The Doctor watched Amy step out of Rose's room and head farther down the corridor as he walked toward Rose's room. He made Rose a cup of tea, though that wasn't the real reason for his visit. She slipped away earlier before he had a chance to rescan her with the TARDIS and he'd been waiting for her to come back into the control room, but as first one hour and then another slipped by he decided to check on her. Run a quick scan with his sonic.

She also hadn't elaborated on that whole I think I might've done something business and he wanted to get to the bottom of that. He needed to know if it had anything to do with what was happening to her. With her changing.

He stopped in front of her door, reached for the handle, and paused. No, probably shouldn't just walk in, last time she'd been, well, not that he minded that. In fact he really liked…he shook his head. He was there to find out what was going on with her not to…well, do other things. He knocked on her door. A moment later it opened and she stood in the doorway wearing, well, one of those outfits he really extremely liked. It was the same color as the one she was wearing, well, mostly wearing when he walked in and…now he was thinking about the color violet and wondering…

"So, do you want to come in or were you just going to stand in the hall all night?" she asked, giving him a smile.

He didn't realized she stepped aside to let him in. He smiled and stepped into her room. She closed the door and…wait. Closed the door? No, that was all right, wasn't it? Yes…no…maybe. Violet, lovely color. No. No, no. He shook his head.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

He glanced at her.

"Yes. Fine."

"Okay. Did you want something or…"

He'd come there to…um…to…Wait. He was holding something. He glanced at the something he was holding. Tea. That's right. He made her a cuppa.

"Tea?" he asked.

She smiled again, but not just any smile, that smile. He glanced from her to the closed door and back. Did she know she was doing that flirty thing? Yes, she had to know.

"Tea?" she asked, folding her arms and tilting her head in that way she used to.

"I thought you might like a cuppa," he replied, leaning against the bedpost, at least that's what he intended, but he misjudged where he was standing and almost fell over on her bed.

She laughed, catching him before he fell onto her bed. He stood up and now she was very, very close. He glanced at the door again.

"Thanks, but isn't it a bit late for tea?" she asked, with that cheeky grin.

He could smell the strawberry shampoo in her hair and he was very aware of her hand on his arm. He cleared his throat, trying to remember what they'd been talking about. Tea. Yes. That's right.

"It's tea," he replied, but the words came out just above a whisper. He cleared his throat again. "It's never too late for tea. Plus, the free radicals are good for you."

"Free radicals?" she asked, tilting her head and smiling.

Her hand ventured from his arm to his chest. He glanced down at it and then back to her eyes. She had to know what she was doing, didn't she?

"Yes…" He cleared his throat again. "…um…remember, Christmas, Sycorax."

"But I'm not a Time Lady," she said.

"No, but you've still got Time Energy."

For a moment she looked worried and that made him worry.

"What? What is it?" he asked, resting his hand on her arm.

Her bare arm that was very soft and…No. No, no, she was worried about something. Now wasn't the time for…things.

"It's um…" she trailed off.

She glanced at him as if she wasn't sure if she should say anything.

"Rose. Tell me," he insisted.

"It's just." She sighed.

She was worried, definitely worried. Was she worried about him? About herself? About what he might think or say? He wasn't sure, but he didn't like that she hesitated to tell him. He cupped her cheek with his other hand and caught her gaze.

"It's all right. Just tell me," he said.

"I thought I did something, like I told you, but I wasn't really sure. Then after talking to Amy I realized I was right. I must have done it, even if I don't know how I did it, but I must have done because she said my eyes changed and then that made me-"

"Rose," he snapped, not really meaning to snap, but she was rambling, and, although he caught everything she said what she said about her eyes changing worried him because he wasn't sure what she meant and he needed to know.

"Sorry," she said. "I'm just worried. No, more than worried because if my eyes changed. I mean, if it's happening again. How can it be happening again?"

He could see worry and fear in her eyes. The fear unsettled him. Happening again? What did she mean?

"Rose, calm down," he said, cupping both her cheeks and then gazing deeply into her hazel eyes, trying to calm her. He felt something and a moment later her realized it was the brush of his mind against hers. He didn't even realize he was doing it, which was dangerous, or, could be dangerous, but she was upset and he needed to find out what happened. If he was careful. Only sent emotions, didn't go looking for things, it should be all right. He felt her relax as he calmed her. "Just tell me what happened."

"I was on one of those medical tables in Malohkeh's laboratory. Those clamps were on my wrists and ankles so I couldn't move and he heard some kind of intruder alarm and ran off, but we were still stuck there and there wasn't any way to get out, but I kept thinking that there has to be a way out. I mean, there's always a way out, yeah? But Mo said there wasn't and that I shouldn't be struggling, but I was trying to get my hands out of the clamps. I had to do something and then the clamps just opened. The ones on my wrists and the ones on my ankles, but not just mine. Amy's and Mo's opened too."

"And you think you opened them?" he asked.

"At first I thought something went wrong with them or maybe someone else opened them, but when I stepped off the table I almost collapsed."

The idea that she almost collapsed worried him to no end. She'd been alone when it happened. Well, Amy had been with her, but he wasn't.

"Collapsed?" he asked.

Then he felt it. What she felt at the time. It rushed through the link he established with her in order to calm her and that shouldn't happen. Definitely shouldn't happen. She shouldn't be able to use his link to connect with him. That was something learned. He almost pulled away, but he knew what severing the link would do. It was dangerous. Dangerous to her and with everything she'd gone through when she was taken, he couldn't chance hurting her.

"Yeah, I felt drained, like completely drained, like I'd run a marathon or something. My legs, my whole body felt weak and that's when I started to think that maybe I'd done something, but then I thought that's completely mental. I mean, how could I have had anything to do with those clamps opening, yeah?" she asked.

She'd done it. He was sure of that. Only, he had no idea how. She shouldn't be able to do things like that and the fact that she could do them concerned him.

"But then Amy mentioned something about your eyes changing?" he asked.

That's what he was most concerned about. He saw her eyes change once. A long time ago and it had nearly killed her. It couldn't be happening again. Couldn't possibly.

"Yeah, she said they…they changed color. They turned gold."

His heart flooded with fear. Gold. That's what happened last time. What he'd been afraid of when she mentioned her eyes changing. How could it be happening again? He'd taken it out of her.

"Gold?" he asked.

"Yeah and, you know, that happened before. That's what you said happened when-"

"You had the power of the Time Vortex inside you."

But how could that be happening? Unless…unless that was what was part of her DNA, but it couldn't be. It was Time Energy. Time Energy from the Time Vortex…but what did that mean?

"But, I mean, I didn't feel anything. Not like what you said happened," she replied.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

So, somehow she accessed the Time Energy inside of her, used it to free herself and Amy, but she hadn't suffered the same consequences she suffered aboard the Game Station. How could that be?

"Yeah, I'm sure. It was…I don't know. I got upset before it happened, but that's all," she said.

Hang on. What?

"Upset?" he asked.

"Mo was irritating me because he kept saying there was no way out and then…" she trailed off, making him think there was more, but she didn't want to tell him the more.

"And then what?" he asked.

"And then I…" she sifted her gaze. Yes, she definitely didn't want to tell him. "Well, I started thinking about, you know, the way you keep telling me things are dangerous and you don't want me to help you."

What? Why would she think that?

"Don't want you to help me?" he asked.

"Yeah, well, that's how it seems," she said. "You're always telling me that you have to do this or that on your own because it's too dangerous, but you didn't act like that before. I mean, we got in loads of danger together. You always wanted me to be safe, but you never told me I couldn't help."

Had he been doing that? Yes, yes he had. Oh. That…that was really not good. He'd been worried about her because of everything she'd been through. Because she was taken and she couldn't remember what happened. He'd been concerned, but he hadn't meant to make her feel like he thought she was helpless or that he didn't want her to help him.

"I never meant to-" he said.

"Well, you might not have meant to, but that's how it feels," she said, a bit snappishly. "I'm not the nineteen year old shop girl who ran away with a mad man in a box. I lived without you for two years on a parallel world." He heard the pain in her voice and it wrenched his hearts. "I worked for Torchwood. I went out on missions on my own. I helped build the dimension cannon to get back to you. I can't go back to being that other girl."

"Rose, I…I'm sorry." He leaned his forehead against hers. He never meant to make her feel like that. "I've just been worried and, you're right. You're not the same girl you were." He pulled back and gazed into her eyes. "You're more than capable of taking care of yourself. I promise I won't do that to you again. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," she said, giving him a smile.

"So, you got upset, your eyes turned gold, and you were able to open the clamps. All of them."

"Yeah," she replied.

She was able to access the Time Energy inside of her through her emotions. Anger was usually the first emotion used in these cases. It was strong, overwhelming, but using anger to access the power inside of her was really not good. He'd rather she never used her new ability again. It was one more change and he really didn't like that.

"Doctor, what's happening to me?" she asked and he could hear the fear in her voice.

Her fear banished everything else.

"I don't know," he said and pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her. "I don't know, but I'll figure this out. I'll stop it."

She knew she was changing. He could feel it, inside her mind and she was scared, but he wouldn't lose her, wouldn't let her lose herself.


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