Alex took a deep breath to steady herself before she walked in, closing the door behind her. She strained to listen to try and find where they were up to. She heard voices from downstairs and frowned slightly, continuing on in a cautious pace until she heard words.

"Come to this world, poor lost souls!" Gwyneth.

Alex's eyes widened and she took off at a run.

"It is begun! The bridge is made!"

Alex pushed herself, skidding to a stop unnoticed by the others in the doorway.

"She has given herself to the Gelth!"

"No!"

It took Alex a moment to realise the shout came from her when the others turned. There was a collective chorus of "Alex?" Ranging from Dickens and Sneed's simple confusion to Rose and the Doctor's concern mixed with almost relief.

"The Bridge is open. We descend" With that last comment, the image of the Gelth changed suddenly, becoming red and demonic. "The Gelth will come through in force"

"You said you were few in number!" Dickens protested.

"A few billion" The figure corrected. "And all of us in need of corpses" The bodies rose up around them and Alex watched in horror. She could have done something. She could have done anything other than run when she did. Sneed was shouting for Gwyneth to stop but she didn't seem to hear, and then Rose was yelling for him to get back.

"Alex!" The Doctor cried frantically. Alex's eyes widened as she noticed him looking just over her shoulder. She ducked out of the approaching grip of the Gelth and ran to his side, her anger at him forgotten. Sneed was dead. One more Gelth joined the approaching 'zombies'.

"I think it's gone a bit wrong" The Doctor commented.

"Really?" Alex scoffed sacastically. Okay maybe her anger wasn't completely forgotten.

"I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come. March with us" Sneed's body spoke. Alex looked on with horror as the corpses approached them. The Doctor's hands were on her arms then, pulling her back with him as the three backed away.

"We need bodies" The Gelth form spoke. "All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead"

"Not if I have anything to do with it" Alex fumed, her voice a whisper.

"Gwyneth stop them!" The Doctor called to her. "Send them back! Now!"

"Three more bodies. Make them vessels for the Gelth"

"I can't! I'm sorry!" Dickens stammered from the other side of the room. Alex looked over to see him near the door and backing towards it. "It's too much for me. I'm so-" he was cut off as one of the Gelth swiped for him and he jumped back, running from the room. Alex suddenly felt The Doctor grab her shoulders again, barely being aware his hands had left in the first place, and pull her back. Alex stumbled slightly but stepped back into the small dungeon space between Rose and The Doctor, who closed the door and locked them in. The three pressed their backs to the wall, trying to stay away from the Gelth's hands.

"Give yourselves to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth" The figure went on.

"I trusted you. I pitied you!" The Doctor shouted at it, enraged. Alex didn't know for sure if he was mad at the Gelth for tricking him or mad at himself for trusting them.

"We don't want your pity! We want this world and all it's flesh"

Alex came to a decision.

"Not while I'm alive" She spoke in synch with The Doctor as she took his hand. He looked down at their hands and then up at her as she watched him, determination shining in his eyes. It was never his fault and never would be, everything he did was for everyone else. So Alex would just have to do what had to be done for him.

"Then live no more"

"But I can't die" Rose spoke after a moment, turning to the two beside her. "Tell me I can't! I haven't even been born yet, it's impossible for me to die! Isn't it?!" She looked between the two, her panic rising with the sadness on their faces.

"I'm sorry" They both said.

"But it's 1869, how can I die now?" Rose asked, looking between the two.

"Timey wimey stuff" Alex muttered under her breath.

"Time isn't a straight line, it can twist into any shape. You can be born in the 20th century and die in the 19th and it's all my fault. I brought you here"

"It's not your fault. I wanted to come" Rose told him.

"I knew" Alex added softly. The three didn't speak for a minute.

"What about me?" The Doctor said then. "I saw the fall of Troy! World war five! I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party, and now I'm going to die in a dungeon! In Cardiff!" He said the last part with a degree of horror and almost disgust. Alex couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"I've spent five years of my life wondering what you have against Cardiff" She shook her head.

"It's not just dying. We'll become one of them" Rose corrected them. The three looked back to the corpses who still rattled the bars, trying to reach them.

"We'll go down fighting yeah?" Rose suggested, looking between the two.

"Yeah" Alex and The Doctor both nodded.

"Together?"

"Yeah!" The two repeated. Rose took Alex's hand and Alex gave The Doctor's hand a squeeze.

"I'm so glad I met you two" The Doctor said then, looking at the girls. They both looked at him surprised. Rose was surprised at the comment in itself, while Alex was surprised to be included.

"Me too" Rose smiled, looking between the two beside her. Alex turned to her, still surprised.

"Me too" She found herself repeating, looking between the two. "Oh, I am so goddamn glad I met you two" She smiled then.

Three friends stood behind a dungeon door, trying to stay back from the corpse's hands that reached for them, and smiled.

And then Charles Dickens rushed into the room.

Alex had to hold back laughter at the ridiculousness of what was now her life.

"Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now!" He called to them. Alex's eyes widened slightly and she turned to the flame light behind her, doing just that.

"What're you doing?" The Doctor asked him, glancing at Alex.

"Turn it all on! Gas the place!" He repeated, turning flames on and gas on even as he spoke.

"Brilliant! Gas!" The Doctor realised.

"What, so we choke to death instead?" Rose frowned, not getting it.

"Am I correct Doctor?" Dickens asked. "These creatures are gaseous"

"So they are" Alex agreed.

"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound" The Doctor explained, sounding exited now. The corpses all seemed to come to a decision and turned together to approach Dickens.

"I hope… oh lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon" Dickens said, mostly to himself. Alex glanced around the room through the bars. All the flames were off and giving out gas. "If not immediately" Dickens added, the corpses now dangerously close to him. Alex turned, eyes wide until she spotted a gas pipe against the wall near The Doctor. Alex grabbed at it quickly.

"Plenty more!" She declared, pulling it from the wall. Her momentum made her stumble back and the Doctor caught her. They looked out quickly to see the blue forms of the Gelth being pulled from the bodies which fell to the ground. Alex began to realize it was getting harder to breathe.

"It's working!" Dickens pointed out, almost exited. The three rushed from the small dungeon and The Doctor stopped in front of Gwyneth, who still stood where she was below the arch.

"Gwyneth send them back! They lied, they're not angels" He told her urgently.

"Liars" She spoke in a calm tone.

"Look at me" He continued, trying to make her understand. "If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back"

"Can't breathe" Rose gasped. Alex gave a nod, it was getting rather difficult for her too. The Doctor looked back at them, even still busy, he looked worried.

"Charles get them out" He ordered, making himself turn back to Gwyneth. Dickens moved to take each of the girl's arms but both simply shook him off.

"I'm not leaving her!" Rose insisted. Alex simply had her gaze locked on The Doctor.

"They're too strong" Gwyneth told them.

"Remember that world you saw? Rose's world?" The Doctor reminded her. Alex was gasping slightly as she tried to breathe. "All those people, none of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift"

"I can't send them back. But I can hold them" Alex's gaze snapped to her. No… "Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out" She pulled a pack of matches from her apron pocket. Rose rushed towards her.

"You can't!" She cried

"Leave this place!" Gwyneth demanded them. The Doctor grabbed Rose's shoulders, making her look at him.

"Rose, get out, go now, I won't leave her while she's still in danger, now go!" He ordered seriously. He watched Rose and Dickens rush out but Alex stayed firmly where she was. "Alex-"

"No"

"Alex, listen to me"

"I'm not leaving you!"

The two stood in silence a moment. Alex started to cough.

"You have to go" He told her, panic in his eyes.

"Then you'd better hurry" Was all she said. He hesitated a moment before turning to Gwyneth.

"Now, give that to me" He asked her. She didn't respond. Alex did her best to remain composed as he took the girl's pulse and his face fell.

"I'm sorry" He said softly, placing a kiss on her forehead. "Thank you" He turned, walking to Alex and stopping beside her when her gaze remained on Gwyneth.

"Thank you" She repeated, not knowing what else to say.

"Find yourself, Miss" Gwyneth told her. Alex didn't have time to wonder what she meant before The Doctor took her hand and began to run. Alex followed him out of the house, feeling his arm circle her shoulders when she stumbled. The two had just reached the doorway when the house exploded and Alex felt the heat on her back as they narrowly escaped the flame. Rose stared at them. Alex gave a cough and stumbled again as she went to walk forward, landing on her hands and knees. She was suddenly surrounded by the three, all trying to ask if she was okay. Alex shifted so she sat on the ground facing them with The Doctor's hand still on her back.

"I'm okay" She told them, coughing for another moment before she managed to fix her breathing. "Just need a moment"

"She didn't make it" Rose stated plainly, looking at The Doctor.

"I'm sorry. She closed the rift" He told her.

"At such a cost, the poor child" Dickens said softly. Rose was still staring at The Doctor.

"I did try Rose" He said softly.

"She was already dead" Alex continued for him. "She had been for at least five minutes" Rose stared at her.

"What do you mean?"

"I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch" The Doctor took over. Rose looked between the two, still confused.

"But… she can't have, she spoke to us. She helped us, she saved us. How could she have done that?"

"There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy, even for you, Doctor" Dickens spoke slowly and Alex could swear he glanced over at her.

"She saved the world" Rose spoke up. "A servant girl. No one will ever know" The three of them looked up at the burning house sadly.

"We'll know" Alex told her in a whisper, placing a hand on hers.

After saying goodbye to Dickens and getting changed Alex went for a wander in the library while Rose was getting ready to stop off home for a bit. Alex knew it was going to be a little longer than anticipated. She smiled to herself as she wandered the seemingly endless library, running her hands down the spines of the books she passed.

"I thought I'd find you in here"

Alex rolled her eyes as she turned.

"How on earth would you know that?" She scoffed.

"Two things" The Doctor spoke, leaning against a bookshelf. "One, this was one of the first rooms you ran off to find your first day in the TARDIS. Two, how could someone with so many books stacked up in her room simply ignore the library nearby?" He grinned smugly. "So, find anything you like?" Alex shrugged.

"Half of these I can't read" She told him, gesturing to the shelves.

"You mean all" He corrected. "That's because you're looking at the wrong shelf" He stood up straighter and walked past her, taking her hand as he went and led her to another part of the library. He stopped after a bit and pointed to the shelves. "Earth languages, mostly English" He told her. Alex looked over the books, feeling a smile form on her face.

"That's more like it" She said happily, looking over the shelves. "What about one I know, hey Sweetheart?" She asked, looking up to the ceiling. The Doctor frowned and went to say something before a book dropped off a shelf several feet away. Alex grinned at him as she went to retrieve it. Her grin turned to a soft smile when she saw the cover. "Nice job" She praised the TARDIS, who gave a soft hum in reply. She showed the cover to The Doctor.

"I read this several times when I was twelve-ish and borrowed it from the town library at least five times. Of course I read it again every now and then as I got older" Alex explained to him. She turned it back to her then, running her fingers lightly over the cover. "Haven't read it in a while though" Neither spoke for a minute, Alex flicking through a couple random pages in her book before tucking it under her arm and looking over the shelves, mouthing the titles to herself and smiling at a couple. The Doctor pretended to look over the shelves too but mostly was watching her carefully.

"What do you think Gwyneth had meant?" She asked suddenly. The Doctor blinked, surprised, but Alex didn't look away from the shelves. "'Find yourself', that's what she told me. I know she was some kind of psychic, what do you think she meant?" She looked at him now.

"I don't know" He answered honestly. Alex nodded.

"Well what kind of TV show would give away all the plot in one episode?" She grinned at him. The Doctor gave her a kind of bemused smile in return.

"Not a very good one" He nodded. Alex laughed.

"Not a very good one" She agreed.

"I'm sorry" The Doctor said after a minute. "I should have listened to you" Alex shook her head.

"It's not your fault. I'd known you wouldn't listen to Rose. I knew you wouldn't listen to me. I just wasn't gonna let it stop me trying" She explained. The Doctor smiled softly at her before seeming to remember something.

"I've got something for you" He said, digging a hand through is pockets. After a moment he pull out an unmoving metal spider. Alex's eyes widened.

"You brought him with us?" She asked, though frowning slightly. "But he's broken, he wouldn't work anymore"

"Not broken" The Doctor shook his head, turning the spider over and pulling out his sonic screwdriver. "No, I simply deactivated him before he could do what he was told. Now that his old master is gone, I should be able to…" There was a small mechanical chirrup and The Doctor turned off his sonic with a triumphant smile.

"Catch" he grinned, tossing it to her. Alex caught her pet and turned him around in her hands until he faced her. She frowned at him.

"Amity?" She said hesitantly, unsure if he'd remember her. His light blinked at her and he moved suddenly, making a quick round of her arms and over her shoulders back to her hands, watching her excitedly. Alex grinned at him. "Amity I never thought I'd see you again!" She told the spider, grinning at it as she felt tears come to her eyes. Amity moved faster than she could comprehend and then was sitting on her shoulder with a tissue from her pocket. Alex laughed as her pet wiped her tears away with a metal arm. He moved again and was suddenly in her hands with the tissue gone.

Alex looked up at The Doctor, who had been watching her with a grin of his own, before rushing forward and practically jumping on him with a hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She cried, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck. Partially because she could no longer reach the ground. The Doctor laughed, returning the hug.

"Anything for you Alex" He replied softly. They finally pulled away and Alex turned back to the shelves, still grinning as she looked over the books. There was a nice moment of comfortable silence between the two. Both looked over the shelves, feigning interest while actually watching each other. It was nice.

"Doctor? Alex?"

Was.

"Guys?" Rose called through the halls.

"We'd better go find her before she gets lost trying to look for us" Alex told The Doctor with a smile. He nodded in agreement.

"Good idea. You can go put them away, I'll meet you by the console" He told her, gesturing to her book and Amity. Alex nodded and watched him leave for a moment before sighing.

"Sweetheart, what am I supposed to do?" She asked softly. The TARDIS gave a comforting hum but it didn't help much. Being in love was one thing, knowing the last time you're ever going to see him is something completely different. He had gone through so much already, he didn't deserve to have her go like that. She didn't want to get attached to him or have him attached to her because she knew she couldn't stay with him forever.

With a sigh Alex started off to her room and dropped the book on her bed. She glanced at Amity, retrieving the curved metal that used to be a sphere from her pocket. It instantly returned to a semi-sphere and she offered it to Amity, who climbed right inside. His light flicked off just as the sphere closed and Alex smiled at the metal ball in her hand.

"Hibernation" She muttered to herself, throwing it up and catching it before setting it on her bed beside the book. She left then and had just been outside the console room when the TARDIS started to shake around her. She grinned, as she stumbled her way into the room.