Still working on Chapter 13 so I apologise in advance of there's a big gap between this chapter and the next

"What is it?" Rose looked at it and then wrinkled her nose. "Sat nav? Isn't that a bit… out-of-date by now? I always thought they'd have moved on by now. Darren from work has one of those in his car. It's rubbish!"

"Yeah well, old habits die hard." The Doctor shrugged and studied the screen in front of him. "Let's have a look then… what joys await us in Realm Three?" He hit the on button. The screen crackled into life. "Oh. Oh!" A wide grin lit up his face, one Rose recognized, accompanied with the usual sudden rush of energy through his body.

"What is it?" she asked, glancing from it to him quickly.

"It's a maze!" The Doctor virtually danced on the spot. "Oh, I love mazes! I'm brilliant at mazes!"

Rose knew that was true. They'd been thrown out of Hampton Court maze because the Doctor had done it so fast, giving away all the secrets and upsetting more than a few other maze-goers. God, the argument they'd had that night once Tala had been tucked up in bed; he'd completely ruined the day for their little girl, who had half-heartedly trailed after him, holding Rose's hand. The joy of the maze had been absolutely killed by him.

Still, that talent would at least come in handy today.

"So that's like a more sophisticated map?" Rose pointed at the device, which showed a red dot flashing. "What's that?"

"Us, I think…" The Doctor pressed a few more buttons. "Yep, definitely us. It's registering three people."

"What?" Rose's eyes widened.

"Two hearts," the Doctor reminded her gently, his brown eyes meeting hers with an almost heart-breaking look. "I said things weren't all that different in the future. Come on."

Rose took his offered hand but the initial misunderstanding hung between them. She should have known the truth anyway, it was obvious. Clearly binary vascular systems still weren't the norm in the future; maybe they never would be, at least not in this end of the universe. Sometimes, though, she forgot things like that about the Doctor, especially in the last couple of years. It had all been so domestic most of the time, living in a proper house with doors and windows and a mortgage (she remembered the way he'd ranted for two consecutive days about that; he'd never even once mentioned that it was her mortgage, that she was the one paying for it), and going for family meals and walks in the park. Naturally, there'd been the odd trip in the TARDIS, to safe places if they could possibly help it. The TARDIS was usually pretty good when Tala was on board, as though she knew instinctively that this little girl needed protecting. Sometimes Rose wondered about the link between the TARDIS and Tala. Even without the name she'd given her daughter, there was still the odd sensation she had sometimes that… well, maybe the Doctor hadn't taken all the time vortex out of her that day. Maybe some of it had stayed. And maybe Tala had some of it.

With such a normal life, it was no wonder that sometimes, the alien things dropped out of Rose's mind, leaving only the normal responses to remarks like that: It's registering three people. For a moment, Rose's heart had leapt, and all the hairs on her arms had stood on end. Was it…? Could it mean…? She should have known that wasn't what he'd meant. After all this time, the last two years, the three previous attempts, the three following heartaches… she should have known it was anything but that. It hadn't stopped her deluding herself for a minute though. And clearly she hadn't been very good at hiding that delusion.

They entered the maze hand in hand. Once within the maze, Rose was disconcerted to see how high the walls were and how silent it all seemed, as though they were the only ones there. It was like all the other Realms they'd been in so far. It was all so isolated and remote, like no one else was within a hundred miles of them. Even with the Doctor's hand firmly in hers, she didn't like it.

The Doctor was studying the device in his hand, his head on one side. "Right, if we go this way…" he murmured, leading the way. "And then… this way." Rose was glad he was taking charge; she wouldn't have a clue.

"Aren't we supposed to always follow the left hand wall or something?" she asked in a low voice, the silence all around her making her feel self-conscious.

The Doctor glanced at her. "No, that's for amateurs. Take us all day if we do that. This way!" He dragged her off to the right as they reached another junction. Rose wondered how he knew what he was doing. Or, more accurately, if he knew what he was doing. She knew better than almost anyone the way he was able to pull off not having a clue. Almost anyone: You're making this up as you go along, aren't you? Mickey… God, she hadn't thought about him in ages. Why was she thinking about him so much today?

"And if we come round here!" The Doctor's voice was suddenly raised in triumph as they turned another corner, and there before them was the exit. "See, am I good, or am I good?" He smiled delightedly, so genuinely pleased with himself that Rose was unable to tease him about his smugness. It wasn't real smugness anyway, it was a sense of elation and joy that this one thing he'd got right. She was just pleased to see him back on top again after his moments of despair in the observation room. There was almost nothing she hated seeing more than the Doctor despondent. It just didn't suit him.

"Five more steps and then-"

The Doctor never finished his sentence as suddenly, without warning, the lights went out, briefly, just for one second. It was almost like blinking, only when they were able to see again…

"It's…. gone." Rose stared in disbelief at the wall which had formed in front of them, where seconds before there had been a pass to freedom. "But… it was there, the exit, I saw it, we were out!"

The Doctor looked all around them and it dawned on both of them that it wasn't just the exit that had been blocked off, but all around them walls had changed places. Just behind them a wall had moved through ninety degrees, blocking off the way that had come, whilst to their left, where there had been a wall, there was now a long passage.

"That's a bit clever," the Doctor said in a voice filled with awe. He looked down at the sat nav in his hand. "That's very clever," he said again, as he saw exactly what had happened. He showed Rose the screen. "The walls have all changed. It's a brand new maze."

For a few moments they stood there in silence, just staring at the screen. Rose hadn't been able to see it at first but the more she looked, the more she could see what the Doctor could see; the regular, almost perfectly symmetrical maze they had entered had changed, into one significantly less pleasing to the eye and, to her mind, far more complicated. The three flashing red lights remained stationary, a reminder of how close they'd come and how much they'd missed out by.

"Well, we should at least look on the positive side," the Doctor tried to muster up some cheerfulness. When Rose looked at him askance, he elaborated. "No Retcon this time."

"Oh of course. Happy day," Rose remarked. "Maybe it would be better if there was some. How often do you think this happens?"

The Doctor shrugged. "Only one way to find out."

"You want to wait around?"

"Got a better idea?"

Rose shrugged. "We could take a wander. Wouldn't make much difference either way would it? If it's all going to change again anyway."

The Doctor smiled, and took her hand in his again. "Good point. Go on then. Lead on, Macduff."

"It's actually lay on, Macduff," Rose corrected him, remembering a school's programme she'd watched years ago when Tala was being a fractious two-year-old and wouldn't go to sleep at night. She'd learnt more about Shakespeare, ionic bonding and simultaneous equations in those few months than she'd ever done before in her life.

"Says who?"

Rose recognized the signs for another one of their playful arguments about things like this, and she was unable to resist a smile. "Says everyone! You check back, that's what it says."

"That's not how I remember it…" The Doctor tailed off and looked across at Rose. "But who am I to argue?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Let me guess, you were there weren't you? You do know starting fights like this when you have inside knowledge is cheating?"

"Ah, the vital bit there is that I didn't start the fight."

"No, you never do, do you?" Rose muttered, with more bitterness coming into her voice than she'd intended. It had been just a normal regular conversation until now, playful and fun. Why did she always have to let her mind wander and start the sniping? She was starting to turn into her mother.

Either the Doctor didn't hear what she'd said (unlikely), or he'd chosen not to respond (becoming increasingly even more unlikely), or he was genuinely distracted by the screen in his hand (the most likely). He opened his mouth to say something and then the lights dipped again.

"There we go!" The Doctor glanced at his watch. "I make that three minutes exactly! They like the power of three here, don't they?"

Rose made a mental note to cancel their subscription to Living TV. He'd taken to watching Charmed far too much in the afternoons.

"They expect us to complete the maze in three minutes?" Rose's jaw dropped. "What kind of crazy place is this?"

"Exactly that. A crazy place." The Doctor looked grim for a moment then threw his shoulders back. "But three minutes. That's doable, that's very doable." Rose looked doubtful. "It is! The next time it changes, we start moving straight away, okay? And fast! Okay?"

"Yes!" Rose snapped, slightly unnecessarily. She saw his face fall and she bit her lip. "Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. I meant, yeah, sure. Fast as I can." She managed a weak smile.

"Rose, I'm going to get us out of this," the Doctor said softly, cupping her face in his hands. "I promise. Both of us. And if… well, if anything goes wrong, I'll make sure you can get home…"

Rose caught at his hands, locking her fingers tightly around his wrists. "Don't."

The Doctor hesitated for a moment, looking into her face with an indescribable expression. Even after all this time, there were moments when even Rose couldn't decipher his looks. She only knew that it couldn't be good.

He let go of her face abruptly. "Right then, you ready for this?"

"As I'll ever be." Rose shook her arms and legs out self-consciously. "I knew I should have joined that gym."

The Doctor grinned and then the lights dipped again. "Right, here we go!"

As soon as the lights came back up, the Doctor scanned the screen, and within seconds was setting off down the passageway they were in at top speed. Rose ran after him, trying to keep pace with his loping stride. After a few turns, she loosened her grip on his hand to try and make it easier on herself and on him.

The Doctor glanced sideways as he felt her hand slip.

"I'm fine, keep going!" Rose panted as they darted around another corner. She kept close on his heels, all the time conscious of her almost instinctive internal clock ticking away. It felt like they'd been running for far longer than three minutes, she felt sure that they were being too slow. They didn't seem to be getting anywhere. They'd turned back on themselves so many times she wouldn't be at all surprised if they were back where they'd started.

Then, like a watering hole in the desert, an open wall loomed before them. Rose gave a sharp intake of breath.

"Told you!" The Doctor forced out between ragged breaths. "Come on, we've only got a few more seconds!"

Rose could feel her knees beginning to tremble and her speed falter, but she dug down deep to try and find the energy for a sprint finish. The gap between her and the Doctor was widening step by step, as he lengthened his stride and Rose felt her own legs begin to tighten and her steps get shorter. Desperately, she tried to push on, feeling the seconds slipping away. She saw the Doctor pass through the gap in the wall, coming to a standstill almost straight away, and then turning round.

"Rose!" he shouted as she neared him. "Rose, you've only got a few more seconds!"

Too exhausted to reply, Rose tried to power herself along over the last few yards. In the last few strides, her body gave up though. She felt the darkness creep over her before she saw it and the last thing she heard was the Doctor's desperate howling of her name.

"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!"

Next time: Tempers

Whilst Ianto investigated the tourist information, a sign on the noticeboard caught Jack's eye. It was clearly recent, as it was pinned on top of several other notices, but wasn't brand new; the edges had curled and it looked generally sorry for itself in the sauna like atmosphere of the office. The words were printed in red capital letters; the ink had smudged slightly in the bottom left-hand corner.

THE BUILDING SITE IS STRICTLY OUT OF BOUNDS FOR GUESTS.

PLEASE KEEP CHILDREN OUT.

THIS IS FOR SAFETY REASONS.

THANK YOU.