're heavy and I couldn't get you out of the TARDIS alone? And the Jack we were travelling with seems to have pulled a disappearing act, so…" she shrugged. "Why?"

The Doctor tugged on his ear in agitation, his eyes darting over Rose's shoulder to the door, as if he could see through it and to the man in question. "Because he's…" he floundered for a moment, "…wrong," he decided finally, and promptly winced at the look Rose was giving him. "You know what I mean!"

"I suppose you're referring to his inability to die?" She asked coolly. Her Doctor had never seemed to have a problem with it…

"Yes, that!" The Doctor exclaimed, momentarily forgetting to keep his voice quiet. "He's all…wrong. A fact. A walking talking fixed point in time and space." He was quiet for a moment, staring at the ground, before his eyes darted to Rose's. "He makes my skin crawl," he admitted. "Why doesn't he affect you?"

Rose sighed, and sat on the bed. "I'm used to it," she shrugged. "Never could get him to tell me how it happened, but he's been like this for as long as I've known him. Well," she acknowledged, "except for the him we recently traveled with. Must've happened after he left us."

"Er, yeah…" the Doctor muttered, and came over to sit next to her. They were quiet for a moment. "So Jack is still with us in the future? I…get used to him?" He asked, making a face.

"He travels with us off and on…he has his hands pretty full with Torchwood, but visits every so often. And if his factualness has ever bothered you, you never show it."

Silence fell again. The Doctor was having a hard time accepting all of this, Rose could see it. "I had a weird dream," the Doctor said after a moment. "Actually…" he faltered, and looked at her hesitantly. "I think you had a weird dream."

Rose stiffened.

"I was you, but I was…different. Colder. Mechanical, almost. And so…angry…"

"Stop," Rose ordered. "My mental shields must have dropped while I was asleep, you were never meant to see any of that." Her voice was hard, and she refused to meet his eyes.

"Rose…" the Doctor whispered, reaching for her arm. She jerked away, and he dropped his hand. There was a tense, awkward silence for a moment. "Who changed my clothes?" The Doctor asked at last, trying to make his voice light.

Rose relaxed with the subject change. "I did," she shrugged, and stood up from the bed. The Doctor's ears were red again. She grinned at him. "Would you rather Jack had done it? Because, believe me, he was very willing," she teased, her tongue poking out as she grinned.

The Doctor shuddered, but there was a smile on his face. "Well, when you put it like that…" he muttered, and stood.

Rose laughed. "C'mon, let's get back out there before Jack breaks something."

She hooked arms with him as they went back to the living room, bumping her shoulder with his as they walked.

"Oh, I meant to ask you, why do you have a sword in the corner?"

Shorter that most of the chapters have been recently, but I hope y'all like it anyway!

In other news (not sure what the first set of news was) we've hit 100 reviews! Thank you all so much! Thanks also to everyone who followed and favorited!

Until next time!