Heart of the Storm

by Sonny13

Hartley had made a living on impossible heroes and faraway places, she'd grown up daydreaming and wishing for the days when she could be living her adventures, instead of just writing about them. But when the chance to run far, far away from her boring old life is dropped in her lap, is it something she has the courage to do? And who exactly is The Heart? Eventual Doctor/OC

26. Army of Ghosts & Doomsday

A/N: I'm so glad you guys liked the last chapter, and the fact that some of you watch Stargate too just made my day! (Little teaser for you – there's another Stargate-themed original chapter coming up later down the line. I think you'll like that one too. A rather well known character even gets a cameo!)

A warning – this one is very long, and for me, very emotional. I hope you guys are sitting comfortably. See you at the bottom!

---

ARMY OF GHOSTS & DOOMSDAY

"In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them.

We haunt ourselves."

Laurie Halse Anderson

\\/

"Being brave isn't the absence of fear.

Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it."

Bear Grylls

---

Hartley loved shopping.

Maybe it wasn't the best hobby in the world, but she had little time for anything else while travelling with her friends. Thankfully, Rose liked it too, and with two of them shooting him puppy-dog eyes it was relatively easy to convince the Doctor to stop at various shopping hotspots across the universe, letting them off to browse the markets full of aliens selling their wares.

More than anything, Hartley liked to buy nicknacks. She liked having something small from everywhere she went, put on display in her room to reminded her of each place she'd visited. Her shelves were slowly beginning to gain decoration, colourful pieces of meteor and various jars of caramelised fruit lining her room.

She didn't think much of it when they stopped at a little asteroid full of markets and the Doctor sent she and Rose off on their own to wander. She didn't for a moment consider that maybe it was the end of her life as she knew it – but then again, why would she?

"Don't go too far," the Doctor told them halfheartedly, fishing out a tiny white stick from his pocket and tossing it into the air. Hartley's reflexes were quick, and she snatched it from the air between them. "Found that under the console. It's a few decades old, but it should still work. Just don't go crazy with it," he said, but the two girls had already stopped listening, waving back distractedly as they turned and headed off into the market.

"Let me know if you see any bath-bombs," Hartley told Rose as they walked, smiling politely at the various aliens they encountered along the way. "I've run out and taking a bath without them is pointless."

"Yeah, and you keep an eye out for something I can get mum. The Doctor said we could stop by and visit after this – which is good 'cause I'm running out of clean clothes – and I don't wanna show up empty handed. You know how she gets," Rose responded, pausing at a small stall selling something that looked like honey. The cyclops behind the table offered them two little sticks coated in the stuff, and they both took one, tasting them without hesitation. "It's good," Rose nodded, smiling kindly at the alien before quietly moving on.

"What do you think of this?" Hartley asked, picking up a blue silk scarf and draping it over her shoulders. "Does it make me look like I belong in the upper-middle class?" she joked, and Rose giggled, nodding her head before something caught her eye.

"One sec," she said, bounding over to a stall to the left.

"Wait!" Hartley called out. "Should I get it or not?!"

Rose didn't answer, her eyes on a colourful sign hanging from one of the stalls. "You ain't buyin', then stop tryin'," the alien behind the table snapped rather rudely, and Hartley was quick to unwrap the scarf from around her neck, folding it gently and placing it back on the tabletop with a polite smile. The alien – a humanoid person who appeared to be some kind of cyborg, judging by the metal half of their body – snorted unkindly and waved her off.

Looking around, Hartley lost sight of Rose for a minute. She pushed herself up onto her toes, struggling to see past the thickening crowd until finally a group of ridiculously tall aliens passed, revealing her friend standing by a tiny stall off in a corner, her bright blue jumper like a beacon against the muted colours of the asteroid.

"Hey, Blue," she said cheekily, popping up next to Rose and absentmindedly looking over the wares displayed on the table.

"Thinking I'll get this for mum," Rose told her conversationally, holding a little metal device up into the light. "He says it can predict the weather," she added, and the green-skinned alien behind the table snorted his agreement.

"I'm sure she'll love it," Hartley assured her, leaning down and picking up a small dome full of glitter.

"Paperweight," the alien informed her in a gravelly voice, like he'd been smoking heavily since birth, and she nodded interestedly as she gently put it back down.

Rose smiled, satisfied with her decision as she pulled the currency stick from Hartley's pocket, handing it over with a grin.

"You alright?" the blonde asked warily as she began to lead her away, heading for what was hopefully a food pavilion. "You look a bit peaky."

"Do I?" Hartley asked, reaching up to touch her face, noting that her cheeks were a bit cold. There was an odd sort of feeling in her gut, like her body was trying to tell her something, but she had no clue what it was. Rose grabbed her arm, pulling her to a stop and making the aliens travelling behind them exclaim in loud irritation. "I think I'm tired," she said with a shrug. "Didn't get much sleep."

"Maybe we can find a tonic or something at one of these stalls," Rose suggested. "Something to perk you up."

"I'm gonna have to pass on that one," she replied, leaning her weight against the towering wall of asteroid mud lining the corridor of stalls. "I'll just have some tea when we get to your mum's; fix me right up."

"If you're sure..?" Rose sounded concerned, her blonde hair lit up like a halo in the purple lights held above the walkway.

"Come on," Hartley said instead, nodding in the direction of the idle TARDIS before hooking their arms together and leading the way.

Once thrust into life on the TARDIS, all she'd had was the Doctor, who was at first cold and cruel to her, then they met Rose and she remembered what it was like to actually have a friend. She'd had Jack for longer – over four years – but now he was gone too, and she was left with a new Doctor, one she was still only just getting to know.

She thought suddenly that if she didn't have Rose, then she might have gone genuinely insane.

Before Hartley could voice these somewhat sappy musings, the Doctor reappeared, ducking into the alcove with a messy hunk of scuffed metal and coloured wires held in his hand. "Are we really just going to stand around hugging each other all day?" he asked impatiently, taking note of their arms around one another.

Hartley looked up at Rose in exasperation, pleased to see the expression mirrored perfectly in her friend's eyes.

"Found what I came here for," he announced, waving his new object in their faces with a satisfied grin. "Wanna get going? Might as well drop that laundry off to your mum, the shirt you're wearing is starting to smell like asteroid dust."

"Sweet-talker," Hartley teased wryly.

"Yeah, yeah," the Doctor waved her off, turning and beginning to weave his way back towards the TARDIS.

"Sure you're okay?" Rose confirmed carefully as they set out after the Doctor, casting the other girl an assessing look.

"Fine," Hartley promised, stubbornly ignoring the strange weight in her gut that told her everything might not be okay. Time stopped for no one, and they were certainly no exception.

---

"Mum, it's us!" Rose called happily, letting herself into their flat at the Estate, full backpack balanced on her shoulders. "We're back!"

"Oh, I don't know why you bother with that phone. You never use it!" Jackie complained even through the massive grin on her face, bursting with happiness at seeing her daughter again.

"Shut up, come here!" Rose laughed while Hartley hung back with the Doctor.

Mother and daughter embraced tightly, swaying as they hugged while Hartley watched with a wistful smile. The Doctor grew impatient, attempting to slide past the pair, only for Jackie to notice and pounce on him like a tiger eager either for play or a meal – which one it was, however, was impossible to tell.

"Oh no, you don't. Come here!" Jackie crooned, kissing the poor bloke soundly on the mouth before pulling back and giving him a great big hug.

The Time Lord pulled back with a grimace of disgust, scrubbing at his mouth with his cuff. Hartley giggled, and he took the time to send a displeased scowl over his shoulder at her. It lacked any real heat and only served to make her grin wider.

"You too, gorgeous," Jackie beamed, and Hartley happily fell into a mother's embrace, trying not to think about how much she wished her own mother could be even half as warm. "You look well fed," Jackie declared happily, squeezing her once more before pulling away, leaving Hartley bewildered and self-conscious. What did that mean?

From the lounge, Rose was chuckling. "I've got loads of washing for you," she announced, once they'd all filtered into the room, handing over her overflowing bag of laundry. "And I got you this," she added, pulling the knick-knack from her pocket, presenting it to her mum with a grin. "It's from the market on this asteroid bazaar, we've only just been! It's made of, er, what's it called?"

"Bazoolium," the Doctor answered from behind her, halfheartedly flicking through a magazine.

"Bazoolium," she nodded, and Hartley slipped past, taking a seat on the armrest of the lounge and snuggling deeper into her jumper. Jackie's heat must have been out. "When it gets cold it means it's going to rain. When it's hot, it's going to be sunny. You can use it to tell the weather!"

"I've got a surprise for you," her mother declared, unfazed by Rose's gift.

"Oh, I get her Bazoolium, she doesn't even say thanks," the blonde traveller murmured to her companions, noticeably sour, and the pair of them smirked at one another over the characteristic response from Jackie.

"Guess who's coming to visit? You're just in time," she told her daughter excitedly, and Hartley snorted at her dismissal. Her attention was quickly snatched by the Doctor, however, who was frowning down at a gossip magazine like it was the most interesting read in all the galaxy.

"Do you really care that much that," she paused, taking a beat to read whatever was on the trashy cover, "Paris Hilton got a DUI?"

"I like to keep up with current events," he sniffed defensively.

"You're a time traveller," she reminded him dryly. "What's current to you, anyway?"

He didn't answer other than another dramatic sniff as he pettily returned his attention to the magazine. She laughed at the childish behaviour, turning to face the mother and daughter who were still bantering across from them.

"It's your granddad," Jackie was saying with a bright smile, practically giddy as she spoke. "Granddad Prentice. He's on his way any minute. Right, cup of tea!" she said, spinning around and heading for the kitchen without a care in the world.

"Cool, meeting the granddad," Hartley commented distractedly, taking a seat on the arm of the couch and reaching for the remote.

There was a long, pregnant pause where Rose didn't answer, so Hartley looked away from the blank TV screen to note her friend's look of shock. Suddenly wary, Hartley stood back to her feet, watching on with caution. "She's gone mad," Rose was murmuring, staring after her mother in bewilderment.

"Tell me something new," the Doctor said dryly, and despite something quite obviously being wrong, Hartley couldn't help but bark out a single syllable of laughter.

"Granddad Prentice, that's her dad. But he died, like, ten years ago," Rose explained hollowly, and slowly but surely the mirth in the Doctor's expression drained away. "Oh, my God. She's lost it. Mum? What you just said about granddad..." she began, following her mum into the kitchen.

"Any second now," Jackie said blithely, utterly oblivious to Rose's concern.

"What's happening?" the Doctor sounded just as bewildered as Rose, turning his head as he spoke to Hartley, one eye trained on Jackie, who was grinning without a care.

"No idea. But I get the feeling that it's nothing good," she murmured back without drawing attention from the pair of talking blondes.

"But he passed away," Rose was saying patiently. "His heart gave out. Do you remember that?" she asked gently, like she were speaking to a child who just didn't understand.

"Of course I do," Jackie replied, indignant, like Rose were the one who wasn't talking sense.

"Then how can he come back?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Jackie countered before looking down at her watch with an excited gasp. "Ten past. Here he comes."

It was ethereal and humanoid in shape, a walking shadow in the vague shape of a person. Hartley wanted to reach out and touch it, see if it held any form, but something about it made her uneasy, made her want to stay away, afraid of what might happen should she get too close.

"Here we are, then," Jackie said brightly, chirpy as could be. "Dad, say hello to Rose," she said conversationally, as if she wasn't speaking to some kind of creepy, shadowed ghost standing in the middle of her kitchen. "Ain't she grown?"

"What the..." the Doctor trailed off, staring at the figure for one long, drawn out moment before abruptly turning and booking it out of the flat. He opened the door with such force it banged against the wall with a crash.

Rose ran out after him, with Jackie close behind. Hartley remained in the flat. She waited in the kitchen, keeping an eye on the 'ghost' until it faded. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but she felt like the Doctor had forgotten to stick to his own method.

Step one: try talking to the thing. It usually worked.

"Can you speak?" she asked it, her voice coming out unsteady. She felt kind of foolish, talking to it like it could understand her. But she'd seen all sorts of things before, things that by all rights shouldn't have been able to speak at all. She knew better than to – as cliché as it was – judge a book by its cover. "Where did you come from?" she continued, confidence returning. "Are you alien?"

It gave no answer, but she hadn't really expected it to. A beat passed, and then just as it had appeared it began to fade from existence, almost evaporating into the air, until finally it disappeared completely, like it had never been there in the first place. She remained where she was, eyeing the place it had vanished for a long while. Once she was more confident it wasn't going to reappear, she turned and edged from the room, brow pulled into a bewildered frown.

She headed into the lounge and back over to the TV, reclaiming the remote from where she'd tossed it before, staring at the blank screen for a moment before blinking back to herself and clicking it to life.

The stations were full of all these 'ghosts', every channel seemed almost dedicated to the things. The uneasy feeling crept back into her gut, and Hartley sat back against the couch, watching a random news station as it replayed an 'interview' with one of the things. It was making her feel sick.

The dead were dead, and maybe it was hypocritical of her (it almost definitely was) but she believed they should stay that way.

A couple minutes of mindless television later, the Doctor reappeared in the room, already slipping his clever specs onto the bridge of his nose as he crouched in front of the telly, snatching the remote from Hartley's hand without so much as a word. She didn't protest, still trying to process the fact that not only had 'ghosts' appeared throughout the world, but that mankind had apparently said 'yup, this makes sense' and gone with it.

Jackie and Rose came in after him, gently shutting the door behind them and settling into spots on the couch behind Hartley. The Doctor didn't even acknowledge them, flicking through the channels like a man on a mission.

"On today's Ghostwatch, claims that some of the ghosts are starting to talk, and there seems to be a regular formation gathering around Westminster Bridge. It's almost like a military display-"

"What the hell's going on?" the Doctor demanded aloud, roughly hitting the button to change the channel and not really expecting an answer. No matter which station he landed on, they were talking about the ghosts. It made Hartley wonder – was the human's trusting, gullible nature being used against them? Was their sentimentality somehow being used as a weapon? The very idea made her feel ill.

The Doctor silenced the TV, having had just about enough of hearing about the ghosts.

"When did it start?" he asked Jackie, rubbing at his eyes from underneath his glasses. They'd barely even gotten there and already he seemed done with it all. Hartley wondered if it ever got old; saving the human race.

"Well, first of all, Peggy heard this noise in the cellar, so she goes down-" Jackie began eagerly.

"No, I mean worldwide," the Doctor stopped her before she could give him the entire rundown of her stupid serial show, a sour, exasperated sort of look on his face. Hartley understood the frustration but didn't approve of the biting tone.

"Oh," Jackie blinked, "that was about two months ago. Just happened. Woke up one morning, and there they all were. Ghosts, everywhere." She shrugged her shoulders calmly. "We all ran round screaming and that – whole planet was panicking. No sign of you two, thank you very much," she added rather snidely in their direction, and Hartley's eyebrows rose to her hairline at the inclusion. Jackie seemed to think more of her than was really deserved. She was just like Rose, a human along for the ride. "Then it sort of sank in," Jackie continued, oblivious. "It took us time to realise that...we're lucky."

The Doctor's expression made it clear he disapproved. Hartley was inclined to agree.

"What makes you think it's granddad?" Rose asked her mother gently, reaching out to link their hands, squeezing tentatively.

"It just feels like him," Jackie told her, a small, wistful smile sitting on her lips. "There's that smell, those old cigarettes. Can't you smell it?"

Rose's eyes were sad. "I wish I could, mum, but I can't."

"You've got to make an effort. You've got to want it, sweetheart."

She said strongly, and Hartley looked away. To her, the worst part was that Jackie couldn't even hear how sick that sounded.

"The more you want it, the stronger it gets," the Doctor said grimly, and Hartley shuddered at how wrong it all was.

"Sort of, yeah," Jackie admitted with a shrug.

"But that doesn't make it real, Jackie," Hartley told her gently, meeting her eyes. Jackie's gaze was glassy, a kind of hurt in their depths, like their revulsion over the fact was offensive. Like they were hurting her with their skepticism.

"It's like a psychic link," the Doctor interjected, his expression bleak. Hartley was glad for the interruption. "Of course you want your old dad to be alive, but you're wishing him into existence. The ghosts are using that to pull themselves in."

"You're only feeding into it," Hartley added with a sympathetic sigh, beginning to understand, a sinking feeling twisting her insides.

"You're spoiling it!" Jackie lashed out, her eyes glistening. Hartley could tell she didn't want to listen to them, even though she knew it was probably in her best interest to do so. Hartley knew what it was like to not want to believe something, even when you knew it was the truth.

"I'm sorry, Jackie, but there's no smell, there's no cigarettes," the Doctor told her darkly. "Just a memory."

"But if they're not ghosts, what are they then?" Jackie countered, like this were a sound argument. "They're human! You can see them. They look human."

"She's got a point," Rose allowed. "I mean, they're all sort of blurred, but they're definitely people."

"Maybe not," the Doctor mused. "They're pressing themselves into the surface of the world. But a footprint doesn't look like a boot." He leapt to his feet so quickly that it made Hartley rear back in fear of being accidentally smacked by one of his overexcited limbs. "Turns out, I have just the thing we need," he exclaimed, clamouring back through the flat towards the front door.

"Where're you going?" Jackie called in bewilderment, not as desensitised to his erratic behaviour as the other two were.

"TARDIS!" he yelled back over his shoulder dismissively, the sound of the door slamming after him echoing throughout the smaller flat.

Rose whirled around to glance at Hartley, who could only roll her eyes at his predictable behaviour. "He all right?" Jackie asked the pair, staring after the Time Lord with raised eyebrows.

"It's an off day when that doesn't happen," Hartley told her with a small smile, leaning back against Rose's legs for a moment as she considered her own words. "Still, to be safe, I'd better go supervise; make sure he's not about to accidentally blow up the whole Powell Estate," she said, climbing to her feet and patting Rose's knees with an affectionate smile. "You stay, chat with your mum. You know where we're parked."

The two blondes were already lost to their murmurings by the time she made it to the door. Rose was beginning to enquire more about the ghosts – too wired into the Doctor's investigative ways to be able to concentrate on anything else – and Hartley smiled at the familiar routine.

Outside the block of flats Hartley plucked the key from around her neck, taking a moment to rub her thumb across its cool metal surface before bringing it up and sliding it into the lock, pushing open the TARDIS door and stepping into the console room.

"Doc?" she called out when she didn't immediately see him, and though he gave no reply, she spotted him a beat later. He was digging around in the storage underneath the grating of the console room floor. "Doc," she said again, just a little louder.

"Hm?" he hummed distractedly, the sound of metal scraping against metal filling the room as he shuffled his miscellaneous gadgets around, searching for something in particular.

"So, how much trouble are we in?" she began, walking up the ramp and resting against the railing, watching as he rummaged.

He didn't look up, attention focused on his task even as he answered her. "It really depends on how large of a threat these 'ghosts' are, doesn't it?" He paused, finally tilting his head up to fix her with a brief chocolate stare. "What do you think they are?" he asked, momentarily distracted from his task.

"Me?" she asked, blinking in surprise.

Cocking an eyebrow, his eyes sarcastically swept the otherwise empty room, and it was so him that it made her laugh, thinking about how ridiculous the Time Lord really could be.

She sobered after a moment, considering the question properly. "Well, they aren't ghosts," she finally said, and the Doctor gave a sound that wasn't quite a laugh, but also not quite a scoff.

"I could have told you that," he told her with a roll of his eyes, and she chuckled, pressing back against the railing, the metal cool even through the thick material of her clothes. "Go on then," he prompted her when she didn't elaborate. "What do you think they are?"

"Obviously it's alien," she said in a matter-of-fact kind of voice. "I mean, what other explanation is there, beyond the supernatural?"

"There is no supernatural," he corrected her with a grimace, like the very mere suggestion of it was ridiculous. "Everything is alien."

"Huh," she murmured, not having considered that. Maybe all mythology was real, maybe it was all truth, only it didn't come from Earth or from Heaven, it really came from the distant stars above. It was certainly food for thought.

"But if you didn't know that," the Doctor continued easily, a metal thud echoing around the control room as he carelessly tossed a large hunk of metal over his shoulder, "would you?"

"Would I what?" she asked, not following.

"Believe in ghosts?"

"Oh. Well, there were the Gelth," she said thoughtfully. "But that was different."

"Gelth have nothing to do with this," he agreed, holding up a handful of dusty crystals to the light, squinting, then shaking his head and crouching back down to continue digging. "But that was a fun day, wasn't it?" he said cheerfully. "Charles Dickens. What a great guy."

"Doc, we almost died," she reminded him wryly.

"And the way you fell all over the man like he were some kind of rock god," he continued on without acknowledging her words, something she might almost describe as a snicker in his voice.

"He was Charles Dickens," she argued defensively. "Literary genius of the age! He wrote Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities! Not to mention A Christmas Carol, for which we were in its moment of inspiration! You've read his work – how could you not treat him like royalty. The man is pure talent. I'm flooded with inspiration at the mere memory-"

"I get it," the Doctor interjected before she could really get going, and he was definitely laughing this time, "you're a fangirl." She gave a yelp of indignation at the crass term, but he only grinned wider, and she thought to herself that if she was the reason he was smiling, then maybe she didn't mind that it was at her expense. "Remind me to never take you to meet Shakespeare," he added in a mutter, and she shot up with an excited gasp.

Behind her the doors burst open and Rose traipsed up the ramp, completely diverting the attention. Hartley wouldn't let the Shakespeare subject drop, however. Once the whole 'ghost' thing had been dealt with, she'd be meeting him, even if she had to drag the Doctor there by the ear.

"According to the paper, they've elected a ghost as MP for Leeds," Rose announced with a snort of amusement. "Now don't tell me you're going to sit back and do nothing."

The Doctor was silent for a moment, then he popped up from where he'd been crouched below the console floor, a backpack secured over his shoulders and a piece of piping held in his hand.

"Who you gonna call?" he cried goofily.

"Ghostbusters!" Rose laughed uproariously.

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts," he replied, Rose and Hartley giggling up a storm as he raced from the TARDIS with all the speed of an overexcited bunny. "When's the next shift?" he was asking Jackie, and Hartley was quick to follow him back out of the TARDIS and onto the grass where he was beginning to set up some important cone-shaped devices in a perfect triangle.

"Quarter to – but don't go causing trouble," Jackie warned him sternly. "What's that lot do?" she asked, gesturing to his work with a grimace of distaste.

"Triangulates their point of origin," he replied in a hurry, words practically melting together, he spoke so fast.

"I don't suppose it's the Gelth?" Rose piped up, recalling their time with Charles Dickens just as Hartley had before.

"Hartley just asked the same thing," he told her over his shoulder, and Hartley nudged Rose gently in acknowledgement. "But no, they were just coming through one little rift. This lot are transposing themselves over the whole planet. Like tracing paper."

"You're always doing this!" Jackie complained hotly. "Reducing it to science!"

Even Hartley had to agree with her on that one; if there was one thing she disliked about the Doctor, it was that he refused to believe in magic. Maybe he was right, and everything the supernatural really was just alien – but there was still a tiny, stubborn part of her that refused to stop believing that magic was real.

She heard once that science was just the language used to understand miracles. She liked to believe that to be true.

"Why can't it be real?" Jackie demanded furiously. "Just think of it, though. All the people we've lost. Our families coming back home. Don't you think it's beautiful?"

"I think it's horrific," the Doctor argued, the sincerity shining on his face. "Rose, give us a hand?" he requested, urging her back inside the TARDIS. This left Hartley and Jackie standing out in the rare English sun, the older blonde woman staring after the alien sadly.

"In one aspect, yes, I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves."

Jackie turned to look at the other traveller, expression twisted in confusion. "What?" she asked, blinking uncomprehendingly.

"It's just a quote that came to mind," Hartley told her gently, suddenly feeling rather embarrassed about her habit for sprouting literature quotes at random. The Doctor and Rose were used to it by now, however Jackie didn't understand how her brain worked, not like the others did. "From Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson," she explained with a helpless shrug.

"Never heard of her," Jackie shrugged back.

Who didn't know Wintergirls? Hartley thought to herself, blinking at the older woman in wonder before shaking her head to clear it and speaking. "Come on," she moved along, waving Jackie into the TARDIS. She stepped inside after the younger girl, shutting the door quietly behind her.

"If it goes into the blue, activate the deep scan on the left," the Doctor was saying to Rose, and Jackie watched on in silence, a thoughtful look across her face. Hartley wondered if it was fascinating to her, seeing what life was like aboard the TARDIS. Wondered if she sat up at night, staring out into the starry sky and wondering desperately where in it her daughter was, what she was doing, and whether she was happy?

Hartley knew she had, when she was the one stranded on Earth for all those years with Jack, she'd stared up into the starry night sky and just wondered.

"Hang on a minute, I know," Rose said with a carefree grin, jolting Hartley back to the present. "Push that one."

"Close," the Doctor winced.

"That one?"

"Now you've just killed us."

"Er, that one?"

"Yeah! Now, what've we got? Two minutes to go! Rose, stick on those controls; Hart, you're with me."

Surprised but pleased to be given a station, Hartley darted from the room after the enthusiastic Doctor.

She stepped out into the sun, watching as the Doctor danced around the triangle of cones like an elf performing a rain dance. "Hold this here," he instructed her, pointing to the cone on the far left. "But when it activates, jump back or it'll shock you!"

"And what happens if it shocks me?"

"You'll die," he replied honestly.

Hartley flinched, but she'd rather know the facts than go in blind. Death for her was becoming commonplace, and besides, she would readily volunteer to do the risky job if it meant keeping the others safe.

"Got it," she nodded, jumping onto her assigned task, telling herself to be brave. What was a little death to someone who couldn't actually stay dead? Did it even really count as dying?

The Doctor hurried to finish calibrating his pack, fiddling with the buttons as the seconds ticked by, each moment bringing them closer to the ghost shift.

"Ready?" he finally asked, and she nodded quickly, swallowing her fear. "Here we go!" he shouted to Rose as the ghost shift began, the looming, blurry, humanoid figure appearing in the middle of the Doctor's trap. Hartley leapt back, escaping being struck by only a matter of inches, toppling ungracefully to the ground, blinking up at the sky in surprise. She was relieved, however, to see deep blue stretching out before her rather than the boundless, inky blackness of death.

"The scanner's working!" Rose yelled through the TARDIS doors, and Hartley breathed in deeply, enjoying the fact that she still could, before scrambling to her feet, laying eyes on the figure in the centre of the trap. "It says delta one six!" Rose's voice floated from within the TARDIS.

"Come on then, you beauty!" the Doctor shouted, manic in his excitement.

The shadow writhed as electricity seemed to attach itself to it, and deep down, Hartley might have even pitied it.

"Don't like that much, do you?" the Doctor goaded it, watching as it thrashed where it stood. "Who are you? Where are you coming from?" he demanded, but predictably the figure remained silent. It leapt at him, attempting to either attack or escape, but succeeding with neither. "That's more like it!" the Doctor was nothing if not giddy at its struggling. "Not so friendly now, are you?"

The Doctor fiddled with his device some more, keeping a strict eye on the figure for as long as it remained until finally it disappeared, the electricity that was flowing around the coned off area falling dead, evaporating into nothing.

Hartley turned towards the Doctor, unsure how he'd look, but he was grinning widely, practically bouncing where he stood. "Hart, gather those!" he ordered her quickly, gesturing wildly to the cones then turning and legging it back into the TARDIS.

"Please clean up after my mess again, Hartley," she muttered to herself sarcastically, slightly bitter but also happy for the distraction against her own hard-to-ignore thoughts. "Sure, Doc, no problem."

"Those ghosts have been forced into existence from one specific point, and I can track down the source," the Doctor was explaining enthusiastically as she walked back into the ship, dropping the cones in the corner for the Doctor to put away later. "Allons-y!" he proclaimed exuberantly, yanking strongly on the correct lever and dematerialising the TARDIS with a beautiful groan. "I like that," he continued giddily, grinning at the pair of them broadly. "Allons-y. I should say allons-y more often. Allons-y. Watch out, Rose Tyler. Allons-y. Come along, Hartley Daniels, allons-y!" Hartley threw back her head in another laugh, endlessly amused by his antics. The Doctor grinned proudly. "And then, it would be really brilliant if I met someone called Alonso, because then I could say, 'allons-y, Alonso', every time!" He stopped rather abruptly upon realising their blonde companion wasn't joining in on the fun. "You're staring at me."

There was a beat, and Hartley cocked an eyebrow at her curiously.

"My mum's still on board," she finally whispered to them, and the look of horror on the poor bloke's face was everything Hartley wanted to see. She stifled a cackle beneath her hand, resting her weight against the coral to her left and grinning widely to herself. She turned to look at Jackie, who was sat in the far corner of the TARDIS, looking utterly unimpressed.

"If we end up on Mars, I'm going to kill you," she vowed darkly, and Hartley had to admit, that was something she'd pay to see go down.

The Doctor looked lost for words. "My bad," he muttered rather sourly, reaching up to scratch at his sideburns, grimacing in Jackie's direction. "Hart, help her down, will you?" he asked, turning around and refocusing his attention on the console, his giddy mood dropping like a mask.

"I'm not an invalid," Jackie murmured with equal sourness, refusing the hand Hartley held out, climbing down all on her own, then gasping when the room shook violently as they landed.

"It's supposed to do that," Hartley assured her, and the older woman gave a scowl that told her she didn't like it, not at all.

She supposed it was somewhat of an acquired taste.

"Where are we?" Rose was asking as Hartley saddled up beside them, Jackie following behind her begrudgingly.

"Canary Wharf," the Doctor revealed, as he tapped away at the console. "Oh well, there goes the advantage of surprise," he said suddenly, glancing up at the monitor and eyeing the small platoon of soldiers set up outside the TARDIS doors. "Still, cuts to the chase. Stay in here, look after Jackie."

"I'm not looking after my mum!" Rose cried, indignant.

"I was talking to Hartley," the Doctor looked like he desperately wanted to roll his eyes. Hartley wasn't sure she felt much better by the correction. "Besides, you brought her."

"I was kidnapped!" Jackie argued resentfully.

Before the Time Lord could step from his ship, Rose dove in front of him, blocking the doors with a rare look of fear splashed across her face. "Doctor, they've got guns," she murmured quietly, concern lingering in her eyes. Hartley knew she was scared for him. Perhaps she sensed, as Hartley did, that there was more going on here than what met the eye.

"And I haven't," he replied without pause, grasping his companion tenderly by the waist and gently moving her to the side. "Which makes me the better person, don't you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high ground is mine."

It was quite possibly the worst argument in the history of arguments, but Hartley said nothing, knowing the Doctor wouldn't listen. She could only watch with a worried frown as the Doctor stepped out into their new location, utterly calm even with a dozen or so guns aimed directly at his head.

Hartley moved over and leant against the door, peeking out as she heard the clacking of high heels against concrete, a woman sauntering into the room like she owned the place – which Hartley conceded was actually a possibility. Rose and Jackie also took the opportunity to peer out through the gap in the doors, remaining hidden but keeping a close eye on everything.

"Oh! Oh, how marvellous. Oh, very good. Superb. Happy day!" the woman was saying, her tone saccharine to Hartley's ears, a plastic smile on her face.

A round of applause filled the warehouse they were stationed in. Hartley and Rose exchanged looks of sheer bewilderment, but then she had to smother a snort of sour amusement, knowing the Doctor's face was probably priceless.

"Er, thanks. Nice to meet you," he said awkwardly, and Hartley could imagine how uncomfortable he felt. "I'm the Doctor."

"Oh, I should say. Hurray!" the woman started another round of out-of-place applause, her lackeys seeming to following out of sheer obligation.

"You – you've heard of me, then?" the Doctor asked stiltedly.

"Well, of course we have," she responded brightly, as though it was ridiculous to think anybody had ever not heard of the Doctor. "And I have to say, if it wasn't for you, none of us would be here. The Doctor and the TARDIS."

There was more applause, like the acronym had triggered something in the soldiers, an ingrained compulsion to cheer. Hartley frowned, nothing about the situation making any sense.

"And you are?" the Doctor asked carefully, dumbfounded by the strange reaction.

"Oh, plenty of time for that," she said, and Hartley rolled her eyes, relaxing back further against the inside wall of the TARDIS, listening carefully. "But of course, it's more than just you, isn't it?" she added giddily, and Hartley wouldn't have been surprised if the woman began hopping up and down in her excitement.

"Pardon?"

"Where is she?" the woman asked eagerly. "Where's the Heart? We know you never go anywhere without her," she added with a sort of giggle, like this were an inside joke they shared.

Now Hartley was the one who was dumbfounded. She choked on her own saliva, eyes shooting wide open in shock. Rose was staring at her now, equally as surprised, but she couldn't look away from the scene happening outside.

"Sorry?" the Doctor sounded just as astonished.

"Oh, come on." Hartley would have heard the sneer in the woman's voice, had she not been able to see it for herself, and her pulse began to race, fear filling her. Who knew what they wanted from her? "We're just dying to meet her," the lady leered, reminding her very much of a carnivore having cornered its next meal.

Everything was silent for one long, drawn out moment, during which Hartley was sure her own heart was going to beat out of her chest. What were they meant to do? What was she meant to do? Finally, the Doctor made an executive decision and called back into the TARDIS in a steady, even voice, "Hart, could you come out here and join me?!"

She met the eyes of Rose and Jackie, the latter looking more than out of her depth. Rose's eyes were wide, fear within them, making Hartley's guts twist. She might not have been able to die permanently, but that didn't mean she was impervious to damage. Or to pain.

A protectiveness flaring within her, Hartley leaned closer into Rose and hissed, "do not leave the TARDIS, Rose. No matter what you see or hear, stay in the TARDIS." Whoever these people were, they didn't just want to have a cup of tea and a chat, and they'd have to go through her to get their greedy little hands on Rose.

Rose herself looked bewildered by the whispered order, but Hartley didn't get a chance to elaborate. She knew time was short, so she reminded herself once again that it wasn't possible for them to actually kill her – permanently, anyway. She squared her shoulders, lifted her head and stepped around Rose and Jackie, pushing open the door and stepping out into the painfully bright lights of the unfamiliar warehouse.

She blinked, laying eyes on all the people with guns aimed at them, and the beaming face of that plastic woman, who immediately started another round of insincere applause at the sight of her.

Grimacing, Hartley shifted to the left, pressing her side against the Doctor's, searching for a comfort he rarely gave. This time, however, in a move surprising nobody more than her, he pressed his palm gently to the small of her back, and she practically sagged with relief at the innocent touch.

"Heart – I can't tell you what an honour it is to meet you," the unnamed woman told her graciously, the smile on her face too large to be entirely real. "And you're even more gorgeous in person!" she added sweetly, the saccharine quality making Hartley's teeth ache.

"Um," Hartley stammered, not knowing what to say. She blinked at all the people around them, feeling awfully like a small, vulnerable animal facing off against a large, threatening hunting party. She had a feeling the analogy wasn't as farfetched as it probably seemed. "Thanks?" she finally muttered. It sounded more like a question, but they all embraced it like it was the new gospel, beaming at her like she'd said the most profound thing they'd ever heard.

"Lovely, then," said the woman brightly, before the expression dropped into something slightly more serious. "However, according to the records, the two of you don't like to travel alone," she spoke slowly, peering over their shoulders like she might spot someone hiding behind them. "The Doctor, his Heart and their companion," she smiled, and the strange wording made Hartley's stomach twist. "That's a pattern, isn't it? There's no point hiding anything. Not from us," the way she said it was vicious, a threat. "So, where is she?" she finished pointedly, making it abundantly clear that it wasn't a request. The guns around them shifted slightly, forcing Hartley to remember they were there.

There was a pregnant pause, and Hartley glanced up at the Doctor, waiting for him to make a move. She would follow his lead. She was always follow his lead. "Yes. Sorry. Good point," he suddenly laughed loudly, the sound unexpected and jarring, making Hartley jump. "She's just a bit shy, that's all."

His hand left the small of her back, and he reached behind them into the TARDIS. Hartley's breath caught in fear, before suddenly Jackie was tugged out into the warehouse with them, the ship's door clicking shut with a note of terrifying finality.

"But here she is, Rose Tyler," he announced brightly, and Jackie blinked in shock, taking a moment to pick up on the sudden improv that was happening around her. "Hmm. She's not the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins. A lot of that. And just last week, she stared into the heart of the Time Vortex and aged fifty-seven years," the Doctor sniffed indelicately. "But she'll do."

"I'm forty," Jackie cut in with a scowl.

"Deluded. Bless," he said quickly. "I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone? She's very good at tea. Well, I say very good, I mean not bad. Well, I say not bad. Anyway...lead on. Allons-y. But not too fast. Her ankle's going."

He babbled when they were in danger, which was something she usually found comforting, but this time, with so many guns aimed at her head, she only felt more on edge. Jackie looked about ready to sock him for his comments on her age, but decided against it as they were forcefully led from the room.

The suffocating silence that followed gave Hartley the hysterical urge to laugh, but she bit down on the inside of her cheek to drive it off, forcing the feeling to slowly fade away. The Doctor seemed to sense her trouble, and his hand returned to her back, pressing firmly, the weight more reassuring than anything he'd done so far, the pressure grounding her in the moment.

She might not have been able to die, but the Doctor? Rose? Jackie? They were as susceptible to death as anyone else, and she couldn't protect them all at once.

"It was only a matter of time until you found us, and at last you've made it," the woman in charge said boastfully, beaming at them falsely. "I'd like to welcome you, Doctor. Welcome to Torchwood," she announced proudly as they pushed their way into yet another warehouse, this one far larger than the previous one. Chills broke out across Hartley's skin at the proclamation, and they were definitely not the good kind.

"That's a Jathar Sunglider," the Doctor exclaimed, noticing the alien tech speckled throughout the warehouse immediately. He was pointing to a large craft of some kind, its chrome shell glinting in the stark overhead lights.

"Came down to Earth off the Shetland Islands ten years ago," the mysterious woman revealed.

"What, did it crash?"

"No, we shot it down," she replied, a sickening pride in her voice.

Hartley had to swallow back bile. Torchwood, whatever the hell it was, was making her feel more physically sick with every passing word out of their mouths.

"It violated our airspace," she exclaimed heartlessly. "Then we stripped it bare. The weapon that destroyed the Sycorax on Christmas Day? That was us." She beamed like this was something to be proud of. Hartley, though usually never one for unnecessary violence, wanted to slap the smug expression right off her stupid, plastic face. "Now, if you'd like to come with me," she said sweetly, waving them through. "The Torchwood Institute has a motto. If it's alien, it's ours. Anything that comes from the sky, we strip it down and we use it for the good of the British Empire."

"For the good of the what?" Jackie asked bewilderedly.

"The British Empire."

"There isn't a British Empire."

"Not yet," she replied smugly, and Hartley frowned so hard her brow ached. "Now, if you wouldn't mind," she continued blithely. A soldier appeared to the right, placing a very large gun in her perfectly manicured hands. "Do you recognise this, Doctor?" she asked happily.

"That's a particle gun," he murmured, a hidden glint of horror in his eyes. Hartley wondered what a particle gun was, but decided very quickly that she probably didn't want to know.

"Good, isn't it? Took us eight years to get it to work."

"It's the twenty first century. You can't have particle guns," he argued.

"We must defend our border against the alien. Thank you, Sebastian, isn't it?"

"Yes, Ma'am," the soldier nodded.

"Thank you, Sebastian. I think it's very important to know everyone by name. Torchwood is a very modern organisation. People skills – that's what it's all about these days. I'm a people person," she chirped, voice sickly.

Hartley clenched her hands into fists, her nails biting into the flesh of her palms. How long had it been since she'd hit something? She had suddenly never missed Jack and their daily training sessions more.

"What was your name?" the Doctor was asking a beat later, and she pulled herself back to the conversation at hand, sternly pushing the pain over missing Jack from her mind.

"Yvonne. Yvonne Hartman."

The Doctor paused to pick up a large black device that Hartley couldn't identify. All she knew was that it had probably been acquired through less-than-peaceful means. She looked away, focusing on a smudge on the wall across from her, unable to stomach looking at the devices for any longer, knowing someone innocent had probably died to get it.

"Ah, yes. Now, we're rather fond of these. The Magna-Clamp. Found in a spaceship buried at the base of Mount Snowdon. Attach this to an object and it cancels the mass. I could use it to lift two tonnes of weight with a single hand. That's an imperial ton, by the way. Torchwood refuses to go metric," Yvonne rambled on, but Hartley couldn't have possibly been any less interested.

"I could do with that to carry the shopping," Jackie perked up.

"All these devices are for Torchwood's benefit, not the general public's," Yvonne talked down to her snidely, and Jackie looked like she suddenly shared Hartley's sentiments about wanting to clock the woman in her stupid, painted face.

"So, what about these ghosts?" the Doctor barrelled on, mind not stopping for a moment. Hartley wondered if it ever did.

"Ah yes, the ghosts. They're, er, what you might call a side effect," she said blithely.

"Of what?" he demanded quickly.

"All in good time, Doctor. There is an itinerary, trust me," Yvonne sneered.

Hartley looked up as a truck drove passed, and grit her teeth together in anger as she saw the TARDIS perched up on top. The thought of the ship being under these people's control, this corrupt corporation holding the TARDIS against her will, doing who knew what to her in an attempt to gain entry, made her feel sick yet again.

"Oi! Where're you taking that?" Jackie demanded harshly, sounding just about as furious as Hartley felt.

"If it's alien, it's ours," Yvonne repeated smugly.

"You'll never get inside it," the Doctor replied, perfectly calm. Hartley wondered how he could stay so unflustered by everything happening around them. Yvonne only smiled like she knew something they didn't, the expression infuriating her more.

Hartley stared after the ship sadly, until suddenly the doors split open and Rose's gorgeous face peered out, serious worry in her hazel eyes.

Rose's main focus was on the Doctor. Something passed between them, as it usually did, until finally Rose's eyes darted to her. 'Stay', Hartley mouthed to her sternly, before she smiled gently, hoping to reassure her. Rose's eyes glistened before she disappeared just as quickly as she'd appeared, but Hartley had a feeling the younger girl wouldn't heed her very serious advice.

"All those times I've been on Earth, I've never heard of you," the Doctor said, hands tucked casually into his pockets as he walked, letting himself be led through the Torchwood facility. Hartley never strayed more than a step from his side. She felt safer with them next to each other.

"But of course not. You're the enemy," Yvonne chuckled like he'd made some sort of joke. Nobody else laughed. "You're actually named in the Torchwood Foundation Charter of 1879 as an enemy of the Crown," she continued cheerfully.

"1879," the Doctor repeated slowly. "That was called Torchwood, that house in Scotland," he recalled.

"That's right," she praised him like she had any right to do so. "Where you encountered Queen Victoria and the werewolf." Hartley hadn't been there, it was the adventure just before she'd been thrust back into TARDIS life. Rose had told her everything, and she had mentioned something about being exiled, but Hartley hadn't taken it seriously. Apparently their actions that day had more of an impact then they ever could have guessed.

"I think they make half of it up," Jackie murmured offhandedly, though she was ignored by all but Hartley, who tossed her a wide-eyed glance, begging her to keep quiet. The last thing they needed was for these these psychopaths to figure out she wasn't the real Rose Tyler.

"Her Majesty created the Torchwood Institute with the express intention of keeping Britain great, and fighting the alien horde," she added with a small grimace of disgust. She snapped back into chirpy tour-guide mode instantly though, turning to Hartley with a blinding smile. "Of course, there was no mention of you made by the Queen in that era, Heart," she said conversationally. "No, we came to know of you through decades and decades of observation and study."

Hartley was stunned, but she covered it as well as she could, clearing her throat and reaching up to adjust the collar of her simple button down. "Is that so?" she murmured, aiming for blasé.

"Of course," Yvonne said as though it were obvious. "One can't study the Doctor and not come across record of his Heart. You're always following so close behind, aren't you? Much like an obedient pet."

Without a spare thought for what she was doing, Hartley took a step forwards, mouth opening to let the taller woman have it. Before she could get so much as a word out, the guns cocked around them. Yvonne didn't so much as flinch, the saccharine smile never once vanishing from her face.

"But if we're the enemy," the Doctor interrupted loudly, reaching out and grasping tightly onto Hartley's wrist, yanking her back into his side, a silent command to stand down. She did as she was told, frowning at Yvonne sourly, watching her every move. "Does that mean that we're prisoners?" he asked conversationally, like they were discussing tea flavours or the stock market.

"Oh yes," Yvonne smiled venomously, swiping her card over the keypad and watching as the large double doors slid open, revealing a large, spacious room. "But we'll make you perfectly comfortable. And there is so much you can teach us – starting with this," she said happily, leading them through to the lab beyond.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows as he laid eyes on the sphere, and Hartley grimaced. The Doctor was still holding onto her wrist, more of an afterthought now, and she shook him off so she could cross her arms over her chest, eyeing the thing above them with uncertainty.

It was large and floating, perfectly smooth and shiny all around, hovering in mid air without emitting so much as a sound.

"Now, what do you make of that?" Yvonne asked them with an air of arrogance, as though the sphere were something she owned, something to show off at parties.

Hartley stared up at the sphere, thinking that there was a sense of wrongness that the thing gave off. It was not supposed to be there. It was somehow wicked, like it went against the laws of nature itself, and she could barely even stand the sight of it. It made her immediately want to turn the other way.

"You must be the Doctor," a scientist off to the left scurried up to them eagerly. "Rajesh Singh," he introduced himself, holding out a hand that trembled with nerves. Hartley supposed she understood, the Doctor could be incredibly intimidating when he wanted to be, but now that she knew him so well, she couldn't imagine ever being as afraid of him as these people were. "It's an honour, sir," the scientist added, thick with reverence.

The Doctor said absolutely nothing, completely ignoring the poor bloke, who deflated at the disregard. He noticed Hartley looking and perked up again, arm snapping out with such speed she thought it might break.

"That makes you the Heart," he said as though she might not already know, eyes wide and tone full of undeserved admiration. "It's a pleasure – more than that – it's a privilege to meet you."

Hartley felt uncomfortable acknowledging the words, but she felt bad enough that she shook his hand anyway, noting that it was clammy with sweat and still trembling. She was completely blindsided by the reception she was receiving. What must she do in the future to be treated like a...like a legend? What must she be for everyone to look at her like she was some kind of celebrity? Surely she can't have done anything too special, after all, she was just Hartley.

"What is that thing?" Jackie was asking from behind them, and Hartley was glad to pull her hand from Rajesh's, crossing her arms over her simple white shirt and glancing up at the sphere with renewed distaste. "What's wrong with it?"

"What makes you think there's something wrong with it?" Rajesh jumped in like a true scientist, clipboard held in a white-knuckled grip.

"I don't know. It just feels weird."

"Well, the sphere has that effect on everyone. Makes you want to run and hide, like it's forbidden," Yvonne spoke up, though that look of pride remained in her eyes as she stared up at it keenly. Everything about this woman made Hartley feel sick. She was more afraid of her than of the sphere.

"We tried analysing it using every device imaginable," Rajesh said quickly.

The Doctor abruptly produced a pair of 3D glasses, sliding them confidently onto his nose – and while he gained some odd looks for it, nobody dared question it aloud. A few people turned to Hartley as though expecting her to explain, but she wouldn't have even if she had known the answer, instead looking pointedly away and up at the sphere despite the way it made her stomach turn.

"But according to our instruments, the sphere doesn't exist. It weighs nothing, it doesn't age. No heat, no radiation, and has no atomic mass," the scientist continued in a voice filled with wonder and awe. She supposed, from a scientific standpoint, it was probably rather fascinating. But that meant nothing to her when it just made her feel so wrong.

"Well, Doctor?" Yvonne pressed when the Doctor said nothing, staring at him as he stared at the sphere, so desperate to hear what he had to say.

"This is a Void Ship," he finally told them, and Rajesh practically salivated at the new information.

"And what is that?" she prompted eagerly.

"Well, it's impossible for starters. I always thought it was just a theory," he admitted, sliding off the 3D glasses and tucking them back in his pocket, "but it's a vessel designed to exist outside time and space, travelling through the Void."

"And what's the Void?" Rajesh jumped on the unknown term like a stray dog, hungry for its next meal.

"The space between dimensions," the Doctor began to explain, taking a seat on the steps leading up to the sphere, the others crowding around him like toddlers at story time. "There's all sorts of realities around us, different dimensions, billions of parallel universes all stacked up against each other. The Void is the space in between, containing absolutely nothing. Imagine that. Nothing. No light, no dark, no up, no down, no life, no time. Without end. My people called it the Void. The Eternals call it the Howling. But some people call it Hell."

The speech was terrifying to Hartley, affecting her more than anybody else in the room. She was the only person who could possibly know exactly what he was talking about – and she didn't even have to imagine it. What he was talking about – that was what it was like to die, what it was like to be killed; waiting in that black, timeless hell for her body to reanimate, or whatever the hell it was it did to bring her back.

"But someone built the sphere," Rajesh interjected with a thoughtful frown. "What for? Why go there?"

"To explore? To escape? You could sit inside that thing and eternity would pass you by. The Big Bang, end of the Universe, start of the next, wouldn't even touch the sides. You'd exist outside the whole of creation," the Doctor told them, and his gaze moved over to Hartley, taking in the glint of empathetic horror in her eyes.

He frowned, seeming to sense where her thoughts lay. She attempted a smile, but couldn't quite manage it.

"You see, we were right," Yvonne was practically purring with satisfaction. "There is something inside it."

"Oh, yes," the Doctor confirmed grimly.

"So how do we get in there?"

"We don't!" he snapped, and Hartley was glad he'd done so. She didn't know what was inside the sphere, but she was almost certain she didn't want to find out. It was one mystery she was content to see never get solved. "We send that thing back into Hell. How did it get here in the first place?"

"Well, that's how it all started. The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake."

"Show me," the Doctor ordered, turning to leave without hesitation.

Hartley was quick to follow, not planning to leave the Doctor alone for a moment, lest somebody attack one of them, leaving either unprotected.

"I think I'm going to need your help, Heart," Yvonne appeared beside her, her steely eyes focused intently on the Doctor's back as he independently led the way towards the lift.

"Excuse me?" Hartley asked, blinking in surprise at the strange sentence presented to her.

"Well, according to our records, you're about all there is between the Doctor and the people around him. A kind of buffer … or translator, if you will," Yvonne told her with that saccharine smile in place, only serving to confuse Hartley further. "I trust you'll be able to keep him in check?" she said like it were a perfectly acceptable favour she was asking of a friend.

"You can trust me to do no such thing," Hartley responded curtly, but Yvonne took it in stride, smiling again, the expression edged with poison.

"You can sound as tough as you like," she said, voice layered with infuriating condescension, "but they call you the Heart for a reason."

"Because it's my name," she snapped back, her tone clipped. Yvonne only smiled wider, looking for all the world like a shark displaying its many, deadly teeth.

They stepped into the lift, Jackie saddling up beside Hartley, arms crossed over her chest and a look of steely resolve on her face. Hartley wanted to ask if she was alright, but wasn't about to do so in front of Yvonne or the guards, so she settled for nudging her to gain her attention, then sending her a small smile that she hoped gave her some small degree of comfort.

The lift doors opened with a ding and the guards began to herd her and Jackie to the right, while Yvonne took the Doctor off to the left.

Acting on instinct, Hartley's hand snapped out to grab ahold of the Doctor's jacket, making the guards pause as they realised she was preventing anyone from moving. They looked at one another in uncertainty.

The Doctor met her eyes, a knowing look in his own. "It's okay, Hart," he assured her gently, reaching down to grasp the hand that was holding onto him. His skin was smooth and warm, lightly calloused from all his tinkering. He seldom touched her, preferring to keep a respectable distance between them – Hartley could only guess why.

It was strange to have him initiate contact, as he'd done so much in the last hour, and she swallowed as she gripped him back. She wasn't scared for herself – they could kill her, but that didn't matter. Who knew what they'd do to the Doctor if they got the jump on him? Who knew what sort of experiments they might try to conduct? How painful or invasive they might be? He could regenerate, yes, but he could also die, and the thought of never seeing him again was almost too much to bear.

She very nearly refused to let him go, but there was a reassuring look in his old eyes, promising her that it was fine. She hated when he made promises they both knew he couldn't keep. His chocolate brown stare bore into her own cobalt blue gaze, telling her to let go, it will be okay.

She grimaced but eventually did as she was told, letting him go and stepping away. The Doctor nodded his thanks, then he was tugged from view, disappearing around the corner. Anxiety twisted in her stomach, but she took a deep breath, reminding herself that the Doctor could take care of himself, and reluctantly allowed the guards to lead her and Jackie off to the right and into what she could only assume to be Yvonne's office.

"I'm going, I'm going," Jackie mumbled irritatedly, when the guards pushed her forwards, forcing her to hurry up. The two men looked like they could care less, grunting and turning away, leaving them alone in the lavish office. "Suppose she's okay?" she murmured to Hartley in an attempt to fill the silence. It didn't take a genius to figure out who she meant.

"I'm sure she's absolutely fine," Hartley told her, swallowing her own concern and giving a smile that probably wouldn't help, but the effort was appreciated anyway. "Rose is strong. Besides, we've been in far worse situations before," she added reassuringly. "This is nothing compared to the time we met Satan."

Jackie looked over at her sharply from where she was perched at the wall, and Hartley got the feeling she'd accidentally said too much. In hindsight, there were probably some adventures Rose kept from her mother on purpose. Hartley couldn't say she blamed her.

"All these things you see, everything you do; don't you ever get scared?" Jackie asked quietly, a deep contemplation in her voice, one Hartley had never heard from her before.

She smiled, but the expression was wry. "I'm scared right now," she admitted, but Jackie didn't seem to believe her.

"You don't seem it," she muttered, eyes on her feet.

"Being brave isn't the absence of fear. Being brave is having that fear but finding a way through it," Hartley recited gently.

"Who said that then, Aristotle?" Jackie asked dryly.

Hartley smiled. "Bear Grylls."

Even through the haze of confusion and concern, the comment was enough to make Jackie smile, and Hartley felt proud that she'd been able to achieve that much.

"It's scary sometimes, I'll admit," Hartley told her once the mood had darkened once again. "But the things we see … the things we do and worlds we save and fun we have, it's all so worth it."

Jackie's lips twisted in disagreement. "If you say so," she murmured. Hartley knew she wasn't going to be able to convince her, so she fell silent, trying not to think too hard about where the Doctor had gone and what he was doing – or having done to him. "Hold on a minute," Jackie said suddenly, leaning against the window and peering down at the world outside. "We really are in Canary Wharf. Must be. This building, it's Canary Wharf."

"Well, that is the public name for it. But to those in the know, it's Torchwood," Yvonne reappeared in the room, the Doctor trailing after her, hands tucked casually into his pockets, looking certainly no worse for wear.

Hartley met his eyes, a question in her own, and he nodded his head to confirm he really was all right.

"So, you find the breach, probe it, the sphere comes through six hundred feet above London, bam!" the Doctor began to rant, continuing on from whatever he'd just been shown, and Hartley settled back against the wall, prepared for the long haul. "It leaves a hole in the fabric of reality. And that hole, you think, oh, shall we leave it alone? Shall we back off? Shall we play it safe? Nah, you think – let's make it bigger!" he barrelled on loudly, and Yvonne looked dangerously close to rolling her eyes.

"It's a massive source of energy," she said defensively, only serving to irritate Hartley further. "If we can harness that power, we need never depend on the Middle East again. Britain will become truly independent." She glanced down at her watch quickly, standing straighter as she took note of the time. "Look, you can see for yourself. Next ghost shift's in two minutes."

"Cancel it." The Doctor's words were not a request.

"I don't think so," she laughed breezily, strolling past him into the main room where Torchwood's employees were beginning to move quickly, rushing around to the room to prepare for the ghost shift.

"I'm warning you, cancel it!" his order was thundered, a panicked fury lighting up his face.

"Doctor," Hartley said imploringly, resting a hand on his shoulder, shifting her eyes between him and Yvonne, worried for a brief moment that he might do something he'd regret – the venom in his gaze so intense. He stood suddenly still, mouth pressed into a line in an attempt to keep calm.

"Oh, and it's exactly as the legends would have it!" Yvonne sounded absolutely thrilled. "The Doctor, lording it over us. Assuming alien authority over the Rights of Man. And his Heart, always there to keep him in check. Tell me, what's it like to live your life constantly cleaning up after this alien's mess?" she asked Hartley derisively, that ugly sneer on her painted face.

Neither time traveller knew what to make of the comment. Hartley felt personally invaded. Uncomfortable, she lifted her hand from the Doctor's arm, crossing her own over her chest and scowling as he hissed out a sharp breath of frustration. He fished his sonic from his jacket pocket and ducked behind the sheet of glass that separated Yvonne's office from the rest of the room.

"Let me show you," he snapped impatiently. "Sphere comes through-" he aimed the screwdriver at the glass, and like a spiderweb the glass cracked, the sound reminding her of ice on a frozen lake. "But when it made the hole, it cracked the world around it. The entire surface of this dimension splintered. And that's how the ghosts get through. That's how they get everywhere. They're bleeding through the fault lines. Walking from their world, across the Void, and into yours, with the human race hoping and wishing and helping them along. But too many ghosts, and-" he lightly tapped the glass, and it shattered into a million pieces, crashing to the ground with a piercing sound that made most of the room flinch, including Hartley herself.

"Well, in that case, we'll have to be more careful," Yvonne was wholly unimpressed by the display. "Positions! Ghost Shift in one minute," she called to the rest of her staff, some of whom were looking a little more wary about the whole thing now that they'd heard directly from the Doctor himself.

"Ms Hartman, I am asking you, please don't do it," the Doctor was willing to stoop to begging, so Hartley knew he had to be desperate. She didn't want to think about what might happen to the Earth should they not listen.

"We have done this a thousand times," Yvonne snapped agitatedly, impatience beginning to show.

"Then stop at a thousand!"

"We're in control of the ghosts," she argued stubbornly. "The levers can open the breach, but equally, they can close it!"

There was a long, pregnant pause, and Hartley stared at the woman, wondering how the hell she could be so careless, so stupid? The thought that these sort of people were the ones in charge of the fate of the human race was a terrifying one. 'Power-hungry and careless' got you further in this world than 'kind and understanding', apparently.

"Okay," the Doctor shrugged suddenly, eerily calm. He strolled back into the office, fetching a swivel chair and rolling it into the middle of the main room, plopping down on it with a sort of vague smile. Hartley wanted to roll her eyes at his dramatics, but she was honestly far more used to it than she'd have liked to be. He was pulling the oldest trick in the book, but knowing the Doctor, Hartley's money was on it working.

"Sorry?" Yvonne was stunned by his abrupt change of tune.

"Never mind. As you were," he told her casually.

"What, is that it?" she challenged sharply.

"No, fair enough. Said my bit. Don't mind me," he shrugged again. "Any chance of a cup of tea? Hartley, would you be a dear?"

"In your dreams," Hartley murmured in response, falling into their easy banter despite their perilous circumstance. The Doctor grinned back at her, looking wholly unconcerned, but she knew him well enough by now to recognise the steely glint to his eyes. He was anxious, not to mention angry.

"What's happening?" Yvonne snapped suddenly, turning to stare at Hartley with beady, nervous eyes. "What's he saying?"

She wasn't sure why it was suddenly her that had to play translator, but she also knew nobody else was actually capable of doing it. "He's saying that if you wanna fuck up so irreversibly that you end civilisation as we know it, all because you're a bloody stubborn fool, then that's your prerogative, and he's done caring."

"Exactly," the Doctor agreed with a sharp bob of his head. "Only my version had less cursing," he added offhandedly.

"Sorry, when I'm angry my mouth gets away from me," she told him offhandedly.

"Happens to the best of us," he nodded, still the picture of serenity. Looking at him, anyone else wouldn't have a single idea what was going on inside his head, even Hartley wasn't privy to it, but she out of everyone was the most qualified to make a guess.

"Ghost shift in twenty seconds," one of the many workers announced, and Hartley glanced away from the Doctor, over at the woman who'd spoken. Her eyes were firmly focused on the computer screen before her.

"You can't stop us, Doctor," Yvonne said, sounding almost smug, but there was a note of uncertainty lingering beneath. Hartley knew then that the Doctor had already won.

"No, absolutely not," he shrugged calmly, knowing this just as well. "Pull up a chair, Rose," he said brightly to Jackie, who scowled back at him, unimpressed. "You too, Hart. Come and watch the fireworks."

"Ghost Shift in ten seconds. Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two-"

"Stop the shift. I said stop!" Yvonne called, and just as suddenly, everything began to power down.

There was a beat, then the Doctor said, "thank you," and the sincerity coating the words was genuine.

Yvonne's lips were pulled into a tight scowl. "I suppose it makes sense to get as much intelligence as possible," she said darkly, clinging to the last scrap of control she had, the scrap that was beginning to slip from her grasp like sand through her fingers. "But the programme will recommence, as soon as you've explained everything."

"I'm glad to be of help," he nodded curtly, and she frowned.

"And someone clear up this glass," she snapped to her workers. "They did warn me, Doctor. They said you like to make a mess," she added with a disdainful sneer.

The Doctor didn't react, only moving to roll the chair back into the office before sitting back down on it again, legs thrown up onto the desk casually. Hartley leaned back against the wall beside Jackie, who was handling the hustle and bustle of the situation quite well for someone who'd never done anything like it before.

"So these ghosts, whatever they are, did they build the sphere?" Yvonne asked with an air of impatience, sitting down behind her desk and fixing the Doctor with a searching look, perfectly manicured hands folded on the tabletop in front of her.

"Must have," he nodded with a sniff. "Aimed it at this dimension like a cannon ball."

"Yvonne?" a voice said from the woman's computer, and her attention moved to the screen. "I think you should see this. We've got a visitor. We don't know who she is, but funnily enough, she arrived at the same time as the Doctor."

Yvonne smirked like something about the situation was amusing, and spun the computer around so the Doctor and his companions could see the screen. "She one of yours?" Yvonne asked knowingly, revealing Rajesh sitting with Rose back down in the lab. Hartley ground her teeth, although she really should have known Rose wouldn't do as she was told and remain locked in the safety of the TARDIS.

"Never seen her before in my life," the Doctor shrugged, and if Hartley hadn't known otherwise, she might have even believed it. He was so good at lying, sometimes it was scary.

"Good. Then we can have her shot," Yvonne unflinchingly called his bluff. From beside Hartley, Jackie sucked in a sharp breath of panic.

"Oh, all right then," the Doctor rolled his eyes as he dropped the act. "It was worth a try. That's Rose Tyler," he revealed, standing to his feet grumpily. Hartley wondered if a pout was going to follow.

"Sorry," Rose mumbled, lifting a hand to awkwardly wave at the camera. "Hello."

"Well, if that's Rose Tyler, who's she?" Yvonne demanded, pointing at Jackie accusingly.

"I'm her mother," she cried defensively.

"Oh, you travel with her mother?"

"He kidnapped me!"

"Please, when Torchwood comes to write my complete history, don't tell people I travelled through time and space with her mother," the Doctor requested, a wince on his face as he imagined that particular piece of information getting passed around. Hartley managed a small grin at the thought.

"Charming," Jackie grumbled sourly.

"I've got a reputation to uphold," he replied defensively.

Out of nowhere, Hartley wondered what Jack would say if he were there. The thought made her sad, but she didn't have time to wallow in it, as from the other room the machines all whirred to life, the sound loud through the space made by the shattered glass window.

"Excuse me?" Yvonne exclaimed furiously, rearing back in shock and rushing from the room. "Everyone? I thought I said stop the ghost shift," she barked, but none of the workers so much as flinched. Beginning to grow concerned, the Doctor followed her out, Hartley on his heels. "Who started the programme? But I ordered you to stop! Who's doing that?" She was beginning to grow hysterical, finally losing that last shred of composure she seemed to hold in such high esteem. "Right, step away from the monitors, everyone. Gareth, Addy, stop what you're doing, right now. Matt, step away from your desk. That's an order! Stop the levers! Andrew!"

One of the other scientists ran towards the levers, which were slowly beginning to move, automatically starting the Ghost Shift. Hartley felt her pulse beat in her ears and shifted closer to Jackie, who was staring at the scene with wide eyes.

"What's she doing?" the Doctor asked, approaching a pretty woman on the left. He leaned down, observing her as she worked, seemingly deaf to everything around her.

"Addy, step away from the desk. Listen to me. Step away from the desk!" Yvonne shouted desperately in her employee's ear, but there was no sign of a reaction.

"She can't hear you," the Doctor replied grimly. "They're overriding the system. We're going into Ghost Shift." There was a beat, and Hartley could practically see the cogs in his mind spinning away, brain racing to try and solve the problem before him. She knew he'd come to some sort of regrettable conclusion by the downward tilt of his mouth and the flicker of pain in his eyes. "It's the ear piece," he told them, fishing out his screwdriver. "It's controlling them. I've seen this before."

He paused, turning to look at Hartley, guilt shining in his gaze.

She wasn't sure what he meant, but the look in his eyes reminded her of something, and with a gasp she suddenly recalled the alternate universe they'd all gone to, the one where Rose's dad had been alive and Mickey had remained to be with his living grandmother and save the world from … the Cybermen.

"Oh God," she blurted, nausea crashing over her like a wave as she physically recoiled, stepping away from the people, eyes burning with grief. The things surrounding them weren't people anymore. They were already long dead. And there was absolutely nothing they could do.

Occasionally, at times such as these, Hartley wished her 'gift' was contagious. She wished it were possible to transfer her ability to the innocent victims around her, reviving them, giving them another opportunity at life. But it was impossible, and besides, her condition wasn't one she would wish on anyone. Ever.

"Sorry. I'm so sorry," the Doctor was saying, voice thick with remorse. He held his screwdriver out ready, and there was an ancient pain in his eyes, one Hartley herself could only just begin to understand. She supposed she'd learn … in time.

She turned away, refusing to watch what was about to happen. She heard screams as the workers died, but she didn't allow herself to wallow in her regret, didn't allow herself to wonder if maybe, just maybe, they'd have been able to save them. Would it have been possible, or was it just wishful thinking? Again she was forced to shove her emotions aside, swallowing thickly and turning back to the conversation, keeping herself from looking at the bodies sprawled lifelessly over the desks, knowing if she did, she'd break apart without hope of being put back together.

"What happened? What did you just do?" Yvonne demanded shrilly, panic saturating her voice.

"They're dead," the Doctor replied emotionlessly, refusing to allow himself to feel. He was so good at compartmentalising, it was something Hartley was only just beginning to learn how to do.

"You killed them," Jackie gasped, utterly horrified. Hartley knew what she was thinking, knew she was wondering if this was the man she'd let her daughter run off with. If this was what Rose was involved in. Hartley wished she could comfort her somehow, but in that moment she could barely even comfort herself.

"Oh, someone else did that long before I got here," the Doctor said tonelessly, the absence of emotion betraying his fear.

"But you killed them!" she cried.

"Jackie, I haven't got time for this," he snapped impatiently, racing over to the other desk and frantically tapping away at the computer, attention already diverted to the problem at hand.

"He-he just-" Jackie was stammering, unable to properly form a sentence, but Hartley understood, stepping closer and placing a comforting hand on her arm.

"There was absolutely nothing he could have done, Jackie," she promised her quietly, the sincerity in her eyes abundant. "If there was, he would have done it," she assured her, knowing this to be, above all else, true.

"But they're dead-"

"They're not suffering," she corrected soothingly.

"What? He put them out of their misery?" Jackie demanded, the words riddled with disgust.

Lump in her throat, Hartley struggled to respond. "I'm sorry," was all she could say, and Jackie turned away with a grimace, eyes glistening with tears, processing her words, trying to come to peace with them. It was something she could only achieve on her own, and so Hartley backed off, dropped her hands and turning back to the Doctor, who was frantically tapping away at the keyboard before him.

"What are those earpieces?" Yvonne was demanding from him, hovering over the dead woman and eyeing the earpiece with suspicion.

"Don't," was all he said, curt and distracted by his task.

"But they're standard comms devices. How does it control them?"

"Trust me, leave them alone."

"But what are they?"

Hartley glanced over in time to see Yvonne grasping onto one of the devices. She leapt forward with a shouted, "don't!" but it was too late. She tore the device from the ear, a long rope of slimy grey matter coming with it, dangling from it grotesquely. "Ugh!" she gagged, dropping the device to the floor with a clatter. "Oh, God! It goes inside their brain!"

"What about the Ghost Shift?" the Doctor snapped – no time to coddle the sensitive humans. Hartley was used to this attitude, but Yvonne looked vaguely scandalised by the brusque treatment.

"Ninety percent there and still running. Can't you stop it?"

"They're still controlling it. They've hijacked the system."

"Who's they?"

"Your worst nightmare," Hartley told her with dark sincerity, and Yvonne looked vaguely terrified before the Doctor was speaking again, distracting them all.

"It might be a remote transmitter but it's got to be close by. I can trace it. Jackie, stay here! Hart, keep an eye on things. You know what to do in the worst case scenario," he barked even as he ran from the room, Yvonne following closely behind.

"What does that mean?" Jackie asked her tensely, glancing over at the remaining workers, all of which were struggling to put a halt to the Ghost Shift. "'Worst case scenario', what's that mean?" she demanded.

"It means that I protect you at all costs," Hartley replied shortly.

"How're you gonna protect me?" Jackie asked doubtfully, taking in her short height and doughy frame. She barely looked capable of fighting a chicken, let alone a Cyberman.

"You don't wanna know," she responded, trying not to think about how much getting killed again was going to hurt. She didn't blame the Doctor for suggesting it. It hadn't been said callously, or with any kind of carelessness. It had been said out of blatant necessity.

She shot Jackie an unconvincing smile before spinning around and heading for the levers where the workers were still struggling to hold them back.

She may not have been the strongest person around, but they needed all the help they could get, so she placed her hands over theirs and yanked, desperately trying to pull it back and keep the Shift from beginning – even though she knew it was, essentially, pointless.

These weren't just any old big bad; these were the Cybermen. Hartley shuddered to think of exactly what they were capable of. She knew she'd gotten but a glimpse in Pete's world. She had a feeling she was about to find out what they could really do.

"What's happening?!" Jackie demanded sharply, and Hartley glanced back to catch the terrified look on her face, clearly unused to being so directly in the line of fire. "Hartley, what's going on?!"

"Stay back, Jackie!" Hartley warned her, turning back to trying to stop the levers from moving.

"Get away from the machines!" The Doctor's voice suddenly filled the room, and Hartley immediately did exactly what she was told. Stepping away and holding her hands up in surrender while subtly moving so she was placed in front of Jackie. The robotic groaning of metal met her ears, and a troop of Cybermen marched after him into the room. Hartley's heart froze, her throat closing with fear. "Do what they say. Don't fight them!" the Doctor urged them desperately.

The metal monsters fired anyway, shooting all the remaining workers in sight, and unfortunately Hartley fit the bill.

The shot stung where it hit her in the shoulder, the pain ricocheting through every atom of her being. With a muffled curse she dropped to the ground, dead.

---

Hartley awoke, as always, with a violent gasp.

Her eyes flew open, and she shot up into a sitting position as she sucked in as much air as she could, her previously frozen airways getting used to working once again. She clutched at her shoulder, where she still felt the phantom of an ache from where she'd been hit by the Cyberman's weapon.

"Hartley?!" Jackie's terrified and bewildered voice shouted from across the room, and Hartley spun around to stare at the others, blinking away the layer of dust coating her eyes and focusing on the Cybermen filling the room.

"You were deleted," one of the Cybermen said in its robotic voice. "Explain," it demanded of her, weapon nozzle aimed threateningly in her direction.

"Just a bit of a side effect from an incident with the Bad Wolf," the Doctor appeared by her side, speaking casually as he bent down to gently but firmly grasp her arms, steadily helping her stand to her feet. "Nothing to be concerned about," he added, as though they were capable of such a thing. He ducked down, catching her blurry gaze, checking she was okay.

She attempted a smile, nodding her head weakly, but he didn't look convinced – which was fair, considering she was lying.

"Explain," the Cyberleader ordered again in its crackling, emotionless voice.

"Units in Sphere chamber are opening visual link," a new Cyberman told it from the doorway, and Hartley was relieved when the attention turned away from her. The Doctor was quick to lead her into the office, keeping a hand on her arm as though worried she might at any moment keel over, dead once again. It would have hardly been out of character.

"Miss much?" she asked him under her breath, reaching up again to rub at her still aching shoulder.

"Just the invasion of the entire planet," he responded just as quietly, letting her go once he was sure she could stand on her own. He left a patch of heat where his hand had been, and the ache from her shoulder spread to her chest. She stepped closer to Jackie, who was staring at her with wide eyes that shone with disbelief.

"Hart, you were dead," she hissed to her daughter's friend, looking about ready to drop to her knees out of shock.

"I'll explain later," Hartley murmured to her quietly, taking the place to the right and reaching down to squeeze the older woman's hand, hoping desperately there would be a later in which she could explain.

The laptop resting on the desk suddenly burst to life, displaying the viewpoint of the Cybermen. Everything was still and silent for one long, drawn out moment, and Hartley wondered what they were waiting for until a truly heinous sight rolled into view.

"No," the Doctor breathed, and Hartley's first instinct was to glance up at him warily, taking in the look of horror on his face. He was staring at the Dalek like it were a ghost – which, to him, she supposed it was. Hartley's hands began to shake, and she curled them around the hem of her scruffy jumper, gripping tightly to try and stave off the insanity.

Why couldn't the Daleks ever just die?

They listened to the Cybermen and the Dalek talk to each other in their robotic voices, but Hartley struggled to pay attention, focused on the Doctor and his look of pure dismay. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling, the horror and dread that was filling him. She could barely fathom the memories the sight of them was bringing up, echoes of a war not long since past, rattling around inside that big brain of his.

The urge to comfort him was strong, and she reached out with a still-shaking hand, gently pressing her palm against one of his wiry shoulder blades. Her hand looked so small splayed against his back, pale against the brown pinstripe material of his beloved suit.

He was frozen under her touch – though that was probably just because of the Dalek on the screen before them – and Hartley swallowed around the ball of emotion gathering in her throat, dragging her thumb over his covered skin, a soothing sort of motion, one born of comfort and care. He remained solid, not trembling or quaking, merely standing, staring at the Dalek with horror and a mounting sense of rage that Hartley could feel pouring from him like water bursting through holes in a poorly constructed dam.

"Rose said about the Daleks – she was terrified of them," Jackie spoke suddenly, leaning around Hartley to murmur with the Doctor. "What have they done to her, Doctor? Is she dead?" she asked, eyes wet with fear.

"Phone," the Doctor demanded, abruptly standing up straight, and Hartley's hand dropped from its place on his back.

"What?"

"Phone!" he hissed again, and with a start she fished out her phone, handing it to the Doctor with shaky hands.

Hartley looked down over his shoulder, watching as he pressed the correct button, the device calling Rose's phone. There was a long, drawn out minute where Hartley was sure Jackie was holding her breath – because she was too – and then the call finally connected and the older blonde sagged with visible relief.

"She's answered. She's alive," the Doctor sounded equally relieved, and Hartley wondered what he might have done had Rose not been okay. She wasn't sure she'd ever glimpsed the Oncoming Storm. She'd heard about it, heard tales of the Doctor's capacity for rage and fury, but she'd never seen it herself. She wondered briefly if she ever would, only to realise that, if anything happened to Rose, she wouldn't be wondering long.

The point was moot anyhow, because nothing would ever happen to Rose Tyler. Not while Hartley Daniels was still breathing.

"Why haven't they killed her?" the Doctor pondered aloud, bringing her from her hurricane of darker thoughts.

"Well, don't complain!" Jackie barked defensively.

"They must need her for something," he muttered, frowning thoughtfully before whirling around to fix Hartley with a heavy stare. "Hartley, can you get down there?"

She hesitated. "Theoretically, yes," she answered, although she had a feeling the Doctor already knew this.

"You can't send Hart down, she'll die too!" Jackie exclaimed loudly, a protective flare to her voice. Hartley imagined that must be what it was like to have a mother who cared actually about you beyond what you could do for her image.

But the Doctor wasn't listening. "You can get down there and get to her," he said with a renewed sense of hope.

"Yeah, and die about thirty times on the way down," Hartley argued, falling back on logic as a way to cope. She'd do it for Rose in a heartbeat, but it just wasn't a smart move. The Doctor may have been too blinded by desperation to see it, but she certainly wasn't. "How long will that take, counting all the time it takes for me to revive? And what exactly am I meant to do when I get there? Annoy the Daleks to death?!"

Hartley watched as the hope disappeared, the fog of panic lifting long enough for the Doctor to see what a bad plan it was. Before either could say anything more, however, the Cybermen surrounding them burst to life once again. Hartley flinched, having almost forgotten they were there.

"Quarantine the Sphere chamber. Start emergency upgrading. Begin with these personnel."

The Cyberman lackeys grabbed Jackie and Yvonne, and the same cold, metal arms curled around Hartley, squeezing tightly, pushing the air from her lungs with a puff.

"Not that one," the Cyberleader said as the others began to scream, and with a start of surprise Hartley realised they were talking about her. "That one is not compatible."

Her heart sank as she was roughly released, pushed to the ground like a piece of trash. She hit the floor with a gasp, pain radiating up her arms. She looked up only to watch with a sense of mounting guilt as Jackie and Yvonne were forcibly dragged away. "You can take me! I know things!" she yelled stupidly, thinking that maybe if she could convince them to take her too, she could save them somehow. There had to be a way. There was always a way.

"You will remain with the male," the Cyberleader said flatly, and she climbed off the floor, staring after the other women in despair, feeling as if the air had been sucked from the room. She could barely breathe.

"No, you can't do this! We surrendered! We surrendered!" Yvonne was hollering desperately. But her cries fell on deaf, literally nonexistent, ears.

"This one. His increased adrenaline suggests that he has vital Dalek information," said the Cyberleader, referring to the Doctor. Hartley slid back into place beside him, reaching up to grasp at his arm through the material of his suit jacket, letting the feel of him under her hand ground her.

"Stop them! I don't want to go!" Jackie was screaming to the Doctor, who Hartley had never seen look more guilty.

He was stricken, torn as he stared wordlessly at Jackie, his helplessness clawing at her consciousness like a rabid animal, demanding to be heard. She could feel it as well as if it were her own. Her empathy flared, and she felt herself begin to crumble under the weight of his remorse.

"You promised me! You gave me your word!" Jackie cried hysterically, desperately throwing her weight around in an attempt to get free, but it was to no avail. She was so scared, so terrified, it made Hartley's eyes burn with grief.

"Jackie, you'll be okay!" she shouted as loudly as she could, struggling to be heard over all the other sounds filling the room, the cry tearing at her throat with its force. "You and Rose will be okay!" she yelled after her with the kind of conviction only an empath could conjure.

She knew she had no business making any such promises, but if there was one thing she believed in, it was the Doctor. He would find a way, as he always did, and she herself would do everything in her power to pull the plan through and save their friends – their family.

"The prisoners are to be seated," the Cyberleader droned, grasping the Doctor's shoulders and pushing, sending the Time Lord down onto the seat at the window. It turned to Hartley, prepared to do the same, but she quickly copied the movement before it could, seating herself at the window, swallowing back the emotions gripping her insides like a knot.

The thing turned away, stepping back to the door and beginning to speak with one of the other Cybermen in their drab, robotic tones.

"Is this what I do?" the Doctor asked the Hartley under his breath, watching as she turned away from the scene and instead looked out the window, hoping to find a peaceful distraction. Only, the city below her was dripping with chaos, fires raging down every other street, explosions levelling buildings to dust. It was like something from the beginning of every dystopian novel she'd ever read. "Kidnap people's mothers only to get them killed by armies of Cybermen?"

"That's far too specific to actually be a recurring problem," she attempted lighthearted, but it fell utterly flat, her voice hoarse with grief. The Doctor didn't laugh, and her mouth twisted into an even deeper frown. His emotions were thick in her system, she felt like they might choke her. "This isn't your fault," she told him around the pressure at her throat, glancing away from the burning city below and up at him, taking in the guilt slowly eating away at the warmth in his eyes.

"It's nice of you to try to make me feel better," he said without meeting her stare, watching the Cybermen warily, as though waiting for one of them to snap and start shooting. What would she do if he got shot? He'd regenerate again, surely. The thought made her panic – she'd only just gotten used to this Doctor, what would happen if he changed again? What if this time it was someone who hated her even more than his last face had?

"There's nothing else I'm good at," she murmured in reply, but it felt distant, like somebody else was the one speaking, and she was but a spectator to the whole conversation.

"That's not true," the Doctor said, finally removing his stare from the Cybermen, only to hang his head in something like defeat. "You emanate light, Hartley," he told her, voice tired but still filled with a shining sincerity. The strength of his words made her heart swell, and her breath hitched as she stared over at him, listening intently. "Sometimes I think people need you more than they will ever need me," he murmured, introspective.

She glanced down to see his eyes tightly shut, and wondered what was going through his head. It was, without a doubt, the nicest thing he'd ever said to her, and like an idiot, she grew emotional, looking upwards to try and control her wet eyes, lest the Doctor find her weeping like a child.

She was prevented from answering – thankfully, because she had no idea how to reply to such a rare, genuine compliment from the one person it meant the most from – by the appearance of the Cyberleader, who stomped back into the room with those ominous, mechanical whirrs. "You are proof," it said to the Doctor robotically, and the Time Lord took a moment to run his hands over his face in emotional exhaustion before his eyelids fluttered open and he stared back at the abomination blankly.

"Of what?" he asked it, almost as toneless as his enemy.

"That emotions destroy you."

The Doctor gave a sort of smirk, a hint of bitterness and something like self-loathing making an appearance. "Yeah, I am," he said, voice thick with hate. Whether for himself or them, Hartley wasn't certain. She knew it was strong, and somewhere in the back of her mind registered the fear that one day he might very well drown in it.

There was a disturbance from the main room and his eyebrows raised, a hint of a smirk on his lips.

"Mind you, I quite like hope. Hope's a good emotion. And here it comes."

Hartley was more than confused, but the sudden sly, victorious grin on the Doctor's face made the very same emotion – hope – swell within her.

"Here who comes?" the Cyberman demanded.

The group of strangely familiar commandos popped into existence, guns firing before they'd even fully materialised, taking out the remaining Cybermen in the room. Their metal bodies dropped lifelessly to the floor, no longer a threat, and Hartley felt like she could finally breathe again.

Her smile remained as the leader of the group removed his mask, revealing a shockingly familiar face. "Doctor?" their saviour grinned widely, revealing glistening white teeth. "Good to see you again."

"Jake?" the Doctor asked in disbelief.

"The Cybermen came through from one world to another, and so did we," he revealed with a beam. His eyes slid over to Hartley, who had stood to her feet, smiling at all of them with gratitude. "Looking good, Hartley," he said charmingly.

"Better believe it, hotshot," she replied coyly – she really had spent too much time with Jack for his ways not to rub off on her at least a little – and the Doctor looked torn between hitting something and bursting into hysterical laughter. He recovered quickly, fishing out that same pair of 3D glasses and slipping them on his face, staring at the group of warriors for a moment.

"Awaiting orders, Sir," one of the commandos said, standing ramrod straight, looking about ready to salute.

"Defend this room," Jake instructed the soldiers clearly. "Chrissie, monitor communications. Kill one CyberLeader and they just download into another. Move!"

At the command they all sprung into action, slipping smoothly from the room, their weapons held at the ready.

"You can't just, just hop from one world to another," the Doctor was still having a hard time processing the miracle they'd been handed. Personally, Hartley didn't like to look a gift horse in the mouth. "You can't," he squawked.

"We just did. With these," Jake replied, tossing a smallish, yellow medallion to the Time Lord, who caught it in deft hands, then stared down at it in bewilderment. Hartley leaned over his shoulder to get a better look, eyeing the device curiously.

"That's what brought you here?" she asked doubtfully. It looked like something you found at the discount store.

"Yes ma'am," Jake replied with a nod. She wasn't sure she liked the title, but she wasn't about to dispute it after he'd just saved their lives.

"But that's impossible," the Doctor said, eyeing the device critically. "You can't have this sort of technology," he hissed, as though the very existence of it was shattering his entire belief system.

"We've got our own version of Torchwood. They developed it," Jake explained, surprisingly patient considering the circumstances. "Do you want to come and see?" he asked, a cheeky grin spreading across his youthful face.

"No!" the Doctor cried, but Jake didn't stop to listen, and with a press of the button they were gone, leaving Hartley standing in the middle of an empty, broken Torchwood, once again completely and utterly alone.

She knew they would probably be back – but still, being abandoned in the middle of a Cyberman/Dalek invasion wasn't very high on her bucket list. She swallowed, moving back over to the office and sitting in the empty swivel chair, taking the opportunity to ponder her predicament.

She considered her options. She could go try and find Jackie and Yvonne, but not only did she not know where they were, but getting there wouldn't exactly be a picnic in the park – the whole building was crawling with dangerous adversaries. She could find Rose, but again, getting there was problematic.

Standing back up to her feet, she wandered over a collapsed Cyberman and cautiously kicked it. It didn't seem to react, so she was sure it was definitely dead – if you could say the thing had ever really been alive in the first place.

Before she had too long to ponder the complexities of Cyberman philosophy, the Doctor reappeared with a flash, and Hartley jumped, glancing over to where he, Jake and Pete all stood in the centre of the room, blinking at their new surroundings before they realised where they were and that time was short, rushing in her direction.

"Pete," she smiled up at him kindly. "Good to see you!"

"Hart, right?" Pete looked like he wasn't sure he had the right name, but she just smiled broadly, assuring him he did.

"Yes, yes," the Doctor muttered impatiently, hurrying over to the phone sitting on the desk, pulling it closer to him and already beginning to dial. He began to speak with whoever was on the other end, but her attention was on Pete.

"Here to save your family, huh?" she asked sweetly, but Pete only grimaced as if she'd said something unsavoury.

"Not even slightly," he told her curtly, but she just cocked her head, unperturbed by his sharp words. He was emitting an aura of worry, so despite his denial, she knew he was there to do the right thing by his family – even if they weren't technically hisfamily. The Doctor hung up the phone with a bang and Hartley flinched at the abrupt sound.

"Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler," he announced to Pete, who only scowled.

"She's not my wife," Pete told the Doctor darkly, but Hartley recognised a rebuff when she saw one.

"I was at the wedding. You got her name wrong," the Doctor practically bounced on the spot, beaming away brightly, unconcerned by his scowling expression. "Now then, Jakey boy," he continued on without pause, darting past and plucking the large weapon he held from his hands, "if I can open up the bonding chamber on this thing, it'll work on polycarbite."

"What's polycarbite?" Jake asked confusedly.

"Skin of a Dalek!" the Doctor announced cheerfully, his mood apparently uplifted by their helpful intervention, and Jake blinked in surprise. "Now, none of you happen to have a white flag on you, by any chance?" he asked brightly, attention half consumed by his tinkering on the weapon, resting it against the table and waving his sonic over the panels. "It was a long shot," he murmured to himself when none of them answered. "I'll just have to improvise."

"What's the plan, Doctor?" Pete asked, losing patience quickly with the Time Lord's happy-go-lucky demeanour.

"I'm going to surrender," he revealed buoyantly, grinning at the man toothily. "Well, both of us are," he added, making a lazy gesture in Hartley's direction. The companion's eyes went comically round in surprise.

"Is that so?" she asked once she'd recovered.

The Doctor glanced up from the gun he was working on to meet her stare, a hint of mischief in his eyes. "Not scared, are you?" he asked, his tone was ever-so-slightly teasing.

"Never," she replied with a wide smirk, realising in that moment that she really wasn't.

At first she'd been scared, faced with possibilities spread out before her – death, enslavement of the human race and eternal torture as a Cyberman – as options in her future. Now though, standing in the thick of it with the Doctor by her side, it was exactly where she was meant to be. She thrived on it, in a strange, unexpected sort of way.

In the beginning it had all been fun and exciting, running from monsters with the Doctor. Somewhere along the way, however, she'd begun to crave it. She'd begun to desire the thrill of the chase, the detective work that it took to do it. She'd started to thirst for the adrenaline the danger always brought.

She never wanted to be without it. And maybe that was just the 'Doctor' in her speaking, because it was impossibly to live this life with him and not have him rub off in some way.

"Good," he told her, grinning back giddily, unaware of her internal contemplation. "Tape a sheet of paper to that, will you?" he asked hurriedly, slipping back into clever mode and thrusting a small plastic stick in her direction.

She got to work, doing as she was told with no hint of hesitation.

"Now, that should do the trick," the Time Lord was telling Jake, tossing the heavy gun back into his arms and dusting his hands off on his jacket. He moved to the computer, beginning to type something in at incredible speeds. "See this here?" he asked, pointing to the schematics he'd brought up on the screen. "This is where you wait. You'll be joined by some Cybermen should it all go to plan, so don't kill them, they'll be there to help – for now, anyway. Go there now and wait for my signal."

"What will the signal be?" Jake asked quickly, even as the Doctor turned and started walking out of the room.

"It'll be impossible to miss!" he called back, glancing over his shoulder at his companion. "With me, Hartley!" he yelled, and she was quick to leap from her chair and race towards him, taking a small detour along the way to pop herself up on her toes and press a pecking kiss to Pete Tyler's cheek.

"You'll do the right thing," she assured him, shooting the bewildered man a knowing little grin before racing after the Doctor. This was all happening, he was there for a reason. Hartley had the feeling that, when it came to it, it was going to be down to him. "So all we have to do now is convince the Cybermen to form an alliance with us," she said to the Doctor as they ran, racing through the halls towards where the Doctor knew the Cybermen would be waiting. "Piece of cake."

"You seem cheerful," he commented, pausing to peek around a corner before darting out into the next hall, continuing to run. It was all very Mission Impossible.

"I just have a good feeling about this whole thing," she replied quietly, feet nearly silent on the floor as they ran. She hadn't before, but with the appearance of Pete and his team, her hope was suddenly skyrocketing. They could do this; they could survive.

"Middle of a Cyberman/Dalek invasion and you've got a good feeling?" the Doctor asked dubiously.

"I think we're gonna be okay," she replied with genuine feeling.

If the Doctor was surprised by her declaration, he said nothing, merely coming to a halt and holding out an arm to stop her as well. She bumped into it and it pulled her to a stop. She froze, holding her breath to be safe. "You've got to let me do all the talking," he whispered to her, and she could tell by the unmistakeable sound of robotic machinery that the Cybermen were only just around the corner. "Don't speak unless spoken to."

"Gotcha," she nodded, and he appraised her for one long beat, during which she couldn't possibly imagine what he was thinking, before fixing a grin on his face. She couldn't tell whether it was real or fake, but she supposed it didn't really matter in the end. He thrust his hand and the 'white flag' he was holding, out into the corridor.

"Sorry. No white flag," he said brightly, stepping out fully, allowing the Cybermen to see him. Hartley didn't hesitate, stepping out after him, a deceptively calm expression resting on her soft, sloping features. "I only had a sheet of A4. Same difference," he sniffed.

"Do you surrender?" the Cyberman droned.

"I surrender unto you – a very good idea," the Doctor grinned, the expression inappropriately cheeky.

"Explain."

"We both want the Daleks dead," he began, a burning passion mixed with an ancient hatred seeping from his pores. She felt it as clear as she'd ever felt anything, and the strength of it made her flinch. He sincerely wanted the Daleks gone, but more than that, he wanted them to burn. They were probably the only creatures in the universe he wanted to see suffer. "I propose an alliance," he suggested, hands shoved deep into his pockets, looking perfectly at ease. "For as long as it takes to rid the Earth of the Daleks."

The closest Cyberman was silent for a long minute, and with all their weapons still aimed at them Hartley found it awfully hard to feel confident. They didn't exactly have what she'd call the upper hand.

"No," it said abruptly, the Cybermen behind it lifting their arms too, preparing to fire.

"I can give you more," the Doctor called quickly, hands shooting out placatingly. The Cybermen hesitated. "Ever heard of the Heart?"

Hartley's head shot up and she wheeled around to stare at the Doctor in shock. Was he seriously going to offer her up as collateral? How would that even work? Neither of them knew her significance, was he really just playing on a hunch? Without asking her if it was okay?

Well, that last part was to be expected – this was still the Doctor they were talking about.

"Travels with the Doctor, also known as the 'Heart of the Storm'," the Cyberman said factually, like it was reading the definition from an encyclopaedia. "Its worth is incalculable, obtaining the Heart is tactically critical."

That was news to Hartley, and she swallowed around the lump in her throat, suddenly rethinking her stance on not being afraid. Why exactly was her 'worth incalculable'? What did that even mean? Why was it necessary to say? Not to mention, 'Heart of the Storm'? That was a new one.

"There you go then," the Doctor said as though he had any authority to be handing out promises like that. Hartley wasn't stupid enough to argue, squaring her shoulders and forcing her features into something of a confident expression. "She's yours – but first, you help us."

The Cybermen were quiet, the silence dragging on for so long, Hartley absently wondered if they'd actually powered down. Finally, the one who seemed to be in charge said, "agreed," and the Doctor was quick to launch into his plans.

Three long minutes later, they all split up. Hartley was still reeling from the Doctor's words as they travelled away, the heavy stomps of the Cybermen's footsteps slowly disappearing into nothing.

"What the hell?" she hissed the moment they were alone, punching him in the arm so hard that her knuckles cracked audibly under the force.

He reared back, exclaiming out in pain and clutching the spot she'd hit. "What was Jack feeding you in the nineteenth century? Steroids?" he asked, pouting at her sulkily.

"Offering me up like that?" she asked harshly as they made their way through the halls. "You don't get to just use me as collateral without asking, you arse!"

"I needed something to sweeten the deal. Besides, this proves they don't know your face, so they have no idea you're the one I promised them," he told her, still pouting and rubbing his arm. "And there's no need for name-calling."

"Stop pouting, you look ridiculous," she muttered, and he rolled his eyes, speeding up as he led the way through the corridors. "How'd you know it would work?" she asked, finding that she actually wasn't that angry. If anything, she was kind of impressed. She also knew he'd never actually give her over to the Cybermen. They were friends – really good friends, these days – and after all this time she knew she was worth more to him than that.

"Shot in the dark," he shrugged nonchalantly.

"That should be the name of your autobiography," she told him playfully, and he whirled around, the quip taking him by surprise. "Come along, then, Spacewalker," she said, nudging him to move faster. "We've got a Rose to save."

"How is it that you manage to keep surprising me, Hartley Daniels?" he asked in a tone of unabashed wonderment, speeding up at the mention of Rose.

She grinned back only to come to a rearing stop when they made it to the Sphere chamber, spotting the four Daleks placed around the room. She'd been face to face with Daleks before – it wasn't exactly her first rodeo. Still, goosebumps of fear climbed up the skin of her arms and along the back of her neck. Swallowing around her very real terror, she turned to the Doctor to see him gesturing for her to wait.

"Because if these are going to be my last words, then you're going to listen. I met the Emperor, and I took the Time Vortex and I poured it into his head and turned him into dust," Rose's voice bled out from the centre of the room, and the Doctor was quick to shove his 3D glasses back onto his face. "Do you get that? The God of all Daleks, and I destroyed him. Ha!"

"You will be exterminated!"

"Oh now, hold on!" the Doctor intervened, bringing the attention to the pair of them. Every human and Dalek in he room spun around to look in their direction, Rose and – to Hartley's great surprise – Mickey breaking into massive smiles of sheer relief at the sight of them. "Wait a minute."

"Alert, alert. You are the Doctor."

"Scans identify the female as the Heart."

"Sensors report they are unarmed."

"That's me. Always," the Doctor strolled casually into the room, hands tucked deep into his pockets.

"Then you are powerless."

"Not me. Never," the Doctor grinned, slipping around one of the Daleks and stopping beside Rose and Mickey. Hartley followed, glaring at the Daleks as she passed. "How are you?" he asked Rose carefully, eyes flickering up and down her form, checking for damage.

"Oh, same old, you know," she shrugged with a bright smile.

"Good," he nodded before turning to Mickey. "And Mickity McMickey. Nice to see you!"

"And you, boss," he replied with a smile, reaching up to bump fists with the grinning alien.

"Mickey, it's so wonderful to see you again," Hartley jumped in, pushing past the Doctor and throwing her arms around the younger boy without hesitation. She squeezed him tight, not realising how much she'd missed his goofball presence until that moment. "How are you, are you good?" she asked quickly, pulling back and eyeing him carefully.

"All good," he confirmed around an amused smirk. "Eating my veggies and everything, mum."

She snorted at the gentle dig, stepping away and reaching out to grasp Rose's hand, silently telling her how glad she was to see her in one piece. Rose smiled back, squeezing back reassuringly.

"Social interaction will cease!" the black Dalek screeched robotically, and the four of them turned to stare at it. "How did you survive the Time War?" it continued forcefully, swivelling around to face the Doctor, its eyestalk peering directly into the Time Lord's face.

"By fighting on the front line," he replied, that untroubled grin from before disappearing behind a cloud of reminiscent despair. "I was there at the fall of Arcadia. Someday I might even come to terms with that." Suddenly the dark expression cleared, replaced by bright, bitter amusement. "But you lot ran away!"

"We had to survive," the black Dalek droned.

"The last four Daleks in existence. So what's so special about you?" the Doctor mused.

"Doctor, they've got names," Rose murmured to him, eyes flickering warily between the two adversaries. "I mean, Daleks don't have names, do they? One of them said they-"

"I am Dalek Thay."

"Dalek Sek."

"Dalek Jast."

"Dalek Caan."

There was a beat. "The Cult of Skaro," the Doctor murmured in surprise. "So that's it! At last," he began to stroll through the Daleks as though they were nothing more than harmless lawn ornaments. "I thought you were just a legend."

"Who are they?" Rose asked him quickly, keeping one eye on them, waiting for the inevitable attack.

"A secret order above and beyond the Emperor himself. Their job was to imagine, think as the enemy thinks. Even dared to have names," he told her conversationally. "All to find new ways of killing," he added bitterly, taking a moment to scowl at the Cult.

"But that thing, they said it was yours. I mean, Time Lord's. They built it," Mickey interjected, gesturing to the Ark that sat in the centre of the room. Hartley looked over too, noting its presence with a disdainful grimace. "What does it do?"

"I don't know," the last remaining Time Lord shrugged helplessly. "Never seen it before."

"But it's Time Lord," Mickey argued, as though this meant he should know.

"Both sides had secrets," he said darkly, turning away from Rose to face the black Dalek. "What is it?" he demanded from it sharply. "What have you done?"

"Time Lord science will restore Dalek supremacy."

"What does that mean? What sort of Time Lord science? What do you mean?"

"They said one touch from a time traveller will wake it up," Rose revealed softly.

"Technology using the one thing a Dalek can't do. Touch. Sealed inside your casing. Not feeling anything ever, from birth to death, locked inside a cold metal cage. Completely alone." For one brief moment, Hartley thought she might have detected a stab of real pity in his emotions, but it was gone just as fast. "That explains your voice. No wonder you scream."

She couldn't help but feel a wave of pity herself, staring at the creature, wondering if, were she locked in the same metal cage her entire life, might she have ended up the same way? But there was more to it than that, wasn't there? They were created to hate. They were genetically designed to kill. They knew no other way...but that certainly didn't make it okay.

"The Doctor will open the Ark!" the Dalek shrieked.

"The Doctor will not," he snickered, casually stepping away from the monstrous creature, strolling across the room.

"You have no way of resisting."

"Well, you got me there. Although there is always this," he said easily, holding up his sonic with a proud little smile.

"A sonic probe?"

"That's screwdriver," the Doctor corrected indignantly, as though personally offended by the mistake.

"It is harmless."

"Oh, yes," the Doctor agreed proudly. "Harmless is just the word. That's why I like it. Doesn't kill, doesn't wound, doesn't maim. But I'll tell you what it does do. It is very good at opening doors."

The buzz of the sonic filled the room and then in a sudden explosion the door to the laboratory blew in, their reinforcements spilling into the room like water through a floodgate, guns blazing, shots being fired from every direction.

"Rose, get out!" the Doctor ordered loudly, ducking out of the way of an energy blast. "Hart, stay with her!"

It was what she would have done anyway, orders or not, so with pleasure she clung to her friend, dragging her out of the battle and towards the doors. Her only priority was her safety.

"Wait, Hart – Mickey!" Rose shouted over the bangs of the firing weapons. Hartley paused outside the doors, turning back around to try and locate Mickey in the thick of the battle. "Mickey, come on!" Rose screamed, and Hartley realised, as she saw Mickey hurrying towards them, that there was absolutely nothing she could do. He'd touched the Ark – evident by the glowing handprint now fading against the chrome casing.

There was no time to worry about what this meant, they were too busy running for their lives as they let the two races battle it out behind them.

"I just fell, I didn't mean it!" Mickey was yelling as they legged it up the hallway, the sounds of the fight growing distant. He was so worried the Doctor would be angry, his guilt and anxiety palpable to Hartley.

"Mickey, without us, they'd have opened it by force," the Doctor explained as they ran. "To do that, they'd have blown up the sun. You've done us a favour." Without breaking stride, he reached over to smack a loud, exaggerated kiss on the top of Mickey's shaved head. "Now, run!"

Hartley glanced back, making sure everyone was with them. She reached down to grab Rose's hand, clutching it tightly, shooting her a smile when she looked over. She felt the relief strong in her veins. She'd had friends before, sometimes more than she knew what to do with, but she'd never had one like Rose, one she connected with on a level she could call familial.

Maybe it was all the life and death situations that they were thrust into that bonded them so closely, or maybe they were just kindred spirits. Either way, she didn't know what she'd do with Rose Tyler by her side.

The Doctor suddenly froze, throwing out an arm and stopping the others from moving forwards. Two Cybermen stood up ahead, their backs towards the four of them. The group remained unnoticed, but there was someone beyond them, someone begging for her life in a shrill, familiar voice.

Pete was the first one to act, shooting down the pair of Cybermen without a moment's hesitation, saving Jackie's life in the process.

Hartley could do nothing but watch as the two soulmates were reunited. She'd had boyfriends before, but never had she had anything like Jackie and Pete Tyler had. She wondered if she'd ever have that...but then, who could it possibly be with? She was going to live for who knew how long; she couldn't die – who could possibly meet that sort of criteria? If they didn't, she was doomed to a heartbreak that would last an eternity.

It wasn't a particularly appealing concept, she had to admit.

"We need to make a quick stop!" the Doctor called once the sweet moment was over and done with, the pair of reunited lovers' hands held tightly together, like they intended to never to let go again. "Right here!" he yelled, coming to an abrupt stop outside the warehouse doors. "Hartley, you're up!"

"Sorry?" she asked, not prepared to be so suddenly called to duty.

"You're the only one who can't die," he explained impatiently, cracking open the doors and hurriedly waving her through. The noise of the frontline of the war swept over them in a wave, making them wince with its power. "It won't matter if you get hit by a stray blast – now go through and get those Magna-Clamps!" he told her, and although she didn't like the plan, she had to admit it was the best one they had, and that it made sense.

Why risk putting a regular human – or Time Lord – in danger, when she could do the same job with none of the risk?

"If I get shot I'm gonna skin you alive," she hissed back, but the Doctor did no more than impatiently wave her through.

She kept low, slipping across the floor of the warehouse to where the Magna-Clamps sat harmless in a crate. A blast flew so close to her head that she felt the heat brush her scalp. With a yelp she hugged the floor, taking a deep, steadying breath to calm herself.

She could definitely recover from an exploded brain, right?

"Hartley!" the Doctor prompted her in a hiss, and she whirled around to glare at him for rushing her. "No time," he mouthed, urging her along faster. Begrudgingly she admitted he was right, so she pulled on her big-girl pants and charged forwards, grasping ahold of the Magna-Clamps and yanking them free of their container, spinning around and legging it back to the doors.

She'd almost reached them when a stray bullet from one of the soldier's guns brushed her upper right arm.

"Mother-" she began loudly, grip slackening of its own accord. She dropped the Magna-Clamp and although it fell to the floor the sound was swallowed by the gunfire. She dropped to her knees, glancing down at her arm which could have been on fire and would have still hurt less. She bit her tongue to keep in a pained whimper, checking the damage.

"It's just a graze, Hartley," the Doctor appeared over her, picking up the dropped clamp and wrapping one arm around her, urging her forwards. "Come on, we've got to see what it's doing. We've got to go back up!" he urged, forcing her to move. Hartley held her injured arm tight to her body, trying not to jostle it more than necessary. "Come on!" the Doctor exclaimed to the group the moment they burst back into the corridor. "All of you – top floor!"

"That's forty five floors up!" Jackie scoffed. "Believe me, I've done them all."

"We could always take the lift," a blessed voice spoke from behind them, and the Doctor grinned to a point that almost looked manic, doubling back around and darting into the lift, impatiently waiting for everyone to climb on before jamming his finger on the button and feeling the metal box slowly begin to move upwards.

"You okay, Hart?" Rose asked once they'd recovered from their sprint, reaching over and peering at the split in the material of her button-up, blood soaking the area around it.

"Doc's right, s'only a graze," she murmured, shrugging only to wince when it hurt to do so. "I'll live," she added dryly.

"How long will that one take to heal?" she asked.

"Couple hours," the Doctor was the one to answer, foot tapping restlessly against the floor as the lift continued to rise, travelling higher and higher up the Torchwood building.

The doors opened with a ding, and the Doctor barrelled out into Yvonne's office, dropping the Magna-Clamps on the floor and charging towards the window. Hartley followed him, everybody else crowding around. Hartley knew whatever she saw would haunt her nightmares, but she couldn't look away.

Hundreds upon thousands of Daleks invaded the sky, all pouring out from the Genesis Ark. They looked terrifying, shining like fire in the light from the sun, causing nothing but death and destruction across the entire city. She felt ill, watching all those innocent people burn.

"Time Lord science," the Doctor breathed, kicking himself for not realising sooner. "It's bigger on the inside."

"Did the Time Lords put those Daleks in there? What for?" Mickey asked, baffled. It was the right question to ask, certainly one that needed an answer.

"It's a prison ship," the Doctor explain, voice grim.

"How many Daleks?"

"Millions."

Rose and the others turned away as Pete started talking, leaving Hartley and the Doctor at the window, staring out at the horror that was unfolding before them. "Please tell me you have a plan," she whispered to the Doctor. He didn't look away from the Daleks, gaze steady and resolute.

"I have a plan," he replied.

"Am I going to like it?" she asked hopefully.

"Not even slightly."

There was a sudden wave of grief, one so powerful and so absolute, she flinched away from it. The Doctor spotted her reaction and slowly turned to look at her, the agony he was feeling mirrored clearly in his eyes, like windows into a storm of pain.

Confused and scared, Hartley stared back, a sense of mounting panic climbing up her oesophagus like bile. Her fingertips began to shake as she realised something was seriously and terribly wrong. Something bad was coming, and if it scared the Doctor this much, she was loathe to find out what it was.

"It's safe as long as the Doctor closes the breach," Pete was saying from behind them, but Hartley didn't look away from the Doctor. Her eyes bore into his like she might magically discover the ability of telepathy, just so she could understand what was happening inside the Doctor's impenetrable head. "Doctor?" Pete prompted him, impatient.

Like a door being closed, the swirl of emotion abruptly disappeared. He spun around with abundant energy, sliding the 3D glasses back onto his nose as he moved.

"Oh, I'm ready," he announced. "I've got the equipment right here. Thank you, Torchwood!" he exclaimed, bouncing like Tigger over to one of the computers, beginning to type away. "Slam it down and close off both universes."

"Reboot systems," the computer droned.

"But we can't just leave! What about the Daleks? And the Cybermen?" Rose was arguing, utterly ignorant to the severity of their situation. Something was going to happen, and it was going to be bad. Feeling vaguely shellshocked by the weight of knowledge only she held. Hartley turned so she was facing the others, eyeing them all, wondering if they were safe – because surely they weren't.

She had a feeling that to win this, someone was going to have to lose it. She was terrified about who that was going to be.

"They're part of the problem, and that makes them part of the solution," the Doctor chirped happily, acting for all the world like absolutely nothing was wrong. Hartley knew otherwise. "Well?" he asked brightly, stopping to look at them all, his eyes hidden behind the coloured lenses of his eccentric choice of eyewear. "Isn't anyone going to ask what is it with the glasses?"

"What is it with the glasses?" Rose indulged him with a fond laugh.

"I can see, that's what! Because we've got two separate worlds, but in between the two separate worlds, we've got the Void. That's where the Daleks were hiding. And the Cybermen travelled through the Void to get here. And you lot, one world to another, via the Void. Oh, I like that. Via the Void," he grinned, expression toothy and wide and almost completely perfect; perfect enough that even Rose bought it. But not Hartley. "Look," he said cheerfully.

He handed the glasses to Rose, who took them with a smile.

"I've been through it. Do you see?" he asked, waving around in front of the lenses.

"What is it?" she asked, giggling as she peered at him. Hartley could only watch on in nervous, stony silence.

"Void stuff," the Doctor answered her brightly.

"Like, er, background radiation!"

"That's it. Look at the others," he said, and Rose spun around, peering at the other people in the room. "And the only one who hasn't been through the Void, your mother. First time she's looked normal in her life."

"Oi," Jackie cried indignantly, but Hartley caught the hint of a smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"But the Daleks lived inside the Void!" he cried giddily. "They're bristling with it. Cybermen, all of them. I just open the Void and reverse. The Void stuff gets sucked back inside."

"Pulling them all in!" Rose cheered.

"Pulling them all in!"

It made sense now, everything that had ever been through the Void was going to get sucked back in. The problem was that they'd been through the Void, they had the stuff on them, too. What was going to keep them safe? What was to stop them being sent along with them into Hell?

"Sorry, what's the Void?" Mickey spoke up.

"The dead space. Some people call it Hell," the Doctor answered lightly.

"So you're sending the Daleks and Cybermen to Hell," Mickey looked begrudgingly impressed, turning to Jake with a grin. "Man, I told you he was good."

Rose beamed too, her eyes automatically searching out Hartley's, only to find that she didn't look happy, in fact she wasn't smiling at all. A deep sadness lingered in her cobalt blue gaze, a sadness that chilled Rose to the core.

"But it's like you said," she said suddenly, and Hartley knew she'd finally caught on, too. "We've all got Void stuff. Me too, because we went to that parallel world. We're all contaminated. We'll get pulled in."

The Doctor paused for a beat, as though gathering the courage to reply. "That's why you've got to go," he finally said, deceptively calm. The pain he felt reared its head, and Hartley inhaled sharply at both the force of it and the realisation of what he was saying.

"Excuse me?" she asked without thought, stepping closer to Rose out of instinct, feeling the need to physically shield her, like the words themselves were a threat.

"Reboot in two minutes," the computer droned again, and Hartley knew it was coming to the moment, the moment that would determine whether they saved all of mankind, or failed and let the world burn.

"Back to Pete's world. Hey, we should call it that. Pete's World," he said blithely before abruptly sobering. "I'm opening the Void, but only on this side."

"Hartley too?" Rose asked, eyes wild and pained as she turned to look at her friend.

"No," he said sombrely. "There's only one medallion, and..."

"I'm expendable," Hartley realised with a start, her heart seeming to drop into her gut like it had turned to stone. She brought a hand up to hover over the organ, as if pressing her palm there might in some way lessen the pain.

"No," said the Doctor firmly, casting her a look layered with stern disapproval. She swallowed, looking away. He didn't elaborate, but she knew there wasn't time and couldn't hold it against him. There would be time to talk – later.

"We can only send you," he said to Rose, who looked vaguely like somebody had punched her in the stomach. "You'll be safe on that side," he assured her, as if that was something she was actually worried about.

"And then you close it, for good?" Pete confirmed anxiously.

"The breach itself is soaked in Void stuff. In the end, it'll close itself. And that's it. Kaput!" he told Pete with a shrug, like his own words weren't eating him up inside. Hartley could feel it; every pulse of pain and guilt, like a record playing on a loop. He was trying so hard to convince himself that he was okay, but he wasn't. None of them were, least of all her.

"But you stay on this side?" Rose asked, carefully emotionless.

"But you two will get pulled in," Mickey said, seeing the obvious flaw in the plan as he glanced between Hartley and the Doctor with a confused frown.

"That's why I got these," the Doctor announced, hefting up one of the Magna-Clamps pointedly. "We'll just have to hold on tight. I've been doing it all my life, and Hartley's a quick study," he grinned, but the expression was so obviously fake, constructed in an attempt to hide his pain. Rose turned to look at her, betrayal leaking from her pores, and Hartley suddenly felt like somebody had punched her in the stomach.

"I'm supposed to go," the blonde said slowly, like it were a puzzle she were struggling to solve.

"Yup," the Doctor nodded.

"To another world, and then it gets sealed off."

"Yeah."

"Forever." The Doctor nodded, turning away under the pretence of checking the systems, but Hartley knew it was because he just couldn't bear to look at her anymore. "That's not going to happen," Rose finally said around a loud, hysterical laugh.

The building trembled violently beneath their feet as the massacre outside grew more brutal. "We haven't got time to argue. The plan works. We're going. You too. All of us," Pete snapped, assuming command and starting to walk away.

"No, I'm not leaving here," Rose said stubbornly.

"I'm not going without her!" Jackie argued, latching onto her daughter's arm.

"Oh, my God. We're going!" Pete hissed, growing exasperated.

"I've had twenty years without you, so button it!" Jackie snarled in his face. "I'm not leaving her."

"You've got to," Rose said softly, knowing she'd made her decision.

"Well, that's tough," her mother snapped in reply.

"Mum..."

"Reboot in one minute."

"I've had a life with you for nineteen years, but then I met the Doctor, and all the things I've seen him do for me, for you, for all of us," Rose began to say. The Doctor stopped typing, pulling a medallion from his pocket and quietly walking up behind Rose.

Tears came to Hartley's eyes and she grit her teeth against the onslaught of emotion; grief, anger, frustration, sorrow and pain all melting together into one big explosion of feeling. She wasn't sure which emotions were hers and which were the Doctor's, all she knew was that it was overwhelming, and she could do nothing more than stare at Rose, soaking her in, silently preparing herself for the reality that she might never see her again.

Hartley let the Doctor approach Rose, however, without saying anything. She knew that this wasn't her battle – her battle was a minute from now, once the hole opened and threatened to drag them all into Hell. Besides, this was what was best for Rose, nothing else mattered, as long as she was safe – even if 'safe' meant a different universe altogether, one where she couldn't visit or reach in any way.

"For the whole stupid planet and every planet out there," Rose was still saying passionately, oblivious to the Doctor's approach. "He does it alone, mum. He and Harts, but not anymore, because now they've got me-"

Rose disappeared with a flash and a desperate yell, and the Doctor looked shellshocked for a long second before pulling himself together and spinning around, once more beginning to type away at the computer.

It had all happened so quickly that Hartley felt like her entire universe had been yanked out from underneath her. Two traitorous tears spilled down over her cheeks as she stared at the suddenly empty room. She wiped at them frustratedly. "Was there another option?" she asked the Doctor thickly.

"No," he replied, voice nearly breaking over the single word answer.

Hartley inhaled, filling her body with air and savouring it before wiping at her eyes a final time and snapping into work-mode. "What can I do?" she asked, and he pointed to the Magna-Clamps wordlessly.

She got the message, setting about attaching the clamps to the walls, tapping the little red button to make sure they stayed on its surface. It was a difficult task with only one good arm, but she made do, knowing they didn't have time for her to screw up. The next few moments passed in heavy silence that Hartley barely processed. Everything seemed harsh and cold all of a sudden; the lights too bright, the metal against her hands too hard.

Then, with a loud yelp, Rose reappeared in the room, hand held down on one of those tacky yellow medallions.

"Rose!" Hartley yelled as she finished fastening the last clamp to the wall. Rose laughed, the sound borderline hysterical as the Doctor raced up to her.

"Dammit, Rose," he cried, frustrated that she wouldn't do as he said. But did she ever? "Once the breach collapses, that's it. You will never be able to see her again. Your own mother!" he reminded her sharply.

Rose tilted her chin up defiantly. "I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never going to leave you," she said passionately.

The Doctor stared back in shock, barely able to believe what she was saying. Hartley watched on with wonder, taking in the love in each of their gazes, love that she doubted would ever be spoken aloud.

It was something that went unspoken in the TARDIS, this thing between Rose and the Doctor, a sort of thing that Hartley couldn't have described if she'd tried. They had a connection, they were bonded in such a way that Hartley could barely understand. It made her ache with loneliness sometimes, but mostly she was just happy that they were happy.

"So what can I do to help?" Rose asked him, so familiarly stubborn.

"Systems rebooted. Open access."

"Those coordinates over there, set them all at six," the Doctor barked quickly, making his decision immediately, "and Hartley, finish securing the last clamp! Both of you, hurry up!"

The two girls got to work, hurriedly completing their tasks. Hartley's mind was a storm, swirling around like a tornado. She just had to make sure that Rose wouldn't get sucked in. Not even a full minute and it would be over, and Rose would be safe. They would all be safe. How difficult could it possibly be? "We've got Cybermen on the way up," Rose announced.

"How many floors down?" the Doctor asked in a rush.

"Just one."

"We need to go quickly, then," Hartley shouted bqck, making sure they could both hear.

"Levers operational."

"That's more like it. Bit of a smile. Look at us; the old team," Rose said, a grin on her face as she noticed the Doctor smiling.

"The Golden Trio; the Three Musketeers; Destiny's Child," the Doctor beamed like a lunatic, but Hartley loved it. It was almost enough to convince her that everything was going to work out fine. She leant into Rose's side as she watched him, amusement dancing in her eyes, laughter tickling her throat.

"Who's Beyonce?" Rose asked him curiously.

"Oh, I'm definitely Beyonce," he assured them cheekily.

Rose and Hartley laughed, the sound happy and unrestrained. Hartley knew then that everything would be alright. Because they were together again, so how could it not be?

"You gonna be okay with that arm?" Rose asked Hartley quickly, eyeing her bleeding arm with concern.

"It's already healing," she assured her, though a splinter of doubt appeared in her head. Would it matter? It was still causing her a great deal of pain, but she could fight through it though, she was sure.

"Both of you, when it starts, hold on tight!" the Doctor shouted to them. "Shouldn't be too bad for us, but the Daleks and the Cybermen are steeped in Void stuff. Are you ready?"

Rose peeked out the back window, spying the Daleks hovering outside, poised to strike. "So are they!" she yelled back, getting into position.

"Let's do it!" he nodded, and Hartley looked at Rose, who smiled, and as one the two friends began to push the lever into the right position. It wasn't easy, the lever was heavy and stubborn, but after a long moment of pushing they managed to get it online, both of them leaping over to the clamp, holding on for dear life.

A bright light appeared on the wall as the breach opened up, and in the next instant Daleks began to fly in from outside, through the glass windows and into the room, sucked back into the Void through the breach. It began to pull at the travellers too, like gravity had changed loyalties, their feet pulled towards the breach, threatening to suck them into the Void along with their enemies.

"The breach is open!" the Doctor declared giddily. "Into the Void! Ha!"

Hartley gripped the Magna-Clamp tighter. The entirety of her body was pressed up against Rose's as they fought to keep their grip. Daleks and Cybermen flew past them, some just barely missing hitting them front on. She wasn't sure how long it would last, and the wind blowing into her eyes was making them sting, but she held on, knowing it was almost over, they were almost safe.

"Offline," the computer's robotic voice chimed, and Hartley's insides turned to lead.

"Don't let go!" Hartley begged Rose, but her friend knew the risk she was taking, and was ready to take it, even if Hartley wasn't. "Let me do it!" she shrieked at her over the near deafening roar of the open breach and the tortured screams of the defeated enemy.

But Rose didn't listen, stubbornly pushing her way across, getting her hands on the lever and moving herself away from the Magna-Clamp.

"Rose, please!" Hartley pleaded with her, but despite all her attempts, Rose still let go, attaching herself to the lever and securing it back into place.

"Online and locked."

The suction got stronger, the Cybermen and Daleks flying into the Void at such a fast speed they were nearly impossible to see, just blurs of chrome colouring. "Rose, hold on! Hold on!" the Doctor was screaming from his place across the room.

"Rose, grab my hand!" Hartley begged her, hooking one arm around the clamp and holding the other out to Rose. "I can't lose you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, but the words were lost in the deafening roar of the Void.

Rose reached out to take her hand, but before they could connect, Hartley felt her arm, the injured one hooked onto the clamp, begin to give way. She suddenly found herself presented with the most horrific choice she would ever have to face; herself or Rose.

It was a choice Hartley didn't want to have to make, a choice nobody should have ever been forced to make – between their best friend and themselves. She screamed for Rose to hold on again, eyes burning from a mixture of the unforgiving wind and her tears of panic.

When it came down to it Hartley was human, and she was scared, and she made a decision she wished she hadn't, and she retracted her hand – just to get a better grip on the clamp – but she took too long, and then there was nothing to do nothing but cry out in heartbroken despair as Rose was pulled towards the Void.

For one heart-stopping moment she thought she'd just sent Rose to Hell. She thought she'd just condemned her best friend to a life of that inky, never-ending blankness that she herself was so desperately afraid of.

Then, in a flash of dazzling hope, Pete materialised, catching Rose in his arms and looking up to meet Hartley's eyes before slamming his hand down on the button and disappearing back to his own world, taking Rose Tyler with him – forever.

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A/N: Let me know your thoughts, as always, they mean the world to me. If you've reviewed without an account, I obviously can't reply, but just know all your kind words mean the absolute world to me. Some in particular are so touching and encouraging, I just hang out to hear from you!

Coming up next: Closure