Chapter Four: Date versus Bait

"Do you even know how to hike?" Rose queried as she leaned against the island counter in John's kitchen. She arrived ready and packed for a hike and camp-out in the woods that morning as the sun rose. They were going to drive out early and spend the second weekend in a row together. Four hours later and they were still finishing their packing that John had failed to do beforehand.

Rose leaned forward on the island and clasped her hands together. She smiled her tongue in teeth smile as she watched the Doctor struggle to zip up his hiking pack. He glared at her over his shoulder, ignoring her wandering eyes to his khaki covered bum. "Of course I do!" He paused and considered that for a moment. "It's not like it's hard. Just walk about, pick a spot of land and set up camp, right?"

Rose looked heavenward. The weekend was going to be a disaster. John jumped up and rubbed his hands together. "Alright!" He turned a giddy smile on Rose. "Let's hit the road, shall we Tyler?" Rose grinned. She helped him with the bags and together they stumbled out of his loft.

They paused as the door slowly swung shut behind them. It was raining. It was pouring. "Well," Rose said with one slow nod, "camping's buggered."

John opened his mouth, obviously disgruntled as he shrugged and looked about at the torrential downpour. He turned to Rose, clad in jeans and a jacket with her gorgeous hair pulled back into a high pony tail. "Maybe it won't have rained where we're camping." Rose raised her eyebrows. John pointed a finger at Rose. "I'm not givin' up on this date just yet, Rose Tyler." Rose's heart swelled. She was almost positive she would have gone on with any half brained scheme he came up with, just because it was him, but adding her name never hurt. Not just her name though, Rose Tyler. If nothing else about John could convince her that he was the Doctor, it was the way he said those two words.

John raised his brows twice in quick succession before winking cheekily. He grabbed hold of the bags and headed out, down the stairs and into the pouring rain. Rose laughed and dashed after him to his TARDIS blue car. He popped the trunk and they managed to fit their stuff in without any problems. By the time they found them selves in the dry shell of the car itself, they were each completely soaked through. Rose pushed the water off her face as it streamed down her nose. She laughed as John shook his head like a dog, covering them both and the car with even more water.

John smiled brightly and revealed what could only be an exact replica of the TARDIS key. The sight of it made Rose ache for the loss of her own key. "Right then, Geronimo!" He jammed the key into the car with all the grace he would use to pilot the TARDIS and gunned the engine. Nothing happened. John paused, confused. Rose bit her lip. He tried again. The engine couldn't even be heard over the roar of thunder outside, only a few miles away.

John sat back against his seat and huffed. Rose couldn't take it anymore. She burst into laughter. John turned to her, his face expressing much less disgruntlement than he would have liked. It was simply too hard to say made at a laughing, smiling, Rose Tyler. John shook his head at her and stared out the windshield as we waited for her to stop.

Rose finally wiped away a tear as her laughter subsided. "Well this date is just a mess and a half."

John bumped his head against his headrest. "I'm sorry. If I'd been ready we could have left on time."

Rose snorted. "Yeah, and then been stuck in the middle of nowhere in a thunderstorm. Better we missed it, I think."

He turned to her, head still resting against the headrest in defeat. "How 'bout I make you breakfast?"

Rose smiled excitedly. "Tha' sounds brilliant. 'm starved."

John nodded and sighed. "Right, let's grab the bags and head upstairs."

They dashed back out into the downpour for a few more minutes as they tried to organize who would carry what. By the time they made it to the safety of the balcony overhang to keep them dry, there was really nothing to keep dry.

"'m gonna go get changed." Rose called as she riled through her bags for a dry pair of clothes. The rain had soaked through the canvas duffle and effectively destroyed almost everything in the bag. She huffed; all she could find were clean undergarments that had been protected from the water in a plastic bag.

"Right, just steal something of mine if you can't find anythin'." John's voice called back from somewhere in the direction of the kitchen.

Rose considered her sodden clothes in her bag before her. She nodded. "Righ, will do, thanks." She headed into John's room and was only mildly surprised to see it filled with even more odds and ends as the rest of the apartment. Rose had been pleasantly surprised to find that John had procured the Doctor's own habit of tinkering. Although John called it inventing, Rose still mentally labelled it as tinkering. She even noted that some of the projects around his flat were ones she'd seen the Doctor work on in the past. He'd been particularly excited to show her his sonic screwdriver, which had taken everything in Rose not to laugh at.

She walked over to a set of drawers and rummaged around until she found a white cotton shirt and grey sweatpants. New clothes in hand, she headed into the washroom to change. It took her a while to sort out her hair, which she'd eventually towelled out a bit before letting it air dry.

Rose narrowed her eyes when she exited the bathroom. She did not smell breakfast. Intent on scolding John for not keeping his promise, she searched the flat. Rose found John in the living room seconds later. Her jaw dropped, not even sure how to respond to the spectacle before her.

John had pulled the cushions from the couches and piled all the pillows together in the middle of the floor where a massive sheet was covering them. Rose looked to John who was holding a spool of wire. "John!" He jumped and looked up, shocked. Rose gestured to the mess in the living room, "What the hell is goin' on?"

"We're going to build a blanket fort." He said with complete seriousness.

Rose was too stunned to respond. So she laughed. John smiled, pleased with her response. He stumbled over to her as his foot caught on the blanket and handed her some wire. "Here, we'll use this to secure the top of the sheet to the hook." He pointed to a hook in the ceiling that looked like it would normally be used to hold plants. Rose narrowed her eyes at it. It seemed like an odd place for one of those, in the centre of the living room as it was. Her eyes darted around the room, wondering if this wasn't the first time John had done this. Before she could ask, John was moving into action and tying the wire around a gathering of the fabric.

Together they hoisted the sheet up and tied it securely. Rose went and grabbed more bed sheets and blankets as John secured the ends of the blankets so the massive sheet hung like a circus tent. They threw the other blankets on top, allowing them to hang down and form the outer walls.

While Rose was inside the fort, placing cushions around in an attempt to create comfort, John managed to drag his mattress off his bed and slide it into the living room.

"Oh my god!" Rose cried when it nearly toppled the entire fort over. "We don't need a mattress, John!"

"But it'll be un-comfy otherwise. And there's no point to an un-comfy fort. Like sour cookies, or scented markers. They just don't make sense. You don't smell markers Rose, it's bad for you."

Rose crossed her arms and raised her chin. "Fine. But if you get a mattress in there, I want twinkle lights."

John narrowed his eyes as he considered the request. He eyed the fort and quickly worked out how he could make that a possibility. "Deal." Rose smiled before helping John flip the mattress so it was horizontal again and slid it into the centre of the tent. They threw the comforter on top with the pillows from the bed and couches. Rose had to admit; it was beginning to look incredibly inviting.

"Alright!" John smacked his hands together, like he was wiping them clean of dust. "I'll work on the lighting, you work on the food."

"Oi. I thought you were gonna make me breakfast? Not the other way round?"

John sighed and gestured to the fort. "I made you a house instead."

Rose faux gasped. "Ya never said it was a trade off. 'm bleedin' starvin'."

John raised his eyebrows and gave Rose a look she'd only ever seen the Doctor able to pull off, barely concealed tolerance, annoyance and just a dash of arrogance. "I guess you'd better make breakfast, then."

"Some date you are." She crinkled her nose at him when he made a face. She shot him a grin over her shoulder as she made her way into the kitchen. It was a trial to even find any kitchenware. There was no order to anything. Random cabinets were empty and others stuffed beyond belief. Dotting the counters were half made machines, wires and little odds and ends. John's inventiveness was as messy and invasive as the Doctor's was.

Rose, used to the clutter from not only her time on the TARDIS but also dealing with it for years with her husband in Pete's World, easily avoided the mess and managed to begin the process of making pancakes. She found bacon in the fridge that didn't look spoiled as well as a carton of strawberries.

By the time Rose had finished assembling their food, John had strung up twinkle lights around the ceiling of the tent. They crossed at the tip and spread out in a starburst, illuminating the tent beautifully.

Together, the two of them carried the food over on trays and sat down on the mattress under their makeshift starry night. Rose smiled up at the twinkle lights. "I love it."

John watched Rose, a small smile spreading across his own face. "Good."

Rose looked to John as he cut into his pancakes. "I'm glad we didn't go campin'."

John snorted as he took a bite of his breakfast. "Yeah, probably would'a been a complete mess."

Rose laughed loudly. "Well at least you can admit it."

John ignored Rose's comment as instead asked, "Have you lived in London your whole life?"

Rose shook her head. "I travelled for quite a bit." She picked up a piece of bacon and nibbled on the end of it.

"On your own?"

"With my husband."

John paused. He looked up from his plate to Rose, who stared sadly at her eggs. "You hadn't mentioned you were married before."

Rose shook her head. "He passed away."

"I'm sorry. Were you married for long?"

Rose smiled sadly, a smile John very quickly decided that he did not like at all. "Not long enough."

John moved his hands forward, utensils still in hand, then moved his hands back, unsure how to proceed. "I'm sorry, we needn't talk about it?"

Rose stared at John silently for a long while. She took in his green eyes, his floppy hair, his jaw, his lips and nose. The concern that radiated from every pore of him, it was so very much like the Doctor. He was always in tune to what Rose felt, needed, wanted. He spoiled her.

"It's alrigh'," she finally confirmed, "I don't mind talkin' about him. He was a great man and he loved me very much."

John smiled ruefully. "I wish I could say the same about my ex-wife."

"She didn't love you?" Rose was genuinely surprised by this revelation. Who'd ever put them in this place with these memories wouldn't be very hard pressed to find a past companion that loved the Doctor enough to marry him.

John considered Rose's question for a moment as he chewed on a piece of his pancake. "She loved the idea of me, not so much the real thing. I was a bit of a let down to the image she'd built of me. I think, in a way, she was quite disappointed by how… normal, I could be."

"Well…" Rose drawled as she stabbed a strawberry with her fork. "Her loss, my gain." She bit into the strawberry, a smile on her lips.

Rose and John laid side by side as they stared up at the twinkle light above them. It was silent. They'd transported out of the apartment and into an alternate dimension, another planet, somewhere very, very far away.

"I love the stars," Rose whispered.

"They're not stars."

"They are in my mind. Big beautiful stars. They're burning with a heart tha's already centuries dead. Stars are so beautiful, so sad."

John shifted, he turned his head to look at her. Her hair seemed to glow in the light. Her pink lips looked soft, and sad. Beautiful and sad. "Why?"

Rose turned her head also, their eyes met across the small space that separated them. "Because they're lonely." She whispered in explanation.

"Stars shouldn't be lonely," John responded earnestly, very aware they were talking about more than just the stars, "they shouldn't be sad."

"Sometimes you can't help what you are."

"Sometimes you don't even realize what you are." Rose rolled onto her side. She pillowed her head on her hands and waited for John to explain. He took a moment to gather his words, his eyes flickered back and forth as if they chased his thoughts about the room. "I was lonely, and so very sad. I didn't even realize how sad I was and then — I felt like I'd been waiting for you my entire life." Rose smiled tearily. John rolled to his side and mirrored Rose's position. "A piece of me knew you were out there, and it couldn't let go."

Rose's eyes shone as she searched John's. His words were ones she'd always wanted to hear. Words she's wished the Doctor would say. Even her human Doctor had been too reserved to say so much. It suddenly struck Rose that this wasn't her Doctor, he'd never say this to her. He never will. The Doctor could mean it with every fibre of his being, but to actually say it. He wouldn't be the Doctor if he said it. Did that make John not the Doctor?

Rose reached out and took John's hand. She felt the way her hand fit in his, as perfect as any regeneration of the Doctor that Rose had met. This wasn't the Doctor, but it was a piece of him. It was him without his memories. It was him if he were born and raised as a human. He, just like any regeneration of the Doctor was a part of him. And maybe John didn't remember the Doctor, but that alien still had to be in there somewhere, possibly subconsciously. How else would John recognize her voice? How else could he feel that he'd always been waiting for her? The Doctor was in there, and he was waiting for Rose.

Rose still hadn't spoken. She hadn't said anything in response to John's proclamation of love. Rose opened her mouth to speak, but she didn't know what to say. That's what it was though, wasn't it? A proclamation of love. And Rose had said nothing. She'd never felt so much like the Doctor.

John moved forward in the silence of the moment and captured her lips with his own. Rose's eyes widened before quickly fluttering shut. She sank into the kiss as if her entire body were sighing in relief.

They kissed under the stars in the middle of a stormy afternoon day. Time slipped by like sand slipping through fingers.

Rose leaned her head back against the plush sofa of her flat. She sat with her legs crossed, her arms resting in her lap. Music drifted through the small space from the radio in the corner of the room. Rose was completely comfortable and at ease, if she ignored her raging headache. The source of her headache was pacing relentlessly behind her, mumbling.

"Koschei, please," she pleaded, "jus' give it a break."

He paused for only a second to glare at her, "No," was all he bit out before resuming his pacing.

Rose rolled her eyes and flipped around so she was leaning against the back of the couch. She rested her arms on the edge of the seat, her chin settled easily on her flat hands as she watched the half Time Lord half human pace angrily. "You're not gonna figure it all out jus' by pacin'."

K sent her another glare, this time not even breaking stride as he did. "Watch me," he bit out.

Rose smiled fondly. "You're jus' like him sometimes." The Doctor would do the same thing. Pace, and pace, and pace until finally he found the solution. Granted, he did it with a lot less glaring – usually – and a lot less anger, but it was all still terribly reminiscent of the Time Lord Rose missed dearly.

K stopped pacing suddenly and sent her a vicious glare full of such hatred and disgust Rose almost believed it. "Insults will get you nowhere." Rose laughed. K sighed dramatically and walked towards the couch. He leaned his elbows on the back of the sofa, his fingers clasped together as he hung his head. "I just don't get it." He turned to look at Rose, the confusion was prominent in his questioning gaze. "Who could have done this? How? This power was lost so long ago, long before Gallifrey was…" K's eyes darkened and he looked back to his clasped hands.

"'m sorry." Rose knew the words were inadequate, but she couldn't for the life of her find something else to say.

K glared at her, obviously seeing the pointlessness to her sympathy. "You don't even know, could never understand. To lose so much. To wake up and have it all gone." He bared his teeth. His hands involuntarily clenched and for just a moment he thought the drums might start up again.

"You're righ'." K glanced at her. "I could never understand. But my first trip on the TARDIS, the Doctor took me to watch as the earth was consumed by the sun. All the humans had gone off and left it, none of them were even fully human anymore." K watched Rose, riveted as she divulged this story to him in such a humanly honest voice. "But things happened, as they do when you're with the Doctor. And when it happened, when the earth was finally destroyed… no one was watchin'. But you're righ', I don't think I could ever fully understand the pain you and the Doctor feel. You lot are telepathic, and the loss of Gallifrey leaves a hole no one else can fill…" Rose looked down at her lip, thinking of her human Doctor she lived with for decades in Pete's World. "… believe me, I've tried." She sighed and looked up. "But tha' doesn' mean I can't attempt to understand."

K's stare was hard and piercing in the following silence of Rose's speech. He looked at her as if he was trying to see through her. How did he do it? K wondered, how had the Doctor gone and found the perfect humans? He was surprised to find that statement pluralized. It wasn't just Rose, K slowly realized. All these little companions he'd been forced to be around for quite awhile really head grown on him. Some were even like little pets he'd like to keep in his own TARDIS if he could ever manage to salvage one – though that was a distinctly high improbability. Even beyond that, though. K could see how compassionate Rose was, intelligent and all around brilliant. Rory was smart, patient and incredibly loyal. Donna was a goddess. Amy was a spitfire with the wit and will to match and Clara… well. Frankly he still thought Clara was a bit hopeless, but she was nice to look at.

K opened his mouth to say what, he didn't know, when an advertisement from the radio caught his attention. He turned to it, ears perked. "The details are top secret," a posh voiced informed. "Tonight, I will demonstrate a device which will redefine our world."

K narrowed his eyes at the radio. "That voice sounds familiar, why is that so familiar?"

Rose glanced over at the radio, brows furrowed in confusion. The voice on the radio continued, "With the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human."

K gasped and snapped his fingers. "Professor Lazarus!" He exclaimed excitedly.

Rose' shook her head, still not following. "Who?"

K drummed his hands against the couch and laughed. "That was professor Lazarus. He's about to get a load of people in a ballroom killed." K laughed. "Oh, I needed that." He fixed his tie and straightened his posture.

Rose's eyes widened. "What?! We have to do soemthin'!"

K groaned. "No," he whined like a child, dragging out the vowel, "couldn't you just let me have this one?"

Rose glared at him. "No."

K rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine. Go put on something fancy, I'll go home and grab my tux." He headed for the door.

"What for?" Rose called after him.

K paused and sent an insufferable look over his shoulder at her. "You wanted to save them, well we'll have to get into the party somehow won't we?"

"Wait! But what party!?" Her question was greeted with the sound of the apartment door slamming shut. Rose rolled her eyes and jumped up from the couch. She grabbed her purse and headed out the door, suddenly realizing she needed to buy a dress.

"Righ'," Rose started, "so who's memory of an alien invasion is this?" They were outside the museum that was housing the launch of professor Lazarus' experiment. K was pulling out two tickets from inside his tux, tickets Rose hadn't wanted to question where he'd gotten.

"It's not an alien invasion, professor Lazarus' experiment goes wrong. Causes a bit of a stir." He glanced at her. She had donned a strapless black dress with a flat bodice like something out of the 1600's. The dress poofed out in a way he supposed was elegant. Gold lace trimmed her waist, matching the gold tint to her makeup. Long black gloves worked their way up her entire arm, ending near her armpits. K strongly disliked the ensemble. He preferred the tight skirt she'd worn undercover with the Adipose instead. From what K knew of earth fashion though, the dress she'd chosen was far more in style for a formal event in the time period they were stuck in.

Rose nodded and pushed a strand of hair back into her up-do. She glanced at K, eyebrow raised. "And you can't tell me what tha' is exactly?"

K shrugged. "Not sure exactly. I didn't know the particulars, just sent a man to feed doubt into the hearts of Martha's family, namely her mother."

Rose looked surprised. "Martha? So this is the Doctor's memory then?" K shrugged. Rose looked up at the lights of the museum, wondering if the structure of the building and the voices of the people were echoes from her sleeping alien.

They reached the front of the line and K and Rose were admitted with no problems. They headed up the great stone steps and into the museum with a feeling of trepidation, neither really knowing what sort of horrors professor Lazarus would soon create for them.

The museum hall was gorgeous. The floor was a beautiful, shinning marble. The ceiling was an arched mosaic of gold, teal, red and blue. The walls were sculpted with winged archways coming off the corners. It was stunning. It was packed. People of a certain prestige mingled amongst each other in the grand ball-gowns of the 60's intermixed with the stylish tuxes. The far side of the room was lined with food tables, the floor was open for people to talk and dance. Rose spotted musicians in the opposite corner playing a soft waltz. For a moment, Rose thought they actually had entered a ball, maybe K was wrong, maybe he was playing a joke on her.

Then she saw it, didn't know how she missed it. A great white mechanical structure sat on a dais in the middle of the room. At the centre of the platform was a circular white chamber, big enough to fit a human. Four posts curved upward from the dais and made an arc, ending in a point towards the circular chamber.

Rose eyed the contraption wearily. She leaned towards K who was idly sipping his champagne. "What is it?" She whispered, eyes still on the contraption.

K narrowed his gaze on the machine. "It looks like a sonic microfield manipulator." K paused and thought about that before continuing. "From what I remember, professor Lazarus was working with a project he referred to in his notes as the 'Fountain of Youth'."

Rose glanced around the room, eyes searching for whoever this professor could be. "So he wanted to be young again. That doable?"

K finished his champagne. He plopped it onto a passing tray and picked up a second glass, all in one graceful motion. "Only with great consequences." He smiled vindictively. "I wonder what Lazarus' will be?"

Rose didn't even have the energy to roll her eyes at him. She utilized her energies more effectively; searching the room and analyzing the technology for any ways it could go wrong. "I wonder how many died the first time. How many could we save?"

K groaned. "You're actually going to make me help these people aren't you?"

Rose pursed her lips. "'s not like you've got anythin' better to do, yeah?"

K glared at her. "I'm working on how to get us out of this perpetual hell and who's going to die for putting us into it." His teeth bared, the murderous intent in his words was more than obvious.

Rose snorted and raised her glass of champagne. "And gettin' absolutely nowhere." K's eyes became vicious. He snarled, threats and promises of pain on the tip of his tongue. Rose raised an eyebrow to him challengingly. She knew he wouldn't make threats to her he couldn't keep, and he couldn't keep his threats to Rose. His annoying attachment to the Doctor was holding him back, and an irritating fondness for the woman before him as well.

Instead, K decided to do the mature thing and dumped his entire flute of champagne down the front of her gown. Rose gasped and looked down at the soiled front of her dress, the cool liquid creating an uncomfortable feeling against her skin. She looked up at K's smug smirk, furious. She threw her own champagne in his face. He raised a hand and swiped the liquid from his eyes, he smiled. "So how're we going to save this lot?"

Rose almost crushed the champagne flute in her hands. She took a second look around the room, still simmering with rage as the front of her dress pressed coldly against her skin. "I dunno, stop Lazarus?"

K's eyes widened and he smiled sardonically. "Wow! Well why didn't I think of that?"

Rose shook her head as she began to walk away, sending a quick "Oh bite me," over her shoulder as she did.

K huffed and stuffed his hands into his trouser pockets. "As if you'd ever let me have that much fun."

K's attention was quickly drawn to an older gentleman that he recognized as professor Lazarus from the original time that the whole fiasco happened in. He remembered watching news reports about it, before and after pictures of the decrepit old man and his younger self-reborn. The older man was tapping his glass, grabbing the attention of assorted socialites waiting for the great unveiling. K looked on with a sadistic sense of glee, he could feel the drawing horror that would lay waste to the room. The screams seemed to echo down a stray strand of the web of time.

Lazarus cleared his throat and straightened his back as he looked down his prominent nose to the assembled party. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle." He paused for dramatic effect. K rolled his eyes. Were people actually buying that crap? He looked around and almost ripped his hair out as he realized that the party was, in fact, eating Lazarus' words out of the palm of his hand. "It is, I believe," Lazarus continued, "the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon. Tonight, you will watch and wonder. Tomorrow, you will wake to a world which will be changed forever."

With those final words, the man left behind his champagne and entered the circular white chamber upon the raised dais. To the left of the machine a pair of scientists turned the contraption on. The four curved columns surrounding the machine began to oscillate and rotate around the chamber. Guests gasped and stepped back from the monstrous apparatus. Energy pulsed from the columns and radiated towards the closed chamber, Lazarus still within.

K's eyes searched the room until they found Rose. The two shared one look of dawning dread before the alarms sounded. Barely a millisecond passed before both were racing in opposite directions. K moved towards the chamber and Rose towards the controls.

"Turn it off!" Rose shouted as K hissed to himself "I hope it explodes."

Sparks flew off the control panel. Rose jumped back before being singed. She squinted her eyes through the smoke screen slowly seeping from one of the main computers as she tried to find a way to shut the machine off.

An older woman raced up to Rose and grabbed her arm. She pulled Rose back from the control panel. "What do you think you're doing! Stay away from those!"

"'m tryin' to save everyone in here from that stupid man's insane ideas!" Rose ripped her arm free and stepped back towards the controls.

"Rose!" K shouted angrily.

"'m workin' on it!" Rose shouted back. Her eyes scanned the various dials and buttons on the control panel. Finally she reached down and ripped a massive silver plug from the wall. The older woman gasped in horror.

The white machine began to slow down before finally coming to a complete stop. K jumped up onto the dais and pushed the door open. Smoke escaped. From the smoke staggered a young man in a tuxedo. Silence fell on the museum hall.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the young man waved his hand across the room in a gesture of greeting, his other still supported himself against the door tot he chamber, "I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy-six years old and I am reborn!" The room erupted into applause.

K turned and locked eyes with Rose. This was not good. K jumped down from the dais and the two met away from the commotion of Lazarus. "We didn't stop it." Rose hissed.

"Clearly…" K kept his eyes on Lazarus, already noting the differences in behaviour that could be brought on the by the rapid cellular change. "But the question is what do we do now?"

Rose turned and watched professor Lazarus greet scientists and smile brilliantly. "We can't change 'im back, can we?"

"That'd be like a Time Lord regenerating back into an old body."

Rose nodded. "Yeah, thought not." Rose almost wanted to argue that they should leave it, he was only younger, that wouldn't hurt anyone. But it would. K had said it himself, the Doctor had saved lives here the first time. If they were to leave it, it would be a massacre. Somehow, Lazarus' experiment was going to go wayside, and they needed to stop him before that happened.

There was a silence between the two, only broken when K finally said, "We could kill him."

Rose whipped her head around to him. "Not happenin'."

"It could save lives."

"We're not murderers."

K leaned in and hissed, "How else do you think we're going to be able to stop him once he turns?"

"Turns?" Rose questioned. K raised his eyebrows and waited for Rose to catch on. Rose gasped and looked back to Lazarus, posing for the photographers. "He's not done yet."

"…Still cooking." Lazarus abruptly grabbed a tray from a passing waiter and proceeded to devour the food. "See?" He was energy deficient, Rose realized. Lazarus' body was still worked up and changing. He hadn't stabilized yet.

Rose nodded, making a decision. "We should go talk to him."

"What's the point? He won't listen. All he has is proof that he's right and we're worry warts." K made a face at the phrase. "We'll have to wait before he listens."

"What if he doesn't listen? What if we wait too long and someone dies?"

K turned very hard eyes on Rose and said deliberately, "Then we kill him." Rose frowned. She didn't like that plan one bit, and K knew it. There was nothing they could do. They couldn't change Lazarus back, they could only stop him.

K touched Rose's elbow before drawing her attention to Lazarus and the older woman who had grabbed Rose both leaving the hall. Rose and K quietly slipped out after them. They followed the professor and the woman to an upper level office. They were standing by massive glass windows that overlooked the city, speaking quietly. Rose and K stood just outside the door and watched.

"What do we do?" K whispered into Rose's ear. Rose shrugged. She was wracking her brain, but she couldn't think of any way to turn Lazarus back.

"What about the machine?" She asked suddenly.

"What about it?"

"Well the machine used hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance, but what if we reversed the level of sound waves and the concentration? It could change him back."

K stared at Lazarus and the old woman talk as he went over the calculations in his mind. "In theory, it might. But it might not."

"Okay." Rose responded, dragging out the second vowel. "Worth a shot though, right?"

They turned back to the couple just in time to see Lazarus push the older woman away when she tried to kiss him. K snorted in amusement. Rose glared at him over her shoulder. K pointed to somewhere in the room. A gong. "Who the hell has a gong in their office?" Rose opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say. Sometimes K's randomness really astounded her.

Lazarus gasped suddenly and grabbed his collar. Rose and K tensed, their attention back on the couple before them. The professor's back arched and a popping sound echoed through the room. Lazarus collapsed to the floor, his body writhed and jerked spasmodically. The older woman cried out.

Rose and K rushed forward. K grabbed the woman's arm and pushed her out of the office. "Run!" He commanded.

Rose was already on her knees beside the professor. "Professor Lazarus can you hear me?"

K rushed towards the blonde woman. "Rose no!" He grabbed her arm and hauled her up and way from the quickly transforming professor. He tried to drag her further away but she resisted.

"We can't just—" Rose was cut off as the newly transformed Lazarus loomed over them. Rose's eyes widened as she turned slightly to take in Lazarus' new form. His body had become a skeletal scorpion-like structure upon which his still human face rested. Rose gasped and stepped back.

One of Lazarus' claws shot out and grabbed Rose. His jaw opened inhumanly wide and suddenly gold time energy was seeping out of Rose and into Lazarus. K's mind raced. He glanced around the room briefly before rushing over to the gong. He picked up the mallet and swung it against the giant symbol. Lazarus shrieked. He dropped Rose and fell backward against his desk, writhing in pain.

Rose collapsed to the floor unconscious. K rushed towards her. He dropped to his knees and pulled Rose's upper body into his lap. "Come on, wake up." He tapped his handed against her cheek, but Rose remained unconscious. Lazarus was still writhing in pain, but K knew that wouldn't last long. The once Time Lord turned his attention to Rose's dress. He quickly ripped the poofy additions to the skirt off, leaving Rose in the long corseted strapless dress that wouldn't get in his way. He lifted his unconscious partner up and moved as fast as he could out and away from Lazarus.

Rose awoke exactly 17 minutes and 35.6 seconds later. She was in a quiet hallway in what appeared to be a recently built addition to the museum. She was leaning against a glass wall which looked into a lab. Before her was a stone railing, beyond which was an intricately designed arched ceiling. It looked familiar. Rose opened her mouth. She made a face. Her tongue was dry. Her head hurt. What the hell had —

Rose gasped and sat bolt upright. She scrambled to her feet, still in her heels and tight dress. She looked back and forth down the long hallway. Where was K? What had K done? Rose rushed towards the rail and saw the empty museum hall below. Tables were turned over, food scattered, bottles smashed, chairs broken. Lazarus had attacked.

Footsteps echoed down a connecting hall, alerting Rose to another person's presence. She hurried in that direction and turned the corner to find K rushing down the hall in her direction. He looked surprised. "Oh! You're awake. Finally. You really took your sweet time."

Rose was not amused. "What the hell happened down there? Where were you? Where's Lazarus?"

K gave Rose a look. "Lazarus attacked the party, thought it'd be obvious." He nodded his head in the direction of the museum hall in ruins past the railing. He tossed her a plastic bottle of water. Rose caught it, nonplussed. "And I left to get you that. Lazarus is MIA as of right now. I'm sure he'll resurface for food soon." K strode past Rose and leaned against the railing, he gazed down at the destroyed party below.

Rose stayed frozen in the middle of the hall. She watched K intently. "Did… did anyone?" K sent a look over his shoulder, not cold or happy, simply blank. In that blankness, Rose saw all she needed. She rushed forward and smacked his shoulder. "Damn it, Koschei! Why didn't you leave me?"

K's nostrils flared for a half a second and then he exploded. "Because he was killing you! He was feeing off your time energy, I don't know much about what you are now, Rose, but I know enough to say that would kill you. Then Lazarus would be infused with your power and unstoppable and everyone would die. He would continue to feed, never full, never human, always starving. Believe me, I know."

After a moment of silence K turned back to the railing and rested against it. Rose fiddled with the water bottle in her hands. She didn't know how to respond to K. His words were easy to interpret, but his actions where something else entirely. K had saved her life. Not just pulled her out of Lazarus' clutches because she'd make him more powerful — no, K had carried her away and guarded over her. He'd made sure she was safe. He'd gone off and actually gotten her a bottle of water. Rose hugged the bottle of water to her chest, very aware that this was probably the first time in a very long time that K had ever done something so blatantly out of care for another being.

Friends. Somewhere in the past few weeks they had become friends. It'd been far too long since Rose had had a friend.

"Thank you."

K looked over at Rose, eyes round. He didn't know how to respond to that. He didn't think he'd ever had to before.

Before K could even open his mouth to attempt to formulate a response, Rose had changed the topic back to Lazarus again. "So what will it have done, then? Lazarus absorbing my time energy."

K turned and leaned his elbows against the railing, he looked the perfect picture of carelessness. "Well I'm not entirely sure. Probably make him smarter, stronger, develop differently."

Rose nodded. "How long do you think we 'ave before tha' happens? Before the time energy kicks into his mutation, tha' is."

K raised his eyebrows. "Few hours? The more people he eats the faster he'll change."

Rose began to pace as she thought. "Right, we'll have to change 'im back then… Use the machine he used?"

K shrugged. "Haven't got a better idea." K thought about it for another moment then nodded stood up straight. He straightened his tie and fixed the cuffs of his tuxedo. "Right, you be bait, I'll go set it up downstairs."

Rose cocked her hip to the side, a glare already in place. "Oi. You're gonna seriously feed me to this thing? I thought I was yer date?"

"Yes, and now you're bait." He made a shooing gesture. "Hop too. Oh," he raised his eyebrows and nodded towards Rose's footwear, "might want to take those off."

Rose glanced down at her high heels and snorted. "Please, go barefoot and then run over shattered glass? I'm not Die Hard-ing this one, thanks." She turned and headed down the hall.

K nodded after her, impressed. "Good reference. Bonus points to that." Rose waved her hand over her head in response. He smiled, amused, before heading towards the elevator that would take him down to the museum hall beneath.

Once back in the destroyed hall he headed towards the control panel for the machine that Lazarus had made. He plugged it back in and began work on reversing the level of the hypersonic sound waves and concentration, as Rose had suggested. He set up the level of concentration but quickly realized that the process probably wouldn't work unless they initiated the reverse as close to transformation as possible. K looked over at the tall white pod in the centre of the dais with dread. Only one place could reverse the process at the right time and allow Rose and K not to be affected.

"Oh Rose is gonna hate this." He grinned broadly and made sure that all the wires were in working order.

"KOSCHEI!"

K stopped and looked up at the ceiling. "Rassilon?" He turned towards the doors where Rose came flying through. She was running particularly fast despite the tight dress and heels. K was mildly impressed. He almost rolled his eyes when he noticed she still had the bloody water bottle in her hand.

"Did you get it working!?" Rose hollered as she ran towards him. Lazarus crashed through the door way and leapt towards them.

K grabbed Rose's arm and pulled her towards the pod. "Nope!"

"What!?" Before Rose could protest, K pushed her into the pod and squeezed in after her. "Koschei, what the hell?" She rubbed her forehead where it had slammed against the wall of the pod. "You didn't finish?"

"Well…" Rose shot him a glare over her shoulder. "I got distracted." He lied. He knew it would make her even angrier.

"I'm gonna kill you." Rose hissed at him over her shoulder, unable to turn around in the tight pod.

K smiled. "I think Lazarus might first." At that moment the sound of the machine started up.

Rose's eyes widened. "Oh god." She banged her forehead against the pod. Then did it again for good measure. "This cannot be happenin'."

K raised an eyebrow. "You're not gonna even ask if I've got a plan?"

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Do you?"

"That's not the point, why didn't you ask?"

Rose didn't bite. "Koschei we're about to be turned into that thing out there, please tell me you've got a plan." K rolled his eyes and slid down until he was crouched on the ground. Rose gasped and tried to see what he was doing over her shoulder. "What are you…?"

K opened up a panel at the base of the machine. "I'm going to reverse the machine."

"Couldn't have done that from outside?"

K started to glare at her but got distracted midway with the perfect view he had of her behind in the tight dress. K nodded once in appreciation before getting back to work with the wires in the panel. "This was the best place to be, when it reverses the machine will push outward with force not inward."

Rose nodded her head at the white pod wall before her. "Everything outside of here will be effected."

"Precisely. Bonus points." K tapped Rose's behind. Rose kicked her leg back. She didn't know what she hit, but K groaned in pain. "Bloody heels." He wheezed under his breath. Rose smirked.

"Done yet?" Rose asked pleasantly. She could feel the vibrations of the machine increasing. K grunted then stood up. He leaned heavily against the wall, favouring his right leg over his left. Rose pretended not to notice.

A big wave of energy blasted outward from the pod. Rose and K stayed still for a moment and waited for any sounds of Lazarus. When nothing was heard, K opened the pod and the two slowly stepped out.

Lazarus laid naked on the floor before them. "Good bloody riddance." K shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled away.

Rose's jaw dropped. She had half a mind to reprimand him before the water bottle in her hand caught her attention. K had saved her life that night, if he didn't want to pay respect to the man who'd almost ended it, well Rose didn't really think she was in much of a position to argue with him. Nor was she really inclined to start a losing battle.

Rose headed outside after K, leaving the body of Professor Lazarus alone by the invention he'd dedicated his life to and eventually died for.

"I'll tell you what though," K said with a nod and a smile, "I'm probably the best date you've ever had." He winked and Rose laughed.

The ambulances and police had arrived. They'd taken the critically injured to the hospital, minor injuries were still being treated. One ambulance had taken Lazarus' body and was going to transport it to the morgue. Police were taking statements and flashes went off periodically from the press.

Rose and K stood to the side of the museum on the sidewalk, out of the limelight. They leaned against a cement wall and took in the starry night in the afterglow of the adventure.

Rose pursed her lips at K teasingly. "Yeah, 'cept you forgot the Doctor took me to see the world end on our first date."

K shook head. "He's always showin' me up." He looked to Rose, suddenly very curious. "What about John?"

"John?" K nodded. Rose looked out into the middle distance. Unconsciously, a smile spread across her face. "He's… he's not so bad at it all. Lot better than he thinks, at least."

K shook his head. "He's horrible with women. Doctor's always been horrible with women, this one in particular he's… doesn't know how to act in his own skin."

Small smile still in place, Rose responded, "Didn't have that problem."

"Oh really?" K smirked suggestively.

"Shut up," Rose said with a smile.

A crash sounded in the distance followed by a few screams. Rose and K both turned towards the ambulance that held Lazarus' body. They raced towards the ambulance. Inside were two desiccated corpses like the ones Lazarus had killed in the museum hall earlier. Rose gasped and stepped back.

"He's alive." K growled angrily. He looked around the street. No scorpion monster was in sight. He turned to Rose and demanded, "Where'd he go?"

Rose looked around. Her eyes glowed gold and she pointed in the direction of a cathedral. "There." K went to grab her other hand but found it still clutching that damn water bottle.

"Will you leave that thing!" He shouted as he ran off in the direction of the cathedral.

Rose glared at his back. "No!" She chased after him, water bottle still in hand.

When they reached the cathedral, Lazarus was crouched behind the nave altar covered in only a red blanket from the ambulance. He was shivering. K narrowed his eyes and stepped forward but Rose held him back. She shook her head and then stepped closer. Rose stood before the young old man and felt like she knew very much exactly what that felt like.

"I came here before," Lazarus explained quietly, "a lifetime ago. I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat here, just a child, the sound of planes and bombs outside."

Rose nodded. "The Blitz." She rubbed her hands against her dress. She could feel the burns on them from falling off a zeppelin as if it were yesterday.

Lazarus nodded. "You've read about it?"

Rose shook her head. "Nah, I was there."

Lazarus snorted lightly. "Please, my girl, you're far too young."

Rose rolled her eyes, "Yeah and you're a righ' old man yourself." Lazarus laughed despite himself. A loud cracking noise emanated from his body, Lazarus flinched painfully.

K stepped around the man to stand by Rose. "You're mutating. You haven't finished yet."

Lazarus sat up as straight as he could, a look of pride on his face despite his position. "I'm being made whole."

"No. You're dividing yourself. Traded in for a worse model, that's what you've done. That hunger." K bent down to look directly in Lazarus' eyes. "That burning need in your pit, it feels endless, you haven't eaten in days, in weeks." Lazarus growled inhumanly; hungrily. "It's not gonna go away. It's not gonna get better. You've destroyed yourself Lazarus. You haven't achieved your goal, you've perverted life."

Lazarus growled loudly. He fell forward as his body snapped and cracked loudly.

"He's transforming." K explained. He and Rose stepped back. "This is our last shot. We've got to stop him."

"How?"

K looked around and his eyes caught sight of the organ. "Gongs."

"What?"

K pointed to the top of the tower. "Get him up there. All the way to the top!"

Rose sighed, exasperated. "Bait? Again?" Before them, Lazarus growled, his body cracked as he continued to transform.

"You're just so good at it."

Rose glared and handed K her water bottle. "Keep that safe."

"It's a water bottle!" K shouted after her. He rolled his eyes and headed toward the organ. Behind him, Lazarus let loose a loud roar as he emerged from beneath the blanket, fully transformed.

Rose leaned against the archway of the door one hip cocked and her lips pursed. "Oh Lazarus!" Lazarus' head swung inhumanly in her direction. "Pretty young thing like me? Remember that taste? Plenty more where that came from!"

"Now there's an offer no man can refuse." K commented.

Rose spun around and ran away. Lazarus roared and raced after her.

K set the water bottle on the ledge of the organ and cracked his fingers. He pressed a key down experimentally. He shook his head, it was far too quiet.

Rose leaned over the railing from the upper level, out of breath. "K!"

Without even looking K pointed to the ceiling and instructed her, "To the top!"

"But you've got a plan?"

K looked over his shoulder at her. "You should've asked that before you volunteered as bait."

"I didn't—" she rolled her eyes, "oh for the love of…" She turned away and continued running.

K gnawed at his lip as he considered his dilemma. "How to boost the sound. How to boost the sound…" He murmured to himself. His eyes lit up. From his pocket he pulled a silver cylindrical device. He rolled his thumb across it horizontally, twisting the end. It turned on with a soft white glow at the end. K raised his eyebrows at the device and whispered, "Not a sonic screwdriver." He then stuck the device into the power socket of the organ and began playing the organ with its enhanced sound level. He paused and glanced up. "Not working…" K turned up the power on the cylindrical device and when he began to play again Lazarus screamed in pain.

Lazarus stumbled and hit the wood railing. The railing broke beneath his weight and he fell toward the cathedral floor below. K continued playing, eyes closed. He finished minutes later with a flourish. He nodded to himself. "Now that, that was spectacular." K turned around and was only mildly surprised to find Rose dead on the floor a few feet from Lazarus. He leaned forward and looked up at the bell tower where she'd presumably fallen from. "Well how'd you do that, now?" K shook his head. "Should've called for help."

He got up and stretched, a great big smile on his face. "Did you hear that organ playing, though? I am fantastic! Truly superb…" He stood by Rose, hands in his pockets. The blonde laid dead before him. He frowned, annoyed."Oi! I'm braggin' here." K kicked her side, hard. He sighed dramatically and looked up. "So boring when they die." Rose gasped back to life. "Oh good, you're awake! As I was saying, I play brilliantly. I could be famous with this talent. I could be famous with so many talents, but this one in particular. My brilliance is unquestionable." Rose glared, horrified at him. "What?" K questioned, genuinely confused. He glanced over his shoulder at the organ. "Oh," he turned back to Rose, "I've got your water bottle." Rose sighed in defeat and collapsed against the stone floor beneath her.

After thirty seconds of silence, K got bored and began rambling again. At this point, Rose pulled herself up from the ground and made her way to the organ. She picked up her water bottle. She paused when she noticed something in the socket of the organ. She picked it up and smirked at K. "Wha's this?"

"What?" K spun around. His eyes widened and he swallowed nervously. "Oh, that? Nothing. Nothing, give it back." He gestured for her to hand it over as he stepped forward.

Rose shook her head and moved away. "No, no, I don't think so. Cause see it didn't make sense, organs aren't that loud."

"Rose." K growled warningly.

They stared at each other in silence. "It's a sonic—"

"It's NOT a SONIC!"

Definitely a filler chapter, but I sincerely hope you found it as amusing as I did.

I was asked to put more Rose and John and I did my best but I had to cut it off because I was just so blocked with it. I don't know. Anyways, hope you enjoyed this.

Thanks for reading :)