Chapter XXXVI

Mira's POV

It was the third day after they had escaped the Beast and the black-hole. The TARDIS was drifting through space – or through time, Mira wasn't exactly sure about that. Although it felt more like drifting through time, the TARDIS could do both, as the Doctor had told her.

In the meantime they had planted one of the seeds of the old plant. Both, the Doctor and her, were curious how it would work out with a psychic plant and the TARDIS, and how the plant would like it aboard. Apart from that, it was the first time she herself had seen the garden. She had expected something like the gardens on the larger space ships she knew from her universe, with some painted sky and the ever present sound of the engines, never letting one forget that one actually was still in space. Here it was completely different. It was as if stepping through a transmitter onto another planet. One moment she had been in the TARDIS, the next, as she followed the Doctor through the door, she was in an environment that seemed so real. The smell, the sounds, even the sky seemed to stretch miles high upon their heads. It had a strange orange glow to it, closer to the horizon it was almost red. Horizon. There actually was a horizon. There were plants and trees growing here she had never seen before. She had considered for a moment to ask, if his homeworld had looked like this, but then she had rejected the thought. Instead she had turned around, expecting to see the wall from the corridor, but there was nothing but garden. No door, no wall, nothing that gave away the fact that they were still on a spaceship. From this moment on she had been rather quiet for the next hours.

Rose, on the other hand, was hardly seen during these three days, but the few times she did actually show up in the kitchen or the console room, Mira could clearly see how uncomfortable the girl was. She might have been thinking that Mira had done her a favour; but by know she had clearly gotten that this hadn't been the case. Instead of being forced to react, she had now to make a decision on her own. And to deal with the consequences. It would have been too easy to tell the Doctor and leave to him how to deal with it. Now it was completely up to her. Would she remain silent and live with the guilty conscience she was certainly having now, or would she tell him, and deal with the consequences?

Mira felt almost sorry for Rose, but on the other hand, she had to learn it eventually.

Mira's relation to the Doctor, however, was still a bit reserved, but not because she was afraid what would happen if Rose would really tell him. Certainly he would want to know why she hadn't grassed on Rose, but she would stand up to her decision.

The Doctor most likely had an idea that something was wrong. As far as she knew him by now, he had a habit of seeing only things he wanted to see, but that didn't mean he was ignoring the rest. He just liked to avoid thinking about these things if not absolutely necessary.

…

Later that day, she and the Doctor were in the console room. He was fiddling with some switches, and she was sitting on the jump seat, trying to figure out for the umpteenth time what he was doing, but to no avail. She couldn't even read the writing on the monitor. If it was writing at all. Besides that, she was still thinking that this console room was lacking a proper, large screen. Large as in: From the floor to the ceiling.

"What about some flying lessons?" The Doctor had turned around and was now looking at her out of big, brown eyes. His hands were shoved into the pockets of his suit, bouncing on his feet.

"Flying lessons?" she replied, not entirely sure what to make out of his offer.

"Yeah. Just keeping her on course, for a start. Maybe bring her out of the time stream at a specific date? What are you saying?"

"Uhm... I thought only you can operate her?" she asked, still sceptically. Normally, she was totally in for flying spaceships, but not that particular one. Not technology belonging to a people so incredibly superior to her own. Not a time machine. Certainly not a living time machine. Keeping her on course. Sure. She couldn't even see if she was still on course or not.

"Yes. But I'm still here, so it should be fine. And I said flying lessons. Flying isn't really operating her. It's just about pressing a few buttons and such."

"I see. If you want me to be able to help you press the right buttons if we ever have to fly away from a black-hole again, then I'm fine with it." That's what it was about. He didn't even mean showing her how to fly the TARDIS. Would be above her intelligence anyway.

He looked at her, slightly hurt and disappointed. "I didn't say that. I just thought it might help you to understand the controls a bit better. At least she doesn't seem to have anything against you touching them."

"Hey, I said it's fine. I just doubt that I would be able to fly her. I can't even read what's on the screen."

"Well then, come here. That's the Communications Panel," he pointed at one part of the console. "You won't need that. Here's the diagnostic panel, not really important for you as well. Same for the information system panel. Well, when I say not really important, I mean, it might be good to have a look at the Harmonic Generator status from time to time-"

"And what's a Harmonic Generator?"

"Ah, it just uses the subneutronic spin as a basic Space-Time Warping Template, to collapse the interstitial mesh that opens and then seals the breach in space-time. It-" He suddenly stopped as he looked at her again. "Well, as said, not really important for you. It just shouldn't get blue."

"Blue?"

"Yeah. Not everyone uses red as a warning colour. Actually, not many besides humans."

"Fine." She had a hint of an idea what this Harmonic Generator might be for, but that was only one of the many systems of the TARDIS. "So this Harmonic Generator just prevents any distortions in Time-Space whilst the TARDIS materialises, meaning leaving the Time Vortex?"

"Yeah, basically you can say so," he replied and beamed at her. "Well, not very scientifically explained, but yes. So, here's the Helm Panel, or the Dematerialisation Systems Panel. That is important, in case you want to land her. Or dematerialise her. That's the master switch," he pointed to a large, glowing red switch, "And the Time Vortex Control, Steering Mechanism," that was obviously the transparent glass sphere, "And there, the Time Rotor Handbrake."

"Handbrake. Really? I thought this was a joke."

"Why would it be a joke?" he asked irritated.

"Don't know? Our ships don't have 'handbrakes'."

"Don't they? Well. Anyway, that's the Master Control Panel. Central Computer, Engine Release Lever, Dimensional Gyroscopic Stabiliser, Time Sensor, Telepathic Circuits."

"I guess one does have to be telepathic to fly her?"

"Flying her? Yes. Pressing some buttons? No."

"Oh. Okay." She still hadn't forgotten the experience with his sonic screwdriver on the clock-work-ship. On the other hand, that would explain the lack of displays and scales.

"So, that's important again. Or not so much, depends if you're able to plot a course through time and space. Requires some slightly complex mathematics," he rubbed the back of his neck, "That's the Navigation Panel. Materialisation Switches-"

"Wait. Why are they on the Navigation Panel and not on the Dematerialisation Panel?"

"Because it's the Dematerialisation Panel?"

"But you said I'd need that panel for landing her."

"Because you need to pull the handbrake after doing so."

"Great," she said, not really convinced of this whole idea.

"You've got it? Brilliant!" He exclaimed enthusiastic, obviously not getting the sarcasm. "So, first question: What's the state of our flight right now?"

Seriously?

"You know what this room is lacking? A big, huge screen." She gestured what she meant by 'big'. "I don't know how it is with you, but humans actually do need to take a look outside from time to time to orientate themselves."

"Oh come on!" he whined. "Give it a try."

Give it a try? She looked at the console and slightly shook her head. It was glowing like a Christmas tree, but didn't tell her anything. Fine. Exceptional situations were calling for exceptional measures. If one needed to be psychic to fly her, than she should probably rely on that. She considered for a moment to simply touch one of the controls, but first she wanted to try something else. She focused on the perceptions she was normally used to blend out. There it was. This slight tingling on the back of her brain, a feeling like static energy, raising her hackles. A feeling she always got when something with the time wasn't right.

"I think we're flying through the Time Vortex right now."

"You think?" he asked, but it was clear to see that he was delighted, yet a bit sceptical at the same time. "That's a guess, isn't it?"

"No guess. I'm not entirely sure, there are certain... interfering fields in here. But I might say, ninety-five percent certain." She was a bit surprised about herself, to be honest. Sure, she had always been able to feel things like that, for time was connected with the universe itself, and she had experienced time travel and similar phenomenons before, but it seemed that it had grown stronger since she was aboard the TARDIS. Probably the constant exposure had sharpened her senses.

"We actually are drifting through the Time Vortex," he said after he had raised a brow. "So, let's put her out of drift mode and on an actual course. Steering mechanism."

She went over to the glass sphere, that was glowing green right now. She lifted her hand, but then hesitated for a moment, her hand hovering over the sphere.

"Don't worry. She doesn't bite. Well, most of the times at least."

Something about the way he tucked on his earlobe told her that he wasn't just saying that. Who knew what the old Time Ship was capable of.

"At least she knows how sensitive humans are to electric shocks. And she likes you. No need to be worried."

"Alright. Just one word," she said, and looked around, "I would actually prefer biting over electric shocks." For a moment she thought she could hear something like a laughter in her head, then she put her hand on top of the glass-sphere. Although she had expected it, it was overwhelming at first. She suddenly could feel the course of the ship, how it was drifting through time and space. It wasn't enough to really know where they were heading, and there were again these foreign signs in her mind's eye, but all in all it was something she hadn't experienced before. Sure, in her universe it was also possible to pilot ships with some sort of mind control, but it wasn't like that. The pilots didn't need to be actually psychic, although they needed a certain brain structure. Not everyone was able to do that. And it was certainly more about it then just touching a glass sphere.
She let go of the glass-sphere and looked up again, right into his eyes. He was still smiling at her, but now it wasn't that overly manic, enthusiastic beaming, but a soft smile filled with genuine warmth and affection.

The next fifteen minutes they spend hurrying around the console – or to be more precise, she was hurrying and he was pointing at various levers and switches. Whilst she was at least trying to keep up and remember everything, she would in fact be happy enough to keep half of the things he was telling her. Meanwhile, Rose had entered the console room, but Mira hardly paid attention to her. They were about to materialise somewhere, and she had enough to do with processing not only his commands, but all the impressions she got from the TARDIS.

Finally, they made it. The sound of the engine stopped, as soon as she had pulled the 'handbrake'.

"Let's have a look where we are, hm?" the Doctor asked immediately and went for the door.

Mira had suspected he knew where they were, but well. Somewhere around Rose's time, that much she had gotten from the instruments.

"Ah," he said as he opened the door. Behind it was some sort of wall. "You got the spin wrong."

"What? I thought you were doing that," Mira replied. He had said something about a spin, meaning in which direction the door would be once they'd landed, but not that she should do it.

"No? I thought you were keeping an eye on the spin when materialising. Haven't I told you?"

"No, you haven't. I thought you did watch it."

"No," he looked at her, as innocent as possible, then flipped a few switches and released the handbrake. The engine came to life again, and after a few moments it stopped. Seemingly nothing had happened, but as he opened the door again, there was nothing in front of it.

"Ah!" he exclaimed.

Rose, who had been quiet all the time, followed him. Mira was the last one to leave the TARDIS and closed the door.

"So, near future, yeah?" Rose asked.

"I had a passing fancy. Only it didn't pass, it stopped," the Doctor replied.

"Looks like a construction site," Mira said.

They were walking down a road, until they reached a banner, saying, "LONDON 2012"

"30th Olympia," the Doctor said.

"No way! Why didn't I think of this, that's great! Ah!" Rose said.

"Only seems like yesterday a few naked Greek blokes were tossing a discus about... wrestling each other in the sand with crowds stood about, begging... no, wait a minute... that was Club Med." the Doctor said, laughing about his own joke, nudging Mira in the side.

"Naked Greek blokes wrestling in the sand? Must have been some sight. Can we go there?" she replied and smirked at him, even more so as she saw the frown on his face.

"Humans," was all he said, slightly shaking his head, and then continued, " Just in time for the opening doo dah - ceremony... tonight, I thought you'd like that. Last one they had in London was dynamite. Wembley, 1948. I loved it so much, I went back and watched it all over again. Fella carrying the torch... lovely chap, what was his...?"

Rose's POV

Rose was still slightly annoyed that the Doctor showed Mira how to fly the TARDIS. Well, more than slightly annoyed. Why hadn't he ever showed it to her? She tried to hide her mood, and she believed she was doing rather well, but she couldn't stop thinking about it. Apart from that, she had a growing guilty conscience. Mira hadn't told the Doctor – yet - but that didn't make it undone. She now found herself in a state of uncertainty, what was probably even worse than the Doctor being angry at her. Plus, she was living in constant fear that Mira would change her mind and tell him anyway. And there was something else – would she really end up being lost some day? Trapped somewhere in the past or the future, without the Doctor? She had a really bad feeling about her future that made her sick to her stomach. It had started after the Beast had said that she might die in battle so very soon, and had grown stronger every day.

"Mark...? John..? Mark...? Legs like pipe cleaners, but strong as a whippet," the Doctor kept on babbling, just as she caught sight of a poster out of the Corner of her eye. She moved closer to investigate it, followed by Mira, who had seen it as well. Only the Doctor kept on walking.

"Doctor...," she tried to catch his attention. It was a poster about missing people. Missing children.

"And in those days, everybody had a tea party to go to," the Doctor continued.

"Doctor?" she tried it again.

"Did you ever have one of those little cakes with the crunchy ball bearings on top-"

"DOCTOR!" Now Mira tried it as well, her voice raised. He stopped dead in his track and turned around.

"You should really look," Rose said to him, now that they had his attention.

"Do you know those - those things?" he was still talking about something else, but finally walked over to them. "Nobody else in this entire galaxy's ever even bothered to make edible ball bearings. Genius." He was standing now in front of the poster, right between her and Mira, and studied it, a frown on his face now. "What's taking them, do you think?" He scanned the street and then looked back at the poster. "Snatching children from a thoroughly ordinary street like this. Why's it so cold...? Is something reducing the temperature...?"

"It really is cold," Mira confirmed. They were right, Rose thought. Their breath was condensing to little white clouds. Well, at least her's and Mira's. The Doctor's not so much.

"It says they all went missing this week. Why would a person do something like this?" she asked him.

"What makes you think it's a person?" he said, after looking at her intently.

Oh yeah. One of these looks. Had he ever looked at her like that since Mira was with them? Hardly.

"Why can I hardly see your breath?" she eventually asked, not so much out of actual curiosity, but mainly to distract herself.

"Hm? What?" He exhaled to test it. "Ah, see what you mean. Colder body temperature."

"How cold?" Mira asked, but just then a door opened, and Rose turned around. A woman dumped a recycling sack on the pavement, and hurried back inside. All the while she had cast furtive looks around her.

"Whatever it is, it's got the whole street scared to death. Doctor, what-?" Rose said and turned around again, but the Doctor was gone. So was Mira, she saw her running along the street. A bit a head of her was the Doctor, at the other end of the Road.

Doctor's POV

Something was going on here, the Doctor was sure about that. Wasn't there a certain smell in die air? And there was something else he was feeling...
Without looking back, he ran over to the other end of the street and stopped in the front garden of one of the houses next to a mini football goal. He crouched down and held his hand out. There it was again. That strange tickling.

"What's it?" he suddenly heard a voice. He looked to his left and found Mira crouching next to him.

"Don't know. But it tickles! Can't you feel it?"

She held out her hand next to his, and said after a moment, "No, nothing."

"You really can't feel it? Why not?"

"Why should I? Maybe because sensing time and the universe really is enough. So no, whatever you say is there, I-"

"What's your game?" Someone addressed him from behind. He hadn't heard him coming, and now he spun around, almost a bit startled, and so did Mira.

"My... um... Snakes and Ladders? Quite good at... Squash. Reasonable," he said and then noticed the expression of disbelief and annoyance on the face of the man. He shot a quick glance to Mira, who looked equally caught as he himself must appear. "I'm... being facetious, aren't I? There's no call for it."

"We... We're investigating," Mira said.

"Yes! I'm- I'm a police officer! And she's one too, my colleague. I've got a badge - and- and a police car... you don't have to get- I can- I can prove it! Just hold on-" He searched for his psychic paper, but the man didn't seem to be overly impressed. On the contrary, he started to approach them, forcing them to walk backwards on to the street.

"We've had plenty of coppers poking around here, and you don't look - or sound - like any of them. What's that you're wearing anyway? You're heading for some fancy-dress ball?" he said and pointed at Mira. She was wearing her blue uniform jacket to her usual black clothes.

Meanwhile, they both reached a small group that had gathered around Rose.

"See, look! And that's my new recruit! Lewis," the Doctor said and pointed at Rose.

"Well, she looks less like a copper than you two do."

"As I said, training. New recruit. It was either that or hairdressing, so..." He had finally managed to get his psychic paper and showed it to the man. "Voila!"

"What are you going to do?" A woman asked. It was the one who had brought out the waste.

"The police have knocked on every door - no clues, no leads, nothing," an old woman said.

"Look, kids run off sometimes, all right? That's what they do-" the man who had caught him said.

"Dale Hixon in your garden, playing with your Tommy, and then...!" the old woman said, "Right in front of me, like he was never there! There's no need to look any further than this street. It's right here amongst us."

"Why don't we-" the Doctor tried to stop them, but to now avail. They kept on talking over each other.

"Why don't we start with him?" another woman said, and pointed at a guy who looked like a roadman. "There's been all sorts like him in this street, day and night."

"Fixing things up for the Olympics!" he said.

"Yeah, and taking an awful long time about it."

"I'm of the opinion that all we've gotta do is just-" the Doctor tried it again.

"You don't- what you just said, that's slander!" the roadman said.

"I don't care what it is!"

"I think we need to just-" the Doctor said, but they weren't listening, instead they started to accuse the poor roadman, and then started to talk about something evil. Finally, he had enough. "Fingers on lips!" he shouted. Now, that he had everyone's attention, he put his finger on his lips, and they all followed after a moment of bewilderment. All apart from Rose and Mira, who finally obeyed as well, after he had looked at them pointedly.

"In the last six days, three of your children have been stolen. Snatched out of thin air, right?" he asked into the silence.

"Er... can I...?" the old woman asked. Fascinating. It was actually working. He motioned for her to talk.

"Look around you... this was a safe street 'til it came. It's not a person. I'll say it if no one else will," she said, "Maybe you're coppers - maybe you're not. I don't care who you are. Can you please help us?"

From the corner of his eye he saw how Rose turned her head to one of the houses. So did the woman they had seen earlier, and then she hurried back into the house.

...

A few moments later the group had disbanded and the tree of them were walking around the front lawn. There was this smell again, but he wasn't sure where it came from. He was sniffing and trying to figure it out as Rose asked, "Want a hanky?"

"Can you smell it?" he asked in return, meaning both of them. Now they were sniffing as well. "What does it remind you of?"

"Metal?" Mira asked. "A bit like the smell that comes from high voltage generators. I mean really high voltage generators, as in space-ships. Or plasma discharges. But still a bit different, and it's definitely no ozone in it."

"Yeah, smell like metal," Rose confirmed.

"Mm-hm!" He smiled at them both. Then he waved at the man who had caught him in the act, before he headed for a narrow alleyway.

"Danny Edwards cycled in one end but never came out the other," he said after they had entered the alleyway. Just then he was feeling something again. "Whoa, there it goes again!" He showed the back of his hand to Rose and Mira. "Look at the hairs on the back of my manly hairy hand."

"And there's that smell... it's like a um... a burnt fuse plug or something," Rose said.

"There's a residual energy in the spots where the kids vanished. Whatever it was, it used an awful lot of power to do this."

"Some sort of transmitting technology?" Mira asked.

"Could be. But why is someone doing that?" he wondered.

"Aren't you a beautiful boy?!" Rose said as they had left the alleyway and were back in front of the houses.

"Thanks! I'm experimenting with back-combing," he said absent mindedly, whilst he was looking around, still trying to figure out what was causing all this. Then he turned his head to Rose and noticed the cat.

"Oh," he said, rather disappointed. Next to him he heard Mira giggle.

"Sorry," she said, still grinning, as he looked at her indignantly.

"I used to have one like you," Rose continued, and stroke the cat.

Cats.

Not that he had anything against them. Not really. But...

"What?" Rose asked, seemingly noticing the expression on his face.

"No, I'm not really a cat person. Once you've been threatened by one in a nun's wimple, it kind of takes the joy out of it," he said.

Meanwhile, the cat had turned to Mira and was sitting not even three feet away from her. Suddenly, the animal hissed at her.

"Cats in nun's wimples?" Mira asked, obviously trying to ignore the cat.

"Long story," he waved it aside as the cat hissed again. "You're not a cat person either, are you?"

"Well, at least cats don't like me. I don't have anything against them. Don't know. Maybe they sense that I'm different." The cat hissed again. "Stop it! Why don't you get lost?" she said and waved at the cat.

Finally, the cat turned around and walked away, right over to a cardboard box.

"Come here, puss!" Rose said and followed the animal. "What do you wanna go in there for?" she asked as the cat was entering the box. Then there was a whooshing sound, and after that nothing but silence. Rose peered inside the box, and he was almost certain that the box would be empty. "Doctor!" she said and sounded alarmed.

He hurried over to her, as did Mira. Empty. The box was indeed empty, he could see it now as Rose turned it around. Then, he got hit by the smell.

"Whoa! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!" It was very strong this time, and he tried to wave it away. "Iron residue. Blimey! That takes some doing!" He picked up the box and turned it around. "Just to snatch a living organism out of space/time. This baby is just like," he put on some accent, ""I'm 'avin' some of that" - I'm impressed."

"You? Impressed? The man with the time machine? Well if that's not a reason for being concerned...," Mira said quietly.

"So the cat's been transported?" Rose asked.

"It can harness huge reserves of ionic power," he explained instead of answering her question. "We need to find the source of that power." He looked around. "Find the source and you will find... whatever has taken to stealing children and fluffy animals. See what you can see." He turned to Rose, whacked her on the shoulder gestured his eyes and said, "Keep 'em peeled, Lewis."

Mira's POV

"So, any idea what this is all about?" Mira asked the Doctor. She had followed him, and now they were looking around, without really knowing what they were looking for.

"I don't have the slightest," he admitted.

"I only hope the children are still alive. I mean, if someone wanted them dead, they could have done it a lot easier, couldn't they?" she asked, and was thinking at the same time that there always was a fate worse than dead.

"Well-" the Doctor said as they turned around a corner. He didn't finish his sentence, instead he started running. A moment later Mira saw it for herself. Rose was attacked by... Yeah, by what? It seemed like a tangle of wires, hurling angrily above Rose who was laying on the ground.

"Stay still!" the Doctor yelled. She was following him immediately, and as soon as they had reached Rose, he pointed his sonic screwdriver at the thing. After a few seconds, the strange ball of wires collapsed into a small, more solid ball, falling into Rose's outstretched hands. The girl didn't seem to be overly shocked, Mira had to give her that.

"Okey dokey?" the Doctor asked, hold out his hand and pulled Rose back to her feet.

"Yeah, cheers," Rose said, a bit out of breath.

"No probs," he said and hugged her, then all three of them turned their attention to the object in Rose's hand.

"I'll give you a fiver if you can tell me what the hell it is," the Doctor said and then pocked it with his sonic. "'Cos I haven't got the foggiest."

"Well, I can tell you you've just killed it," Rose said.

"It was never living. It's animated by energy. Same energy that's snatching people," the Doctor said and took the object from her, throwing it up and down, with this particular delighted expression on his face. "That is so dinky! The Go-Anywhere creature. Fits in your pocket... makes friends, impresses the boss... breaks the ice at parties...," he said and put the object into his pocket.

…

They had walked back into the TARDIS, and the Doctor had placed the object on the TARDIS console for analysing.

"Oh - hi ho, here we go. Let's have a look," he said. Mira stepped closer, and regretted once more that she couldn't read the writings on the screen.

"Get out of here...," the Doctor said surprised.

"What's it say?" Rose asked.

Instead of answering her, the Doctor took a pencil from his pocket, held the object in front of him and used the rubber at the end of the pencil to erase a part of the object.

"It is!" he said, and blew it. "It's graphite! Basically the same material as an HB pencil."

"I was attacked by a... pencil scribble?" Rose said in astonishment.

"Scribble creature," the Doctor said and then sniffed at it. "Brought into being with ionic energy. Whatever we're dealing with, it can create things as well as take them. But... why make a scribble creature?!"

"Maybe it was just a try? To figure out its power, experimenting?" Mira said.

"Or maybe it was a mistake... I mean, you scribble over something when you wanna get rid of it. Like a um... like a drawing. Like a... a-" Rose threw in, then she seemed to realise something. "...child's drawing. You said it was in the street."

"Probably...," the Doctor said.

"The girl."

"Of COURSE!" the Doctor yelled, followed by, "... What girl?"

Yeah, what girl. There had been a girl in the window, Mira had seen it as well, and there had been something weird about her.

"Something about her gave me the creeps... even her own mum looked scared of her," Rose said. So, she had noticed it as well.

"The girl in the window?" Mira asked and Rose nodded.

"Are you deducting?" the Doctor said, and leaned in.

"I think I am," Rose replied, giving him a conspiratorial look.

For a moment it almost seemed between the two of them like it must have been before her arrival, Mira thought. At least on the outside. She knew exactly what was going on with Rose. Of course she couldn't tell what was going on with the Doctor, but she was almost certain he was only too aware that there was something going on.

"Copper's hunch?" the Doctor said to Rose.

"Permission to follow it up, sarge."

StargladesTime, ash, Ingridie, bored411, AxidentlGoddess, oXxgeorgiaxXo: Thanks for reviewing :-)

Falling Right Side-Up: Thanks for leaving so many reviews :-) Glad you like the story. And sorry for making you hating Rose now. Didn't mean that ;-)