A/N:- Mwahahahahahahahaha! Ze plan is unfolding, my pretties…

Disclaimer: Me no owns Doctor Who. If I DID, I would force a fashion sense into the 11th Doctor's head. Have you SEEN his supposed new outfit? Though… I am plotting a schism (that's currently involving: a shoelace, two sugarcubes, and a titanium shark) to steal Karen Gillian/Amy Pond's Converses.

IS NOW AND EVER SHALL BE UNBETAED! I think…

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"Mickey and Aryl are--" the Captain began, but stopped dead, when he saw the expression on Jackie's face.

"Hello, Jackie!" the Doctor said nervously, his voice an octave higher than usual. He grinned weakly, and rubbed the nape of his neck. "Long time no see."

"It's been a bleeding two an' a 'alf years!"

"Has it?" the Doctor said, feigning mock innocence, in an incredulously high-pitched voice. "I mean, I mean, it has?"

THWACK!

Jackie had marched across the room, and the palm of her hand had made a sharp, violent connection with the Doctor's right cheek. In plain English, she'd slapped him. In a very, very vehement fashion.

"Ow!" the Doctor yelled, wincing in pain, as his cheek began to throb and sting painfully.

"That was for leaving Rose, and breaking 'er heart!" she narrated, glaring at him darkly.

The Metacrisis Doctor chuckled. "You're not the one getting' slapped!" the Doctor whined.

Captain Jack sniggered, leaning in the doorway.

"Why'd you find her mother for?" the Doctor asked Jack, indignantly.

"She found us!" Jack protested.

"Her mother is standing right 'ere!" Jackie retorted.

The Doctor's eyes widened, as Jackie raised her and he raised his hands up in surrender. "Jackie, Jackie, Jackie. I'm sure there's a much more logical way to--" the Doctor trailed off, drinking in Jackie's steely, cold glare.

Her voice softened, "You left 'er."

"I--"

"Can you jus' shu' up for one minute?"

The Doctor closed his mouth again.

"You left her," Jackie continued, "goodness knows how hard Rose worked to get back to you, and you just left her. Again."

"I thought Rose'd be happy," the Doctor said, truthfully. "It was for the best. I didn't know there was anything wrong with her. She didn't tell me! I didn't notice! Sure, she was thinner and older, but I just thought…"

"What?"

"That she was happy. Moved on with her life. You didn't even ask."

All heads turned around to Rose – well, at least Rose's body. The "Bad Wolf" had marvellously sat her way through the entire conversation, up until now, in complete silence. Rose's eyes still swelled with wispy, golden light, the Bad Wolf's voice was still rich and echoey.

Jackie paled, then screamed.

"What the hell 'ave you done to my daughter?!" she yelled at both Doctors furiously, before she kneeled down and looked into the Bad Wolf's/Rose's deep glowing gold eyes. "Rose, swee'art, is that you?" There wasn't a reply. "I know you can't remember me, but are you OK? Rose? Rose?"

"I am the Bad Wolf."

"What's goin' on?!" Jackie yelped, leaping back.

"Ah. About that. Jackie, well, you see--" the Doctor started.

THWACK!

"Twice! You hit me twice!" the Doctor wailed, pressing a palm to his aching, red cheek.

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Seven minutes, an explanation, and a yelling later, the lot of them were as close as they could get to organised.

"What's happenin' to 'er? Is Rose gonna be alrigh'?"

"I don't know either, but the Doctor will figure something out. He always does." There was a small twinkle in Martha's eyes. "And he always will." She smiled warmly at Jackie.

"A nice chat and a cuppa," Gwen said, with a small grin, "that'll sort you out… err… Mrs. Tyler."

"'Mrs Tyler'?" Jackie tried out the words, but shook her head. "That makes me sound old. Call me Jackie."

Dripping with hysteria, worry, and fury, Jackie allowed Martha to sit her down at the horrid, orange plastic chairs. If not for her knowledge from travelling with the Doctor for so long, Martha wouldn't have been too nonchalant and calm about the glowing golden-eyed Rose. So forth, Martha began nattering soothingly to the worried mother about the most random and domestic of things, whilst Gwen roamed the corridors, with a handful of silver trinkets, on a hunt to find a good drinks vending machine, where she could purchase three hot polystyrene cups of tea.

The Metacrisis Doctor had willingly agreed to wander around the hospital, in order to look for and hunt down the promptly missing, and undoubtedly lost, Mickey and Aryl. Well, with the help of the original Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver tracking system, which he had oh-so brilliantly stolen, when the Other him happened not to be looking.

Captain Jack had been promoted the job of guarding Rose's hospital room/door from any medical staff, cleaners, visitors, and oncoming mums, of the sort. He'd promised the Doctor he'd ward them off with his "charm and persuasion" skills. The Doctor had instructed him not to do something or other - that Jack had paid no attention to – it possibly had something to do with flirting, murmured something concerning the fact that he was "literally wrong", and the string bean in a suit had sauntered back off into Rose's room.

All of which, leaving the Doctor alone with Rose. Well, to be specific, alone with the entity that had decided to possess and control her body, but wasn't compressing Rose to death like Cassandra.

Shutting the door behind him, with a quiet click, the Doctor approached the glowing Rose – crouched quite contently in the corner, staring up at him with an intense, golden gaze. Her eyes traced the time Lord's movements, as he whipped off his long, tan coat and tossed it offhandedly onto the vacated bed. The intensity of her gaze didn't falter, even as the Doctor seemed to scrutinise her face, before he dropped to a cross-legged position on the marble, in front of her.

The Bad Wolf/Rose seemed to have read his mind and knew what was to come, for she mimicked his sitting position and locked her eyes with his. Sighing, she shut her (well, rather, Rose's) eyes, breathing in deeply. She exhaled, thins wisps of golden light escaping her closed eyelids and faintly parted lips.

The cogs in the Doctor's head begun to whir. "I wonder…" he whispered.

"Dear Time Lord, you still have yet to learn, despite the many years you have lived. This is not telepathy."

"Aww."

"You wish to test the Bad Wolf? Very well, Doctor."

Eyes studying hers, still testing, the Doctor just smirked and put an image in his head.

"Bananas. A high source of potassium, but what good is a yellow fruit in war?" the Bad Wolf spoke, eyes still closed.

The Doctor merely ignored this latter comment. "Impressive," he murmured, regarding her former.

The Time Lord flickered his eyes shut, and began to think out a string of numbers, pictures, words, songs, devices, people, etcetera, leaving no gap between each thought.

Yet the Bad Wolf/Rose remained serene, and casually declared each of his passing thoughts aloud, as if she was reading off a shopping list.

The Doctor raised a ever so slightly impressed eyebrow. "Yeah, yeah, you can stop now. I get the picture you can tap into other people's mind, and read them. Very impressive, indeed, and it takes a lot to impress a Time Lord. So, how?" She didn't respond, and kept her eyes shut. The Doctor continued, "Suit yourself. But that means you've been reading all of our minds all along. You've been inequitably looking and feeling into other people's minds, yet without them knowing. Sneaky, yes, but very, very rude – if I do say so myself. You shouldn't be doing that. It's an invasion of privacy."

"And your knowledge of the Universe is not? The timelines of people's past, present, and future, that run through your head, are not invasions of their privacy, no?"

"That's different. Time Lords are born with the knowledge. I can't help it. It's just there: stuck in my head like a great big blob of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff!" The Doctor frowned. "Ooh, that's not good, I've said that before. Remind me: I must think of something more original next time. Or more fun. How about jiggery pokery? Yeah, that has a nice ring to it: jiggery pokery! Nah, already used that term. Long ago… Perfectomundo? Weeelll – speaks for itself. I need something original, something creative, something like… ba--"

The Bad Wolf ignored the latter. "That makes it no different."

The Doctor was about to protest, when the sound of Jack arguing (rather more "flirting") with medical staff of some sort rang out from the other side of the door. The Doctor'd have to get a move on.

"Right. No time for dawdling."

"The Doctor. Always changing the subject: always running from the truth."

"Now to do what I came for: Rose," the Doctor stated, ignoring the Bad Wolf's words once again. He pressed two fingers of each of her temples gently, shutting his own eyes.

"I suppose, there is no reason for resisting. For, you have already broken down few of my mental barriers, and the psyche of a Time Lord is of a stronger power than mine."

The Doctor entered Rose's mind with a rush of energy, his own mental barrier rebounding back the powerful blast of hypokinetic, mental energy that came hurtling his way.

"You should've thought about that first," the Doctor said aloud, with a smug hum. "Can't get rid of me that easily."

"So you say."

But as the Doctor began to slither through Rose's mind, a frown of wonder, curiosity, and censure filled his face. Just as his clone had described: nothing. There was nothing in her brain. Not even the faintest, simplest presence, essence or trace of Rose at all. Just the energy of the Bad Wolf thrumming through him, as he searched her mind. Where did she put her? 'Cos it must've been a darn good hiding place, seeing as he – the last of the Time Lords – couldn't even find a whiff of anything. It was like her brain was completely full… of nothing. Completely, utterly, totally nothing. Nothing. This was worse than he first thought.

But he pressed on, trawling through every nook and cranny of her mind, looking for something. Any something. The teeny tiniest something, in the entire Universe; the teeny tiniest something, in the entire Universe, which would fill him with a glimmer of hope. Hope that Rose was still buried in there: somewhere. There had to be something!

"Déjà vu," the Bad Wolf hummed in his mind. "The other you did that too. All those thoughts and emotions flooding through his head, like yours, but thicker and conspicuous. It still amazes me, how you two are so much of the same person – yet so different."

"Well, as they say, great minds think alike!"

"Indeed."

The Doctor suddenly growled in frustration, as he found it again, for what felt like the millionth time. He found nothing.

"You can't just possess her body, and take control of it for Rose, forever, you know," the Doctor stated matter-of-factly, raising his eyebrows, as he continued to trek through the empty tunnels of Rose's head. "It's doesn't work like that."

The Bad Wolf stared up at him, with her baleful yellow eyes, and boomed, "But, I can make it work like that, oh Doctor. It keeps her safe. I am protecting her. I do what is just, I do what is right, I do what is to make her life happy."

"Don't give me that. You know what I mean. Yes, you're protecting her and keeping her safe, but what's the point? What's the point if, by keeping her safe, you're not allowing Rose to have freedom to live her own life?" he snapped. "Is that what you call happiness? Possessing and controlling her body, like a ventriloquist! Keeping Rose locked away and compressed, inside her own head, forever. Left to watch life pass her by, as you "look after" her body for her." His eyes softened. "You saw her mother. It's not right, is it. And you know it."

"But if I let go now, yes Rose Tyler shall be safe from the fire and rage of this Universe… But, you will interfere! Do not deny it, I – the Bad Wolf - can see into your mind, Doctor, and the Bad Wolf does not lie. You know the knowledge of her brain's empty space, and you defy it! . You intend to invade her mind, to try bring her mind and memories back. It is not that simple, though, Doctor. Her mind is damaged and weak. I have kept her mind and memories away from her, because of it. Your attempts will be futile. However, if you do succeed Doctor, then her protection is lost. She automatically surrenders herself to this Universe; her brain falters, and she dies…" An almost maniacal leer tinged her lips. "Unless… that is your desire. Sending her to her death, in order for her to maintain, what you call, 'true happiness'! But if that is the case, and your wish, I shall willingly oblige!"

"That's not what I said!"

"Then what do you suggest an entity like me, is to do? No, I correct myself. What is your plan, Doctor?"

"I'll think of something."

"Oh?"

"Like I'll think of the question… Where. Is. She? Where did you hide Rose?" the Doctor asked sternly.

"As the old human saying goes, that is for me to know and for you to find out."

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A/N:- TRANSFORMERS 2 WAS AMAZING and vair vair CheeseOnToastWorthy! Hehe!

I WAS intending on making this chappie longer, but two more updates to go? Maybe not… MORE UP SOONIO! PISTACHIOS FOR ALL READERS&REVIEWERS!

THANKSIES VERY CHEESE for all your GROOVY REVIEWS! Tis all muchily loved stuff! You know, I wouldn't mind anymore… Hint, hint. LOL!

=D =D =D =D =D