Disclaimer: Still don't own any of this. If I did, Thorn would be a character in the show.

A/N: I am really sorry about this delay. Real life got a little crazy on me. Lost my job recently and I thought I had another day before I needed to post. My bad.

For those who missed, this arc is brought to you by the novel "The Monsters Within". A Fantastic story, if I do say so, that needs to be read. I give it my stamp of approval.

Before I forget, I simply must thank everyone who took the time to read and review. I now have over 125 review, which is as fantastic and it is exciting for me. Also, 136 follows! I'm so blessed! You all make this worth every second and every sleepless night I have with this story running through my head. Thank you all. So very much. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I will never be able to tell you all how grateful I am to you all!

Once More With Feeling

Chapter 26: The Monster Within

The trip to the Governor's office was as dull this time as it was the first, but Rose Tyler attempted to explain to the two Warders, again, what had happened. How Norris came to talk to her then Blanc showed up and showed herself for the monster she really was. Rose told them how she tried to save Norris but he told her to run and was killed by Blanc. She really did try to warn them, because in her experience, where there was one Raxacoricofallapatorian, there was always more. She did mention they were possibly members of a family called the Slitheen.

Unsurprisingly, her words fell on deaf ears.

Not deter, Rose attempted to explain to the Governor. He looked even less believing and had growled out, asking if she thought he was one. She told him confidently, yes, she had thought that until she saw his head held no zipper. He was human. Even if he acted like one of them in nearly every way. He lashed out at her, calling her crazy, delusional, a trouble maker, amongst other words that do not bear repeating. Then she was dismissed from his office to get cleaned up.

Rose was taken from the Governor's office by a very annoyed looking Jamini to a wash room in the administrative area of the underground center. While she wasn't sure exactly what was going on, only that someone from Justice Alpha wanted to talk to her right now, Rose Tyler was not going to ignore a chance to get a little cleaned up from the sweat and bits of dried food and blood on her body. She wasn't being allowed a full shower, but that didn't stop the blonde hybrid from taking her time, scrubbing the sweat and dirt off her face. Wrinkling her nose a bit, Rose was disgusted to find dried up lumpy mash potatoes had somehow gotten into her hair during the food riot from lunch. Shaking her head, she slipped back into the ugly grey jumpsuit she had been forced to wear for the last two and a half days. With her skin cleaner, the cloth felt even worse against her skin.

How she longed for her tub back on the TARDIS. She was taking a bath when she got back and no one, not even the Doctor, was going to stop her from being in there for hours.

Or maybe she will just pull the Doctor into the tub with her.

Jamini brought her back to the Governor who was looking much more awake than he had been when she was first brought to his office. He was more a nervous wreck than she had ever seen him before announcing that she was requested in a conference with some woman called the Technocrat Major of Justice Prime, whatever that was. So now, Rose was being sat in some kind of a theater with Jamini and her partner, Robsen, standing to her right and left. The Governor was hovering somewhere nearby, worrying himself into an early grave from stress alone.

Facing a blank wall in a high back, black chair, Rose was surprised to see a woman come into focus. It was an older looking woman with pinched, worried features. The other woman stood with a slight hunch and seemed to refuse to make eye full eye contact with Rose.

"Greetings, Consul Issabel," the Governor called out in a grand voice that hid his nerves. "As always, it is a pleasure to receive your image. I have done as you instructed. The Tyler girl is here."

"This? This prisoner is Rose Tyler?"

"The very," Rose said, lifting her chin in slight defiance. "What do you want?"

"To be impressed," the woman gave the ghost of a smile, appearing to enjoy Rose's spirit. "Very well, Doctor."

"Doctor!" Rose was out of her seat, moving on instinct as her voice filled with delight. The look on the Governor's face was lost to Rose as Jamini grabbed Rose by the back on her neck and forced her back in her seat. "Doctor. Are you there?"

"Rose!" the Doctor called back, his face coming into view with a wide grin. His eyes were darker than normal, and he looked well. "I'm here."

Swallowing the sob of relief that bubbled in her throat, she answered his grin with her own. "Are you okay?"

"Been better," he was giving some the evil eye off screen before looking back at her again with a gentle smile. "Are they treating you okay?"

"You mean aside from the Raxacoricofallapatorian here-"

"That's enough, Tyler," the Governor hissed warningly.

"And the fact they have another alien, in with the human population?" Rose continued without caring.

"Raxacori-" Issabel started to say, sounding distressed and shocked, out of the shot of the camera. "Governor?"

"Pardon me, ma'am," the Governor frowned a little, off the sight of the camera himself, "but you know what that is?"

"Hey, I'm sharing a cell with two," the Doctor chimed in brightly. "Members of the Slitheen family actually. Rose, I think you'd like 'em. Not bad company once they get used to not being able to kill you."

Silence arose in the room and over the link, Rose was watching the Doctor, yearning to feel his mind against hers again. She missed him terribly and tried to tell him so with her eyes. He watched her right back, the gears in his head were turning. But still he was able to understand what her look said and he gave her an answering one when someone on his end broke the silence.

"What in the world would a Raxacoricofallapatorian being doing in a jail for human juveniles?" Someone else asked, another woman judging by the sound of the voice.

"Well, for starters, you lot have a Gallifreyan in here," Rose stated drily. "As for the other, it is trying to slaughter me. Possibly killed at least twenty other-"

Rose broke off with a yelp of pain and surprised when Jamini's hand slammed down on the back of her neck again and squeezed. Damn, that woman had a nasty grip! A growling sound, low and dangerous filled the room, startling the Warder into releasing the blonde. Glancing up, Rose met dark, nearly black eyes of the Doctor, his teeth slightly bared.

He was furious.

These people may not understand but she did. That was the Oncoming Storm, the Destroyer of Worlds, staring out over the link.

"Don't. Touch. Her," were the first words to slip pass his lips, tone taking no argument as his eyes shifted to the Governor. Rose heard the man whimper softly 'Time Lord' under his breath. "What kind of a prison are you running, Governor, where the people under your care can be threatened by alien creatures, or even hurt so easily?"

"I'm sorry, sir!" the Governor cried out, quivering. "Bu-but the girl is only partially right! T-the only alien here is her! I swear! She is delusional!" He yelled out in the end, defensively.

"I agree," Issabel broke in, voice full of confidence. It made Rose's eyes narrow at the difference only a few moments made for her tone. "There is a mistake. But Doctor, you are here to prove a point, not discuss delusions."

The Doctor could be seen glaring at the woman, "Seriously? You are going to ignore the fact Rose is an alien with humans. She is a Gallifreyan."

"Those are merely pieces of fantasy," Issabel sniffed at the Doctor, dismissing him. Rose paled when she watched the rage and fury come over his face.

"You do realize I am an alien," the Doctor spoke in a low tone. "A Time Lord, to be exac-"

"Irrelevant, Doctor," Issabel cut him off again. "You have a point to prove. I suggest you get to it at once."

Rose said nothing as she looked at the Doctor's image. He looked fit to commit murder but took a breath before looking at Rose with a smile.

"Sorry, Rose," he offered. "They don't believe you're a genius. Reckon I don't need you." His tone dropped to one only she knew, from stolen heated moments in the gym on the mat. "They're so, so wrong. So, anyway, but they want to test you."

How in all the universe did her life get so complicated so quickly? Rose thought as she pushed a chair off her back, grunting at the effort the movement put on her sore muscles. Time was doing it again, the moving really fast as everything goes crazy thing, Rose continued her mental musing, trying to keep her mind off the pain radiating from her shoulder and right arm.

A heavy weight over her lower back made the blonde look back to see Dennel laying, unconscious there. It was like he had tried to bodily protect her. Shaking her head, she pushed him off her and peered around in the darkness. She could smell burnt flesh, smoke, and the sizzle of electric wires that were smoldering. Over all not the most pleasant of smells.

Checking herself quickly for any breaks or serious wounds, Rose turned her attention to Dennel, all the while now grumbling under her breath out loud.

"Totally safe, Rose," she grumbled in an imitation of the Doctor's Northern accent. "Yeah, right. Git. First," Rose grunted, pushing another passenger chair off Dennel, "we get arrested on a prison planet we didn't know was a prison planet. Then, we get separated. No one will believe I'm not completely human." Getting to her feet slowly, Rose checked the interior of the shuttle for a way out. "Then of course, there is something weird going on. Can't be a normal prison. Just once, just once, I'd like to land on a planet that isn't hostile to humans, or wants to eat people, or has some tyrannical regime in need of toppling."

Dennel came around to see Rose Tyler pushing debris away from the cockpit door, still going off about something. Something that twenty-four hours ago, he would have thought she was insane. Now he was just convinced everything else was crazy. She seemed to be the only same one.

"Course I find the one race that wants to murder anything that stands in its way for profit," she kept saying as she ignored the burn wound on her right shoulder, concerning Dennel. "Nearly get myself killed dealing with a murderous future Raxacoricofallapatorian, then have to make people think I'm some kind of astro genius just so I can get back to the Doctor. And this is after someone gets a clue, then dies."

Tossing the last panel away, sunlight filled the darkened area.

"To top this all off, an attempt to rescue me lands me crash landed Gods only knows where!" Rose growled as she moved to find the pilot. "Come on, Dennel." She called over her shoulder to her friend, making him jump.

"Didn't know," he started then cleared his throat. Rose Tyler was beautiful and smart and brave. Now was not the time to show her he was a spineless. Not if he wanted to impress her enough that when he escaped, she'd come with him. When he moved to look into the cockpit, his jaw dropped at the beauty before him that was creeping in through the shattered front window.

Green fonds and exotic flowers he had never seen all seemed to be crowding around, trying to push into the shattered remains of the cockpit. There was golden sunlight filtering through the leaves and he could hear birds of some kind chirping beyond all this. Rose was moving over the ugly, wounded body of the creature that looked like the one he saw the night before inside of Warder Blanc. Rose said it was a disguise that allowed them to look human and that fire was very bad for them. It could upset the gas exchange, she said, of the skin suits.

Shuddering, he stayed back as Rose knelt beside the massive creature.

"You're alive," it rasped.

"I am, now sit still and let me see," Rose commanded the alien, shocking both Dennel and the pilot.

He was in a bad way, the pilot. His massive head was black, burnt and crispy from the blast of heat that rocked the shuttle at impact. The left eye had been punctured, dripping a nasty looking yellow pus. And one of his arms was missing at the elbow. Rose drug out what was left of the first aid kit and looked for something anything.

"Stay still," she ordered again. "You're badly hurt. Don't care how much you want to kill me, right now, let's try and keep you alive. Yeah?"

"Why help me, Tyler?" he asked in a pain filled raspy voice. "We are going to just kill you when you aren't useful anymore. Or use you against this Doctor person. So, why help?"

Turning to look at the pilot over her shoulder, Rose sighed. "Because I've killed more of your race than I want to admit. And I don't want to disappoint the Doctor."

"Call for help."

"Excuse me?"

"We crashed into a monitoring platform- eyes and ears of Justice Delta," the pilot gasped. "We've reached the administration center. You can call for help."

Rose arched a brow, knowing all too well how crafty this race can be.

"Why do you care?" Dennel called out. In the sunlight, Rose made out a nasty purple bruise on the side of his head.

"I don't want to die, boy," the pilot responded frankly. "I can't move."

"But if humans find you like this," Dennel trailed off as Rose pressed a cotton square tenderly to the injured eye, murmuring to not apply pressure.

The pilot chuckled, at Dennel, surprisingly not at Rose. "They find me like this, I'll just be put in prison. The prison we were headed for before you so rudely interrupted us. I expect they'd take us straight there."

Sitting back, Rose eyed the two up. This could easily go either really well, or really badly for them all. If they are rescued, Dennel would be punished for this stunt. She could likely survive out on the surface, but with the way her luck was going, she would likely get bit by a poisonous ant and die. She could let the alien die, very easily in fact, but that would disappoint the Doctor and she reminded herself she wasn't that woman anymore.

"Give me the codes," Rose sighed, moving to what was left of the control panel.

The pilot looked at her in surprise with his one still good eye. Dennel looked like he wanted to protest but opted against it. It was hard to want to argue with her. Carefully, the pilot instructed her on what buttons to press and gave her the code.

Working at the console, she honestly debated on vocally calling out for help. The codes she put in opened the communication channel, but she remained silent, plugging in the coordinates. Maybe she was being paranoid, but the causal ease the pilot spoke put her on edge. Dennel watched Rose work with that simple efficiency he was getting used to in her.

"Why are you silent, girl?" the pilot finally asked, curious. Rose glanced over at him and grinned.

"Because I don't trust you," Rose answered. "I met the Slitheen already-"

"Did you just call me a Slitheen?" the pilot suddenly growled at Rose, making her roll her eyes.

"No, I said I met one," she clarified before thinking about his reaction.

"Slitheen are dunderhead scum," the pilot ranted on, ignoring her. "Worthless, unimaginative, old-fashioned –"

"I got it," Rose interrupts, gritting her teeth to smother her growl. "If you are not Slitheen, then what family are you?"

"We are Blathereen," the pilot said with pride, even as he hissed in pain.

Narrowing her eyes now, Rose nodded and grinned. Moving away from the control panel as the pilot demanded she send out a vocal signal with their location, Rose just chuckled, collecting Dennel as she turned back.

"Well, Blathereen," she announced. "A pleasure to meet you formally. I am Bad Wolf."

For a second, fear flashed over the Blathereen's face as her eyes flashed brilliant gold. Then Rose was gone, Dennel being pulled along behind her. It didn't take Rose and Dennel long to make their way away from the wreckage and be swallowed by the jungle. Sweating under the sunlight and the humidity, Rose stripped the top of her grey jumper down and tied the long sleeves around her waist. Dennel blushed at the sight of her in a dingy grey vest top that hugged her in all the right places. She gave him a glare that warned him to keep his eyes up before they started off again.

Another pause later, had them looking around. They had no idea where they were going or how far they had gotten.

"What can we do?" Dennel asked quietly as Rose was searching the canopy. "Those things are gonna catch up and eat us, Rose."

"No, they won't," Rose answered distractedly. "They don't actually eat their prey. Stupid, but they don't."

"Th-they won't?" Dennel asked, almost hopeful.

"Nope," Rose popped her 'p' as she moved to a dark chocolate color tree and started to swing herself up. "They'll just kill us. Which is why we're looking for the monitoring station we crashed into. If it's not a complete write-off, we should be able to use it to find out how many more there are, and where they are."

"Then we run in the opposite direction, right?" Dennel asked, frowning as she swung easily from branch to branch of the tree. "I could just burn down the jungle you know. Would be faster."

"And let them all know where we are? Pass," Rose huffed. "No, we are going to figure out where they are and how we are going to get around them. For the moment, I'm going to get an aerial view of the area."

Rose was about halfway up the tree she was got her first real view over the trees. Wrinkling her nose, she made out the form of a turret looking thing of blackened metal, rocking on its side a bit farther from a clearing. There was a flattened path leading up to it, something looking almost like a big silver slug nudging its way through the foliage of the jungle. Farther out, she caught sight of some kind of massively ugly white building, likely one of the administrative buildings. Shaking her head, she started back down. In all her years, that was likely one of the ugliest buildings she had ever seen, and that's saying something as a kid from the Estates.

Dropping to the soft ground, starting Dennel, she stood straight, dusting herself off. "We're going in the right direction, more or less. Come on, this way."

To her surprise, he took the lead this time. With a little shrug, she decided that if she had to look at someone's bum that wasn't the Doctor, his was quite acceptable. He kept quiet as they walked along. Rose smelled it before he stopped suddenly in front of her.

The smell of rotten flesh and old blood, mixed with the scent of somewhat fresh blood.

Stepping up next to Dennel, she started to ask why he stopped before she saw what he did. The source of the smell. Covering her mouth, Rose Tyler's eyes widened in complete horror at the sight before her. It was a clearing, filled with the remains of people, likely humans, she guessed. Dennel walked forward slowly, as if in a daze. Rose followed, trying to search of any clues but the grotesque sight distracting her. It was like something out of a Japanese horror film, she thought in disgust.

"Ronika," Dennel breathed out, stopping in from of one partially rotted corpse. She might have once been a pretty girl with dark, raven like hair. Now she was half eroded, with a look of horror forever etched on her face, mouth open in a final scream as little green bugs traveled in and out of there. He stumbled forward, toward two more bodies that had been left in horribly, unnatural positions, all twisted and bent in ways the human body isn't meant to bend. "M-Malc… Dix…"

Turning swiftly towards Rose, his eyes wide and face pale. "These kids, all of them who went missing. We were told they were transferred."

Slowly, Rose shook her head, looking around. A look of fresh sadness swept over her face as her gaze locked on a tree a bit from them.

"It was Blanc," she murmured. "Look."

Following her line of sight, Dennel found the remains of Warder Norris, propped up against a tree. Forcing himself to take deep, cleansing breaths, he turned back to Rose. "This is why they never found anything. She was dumping them here."

Frowning, Rose wandered away from Dennel. Now that her shock had worn off, and the disgust and horror, Rose was able to focus a little better. "But how? She couldn't have taken a shuttle each time, so how'd she do it? How did she get Norris out here so fast?"

"Does that matter?" Dennel snapped at her. "These people are dead, Rose! And all you are worried about is how they wound up here?"

Turning towards the male inmate, Rose started back to him, keeping her voice soft. "No, Dennel, I'm worried and concerned about a lot of things." Her foot at that moment connected with something that snapped easily under her weight, making her look down. "Like for instance, why is this person inside out…"

Carefully lifting her leg free of the exposed dried out ribcage, Rose took a deep steadying breath. Now was not the time to get sick. Dennel looked not much better than her. Turning to him, she silently held out her hand to him. He took it as she led them away from the clearing.

How she wished the hand in hers was someone else's. But right now, she needed a hand to hold. It took the pair a couple more hours to reach the monitoring platform. Covered in sweat and breathing heavily, Rose looks at the thing. It was the size of a small bungalow, rocking itself as the anti-grav boosters continued to work, trying to get the station back into the air properly. Dennel pointed that out to her, making the blonde roll her eyes at the obvious. Then again, he was from this era and she was technically born 500 years earlier.

Pulling herself up onto the platform, Rose made her way through an open doorway, muttering at least she wasn't the only one still trying to reach the sky. Fourteen days had been hellish, being kept away from the stars and the Doctor, these last three days were just making her crazy. She was having to swallow down an instinctive drive and sense of urgency to not act brash or impulsive.

Moving as quick as she could, as it continued to rock back and forth, Rose started to switch on screen after screen. The color drained from her face when the triumphant smile she had been sported faded.

"Oh Gods," she breathed, realizing what exactly she was looking at. It was all set up like Big Brother, cameras everywhere, possibly originally meant to observe the inmates on the varying planets of the system. Now, what the blonde hybrid saw was much, much worse than that. Narrowing her eyes, Rose took in the fact that every screen showed a member of the Blathereen face in the offices of power across the system. From the High Minister's office on Justice Epsilon to the Overseers' Station on Justice Alpha where she watched three Blathereen standing with their backs to the camera, little stubby tails waggling happily.

Frowning, Rose took closer note of the structure that was shown being built, massive, graceless rectangles made out of heavy stones. Glancing to another screen, she groans out loud enough that Dennel pulled himself inside to check on her. He paled when he saw what she did:

The Governor's office on Justice Beta, Detention Center Six.

Silently, the pair watched as a Blathereen wiggled into his new skin suit before zipping himself in. The worse part, in Rose's mind, was watching the alien pull at the flaps of skin one would see a woman do when adjusting her nylons.

"Oh no…" Dennel breathed as horror flooded him.

Next to him, Rose crossed her arms over her chest, thinking out loud to herself. "Why are they doing this? What do the Blathereen stand to gain from this? What do they want?"

"They want us all dead!" Dennel snapped, partially snarling at Rose. "Like Ronika, Malc – all of them out there! They want us to die!"

Shaking her head, Rose turned from the monitor, thinking more. "No, not everyone. It's not what they do. As a race. They are all about profit. So where is the profit in controlling a prison system. They have to need people alive, otherwise why the whole stealth thing?"

Dennel seemed to deflate, not even listening to her now. "Doesn't matter. We can't hide from them. Not now. There's nowhere to go." He stared at her dully. "They've taken over everything."

"And how can I find my Doctor?" Rose asked in a steel backed voice. "By not sitting here and crying about how powerless we are. Come on."

Rose kept at the monitors, hitting keys here and there, changing the camera views until one for Justice Delta, the planet she and Dennel were on brought up the view of the clearing. Leaning forward, Rose focused on it while the young man looked away, still wallowing in his hopelessness. Before her eyes, Rose watched something she never thought she would see, at least in this century. The flash of a worm hole being used and suddenly someone was standing in the clearing, looking sick and dazed.

"Dennel," Rose called to him, urging him over to her side. "Isn't that-" She started to ask before she was cut off.

"That's Warder Robsen! Where did he come from?"

The wild grin that broke out over Rose's face was terrifying to the scared male. "We know that answer. From the Detention Center. Which means there is a way back there. And he must have gotten here through some means of transportation, like a wormhole. Not a transmat, looked nothing like that."

"Wait… if this camera is here to show the clearing," Dennel hated to ask, "does that mean when we went through there, they Blathereen saw us?"

Still grinning, her eyes a light for the first time since he met her, Rose Tyler beamed. "Then I guess we should grab him and clear out, don't you think?"

Making it back to where poor Warder Robsen was stranded, looking dazed and confused, was the easy part. The harder part was explaining to the Warder that they needed to move and move now! When the pair reached Robsen, he was two parts confused and one part angry over the whole situation. Mostly at himself, Rose acknowledged as he explained how he got there. The fact that it was Maggi who did it confused Rose. Maggi was about as smart as a bag of potatoes, like she checked. And yet, someone the young thug was able to sneak into Blanc's room, where the access point was, and send Robsen here.

A loud crashing and the sound of gravel filled voices came from behind them. Dennel turned white, recognizing the voice types. Rose growled, making Warder Robsen look at her in question, only to jump when her doe brown eyes flash sunlight gold.

"We need to leave," Rose commanded. "Now."

She didn't wait for them to agree with her. She grabbed both of the men's wrists and started running back into the mint smelling forest of Justice Delta. Rose was trying to figure out how everything had suddenly turned crazy and on its ear. Best she could figure was the Doctor was involved.

The thoughts of the Doctor suddenly brought her up short, panting from the sprint. There, in her mind, the buzz that was her love was suddenly so much stronger. It pulsed near her conscious, reaching out instinctively to her. A sudden surge of energy came over her as she darted forward, running blindly through the jungle, dragging Dennel and Robsen along behind her.

"Where," Robsen tried to ask around his hard breathing, "where are we going, Tyler?"

"The Doctor's here," Rose gasped, coming to another stop when Dennel stumbled out of her grip.

The trio stood in the shade of a tree, struggling for air, the two males worse off than Rose easily. The crashing behind them was getting louder, more brash and reckless. Narrowing her eyes, the blonde understood the tactic all too well. It was something her own team would use to drive out their prey, once upon a time.

"Damn," Rose muttered, looking around then up the tree. "Up, you two! Go. Now! Climb."

Neither the Warder nor the inmate argued with her as she swung up into the tree, and started climbing. She knew what she was doing, she was the alien if the rumors about her were true. And somehow, she wasn't insane and knew how to battle monsters. Robsen was almost impressed if he hadn't been so terrified of what was coming after them. Reaching the upper branches, Rose hissed at the two to keep quiet for the moment.

Looking over, Rose spotted easily six Blathereen coming towards them. One was badly injured and Rose snorted. Damn, the pilot survived.

"There are your monsters," she murmured to Robsen who was watching with her, face turning white. "They are about… 100 meters out from us. Fuck. We're trapped."

"Any chance we could circle around?" Robsen asked, his voice calm. "Anything you can do?"

Rose shook her head, "No. We could get around them if we had a couple of machetes, maybe."

"Or a flamethrower," Dennel put in, reminding Rose again the reason for his incarceration for arson.

A sound from behind them turned the three to watch another group closing in the opposite direction. "Hate when I'm right," Rose muttered. "They want us to run through the trees wildly."

"Making as much noise as they can," Robsen nodded. "Herd us, make us panic so we run slap into their friends coming."

Chaos erupted around them suddenly as a massive silver and steel shape pushed itself through the trees like a missile. The monitoring station was still struggling to return to the sky, the anti-grav boosters still functioning, if not malfunctioning on a massive scale. Rose was impressed with Warder Robsen when he ordered her and Dennel to jump from the tree to the platform, noting the door was still open. He and Rose agreed this was the best chance they had to survive this hunt and potentially get past the Blathereen in the jungle.

Looking over at the ugly building in the distance, Rose knew the Doctor was there. She just needed to get to him somehow. She could feel him for the first time clearly in days.

"Rose! Quick!" Dennel urged her, making her jump down before him.

Rose found herself gracelessly landing head first into the monitors inside, groaning in pain and hoping she hadn't broken anything. The other two were laying on their backs, trying to get their breaths back before the Warder was on his feet, trying to figure out how to close the door. He knew it wouldn't stop the monsters outside, but it would possibly slow them down.

"Warder Robsen," Dennel started as he got to his feet, helping Rose up as well. "When we get back to the detention center, will you please lock me up and never let me out again? Please?"

Robsen turned to yell at Dennel about helping him close the damn door before the Blathereen get to them when Rose came to his side. An agonizing scream rocked the air as the platform station kept rocking forward, running over a few of the Blathereen that stood in the way.

"Well, that works too," the Warder blinked before looking at Rose. "Think they saw us?"

"If they didn't, they smelled us," Rose commented moving away from the door to look over the screens again. Dennel started whinging again about how are they supposed to survive this now. Shaking her head, she found the Doctor on the screen she thought he would be on and smiled brightly. Shimming herself around, she found the volume control, wishing dearly she had her sonic screwdriver right about now. From the volume, the three could hear just how much up shit creek they really were, and the paddles were nothing but splinters.

The sounds of an explosion rocked the speakers inside the platform and outside. Robsen looked outside with wide eyes as the main Administration building was hit hard in the top, taking the roof off. Rose scrambled from her perch on the monitors to the exit, the Doctor's name ripping from her mouth. The Warder reached out and grabbed her waist to keep her from her from throwing herself off the steadily increasing speed of the monitor platform.

"Rose! Warder Robsen!" Dennel called out from inside the still rocking pillar. "Something is pulling us towards the building where the crash happened."

"We left the forest," Robsen called back. "Nothing to slow us down anymore. We need to-"

The monitoring station hit something, causing it to start spinning counter-clockwise wildly. Robsen pinned Rose and himself to the door so they weren't thrown off. Dennel pulled himself out, looking a little green around the gills, groaning he was going to be sick from all the rocking and spinning.

"We need to get out of here," Robsen ordered the two. A part of him knew that he wasn't really anything more to them as a Warder now. The monsters, the Blathereen, had been manipulating everyone for so long. He heard it all. They needed to get to the EarthGov or the one of the monitoring groups and report this. But then again, who could he trust? Other than Rose Tyler here. This odd girl was confident and composed during all this.

Rose swearing colorfully pulled him out of his thoughts as she pointed. "We're going to crash into the building! We have to jump!"

Dennel didn't need to be told twice, leaping for safety. Robsen tried to pull Rose away with him when she froze, her eyes locked on the base of the building.

"Doctor…?" she whispered softly as two figures came stumbling out and she let out a scream. "DOCTOR!"

Blue eyes snapped up, needing the visual proof that his mind was telling him.

"Rose," he breathed out like a prayer, the woman beside him looking at him curiously when he started running forward. "Rose!"

The Doctor became aware of a man beside Rose, trying to protect his precious golden girl was yelling at him to get out of the way. His own warder, a woman called Senator Flowers, darted as fast as she could out of the way. The Time Lord ran forward, calling for Rose to jump. The man with Rose was trying to pull her off the door and finally, once she was free, actually threw her towards the Doctor. Somehow the look on the other man's face told the alien that he knew that she was safe with him. Then the man jumped himself, hitting the ground and rolling over and over.

The Doctor didn't care. All too soon he had an arm full of Rose Tyler and they tumbled to the ground together, clinging to each other tightly. Their minds pulsed against each other, as happy as their emotions did. Nuzzling his face into her hair, the Doctor showed no signed of releasing Rose any time soon. As the monitoring platform collided with the building, they rolled away from it, the heat of the blast of fire missing them completely.

When they came to a stop, Rose was on top of the Doctor. They two of them grinned at each other stupidly.

"Found you," the Doctor murmured with his grin.

"Found you first," Rose giggled, looking up at Flowers who was a bit off, giving them a funny look. "Figures, I finally get to you, and you were busy playing science with pretty ladies. Bet you forgot all about me."

"Never," he told her in a soft voice, pulling her down into a passionate kiss while he had the moment.

Rose melted against him as his cooler lips slanted against her and his tongue quickly took possession of her mouth. Neither of them thought about the time or place, only the need to remind each other they were really together again. She could feel him reacting under her and the growl that rumbled in his chest when the sound of coughing tore them apart again. The blonde blushed, looking up at Flowers, while the Doctor glared at her for interrupting him.

The woman from Justice Alpha just chuckled at the pair, a light blush was hidden under the soot that darkened her face. Her glasses gave Flowers a panda like look. Holding out her hand, she helped Rose off the Doctor while he grumbled and rolled to his feet.

"Rose Tyler, I presume?" Flowers greeted with a smile. "Senator Lazelee Flowers. A pleasure to finally meet a genius like yourself."

Rose snickered, "Genius at finding trouble."

Dennel and Warder Robsen made it over to where the Doctor was standing with his arm around Rose protectively with Flowers. Introductions were made, which turned out to be interesting as Dennel was staring in a trancelike state at the now fire consumed building. Flowers leaned over, quickly asking Rose what his problem was.

"He likes fire," Rose shrugged. "Never hurt anyone, he says."

"Just old buildings," the pyro distractedly put in.

"He would torch old buildings to draw attention off his father when he robbed banks," Robsen put in. "Dad attempted to take all the blame, but you know how it goes. He's a good kid."

The Doctor listened then looked at Rose with an accusing look in those blue eyes. "Are you making things domestic again?"

"No," Rose cried, indignantly. At least this time they hadn't needed to deal with Adam. "I am not. Daft Time Lord."

"Only I know how you humans love your domestic stuff," the Doctor grumbled.

"Just," Flowers cut in, seeing the way Rose's eyes spark at comment, hoping to avoid what looked to be a start to a nasty fight, "real quick, Doctor. What exactly just happened?"

"That one we were riding in for about a half of mile before it smashed into the building," Robsen put in, curious as well. "Honestly, preferred the ride through the invisible tunnel."

Flowers nodded at the Warder in sympathy, "Those warp-holes can be nasty."

The sheepish look on the Doctor's face made Rose groan, even as he started to explain to the group. "And there is a way to make them nastier," he admitted, his northern accent like music to Rose. "Flowers, you remember how I rigged that warp-hole portal? Set up a repulsion field to shunt anyone who followed us that way out?"

"Let me guess," Rose grumbled, "to balance out the repulsion field, you set up an attraction field to try and hold the whole thing stable, didn't you?'

The Doctor made a face, the two of them ignoring the looks they got from the conversation, "Problem is the screwdriver excited too many energy wavelengths in the portal."

"Which turned your attraction into a big draw," Rose muttered, leaning against him. "Gravity and anti-gravity coming together, parting, creating a vortex of similar energies."

"Anything with anti-gravs, for instance," Dennel turned to the conversation, finally understanding what was being said. "Say bye-bye to the few monitoring platforms!"

Rose elbowed the Doctor in the ribs, listening to him give a dramatic grunt. "You are so jammy!"

"Am not," he looked down at her, affronted. "It was a skill."

"It was a cock-up, admit it!"

"I'll have you know, Rose Tyler, making cock-ups at the right moment is a skill."

"Y-you two are seriously doing this," Flower stammered with wide eyes at the pair, "you're having a row right now?"

"Er, excuse me, Doctor, was it?" Robsen called out, looking beyond the ground and pointing. "Would you call that a cock-up?"

Dennel has back up towards the little group as the other three turned as one towards the burning building. Turns out, the Doctor and Flowers weren't the only survivors.

Out of the thick, oily black smoke came the massive forms of six… ten… twelve Blathereen. All of them looked furious and beyond having enough of this madness. Each of their black eyes clearly were hungering for blood as their claws flexed and clicked together threateningly.

"Forest, now," Rose breathed before snapping out orders to the group. "Back to the forest! Move! It's our only chance."

As one, the group turned and fled as fast as they could. Rose darted out, slightly in front of the Doctor, who was holding Flowers' hand, dragging the out of shape woman along. Dennel sprinted past them to pace Rose with Robsen taking up the post next to the Doctor, opposite of Flowers. Rose could feel the Doctor's eyes on her as she raced on. Normally she would be holding his hand, but Flowers needed him more at the moment. That didn't stop her from reach out with her mind, mentally holding his hand that way as they ran like foxes trying to stay ahead of the hounds.

Flowers started wheezing, tiring first, puffing out that she couldn't keep up. Rose refused to let her stop, dropping back to the woman's other side and taking her hand, encouraging her even as the Doctor snapped back at Flowers to keep going. Robsen called out his own encouragement as they all ran for their lives. Behind them, the silent thumping of the feet of the Blathereen could be heard gaining.

"There is it!" Dennel cried out, the tree line just ahead of them. He lowered his head and broke into a sprint before coming to a skidding halt as four more, badly battered Blathereen exited the trees. "You have got to be fucking kidding me!"

Turning, the inmate ran back to the group who was forced to stop between the two groups. The Doctor pulled Rose behind him as Robsen stepped up in front of Flowers and Dennel.

"Damnit," he panted out with a growl. "We're trapped."