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The girls wanted a little freshen-up before the Doctor took them back home. But just the thought of it left both young women with heavy hearts. This one trip had made them want to explore that much more, which they knew was likely impossible. The Doctor had told them both this and been dead set on it. As the Doctor had said, he'd rather be alone, which both young women could tell wasn't entirely true.

Alice catches Martha sighing, coming out from the bathroom as they head back towards the console room together. It had been relatively easy to find their way back to it as they came up the stairs, seeing the Doctor over by the console, who now turned to face them with a grin, having heard their footsteps.

"Ally! Martha!"

Both young women returned somewhat forceful smiles, heading towards the captain's chair, Martha sitting and Alice leaning against it with equally demure expressions. Glancing toward the Time Lord, they noticed he seemed chipper as he began flipping a few levers on the console.

"Right, okay!" he clapped his hands together, grinning, "So I've been thinking about it...and I know I said just one trip. One trip, in the TARDIS, and then home. Although I suppose we could stretch the definition. Try one trip to the past, one trip to the future. How do you fancy that?"

The young women desired to squeal like overexcited schoolgirls, yet decided to tone it a more thrilled manner as Martha replied, "No complaints from me!

"Me either," the young Noble voiced happily, sharing equally beaming smiles with her flatmate before looking in the Time Lord's direction to ask, "Where were you thinking, Spaceman?"

"How about a different planet?" he responded, slightly grinning with joy

Martha's eyes widened with excitement as she and Alice went to stand, "Can we go to yours?" she asked with some hope. That's when the mood instantly shifted, all happiness fading from the room entirely.

Alice frowned, noticing how quickly his joyous expression had instantly become distant and numb as he now turned away from them. Only to now feel that unpleasant prickling heat from her locket and some feelings of pain that weren't entirely her own. But the moment was short enough to have not been noticed by that of her flatmate when the Doctor was grinning once again, bouncing around on his toes like a kangaroo as if it had never occurred.

"Ahh, there's plenty of other places!" still not looking at them, he tinkered with the controls.

"Come on, though!" Martha went on excitedly, as the Time Lord he carried on piloting the TARDIS, "I mean, Planet of the Time Lords, that has to be worth a look! What's it like?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Well, it's beautiful, yeah," he glanced up for a moment, then back at the console, brows furrowed. Alice could see a frown upon his features and an unknown pain in his eyes that somehow she could see, but her friend couldn't.

"Is it like, you know, outer space cities, tall spires and stuff?" Martha moved around as she continued to speak with a faraway look in her eyes, trying her best to imagine the planet of the Time Lords. It also makes Alice begin to wonder about it, about the place the Doctor had come from that makes him who he is, but she is uncertain what pain it would cause if she dared to ask about something as sensitive as that.

"Suppose it is," the Time Lord voiced noncommittally, feigning attention towards the console.

"Great big temples and cathedrals!" The young Noble could tell he was trying to avoid talking about it.

"Yeah..."

"Lots of planets in the sky?"

Alice wished she could stop him from looking like that, but suddenly she saw the Doctor's eyes not filled with pain anymore to something more thoughtful. He gives up the pretence of flying the TARDIS and briefly glances upwards towards the arched ceiling, expression becoming wistful that almost broke Alice's heart.

"The sky's a burnt orange, with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns," the Doctor began to tell them, his voice full of heartache and yearning to describe his planet's beauty, trying to forget about a war that happened many years ago. Only that it didn't quite work, "Beyond that, the mountains go on forever - slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow..."

For some reason, Alice wanted to do something that would take that pain off his face.

"Can we go there?" Martha asked.

"Naah!" he quickly snapped out of it, changing the subject with an explosion of energy, "Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home! Instead..." he now goes dancing around the console, tweaking a few settings, "This is much better. Year five billion and fifty-three, planet New Earth! Second hope of mankind! Fifty thousand light-years from your old world, and we're slap bang in the middle of New New York," he stopped for a moment to look at Martha and Alice, as the young redhead couldn't help think that his manner was a little forceful like he was trying to hide his pain from them, "Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York. One of the most dazzling cities ever built."

Heading towards the door rather chipper, pulling on his coat and indicating for the girls to go before him, one scowling as they hurriedly zipped up their jacket and the other pulling their cardigan tighter around them with a frown, they now find themselves outside in pouring rain.

"Oh, this is bloody nice!" Alice voiced sarcastically with joy, tightening her cardigan around her, shivering from the drop of cold rain as it brushed against her, "It's raining cats and dogs. We're going to get soaked!"

"Not what I'd call a Time Lord version of dazzling," Martha nodded in agreement with her flatmate.

"Nah, a bit of rain never hurt anyone," the Doctor argued, still pretending to be persistently cheerful. Alice snorts before holding her hands over her head to try and protect herself from the rain, "Come on, let's get under cover!"

They ran down a rundown alleyway, and the trio ducked under an awning sticking out from a building, peering through the rain. Some more junk can be seen littering the streets. Further on from that, some giant dumpsters and some laundry swinging about on a line getting drenched.

"Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me," the young Noble grumbled, "On a Wednesday afternoon."

"Hold on, hold on," the Time Lord said with a huff before darting his eyes around, "Let's have a look," he went towards a dead screen hanging on the wall, pulled out the sonic screwdriver and aimed at it

The screen comes flickering into life with static. First, the Doctor was banging it on top with his fist when an image came into view of a blonde woman behind a desk looking much like any twenty-first-century reporter. Her name, Sally Calypso, was at the bottom of the screen.

"...and the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway,"

The picture shifts to that of New New York above ground; an elegant spired city sat upon the banks of a large river as sleek looking flew in the air.

"Oh, that's more like it!" the Time Lord grinned, "That's the New we had last time. It must be the lower levels. Down in the base of the tower, some under-city."

It was still impossible for the young Noble to see anything through this torrential downpour, and the rank smell of this place was giving off was making her feel just a tad nauseous.

"You've brought us to the slums?" Martha voiced slight irritation, scrunching her nose slightly, the smell probably not agreeing with her either.

"Much more interesting!" he tried, sounding defensive, "It's all cocktails and glitter up there. Down here is the real city."

"You'd enjoy anything," Alice offered with a slight smirk.

"That's me! Oh, the rain's stopping!" the Doctor beamed up at the sky as it started to clear eventually, little by little now coming to just a drizzle, "Better and better!" he grinned as if Christmas had come early.

"When you say 'last time'," Martha began to ask rather bluntly as they stepped onto the street, she and Alice suddenly stopped turning to look at him with equally questioning gazes, "Was that you and Rose?"

There was a long silence between the three that was thick as the dirt and grime upon the walls and floors of the alleyway they were currently standing in, "Uh...yeah," the Time Lord hesitated for a moment longer to now finally answer, "Yeah, it was, yeah."

"So you're taking us to the same planets you took her?" Alice carefully asked, folding her arms across her chest, yet her tone implied it wasn't near unacceptable. When she thought they were taking a few steps forward to making things better, he knocked it a few steps back.

"What's wrong with that?"

Martha could tell that the answer somewhat had gotten to her best friend, and honestly, she couldn't help but feel the same, shooting him a sceptical look off from his clueless one as she shrugged, "Just - ever heard the word 'rebound'?"

Both women brushed past him, a little annoyed, only to jump back in fright when a man suddenly flipped open the top of the large green boxes, revealing a street vendor's cart. Around the three, many more began showing up and shouting out their wares.

"Oh! You should have said. How long have you been there? Happy! You want Happy!"

"Customers! Customers! We've got customers!"

"We're in business! Mother, open up the Mellow and the Read!"

"Happy, Happy, lovely, happy, Happy!"

"Anger! Buy some Anger!"

"Get some Mellow. It makes you feel all bendy and soft all day long!"

"Younger, them. They'll rip you off. Do you want some happy?"

Alice sees the Doctor frowning deeply, "No, thanks," he replies, words dripping with forced politeness.

Yet both the young Doctors seemed to understand what was going on perfectly, "Are they selling drugs?" the redhead asked, her voice faint with confusion, having noticed the vendors holding packets of small and colourful things that looked like stickers or tokens. She's always disliked salespeople and how they constantly pressured her into buying stuff she didn't want.

The Time Lord shook his head, "I think they're selling moods," he finally answered, lips pursed, giving his head a scratch, not overly keen on the idea.

"Same thing, isn't it?" Martha asked with a shrug.

A few more unkempt-looking people began to walk into the alleyway behind the trio, drawing more cries from the vendors trying to drum up business. Alice and Martha now notice one woman in particular, in dark clothing, walking with intent.

"Over here, sweetheart! That's it, come on, I'll get you first!"

"Oy! Oy, you! Over here! Over here! Buy some Happy!"

"Come over here, yeah," the way woman goes towards the stall closest to the time travellers; the female vendor asked with a sweet smile, told Alice she had excellent selling skills, "And what can I get you, my love?"

"I want to buy Forget," the woman uttered quietly.

"I've got Forget, my darling. What strength? How much you want forgetting?" the merchant asked keenly. Martha and Alice tried to piece together what that meant. Knowing that something called Forget couldn't be an emotion made them feel a little sick to their stomachs.

"It's my mother and father," the depleted woman confided, "They went on the motorway."

"Oh, that's so sweet," the vendor said with somewhat genuine sincerity before reaching behind her, pulling out a small black circular token, turning back and holding it out to the woman, "Try this. Forget Forty-three. That's two pence."

In doing so, she pays the vendor and turns away, the token still in her hand. But knowing the Doctor well enough by now, Alice knew he was going to stick his nose into this woman's predicament with interest, which she was right, "Sorry, but hold on a minute," he interrupted her, edging into the skittish woman's personal space, "What happened to your parents?"

"They drove off," she returned miserably, her voice barely a whisper. To Alice, she did look dead awful.

"They might drive back," the Doctor disputed gently.

"Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them."

"But they can't have gone far. You could find them," the woman looked at him, almost convinced for a short moment, before abruptly pressing the sticker to her neck, "No, no, no, don't!"

There's a beat of silence, neither one of them knowing what to do next or expect next. The woman's expression began to soften, instantly becoming more docile and serene. She looked a little out of it but casually unaware of her surroundings.

"I'm sorry, what were you saying?" she asked pleasantly, blinking at them, her eyes hazy.

"Your parents," the Doctor voiced grimly, "Your mother and father. They're on the motorway," he recalls to her briefly.

"Are they? That's nice," Alice and Martha make faces of disbelief, glancing in the Doctor's direction, who looked at the same time a little disturbed but not at all surprised, "I'm sorry. I won't keep you."

They watched her leave all three frowning, the Time Lord looking rather pensive with the two young women looking upset and somewhat scornful.

The young Noble now scoffed, voicing her disgust, "So that's the human race five billion years in the future. Off their heads on chemicals."

Suddenly, as soon as Alice had finished speaking, she let out a scream as she was grabbed from behind, an arm around her neck as she was dragged off. She was kicking and screaming as her life depended on it to get out of the man's firm grasp. The female stands before the Doctor and Martha, aiming her gun at them.

"Hey! Let her go!" Martha desperately pleaded.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. We need three, that's all," the man tried to apologise as he retreated with Alice. His partner kept her gun trained on the Doctor, and as they now backed away.

"No, let her go! I'm warning you, let her go!" the Time Lord demanded angrily, knowing he'd never forgive himself if something happened to Alice. He'd have Donna and Martha to answer to, "Whatever you want, I can help. The three of us, we can help. But first, you've got to let her go!" he pleaded, now getting desperate.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Sorry," the woman apologised before darting into a green door after the man and their hostage.

"Let me bloody go right now!" Alice insisted angrily, still struggling to get free as she was roughly taken down a passageway, "Doctor!" the redhead cried out just as a green door slammed shut before her, sending glares of contempt at both her kidnappers, seething through her teeth, "He's going to kill you, oh but never mind him when I'm going kill you myself. Now get your mitts off me and let me go!"

It was already too late by the time the couple had disappeared after the green door had slammed shut. The Time Lord was almost growling with anger, his eyes going so dark, tightly clenching his jaw that it made Martha cringe just by looking at him.

She struggled to watch the Time Lord wrestling with the doors, nervously biting her lip. He quickly switched to the Sonic to get the doors opened, and they both started charging down the corridor as fast as they could. Martha managed to keep up with the Doctor, running like a lunatic with his long legs as quickly as they'd allow him.

The young redhead tries to break free of the man's grip, but he manages to get her again before she tries to escape, pulling her much tighter and glancing over at the woman. As they now stopped before a large black car.

"Give her some Sleep," the man said to the woman as she tried to keep Alice from squirming.

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare put that bloody thing on me!" Alice threatened as the token was taken from the woman's pocket, "Get off me!"

"It's just Sleep Fourteen."

"I don't give a flying monkey what that bloody thing is! Don't you do it!" yet the woman didn't listen to her and quickly pressed the token to the skin of her neck. Alice feels a sudden cold rush throughout her body as her vision goes black, and she slumps over unconscious.

But despite the Doctor and Martha's best efforts, they were too late as they burst out of the fire escape, the car there started up and lifted off into the air "Alice!" the Time Lord yelled desperately as all he and Martha could do was watch the vehicle that had their friend speed off out of sight.

'Oh shit,' Martha couldn't help but think with a sigh before asking the Doctor, "So what are we going to do now?"

"We need to find out where those people have taken Ally, and then we get her back," the Doctor replied seriously.