"Rose, I think I know the problem and I so wanted to be wrong about it. Like I told you, the tiny power cell is enough to power the inside of the Tardis but not to get us out of here. We tried using it for both and that didn't work, it just drained it but even conserving energy, it's still not enough. We have to duplicate it or build a bigger one, one with more power and so we're going to need some help. Our only hope is Pete Tyler, he's the only person apart from Mickey and Jake that knows about us and the less people that do the better. We need to go to his house and talk to him since we don't have a phone. It might take a while to convince him but I'm sure he'll help us. Are you okay with that?"
"We don't have a choice Doctor, we have to get help from somewhere and there's no reason he would turn us down. That's if he can help, he must have an awful lot of his own mess to clean up. I think we're going to need that hotel again tonight, I can phone from Pete's house. Maybe we can let Jake and Mickey know we're still here, they might be able to help."
She saw the look on his face at the mention of Mickey's name.
"I think we should leave them out of this for now, they may have already left the country anyway and I'm sure Pete will have got things under control by now. He's a very influential man on this world, I'm sure he has plenty of resources. He was already working against Lumic, he'll have contacts in other resistance groups."
"I hope Jake remembers to notify Mrs Moore's family, they deserve to know what happened to her. I know we didn't know her for long but she was brave."
The Doctor pulled her into a hug and kissed her.
"Come on then, let's go see Pete and find a way off this world back to our own shall we?"
He took her hand, heading for the door and looking back on the deadly quiet interior having picked up the lonely power cell and putting it in his pocket. He used his sonic screwdriver to get a small amount of cash from the nearby ATM and they got a taxi to Pete Tyler's residence. A burly man answered the door, no doubt Pete had employed extra security after last night and there were tradesmen's vans outside with men repairing broken windows and probably restoring the damage done inside.
The burly man, who looked like a wrestler to Rose asked what they wanted. The Doctor took his psychic paper out of his inside pocket and thrust it in the man's face.
"I'm Doctor John Smith, Police consultant and I need to see Mr Tyler," the Doctor said confidently.
The man said that Pete wasn't seeing anyone, no exceptions. The Doctor continued.
"I'm sure he'll make an exception for us, tell him The Doctor and Rose wish to see him. Just ask him."
The man went back inside and they waited for his return. The Doctor squeezed Rose's hand reassuring her.
"Don't worry, he'll see us. Can't blame him for taking extra precautions after last night."
The man returned, opening the door wider to allow them in. Then in a gruff voice he just said, "Follow me."
He led them into the hallway, the very one where Rose had stood talking to Pete early yesterday evening that now seemed like a lifetime ago. From there they were led into the office the Doctor had seen footage of Lumic's plans to 'upgrade' everyone. Pete turned away from his computer screen and got up, holding out his hand to the Doctor.
"Doctor, Rose, I thought you two had left." He shook both their hands firmly. "What can I do for you? You mentioned last night about being from a different world. I was upset and tired when you showed me that box of yours so do you want to try to explain it again, from the beginning?"
"Well, that could take some time Pete but before we go into details, we need your help first or we're going to have to remain here and as fascinating a world as this is, we'd really like to get back home. My ship, the Tardis, which got us here crash landed because we're in the wrong universe for it to work properly." He took the tiny power cell out of his pocket. "This was supposed to get us back to our universe, it's the only thing that survived but it's not powerful enough. It will give us power for lighting and other things but not enough to get us back into what's known as the time vortex to get us back through the void into our own world."
He showed Pete the tiny green power cell which was glowing softly, recharging itself, for all the good it would do.
"May I?" Pete asked as he took it from the Doctor's hand and examined it. "So how exactly can I help with it? I'm only the head of Vitex, well I was and I let Lumic take it over, I'm just starting to get things cleaned up and trying to get my company back, there's a lot going on now Lumic is gone. This country is going to have to learn to live without some of his inventions, everyone has removed their earpods and they're having to learn everything over again. I can't believe we let ourselves get taken up with all this stuff. So what do you think you're going to need?"
He handed the power cell back and indicated for them to sit down.
"Well for starters, I need to either duplicate this or make a bigger one. What about a lab at your company headquarters? You must have labs. I just need some space to work, this cell will only give a few minutes power at a time but I'll be able to go get some things I need from my own lab before I start."
"There's only one problem with that, I've not got control back of my company yet, it might take a few days and even then, you might not be able to find everything you need, we don't do that much research, not in that respect anyway. Have you two got somewhere to stay for a few days? I'd offer you rooms here but everything is a mess, might take a few days to get everything fixed up again then I'm thinking of selling the place, not that anyone would want to buy it, given what happened here. I was lucky when I got back that the place hadn't been cleared out but I suppose everyone was either being captured or running for their lives."
"Oh don't worry about us although we'd be grateful for the use of your phone, Rose gave her phone to Mickey. We can stay at the hotel we were in last night for a few more days. Is there no way of getting access to a lab sooner? The longer we stay here, the more complicated it will get. Rose will find it the most difficult, sharing your name."
"Let me see what I can do Doctor, you did help me and Rose did help me try to save my wife so I owe you both. Give me a few days to get my company back and I'll use my contacts to try and find you a lab. Meanwhile if you need anything else, just let me know." He took a mobile phone and charger out of a drawer and handed it to Rose. "Here, you can use this, it's prepaid so don't worry. My number is already on it if you need me and I'll call you when I get something sorted. I do have some more questions for the both of you but they'll wait. Come by tomorrow and I'll let you know what I've managed to come up with."
"Does this phone have internet?" Rose asked as she pressed all the buttons on the phone.
"Yeah, unlimited. Does that help?" asked Pete.
"We can try to find labs I might be able to use," the Doctor said.
"Believe me Doctor, I'll do everything I can to help. If you find anything suitable that I don't know about, just let me know."
They left Pete and got a cab back into the city, Rose called the hotel to book if for another two nights to be on the safe side, after that if they were still in this universe they would get Pete to put them up. The Doctor had to raid the ATM again, he didn't like having to do it, not on this world anyway but was careful not to leave any traces. They had some lunch then went back to the Tardis to gather a few things, just another change of clothes for Rose and a few tools the Doctor was going to need. They went back to the hotel and Rose handed the Doctor the phone to start looking up labs. There was nothing suitable in the London area but something interesting came up when he put the name Peter Tyler into the search.
"Torchwood!" the Doctor exclaimed. Rose looked at him, jumping up at his sudden outburst. "Pete Tyler is connected to Torchwood on this world."
"That house in Scotland was called Torchwood wasn't it? So what has he got to do with that house?" Rose replied.
"Rose, that house in Scotland, where Queen Victoria stayed was the very first Torchwood Institute. I never looked it up before but here, it was created to combat alien threats and research alien artefacts. The Cybermen weren't the only invasion force. Anyway, what's important is that Pete Tyler is very well connected with them but he doesn't seem willing to admit to us that he is. So we have to persuade him to get us in, they'll have everything we need to get back. The only trouble is, we'll be classed as aliens since we're not from this world, especially me if they take a closer look. So we have to convince him to get us into Torchwood without giving away who we are."
"Oh so not that difficult then really?" she smiled, swaying in front of him knowing full well it drove him mad. "Well, we'll just have to persuade him then won't we?" She leaned forward and kissed him. "So, what are we going to do until tomorrow? That's assuming he'll be able to set it up so we can get in tomorrow, it might take a few more days. You want to go sightseeing Doctor?" she asked, slipping her arms around his neck as he put the phone down. "Or is there something else you'd rather be doing?"
He slipped his arms around her waist and started kissing her neck.
"Oh I can think of a few things but they're not going to get us back home. We need to make plans Rose, if we have to stay here much longer and only Pete can help us."
He finished kissing all the way down her neck, Rose was clearly enjoying it as she pulled him onto the bed and unbuttoned his shirt.
Later, they sat talking, the Doctor was trying to be positive, trying to reassure Rose it would all work out but Rose wasn't so sure and while she had every confidence in him in his abilities once he got the power cells sorted, getting them was going to be another matter.
After seeking out some dinner, they walked back to the hotel, going past the Tardis and seeing it was okay, the night air was cool and Rose was glad she had got a jacket out when she had been earlier. The Doctor seemed uneasy, he kept looking around, holding onto her hand.
"What's wrong Doctor?" Rose asked, looking round herself and seeing nothing unusual, well not to her but he must have sensed something.
"Nothing, we just need to get back to the hotel that's all."
He didn't want to worry Rose but something was wrong, he could feel it. Maybe the Cybermen weren't the only creatures that didn't belong here or maybe Torchwood agents had already been alerted that he didn't belong here and he had no intention of having a run-in with them, not until Pete was able to get things cleared.
They went up to their room for the night and locked the door. They would be safe enough for tonight and first thing tomorrow, he was going to have to confront Pete about Torchwood and hope he would co-operate and get them in. They couldn't afford to delay things now, they had risked enough by not being able to leave and after the events of last night, he thought other government agencies might also have been alerted and it was going to take all Pete Tyler's influence to get them off the radar.
Rose was still a little shy concerning their new relationship so she went to get changed in the bathroom again, finding the Doctor already in bed with just his shorts on as she climbed in beside him. Rose lay on her back, keen for him to make the first move and he didn't waste any time in doing so as he leaned over to kiss her. Rose had been tired the previous night but wasn't so much tonight as she kissed him back and was pulled over to land on top of him. That was far as they were taking things for now, he still felt guilty but it was fading fast. He had denied both himself and Rose any kind of physical contact and now here they were, stuck on a parallel world with only each other.
Maybe they were just comforting each other but when they got back, they would have to seriously consider where exactly their relationship was going and while they were here, they would have to keep to kissing, well maybe not just on the lips but stay away from other activities. All this was new to him, well in this body anyway and it had been quite a long time since he had kissed a human, that had been back in his eighth regeneration. Now he had Rose in his arms, in bed and most of his fantasies were about to be realised as were probably hers as well as he started on her neck, working his way down until he reached the collar of her pyjama top and put his finger on the top button. Rose allowed him to unfasten it then he explored all the other places he could kiss her.