I reappear. My body is sore, and I feel nauseous, but it's all an afterthought to the pain in my chest. Loud, harsh sobs pour forth from my body.

That man. That impossible man. He sent me away.

I'm not sure how long I stay curled up on the floor. Eventually my tears start to dry up. I use my arm to wipe across my face. Leaning back from my hunched position on the floor, I take in where I am. It's the Tardis, with it's coral arches and grating.

"Is the Doctor here?" I ask the Tardis. She hums back a negative. Outside then. "Thanks dear."

I open the door to find myself in some sort of corridor. There is a window, I see space staring back at me from it. Looks like I'm on some sort of space station.

Music starts to play, some catchy song I remember hearing on the radio. I head towards it, and once I enter the room it's coming from, I am struck by all the different species of aliens there. Aliens that look like trees, some that were giant birds, some who were just blue. It was amazing! The Face of Boe is over in the corner, and I mentally wave at him.

I spin around, taking everything in. There's a flash of blonde that catches my attention, and I look over. It's Rose. Standing next to her is a man in a leather jacket, who I'm fairly certain is the Doctor. "Doctor, Rose!" I call out.

The Doctor's head snaps up, a look of shock followed by relief fliting across his face. The connection snaps open allowing me to feel his grief and his desperate hope. I stumble back under the barrage. He sprints across the room, throwing his arms around me. "Mabel, you're here. You're actually here." He whispers.

I pat him on the back, somewhat bewildered. "Yeah big guy, I'm here." He pulls back from the hug and I see there are tears in his eyes. He leans down, kissing me. It starts out rough. There is a hint of teeth, but he gentles the kiss into something more adoring.

I have a feeling that something incredibly bad has happened. Never have I seen the Doctor like this before.

I open my mental doors just a tiny bit wider, letting him in deeper than I normally would. He sobs quietly, tearing his mouth from mine.

Rose clears her throat. "Um, maybe we should go somewhere else? People are staring." She interrupts, uncomfortable. The Doctor doesn't respond, in fact he doesn't move at all, just stares at me like I'm the very stars he always runs to. I put an arm around his waist, turning and directing him away from the crowd. We find a small viewing room off a side corridor and I lead him there. Rose smiles at me a little weakly, before walking off and leaving us alone.

I pull the both of us down to sit on the stairs, wrapping my arms around him. The Doctor curls his body further into the cradle of mine. Which is a feat. I'm 5 foot 2 inches and I'm fairly certain he's pushing 6 feet.

I hum quietly, a lullaby that I remember from my childhood. Slowly, incrementally, the Doctor starts to relax. His back unclenches from the curl he's forced it into, head rising. "Hey there." I say to him softly, raising a hand from his back to cup his cheek.

He leans into my touch, the look on his face is sad. "I thought-With what I-" He starts and skips around. "I didn't think I would ever see you anymore." He finishes, loneliness coming from his side of the connection. Raw, heart breaking loneliness.

I tighten my arm, and send all the comfort, safety, and affection that I have in my body. "You aren't alone Doctor." I tell him. "And I have it under good authority that you see me pretty often in the future."

His answering laugh is a little wet, but undeniably relieved. Reaching up, he cradles my head with his hands. Stoking the side of my face with his thumb, he pulls my head down into another kiss. I reciprocate, but back off when he tries to deepen it.

"What the matter?" He asks me, confused.

I smooth the collar of his leather jacket down. "I get that something happened and you're very happy to see me right now. But I'm incredibly upset with a future you, and I'm not in the mood for kissing."

His eyes scan me, narrowing in on my face. Probably noticing the redness around my eyes and nose from crying earlier.

I narrow my eyes at him. "I don't know when the next time I'll see him. If I ever see him again." Grabbing his shirt, I pull him down so that his face is right in front of mine. "So I'm going to tell you, and you better listen."

He tries to shift away, but I don't allow him to. "I understand you want to protect me. I've told you this before in the future, and I have a feeling I've probably said it in the past. I can take care of myself. Don't need you to do it for me. When it comes to my life. It is my choice to stand with you. You don't have the right to make that choice for me. Do I make myself clear?"

The Doctor's hands come up and grip mine. He leans back a bit, beaming at me. "Oh Mabel. I've missed you."

"Hey!" I exclaim, angry. "Why are you smiling?" I'm trying to scold him and he's happy about it?

He shakes his head, still smiling. "You were right earlier. I'm just very happy to see you."

I frown at him. "I can't even stay mad at this you, cause you haven't done what I'm mad at you about." If I see a future version-when I next see a future version of him, I'm going to chew him out. Thoroughly.

"That's why we normally try to finish any domestics right when they happen. You never know what version you're going to meet next." He admits.

Pulling away, but keeping a hold of one of my hands, he puffs out his chest. "So, what do you think?"

"Of what?" I ask him, confused.

He rolls his eyes, sending exasperation across the connection. "Of this body."

"Oh!" I take the opportunity to scan him properly. Even under his clothing, I can tell that the Doctor's shoulders are broad. He has strong European features. A burgundy jumper under a black leather jacket, and black slacks completes the ensemble. It's a little simple, but overall pleasing. "Amazing as always, sweetheart."

He preens, feeling pleased. I roll my eyes at him.

"Anyways." I say, standing up. He stands up with me. "We should probably be getting to Rose."

"You know her?" The Doctor asks, contemplative.

I nod. "Yep. Rose is pretty awesome."

"Just met her the other day, she helped me out with the Nestene Consciousness. Thought I'd take her on a trip to say thank you." He explains, leading the way father down the corridor.

We find Rose in the next viewing room off the corridor. She looks a bit lost herself, but perks up as we walk in.

"Hello Rose." I say to her.

She looks a little uncertain, and the Doctor elbows me gently.

"She hasn't met you yet." He reminds me.

"Oh! Whoops?" I twist my mouth into a grimace. "Sorry about that, I'm Mabel. You'll normally find me around this sap over here." I say, pointing at the Doctor.

"Oi!" He exclaims.

"I'm Rose. Rose Tyler." Rose says to me, holding out a hand for me to shake. I shake it, then look out towards the view screen properly for the first time.

I nod out into the abyss. "So what's all this then? Where are we now?"

"This is Platform 1, and that is the Earth." He points out towards the planet. I send him a look. I clearly knew it was the earth. "It's the year five point five slash apple slash twenty six. Today is the day the sun expands and destroys the Earth."

My head snaps towards the Doctor in disbelief. "Whoa, wait a minute. Today is the day the Earth gets destroyed?" He nods, looking somber. "This is the place you take her? On her first trip, you take her here?"

The Doctor deflates, looking sullen. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"Ooh!" Rose suddenly exclaims.

We both turn our heads to look at her. "What?" We ask in unison.

She starts giggling, flapping her hand at us. "I get it now."

I frown over at her. "Get what?"

"You two are married, yeah?" She gestures between the two of us. "For a long while, I'd say."

My face instantly flushes. Married? I mean, twelve did have a ring on.

Rose sends a confused look over my shoulder, and I turn to look. The Doctor pauses, his hand is raised in the middle of a slashing motion. He looks panicked.

For some reason, the panic makes me feel calmer. I turn to look at him, crossing my arms. A smile pulls at my lips. "Yes Doctor, are we married?"

The panic on his face increases. "Uh-um, how old are you?" He winces. "No! Don't answer that question. Uh- Spoilers?"

I can't help it. Laughter, from deep in my chest, bubbles forth. The look on his face is way to good. "I was just teasing you, hun."

He grumbles, but I feel his relief through the connection. Turning back to Rose, I smile at her confusion. "It's a little complicated. I never meet the Doctor in the right order. It's still relatively early days for me right now. He's known me for a lot longer than I've known him." Rose still looks confused. "So to answer your question. No, I'm not married. He might be, but I'm not."

"I'm confused." She admits.

"Good." The Doctor states. "Being confused means you're thinking." He sits down next to her on the steps. "What do you think, then? About the station?"

Rose hesitates. "Great. Yeah, fine. Once you get past the slightly psychic paper. They're just so alien. The aliens are so alien. You look at 'em and they're alien."

"Blimey.' The Doctor mutters. "Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South."

"They all speak English." Rose states.

Leaning back on his hands, the Doctor shakes his head. "No, you just hear English. It's a gift of the Tardis. The telepathic field, gets inside your brain and translates."

Rose looks startled. "It's inside my brain?"

"Well, in a good way." He says.

"Your machine gets inside my head. It gets inside and it changes my mind, and you didn't even ask?" She asks, looking increasingly upset.

The Doctor grimaces. "I didn't think about it like that."

Rose leans back, anger coming to the fore. "No, you were too busy thinking up cheap shots about the Deep South. Who are you, then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?"

"I'm just the Doctor." He says, looking over to me. I shrug, my face scrunching in uncertainty. I had no idea how to help

Rose won't let it go though. "From what planet?"

"Well, it's not as if you'll know where it is!" The Doctor exclaims.

"Where are you from?" She asks again.

Defensive now, his voice is sharp when he asks. "What does it matter?"

"Tell me who you are!" She insists.

The Doctor stands up, gesturing at his chest. "This is who I am, right here, right now, all right? All that counts is here and now, and this is me."

I can feel how raw saying those words makes him feel.

Rose doesn't notice, too focused on the tear she's on. "Yeah, and I'm here too because you brought me here, so just tell me."

I shake my head. "I get what he said about the Tardis freaked you out. It freaked me out too when I first found out. But don't take it out on him. He doesn't deserve it." I shoot her a disappointed look, then stand up and join the Doctor in front of the viewing window he wandered over too.

I'm not entirely sure what to do, so I just stand next to him. A computerized voice chimes from the ceiling. "Earth Death in twenty minutes. Earth Death in twenty minutes."

Rose sighs from behind us. "All right. As my mate Shareen says, don't argue with the designated driver." The tone of her voice is apologetic. Through the reflection in the window I can see her pull out her phone and press a button. "Can't exactly call for a taxi. There's no signal. We're out of range. Just a bit."

The Doctor looks at her from the corner of his eyes.

I nudge him with my arm, giving him a look. She's trying to apologize without actually saying the words you dolt.

The Doctor twitches his eyebrows at me, then reaches over grabbing the phone from her hands. "Tell you what." He says, pulling the back off of her phone. "With a little bit of jiggery pokery."

Rose lips pull up in a smile. "Is that a technical term, jiggery pokery?"

The Doctor nods. He pulls the battery from the back of the phone. Dropping it into his pocket, he starts rummaging around. "Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery. What about you?"

"No, I failed hullabaloo." She responds to him, teasing.

Finding what he was looking for, the Doctor pulls out a black battery pack from his coat to put back into the spot where he had pulled the battery from originally. The phone beeps. "Oh. There you go." He hands the phone back to her, smiling.

Rose clicks a button. The phone begins dialing. I hear a faint 'Hello?' from the phone before Rose wanders off to the other side of the room for privacy.

"That was very kind." I tell him, sending a wave of affection in his direction.

The Doctor shifts, a pleased smile still on his face. "Dolt?" He asks.

Whoops. "I didn't mean to project that." I tell him, rueful.

He laughs. "You're still a bit more-" His face twitches, I can almost feel the neurons firing as he thinks. "-The connection is open more than most people would have it."

Oh! I flush in embarrassment. Ducking my head, I close my side of the connection. "Sorry." Come to think of it, there's been several times where I've jumped to a new place and the connection has been closed. It hadn't occurred to me that even though I might enjoy being that open with the Doctor, he might not like being that open with me.

The Doctor winces, his mouth opening to say something, but he gets interrupted.

"That was my mum. I just talked to my mum." Rose says, smiling.

He shrugs. "Think that's amazing, you want to see the bill."

Her face falls a bit. "That was five billion years ago. So, she's dead now. Five billion years later, my mum's dead."

I frown at her. "Cheery, aren't you."

The space station beneath our feet suddenly shakes.

"That's not supposed to happen." The Doctor says. There's a hint of a smile hanging around his lips.

He heads back towards to main room. I exchange a look with Rose, she's visibly confused. "That man." I tell her. "He always finds trouble no matter where he goes."

I link my arm through hers and pull her with me as I follow the Doctor.

The intercom buzzes to life. A pleasant sounding person starts speaking. "Honored guests may be reassured that gravity pockets may cause slight turbulence, thanking you."

It doesn't take long at all to make it back to the main room. The Doctor rounds the corner and immediately starts touching a panel on the wall.

"That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets and they don't feel like that." He informs us. Turning slightly, he focuses on something behind me and Rose. "What do you think, Jabe? Listened to the engines. They've pitched up about thirty Hertz. That dodgy or what?"

Jabe shakes her head. "It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Where's the engine room?" He asks her.

"I don't know, but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite." Jabe gestures to me and Rose. "I could show you and your wives?"

The Doctor's hands come up. "No, they aren't my wives." He says at the same time Rose goes "I'm not his wife."

Ouch. Instant denial. I exercise an iron grip over my emotions, making sure that nothing of what I was feeling was on my face. I was now incredibly glad that I had closed the connection when I had.

Earlier, when I had teased him, I had been grateful when he hadn't answered the question. Part of me wanted him to say yes, while the other part of me felt like it was moving too fast. But I guess now I had the answer.

Jabe looks at me, then at Rose, then back at the Doctor. "Concubines?"

I raise an eyebrow at her. "Excuse me. We're standing right here."

"So sorry." She directs to me. "Perhaps they're your prostitutes?" Jabe asks the Doctor.

"Whatever I am, it must be invisible. Do you mind?" Rose rolls her eyes. "Tell you what, you guys go check out the engine room. I'm going to catch up with family. Quick word with Michael Jackson." She walks off in the direction of what appears to be a piece of stretched skin?

"Don't start a fight." The Doctor calls after Rose. She waves her hand back at him in response.

He offers Jabe his arm. "I'm all yours."

I roll my eyes, gesturing for them to go first down the hallway. Another computerized voice sounds over the intercom. "Earth Death in fifteen minutes. Earth Death in fifteen minutes."

We round the corner to Jabe's guest suite. She gestures to the hatch. "This is it."

I pry the hatch open, stepping inside. It's not horribly cramped. I can stand up with ease. Behind me I can hear the Doctor asking Jabe more questions.

"Who's in charge of Platform One? Is there a Captain or what?" He asks her.

"There's just the Steward and the staff." She tells him. "All the rest is controlled by the metal mind."

The Doctor pauses for a second. "You mean the computer? But who controls that?"

Jabe sounds like she's reciting something from memory. "The Corporation. They move Platform One from one artistic event to another."

The Doctor's voice loses its light tone. "But there's no one from the Corporation on board."

I can't see it, but it sounds like there is a smile in Jabe's voice. "They're not needed. This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the Alpha class. Nothing can go wrong."

"Unsinkable?" The Doctor asks.

"If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate." She responds.

"You're telling me. I was on board another ship once. They said that was unsinkable. I ended up clinging to an iceberg. It wasn't half cold." He stops walking. I stop as well, turning back to look at them. "So, what you're saying is, if we get in trouble there's no one to help us out?"

Jabe shakes her head. "I'm afraid not."

The Doctor smiles. "Fantastic." He starts walking down the maintenance hatch again, hand resting against my back to urge me forward.

"I don't understand." Jabe says confused. "In what way is that fantastic?"

"It's fantastic." I raise my voice a bit so she can hear me. "Because trouble always seems to find the Doctor, and he's grown to like it."

"Oi!" He complains.

I look back at him. "It's not like I'm saying anything that's not true dear."

He grumbles. "Yeah, but not in front of the guest."

I roll my eyes at him, turning back to look at where I'm going.

The Doctor directs his attention back the Jabe. "So tell me, Jabe, what's a tree like you doing in a place like this?"

"Respect for the Earth." She says.

"Oh, come on. Everyone on this platform's worth zillions." He says to her, voice skeptical.

Jabe laughs. "Well, perhaps it's a case of having to be seen at the right occasions."

"In case your share prices drop? I know you lot. You've got massive forests everywhere, roots everywhere, and there's always money in land." I know him well enough to know he probably shook his head at that.

"All the same, we respect the Earth as family. So many species evolved from that planet. Mankind is only one. I'm another. My ancestors were transplanted from the planet down below, and I'm a direct descendant of the tropical rainforest." She informs him.

"Excuse me." The Doctor mumbles, gripping the back of my shirt to stop me from continuing to walk.

There is a panel. He starts scanning it with his sonic screwdriver.

Jabe looks down. "And what about your ancestry, Doctor? Perhaps you could tell a story or two. Perhaps a man only enjoys trouble when there's nothing else left. I scanned you earlier. The metal machine had trouble identifying your species. It refused to admit your existence. And even when it named you, I wouldn't believe it." The Doctor refuses to look over at Jabe, concentrating far more than he needs to on the monitor in front of him. I place my hand on his shoulder. "But it was right. I know where you're from. Forgive me for intruding, but it's remarkable that you even exist. I just wanted to say how sorry I am."

Reaching over, Jabe places a hand on his arm. There are tears in the Doctor's eyes. My heart hurts for him. I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but I don't need to know. I pull the connection open again, just enough to send him my support.

He grips onto my tentative mental probe with surprising force. Ratcheting the connection back open to where it was before.

I stumble back, my hand falling off of his shoulder. The Doctor turns, pressing his forehead against mine. "Please. Please leave it open." He implores.

Bewildered, I pull back, rubbing my aching head. "I only closed it in the first place because I thought you wanted me to."

"No. I didn't want you to." He frowns, shaking his head. "I got a great big old gob this time around. Says things in ways I don't mean them."

"Okay." I tell him. Jabe is staring at us, and I'm acutely aware of it. "I'll leave it open for now, I promise."

The Doctor squeezes my hand, lips quirking in a smile. He turns back to the monitor. One last pass with the sonic screwdriver sees the door successfully opened.

The Doctor and Jabe walk through first, I follow after. Inside the doorway is a huge room. We are on a small catwalk that has a series of large fans blocking the way.

"Is it me, or is it a bit nippy?" The Doctor asks us. "Fair do's, though, that's a great bit of air conditioning. Sort of nice and old fashioned. Bet they call it retro." He moves over to the panel next to us on the walkway, scanning it. It beeps. "Gotcha." The Doctor murmurs.

Pulling the front of the panel off, all of us are surprised when a metal spider scuttles out of it. I shriek, jumping behind the Doctor, using his body as a shield. The spider darts over to the wall and climbs up it. It's trying to get away.

"What the hell's that?" The Doctor asks.

Jabe steps forwards. "Is it part of the retro?"

"I don't think so. Hold on." He says while pulling his sonic screwdriver from his pocket. Before he can do anything with it though, Jabe throws an arm out. A piece of her shoots out and lassos the spider, dropping it into the Doctor's hand.

The Doctor looks over at her. "Hey, nice liana."

Jabe smirks, her tone is flirty. "Thank you. We're not supposed to show them in public."

Ugh.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anybody." He smiles over at Jabe faintly, then directs his attention to the spider in his hand. "Now then, who's been bringing their pets on board?"

"What does it do?" She asks him.

"Sabotage." The Doctor responds. Of course it does. Spiders suck man.

Above us, the computer informs us. "Earth Death in ten minutes."

The Doctor looks up at us. "And the temperature's about to rocket. Come on."

He jogs from the room. Jabe and I follow closely behind him. As we run along the corridor starts getting almost smoky? Like something has been burning.

We round the corner and find the room where the smoke seems to be coming from. You can hear the sizzle as things are still burning. There are little blue men gathered outside of the door, they all look very panicked.

"Hold on. Get back." The Doctor calls out as he darts over to the door controls. He pulls out his sonic again. A computerized voice announces. 'Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising.'

"Is the Steward in there?!" Jabe asks.

"You can smell him." The Doctor responds. "Hold on, there's another sun filter programmed to descend." He runs off, presumably going to try and raise the other sun filter.

Oh god. The Doctor is right. I can smell the burning flesh. I stumble over to a corner, dry heaving.

Jabe comes over to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Come, we need to find out who's causing this."

I nod, straightening myself out and following her. She takes us back to the main room where everyone is. Her attendants come over, Jabe takes a handheld computer from one of them.

Scanning the metal spider, she waits for the response. "The metal machine confirms. The spider devices have infiltrated the whole of Platform One." The door swishes behind us, I can feel the Doctor. His anger is starting to grow.

The piece of stretched flesh opens its mouth and starts to talk. "How's that possible? Our private rooms are protected by a code wall. Moisturize me, moisturize me." There are two people with scrubs on beside her, they proceed to hose her down with some sort of liquid.

"Summon the Steward." Someone in the crowd demands.

Jabe looks in their direction. "I'm afraid the Steward is dead." People gasp.

"Who killed him?" The same person asks.

"This whole event was sponsored by the Face of Boe. He invited us. Talk to the Face. Talk to the Face." The stretched skin says.

The Doctor looks up from the spider he had been fiddling with. "Easy way of finding out. Someone bought their little pet on board. Let's send him back to master." He sets it down on the ground.

It scuttles over towards the skin and scans her, then it goes over to a group of people in black gowns.

"The Adherents of the Repeated Meme. J'accuse!" The skin cries.

The Doctor walks forward. "That's all very well, and really kind of obvious, but if you stop and think about it-" He gets cut off as one of the Adherents tires to hit him. He grabs it by the arm, yanking. The limb comes right off. "A Repeated Meme is just an idea. And that's all they are, an idea."

The Doctor pulls on one of the wires hanging from the arm. All of the Adherents fall to the ground. "Remote controlled Droids. Nice little cover for the real troublemaker. Go on, Jimbo. Go home." He nudges the spider with his foot. It shoots off, running over to the stretched skin.

The skin has an unimpressed look on her face. "I bet you were the school swot and never got kissed. At arms!" Her attendants raise their spray guns.

I scoff. "What are you going to do, moisturize us?"

"With acid. Oh, you're too late, anyway. My spiders have control of the mainframe." The guests all look around at each other. "Oh, you all carried them as gifts, tax free, past every code wall. I'm not just a pretty face."

"Sabotaging a ship while you're still inside it? How stupid's that?" The Doctor asks her in disbelief.

The skin sighs. "I'd hoped to manufacture a hostage situation with myself as one of the victims. The compensation would have been enormous."

The Doctor rolls his eyes. I can feel his contempt. "Five billion years and it still comes down to money."

"Do you think it's cheap, looking like this?" The skin narrows its eyes. "Flatness costs a fortune. I am the last human, Doctor. Me. Not that freaky little kid of yours."

"Arrest her, the infidel" One of the guests says.

"Oh, shut it, pixie. I've still got my final option." She has a self satisfied smirk on her face.

The computer, one of the constants of the day, calls out from above. "Earth Death in three minutes."

"And here it comes. You're just as useful dead, all of you. I have shares in your rival companies and they'll triple in price as soon as you're dead. My spiders are primed and ready to destroy the safety systems. How did that old Earth song go?" She pauses as in contemplation. "Burn, baby, burn."

"Then you'll burn with us." Jabe tells her.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." The skin says, not sounding sorry at all. "I know the use of teleportation is strictly forbidden, but I'm such a naughty thing. Spiders, activate." There are a series of explosions that rock the platform. "Forcefields gone with the planet about to explode. At least it'll be quick. Just like my fifth husband. Oh, shame on me."

"Safety systems failing." The voice from above informs us.

"Bye, bye, darlings." The skin practically sings, before her attendants and her disappear in a flash of light.

The computer chimes again. "Heat levels rising."

"Reset the computer." A guest demands.

Jabe shakes her head. "Only the Steward would know how."

"No. We can do it by hand. There must be a system restore switch" He yanks on my arm. "Mabel, come on. You lot, just chill."

"Heat rising." The computer repeats as we run back towards the engine room.

Our arrival is heralded by a wave of heat. The fans are going full force now. The blades moving far to fast for anyone to go through.

The computer calls out. "Heat levels critical."

"Oh." The Doctor sighs. "And guess where the switch is."

The computer continues to chime. "Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising."

The Doctor runs over to a lever on the wall. He pulls it down, and the fans start to slow down. Releasing it, he goes to walk through, but the fans start spinning again.

I reach over, pushing it down. "Go!" I yell at him.

"External temperature five thousand degrees." The computer chimes.

The Doctor looks pained. "You can't. The heat's going to vent through this place."

"Okay." I nod. "Stop wasting time!"

The computer chimes in my ear. "Heat levels rising. Heat levels rising. Earth Death in two minutes. Earth Death in two minutes."

The Doctor sends me a sharp look before turning and pausing in front of the first fan. Two seconds pass, then he runs through.

The lever is beginning to heat up. My hands start to burn. Cursing, I lean my body on the lever while reaching up with one hand to pull my scarf free from my neck. I wrap it around the lever to use as a barrier.

I look up to find that the Doctor has cleared the second fan. Good job, one more to go. Blisters start to form on my hands from the heat. I bite the inside of my cheek harshly, determined to not distract the Doctor in any way.

The Computer chimes. "Planet explodes in ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five"

The Doctor takes a deep breath, then walks through the last fan.

Lunging for the reset breaker, he manages to get to it just in time. "Raise shields!" He yells.

The heat immediately starts to recede. The fans start to slow down to almost nothing. I pull my hands from the lever, hissing as pieces of my skin get left behind.

I shakily exhale. My hands are blackened and cracked. Blood is sluggishly leaking from where pieces of skin have been torn off.

The sound of running feet breaks me out of my examination. The Doctor skids to a stop in front of me. "I ruined my scarf." I say to him plaintively.

He doesn't appreciate my humor. Frowning, he gently cups my hands from underneath. I cringe in pain at the touch.

The Doctor grabs the tattered remains of my scarf from the lever. Ripping it in two, he wraps my hands the best he can.

A strangled scream leaves my lips as he tightens the fabric down on my left, then my right hand. Involuntary tears slip from the corners of my eyes. "Doctor."

He hums, the sound comforting. A hand smoothes down my hair as he presses a kiss to my forehead. "Soon as we get back to the Tardis, I'll fix you up. Can't do it right now, there's something I gotta finish first." The Doctor tells me.

I sigh. "Yeah. I know sweetheart."

Instead of pulling back like I thought he was going to, he leans in so his forehead is pressed against mine. "I know it's early days yet." The Doctor murmurs. "You might not know. Pain can be shared over the connection."

Like how I helped the Doctor. "I don't want you to be hurt." I tell him.

He makes a frustrated noise. "Pain shared is pain halved." It's the same words I said to a different him not even 12 hours ago.

I can feel this is important to him. Closing my eyes, I reach out mentally, pressing against his borders. He immediately envelopes me with his own presence. My body sags against his in relief.

"There." The Doctor says. "Now, to finish this."

He places a hand in the small of my back, the physical touch a comfort as we walk back towards the main hall.

The closer we get, the more agitated I can feel the Doctor becoming. By the time we round the corner he is practically vibrating with it.

"Rose!" I call out, relieved that she's okay.

She turns towards us, her face instantly becoming concerned as she see's how I'm holding my hands. "You all right?"

I smile at her reassuringly. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

The Doctor starts to pace back and forth. Rose looks over to him. "Are 'you' okay?" She asks him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one, teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby." The Doctor walks over to what looks like an ostrich egg. He throws it to the ground and it breaks, revealing a small device. "Idea number three, if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed." He twists the top of the device and the stretched skin appears back in the room.

"Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces." She is in the middle of saying. "Oh."

"The last human." There is contempt in the Doctor's voice.

The skin immediately starts trying to bullshit him. "So, you passed my little test. Bravo. This makes you eligible to join, er, the Human Club."

He isn't buying it. "People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them."

Cassandra huh, the same Cassandra that was in the hospital on New Earth?

Cassandra purses her lips. "It depends on your definition of people, and that's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court, then, Doctor, and watch me smile and cry and flutter-"

The Doctor interrupts. "And creak?"

"And what?" She asks.

"Creak. You're creaking." He says to her.

"What?" Cassandra says, alarmed. "Ah! I'm drying out! Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me, moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys! It's too hot!"

The Doctor just stares at her. "You raised the temperature."

She pleads with him. "Have pity! Moisturize me! Oh, oh, Doctor. I'm sorry. I'll do anything."

I want to do something to help her, but at the same time I feel like she will only go back to doing horrible shit like this again.

Rose takes a step forward. "Help her." She tells him.

The Doctor doesn't move. "Everything has its time and everything dies."

"I'm too young!" Cassandra cries out as her skin splits apart and flies everywhere.

The Doctors face doesn't change. He just stares at the remains coldly. It's at times like these that I remember how alien he is.

I lean my shoulder against his arm. "Doctor." I murmur.

He shifts so his arm goes over my shoulder. "Medbay."

I nod, letting him direct me. I'm not entirely sure that I would have been able to walk under my own power. My thoughts are all jumbling together, it was getting hard to think properly. Some part of me realized that I must be going into shock, the other part was just confused.

Time passed, it must have. The next thing I'm aware of is the sharp ripping pain of the Doctor pulling my scarf from my right hand.

"Jesus." I hiss at him. "Next time kick me in the ovaries why don't ya? Maybe it'll hurt less."

The Doctor's lips tug up in a smile. "There you are." His hands reach for my left hand but I pull it back.

"No." I tell him. "It's fine, just leave it that way."

He shakes his head in response. "I have to clean them before I can start the healing process." He reaches for my hand again, and this time I let him.

The Doctor carefully peels the fabric back, but it's sticking to some parts of my skin. "Noo, you-"

"Be nice." He interrupts me, while he finishes ripping the scarf off. I bite back a scream.

The next hour is a blur of pain. The Doctor had to trim back my dead, blackened skin so he could clean my hands properly. After that, he was able to put a numbing gel with healing properties on my hands. It glowed a pretty green. He finishes the whole thing off by putting thin transparent gloves on overtop everything.

"The gel will turn clear when it's finished healing the damage." The Doctor informs me.

It pretty much goes over my head though, at this point I'm so exhausted I can hardly see straight.

"C'mon." He says to me, fond. The Doctor picks me up like I don't weigh anything, adjusting me so that my hands are resting on my chest.

He heads down the corridor, pausing in front of our door. Shifting me around, he holds me with one arm while he opens the door with the other. That's really hot. The Doctor's shoulders shake with amusement.

Crossing over to the bed, he gently lays me down. His hands come up and start unbuttoning my shirt, carefully maneuvering my arms out of the holes. He removes the rest of my clothing and dresses me in an oversized t-shirt.

Above my head three Doctor's start swirling around. I giggle to myself. Wholly shit, I'm so high right now.

The Doctor's head falls to my stomach, laughter coming from deep in his chest.

Oh, I think I've been saying all of this out loud.

"Oh yes." The Doctor tells me. "Yes, you have." The amusement in his voice is palpable.

Hmp. Fine, I guess I wasn't going to tell him what I thought of his leather jacket. It wasn't that attractive anyways.

The Doctor pulls his leg up. He uses it as a rest for his arm, leaning his head in his palm. His face is soft. "Mmhm. I guess you won't."

Shut up. This isn't fair, I don't know what I'm saying out loud and what I'm not saying out loud.

A dust mote floats over the Doctor's shoulder, distracting me. Dust is cool. The Doctor shifts, gaining my attention again. The Doctor is cool too. Really cool. I liked this face. He was sassy.

Sassy. Yeah.. My thoughts drifted off and it was a while before I was able to catch them again.

I tried to upload this last night but the site kept fritzing out on me.