The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, a frown on his face as he looked around the dark room. There were display cases everywhere, even if they were too dimly lit to be able to see what was inside. Rose followed, also curious about why they weren't heading to the extraordinary planet he'd promised them.

"So what is it? What's wrong?" Rose asked, stepping out of the way for Danielle to follow.

"Don't know. Some kind of signal drawing the TARDIS off course." The Doctor replied thoughtfully. Danielle stuck her head out of the doors, not sure what she would find. Even though she was inside a box that was infinitely bigger on the inside than showed on the outside, and even though said box moved from the street to the hallway in her flat, she still didn't quite believe they'd go anywhere. And yet, here they were, somewhere completely new.

"We've moved." She breathed, taking a moment to appreciate stepping out onto new ground. Her foot hovered for just a moment before she placed it down on the carpet outside. It felt solid underneath her foot. It was real, the ground was real. The new ground was real and they'd moved!

Rose and the Doctor shared a look, both amused at the new girl's reaction. Rose felt like she'd been at this for years compared to her. Yes, the sights were still amazing and wondrous and new, but to see someone experience it for the first time was also something she decided she rather liked.

"Yes, we have." The Doctor agreed, once again happy he'd been so impulsive. She was reacting just like he thought she would; more so even. She wasn't scared, just amazed as she looked around. She didn't say any more than her whispered words, though, instead taking the time to take it all in - whatever 'all' was at this point.

"Where are we?" Rose asked.

"Earth. Utah, North America." The Doctor rattled off with great ease and Danielle turned to look at him, "About half a mile underground."

"Utah?" She repeated, "My mum's somewhere around here." Maybe she could drop in on her as a surprise? No, that didn't seem like the best idea once she'd thought on it. After all, then she would have to explain about the alien she'd hitched a ride with, which she didn't think would go down too well.

Rose smirked slightly. This was her favourite part and she could see why the Doctor always liked to show off about it, "And when are we?"

Danielle's head snapped around from looking around the darkened room to look at the Doctor expectedly. They can't have…

"Two thousand and twelve." He replied and Danielle's eyes widened in surprise. Rose turned to her, enjoying every minute of showing off to the other girl.

"God, that's so close." She commented, "How old would we be?"

Danielle took a moment to think about it, "Um, 26, I think?" She replied softly, "We've moved. We've actually moved."

Rose bumped into her side, "Oh, you'll get the hang of it." She promised. The Doctor suppressed a smile at Rose being so accepting so quickly, although once again he had to wonder why they had both taken to the young woman with such ease. Rose he could understand, because they had grown up together. He still had to put down his reluctance to leave her behind down to his curiosity over how she'd managed to not only notice the TARDIS, but had been allowed into it.

He spotted a light switch and decided that it was time to see just where they were. He flicked it, illuminating the hallway that stretched out in front of them for what seemed like miles. The walls were still dark but a yellow carpet lead the way between two lines of display cases.

"Blimey," Rose breathed as they all took in the vastness of the room, "It's a great big museum."

"An alien museum," The Doctor agreed as the trio started moving through the exhibits. Danielle frowned as she looked in a few of them, frowning all the more. Each had a little tag on the glass explaining what the item was, where it was found and how much for. No more information than that, which didn't seem quite right either.

"Someone's got a hobby," The Doctor continued, peering in a few himself, "They must have spent a fortune on this." He nodded to each display as he quickly worked out what each of them were, "Chunks of meteorite, moon dust. That's the milometer from the Roswell spaceship."

Rose approached a large three-fingered green arm that Danielle had walked past, her surprise on her face, "That's a bit of Slitheen!" She explained, her nose crinkling up in disgust, "That's a Slitheen's arm. It's been stuffed."

The Doctor nodded, turning to spot where Danielle had wandered to. She was stood in front of a robotic head, a deep frown on her face as she looked it over. She obviously didn't recognise it, but he would know those cold, hollow eyes anywhere, "Oh, look at you," he breathed, walking up to her side.

"What is it?" Rose asked, joining the pair at the case.

"A Cyberman," Danielle replied lowly, reading the label. "Found in 1985, bought for 1.6 million dollars," she looked up at the Doctor, "this isn't a museum, it's a trophy room, isn't it?"

"What makes you say that?" He asked, surprised at the slight anger in her voice.

"Well, there's no people," she replied, motioning around them, "no guards, not even a night watchman or something. And these labels only say how much they are." She pointed behind them, "That arm, Slitheen thing? Was, like, five hundred thousand dollars or something," she pointed back, "I know that moon dust was more than I'll ever see in my lifetime. There's no information on what they are, what significance they had. It's just all showing off."

"That's a very good point," the Doctor replied, surprised he'd not noticed it sooner, "it's not very educational, is it?" Danielle shook her head.

"We're half a mile underground. Why have a museum no one could access?" She added.

"So we're in someone's house?" Rose asked, motioning to the Cyberman head they'd both been drawn to, "Is that where the signal's coming from?"

The Doctor shook his head, "Nah, it's stone dead," he replied, "The signal's alive. Something's reaching out, calling for help." He reached out, almost as if he wanted to stroke the long-dead head of one of his enemies. The stuff of nightmares, on display just like a trophy.

The moment his fingertips brushed against the glass, an alarm went off, the doors flying open. About a dozen armed guards rushed in, all in camouflage gear to surround the trio.

"If someone's collecting aliens, that makes you Exhibit A," Rose pointed out lowly. The Doctor couldn't help but agree, shooting the guards a sheepish smile.

"If this is the trophy room, what could they be doing to something that's alive?" Danielle asked in a quiet voice and the Doctor couldn't help but feel he was about to find out very soon.

~0~0~0~

Nothing so far had been exactly what Danielle would call a promising experience. Being dismissed by a man in a suit deciding he was a big shot was never pleasant experience, then she was bundled off with Rose to sit with a rather nerdy man that immediately took an interest in the blonde. Danielle wasn't particularly jealous of the attention, Adam wasn't exactly her type, but no one liked to be ignored when the person they were with was getting all the attention.

Of course, Adam wasn't content with showing off what appeared to be lumps of trash to Rose. No, he wanted to show her the secret that Van Statten had hidden underneath the ground. A metal creature that was being treated appallingly. Rose looked horrified at the sight on the screen, but Danielle felt anger rising up in her at the sight.

"They're torturing it!" She exclaimed, turning to look at Adam accusingly, "What the hell is going on?"

"Where's the Doctor?" Rose added because they'd all expected him to be in there as well.

Adam looked just as surprised as they did, "I-I don't know."

"Take us down there now," Rose demanded and Danielle agreed with her, the pair of women heading to the door, both on a mission now. Rose wanted to find out what was going on so she could tell the Doctor, Danielle wanted to make sure that the poor creature was all right. No one deserved to be treated like that.

Adam held the guards back, showing them his card that gave him permission to get in pretty much everywhere. Rose hesitated in the doorway, knowing that even an alien that seemed good might not have the best intentions. Danielle hadn't had that experience, though. The first alien she had ever met had promised to take her on a trip to see something amazing.

"Don't get too close." Adam warned her even as she approached the metal creature. It was much taller than her, much wider with an angled base. Its eyestalk focused on them all, glowing a magnificent blue colour and it was chained in place so it couldn't escape. The air around it felt both intimidating and incredibly sad and it broke Danielle's heart.

"H-hello, I'm Danielle," she greeted it nervously, not paying any attention to Adam's warning, "I'm sorry you're stuck here, and I'm sorry they're causing you so much pain. Can you tell me your name?" The creature didn't answer, "Is-Is there anything we can do?"

Another pause, "Yes," the creature declared in a computerised voice.

"I'm-I'm sorry?" Danielle replied and the creature raised its eyestalk, as if it was looking straight at her.

"I am in pain," The creature replied in the same robotic voice. "They torture me, but still they fear me. Do you fear me?"

She shook her head, "No, of course not," she promised. "Some people fear what they don't understand, but some of us find it fascinating. What's your name?" She tried again.

"I am dying," it replied instead, lowering its eyestalk and she shook her head, glancing back at Rose. The blonde had joined her, if not stood slightly behind her. She could see why the Doctor had been so quick to invite her with them when all she wanted to do was help.

"No, no we can help," Danielle quickly reassured. "There's this man, the Doctor, who helped save the Earth before. He can help you too."

"I welcome death," The creature lamented and tears built up in Danielle's vision. No one should ever want to die, human or not. It raised its eyestalk once more, "but I am glad that before I die I have met a human who was not afraid."

Danielle shook her head, "I'm not afraid," she promised, "and I'm so sorry, sweetie. You'll be fine, we'll get you free."

"My race is dead, and I shall die alone," the creature continued sadly, and Danielle stepped forward, wanting to offer some comfort. She couldn't exactly hug it, but the creature had been in chains, tortured and left alone to die.

Adam's eyes widened as she reached out to touch the creature, remembering what had happened to the technician who had touched it first, "Danielle, no!" He shouted, but it was too late. Danielle rested a hand on the creature's head, and was immediately burnt by it. She yanked her hand away, crying out in pain as her handprint appeared on the metal, burning brightly.

"Get back!" Rose cried, grabbing Danielle who was staring at the creature with her eyes wide as, even in a metal case, the creature suddenly seemed to spring to life.

"Genetic material extrapolated," it cried. Its voice was no longer filled with sorrow, but with victorious lift as it got louder and louder, "initiate cellular reconstruction!" The creature began to move, the chains holding it down falling away like they were made of paper.

One of the guards rushed in, the drill it had used to torture the creature in hand, "What the hell have you done?" He snapped as he made his way over to it.

"I-I don't know, I just touched it!" Danielle defended as he stood in front of the robot. The creature raised it plunger-like appendage up.

"What are you going to do? Sucker me to death?" The guard scoffed. There was barely a moment between his mock and the creature doing just that, covering his nose and mouse and it sucked his face into the sucker.

"No!" Danielle shouted, rushing forward only to be brought back to Rose's side. "No, I didn't mean…"

"We have to go," Rose told her, dragging her out as tears started streaming down Danielle's face, but not for the sadness the creature had shown.

"It's killing him!" Rose demanded as she approached the guard at the comms desk. Another pointed a gun at the creature, but Danielle really didn't think it would do anything. Its metal case had felt so sturdy until it had burnt her, "Do something!"

"I-I didn't mean for him to die," Danielle whimpered as the man's screams tapered off, "I just wanted to help."

"Condition red! Condition red! I repeat, this is not a drill!" The guard called over the comms, declaring it to the whole underground bunker. Rose glanced over her shoulder at Danielle, who was hugging herself and in tears.

"Come here," she said quietly, pulling the other woman in for a hug. She remembered being on Satellite One very clearly. How overwhelming the experience had been, how far away from home and tiny she had felt. She was blaming herself for what had happened, but it wasn't her fault. Rose felt completely to blame because she had been doing this longer, she should have kept Danielle back, "It's not your fault."

"It seemed so sad," she whimpered, "I just wanted to help."

"You've got to keep it in that cell." They both glanced at the screen to see the Doctor and Van Statten in another room, the Doctor looking serious and grim.

"It's all my fault," Danielle told him quickly, "I didn't mean it, I didn't know it'd kill anyone."

"I've sealed the compartment," the guard told the other man, "it can't get out, that lock's got a billion combinations."

"A Dalek's a genius. It can calculate a thousand billion combinations in one second flat," the Doctor quickly dismissed.

"Then what do we do?" Rose asked, "It just killed that guy!"

"You have to get out of there," the Doctor told them, "the Dalek won't spare you, just get out of there."

"We have to stop it." Danielle stepped in front of the camera, looking incredibly upset if not determined, "This is my fault, I touched it and it got free. I can't just run."

"If you don't you'll die," he told her bluntly.

~0~0~0~

A lot of people died to save the trio, and each one felt like a stab into Danielle's heart. She'd never meant for any of this to happen, all she had wanted to do was offer comfort to a creature that seemed to have had none. They'd watched it be tortured, but due to her actions, her naivety, there were dead soldiers littered the hallways of the underground bunker.

The woman, De Magio, who had been assigned to look after them had sent them up some stairs, dying in the process of saving them and once they reached the top, Danielle found herself unable to run anymore. Her chest hurt, her eyes stung and the sobs she'd been trying to hold in broke out. She stopped, stumbling in her step and Rose spun around to catch her.

"I just wanted to help," Danielle sobbed, "all I wanted to do was make it feel better."

"I know, but we can't stop," Rose quickly replied, "it'll kill us too." Danielle nodded, although Rose wasn't sure if she was nodding in agreement to run, or that she wanted it to kill her.

"Look," Rose told her, "I know that you thought you were helping, and that's good, it really is. But we know now that we can't, and dying isn't going to change that. You didn't kill anyone, the Dalek did, and we need to keep running until the Doctor can do something about it, yeah?"

Danielle looked at her newfound friend, her brows furrowing slightly, "Why does the Doctor have to do it?" She asked softly.

"Because, that's what he does," Rose replied, "I've seen him do it. He'll stop the Dalek; all we have to do is stay alive until then."

Danielle glanced forward at Adam, who looked anxious to keep running but unwilling to leave Rose behind. Rose was right, they had to keep moving, but as they all set off running once again, she couldn't help but think back on Rose's words, "Who helps him?" She asked through her panting.

"What?" Rose asked, confused as they turned another corner.

"Who helps the Doctor?" She asked as they ran through an open area where more soldiers were waiting for the Dalek to appear. They were ushered through to the back of the room.

"Who helps the Doctor what?" Rose whispered.

'Fight the bad guys' - that was what Danielle wanted to ask her. If they were busy running, and in her very short time with the Doctor there didn't appear to be anyone else with him, then who helped him fight the bad guys? It didn't seem particularly fair for him to carry the weight of the people he might not have saved in time on his shoulders.

But she didn't say that. The Dalek rolled into the open area, shining underneath the artificial light the illuminated the room. All three of them held their breath as it stopped, it's eyepiece turning until, much to Danielle's surprise, it seemed to focus on her. For a moment they stared at each other, then Rose grabbed her hand and dragged her away from the impending fight.

"Keep up," Rose told her firmly and Danielle brought her attention back to their escape. She was so certain, but it was impossible, right? For that brief moment before they'd started running, she was sure that the Dalek wasn't just looking at her, but it was looking for her. And that wasn't a pleasant feeling at all.

~0~0~0~

The door was closing and they all ran as fast as they can. The Doctor couldn't save them, he needed to shut the bulkhead to keep the Dalek away from the rest of the universe and all three of them knew that he was right, despite how much they really didn't want to be trapped down with the killer robot.

Adam was faster. He was through the door before it had even reached head height and he fell to a stop, panting heavily and full of relief.

Rose was next. She had to duck, practically chucking herself on the ground but she made it through with barely any time at all. Her phone flew out of her hand, scraping across the floor but she made it through.

Danielle performed a similar move, falling to the floor at roughly the same time, her knees scraping across the stone floor as she yelled in pain. However, unlike Rose, she didn't make it through the door, instead she slammed straight into the metal as it shut in front of her. She turned on the spot, scrambling up as she stared at the Dalek that came around the corner after them.

"Rose, did you make it?" The Doctor demanded over the phone at the sound of it clattering across the floor. His hearts pounded heavily in his chest at the uncertain fate of his two charges.

"Let her out!" He heard Rose scream from far away, "It's going to kill her, let her out!"

"Rose!" He shouted, hoping that if she heard even a small murmur of his voice she'd pick up the phone again, "Rose!"

There was the unmistakable noise of a phone being picked up, and then he could hear panting breath on the other side, "Doctor, she's still on the other side! We can't just leave her there!"

The Doctor's hearts plummeted, the reality of what was happening hitting him with full force. He'd just picked her up from her little human life, and instead of showing the red-head the wonders of the universe like he had with Rose, instead he'd just got her killed. A young girl, barely 19, and she was just going to die. And it was all because of him, because he couldn't keep his curiosity under control.

She had just seemed so in awe of his TARDIS. Not scared, or confused, or demanding of an explanation. She had just looked around the room like she was happier to know that his not-so-little blue box existed. That was what it was, and was more than likely the reason that the TARDIS had let her in to begin with. Even Rose saw her as a means from one place to another; the old girl probably liked someone just happy to see her.

"Danni!" He could hear Rose shouting, banging on the door, "Danielle, we'll get you out…. What?"

He perked up somewhat, knowing that Rose had heard the girl say something and for a moment, he let himself feel the hope as well.

"Exterminate!" And then he was devastated. There was no mistaking what had happened, even if the sound of the war cry was so distant.

"Rose, we have to go!" Adam told the now crying woman and the Doctor pulled the phone away from his ear, hanging up and letting it drop to his side. That was it. No hope of saving her now, she was dead. He'd killed her. It was all his fault. A 19-year-old woman ready to explore the universe, and she was dead because of him.

~0~0~0~

Such a lovely response already, my inbox is just full of emails and I can't think you enough for giving this a shot. Not used to doing AUs like this, so I hope it's going okay :)

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