AN: I have no excuses for the almost two year wait between chapters. I can tell you that I finally have firm plans to finish this story by October 9.

Rose's legs felt like lead as she walked back to her room after learning James had been taken. Taken! By the Daleks!

She heard the soft whisper of servants' voices around the corner and hid her shaking hands in the folds of her skirt. Even now, she was aware that she could not appear to be affected by the capture of the Doctor without giving away James' secret identity. She managed a faint smile as she passed the maids, then she was thankfully to the sanctuary of her own room.

Rose closed the door carefully, then leaned against it and covered her face with her hands as the first tears slipped down her cheeks. James might still be alive, but if he was with the Daleks… She shuddered. Everyone knew it was better to be killed by the Daleks than taken as their prisoner.

She wiped her eyes and took a few short breaths. Then she pulled out the writing desk where she kept James' letters. Reading his words always made her feel like he was right beside her, whispering all those romantic thoughts in her ear. Today, more than ever, she needed to feel him close.

His very first letter made her throat close up. James was in the Constellation still, but if he was in a Dalek prison camp, could he even see the stars? She swallowed hard and kept reading.

The banter she imagined taking place between James and the mischievous Jack brought the first smile to her face. She was glad he had such a good friend. She bit her lip as she folded that letter back up.

Is there a way to get in touch with Jack and the Tardis? she wondered. Maybe they know something about what happened to James…

James' final letter was in her hands, and she tapped it against her fingers, considering if she really wanted to read it. The melancholy tone might be too much to stand, now that she knew she would likely never see him again. But in the end, it was still a piece of James, and she couldn't deny herself any connection with him.

The light-hearted opening took her by surprise, but then she remembered that it was only the last page or so of the letter that had seemed to echo with a different kind of desperation. A suspicion grew in the back of Rose's mind, and she sped up, skimming the later until she was on the last page.

The paper shook in her fingers when she saw the cramped writing and how he'd turned the page to get as many words on it as possible. She read his words slowly, looking for any hint that she was right.

The tone was completely different from the first two pages. In place of his typical breeziness and playful flirtation, he was serious, brooding, and worried. His determination to make sure she knew he loved her jumped off the page at her, and when he begged her to promise that she would be safe, her heart rate sped up.

Something had happened in the middle of this letter, something that had left him heavy burdened with worry and loneliness. The way he talked about missing her… It was almost as if he knew it would be a very long time before he saw her again, if ever.

It could have been a coincidence, she knew. It could have been a premonition, even. But she couldn't shake the idea that he had known something would happen. And if he had known, then maybe his current fate was not bad luck, but part of a plan. And if that was true…

Rose took a shaky breath. If that was true, maybe he hadn't been captured after all.

oOoOoOoOo

Deep in Dalek territory, the Doctor shook his head once again at the lunacy of Jack's plan. The fact that it seemed to be working didn't make it any less ridiculous.

It had never occurred to the Doctor, but in his years of running the blockade, he had developed a network of loyal friends who needed only a skilled leader to become a powerful resistance against the Daleks. He had spent the last two weeks going from island to island visiting as many of them as possible, and they were all eager to do something more proactive against the occupying force.

He guided his small dinghy carefully through a narrow channel. The temporary base Harriet Jones had found for them was in a hidden lagoon at the heart of Flydale North. "I've lived here my whole life and I have never once seen a Dalek outside of the main port," she'd told him when he asked about safety.

And when he'd explored the cove, he'd understood why. The channel from the sea was so narrow and rocky, only the most skilled sailor could navigate it. The Daleks had likely dismissed the lagoon as an enclosed lake.

Tonight, two dozen old friends were waiting for him at the base—Martha, Amy, Rory, Ace… and of course, Harriet, as well as many others.

And beyond that, Jake had taken Zach, Danny, and Jefferson to the Dalek repair yard to steal a ship. If they were successful, the Doctor and his new crew would meet them on the leeward side of the island before they all sailed for a different, larger hidden cove. Steering a full-sized warship through this channel would be impossible.

The channel suddenly opened, pushing the dinghy into the lagoon. Stars were reflected in the clear water, and James was unable to resist tipping his head back to stare at the sky.

God, he missed Rose. He missed the way she'd felt in his arms as they danced beneath these stars at the Chesterton's party. He missed her teasing smile and the way her eyes sparked at him when she teased him.

He just… missed her. He missed how he didn't feel lonely when he was with her, how she made him want a normal life when he'd been resigned to the course he'd set in a life of piracy. Rose made everything better, and it hurt to think that he might not see her again for months.

James clamped down on his thoughts before the mocking if ever could take root. He would see Rose again. Jack's plan would work.

He sighed; surely by now she'd heard about his capture. His heart ached at the pain he'd caused her, but it was his best chance of keeping her safe. Koschei was clever enough—suspicious enough—to suspect his rumoured capture was a ruse. He would be watching the reactions of those who knew him best, studying their displays of grief for any hint of falseness. Rose needed to believe he would never come home, for her own safety.

He took a shuddering breath as he directed his boat towards the shore lights. This plan hurt right now, but if it worked, he could hand the Gallifreyan Navy a major victory over both the Daleks and the Master in one day. And if he could do that, he was almost guaranteed a letter of marque. Then he would be free to have the life he dreamed of—a life with Rose.

oOoOoOoOo

On Monday morning, Rose tucked the later she'd been writing to James into her reticule and walked he now-familiar path to the Wolf and the Storm. Miss Evangelista, the afternoon server, waved at her as she walked into the tavern, and Rose made sure to smile in return, just like always.

Her smile disappeared once she was in the staircase that led to Donna and Wilf's private residence. Safe from the scrutiny of others, Rose picked up her skirts and ran up the stairs.

The door swung open as soon as she pounded on it, and she knew her friends had been waiting for her. "Tell me it isn't true," she begged as Donna closed the for behind her.

Wilf sighed and waved her over to the settee. "Sit down first, darling. Donna, pour some tea for Rose, won't you? There, that'll make you feel better," he said as she sat down by the fire.

Rose accepted the cup from Donna and took a sip before setting it down and clasping her hands in her lap. "Please," she said, her voice low and hoarse from emotion. "I have suspicions, but nothing to base them on but my instinct. If you know anything…"

Donna and Wilf exchanged a long glance, then Donna sat on the settee with her. "We think he's all right."

Rose sagged back against the furniture, but Wilf waved his hands. "We don't have any guarantees, though," he warned her. "But there's a letter James always said he would have Jack bring to me if he was killed or captured, so I would know not to expect him back."

"And it hasn't come?" Rose asked.

Wilf shook his head. "So that made us doubt. Plus, the last time he was here, he seemed…" He hesitated, then shrugged and said, "He seemed like he had a plan—a terribly dangerous one, but a plan nonetheless."

Rose fidgeted. It seemed like Wilf and Donna had come to the same conclusion she had, but she needed them to say it. "So you think…"

"We think," Donna said, "that he's come up with a stupidly dangerous plan to do major damage to the Daleks. My guess is that he's doing something behind enemy lines, working to build a resistance of some kind."

"But why let me think he was captured?" Rose asked, voicing her one quibble. "He could carry his plan out without that…"

"Maybe he was counting on us to remember about the letter," Wilf offered. "It doesn't make sense otherwise. I mean… there's no need for you to appear broken hearted over the Doctor's loss. You can't, actually, given that the whole island knows James is courting you."

Rose pursed her lips. She had a feeling they were missing something, but she couldn't pin down what it was.

Eventually, she shrugged and got to her feet. "I should go home. I just wanted to bring this by, though, in case…" She pulled the letter out.

Wilf shook his head and pushed it back to her. "You hold onto it, darling. He'll come for you first, when he comes back, so you keep it and give it to him yourself."

He didn't say, "If he comes back," but the words lingered in the air anyway.

oOoOoOoOo

The Doctor stood at the wheel of the Dalek ship as it cut through the water. He carefully guided the vessel into a small natural harbour just out of sight of the armoury they were raiding tonight.

It had taken two weeks for his new crew to gather, but when Jake had arrived this evening with the ship, they were ready. Instead of hiding away, the unanimous decision had been to jump into the raid they had spent the last week planning.

Attacking an armoury was the logical choice. It would do serious damage to the Dalek war effort, while also giving the Doctor and his crew supplies they desperately needed.

Two hours later, the Doctor marvelled at the logistics skills his small group of friends possessed. During the years of occupation, Sarah Jane Smith had built up an underground communications network to keep everyone in the Occupied Territory informed about the Daleks' movements. Tonight, she'd used that network to arrange for mule carts carts to be waiting for them when they reached shore.

Once they had used tranquilliser darts to knock out the small guard detail watching over the armoury, it had been a simple matter to load as much of the store into the carts as possible. As soon as a cart was loaded, it went back down the trail to the ship, where it would be unloaded by the sailors waiting on the other end. One by one, his crew had ridden back to the ship in the carts, until only he and Martha Jones remained with the last, half-full cart, driven by young Tim Latimer.

"Doctor!" Martha hissed. "We need to go—the sedative I dosed the darts with will only last for maybe another ten minutes, and we have got to be gone by then!"

The Doctor spotted a figure running towards them, and he grinned. "Trust me, Martha, they're going to far too busy to bother chasing after us." He hopped up into the cart beside her.

Ace reached them before Martha could ask what he meant by that. "Go!" she ordered as she leapt into the cart, and Tim nudged the mule into a fast trot.

As they rolled away, the ground beneath them rumbled, and then the entire armoury exploded. Martha's jaw dropped, and she looked from the Doctor to Ace and back again.

"Well, that's one way to keep the Daleks busy," she muttered. "What did you use to start the explosion?"

"Nitro-9," Ace declared proudly as she brushed the dirt off her hands. "It's the most effective explosive out there. I should know. I made it myself."

The Doctor patted her on the shoulder, then looked at Martha as the beach came into view. "A clean getaway!"

Martha laughed. "This is absolutely bonkers," she said. "But I love it!"

oOoOoOoOo

When Rose heard about the successful raid on the Dalek armoury, she knew it had to be James. Her father urged her not to get her hopes up, but it was simply too convenient. There had been no Gallifreyan military victories on the Dalek side of the blockade in years. Then suddenly, James was in enemy territory and they suffered a huge blow within a month? No, it had to be him.

That afternoon she watched a storm come in as she sat at her desk and wrote to him. The clouds were building on her left while the sun still shone on her right, and the way the light diffused through the clouds and waves finally provided the inspiration she'd been looking for.

For the next three months, every second she wasn't pouring over military bulletins in her father's office, she was working on her painting. She spent a week doing nothing but a series of sketches, remembering what the sea had looked like as the light shone through it, and the way the shadows had danced over the waves.

And then she'd started painting, spending so much time bent over the easel that her back protested. She started bottom right corner, where everything was still light and the water was the same pretty turquoise it was on any summer afternoon. As she moved slowly across the canvas, the water turned grey and choppy, matching the skies above.

As she painted, she thought about the victories James and his new crew achieved. Just like the storm in her painting was ready to cleanse the stale, muggy air, the Doctor and his crew were clearing the islands of the Daleks.

The Oncoming Storm, she thought as she added dappled light to the right side of the painting.

She dropped her brush in the water and stepped back to study the effect of the newest layer of colour. Before she could make up her mind, a knock on the door interrupted her.

She sighed and wiped her hands on her protective frock. "Come in."

A maid pushed the door open and curtsied. "Beg your pardon, miss, but the Governor would like a word. As soon as possible, he said."

Rose pursed her lips, then nodded quickly. "Thank you." The maid curtsied again, then backed out of the room.

Rose's fingers shook as she untied her paint frock. He must have heard something more about James, but she couldn't tell if it was bad news or good.

Five minutes later, she pushed open the door to his study. "I am answering your summons, Papa," she said cheekily as she closed the door behind her.

He was standing by the map, and when Rose joined him, she sucked in a breath. The island of Cadon—one of the first lost to the Daleks—now had a Gallifreyan flag pinned to it.

"Papa?" she whispered.

He spun around and grabbed her by the elbows. "Your James has accomplished in three months what the Gallifreyan Navy has not managed to do in ten years." His blue eyes glowed. "He has finally wrenched an island back from Skaro."

Rose tipped her head back and laughed—she was too happy to just smile. "So you finally believe it's James?" she teased.

Pete grinned. "I think the fact that he liberated Cadon first would be enough to eliminate doubt in anyone's mind."

oOoOoOoOo

The Master tapped the intelligence report he'd just received against his table, a smile spreading across his face. So you've gone home, James. You always were a sentimental fool.

He'd been following the activities of the newest pirate in the Constellation for months, trying to guess his identity. Oh, he'd had his suspicions from the start—James' capture immediately after their last encounter had been very conveniently timed.

But this confirmed it. Militarily speaking, Cadon was worthless. It was deep in Occupied Territory, which meant the Gallifreyan Navy would find it difficult to use it as a base for further operations. No, sentimental attachment was the only reason to liberate Cadon, and he and James were all that remained of the island's original population.

And so… The Master tapped his fingers against his jaw before standing up and striding out of his cabin. The crew all jumped when they heard the sound of his door banging open, and let a small smile tease the corners of his mouth.

"Set course for Arcadia," he ordered the helmsman. "I think it's time I paid a visit to Lady Rose Tyler."