A/N:-I am so chasing after my update deadlines! You parsnips should get the next chappie of this TOMORROW, but I don't know as I seriously need to update All This Trainer Talk/And Talking About Trainers. Missed the deadlines four days ago… Hmm.

CRUD! I ALMOST forgot about our dear friendy Aryl, in the last chapter, so there's SEVEN of them – not six.

Disclaimer: The Echoey People listen to ALL our conversations!! I know their address, but I'm not going to tell you! Also, whenever you don't hear the echoes over your phones, tis because they're going to the toilet (and vair, vair constipated) or having a meal! I bet you didn't know ALL THAT? MWAHAHAHA! Oh, right, you AREN'T the Echoey People forum!? Damn, I shouldn't have told you this anyway. It was supposed to be vair HUSH-HUSH. I think, I'd better go now… ANYWAY, me no ownie Doctor Who. Me own CHEESE instead.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

All seven of them stopped in the middle of the bleach white corridor. Well, to be more exact, Captain Jack charged up in front of them to make them all jerk to a halt. He seemed to have a suspicious glint in his eye, but the Doctor dismissed as a trick of the light

"Right, Doc, seeing as that skinny backside of yours isn't goin' to help us find Rosie," Captain Jack deduced, "me, Aryl, and Mickey'll take the left corridor. If that's OK with you, gorgeous?" the Captain winked at the young Asian woman.

Aryl giggled. "Wha'ever."

"Hey! Wha' about me?! Why aren't you asking me, if I wanna go? " Mickey protested.

"I'll ring Gwen's mobile, if we find her."

"Hey! But, Aryl!" Mickey jabbed an accusatory finger in her direction. "You said yerself, y9oua always visit Rose 'ere, so you should know where--"

But before Mickey could speak his mind further, Jack grabbed Mickey by the scruff of his neck and dragged him down the corridor.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

"Yes, I do, of course I know where Rose is," Aryl muttered in his ear, as they walked down the corridor.

"Hey, then why didn't you--"

"I know this hospital like the back of my hand," she continued. "And I know for a fact that Rose's room was right down that very corridor."

Mickey stared at her, jaw dropping open, and trying to scramble back up the corridor. "Let's turn back! We can tell 'em! C'mon then! What're we waitin' for?"

Captain Jack had only one thing to do, and he placed a finger over his lips, steering him back down the empty corridor again.

"Captain Flash, 'ave you lost it or something?!"

"I can guess…"

Mickey scowled.

*^*^*^*^*^*^

"You positive this is the right way?" Martha questioned, falling into step with the Time Lord in question, as they slowly made their way up the very same corridor.

"Yup!" he replied.

"So, we're not just cascadin' round the hospital in circles, then?" Gwen chipped in.

"Don't mean to interrupt, but we have been wandering these corridors for around an hour now," Ianto informed, as he checked his watch.

"We could always just ask the receptionist," suggested Gwen.

"Where's the fun in that?! " the Doctor exclaimed. "Besides, 'course I know where we're going. I'm a Time Lord, aren't I? And not to mention, but I am brilliant."

Martha and Gwen groaned simultaneously, while Ianto hid a smirk.

"What?!"

"Get over yourself, already," Martha said, with a roll of the eyes.

The Doctor pouted.

"Did you just pout?" Martha asked, grinning.

"I'll have you know, Martha Jones, that Time Lords do not pout!" the Doctor reasoned, not much to any avail. Martha shared a sceptical look with Gwen and they both burst out laughing.

"Why are you laugh--"

Ianto suddenly furrowed his brow and interrupted, "Doctor?"

"Yep?"

"This Rose: what does she look like?"

The Doctor paused, swiftly wrapping himself up in his own thoughts, before he described her. "About five foot tall, blonde, brown eyes, prone to danger…" He added the latter, with a grin. "Why?"

"I think we just found 'er," Martha whispered, a tearful smile tipping the corners of her lips upwards.

And Martha was right.

The Doctor's trailed Martha's gaze, and there she stood, Rose Tyler, bare footed and clad in flimsy hospital-garments, frozen and rooted stiff to the spot. It was almost as if she'd gone into complete stationary, and petrified, for a moment – her eyes glowing a faint yellow. It didn't even look like she was breathing. But then her whole body relaxed, muscles flexing, and body moving slightly again.

The Doctor drunk in her appearance: she looked so different, and so weak. Rose's hair had long since lost its full blondeness, now bearing its natural, hazel brown that faded into a light blonde, as it flowed down to her mid back. She was a whole lot thinner, and paler than before – not at all the healthy and lively woman, she'd once looked like, and was before. Underneath her puffed, dark brown orbs, shadowed bright red blotches – as if she had been consumed by too much sleep. She still looked beautiful, she always did, always would – in his eyes, at the least. But she just didn't look right… He frowned.

But, it was only to be expected; at least from what Mickey had described. The ugly symptoms of the illness and allergy had started way back, but just how bad had it got?

He wanted to run forward: run forward, engulf her in the biggest bear hug known to humanity, and tell her just how much he'd regretted his decision and missed her. But somewhere in his mind, his Time Lord consciousness told him otherwise: told him to wait, told him to realise, told him that something was incredibly wrong.

"Rose…" he whispered, the simple syllable rolling on his tongue like a magic spell.

He wore a large, dazzling grin, a bright light reaching his eyes and ears; he almost gave in to the cunning temptation. However, Rose stared at him vacantly, an unfathomable expression adorning her face. She tilted her head to the one, blinked twice, and frowned. He almost thought he saw a sneaky, golden light twinkle behind her eyes. The Doctor's smile faltered. This was not turning out to be a Four Weddings And a Funeral reunion – at all.

"What's wrong?" Gwen inquired. "Aren't you goin' to say hello?"

Martha gently punched the Doctor's arm. "You. Yes, I'm talkin' to you mister. Rose Tyler, the girl you fell in love with, have been fretting o'er for weeks, the one person I once dared thought I'd have a chance against," she said, smiling wistfully.

If she still hadn't learned from her experience and was about two years younger, she would've been jealous and irritated at the blonde, but things had changed. She now understood that she would've never compared, or been looked at, the same way the Doctor did to Rose… and she accepted it. Martha had Tom now. Martha was truly happy and loved; she just wanted the Doctor to be, too.

"An' you're just goin' to stand here – gawping?" she finished. The Doctor looked at her with a serious air, and Martha clocked it, deadpanning straightaway. "There's something wrong, isn't there?"

The Doctor shut his eyes briefly, and nodded, saying, "I can feel it. There's something missing. Literally. It's like she's not Rose… It's something else."

'Hmm. Not what I was expecting. No happy reunion then,' the Doctor mused in his head. 'Ah well. You can't always get what you want, especially when you're facing an army of Daleks, or Sir Alan Sugar, for that matter. There's always a next time. For a happy reunion, I mean, not facing an army of Daleks, or Sir Alan Sugar. That would just be uncalled for, and a bit rude. And not to mention, totally irrelevant. Well. More of one than the other… Anyway! Now, where was I? Ah, yes, Rose, being not Rose.'

But that was when it happened. Rose Tyler approached them, literally stumbling up the wide hallway.

"You're the twin he's talkin' about. He's been waiting for you," she stated with a blank look in her eyes, and Rose simply… walked away, not hesitating or looking back at all.

Martha, Gwen, and Ianto all turned to the Doctor: faces confused, nonplussed, and looking for assurance.

"That was odd," Ianto commented.

The Doctor's eyes drifted off into the horizon, for a moment, contemplating. Twin? Could he be talking about the other him? Without warning, he jumped out of his reverie and looked at them enthusiastically, eyes wide, and as if he hadn't a care in the world.

"C'mon! I think the lady wants us to follow," the Doctor said, and swiftly trotted off after her, hands in pockets and eyes scrutinising the area.

Shrugging, and muttering something along the lines of "He's always like this", Martha jogged off after him, with Gwen and Ianto following closely behind.

Gwen slowed down, and lightly tugged at Ianto's smooth suit jacket. "Are you thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"I know, I really should've worn blue today. The green doesn't compliment the colour of the walls," Ianto replied, with a sigh, readjusting his tie.

"Maybe not."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"What's wrong with her? She just doesn't seem… Rose," Martha muttered to the Doctor, silently gesturing the Rose shuffling down the corridors. "I know I've only met 'er properly once, but this still doesn't add up. I'd've at least thought she'd be pleased to see you, but just look at her Doctor!"

"We'll talk later, for now, let's just see where she's taking us!"

Martha growled incoherently. What was wrong with him today?!

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"But I wanna see 'er."

"You sound like a toddler, throwing a tantrum. 'cos you weren't allowed to buy the lego. How old are you Mickey?!" Aryl sighed, "She's one of my best friends at Torchwood, so don't think for a sec I don't wanna see 'er either, but I've spoken to Jack and he's right. I may not know this "Doctor" in brown pinstripes, but I know enough to know that Rose was deep in love with 'im. They need some breathing space to 'emselves, Mick. Leave them alone for a bit."

"Ianto, Gwen, and Martha included?" Mickey asked, suspiciously.

Aryl gulped, and sneaked a glance at Captain Jack, out of the corner of her eye, who was currently chattering away to someone, judging by what he was saying, called "Alice" over his mobile.

"Let's just say you were top priority."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

"Oh my goodness!" Martha exclaimed with a loud gasp, cupping her mouth with her hands. "What's happened to 'im?"

Rose drifted into a corner of the room, waiting in the shadows – silent, watchful. The Doctor's attention was suddenly captured by the strikingly familiar figure, whose upper half of his body was laid, quite literally, strewn across a chest drawer, whilst his lower half littered the stainless, marble floor. He was quite noticeably unconscious.

The Doctor dropped to his side, and Martha plucked a stethoscope out of her pocket.

"You keep stethoscopes in your pocket?" the Doctor questioned, amused.

"I'm a doctor; it's a habit," Martha shrugged, kneeling by the blue pinstriped man's legs. "Now, help me roll him over."

"Martha, must warn you, try not to look shocked," the Doctor advised innocently, squinting.

Martha rolled her eyes. "I've been through scenarios worse than this. While I working in America, for a while, a man checked into hospital, bleeding, and carrying his own arm in a plastic bag. Now, you gonna help me, or am I gonna have to do this all by myself?"

The Doctor helped Martha roll the unknown – to Martha at the least - figure over, so that he was lying face side up. The guilty Time Lord quickly hitched his breath, closed his eyes, and waited for the gasp of shock to come. You see, Martha was not exactly aware that the meta-crisis Doctor was still around, living, or in this case, living on another universe with Rose. He had just happened to miss that fact, whilst telling the tale in Torchwood.

Instead, his ears were welcomed by two swear words (courtesy of Gwen), a small gasp (Copyright: Martha), and a: "Is it just me, or does that man, on the floor, look uncannily familiar?" (trademark of one Ianto Jones).

The Doctor winced, as the two Torchwood officers came to join them. – Gwen frowning at the "hiding" Rose, in the corner. This was beyond her. Seriously.

"So when did this happen?" Martha said, as she positioned her stethoscope to the man's chest. "You didn't even tell me that he was with her! I mean, somethin' obviously happened to 'im… All I knew was that Rose was kept forever in this Universe, with some unnaturally deadly illness, but…"

"It wasn't important." Martha swore that the Doctor slipped the quiet Rose a glimpse.

She moved the stethoscope about a bit, before she came to her conclusion. "He's alive, but his pulse is about three times as fast as it should be. It shouldn't be possible. One heart..."

"Yep!"

"I thought that he was… Never mind. So, he's not Time Lord?"

"Part-Time Lord, part-human."

"Some sort of shock," Martha deduced and put a hand to the unconscious "other Doctor 's" head, before flinching. "His head's burnin' up. He's in some sort of seizure. He could go into cardiac arrest, if we don't find the cause. Unconscious or not." Martha turned to Ianto quickly. "Could you try and find a doctor around 'ere, for me please? I can't do this on my own. I need help."

"Yes, ma'am!" he said, and mock saluted her, before he ran out the room to complete the task.

Martha then had the Doctor and Gwen help her lift the unconscious man, up onto the empty bed. Vivid theories and ideas ran through her mind, but Martha wasn't sure. She had to be certain of what had happened, or it could be a life/death scenario.

She knew that it probably wasn't the best thing to do, but Martha was a doctor and it was her duty to help. So, going against most of her plausible conscience, the girl craned her neck round and turned to face Rose.

"Um, what happened to him? This… other Doctor, I mean. Was it an overdose? Or food poisoning? Or…?"

Rose's eyes pierced Martha's, and Martha felt a chill run down her spine. The silence stood standing. The Doctor was right; this wasn't Rose, and she knew it.

Martha snapped. "Look, if you're just going to stand there staring at us, the least you could do is help us. What happened to him?!"

Still silence.

"Rose, we can't let him die," the Doctor told her, pleadingly.

Rose stared back, eyes cold, hard and... glowing? More silence. No response. Instead, she slid down the floor and sunk down onto the floor – her eyes still watching, observing, spying.

Planting a fairly convincing, but weak, smile in her direction, Gwen hoisted herself off the floor, and padded towards the blonde/brunette, sitting beside her.

"Sweet'art," Gwen started, beginning to feel a big stupid, but it was worth a try. "Could you just help us, an' tell us what's wrong with 'im? What happened? Anything? He's going to die if you don't help us."

Rose glowered back. The eyes that stared back into hers were dark and vacant; cold and unwelcoming; unfamiliar and alien. Gwen put her hands up in surrender, backing away. She too had faced the same feeling and reactions, from just looking at "Rose".

Martha took a deep breath. "Let her be. If she doesn't want to help, just let her be…" she made sure that Rose was still glaring, before she moved in between Gwen and the Doctor, whispering, "Doctor, you were right. It's not her. It's not Rose."

The blue-suited Doctor gasped, and suddenly shot bolt-right up, clutching hold of Gwen and Martha's jacket sleeves.

"No, I am not," stated Rose: her voice different. Her voice dark, low, echoing, and eerie, but still holding its original feminine undertone. "I am the Bad Wolf, and I am her Protector."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

A/N:-Soz for the even LONGER delay: my bruv's computer couldn't host binweevils for some rhuarbish reason, so he used my (this) computer for hours instead…

Hmmm. I'm not sure if I wrote Martha's character too well; I don't know why, but I just find it difficult to write her character! Ooh and I'm sorry if I'm contradicting Journey's End, or my previous chapters – I am really VAIR memory lost today. I didn't mean to make Mickey so moody either, but… ANYWAYS, onwards, upwards and to the moon! BTW:- The moon so is made out of CHEESE! I should know, the Echoey People told me! TIS VAIR,VAIR TRUE! Bit of backtracking in the next chappie.

Thanksies for the many vunderful, vunderful reviews I received for my last chappie!

*bribes with hand-dryers and nachos and banana milkshakes* Reviews anyone?!

If she's anti-terrorist, I would not mind being Uncle Terrorist. HA! Just loved that quote! But did YOU like PC Andy?!