But I don't know you
Will you show me who you are?
"I got it, Rose!"
She mumbles around her toothbrush as she looks over her shoulder at him.
"I have finally figured it out. I'm a little bit embarrassed and chagrined that it took me so long, to be honest with you."
Rose spits out her toothpaste and waits.
Seeing her look of exaggerated impatience, he hastens to explain what made him rush into the bathroom with a piece of toast still in his hand.
"The low-level spike of radiation I went to investigate yesterday. Remember?"
"Yes. I remember yesterday. And I remember you taking off without a word while I was gone!" Rose points her toothbrush at him accusingly.
"The patterns for that part of London have been the same, Rose. Same levels of radiation, same time of day. Well, same time of day, relatively speaking. The time does fluctuate within a span of four hours, but it's close enough to be called the same time of day."
"So what's that mean?" Rose is aware that she's sounding a bit curt, but she's wrapped up in a towel and if he doesn't hurry things up they'll be late for work.
"It means, Lewis, that we have to go back there."
"What, today?"
"Not today. Right now. Get dressed!"
Rose tosses her toothbrush at his departing back.
oOoOo
The morning is cold and wet and dreary. The Doctor is oblivious to the weather. Rose gathers her coat more tightly around her and sighs.
"There's nothing here," Rose says, waving around the scanner they borrowed from Torchwood.
"Not right now, no," the Doctor agrees. He's kneeling down some distance away, waving his own scanner. It's one that he modified to his exact specifications. It's not a sonic screwdriver, but it does let him look for things that the standard scanners don't pick up. "But something should be coming across soon."
That's hardly a response. "But there's nothing here now," Rose says again. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I am sure."
"How sure?"
"Very sure."
"It's just that it's cold and wet and I don't see anybody here," Rose says. "Or anywhere."
He huffs his breath out impatiently. "I grant you, it's just a hunch, if you will, but I looked up the readings last night, and based on the pattern, there should be another spike soon."
Rose doesn't buy this in the least, but since they're here she's going to wait.
"Look," he says suddenly. "There's something out there."
Rose squints. "Where?"
A large black cat jumps down from a trashcan, startling them both.
The Doctor swears under his breath. "Bloody cats!"
Rose watches the cat walk away. "We don't seem to have much luck with them, do we?"
He shakes his head. "They're just looking through the garbage right now. In a few thousand years they'll be wearing wimples and conducting scientific experiments upon an innocent population."
"Maybe not." Rose looks around. "I don't think this is gonna work, love."
"Rose, let's just give it some time." He ducks to avoid a trickle of rain coming from a spout above his head. "The readings could have chosen a better place to come in from, though."
"There's nothing here," a voice says.
They both spin around. It's Donna, dressed in a raincoat and boots and holding an enormous bright yellow umbrella.
"What are you doing here?" the Doctor asks, thoroughly caught off guard.
"I followed you," she says simply. "Come on."
Rose and the Doctor splash through puddles and follow her to her car. Donna closes her umbrella and gets in.
"There's a coffee shop down the street," she says as she shuts the door. "Meet you there."
Rose and the Doctor are left standing in the drizzle, looking at each other.
"What's with the mysterious act?" Rose asks.
The Doctor shakes his head and takes her hand. "There's a little too much mystery going on around here."
They find Donna already at the coffee shop. Rose stops at the counter to order something. They've been frequenting a lot of these little shops lately. Maybe next time they can meet in an ice cream parlor. Or a pizza place. That would be nice.
"So why are you following us?" the Doctor asks.
Donna has taken off her coat. She sips from a styrofoam cup and looks smug.
"Donna," he says warningly.
"Oh, relax, Dr. Smith. I did some digging at the studio yesterday. I have some things to show you." Donna gives up the cool, calm and collected persona and smiles in excitement. "Wait 'til you see!"
"Didn't I read that the studio has some kind of pest problem?" The Doctor looks around for a newspaper to prove his statement.
"Oh, they exaggerated," Donna assures him. "You know how the papers get. Here. Have a look." She hands him a folder.
"What's that?" Rose sits next to the Doctor, handing him a cup.
"I plotted out all the times Sam's gone traveling," Donna explains. "He doesn't always go for work. There have been quite a few times when he left to visit his parents or for something else."
"That would be the column in green?" the Doctor asks.
"Yeah. The blue column is for movie-related trips."
"What's the red column for?" Rose asks.
"For when he's been in the studio," Donna says.
"Why would you need to keep track of that?"
Donna shrugs, trying to look innocent. "Just for perspective."
Twenty minutes later, they've gone over the dates of Sam's trips and made a long list of notes on another page.
A waiter stops by. "Anyone need a refill?"
Rose shakes her head. "No, thanks."
The waiter looks at the others, who have peered into now-empty cups.
"Coffee refills?" he prompts.
"Black coffee, three sugars, one cream," Donna and the Doctor say together. They both look up from their papers.
"All...right." The waiter backs away, looking at them oddly.
Donna looks at the Doctor. "What are you on?"
"Excuse me?"
"What's the idea, drinking what I'm drinking?"
"That's how I drink coffee."
"No, that's how I drink coffee."
"Are you accusing me of copying you?"
"What other reason can there be?"
"That's how I drink coffee," he says again, starting to get red in the face.
Rose knows why they have the same drink order, and it's hardly the time or the place to be explaining it.
"That's how he drinks his coffee," she says hastily. "Coincidence, yeah?"
"Yeah." The Doctor sits back and folds his arms across his chest.
Donna frowns and sits back. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a bit on edge, what with everyone gone and you lot claiming that they're-"
"Aliens?" Rose supplies helpfully.
"Yeah. Aliens." Donna looks down at her list. "I'm still not sure I completely believe you, even if you are Torchwood."
"That's why you should," the Doctor says, leaning forward. "We know what we're talking about."
"There's some other stuff I have back at the studio," Donna says. "I wasn't sure whether to bring it or not, but I think you should see it. Do you have time?"
Rose and the Doctor glance at each other.
"We do," he says. "We'll let our teammate know on the way that we'll be late."
oOoOo
Donna unlocks the studio's front doors and lets them into the reception area. Rose studies the sign on the door curiously.
"Venusian spiders?"
Donna flushes. "I had to clear out the building."
"But Venusian spiders?"
"What about them?" Donna asks with just a touch of belligerence. "They can get quite nasty."
"Yeah, but they're not real, are they? Sam did a movie about Venusian spiders, didn't he?"
The Doctor turns to Rose, smiling proudly. "You were paying attention!"
"Of course!"
He laughs and kisses her. Donna rolls her eyes.
"Whatever. Nobody who was left here had any idea. I don't think they actually watch the films we make. Anyway, come on. Sam has a locked cabinet in his office."
"What, and you didn't unlock it yet?" the Doctor can't help asking sarcastically.
"It's an invasion of his privacy."
"And now?"
"And now he's an alien, thank you very much! So we're gonna open it and see what's there!" Donna stomps down the hallway to Sam's office, muttering under her breath.
"She tends to get very short with you," Rose observes in a low voice.
He sighs as they follow Donna. "I think she's responding to...to that part...in me."
"Then she ought to be getting along with you, not wanting to slap you."
"Maybe," he says thoughtfully. "Maybe she just thinks I'm a prat."
"That could also be it," Rose agrees. "Just based on what I know of her," she adds hastily, catching the look he's giving her.
"Are you coming or not?" Donna calls from inside the office.
"Coming!" they call back.
"All right," Donna says briskly. "Here it is." She's pointing to a small black cabinet in the corner of Sam Lively's office. It's about knee-high, with two small doors. There's an orange lacquered design edging the doors and the top of it.
"It's pretty," Rose says, kneeling down to have a closer look.
The Doctor kneels down next to her, looking closely at the design. "This doesn't look familiar. Could be from anywhere."
"We're not interested in the design," Donna says. "Just what's inside. Ready?"
Rose and the Doctor look away from the cabinet and up at Donna. She's standing above them holding a hammer. Rose and the Doctor spring apart, leaping for opposite ends of the room.
"Oh, like I was gonna hit you both," Donna says with an eye roll.
"You sure we ought to do this?" the Doctor asks from the corner, where he's fallen in his haste to get away from Donna and her hammer. "This is private property. There may be nothing in there but some high-quality alcohol."
Donna looks down at the hammer and then over at the Doctor. "Dr. Smith, normally I would never dream of doing something like this. But Sam is gone and so is everyone else. If I don't figure out what's happening we may all be in very big trouble."
Rose sighs. "She has a point."
"I know she has a point! It's just...all right, Donna, let's have at it."
"Okay." Donna hefts the hammer in hand, eyes fixed on the cabinet. "Could be some important stuff in there. Could be the reason Sam has left. Or it could be whiskey and soda. I don't know."
She sighs. She's come this far and her boss is an alien. This is the only lead left to her. She slowly raises her arm and steps to the cabinet.
The rush of air is their only warning, the rush of air and a flash of blue energy. Dropping the hammer, Donna whirls around. The Doctor and Rose jump to their feet.
A man is standing there. Tall. Dark hair. Older than the Doctor but very attractive. He's dressed in black trousers and a dark green shirt with long sleeves. His hands are on his hips, and he doesn't look very happy.
"Who the hell are you?" he asks. "What are you doing here?"
"Sam?" Donna says weakly.
He looks her way and blinks. "Donna? What the hell is going on?"
"We were...we were just..." Donna gives up and shrugs helplessly. "Dr. Smith?"
The Doctor steps forward. "Hello. I'm the Doctor. This is Rose. You, apparently, are Sam Lively. It's a real pleasure to meet you - we're big fans of your work."
Rose nods her head. "Very much. We loved The Atlantean Spidertrap."
"And the sequel," the Doctor adds.
"The third movie wasn't as believable, tough," Rose puts in.
"Yes, that one could have used some work," the Doctor agrees.
Sam Lively looks at each of them in turn. "What are you doing in my office? Donna?"
"You disappeared," Donna says in a rush. "Everyone's gone and I'm the only one who seemed to think it was a problem and Dr. Smith and Rose thought there was something suspicious about it."
"Everyone's gone?"
"Gone. They started leaving right after you left. Like they were afraid of something." Donna is stretching the truth with that last statement, but now that she has a suspicion of what Sam's up to she thinks it's all right.
"I was working," he says slowly. "Nothing suspicious about it."
"No one could find you," Donna points out.
"That doesn't explain what you're doing in my office."
Well, he has a point there. Donna searches for a response to that. "We were worried about you. Derek's gone, so I thought we'd check your calendar."
"Where's Derek?"
"Gone with the rest of them."
Sam Lively rubs his forehead. "Unbelievable."
Rose suddenly takes a step forward and grabs Sam's wrist. He tries to pull away. Rose yanks up his sleeve.
"You're a Time Agent," she says.
"What?" He tries again to take his hand back.
The Doctor steps forward as well. "That's a vortex manipulator," he says slowly.
"It's a watch."
"A vortex manipulator," the Doctor corrects him. "It allows you to travel through space and time by using the Time Vortex."
"It's his watch," Donna says.
"Time Agents use those manipulators," Rose says. "I've seen one exactly like it before. You're a Time Agent."
"I'm no such thing!" Sam snaps, finally succeeding in taking back his hand. "Donna-"
"You were working for the Time Agency. That's why you were missing."
"What's a Time Agency?" Donna asks desperately.
"I don't know who you are," Sam begins, "but you are a bit off the mark."
"The Time Agency uses agents to travel through time on missions they deem important and necessary. It was shut down in the 51st century," the Doctor explains to Donna.
"It's only the 21st century!" Donna protests.
"You need to leave," Sam says. "Now."
Donna looks from Sam to the Doctor to Rose and back to Sam. "What's going on?" she demands.
"You are a time agent!" Rose says. "Your manipulator is still working."
Sam swipes a hand at his wrist.
Donna looks around and picks up the hammer she dropped earlier. Swinging it against a metal filing cabinet, the sound shuts them all up. "What the hell is going on?" she demands loudly.
All three turn to her. She drops the hammer and glares at them. "Well?"
"I think your boss is a member of the Time Agency," the Doctor says finally. "An agency that sends its agents through time and space. He travels by means of that device he has strapped on his wrist."
"It would explain all of his absences," Rose agrees.
"Time and space?" Donna says. "That's impossible!"
"Donna!" the Doctor snaps. "You were willing to believe that he's an alien, but not that he can travel through time?"
"You think I'm an alien!" Sam asks, staring at Donna.
"No!" she cries. "I mean, yes! It all makes sense, I mean! Everyone's gone!"
"Everyone's gone," he repeats. "So of course they must be aliens!"
"Janet de Lancie came to see us after you disappeared," Rose says. "She was worried about you. She told us the truth, and that people you know were disappearing. That the council on your world might have been behind your disappearance."
Sam has been struck speechless. He tries to speak but can't.
"So are you an alien?" Donna asks. "or aren't you?"
"Who are you?" Sam asks, looking at the Doctor.
"I'm the Doctor. This is Rose Tyler. We work for Torchwood."
Sam starts violently. "Of course! Torchwood! You lot see aliens everywhere you turn! Are you so desperate that you're targeting innocent members of the community now?"
"Sam." Donna says softly. "Just tell us the truth. They can help us."
"We already know the truth," the Doctor amends. "Just tell us your version. You know a lot about the Venusians and other means of travel."
"My name is Sam Lively I'm a movie producer. Just a producer. "
"Yes, I know that. But you're something else, aren't you? You're not human. No human has the knowledge you have. So you're either an alien or another alien is telling you the information and you're using it in your films."
"I don't know what you mean." But he is clearly bluffing.
"Sam," Donna pleads. "Please."
"Donna, you can't possibly think-"
"Janet came to us and told us what's been going on," Rose says. "Come clean so we can figure this all out."
Sam sighs. "I'm a Time Agent," he says finally. "I'm from Nocklyn, but I'm also a Time Agent. I was gone on a mission that couldn't wait."
Rose bounces up and down on her heels. "I knew it!" she says to the Doctor.