A/N The Doctor and Rose finally get some alone time, unusual as it may be. Meanwhile the situation is about to get riskier.

Chapter 13

Two Torchwood vehicles, consisting of three ground teams and a communications unit, drove northeast out of London, heading for the forest area of Norfolk. They made good time, as traffic was sparse, the late-night hour now approaching midnight.

They continued along the northeastern route, and as they neared the outskirts of the expansive woodland area, the car Donna had been driving was spotted off the side of the road, sitting empty. Due to the urgent phone call she had placed, they knew she had not been at this location at the time, but instead was with Shaun along an access road within the forest when the entity was encountered. A quick check of the car revealed nothing amiss. They could only assume the two had taken separate vehicles but joined up here, leaving this one behind.

"Why would Donna do this? Why would she even come out here?" the Doctor murmured out loud as the others turned from inspecting the empty car and headed back to their vehicles.

Rose half-shrugged as she stood beside him, her voice neutral even if her emotions were not. "S'pose she was just doing what you taught her," and me, she silently finished. "To have the courage to stand up and take action."

The Doctor looked at Rose, disbelieving she'd said something somewhat positive toward him under the circumstances, and likewise disbelieving that he'd influenced Donna in such a way. "Well, I never taught her to go stumbling in without thinking a situation through."

Rose's eyebrows lifted of their own accord. His own thoughts immediately went in the same direction, recalling his recent actions. He rubbed uncomfortably at the nape of his neck as he followed Rose to climb back in the SUV, deciding it best for now if he quit talking.

The teams drove on, stopped briefly to move aside the barricade at the entry road, and then continued forward along the route that would carry them deep into the forest itself.

The recent close-proximity scan had been able to reduce the size of the area in question to a radius of approximately five miles. They knew where Donna and Shaun had been when the entity had been encountered, and the scan had also picked up a residual energy trail spanning back a couple of miles. The trail faded and dispersed with distance and the origins were not specific, but this at least gave them a general search zone.

The Doctor monitored the navigation system of the lead vehicle in which he rode, ensuring that they remained on the right course. A few hundred meters into the forest, he detected fluctuations in the equipment, to which he recalibrated to maintain accuracy. There was definitely a disruption field active somewhere within the area.

Once they reached the place where Donna and Shaun had been taken, the two vehicles pulled over, everyone on high alert. The forest's roadways did not extend into the thick wooded zone in which they would be searching, so the ground teams would have to go out on foot from here. It was decided that the three teams, consisting of two people each, would fan out from the southern segment of the zone, covering north, east and west, respectively.

Pete Tyler had accompanied the communications unit, and he and the two comm-officers readied the relay equipment within vehicle two. The scanners which the Doctor had enhanced were activated, as were the psychic dampers worn by each member of the teams, with the exception of the Doctor. The technology was only compatible with the human brain. His own mental shields, however, were a superior defense, and he likely would be the least susceptible to any form of mental attack.

As everyone exited the vehicles, gear checked and ready, Pete gave the teams their final instructions. "Alright, everyone. You know the mission. The scanners are set to a close range to give the clearest and most accurate reading. So if you detect anything in your zone, it's vital that you relay the information to your fellow teams immediately so they'll know to converge on your area. Apart from that, I want you to check in here with communications base and with each other every fifteen minutes. Understood?" The teams nodded. "Good. Stay alert and stay safe." He looked at Rose and smiled briefly. She returned the gesture with a reassuring nod.

Each team checked the immediate area with their scanners as the Doctor did the same with the sonic, confirming no current activity, before heading out in their designated directions.

Standing at the edge of the dark forest, Rose turned to her Time Lord partner, giving him a searching glance as she switched on the florescent light of her torch. "Ready?"

"Always," he answered assuredly. "The old team – Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff…" He stopped short and winced, recalling the last time he'd assigned the titles. It hadn't exactly been the best of circumstances that day, either.

"Right," Rose responded dubiously.

They left the clearing afforded by the road and disappeared into the heavily wooded forest, the light of her torch and the Doctor's blue sonic beam leading the way.

-:-:-:-

The Doctor and Rose's eastward trek began in silence, both quietly keeping a watchful eye on their respective scans. The silence was a rarity considering the Doctor's gob, but considering the reason for the tense silence, it was not a surprise. Rose did her level best to maintain full focus on this mission, but it was a challenge due to the man who was currently beside her and the issue that was currently between them – two matters that were both still difficult for her to fathom. Maybe Pete had been right and they should have been split up rather than paired side-by-side.

But in truth, her mind would have been keenly preoccupied even if the Doctor wasn't the one out here with her. Just knowing he was actually here in this universe was a surreal realization that consumed a large portion of her thoughts. And being apart would have undoubtedly caused her to fixate on him all the more, wondering if he was safe, or perhaps wondering if it had all been some bizarre dream and he would vanish once out of her sight. Her heart was still in turmoil over his actions, but she wasn't ready or willing to be apart from him just yet, either. So, she was going to have to work with him in this situation as best she could.

The warm August night was misty and overcast, the moon shrouded by thick, dark clouds that threatened rain. Yet even in the inky darkness, she was able to make out the Doctor stealing glances at her on more than one occasion. This, coupled with the uncharacteristic silence, told her she wasn't the only one with more than this mission presently on the mind.

One of the things she'd said to the Doctor earlier that night kept repeating in her thoughts, and she wondered if it was running through his mind right now as well. She'd told him this was not the reunion she had ever pictured. There was supposed to be tears of joy, hugs of elation, and unbridled passion as love was re-confirmed and re-ignited. And she wanted that. Oh, how she wanted that. But the issue of distrust between them was acting as a divide, almost as much as the walls between universes had.

And she hated it. She hated the distrust and the hurt. But the root issues here couldn't simply be ignored in favor of a joyous, emotional reunion. This needed to be dealt with, one way or another. The Doctor had believed that she had moved on from him, and that hurt. But in all fairness, he had found evidence that had said so. Yet it was the way he'd dealt with it that still left her reeling. If he'd found it to be true, he would have silently slipped away, taking with him her right to determine her own future with him. Bloody typical. She had accused him of not trusting her, citing incidents of hesitancy throughout the development of their relationship. But maybe the issue had always been that he didn't trust himself. Either way, she was now finding it difficult to trust him. They seemed to be at an impasse.

It didn't help that their relationship had still been in its infancy when they had been separated, and they'd still had much growth to achieve. And now it was as if they'd taken a gigantic leap back. She wasn't quite sure where to go from here, but it had to be resolved if they were going to pick back up and somehow move forward. And it absolutely had to be resolved if she was going to drop everything else in her life and go with him again. No matter how much Rose wanted, needed, and loved him, these issues could not be ignored. He had to learn to be open with her in matters concerning them, and he had to stop making her own decisions.

It wasn't as if she'd expected that a relationship with a man who had nearly a thousand years of scars and skeletons and hang-ups to be easy. It never had. The first time they made love following an unplanned wedding, his subsequent reaction had been to apologize; at the start of their would-be honeymoon, he'd avoided intimacy like a rash; and through it all he'd only been able to voice those three words to her once. Nevertheless, they'd finally made it to a good place just before it had all been torn apart. Not perfect, but good. Exceedingly good, and blossoming each day.

The question now was, could they find their way back to that place again? Was the Doctor truly willing to try? Not just say he would attempt to change his ways in this relationship, but actually make an effort to do so?

One thing was certain as the silent steps progressed. Silence wasn't going to get them anywhere.

The persistent quiet was soon broken by the sound of Team One, and subsequently Team Two, making the first check-ins. The Doctor and Rose paused to listen to the brief reports. All was thus far uneventful, with nothing to note as of yet. Rose relayed the same. She pocketed her radio and began walking again.

As if unable to stand going back to the uncomfortable silence, it was the Doctor who finally spoke up, clearing his throat as he threw her a shadowed glance. "Sometimes no news is good news, as humans are fond of saying. But I was hoping someone would have detected a fresh reading by now."

"You don't think the equipment is being altered again, do you?" she questioned, following his same path of keeping to the subject of the mission.

The Doctor double checked the readings from the sonic screwdriver and shook his head. "Not our equipment, at least. I would have picked up a slight wave variance just before it occurred if that were the case."

Rose shoved a low-hanging branch out of her way as they trudged ahead in the darkness. "Well, I suppose we're just not close enough yet. Nothing to do but keep moving forward."

Now there was an ironic statement.

-:-:-:-

Agents Adeola Oshodi and Gareth Evens were designated as Team One, currently following a westward direction through the forest. Despite current rumors of 'fraternization' between the two young field operatives, they were two of Torchwood's finest and worked seamlessly together. Sometimes familiarity with a partner helped take the edge off in dangerous situations.

"Skulking aliens aside, there's just something creepy about being in a forest at night," Addy noted as she and her partner continued through the dark, wooded landscape, their figures tiny beneath the towering pines.

"You're not half-kidding," Gareth replied, feeling an eerie shiver. He then paused, turning to her with a cheeky glance. "Want me to hold your hand?"

The young woman smirked, but then schooled her features and put on a tone of mock-sternness. "Time and place, remember?"

He grinned and opened his mouth to give a come-back, when a flicker of light in the murky distance suddenly caught their attention. It could have been distant lightning, but they weren't taking any chances. Both agents went immediately for their scanners, but the readout began failing. The silvery glow through the trees grew closer, but scans now registered nothing there. The Doctor had done what he could to bolster the equipment, but the entity was now even more powerful since taking the two additional victims earlier in the evening.

"We retreat and call for backup," Addy stated urgently, already taking backward steps.

Gareth quickly nodded. "Agreed."

They turned and made a backtracking sprint, precariously navigating the rough terrain as both went for their radios. They found that these, however, had also stopped functioning. Both threw a glance over their shoulders and realized they were not going to be able to outrun the threatening force which was soon to overtake them. Reaching a silent agreement, they stopped and turned to face their pursuer head-on.

As the ominous presence advanced, they held their ground. The two agents pulled their weapons, aimed and fired at the advancing luminous cloud, but the neural disruption waves had no obvious effect on this powerful being of psychic energy.

Despite the futile effort, they fired again and again until their psychic dampening devices were overcome and resistance was lost. The sentient cloud enveloped them, then receded in a trail of shimmering mist. In a controlled trance, the two agents followed after the vaporous energy.

The being now had the final supplemental energy sources that were needed. In a few hours' time, its Energy Unit would be fully restored and ready for departure, fueled by those whose minds were now at its mercy.

-:-:-:-

Rose and the Doctor continued on in relative silence, the only sound that of an occasional clap of thunder rumbling in the distance, and the crunching of twigs and leaves as their feet trudged through the underbrush. Rose knew their own issue was not the only thing weighing on the Doctor's mind and silencing his voice. As time ticked by without encouraging developments, his concern was no doubt mounting in regards to Donna Noble.

Rose wished she'd had the opportunity to know this woman better. So often she had wondered if the Doctor had found someone else. Not in terms of love. She knew how exceedingly difficult it had been for him to open himself to a relationship with her, and Rose had doubted he would ever allow himself to open his hearts again – at least anytime within the next few centuries. She had hoped that he would have found a friend, though. A companion. Someone to keep the emptiness of the TARDIS from engulfing his soul. Now she knew that he had. She couldn't help but want to know more about this woman who had been a part of his life in her absence.

If they were ever going to talk, she finally decided this unconventional 'alone time' was as good a moment as any to begin. Rose began with one of the more basic questions. Maybe in time they would both be ready to dive deeper.

"So…," she finally initiated. "How long have you known Donna?"

The Doctor cut his gaze to her, surprised that she had ventured into discussing something with him that didn't directly pertain to this mission. A glimmer of hope flickered inside him. Maybe Agent Tyler was beginning to soften. She was initiating a conversation with him, at least. It was a start.

He cleared his throat due to sheer disuse – something this particular throat wasn't used to for long stretches. "Well, I suppose that depends. How long I've known her and how long we've traveled together vary just a bit. We first crossed paths right after…well, right after you and I had... Anyway, she ended up onboard the TARDIS, smack in the console room just minutes before her wedding, pulled in by the attraction composition of huon particles that she'd been doused with." Rose threw him a quizzical glance. "It's...a long story involving the Racnoss and the draining of the Thames. But long story short, at the end of it I…well, I offered to let her travel with me. Just…just to have someone there. Just to–"

"You don't have to explain it," Rose cut in softly. "I understand that bit. I needed friends, too. Would've gone spare some days without 'em."

He nodded, holding a gnarled branch out of their way as they ducked beneath and continued forward. "But she turned me down."

"So you asked her again?"

He shook his head and spoke quietly. "I've only done that once." Their eyes found each other in the darkness for a brief but intense moment. "No, she found me about a year later…more or less. Changed her mind and tracked me down. We've been traveling together for close to a year now. You'd like her," he added. "She kept me in my place most of the time, stopped me when I needed it. Slapped me on occasion," he admitted with a sheepish smile.

"Mum would love her," Rose noted with a smirk. "So…it's been about two years for you, then?" she surmised, doing the math from the account he'd given.

She didn't need to see his expression to decipher his pensive state. It was detectable in his tone when he finally replied. "Closer to three, actually. But one year was…as if it had never been. For most everyone, that is." His lungs released a heavy breath. "But that's an even longer story for perhaps another time. I'll say this, though: it was the one time I was glad you weren't with me."

Rose almost shivered from the darkness in his voice. Whatever he'd been through in that lost year, it obviously wasn't pleasant.

"Is that when you were with Martha?" she put forth, recalling the name he had given of another companion.

"Yes, she was there, too," he replied, voice thick. "Helped save the world, Martha Jones. She was brilliant. Is brilliant. Dr. Martha Jones, now. We first met when the Royal Hope Hospital took a short trek to the Moon."

"'Course you did," Rose replied, lips twitching upward. The incident sounded like just another typical day for the Doctor. A day she'd missed, Rose realized sadly. She'd missed so much. They both had. Though potentially, they could have missed far more.

"Martha didn't want to stay though, in the end," he went on. "Well, she had never planned for it to be permanent. But she had a rough go of it. And…that was partly my fault," he admitted. "Plus I think she felt like she was living in your shadow while she was with me."

Rose stopped briefly and turned to him, torch illuminating his features, casting them in angular shadows. "You told her about me?"

His reply was automatic. "Of course I did. I couldn't not talk about you, Rose. I think that was part of the problem. But Martha didn't know that we were…well…. Um, actually, Donna didn't know the details either until just recently, when I told her about…well, about…"

"Us?"

"Yeah," he answered hoarsely. "It wasn't that I didn't want anyone to know. But talking about it just…hurt."

"I know," she answered quietly, then let out a shaky sigh. "Oh, I know."

He almost reached for her then, the urge strong and instinctive, fingers burning to reclaim a trace of physical connection. Or more than just a trace. More would be good. More would be fantastic. More would be at the top of the list of all things brilliant. If he ever regained the right, he would never take it for granted. Might even get overzealous about it – in public and in private and at every opportunity.

The Doctor managed to regain his composure. "And it's been three years for you?" he questioned, eyes holding hers.

She nodded. "Seems longer."

"I know the feeling."

Rose drew a deep, bracing breath of earthen air. Despite the unresolved hurt and frustration, she wanted him to know this. "But even though I tried to have a life here as best I could, I never shared myself with anyone the way I did with you. There was no one else. Not once. I didn't want there to ever be anyone else," she reaffirmed.

"I know that now," he answered emotionally. "And I'm so sorry I doubted it, Rose."

The Doctor felt a sudden wave of guilt wash over him. Not only for initially thinking that she had moved on to another relationship, but also in knowing that while Rose had not been personally involved with another in his absence, the same could not strictly be said for him.

Martha and Donna had never been anything more than close friends. But there was one who had been more, brief and muddled as it was. The innocent face of Nurse Joan Redfern momentarily flickered in his memory. Just how should he drop that bit of info on Rose? He still had yet another significant secret buried deep within – dark, reprehensible things done in desperation that scarred Time and left a mark on his soul. Considering that alone, plus the tenuous relationship between them at the moment, he wasn't sure just when or how to slip in this other bit of news on top of everything else.

The Doctor did what came naturally to him when faced with a topic he wasn't ready to discuss. He artfully avoided it for now. "If I'm accurate, and I'm typically precise, it's been fifteen minutes and forty-three seconds since the last check-in. We should be hearing from the others by now."

Rose aimed the beam of her torch at her watch. "Team One should have radioed first."

She took out her radio to make contact. "This is Team Three. Team One, what is your current status?" There was silence on the other end. "I repeat: Team One, what is your status?" There was no reply. Her heart dropped. Rose immediately radioed Mickey and Jake. "Team Two, this is Team Three. What is your current status?" There was a tense pause of silence, then a rush of relief as a reply came through.

"This is Team Two," came Mickey's voice. "We're still continuing in a northward direction with nothing to report. But Team One is late initiating check-in. Have you heard from them?"

"Negative. I just tried to contact them, but there was no response."

"Understood. I'm gonna contact the communications unit and see how they want us to proceed."

"Agreed," said Rose, lowering her radio to await further word.

The Doctor reached toward the radio and briefly turned down the volume. "Pete's going to pull the remaining teams from the mission," he surmised.

"Probably," she agreed, her concern over the situation increasing. "We've lost a team. Be it a communications issue or something worse, we need to re-group and re-strategize."

"And then what will be done?"

"Additional personnel will be gathered and sent in. And quickly," Rose replied, drawing on her knowledge of Torchwood protocol. "Standard procedure in a case like this is to send in small, inconspicuous recognizance teams initially to lessen the size of potential confrontation and have the element of surprise in our favor. If that fails or the teams have been jeopardized, Torchwood sends in all they've got. No choice."

"Greater force isn't going to help in this situation," he argued. "In fact, it might make things worse and force desperate action."

"That's not my call," she deflected.

The Doctor's voice grew tight. "So a flawed plan has to be followed without question simply for the purpose of maintaining 'standard procedure?'"

"You don't know for certain it's flawed," she refuted. "And right now we don't have any other option."

He cocked a defiant brow. "Try me."

She crossed her arms. "Alright then. Let's hear it. If a team has been taken despite the enhancements to their equipment and the psychic dampers, I'd like to know how you think we could do any better on our own."

"I was only able to re-calibrate their equipment once before they set out. But with the sonic, I can make constant re-calibrations for us as needed as we move close to a reading. And even without scanners as a guide for detecting the entity, we now know to head west to cover the lost team's path. As for mental shields, mine are far superior. The mental training you've had gives you an advantage as well," he added quietly, referring to their bond.

Rose weighed his argument. "Let's just…first wait to see what word we receive," she finally answered. Rose switched the volume back up on her radio as it flashed an incoming transmission from the communications unit.

"The mission has been compromised, with one team unaccounted for," came the voice of Pete Tyler. "Until you receive further orders, all teams are to immediately withdr–"

"Sorry, Pete!" the Doctor interrupted, grabbing the radio. "Having trouble catching that. We'll chat again in a bit, though. Okay? Bye!"

Any further response was cut short as a beam from the sonic aimed at the radio silenced the transmission.

"Doctor!" Rose cried. "Now we have no means of communication!"

"It's not broken. Only muted. You can't be responsible for disobeying orders you never fully received, right?"

"Since when do you even care about disobeying orders or not?" she asked incredulously.

He shrugged. "I don't. But you might. This way, you're not at fault."

Rose perched a hand on her hip. "And you just assume that I'm gonna ignore what I know we were about to be told and instead go along with this daft solo plan you're concocting?"

He paused. "You're right. I shouldn't assume. And I haven't. In fact, I'd much rather see you retreat back to safety. Then I'll proceed myself, hopefully before all of Torchwood storms in and botches everything."

Her voice rose. "So you think I'm just gonna sit back and let you go ahead alone?"

He sighed. "No, I don't think you will. Which is why I've given you an 'out' in regards to following orders. If you insist on continuing ahead with me, technically you're not disregarding orders by doing so."

Rose briefly squeezed her eyes shut. "Oh, I'm disregarding orders, and we all know that."

The Doctor lifted a brow. "So you've decided you will, hmm?"

She exhaled exasperatedly. He had her and he knew it, the git. "Looks like I am. We both know we're safer doing this together."

"Exactly," he agreed, flashing a smile that made her stomach do a little flip, in spite of herself. He held out his hand to her. "Allons-y?"

Rose gazed at his outstretched hand. There was a time when grasping it would have seemed as automatic as drawing a breath. And in the context of being recently reunited, she would have imagined she'd have latched on and never let go. Things never were simple for them though, were they?

She hesitated and he noticed, interpreting her hesitation as a refusal. He turned to continue on, tone falling flat as he shoved his empty hand deep in his pocket. "Right, then. Let's finish this."