The Unit

New Hope Hospital

London, England

11:45 a.m.

Donna Noble tried not to scream. She has come to the Unit about 6:00 a.m. to help Martha with a project for the Doctor. They had nearly completed their task when news reports immediately filtered in showing the Daleks attacking London. Donna did not recognize them, but Martha knew immediately what to do. She called for a lockdown, put the Unit, Torchwood and the special services on alert and kept Donna calm as the Daleks flew around destroying the nearby Covent Garden Piazza. Donna tried to get out to protect her family, especially after receiving a phone call from her beloved grandfather shouting that there was another attack before the line went dead. Donna became hysterical and it was only Martha's common sense that kept her calm.

For that alone, thought Donna, Martha deserved a medal.

Still, the thought of her grandfather out there, possibly dead made her want to scream and shout, but Donna knew that Martha was right. Screaming wasn't going to help her grandfather, only the Doctor could do that.

The two women had positioned themselves by the only entrance into the Unit. They waited for the Doctor and Emily to come in. The incoming news showed that the attack began in London and was quickly spreading throughout the country. Martha told Donna that she suspected that England was going to be cut off from other countries as the Daleks dug in for a world wide attack.

"Are you sure?" asked Donna.

Martha nodded grimly. "I've seen it happen before."

"What do we do?" asked Donna, not sure that she actually wanted an answer.

"The Unit, Torchwood, Special Services have all made plans for this type of encounter," said Martha.

"Why do I feel a 'but' coming on?" said Donna.

Martha sighed. "Honestly, we don't know if our plans will actually work." She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her cell phone. "That's why I have the Doctor on call."

The Doctor, thought Donna, it had been a while since she had seen him. She thought that she would travel with the Doctor forever, but instead returned home to the promise of a normal life with a husband and possibly children. After her disastrous first attempt at marriage, Donna spent time on earth reclaiming herself. When she ran into the Doctor, she found a way to make herself useful instead of being the useless Donna that only served to create trouble rather than solutions. Still, she realized that her time with the Doctor was better spent helping on earth.

That's why Donna created a temp agency.

As ludicrous as it sounded, a temp agency allowed Donna to place temps in some of the most important corporations and government agencies in Britain. Donna worked with Martha and Torchwood to train the temps to be on the lookout for any type of alien invasion. So far, Donna had been successful in helping Torchwood and her country discover and control alien life in Britain.

Donna's mother had never been more proud of her daughter.

Still, Donna had not been prepared for an invasion of this type. These Daleks, whatever they were, were only interested in destroying mankind. Donna gripped her weapon tightly. Her granddad was out there and God only knew if he was okay. Donna felt tears begin to slip. Her granddad was the only person who ever really cared about her. To lose him was inconceivable. Donna was using money from her business to take care of her granddad and was convinced that he would live into an old age. But now he was out there with those things, thought Donna, and I have failed him.

"Donna?" asked Martha tentatively.

"Yea." replied Donna.

"Your granddad is going to be alright," said Martha. "He's a smart man and has dealt with aliens before."

"But these Daleks are a whole different breed!" exclaimed Donna.

"Yes," said Martha carefully measuring her tone, "But we are fully prepared to fight them." Reaching over, she squeezed Donna's shoulder. "If you want to see your granddad again, you are going to have to prepare yourself for battle."

Donna nodded and wiped her tears away with her shirt sleeve. She looked over at Martha and gave her friend a half smile. "Sorry," she said in a half whisper, "I always seem to lose it at the wrong moment."

"Don't worry about it," said Martha with a smile. "All of us go through that."

"Except the Doctor," said Donna with a sigh.

"Except the Doctor," replied Martha, "although with what we have found out, he may lose it."

"Why would he want to put her through that?" asked Donna.

"Eternity" said Martha. "The Doctor is looking to spend eternity with someone." Martha shrugged. "She's his daughter and as close a candidate as anyone."

"But you said that he swore that he would never . . ." began Donna.

"I know," Martha interrupted, "but look at it from his end, his family, his planet, everything he loved is destroyed." She breathed out a sigh and stared the length of the corridor. "Even his relationship with us, humans, is measured by time." She looked at Donna sadly and smiled. "We die and he cannot." Martha looked grim for a moment and then gave a short shrug. "I can understand it."

Donna nodded in agreement. "The question is will his daughter."

"Only time will tell," said Martha.

Neither woman spoke again until there was a banging on the door. Donna tensed while Martha stepped cautiously forward. "Oi!" she shouted, "Who is it?"

"Martha," shouted a male voice. "It's the Doctor!"

Martha ran forward and opened the door. The Doctor slipped in followed by a young woman. Both were out of breath after running. Martha and Donna ran up and hugged the Doctor while the young woman stared at them. Getting his breath, the Doctor introduced Martha and Donna to his daughter. "Ladies," he said between breaths, "this is my daughter, Emily Smith."

Emily walked forward and offered her hand. Donna noticed that her hands were shaking. She squeezed the young woman's hand and Emily smiled gratefully.

"So what's status?" asked the Doctor.

"We've lost contact with everyone" said Martha. "Torchwood, the Unit, Special Forces" Martha was shaking her head. "There's no one." "What's worse, it's quiet out there."

"My granddad," said Donna in a shaky voice, "he's out there."

"We'll find him Donna," said the Doctor. "I promise." He looked over at Martha. "I need access to your mainframe right now."

"Come on," said Martha and all four ran into the control room. The monitors outside of the Unit showed that the hospital was empty and the outside of the hospital was deserted. The Doctor shook his head. "That's weird." He grabbed the controller for the outside cameras and pan them 360 degrees. "No one is out there." "How can that be?"

"I don't know," said Martha. "There is something very wrong here."

"Does Torchwood have any plans in place?" asked the Doctor.

"Torchwood, the Unit, Special Services all have plans in place," said Martha. "But I have no idea where everyone is."

"I do" said Emily, speaking for the first time. "It's something that we have been working on at Oxford."

She looked at everyone. "We've been working on a space-time continuum in the case of an alien invasion. Everyone in Britain has been tagged with a special device in the case of an alien attack. The tag moves them into a parallel space-time." Emily looked at Donna, "So your grandfather is safe." Donna responded by bursting into tears.

"Why weren't we informed?" demanded Martha. "We deserved to know."

Emily shook her head. "This was incredibly top-secret." She sighed. "We weren't even sure that it would work."

"What a minute," said the Doctor. "How could you tag the entire country?"

"Inoculations against SARS," said Emily. "The government planted a story that SARS had been found in Britain and required that the entire country be inoculated."

"And instead you tagged the whole country" said Donna, looking at Emily admiringly. "Brilliant!"

Emily managed a half-smile but looked embarrassed. "Only key personnel were not tagged so they could stay here and fight." She looked around the control room. "That would be us."

"And me" said a male voice behind them. Everyone but Emily turned around. It was Captain Jack. "Come on" he said gesturing to them. "There is something you need to see in Torchwood."

Everyone but Emily moved out of the control room. Jack started to go to her, but a look from the Doctor warned him to stay away. Jack left the room and the Doctor went over to his daughter. "Emily?"

She turned and he could see that she was crying again. Hastily, she wiped her tears away and smiled at her father. "I can handle this, for the good of the country." Wrapping her arms around herself, she walked out of the control room followed by the Doctor.