A/N: Thank you to all those who believed in this story and me. I've been having a very rough few years and nearly didn't make it at all between my health and losing several very close loved ones in a painfully rapid succession. I am already halfway through the next episode, so know this isn't a one off. I am definitely back.

River shook her head, pointing her blaster at the wall and making a hole. "This way, quickly, move!"

Rose found herself waking in a hospital room, a very professional looking man just entering with Donna in tow.

"Hello, Mrs. Tyler," the man said cheerfully.

"Who are you?" she asked, rubbing her head.

"I'm Dr. Moon. I've been treating you since you came here, two years ago," he said kindly. "Remember when Donna brought you here after your accident?"

Rose glanced at her friend… sister?... and shook her head. "Oh, yeah, Dr. Moon, I'm so sorry! What's wrong with me? I didn't know you for a moment. Donna, how could I forget?"

"And then you remembered. Shall we go for a walk?" the doctor suggested.

Rose blinked and the three of them were in a garden.

"No more nightmares, then? The Doctor and the blue box, time and space," Dr. Moon asked conversationally. "Donna told me about them."

"We've been so worried," the redhead told her.

Rose shook her head, confused. "How did we get here?"

"We came down the stairs, out the front door," the black man said softly.

Donna nodded. "We passed Mrs. Ali on the way out."

The blonde woman looked up at the building, reading the initials CAL on the sign out front. "Yeah. Yeah, we did. I forgot that."

The doctor nodded easily. "And then you remembered. Shall we go down to the river?"

When they were suddenly next to a river, Rose's head swam. "You said 'river' and suddenly we're feeding ducks."

"We walked here, Rose. Don't you remember?" Donna said as a man approached.

"Dr. Moon! Morning," the man smiled.

"Rose, this is Donna's fiancée, Lee McAvoy," Dr. Moon introduced them.

Rose caught sight of Donna's face as it seemed surprised, then settled into the comfort of knowledge. The stranger's did the same.

"Hello, Lee," Donna smiled, reaching out to take the man's hand.

He smiled back, "Hi, D... D... D..."

"He's got bit of a stammer there... Bless!" Donna told the blonde woman with a fond smile.

"D... D..."

Donna laughed gently. "Oh, skip to a vowel, they're easy!"

As they all laughed, Rose found herself back in the hospital garden with Dr. Moon.

"How did I get here?" she asked.

"Donna brought you to us after you were in a car accident," the man explained in a tone that intimated he'd told her this before on several occasions. "When you lost your husband, Donna's brother, and your daughter."

Hot tears stung her eyes as the memories flowed into her mind. "Oh… oh yes… when can I see Donna again?"

The doctor patted her arm. "I got the impression she and Lee were taking you on a short trip tomorrow."

The next thing she knew, she was sitting in the pouring rain with Donna and Lee under an umbrella with the remains of a very soggy picnic.

Lee tried to speak, "D... D..."

She nudged Rose. "Gorgeous and can't speak a word. What am I gonna do with him?"

Rose giggled, and blinked, finding herself standing in a church in a yellow bridesmaid dress as Donna and Lee kissed once again for the crowd, newly married.

"You're absolutely beautiful, Donna," she told her sister-in-law warmly.

"Thank you, darling," the bride said, hugging her tightly.

"W-when you are much bet-ter, you will live with us," Lee insisted.

Rose felt tears prick her eyes again. "You two are much too kind to me…"

"Nonsense," Donna said in her forceful way. "You're family and you've had a rough time of it. We want you with us."

Rose blinked again, and found herself sitting on the couch with Dr. Moon, looking through photo albums as Donna carried in the tea and shouted at Rose's little niece and nephew, who ran through the house like wild things.

"Stop it!" Donna ordered Joshua and Ella. "Stop it now, we've got a visitor. Rose, tell them!"

"Listen to your mum or we're not going to the zoo," Rose laughed.

Dr. Moon smiled at the blonde woman. "You've done so much in seven years, Rose."

"Sometimes it feels more like 70," Rose said with a sad smile. She shook her head as a moment of confusion took her over. "Mind you, sometimes it feels like no time at all."

Donna patted Rose's shoulder. "But it's been good to have you with me, Rose. Happy as I am with Lee – and you know how much I love him – it wouldn't have been as nice without you."

Rose's smile turned a bit watery. "I'm glad I could be here with you, Donna. I just wish…"

"I know, sweetheart."

The women hugged and Dr. Moon rose to leave. "Can I just say what a pleasure it is to see you fully integrated?"

Suddenly, Dr. Moon became fuzzy and then disappeared, replaced by a very frustrated looking Doctor. "No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through," he muttered, looking up for a moment. His eyes widened and he stepped toward her. "Rose?"

He faded and Dr. Moon was there again, patting his stomach. "Oops, sorry. Mrs. Angelo's rhubarb surprise. Will I never learn?"

Rose stood, tripping over Donna as she backed away from him.

"The Doctor! I saw the Doctor!" she said, her heart breaking. "Donna, you saw him!"

Donna nodded, eyes wide. "I… I did!"

"Yes, you did, ladies. And then, you forgot."

There was a moment of blankness between the two women, and then Donna smiled at the doctor. "Rose! Dr. Moon's here!"

Rose stepped forward to shake his hand. "Dr. Moon! Oh, hello! Shall I make you a cup of tea?"

The group in the Library piled into yet another room, looking around in surprised panic.

"OK, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in! Right in the centre, in the middle of the light, quickly! Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor..." River said, ushering people in.

"I'm doing it," he said impatiently, scanning shadows with the sonic screwdriver.

"There's no lights here. Sunset's coming, we can't stay long. Have you found a live one?" the Alchemist asked tightly.

Maybe, it's getting harder to tell," he answered, releasing the hold on Jenny, who clung to him as he thrashed the sonic. "What's wrong with you?"

River looked around. "We're gonna need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg? Thanks, Dave."

She threw the leg into the shadow the Doctor was examining and it was stripped to the bone before it hit the floor. She shuddered, grabbing the hand of the Alchemist as he stepped up next to her.

"It's OK..." he soothed her before addressing the others. "OK, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet."

"They won't attack until there's enough of them, but they've got our scent now, they're coming," the Doctor said, rubbing Jenny's back comfortingly as she buried her face in his neck.

"Who is he?" Other Dave asked River and the Alchemist. "You haven't even told us. You just expect us to trust him."

"He's the Doctor," the Alchemist said simply, as though that answer should be enough for anyone.

"And who is the Doctor?" Mr. Lux asked with his superior sneer.

River glanced at the man who was murmuring to his young daughter in a dead language. "The only story you'll ever tell - if you survive him."

Anita shook her head. "You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are."

The Alchemist pulled River close and glared warningly at the others. "Listen, all you need to know is this... we would trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been."

"He doesn't act like he trusts you," the black woman sniffed.

"Yeah, there's a tiny problem. He hasn't met us yet," River sighed.

The pair moved over to the Doctor, who'd just set Jenny on her feet. The little girl grabbed hold of his suit coat, and stared up at them as her father fiddled with the sonic.

"What's wrong with it?" the Alchemist asked, picking up Jenny and hugging her.

"There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it."

"Then use the red settings," River suggested.

The Doctor looked up in mild annoyance. "It doesn't have a red setting."

She shrugged. "Well, use the dampers."

"It doesn't have dampers," he said, his tone growing testy.

She waved the future version. "It will do one day."

"Not really helping, love," the Alchemist almost smiled.

The Doctor looked between them, and noted how comfortable Jenny was with this stranger. "So some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver."

"Yeah," he said laying his cheek on Jenny's blonde head.

"Why would I do that?"

"We didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about," River said, rolling her eyes.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "And I know that because...?"

"Listen to me," she said firmly. "You've lost your wife and friend, you're angry, I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor. Right now..."

"Less em... I'm not emotional!" he burst angrily. "You may not care –"

The Alchemist reared back, "May not care?! Don't you tell me I don't care about that woman. If she hadn't been there, I would have died… you would have died, River definitely would have – she's my-"

"Alchemist!" River shouted, pushing him back. "And you, Doctor, there are seven people in this room still alive, focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work young!"

He turned to her, eyes wild. "Young? Who are you?!"

Mr. Lux snorted. "Oh, for heaven's sake! Look at the pair of you! We're all gonna die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple."

The Alchemist glared at the rich man darkly. "The Doctor's wife is named Rose. And if you would mind not talking about mine in that way…"

"Hush, love," River said, patting his arm. "Doctor... one day we are going to be people that you trust completely, but we can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry."

After exchanging a look with her husband, she leaned close and whispered in the Doctor's ear, shocking him into complete, stunned silence.

"Borne of the Wolf; shaped by the Storm. Loved by both."

He blinked dumbly at her, then stared at Jenny in a haze of thought and emotion. That phrase… he whispered it to her every night before she slept. He'd never said it to anyone else, only Jenny and Rose had ever heard it.

"Are we good?" she asked, repeating louder to gain his attention. "Doctor... are we good?"

He nodded, lost in his thoughts for the moment. "Yeah... Yeah, we're good."

"Good."

She moved back to the Alchemist, murmuring quietly to him as they let the Doctor come to grips with whatever answers he was coming up with.

The Doctor shook his head, clearing his thoughts. He had to save Rose and Donna... not to mention all the other people trapped. His eyes drifted to the moon shining in the skylights above them, his brilliant mind shifting tracks so quickly that a lesser man would have needed a kip to recover. "Know what's interesting about my screwdriver?" he asked, almost conversationally. "Very hard to interfere with, practically nothing's strong enough... Well, some of Rose's hairdryers, but I'm working on that. So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before, so what's new, what's changed?"

No one answered as they looked around. Each person looked to another as they tried to understand his switch and what he could be getting at.

"Come on!" the Doctor encouraged, "What's new? What's different?"

Other Dave shrugged. "I dunno, nothing. It's getting dark."

"It's a screwdriver, it works in the dark, you dummy," Jenny piped.

"Jenny," her father said automatically, "your mum'll shoot me if I let you be rude. Now, moon rise... Tell me about the moon. What's there?"

Mr. Lux shook his head with a careless shrug. "It's not real, it was built as part of the Library. It's just a doctor moon."

"What's a doctor moon?" Jenny asked curiously. "Does it fix planets or is that its name, like my daddy?"

"Brilliant question," her father praised her, feeling a swell of emotion as she beamed at him with her mother's tongue in cheek smile.

Unimpressed with the cleverness of his child, Mr. Lux shrugged, "A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet."

"Oh, Daddy," Jenny said, "maybe Doctor Moon thinks the sonic screwdriver is a virus!"

"Brilliant, you are, Jenny," he nodded. "Just like your mother. Now."

He turned on the sonic, adjusting a few of the settings. "Well, still active, it's signalling, look. Someone somewhere in this Library is alive and communicating with the moon, or, possibly alive and drying their hair. No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through," he muttered. A flicker caught his eye and he looked up, seeing an image of his shocked and hopeful wife. His eyes widened and he stepped toward her. "Rose?"

"Doctor!" River shouted excitedly.

The image faded and the Doctor growled in frustration, trying many different settings. "No, no, no, no! Rose!"

Jenny sniffled. "Daddy, that was Mum! Make her come back! What was that?"

"I'm trying, Jenny, believe me," he replied, his voice tight. He would not collapse now. "I'm trying to find the wavelength. Ah, I'm being blocked."

Anita's frightened voice cut into the conversation. "Professor?"

"Just a moment," River waved her off.

The woman took a deep breath. "It's important. I have two shadows..."

They all stopped and stared at the woman. It was true, two black shadows stretched from her.

"OK." River forced a smile as she looked around at everyone. "Helmets on, everyone. Anita, The Alchemist'll get yours."

"It didn't do Proper Dave any good," she muttered.

The man frowned at her reprovingly as he lifted her helmet. "Just keep it together, OK?" he asked her gently.

She smirked at him with sad eyes. "Keeping it together, I'm only crying. I'm about to die, it's not an overreaction."

He gave her a small smile, knowing she wasn't wrong, and lifted the helmet to lock it in place.

"Hang on," the Doctor said, pointing the sonic at the helmet to make the visor dark.

River jumped. "Oh, God, they've got inside."

"No, no, no, I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone," he explained.

"D'you think they can be fooled like that?" the Alchemist asked curiously.

The Timelord shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. It's a swarm, it's not like we chat."

As another of her crewmates spoke to her, the Doctor stepped toward the couple with Jenny now in his arms. "A quick word, please."

"What?" River asked a bit testily.

"Like you said, there are five people still alive in this room," he said softly.

"Yeah, so?" her husband asked.

Jenny blinked over her father's shoulder and asked for him, "So why am I counting six?"

Everyone in the room heard the little girl and turned to see a suit standing at the edge of the room. "Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"Run!" the Doctor shouted, urging them all away from the swarm in the suit.

Donna, Lee, and Rose were up late, sharing a laugh over a steaming cuppa. The two woman were tickled by a story from Lee's work and he was rather pleased by how he'd made them smile, despite some recent stress. They were more than a bit surprised to hear a tapping against a living room window.

"Go and see what it is," Donna directed, elbowing her husband.

He smirked fondly at his wife and her bossy manner, but obediently left the kitchen to go toward the front door. The two women exchanged a glance and stole out behind him, sneaking to a window to peek out. Across the street, staring at the house, was a woman dressed in black from head to toe, her face covered by an opaque black veil.

"I've seen her," Donna gasped in a whisper. "She was at the store when I went."

Rose frowned, knowing there was something of which she ought to be aware, but there was a strange sort of buzzing in her head when she tried to think of it.

Lee returned with a folded piece of paper and a confused frown.

"What is it?" Donna asked, placing a hand on his arm. She might lean a bit on the demanding side, but the redhead was extremely protective of her husband.

"The world is wrong," he said to them.

"What?" she queried, furrowing her brow.

"It's for you. Weird, though. 'Dear Donna, this world is wrong. Meet me at your usual playpark, two o'clock tomorrow. Bring Rose.'"

Donna frowned as Rose reached for the note. The redhead scowled slightly.

"Nutter."

"Maybe not," the blonde mused, walking away from the couple.

The next morning found the ladies walking to the park with the kids, one wary and one feeling they were wasting their time. The woman in the veil sat on a bench, eerily still.

"All right, you two, off you go, no fighting," Donna told Josh and Ella as she gave them a little push toward the swings.

Rose walked straight to the bench and sat, leaving room for the redhead to join. "Your note, 'This world is wrong', it's an illusion, isn't it?"

"Rose, now you're being a nutter," Donna rolled her eyes as she sat. "Last night, we-"

"That wasn't last night, that was a few moments ago," the woman said bluntly.

The kids run off and Donna sits down beside the woman.

Donna blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

The woman turned and tipped her veiled head. "You didn't get my note last night. You got it a few seconds ago. Having decided to come, you suddenly found yourself arriving. That is how time progresses here, in the manner of a dream," she explained before focusing on the blonde woman. "You've suspected that before, haven't you, Rose Tyler?"

"How do you know her?" Donna asked while her sister in law simply nodded.

"We met before, in the Library. You were kind to me. I hope now to return that kindness."

Rose gasped, her head swimming as she went over that information in her mind. She hadn't been crazy or out of touch! She hadn't lost her daughter or husband! She just had to get back to them. She felt the now familiar buzz in her mind that could only be the TARDIS and clung to it, reaching across her link to the sentient ship to examine the virtual place in which she'd been trapped.

"Your voice... I recognise it," Donna said warily.

The woman in black nodded. "Yes, you do. I am what is left of Miss Evangelista."

The Doctor thought quickly as he ran with the others between buildings that stretched up toward the replicated sky. He shook his head and stopped, looking back at their pursuer. With a glance at Jenny, he turned to River and the Alchemist.

"You go on ahead, find a safe spot for everyone."

"D-Doctor," the Alchemist said firmly, scowling at the man before him. "It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit, you can't reason with it."

The Timelord snorted. "I can try. Give me five minutes."

River lifted Jenny into her arms and shook her head. "Alchemist, you and other Dave stay with him, pull him out when he's too stupid to live. Two minutes, Doctor, Alchemist."

As River led Anita and Mr. Lux away while carrying Jenny, the three men saw the suit that used to be Proper Dave's step into the corridor.

"Promise you're going to be careful," the Alchemist said, running a hand through his hair in a frustrated habit that the Doctor found very familiar but couldn't place. "I'm not going to explain to your wife or mine that I let you get eaten."

The Doctor grinned a bit, feeling a bit of kinship with the other man with that statement. "Almost rather get eaten than face Rose after all this."

The Alchemist shook his head. "Scary how much I'm inclined to agree."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

The shout reminded the two men that they still had to get as many people off this planet alive as they could. Both switched to a serious demeanour that few could pull off like the Doctor. He was impressed that the Alchemist managed, and was reminded of Jack.

Instead of commenting on the Alchemist's curious familiarity, he addressed the Vashta Nerada. "You hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside it and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever. Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this? Use him. Talk to me. It's easy, neural relay. Just point and think. Use him, talk to me."

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

Other Dave cringed, backing away a few steps.

"The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?" the Doctor continued.

Other Dave was terrified of the creature, or creatures, before them and said fearfully, "We should go, Doctor, Alchemist!"

"Not yet," the Alchemist soothed, watching the suit curiously, studying the entity as few had a chance to.

The Doctor's reply, "In a minute," came nearly simultaneously. He didn't even glance at Other Dave as he addressed the Vashta Nerada. "You came to the Library to hunt, why? Just tell me why?"

There was silence for a long moment before the swarm managed to manipulate the neural relay. "We...did not."

"Oh, hello!" the Alchemist said so cheerfully, that even the Doctor was a bit surprised. "They're getting it!"

"We did not," they repeated, somewhat more easily this time.

The Doctor shook his head and waved a hand at the suit. "Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it. Did not what?"

"We... did not... come... here."

There was a sound of disbelief from Other Dave, but the Doctor and Alchemist exchanged looks of mild confusion.

"Well, of course you did, of course you came here," the Doctor reasoned.

"We come from here."

The Alchemist frowned, his mind obviously trying to work out what they could possibly mean. "From here?"

The swarm shifted, growing more comfortable with this means of communication as they made use of the dead man's stolen voice. "We hatched here."

The Doctor looked around them all, brows furrowed. "But you hatch from trees, from spores in trees."

"These are our forests."

"You're nowhere near a forest, look around you," the Alchemist said slowly, gesturing to the walls and shelves.

"These are our forests," the swarm repeated insistently.

You're not in a forest, you're in a library. There are no trees in a…" his eyes grew wide as understanding bloomed in his mind mere nanoseconds before it could be seen on the Alchemist's face.

"...library," the other man said in a tone of wonder as his eyes met those of the Doctor.

They heard Other Dave shift his position behind them. "We should go!"

"Books," the Doctor sighed, ignoring the man. "You came in the books. Microspores in a million million books."

"We should go!"

The Alchemist put a hand on his head, looking round at endless shelves of books. "The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped and printed and bound. A million million books, hatching shadows."

The Doctor nodded, feeling the horror of their situation clawing at him.

"We should go!"

The two men who had been lost in terrible awe suddenly realized the same dreadful fact and looked at each other with shock before turning their gaze to the man whom they had both dismissed.

"Oh Dave! Oh, Dave, I'm so sorry," the Alchemist said, sounding far too like the Doctor than the Timelord was comfortable with.

The skeleton now visible within the suit made no reply to indicate the dead man was still present enough to hear the apology. While they focused on the recently swarmed, their previous threat returned to parroting Proper Dave's last words.

"Hey! Who turned out the lights?"

"We should go. Doctor!"

Though keeping his eyes on the advancing skeletons, the Doctor began speaking to the Alchemist. "Thing about me, I'm stupid, I talk too much, always babbling on, this gob doesn't stop for anything. Wanna know the only reason I'm still alive?"

"Great running form?" the other man joked.

"Always stay near the door," he replied, pointing his sonic screwdriver down and opening a trapdoor.

The two men fell into the opening, a shaft that dropped through hundreds of floors toward the planet core. Somehow, both had the quick reflexes and strength needed to grab to the metal supports under the floor and swing themselves out of sight. Exchanging a look, both began climbing.

Rose was now rubbing her head, the pain growing as she rifled through the information she was being given. The knowledge that what had seemed like years of life was in reality only hours spent in a virtual world had broken the hold of the dream on her. She could now, with her connection to Bad Wolf reestablished, tell the difference between the recovered data and the data generated to create a pleasant lie. She hadn't noticed the awakening of the golden energy of the vortex building within her once again.

"I suggested we meet here because a playground is the easiest place to see it, to see the lie," Miss Evangelista was explaining to Donna as Rose stood and stepped a few paces away.

"What lie?" the redhead asked, never able to just accept unwanted facts at face value.

Miss Evangelista raised a hand, pointing toward the playground. "The children, look at the children."

Donna didn't want to see, she didn't want to look. She had been so happy, so in love with Lee. She didn't want this life to end, even if it was a dream. "Rose, tell her…" she turned and saw her sister in law and saw that she had begun glowing gold.

"No," Donna said, beginning to panic.

Rose sighed and nodded sadly. "I'm sorry Donna." She disappeared, leaving Donna with Miss Evangelista. When she reappeared, she stood in a modern living room, with monochromatic white furniture. A little girl was watching television, and on the screen was the scene she had just left.

Rose let the power of Bad Wolf recede so as not to scare her. It seemed she could control the remnants of the vortex better in this world, but she didn't want that kind of control. She wanted her family back.

"Hello there," she said softly, startling the girl who jumped and spun around to face her.

"How did you get in here?!"

As the Doctor and the Alchemist headed back to meet the others, they overheard a bit of the conversation happening ahead.

"You know... it's funny, I keep wishing the Doctor was here," River sighed, pointing her screwdriver at a shadow and frowning at the reading.

Anita didn't quite understand, "But the Doctor is here, isn't he? He's coming back, right?"

With all the confidence of a child, Jenny answered, "Of course he will! My daddy is the smartest man in the universe, most the time."

In the hall, the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed by the end phrase.

River gave the other woman a sad smile. "You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them? It's like they're not quite... finished, they're not done yet. Well... yes, the Doctor's here. He and Rose came when we called, just like they always do. But not our Doctor. Now, that Doctor... I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS, holding her hand, and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor and Rose Tyler... in the TARDIS... next stop: everywhere.

It was then that the two men entered the room. The Doctor wagged his finger at her, "Spoilers, Professor. Nobody can open the TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that."

Jenny ran to her father, who scooped her up into a tight hug. "Mommy can open her by asking."

"Well, she likes Mommy better," the Alchemist said with a grin, moving to his wife. "You all right?"

She smiled sadly at him. "I will be. But let's have dinner with your parents when we get out of here."

He nodded. "Yeah, it's been a bit weird for me, as well."

The Doctor carried Jenny to Anita. "How are you doing?"

She looked up with frightened eyes and a defeated shrug. "Where's Other Dave?"

"Not coming, sorry," he replied sincerely.

"Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?" she asked with a slight tremor in her voice.

"I don't know."

"Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference," Jenny suggested.

The dark skinned woman gave a watery laugh. "It's making a difference all right. No-one's ever going to see my face again."

"Can I get you anything?" the Doctor asked gently.

She shrugged. "An old age would be nice. Anything you can do?"

"If anyone can, Daddy can," the little girl announced.

They worked silently for a moment, checking shadows and boosting lights. Finally, the Doctor heard Anita whispering his name. He stepped closer to hear her.

"Doctor... When we first met you, you didn't trust them. And then Professor Song whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far... I could do with a word like that. What did she say?" Anita sounded a bit hollow. "Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me."

"Safe…" he repeated thoughtfully, his tone drawing the attention of the others. "Safe. You don't say saved, nobody says saved, you say safe. The data fragment! What did it say?"

Mr. Lux frowned, but repeated the message dutifully. "4,022 people saved. No survivors."

"Doctor?" River asked even as her husband looked to understand.

"Nobody says saved," he repeated, locking eyes with the Doctor.

"Nutters say saved," Jenny offered.

"True," her father agreed. "But you say safe. But you see, the message didn't mean safe!"

The Alchemist grabbed River's hands as he finished the Doctor's thought. "It literally meant saved!"

Rose sat on the white couch, maintaining eye contact with the girl. "What is your name?"

"I… I'm Charlotte," she said, staying back.

The blonde couldn't help but feel for her, she was close to the age Jenny appeared. "Don't be scared, yeah? I'm not gonna do anything but talk."

Charlotte frowned and looked back at the TV where Donna was seeing Miss Evangelista's malformed face. "You're not supposed to know. Everybody's happy when they don't know."

Rose patted the couch, her sad smile sympathetic. "Trust me, sweetheart, I know what it's like knowing somethin' you can't tell nobody about."

The little girl moved to sit beside her. "You do?"

The woman nodded. "You know what happened to lots of people and you don't wanna tell them they can't go home, right?"

Charlotte nodded, her lower lip trembling. "I'm protecting them."

Rose put an arm around the little girl. "You are part of the planet computer, part of the whole world here. I know how hard that can be, because I'm part of Time. Like you, I know about all sorts of things that I can't tell anyone else, because if they know, then things get messed up."

The child stared at the woman for a few moments before bursting into tears and throwing her arms around her. "I'm trying so hard, but I keep messing up!"

The young mother held her and rubbed her back, letting her cry. "I know, I know. You got a lot to do, but nobody ever told ya how. Don't you worry, we can fix it."

Charlotte sniffled, "You really think we can, Miss Rose?"

"I know we can," she replied, using her thumb to wipe away a few tears. "The timing's the thing. If we fix it too soon, then saving those people didn't work. If we wait too long, it hurts you, and I promise I'm not gonna let that happen."

"How will we know it's the right time?"

Rose's eyes gave a golden glow for a moment as she playfully winked at Charlotte. "No worry, love. I think we've got Time on our side."

In the safe area where the others were waiting, the Doctor was typing furiously on an information terminal, cracking security protocols and looking through mechanical history of the teleportation systems. "See, there it is, right there! A hundred years ago, massive power surge, all the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm, the computer tries to teleport everyone out."

The others looked at him in horror. Finally River broke the stretching silence.

"It tried to teleport 4,022 people?"

"I'd say it did teleport them, right Doctor?" the Alchemist answered. "It pulled them all out, after all."

He nodded quickly. "Right, but then what? Nowhere to send them, nowhere safe in the whole Library, Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4,022 people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?"

"Saved the program!" Jenny cheered.

River's answer was more subdued and quietly amazed. "It saved them."

The Doctor's grin became slightly manic as he scooped up Jenny and spun her around. "The Library, a whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved 4,022 people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive!"

His celebration was cut short when an alarm blared.

The sound seemed most distressing for Mr. Lux as he shouted, "What is it? What's wrong?"

A pleasant feminine voice echoed through the long empty halls. "Autodestruct enabled in 20 minutes."

Charlotte and Rose were working together to construct a new "home" for the people they wouldn't be able to save. The few that had actually fallen to the Vashta Nerada and been lucky enough for their consciousness to be entangled within the data core. Rose was helping the girl understand how to protect herself from the corruption and creating a back-up so that any future issues wouldn't destroy the world or people therein. When the alarm echoed outside of the virtual space, the colour within turned red and they heard the discordant sound.

"Miss Rose!" Charlotte cried in fear. "Miss Rose, if the world falls apart, do I go away too?"

"I'm not lettin' that happen, sweetheart."

"Daddy, what does 'maximum erasure' mean?"

River, the Alchemist, and the Doctor exchanged worried looks.

"In twenty minutes, we won't be able to recover any of the people saved," River said in a hollow tone.

"Even Mommy?!" the little girl gasped.

In the first instance of decency since meeting the businessman, he knelt next to Jenny. "It's going to be all right. The Doctor Moon will stop the erasure. It's programmed to protect Cal, and Cal is protecting those people."

Jenny looked unconvinced, and slightly afraid of the man due to his earlier actions. She looked to the Doctor. "Daddy, will the Doctor Moon really keep Mommy from being erased?"

"It had better," the Alchemist nearly growled.

The Doctor was suddenly struck by a wave of protectiveness, and it was coming from the two people who knew his wife. They were part of some telepathic that he couldn't identify off hand, but he suddenly knew that they both loved Rose, not unlike himself and Jenny, and he felt ashamed of being so quick to anger earlier. He opened his mouth to say something to that effect but the computer began speaking first.

Rose felt a deep rumble and turned to look at Charlotte who was standing in front of Dr. Moon. She could see now that the man was a generated construct, probably designed to keep the system from collapsing on itself.

"Now you really must stop this, you know. You've forgotten again it was you who saved all those people, haven't you? And then, you remembered."

Charlotte covered her ears and shouted, "Shut up, Doctor Moon!"

The blonde woman bit her lip, knowing this little girl just made helping her even harder.

The screen on the terminal the Doctor had been working on went dark and he immediately hit the side of the machine. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

The sickeningly pleasant voice rang through the air again. "All library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience"

Surprisingly, it was Mr. Lux who panicked. "We need to stop this. We've got to save Cal."

The Alchemist rounded on the business man, nearly as frantic as the Doctor. "What is it? What is Cal?"

The balding man shook his head slowly. "We need to get to the main computer. I'll show you."

Jenny had been watching him for a moment, though no one noticed the slight golden gleam in her eyes. Without speaking, she took Mr. Lux's hand, any trace of gold gone.

"The computer's at the core of the planet," the Doctor exclaimed with desperation.

"That part is easy enough. Let's go," River shrugged, forcing herself to remain calm as she pointed her screwdriver at the compass rose that adourned the center of this lobby. The library logo in center opened and a platform appeared. "Gravity platform, Rose and I discovered them."

"I bet I like you," the Doctor said approvingly.

The Alchemist snorted. "Oh, you do. She has the same indomitable nature."

The small group stepped onto the platform and started to descend. Within seconds, they had arrived at the mainframe and were staring up at a huge globe with energy swirling inside.

"Daddy, what's that?" Jenny asked, eyes wide.

"Autodestruct in fifteen minutes."

"That can stop any time now, yeah?" the Alchemist muttered, and the phrasing was so like Rose's that the Doctor had to smile a bit.

"Well, my girl, that is the data core. Over four thousand living minds trapped inside it."

River frowned as she stepped forward. "Yeah, well, they won't be living much longer if we don't hurry. We're running out of time."

As the Doctor approached an access terminal, a new sound filled the room.

"Help me. Please, help me. Please, please help me!" a little girl's voice begged them.

Anita jumped and looked around. "What's that?"

River exchanged a concerned look with her husband. "Was that a child?"

The Doctor frowned as he entered lines of code. "Computer's in sleep mode. I can't wake it up. I'm trying."

The Alchemist was at his side, watching the results of his attempts.

"Doctor, these readings," he said, drawing River's attention as well.

"I know," the Time Lord nodded. "You'd think it was dreaming."

Mr. Lux seemed incredibly sad now that they were down here, and it was plain in his voice when he spoke, "It is dreaming, of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written."

"Computers don't dream," Anita offered with confusion.

"Help me. Please help me," came the plea once more.

Jenny took Mr. Lux's hand and nodded at him. "No, but little girls do, don't they?"

He sighed heavily and pulled a breaker, opening a near hidden door. They all move into the newly revealed room. Once inside, an information node turned to them, a child's face on it.

"Please help me. Please help me," the face on the node begged them.

"Oh, my God," Anita gasped, taking a step back.

"It's the little girl. The girl we saw in the computer," Jenny said, moving toward her.

"She's not in the computer. In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is Cal," there was no mistaking the affection or the sorrow now.

"Cal is a child?" the Doctor asked, horrified. "A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!"

The distressed man shouted back, "Because she's family!" He turned back and laid a hand on her node. "Cal. Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time. Any era to live in, any book to read. She loved books more than anything, and he gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show."

So many things made sense now. The Doctor could completely sympathize with wanting to protect a child. His gaze met Jenny's bright eyes as he spoke, "So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her."

He nodded. "This is only half a life, of course. But it's for ever."

"And then the shadows came," the Alchemist said softly.

The face on the node began speaking, "The shadows. I have to. I have to save. Have to save."

Jenny hugged the node, sweet in the way only a child can be. "And she did save them."

Her father nodded. "She saved everyone in the library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe."

"Then why didn't she tell us?" Anita asked.

Because she's forgotten. She's got over four thousand living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like being, well, me," the Doctor said sadly.

"So what do we do?" River asked, breaking the reflective mood that had fallen over the group.

The now familiar automated voice responded first. "Autodestruct in ten minutes."

Rose and Charlotte were still working inside the memory banks, when Rose jerked upright.

"Oh, that idiot!" she hissed.

"Miss Rose?" Charlotte asked. "Is everything almost ready?"

"Almost, sweetheart. Did you delete everything out there that was made up?"

The little one nodded. "Now the people are getting scared. It's hard to separate some of them. Your friend with the pretty red hair is one of them."

Rose sighed. "Stubborn woman. Do your best darling. I'm going to go outside of the computer to help you, but remember - you aren't going to be alone this time. The people who didn't come with their bodies are going to be here with you."

The Doctor was talking at a mile a minute, as he did when he didn't want anyone to argue or stop him. "Easy! We beam all the people out of the data core. The computer will reset and stop the countdown. Difficult. Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer. Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer. She can borrow my memory space."

"It'll kill you stone dead," was River's blunt reply.

He shot her a venomous look before glancing at Jenny. The Alchemist sighed and lifted Jenny in his arms, walking a few steps away, holding a quiet conversation with her.

"Look, I'm trying to get her mother back, while not scaring her to death," he said heatedly.

She didn't back down in the slightest. "It'll burn out both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate."

He threw up his hands in frustration. "I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing. I'm not seeing a lot of options with the time frame we're working with."

"Doctor!" River exclaimed.

He shushed her. "I'm right, this works. Shut up. Now listen. You and your husband, take Jenny and Luxy boy back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as you're here, shut up."

"Oh! I hate you sometimes," she fumed.

"I absolutely believe that."

River stormed out, the Alchemist making to carry Jenny out as well. "Mister Lux, you're with us. Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!"

As they left, the Doctor continued working , not looking up from his task. Several moments of silence passed.

"What about the Vashta Nerada?" Anita asked.

He huffed into the control panel he'd opened. "These are their forests. I'm going to seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content."

"So you think they're just going to let us go?"

His response was growled, "Best offer they're going to get."

Her tone was curious as she moved closer to him. "You're going to make 'em an offer?"

At this he looked up. "They'd better take it, because right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. You know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying. And she never gave in. And you ate her."

He pointed the sonic screwdriver at her visor to clear it, revealing what remained of the woman. Despite his clear anger, he spoke calmly. "But I'm going to let that pass, just as long as you let them pass."

The swarm that had stolen Anita's voice asked, "How long have you known?"

He pointed at the floor. "I counted the shadows. You only have one now. She's nearly gone. Be kind."

The Vashta Nerada spoke angrily, "These are our forests. We are not kind."

He stood and crammed his hands into his pockets. "I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them. You are letting them go. All of them."

"These are our forests. They are our meat," they threatened, shadows stretching from the suit's feet toward him.

The expression on his face was cold as he sneered at the shadows. "Don't play games with me. You just killed someone I liked. That is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor, and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up."

The was silence between them for a half a moment before the shadows retreated. "Where is the Wolf?"

"It doesn't matter where she is now, what matters is that you understand me."

"You have one day," was the reply before the suit collapsed.

Rose found that downloading herself from Charlotte's database was a bit trickier than she thought it was going to be. She felt the fluctuation as she passed through the corrupted signals and patted herself down to be sure things were all correct and in place.

"This is not a joke," she heard her husband shouting from nearby. "Stop this now. This is going to kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any."

"You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I. I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download," River's equally stubborn voice replied.

She walked around the breaker to see the Doctor on the floor, handcuffed to a bar, and River strapping herself into what appeared to be a makeshift electric chair.

"What the bleedin' hell is goin' on?!"

"Rose!" the Doctor shouted, trying to lunge toward her, but only succeeding in causing a great deal of pain to himself. "Stop her!"

River sniffled a bit, tears ready to fall. "Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit and Rose in the prettiest dress. You took us to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you cried."

"Autodestuct in one minute."

"You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue," River continued on.

The Doctor was near frantic, but his wife simply shook her head and leaned around the curly haired woman lamenting her imminent demise.

"Are ya about done with the dramatic goodbye?" she asked in amusement as she grabbed a cable and brought it to a different bank of diodes.

There was no immediate answer from either of the other people in the room, and Rose simply connected the cable where she knew she had to before the knowledge faded. She had looked into the grid when trying to save Charlotte, and she knew temporarily how things needed to be.

"Autodestruct in ten."

"Rose there's no time!"

"Rose, get out before this takes you too!"

She ignored them while finishing her task. A few keystrokes, and she bent to press a gentle kiss on Charlotte's cheek on the node. "It's time, darlin'. Don't be scared."

There was a flash that blinded everyone for several minutes, one which rendered the Doctor and River both unconscious. When they came to, they were laying on couches, not far from where Rose sat, chatting softly with the Alchemist.

"Where's Jenny?" he rasped.

Rose smiled at him. "Taking a walk with Donna. They'll return shortly. I didn't imagine you would want her here when I ask what you were thinking."

"I was trying to protect you!" he exclaimed, sitting up.

"Not just you, Doctor. River, I'm waiting."

The curly haired woman shivered. "I feel like I'm a kid all over again."

Around them, people came and went through the teleportation terminals, heading back to families who had long thought them lost. There were a few reunions, but mostly it was long lines of confused people just trying to get off planet.

The blonde shook her head at the two of them. "Doctor, we'll talk about your reaction later. River, I'm not even going to say it. I'm just... "

"Mummy," Jenny chose that moment to rejoin them, effectively cutting off whatever her mother had planned to say. "Aunt Donna shouted and started crying, and says she's not leaving without somebody."

"She found him?" Rose asked. "Which way, sweetheart?"

Once Jenny had given her a direction, Rose took off to find Donna. She was at a dead run until she saw Lee and Donna, hugging in the departing crowd.

"Donna! You found him!" she called out, so happy to see them together.

"Sh-she's real, t-too?" Lee stuttered in his excitement. His smile stayed wide and his eyes remained on Donna, the same as his hands. He was obviously worried she would disappear if he released her or looked away.

Donna nodded at him and turned, grabbing his hand to pull him toward the blonde woman. "Rose, look at him! I knew he had to be real."

"I'm so glad," Rose beamed, hugging the man. "I'm so glad you're here, Lee."

"It m-might not have happened," he managed, "but it w-was real to us."

Both women nodded, knowing what he meant. Their time in Charlotte's virtual world might have begun augmented and simulated, but the bonds between the three of them had become very real.

"Come with us, Lee," Rose said. "I'd like to introduce you to my husband."

"Unless…" Donna's voice became that small, frightened tone that Rose hadn't heard since it became obvious that her former fiance had been using her. "Unless there's someone out in this world you need to get back to?"

He looked at her with that reassuring smile he'd used in their dream life and shook his head. "You're the only w-woman I've ever wanted to g-et back to."

The shift from that statement rippled across the timelines and Rose shuddered at the feel. She knew the Doctor and Jenny would feel it, and question her. She also knew that River and the Alchemist wouldn't question her - well, not this her, at least. The three of them headed back toward the others, meeting several curious stares as they approached.

"What-?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"This is Lee," Rose answered. "He's Donna's...uh…"

The redhead drew herself a bit taller and stated proudly, almost challengingly. "He's Donna's, and that's enough."

Rose giggled as Lee flushed. She noticed that River and the Alchemist looked surprised, excited even to see the two of them together and she discreetly shook her head at them. The couple sheepishly schooled their expressions into vague happiness to meet this new person, but Rose knew that Lee was there to stay.

"Good to meet you, Lee!" the Doctor said with a big smile, missing the subtle exchange between his wife and the people he was still curious about in his eagerness to perhaps stall the coming conversation he knew was still coming with Rose. "You and our Donna, eh? I suppose you're wanting to leave with us then?"

"Well, I'm not leaving him here, now. Am I?" Donna asked indignantly, prompting a short argument between herself and the Doctor.

Rose sidled up to River and the Alchemist and spoke quietly. "Now is your chance to sneak away and avoid more questions."

The relief on their faces was nearly comical, until Rose added, "Now go directly to your present me and say Library."

"But M-" the Alchemist started.

Rose held up a hand. "I will know if you don't. You know I will. Be grateful I'm waiting; I'll be calm then. I'm not right now."

River hugged the blonde. "Talk to you soon."

"Behave," she admonished before turning back to the group she was currently traveling with. The library was beginning to empty out, and they walked toward where the TARDIS was waiting.

Donna was talking to Lee about life as a time traveler, and the Doctor was asking if he wanted to go back and let any family know that he did live through the Library. Rose reached the blue box first and it opened without anyone speaking or getting their key. She walked in and disappeared down a hall without a word to her husband or friends. There was an awkward moment while everyone exchanged looks until the Doctor pointed toward another hall.

"Donna, why don't you see if you and the TARDIS can get a room set up for Lee? Jenny, do you mind to go play in the pool or garden or something while I have a chat with your mum?"

Donna nodded, and touched the Doctor's arm in a moment of empathy. "She thought you were dead for a while," the redhead informed him softly. "The programming… she thought the last contact she had with you was a fight. I know you're upset that she didn't tell you things, but she went through a lot."

He patted her hand before following his wife. He found her in their room, lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. His hearts broke at the unshed tears in her eyes, and he sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to touch her until she was ready for him to do so. The Doctor didn't even speak, because how could he defend himself after promising they were a team and then sending her away?

"Doctor, come here," she said quietly.

He turned and she was holding out her arms. He immediately crawled in next to her and gathered her in his arms. They lay there for a long moment before Rose spoke quietly.

"I'm not gonna yell at you. I'm not gonna fight with you. I just want you to know that I'm not gonna hide in the TARDIS. And I'm not gonna tell you things that you aren't meant to know. We have to be able to deal with this, because we're going to spend a long time together."

He buried his face in her hair, breathing slowly until he felt he was once again in control of his emotions. No one had ever managed to wring so many emotions from him as this particular woman.

"I was wrong," he said. "I don't like how often I seem to say that when it comes to you. I can't ask you to risk timelines. I can't ask you to hide from all danger. And I won't ask you to be anyone other than who you are. But…" He pulled back enough to meet her eyes. "I will ask for your help. Before you, there was no one who was willing to stay with me this long and face these kind of dangers. I don't want to lose you, and that is going to make me try to protect you."

She kissed him tenderly, and smiled a bit. "Just don't be angry when I do the same to you."

"We'll learn together," he promised solemnly.

Around them, their beloved time ship hummed, grateful that her Thief and her Wolf at least were willing to work through their troubles. They still needed each other, and the TARDIS needed the both of them.