Rose followed the Doctor out the TARDIS doors with Amy and Rory behind. To say they were on a planet would be misleading. It was more like a large junk yard with broken space ships and parts littering the ground.

"So, what kind of trouble's your friend in?" she asked.

"He was in a bind," the Doctor said as he picked up one space ship part, examined it, then tossed it back down. "A bit of a pickle. Sort of distressed."

"Aw, you can't just say you don't know," Amy teased.

Rose laughed, which earned her a glare from the Doctor.

"What is this place?" Rose asked, glancing around at all the junk.

"Scrap yard at the end of the universe?" Rory guessed.

"Not end of, outside of," the Doctor replied.

He turned, put his arm around Rory, and began walking with him back toward the TARDIS.

"How can we be outside the universe? The universe is everything," Rory insisted.

"Imagine a great big soap bubble with one of those tiny little bubbles on the outside."

"Okay."

"Well, it's nothing like that," he continued. They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor slapped the door as if that might help. "Completely drained. Look at her."

Rose walked over to join him, not sure what they were going to do. Putting aside the fact that they were trapped there without a TARDIS. The Matrix, her soul, was gone.

"Wait," Amy said, glancing at them. "So we're in a tiny bubble universe, sticking to the side of the bigger bubble universe?"

"Yeah. No. But if it helps, yes," the Doctor confusingly agreed.

"Doctor, what are we going to do?" Rose asked.

"This place is full of rift energy," he replied, glancing around. "She'll probably refuel just by being here." He stepped away from the TARDIS. "Now, this place." He bent down and picked up a small rock. "What do we think, eh?" He tossed the rock, watching it fall. "Gravity's almost Earth normal, air's breathable," he hopped into a bathtub, making her laugh. He grinned. "But it smells like..."

"Armpits," Rose supplied because, yep, that's exactly what it smelled like.

"Armpits," the Doctor agreed, pointing at her and smiling, which made her grin.

"What about all this stuff?" Rory asked, spinning what might have been a strange chandelier. "Where did this come from?"

"Well, there's a rift. Now and then stuff gets sucked through it," the Doctor said. "Not a bubble, a plughole. The universe has a plughole and we've just fallen down it."

"Thief! Thief! You're my thief!" A woman yelled.

Rose spun around as a woman ran toward the doctor. She dark hair and was wearing a strange Victorian style dress. Another woman and a man raced to catch up with the strange woman.

"She's dangerous," the second woman, a bit older, warned. "Guard yourselves."

The strange woman ran straight up to the Doctor. Rose stepped closer to him. She wasn't about to let anything happen to him.

"Look at you," the strange woman said, grabbing him as if to steady herself. "Goodbye. No, not goodbye, what's the other one?"

She was confused. Maybe she fell and hit her head recently. Although Rose didn't know this woman she seemed familiar. She knew she hadn't seen her before, but there was still a feeling of familiarity, which Rose shoved aside as the strange woman pulled the Doctor into a kiss.

"Doctor!" Rose snapped.

She knew it wasn't his fault, but she couldn't help how she felt. The woman broke the kiss and eyed Rose.

"Sister! You're my sister!"

"Watch out," the man said, drawing closer to them. "Careful! Keep back from her."

Rose glanced from the woman to the Doctor and back.

"No, sorry, I don't have any sisters."

"You are my sister," the woman insisted. "Or you were or you're going to be."

"Welcome, strangers," the man said pulling the woman away. "Lovely. Sorry about the mad person."

"Why am I a thief?" the Doctor insisted. "What have I stolen?"

"Me," the strange woman insisted. "You're going to steal me. No, you have stolen me. You are stealing me." She seemed very confused. "Oh, tenses are difficult, aren't they, sister?" She glanced at Rose. "How do you manage them?"

For some reason this woman really, truly believed Rose was her sister. That feeling of familiarity washed over her again.

"Just, uh, lots of practice I guess," Rose replied, not entirely sure what to say.

"Oh, oh, we are sorry, my dove," the older woman said, walking over to the Doctor to shake his hand. "She's off her head. They call me Auntie."

"And I'm Uncle," the man said offering his hand, which the Doctor shook. "I'm everybody's Uncle. Just keep back from that one. She bites!"

They were both wearing strange patchwork clothes, but then again Rose supposed there weren't many department stores nearby.

"Do I?" The strange woman asked. In the next moment she grabbed the Doctor. "Excellent!" She bit down on his ear. The Doctor screamed as Rose and Uncle pulled the woman off.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Biting's excellent!" The woman exclaimed. "It's like kissing, only there's a winner."

"So sorry," Uncle apologized. "She's doolally."

"No, I'm not doolally. I'm...I'm..." she paused. "It's on the tip of my tongue. I've just had a new idea about kissing," she made a dash for the Doctor. "Come here, you."

The Doctor ran behind Amy, Rory, and Rose.

"No, Idris, no!" Auntie insisted as she grabbed Idris's arm.

Idris paused.

"Oh, but now you're angry. No, you're not. You will be angry. The little boxes will make you angry."

Wait. Little boxes? Like the Time Lord distress signal they followed here?

"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, stepping between Amy and Rory to get closer. "The little what? Boxes?"

Rose glanced at the Doctor. He was thinking the same thing she was.

"Oh, ho, no," Idris exclaimed, grabbing his chin. "Your chin in hilarious!" She released him and then caught Rory's eye. "It means the smell of dust after rain."

"What does?" Rory asked.

"Petrichor," she said.

"But I didn't ask."

"Not yet. But you will."

"No, no, Idris. I think you should have a rest," Auntie said.

"Rest. Yes, yes," Idris agreed. "Good idea. I'll just see if there's an off switch."

Idris took a step and then collapsed. Rory and the Doctor caught her. They laid her down carefully.

"Is that it? She dead now?" Uncle asked. "So sad."

"No, she's still breathing," Rory said, checking her over.

"Nephew, take Idris somewhere she can not bite people," Uncle said, glancing behind them.

Rose turned around to find an Ood standing behind them. She met Ood before when she was trapped with the Doctor on a ship that was orbiting a black hole so she wasn't startled by his appearance. Amy and Rory on the other hand both startled when they laid eyes on him.

"Oh, hello!" the Doctor greeted.

"Doctor, what is that?" Amy exclaimed.

"Oh, no, it's all right," he said.

"It's an Ood," Rose supplied.

"Oods are good," the Doctor explained as he stepped closer to the creature. "Love an Ood. Hello, Ood. Can't you talk?" He glanced at the sphere the Ood held, which was what they communicated through. "Oh, I see. It's damaged. May I?" He reached toward it. The Ood nodded. He opened the sphere and fiddled with the wires. "It might just be on the wrong frequency."

"Nephew was broken when he came here. Why, he was half dead. House repaired him. House repaired all of us."

The Doctor put the top back on the sphere. It began to glow with a green light, at the same time the air around them was filled with voices.

"If you are receiving this message, please help me. Send a signal to the High Council of the Time Lords on Gallifrey. Tell them that I am still alive. I don't know where I am. I'm on some rock-like planet."

It was the Corsiar, the same voice they followed there. It wasn't just him though, it was dozens, maybe hundreds more. The Ood turned the sphere off.

"What was that?" Rory asked, pointing at the Ood. "Was that him?"

Hundreds of Time Lords, but there couldn't be hundreds of Time Lords there. Auntie and Uncle didn't mention it. She glanced at them. They seemed nervous.

"No, no," the Doctor dismissed. "It's picking up something else. But that's...that's not possible." Rose could feel the waves of fear rolling off him. She reached out and took his hand. He caught here eye. "That's...that's..." He glanced at Auntie and Uncle. "Who else is here?" He walked over to them, dragging Rose with him. "Tell me. Show me! Show me!"

Auntie and Uncle stepped back.

"Just what you see. Just the four of us, and the House. Nephew, will you take Idris somewhere safe where she can't hurt nobody?"

Nephew walked over to Idris, picked her up, and carried her off. Rose watched, not sure if she liked the idea of the woman being carried off somewhere. Idris was completely round the bend, but there was still that feeling of familiarity, which made Rose concerned for the woman's safety.

"The House? What's the House?" The Doctor demanded.

"House is all around you, my sweets," Auntie replied as Uncle began jumping up and down in place. Okay, they were all bonkers. "You are standing on him." She pointed at the ground for emphasis. Rose took a step back, glancing down, she wasn't sure she liked that idea. "This is the House. This world. Would you like to meet him?"

"Meet him?" Rose asked, but was silenced by the Doctor putting his finger up, which usually met there was something very, very wrong and he was about to become very, very angry.

"I'd love to," he said.

"This way," Uncle replied, turning around. "Come, please. Come."

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, tightening her grip on his hand.

"What were those voices?" Amy inquired.

"Time Lords," he revealed, glancing at Rose. "It's not just the Corsair. Somewhere close by there are lots and lots of Time Lords."

He followed Auntie and Uncle with Rose in tow. Amy and Rory followed, but Rose wasn't thinking about them. She was wondering what was going to happen when the Doctor found all those Time Lords.

Thank you to all my brilliant readers!

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