Right, chapter three! Thanks everyone who's reviewed! And thanks to QueenBoris for being my beta.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Doctor Who.

xxx

"What? What is it?" asked the Doctor, suddenly serious.

"It's just, I was thinking, about the time ripple. Time ripples are a collection of excess energy from the Time Lords that collect up over time and punche a hole in the universe and messes with time, right?" the Doctor nodded, "and during the Time War the Time Lords adapted that excess energy and used it all up, and with the Time Lords gone…"

"…Where did the time ripple come from?" the Doctor finished, knowing where she was gong with this. He ran into the TARDIS, pressed a few buttons and looked at the screen. His frowned deepened. "But that's impossible," he whispered. Susan looked at the screen, and frowned too.

"But you said Gallifrey was destroyed," she looked up at the Doctor.

"It was," he said, pressing some more buttons.

"What is it? What's happening?" asked Rose, who felt it was time to assert herself.

"The TARDIS says the time ripple's coming from Gallifrey. It says it still exists. It says it didn't exist before, but now suddenly it does again. But… that's impossible."

"Well, there is always one thing we can do," said Susan, a sly smile slowly appearing on her face. The Doctor looked at her, eyes wide.

"Oh no," he said, making big arm gestures to demonstrate his point, "I've already made the TARDIS follow a time ripple, I don't think she'd be able to make it to a planet that shouldn't exist. And even if she could I don't think she'd ever forgive me." He started walking round the consol, mind racing. "I mean, Gallifrey doesn't exist, I was there when it was destroyed. Not only was it destroyed but completely wiped form history, so that it never even existed in the first place!"

"Oh come on," said Susan, "what happened to the Doctor who wouldn't stop at anything? I know you, you haven't changed that much. Curiosity always gets the better of you."

"No! We can't, I mean, it's impossible, if the TARDIS thinks Gallifrey now exists, then it's just a broken circuit or something, won't take to long to fix…" he was cut off when the engines suddenly started going. Frowning, he looked down at his hand, which was positioned over a button he'd just pressed. He looked over the consol; slightly confused at the course he'd just subconsciously set the TARDIS on. "Oh…" he said, running a hand through his hair, "maybe curiosity will get the better of me then."

Suddenly the TARDIS shook, and once again its crew were all knocked off their feet. The Doctor and Susan jumped up, and were running around the consol, much like the Doctor had been before. Rose got up and ran over to the railing, and was holding on again as the TARDIS shook around her. She had a feeling this sort of thing was going to get commonplace.

Rose watched as the Doctor and Susan shouted things at each other in Gallifreyan, each on opposite sides of the consol. The TARDIS creaked, the engines struggled and the whole room seemed to be distorting around her. Or maybe that was just her imagination. The TARDIS lunged suddenly, throwing them all across the room. Rose fell to the floor, and grabbed onto the railing next to her, and clamped her eyes shut, as the consol seemed to explode above her.

The Doctor was the only one who managed to keep his balance, Susan also falling over. He ran back up to the consol, almost falling on it as the TARDIS lunged the other way. Susan somehow found her feet and was up again, clinging onto the consol for balance as well as trying to figure out which buttons to press. More sparks flew from the consol, burning the Doctor's hands.

"It's not going to work!" the Doctor yelled over the alarm and the engines. "It can't land here! It just can't!"

"We have to try!" Susan shouted back. She looked at the screen, as warnings flew across it. It still seemed to think Gallifrey existed, though. She told the Doctor this.

"But it's wrong! It wrong!" They were all suddenly thrown to the floor again, as the alarms faded away and the groaning of the engines died down.

The Doctor jumped up, rubbing his head where he'd hit it on the railings behind him. He ran up to the screen, and read what it said was their location. He shook his head and stepped backwards, completely dazed, lost and confused. "But…" he whispered, "but…"

"What does it say?" asked Susan, getting up, even though she was pretty sure she already knew what it said.

"We're on Gallifrey," he didn't believe it. He couldn't believe it. He shook his head some more and ran his hand through his hair again. He always seemed to do that when he was nervous. Or confused. Or surprised. Or happy, for that matter. In fact, he always seemed to do it. He probably did it in his sleep. "But we can't be. Gallifrey doesn't exist. They destroyed it before it was even made, wiped away its existence from time and space forever. We can't be here."

"But we are, aren't we?" said Susan. The Doctor nodded his head, very slowly.

"I can feel it," he said in a small voice. "But…"

"Well," Susan quickly interrupted him, "there's one way we can find out." She walked up to the doors despite the Doctor's protests, and before he could stop her, she was outside.