She felt the pull on her wrist and the uncomfortable lurch behind her navel indicating she had entered the time vortex. She kept her eyes tightly shut and tried to ignore the building nausea and rising panic. Her manipulator had a mind of its own at the moment. What was happening? She felt like a rag doll dragged through time and space. She had done this before, plenty of times. Part of the job description. But this was different. She felt like a rubber band stretched too thin, pressure on her body and mind increasing to agonizing levels.

Then the band snapped. Her body felt limp. She felt the break down to her core, the sudden disorienting loss of everything familiar. Her mind felt suddenly hollow. Any familiar humming or wavelengths abruptly disappeared. She felt alone. So alone. Why was she alone? She hadn't been alone in years.

And why was she still moving for that matter? She was still hurtling through the vortex- she could tell because the nausea hadn't reached critical mass yet. She knew she was going to be sick. So very sick. Suddenly, the world stopped moving.

She fell to her knees hard, her palms slamming into the dirt as she became violently sick. Somewhere in the back of her now silent brain her mind registered the dirt as unfamiliar. She had been in the lab. And she had been aiming for the prison. Dirt should never have been a part of the equation.

She continued to dry heave into the dirt for a few more moments before she felt safe enough to open her eyes. Blearily she opened her eyes to dirt and grass wet with sick. She tilted her head up and scanned her surroundings. She appeared to be in a backyard of some sort. There was a shed in the corner. Grass and a small fence.

As exposed as she was, she didn't think she could handle moving quite yet and collapsed into the grass to the side of her vomit. No need to get herself dirtier. She laid on her back, gazing up at the sky-night she registered. It was dark. The stars aren't in the right place was her last coherent thought before she fell into unconsciousness.

When she regained consciousness, it was light out. She couldn't move yet. She still felt quite disoriented. She blinked a few times to wake up her mind. Silence. That's all she heard. Refusing to allow herself to panic, she cautiously reached out with her mind. Still silence. Swallowing down the rising terror she pushed her mind farther. Reaching, searching for anything that would place her. Nothing.

She hadn't felt silence in years. Gingerly she sat up in the dirt and looked around. In the daytime it was more mundane than it had looked in the dark. A rather large home sat behind her. It appeared empty. She scanned back over to the shed she remembered seeing before blacking out. Except it wasn't there. Wait no, it was there, just crushed. It looked like something had landed on it.

She grinned ruefully, stubbornly refused to acknowledge the fear in the back of her mind, and shakily attempted to get to her feet. She wobbled a bit, her hands out to catch herself should she take a tumble, but she managed to stay upright. Taking a few deep breaths, she straightened and started patting herself down to see what she had on her. She needed to make sure she was equipped for…whatever this would be. Luckily she had been geared up for a jump to the prison to check on Prisoner Zero. Vortex Manipulator? Check. Sonic? Check. Stun gun and handcuffs? Double check. She could more than handle herself if it came to a fight.

"No need to get ahead of yourself," she muttered sternly. It wouldn't come to that. A jump had just gone wrong. That's all. So what if she hadn't missed a jump in years. Or that she heard only silence in her head. Maybe she was just too far. Out of range. That's never been a problem before a sneaky voice in the back of her mind reminded her and she quickly squashed that train of thought. No need to go there.

She glanced back at the flattened shed and noticed something she hadn't seen before. A little lump of blue was curled over on what appeared to be a suitcase in front of the ruins of the shed. The closer she got to the lump, it started taking the shape of a little girl. A little redheaded girl in a blue coat and large hat, fast asleep on a suitcase. She smiled softly at the sleeping form and bent down close to the suitcase.

"If you're trying to run away, you didn't get very far," she remarked quietly. The little girl's eyes sprang open and she sat up with a jerk. Frantically she glanced around and bit her lip quizzically.

"He said he'd be right back. He said five minutes. He promised." The girl looked so distraught that she decided to be nice.

"Well that wasn't very nice. Is that your brother or…?"

"No." The little girl looked up at her suspiciously. "Are you with him?"

"Who's 'him' sweetheart?" She tried to keep her voice calm and soothing. Obviously this girl was very upset.

"You'd know if you were with him. He came to fix the crack in my wall. Santa sent him"

Internally, she decided it must just be a dream the poor girl must've had. Sleep walked her way down here with a little suitcase and fell back asleep. She gently helped her back up off the suitcase and smiled at her.

"What's your name?"

"Amelia. Amelia Pond."

The woman nodded thoughtfully.

"That's a lovely name. Sounds like a fairy tale character!"

Amelia frowned at her. "That's what he said too".

"What did he say?"

"He said my name was a fairy tale character's name. Like from a story." The girls face became suspicious again. "Are you sure you're not with him?"

The woman shrugged and bent down to pick up the suitcase. "No, I'm on my own. Is this your house Amelia Pond?"

Amelia nodded and glanced up at the house, remembering what her manners said she should do. "Would you like to come in?"

"Why not?" the woman replied and held out her hand. Amelia took it and looked up at her.

"What's your name?"

The woman paused for a moment, not sure how to respond. The prison she had been intending to reach was not somewhere she used her real name. But she hadn't made it there. She had landed here. Internally agreeing the risk was minimal, she decided to stick to the truth.

"Rose Tyler".

Amelia led Rose into her house and took her to the kitchen, which was covered in dirty dishes and food scraps. The smells of several very different kinds of food mingling together assaulted her nose. It wasn't unpleasant per say…but it was certainly not expected.

"What happened here, huh?" Rose ribbed Amelia gently, hoping to elicit a giggle and set down the suitcase in the hallway. Instead of smiling, Amelia looked down at the ground forlorn. Rose bit her lip, immediately feeling bad.

"I made the Raggedy Man food because he couldn't decide what he liked. He kept saying everything tasted wrong."

"Is that the man who promised he'd be right back?"

Amelia nodded, looking at the floor.

"Did you find him something he did like?"

Amelia started to grin impishly and nodded again, her smile hidden.

"Well ok then. What did you make him? I'm famished, I might want to have some! If it's good enough for Mr. Picky Raggedy Man than it should be good enough for me"

Amelia raised her face to Rose with the grin still in place. "Fish sticks and custard" she answered. She looked like she was almost daring her to agree to have some. Rose scrunched up her nose and grinned.

"Oh, no thank you! How about this- you and I will clean up this place together and I'll make us something proper to eat for breakfast. A proper English breakfast! Wait…we are in England aren't we?"

Amelia rolled her eyes as Rose began to tidy up the kitchen. "Yes".

"But you're Scottish?"

"Yes."

"Hmm", Rose continued to clean and Amelia began to pull out the eggs and remaining few bacon strips from the fridge. "Why are you here then? And where are your parents? Surely two adults shouldn't take over your kitchen without them noticing, even if one of them is cleaning it"

"I don't have parents. I live with my…with my…" Her face screwed up with concentration as she tried to remember. The Raggedy Man had asked her that same question. She'd had an answer for him then. But now… "I live by myself".

Rose frowned and began to busy herself with the eggs as Amelia started on a pot of tea. She was much too young to live by herself. She covertly looked over at Amelia, but she seemed perfectly serene with her answer. She didn't seem troubled or worried at all. A little girl all alone in this big empty house. Waiting for a strange man to come and take her away no less.

"Well aren't you a little young to live alone?"

Amelia shook her head again. "No, I've always lived alone. I think."

Rose completed the eggs and bacon and brought them over to the table for the two of them. They ate in silence for a few minutes as Rose tried to piece together the situation. A little girl lived alone in a giant house and she had thought a man would take her away last night, but obviously she had been dreaming. Or some grown man had really wanted to take her away. That was not a train of thought she wanted to continue with.

More to the point, what was she going to do? She still had no clue as to why she had landed here instead of the prison. They must have noticed her absence by now. But that didn't explain the excruciating pain of her time jump. Nor the silence in her mind. It was never silent. And that was worrying her. In the silence of breakfast chewing, she tried again to reach out her mind to connect with…something. Someone. Anyone. She tried not to panic at the lack of answer.

Ok, what are the options? Option 1: attempt to return to the last known rendezvous point. That would provide her with answers and safety, while she tried to figure out what happened to her. Option 2: try to contact someone through the time vortex, to let them know her current positioning and await pick up. This was the slightly less desirable choice. She might be stranded for longer than she would like, and the message might not reach anyone in time. Or at all. And lastly, option 3: stay exactly where she is. Remain quiet and blend in and try to ascertain what happened to her jump from her side. Leaving no answers and no contact. And with the silence in her head…that was a terrifying option.

Silently, Rose began to form a semblance of a plan. She would attempt a jump. Or at the very least, try to hack her manipulator into outputting more information. She had the sonic after all. His sonic…No we aren't thinking about that, she reminded herself firmly. If that failed, she would send out a message through the vortex and hope the right people heard it. She could amplify and aim the message a bit better with the sonic's help. She hoped it would reach them before too long. She didn't fancy staying here longer than necessary.

Guiltily, she stole a glance at a happily chomping Amelia. She was all alone here in this great big house. That still didn't seem right to her, but what could she do about it? Option 3 required her to stay put…and the jump had landed her quite literally in this girls backyard. Not to mention, a huge house with only one little girl meant a greater amount of privacy from prying eyes, and questions. She really didn't want to take that option, but the guilt at leaving a girl all alone to fend for herself was a little more than Rose was used to imagining. Maybe it'll only be for a few days. Then the message would be received and she could figure out where to go from there.

"Amelia, would it be alright if I stayed with you for a little while? Since you're all alone in this big house anyways?"

Amelia grinned and nodded enthusiastically, but then suddenly became solemn.

"It can't be forever though. The Raggedy Man is coming back. I'll leave with him when he comes back."

Rose nodded her head in mock seriousness. "Of course, I understand. When he returns, I won't stand in the way".

Both of them broke into mirroring smiles over the breakfast table and continued with their breakfast.

Rose was standing outside in the garden, glaring at the Vortex Manipulator on her wrist, mumbling under her breath.

"Work, damn you", she huffed and blew some strands of gold hair out of her face in exasperation. She was pointing the sonic directly at her wrist, willing something to happen. She had tried over a dozen settings so far, but nothing had worked.

She was trying to get a read out from the manipulator that would help her make sense of her location. A very quizzical Amelia had told her it was Leadworth, England in 1996. Not exactly Rose's best year. She soniced her wrist a few more times and continued to glare at the manipulator.

"Come on", she muttered and willed the manipulator to do something. It spluttered and popped out a set of numbers on the screen. She blinked a few times at her wrist and then froze in place. Cold dread began to trickle down the back of her neck and she felt panic rising in her throat like bile. No wait, actual bile. She fell to her hands and knees, and for the second time in 24 hours, retched up the entire contents of her stomach.

This could not be happening. She wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and sat back on her heels. With shaking hands, she raised the sonic to the manipulator and tried the same frequency that had gotten her results as before, praying that it would change. It had to change. Those numbers couldn't be right, they just couldn't. She activated the sonic and held her breath, her whole body tensed in terrified anticipation.

The same numbers popped up on the screen again.

Her mouth began to quiver and her eyes stood open and unmoving, watering with tears she was unaware were forming. Her entire body soon followed her mouth in shaking and she heard a terrible deep rasping screech. Oh, that's right, it was coming from her. That was the only way to explain the vibrating resonating in her chest. Her stomach continued to clench in terror and she began to hyperventilate, holding onto herself for support as her body convulsed in on itself, as though to shrinking would save her from this fate.

She was back. Back in his world. In the world she was born in. And it was the last place she wanted to be.

It could have been minutes, hours, or days that Rose laid in that garden. When she could finally bring herself to move from the fetal position she was curled in, half her body was asleep and she was numb with cold. The sky above her was dusky and the first beginnings of starlight were showing above her. Somewhere in her mind, she remembered she was supposed to be with the little girl. Amelia. That's her name.

She roused herself more and rubbed her hands down her arms to increase her blood flow. She accidently glanced down at her wrist and shuddered at the number still displayed there. Well, that explained the silence in her mind. She was locked out. Away from him. In another universe. She supposed that also might explain the increasing pain and subsequent snapping sensation she experienced during the jump. But that was nothing, nothing compared to the crushingly loud silence.

Was he as worried as she was? Was it silent for him there too? She almost scoffed at herself if she hadn't have been so distraught. Of course he was panicked. Of course he could hear the silence. He probably felt her absence the minute she crossed over in the vortex. She could imagine him frantically searching for a way over, or a way to bring her back, raging at those who stood in his way. Mussing his hair and banging his head against a wall and positively screaming at anyone who'd interrupt him. Those dark eyes of his go positively black whenever he worried for her. She imagined his eyes devoid of any white at all at this situation.

She drew a shuddering breath and stood to make her way back to the house, her arms still wrapped tightly around herself. She could make out Amelia in the open doorway.

"You looked sad, so I thought I'd leave you alone. I made some tea."

Rose managed a weak smile for her benefit and made her way to the living room to collapse on the couch. Amelia came in holding two rather large mismatched mugs containing steaming liquid and placed them proudly on the table "Tea next to the couch. Rose took the one closest and wrapped her hands around it, willing herself to get warm. Amelia quietly took the other mug and sat down next to Rose, pulling her legs up under herself.

"Tea fixes everything. That's what my...my..." she scrunched up her face in concentration and then it abruptly cleared. "That's what I always hear people say."

Rose barely registered the girls hesitation. She was barely listening at all. After a few moments of painful silence, Amelia reached for the afghan over the back of the couch and threw it over Rose and herself. She tentatively leaned into Rose's side and out of habit or panic or both, Rose felt her arm instinctively wrap around the little girl. Amelia's small hand grasped hers.

"It'll be ok Rose."

And with those sweet, innocent words, Rose allowed herself to come undone.

When Rose woke in the morning, she and Amelia were still curled on the couch together. One of them had the foresight to remove the mugs back to the table and they both were covered snugly in the afghan. Rose allowed herself a small smile at the pure domesticity of her present situation.

This was something she had never imagined. Never pictured. They had never talked of settling down. Having children. They enjoyed what they did too much. They loved their work, and their lives, but most of all, each other. Her hand absently went to the chain on her neck, secured under her clothing. She pulled it out and stared at the item dangling from it, trying not to cry. Look at it clinically Tyler, dissect it. That will keep you from losing it again, she told herself firmly.

At the end of the chain was a tiny piece of TARDIS coral in a glass vial. It was yellowed and roughened, torn from the original small hunk that…he…had given them. It was starting to produce crumbs that collected at the bottom of the vial like golden dust. Must be from her wearing it continually. Probably from her running.

John had given it to her on their first anniversary. It had been exactly a year since he had dropped them off on that beach. One year to the tee since their first kiss, their first fight, and their first make up. She still twinged a little internally whenever she thought back to that day, but on that one year mark, he was trying everything he could to make it seem wonderful in retrospect. He pulled out all the stops and said all the best lines in his smoothest voice, subconsciously pleading with her to change the way she viewed that day. And him. Always him. She could practically hear him pleading for her to see me! See me, not him in the subtext of every statement he said.

She had not been easy that first year. She put up walls around her heart and around her mind, and kept him at a casual, flirty distance. He was easy to flirt with. Easy to get along with. She grinned ruefully, staring at the coral. Easy to fall in love with. Of course he was. Of course he would be, considering who he was a carbon copy of. She remembered that first night at her flat with him still, and winced remembering how she handled it. No one should have allowed her to take him to her flat that first night. She shouldn't have been alone, and certainly not alone with him. Maybe they had thought he was company enough. She had screamed and ranted, thrown everything in reach at him while he pleaded with her to understand, to listen. After a while he just stood there silently while she raged at him for allowing this. How could he agree to be left behind? How could he think this was a good idea? She would never love John the way she loved him! He could never be the same to her! How dare he!

When she had screamed herself out, and run out of things to throw in her vicinity, she had slumped back against the wall, exhausted. He had calmly walked over to her, and scooped her up into his arms, while she struggled against him, incoherent with tears blurring her vision.

"Rose, I'm not going to fight you. But I do need you to listen." God she hated how he said her name those first few weeks. So much like he had said it. She almost couldn't bare to look at him those first few days. His eyes were so intense every time she met them that it felt as though he was searing into her soul, seeing all the broken pieces of her heart.

"Rose, whether you believe it or not, I am not him. You know that. I know you know that, because you kissed me on that beach instead of him." She had started to interrupt him, to explain that it was just the emotion of the moment; that he was just the one closest, but he put a finger to her lips, keeping the other secure around her waist.

"I could never be him. The moment I was created, our paths diverged and I ceased to be a Time Lord. But I still have all the same memories and emotions…feelings. I meant what I said on that beach. I love you Rose Tyler. And I will wait for you to love me back." He had grinned ruefully at her and she hadn't met his eyes. "I'm not even a day old, but my memories are over 900 years old. I remember how to be patient."

He had spent that year trying to build a relationship with her, building a new sonic, working for Torchwood, and most importantly, growing a new TARDIS. John had been confident in the beginning that growing it would be easy, especially with Donna's hints, but as the months wore on, she could see the mounting worry behind his eyes whenever she asked about it.

He presented her with the vial of TARDIS on their one year anniversary.

"It wouldn't grow." He had explained sadly as he held it up to her. "I know I can never give you that life again, like we had hoped. But I thought I could give you the TARDIS this way".

She had teared up a little at the lost dream, and the thoughtfulness of the gift. She had kissed him deeply after he attached the chain around her neck and that night they made passionate love to chase away the memories.

She kissed the vial and tucked it back into her shirt, not noticing the slight glow that emanated from the coral inside when her lips touched the vial. Gently she nudged the sleeping Amelia.

"Hey. Good morning sweetheart. Did you sleep ok?"

Amelia didn't move off of Rose, but instead stretched across the couch and rubbed her eyes with her fists, yawning.

"Yeah, I slept ok."

"Good" she replied and then frowned slightly at a thought that entered her head. "Do you have…er…school or something today?" She was decidedly out of practice taking care of children. Amelia looked up at her from her lap with a puzzled smile on her face.

"No, it's Sunday." She said with a 'duh' tone of voice, and sat up from her sprawled position to make her way upstairs. She paused at the bottom step. "If you'd like, you can take my…my…" She searched desperately for the word but came up empty. "You can take the big room upstairs if you want."

Rose, noting the hesitation, stood up and nodded silently. There was something affecting Amelia's memory when it came to the mention of others living in the house, but she didn't want to push it, so instead she followed her upstairs and took the room she gestured toward.

Rose watched Amelia enter her room across the hall, aptly marked with drawings and pictures stating that this was Amelia's Bedroom. Rose grinned to herself and pushed the door open to her room and paused in the doorway to survey the area. It was a comfortably large bedroom. A large plushy bed was in the middle with a large quilt covering the top. A series of mismatched dressers and end tables took up the wall space. What struck Rose was the feeling of pause in the room. There were still clothes folded on the dresser, waiting to be put away. Shoes were stacked next to the door as if the previous occupant had just toed them off. The bed wasn't quite made, and various personal effects littered the table tops: a half used lotion bottle, a red scarf, a pair of earrings.

Rose entered the room cautiously, still half expecting someone to pop out and ask what she was doing in their room. It so obviously belonged to someone. Someone that Amelia couldn't remember. She went to sit carefully on the bed and noticed a picture on the bedside table. It was of Amelia and a kind looking woman, both smiling happily at the camera in front of a birthday cake. Who was this woman? Rose carefully picked up the frame to study it as Amelia opened the door and came rushing into the bedroom. Startled, Rose placed the picture, frame down, on the table.

"What is it Amelia?"

Amelia bit her lip, suddenly, unsure if this woman would understand.

"The crack in my bedroom wall is gone! The Raggedy Man got rid of it!"

Rose tilted her head and studied Amelia. She was obviously relieved with this turn of events. She had been so caught up with her own terror at being trapped on the wrong side of the void that she had completely forgotten about this Raggedy Man and the crack in Amelia's bedroom wall. The one who had eaten fish sticks and custard and ruined her kitchen. The one who had promised to take her away. Rose stood up from the bed and held out her hand to Amelia.

"I'm glad it's gone. Why don't you show me where it was, yeah?"

Amelia nodded and took Rose's hand, leading her into her bedroom and pointed at the empty space of blue wall. Rose noted the desk that was pushed up in the corner, and figured that it had been removed to reach this crack. Probably by this Raggedy Man. It was too large for Amelia to move on her own. So…not a dream then. Rose took out his…the sonic, and ran it indiscriminately over the empty expanse of wall. It wouldn't do to think of John at the moment. Rose pulled it back and looked at the readings it was putting it out.

"This is putting off residual void energy. But that's impossible…" she said, almost to herself. Amelia peered around too look at her and gasped when she realized what Rose was holding.

"He had that too! He used it to fix the crack!"

Rose whipped her head around at Amelia, her face frozen. She tried to remain emotionless, but Amelia could see the fear rise up behind her dark eyes.

"What? Who did? This Raggedy Man? Amelia, he had one of these?" She rushed over and got to her knees on Amelia's level and held up the sonic closely for her to inspect. "You're saying he had one of these? Be very very careful Amelia. Study it. Did he have what I'm holding in my hand? This is very important."

Amelia gently took it from her and activated it, revealing a lit blue tip. She bit her lip and nodded at Rose as she handed it back.

"Yes, that's what the Raggedy Man had with him. He used it to close the crack."

Rose sat back on her heels in shock. He was here. He was here. But that was impossible. Well not technically impossible a small voice in the back of her mind reminded her. You are in his universe now. In all of her panic and fear at the thought of being trapped on this side, she hadn't considered that she could run into him. She had only thought of returning to John and her universe. The one she had struggled to make a life in. She had fought tooth and nail for that life and she wasn't about to give it up. Rose glanced at Amelia, her mouth slightly open in shock.

"Amelia, what did the Raggedy Man call himself?"

Amelia was unsure if she should answer. Rose looked like she could pass out again at any minute.

"He called himself the Doctor." Amelia immediately wished she hadn't answered, because the remaining color left in Rose's face drained away, leaving her pale as a sheet. Her eyes grew impossibly wide and began to water at the strain. She was staring at Amelia, not seeing her, looking straight through her. Amelia shifted between her feet uncomfortably, waiting for Rose to come back to her senses.

Rose felt as though someone had dropped her off a building. All the breath was knocked out of her and she was mentally reeling from this possibility. She had arrived two nights ago. Had he been here? When she had landed? When she was throwing up? She had been so close to him…She swallowed the hot terror down and blinked a few times, inadvertently causing a stray tear or two to fall. She didn't notice. She stood up and started to walk towards the other bedroom in a daze.

"Thank you Amelia. I think I'm going to take a shower. Give me a bit, yeah?"

Rose shut the door behind her when she reached the bedroom, not looking behind her. She leaned back against the door, spreading her palms against the cool wood, willing her hands to stop shaking. She spent a few moments in this state, hands pressed against the door behind her as though it could ground her. She felt like she would fall off the face of the Earth.

Slowly, she stood straight and made her way into the en suite bathroom she had noticed earlier. It still bore all the marks that someone used it regularly, but she wasn't noticing any of it. She turned on the tap and waited for the water to reach scalding hot levels. She didn't notice how red her hand was when she removed it from checking the temperature.

In a trance she unzipped her black utilitarian jump jacket and let it fall to the floor. She toed out of her military grade boots and pulled her black shirt over her head. She unclipped her utility belt and let it fall to the ground with a heavy clunk and unbuttoned her cargo pants and shimmied out of them. Stripped herself of her undergarments, she turned to the mirror as it started to fog up from the hot steam. She was blurry at the edges. Around her neck, the tiny piece of dead TARDIS was still visible in the mirror. She closed it tightly in her fist, removing it and gently dropped it on the counter neck to the sink. She missed the golden glow in her fist when she touched it.

Pulling back the shower curtain, she stepped into the tub and stood under the burning water, willing the scalding temperature to bring her back to consciousness. She needed to be able to think clearly. She could tell that she had to be there for herself, and Amelia should it come to that. This shower would be the only time she would allow herself to come undone. She wrapped her arms around herself, attempting to hold in the shattered pieces of herself, and slid down to sit in the bottom of the shower. She began to work through her thoughts.

She had given up any idea of seeing him years ago. She had spent 5 years in her universe. 5 years with John and 5 years of making that life work. She had succeeded in making herself happy there. She had worked so hard to find happiness again. Clawed her way out of depression with John's help. And she was happy. But…

She hated herself for the tiny thrill that had shot up her spine at his name. She shouldn't feel that way. She should never feel that way. She swore up and down that she hated him. That she would never want to see him again, even if it were possible and John had always nodded silently at her insistence, the same reserved look on his face. Why would she want to be with someone who had abandoned her over and over again? He had proven that he didn't love her, for all his flirting and words and smiles. John had proven he loved her. He had given up everything to stay with her and had stayed by her side even when she couldn't stand to look at him. He was the one who had picked up the pieces of herself that he had shattered and put them back together. He had made her whole again.

The Doctor had left her. And now he had left this sweet little girl. He had swooped in to rescue her and left as abruptly, breaking his promise to her. Just like he did to her. Just like he always does she thought bitterly. He was never coming back for her. This impossibly alone girl was stuck here just as surely as Rose had been stuck in the alternate universe. Before it became her universe.

Rose tried to control the slight disappointment at the thought that she had come so close to seeing him again and missed it, and the competing satisfaction that he would never know she was here. He would never know how close he came to seeing her. But poor Amelia. He had promised her he would return.

Rose bit her lip and hugged her knees tighter to herself under the water. Amelia would spend years thinking he would return, just as she had. And she would inevitably be disappointed just as she was. But what should she do about it? What was there to be done? This girl was for all intents and purposes an orphan. She had no memory of anyone living in the house with her, but she felt as though she'd lived in the house her entire life.

Amelia could not be left on her own. She was too young to be on her own. And Rose didn't exactly have anywhere to go. Not anymore. Rose stood and turned off the water, as it slowly lost its heat. She pulled the shower curtain aside and grabbed the nearest towel as goosebumps raised over her body at the heat change. She toweled herself off and pulled back on her under garments, but looked at her jump gear. It would never do to keep wearing those things. That was her mission gear. She had been jumping to the prison, but it would never do in 1996 Leadworth. Sighing, she gathered it up in her arms and went back into the bedroom to hunt for something else to wear.

Whoever had lived in this room before her- Amelia's mom? Aunt? Sister? - had been close enough to her size that she could easily find some clothing to fit her. She chose a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a little bigger than she would've preferred and pulled a plain long sleeve shirt over her head. She absently braided her wet hair behind her head and glanced went back to the bathroom mirror to inspect the final product.

Her eyes were no longer red from the crying she had done the previous night and her makeup had washed off in shower. She looked remarkably fresh-faced compared to what she was used to. In civilian clothes with no makeup and her hair pulled back, she looked like herself before she left this universe. She leaned close to the mirror and inspected her face. She usually wore makeup to cover up how young she still looked. She should have started getting lines now…John certainly had. It always unnerved her to look at herself without makeup. She wasn't entirely sure of how old she was now. She was 19 when she had started running with the Doctor. 2 years with him before she had been stranded. Then 4 years in the alternate universe trying to make her way back. That made her 25 when he had abandoned her again after they saved the stars from going out. 5 more years there with John. She should be close to 30 now, if not already there. But she still looked just as she did when the Doctor had picked her up all those years ago. John and her mother sometimes had commented on it, but Rose had always shrugged it off and secretly applied more makeup to hide it. It was becoming unnerving.

Shaking herself from her thoughts, she left the bedroom and closed it behind her. She could smell food cooking in the kitchen and made her way down the stairs to find Amelia preparing lunch with a serious look of concentration on her face. She paused when she saw Rose in the doorway, but continued with what she was doing.

"Do you feel better?"

Rose nodded and reminded herself sternly that she had had her moment to lose it. She had to be an adult again. She had a little girl to take care of. Despite the fact that Amelia had been taking care of her these last two days.

"Much better. A shower can solve anything", she remarked with a cheeky grin in Amelia's direction. She returned it and proudly sat down what she'd been cooking on the table.

"I made lunch. Fish sticks!" she said proudly and Rose sat down at the table.

"No custard, right?" Rose crinkled her nose again and Amelia giggled.

"No custard, promise. It's just all I had left in the fridge." Amelia shrugged, as though it wasn't a big deal to have no food in the house and started munching on her food. Rose began to eat watching her.

"Hey, how about after this, you and I go to the market to pick up a few things. Might be fun?"

Amelia nodded eagerly and continued to eat quietly. After a few moments she opened her mouth to ask a question and then snapped it shut again loudly. Rose looked up at her and raised an eyebrow in her direction, grinning. "Question?" Amelia nodded.

"Do you know the Doctor?" Rose sat back from her plate and regarded Amelia quietly. She knew that this was coming. She had prepped for it in the shower. You already had your time. Now you have to be here for her, she reminded herself.

"Yeah. We used to travel together. A very long time ago." Amelia gazed at her in awe. She had actually traveled with him? Like she was going to do? Why wasn't she with him now?

"Why did you stop?"

Rose inhaled and narrowed her eyes slightly. "He broke his promise. So I didn't travel with him anymore."

Amelia bit her lip. "He promised he would take me with him. He promised he'd be back in five minutes and he'd take me with him."

Rose smiled at her kindly and reached across the able to take her hand. "The Doctor makes lots of promises. And he tries to keep them. He really does. But sometimes he can't." The Doctor lies, Rule Number One, she thought a little bitterly, but squashed the feeling quickly. This was about Amelia.

Amelia frowned stubbornly at her. "But he fixed the crack in my wall. I asked Santa to send a policeman to fix it and he showed up in a blue box that said police and fixed the crack."

There is was again, that crack. The crack may be gone, but it was still putting off residual void energy. Rose had to ask.

"Amelia, why did that crack scare you?"

Amelia looked at her plate and pulled her hand from Roses to her lap. "It had a scary voice in it. And an eyeball."

Rose raised her eyebrows, her thoughts running through her mind beginning to make sense.

"What did the eyeball say, Amelia?" Noticing her hesitation Rose smiled at her again. "Hey, you can trust me, yeah?"

Amelia nodded. "He said 'Prisoner Zero has escaped'".

The swirling thoughts in Rose's mind finally clicked into place. Prisoner Zero. Her Torchwood had a deal with the Atraxi prison in her universe. They would do some bounty hunting for them if any prisoners or wanted criminals ended up on their side of the universe, and the Atraxi would allow them to house anyone there that they wanted and stayed well away from Earth. Sometimes they were after the same people, which was a happy coincidence. Sometimes the Atraxi wanted someone that she didn't feel deserved it. She would fight bitterly against that, but there was nothing she could do about it in the end, other than sit the mission out. John had been better at the bounty hunting than she was. He had never completely quenched his residual blood lust and bounty hunting and criminal chasing provided a Torchwood-if not Rose- sanctioned way to sate it.

Prisoner Zero was one of her catches. A shape shifting alien who could take any form as long as he had an imprint on someone's mind. He had had an imprint on hers when she had cornered him, and John had been forced to watch as she fought herself hand to hand, attempting to subdue him. He had been panicked. She still remembered him gripping his hair, screaming her name in terror as she grappled with, essentially, herself.

She had been jumping to check on Prisoner Zero when she had landed in Amelia Pond's garden. He must have escaped her Atraxi prison through the same crack she fell through, maybe even piggybacking on her. But then why was the Atraxi prison here looking for him? Did he come through before her and get caught again? By the parallel Atraxi? He would certainly deserve it, but that was terrible luck if that's what happened. She scoffed out loud and Amelia tilted her head at her, confused.

"Oh, sorry." Rose grinned sheepishly and went back to her thoughts.

Then why had the Atraxi been looking for him in a crack in Amelia's wall? That surely wasn't the same crack she came through? Maybe her manipulator had been confused on where she should land when she was pulled through to this universe and deposited her as close as it could get, or so it thought. The crack to the Atraxi prison must have been open when she landed. That meant she had landed before the Doctor had closed it. Was she lying in the garden when the Doctor arrived? Figured.

So if Prisoner Zero escaped from them as well- presumably from the crack in Amelia's wall- where was he now? She glanced at the stairs uneasily. Amelia followed her gaze.

"What?"

Rose tried to smile reassuringly. "Nothing. Prisoner Zero just made me remember some things, that's all." Rose stood up from the table quickly. "Stay here, yeah? I'll be right back."

Rose quickly went up the stairs and ran to the room where she'd left her gear. She strapped on her utility belt and pulled the sonic out. Cautiously, she stepped into the hallway and began to point the sonic at each room in turn. Amelia's room- just residual void energy. Her room- nothing. Room 3- nothing. Room 4- nothing. Room 5- nothing. She started to lower the sonic, but her instincts stopped her. Look in the corner of your eye her instincts whispered. Her instincts sounded like John. She turned on her heel slowly, sonic pointed straight ahead and there it was. Door 6. She took a few steps towards it silently and soniced it. She held her breath as she waited for the results.

Nothing. The sonic didn't register any void energy or life forms. She let out the breath she'd been holding and relaxed slightly. There was a perception filter on that room though. She wouldn't have noticed it if she hadn't had specific training with perception filters. She tried the knob and found it locked. She thought about breaking down the door, but the sonic never lied. Why would it? Sighing, she threw her gear back into the-her- bedroom and made her way back downstairs to Amelia. She smiled at Amelia.

"Just forgot something upstairs."

Amelia nodded, not quite believing her, but she trusted Rose. She didn't act like other adults. She acted much more like the Raggedy Doctor did. Rose paused in the kitchen doorway.

"So Amelia, I have a very serious question for you."

Amelia nodded seriously, and Rose continued.

"Would it be alright if I stayed with you for a while? At least until the Doctor comes back for you?"

Amelia's face broke into a grin and she nodded enthusiastically. Rose grinned at her and sat back down at the table and grabbed another fish stick. The two girls the Doctor left, taking care of each other. Rose knew he would never come back for her. He had saved her and taken off, just like he always did. But Rose would stay with her, at least until she could figure out how to make it back to her universe.

Rose winked at her. "How about you bring out some of that custard? Might as well try it."