Hey there! Yep! Two chapters in one night. I am VERY happy about this. I am just now realising that I haven't updated this one in WELL over a year. The sad thing is that I have had half of the chapter already written for that entire year. But I was focusing a lot on other stories and other things. And really, taking time away from this one gave me a fresh set of eyes for it. I rewrote it a bit so the reactions seem a bit more realistic. And I have also elaborate on the plotline. I only really knew what was happening with the Doctor and Jack, but now I have majority of the story planned out, and it is even better than I first thought.

Also, because I am most likely going to finish a lot of my other stories before this one, I am just going to say that this story is a trope starter. There is a personal trope of mine that I started (I am unsure if anyone else has ever done this before). But this trope of mine has spread through a lot of my other stories. And this is the one that started it.

I hope you like it!

.

.

.

Two Years

.

.

The Doctor walked out of his room, the grogginess wearing away. From what he could tell, he'd been asleep a good while. A lot longer than he usually had, that's for sure. Perhaps Rose was already awake, or close to.

"Rose?" he called. He heard no answer and shrugged. Yeah, she was probably sleeping in like usual. He'd give her a while longer… Or attempt to subtly wake her up.

With a mischievous smile, he turned and walked to the console room. Fiddling with the dials, he set the sound barrier in Rose's room to zero. Every sound that was made in the console room or corridors would easily be heard. The TARDIS made a strange noise that he assumed was disapproval, but she sounded so sad.

"You sound like you need some work, eh, Old Girl?" he said, fondly stroking one of the panels.

Getting down on his knees, he started working on the wiring under the TARDIS console. Minutes flew by. He started singing somewhere along the way. It was loud - and thankfully in tune - going over the sound of the mallet. It was bound to wake Rose up, he thought evilly. But who could blame him? He wanted to take her somewhere new to see the look of wonder on her face.

He knew that yesterday she had mentioned visiting her mum again, but perhaps he could talk her out of that. Besides, all she wanted to do was some laundry and give her a box made out of bazoolium. He was sure she'd much rather go somewhere else, like-

"What's gotten into you? I've never seen you so happy before!" an unfamiliar voice spoke behind him. He froze a moment before spinning around. An older looking redhead woman stood in the mouth of the corridor, she had an amused but utterly shocked look on her face. The smile fell from his.

"Who are you?" he asked in bewilderment. "How did you get on my TARDIS?"

"God, it's like the day we met all over again… Hang on, what?"

"Met? What are you talking about? Who the hell are you?" he said a little snippily. He ran up to her and scanned her with the sonic-screwdriver. "How did you get on my ship?"

"Doctor… it's me… Donna," the woman said sounding a little hurt and very worried. He ignored her and looked over her shoulder. Surely Rose would have come out by now. Not even she could sleep through all this racket. Maybe she knew something about this woman. "Are you okay?" she asked in concern. "Does this have anything to do with yesterday?"

"Yep! I mean, no… I'm fine… "

"Well you don't sound like it, Spaceboy. Seriously, did that headache wipe your brain or something?"

"What the hell are you talking about. I don't have time for this!" He looked over her shoulder again. "Ugh! Where is that girl? ROSE!" The woman instantly paled, but he didn't notice. "Blimey, I know she's a deep sleeper, but come on!" He walked over the grating towards the corridor to go get her, but paused and stepped back towards Donna. "You're coming with me. I don't know who you are, or how you think you know me, but I will find out…Once I have Rose here."

He grabbed her by the hand and marched off down the corridors, dragging her with him.

"Ow! Oi, let go of me! I can walk on my own you know." She looked about ready to slap him, so he let go, holding his hands up in surrender. Then he turned, and kept on walking. "Doctor, when you say 'Rose with you', please don't tell me you mean what I think you mean."

"Well, if you mean I'm going to go get Rose from her room, then yes, I am. She hasn't come out yet and I'm… I don't know, something just feels wrong."

When he reached the corridor with their rooms, he was slightly surprised to find that her door had switched places. It was no longer opposite his door. It was now beside it. There was another door in its place. He pounded on the simple door with red and gold filigree patterns. "Rose?"

"Doctor…" Donna attempted behind him. Had he known who she was, he would have noted that she was unusually subdued. He didn't reply, he just swung the door open and strode in.

Rose's room was its usual self. Tidy enough, but nowhere near immaculate. It was huge and spacious and held nearly her entire life inside nowadays. Donna gasped as she looked up into the second floor balcony of the room. Her room was nowhere near this big. Spacious, yes; ginormous, no. And she had never been allowed in this room. The Doctor had never let her even touch the door before.

The Doctor looked over to see that her bed was rumpled, but empty. He looked over to the adjoined bathroom and strode over to that, knocking on the door again. "Rose? Are you in there?" he asked. Still no reply. That was strange… and a little worrying, but he shrugged it off and held down the nerves. She was fine. She was probably in the kitchen, or had fallen asleep in the library last night.

"Doctor…" Donna tried again, but the words stuck in her throat. She had never seen him like this before. Not just as an amnesiac… But even now, when he was slightly worried and in calm, normal mode, he seemed… happy. Really, truly happy.

"Buggar. Where is she...?" he said, scratching the back of his head. "Oh! She probably fell asleep in the library again."

"She do that often?" Donna asked quietly. It was clear that the Doctor wasn't going to listen to her yet. It was different to actually hear him speak about her. Not just mention her and look sad, but actually talk about her.

"All the time," he replied, a slight laugh in his voice. "She likes the fire. You have no idea how often I go in and find her there asleep with a book on her stomach. She'll never let on, but last week I caught her with a book on quantum physics."

As they continued to walk in silence, Donna noticed that the TARDIS was making more noise than usual. She seemed distressed. It wasn't too long till they were at the door of the library. The Doctor pushed the doors open to the familiar room full of books, data, bottles and all other types of reading material the universe had come up with throughout time and space.

"Rose!" he called. "Rose, are you in here?" After a few more shouts that were answered with nothing but silence, he went over to a computer in the corner. He typed away at the keyboard a bit, then looked at the screen and some results it showed. "Huh... only two non-book lifeforms in here." He looked at Donna suspiciously. "You wouldn't happen to be a live book, or not actually living, would you?"

"Course I'm alive, you dumbo!" she growled him.

"Sheesh, what got your knickers in a twist?" Was it just her, was he even more arrogant than usual?

"Oh, bloody hell!"

"Look, you can't just barge onto my ship and – and – and... insult me! That's not how it works," he cried. "And how did you get on board anyway! Isn't it just convenient that you show up, and Rose goes missing? Hmm?" Slowly he began to back her up against one of the bookshelves and pulled out his sonic and pointing it at her threateningly. "I'd bet that you know where she is."

"Doctor, stop this," she pleaded. She wasn't a fan of being on the other side of his glare. This was something she was used to, his fury.

"Where is she?"

"She... she's gone."

"Where?" he growled, almost pinning her back against the shelf now. The look in his eyes was actually terrifying.

"She... Doctor, Rose... Rose has been gone a long time. A... about... two years I think."

At this he slammed her against the shelf, making her gasp. She didn't quite think she'd seen fury like the look in his eyes right now.

"Don't lie to me. I saw her just last night, and now you've taken her. What have you done with my Rose?!"

"Doctor, stop! You're scaring me!" She was met with a stony glare. "Look, just... put me down and we can talk, alright? Please!" The cold look still on his face, he relented and took a step back. "Jeez, Spaceman, you can really be terrifying if you want to."

"Talk," he commanded, ignoring her comment.

"Okay... I met you almost two years ago. I'm not sure how long that's been for you, but it's been at least a year or more. And when I met you, you had just lost her."

"Lost her? What do you mean lost her?"

"I don't know. You don't really talk about her all that much." A look passed across his face. "I mean, you do, you mention her all the time. Like... a lot. Drove Martha a little barmy, it did. But... you never actually say anything. You just get kind of... sad."

"Sad?"

"Yeah. You say her name, then you just... clam up. Get all mopey and depressed."

"Mopey and depressed? I don't get mopey and depressed! Now quit fooling around and tell me where Rose is!"

"I don't know!" she cried back. "All I know is that two years ago you lost her. She's not here Doctor. She's gone!"

The Doctor stepped back from her, looking as if he had been slapped. His jaw tight and there was a bit of panic in his eyes. She felt horrible for being so harsh with him, but there was no other way about it. He wasn't listening to her.

"You're wrong," he told her. Without another word, he turned on his heel and stormed out. Donna followed along behind him, worried about what he would do. When she caught up with him, he was in the console, hunched over the screen. The TARDIS was still making rather distressed sounds. "No! That can't be right!" he growled in frustration.

"What is it?"

"Even the TARDIS shows that there are only two life-forms aboard the entire ship. Which is you and me. Look! There are even little dots to point us out. But that can't be right because Rose is – is – is... At her mothers!" He looked as if a great realisation had dawned on him. "We were planning on going there today. I seem to have blanked out long enough that she left and you got in. She must be at her mothers!"

Donna only watched on uselessly as hope lit up his face and he began to dash around the console again. He set the TARDIS into motion, and she grabbed onto something in case it was one of those bumpy rides. And no less than a second later, the TARDIS gave a huge lurch. Grating sounds of protest filled the room as it shook about, almost throwing Donna from her spot. The Doctor began to bash at the console with his hammer, but was thrown to the ground when they landed with a resounding thud.

"Ah. Here we are then," he said. Then he gestured to the door. "Righty-o. You first. I'm not letting you stay alone in my TARDIS." When Donna neither said anything, nor moved, he began to get impatient. "Look, the only dangerous thing out there is Jackie. Now please, allons-y! Ooh! Allons-y. I like that. I should say that more often. And then if I ever meet anyone called Alonso, I could say 'Allons-y Alonso'. How brilliant would that be?!"

"It-it would be great," she said weakly.

She suddenly realised that she had tears forming in her eyes. She hadn't realised quite how much he had changed from before she new him. And hearing him discover a word that she knew he used quite often was fairly upsetting.

With a grim smile, she moved towards the door. She was unsure of what she would find when she opened the door, but she knew that it would not be the Tyler residence. After two years there was no way their stuff was still there. She was met by the sight of a horribly white room. But it was dark and abandoned. Rubbish littered the floor and it had a horrible eerie feeling to it.

"See, now..." the Doctor faded out as he stepped out into the room. There was a look of confusion on his face. This wasn't where he had sent them... Where was this? He looked about, his guard up. This place didn't feel right to him. Just the sight of it alone filled him with a sense of dread and... sadness. "Why did she bring us here? I said the Powell Estate!"

"I know this view..." Donna said from the window. "I worked here! Years ago as a temp. I worked down in reception. Oh, what was it called? Torchwick or something. Torchwood... I don't know, but this is Canary Wharf!"

"Torchwood?" he said. He knew that name. It was the name of the house that he and Rose had saved Queen Victoria from a werewolf. But not only that. He'd heard it other times. Just in the background... small a mentioning in passing. There was something about the word he... disliked.

"Doctor, didn't you say something about Canary Wharf?"

"Eh? What? When was this?" he asked in confusion. He had no idea what she was talking about... And there was something about that wall. The white wall at the end of the room just...

"The first time I met you," Donna replied. "You were talking about some battle. The one I missed. You said um... Cyber-things in the street. Those... Daleks in the sky."

Suddenly he snapped his head towards her, tearing his gaze from the wall.

"Daleks and Cybermen?!"

"Yeah, that was them."

"When was this? What happened?"

"I don't know!" she cried. "About a few years ago now, I think. I don't know what really happened. I was in Spain scuba-dividing. But... everyone was talking about metal monsters and robots. Lots of people died. But they were just... sucked up. When I met you the Christmas after it happened you said you had a hand in it. That was when... you said you'd lost someone. When I asked who it was, you said her name was Rose. Doctor, I just-"

"No, that can't have happened." He turned and strutted back into the TARDIS. There was something unsettling about that room that made him want to run away. Donna ran to follow him in. "It – it just can't have happened, because if what you are telling me is true then I have at least forgotten an entire year!"

"Two," she replied softly. "I'm not your first companion since you lost her."

"What?!" he cried. "No! I – I don't believe this! There's – there's something else going on here. Some sinister plot. I'm trapped inside the dream of a Glacadóir Aisling. Something! Because I have not lost Rose Tyler!" Furiously, he began hitting switches on the TARDIS again, but before he could send them into the Vortex, the ship was already on the move. "What are you doing now?!" he shouted at the ship.

Donna bit her lip as she held on to the nearest coral strut. It was upsetting to see him like this. She could see him breaking down inside. See him panicking. He didn't seem to remember the last two years and he was terrified. Especially since the woman he cared so much for was gone out of nowhere. Of course he refused to believe it. Of course he was in denial.

Once again, the TARIDS stopped with a jarring impact that sent them both to the ground. There was a screech from somewhere deep in the machine and she looked about in worry.

"What was that?"

"It's the TARDIS," he said quietly, looking up at the ceiling of his ship. "She's crying... She's in – she's in agony..."

"Where has she taken us?"

"I don't know," he replied. He looked at the monitor. "But it's the same day. Somewhere in London. So it's safe." He took a deep breath and gestured to the door again. "She clearly wants us to be here. Shall we?"

Donna nodded and headed towards the door without complaint. She squeezed his shoulder as she passed by him, and then stepped out into the bright July sunlight. She had to hold back a gasp when she saw where they were.

They were in a cemetery. Not far away there was a large pillar like memorial, and as far as the grounds reached, there were small white headstones. None of them looked extravagant or personal. They looked like the small white headstones they gave soldiers or people during times of mass death. She actually had to hold a hand to her mouth when she saw the one right in front of her.

'Rose Marion Tyler

April 27th 1986 – July 19th 2007'.

And engraved below in a handwriting she recognised... the Doctor's handwriting, there was another part added on.

'Defender of the Earth'.