I think this is the longest chapter I've written for this fic so far. My fingers wouldn't stop.
Oh no, another head wound. My next one won't have any, I promise.
Disclaimer: Doctor Who (c) to the BBC.

Chapter 14:

As Rose stared at Sarah Jane, questions flitting through her head so fast she didn't have time to voice them, Tobias made his move. He was so quick there was no chance to stop him or even blink. One moment, Sarah was wielding a spitting wire at him like a weapon; the next, Tobias was behind her with one arm around her neck. The other arm held the same thick wire a hand's breadth away from her bare arm.

"You see, Rose, Mickey? You see now?" he waved the wire at his hostage, but she didn't flinch, which was strange. Tobias carried on talking in an urgent, almost crazed level of voice. "You know, it's not your body or what you look like that makes you who you are. It's all in the brain! Every human being has a signature brainwave pattern; it's like a fingerprint, there's no way to imitate it. But two worlds, two Sarah Janes, means two sets of identical brainwaves…"

He reminded Rose more than ever of the Doctor. The frantic tone in his voice took her to an image of the Doctor as he peered intently at something through his glasses, and rattled off a long and complicated explanation for something that she wouldn't understand in a million years.

"What…what are you talking about? What have you done?" Rose was shared a horrified glance with Mickey, and saw that he had drawn the same conclusion as she had. But it was impossible. He couldn't possibly mean…

"Yes!" he saw it in her face: the understanding, the realisation. "You understand, don't you? I took my lovely wife -" he smiled down at the woman he was holding prisoner, and the scariest thing was the actual fondness in his eyes. "I took Sarah Jane's brainwave pattern, and switched it with one identical to it. There wasn't one exactly the same in this universe, so my TARDIS had to improvise. It's very good at that – but you know that as well, don't you?"

"Your TARDIS?" asked Rose and Sarah at the same time. Mickey could only gawp.

"Yes," Tobias made a circling gesture with the hand holding the wire, careful not to touch Sarah Jane. "You're standing in it. Surely you felt it, when you first crossed the threshold?"

Rose nodded slowly; she hadn't registered it at the time, but now that she thought about it she could sense a tingling sensation deep inside, which she hadn't noticed before. The reason she hadn't, she realised, was because it was the feeling she used to have when she was with the Doctor or in the old TARDIS, and she hadn't noticed the difference. That is, up until the last few weeks, when there had been a sense of such emptiness that she couldn't describe, like something inside her was broken or missing. And now it was back; it had slipped inside, back where it belonged, like a part of her. This whole house was a TARDIS, of course; she should have guessed the moment Tobias said he was a Time Lord.

"Wait a minute," Sarah interrupted. "A TARDIS? You have a TARDIS?" She looked like she was about to cry, which was exactly the same as Rose's reaction. "Where did you get it? Did you steal it?" she challenged.

"He's a Time Lord." Rose found it easier to believe; now she knew he had a TARDIS and he hadn't just stolen or replicated the central column. "The second to last of them. He escaped the Time War, just like the Doctor." Rose didn't say, "fled"; though the word was on the tip of her tongue. Somehow, she could still relate to him, even after everything he had done. The Doctor must have done things as drastic as this in his 900 years, and she could imagine what she would feel like if it were he, and not Tobias. She would stick by him. That wasn't what she was going to do here, but she could still not bring herself to make that one extra jibe.

Then Sarah Jane realised what else he had said. "Another world? I'm in another world?" she cried. "But that's impossible! Travel between universes hasn't been…"

Then her eyes met Rose's.

"The Doctor found a way, didn't he? He found a way to travel between universes…?"

"No." Rose muttered. "He isn't here. It's just me."

"But…" Sarah began, then understood. "Oh, Rose. I'm so sorry."

Rose nodded. Tears pricked the backs of her eyes, but she didn't let them out. She had cried enough.

"And now I have what I wanted…" Tobias shoved Sarah Jane onto the nearest chair, without taking his eyes off Mickey and Rose, or letting go of the wire. "Now start talking," he ordered. "Where is the Doctor? How can I get to him?"

"You can't." it was Rose who answered. Tobias waved his free hand, meaning to shush her, but she ploughed ahead. "I'm telling you, you can't. Don't you think I would have by now, if it was possible?"

Tobias didn't answer, just jabbed the wire in Sarah's direction.

"She's telling the truth," the older woman sighed wearily. "It's impossible. Now put that down, and let me go back to my own body, my own world. My son will be wondering where I am."

"You have a son?" asked Rose.

"Yes, he's adopted. His name is Luke." replied Sarah, then smiled. "You look surprised."

"I am. You never…I mean, you never said."

"Of course not. The last time I saw you, I hadn't met him yet. He's not human, of course. Not entirely, anyway." She laughed, clearly fond of Luke.

"But wait a minute, if you're here, that means Sarah Jane – the other Sarah Jane – she'll be in your body. So he won't notice you've gone…" even as she spoke, Rose realised how stupid she sounded. Of course Sarah's son would notice the difference. She, Rose, who hardly knew either Sarah, had noticed within moments of the change.

"Rose," Mickey suddenly interrupted, and she looked at him. He nodded towards Tobias, who was standing next to Sarah Jane's chair with a look of confused anger on his face. He hadn't even tried to stop their interaction, too wrapped up in his own thoughts. He seemed to snap out of it when he saw that all eyes were on him.

"Yes, well, that's as well may be." he snapped, which didn't make any sense to Rose. Flustered, he waved the wire half-heartedly at his "wife". "So, where is he then?"

"But you can't -" Rose tried to interject, but took a step back when Tobias thrust the wire at her.

"Where. Is. The. Doctor." he said quietly to Sarah without moving his eyes from Rose.

"I…I haven't seen him since…" Sarah began, then trailed off, remembering.

"Since Deffry Vale School? Since we beat the Krillitanes?" Mickey offered, but Sarah shook her head.

"No, wait. I saw him again, more recently than that. It was surveillance footage from outside a club in London. Torchwood picked it up because of the TARDIS, and Mr. Smith – that's my computer – tapped into their network. I would have gone myself, but knowing him, he'd have been gone by the time I got there."

"That's one hell of a computer," Mickey observed but Rose shushed him.

"What was he doing? Was he OK?" she pleaded. "Did he look happy?"

The sorrow in Sarah Jane's eyes was profound. "Not entirely," she said. "He looked…lost. I couldn't figure out why, at the time. There was a girl with him, you see. The picture was grainy; I thought it was you."

"A girl," Rose murmured, "He found someone else." she knew she should feel annoyed or cheated, but all she felt was a weary calm that spread through her body and settled in her bones. Suddenly, all she wanted to do was sleep. "At least…at least he's not on his own," she said dreamily. "He's not alone."

Mickey put his arm around her and she leant against him gratefully.

"He's not alone." someone echoed, and Rose was astonished to see Tobias take a step away from Sarah Jane, lowering the arm holding the sparking wire. He staggered backwards and slumped against the wall, looking like a broken man who had nothing to live for, no purpose in life. Despite everything, or perhaps because of it, was more like the Doctor than she had wanted to admit; but it was there in his strange, silver eyes. It was the same look the Doctor had that day at Bad Wolf Bay, the last time she had ever seen him; a look of empty, hopeless loss.

"All this time," he muttered. "I've looked for him all my life, and..."

"Now's our chance," Mickey hissed in Rose'sear. "While he's not looking."

Rose turned to him, and he knew what she would say even before she did.

"I can't."

Mickey looked over her shoulder at the alien, then gazed at Rose for what seemed like a long time, though only seconds passed. Finally, he leaned forwards and gently brushed her lips with his. It felt like an apology.

"I can," he replied softly, and lunged at the machine.

"No!" Rose yelled; but it was too late. Mickey twisted the dial as far as it would go, then yanked the lever down with all his strength. It clanked into place and snapped off at the base, making it impossible to reverse the action. The machine trembled, and sparks flickered across the control panel. Tobias sprang towards it, scrabbling at the now useless dial. The pillar began to shake, and suddenly the glass casing smashed as the shuddering became more violent. Glass showered over everything.

"Go!" shouted Mickey. He shoved Rose towards the stairs, and she stumbled forwards. The smoke surrounded her, making it hard to tell which way she was going. Blundering blindly, she almost fell over Sarah Jane, who had lifted the chair and was trying to hit Tobias with it. Rose grabbed her and dragged her away, and by sheer good fortune, tripped onto the first step. She motioned for Sarah to go past, and she complied. Rose followed close after. Mickey was behind Rose, trying to push her onwards, but she suddenly froze, unable to tear her eyes from Tobias. He was draped over the control table, clinging to the pillar like a lifeline. The captain, going down with his ship. Rose couldn't help feeling guilty for what had happened – and what she could tell was about to happen. She could sense it; the power building, desperate to be released.

Sarah Jane reappeared at the top of the stairs, dragging at Rose's arms. Rose forced herself to stumble up out of the basement, and the three of them tumbled into the hallway and out of the front door.

They burst onto the street, which was lit by watery morning sunlight. There wasn't a cloud in sight; it was going to be a swelteringly hot day. But none of them noticed the weather, and neither did the other people looking out of windows to see what all the fuss was about. Rose, Mickey and Sarah spun round to look at the house. It was shaking in its foundations; dust was raining from the walls, broken glass from the windows littered the drive, and roof tiles were smashing to the ground, so close that Sarah had to pull her two friends backwards out of harms way.

The fiasco had alerted the neighbours, and soon everyone on the street was watching the spectacle, dressed in pyjamas and dressing gowns. A police car had appeared from somewhere, and two more appeared a second later – along with a familiar blue Mini that skidded haphazardly to a stop ten feet away. A familiar couple scrambled out of it and began to run towards them; Jackie and Pete, oblivious to the danger they were in.

"Get back!" Rose yelled, and Mickey and Sarah joined in, waving at the nosy neighbours to get away. "Get away, it's going to -"

She was too late. The whole house suddenly exploded in a burst of flames, bricks, and a huge cloud of dust and smoke that erupted outwards towards them. Rose, Sarah and Mickey, the closest to the blast, caught the full force and were thrown across the street.

Rose blacked out momentarily, and when she came to, all around her was chaos. Screams rang in her ears, and she couldn't stop coughing. All she could see was smoke, and then a pair of strong arms scooped her up as Mickey cradled her to his chest.

"Rose!" he shouted, but she couldn't hear him. There was a stinging in the back of her head, and something warm and wet filled her mouth and dribbled between her lips.

"No!" yelled her friend as he heaved himself to his feet, hugging Rose's body against him. Absent-mindedly, Rose raised a hand to her head, and blood came away on it, thick, dark and red. She gazed at it in puzzlement, but was struck with a wave of dizziness. Rose let her head loll against Mickey's shoulder and knew no more.