Here's the next chapter! but, uh... where'd everybody go? O.o i'm not hungry for reviews, but it's nice to know what you guys think, so please review! it encourages me to write more :)

I popped up hanging onto the railing in the console room with a hand on my face as I tried to battle the headache and drums pounding away in my head. God, I'm going to kill him. I was finally getting some sleep and he just had to go and pick a fight with another stubborn jacka—

"Alex?"

I looked up at the voice and felt myself relax a bit upon seeing Rose heading over cautiously.

"Are you okay? Is it the, uh…" She waved her hands at her head. "…mind thing again?"

I raised a brow, wondering what she was talking about and shook my head. "No. It's just a headache, among other things."

"Oh, okay." She smiled a bit, before giving me a look. "Why are your fingers all twitchy?"

I lifted my hand and frowned as my fingers twitched to the four beat pattern in my head, trying to tap out the beat despite my best efforts to ignore it.

"It's nothing. Sorry." I muttered, clenching my hand into a fist before giving her a tired look. "Please tell me I can go sleep."

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, sure you can." She said, coming over and rubbing my back as we headed off to my room. "We weren't planning on going anywhere for a while longer. I actually just came down to get my jacket that I left." She held up said object with a small smile. "If you want, I can let the Doctor know you're here and he can whip us both up some breakfast when you're ready."

"Mm." I grumbled, pulling a hand through my hair with a yawn. "Sounds good." I paused then, brows furrowing as I gave her a look. "But I thought he hates me."

"You two sort of…" She made a face, trying to think of the words. "…had some understanding happen the trip before last. So he's been trying to be nicer to you." She chuckled then though, confusing me more. "It's kind of funny though, watching you two argue. You'd think you both were like five or something."

I frowned as we approached my room. "You're telling me. I just had to scold the future him because he was picking a childish fight with someone. He never changes, I'll tell you that."

"That's hard to believe." She said heading into my room and looking around as I dug through my closet for something to sleep in. "You two both kind of seem as though you're changing all the time. One minute you're all skittish and he's all angry, then the next, you're telling him off and he's pouting. Not to mention the whole face changing thing he's got going on and you being all… Time Lordy."

"I'm not a Time Lord." I grumbled, changing my pants to a pair of grey sweats. "My body's just trying to cope with the spreading Artron Energy and two hearts just seems to be the best way to do it."

"Have you got two hearts yet?" She asked and I put a hand on the right side of my chest.

"Nope. Not yet, it seems. Just feels weird."

"How you mean?" She asked, plopping down on the edge of my bed with a bounce. "It's gotta be weird suddenly getting a new heart. Does it feel like… like when you eat something weird?"

I gave her a look. "It's not indigestion."

"Well, I don't know! You don't see me growing two hearts or nothing. So what's it feel like?"

"It's weird. It just feels weighted. Like when you have a cold and your chest is congested. Sometimes it aches though. Like when you feel guilty or nervous and your heart clenches." I muttered, changing shirts and catching the slight gasp of air she took it at the sight of my back where the scar from the Vespiform was; making me move a little faster and turn towards her. "Ah, sorry. I didn't mean—"

"No, no! It's alright. I just… I-I never knew that you…"

I saw her tearing up and felt guilt welling up in me as I hurried over and tried to figure out what to do. "A-Ah, don't cry! Don't cry! It doesn't hurt anymore or anything! Really!… Oh, I'm really not good with crying people." I grabbed a box of tissues that was just lying around and passed them to her. "H-Here."

She chuckled a bit through the tears, taking a tissue and wiping her eyes. "Y-You.. You are just so… I don't even know how to describe you."

I decided to mimic the Twelfth Doctor and waved a hand over my face. "I'm a mystery."

"Pft. Ahaha!" She burst out laughing and I chuckled a bit as well, feeling better now that I had someone to take my mind off things with.

Of course, it was then that the Doctor chose to ruin things and burst into my room in a panic.

"What's going on?! I heard laughing and… Alex?"

I smiled a bit with a wave. "Hi, sorry. I seemed to have broke your companion."

"W-Where did you get that?!" Rose asked between laughs.

I pointed over at the Tenth Doctor and her laughter grew louder as she doubled over.

"W-Why can I totally see that?! Ahaha!"

The Doctor frowned and gave me an annoyed look. "You two were making fun of me?"

"Only a bit." I chirped innocently, helping Rose up and pushing her towards the door. "Go on then, Rose. I need to sleep and you need to stop laughing at the Doctor or he's going to kill me for making fun of him."

"O-Okay." She sad, trying to stifle her laughter. "G-Goodnight, Alex."

I gave her a little wave as she took the Doctor's arm and pulled him along.

"No, hold on. What were you two saying about me?" He asked her, but that just made her laugh again and shake her head as they disappeared down the hall.

Closing my door, I let out a sigh and climbed into bed, far more exhausted than before, but with a slight smile on my face. Ah, Rose Tyler. Defender of Earth… My smile slowly slipped off as I felt guilt and sorrow well up in me and I covered my eyes with my arm as tears slid down my face. I'm so sorry. I couldn't save you.

The next morning—or whenever it was in Tardis time—I woke up and slowly made my way down to the kitchen, following the smell of food that the ship had allowed to drift up to my room. Once there, I plopped down in the chair beside Rose and rested my chin on the table as I closed my eyes with a yawn.

"You look all tuckered out, Alex. You could've slept for a bit longer." Rose said in slight concern, making me grumble as I pointed at the ceiling.

"She wouldn't let me. She practically filled my room with the smell of whatever the Doctor's cooking. I couldn't sleep through my stomach growling."

Rose chuckled a bit and nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. The Doctor's cooking is amazing. Where'd you learn?"

"All over the place." He replied, cheerily putting down two large plates of various breakfast foods in front of her and I, as I rubbed my chest with a frown. "You alright?"

I nodded, picking up my fork and cutting off a bit of my waffle. "Yeah. New heart still growing."

"Ah, I remember that." He muttered nostalgically, taking off his apron and getting some food for himself, before he nodded at my arm. "What 'bout your wrist?"

Rose looked at him in question. "What's wrong with her wrist?"

"Broke it." I grumbled between bites of food, holding up said appendage. "Cybermen didn't like me threatening them with a taser."

"But why didn't I notice it before?" Rose asked, touching it as though it would disappear any second.

"Has a perception filter on it to fend off touchy Doctors." I explained, earning a chuckle from her and a frown from the Doctor across from me.

I flinched then, hearing something clatter down on the table and glancing to my right to see the package of pills I was supposed to be taking. Waving a hand up at the ceiling I downed one of the pills with my water.

"Thanks, Sexy. I forgot about those."

"What're they for?" Rose asked and I shrugged.

"Supposed to help my body take in more nutrients or something to fix my wrist. Have to take one twice a day for the next…" I counted off my fingers. "…ten days. I'm starting to think the perception filter's working on me with how I keep forgetting it's broken."

I yawned again and looked down at my half-finished food, feeling my stomach churn uncomfortably. As much as the other Doctors had been trying to get me to eat full meals, I still couldn't quite do it yet. So I begrudgingly pushed the plate away and got up, finishing my water and heading for the door.

"I'm gonna shower and change. You guys go ahead and pick someplace to go."

The two at the table watched as I left, one worried and the other suspicious as to the reasons why I would leave my plate half full.

Once I'd showered and changed into some jeans, a white shirt, a black hoodie and a brown jacket, I headed back to the console room where I watched as the Doctor bounded to the door and Rose came in dressed in a denim jacket, a bright yellow shirt, and some dark blue bell-bottoms.

"Well, you certainly don't have any sense of adventure." She said to me, pouting and gesturing to my clothes. "I swear, all I ever see you in is hoodies."

"They're comfy." I said, giving her appearance a raised brow. "And should we end up somewhere ridiculously out of way, I won't have to change into something else."

"Oh, come on. How many times has he actually got something wrong?" She asked and I sighed, starting to tick off my fingers.

"A year late bringing you home the first time, nine months late picking me up from a friend's, twelve years late picking up said friend, aiming for Vegas but ending up in a Cold War submarine, aiming for Rio and getting Southern Wales. The list goes on, Rose."

"Yeah, I can see that. Blimey, I think I might change to hoodies now. I could end up in a snow storm."

The Doctor came back in then and began turning switches again and we both gave him a look.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, suddenly worried about us landing in the wrong place. "Did you get the place wrong?"

"No, no. Nothing like that. I always get us in the right place."

I looked up at the ceiling when Rose shifted her gaze to me and the Tardis shuddered, before landing once more.

"I just couldn't get out the door, is all." He beamed, not seeing our silent conversation before he headed for the door and we followed.

"Ah!"

We headed out and looked at the town we'd popped up in as Rose spotted some posters and checked them out.

"So, near future, yeah?"

"I had a passing fancy. Only it didn't pass, it stopped." The Doctor explained, the three of us heading down the road and past some guys fixing potholes, looking up at the banner hanging above us.

"30th Olympiad."

"No way! Why didn't I think of this? That's great!" She said in excitement, hanging onto the Doctor's arm.

"Only seems like yesterday a few naked Greek blokes were tossing a discus about, wrestling each other in the sand with crowds stood around baying. No, wait a minute, that was Club Med." He chuckled, bumping playfully into Rose, as I tried to figure out where we were plot wise. "Just in time for the opening doo dah, ceremony, tonight, I thought you'd like that. Last one they had in London was dynamite. Wembley, 1948. I loved it so much, I went back and watched it all over again. Fella carrying the torch. Lovely chap, what was his…"

Rose pulled away from the Doctor, gesturing to the guy putting up posters nearby and I headed over as well; the Doctor muttering names.

"Mark? John? Mark? Legs like pipe cleaners, but strong as a whippet."

"Doctor." Rose called out, but he wasn't listening. "Doctor! You shoulder really look at this!"

The Doctor turned around, but continued on about the edible ball bearings. "Do you two know those things? Nobody else in this entire galaxy's ever even bothered to make edible ball bearings. Genius." He then saw the posters of missing children and lowered his voice. "What's taking them, do you think?"

A lonely little girl. I remembered, wondering if I should do anything this time around since technically, nobody dies and everything turns out alright. But I shouldn't get my hopes up. Who's to say that things won't be different in some way?

"Why's it so cold?" The Doctor asked, trying to figure it out for himself. "Is someone reducing the temperature?"

"It says they all went missing this week. Why would a person so something like this?" Rose asked, making the Doctor give her a look.

"What makes you think it's a person?"

"It's a person." I muttered, drawing their attention to me as I brushed my fingers over the pictures of the kids.

"So you know what it is then?" The Doctor questioned. "Why not just tell us? Save me a lot of trouble and it'd save the kids."

I shook my head. "Time can be rewritten and changed, and if I tell you now, I don't know what kind of problems that may cause later."

"They're children, Alex. Don't you care about them at all?" He demanded to know, his temper leaking through and I rolled my eyes.

"Watch your blood pressure, Mr. Grumpy. I'm not telling you anything, because I know that they're fine, and if everything goes the way it should, they'll continue to be fine. Now, you're smart, so tell me." I turned to him and gave him a serious look. "If you were in my shoes, would you risk telling someone and having everything potentially go wrong, possibly putting those very same kids in danger; or would you keep your mouth shut, knowing that they'd be safe if you did?"

His brows were furrowed and he eyed me for a moment, but before he could give his response, we heard a clicking of a door opening and all turned as a woman took out her trash, eyeing us in worry as she scurried back inside.

"Whatever it is, it's got the whole street scared to death." Rose muttered. "Doctor, what—"

She cut herself off, realizing that he wasn't behind us any more and turned with me to see him running down the road a ways. I gave her a look.

"Do you want me to go get him?"

"Nah, maybe he's found something. We should probably go to him."

I shrugged and tucked my hands into my pockets, walking along with her, just as a car drove a little past us and suddenly stalled. We both stopped as he tried to get it started again, and one of the road workers came over with a shake of his head.

"There you go. Fifth today. That's not natural, is it?"

"Don't know what happened." The man in the car said. "I had it serviced less than a month ago."

"Nah, don't even try and explain it, mate. All the cars are doing it. And you know what? It's bonkers. Bonkers." The road worker said, moving behind the small car and putting his hands on the back window. "Come on then, pal. I'll help you shift it. Quicker you're on the way, happier you'll be."

They both started pushing it, but they looked to be struggling a bit and I nudged Rose, nodding to the car. She nodded back and we moved next to the two guys to help them push.

"Do you want a hand?"

"No. We're alright love."

"You're not." Rose said, pushing anyway. "I'm tougher than I look. Honest."

"And don't think she isn't." I chuckled, making the man smile.

The engine suddenly turned on though, and the road worker fell, quickly getting back up as the driver hopped back into the car and drove off.

"Cheers, mate!"

"Does this happen a lot?" Rose asked the road worker as he brushed off his hands.

"Been doing it all week."

"Since those children started going missing?"

The man thought about it and eventually nodded. "Yeah. I suppose so."

"Would you tell us about it?" I asked and he shrugged.

"Sure. I don't see why not."

We started heading back up the road as he spoke.

"Every car cuts out. The council are going nuts. I mean, they've given this street the works. Renamed it. I've been tarmacking every pot hole. Look at that. Beauty, init?" He said with a grin, showing off his hard work. "Yup. And all that is because that Olympic Torch comes right by the end of this Close. Just down there. Everything's got to be perfect, ain't it? Only it ain't."

"It takes them when they're playing." An elder woman said, having realized what we were talking about.

"What takes 'em?" Rose asked.

"Danny, Jane, Dale. Snatched in the blink of an eye." The woman said, just as the Doctor came over, having caused a fuss with one of the neighbors.

"I-I'm a police officer! That's what I am. I've got a badge and a police car. You don't have to get—I can… I can prove it. Just hold on." The Doctor said in a panic, digging through his pockets.

"We've had plenty of coppers poking around here, and you don't look or sound like any of them." The man he'd angered accused.

"See, look. I've got a couple of colleagues. Lewis." He gestured to Rose and then to me. "And Holmes."

"Well she looks less like a copper than you do. And the other one looks like a punk."

"That's what I was going for when I got my hair cut, thanks." I said with an innocent smile, earning a roll of the eyes from the Doctor as he went on.

"Training. New recruits. It was either that or hairdressing and tattooing, so—Voila!" He pulled out his psychic paper and showed the group that had slightly increased in numbers.

"What are you going to do?" Trish, Chloe's mom asked; I myself having pulled out my black notebook to try and get some of the finer details of this adventure memorized.

"The police have knocked on every door. No clues, no leads, nothing."

"Look, kids run off sometimes, alright? That's what they do."

"Saw it with me own eyes." The older woman said, trying to get Tommy's father to see what was happening. "Dale Hicks in your garden, playing with your Tommy and then, pft. Right in front of me, like he was never there! There's no need to look any further than this street. It's right here amongst us."

"Why don't we—"

"Why don't we start with him?" Another neighbor said, cutting the Doctor off and pointing at Kel. "There's been all sorts like him in this street, day and night."

"Fixing things up for the Olympics." Kel defended himself as Tommy's father teamed up with the other neighbor against him.

"Yeah, and taking an awful long time about it."

The Doctor tried again. "I'm of the opinion that all we've got to do is just—"

He was cut off again, by Kel. "You don't—What you just said, that's slander!"

"I don't care what it is."

"I think we need to just—"

"I want an apology off her." Kel demanded, interrupting him a second time and getting the elder woman on his side.

"Stop picking on him."

"Yeah, stop picking on me."

"And stop pretending to be blind. It's evil!"

"I don't believe in evil."

"Oh no. You just believe in tarmackers with sack loads of kidnapped kiddies in their van."

"Here, here, here. That's not what she's saying."

"Would you stop ganging up on me."

"Feeling guilty, are we?"

"Oi!" I shouted, having gotten sick and tired of all the arguing around me lately. "Shut it and put your fingers on your lips!"

I made a shushing motion and they all followed suit, making me eye the Doctor and Rose, getting them to do the same.

"Good. Now, Doctor?"

He looked at me and I nodded towards the group, giving him headway and he dropped his finger. "Oh, right. Ahem. In the last six days, three of your children have been stolen. Snatched out of thin air, am I right?"

"Um, can I?" The elder woman asked and he nodded, giving her the go ahead to speak. "Look around you. This was a safe street till it came. It's not a person. I'll say it is no one else will. Maybe you're coppers, maybe you're not. I don't care who you are. Can you please help us?"

I noticed Rose eyeing the window where Chloe was and I watched as Trish headed back inside, having caught her staring. I glanced up as well, before turning away as everyone went back home with some reassurance from the Doctor, and the three of us headed over to Tommy's father's house. As we walked around his front yard, I knelt down to the grass where the Doctor had before and let my hand hover, feeling a slight tickling sensation as he wandered around and sniffed.

"Want a hanky?" Rose asked.

"Can you smell it? What does it remind you of?"

She sniffed as well and made a puzzled look. "Sort of metal?"

"Mhmm." The Doctor grinned, praising her and making her grin too.

"Oh."

He gave Tommy's father a salute as we headed off to where the other kid disappeared.

"Danny Edwards cycled in one end but never came out the other. Woah, there it goes again." He paused in his walk and held out a hand just as I did, feeling the tickling sensation again. "Look at the hairs on the back of my manly hairy hand."

I couldn't help but chuckle a bit as Rose took a deep sniff.

"And there's that smell. It's like a, um… a burnt fuse plug or something."

We continued to walk as the Doctor tucked his hands back in his pockets and spoke.

"There's a residual energy in the spots where the kids vanished. Whatever it was, it used an awful lot of power to do this."

As we left the little alleyway, Rose and I caught sight of a ginger cat, making Rose smile.

"Aren't you a beautiful boy?~"

"Thanks!" The Doctor grinned. "I'm experimenting with back combing."

"She meant the cat." I said, giving him an amused look as I too, knelt down to pet the cat.

"I used to have one like you." Rose cooed as I nodded.

"I did too, but mine wasn't a ginger tabby like this. He was a sweet little black cat."

Rose caught the Doctor staring and gave him a look. "What?"

"No. I'm not really a cat person… Once you've been threatened by one in a nun's wimple, it kind of takes the joy out of it."

"I've been attacked by a number of those." I said, giving him a glance. "That hasn't stopped me… though cat nuns give me shivers."

The cat moved off and Rose followed after it as it walked into a box.

"Come here, puss. What do you want to go in there for?"

When the cat didn't come out of the box, she knelt down to it and found it empty, calling the Doctor and I over.

"Doctor, Alex. Come look at this."

We headed over and immediately recoiled at the heavy metallic smell coming from the box; Rose doing the same.

"Woah! Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo. Ion residue. Blimey! That takes some doing. Just to snatch a living organism out of space-time. This baby is just like, 'I'm having some of that'. I'm impressed." The Doctor said, having flipped the box around a few times before tossing it back onto the grass.

"So that cat's been transported?" Rose asked and the Doctor explained.

"It can harness huge reserves of ionic power. We need to find the source of that power. Find the source and you will find whatever has taken to stealing children and fluffy animals. See what you can see. Keep them peeled, Lewis. Alex, you go with her."

I stuck my tongue out at his back.

"I saw that!" He called out, and I wrinkled my nose before following after Rose towards a set of garages and other homes.

"Always so grumpy, that one. I don't know how you stand him, Rose." I mused out loud, looking around as I tucked my hands in my pockets.

"Alex."

"Yeah?" I asked, curious about whatever she was going to ask me.

She sent me a glance, eyes shining with worry. "Are you okay? Like, really okay?"

I blinked, confused. "Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you didn't finish your food this morning and usually you're eating through truck loads of stuff, but this time you left nearly half of it there."

Oh… My eyes softened and I sighed, looking ahead of us. "Have I told you about the drums yet, Rose?"

She shook her head and I pulled a hand through my hair, nervousness swirling in my stomach.

"Alright, I'll keep it simple. I had an… adventure recently. One where… someone like the Doctor got a hold of me and found out about me knowing future things."

"Someone like the Doctor? You mean another Time Lord?"

I winced. "Spoilers."

She nodded in understanding, so I went on.

"Well, he uh… he went insane, you see? Because there was this noise in his head. Drums, beating out intervals of four. And I was really hurting at the time. He'd done something to the Tardis, so I was almost constantly in pain. And he found that the noise in his head could be pushed into mine and acted like a sort of pain reliever. Thing is, it's stuck in there now." I put a finger on my temple lightly. "He'd scarred my mind to the point that I can't get rid of it and it… it's just like getting addicted to a drug. It'll relieve pain for a moment, but it messes with my head. It'll make me get really upset or really violent and… I'm doing everything I can to ignore it, but it's still hard. I can constantly hear it, but I've been doing good to push it to the back of my head lately."

"But what about the food?"

I rubbed the back of my neck. "It, um… It takes a while to scar a mind to the point where you can't forget something. And I was, sort of… tortured by him for a year. Food wasn't exactly something given to me often and I'd gotten used to small meals. So when I get handed a plate full of food like that… I try my best, but I can't always get through it."

"Is that… Is that where those scars are from?" She asked, hesitant, but I felt like I was really letting a load off by telling her, so I nodded.

"Some of them, yeah. The big one on my back is from being attack by a giant wasp alien though. He snuck up behind me in the dark disguised as a human and swung a knife at me. Oh! And this one's from cutting myself on a piece of a toaster." I smiled, showing her my hand where it was, in the hopes that I could pick up her spirits now that we'd delved into a rather depressing bit of information.

"H-How did you manage that?" She asked in surprise and amusement.

"Oh, well, I was taking it apart and—"

I stopped upon hearing a banging and we both looked at one another before heading closer to it; stopping in front of a garage door.

"Is that you, puss cat? Are you trapped?"

There was more banging and Rose began muttering under her breath.

"Not going to open it. Not going to open it. Not going to open it." She glanced down and reached for the handle, but I stopped her.

"Rose, go get the Doctor."

"Huh? But what about—"

The banging happened again and she seemed to realize that this wasn't just some regular old cat trapped in a garage, so she nodded and hurried off to find him. The banging grew even worse and I was now biting my bottom lip, wondering if I should just open it or wait for the Doctor. What happens if someone from upstairs hears it and comes down to check? Sure, nothing might happen, but since I just changed this, something could happen. Begrudgingly, I reached down and turned the handle, slowly opening the door and hoping that the Doctor and Rose were close by, when the scribble flew out and attacked me.

It was weird, because it didn't actually hurt me to anything at first, just sort of hovered there, but the moment it moved closer and I put a hand up to stop it, I hissed in pain and pulled my hand back to find small, cuts on my palm that were slowly bleeding. Muttering a curse under my breath, I used my cast as a shield instead, just as I heard the Doctor shout.

"Stay still!"

He used his sonic screwdriver and the scribble became a scribble ball—that I caught—before he headed over and helped me up with a frown on his face.

"You're always getting into trouble. I can't leave you alone for a bloody minute without you running off and doing something like this." He growled, grabbing my cut up hand and inspecting it before clicking his tongue in annoyance and digging through his pockets for something.

"Doctor, she was only trying to help." Rose countered, giving him a stern look as she looped her arm through mine. "If she hadn't told me to go get you, that would've been me under that… thing."

I held the object up in my free hand as the Doctor put some sort of salve on my other hand, and he gave it an odd look, glancing at Rose.

"I'll give you a fiver if you can tell me what the hell it is, because I haven't got the foggiest."

"Well, I can tell you, you've just killed it." She said, looking it over too.

"It never was living. It's animated energy. Same energy that's snatching people." The Doctor explained, reaching to take it, but I pulled it back and gave him a look.

"Does that fiver count for me too?"

He frowned. "No. Because you already know what it is, and that's cheating."

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but I can tell you, at least. You have a pencil?"

He made a face, before digging through his pockets for one and handing it to me. I took it and flipped it over, using the eraser end and erasing a part of the scribble ball.

"Wha—"

"It's graphite." I said, passing the pencil back to him and tossing the scribble creature to him as well. "Same stuff in HB pencils."

"You were attacked by a pencil scribble?" Rose questioned, looking at it in confusion.

I nodded as the Doctor spoke.

"Scribble creature, brought into being with ionic energy. Whatever we're dealing with, it can create things as well as take them. But why make a scribble creature?"

"Maybe it was a mistake. I mean, you scribble over something when you want to get rid of it. Like a… Like a drawing."

"Like a children's drawing." I said after her, catching the Doctor's surprised look.

"The girl." Rose breathed out, drawing his attention back to her.

"Of course!" He said, as though he knew who she was talking about, but then gave her a quizzical look. "What girl?"

"Something about her gave me the creeps. Even her own mum looked scared."

"Are you deducing?" The Doctor asked her and she smirked back.

"I think I am."

"Copper's hunch?"

"Permission to follow it up, sarge?"

"Permission granted." He grinned, taking her hand and pulling her along. "Let's go then! Come on, Alex! Try not to slow us down!"

"Right." I muttered, hurrying after them as we went up to Trish's porch and rang the bell. She was taking a while, so the Doctor knocked, and she finally answered.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose and Alex. Can we see your daughter?"

"No." The woman said, straight off the bat. "You can't."

"Okay. Bye."

We turned to go and after a few steps, she spoke up.

"Why? Why do you want to see Chloe?"

We stopped at the end of her drive, not moving.

"Well, there's some interesting stuff going on in this street and I just thought… Well, we thought, that she might like to give us a hand."

"Sorry to bother you." Rose apologized with a smile as I nodded.

"Yeah. Didn't mean to."

"Sorry." The Doctor added in. "We'll let you get on with things. On your own. Bye again."

"Wait! Can you help her?"

"Yes, I can." The Doctor said, confidently enough that the woman let us into her living room; his words even filling me with something that I couldn't quite explain just yet.

Heading in though, I rubbed my chest a bit, feeling that weight settling in it that I hadn't quite gotten used to yet. Rose sat down next to me on the couch and I grinned at her, as the Doctor tossed his coat beside me and stayed standing; Trish explaining.

"She stays in her room most of the time. I try talking to her, but it's like trying to speak to a brick wall. She gives me nothing, just asks to be left alone."

"What about Chloe's dad?" Rose asked and the woman stiffened.

"Chloe's dad died a year ago."

"I'm sorry." I said, catching her attention, before she scoffed slightly.

"You wouldn't be if you'd known him."

I nodded. "I know. I'm sorry for you and Chloe."

She frowned, giving me a look. "How did you…"

"Sorry, I shouldn't pry." I muttered, lowering my head and she shook it off, assuming something that I may never be privy to.

"Well, let's go and say hi." The Doctor chirped, but the woman became defensive.

"I should check on her first. She might be asleep."

"Why are you afraid of her, Trish?" The Doctor asked, seeing through her.

"I want you to know before you see her that she's really a great kid."

"I'm sure she is."

"She's never been in trouble at school. You should see her report from last year. A's and B's."

"Can I use your loo?" Rose asked, and Trish nodded, so she headed upstairs as Trish continued.

"She's in the choir. She's singing in an old folks home. Any mum would be proud. You know, I want you to know these things before you see her, Doctor. Because right now, she's not herself."

We heard footsteps coming down the stairs, but instead of Rose, Chloe herself came down. The three of us went quiet and the girl headed into the kitchen. The Doctor pointed, asking permission to talk to her and Trish nodded, letting him as she followed and I walked behind. The Doctor quickly tried to get her attention and sat on the end of the table, crossing his arms and smiling at the girl getting milk from the fridge.

"Alright there? I'm the Doctor."

"I'm Chloe Webber." She introduced, abandoning her task and facing us.

"How're you doing, Chloe Webber?"

"I'm busy. I'm making something. Aren't I, mum?"

"And like I said, she's not been sleeping." Trish tried to explain, but I put my hand on her arm and gave her a reassuring smile, making her slightly smile back with a nod of thanks.

She's tense. Though I can understand why. Got to be hard, what they've been through.

"But you've been drawing, though. I'm rubbish. Stick men about my limit. Can do this though."

He held his hand up and did the Vulcan salute, making me shake my head and roll my eyes.

"Idiot." I whispered quietly under my breath.

"Can you do that?"

"They don't stop moaning." The girl said, changing the topic and Trish tried to stop her.

"Chloe."

"I try to help them, but they don't stop moaning."

"Who don't?" The Doctor asked, lowering his hand, curious.

"We can be together."

"Sweetheart." Trish went over to comfort her, but the girl quickly snapped at the woman.

"Don't touch me, mum."

"Chloe, can you tell me about the project that you're doing?" The Doctor asked, hoping to get some answers.

"I'm busy, Doctor."

"Come on, Chloe. Don't be a spoil sport. What's the big project? I'm dying to know. What're you making up there?" The Doctor got up and stopped, leaning in the door frame.

He didn't get an answer from Chloe though, before Rose shouted from upstairs.

"Doctor!"

We all rushed upstairs, but the Doctor made it first, closing the closet doors as I pulled Rose out of the closet and she gestured to it.

"Look at it."

"No, ta." He said, instead moving to look at the other photos on the wall.

"What the hell was that?" Trish asked, and Rose answered.

"A drawing. The face of a man."

"What face?" Trish tried to get in, but I shut the door before she could and shook my head.

"Best not."

"What have you been drawing?" Trish asked Chloe.

"I drew him yesterday."

"Who?"

"Dad."

"Your dad? But he's long gone. Chloe, with all the lovely things in the world, why him?"

"I dream about him, staring at me."

"I thought we were putting him behind us. What's the matter with you?" Trish questioned, getting upset.

"No. Not you, us. We need to stay together, and then it'll be all right."

Chloe's words caught the Doctor's attention, but Rose was trying to get through to the mother.

"Trish, the drawings. Have you seen what Chloe's drawings can do?"

"Who gave you permission to come into her room? Get out of my house." The woman threw back at her, trying to comfort Chloe, but I could see that the girl was acting strangely even from that.

"Tell us about the drawings, Chloe." The Doctor asked, but Trish was done.

"I don't want to hear any more of this."

"But that drawing of her dad. I heard a voice. He spoke." Rose argued.

"He's dead. And these, they're kid's pictures. Now get out!"

"Chloe has a power. And I don't know how, but she used it to take Danny Edwards, Dale Hicks. She's using it to snatch the kids."

"Get out." The woman snapped and I could tell that this wasn't going anywhere fast.

"Trish." I said, taking a step forward and catching her attention. "Can you listen to me, just for a moment? I get that you're bothered by this and I'm not accusing Chloe of doing anything. I'll say that right now, because I know it isn't her that's doing this. Because Chloe wouldn't do something like that, right?"

The woman nodded, hesitant, but I went on, trying to ignore the drumming that had picked up at the sight of confrontation.

"But I know that you've seen something. Something that you can't explain. I know you've seen her drawings move and you can't say anything, because who would believe that, right?"

"She's a child." Trish said, still not liking this.

"I know, but children can be scary when they start doing things you can't explain. Moving things without touching them, making pictures move, talking about things you wish were never said or done. But see, I get it. I had six siblings. I took care of all of them and I really like kids because of that. And you know what? I've seen some really scary things that I don't want to talk about, because that'll make it true. And people will think I'm crazy or whatever. But there's someone here who will believe you. Every word. And that's the Doctor."

"Who are you?" She asked, looking at me and then over at the Doctor

"I'm help." He said and Trish turned to me, as though asking me whether or not she should trust him and I nodded.

"Trish, if there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I never make a promise I can't keep." I said, staring right at her. "And right now, I want to promise you a few things. I promise you and Chloe will be alright. I promise that those kids will be safe and returned home. And I promise that none of this, absolutely none of this is your fault nor Chloe's. Alright? But you have to trust me and you have to trust him. As… idiotic and childish as he can be."

"Oi." He complained and I tossed him a smile from over my shoulder.

"Oh, you know I love ya." I chuckled, not realizing the importance of those words, nor the fact that he was left sputtering at them as I nodded towards the door. "How about some tea then? Calm everyone down?"

Trish nodded and we all headed downstairs, moving into the kitchen where the Doctor grabbed a jar of marmalade and started eating it with his fingers before I went over and dipped a finger in as well; sticking it into my mouth in curiosity. Sort of orangey. And jam-like? Is marmalade a jam? I thought in puzzlement, forgetting that we'd come down here to get tea.

"Ahem." Rose cleared her throat, shaking her head at us as the Doctor glanced at Trish and slid the jar back. "Those pictures, they're alive. She's drawing people and they end up in her pictures."

I nodded as the Doctor explained.

"Ionic energy. Chloe's harnessing it to steal those kids and place them in some kind of holding pen made up of ionic power."

"And what about the dad from hell in her wardrobe?"

"How many times do I have to tell you he's dead." Trish argued.

"Well, he's got a very loud voice for a dead bloke."

I sighed, lightly smacking Rose on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"Behave." I muttered. "You're almost as bad as he is."

I nodded to the Doctor and they both frowned at me, before he went on explaining.

"If living things can become drawings, then maybe drawings can become living things." The Doctor said, shivering. "Chloe's real dad is dead, but not the one who visits her in her nightmares. That dad seems very real. That's the dad she's drawn and he's a heartbeat away from crashing into this world."

"She always got the worst of it when he was alive." Trish said, dazed.

"Doctor, how can a twelve year old girl be doing any of this?" Rose asked, confused.

"Let's find out." He said, sucking in a deep breath and moving back upstairs to confront Chloe.

When we walked into Chloe's room, she was sitting cross-legged on the end of the bed and she gave the Vulcan salute to the Doctor, who grinned.

"Nice one."

He put his fingers to her temples then and she closed her eyes as he did the same, until she passed out and the Doctor laid her down.

"There we go."

"We can't—"

I stopped Trish with a hand on her arm. "I promised, remember? But you have to trust us. Trust him."

She hesitantly nodded and stayed where she was as the Doctor spoke to the thing in Chloe.

"Now we can talk."

"I want Chloe." She said, voice raspy. "Wake her up. I want Chloe."

"Who are you?"

"I want Chloe Webber." She said, thumping her hand down angrily on the bed as Trish got upset.

"What have you done to my little girl?"

"Doctor, what is it?"

I gave Rose's hand a firm squeeze—as best as I could with the cast on—and gave Trish the same comfort, but with her shoulder.

"Just watch."

"I'm speaking to you, the entity that is using this human child. I request parley in compliance with the Shadow Proclamation." The Doctor demanded.

"I don't care about shadows or parleys." It said.

"So what do you care about?"

"I want my friends."

"You're lonely, I know. Identify yourself." The Doctor said, kneeling down to the side of the bed.

"I am one of many. I travel with my brothers and sisters. We take an endless journey. A thousand of your lifetimes. But now I am alone. I hate it. It's not fair, and I hate it."

"Name yourself." He demanded as Chloe opened her eyes.

"Isolus."

"You're Isolus. Of course." He breathed out and Trish moved closer.

"Our journey begins in the Deep Realms when we were a family." It said, drawing now.

"What's that?"

"The Isolus Mother, drifting in deep space. See, she jettisons millions of fledgling spores. Her children. The Isolus are empathic beings of intense emotions, but when they're cast off from their mother, their empathic link, their need for each other, is what sustains them. They need to be together. They cannot be alone." The Doctor explained to Trish, getting up.

"Our journey is long."

He went on. "The Isolus children travel, each inside a pod. They ride the heat and energy of solar tides. It takes thousands and thousands of years for them to grow up."

"Thousands of years floating through space. Poor things. Don't they go mad with boredom?" Rose asked.

"We play." Chloe answered.

"You play?"

Chloe nodded as the Doctor sat above her on the bed.

"While they travel, they play games. They use their ionic power to literally create make believe worlds in which to play."

"In flight entertainment."

"Helps keep them happy. While they're happy, they can feed off each others love. Without it, they're lost… Why did you come to Earth?" He asked it.

"We were too close." She moved on to the next drawing.

"That's a solar flare from your sun. Would have made a tidal wave of solar energy that scattered the Isolus pods."

"Only I fell to Earth. My brothers and sisters are left up there and I cannot reach them. So alone."

"Your pod crashed. Where is it?"

"My pod was drawn to heat, and I was drawn to Chloe Webber. She was like me, alone. She needed me, and I her." It said, not really answering.

"You empathized with her. You wanted to be with her because she was alone like you." He explained, brushing her face with his hand.

I wonder if she reminds him of his kids… I thought, watching the scene in front of me with a soft expression.

"I want my family. It's not fair."

"I understand. You want to make a family. But you can't stay in this child. It's wrong. You can't steal any more friends for yourself."

"I am alone."

There was a crash from inside the closet and we turned to it, seeing the red light from under the door as it shook, just before Chloe herself began shaking.

"I'm coming to hurt you. I'm coming." The man behind the doors called out.

"Trish, how do you calm her?" The Doctor asked.

"What?"

"When she has nightmares, what do you do?"

I nudged Trish to her. "Sing, Trish."

She hesitated, but nodded, moving over and sitting beside Chloe to brush her hair with her hand and sang.

"Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree. Merry, merry king of the bush is he."

"Chloe. Chloe. Chloe. Chloe."

"Laugh, Kookaburra laugh, Kookaburra, gay your life must be. Laugh, Kookaburra laugh, Kookaburra, gay your life must be." She stopped singing, upset. "He came to her because she was lonely. Chloe, I'm sorry."

We let her cry for a moment, before the Doctor told her to gather every bit of writing utensils they had, in order to keep her from drawing and taking any more people.

"Chloe usually got the brunt of his temper when he'd had a drink." Trish told us. "The day he crashed the car, I thought we were free. I thought it was over."

"You didn't talk to her about it, did you?" I said, more than asked, handing over a bundle of pencils. "Something like that, it still haunts you. I can tell. And kids… they're so much more impressionable. She was probably having a really hard time getting over it and because you didn't want to talk about it, she probably stayed quiet too." I sighed. "It's not your fault though, Trish."

"H-How can you say that?" She asked, confused. "If I had just talked to her about it—"

"But you were scared too." I cut her off, giving her a small, sad smile. "You're a lot like me, actually. Always trying to be tough, be the strong one because you have to be. Who's going to be strong for Chloe if you can't be strong for yourself? Yeah? Which is why it's not your fault. But you do have to talk to her. There's a point when you can't just hold it all back anymore and if there's someone with you who understands, then everything becomes easier. Promise."

Trish gave me a small smile in return, nodding as the Doctor spoke up.

"Her and Isolus. Two lonely kids who need each other."

"And it won't stop, will it, Doctor? It'll just keep pulling kids in." Rose muttered, worried.

"It's desperate to be loved. It's used to a pretty big family."

"How big?"

"Say around, four billion?"

A good chunk of which are sitting in that Olympic stadium right now. I thought, wondering if I should tell the Doctor or at least mention the pencils she has hidden away. But if I do, then what? Then we find the pod, no one else gets taken, the Doctor doesn't get taken, but what about Chloe and Isolus? Would anything change there? And would the Doctor figure out that the pod needs to be dropped into the Olympic torch or will he do something else to get it to work? W-What if he does what he did with the Tardis back when it broke down and he gives some of his life to it. Precious life. I-I need to do something though. I thought, rubbing my temples as the drumming grew louder and picked up pace.

"Doctor?"

"What?" He frowned and I bit my bottom lip in my nervousness, fisting my hands to keep from tapping.

"If I told you something. Something I knew would happen that may or may not change things, would you do something about it?"

His frown deepened and he moved closer. "Depends what it is."

"A-Alright. For one thing… you said she needs four billion." I pointed to the TV. "There's eighty-thousand right there."

His eyes widened. "The Olympics… You're saying she'll take them?"

I nodded, still chewing my bottom lip as my heart pounded away in worry. "A-And then she'll grab an Atlas…"

"To draw the entire world." He breathed out. "Because eighty-thousand won't cut it. She needs four billion…" He turned to be and grabbed me by my shoulders, making me stiffen and struggle to not react violently as the drums picked up speed. "What else?! Tell me what else!"

"S-She's got a stash of colored pencils in a doll. A-A um…" I scrunched my eyes shut trying to remember. "A doll under her bed! Blue dress!"

"Rose." He called out and she nodded, rushing upstairs to get it before turning back to me. "What else, Alex? Tell me what else."

"I-I can't tell you everything." I said, starting to worry what I could be changing by telling him everything. "B-But she'll draw you. You and the Tardis, and Rose is the one who's supposed to—"

"She was right!" Rose called out, coming back down with the doll in her hands and revealing the pencils hiding within it. "There's pencils in this doll."

The Doctor nodded, smiling. "Good. Perfect! Brilliant even! I wish every adventure could go this well."

He sent me a look and I cringed a bit, feeling as though he was blaming me for the chaos in other adventures of his I'd been in. But he then turned his gaze away and headed for the door.

"Come on then!"

We hurried out after him, but I glanced back at the window to see Chloe looking out at us, making me shiver. I really hope I didn't screw anything up. The only thing I haven't told him was where the pod is, but he shouldn't get drawn away since we got her pencil stash, so hopefully everything will still turn out alright. I couldn't get that nervous feeling out of my stomach though, like I'd forgotten something.

"We need that pod." The Doctor said, giving me a look, though not actually asking me where it is.

"It crashed." Rose said, confused. "Won't it be destroyed?"

"Well, it's been sucking in all the heat it can. Hopefully that should keep it in a fit state to launch. It must be close. It should have a weak energy signature that the Tardis can trace. Once we find it, then we can stop the Isolus. We can scan for the same trace from the scribble creature. We'd need to widen the field a bit."

We were nearly at the Tardis and I stopped just outside the door, looking back at the area where Chloe would've been watching us, but not seeing anyone, so I went inside to help.

"You knew the Isolus was lonely before it told you. How?" Rose asked the Doctor as he built some weird looking gadget.

"I know what it's like to travel a long way on your own." He said, holding a hand out. "Give me the styner-magnetic…um…"

I took it from Rose and handed it to him, earning a slightly surprised look, before adding it to his device.

"Sounds like you're on its side."

"I sympathize, that's all. Alex too, it looks like."

I nodded slightly, still worried and rubbing at my chest as it ached. That's getting annoying. Stupid changing biology.

"The Isolus has caused a lot of pain for these people."

"It's a child. That's why it went to Chloe. Two lonely mixed up kids."

"Feels to me like a temper tantrum because it can't get its own way." She muttered.

"It's scared. Come on, you were a kid once. Binary dot."

She passed him the small ball bearing. "Yes, and I know what kids can be like. Right little… terrors."

She obviously was not going to say terrors…

"Gum."

Rose spit out her chewing gum in his hand. "I've got cousins. Kids can't have it all their own way. That's part of being a family. Tell him, Alex!"

"Hm? Oh, well, I mean… They can be brats sometimes, but it's not always their fault. They're still learning and don't know how to cope with those emotions other than acting out, I think."

She rolled her eyes, my explanation obviously not being what she was looking for.

"See? What about trying to understand them, Rose?"

"Easy for you to say. You don't have kids." She grumbled, but my chest ached at those words, watching the Doctor.

"I was a dad once."

"What did you say?" Rose asked in disbelief, turning to me to see if I heard it, but I'd already turned away, knowing that the Doctor wouldn't want to talk about it.

Sure enough, he ignored her and shook the ball excitedly.

"I think we're there!" He got up and moved over to the console where he'd set things up for the scribble creature scan. "Fear, loneliness. They're the big ones, Rose. Some of the most terrible acts ever committed have been inspired by them. We're not dealing with something that wants to… conquer or destroy. There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive, wormhole refractors. You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold."

Rose held out her hand, pointing at the monitor, but the Doctor grinned and took her hand, making her laugh.

"No! Look, I'm pointing!"

He came around to stand beside her and looked at the monitor with a grin. "It's the pod! It is in the street. Everything's coming up Doctor." He grinned, before we all rushed outside.

"Okay. It's about two inches across. Dull grey, like a gull's egg. Very light. Alex, hold this." He passed me the device and I frowned in confusion as he dug through his pockets and Rose spoke.

"So these pods, they travel from sun to sun using heat, yeah? So it's not all about love and stuff. Doesn't the pod just need—"

I suddenly felt sick, and my shoulder and back burned like fire was racing through it, before I suddenly found myself trapped. Trapped, on a sheet of paper. I had been right. Telling the Doctor what happened had changed things. For him, and for me.

Rose ran straight to Trish's house, absolutely furious, because not only had Alex been taken, but the Doctor too. She was on her own, and she didn't know what to do other than confront what did it. Pounding on the door, she waited impatiently as Trish answered it in confusion and she rushed up the stairs.

"It's okay. I've taken all the pencils off her." Trish called out, following.

Once up there, she burst into Chloe's room and found her with a drawing of the Doctor, Alex, and the Tardis; snatching it off her as the Isolus spoke.

"Leave me alone. I want to be with Chloe Webber. I love Chloe Webber."

"Bring him back now. Bring them both back." Rose demanded, but the Isolus remained resilient.

"No."

Rose pulled a hand through her hair, taking a deep breath, but she was furious and not even some alien child thing would keep her from getting the Doctor and Alex back. She squatted down and grabbed Chloe's shoulders angrily.

"Don't you realize what you've done? He was the only one who could help you. They both were. Now bring them back!"

"Leave me alone! I love Chloe Webber!" The Isolus said, and suddenly, all her anger vanished as she remembered the Doctor's words.

"What about trying to understand them, Rose?"

She calmed down and stood up, rubbing Chloe's shoulder. "I know. I know." She then turned to the drawing of the Tardis, Alex and the Doctor. "Doctor, Alex, if you can hear me, I'm going to get you out of there. I'll find the pod." She then set the drawing down on the bed and gave Trish a look. "Don't leave her alone. No matter what."

She hurried down the stairs and out of the house, worried beyond belief as she tried to figure out for herself where the pod would be.

"Heat. They travel on heat."

She spotted Kel then, running his hand over a bit of tarmac.

"Look at this finish. Smooth as a baby's bottom. Not a bump or a lump."

She ran over and squatted beside him. "Kel, was there anything in this street in the last few days giving off a lot of heat?" She asked, figuring that he, of all people, would know.

"I mean, you can eat your dinner off this. Beautiful. So you tell me why the other one's got a lump in it when I gave it the same love and craftsmanship as I did this one." He said, completely ignoring her question and annoying her.

"Well, when you've worked it out, put it in a big book about tarmacking, but before you do that, think back six days."

"Six days. When I was laying this the first time round." He said, making her pause.

"What?"

"Well, that's when I filled in this pothole for the first time." He said.

"Six days ago." Rose tried to confirm.

"Yeah."

"Hot fresh tar."

"Blended to a secret council recipe." He said, but she'd figured it out and ran to the van, Kel shouting after her. "I don't keep it in the van! Hey, that's a council van. Out."

She ignored him and grabbed a pickaxe.

"Woah, wait, wait, wait. You just removed a council axe from a council van. Put it back. No, don't wait. Put the axe back in the van. That's my van. Give me the axe!" he saw her getting ready to tear up the tarmac he'd just laid down and panicked. "No! Wait! No!"

She, of course, ignored him and started laying it into the road.

"No! You—Stop! You just took a council axe from a council van and now you're digging up a council road! I'm reporting you to the council!"

She found what she was looking for though and picked up the little gold pod with a laugh. "It went for the hottest thing in the street. Your tar."

"What is it?" He asked, curious.

"It's a spaceship. Not a council spaceship, I'm afraid."

She ran back to Trish's house, grinning and with Kel following her.

"I found it! I don't know what to do with it, but maybe the Isolus will just hop on board." She stopped, seeing Trish outside of Chloe's room. "Hang on. I told you not to leave her."

"My God. What's going on here?" The TV spokesman questioned, drawing their attention to it as Kel burst in the room.

"I don't care if you've got Snow White and the Seven Dwarves buried under there, you don't go digging it up—" Kel scolded her, but there were more important things to worry about and she pointed to the screen.

"Shut up and look!"

"The crowd has vanished! U-Um, they're gone. Everyone has gone. Thousands of people have just gone. Uh, um… Right in front of my eyes. Um… It's impossible. Bob, can we join you in the box?" The camera changed, but there was no Bob. "Bob? Not you too, Bob?"

"The stadium won't be enough, she said. Alex was right. The Isolus has four billion brothers and sisters. She'll be drawing the world next."

Rose hurried upstairs with Trish on her heels, only to find the door locked. "Chloe? Chloe, it's Rose! Open the door! We found your ship! We can send you home!"

"Chloe?!" Trish tried calling out.

"Open up!" When she got no response though, Rose lifted up the pickaxe. "Right, stand back."

Rose began breaking through the door with the pickaxe, not knowing that Chloe's father was raging behind the closet doors within the room, but she finally managed to get a hole big enough to put her arm in and open it.

"Chloe!"

They noticed then that Chloe's dad was trying to come out, but the Isolus was still frantically scribbling away.

"I've got to stop her." Rose muttered, but the moment she tried to get close, the closet banged and she backed back up; the Isolus stopping its scribbling.

"If you stop Chloe Webber, I will let him out. We will let him out together. I cannot be alone. It's not fair."

"Look, I've got your pod." Rose tried to offer it, Kel coming into the room as well now.

"The pod is dead."

"It only needs heat."

"It needs more than heat."

"What then?"

"I'm not being funny or nothing, but that picture just moved." Kel said, pointing at a picture on the wall. "And that one!" He pointed to the picture of the Tardis, Alex and the Doctor on the bed, and they found something else drawn on it.

An Olympic torch was drawn between Alex and the Doctor, along with a heart below it. The Doctor pointed to the torch while Alex pointed to the heart and Rose picked it up.

"She didn't draw that. They did. It needs more than heat, but what Alex drew…"

"It's still on it's way. I suppose it's much more than a torch now, it's a beacon. It's a beacon of hope and fortitude and courage. And it's a beacon of love." The TV announcer said and it clicked.

"Love."

"So let's have a look from the helicopter. There we go, the torch bearer running."

"I know how to charge up the pod." Rose breathed out, rushing out of the house.

"Past Dame Kelly Holmes Close."

She ran down the drive and pushed her way through the crowd to try and get over to the torch bearer, but a police officer stopped her.

"Sorry, you'll have to watch from here."

"No, I've got to get closer."

"No way."

"I can stop this from happening!"

"I don't have the slightest idea of what you're talking about, miss, but I can't let you through."

She groaned in frustration, but as the torch bearer passed, the pod chirped and jittered in her hand.

"You felt it, didn't you? Feel the love." She threw the pod and it flew into the torch, the torch bearer stumbling a little, but Rose was cheering. "Yes!"

"You did it!" Kel grinned, hugging her as she hugged him, but he was still confused. "What was it you did?"

She cheered a bit more, before she headed back up the street where the missing children were reappearing.

She sighed though, worried. "Alex, Doctor."

Someone touched her though and she flinched, only to find the elder woman grinning at her.

"I don't know who you are or what you did, but thank you, darling! And thank the other two men for me too."

Rose looked around worried though. "Where are they? They should be here."

"Rose!"

She turned, grinning at the familiar voice of Alex, but upon seeing the worried expression on the woman, she too grew worried.

"Alex? What's wrong?"

"Chloe! All the drawing came to life! All of them!"

"Oh no…" Rose breathed, before they both rushed off towards the house.

Upon reaching the house though, the door was sealed shut.

"Trish, get out!"

"I can't! The door's stuck!"

"Is the Doctor in there?!"

"He's not, Rose! I'm sorry, but he's being an idiot right now!" Alex called out, ramming her shoulder harshly into the door to no avail. "Chloe! You have to be brave! I know it's hard, but he's not real! If you can be brave enough to believe he's not real, then he'll go away forever!"

"I can't!" She cried and Alex pressed her forehead to the door, tapping her fingers on it in beats of four, finally giving in to her stress reliever unconsciously as she tried to think.

"Trish! Trish! Remember what I said?! Show her! Show her that she can talk to you! Show her she's not alone! Sing!"

"Sing! Chloe, sing!" Rose called out to her as well, and soon enough, they both began to sing; the song of the Kookaburra ringing out and the echoes of Chloe's deceased father finally disappearing for good.

Rose and Alex slumped against the doors, sliding down until they were sitting on the porch; Alex giving Rose a side hug of comfort.

"Trust me, Rose. He's fine. The Doctor's just being a moron. Promise."

"Then where is he?"

Kel came over then, giving her a knowing look. "Maybe he's gone somewhere."

"Who's gonna hold his hand now?" She asked and Alex got up, helping her up as well.

"Come on you two downers. Let's go see if the crowd has come back."

Rose got up and the three of them headed into Trish's home, look at the TV in relief at the cheering crowd.

"They've reappeared. It's quite incredible. Bob, this will certainly—"

"Eighty-thousand people, so where's the Doctor? I need him." Rose questioned.

"But hang on, the Torch Bearer seems to be in a bit of trouble. We did see a flash of lightning earlier that seemed to strike him. Maybe he's injured. He's definitely in trouble." The announcer said, just as the torchbearer collapsed. "Does this mean that the Olympic dream is dead?"

Just then, someone picked up the torch and Alex grinned, hugging Rose around the shoulders again and giving her a shake as she realized who it was.

"Doctor…"

"I told you. He's being silly."

"There's a mystery man. He's picked up the flame. We've no idea who he is. He's carrying the flame. Yes, he's carrying the flame and no one wants to stop him. It's more than a flame now, Bob. It's more than heat and light. It's hope, and it's courage, and it's love."

"He really did it." Rose breathed out, before laughing. "He really just started the Olympic games!"

"What an idiot, eh?" Alex chuckled, before nodding outside. "Come on. I hear there's a block party and the Doctor will be there."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

I just sort of hung around at the party, drinking a bit of bubbly to try and dull the drumming in my head that had grown since I tapped it out earlier. I shouldn't have, and I knew that, but because the Isolus pulled me right out of time and space, the spreading Artron Energy had sent a wave of pain through my system and coupling that on top of the panic I was feeling over possibly changing and ruining everything, and I'd lost my grip for that one moment. Seems I may never get over this… I spotted the Doctor heading over though and nudged Rose beside me, nodding over to him and watching how she got all excited before grabbing a cupcake and hurrying to him; myself following at a slower pace.

"Cake?"

They both began laughing as he took the small cupcake to eat it.

"Top banana. Mmm. I can't stress this enough. Ball bearings you can eat, masterpiece!" He said with a grin, mouth full.

Rose quickly gave him a hug. "I thought I'd lost you."

"Nah. Not on a night like this. This is a night for lost things being found. Come on."

"What now?" She asked as we headed off.

"I want to go to the Games. It's what we came for."

"Go on, give us a clue. Which events do we do well in?" She asked him, grinning.

"Well, I will tell you this. Papua New Guinea surprises everyone in the shot put."

"Really? You're joking, aren't you? Doctor…" She laughed. "Are you serious or are you joking?"

"Wait and see." He said as fireworks started up, taking Rose's hand in his; something that made my chest ache and my stomach twist.

Stop it. Y-You can't like him… You know that.

"You know what? They keep on trying to split us up, but they never ever will."

"Never say never ever." The Doctor scolded her, stopping their walk as I realized what adventure this was right before.

Doomsday… The day I failed to save Rose Tyler…

"Nah, we'll always be okay, you and me. Don't you reckon, Doctor?"

"There's something in the air. Something coming."

"What?"

"A storm's approaching." He said ominously, spotting me as I clutched at my shoulder with a hiss of pain. "You alright?"

I nodded. "Ooh, yeah. Peachy keen. Getting pulled out of time just, ngh, wrecked my shoulder and now I'm popping off with twice the usual amount of pain."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Rose asked, and I felt my heart clench in guilt, knowing what was to come for her.

"Y-Yeah. I'll be fine." I said, forcing a smile onto my face, because this pain is nothing compared to what I went through loosing her.

I figured I had some time before I popped off, so I shuffled awkwardly a bit and faced her.

"Can I, uh… Can I have a hug?"

She gave me a look, but chuckled, holding her arms open. "Of course!"

I smiled a little and hugged her tightly, pressing my face to her shoulder. "Oh, Rose Tyler. Defender of the Earth."

She chuckled. "You're always calling me that."

I sighed, shoulders slouching as I spoke softer. "Because it's true. You're going to defend the Earth and… I'm sorry."

I pulled away then, giving her a small smile despite the worried and puzzled expression on her face, but the Doctor must've heard me and he turned me around with a snarl on his face.

"Alex, don't you say that." The Doctor demanded. "Don't you ever say that to her."

I looked over at him sorrowfully, realizing that he knew. He knew what I was saying meant something bad happened, but there was nothing I could do.

"I'm sorry, Doctor." I said, forcing myself to give him a small smile too. "Are you jealous?" I turned to Rose, nudging her. "Look at him. He's jealous you got a hug and he didn't."

"I'm not jealous." He frowned.

"Yeah you are." I chuckled, trying to keep the mood up and I stepped forward and pulled him into a hug. "Here. A hug for the Doctor."

He stiffened, probably knowing something was up, but I didn't give him a chance to respond before I spoke quietly into his shoulder.

"I know you may never forgive me for what's going to happen, Doctor and I… I just wanted to tell you… that I tried. I really did try." I hugged him a little tighter. "I gave it my best and I hope you realize that when the time comes. Because I love Rose Tyler and I never wanted to see anything happen to her."

"What are you—" He stopped himself when I suddenly popped off, leaving them both more worried than ever; not knowing that their next trip out to Earth would be the last trip for one of them.

Sneak Peak:

I saw Martha helping up the Tenth Doctor and felt myself grin, pulling off my helmet and tucking it under my arm as I grinned.

"Hello! Do you guys know that your room is on fire?" I tossed a thumb over my shoulder. "I think I saw some wires in there melting."