Rose tried to focus on helping the Doctor. On sorting through the junk to find the parts he needed to build a make-shift TARDIS, but she kept going back over everything she learned. You have to remember. It's the only way you can do what must be done. And apparently what must be done wasn't her staying with the Doctor. It was her leaving.

"It's not fair!" she exclaimed.

She didn't mean to say that out loud, but there it was. She glanced toward the Doctor, but he was too far off to hear, which was good.

"What is not fair?" Idris asked.

"Every time I find him again I have to leave."

First because of the Daleks and now because there was something she had to do. It wasn't bloody fair! Was this going to keep happening? What if this was it? What if this was the last time she saw him?

"Oh, my silly, stupid sister. Don't you know?" Idris asked, as if Rose was being ridiculous.

"Know what?" Rose snapped, thinking that if Idris called her stupid one more time she might well slap her, TARDIS Matrix or not.

"You're not the one who leaves. You're the one who stays."

Rose paused.

"But you said I'm not supposed to be here."

"You're not supposed to be here yet. First you have to save him. Then you come back."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Rose snapped, first she had to save him then she could come back. Save him from what?

Idris reached out and took her hand. There was a blinding flash of gold light and she was back aboard that game station. Her mind was starting to burn, but still she searched the Doctor's time line because she had to keep him safe, every possibility...and there it was. A leaf. A crisp autumn leaf. She blew, the leaf came loose from the tree and tumbled, with Rose's direction, until it landed on the face of a man, who had to meet a woman because together they would have a child. A child the Doctor would one day call His Impossible Girl. She would save him until Rose could return, but now was not the time. Now was River's time because she needed the Doctor to become the woman who would save him in the past and there was still fixing to be done. There was a point in his time line when only Rose could save him. To do that she had to change. She couldn't stay. There was somewhere else she was meant to be. The vision stopped as suddenly as it began. She gasped, doubling over from the onslaught of memories.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked, very concerned. "Rose, are you all right?"

She stood up, concerned. How much did he see? Did he know what she saw? He glanced from her to Idris and back as if he was trying to work something out, which was really not good.

"Yeah, 'm fine," she lied.

She knew what she had to do and it frightened her, but she would do anything to save him. When a crack appeared in her bedroom wall, a crack that wasn't just any old crack, but a crack in time and space, she stepped through it. Only something went wrong. Her memories got all jumbled and confusing so she locked them in a room in her mind until she had time to sort them out. The problem was once the memories were locked away she couldn't remember putting them there in the first place.

"You didn't look fine."

"'M fine, really," she said, touching his arm.

He gave her a I don't really believe you look. She replied with an I'm completely innocent smile.

"What's that?" she asked, glancing at the tube he was holding.

"It's a tube," he said dismissively, before turning around and walking back to where he was building the make-shift TARDIS.

"Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter," Idris instructed.

"Yes, yes, I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know. I know what I'm doing," the Doctor snapped.

"You're like a nine year old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom. And you never read the instructions."

Rose laughed, earning a glare from the Doctor when he spun around to face Idris.

"I always read the instructions," he insisted.

"There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for seven hundred years. What does it say?"

"That's not instructions," he dismissed, turning around to continue working on the TARDIS.

"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?" Idris prodded.

"Yeah, I've seen it," Rose said. "It says pull to open."

"Yes. And what does he do?" Idris asked, glancing at her and then nodding toward the Doctor.

"I push," he called.

"Every single time." Idris glanced at Rose who was laughing. "Even hundred years. Police Box doors open out the way."

He threw down what he was working on and advanced on them.

"I think I have earned the right to open my front doors anyway I want."

"Your front doors?" Idris asked, facing him. "Have you any idea how childish that sounds?"

"You're not my mother," the Doctor growled, turning around to walk away.

"And you are not my child," she called, following him.

Rose was practically rolling as he spun back around.

"Stop that!" he scolded before turning to Idris. "You know, since we're talking with mouths," he mimed talking with his hand as he walked over to stand in front of her, "not really an opportunity that comes along very often, I just want to say, you know," he thrust his finger in her face, "you have never been very reliable."

Rose stopped laughing. If Idris was his mother or Rose's mum the Doctor would've earned himself a slap.

"And you have?"

"You," he pointed at her again, "didn't always take me where I wanted to go."

He turned around, walking away.

"No, but I always took you where you needed to go."

He paused.

"You did. Look at us talking." He spun back around, grinning as he hurried back to her. "Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk?" He flung his hands around in excitement. "Even when you're stuck inside the box?"

"You know I'm not constructed that way. I exist across all space and time, and you talk and run around and bring home strays."

Idris collapsed. The Doctor and Rose caught her.

"Are you all right?" Rose asked, concerned.

"One of the kidneys had already failed. It doesn't matter," Idris said, dismissing their concern. "We need to finish assembling the console."

"Using a console without a proper shell. It's not going to be safe," he said and Rose could hear the worry in his voice, worry for Idris.

"This body had about eighteen minutes left to live. The universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Safe is relative."

He stared at Idris for a moment before turning around and heading back to the TARDIS he was building.

"Then we need to get a move on. Eh, old girl?" he asked.

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