A/N: Yay! Finally, the first main element to the story is introduced!

DISCLAIMER: Now, you know I don't own Doctor Who. If I did, David Tennant would still be the Doctor...

"Well, we've established she's alien and has no parents now, not listed, anyway." Tosh summarised, and the Doctor nodded slowly.

"Continue."

"We've checked her files and history, along with her criminal record," Ianto said, "But there/s nothing before the age of sixteen. Her history only goes back to sixteen. She doesn't have ID because she hasn't got a birth certificate or proof of her. She's just a ghost - according to everything we have, she shouldn't exist."

"So before the age of sixteen, no-one ever heard of her." The Doctor said slowly, chewing on his lower lip.

"And?" Jack asked, and the Doctor looked at him, lost in thought.

"How we met, Jack. The Canary Wharf memorial, she went to pay respect to her parents."

"Set up?" Rose asked suddenly, but the Doctor shook his head immediately.

"She wouldn't have joined so soon."

"But you said she was upset," Ianto said quietly, "Upset at her loss, blaming herself."

The Doctor laughed bitterly. "She did, didn't she? But those emotions, far too deep to be just an act…"

He jumped suddenly, before snatching the medical papers from Tosh's grip.

"Fascinating," He murmured, looking at the sheet intensely.

"Why? What is it?" Owen asked, and Jack shuddered at the look the Doctor gave him.

"Because if it wasn't for that spike of DNA there, I swear she'd be Gallifreyan."

"But how-" Jack began to ask, eyes wide in astonishment, but his questions were cut off by a piercing scream of pure agony.

Gwen raced into the room, grabbing Jack's arm.

"It's Belle," She breathed, "Something's happening and I can't stop it!"

Jack and the Doctor glanced at each other, before setting off down the corridor after the screams.

Pointing the sonic screwdriver at the door after whipping it from his pocket, the door opened with a reluctant hiss, and he raced forward, ignoring all protests and warnings of danger from the Tylers and the Torchwood team.

The Doctor knelt down beside Belle, and despite knowing she had lied to him and so many others, he still felt compelled to help her, not out of pity but out of his love and affection for her. Pulling her shaking body onto his lap, he cradled her head against his chest, whipering softly to her.

"It's gonna be okay," He whispered soothingly to her, "No-one's gonna hurt you, I won't let them. I don't care if they all say you lied, because I still love you, and I bet you have a good reason, don't you?" He continued, and her head snapped up to meet his.

"I lied." She repeated, and the Doctor nodded.

"You did."

"I know I did!" She laughed bitterly, before pulling back from him, standing bolt upright and walking briskly away from him, into the corner of the room.

"Why?" He asked, and he saw her body tense.

"Why?" She hissed, and the Doctor shivered at the sudden coldness.

"Yes, why?" He repeated, his voice shaking slightly, as she began to laugh again, but this time, he recognized the laugh, a laugh of madness and insanity.

"Why?" She spat, rounding on him, pain and loneliness and regret and hatred racing across her eyes and words like an unrelenting mist, "Why? Because of everything I did! Everything I am! Everything I've done!" She screamed, before grimacing in pain, staggering slightly. Her voice dropped to a whisper, her hands either side of the Doctor's head as she gripped him, and the Doctor had the feeling that 'Belle' was trying to find the answer to an unknown question in his eyes.

"You've gone mad," He whispered in realisation, his hands resting on her wrists, but she held her grip true on his hands, "You've lost it, haven't you?" His suspicions were confirmed when she glanced away, unable to hold his gaze that searched for the truth.

Jack, the rest of the Torchwood team and the Tyler family stood quietly inside the cell, close to the door, both to watch the unfolding scene before them and to block 'Belle' if she attempted to escape.

"No, no, you lost it, didn't you?" The Doctor corrected, nodding slowly. "Past tense, isn't it?"

'Belle' nodded softly. "I couldn't cope anymore," she whispered, "It was too much, but they gave me no choice. So much hurt, pain, so many terrible decisions…" She shuddered, and the Doctor nodded in sympathy.

"So what did you do?" He probed softly, and she responded immediately.

"London, new beginning. A new home, new life, where I could become someone else, with a perfect life."

"Emma and Steven Parati. What about them? You exploited two dead people, for Pete's sake!" The Doctor snapped, his patience wearing thin.

"They would have been the perfect parents!" She cried back, and the Doctor looked at her in confusion.

"When I arrived in London, I… I blacked out. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in a cosy little house, with a woman and man looking at me in concern, asking if I had any family, or any possessions. I said no, I had nothing! Nothing at all, nothing! And they smiled at me, treated me kindly, I stayed with them until the battle… Two weeks, two weeks and they were the perfect family I never had. They never questioned me, never pressed me, all they did was love and care for me, and I loved them as my own family. And then, they were gone!"

The Doctor looked at her in shock. "So you didn't…?"

"Just make them up? God, no, but I might as well have done, I've done that with everything else, haven't I?" She laughed bitterly, before pulling his head down to meet hers, staring into her eyes.

"But that's not it, Doctor. Because when I'm alone, when I'm asleep, in the silence, in the darkness, it's always there, always there, the never-ending, never stopping. Can't you hear it, Doctor? Why can't you hear it?" She asked desperately, before pulling back slightly, standing tall, but still holding her hands on his face.

"Hear what?" The Doctor asked, fear flooding through his body, an icy chill beginning to take hold, as a single finger tapped a repetitive rhythm on his cheek, his eyes widening in horror as hers searched desperately into his.

"Why can't you hear it, Doctor? Why? Oh Doctor, can't you hear it? The drums, when will they stop, the drums, oh the drums, never-ending, never-stopping, the drums, when will they stop?"