Rose was dreaming again. Her eyes flickered underneath their lids and her breath was short and panicked. The Doctor watched her silently, worried. Her bad dreams had been getting worse lately, ever since the Master visited almost a year ago. The Doctor wished he could put it out of his mind but he knew that wasn't possible. At first he had hoped the Master was attempting some form of closure since he didn't do anything to his family. But Rose had become distant lately. The Doctor still remembered how he came home five months ago to Evelyn and James sitting in front of the television with Rose nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Mummy?" he had asked them with a frown. James looked up at him with thoughtful brown eyes.

"Gone," he replied.

Evelyn pointed at the television. "She's been gone for three shows.

The Doctor's eyebrows rose in surprise. Rose would never leave the children alone for more then five minutes, and now she had been gone for over an hour. The Doctor turned towards the phone so he could call her mobile but the front door open and Rose entered with a store-bought cake in her hands.

"I brought dessert," she announced, smiling at the cheers she got from James and Evelyn.

"Rose," the Doctor began slowly, following her into the kitchen so the children couldn't hear, "Why did you leave them home alone?"

Rose frowned as she set the cake on the counter. "I didn't. I called Mrs. Hutchinson from across the street to look after them. Jeanie called me in tears so I rushed out to the coffee shop to meet her, but I know I called her first. You didn't send her home when you got here?"

The Doctor shook his head. "What did she say when she arrived?"

"I only called her on the phone before I left," Rose said, chewing her lower lip nervously. "She said she had to finish her tea but she'd be right over. Jeanie was sobbing so I left."

The Doctor turned back to the den as Rose picked up the phone. "Evelyn, did Mrs. Hutchinson come here after your mother left?"

"No," Evelyn replied with a shake of her head.

"There's no answer at her house," Rose whispered, looking through the window at the little house across the street.

"Evelyn?" the Doctor asked his daughter, waiting until she was looking at him to continue. "Mum and I are just popping across the street. If you need us, call Mummy's cell. Do you remember the numbers?"

"Yup," Evelyn replied proudly. She was her father's daughter, after all.

"Do you think something happened to her?" Rose asked worriedly as they crossed the street, the Doctor knocking on the door before trying the handle.

"It's unlocked," the Doctor replied, the foreboding he had felt since he arrived home tripling. He pushed the door open to find Mrs. Hutchinson's body lying on the floor, her coat half on.

"Oh my god!" Rose cried, crouching down next to her as the Doctor checked her pulse. "Is she alive?"

"No…" the Doctor replied, looking up and down the old woman's body.

"Did she have a heart attack?" Rose asked, already pulling out her mobile to call the emergency services.

"I-" the Doctor's fingers came away from her scalp covered in blood and he tilted his head to get a better look. "No. She was struck by a blunt instrument."

Rose's eyes widened. "Murdered?" The Doctor stood up and quickly looked around her house while Rose made the call.

"Nothing's been taken," he announced as she hung up, running a hand through his hair. "Even if it was a burglar, why would they attack her when she was obviously leaving?"

"Poor woman," Rose whispered, reaching for the Doctor for a hug. After a moment she ran back across the street to watch James and Evelyn, emerging only to give the police her statement.

The Doctor shook his thoughts away as Rose suddenly sat upright, a terrified whimper escaping her lips.

"Bad dream?" he asked, rubbing her shoulders calmly as her eyes becoming clear as the nightmare faded.

"Yeah. Daleks again," she replied in a tired voice. She leaned back into the Doctor's arms, taking one of his hands in hers. "Trying to take over yet another world." The Doctor could only offer his wife a small kiss on the top of her forehead and tightened his arms around her.

"Better than the last dream, I suppose," she said with a shaky sigh. "Least the kids weren't there. Just faceless people running as they defeated the Crucible."

The Doctor's face paled and he stared at Rose in dawning horror. "What did they defeat?"

"The Crucible," she repeated with a yawn, her eyes beginning to close again.

"Rose, do you know what the Crucible is?" he asked slowly and her brows furrowed for a moment as she tried to remember,

"It's a play, isn't? Funny thing for the Daleks to destroy," she murmured drowsily. "But no, this time it was a- well, it was a ship I think. Or a space station, I couldn't really tell."

"Funny thing for the Daleks to destroy," the Doctor echoed softly. Rose drifted back into sleep, but the Doctor couldn't close his eyes for the rest of the night.

~*~

"Donna?" the Doctor asked as she set the TARDIS into orbit, "How can you remember? I- you shouldn't be alive right now, a human mind can't support a Time Lord consciousness!"

"Yeah," Donna said with a shaky laugh. "A human mind can't."

"Then how-" Donna wordlessly pointed at the necklace round her throat and the Doctor's eyes widened. "That's a capsule for a Chameleon Circuit."

"Yup," Donna replied, popping the 'p'. "He used the one in his TARDIS."

"He?" the Doctor repeated. "Who?"

"Who do you think?" Donna replied rubbing her eyes. "I'm sorry but… Doctor, the Master's alive."

The Doctor gaped at her wordlessly, his face going pale.

"And I know what that means. I've got your memories, so I really do know. But-"

"What do you mean he's back?" the Doctor said, his voice sounding chocked. "How?"

"I don't know, I didn't wait for him to tell me," Donna replied. "I wasn't there for very long so I couldn't ask any questions."

"Why didn't you ask?" the Doctor hissed, sounding furious but Donna could see the confusion and fear in his eyes.

"I was a little distracted after he said he'd visited Rose!" Donna explained and the Doctor's fear turned into panic.

"What did he do?" he demanded, taking a step closer to Donna. "Donna, what did he do?"

"I don't know," Donna said quietly. "But it's not good. We need to find her."

"We can't exactly punch another hole through the Universe, Donna," the Doctor snapped, but he sounded more tempted then angry.

"We just need to find the one the Master used," Donna replied quickly, marching over the TARDIS's console so she could check the screen.

"He could have gone anywhere Donna," the Doctor protested. "I could think of fifty places it could theoretically be done. Forty-nine not counting the Medusa Cascade."

Donna stared at him. "Why not the Medusa Cascade?"

"It's the Master, Donna. He'd know that would be the first place we'd look, considering it was the last place I used to get through."

"Exactly!" Donna cried. "Doctor, don't you see? He's not trying to get away with this! He wants you to find Rose. If he had really wanted to stop me from telling his plans there's no way I could have gotten away as easily as I did. He wants you to find him."

"I-" the Doctor stopped before swinging the screen around to his side of the console. "Donna, help me pilot!"

They arrived at the Medusa Cascade in a matter of seconds and Donna hunched over besides the Doctor to get a look at the readings.

"Look," she said, pointing. "There's a tiny hole, right there. Just big enough to get a TARDIS through."

"What's holding it open, though?" the Doctor asked, his brow furrowing. "Keeping that stable would take massive amounts of energy, how can he- No."

"What?" Donna asked, seeing the horror in the Doctor's face.

"He's using the Time War," the Doctor said quietly, his eyes wide in shock.

"The Time War?" Donna repeated, staring at the screen. "How can he- No."

"The time lock around the Time War is like a perpetual motion machine," the Doctor said, closing his eyes. "It's like a film around it with energy moving throughout the film. The movement created by the energy produced more energy, which loops back in. He's drawing out power to keep the hole open."

"But," Donna stared at the Doctor. "That will destabilize the time lock. It's already weakened by Davros and the Daleks, if he draws much more energy…"

"One of three things will happen," the Doctor finished quietly. "Either the time lock will break and the Time War will unfreeze, the time lock will draw energy from surrounding matter to support itself, or it'll collapse."

"That'll create a massive black hole." Donna stared blankly at the screen. "It'll swallow everything in the Universe inside in minutes."

The Doctor's eyes opened again, his age showing as he looked at Donna. "Why did he do this?"

"I don't know," Donna replied too quickly.

"Donna," the Doctor repeated, his voice dark. "Why?"

Donna looked at the floor before she spoke. "He wanted to punish you. For… leaving."

"All this for something that happened so long ago?" the Doctor asked harshly, his voice breaking. His face hardened, horror replaced by cold fury.

"Alons-y," he said, but there was no joy in his voice. Donna stepped up to the console and they traveled through the hole the Master created in silence.