I hope that this is in character, I'm worried.

The Doctor was more than a little frustrated. A lot more than a little, this sounded odd in his head. But he was. He had managed in the last couple of hours to track her signal to the United States, but that wasn't anywhere near close enough. He felt a growl of anger rising in him.

Where was she? When was she? It was going to be a lot more complicated to narrow down the year, and he might have to go off world for the technology, and that annoyed him even more. Not because Rose wasn't worth it, but because he felt like every moment apart was equal to ten years.

And he so hoped that whenever she was, it was reasonably recent. Not that his Rose wasn't perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but he thought she would fare better if they had already invented indoor plumbing.

How he longed to pull his silly ape into his arm. Would he be willing to let her go again?

Damn Angels, taking away his Rose. He had given up on blaming her. That wasn't getting him anywhere fast. Rose hung the moon, all of them, as far as his hearts were concerned.

And he didn't want to consider the chance that he wouldn't find her safe. She couldn't be dead, she was... well, she was just everything now wasn't she. She was his light, his second chance. His foundation when he hadn't yet realized he wasn't quite standing strong.

And she would be found. The TARDIS was humming again, to tell him that new information had been found. He spun the screen to look at it and let out a small sigh. Well, he was a little closer, she wasn't anywhere near him, and he was in…New York, in 2022.

Rose would have loved it…will love it. He will get her and take her back here.

He knew that everywhere she wasn't narrowed it down, but that wasn't fast enough for him. He was going to have to go get the parts to get a biological signal detector. At least the TARDIS had a sample, which made things a lot easier.

DW

Rose and Autumn were still walking, talking easily. So easily it wasn't as if Rose was a nineteen year old woman from London, and Autumn wasn't a ten- Rose had asked her age- year old from a small town in Missouri. That great big ocean of separation had just become a little water.

Autumn was smart, more than normal. She shared small details of her life, as Rose prompted. She was ten, grown up here all of her short life. Her father was gone; she didn't specify what kind of gone, and her mother worked all day. So in the summer, it was June and a Wednesday, Autumn was left to her own devices during the day.

She had friends, but they were all on vacation. Her mom couldn't afford to send her to summer camp along with her friends. But she didn't mind, she said, it was good for thinking.

Rose smiled at her, trying to seem normal. It had never seemed more important to keep the situation calm. She was shooting for this being nothing like her normal life with the Doctor.

Especially the running, it was just much too hot. And they had walked for miles it seemed, and it may have actually been that. She hoped they would be inside somewhere soon. The sweat reminded her of the planet of Sholo they had taken a trip to last week.

It was hot like this, and mostly deserted as this small town seemed to be, but the grass was bright orange and was up to her hips. She and the Doctor had a picnic. For a man who claimed to have no desire to be domestic sometimes he did it so well. She wondered if she was the reason he allowed the traces of a normal life, a slow path kind of life, but she doubted he saw her like she saw him.

He was the universe, the stuff he showed her, well that was just stuff. Beautiful, amazing stuff, but without him, did she want to see it?

"We'll be there soon," Autumn told her, breaking into her thoughts.

Rose had been wondering, but she hadn't spoken the thought aloud. She hadn't wanted to seem rude. Surely it had to be a coincidence, right?

She couldn't have read her mind. She just couldn't. Except now that she had met the Doctor couldn't wasn't a word that held a lot of stock. Couldn't often meant just hadn't happened to her yet.

At last they hit a road; it was gravel but a road all the same. And a road led to people. This road led to Autumns house it seemed, because after another minute or two of walking they were there. A big house, a shade of blue that reminded Rose of the TARDIS and she felt tears rise to her eyes.

She was being silly; it wasn't as thought she wasn't going to see it... or the man inside again, he would come for her. He would always come for her, he had said. He may not have known she had heard, because she was meant to be sleeping, but she had, and a promise was a promise.

"Honey," a voice came through the screen door as they approached, "I was hoping you would be home soon, I brought a friend home for supper. Hope you don't mind."

The voice was sweet, like honey, and floated like a song. It was a mother voice, maybe not her mother, but what she imagined other mothers must sound like. Oh, she loved her mother but she was a bit rough around the edges. But she was hers.

Autumn motioned for the now nervous Rose to follow her into the house, when Rose paused she even slipped her small hand into hers. And she was reminded of the Doctor again. Was that how life was going to be until she was back with him? Would every normal thing make her think of the man who was anything but?

A woman stepped out, Autumns mother, looking like an adult version of the pretty little girl. Really, if Autumn had been older they could have been sisters.

She was smiling, until she saw Rose, and it faltered, though she brought it right back.

"Hi Mom," she walked over to her, standing on her toes to kiss her mother's cheek. "This is Rose, she new in town. I invited her to supper, is that okay?"

Her mother hugged her tightly, and looked Rose over. Apparently deciding she wasn't a threat to their safe little life she nodded and offered Rose her hand.

"Nice to meet you Rose, of course you can stay. Any friend of Autumns is always welcome."

"Thank you," Rose told her, shaking her hand and thanked the stars for southern hospitality.

"Oh, not from around here, I see," her mother was beaming now. "That's nice, anyway, Autumn." She turned to her daughter, "As I was saying, I have a guest as well. Would you like to come meet him?"

"Him?" Autumn's tone was cautious, and Rose didn't think she was fond of her mother bringing a man home.

"Yes, he's new in town too," her mother told them. "By the way, Rose, I'm Abigail. You can come too."

She motioned for both of them to follow her to the kitchen, and Rose felt like she had just been invited to join the family. She felt warmth, and Autumns smile made it all the better. She had never had a sister, maybe she could pretend.

She half entertained that the man in the kitchen would be the Doctor. That he had found her already, though she knew he was still going to be mad even if it had been such short amount of time since she had be transported.

But it wasn't him, and her heart fell more than she thought it would. The man was handsome, bright blue eyes, that hurt her a little to look at. Too close to the man who held her heart.

"Hi, Autumn," he was looking at the younger girl. Rose recognized the look from some of the men who tried to be her friend, which her mum had dated.

"Hi," she responded, but she didn't look like she was buying what he was selling.

"I'm Peter," he offered her his hand, and Rose suspected that it was only politeness that made her hand reach for his.

"And this is Rose, Autumns new friend," Abigail told Peter.

"Rose, pretty name," he said with the beginning of a wink.

Rose shook his hand, but she didn't like him. And given the chance and any sign that he wasn't wanted by the others she would help him leave.

"Autumn help me set the table, please, sweetheart."

Autumn and Abigail grabbed supplies and left the room, leaving Peter and Rose in the kitchen. Rose wasn't scared, but she was uncomfortable. There was something about him she didn't like, something that had nothing to do with the sleaze that rolled of his handsome face.

He was watching her, eyes calculating. "You smell like starlight." It was so low Rose wasn't sure she heard right, and it was almost a growl.

"What?"

He looked at her in the eye now, "Nothing, didn't say anything."

That was a lie, but before she could say another word, Abigail asked them to join them in the dining room.

"Hurry Doctor," she whispered as she walked out of the kitchen.