Doctor Who (c) to the BBC.

Mickey glanced at his watch for the twentieth time. Nearly half an hour had passed since Rose had gone inside the house with the woman they knew as Sarah Jane Smith, and there was no movement from inside or any sign of what was going on. She could be a psychopath in this world, for all they knew. She could be –

His increasingly panicked thoughts were suddenly interrupted as the passenger door opened and a tall, pale man in a dark suit sat down beside to him. The eyes he fixed on Mickey's were so pale a grey they were almost colourless, and seemed to shine with a strange, unearthly light. His hair was thick and black, and glinted greasily in the sunlight. Mickey opened his mouth to speak, but found the words wouldn't come, as if something was blocking his throat. The man smiled; it would have looked friendly anywhere other than beneath those eyes, and Mickey went suddenly cold.

"I've been looking for you for a very long time," the man said, and his voice was like his hair – slick and oily. "I have something that may be of interest to you and your friend."

"Hurt Rose and I'll kill you!" Mickey blurted out, suddenly finding his voice.

"I've no intention of hurting either one of you. As long as you do as I say, that is." His smile widened, showing his small, sharp teeth. "Come with me." The man moved to open the door, and Mickey seized the opportunity. Scrabbling in the glovebox, his fingers closed around the grip of the pistol he kept there.

"Stay away from me and Rose or I'll shoot!" he promised, hoping he sounded braver than he felt. The gun shook in his fist, and he doubted he'd be able to use it; he thought he had gained courage over the past year, but when this stranger smiled he felt like a kid again, scared of the monsters under his bed.

"I don't think so." The man easily plucked the weapon from unresisting fingers, and before he knew it, Mickey was staring down the wrong end of the gun.

"I'll do whatever you want," his mouth said, and the man nodded, still smiling.

"I know you will," he said. Then his fist came down and Mickey was swallowed by darkness.

There was a full ten minutes of silence when Rose stopped talking. The silver clock on the mantelpiece told her it was gone quarter past six, and the quiet ticking seemed to increase in volume until it filled the room. Mum'll worry if I'm not back soon, she thought, but made no move for her phone or the door. Seconds clicked by, and then Sarah Jane cleared her throat, meeting Rose's eyes for the first time instead of the mug of tea in her fist, now stone cold.

"So…you…you're from another, uh, world," she said calmly, "And now you're trapped here, with no way of getting back home, and all because of this man, this…Doctor."

"It's not his fault." Rose hurried to explain. "He didn't…I mean…I chose to go with him, he didn't…" They both groped for words, and Sarah Jane reached them first.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered. "It must be so awful, to be so far from home."

"Yeah, well. This is my home now. I have to get used to it sooner or later," she hesitated. She had left out the part about meeting Sarah Jane in her world, partly because she didn't want to freak her out, partly because she didn't know what she planned to do about it. And even though most of her knew that they were two separate people, from two separate worlds, a small voice at the back of her mind was niggling away, trying to make her tell the whole truth. She paused, and then said almost reluctantly, "Just like you did."

"Me? What does any of this have to do with me?" Suspicion was creeping back onto Sarah's face, and Rose hoped she didn't look guilty or dishonest.

"The thing is…in this parallel world, I met someone called Sarah Jane Smith. Someone who'd met the Doctor, travelled with him, just like me." She paused. "Someone who was left behind, just like I was." She was met once more with silence. It felt to Rose that Sarah Jane was weighing everything said previously against those few sentences, and had a sinking feeling she had gone too far. To her partial relief, she was spared whatever the older woman would have said next by the sound of a key turning in the lock, and footsteps from the hallway.

"I'm home, Sarah." A male voice called, and not an altogether pleasant one. And the man who appeared in the doorway wasn't very pleasant to look at either. He had a nice enough face, with a strong jaw, and a wide forehead with thick, wiry hair falling over it. It was his eyes that were strange. They were a pale, luminous silvery colour, and all at once Rose heard alarm bells start clanging in her head, though she had no idea why. But Sarah was smiling, and stood up to kiss the stranger on the cheek.

"This is my husband, Tobias. Toby, this is…Rose."

"Nice to meet you," his tone was clipped and oily. He held out a hand for her to shake, and Rose slowly got to her feet, unwilling to touch him. The alarm bells were quieting down, and the hand when she shook it was normal – a bit damp perhaps, but human.

"You too," she said, suddenly feeling nervous. "Look, I'd better be going, else my Mum might worry…" Sarah half looked as if she was going to argue, but gave her a small smile.

"Sorry I couldn't be of help." She said, to make it clear she wanted nothing else to do with Torchwood, but she couldn't keep the curiosity from her face, and it was obvious to Rose that she was desperate to know more.

"That's OK." She lied. "My Dad will probably ring tomorrow though. Just so you know." They had somehow moved onto the doorstep. Rose momentarily thought the man – Tobias – had somehow teleported them, but told herself she was being stupid, getting suspicious over nothing because she wanted her life back to the way it was with the Doctor. Anything was better than this dull, monotonous life of sleep and work, but she couldn't condemn him as an alien just because his eyes gave her the creeps. She realised they had just been walking during the goodbyes.

But as she turned to go, she was instantly sure that something was wrong, and would have been pleased if she weren't suddenly swallowed by fear. Mickey had been parked in his Mini by the side of the road, and both man and car had vanished.

"Did you see a car here?" She turned to ask Tobias. "A blue Mini -" The door was shut; she was alone on the step. It had become quickly dark, and Rose suddenly shivered. She was on her own in a strange village, and Mickey had disappeared.

He probably just got bored and went home, the part of her mind that still used rational thought suggested, but the part that had become like the Doctor argued. Not without me, never without me. Something's wrong.

She immediately turned round and raised a fist to hammer on the door, but her fist was halted in mid air. A thin, horizontal line of mysterious blue light had appeared inside the house; she could see it through the patterned glass windows in the door. Hastily dropping to her knees on the doorstep, Rose lifted up the letterbox and peered through. The light was shining from underneath a closed door. Rose started to feel stupid about panicking over a light, when she realised with glee that the light wasn't natural. It flickered in a completely unnatural way.

"I knew it!" She hissed, then froze, kneeling on the step, as someone came into the hall, blocking the light. Numb fingers let go of the letterbox and it snapped shut loudly. Rose scrambled to her feet as the door opened. It was Sarah Jane.

"Did you need something else?"

"No, just…I was just leaving." Rose managed, heart still pounding, adrenaline beginning to rush in a familiar way.

"All right." Sarah started to close the door, then paused and glanced around before continuing in a whisper. "I really am sorry about the transmission. The thing is…I quit all this stuff a long time ago, and if I came back, even for one job, I might…" She shrugged helplessly. "Anyway, what would I tell Toby? He's already in the dark as to why I left in the first place. If I suddenly changed my mind…he might think I'm losing my marbles."

Rose nodded understandingly, and then remembered something said earlier. "You said you had a son? Where's he?"

"Oh yes, my son Matthew. He's staying at a friend's tonight. It's a pity you never met him, you'd have liked him. Everybody does." Her tone was easy, but her expression in the dark was troubled.

"Right, so…he lives here then? He's not moved out?"

"No, he's only just eighteen."

"Right…"

"Why? What do you need to know about Matt for?" The suspicion was back.

"No reason, just curios," said Rose quickly. "I'll be off then. Don't want to miss the bus." Sarah smiled one last time before gently shutting the door in her face.