The Runaway Bride

"What?"

"What?"

"What?"

"Who are you?" the woman asked sharply.

"But-," the Doctor stared at her with wide eyes.

"Where am I?"

"What?"

"What the hell is this place?"

"Okay!" Rose called, holding her side with a wince. "Let's take a deep breath."

"But she can't be here!" the Doctor waved at the woman wildly. "It's impossible!"

Rose used the console to get to her feet and leaned on it slightly. "Just as impossible as my being here, considering where I just was."

"But she can't do that! I wasn't- we're in flight, Rose, that's physically impossible-,"

"I know it should be impossible, but clearly it isn't!" Rose snapped back. "And I've just been through a hell of a few weeks so don't yell at me!"

Suddenly, the Doctor's confusion switched back to concern. "Right, what happened? You've just regenerated, we should get you to the zero room or-,"

"Tell me where I am! I demand you tell me right now, where am I?" the redhead interrupted them.

"You're inside a ship called the TARDIS," Rose snapped back at her. "We don't know how you've gotten here, but if you tell us where the wedding is, we'll get you back there."

"Rose, sit," the Doctor ordered, pointing at the jump seat. She made a face at him, so he grabbed her arm gently but firmly and escorted her over and pushed her into the seat. With her there and making faces at his back and sending annoyance through their bond, he moved over to the console and started working. "How'd you even get here?"

"Well, obviously when you kidnapped me," the woman glared furiously. "And her! Did you kidnap her, too? Oh, she's hurt! What've you done to her? Oh god, you hurt her!"

"I did not," the Doctor snapped, his eyes flashing angrily. "I didn't lay a finger on her, and I sure as hell didn't kidnap you."

"Oh, but you kidnapped her!"

"W- no!" he threw his hands up in frustration.

"What's your name?" Rose asked calmly. The woman glanced at her and answered slowly.

"Donna. My name is Donna. Yours is Rose, then? Did he hurt you? Did he take you, too?"

Rose shook her head. "No, Donna. Something's happened. It seems impossible, but this is all an accident. I understand why you're frustrated and upset, wearing that dress. The Doctor didn't hurt me, and I came here on my own."

"Oh," Donna scoffed. She turned and ran toward the door and, despite protests from both Time Lord and Time Lady, she opened it. She stopped short before falling out into the Medusa Cascade, but was stuck standing there, staring.

The Doctor sighed and walked over to her. "You're in space. Outerspace. On our spaceship. It's called the TARDIS."

"How am I breathing?" was the first question she asked.

"The TARDIS has a protective shield that extends four feet on all sides," Rose called from the seat. "You could walk out there and be fine for a minute."

"Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor, she's Rose," he said, nodding between them. "And you're… human?"

"Yeah," she said before pausing. "Is that optional?"

Rose let out a slight laugh. "For some of us, yeah."

Donna's eyes widened, and she looked extremely overwhelmed. "You're an alien?"

The Doctor went to confirm it, but Rose spoke first. "Do we look like aliens?"

"No, but I'm in space, aren't I?" Donna shot back. "So you might as well be."

"My Mum lives in London," she told her. "My best friend is in Cardiff. Nothing more human than Cardiff, is there?"

Donna tilted her head as if to agree. "It's freezing with these doors open."

The Doctor closed them and rushed back to the console. Rose met him there, ignoring his concerned hovering as she worked to send them back to earth. The TARDIS was a bit weak after not only her return, but also burning up the Medusa Cascade. It was difficult, getting their ship to go where they wanted. While she worked, the Doctor ranted.

"I don't understand it, and I understand everything-,"

"No, you don't," Rose interrupted as she worked. He ignored her.

"This can't happen! There is no way a human being can lock itself onto the TARDIS and transport itself inside! It must be-," he mumbled, grabbing a tool from his tool belt. He pointed it at Donna as she leaned away from him. "There's some sort of subatomic connection, something like a temporal field. Maybe something pulling you into alignment with the chronon shield-,"

"That's impossible," Rose reminded him. "It'd kill her before she got near the chronon shield, much less in alignment with it. That would take years to do, by the way."

The Doctor gave her a frustrated look. "Maybe it's something macrobudding her DNA with the interior matrix-,"

"The interior matrix has seven layers of protection before you even get to the core, which has so much shielding that I can't even glimpse it. There's no way."

"Maybe a genetic-,"

Donna slapped the Doctor, and both he and Rose reeled back with it in pain. Rose stepped between them quickly while the Doctor tried to right himself and glared down at Donna. "Look, we did not do this to you. We were sort of in the middle of something when you just showed up. We're going to help you by getting you home, so in the meantime if you can keep your hands to yourself, I won't have to lock you in the kitchen. Slap him again and I'll show you-,"

"Rose."

She stiffened when his hand fell on her arm and had to keep from flipping him over and putting her boot on his throat. She backed up and went back to the console, this time much quieter. The Doctor, while concerned for her and aware of the instincts that his touch had arisen, turned his focus to Donna with the objective of getting her the hell out of there as soon as possible.

"Get me to the church!" Donna yelled at him now that Rose was no longer threatening her.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed very slightly, but he moved to double the speed in getting to earth. "Where is this wedding?"

"St. Mary's, Haven Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the solar system!"

"Chiswick," Rose said, pulling the lever to her left. The console started moving, and she leaned against it as it did. "So, Doctor, how do I look?"

He considered the question and gave her a good once over. "A bit… red. That's not fair! I'm supposed to be red!"

She grabbed at her hair and laughed slightly, though she grimaced at the same time. "It's a little brown, to be fair. And the rest?"

He tilted his head from side to side and shrugged. "Same height, I'd say 5'6", a bit stronger but slimmer, and sort of… pale. Grey eyes. Well, the bits that aren't- you know."

"Are you- are you telling her how she looks?" Donna looked between them, lost. "Like she's never seen herself before?"

The TARDIS landed with a thud, one worse than they'd felt since their first date. The doors opened, and Donna ran out with the couple following her. She turned in a circle, clearly agitated. "I said St. Mary's! What sort of Martians are you?"

"Oh, no, we're- we're not- Martians are- okay," Rose sighed, giving in. The Doctor was stroking the TARDIS in concern.

"Something's wrong with her. Did she get hurt when you came back?"

"That was all me," she assured him.

"It's like she's… recalibrating. She shouldn't need to recalibrate, not yet. Not unless something pulled her off kilter. She's… digesting. What is it? What have you eaten? What's wrong?"

Rose watched Donna take her first look at the outside of the TARDIS while the Doctor ran back in the ship to look at her. The woman looked from the TARDIS to Rose and then back to the TARDIS.

"Donna! You've really got to think. Is there anything that might have caused this? Anything you might've done? Any sort of alien contact? I can't let you go wandering off… what if you're dangerous? I mean, have you seen lights in the sky or did you touch something like something different? Something strange, or something made out of a piece of metal? Who are you getting married to? Are you sure he's human?"

"Now that's a good one," Rose rolled her eyes, watching Donna process. "Make her doubt her own fiance. What if Jack walked up to me and asked if you're dangerous?"

"Are you sure he hasn't?"

She shrugged to concede the point - she knew Jack had made a comment of the sort before.

"He's not overweight with a zip around his forehead, is he?" the Doctor wondered.

"I swear to god if we run into another Slitheen, I will lose my mind. I cannot handle them," Rose said seriously. She let out a sigh as Donna turned around, unable to handle the TARDIS, and took off down the street. She followed behind her tiredly. "Donna."

"I just want to get married," the woman nearly pleaded. "Please."

"Alright, look," Rose sighed, following her. "Look, we need to make sure you're not in any danger. I don't know how this happened - and God, that's nice to say - but it could be dangerous. Just let us make sure everything's alright and then we'll leave you be."

"Just a few tests," the Doctor agreed, coming up behind her. Rose flinched and stopped walking abruptly, fighting the urge to run away from him. He looked back worriedly, but she gave a slight shake of her head, so he kept moving. "Then we can get you right back to that wedding of yours with your non-alien fiance."

"No way! That box is too weird," Donna declared.

"It's… bigger on the inside," the Doctor tried for a casual tone. "That's all."

"Oh, that's all?" she asked sarcastically. With a glance at her watch, she winced. "Ten past three, I'm gonna miss it."

"Why don't you phone them, tell them where you are?"

"She's in a wedding dress," Rose reminded him, catching up. She was standing straight now and her casual stride had turned into a bit of a march in the Doctor's opinion. "Most wedding dresses in this century don't exactly have pockets, Doctor."

"Thank you," Donna huffed.

"That being said, the Doctor's got a phone you can borrow," Rose said. He gave her an odd look.

"What happened to yours?"

"I… lost most of my things," she said slowly. "Just give her your phone, Doctor."

He scratched his hair sheepishly. "I- I might've… used mine as a tracker for yours. Out of order."

"To hell with you martians!" Donna decided. She took off down the street in search of a taxi, and it wasn't going well. The Doctor and Rose started to help her, resulting in the Doctor nearly being run over in an over-excited jump into the road.

While Donna was complaining to the Doctor, Rose put her fingers in her mouth and whistled the way they did on the field if they lost their comms. It was extremely effective, and almost immediately, a taxi pulled off to the side to pick them up.

"How- where did you learn to do that?" the Doctor asked her in shock.

"Tokyo," she answered, opening the door for Donna. "Rickey dropped his comms in the pond, and we got separated. He got lost, nearly missed the extraction and then got eaten by Buabays."

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Rickey got eaten?"

"Well, they spit him out in the end," she reasoned. "He's fine, but he refuses to go back to Tokyo."

As soon as all three of them were in the taxi, it pulled away. "That'll cost you, sweetheart. Double rates today."

"Oh my god," Donna gasped, looking at them. "Have you got any money?"

Rose made a face and reached in her jacket, where she pulled out wads of money from different countries and shoved it in Donna's hands. "You figure it out."

"How- you don't have your phone but you've got currencies from six countries?" the Doctor asked, bewildered.

"Yeah, well, I didn't have much time to find my things when I got out, but stealing cash anywhere is pretty simple when you're trained to do it," she muttered. He searched her eyes and squeezed her hand.

"Got out of where?"

"Torchwood."

"But I thought Pete ran Torchwood now," he shook his head, lost. "Last time, he was-,"

"He does, and he's not the same, clearly," she said sharply. "It doesn't matter. I'm out, it's over, and we've got more important things to focus on."

His mouth opened and closed again. Something had happened, and he wanted nothing more than to talk about it, but they had an impossible, runaway bride to take care of, and Rose seemed so angry, he didn't know how to help.

"Did you- Doctor, fish!" Rose exclaimed, turning to look behind them at some Santas with instruments.

"...fish?" he blinked at her. She cursed in Old High Gallifreyan, and his eyebrows shot up. "Fish aren't something to be that angry about. Sure, they can be a bit rude, and they bite your toes sometimes, but-,"

"You didn't do it, I did. Too many memories that don't belong to you. It's- it's a fish, it's being controlled by someone else, it's a robot. They're looking for Donna, I'd bet. This was definitely on purpose."

"Pull off here," the Doctor told the driver, much to Donna's frustration. The man took the next exit and followed the Doctor's instructions until they came to a large building. While they were making their way up the stairs to the roof to waste time, Rose took off her perception filter and fiddled with it with the help of her sonic. She slipped the ring off the chain and handed it over to Donna, who glared at her.

"It's going to keep you hidden from the creatures that want to find you. It's a bio-damper. That, or a slightly damaged perception filter, depending on how much my sonic is messed up."

"Who touched your sonic?" the Doctor asked, alarmed. She didn't answer him, and he started to pace on the roof in frustration.

While he did that, Donna sighed and looked out at the view before them. "Come on then, robo-Santas, what are they for?"

"I've seen them before," Rose explained quietly. "Attracted by regeneration energy. They scavenge whatever their masters tell them to. For some reason, right now, that's you. Santa is just a disguise, and one they seem to like. If I'm honest, it sort of puts me off Christmas."

"So what happened to you?" Donna asked bluntly.

Rose stared toward Powell Estate quietly. "I can't think of what they'd want with you, though. I mean, you're just a human, right?"

"Well, I was born here, what else would I be?"

"Oh, you'd be surprised."

"And how did you get inside the TARDIS?" the Doctor added, coming to sit on Rose's other side. "What's your job?"

"I'm a secretary," she answered. The Doctor started scanning her again and shaking his head.

"Weird. I mean, you're not special, you're not powerful, you're not connected, you're not clever-,"

"Just because you can't see those things immediately doesn't mean she isn't," Rose elbowed the Doctor in the side. "So shut up."

The Doctor cleared his throat. "Right. What kind of secretary?"

"I'm at H.C. Clements," Donna answered with a huff. "It's where I met Lance. I was temping. I mean, it was all a bit posh, really. I'd spent the last two years at a double glazing firm. Well, I thought I'm never gonna fit in here, and then he made me a cup of coffee. I mean, that just doesn't happen, nobody gets the secretaries a coffee. And Lance, he's the head of HR. He doesn't need to bother with me. But he was nice, he was funny. And it turns out, he thought everyone else was really snotty, too. That's how it started, me and him. One cup of coffee. That was it."

"When was this?" the Doctor wondered.

"Six months ago."

"Bit quick to get married."

Rose raised an eyebrow. It hadn't been six months before their bond was originally ignited.

Donna shook her head. "Well, he insisted. And he nagged, and he nagged me. And he just wore me down, and then finally, I just gave in."

The Doctor looked away, fully disbelieving. "What does H.C. Clements do?"

"Oh, security systems, you know. Entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing. If you ask me, it's a posh name for locksmiths."

"Keys…"

"Anyway, enough of my CV. Come on, it's time to face the consequences," Donna decided with a sigh. "Oh, this is gonna be so shaming… you Martians can do the explaining."

"Yeah, we're- we're not from Mars," the Doctor tried, but Donna either wasn't listening, or didn't care.

"Oh, I had this great big reception all planned. Everyone's gonna be heartbroken."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

When they got to the venue, Donna walked inside while the Doctor stopped Rose in the hall and led her away from the music. "Rose, what happened?"

"This isn't really the time for it," she nodded toward the open doors to the ballroom, where she could see everyone noticing Donna.

"She can handle them," the Doctor disagreed. "And I need to know what happened. If something's wrong and you're in danger, I need to know how worried I should be."

Rose's lips thinned slightly, but she couldn't bring herself to be angry with him. "It wasn't the same. It just- it wasn't the same. Things went bad weeks ago, and I couldn't get away. I don't know what was real and what wasn't. I know what they told me, I know there's- there's things I don't remember, things they said I did and- I can't do this right now."

"Okay," he said softly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She flinched slightly, but forced herself to relax into it. "We won't. Why don't we- oh."

They both turned to find Donna beginning to cry - although it was clearly fake - and her friends and family turning extremely empathetic. Her fiance rushed forward to hold her, and when Donna caught a glimpse of Rose and the Doctor, she winked.

"Well, no need to be worried about her," the Doctor shook his head. "Care for a dance, Rose?"

"Can you remember how?" she wondered, walking with him into the ballroom.

"I'm sure I'll figure it out somehow."

After a few minutes of dancing, they excused themselves. Rose borrowed a phone off a man at the bar and, with the help of her sonic, got information on H.C. Clements. When it came to the end, she gave a sharp gasp and nearly dropped the phone.

"Rose? What is it? What-," the Doctor cut off when he leaned over to look at the screen.

Sole Prop. TORCHWOOD

"Doctor, I can't- if it's- it should be over here, so how- how-,"

"Breathe," he told her, rubbing her arms gently. He moved closer to speak in her ear softly, soft enough to calm her. "It's over here. The only Torchwood belongs to Jack. Why don't you call him?"

"Jack," she repeated nervously. She thought back to the alternate version of her best friend who chased her through Denmark and Norway. The Doctor caught onto it through their bond and frowned deeply.

"Why was Jack in Pete's World? Why was he chasing you? Even I know he would never lay a hand on you, Rose, so how- why are you scared of him?"

She dropped her head against his chest and focused on taking in deep breaths. "It wasn't him, Doctor. Not my Jack. Time travel exists there, it's just… different. He was different. I brought him to Torchwood, I gave him Torchwood Three. He took me back to London to be looked over and handed me to-," she stopped there, unwilling to explain further.

"He's not the same person that he is here," the Doctor reminded her gently. "If he did something to you there, that's the one to be afraid of. As much as I… dislike Jack, I can't hate him because I know he would do anything for you. If you can't call him, I'll do it."

"No, it's… it's okay," she said after a moment. "It might help."

"Alright," he smiled down at her. "I'll stay in here, make sure Santa doesn't come kidnap the bride."

With a slightly subdued laugh, Rose took the phone and walked out of the hall. She dialed the number she'd memorized over a year ago and tapped her foot while it rang.

"Harkness."

"Jack," she breathed out, shaking. There was a slight pause, and she remembered that he might not recognize her. "It's Rose. I regenerated again."

"Rose," he repeated. "Prove it."

She sighed. "You're convinced that the cricket we met on Ald is following you. I've told you over and over that twenty-first century Earth is filled with crickets, and you don't believe me."

"He was flirting with me," Jack said defensively. He paused, and she could hear his smile. "Rosie. Why don't you come visit? Your name was on the… I thought you were dead."

"Busy. Jack, would-," she cut herself off, took a breath, and tried to change directions. "Never mind. I have a question."

"Ask the first question and I'll answer the second," he told her. She hesitated for a moment too long, because he spoke again. "What happened?"

"You wouldn't hurt me, would you?"

He sounded startled, which was probably fair. "Why the hell- Rose, I would never hurt you. I'd die before I hurt you, you know that. What's going on?"

"I ended up in Pete's World again," she said quietly. "There was- it's complicated, but you were there, Pete's version of you. Some things happened, bad things, and you ended up tracking me, trying to capture me. To take me back so they could keep experimenting. You were on Bad Wolf Bay when I came back."

He was quiet for a moment, and when he spoke, he sounded deadly serious. "Rose Tyler, I would never hurt you. I would do horrible, horrible things to make sure you're safe. I would do things you would never forgive me for, just to make sure you smile again. Besides, isn't there a rule about hurting your soulmate or something?"

She let out a small laugh and nodded to herself. "In books, maybe."

"Do I need to keep going, or do you believe me?"

"I believe you. Can I ask my question now?"

"Shoot."

"Do you- Torchwood Three, I mean, do you own a company called H.C. Clements?"

He paused before he answered. "Yeah, if I remember correctly, we do. Bought it out before One could. There's something weird going on there, but we can't pinpoint what, exactly. It's been a while since we've looked at it. Why?"

"An employee of theirs, Donna, just appeared on the TARDIS while we were in flight," she explained. Before he could tell her how impossible that was, she continued. "We've been trying to figure out how. I think you'd like this part - she's in her wedding dress. She missed her wedding. We're at the reception now."

She could practically hear his grin. "Can I crash it?"

"No," she rolled her eyes. "It'd be over by the time you got here. I'll come see you as soon as we're done with this and I've had time to recover, but I should go."

He sighed dramatically. "Alright. Oh, before you go?"

"Huh?"

"I'm so glad you're alive," he told her seriously. "And I love you, Rosie."

"I love you, too, Jack," she replied before hanging up. She sighed and glanced out the window to take a deep breath before walking back in, but was startled at the sight of the fish approaching the building.

Rose broke into a run back into the hall and nearly collided with the Doctor on the way. "They're here, they found her!"

"Huon particles!" he called in explanation as they ran toward Donna. "Donna! Donna, they've found you!"

"But you said I was safe!" Donna argued.

Rose shook her head wildly. "Bio-dampers don't work on something so old!"

"Yeah- we've gotta get everyone out," the Doctor said, looking around. "Out the back door!"

They ran that way, but the fish were back there, too. Everywhere they went, they found the building surrounded. "We're trapped."

"It's the tree!" Rose warned, pointing to the large Christmas tree by the dance floor. The Doctor looked at her like she was crazy, so she just waved at her head. "I'm sorry, but you didn't experience it, I did! Christmas trees tried to murder my mother!"

"Has she lost her mind?" Donna asked sharply. "It's just a tree!"

"Get away from the trees!" Rose yelled rushing forward. "Now, away!"

"Look at her eyes," an old man gasped. "Miss, is that safe?"

"Not now, grandpa," Donna said, waving him back from the trees. "Away from the trees!"

"Oh, they're idiots, what harm are Christmas trees gonna-," Donna's mum cut off as ornaments started flying into the air.

"That's… new," Rose commented wearily.

She was right to be concerned, because ornaments started attacking. When they made contact with something, they blew up. Guests ran in a panic while the ornament-bombs attacked. By the time the Doctor got to the microphone to destroy the fish, the guests had nearly all escaped the room.

Rose ran over to the robots and started scanning them. She jumped when the Doctor appeared behind her silently and touched her back, and whipped around with her arm out to knock him on the floor. He barely had time to jump over her arm and throw his hands up. "It's me, just the Doctor."

"Oh," she frowned. Shifting, she held her sonic up to show him her scans. "Someone's controlling them again. They're not scavengers, they're just muscle."

"Nevermind all that, he's a doctor," Donna told them. "People have been hurt."

"No, they wanted you alive. Look, they're not active now," the Doctor muttered. While he fidgeted with the fish, Rose got up silently and followed Donna to help. Luckily, no one had been hurt too badly. It was mostly cuts and bruises, as well as a few broken bones. The worst injury was the one man that had been hit directly by an ornament. His arm was bleeding freely and rather heavily. Rose got to her knees, ripped off a piece of her shirt, and tied it tightly around the man's upper arm to stop the bleeding.

"Will I lose it?" the man asked. She offered him a stiff smile.

"I've seen worse than this, and he still kept his arm," she assured him. "You'll need surgery, probably a few pins in the arm, but you'll be fine. Hold it still, try not to move it. There's an ambulance on the way."

"Look, in his arm," a woman by her side - Nerys, Rose thought - pointed. "Bits of robot!"

Rose grimaced. She was right. What was worse, was that the bits were still flashing. She dug in her pockets for a medical magnet. When she didn't find that, she grabbed her tweezers instead and looked around. "There doesn't happen to be any vodka here, does there?"

"Oh!" Donna gasped. She ran behind the bar and returned with a half-full bottle of vodka.

After dumping the vodka on the tweezers, she carefully used them to pluck out the pieces of metal in the wound. There were many, and it took her nearly five minutes before she got them all. When she finished, she backed up. "We need to go. You can't stay here. He'll be fine, and so will everyone else. The Doctor already went outside."

"Right," Donna muttered. She helped Rose to her feet, and they ran out after the Doctor. He held one of the fish's head in his arms and was still pressing his sonic to it.

"There's someone behind this, directing the roboforms," the Doctor told them, though they already knew.

"But why is it me? What have I done?" Donna complained.

"You didn't necessarily do anything," Rose told her.

"Rose!" the Doctor exclaimed. "I lost the signal. What did- did you get ahold of him?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

"What'd he say?"

"He said he bought it out before Torchwood One had the chance. They knew there's something weird there, but couldn't figure out what, so they haven't looked in a while. I told him about Donna, but he didn't know anything."

"Well, we can scratch 'weapon for the British Empire' off the list of ideas," the Doctor joked. "Time to go to H.C. Clements!"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"To you lot, this might just be a fancy locksmith, but H.C. Clements was bought up twenty-three years ago by the Torchwood Institute," the Doctor said, running to a computer.

"Who are they?" Donna asked.

The Doctor gave her a dark look. "They were behind the Battle of Canary Wharf."

Donna gave him a blank look.

"Cyberman invasion."

Still no recognition.

"Skies over London full of Daleks?"

Donna shrugged. "I was in Spain."

"Yeah, they had Cybermen in Spain"

"Scuba diving."

The Doctor gave her a look. "That big picture, Donna, you keep on missing it."

"Anyway," Rose cut in. "H.C. Clements was bought by Torchwood Three, right out from under Torchwood One. That's my friend, Jack. "

"Ah, but he's not paying attention," the Doctor shook his head. "I think someone else came in and took over the operation."

"Well what do they want with me?" Donna asked tiredly.

The Doctor straightened while Rose took over fighting the computer. "Somehow, you've been dosed with Huon energy, and that's a problem, because Huon energy hasn't existed since the Dark Times. The only place you'd find a Huon particle now is in the heart of the TARDIS… and…"

Rose and the Doctor exchanged a glance and a deep feeling of dread.

"And where?"

"That's what happened," Rose said quietly. "You were pulled to the TARDIS, because Huon particles are powerful. They were activated, so you were snatched away, taken directly to the TARDIS."

"Is that dangerous?"

"Lance! What was H.C. Clements working on?" the Doctor asked, ignoring the question. "Anything top secret, special operations, do not enter?"

"I don't know! I'm in charge of personnel, I wasn't project manager. Why am I even explaining myself? What the hell are we talking about?"

The Doctor would've ignored his outburst, had it not made Rose jump and back up. But it did, so he turned on Lance with a glare. "You might not care about your fiance's life or the danger she is in, but we do. More than that, I care about Rose's life and wellbeing, and right now you are no good for either of them so I suggest you decide whether or not you want to be here for this, and you make that decision quickly."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

They walked into the lab together, and Rose looked around with a deep frown. "I'm getting the feeling that Jack might own H.C. Clements, but Torchwood One ran it."

"You need to tell him to pay more attention to his things," the Doctor winked at her as he ran over to some equipment. "Look at this! Stunning!"

"What does it do?" Donna wondered nervously.

"Particle extraction. Hold on," he said, running to tap on the glass. "Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. Of course, my people got rid of Huons. They unravel the atomic structure unless you were put through some rigorous and dangerous… ah… conditioning."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Conditioning isn't quite the word I'd pick, Doctor."

"Alright, unless you did something really stupid, twice."

"Well, she's done loads of stupid things!" Lance exclaimed. Donna smacked him.

"Hey!"

Lance shifted slightly. "Your people, though? Who are they? What company do you represent?"

"Oh, we're… freelancers," the Doctor raised an eyebrow at Rose with a grin. "But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river! Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result… Huon particles in liquid form. Oh, for the British Empire after all."

"But there is no British Empire," Donna said.

"Luckily," Rose muttered, shaking her head.

"But those- that's what's inside me?" Donna asked. The Doctor opened the small bottle he held very slightly, and Donna looked down at herself as she lit up. Rose also lit up, and he closed the bottle quickly and barely caught her as she started to fall.

"Regeneration isn't finished," he grimaced. "You should've stayed in the TARDIS."

She coughed and patted his arm. "I'm fine, let me up."

The Doctor helped her upright, but held her hand tightly as he turned to talk to Donna. "Genius. Because the particles are inert. They need something to catalyze inside, and that's you. Saturate the body, and then… Oh! The wedding! Yes, you're getting married! That's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle. Your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine. Wham go the endorphins! Oh, you're cooking. Yeah, you're like a walking oven. A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away. The particles reach the turning point- Shazam!"

Rose saw it coming before it happened and pulled the Doctor back before Donna could slap him. "Stop slapping him or I swear to god I'll smack you harder than my mother smacks him!"

"I wouldn't wish that on anybody," the Doctor said seriously.

"Are you enjoying this?" Donna asked angrily. His mouth opened in surprise, so she huffed and calmed down before she spoke again. "Alright, just tell me. These particles, are they dangerous?"

"Yes," Rose answered before he could lie to her. "Yes, they're dangerous. We need to get them out of you. We're going to work this out, Donna. It's what we do."

There was a clanging noise and as the wall before them started to rise, a voice could be heard. "Oh, she is long since lost. I have waited so long… hibernating at the edge of the universe until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken me."

"So they've been digging, then," Rose said, glancing into the pit before them. The Doctor made his way over and looked inside.

"Oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser," he told them. "How far down does it go?"

"Down and down, all the way to the center of the Earth."

"Really?" he asked in surprise. "Seriously, what for?"

Donna stepped closer with an idea. "Dinosaurs!"

"What?"

"Dinosaurs?"

"What are you on about, dinosaurs?" he blinked.

She shrugged slightly. "That film under the earth with dinosaurs… trying to help!"

"Okay," Rose elbowed the Doctor. "Moving on."

"Only a madman talks to thin air!" the Doctor exclaimed. "And trust me, you don't want to make me mad. I'm already mad as is. You interrupted a very important reunion. So where are you?"

"High in the sky," the voice told them dramatically. "Floating so high on Christmas night."

"Don't be a coward," Rose told the voice. "We're not here to defeat you over intercom. Come down here."

"Who are you with such command?"

"Rose Tyler," she said, standing tall and straight, ready to fight. "And he's the Doctor."

"Prepare your best medicines, doctor man, for you will be sick at heart," the voice warned. When she appeared across from them, Rose let out a yelp.

"Maybe not at heart, but my eyes are sad," she muttered to the Doctor. He was not amused. He stared at the red spider-ish thing with wide, horrified eyes.

"Racnoss. That's impossible. You're one of the Racnoss."

"Empress," she said, standing taller. "Of the Racnoss."

"Well, where's everyone else?" Rose wondered. "Is it just you left?"

"Such a sharp mind," she hissed.

"That's it, the last of the Racnoss," the Doctor mumbled thoughtfully. He leaned closer to Rose and Donna. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times. Billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores. They devoured whole planets."

"Racnoss are born starving," the Empress said defensively. "Is that our fault?"

"They eat people?" Donna exclaimed, shocked.

"Yeah, uh- yeah," Rose grimaced. "Looks like she's eaten someone recently, too."

"Aye, Christmas dinner," the Empress laughed.

The Doctor screwed up his face in confusion. "You shouldn't even exist. Way back in history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss. They were wiped out!"

"Except for me."

Donna stepped forward after spotting Lance. "That's what I've got inside of me, that Huon energy thing. Oi! Look at me lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in?"

Rose grabbed the Doctor's hand. "I've got a bad feeling about this. Lance, doesn't he seem-,"

"Yeah, he does."

"How come I get all stacked up with those Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me!"

"The bride is so feisty!" the Empress exclaimed.

"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big thing, but a spider's just a spider, and an axe is an axe. Now, do it!"

Lance was within feet of the Empress. He pulled back to swing, but stopped. He started laughing, looking at Donna, and dropped the axe as the Empress started laughing, too.

"Oh, I knew it," Rose scowled.

"That was a good one," Lance pointed at the spider. "Your face!"

"Lance is funny," the Empress told them.

"...what?"

"I'm sorry," the Doctor told her with a frown.

"Sorry for what? Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!"

"God, she's thick," Lance snarled.

Rose's jaw set angrily. "She's not thick because she assumed she wasn't engaged to a man that's trying to- to feed her to a spider older than the sun! No human just assumes their fiance is going to help an ugly, red, overgrown spider!"

"I don't understand," Donna said softly.

"How did you meet him?" the Doctor asked.

"In the office."

He nodded. "He made you coffee."

"What?"

"Every day, I made you coffee," Lance sneered.

"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months."

Donna breathed out slowly. "He was poisoning me."

The Doctor, unsure how to be sensitive, turned back to Lance. "It was all there in the job title. Head of human resources."

"This time, it's personnel."

"Oh, come on," Rose glared. "That's the worst thing I've heard come out of your mouth."

"But… we were getting married," she told Lance, her heart breaking.

He shrugged. "Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. But then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavored Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap, yap, yap. Ooh, Brad and Angelina! Is Posh pregnant? X Factor, Atkin's diet, feng shui, split ends! Text me, text me, text me! Dear god, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a metal."

"Oh, is that what she's offered you?" the Doctor asked him. "The Empress of the Racnoss. What are you? Her consort?"

"It's better than a night with her."

"That's it," Rose snapped, putting an arm around Donna's shoulders. "Donna is ten times the human you ever will be. A traitor to the human race, to earth. Say one more thing about Donna and I'll give you a personal tour of the earth's core!"

Lance huffed and turned his gaze to the Doctor. "It's like you said, Doctor. Big picture. What's the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to… go out there. To see it - the size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?"

"Who is this warrior and the physician?" the Empress asked, looking between Rose and the Doctor.

Lance nodded at Donna. "She said Martian."

"We're not Martians," Rose threw her arms up in frustration. "God's sake, Martians are tall and scaly and green. We are none of those- well, the Doctor's tall, but not the rest."

"The point is, what's down there?" the Doctor pointed at the hole. "The Racnoss are extinct. What's going to help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of earth, innit?"

"I think he wants us to talk," Lance said.

"I think so too."

"Well, tough. All we need is Donna."

"Kill the chattering warrior and doctor man!"

"Don't you hurt them!" Donna exclaimed, pushing herself in front of them. "I won't let them!"

"Ah, well, now, except," the Doctor put his arms in the air when the fish surrounding them pointed their guns at them. "I just want to point out the obvious-,"

"They won't hit the bride," the Empress assured him. "They're such very good shots."

"J-j-just hold on, just a tick, just a tiny little tick," he insisted. "If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, reverse it, and the spaceship comes to her…"

He opened the bottle of particles again, and the women on either side of him lit up golden. While the fish started firing, the TARDIS appeared around them, keeping them safe. The Doctor quickly grabbed Rose as she passed out and set her on the ground for a moment while he put them in the time vortex. Once that was done, he grabbed Rose again and ran into the Zero Room with Donna behind them.

"But what's wrong with her? Why's she golden, too?"

"That alien bit? That's this," the Doctor told her, setting Rose on the bed. He brushed her hair out of her face and held her hand. "Rose is the only other being aside from the TARDIS that can hold Huon particles - also known as Artron energy - within her without dying. Issue is, she just- well, it doesn't matter what it was exactly, but she's healing from something right now, so she's too weak to handle excess Huon particles. The TARDIS is the best place for her to heal, specifically in this room."

Donna fell silent as they waited. It was a few minutes before Rose's eyes began to blink open again. When they did, they were so bright that he wasn't sure what was going on yet. Thankfully, she didn't speak. Slowly, the light faded back again, and she was back to herself. "Doctor."

"You should stay here while I finish this," he suggested. She immediately got ready to argue, so he sighed. "Rose, it takes anywhere between hours and weeks to recover from regeneration sickness. That on top of the energy it took to come back, and whatever happened to you over there, you need to rest. It's not safe. Besides, they're looking for Huon particles, and you're chock full of them."

Rose didn't answer right away. She stared down at their intertwined fingers and chewed on her bottom lip. As much as she didn't want the Doctor out there alone, in danger, she also couldn't help but see his point. Slowly, she nodded in agreement.

His shock was palpable. He blinked a few times and nodded. "Right. Okay, good. Well, we've got an errand to run before taking care of ugly below the Thames. Anything you need while we're out?"

"A new phone, maybe," she said softly, jokingly. At his smile, she shook her head. "Come back in one piece."

"You got it, boss," he winked.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"You might as well unmask, my clever little doctor man!"

He shrugged off the robe and dropped the mask. "Oh well, nice try." Using the sonic, he undid the silk holding Donna in the air.

"I'm gonna fall!"

"You're gonna swing," he disagreed. She screamed and held onto the silk as she flew down. He held out his arms to catch her, but she was too low and crashed into the wall. "Oh, sorry… maybe that's a Rose-specific talent."

"Thanks for nothing."

"The Doctor-man amuses me," the Empress laughed.

"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance," he warned. "I can find you a planet. I can find you and your children a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer, and end this now."

She hissed her laughter. "These men are so funny."

"What's your answer?"

"Oh! I'm afraid I have to decline."

He shook his head. "Then what happens next is your own doing."

"I'll show you what happens next!" she looked to the fish. "At arms! Take aim! And-,"

"Relax," the Doctor said calmly. The fish nearly doubled over, obeying him.

Donna looked around with wide eyes. "What did you do?"

"Guess what I've got, Donna," he pulled out the remote control and smiled. "Pockets!"

"How did that fit in there?"

"They're bigger on the inside," he said seriously, attempting not to grin.

"Roboforms are not necessary," the Empress informed him. "My children may feast on Martian flesh."

"Oh, but I'm not from Mars."

"Then where?"

He looked at her, anger in his hearts. "My home planet is far away and long since gone, but its name lives on. Gallifrey."

The Empress roared furiously, standing up on her back legs. "They murdered the Racnoss!"

"I warned you," he told her. "You did this."

"No! No! Don't!" she begged as he threw three red balls in the air. "No!"

The balls were ornaments, and he used the remote control to send them to various weak spots in the dam. When they exploded, they broke down the walls. Water raged and fires started. It poured down the hole to drown the Racnoss below. He looked down at Donna. "Come on! Time to find a way out!"

As they climbed ladders toward the surface, Donna called back. "What about the Empress?"

"She's used up all her Huon particles, she's defenseless! UNIT will attack, and she'll die," he said. He had the sense to sound regretful about that fact. "I tried to help her, Donna."

When they got out top, they started laughing as they looked out. Donna shook as she laughed. "There's just- there's just one problem."

"What's that?"

"We've drained the Thames."

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Hi! I'm backish. I was delayed from writing this even more because I got a concussion. Now I'm back at work and feeling better, so I finished a few more chapters. I'll be starting chapter 46 as soon as I get the time to. I hope this is good - I know I struggled a bit with this one.

Oh, also, Rose now looks like Allison Scagliotti when she had reddish hair. Try googling her + Warehouse 13 and it's like that, but she's a bit older and her hair is longer.

I hope you enjoyed, and please review!