Donna looked up from her desk at the sound of the door opening. She jumped to her feet, nearly knocking her chair over. "Ms. Tyler!"
Rose smiled at her, "Oh, please, call me Rose. And don't get up!" She held out her hand to Donna. "Welcome to Torchwood."
Donna shook her hand, uncharacteristically at a loss for words. She had seen Rose only in passing, apart from seeing her in all of the newspapers and magazines, of course. She finally managed to say, "He's not in - he's in the lab."
Rose took the chair next to Donna's desk. "I know. I wanted to see you. See how you were settling in."
Donna pulled her chair back to its proper place and sat down. "Oh, fine. Just trying to get everything in order, you know."
Rose grinned. "I do know. He has everything all over the place. It'll be a good job if you can get him organized."
"You can say that again." Donna surveyed the piles of paper on her desk that were slowly taking on some semblance of order. She had finally given up on the existing filing system and was in the process of developing one that made more sense to her.
"But you're liking it so far, aren't you?" Rose asked.
"Oh yes. It's all been very interesting. I still don't understand why I'm here, to be honest."
"He told you about you - the other you?"
"Yes, he explained all that. Or at least he tried to." Donna had a thought. "Did you know her?"
Rose nodded, "A little. There wasn't much time, with everything... I would have liked to have known her. He's told me about her."
"I don't know if I can live up to her reputation," Donna said.
"Don't worry about that," Rose replied, with a smile.
Donna wondered if that was true. "You two make a cute couple."
"Why do you say that? You've hardly seen us together."
"Well, from the pictures. In the papers, you know," Donna said, feeling awkward. "I'm sorry. It must be strange, having your whole personal life in the papers all the time."
"Yeah, I still can't get used to it," Rose agreed. "At least with you, it sort of evens things up, doesn't it? I mean, I know so much about you – the other you, anyway. It seems fair that you should know so much about me."
"I suppose if you look at it that way," Donna said.
"Just…don't believe everything you read," Rose said, her expression unreadable.
"No, of course not," Donna replied.
The door opened again, revealing the Doctor, who stopped short when he saw Rose talking to Donna. "Oh, I didn't know you were here," he said. "Were you looking for me?"
"No, just stopped by to see how Donna was doing. She told me where you were."
"Oh, good, good." He looked from one to the other.
"Did you need something?" Donna prompted him.
"Yes! It's good you're both here - I was coming to get you to show you something in the lab, and this saves me finding Rose."
Rose stood. "What is it?"
"You have to see it," he said, holding the door open. "Come on!"
"What is it?" Rose asked, squinting at the piece of machinery the Doctor was hopping around.
"It's the beginnings of the engine that will get us out of the solar system, is what it is," he said. "And it works, unlike the last one."
"That was a mess," Rose muttered.
"Oi! It wasn't my fault!" the Doctor said. "No one could have predicted it would do that!" Donna smothered a laugh, and the Doctor looked over at her. "Well, this one won't," he said petulantly.
"So this is the first part?" Donna asked.
"Yes, but the rest will come along soon, I think," he answered, bending over to tinker with the engine piece again.
Rose glanced at the clock on the wall. "Well, I'll leave you to it, then. See you at dinner," she said, kissing the Doctor on the cheek.
"Good, good," he said, turning to watch her walk out of the lab.
"I would have thought she'd be more excited," Donna ventured, after Rose was gone.
He looked back at her. "Yeah." He walked over to the other bench, picking up and putting down tools. "There's still a long way to go. There just doesn't seem to be enough time."
"How do you mean?"
"I mean, human lives...they're so short. I'm not used to working within limits like that." He leaned his hands on the bench, his head drooping.
"Well, plenty of us have managed to accomplish things in our short lives. I think you have the advantage of knowledge, at least," she said.
He turned to look at her again. "You're right, of course. You're absolutely right. It's just hard to get used to."
"Well, sure it is. There's probably lots of things about being human you have to get used to."
"Yeah."
"Don't make it sound like such a punishment," she said. "There are worse things."
A shadow crossed his features. "Yes, there are. I am an exile, after all."
"Oof, hold back on the drama, there," Donna said. "And don't you dare say you got that from me."
He grinned, "Should have known you won't let me wallow in the self pity."
"Got that right, sunshine. Now, Mr. Exile, what are we going to do about it?"
"Work?" he asked.
"Work. You get back to your little engine thing, I'll go back to making sense of your files, all right?"
"All right," he said, turning back to the workbench.
The Doctor looked up from the engine part he was working on to see Rose entering the lab.
"I thought I wouldn't see you until dinner," he said. He looked at the clock. Was that the time?
"Yes, and dinner came and went without you," Rose said. "Did you eat anything?"
He thought back. "I think I had lunch," he said. Yes, that was probably today.
She shook her head. "I missed you at dinner."
"Sorry, I just got wrapped up in this. I'll have Donna remind me next time," he said. He selected another tool from the workbench. He really missed the sonic screwdriver. He might need to build one soon.
"Hmm," Rose said. "Will you come home now?"
He looked up at her. "I'd like to try to finish this part today."
"What's the hurry? It'll be here tomorrow,"
He set the parts down gently on the table. "I'm just feeling my limitations lately," he said, walking over to her.
She took his hand. "One life. But we have it to live together, right?"
He looked down at their hands. "One life," he repeated.
She tugged at his hand, "C'mon, let's go home."
He squeezed her hand. "Just another hour or so, then I'll be there, all right?"
She sighed. "All right," she said, letting go of his hand. "Not too long." He watched her leave the lab again, then turned back to the workbench. Not enough time.
"Doctor?" Donna said, tapping on the open door to his office. He was hunched over his computer, tapping away at the keys.
"Yes?" he said, looking up at her distractedly.
"I think there's something wrong with my computer. There are some files missing. Could you take a look?"
"Files missing?" He ran his hand through his hair, causing it to stand up even more. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, there are files that were there yesterday that aren't there today."
He followed her to her desk. "How do you know?"
"Well, I made a backup copy the other day, and now the backup doesn't match what's on the hard drive. There are some things missing that I know I didn't delete."
He looked through the file listing. "A lot of things are missing. Can you print a list?" he asked, looking up at her.
"Of course," she said. "What do you think it is? A virus?"
"I'm not sure. But for now, don't mention it to anyone. And keep the backup copy somewhere safe until I get this sorted."
"Of course," Donna said. "But what do you think it is?"
"Sabotage," he said, as he headed out the door.