Disclaimer: Still don't own Doctor Who, doubt I ever will.

Chapter Fourteen

Have You Ever Read Jane Eyre?

When Rose woke, she found herself unable to move. Panicking, she tried to sit up, nearly strangling herself in the process..

"Now, now, Rosie, stay calm. We don't want you to hurt yourself, not now. Not when we're so close."

Ignoring whatever else the woman was saying, Rose realised that her hands were bound to the bed. Twisting them as much as she could, she felt her restraints. Her heart sank as she brushed her fingertips over the stiff leather. It would take some time for even a knife to get through them, never mind using just her diminished strength.

Trying to shift her body, she realised that she was bound similarly around her chest and neck.

"Are you listening, girl? When I tell you to push, you push."

Rose's eyes widened, understanding what was happening. "No…oh God, no."

Madame Kovarian's face loomed over her, wearing a smug smile.

"Oh yes. And your precious Doctor hasn't found you yet, has he?"

Rose felt herself begin to hyperventilate when pain ripped through her, making her scream.

"That's it. Now breathe, Rosie. Just breathe."

"I hate you," she snarled, pulling against her restraints.

"Of course you do. Now breathe," Madame Kovarian spat, moving out of Rose's sight.

"I'll kill you," she rasped, the leather chafing her neck as she attempted to move. A hand pushed her head down forcefully.

She screamed again.

"Nearly there," she heard softly. She felt tears run into her hair as she lay paralysed.

Maybe she could kick them away? Her legs didn't feel…

She bit her lip to stop herself from sobbing in shame and despair. Her feet were bound similarly to her hands, her legs apart and, by the feel of them, numb from having her knees bent for so long.

She had no chance.

"Push!"

She cried out in pain, trying to fight her instincts and losing.

"Push, girl! Push!"

"Doctor!" she shrieked. "Doctor, where are you?"

"Be quiet and push," Madame Kovarian hissed.

Time blurred, a rather ironic statement considering she was the embodiment of time.

She kept track of what was going on through sound and pain; the people moving around her, Madame Kovarian whispering encouragement to her, pushing, crying for the Doctor.

This should have been the happiest day of her life. Instead it was her personal version of Hell.

After one final push, Rose heard a spluttering cry.

"What is it?" she gasped, trying to see her baby.

"A girl," Madame Kovarian breathed. "Did we forget to tell you before?"

"You bastards," Rose growled. "Give her to me."

Madame Kovarian smiled at her. "I'm afraid we'll be leaving now, Rosie."

Rose's eyes widened with fear, her breath catching in her throat. "Please. Please, let me see her. Let me hold her. I'm her mother."

"No…no, you're not. Not anymore."

"Oh God," Rose whispered. "Please, please."

She saw her daughter be carried away, her face still hidden from her view. Then she saw the needle.

"NO! I WON'T SLEEP! GET AWAY FROM ME, NO!"

As she pulled, she noticed one of her wrist restraints had come loose. Carefully, so that they couldn't see, she shifted her wrist, twisting it this way and that before finally pulling her hand free. She hid it quickly, placing it beneath the leather. Waiting until the man was close enough she threw her right hand up, hitting him in his throat and managing to catch him off guard; his body jerked in pain and shock, the needle flying out of his hand.
Scrabbling with her free hand, Rose unbuckled the restraint around her neck, whimpering as she clawed her already-raw skin.

She heard a door shut, the click of a lock and then silence; they were gone.

"I'm coming," she breathed, trying to ignore the pain she felt…well, everywhere. "I'm coming for you."

Pushing away thoughts that she was going too slow, Rose moved onto the strip of leather around her chest, gulping down air when it was released and she could finally breathe freely.

Her hand had become clumsy, trembling with fear and adrenaline as she fiddled with the buckle, repeatedly missing it.

Growling in frustration, she yanked at the restraint around her other wrist.

Her scream echoed around the empty room.

Clutching her now dislocated wrist to her chest, she unbuckled the leather around her ankles.

As she was doing so, she wondered why they hadn't used something more high-tech than a thick strap of leather; even metal manacles would have been better.

"Finally."

Staggering off the bed, her breathing laboured, Rose stumbled over to the door. Falling against it, she frowned at how weak her legs were, making her feel as though she was wading through a marsh.

Then she realised she was bleeding.

That would also explain why she felt like she was about to tip to one side. Pushing back the nausea and dizziness, she felt white-hot anger ripple through her.

With a roar, she tugged at the door handle. It wouldn't even go down an inch.

"Damn it!"

She was tired, beaten, bleeding, weak and sobbing hysterically; her baby had been stolen, the Doctor was useless and she couldn't even get a door open.

So much for Rose Tyler, Defender of the Earth.

She whirled around, scanning the room for anything she could use to break the door, furious when she realised the only thing was the bed; there was no way she would be able to move it in her current state.

She noticed the glass panels on one side and grinned.

Yes, it was probably a hundred times stronger than normal glass but she was determined.

Taking a deep breath and preparing herself for a world of pain, she ran unsteadily towards them.

The impact jarred her, nearly breaking every bone on the right side of her body.

Nice one, Rose, she thought scathingly. Even the bed and door plan would have been better than this.

Her head swam as she leant against the glass, willing herself not to faint. Tremors racked her body as she realised that Kovarian was probably long gone.

She'd failed. Not even an hour had passed since she'd become a mother and she had failed in the most spectacular way possible.

She had let her baby be taken without a fight.

Rage as she had never felt built within her, desperately looking for an outlet. Her eyes flashed gold as she shrieked, a wave blasting out of her body and smashing the glass in front of her.

She raised her hand instinctively to protect her eyes. She could feel the glass ripping into her flesh, could hear the tinkling as it landed around her.

She found she didn't care.

Scrambling over the bigger, broken pieces on the floor she hissed as they tore into her feet, the hiss becoming a wince as the splinters dug into her with every step she took.

Blanking out her surroundings she headed for the door, sighing with relief when it opened easily.

"Some luck," she breathed. "Some luck at last."
Limping down the darkened hall, she kept her eyes on the only door ahead of her, light shining through the slits at the top and bottom.

It seemed to take an eternity getting there, each step lasting an age, each breath a millennium.

Which I guess it is, she thought, thoroughly amused. Oh God, don't get hysterical now.

Reaching the door, she leant against it, praying to whatever god was watching that she wouldn't throw up or freak out if she looked at herself.

Steeling herself, she glanced down.

The gods obviously weren't paying attention to her.

Seeing the trail of blood behind her, the pools of it at her feet and the glass sticking out her of her limbs was enough to make her puke.

The blood still tricking down her legs, as well as the deep welts where the leather had bitten into the skin around her ankles and wrist was enough to make her freak out.

But what really caught her breath was the array of bruises blooming up the outside of her right arm and leg, the small bump hanging out of her skin that was her left wrist.

Feeling the bile rise, she took several calming breaths. It did nothing to prevent her from throwing up.

Wiping her mouth, she pulled the door open, shielding her eyes with her good hand as the light hit her.

Moving forward slowly, she realised she was in a hangar; a cold, empty hangar that had no ships for her to send out an emergency signal, nothing there to help her escape.

Nothing there to follow Madame Kovarian in.

"Doctor, where are you?" she asked shakily. "The one time I really need you and you're not here."

Finally everything became real to her. Her pain, her mental anguish at losing her baby, her disappointment in the Doctor all hit her with the force of a battering ram.

Falling to her knees, she covered her face with her good hand as she sobbed, the stars surrounding her being the only witnesses to her heartbreak.

"Tell me one more time what you saw," the Doctor said quietly, though his eyes were blazing.
River exhaled angrily. "We're wasting time! I know where she is, now tell the TARDIS and let's go!"

"We don't know when!" he cried, throwing his hands in the air. "We could go too early, we could go too late, we could go before the place even existed!"

River scoffed. "I highly doubt that, unless maybe you're driving."

"Stop it!" he snapped. "Stop making jokes like this isn't something important. I can't go there and find out I got it wrong, and that Rose isn't there. I can't do that."

River nodded, her mood turning serious.

Jack ran into the console room, Mickey and Martha close behind him.

"They know what happened. What none of us know is what we're-"

Doctor!

"Did you hear that?" he asked sharply, glancing around at them.

"What, me talking?" Jack asked dryly.

"No, no. It…it sounded like Rose."

The four shook their heads, confusion on every face.

"What did she say?" Martha asked, her voice low in case he heard something else.

"She…she called my name. Screamed it, I-how didn't you hear it?"

"Maybe it's like a Time Lord thing," River said quietly, her eyes following his every move.

The Doctor shook his head.

Doctor, where are you?

"There, I heard her again!"

"Could you have a link with her?" Jack asked, frowning in thought. "I've heard of it happening before."

"No, I can't go in her mind anymore."

"Well maybe it's not in her mind."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, frantically running through possible explanations.

"You're talking about a mental link, Jack. That means it's in your mind."

"Could it be the baby?" River asked.

"No, it was Rose. But I could feel everything she felt; pain, fear, hatred. It's killing me not knowing where she is when I know she's feeling that. I should be there," he said desperately, running his hands through his hair.

"Like twins," Mickey said simply.

Everyone froze.

"What?" River whispered.

"Twins; they're supposed to feel the other ones pain and stuff even if they're miles away from each other, right? Well what if him and Rose are like that but…" he trailed off, trying to think of a word to describe the couple.

"Lovers?" Martha suggested.

"Let's go with that. But say they did, and they could hear each other-"

"Like Jane Eyre," the Doctor murmured.

"Yeah, like Jane-what?" Mickey asked, turning to stare at the Doctor. Martha laughed at his dumb-founded expression as he realised the Doctor had stolen his thunder.

"Wait, how is it like Jane Eyre?" Jack asked, looking over to River, who shrugged.

"Have you ever read Jane Eyre? Any of you?"

They all shook their heads.

"You really should, it's a great book. But that's not the point. In it Rochester and Jane get separated and then one day in complete despair, Rochester shouts her name out the window and she hears him but no one else does. It's like…they have a kind of link, think of it as psychic, not mental like Jack said, and that's what connects them. But the link is their love."

River opened her mouth before shutting it again, not really sure what the Doctor was trying to say.

Mickey burst out with, "Who the hell is Rochester?" as Jack asked slowly, "So you're saying you can hear Rose in your head because you have a bond of…love?"

The Doctor nodded, grinning.

"Brilliant, isn't it? That's why it's not killing me."

"It sounds insane," Mickey said blankly.

"I know. But I can feel her, here," he said softly, placing his hand on his chest, right over his left heart. "It's like something's pulling me to her."

"You know where she is?" River asked sharply.

Doctor, where are you? The one time I really need you and you're not here.

"Something's happened," the Doctor said fearfully, all traces of his good mood gone. "We're going now."

Martha stepped forward, grabbing his arm.

"You need to prepare yourself for…anything."

"You think I don't know that?" he snarled, wrenching his arm out of her grasp. She watched him, her eyes full of sorrow.

"He has no idea, does he?" River murmured, her gaze also on the Doctor.

Martha shook her head; she didn't trust herself to talk without bursting into tears.

"I don't think this will be as simple as he thinks. I don't like it, it feels too easy," Jack muttered, joining them.

Mickey, however, had gone to stand beside the Doctor, who glanced up at him, grateful that he wasn't saying anything, just keeping him company, showing him that he was there.

He realised he'd always underestimated Mickey. This Mickey wasn't an idiot, not anymore; he was a man, a husband, a father…and now a good friend.

Maybe he always had been.

Smiling slightly, the Doctor brushed his mind against the TARDIS' vast consciousness, giving her an idea of the feeling he had.

"Help me," he whispered. "Take me to her."

The TARDIS hummed but didn't move.

"Please, I don't know what else to do."
Still nothing.

Furious, the Doctor pulled down a lever before spinning to the right and punching another one up. His dance continued, stopping whenever he passed something that caught his mind's eye. He was acting completely on his feelings, using whatever hint he could get to take him to Rose.

He realised why the TARDIS had ignored him.

"Clever old girl," he praised, before hitting the engines.

"Where are we going?"

He pulled the screen towards him, squinting at it.

"Dark Sword, located on a small meteor, owned by a B. Wolf. It's September, in the year-oooh that's not a good year, not liking this at all," he said, making a face at the screen.

"Are we going to the right place, she's definitely there?" Jack asked, excitement coursing through him at the thought of finding his best friend.

"Oh yes. I can feel it."

"We need Gwen," Jack said quickly, running out of the console room. "I'll be back in a minute!"

The Doctor frowned. "Where did she go?"

"The TARDIS was making her feel a bit sick. She's never been on her before," Martha said with a smile.

"But…but she didn't say 'It's bigger on the inside'," he said sadly, looking like a child who'd lost its toy.

Martha rolled her eyes just as Jack returned with a grumpy-looking Gwen and the suitcases full of guns.

"Take one pass it along," he joked, dropping them to the ground and flipping the lids up.

The Doctor watched in disdain and disbelief as Jack handed out the guns as though they were sweets, giving Mickey a huge, thick, obviously alien kind of machine gun that required him to hold it with both hands, as Martha and Gwen took two smaller guns each. Jack took as many as he could hide on his person, keeping a small hand gun to hold.

The Doctor shuddered at the thought of where they'd ended up.

Martha muttered something to Gwen who cried, "It's bigger on the inside!"

The Doctor scowled at her. She merely winked.

Expecting a bumpy landing the Doctor shouted, "Now every one hold on, I'm fed up of you all falling over and blaming me!"

Surprisingly, it was unbelievably smooth.

He looked over to the console, his grin becoming a pout when he saw River at the controls.

"You made it like that," he stated.

She nodded, looking incredibly smug.

Grumbling to himself, he realised what was about to happen. His hands began to shake, his hearts beating out a rapid rhythm against his chest.

He walked slowly towards the doors, terrified his legs would give out beneath him. He hardly noticed the others following behind him, guns at the ready.

Opening the door, the first thing he did was wince at how bright it was. As his eyes adjusted the light, he glanced around hoping to see Rose.

Rose. He was here for Rose. She was what mattered.

Then why was he so afraid?

"And as for you, Sir Doctor. Fascinating; there is no name. Why would a man hide his title in such despair? Oh but look. There's still one word with the power of the days."

"The naming won't work on me."

"Oh, but your heart grows cold. A north wind blows and carries down the distant...Rose?"

"Oh, big mistake, because that name keeps me fighting!"

This was his fight, his final battle in the war to find her.

Just think of her name. Her name is everything, he told himself, letting all his love for Rose build in his chest.

Rose.

He took a few steps forward, just enough so that he was outside the TARDIS as the door slammed shut, automatically locking.

"Doctor!" River yelled, pulling at the handle.

"What are you doing, open!" he shouted, banging on the door.

He heard Mickey shout, "Use your key, idiot!"

Turn around, she told him, her voice as overwhelming as ever.

Rose.

Doing as she said, he turned, hyperaware of every part of his body.

Rose.

He froze, stunned, whispering, "No."