The Doctor walked quickly back to his TARDIS with Rose and Elenoriah still with him. He didn't look back at the people he left behind, not because he was cowardly, but because he didn't want to waste any more time. He had given them a warning and now it was up to them what they were going to do with it. He would return to the planet and he would not grant them second chances. If they screwed it up, then he would burn the planet, not making any difference between the guilty ones and the innocents.

As soon as the three had reached the TARDIS, he unlocked the door and threw Elenoriah in, not bothering to be careful with her. She might be a teenage girl, but she had to learn her place. She was nothing compared to him and she would learn to respect him. She would learn to fear him, just like the rest.

Rose immediately saw Jack walking towards her and she ran to him for a hug, not paying any attention to the glares the Doctor was shooting the Captain. She was too happy to see him, he was her only support in the TARDIS right now. They would think of something together.

'Right. Time for a short introduction,' the Doctor said, wrapping an arm around Elenoriah to keep her from running away. 'This is Elenoriah, the princess of the planet Zokar. Well… not anymore, I suppose. I took their throne, so I suppose you are nothing at the moment. I've already told her that she stays with me as my slave, so that's why she is here. Elenoriah, this here is Jack Harkness, and this here is Rose Tyler. And they will also make sure that you do as you are told. Understood?'

Elenoriah shot him a dirty look, struggling to get away from the Time Lord.

'I am not your prisoner!' she yelled.

'Yes, you are! And you better do as I say, because every mistake you make will result in a punishment. And if you really, really piss me off, then you will end up in unbreakable chains and thrown into the event horizon of a collapsing galaxy. I've done that before, and I can assure you, it is not a very light punishment. You will have to live forever there.'

'Then what do you want from me?' the girl asked.

'I want you to bake us some cookies. I like cookies,' the Doctor answered with a straight face.

'What? Just that? You want me to bake… cookies?' Elenoriah repeated.

'You heard me, now off you go, I am sure the TARDIS will help you with finding the kitchen,' the Doctor said and Elenoriah frowned, but then she decided to go and find the kitchen.

Rose looked at the Doctor with a surprised look on her face.

'Seriously? Cookies?' she asked.

'What's wrong with that? I just want to have some. After that she can start cleaning up my ship. And believe me, that is a lot of work. And now we don't have to make our food ourselves!' the Doctor smiled.

'You never did that anyway. You just asked the TARDIS and she would make you something,' Rose pointed out.

'True. But that's not the point. Now we actually have someone who does that for us. And if she doesn't please me well enough, then I will have to be a bit harder I suppose,' the Doctor shrugged.

'You are an idiot,' Rose said, but she couldn't help herself from giggling.

'See? You can still laugh! Nothing really changed between us,' the Doctor said.

'That's not true. Everything has changed and you will take me home. I want to leave,' Rose said, serious again.

'And I told you that I am not going to let you. You have betrayed me too many times, remember? You even tried to steal my TARDIS keys and you tried to stand in my way far too many times. You don't deserve to control me,' the Doctor said, not smiling anymore.

Jack rolled his eyes. Rose had to kill the Doctor's good mood straight away.

'I warned you, Doctor. I will find a way to leave. Whatever it takes. I will be in my room, just tell me when we have cookies,' Rose said and she walked away.

'YOU DON'T DESERVE COOKIES!' the Doctor shouted after her, but she was already gone.

'Doctor? What happened on Zokar? Why is she so upset with you? Again?' Jack asked carefully.

'She stole my keys. And she wanted to steal the key I am carrying with me as well. That was her plan all along, she wanted to come close enough to me to get hold of that key to take my TARDIS away from me. And that is something I will not tolerate, not even from her. So I took charge again. We were captured, Rose got tortured by some blue aliens and after that I interfered. I killed the man responsible and I took his daughter with me because she was too cheeky for my liking.'

Jack frowned and then took a step back. 'I will check on her.'

'She doesn't need you.'

'She certainly doesn't need you, somebody's got to check if she is alright,' Jack snapped.

'I want you back here in five minutes. With Rose, I need to discuss something with her. So you better make it quick,' the Doctor said and he sat down in the captain's chair. 'Well… I am counting…'

Jack rushed away to see Rose and he found her indeed in her room. But she was not alone, Elenoriah was with her as well, they were sitting on Rose's bed together, apparently to discuss something.

'Rose?' Jack asked and Rose jumped in surprise. She was half expecting to see the Doctor, so she was very relieved to find Jack standing in the door opening.

'Rose, he gave me five minutes to be here with you, and he wanted me took take you with me. What is she doing here?' Jack said, pointing at the other girl.

'I found her in the kitchen. We were talking about…' Rose hesitated, making sure that no one else could hear them and Jack closed the door behind him. Then Rose continued. 'About a way to kill the Doctor.'

'Seriously?' Jack said, raising his eyebrows. 'How do you possibly want to do that?'

'Well, I was thinking, if only I could make him believe that I have gone, then he will be emotional. He won't think straight, he can be easily distracted. Without that focus, you two can try to stab him in the back. Literally. Shooting him won't work in the TARDIS. So that is my plan, we don't have the time for anything else. He is insane and he will destroy half the universe if we don't do something, and we three are the only ones who are close enough to him to do something,' Rose whispered.

'But… you can't leave, he won't let you,' Jack said.

'No, that's why I just have to hide. Or at least I will have to try. I will hide myself somewhere in the TARDIS and you will tell him that I have gone. Jumped out of the TARDIS, I don't know. Just don't let him kill you guys first, because he can be unpredictable when he is emotional,' Rose whispered.

'What will he do then?' Elenoriah asked with a trembling voice, this was the first time she really sounded scared. She had never been imprisoned before and she had never risked her life before either.

'I don't know. As far as I know he can do anything to you and he won't think about the consequences. He won't stop before he is satisfied. He would want to have revenge for my disappearance. And you have got to be ready. As soon as it is starting to look dangerous, then you run. You try to run away from him and wait for a change to kill him,' Rose said, tears welling up in her eyes. She had never thought she would ever try to make a plan to kill the Doctor.

'So you let us do all the work? Just to keep yourself safe?' Elenoriah asked.

'I've told you, he needs to be weakened. And he cares for me, he will be weak without me,' Rose said.

'How can you know? Maybe it will do the opposite to him, maybe he will try to get you back again, just like last time when he thought you were dead,' Jack said.

'We need to try, he is too alert right now. Besides, Jack, do you even know what he wants to discuss with me?' Rose asked and Jack shook his head. 'He wants to make me a Time Lady. He wants me to be his equal. Not even I am safe here and you know that. I am not doing this to save myself.'

Jack eyes widened in shock. 'I know that, Rose. I know… but… a Time Lady? He can't do that to you, that is… impossible.'

'Nothing is impossible with him and that's why I want him to regenerate, I want him to become someone else. And if even that doesn't work, then we might as well give up.'

'He will never forgive you for killing him, not even in another body,' Jack whispered in return.

'Maybe he will see that he was wrong. And that is progress, isn't it?' Rose said, a weak smile on her lips.

'Regenerate?' Elenoriah asked confused.

'Never mind, we just need to kill him. A stab through both hearts,' Jack explained and Elenoriah nodded; Rose had already told her about the two hearts and his capability of living with only one heart working.

'I have a knife here, took it from the kitchen. Shall I keep it?' Elenoriah asked, showing the kitchen knife she had taken with her after Rose had told her to.

Then suddenly the door swung open and much to their horror, the three saw the Doctor coming in. Jack realized too late that they had already been there for five minutes, and the Time Lord certainly did not look happy.

'You, what are you doing here?' he asked angrily when he saw the princess. 'Be careful… because you will be thrown in space before you know it.'

Elenoriah swallowed when she saw the Doctor walking towards her with a glare that could have killed a much braver person than her right on the spot.

'I… I was just…' she stuttered.

'What is that knife for?' the Doctor asked suspiciously when he saw the sliver kitchenware. He kept coming closer and even Rose and Jack backed slightly away involuntary.

'Well?' the Doctor asked now impatiently, waiting for an answer.

The princess still didn't say anything, she had really no excuse. And neither did Rose nor Jack.

'ASNWER ME!' he suddenly roared, lifting the young girl up on her hair, anger radiating from his whole body.

Rose quickly stood up, shocked at his sudden outburst.

'It was my fault, Doctor! Let her go and I'll explain!' Rose yelled, making sure that she kept her bed between her and the Doctor.

'I gave you one little and simple instruction, which did not involve barging into Rose's room with a knife. I do not take kindly on threats and I can't believe that you even dare to do this. I've given you a chance to live, and yet you disobey me again,' the Doctor growled in Elenoriah's face, completely ignoring Rose.

That was exactly what Rose had meant. When it came to her and her safety, then the Doctor was blind. He was blind for everything else around him and the only thing on his mind was the safety and the protection of Rose. And that made him vulnerable. As far as Rose knew, that was his only weakness.

'That is not what she did, Doctor! Listen to me!' Rose shouted, and she finally got the Doctor's attention. When he looked at her, his expression softened immediately.

'Rose… she is not where she is supposed to be,' he sighed. 'So she is either planning on doing something bad to you, or you three are in a complot against me. And I really, really hope that it is not the last option, because that would not do anything good to my mood right now.'

The Doctor was seething and Rose saw it. She also knew that the Doctor was suspecting her and Jack as well, the Time Lord was not stupid. He just didn't want to suspect Rose. And that was the only thing that saved her right now. He didn't want to admit that his own, loyal companion was in a plot against him. Rose realized all that, but she also didn't want Elenoriah to be in danger. It was not the princess's fault, after all.

'Let her go, Doctor. Punish me whatever you want, but let her go,' Rose said.

'You… you admit that you… no…' the Doctor whispered, his expression now turning into sadness. 'I don't believe you.'

'It's not what you think it is, Doctor. We weren't doing anything,' Rose sighed, trying to sound convincing enough.

'Then explain to me what you were doing here, because she,' he tightened his grip on the princess's hair to emphasis his words, 'is not supposed to be here.'

'I asked her to come here, and she was busy in the kitchen. So that is why she still has that knife. I wanted to hear from her why she felt the need to be so cheeky. I wanted to explain to her that she could better keep her mouth shut and do as she is told,' Rose said calmly.

She saw that the Doctor was not buying her story at all, but nonetheless her threw the young girl back on the bed and he grabbed both her wrists to pin her down on the bed. He squeezed the wrist with the knife painfully so that she dropped it and he made her squeal in pain.

'Don't try anything on me, if there is one person you should never make your enemy, then it is me. So back to the kitchen and don't let me find you again on places you shouldn't be. Is that clear?' the Doctor asked with a deadly voice.

Elenoriah nodded fiercely and the Time Lord let her go. She grabbed the knife and ran off to the kitchen again.

'You don't have to scare that poor kid!' Jack said.

'I do, I have my reasons. Now Rose, I believe we have something to talk about. Jack, leave now please,' the Doctor said.

'Whoa, no, you said I could have five minutes to talk with Rose. I haven't got the chance!' Jack proclaimed.

'Not my problem. Go,' the Doctor said, gritting his teeth.

'Doctor… Don't be so mean, let him stay here for a bit, you can talk to me later. You have all the time in the universe!' Rose said.

'Yes, and Jack as well. Immortal, remember? Whose side are you exactly on, Tyler?' the Doctor asked.

'Jack's.'

'Very well then. Then I shall discuss everything with myself and what I am going to do with you will be entirely my decision. I am just going to find out a way to make you mine, although I already have some brilliant ideas,' the Doctor smiled. 'I'll be in my room, if you want to have a say in anything, you really should come to me.'

The Doctor turned back towards the door, but before he shut the door, he added: 'Oh, and Jack. You know the rules. Don't touch her.'

With that he left Rose's room and he went to his own to do his preparations. Of course he wasn't going to give his precious Rose the most painful treatment. He would choose the easiest and friendliest way possible for her to convert her biology. She would thank him later, she would finally understand him and truly share his feelings. Together they would become invincible, the most feared beings in the universe. He would check on her in a couple of minutes anyway, Jack was not allowed to stay there for too long. Knowing Jack, he wouldn't be able to keep his hands away from her.

In the meantime, Rose quickly said goodbye to Jack and she wished him luck. He was going to need it. She gave him a quick kiss and then she ran off. She really didn't know where to go, but she had to run as far away as she could. Finally she found a small room that hadn't been used for a very long time, seeing all the dust on the furniture. But she would be able to survive for long enough there, she had grabbed some water and food from her own room, so at least for two days she should be fine. And that had to be long enough for Jack and Elenoriah to do what needed to be done.