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Soon after their heartfelt talk with the Doctor about his home planet, both young women were mentally and physically exhausted after their experience in New, New York. Especially Alice, who felt a stampede of elephants had trampled over her.

The Time Lord threw his coat onto the coral beam not so enthusiastically as he went Martha not so far behind him as he approached the console, debating whether or not this should be the cut-off point that he now takes the girls back home where they're safe. Both women could tell he had something on his mind as the redhead held one hand onto the railing and the other on her injury to keep herself steady as her side painfully throbbed. But he turned away to peer down at the console, trying to hide the solemn look on his face from them as he pretended to do a few things.

Martha, now thinking it was best not to press into what was bothering him and change the subject to rest instead, "Doctor."

"Yep," he turned to back to face them both.

"I thought that it'd be good if we all had some sleep," Martha proposed with a slight yawn, not only wanting to take her well-being into account but her friends, especially after what they've been through.

"You're okay with that, aren't you, Doc?" The redhead inquired with a grimace as she felt another painful twinge in her side, hoping the Time Lord wouldn't mind.

"Uh, yeah, sure, it's fine," the Doctor replied with a sniff, understanding that both women needed a little time to recover even though he was having second thoughts about wanting to take the girls back home, "If you just go down that way, you'll find some rooms," he gestured with his hand in the direction Martha needed to go.

"Alright, then see you a couple of hours, Doc," Martha told him with another yawn and blinked her eyes before glancing over at her friend, who was gazing at the Time Lord in concern and had now gone back to fiddling about with the console not taking notice of what was happening as Martha now rested a hand on Alice's shoulder, "Are you going to get some sleep, Ally?"

The redhead quickly looked away from the Doctor toward Martha after feeling the hand on her shoulder, "Uh, yeah, I will shortly go ahead."

"Okay," the other woman gives her flatmate a tired look before nodding and giving a small goodbye wave, which Alice returned, "Later then."

Once she knew that Martha was gone and had disappeared out of sight, her eyes returned to Doctor, still standing with his back to her at the console, pretending to do something. He wasn't fooling anyone, especially her. Alice could tell he was blaming himself for her getting kidnapped today on top of the Face of Boe's death.

If there was one thing Alice had learned about his personality, it was his self-doubt, and she truly hated that side of the Time Lord for blaming only himself for something that happened.

"Doc, you know that the Face of Boe dying...wasn't your fault, right?" She gently questioned, daring to let go of the railing and take a step closer to him, hand still on her side

He doesn't meet the young redhead's eyes, nodding, "Yeah, Ally, I know."

"And me getting taken that wasn't yo..."

At this, he abruptly cuts her off and finally looks into her eyes, "But it was, it was my fault you got kidnapped right from under my nose, and I couldn't save you," he concluded painfully.

"It isn't your fault, alright, Doctor," Alice declared, taking another cautious step toward him, "Don't you think I don't know what it's like to watch somebody you care about die and not be able to do anything about it. There are people who die every day and nothing you do to avoid it..." she recalls having to watch her father slowly fading away into nothingness with cancer many, many months ago. The wound was still a little raw but something she'd never forget too quickly.

"I know, okay! I should know that better than the next person!" the Time Lord cried angrily, causing the redhead to shrink back but stay where she stood as he got nearer to her with each word, "But everything is always my fault! I try to stop bad things from happening, but I never...I failed to save Rose from slipping into the void... I failed to find another way to stop the Time War. I didn't try hard enough. I never try hard enough, so I always take the easy path, the cowardly way out. I've destroyed planets."

He rambled to the young woman, not because she was tired. She was getting fed up with him taking the blame for things that were not in his control, so Alice did the next best thing she could do and, with her free hand, slapped him hard across the face.

The Doctor was alarmed, "Why did you do that for?!" He scowled at the young Noble.

"Stop it, alright! Just stop blaming yourself!" Alice screamed, wagging her finger at him, making the pain in her side intensify more than it should, "I'm bloody sick of it! You need to stop! All this blame you keep putting on yourself isn't going to change anything. It won't bring back the people you've lost! It won't!"

After she's finished, her face is flushed red in anger, and her chest is rapidly moving up and down as she takes deep yet painful breaths. The Time Lord instantly noticed the redness leaving the young woman's face, and her skin rapidly pale as a whitewashed wall. He could barely see her lips.

Alice's vision began to swim before her, and it was starting to make everything look less detailed. The echoed voice of the Doctor called out to her, "Ally?" before she let out a pained gasp and began to crumple forward like a puppet that no longer had its strings. The Doctor quickly caught her and lowered her down to the floor, now gazing down at her with concern and guilt, cupping her face, knowing it was his fault that he shouldn't get mad at her when she was trying to help him.

That's when he noticed the glimmer of something catch his eye resting upon Alice's chest he'd not seen before until now that must have slipped out as she fell. His fingertip gently skimmed along the chain to that of a small gold antique locket carved with Gallifreyan. It was a Chameleon Arch, used to hide the identity of a Time Lord from that of a human and keep them safe from grave danger.

"Doctor? Ally?" shortly afterwards, Martha broke him from his thoughts as he heard her rushing back into the console room, "I heard shouting," she gasped at the sight of her friend white as a sheet passed out on the floor along with the Doctor kneeling beside her, "What happened?"

"Never mind what happened, just please help me get her up and to a room," the Time Lord wrapped Alice's arm around his shoulders and her waist, careful of her side. Martha knelt and did precisely what he just did, both carefully getting up and walking towards the direction of the bedrooms. As they continued down the corridor, all the Doctor could think about was that maybe the Face of Boe was right. Perhaps he was not alone as he was once led to believe.