Affected

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Splash Planet was quite packed. The old medic hadn't been kidding when he said people had come from all over the country. He even recognised the Prime Minister!

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"So, now we find where the pulse is coming from yeah?" Rose asked. He grinned at her, she was getting very good at this. She was starting to say things even before he did!

"Exactly, now if I were a transmitter where would I be? High, I'd be up high… the towers. But I don't want to be in clear sight, someone might find it or damage it, and it wouldn't be small… do you think there are side rooms in the towers?" he asked.

"Only one way to find out," Rose grinned, but soon the smile faded. "But how do we get there. It's so packed and we don't even know our way around. Not to mention the fact that there are ten towers and that thing will probably go off again soon."

"You're very pessimistic today," he commented.

"Not pessimistic, more… jumpy. I don't know what I'm going to do when that thing goes off."

Putting an arm around her shoulder as they walked, he gave her a comforting squeeze.

He knew exactly how she felt. Because quite frankly he had no clue what he would do either. There were many things that he desired more than anything. Not all of them were possible, but the ones he could do… he wasn't so sure any good would come from any of them. They could only result in pain for others and pain for him.

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"Oh, look," Rose said rushing over to a stand. "Maps, this might help a bit." She held it up in front of her. "There are the entrances to the towers, there are three different places. This side leads to these five, but they're pretty low." She pointed to each spot on the map. "So, it's one of these five from here, or here."

"Rose Tyler, you're brilliant," he said proudly.

"I've been hanging out with you for too long, you're rubbing off on me."

"Right then, which ride first?"

"Ride?" Rose said in surprise.

"Well, there's only one way down."

"Na-ah," she said. "I've saved the world in a kitchen lady outfit, in a maid outfit and in an eighteenth centaury dress… But I refuse to run around and save the world in a bikini, especially not with this pulse thingy." He looked at her sadly, subtly pulling a puppy face she could barely ever resist. "No," she cried covering her eyes. "Please Doctor, we can do rides later. 'Cause wearing next to no clothes when I might do something crazy any second doesn't sound like such a good idea to me."

"Oh alright," he laughed. "You can take your hand away now." He ducked down and pried her fingers up a little. "Peek-a-boo!"

Rose giggled, took her hand away and pushed him back playfully.

"Allons-y," he said.

"What?"

"'Let's go'. That one I reckon," he pointed to one tower. "Ooh! But can we go on that one first?" he pointed to another.

"Okay… and that one second," she told him, looping her arm through his. Together, arm in arm, they walked to the first tower. There were a lot of people in the way, but they managed to make it through to the entrance.

When they tried to get past them however they caused a bit of an uproar, it only took a few flashes of the psychic paper and people were letting them pass. But of course with so many people jamming up, it was still rather slow progress.

"Doctor, there!" Rose pointed out a door just before they went out into the open where the slides started. The door was very well hidden, it blended in perfectly with the walls and didn't have a handle. If they hadn't have been looking for it, they would never have found it.

He opened it with the Sonic-screwdriver and he and Rose slipped inside. There were a few computers, but nothing that looked like a transmitter. He went over and checked them anyway, but it turned out to be nothing more than the pressure controls to the hydro slides.

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"Does that have anything to-" Rose broke off as the sonic noise and impact were once again felt through the air.

He gasped involuntary as he felt his defences being torn down. It felt as if someone had stripped a layer away from his mind, leaving it defenceless. But it passed in less than a second. What worried him more was the look on Rose's face.

She was sitting on the ground as if she had fallen there and was still getting up. She had a look in her eyes that made him think that she really wasn't in rational control of what she was doing. She was experiencing the ecstasy of not having to worry about consequences.

"Rose, are you okay?" he asked helping her up and holding her under the elbows so he could easily grab her if she tried to run away.

"Oh, I'm great," she replied holding onto his arms.

"Do you want me to hold you?" he said in concern.

"Defiantly," she said seductively.

And then she was kissing him, the kind of kiss that made you want more and more. He was a little surprised… but not quite as surprised as he was when he realised he was kissing her back with the same intensity. She had backed him to the wall and he was pulling her closer to him so there was as little space between the two of them as possible.

Part of him knew this was wrong, but the other part didn't want this moment to end.

But then, the second Rose paused a moment for air, she suddenly seemed to go faint. She stumbled slightly and he had to catch her. She blinked up at him looking rather confused.

"Blimey, my head," she moaned, then she looked about confused. "We've moved… Oh my god it was the pulse thing! What did I do?"

"You don't remember?" he said uneasily.

"No," she said shaking her head. "I – I was just trying to ask if it was the right computers and then… I was here."

Subconsciously, Rose touched her lips as if they felt funny or swollen. He tried not to notice or say anything.

"Right… so no memory either. We should really get a move on. I felt my immunity to it being torn away so we need to find it before it goes off again." Grabbing her by the hand he dragged her back out into the slightly less crowed stairwell.

Many people had left, but there were still a lot milling about looking dazed and confused. Some of them still even had that careless light in their eyes.

"Doctor, what did I do?" Rose asked him. He said nothing. "Doctor?"

"These people," he said blatantly trying to change the subject. "Some of them are still affected. How long does it last… longer the closer to the transmitter, until they've fulfilled their wants, if there is no way of getting to what they want. So many variables. Hmm, I taste strawberries, you know I quite like strawberries."

"Doctor! What did I do?" Rose cried.

He paused on the stair and turned to look back at her. He could hardly tell her what really happened. That she had kissed him… that he had kissed her back.

She had been under the influence of the sonic pulse… what was his excuse?

"Nothing Rose," he finally said. "You didn't do anything."

"What, so you held me until it passed then?" she said as they continued down.

"Oh trust me, I didn't let you go," he said hoping she couldn't hear the double meaning.

Getting back out into the open they could see that the park had emptied quite a bit. They could now see through the crowds.

"Oh, that's not a good sign," he said looking about. "Where's the entrance to the next tower?"

"Just over there and there," Rose told him pointing to two arches in the other side of the wall. "Then we have to head back towards the exit and around to the other side for the other two."

"Right that was…" he looked at his watch. "Thirty minutes since the last one. If they're constant then we only have seventeen minutes left. Let's go."

And grabbing his hand, Rose followed him to the next tunnel and up.