Nemo Est Soleus No One is Alone

by Emerald Alitrex

Right before meeting Rose, the Doctor meets Rebecca Goodman, a seventeen year old Genius from New York. What happens when everything about Rebecca's past is not as it seems? Can she prove to the doctor that No One is Alone? Starts just before Series One. Now on Series 2.

34. A Stone Rose

AN: So um hi? I know it's been over a month… I have a million and one excuses as to why this wasn't done sooner but you probably don't want to hear them… but the good news is starting after next week I should be able to return to a semi normal update schedule.

Big thanks as always to Vivere Memento, my crazy talented beta.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, not Doctor Who, not the rights to this lovely novel which I took a lot from, I just own a TARDIS travel mug that I drink out of daily. Mmm. Coffee

Oh and by the way, our favorite Captain makes a guest appearance this chapter *Fangirl screams*

Without further ado,

Chapter Thirty Four- A Stone Rose

Rebecca and the Doctor reached the stables, skidding to a halt only to discover an empty cart, standing ready to receive its load.

"We need to get inside. Sonic it!" Rebecca told the Doctor.

"It doesn't do wood!"

"It doesn't do wood? Are you serious? That's pathetic!"

"Not the time for criticism!"

Rebecca went to hitch up her skirt to try and kick down the door , but the door swung open revealing Ursus pulling a wheeled pallet with a marble figure on it. They couldn't see it but both Rebecca and the Doctor had a very good idea of what it might be.

"What have you done to Rose?" the Doctor yelled, launching himself at the much larger man, who was strong as a bear, but the Doctors anger made him a match for any man. They grappled falling to the floor, rolling over and over, knocking Rebecca down. She scrambled to get back up and spotted Vanessa creeping over towards them, a large bronze lamp in her hands. She looked to Rebecca who nodded at her. The Doctor shouted at her twisting around two quick as Vanessa made her strike, everything going black and Ursus pushing Rebecca down, Ursus getting out of his studio.

"DOC!" As soon as Rebecca got back up, she was beside the Doctor checking his vitals. She turned to Vanessa. "Look for Rose. Hurry. Stay with me Doc." She checked his breathing which was a tad slowed, his pulse was fine and steady but he was okay. He let out a groan and opened his eyes, blinking adjusting to the light. Vanessa had returned and was trying to hide behind a pillar.

"Doc, sit up slowly." Rebecca said helping him up.

"Where is she? Rose!" He immediately rushed to stand up, unsteady on his feet.

"We'll find her I swear." Rebecca squeezed his hands. "How's your vision? Thinking clearly?"

"Rebecca I'm fine." Suddenly he spotted Vanessa. "You hit me." He said coldly, angrily. "You stopped me from rescuing Rose."

"I didn't mean to!" she said attempting to hold back tears. "You moved! I meant to hit Ursus!" His eyes narrowed.

"Where is she? Where is Rose? Where did he take her!"

"I didn't see Rose! Only a statue!"

"Well, where is Ursus?"

"I… I don't know." She stammered.

"I think you do. I think you know a lot more than you're letting on Vanessa. Like what's Hadrian's Wall Vanessa?" she stared back at him wide eyed, terrified.

"Doc- is now the-"

"SHH! Well?"

Vanessa could barely get the words out. "It's a wall. It divides England from Scotland."

"A wall that's not been built yet, dividing two places that won't be named for a few hundred years? Vanessa burst out crying.

"Doc-"

"I've been suspicious of you the instant we were introduced. Vanessa, sounds quite Roman, I admit. Marcia, Claudia, Julia, Vanessa…. But I happen to know because I'm extremely clever that the name was invented in the eighteenth century by a writer chap called Jonathan Swift. And there you were, a girl with a name from years in the future sitting at a table working out Merik's Theorem. Oh I know what astrological calculations look like, and I know what Merik's Theorem looks like and it was definitely the latter, not the former. So would you like to tell me what a girl from at least the twenty-fourth century is doing in the second century AD and what happened to Rose!" he shouted.

Vanessa looked at him through her tears and slowly, shakily withdrew a small black tube out of one of the folds of her tunic. Her finger hovered over the red button at one end as she pointed it straight at the Doctor. "Let me go-or I'll shoot."

Rebecca instantly plucked it from the girl's hand recognizing it.

"THAT IS ENOUGH THE TWO OF YOU! SITTING HERE ARGUING IS NOT GONNA FIND ROSE!" the two of them stared at her. "Now Vanessa I know for a fact that you were not going to shoot the Doctor with a vid-caster remote control.

"It's the only thing I've got from home. I was holding it when-"a single tear trickled down her cheek. Rebecca squeezed her hand.

"It's alright. So I know that you're from the twenty-fourth century now… d'you care to tell us the truth?" She shook her head.

"Look, I'm sorry I shouted at you," the Doctor started. "I'm just upset about Rose. After all, Rebecca and I suspect that whatever has happened to her is what happened to Optatus a week ago and you didn't have anything to do with that-well, unless you're playing a very elaborate game with a lot of accomplices. If this was a detective story I'd-" Rebecca whacked his arm. He was getting off topic. "Regardless. I can still tell a genuinely scared person when I see one. You were really scared back at the apartment, weren't you?" Vanessa nodded and she began to tell her story.

"I've been scared for such a long time now. I was so frightened and confused when I arrived here. There was some sort of festival going on, people everywhere. Balbus rescued me gave me food and drink. But I said something-I don't even remember what—and I got it wrong. He jumped to the conclusion that I could tell the future."

"Which you could, very accurately." She continued her story of how Balbus had blackmailed her into working for him, using things she had read in magazine horoscopes and what she knew of history and astronomy until she could get home but it wasn't good enough, her history not being perfect and how when the three had arrived they seemed out of place.

"Can you take me home? Please?" she asked.

"Where and when is home?" Rebecca asked her. Vanessa took a deep breath.

"I'm from Earth- actually Sardinia, so I'm really quite close in everything but years. When I left it was 2375."

"How did you come to be in Rome, 120 AD instead? Something a bit more than a wrong turn on the way home from school, I'm guessing." The Doctor said. Vanessa ignored his question.

"Can you take me home?"

"Not yet. Not until I find Rose."

"She must still be in the studio. I've been watching all morning and she hasn't left." The Doctor knew that couldn't be right but he allowed himself to hope.

"Let's have a look then shall we?" the trio entered the open workshop to find it empty. No Rose, no Tiro, no statues, no marble dust. Just a scap of papyrus that read "One statue to Rome' followed by a figure.

"All I have is a receipt." Rebecca raised the scrap, and suddenly her face fell. "The Second statue… it was of Rose."

"Rebecca that isn't possible."

"No it's not… that wasn't a statue… that was Rose." She said horrified. The Doctor stood petrified for a moment before straightening up to his full height.

"We're going to find her. I swear to God I am going to find her. Wait here, I'm getting the screwdriver and then we head out." He returned to his room only to find the screwdriver next to a small drawstring purse the perfect size for the sonic with a note attached.

Dear Doctor,

Happy Unbirthday! Bet you didn't know I could sew. Marcia showed me what to do.

Love your Rose.

He crumpled the note in his hand, overcome with grief, anger, and helplessness. He carefully tied the pouch to his belt and set off to find his Rose. Rebecca and Vanessa had to stride to keep up with him, up the path toward the villas entrance.

"Shouldn't we tell someone?" Asked Vanessa, out of breath from the pace the Doctor set.

"No time." But soon he stopped. The path had joined with the main road and the Doctor and Rebecca began looking for tracks.

"Here! A cart turned left." The Doctor said after a minute of searching.

"A cart went right as well." Rebecca said sadly.

"Damn. We need to figure out which one went first."

"We can't…no intersection points."

"Right… we divide resources then… you two go one way I go the other. Look for clues… Rebecca have your mobile?"

"I'm wearing a dress! Dresses don't have pockets!"

"Damn it…. You can tell when it's 6:30 by this point in your lessons yeah?"

"Yeah… so meet back here then?" Rebecca asked him. "which way do we go?"

"We arrived on the ides of March. That means it's almost-"

"Quinquatrus. Minerva's birthday festival on the 19th. And Minerva is."

"Goddess of art and artisans." Vanessa completed.

"It's the time when all her devotees bring offerings,' continued the Doctor. 'And I don't mean a bunch of daffs or a box of Milk Tray. If I remember correctly, they gather at her temple on the Aventine Hill. So, Ursus could be taking her there."

"So he's taken Rose to Rome." Vanessa reasoned.

"No… we can't assume that… two carts, two statues two different directions." The Doctor then solved the problem by closing his eyes and spinning on the spot.

"I go this way, you go that way." But he had already headed off jogging down the road to Rome.

He had met nobody on his journey on that warm March day, every now and then spotting cart tracks but it didn't mean a thing. He then decided to head back, he was early and he headed back down toward the villa, spotting a flash of white among the trees. Optatus' statue. He found Gracilis and Marcia there.

"You must think us sentimental fools Doctor, but it feels like he is still with us." The Doctor nodded moving over to the statue and looking at it carefully noticing a bum on the right arm. The Doctor pointed it out.

"Optatus broke his arm. He fell from a tree. The surgeon set it but it didn't heal quite right."

"Amazing for Ursus to pay such attention to detail…" he hinted but didn't go any further. They couldn't know the truth. He stared at the statue and then just burst out with what he truly wanted to say. "Rose disappeared. She's in deadly danger. We might already be too late. Gracilis, I think she's on her way to Rome can you help me get there?" the man nodded at him eagerly.

"Of course." The Doctor then turned to Marcia.

"Vanessa and Rebecca are helping me search. But I can't wait for them any longer. When they get back will you send Rebecca to let me know what she's discovered?" Marcia nodded and the two men set out.

The Doctor cursed the fact that the TARDIS was on a Roman backstreet a day's journey away by Donkey. The two men sat in the carriage stopping every now and again for the Doctor to check out wheel marks or ask a question of a peasant, as darkness fell they approached a way station and the Doctor did not want to stop.

"I'll have to carry on by foot then."

"But perhaps Ursus is resting here too," Gracilis suggested. The Doctor stopped and changed directions walking toward the guest house. After checking with the proprietor, he discovered Ursus had not been there and the Doctor began asking for transport.

"You're a way station. You must have donkeys here or even better, horses."

"Of course sir."

"Then I'd like to hire your best horse, please immediately."

"I'm afraid our beasts are not fresh and would not be fit to undertake a long journey." The Doctor grumbled but then agreed to sit down and share a meal with Gracilis. Soon, the door burst open to reveal a Roman man, he snapped his fingers and the proprietor was immediately at his side, taking a cup of wine from a slave that had been headed toward Gracilis. The Doctor hushed Gracilis and went over to the man.

"Hello, you look a bit thirsty. Long journey?" the Doctor offered the man a hand but the man stared at the Doctor in disdain, taking in his plain garb.

"I am Lucius Aelius Rufus. I have travelled from Gaul on business for the emperor." Gracilis jumped slightly recognizing the name.

"Gaul eh? Ooh, rough place. Nice scenery though." The Doctor told Rufus.

"I wait here merely while my horse is changed, then I will be on my way."

"Your horse? I'm afraid you're out of luck. No fresh horses here."

"Nonsense, it has all been arranged." The proprietor then apologized for any miscommunication, they had word that this gentleman was coming.

"I see, I see. You must be on very important business if you can't even rest for the night."

"Of course."

"Life or death, great benefit to mankind, that sort of thing?"

"My business is my own."

'But you would tell me if it were life or death?" the Doctor persisted. The man's hand clenched angrily around his cup as he drained his wine.

"Well I'll take that as read." The Doctor then approached Gracilis and asked him to make sure the stablehands wouldn't be beaten for this and he snuck out into the stables and took the Horse and rode onto morning.

The Doctor arrived in Rome the next morning, the Quinquatrus and made his way to the Aventine hill. He stopped at the temple of Minerva- the patron of artists. There was a crowd outside when he arrived and he went through the crowd questioning about Ursus but they only knew of him and not much about them.

He then began a whirlwind tour of Rome visiting each temple in turn with no offerings and showing little regard for custom. He would stop at cafes and snackbars and once he would catch wind of the location of one of Ursus' statues. But he would only find lifelike statues that angered him, too life like. As the evening was drawing in and the Doctor was no closer to finding Ursus or Rose and Rebecca hadn't found him yet but he wasn't worried. It could be another day before she caught up.

He finally spotted a shrine dedicated to Fortuna. Where better to find a statue of Fortuna than in her own temple? Surely the goddess of fortune would bring him luck. He took a step inside and saw the statue of Fortuna at the end of the shrine, his heart racing but as he neared it, he saw that it was not Rose, not even a new statue.

"Rose is prettier than you," the Doctor said to the statue.

"Thanks," said the statue. Of course the statue wasn't actually talking, someone somewhere behind it was saying it. The Doctor stepped forward to investigate, but as he did so he almost trod on a small glass phial that came rolling out from behind the statue. IT was full of some bright green substance. He picked it up and the voice continued.

"This'll bring Rose back-and the others. All praise to me-that is, Fortuna, and all that." The Doctor took another step toward the statue but the door slammed open and a voice yelled at him breathlessly.

"DOCTOR DOCTOR!" Gracilis called out. "Thank goodness I've found you! I've come to warn you." Suddenly Lucius Aelius Rufus, the man from the guesthouse, accompanied by several armed guards.

"There he is!" Rufus roared pointing at the Doctor, but he looked back to the statue and then to the guards who had grabbed him.

"Well, excuse me. This is no way to behave in a temple. I think it might be what they call sacrilege. Or is it blasphemy—I can never remember the difference? One of them, anyway, is what it is." The men ignored him and dragged him to the door.

"Oh, so where are we going?" the Doctor asked.

"To the Arena." Rufus smiled.

"A day out! That's a nice thought. Tell you what, though, I'd be happy with an intimate little dinner for two, bit of chat…" Suddenly one of the men slapped him across the face and the Doctor dropped the phial. He called out to Gracilis but he had already been dragged out of the building and he was being dragged into the Flavian Amphitheatre, which would one day be known as the coliseum. Home to gladiator fights, wild beast hunts, and thousands of executions.

"Are we going to take in a show?" The Doctor asked. "Only we seem to have come on the wrong day. It's a bit quiet, so probably better that we come back another time."

"No blood is shed on the Quinquatrus." A captor informed him.

"Ah righto, pleased to hear it. Well if you'll just let me go then…"

"Tomorrow on the other hand, when we honour Mars…" the Doctor sighed. He tried to escape, and then was grabbed once more and tossed into a dungeon with many other men where he began to complain about how unjust his situation was and then a man came back in and stole his pouch on his belt… which contained his sonic screwdriver.

The other men in the room began discussing the possible ways they could die, Burnt alive, crucified, fed to the beasts or made to fight to the death. And their only chance at survival was to kill and kill in hope that the crowd would like them enough to let them go.

"Where there's life there's hope? How can I tell you that's wrong? But what about dignity? What about not participating willingly in this bloody charade? What about we stand together and refuse to fight?" the Doctor proposed.

"Then we get cut down where we stand. No life, definitely no hope. No one's ever escaped from the arena. The Doctor smiled to himself.

"Then it's your lucky day. Because doing things that no one's ever done is my specialty."

Rebecca and Vanessa had returned to Gracilis' home after an unfruitful search.

"Well that was fun, nothing for miles…" Rebecca said. As soon as she reached the gate to the villa, Marcia was racing toward them.

"Everything alright Marcia?"

"The Doctor and Gracilis went to Rome. He said Rose was in danger and it couldn't wait. He said to send you on to find them in Rome." Rebecca took a deep breath nodding.

"Do you have horses Marcia?"

"They took our only carriage."

"Marcia, I don't need a carriage just a horse."

"It's hardly proper for a la-"

"I don't give a damn what's proper Marcia. I need to take care of my two best friends. They are all I have left in this life and I'll be damned if I don't figure this out. Now do you have a horse?" Rebecca demanded. Immediately one of Marcia's slaves returned with a stallion.

"Thank you. I'll return when I can."

"Here, take some coins. You'll need to stop and rest at some point." Marcia said handing her a satchel. Rebecca quickly hugged her before stepping off a platform and gathering her skirts up onto the horse. She squeezed the horse with her heels and off they went racing towards Rome.

She too stopped at the way station that the Doctor had stolen a horse from.

"Rebecca?" Gracilis asked coming up behind her. "Do you have any news?"

"Gracilis, I'm afraid not. Vanessa and I found nothing and I rode in the instant I heard that you two had headed this direction. Where's the Doctor?"

"He… he may have stolen a horse from one of the most prominent men in Rome." Rebecca instantly let out a groan.

"How could he have been that stupid?"

"He's determined, most certainly." Gracilis reasoned. "Rose must mean an awful lot to him."

"She's his whole entire world. His whole universe. She is everything to him."

"Let me go get you some wine."

"Thank you Gracilis." She then approached the proprietor. "I'm in need of a horse."

"We aren't in the possession of any carriages ma'am."

"Did I ask for a carriage? No, just a horse."

"It's hardly proper for a lady of your class-"

"I'm not really caring about this whole propriety thing. Do you have a horse?" she asked firmly.

"Fiery," a man said coming up behind her grabbing a lock of her hair. "Just how the emperor likes them."

"Hands off." She said swatting away his hand, secretly afraid of the much larger man looming in front of her.

"Such spirit. You'll make a good concubine for his excellence."

"Not interested sorry."

"Do you know who I am? I am Lucius Aelius Rufus!" the man's voice boomed.

"Um… no, and I don't particularly care. I don't have the time for this. Do you have a horse?" she asked the proprietor who backed up slightly.

"No need, she's coming with me."

"Fat chance, back the hell away from me." Suddenly Rufus grabbed her arms and she froze before she began struggling against him. "GRACILIS!" she screamed.

"Is my horse ready yet proprietor?"

"Yes sir!" the man said bringing Rufus and a struggling Rebecca outside.

"Off to Rome we go my pet."

"LET ME GO!" she screamed, fighting against Rufus' grasp but he had a good hundred pounds on her and was much stronger.

"No." He dragged her on the horse with him and the two rode for hours and hours and hours, Rebecca trying to struggle free the whole time but afraid of falling from the horse. Finally they arrived in Rome and she was handed off to another man.

"Gift for the emperor." Rufus said.

"Tall, lean, nice breasts. He'll like her. "

"Keep your comments to yourself if you don't want to get kicked in the face." She glowered, struggling once more.

"Fiesty." The man said. "She'll do well at the arena tomorrow. It's the festival of Mars. I'll take her in."

"Good, I have to go take care of the scoundrel who stole my horse from the stables." Rufus said. Of course this was the man the Doctor had stolen a horse from, she huffed. He was definitely getting slapped next time she saw him. Rufus handed her over to the other man and he dragged her into a carriage.

She was dragged out not long after and pushed towards a villa.

"What do you have for me?" A woman asked .

"She's for the emperor for the festival tomorrow."

"She'll be fine. What she needs is a bath and to be fed. She looks weak. No good to the Emperor if she's weak. Come along dear." Rebecca followed her, eyes keened for an escape route.

"Here you can bathe in here. I'm gonna bring you some dinner. How's that?" the woman asked. Rebecca remained silent. "Is she a mute?"

"No, she's a firecracker Lucia."

"Well you were probably rude to her." The woman, Lucia said. "People tend to get angry when they've been abducted." Rebecca nodded in agreement. "See?"

"Let's get you fed and rested dear. I'll be back in a few." Instantly the door shut and she heard a click. The Door locked.

"Damn it Ancient Romans and being advanced technologically!" Rebecca said pounding against the door. So she did what she was told and sponged herself clean with the water and rag the woman had left her. The woman returned with some bread and wine and Rebecca replenished herself before reclining and counting cracks in the ceiling and trying to figure out some way out of this mess that they had gotten themselves into.

A few hours later the woman returned for her and helped her with her hair and she was once more in the carriage and this time on the way to meet the emperor. She entered the Coliseum with Rufus grabbing her arm but gazed up in wonder at it. It had beautiful architecture. She was lead up a set of stairs and into the emperors private box.

"Caesar, I have brought you a gift." Rufus said, bowing slightly and Rebecca followed suit unsure what to do.

"Oh and who is this?" the emperor rose and circled around her.

"State your name girl." Rufus said tugging her arm.

"Rebecca." She spat out, glaring at the two men.

"She'll do nicely I think Rufus, thank you." He clapped his hands together. "I'll indulge in her later. Now for the Festival of Mars to begin! Bring out the first man!" he said and a slave immediately ran off to do his bidding.

"Now watch this Rebecca. It'll be wonderful." Rebecca approached the ledge and watched, a few moments later a man came out wearing a plain white tunic and she gasped. It couldn't be. No… It was the Doctor. About to fight animals in the coliseum.

"Just bloody Fantastic." She murmured.

"Oi, where's the man who didn't shut up about not belonging here?" a man called into the cell.

"Yes? What do you want?"

"There now is that any way to talk to someone who's coming to let you out?"

"What?"

"You must have influential friends sir. We've been told it's all a big mistake and you're to be set free. I believe Rufus intends to apologize to you personally!" Gracilis must've done something, he knew people and Rome and must have arranged things.

"Right. Well, good. I'll just have a few words with my friends-"

"No time for that sir, More than our job's worth to keep a man like you here will all of these criminals."

"Remember what I said!" The Doctor called to the men. "Work together." The guards led him through a few dingy corridors, not retracing their steps from the night before; the Doctor was being led in a different direction, noise from the arena getting louder and louder and he felt guilty for the men he had just left behind. He knew that despite his encouraging words most of them would never see their families again.

"Who arranged this? Was it Gracilis?"

"Gracilis Yes I believe that was the name. He's been a good friend to you, that Gracilis."

"He has."

"In fact, I think he's waiting just outside to meet you. Just up here, sir." The man indicated a ramp with a door in it. One of the guards suddenly pushed him through into a blinding light. Gracilis wasn't there… No one was waiting for him, except for thousands of cheering Romans. The Doctor was in the Arena.

"Oh my God." Rebecca exclaimed covering her mouth in shock upon her realization. That was her best friend in the arena with no weapons.

She suddenly ran out of the box unnoticed and down the set of stairs she had been lead down before "Excuse me, I need to be taken to where they keep those who are going to fight in the Arena." She said to a guard.

"Miss I hardly think."

"Do you know who I am? I am part of the Emperors Court. Take me there now." She ordered. The guard obeyed her bringing her through a series of corridors.

"What's she doing here?"

"The man who is in the arena right now. Where are his things?"

"Don't have any."

"He had drawstring bag with an odd device and some coins. I don't care about the coins. Just give me it."

"We don't have it." A guard said but her eyes scanned the room and found it on the table

"Don't believe you because this is it. I'll be taking that. I bid you farewell gentlemen." She immediately picked up her skirts and ran back up to the box with the sonic screwdriver in hand. She was praying to god this worked. Once she was in the box she sprinted to the side and screamed "DOCTOR!"

She saw him look up at her, terror in his eyes and she threw the Sonic at him "CATCH!" It was just in time because the trainers were releasing lions, tigers and bears… Oh my. He caught it in one hand and then began to fiddle with the settings .He soon defeated all of the creatures without a drop of blood shed and had made the crowd rather anxious and blood thirsty since he had managed to obtained attrition and a torch from the animal trainers who got attacked by a tiger. But what to do now since no one ever escaped from the Arena.

Rebecca had let out a sigh of relief the moment that the animals had retreated. She was about to call down to the Doctor to see what to do now when she watched in horror as the other men from the dungeon below were brought up tied together d into the arena and had raw meat placed at their feet by the animal trainers. The crowd wanted bloodshed and this was how it was going to come about.

She watched as the Doctor freed one man and the rest of them in turn freed each other. They took the meat at their feet and tossed it away from them to distract the leopards who had been released. A few men had wandered from the group and were now trying to run from the felines. After a while some of the guards came out and were trying to provoke a bigger fight from the men but after a man threatened them with a sword, they began to retreat and tripped over a lion (legit they trip over a lion guys its in the novel). As the guards screams died away the Doctors men made it to the wall at last. Those who had been slain were acting as a diversion to the lion and the leopards. They were painfully aware the fact that the creatures could be on them at any moment. The Doctor looked up and saw that there was no way of climbing up the wall and that there was a fence next to it but smiled seeing Gracilis not far above him, next to Rufus, pulling at his cloak.

"I've always fancied myself as an athlete. Now's the time to see if the pole-vault's the event for me…" he ran forward and plunged the trident into the ground and used it to launch himself into the air. He cleared the fence and landed in the box safely.

"Toss me a sword will you?" he called down to the men who obliged. He caught the sword and then pointed it at two of the senators in the box.

"Please take off your toga sirs I really don't want to use this." The two men frightened men quickly obliged and took off their purple garments. The Doctor secured the two garments together and then tied them to the fence, tossing them to the men down below who began to scale the was rushing toward the Doctor in the box when a shriek came from below, the leopards had tired of the dead and were closing in on the men. The men still had a trident and a torch but this seemed to only entice the leopards.

"Hold on I'll find a setting!" he called down to the men when Gracilis yelled at him.

"DOCTOR LOOK OUT!" Rebecca spun back around to see Rufus with a bow and arrow pointed at the Doctor and Gracilis knocked back from a blow. Rebecca not too far away jumped on him and knocked the shot out of alignment which angered him and he pushed her to the ground. The Emperor was quickly rushed out of the box by some armed guards and Rufus continued to inch his way closer to the Doctor. Some of the armed prisoners were starting toward him.

"Don't, Too many innocents in the way!" he yelled at them. Then Rufus was about to shoot down toward one of the man climbing up the toga rope when one of the men buried the trident in Rufus' chest and Rufus toppled into the Arena. The man who had done it stared at where the man had been.

"I… I just killed a magistrate. They were gonna kill me anyway-they'll show no mercy now."

"You saved a life." The Doctor said. "Now leg it- get out of here, get as far away as possible. Live!" the man gave him a nervous smile and ran. The Doctor, Gracilis and Rebecca soon made their way out of the arena after weaving through the crowd.

"Doc!" Rebecca said finding the Doctor and hugging him before stepping back and slapping him.

"Owww! What was that for."

"That's for stealing a magistrates horse and making him angry to the point where he abducted me and almost forced me into being a concubine for the emperor."

"Sorry but I need to find Rose."

"And we will but being harmed by a magistrate and almost forced into pretty much prostitution does not help!" she then spotted Gracilis.

"I thought you were lost! First my son and then my friends! I have been trying to secure your release. I visited my contacts and tried to call in favors but none would go against Rufus. So I-"

"Don't worry about that. It's all over now. Well almost." The Doctor said. "D'you mind lending me your cloak?" the man immediately shrugged off his cloak and handed it to him. "Disguise," the Doctor explained." You'd better keep away from me. I mean, they don't know who I am and there's no record of my arrest, but that might not stop them from tracking me down. I don't want you getting into any trouble."

"You have been helping me Doctor, at great inconvenience to yourself. It is in many ways my fault that you're in this predicament. I will not desert a friend."

"Thanks." The Doctor said simply, but his warm smile said more. "Now come along we have to get back to the temple of Fortuna!"

"You found Rose?" Rebecca asked.

"No… but I found something that might help." The three jogged through the streets and back to the temple.

"Hello?" the Doctor called out. No one was there, save a young man making an offering. He went right up to the statue and peered behind it, searching for the voice that had been there before. Then his mind went to the vial that had been there before. He dropped to his knees.

"Doc?" what are you looking for.

"Someone- I mean, Fortuna gave me something she said would bring Rose back,' said the Doctor. 'And Optatus too."

"Do you mean this?" Gracilis said, producing a glass phial!

"That's it! O thank you thank you thank you!"

"I found it on the floor here after your capture and thought it might be something important."

"I think it might be. I mean would Fortuna lie to me?" he seriously pondered that for a moment but the voice seemed familiar and he felt he could definitely trust it for some odd reason.

"Now only to find a statue by Ursus?"

"You're looking for a statue by Ursus?" the young man who was making his offering asked.

"Yes, do you know of one?"

"I believe a new statue by Ursus is being unveiled in the forum today!"

"Yes! My friends, it looks as is everything is coming up Roses- no pun intended." He raised the phial. "One miracle cure. One statue of Rose being unveiled. Rescue Rose, snog her, Rescue Optatus, rescue everyone else, home in time for tea. Well, tomorrow's tea anyway. Or possibly breakfast the next day. Whatever, life is good!"

"Somehow I know it won't be that easy." Rebecca said sadly following the two men out of the shrine and toward the forum. But instead of finding the statue of Rose, they found a statue of Tiro, the slave.

"Is Ursus here to see his work take it's place?" Rebecca asked a man standing by the statue.

"Nah, he's not eve in Rome. We had to send a cart to fetch to some country villa where he's staying."

"Has he any new statues being unveiled. Something more feminine? More Fortuna-y?"

"You can take my word for it. Trust me I'd know about it."

"What do we do know? Head back to the Villa?" Gracilis asked.

"No there's work to do here first. Starting with this very statue."

"We should wait till nightfall shouldn't we?" Rebecca asked.

"Oh who are you kidding? We can't wait that long. Let's hope this does what I think it does." He climbed up beside the statue and gave a speech.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Mercury, messenger of the Gods." He let a tiny drop of the green liquid fall on the statue and then the statue began to come alive, the white marble fading to a pink skin color. Rebecca stared fascinated. Could whatever this liquid was be used as a cure for petrifold regression?

"Tell them you bring a message of peace and love!" the Doctor whispered to Tiro.

"I-uh I bring a message of Peace and Love!" the crowd stared on amazed.

"Gracilis, Rebecca, get him out of here." Rebecca nodded and grabbed Tiro and Gracilis and lead him out of there.

"What happened to me?"

"You were put under a sort of spell." Rebecca told him. "We fixed you up and we're gonna get you back to the Villa."

"I'll hire a carriage" Gracilis said. "You go find the Doctor and do whatever it is you need to." Rebecca quickly hugged the man heading off back toward the Doctor.

"Wait Rebecca!"

"Yes?"

"You mean…. That Optatus…" Rebecca nodded and the man almost fell the ground if Tiro hadn't caught him.

"I'm sorry Gracilis. But we can fix it okay? It'll be fine." Rebecca told him. She then met up with the Doctor in the square and the rest of the day was spent scouring the city for any of Ursus' statues. One by one each of the statues were revived and the slaves who had been the models were sent to wait by the carriage outside the cities gates.

"One statue to go." Rebecca said.

"Hopefully it's Rose." But when they arrived at the statue sight it was a different young woman and there were guards around the perimeter.

"Great… I guess this falls under my line of duty then? You go in and I flirt with the guards to make this work."

"Brilliant." He said sneaking in. Rebecca kept her word and chatted up one of the guards pretending to be lost while the Doctor freed the young woman and brought her to the tree line when they yelled at him.

"The statue! You must have taken it- no one's been allowed inside."

"Please search me, if you think I have concealed a statue in my tunic somewhere."

"Then he got it out already."

"What, I just walked past all of you armed gentlemen with a bloomin' great statue and then returned for the fun of it."

"Hey… that girl looks like the statue, even the clothes that she's wearing." The guard said.

"Of course that's what he did. He actually sneaked in there, transformed the statue into a young woman and thought he could just casually walk by with her. Do you really believe that gentlemen?" Rebecca asked. They all grumbled and let him go.

"I didn't think so. Now lets get out of here." The three met up with Gracilis and Gracilis had arranged for transport for the slaves as well as for Rebecca, the Doctor and himself.

"Back to my son at last!"

"And we can check up on Vanessa too. No word from her." The Doctor said.

"Doc, I brought her back to the villa. She should be fine. We found nothing in our search." They kept walking when all of a sudden the Doctor paused.

"Gracilis, I don't suppose there's any room in that excellent carriage of yours for a rather stylish blue box?"

There wasn't so the TARDIS followed behind them in a cart. And the next afternoon they arrived back at the villa.

"I want to bring Optatus to my wife. I don't want her to witness his restoration. I fear the knowledge of what truly happened would disturb her mind." They walked to the grove and the doctor let one of the last remaining drops of green liquid fall on the statue and soon, the spread of flesh and the blinking of an eye alerted them of Optatus' return. Gracilis and his son embraced sobbing and soon, Marcia had heard the sobbing and rushed to them joining in.

"Have you seen Vanessa?" Rebecca asked one of the slaves. "Or Rose or Ursus?"

"No ma'am."

"Thank you."

"But where could Rose be?" the Doctor groaned, pulling at his hair.

"Oh my god… how did we not think of this before! She's at the museum… granted it's been a while…"

"Off we go then…" the two rushed into the TARDIS without a goodbye and soon found themselves in the statue room of the British museum rushing toward the statue.

"Doctor! Rebecca!" Mickey called "Wotcha."

"Is this before or after the last time?"

"Who knows?" Mickey laughed. "But last time for me was a fortnight when you three were off to make Rose the toast of the art world." The Doctor winced. "Guess you guys got there alright." The Doctor ignored him and stared at Rose's statue.

"You know, whoever made this must have really known her. IT's like… like they really understood her. You didn't break up and she started see this guy or anything?" the Doctor laughed.

"This isn't a statue of Rose." Rebecca said.

"What're you talking about? Course it is. Think I don't know Rose when I see her?"

"No you don't. Because you're looking right at her right now. This is Rose… she's been turned to stone." Mickey looked as if he was gonna cry.

"We can bring her back." Rebecca said…"Just gotta wait for the guard to move away." She stared at the statue of her friend; before she noticed a symbol on the pedestal… it must've been a coincidence.

"But she's busted. She's missing a hand!"

"No handed Rose is better than no Rose!" the Doctor said.

"You should have protected her!"

"Mickey… it's not his fault." Rebecca placed a hand on his shoulder. "Doc, do it now. the coast is clear." He let one drop of the liquid fall and they waited… and nothing happened.

"No…" the Doctor whispered. "We're too late… It's been too long."

"That's rubbish. You've got a time machine. Oh, I know all that laws of time stuff, you can't stop it happening, but you can find her earlier. Change her back then." Mickey said.

"Don't you see? If I changed her back then, then this won't be here now. That's why I couldn't find her back in Rome. I was never meant to find her! I never got to tell her… how much she meant to me."

"Doc, bottom of the pedestal… that's Gallifreyan isn't it?"

"No… it can't be." Suddenly the pair sprinted back to the TARDIS, and searched Rose's jacket… they found a hankie, a packet of mints, her mobile and an earring.

"Those are the earrings the statue is wearing… the real Rose is only wearing one. We can go back and find her." Rebecca exclaimed.

"This had better be enough!" the Doctor said.

"Then how is this statue here then?"

"I have a theory. I know the real artist."

"Who?"

"Oh you'll find out Mickey. We gotta go find Rose and make sure the artist creates it." Mickey left the TARDIS and the two sometime later showed up in Rome and found Rose's statue.

"Boy am I pleased to see you!" Rose said when she finally was no longer stone. She quickly hugged him and went to pull him in for a kiss when an 'Ow!" stopped her. She was still holding a spear.

"Oops Sorry." She dropped the spear and removed the heavy helmet from her head, shaking it clear and then dropped the objects and kissed the Doctor.

"I thought I lost you." He said pushing back a piece of her hair.

"What happened ?"

"You got turned to stone… sorry." Rebecca said popping up.

"I knew, when he showed me the statue of Tiro." She shivered.

"Don't think about it anymore and Tiro's going to be ok. I'm going to rescue him in a day or two. The beauty of time travel. I've arrived back a few days before I left. Cured with this miracle restorative." The Doctor said.

"So where did that come from, then? And where's Ursus? Did you sort him out?"

"Don't really know. Somewhere around and not yet."

"You're lost without me!"

"Don't I know it? If anyone ever asks me what I think about you I'll tell them: Rose Tyler? I'm lost without her. Rock-solid, that's what she is." Rose growled at him but laughed burrowing her head into his chest.

"Becks, you know what this has to do with the British museum? I look nothing like that!"

"Nope, you're Minerva, Goddess of War and the arts right now."

"What happened with the Fortuna stuff?"

"Well-'then they heard a cry.

"It's only Vanessa" Rebecca said.

"How … how did you get here before me? You can't have possibly got here before me."

"You of all people should know that anything is possible." Rebecca said. "Rose let me reintroduce you to Vanessa who is not an astrologer or slave, but a girl from 2375."

"Blimey, and we thought we were a long way from home Becks. What you doing here then?"

"Trying to get home" Vanessa said.

"But how'd you get here in the first place?"

"Yes, I'd be interested to know that too. But Vanessa keeps avoiding the question. She seems to have something to hide." The Doctor said. The girl looked as if she was about to burst into tears.

"I don't! I just… you just wouldn't believe me. You really wouldn't."

""Go on try us." Rose told her. "Can it really be any worse than us thinking you're connected with what's going on here?."

"But… I think I might be!"

"I've been telling everyone you're one of the good guys!"

"But I am! IT's just… Oh all right, I'll tell you everything!" she said miserably, flinging herself down by a tree. "I am Vanessa Moretti, gamma daughter of Salvatorio Moretti of the Bureau Tygon."

"Gamma daughter?" Rose mouthed to Rebecca who shrugged.

"Suddenly it all becomes clear." The Doctor said.

'The Bureau Tygon is the main scientific research establishment."

"And your father was working on time travel? Why have I never-?"

"No! He was working in AI. He never mentioned anything to do with time travel. I mean, it's not possible, everyone knows that.' She smiled sadly, correcting herself. Everyone thought they knew that. My father was working on some project – an AI project. He wasn't very enthusiastic to start with, said it was just a toy, a money-maker. But he began to get more excited. I think it was close to completion when I. . . left. He'd brought something home to work on that day – I don't know what. But then he got called out. I'd been watching a vidcast on ancient Rome.' She laughed ruefully. 'I used to love history. But my caster packed up. I thought something was wrong with the power supply because the lights kept flickering, but I went down to see if the caster in my father's study was still working and it was. There was a box on the side and I think it must have held whatever it was he was working on, but I didn't look to see. Anyway, I sat down to watch the cast. It was about the reign of Hadrian. About building the Pantheon and the wall and everything. Then I got a telecall from my friend Arianne. I was telling her what I was watching, and I said – I remember this, because it was the last thing I said – that I wished I lived back then." She began to laugh hysterically. 'Can you believe that? Can you believe I said that? Live in a time like this! I must have been mad!'

"Guess that saying you must be careful what you wish for really applies now." Rebecca mused. "Anyway what happened next?"

"Then… then the call went dead. The caster shut down. I felt like I was about to be sick… and then I was here." The Doctor wasn't satisfied.

"There has to be more to it than that."

"Well there isn't! I didn't have a clue what had happened… I thought I was dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or someone was playing some elaborate trick on me… but after a few weeks I pretty much gave up that idea."

"And you still don't know how you got here?" Rose asked. Vanessa merely shook her head. After a quick discussion over the validity of time travel and its impossibility in this time period, the four went in search of Ursus. They fought their way through a thicket, the Doctor carrying Rose through because she kept managing to get stuck in the brambles and cutting up her legs, he and Rebecca seemingly able to step around them.

"Where could Ursus have gone? It couldn't have been easy walking around here in the brambles like this." Rebecca asked.

"There, I think." The Doctor said, and the four peeked around a tree spotting a very small clearing. Rebecca, Vanessa, Rose and the Doctor silently crept forward.

"What is it?" Rose whispered. "Some sort of shrine?" the Doctor nodded.

"I think so, a very old one. Abandoned, obviously- well, by most people. You know, tomorrow is the Quinquatrus. I think Ursus is planning to hold his very own festival here." Suddenly they heard a scuffling sound. Rebecca, Rose, Vanessa had to stifle their gasps while the doctor stared with a small frown. Ursus was there inside… with a woman dressed like Minerva. However then her eyes began to glow and her hair swam out around her head as if it were a halo. This woman wasn't dressed as Minerva. She was Minerva.

Ursus began to speak to her, telling her of how he had created her a perfect statue and he had offerings for her so she would continue to bless him. Then Rose heard a soft baaa.

"I don't think I can watch this." She murmured. Then she heard another frightened baa.

"Oi! You! Stop!" she yelled, running halfway into the shrine before the others could react. She was not going to allow any cute farm animals to die on her watch. The knife hung in the air as she charged forward, the blade dropping lower and lower. But it was as if she was in slow motion, the goddess watching her. Then she heard a final bleat of the lamb as it's blood ran onto the floor, blood pooling at the Goddess' feet. But then something horrible began to happen, the blood vanished as if the goddess was soaking it up like a sponge. The body of the lamb began to shrink, its essence liquefying, puddling where the blood had been until there was nothing left.

"Don't be upset Rose." The Goddess said "Even Gods must eat. It is no different than you consuming a lamb chop or a kebab."

"Right, er… I think I might become a vegetarian now."

"Do not be afraid, Rebecca, Vanessa, Doctor. Come forward. No harm shall befall you here."

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked. "Because your follower Ursus seems to be running around doing quite a lot of harm actually." Ursus growled at him. "Are you denying you've been doing harm, then? Because I really think you have been. You know, with all that turning people to stone and soon. Call me a philistine if you like – although actually the Philistines weren't as bad as all that. They might not know a good painting if they saw one, but they knew how to throw a classy party. . . Where was I? Oh, yes – call me a philistine, but I can't quite see the justification of the petrification-as-art business."

"Art justifies everything." Ursus said simply.

"No it doesn't. Point invalid. Next?" Rebecca asked.

"Without art, life would have no meaning."

"Hmm. Actually don't entirely disagree with you on that one, believe it or not – but, and I think this may be the point at which we part company, there's already quite a lot of art in the world. Mosaics, paintings, music – even rather a nice lot of actually-carved-from-stone statues. So, lots of meaning, life is happy, no need to go around zapping people with your magic fingers." The Doctor said.

Ursus pulled off his gloves to reveal his stubby fingers. "Do you know what it's like to feel that you're in the wrong body?" he then went on to explain why he did what he did and how he had only used slaves and Ursus was the exception due to the money factor.

"What you've been doing is just… evil! All those people are dead!" Rose said disgused.

"Actually… the Doc and I are gonna bring them all back to life in about two days using this miracle cure. Remember?" then suddenly the doctor stared off into space, a small smile breaking over his face.

"What? You have your discovery smile on."

"There seems to be a lot of miracles going on round here, don't there?"

"Yeah-" Rose agreed. "But that's what Gods do, isn't it?"

"I've seen a lot of strange things in my time. Things that most people don't believe exist. Abominable snowmen, werewolves, demons, vampires. But Roman gods with mystical powers? I don't think so."

"Watch your mouth!" Ursus cried out.

"There you go! Asking me to do things that are at least pretty uncomfortable, if not physically impossible. Look, let me get this straight. The Goddess Minerva just appeared to you one day, did she?" Ursus nodded.

"After years and years of your worshipping her, making offerings and all that?"

"Yes."

"Doc, be careful… she is right there."

"Not saying much is she? 'Just standing there looking deific, In fact, she only seems to speak when she's spoken to. Which doesn't sound a particularly godly way to behave.' His eyes were shining as bright as the goddess's. "Vanessa!"

The girl hurried forward. 'Yes?'

'2375?'

'Yes,' she said, puzzled.

'Sardinia?'

'Yes.'

'The Bureau Tygon?'

'Yes.'

'Salvatorio Moretti?'

'Yes.'

'In that case. . . ' The Doctor turned to Minerva, who still stood there, beatific and regal. "I wish I could see what you really looked"

Suddenly a crashing sound was heard and Minerva was vanished. On the floor where she had been was a cardboard box, with SM on the side. A small scaly creature that looked somewhat like a baby dragon and a platypus was peering its head out of the box.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Ursus shouted, pulling out his sacrificial knife and running at the Doctor.

"That's the box from my father's study!" Vanessa hurried toward it, getting between the Doctor and Ursus.

"Vanessa, stay back." Rebecca yelled just as Ursus lunged at her. The doctor deflected the knife away from Vanessa as Ursus pushed her to the side and Vanessa fell to the floor solid stone. Ursus grabbed the Doctor and Rebecca pulled Rose back from doing anything stupid as she watched her best friend turn to stone. Rose broke free of her grasp.

"Rose! No!" she jumped on Ursus' back and threw him off balance until he fell to the ground. Rose was waiting for him to try and throw her off but Rebecca merely came over to her face down cast and pulled her away.

"Why did he st-?" and then she saw the pool of blood. He had fallen on his own dagger and was now dead. Rose then pinched herself trying to tell herself this was a dream… but it wasn't. she ran to the statue and held on to it.

There was the Doctor, hands outstretched, desperately trying to save Vanessa. His handsome face was determined, his head held high. This was the Doctor at his most Doctorish. And he'd be like it forever.

"I'm gonna see if we have any of that miracle cure… we can fix this right?" she tried assuring the blonde, but Rose was crying as she held onto the statue.

"I didn't tell him I loved him! He doesn't know! Doctor, why did we have to come here? It's all my fault! All my fault-"

"Rose don't talk like that!"

"I wish he hadn't listened to me. I wish he'd never come here." Then suddenly thunder struck and Rebecca was in London with Rose completely unsure of how she had gotten there and what had just occurred. She could vaguely remember the statues and Ursus and the Doctor, Vanessa's body…"

"I wish I knew how we had gotten here." Rebecca muttered she said helping her friend up.

"Oh all right, if I must." A dragon like creature said. And suddenly the past few minutes became clear and they were back in the shrine.

"Rebecca, where's the Doctor? DOCTOR!" there was no response. Rebecca shuddered as she saw Ursus' body disappear before her eyes like the lamb had before.

"That is disgusting!"

"I'm much obliged to you. That should keep me going for a while." The creature said. Rebecca shuddered her breathing quickening, she wished Jack was there to calm her down. And suddenly she opened her eyes and there he was, wearing his standard light blue button down and all, looking at her. And that's when she fainted, hitting the ground.

"Jack?" Rose asked incredulously as she studied the man in front of her.

"In the flesh sweetheart. You look fantastic in the Greek garb… Why am I not wearing a toga? How did I get here? And why is Rebecca passed out on the floor. It's not like she hasn't seen me before. I am pretty gorgeous I do tend to sweep people off their feet." He said crouching down on the ground, beside Rebecca. He sat down and lifted her head up into his lap and stroked her hair.

"Jack," Rose asked cautiously. "What is the last thing you remember?"

"We just left Cardiff and dropped the Slitheen egg off to Raxicoricofallaptorious and Rebecca had woken me up from a nightmare and sang me to sleep. Why?"

"Our time lines… are off." She tried to explain. "Rebecca can explain it better when she wakes up." Suddenly Rebecca let out a low moan.

"Hey babe, time to wake up." He said, brushing a piece of hair out of her face.

"Jack?" she asked weakly.

"Yeah, that's me. Boy you must've hit your head hard babe. Come on sit up." He said helping her sit up.

"But how are you- where's Doc?"

"Where's the Doctor?" Rose asked the creature. "What have you done with him?"

"The Doctor? There's been no Doctor here."

"Yes there has! You called him by his name. You must know who he is."

"I think you must be mistaken. I have done no such thing. No doctor was ever here."

"WAIT!" Rebecca said scrambling to stand up, Jack holding her by the waist. "Rose you wished that Doc never came here…this creature grants wishes."

"Is that how Ja-?"

"I didn't verbalize it. It must be telepathic."

"Well done. I'm a GENIE." The creature said.

"A genie? Where's the lamp?" Jack asked.

"I'm a Genetically Engineered Neural Imagination Engine. I am a being that grants wishes. That is the function I was designed and built for."

"By Salvatorio Moretti, Vanessa's father." Rebecca said. "Don't you see Rose? The Doc had a hunch about this that's why he asked to see the true form. That's how Vanessa was brought here. She wished to live in Rome and the GENIE translocated her."

"That doesn't explain how I got here," Jack said. "Last thing I remember is you waking me up from a nightmare, singing me to sleep in that amazing nightgown of yours." Rebecca blushed.

"I'll explain later Jack. Now Vanessa didn't know anything about you. She didn't know how you got here."

"'Although I had to accompany my wisher in order to facilitate the transfer in time, I fear a slight miscalculation on my part led to us being separated on arrival in this era. However, considering the fact that I had succeeded in forming a working theory of time-travel and then almost instantaneously engineered a way of putting it into practice and transporting us not only over two millennia in time but several hundred miles across space, I think such an occurrence barely even counts as an error."

"Yeah, the Doctor tries to claim that too." Rose said. "It doesn't wash with him either." A lump came to her throat, thinking about her boyfriend. "Ursus. He wished something about creating beauty in stone. He probably even mentioned wanting to use his hands to do it. But he didn't mention anything about sculpting or skill with a chisel so you went ahead and sorted it however you liked."

"Hardly my fault if people fail to be sufficiently specific. Anyway he didn't seem to mind."

"Well he was a psycho nutter."

"I wasn't specific with my wish and yet…"

"I used my logic circuits which I was constructed with. I can't help if human beings do not do the same."

"We don't have logic circuits."

"Figured as much."

"Can't I just wish my wish undone? And w-word that the Doctor was still here?"

"I wouldn't advise it." Rose let out a groan.

"Rebecca wait… can you make the formula that the Doctor used to bring all those people back?"

"I could… if I had the formula and I had the TARDIS lab with all the ingredients."

"Damn it." Rose muttered.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Not now Jack."

"Yes now! I can't help if I'm standing here wondering what's going on."

"Rose, the Doctor and I took a trip to Rome because we saw a statue of Rose in the british museum. Rose got turned into a statue by a man named Ursus who wished that he could create beauty with stone to the Genie over there. While the Doctor and I were in search of her, I became a near concubine to the emperor, the Doctor almost died in the coliseum and we turned every statue made by Ursus back into humans. But we still didn't find Rose until a few hours ago… we did and so the Doctor got touched by Ursus and was turned to stone after he started to figure out what was going on and so Rose in her hysteria wished that he had never been here…and now we are all in a big mess… so yeah. Questions?"

"Where was I?"

"Taking a bar tending class on Sto." Rebecca lied uneasily. "I wished you were here because I was freaking out."

"Ah… glad I know how to make Stoian drinks now." He said with a shrug. "Now what?"

"Could we kindly request that the GENIE provide us with the miracle cure the Doctor and you used?"

"Should be fool proof. Hey GENIE I wish you would fill this phial with the same stuff that was in it before." And suddenly Rebecca was holding a phial filled with emerald green liquid.

"That wasn't so bad was it?"

"Actually, that was extremely complex. It's an astonishingly difficult formula. I've never come across anything like it."

"As long as it works." Rose shrugged. She handed the phial to Rebecca who carefully let one drop fall on Vanessa and they watched how the miracle cure was truly miraculous and made Vanessa burst into color.

"Ok, before anything else- don't say you wish for anything. You probably want to start with, 'where am I?' and 'what happened?'"

"Yes I think I do." Vanessa said warily. Rose and Rebecca quickly explained to her about the GENIE and then Vanessa started smiling and almost laughing.

"Two things. One who's the hottie?" she asked gesturing to Jack.

"My boyfriend. " Rebecca said. "Next?"

"Isn't it obvious? All I have to do is wish to go-" Suddenly both Rebecca and Rose went to clamp a hand over her mouth.

"Didn't you hear what we were saying? Be careful what you wish for."

"But I can get home! Now I know what brought me here, all I have to do is w-"

"Hold it there sister. IF you w-word to go home, where's that leave the rest of us and the Doctor? How are we supposed to get back? And the GENIE said it can't reserve wishes. " Rose said.

"It probably would've done so by now if it could have done so," Jack offered.

"Regrettably, my creators chose to limit my powers so wishes can only be granted for others. Not myself."

"Right… okay question time genie- this is not a wish – could you get Vanessa home safely if she expressed a desire for that?"

"I may be able to; of course time travel over such a considerable distance requires a great deal of power."

"But I had electricity last time. I caused the lights to flicker. Here, however there is no such electricity supply so I have been forced to adapt myself to obtain energy in a much more basic form."

"That's why you absorbed Ursus' body."

"Indeed. However I fear I do not have sufficient fuel to grant any further time-travel wishes."

"We're not killing anyone. But maybe we could get it steak or something. How 'bout some steak for dinner when we finish this up, babe? Steak, mashed potatoes, a nice merlot, you me and some dancing. That sounds good." Jack said. Rebecca smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

"Sounds wonderful but more important things right now."

"I calculated the energy that would be required to get to the year 2375. Assuming my last energy intake is regarded as an average, I calculate I would need 1,718, 902 times that amount in order to grant such a wish."

Rose and Rebecca were speechless.

"Is the world's population even that big at this point in time?" Jack pondered.

"Yes, but that's twice the population of Rome easily…" Rebecca shook her head. "This is bad. This is very bad." Jack pressed a kiss to her forehead and smiled at her.

"We'll work it out." He promised. Rose and Vanessa sat in silence until finally Rose spoke up.

"Look it's no good sitting around here all day just wishing- I mean, hoping for something to turn up."

"Shall we go out and kill a lot of people, then?' Vanessa asked miserably.

"We could set up a fake arena and the Genie here could disguise itself as a lion." Rose joked.

"No, what we need is an alternative source of energy. Wind farms or solar panels." Jack told them.

"And how are we gonna live in the meantime? Stay here and wish for chips?"

"You've survived so far. We should go back to Gracilis' place. The Doctor said he was going to bring everyone back to life in a couple of days, but if he's no longer here- we gotta play the hero."

"Not necessarily. I'm still part of the time line. As long as we find a way to get me the phial then I should be able to go around and be the heroin." Rebecca said. "But I agree that we should go back to Gracilis'"

"Who's Gracilis?" Jack asked.

"Nice old man, his son got turned to stone. We were helping him out. He has a lovely villa."

"What about the little Dragon dude?" Jack gestured to the GENIE.

"Easy, Vanessa, Romans keep monkeys as pets right?"

"Yeah, I've seen a few."

"GENIE, I wish that you would adopt the appearance of a monkey when there are Romans around to see you, while retaining all the abilities of a GENIE."

"Your wish is my command." And suddenly the thunder boomed.

"It still looks the same." Vanessa pointed out.

"We're not Roman." Rose pointed out and soon the four and the Genie were on their way toward Gracilis' mansion.

"Jack… why don't you talk to Vanessa about being a tad home sick from time travel. You know more about it than I do."

"You got it." He jogged up and started a conversation with her and Rebecca turned to Rose.

"What the hell am I supposed to do?" she asked.

"Maybe you won't have to send him back." Rose tried to reason.

"I don' think I can lose him again Rose. I acted strong but I was a mess when I lost him… I still am."

"We'll work it out yeah?"

"I guess."

"HEY BABE!" Jack called out. "I found a cart! Make the journey faster."

"Coming!" she called back, she and Rose then jogged to catch up to Jack and Vanessa. Vanessa, Rose and the GENIE hopped in the back while Jack and Rebecca sat in the front, enwrapped in each other and rode to Marcia's.

"REBECCA! ROSE! We were so worried! OH, who's this?" Marcia asked.

"This is…"

"Centurion Jack Harkness ma'am. I'm Rebecca's husband." Rebecca's heart ached at that, knowing that they never would get that chance.

"Oh! I didn't realize you were married Rebecca, to a centurion none the less."

"He's been away in Gaul, haven't seen him in quite some time." She said squeezing his hand. "Anyway, have you seen Gracilis?"

"No, he went to Rome in search of Rose. I'm glad you found her. I'll send for someone to bring him back. If only someone would bring Optatus home. Come we're holding a celebration." And that was when things turned to chaos, and wishes started being made left and right. Rose had spilled everything that had occurred to Ursus' mother because she wished for it, the dancers outfits disappeared, an elderly woman was transformed into an infant, and the three girls had suddenly become concubines to a slave who wished to be the emperor.

"I WISH JACK, REBECCA, VANESSA AND I WERE SAFE!" Rose finally yelled and with a crash of thunder everything disappeared.

Rebecca, Jack, Vanessa and Rose looked at their surroundings and there was absolutely nothing, just plain blank space around them.

"We gotta look for that scaly little bastard. " Jack murmured helping Rebecca up. "Because then, I need to return back to my time and wake up with you in my bed." Rebecca froze.

"Yeah, let's find the GENIE." She said quietly. Rose gave her a sympathetic look and the four began to trek out searching for the GENIE. After a while, Rebecca stopped to fix her sandal, and when she looked up, everyone was gone.

"Great. Wish I'd brought a book." She muttered, and suddenly she found herself holding a copy of Summer Falls by Amelia Williams. She shrugged, could've been worse, she hadn't read this book before. But that didn't matter.

"GENIE! I wish that you were here with me right now." And suddenly the scaly creature was beside her in a battered cardboard box.

"I suppose you think this is funny, do you?"

"It was my idea of safety. Do you know how many dangers are lurking around you each and every day?"

"I do actually. Thanks. I wish Rose, Jack and Vanessa were here too." With a clap of thunder, things were as she wished.

"Let me talk this out…so according to you it takes 1,718,902 bodies to get Vanessa back to her own time, presumably it would take the same to get me back anywhere as well right?"

"Right?" Rose questioned.

"But that doesn't make sense… if it takes that much energy to do that, how could it have warped reality by completely liquefying a sculptor and a lamb, and wishes that change the course of history. The amount of energy to change the way the universe worked so the Doctor had never come here… regressing that woman back to infancy… wait. I think I've got it!" Rebecca said.

"Well? Go on then!" Rose said.

"I said it before, the GENIE is telepathic, it gets inside our heads which is how it knew Ursus was asking for Minerva, how it got people to see it as a monkey or as a goddess, how it knew what I was wishing for, which mind you I didn't verbalize."

"You telepathically projected."

"Doesn't matter." Rebecca said.

"She's right though, isn't she? That means it isn't that the Doctor never came to Rome. That makes no sense. You've just altered my perception so it seems he never came here. You made it so we can't see the Doctor, so everyone's forgotten him. It's all one big cheat and you've been making up the rules as you go along."

"I wish Rebecca, Jack, Vanessa and I were back in that ruined shrine and not backwards or forwards in time either and that we could see everything as it really is." A moment later they were back where they had begun their journey and Jack was staring at the statue of the Doctor.

"That's not the Doctor." He said staring at it. "I'm not drunk. The Doctor definitely doesn't look like that."

"Its…. Complicated." Rebecca said rather lamely. Jack laughed and kissed her as Rose cautiously walked over toward the stone Time Lord.

"How do I know that this isn't an illusion as well?" Rose asked the GENIE. "That you're not in my mind, making me think I'm seeing what's really there, but it isn't there really?'

"I can assure you this is reality. And I do not lie. So unless you wish to carryon for the rest of your life assuming that you are not experiencing what you are actually experiencing, I urge you to accept this fact." Rebecca gazed over at Rose who looked back at her for a reassuring nod. So Rose raised the phial and let one drop of the miracle cure fall on the cheek of the Doctor and she watched as he slowly turned back to flesh, and he soon found himself kissing a crying Rose.

"Why are you crying?"

"They're tears of joy you plum." She said smiling at him. "Welcome back." He kissed her again a few times, and Jack began to catcall. The Doctor froze up and turned to Jack.

"Hey, finally got the girl.

"Yeah, Doc, we have a few things to take care of. Couldn't do all the work ourselves."

"Why didn't you just wish all the wishes you made undone?"

"This little guy said he can't undo wishes." Rose said pointing to the GENIE.

"That's nonsense. It undid the nothingness didn't it?"

"But it told me I couldn't undo my wish."

"No I just advised against it. I can't deny wishes."

"But why would you?" Rose asked.

"Because its afraid of me. It saw inside my mind just a little way, when I realized it was a GENIE, from the year 2375 created by Salvatorio Moretti."

"My Father." Vanessa said with a nod.

"GENIEs were supposed to be a boon,' went on the Doctor. 'A great boon, a brilliant boon. This was a society where everything was available, and its citizens came to expect that they could have a thing as soon as think of it. The GENIE was supposed to facilitate that. No more popping down the shops, just tell the GENIE what you want. Fancy a holiday? No waiting around, you'd be there quicker than winking. Envy your neighbor? His hovercar? You've got one just the same. Humans always muck things up, though, don't they? Just with the prototype GENIEs, things began to get out of hand. People would wish they had a GENIE too and – pop! – there one was. They spread all over the planet like scaly little bunnies. The inventors had no idea how powerful they were, because they'd failed to take into account the I in AI – that the GENIEs were intelligent. They could think for themselves, work out how to tap into power systems to grant larger and larger wishes. And they'd also failed to take into account human nature. Envy your neighbour his hovercar? Well, why not wish it was yours instead, and that your neighbour was cast into poverty and forced to envy you? Fancy a holiday? Why not wish for the sun to always shine – you'll get a tan, and who cares if the planet slowly driesout? Why not wish that your enemies become weak and that your nagging wife would really lose her tongue? Humans, never satisfied,vindictive, always putting the pleasure of the moment above the needs of the future."

"You still like us, though, don't you?" Rose asked.

"Love ya ," the Doctor said. "But you guys make a mess of things sometimes. Most of the time."

"So, what happens next?" Jack asked. "Don't remember GENIES from time agency training."

"Thanks to the GENIEs – no, that's wrong, thanks to the people using the GENIEs – the Earth was on the brink of destruction. There could be no stability, because a wish could change anything. Pass a law to stop the wishing, and someone else'll wish for it to go away. Fix the planet, and the next person'll wish for it to be destroyed again. And the power that was being used up to grant all these wishes – you wouldn't believe it."

"I would." Rebecca and Rose said in unison.

"There had been some fail-safes built into the GENIEs. You can't wish anyone dead or not to exist, for example – and that includes the GENIEs themselves. They thought about trying to wish for the GENIEs never to have been created in the first place, but they couldn't do it 'cause it would create an almighty reality-imploding paradox – who would have granted the wish?"

"But they found a way." Rebecca said and the Doctor nodded."

"Someone came up with a plan, finding the earliest GENIE they could in May of 2375. It was the earliest one they had. And they knew the creature would need a tremendous amount of energy to do what needed to be done and so – they hooked it up to the sun And so they wished. . . they wished to return to the day that this GENIE had been created. In May 2375. And with the enormous amount of power at its disposal, the GENIE granted that wish."

"That doesn't make sense. Seems like a bit of reality cheat." Rebecca reasoned. "IT's impossible to change the nature unparadoxically."

"Better than all the alternatives. But – as they knew would happen, as they'd planned all along – even a GENIE couldn't cope with absorbing the power of the sun. In forcing the poor little creature to commit genocide on its whole kind, they were making it commit suicide single atom of that GENIE was burnt to a crisp – and the resultant fire destroyed the Bureau Tygon. The lab where the GENIEs were first created, every scrap of research all ash and cinders."

"Vanessa, what day did you leave?"

"April 17, 2375."

"And that's why your GENIE still exists. IT's the first."

"But if it takes me home…"

"The earth gets destroyed." Rebecca said reading her timeline. There was silence for a moment. Rose asked a few questions for clarification and the Doctor and Rebecca both observed time lords.

"This is the only GENIE in existence because they took their planet back to a time after it was made- they had to because they needed the GENIE that was built later to grant the wish. So there's no guarantee the Earth would be destroyed this time." Rose reasoned.

"Not quite," Rebecca said. "Human nature. I can tell what would happen if this GENIE got back to it's original time, and it doesn't happen and while time isn't normally this strict, it has to stay on the right track this time."

"But if it never happened how'd you know about it?"

"Time Lord Super powers!" the Doctor said excitedly.

"How does Rebecca know about it then?" Jack asked.

"Umm… surprise? I'm an alien." She said awkwardly.

"How did you not know that?"

"It's complicated. Really very complicated Jack. Just trust me on this?"

"I've been trusting you a lot lately."

"And I'm grateful for that. But we'll work it out later okay?" He sighed but nodded at her giving her a kiss, the Doctor looking on disapprovingly.

"BACK TO THE ISSUE AT HAND!" Vanessa called out. "I can't go back home."

"Why not?" Rose asked her.

"Because you heard what the Doctor said! I'll be condemning the Earth to death."

"Not you, the GENIE can't go back." The Doctor explained.

"But it can't stay here!"

"We just need to find some people who have less destructive wishes."

"But how?"

"Same way we'll get you back… In a time Machine!"

"You have a time machine?"

"Yeah…. Speaking of time, what day is this?"

"Er.. Friday?" Rose reasoned.

"It's the 19th. The Quinquatrus, so you're arriving in Rome sometime about now while I'm being forced into being a Concubine. Thanks for that by the way." Rebecca answered.

"Gotta be careful then. Could be catastrophic if we meet ourselves." He ignored her. "We have go get to Rome in the next ooh eight hours."

"Why?" Rose asked.

"Rebecca and I have to sort out all those people still and we need that phial of liquid. We haven't done them yet. In fact we don't even have the cure yet. In about eight hours I find that miracle cure."

"So we get back to Gracilis' and take the TARDIS back to Rome and do that." Rebecca reasoned and then they began the trek back to Gracilis' and then took the TARDIS to right inside of Fortuna's shrine.

"Rose, 'Right. You're Fortuna, you hide behind the statue, you don't, repeat don't, let me see you; and you wait until Gracilis has picked up the phial and left before you come out again. Oh, and take this – it'll disguise your voice. OK?' He handed her a small metal device and hustled her towards the door. 'Go go go!'

"Can I rehearse or something?"

"No time just go." Rose stumbled into the shrine and hid herself behind the statue of Fortuna, spying between its legs. She saw how sad the Doctor was and it hurt her heart. She fulfilled her task, making sure Gracilis obtained the phial at the end by making a wish before heading back into the TARDIS for a good snog with the Doctor. The Doctor than navigated the TARDIS back to Vanessa's time and place.

"Thank you, all of you for this." Vanessa said hugging each of them in turn.

"You're welcome. Just remember convince your father that he musn't build another GENIE. Fate of the World Vanessa. Fate. Of. The. World." The Doctor said.

"Take care of yourself." Rose said as the four ventured back into the TARDIS.

"The end of the adventure then?" Rose asked.

"Not quite. I have one last wish to make." Jack said. "I have to get back to my own time." Rebecca looked up at him sadly.

"Just give us a minute." She pleaded with the others before slowly walking Jack back to his old room.

"Rebecca," but she pressed a finger to his lips and kissed him hard, trying to blink back the tears that were threatening to fall. His hand wound in her hair and got caught on her chain and he broke apart to untangle himself and saw the ring on that chain.

"Rebecca, I'm not on Sto am I?"

"You know I can't answer that."

"You can ask for the GENIE to make me forget."

"Jack,-"

"I didn't give you that ring on a whim Rebecca. I know why I would give it to you. It's a promise. A promise that regardless of what happens, hell or high water I will always find my way back to you."

"Jack, there are some things that cannot be."

"I just made a promise I intend on keeping. I'll always find my way back to you. And before I go, I just wanted you to know I love you."

"I love you with both of my hearts." She said. "You saw beyond the brains and the books and just saw me and I thank you for that. When I first met you, I had these walls up and didn't let anyone in and somehow you penetrated them but instead of sending them crashing down, you got down to my core and built me up and made me stronger Jack, you made me feel so strong and I love you so much." She cried and he wiped her tears kissing her.

"You touch my soul Rebecca, you really touch my soul. But now it's time for me to go…" she nodded slightly, sniffling.

"You're much too beautiful to be crying this much. Let me see that beautiful smile one more time." He said lifting her chin up. She gave him a weak smile and he smiled at her once more holding her close. "Come on." The pair slowly walked to the console room where Jack hugged Rose and the Doctor before giving Rebecca one last kiss.

"GENIE, I wish I was back in my correct spot in my timeline with no memories of the events that just occurred." And with one more crack of thunder, Jack was gone leaving a sobbing Rebecca in his wake.

"Becks,"

"I'm gonna go draw a bath, can you two figure this out?"

"Of course." Rose said instantly the Doctor nodding behind her. Rebecca headed off to her room while the Doctor and Rose stared at the GENIE.

"What to do with you?"

"I've got an idea." Rose proposed.

"I'm all ears."

"Not so much anymore." She joked referring to his old body. He smiled at her shaking his head.

"Your idea?"

"Well the GENIE can't wish for itself. But I can wish for it- and like how Aladdin wished to free the GENIE in the Disney film which is brilliant by the way, Robin Williams is so funny anyway. I could make it so it doesn't have to grant wishes anymore."

"But granting wishes is all I know."

"You can still grant wishes, if you want to. But it'd be your choice. You wouldn't have to do things that would destroy people or hurt them or anything like that.

"My choice?"

"Yeah!"

"That is freedom?"

"That's freedom."

"Then perhaps… I should like it. I should like freedom."

"Here goes then. I wish… that the GENIE is free. That it doesn't have to grant wishes unless it wants to. That it's not a slave anymore." A boom of thunder was heard.

"Did it work?"

"Why not try and see?" the Doctor proposed.

"I wish the Doctor's nose was green!"

"Hey!" Rose opened her eyes wide in horror.

"Oh no! Looks like the GENIE isn't free after all.." the Doctor ran to go find a mirror and Rose peeled over laughing. "Freedom okay for you then?"

"Freedom is indeed okay."

"You know, you don't have to grant wishes anymore. But if you wanted anything granted for yourself, you know-I could help you out."

"I should like, to go somewhere…nice. A place where there are no people to covet my power. A simple place. A place where I can be… happy."

"Then I wish that for you" and suddenly the GENIE disappeared.

"Mean trick Rose Tyler, making me think my nose was green." The Doctor said coming back.

"Sorry." She laughed. "But we gotta finish this up. We have to go back and undo everything now don't we?"

"No. Just drop something off. Come this way." He grabbed her hand and led her to a room right off the console room, filled with sculpting paraphernalia and in front of Rose was the statue of her from the museum, brand new and gleaming.

"But I never posed for this."

"You didn't have to. I know every inch of your body Rose Tyler. I made it."

"Really? But how? I didn't know you sculpted. You said you weren't a master sculptor or anything."

"I learned."

"When?"

"I live in a time machine." He explained to her how Rebecca figured it out and how he went back in time taking some lessons from Michelangelo, how much of a slave driver he was and how he knew what they were gonna do next.

"Is my bum really that big?" Rose asked him.

"I think it's perfect sized. I think everything about you is perfect." He told her and she smiled at him and gave him a kiss.

"Sweet talker."

"Got the gift of gob but I'm only speaking the truth here." He pressed a kiss to her lips before skipping back to the Console and getting them back to Gracilis' and bringing out the statue, explaining that Vanessa wasn't coming back and asking him to keep the statue. After a farewell, the couple returned to the TARDIS exhausted but finally relieved.

"I'm gonna check on Becks, then shower, meet you in the media room to watch Aladdin in like half an hour?"

"Perfect. See you then." Rose wandered into Rebecca's room and to the door of her ensuite Bathroom.

"You trying to drown yourself in there Becks?"

"The thought crossed my mind, but having a respiratory bypass system sort of negates trying, I just breathe underwater."

"Becks."

"I'm alright Rose, I'll be alright."

"That a time lord lie?"

"Probably…" Rose heard Rebecca get out of the tub and padded over to the door. A moment later she opened it wearing a bath robe, hair piled on top of her head.

"Becks-"

"Losing him a second time hurt just as much. Because you know Jack was the first one who saw more than just the intelligence at first, he was the first one to see past that all, he saw all of me and he made me feel beautiful and I've never felt that way before and now he's gone… again." She sighed.

"You and Doc are so lucky you know? A love like yours don't happen twice, and you know he won't die on you, he might change his face but he won't die. He loves you, he doesn't know how to say it but he does. So you should tell him, make him realize that humans need to hear it, that he doesn't have fourteen centuries to make you wait for him. It put everything into perspective for me. Maybe it can help you. I'm gonna get dressed so if you'll excuse me." Rose walked out of Rebecca's room in a daze confused by what to do.

AN: So hey what did you think? Love? Hate? Feels? Lemme know in the cute little review box. Questions too?

Question from me to you: Feelings on Clara, I might've asked this already, I'm losing track. Do you love her, is whoffle your other OTP? Do you think theTARDIS has good reason to hate her because you do? Let me know

As always thanks for reading.

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