"Oh, here comes trouble," Rose laughed, hoping he wouldn't say anything about what happened back in Reinette's room.

"I think this is the night she meets the king. Oh look, I was right," he laughed, nudging Rose as the king entered the room and walked around the blushing Reinette.

"The Queen must have loved her," Rose grinned.

"Oh, they got on very well together. France – different world."

The King left and Reinette looked at herself in the mirror then something caught her eye and the Doctor saw it as well.

"Stay here, I mean it this time, there are still droids around."

With that, he pushed the window and grabbed Emily's fire extinguisher.

"Fireplace man!" Reinette called as he aimed the nozzle of the extinguisher at the droid.

After getting it to tell him what they were doing there, the Doctor turned to Reinette.

"Why her, why do they need Reinette?" Rose asked, her and Emily having joined him.

"That's what I need to find out. You and Emily, follow them, find out where they're hiding. Take Arthur with you."

Rose turned around to see a horse behind them.

"You're not keeping a horse in the Tardis are you?" Emily asked as it made a noise.

"Not now Emily, now go, I have to find out where the crew are."

"We saw a human heart and an eye," Rose told him sadly.

"Oh, they didn't have the parts, so they used the crew," the Doctor said as they all looked at him. "They needed to repair the ship and no-one told the droids the crew were not on the menu. Go on you two and be careful."

As they left, the Doctor smiled at Rose. "Hey, watch yourselves."

"Yeah, we will and you be careful as well. Come on Emm."

He turned to Reinette. "Sorry, there's only one way of doing this, if there was another, well."

He put his hands to her temples, Reinette blinking.

"You are inside my mind."

"If you don't want me to see anything, imagine a door there."

"Like seeing you kissing Rose?" she smiled. "Have you two got any further?"

"This is not the time to be asking personal questions. I need to find out why they want you."

It wasn't long before Reinette had turned the tables on him and he stepped back.

"How did you do that?" he asked, surprised Reinette now knew all about him.

"A door opens two ways Doctor. You were lonely but now, now you have Rose."

"It was one innocent kiss, I needed to assure her of something."

"That is what you tell yourself but she is someone very special to you."

"Yeah they both are."

"Ah but I think Rose is more so. Do not waste it Doctor, tell her how you feel."

"When you are safe. Now, you should go to the dance."

"Doctor, come and dance with me."

"I can't. Tonight is the night you dance with the king."

"Then first I shall make him jealous. Don't tell me that Timelords don't know how to dance?"

"You know who I am?"

Reinette took his hand. "Come, I will teach you how to dance, then you must go back and dance with Rose."

"One dance, then I should go and find them."

Rose and Emily were walking through the corridors.

"So, that Reinette, she becomes famous?" Emily asked.

"I thought I was the one who hated history."

"What were the two of you talking about earlier? Something about me?"

"It was nothing. I thought you'd be mad at me again."

"Should I be?"

Before they could say anything else, Emily was grabbed from behind.

"Emm, watch out!" Rose called as something also grabbed her from behind and everything faded.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had just made up a cocktail and the king had entered the room, the Doctor fading into the background. He looked around and not finding Rose or Emily, began to worry the droids had found them, not the other way around. He went back to where the Tardis was, seeing a bunch of droids standing over something and deduced they had captured his two companions.

Concocting a potion that would stop a droid in its tracks, he took off his tie and put it around his forehead then tinted his glasses and put them on, not quite straight. Then he made his entrance, singing.

"Oh look what the cat dragged in," Emily moaned. "Where were you when those droids grabbed us?"

"You sound just like your mother Emily Tyler, do you know what?" he laughed, looking at the two sisters, who were fastened to tables, for what, he dreaded to think.

He explained his theory then getting close to one of the droids, tipped the red liquid over its head, after taking off its wig.

"If you believe Reinette's brain is 'compatible' you'll believe this is a glass of wine."

He quickly stopped the rest of the droids then released Rose and Emily.

"Ok you two?"

"Yeah, what was in that glass?" Rose asked, rubbing her wrists.

The Doctor grinned. "You don't want to know. Well, that's enough of you two lazing around then. We should get the rest of the ship turned off now."

"I hope you've turned them off for good?" Emily asked, eyeing them warily.

"Well, hopefully. The time windows are controlled from here, I should be able to close them. Oh, one of them is still open, one of their friends must still be out there somewhere. They must have found Reinette at the right age, they have an over-ride."

They droids started to move again as a bell rang from one of the consoles.

"One of your little friends?" he asked.

"She is complete, now it begins."

Before he could stop them, the droids disappeared.

"We need to warn her," Rose told him. "I'll go find her if you want?"

"Thanks Rose, she may listen to you. Emily, go with her."

"Don't you need help?"

"Ok then, come with me. Rose, I know where Reinette is, not the one in the future though, best give her time to get ready for it."

Giving her a quick hug, Emily pulling a face, Rose went off to find Reinette. She pulled the tapestry aside as the Doctor had told her and the other woman jumped.

"Rose? What are you doing here?"

"I came to warn you. They find you in five years time, the Doctor said he'll be there, when the time comes."

"Then why could he not come and warn me himself? There are five years."

"For you, for us it's not even five minutes. Those droids are messin' with time, none of this was ever supposed to happen."

"Well it did and I would not have it any other way. Has he told you yet?"

"Told me what?"

"I can see he hasn't. He cares very much about you, why is he bothering to warn me?"

Rose sat down next to her. "These droids, they are opening up windows to your time and in five years, they find you. The Doctor will be waiting to stop them, for good."

"How do you know these things? You are not from this time, any of you and who was that other girl with you all those years ago, where is she?"

"She's my sister, she's helping the Doctor in his plan to stop the droids."

Rose reckoned the woman should know at least some of the truth.

"Where we come from, there's this ship – a sort of sky ship and the droids are using it to open up windows to your world."

"So that is how you have been a part of my life, without you growing any older?"

"Yeah, you could say that and the Doctor's sorry he can't be here to warn you himself but that's how it's got to be."

"We both know Rose, the Doctor is worth the monsters."

Just then, Emily parted the tapestry and Reinette got up to examine behind it.

"We've found it!" Emily called out without realising.

"What is behind here?" Reinette asked, seeing bare walls with loads of wiring.

"Reinette, you can't go out there!" Rose called after her. "Emily, whatcha go do that for?"

"The Doctor told me to find you."

"Yeah, well ya should have been more careful."

She followed a rather confused Reinette.

"I know what must be done, you take the quickest route, to my future and I must take the slow path."

Rose took her arm. "Blimey, he was right about you, he said you'd understand."

With that, Reinette parted the tapestry again and they heard a voice in the distance.

"That's my voice, how is that possible? That was me, in the future?"

"Sorry, you weren't meant to hear that. Are you ok?"

"No, I'm very afraid Rose but if the Doctor said he will be there, then that is what I must face."

Rose turned to Emily. "What has he got planned then?" she asked Emily, following her.

They caught up with the Doctor, who had wiring everywhere and Rose could hear screaming coming from the time window that showed the ballroom.

"You found it then?"

"They knew I'd be here, they blocked it off, I can't get there Rose."

"You'll find a way though? We promised her."

"Do you think I don't know that? There is a way but it's risky."

Rose was gazing through the glass, Reinette was being escorted in, followed by the king.

"We have to do something," Emily agreed.

"Well how did they get in there then?" Rose asked.

"You saw them, they teleported there earlier."

"Well can't we go in the Tardis?" Rose grinned.

"No, we're part of the events now."

"Well smash the window then," Emily suggested, getting her a frown from the Doctor, who had his sonic screwdriver held in his mouth and holding two bits of wire together.

"Here, hold these Rose."

Rose did as he asked, tearing her gaze from a kneeling Reinette.

"They're gonna kill her, to mend this stupid ship."

"I'm sorry."

"Well, if we had a truck we could smash it," Emily offered.

"We don't have a truck," the Doctor half yelled back.

Rose grinned. "No but we have a horse. What do horses like to do? Jump."

"Rose, you are brilliant!" the Doctor told her, dropping the wires and pulling her into a hug and kissing her.

Emily just stared – so that's why they'd been acting so strangely, when had that happened? More importantly, why had it happened under her nose? Was it that time on New Earth when Rose was possessed by Cassandra?

"Oi, you two, pack it in will ya? Reinette's gonna lose her head and you two are snogging each other senseless."

"Sorry. We didn't mean for you to see that."

"Obviously, you two have some issues to work out. So what's your plan?"

Getting on the horse, the Doctor walked it back down the corridor then patted its head.

"Come on Arthur, we have royalty to rescue."

He pulled back on the reins, making the horse lift its hooves, which caught the glass and shattered it, Rose and Emily standing back to avoid getting caught by the shards. The Doctor landed safely in the ballroom but as he looked back, the window had been bricked over.

"What are we gonna do now Rose?" Emily asked. "He's trapped there now."

"He knew what he was doing Emm, what choice did he have? She was supposed to die but not by having her head chopped off by those droids, she had a few years left."

"Yeah but how's he gonna get back? He said if he ever didn't make it back, the Tardis would take me home."

"How long did he say to wait for him?"

"He never said, guess until there's no option but to leave, we should get inside, just in case the ship starts to explode or something."

"You go in if you want, I'm gonna wait for him."

"What's with you two all of a sudden?"

"I don't know Emm, it was about me kissing him while I was possessed, I never thought he'd mention it again. Sorry, I never meant for it to happen."

"Well it's done now, I'm not happy about it, I was gonna try my luck with him."

"Now he's changed?"

Emily looked at her. "Don't say that, he was still my friend before then."

"Yeah and looked what happened? You couldn't even accept it was still him, you left me to look after him."

"I was upset, it wasn't easy watching him change. You went off and left me in the Tardis."

"You were spark out Emm, we tried to wake you up. I asked him about it, he said it was probably from when you absorbed the time vortex. He said he'd taken it all out of you, that's what made him change."

"Oh, so I'm responsible?" Emily huffed, opening the Tardis door. "Coming inside?"

"I'm off to see if there are any more time portals, you never know."

"Well be careful, they might still come back with her head, or worse."

Rose went off to check every corner of the ship, even the tapestry had gone, a wall in its place and the window they'd looked through into the palace bedroom had also gone. There was nothing she could do but wait, she couldn't give up now, not after that second kiss had taken place, when he'd whispered when he came back they needed to talk.

Yeah, they needed to talk alright but what about? Was he going to say he'd made a big mistake and was going to take her home? If he was, she wasn't going without a fight or an explanation why this time, he had initiated it without any further discussion and in front of her sister, which she was hoping to avoid.

Back in Versailles the Doctor had rescued Reinette from the droids and since they couldn't get back to the ship, they had shut themselves down. Reinette had led him to a quiet room as the guests had all left and handed him a goblet of wine.

"So, you trapped yourself here, did you know that was going to happen?" Reinette asked him.

"Yeah, pretty much so, there are no more windows or torn tapestries around here, they all got cut off when I smashed my way in. I can't get back to Rose, or my own ship."

"You are in love with her?"

"I don't know, it's complicated. Her sister wasn't very pleased before I came here, I kissed Rose in front of her."

Reinette giggled. Perhaps if he were to remain, she would make a play for him despite being the king's mistress but his heart would always belong to Rose, she was destined to be his one true love. She had been inside his mind and he had shut the door on his feelings for the young woman.

"So here you are, stuck on the slow path with me?"

"Yeah, here's to the slow path," the Doctor raised his goblet to hers.

"Oh, I don't know about that, come with me."

The Doctor put his drink on the mantelpiece and followed her, not taking her hand she offered. If there was a slight chance he'd overlooked something and could still get back, Rose was waiting for him. In the last few hours he'd thought about what had taken place before he'd jumped through that time window, having to choose to save Reinette or tell Rose how he felt about her. Now, unless he was very lucky, it would take him a while to get back to her but it wouldn't be two minutes to Rose.

Could he live the slow life though, with no Tardis? He had a feeling he was going to find out, even though he'd been grounded by the High Council once or twice and banished to Earth.

Reinette led him to her bedroom, the Doctor hesitating at first, thinking she had taken the fact he had left Rose behind that he was open to her advances.

"Reinette, don't take this the wrong way but when I get back to Rose…"

"Doctor, I may be the king's mistress but I can see you only have eyes for her. I thought this might be useful."

She stood to one side and he stared at the fireplace from her old bedroom in Paris.

"The fireplace! How did you get that here?"

"I had it brought here piece by piece and reassembled, in exact detail. Can you use it to get back?" she asked, looking disappointed as he stepped up to it, a smile on his face.

"Well, it would have been severed from the ship and with the rest of the time portals when it was moved but if I'm very, very lucky, there might still be a connection."

He tapped a few places and cried, "Ha!"

The fireplace began to move as he stepped onto the hearth, Reinette calling out.

"Doctor!"

He stepped off on the other side and scrambled to look though the grating. She was still there.

"Reinette, pack a bag then go to the window and pick a star, any star."

"Am I going somewhere?"

"I at least owe you a visit to one of them, stay right there."

Rose had been watching on the monitor, having been persuaded by Emily to get inside the ship, it had been five and a half hours. She scrambled to her feet and headed for the door, almost knocking her sister over.

"Doctor!"

"Rose! Hold on, I have to go get Reinette, I promised her a trip."

Rose looked disappointed, what had he been doing for over five hours? She had to give him a chance to explain. He disappeared after giving her a hug, Rose kissing his cheek.

"Yeah, I suppose she deserves to see what she's been missing."

"I'll be right back, promise."

Reinette had already met her fate in those few minutes he'd been gone and the king had handed him a hand-written note that he tucked into his pocket, to read later.

Rose went up to him when he returned alone.

"Were you too late?"

"Yeah, just a bit. She must have died waiting for me to return, I keep on doing that."

"Sorry, do ya want to be on your own?"

"What? No, actually. I'm sorry I went off and left you, for however long it was."

"Five and a half hours. I knew you'd come back."

"Oh, I had a reason to come back, didn't I? Now I can close everything down and the ship will drift around for a while until its orbit disintegrates, then it will fall into a sun or a black hole."

"What's the name of it?"

"No idea, I never saw one, did you?"

"Maybe it was named after her and that's why the droids thought she could fix it, be the ship's brain."

"Yeah, maybe."

He aimed his sonic at the controls and taking Rose's hand, stepped back inside the Tardis. He knew Emily would be watching so he just put his arm around Rose as they walked in.