The Arbiter watched them cautiously as the Doctor ran his scans on Rose. It made the Doctor nervous, but then he could only imagine the thoughts going through his father's head. Rose seemed calm, unconcerned about the possible ramifications of any of it, but then she had always been tough as nails.

The scans turned up nothing new, nothing the previous ones hadn't shown. Whatever was happening to her and the TARDIS it didn't register on anything he owned. Her hormone levels were still off, but not too badly. Mostly she just needed rest.

"Go on." His father groused, waving them off as they came over to check on him and his wife. "I'm staying here with Elizabeth. You two go get some rest while the TARDIS finishes refueling. We can deal with the criminal once we are at capacity." His dark eyes switched back to his wife's form, his hand gently holding hers and rubbing the back of it. "They hurt her, Theta."

"I know." If there was one thing he'd always had in common with his father it was their fierce protection of the human woman in their lives. The anger of Time Lords burned hard and bright in both of them.

They lingered there for a moment before Rose's exhaustion flickered back to his awareness from the light connection holding her hand provided. With a sigh, the Doctor pulled her towards his room and helped strip her of the 51st century armor she'd put on. At least if she had to put herself in danger she hadn't gone unprepared. "I'll start on a new screwdriver for you while you sleep." He offered. "We left the other one back there in the mine."

"I thought you were missing a part?"

"I am, but I can at least get it mostly completed. We can head to Yalapolis after this and see if I can find a few of them for the stockpile."

She nodded, and then moved towards the bath. "I'm going to take a shower." She hesitated. "I'm guessing you wanted me to sleep here tonight?"

"Would you mind?"

Rose smiled at him softly. "I never mind," and entered the bathroom.

The Doctor returned to his desk and started work. He nodded at her when she immerged some time later, clad in a pair of sleep shorts and a sleeveless shirt. The TARDIS had put a sandwich and some milk on the nightstand which she ate before crawling under the covers. The Doctor tried to concentrate on building the new sonic, knowing that Rose would want the same configuration on the settings as before, but he made a mental note to add a few new ones given developments.

His mind kept wandering to his parents and the revelations meeting them had brought. He'd known his father's intense dislike for the Counsel, of course. It was impossible not to notice that what with the banishment and exile. But the idea that he would, could, ignore the call was telling. It also made the Doctor wonder if he'd been the only one. How many other exiled Time Lords that the Council had thought dead, but had in fact just ignored that final desperate call to arms? Was it possible there were more? The species wide link was gone, the transmitters that amplified the signal through time and space smashed to bits along with the planet. Unless he was fairly close he couldn't feel another Time Lord without it. It hadn't been till his father had entered the house earlier in the day that he'd been able to sense him at all.

But of the other exiles, how many would it be good news to find had survived? The Master, the Rani, the Vanyard – they had never been allies. They had always sought control and power over lesser species for their own twisted purposes. The majority of exiles had been. And of the ones that had been banished for reasons the Doctor could agree with, as he had once been, and as his father had, they would have heeded the call even if they despised the Council. It would have been in their nature. Or at least the Doctor had assumed so – he had after all. But his father clearly had not. And the Master had not stayed even if his means of escape had delayed his return. It was not easy to compare the two but that left a large lingering question. How many could there be?

A whimper drew him away from his thoughts to Rose and he moved to her side, a hand gentling over her brow to ease her sleep with a gentle mental nudge. She didn't need more nightmares. Whatever she'd endured in Pete's World she'd eventually tell him when she was ready. He would be a hypocrite to demand more. After all she still didn't know about the year that never was and the Master.

She'd told him once it had been two years for her, that was clearly a lie. Two years could not have changed her the way it had. Perhaps it had been two that she wanted to remember, and the rest best forgotten? He'd admitted to her once that he tended to count time that way himself. The good days he'd add, the bad he'd do his best to forget.

He was seeing more of Rose in the TARDIS and, as much as it frightened him, more of the TARDIS in her. Could it be the two never really parted after the station? The gold in her mind seemed to indicate a much greater connection than a simple bond would account for, and if it was true that Rose's brain was slowly adapting to meet the demands of it, as the TARDIS had told her, there could more changes to come. Would they affect the baby too?

Rose mumbled again in her sleep, a frown marring her forehead more deeply, and he abandoned his chair to slide into the bed next to her, pulling her close. The greater physical contact calmed her and he buried his nose in her hair. It didn't matter really. They had her back, and she was happy to be back, and they could adapt, all of them, to whatever they must. He knew his glorious ship would never hurt her, so whatever had been wrought it would in the end be different but not terrible. Thoughts of Compassion fluttered through his head and he hoped, dearly hoped, it would not be as drastic.

He'd feared that outcome from the moment he saw her. Laura had never been the same after she became Compassion and he didn't want Rose to lose herself to the flow of Time as his former companion had. Although, if he'd been able to find her he was sure Compassion would have laughed at him for his worry. She'd only ever seemed to enjoy her transformation.

The ship gave a quiet hum, likely trying to reassure him, and the Doctor could only pull Rose tighter to him.

BREAK

Rose awoke slowly, the double thump of the Doctor's heart beat under her ear telling her that at some point he'd joined her. He shouldn't need sleep again so soon, but then emotional situations had always seemed to tax him more than physical and Rose let herself lay there listening to the steady double beat of his hearts for several long minutes before she pulled away. His eyes blinked open slowly and he smiled at her, looking oddly peaceful in the low light from his desk lamp.

"Hello." He said softly, brushing her check with the back of his hand. "Did you get enough rest?"

"Yeah." Rose pulled away and stretched. "Want me to put on some breakfast while you check on your parents?"

"Mum will be hungry." The Doctor stood up and ran a hand through his already rumpled hair. "She hates sweets in the morning so maybe some potato pancakes instead of regular? I think we have everything for it."

Rose shrugged. "TARDIS and I can manage that I think. Should I bring them to the medbay or do you think she'll be up for making it to the galley?"

"Galley." The Doctor pulled a clean shirt out of his closet and headed for his bathroom. "She hates hospitals."

Rose left him to change and went to her own room to put on something a little more decent, heaven knew what the Arbiter would say if he saw her pajamas. The Time Lords seemed a terribly stuffy lot. The TARDIS hummed at her in agreement and Rose smiled, trailing her hand along the wall. "They aren't what I expected at all." Rose admitted. "What do you think?" she asked the ship.

The TARDIS gave a non-comital hum, but then flashed her an image of the other ship and Rose nodded. "Right we need to get their TARDIS up and running no matter what."

Rose was just finishing up breakfast, following instructions in the cookbook the TARDIS had put on the counter, when the others showed up. Elizabeth looked tired still, and shaken, but was steady on her feet. Her husband, however, had the dark swirling anger in his eyes that Rose knew well from her own Time Lord's more violent moods.

"We haven't time for foolishness. Why don't we just have a nutrient bar and be done with it?" He groused, not even bothering to pull out a chair but leaned against the wall.

Elizabeth ignored him. "Thank you, love." She smiled at the Doctor as he pulled a chair out for her at the table. "I've missed having breakfast with you since you left. Even if you didn't eat half the time it was nice to have company."

The Doctor smiled at his mother and took one of the plates. "If you prefer a nutrient bar," He started to say then frowned. "Actually, I junked the dispenser a while back. I needed a part."

"You turned your nutrient dispenser into spare parts?"

Rose wasn't sure if the Arbiters tone was angry or in awe.

The Doctor shrugged and put a large dollop of ketchup next to his pancake. "Well, even before the war I wasn't on the best of terms with the Council. They didn't appreciate my particular skill set, nor did they take kindly to my TARDIS. Every time I tried to go in for repairs they'd try to scrap her or undo one of my workarounds. We stopped using the shipyards centuries ago." The TARDIS gave a loud hum of agreement.

"We do okay keeping the kitchen stocked and if we are in a pickle she'll make something up for us from whatever we have laying around. And she can keep anything fresh." Rose patted the wall fondly. "I do most of the cooking just because I enjoy it. And because he gets distracted and catches something on fire."

"Once." The Doctor frowned at her. "I had one little accident…"

"You burned down three rooms before the TARDIS decompressed the entire section." Rose shook her head. "You had to call me at mum's to walk you through boxed macaroni and cheese. You accidently turned a turkey into a cyborg. I still can't eat one without having flashbacks. And do not get me started on your laundry skills. You're so afraid of being domestic you can't function."

"I don't need to. I have you." He smirked and she slapped his arm playfully.

"You sure you two aren't married?" His mother asked, watching the exchange. "And punch him harder. Takes more than that to get through to a Time Lord. Thick skins." She winked at Rose.

Rose punched him harder. "Ouch! Hey, that's not fair."

Both women dissolved into giggles.

The Arbiter sighed. "I suppose it was inevitable, you falling for a human given your biology."

"Well I'm part TARDIS so it adds a little flavor." Rose joked, eyes flashing slightly and causing the ship to send out a wave of warm air. "Anyway, we have a little bit of a situation to handle do we not? Now that everyone is patched up."

Elizabeth smiled brightly. "I haven't felt this good in years. I can draw a full breath for the first time in ages."

"Well, no point in healing that wound and not working on your lungs a bit." The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Of course, to get it settled properly we need a few things I don't typically carry on board. I need a stop for some parts anyway, once we get this sorted and your TARDIS fueled back up we can take a little trip."

"Oh that would be lovely!" Elizabeth cried and jumped up from the table. "Let's go put that woman in her place and then show me something properly alien. I'm bored to tears stuck on Earth."

"Oh I like you." Rose cooed and wrapped an arm around the older woman's shoulder. "See, Doctor, someone agrees with me. There's proper aliens and then there's the ones that need put in their places, and the two are not interchangeable."

"Aren't I a proper alien?" He asked, eyes overly large.

"No." Rose shook her head. "There's not a single thing proper about you."

The Arbiter snorted. "Theta, my son, she has you on that one."

The Doctor mock pouted for a moment before a brilliant smile burst out. "I think I have it."

"What?" His father asked gruffly.

"What she's up to." The Doctor bolted from the room without another word and Rose sighed.

"We'd best catch up; he's likely to be out the door before we get there." Rose stood up and drained the last of her tea. "I best warn you there's likely to be running. He loves the running."

"So do I." Elizabeth smiled brightly. "It's the best part."