Daniel felt blood rushing in his ears. The last thing that he wanted was a conflict with Rose. He turned his attention to the techs installing a parabolic microphone and reflector for monitoring the possibility of sound coming from the tiny source of rift energy. The oscillator sat a few feet away ready to go online to monitor any energy spikes. Daniel made his way up the hill checking on the emf cameras before turning for the walk to the house. He'd put this off for as long as possible. He knew Rose was standing at his office window probably wondering why he was ignoring her presence.

"Come on, mate," he said to a dozing Jake still in the SUV.

"Huh," he replied, still half asleep.

"Nick," Daniel yelled at the dark haired young man intent on calibrating the oscillator.

"Yeah," he yelled without looking up from the delicate piece of equipment.

"I'm takin' this stubborn partner of yours for a proper lie down."

Nick straightened and flashed a smile. "Thanks, Daniel. He was afraid of mussing your bed."

"Right. Come on you dumb, blond Brit. At least a Scotsman has a little sense," he teased whilst pulling Jake to his feet. It felt good to repay a tiny bit of all that he owed his best friend.

The walk to the house exhausted an already tired Jake. Daniel hardly had his friend through the door before the young man's false bravado evaporated. Daniel eased him to the sofa and helped him get comfortable. "You need to take the pain pills Marcus gave you. I'll get you a water. Take them and get some sleep. That lot will be at least a couple of hours."

"Okay, thanks," Jake mumbled as he settled against the plush sofa.

Daniel glanced up the stairs and then at Jake splayed out, eyes closed looking miserable. The need to settle his friend beat out the possibility of a confrontation with Rose making the choice to go for water a simple one. Addie had the dog out on a get-acquainted walk around the house. He could hear an occasional bark outside, probably something unexpected firing Finn's protective instincts. Daniel couldn't help wonder what new thing had startled the dog. He reached into the fridge and poured Jake a glass of cold water. A moment later, he helped Jake sit up to swallow two pain pills and then tucked the bottle back in Jake's pocket.

"Get some sleep, if you need anything, give a holler. I am going up and see the new boss," Daniel said. He tucked a comforter around his friend then handed him the TV remote

"Daniel, can I ask you a question - seriously?" Jake asked, his voice husky with sleep

"Sure."

"How did you and Nora get on?"

A soft smile broke across Daniel's face crinkling the edges of his brown eyes. "Really well. It went – really well."

"Well enough that you think things might progress?"

""Yeah, I do," Daniel answered.

"Then get upstairs and tell Rose, cos I think - she might have plans for getting back together. She asked a lot of questions about how you were getting' on, and if you were dating. I told her you'd seen a couple of hens, but I didn't know where you were at. You're my friend Daniel, but so is she. I don't want to see her get hurt any more than she has been."

"I don't want her to get hurt either, but I stopped waiting for her to make up her mind that I'm not him. Get some rest. Later, I need to ask you a few things." Daniel glanced up the stairs. "Once more into the breech, eh?"

Daniel took the stairs two at a time, launching his lithe body up the steps like a mountain climber. He passed the etchings that represented his version of family photos. Everyone from Ian and Barbara to Donna along with the Doctor, the Tylers, and Rose with her hair hanging across her face smiled at him every time he took the stairs. His prize sketch showed very incarnation of the TARDIS interior circling the ship as if it were a sun. He stopped at the landing to trace a finger across the faces of Ian and Barbara. Their memory was so old.

"You two barged right ahead when you travelled with him. Wonder what you would say now, eh? Right then." He sniffed hard then turned for the office.

o0o

Watching Daniel glance at the house and then deliberately turn away to hike the hill sent a rush of hurt and anger through Rose. She wasn't sure what she'd expected when he found out that she'd come back, but going up the hill was definitely not it. Rose closed her eyes to force the hurt away. After all, in truth, the feelings were entirely selfish. She'd given him little hope of coming back, so why should he want to rush to her side? When she opened her eyes again, she couldn't see him. Maybe he was coming.

She forced self pity away and turned her attention to the terrarium, marvelling how much the tiny bit of coral had grown in the weeks since she'd last seen her. She gently ran a finger across the TARDIS infant feeling her vibrations all the way up her arm. Maybe, she wondered, that means she recognises me. The sound of footsteps on the stairs brought a sense of relief and a smile. The pattern could only belong to Daniel. It had the same 'take two steps at time' tempo that belonged to the Doctor. It required all of her effort to keep her back to the door when she heard the knob turning quickly followed by the creaking hinges. Her smile broadened when he fussed that brand new hinges shouldn't need oiling. Rose let out a shaky breath before she turned to face him, her mind suddenly blank. All she could do was standing there smiling as he flashed that goofy smile that belonged to the...

Rose cursed inwardly at her mind's betrayal. Daniel looked different now. He no longer looked haggard and out of sorts. Still razor thin, she could see the outline of pectoral muscles under the snug tee. No doubt that was due to the amount of work that he'd continued to put into this place. The words she'd planned fled leaving her to stutter her hello.

"Hi, how are ya," she said, her tongue just poking out. She wanted him to grab her up in an earth crushing hug, but he just stood there.

"Hello," Daniel replied rocking on his heels apparently as unsure as she felt.

The moment of hesitation passed then she was in his arms. His breath tickled her hair. Instead of lifting her chin to give her the kiss she longed for, he gave her a brotherly kiss on top of her head and then pulled away.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Just wanted to see why you need thousands of pounds worth of equipment up here. I am responsible for expenses now. Harry said something about an intruder." That was not what I wanted to say, she thought, chastising herself.

"Right, it's actually the third time we spotted someone, never clearly and no sign after. The family that lived here thirty years ago disappeared without an explanation. I need to make sure there isn't a weak spot in the barrier between universes or perhaps, the presence of a bubble universe. The sightings are spaced about a month apart. The oscillator will tell me about changes in energy and the rest will capture any images that will suggest the weak point. Simple, but that's not what I meant. Why are youhere?" he repeated. "The last I heard from Jackie and Pete, you were staying in the Ukraine until at least Christmas."

"Well, dad called yesterday morning to tell me what happened and asked if I could come home to help out since Jake is laid up. He also said that you were unavailable, so - here I am."

"Right, I suppose he would. Have you seen our shape shifting friend?"

"Yeah, interesting fellow, he must be telepathic because I watched him shape shift into the Doctor, coat and all. We're holding him in the isolation chamber until we find his ship and can get him off world."

"I'm sure it's shielded, the TARDIS would be if its circuit wasn't stuck. So you will need to do a DNA trace. It's in the warehouse district somewhere. You'll need to tag it - well, they both will need tagging, so we'll know if he tries to sneak back. How are the girls?"

"We took them to the infirmary in London for a detox. He managed to impregnate two. Janice managed to remove the embryos without any problem."

Daniel straightened bristling with anger. "She will not experiment on those embryos. They're an innocent new life form."

"No one said anything about experimenting. She put them in cryogenic stasis. The what 'sit won't get them when he leaves either."

"Drelèine, he's called a Drelèine. I suppose stasis is alright, although letting them die would be better. Then, I won't have to worry about some future scientist thinking 'oh look at that, that's interesting. Let's play with that and see what develops."

"See you still have trust issues when it comes to human dealings with aliens." Rose crossed her arms with a toss of her head sending her blond rippling across her shoulders.

"Right. Well, I need to check the feeds so ..."

"Sorry. I'm sorry, that came out snarky. I didn't mean to sound that way."

"Rose what do you want? Last we talked; you were happily involved with that Ukrainian fellow, Mikel..."

"Dolinski," Rose finished. "That's over. It just got boring."

"Right, any way, what's up?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to say hi, and check on the TARDIS. She's grown since we shatterfried the shell, hasn't she?" She turned toward the terrarium.

"Yeah, a bit. She's actually doing quite well. She's averaging an inch a month in here. I wanted to have her spot ready outside by now, but clearing the shed and rebuilding the crèche has taken longer than I expected. Working two jobs makes it a bit hard. At least I'll have free time for the next month."

"Pete told me he suspended you." She made sure not to look at him.

"He would, wouldn't he." He scoffed. "I deserved it. Seems my reputation for having quite the gob is well deserved."

"Can I ask about the drawings? The one of the TARDIS is brilliant. Who are all the people?"

Daniel swallowed then ran his tongue across his back teeth, obviously glad that conversation had changed. "Well, the first collage is of faces of the people that he knew on Gallifrey. The rest are a few of the companions from the early days. When someone asks, I tell them that this is how I remember the pictures from my grandparents. They believe it. I've tried to keep them just different enough in case, by chance, they have an alternate here. I still need to do one of Wilf. Him, I'll keep the same, because he's Don's granddad."

"But you did me and mum and dad, too. Their not really family."

"Sure they are, in a way. No matter what, Rose I consider you family. Pete's always saying that I'm included so ..." He scratched the back of his head.

"Is that what I am now, your sister?"

"Rose, I'm confused. What is it that you want from me?"

She studied his face. His eyebrows knitted in confusion. He tugged his ear the same way that the Doctor always did when stalling for time or trying to solve a riddle. "I honestly don't know. I guess ... I'd hoped we could be friends."

"We are friends; at least, I hope we are."

"Are you seeing someone?"

A slow smile crossed Daniel's face. Rose could see the answer in his eyes. They twinkled, just the way they did that night so long ago. The way they did before she thrown it all back in his face. Rose froze. She didn't to hear the answer. She didn't want to know the name of the woman who made him look like that. Her heart cracked with the pain of her own stupidity. She'd lost the Doctor – again. Yeah, actually I am," she heard him say. The words roared into her head.

"I'm seeing Nora Filson," he continued.

"The decorator?" she asked. Mum had been right.

"Interior designer. We spent the last few weeks talking and now we're seeing other."

He announced it so matter-of-factly that any hopes she had they could start again, were gone. She smiled. "I think this is ... great. It's great."

"Thanks. Come on; let's go see how they're doing outside. Addie should have Finn back by now, you can meet him." He slipped a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"Finn, who's Finn?" she called following him out the door and down the stairs wishing that she could bolt for the car and flee back to Glesca.

They eased past Jake asleep on the sofa and stepped out into the clear late afternoon. "That's Finn," Daniel pointed to Addie coming from the woods with the white shepherd trotting contentedly by her side.

"You've got a dog." She stared dumbfounded.

"Yeah, the intruder, whoever or whatever it was, scared Addie to death. She wanted a dog. Don't ever tell her, but this next month, things will be tight. My accounts took quite the hit."

"How much?"

Daniel arched an eyebrow and grinned. "If I told you, I'd have to wipe your memory." He chuckled. "Let's just say, I expect a call from the accountant Pete hired to manage my accounts on Monday."

Steve's voice brought Rose's burst of laughter to a stop. Both their heads turned to see the young scientist waving them over, confused as to who to call first. Daniel turned leaving Rose to follow as he trotted to where the young scientist stood by the newly operating piece of equipment. He dropped to the ground beside Steve and turned his attention to the linear oscillator's reading. The wave rolled across the screen in a steady rhythm.

"We have a base pattern for the rift energy, now all we need is to pinpoint the exact spot where the rift occurs. Not a bad accomplishment for a Sunday afternoon, eh." He grinned at Steve. "Rose, remember when you went ghost hunting with him?"

Rose grinned with the memory of that afternoon so long ago before things went pear shaped. The image of her and the Doctor standing outside of the TARDIS singing the theme to Ghostbusters flooded back making her bite her lip. Despite the happy memory, the pain that day brought still played havoc with her life.

"Yeah," she said heavily, "I do."

"That's what this does, no cybermen, though." He grinned, apparently unaware of the effect the question would have on her.

"Are you sure?" she scoffed.

"Yep, I'm sure. This will feed into the office, and I can track the output and pinpoint the spikes. The EMF cameras and parabolic speaker will help pinpoint the actual attempts of something trying to come through. Once I have the readings down, we can reverse the flow back into the rift and seal any tear. Since the whole thing seems to cycle every six to eight weeks, it will be mid- November before I'll have a clue. By then, Jake and I will be back to work and you can tie up your loose ends in the Ukraine."

Daniel turned his attention back to calibrating the equipment missing the hurt that flickered in Rose's eyes. Steve flashed a sympathetic smile as he turned his attention to Daniel's explanation. "Rose, come on," he reached to pull her down, "watch this line. The green one is this planet's natural energy pattern. We are looking for that little red dot," he said pointing to the screen, "to become an actual wave length. See. We can come close to achieving what the TARDIS scanners could. It's not as precise, but it's good. What do you think?"

"I think it's bloody brilliant. Can we extrapolate this to other monitoring systems?"

"Yep, with a big enough satellite we can track any energy based intrusion. Radar works pretty much the same way. We send energy out and it bounces off an object. This works the same with energy. Once we make it bigger, we can fine tune to detect any energy sent toward us."

"This is just like old times, innit? When we figured out how to track the bad guys and then chased all over trying to stop them." Excitement filled her voice.

"Right then." Daniel slid a weather proof cover over the monitor, and stood. "Well, this is all we can do with this for now. Steve, can you check out the feed to my computers. I'll take Rose up the hill and check the rest of the equipment. Then you guys should pack it in. Its getting late and I have a call to make and class to get ready for." Daniel flashed a smile at Rose. "Coming?"

"Yeah, sure." Rose stood up. She desperately wanted to reach for his hand, to feel those fingers wrap around hers again. To pretend just one more time that it was his hand, but he slid his into his pockets seemingly oblivious to her desire. When she fell in step next to him, she found herself hating the Doctor. All she ever wanted was to love him, and now even his shadow turned away.

o0o

Daniel hugged Rose goodbye, promised to call with any information and helped her in the SUV. Once the door closed, he tapped the roof signalling goodbye to Steve and Harry. He enjoyed seeing them but was glad they were leaving even as he blew out a frustrated sigh over Rose. The look of sadness in her eyes when she climbed into the car filled him with guilt. As the cars disappeared from the drive, the last shafts of daylight played through the trees sending out shadows ahead of the encroaching darkness. Daniel stood listening to how fast the sounds of birds calling flock mates to roost replaced the noise that came from having a dozen technicians tramping through his woods. For the moment, he just let the dusk wash over him realising that he was bloody tired. Each leaden step back to the house made him wish that Nora waited on the other side of the door.

He hesitated before walking in, letting his fingers trace across the symbols that he'd carved weeks ago. He'd never imagined anyone else's name beside his except Rose. When she'd left after the party, he never expected to put anyone's name next to his. Now, he wished he had his carving tools. He'd carve Nora's name there in a heart beat. He needed to find the courage to tell her what he was, who he really was. But if he did, he could lose her. The thought terrified him. With a silent plea for her help, he leaned his head against Donna's symbol, hoping somehow that if he concentrated hard enough, the cosmos would send her reply. Instead, he almost swore that he heard her telling him to get inside.

"I'm going bloody mental," he thought as he pushed the door open to see Nick crouched by the fireplace trying to start a fire. Not that it was such a bad idea considering the chill in the air, but he wanted that task.

Daniel forced his snide comment down, instead turning his attention to Jake. His best friend was struggling to wake up, letting out a soft groan when he tried to shift his position. There was no doubt in Daniel's mind that scent of Addie's cooking prompted Jake's efforts to wake up, his own stomach was growling with hunger. Just as Daniel gently shook him, Jake's eyelids fluttered open revealing a pair of sleepy, pain filled, blue eyes.

"Hey, boss, how long have I been asleep?" Jake swallowed thickly.

"Couple of hours, how ya feelin'?" Daniel caressed his head.

"Sore. Where's Nick?"

"Right here, partner," Nick answered for Daniel who just smiled and walked to the kitchen leaving Nick to get Jake sorted.

"Daniel suggested we stay the night, since I'm on holiday and you're on sick leave. We can actually stay a couple of days and get mothered a bit or I can drive us home in the morning."

Jake extended his hand out to his partner for help to sit up and then smiled. "Having seen his guest rooms, I'm all for staying. We don't have much with us though."

"Daniel said he'd loan us tracksuits for tomorrow and since we both sleep starkers, we don't need anything else," Nick answered Jake's concern.

"Decision made?" Daniel called from the kitchen.

"Yeah, we're staying."

"Good, Addie says tea is almost ready." Daniel walked back in to the now slightly over warm lounge. Without a word, he turned the thermostat down to sixty degrees, then stepped aside as Nick helped Jake shuffle to the bathroom. Not too long ago, he'd been that stiff and sore. Even with Nick's help, it would take the man a minimum of five minutes to finish his business and wash up. Just enough time to make a call before tea. Without hesitation, he pulled his mobile out, dialled Nora's number, and tried not to sound like one of his giddy students when she answered.

The voice that he heard came as an enjoyable surprise. "Hello Robbie, where's your mum?"

"Cooking macroni and cheese," the six year old bubbled back.

"It's macaroni, Robbie. Can you tell her I'm on the phone?"

"I had fun today." Robbie continued.

"Did you now? What part was the best?"

"Taking pictures. I had fun taking pictures, cannae take pictures some more?" Daniel could hear Nora asking for the phone. "Mummy, I'm talking to Daniel."

"Nora," Daniel whispered her name when she finally snatched the phone from her errant child.

"Daniel, I didn't expect you to call. Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine now. I had to call. I had to tell you, Rose is back. She was here with the team when I got home." Silence filled the air between them. Daniel's heart began to thud in his chest. "Nora?"

"How did it go?"

He heard how she hitched a breath when she asked the question. He swallowed to keep his own voice from shaking. "It went okay, I think. I told her - about us."

"And?"

"I thought - when the time came, I would be ecstatic that she'd come back, but the whole conversation, you and Robbie were all I could think about. I just want to be her friend. I want her to stay safe and I want her to be happy, but... Nora?"

"Yes, Daniel?" Her voice was barely audible.

"Come up early Saturday. Tell Robbie I will get him a camera of his own. Okay?"

"We'll be there early, I promise."

Daniel disconnected. Once he'd heard Nora's voice, the tiredness fled leaving his heart pounding with anticipation. His stomach growled again as Addie called him. The only thought in his head as he went to eat centred on filling the five days until Saturday.