Disclaimer: I don't own the Doctor, the TARDIS, Rose or any of the characters, planets, technology etc that appear in Doctor Who. I am only borrowing them and they will be returned to the BBC undamaged and in their original packaging.

Chapter Eight: Heart To Heart

'I suppose we should really get some rest,' Xan said, getting up. He sprawled onto one of the small beds. 'Not the most comfortable thing I've ever slept on, but then again, not the most uncomfortable.' He grinned at her. 'Get some sleep. I think we're going to need plenty of rest.'

Rose shook her head. 'I'm not tired.'

He propped himself up on his elbows. 'Something bothering you?'

She shrugged. 'There is something wrong here, isn't there?'

'Well, we've been poisoned, the person who did is going slowly mad, the entire planet is dying and everything is obsessed with this crazy prophecy. Yeah, I think you are right when you say there is something wrong. If only we could work out what it was,' he finished sardonically.

'You don't need to be like that,' Rose said mildly. 'I was only saying.'

'Sorry,' he muttered. 'I'm feeling a little tense.'

'The whole telepathy thing getting to you?' she asked sympathetically.

'No, the whole being poisoned thing was getting to me until you mentioned the telepathy thing and now that's getting to me as well. Thank you very much.'

'Sorry.'

'It's all right.' He rubbed his forehead. 'So. You're from Earth.'

'Yeah, London. You ever been to Earth?'

'No. My home's too far and I never had the money or time to take a long space-flight there. I've travelled a bit, but only as far as my work was concerned. Spent some time on the space stations orbiting the planet, which was interesting. How come you ended up travelling with the Doctor, then? If I recall my history correctly, Earth didn't have many known aliens in the twentieth century.'

'It just became public news last Christmas,' she said, smiling at the memory. 'It was a bit weird all that, because the Doctor changed - '

'Changed?'

'He - changed from how he looked when I first started travelling with him,' she explained. 'He said Time Lords can do that - '

He looked fascinated. 'Regeneration? I read somewhere about that, it's a Time Lord ability isn't it? Unique to Time Lords, I think.'

'You know about that?'

'Course I do. I was required to study alien races as part of my job. There wasn't much on Time Lords, though.'

'He's the last one,' she said quietly.

'They were all wiped out during the Time War, I think,' he said, frowning. 'Something about the Daleks - '

'Yeah, them,' Rose said shortly. 'I've met Daleks, don't like them.'

'Never encountered them,' Xan said.

'You're an alien,' she said, changing the subject.

'No, I'm half an alien,' he corrected. 'Hybrid, remember.'

'Was that difficult?'

'On a planet where hybrids are not readily accepted? Course it was.'

'Sorry.'

'Don't be, not your fault.' He gave her a quick smile. 'You got family? The Doctor mentioned your mum - '

'Yeah,' Rose said, smiling. 'They've got a bit of a love-hate relationship at times. I'm sure you'd like her, we pop in every so often, so I'll introduce you next time.'

'Any other family?'

'Not really. My dad died when I was a kid,' she said with a pause that Xan spotted as a raw nerve.

'What about anyone else?' he asked curiously.

She smiled. 'You mean do I have a partner?'

He tilted his head to one side. 'Do you?'

'Yeah, kind of. Mickey. We're a bit on-off at the moment. He's nice, though. He and the Doctor also have a bit of a love-hate relationship. What about you? You got anyone?'

He hesitated. 'No. Not anymore.'

'Anymore?'

'I did have someone,' he said soberly. 'She died. Two years ago.'

Rose looked sympathetic. 'I'm really sorry. What happened?'

'She was on my team in the security. We got a call-out to a situation one night. She was shot down, died on the way to the hospital. I don't really remember exactly what happened because I was seriously injured too. Spent a week in a coma, when I came round they told me she was dead.'

'I'm really sorry,' Rose repeated, not knowing what else to say.

'There hasn't been anyone really important since,' he said reflectively. 'I kind of threw myself into my work after she died and then I got arrested and all that crap, you know about all of that, and I was too busy trying to survive to worry about romance.' He gave her a brief smile and added, 'But that's in the past.'

There was a short silence and Rose felt the need to break it.

'I've been wanting to ask you, what's it like being telepathic?' she asked curiously.

He gave her a funny look. 'You are slightly, aren't you? You can understand what people are saying and you don't speak their language - '

'No, that's the TARDIS,' she explained. 'Telepathic field gets inside your head and translates for you.'

'Oh.' He sounded interested. 'Really?'

'Didn't you notice?' she asked, smiling.

'No, because I've always had that ability,' he said, folding his arms behind his head. 'In my case it was telepathic, but most people on Tenarca in my time were fitted with translator chips for the most common languages, which could be updated if a new language was needed.'

'Do you have one?' she said curiously.

'I did,' he replied. 'But by the time I reached adulthood, I didn't need it anymore so it was removed.' He rubbed the back of his neck absently.

'You didn't answer my question. What's it like being telepathic?'

'I could answer that if I hadn't always been telepathic,' he said. 'But I've had the ability since I was born - I don't know any other way of being.'

'Always?'

He nodded. 'I've never really been alone in my head before. I mean, other people can't hear me, unless I want them to, but I can always hear other people's thoughts. Not very clearly, unless I concentrate, or they're broadcasting very loudly, like Solia did. I get occasional thoughts and noises. It's like having music constantly playing in the background.'

'You've never been without that?' she asked. 'That's so strange, because I've always been alone inside my head. The thought of being able to hear what other people think is kind of alien to me. And you've never experienced that?'

'Once,' he said, his expression darkening.

'Once? How do you mean?'

He obviously didn't want to talk about that, because he then said, 'Are you disturbed by the fact that sometimes I know what you're thinking?'

She thought about this. 'You don't go poking around inside my head deliberately, do you?' He shook his head. 'Then no, it just means I'll try not to shout what I'm thinking, if you see what I mean.'

'It can be bloody embarrassing at times,' he added.

Rose laughed. 'When people are thinking about you?'

He nodded, rolling his eyes.

'If people are thinking about you, it must be.'

'There's lots of things that it's embarrassing to overhear,' he muttered. 'And I don't want to hear some of them. On the plus side, it's good for knowing who your friends really are and who's going to stab you in the back. And it's very interesting during sex,' he added in a thoughtful tone.

Rose had just taken a mouthful of water and choked. Xan began to laugh, mostly at the choking but also the fact that her face had turned bright red.

'You were wondering that, weren't you?' he asked.

She ignored the comment.

'Most people do wonder,' he added, grinning at her.

'So you know all this through experience, do you?' she muttered, moping water off her jeans.

'Of course I do,' he said, still grinning. She was still bright red, so he said, 'Let's change the subject, shall we? Unless you want to continue this line of conversation - '

'No, thank you!' she said hastily. She remembered something else that she had been meaning to ask him. 'You told the Doctor you were a slave at fifteen. Why were you a slave?'

He didn't reply and Rose realised that she had touched a nerve. The atmosphere dropped a couple of degrees.

'Why won't you let the Doctor help you out?' she asked and the further dropping of the atmosphere's temperature told her this was also a bad question to ask.

'I've had enough people tampering with my mind,' he said quietly.

'But the Doctor wouldn't hurt you or anything - he could help you - '

'I have my reasons,' he said eventually.

'But - '

'No buts,' Xan said, his voice taking on a warning edge. He rolled over onto his stomach and buried his head in his arms. 'I don't want to talk about it.'