Ties Between Time and Space

✦22✦

Chapter Twenty-Two
An Accidental Breakthrough

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Rose and Mickey walked down a dark corridor with a concrete floor. It was nothing like the flight deck or the hallways they had been exploring, but this was the direction the android headed in, so here they were.

"So, that Doctor, eh?" Mickey asked after a while.

"What are you talking about?" Rose tossed him a confused glance.

"Well, Madame de Pompadour. Sarah Jane Smith. Cleopatra."

"Oh, Cleopatra. He mentioned her once."

"Yeah," Mickey chuckled, " but he called her Cleo."

"I don't know what you're worrying about, Mickey," Rose smiled at him, shaking her head. "The Doctor's been loyal to Emma. Completely loyal. He never overstepped boundaries and he told Sarah Jane upfront about Emma."

"I'm just saying," Mickey shrugged. "And who says I'm worried about the Doctor? I could be worried Emma's the one going to break his heart. . . hearts. Snogging Madame de Pompadour."

"It didn't mean anything," Rose denied. "She was caught off guard. Besides the Doctor was there and she kissed him, too."

"Doesn't make it sound any better," Mickey said, laughing.

"Mickey!" Rose shrieked her eyes going wide in terror as an android grabbed her boyfriend around the neck. She tried to pull the trigger on the fire extinguisher in her hands but she was too slow as another one grabbed her from behind, too.

Something long extended from the hands of the androids, injecting into their systems, and seconds later Rose and Mickey fell completely unconscious.

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"You are in my memories. Seeing them as I do."

Emma stood in front of Reinette, still sifting through her head to try and find the answers to whatever was going on here. The Doctor had pulled up a chair at this point, sitting beside them and waiting.

"I'm trying not to look at anything too personal, I promise," Emma said. "If there are things you really don't want me to see, try not to think about them. Maybe try a little harder. . . please," Emma murmured, seeing things she didn't ever want to.

Reinette's eyes snapped open. She was trying hard not to laugh as she looked at Emma and trying even harder not to think of other certain things. She closed her eyes again and tried to concentrate, but something inside her head caught her interest.

"To see the memories of another living soul. Do you ever get used to this?" Reinette asked.

"Believe me, I don't do it often," Emma answered.

"How can you resist?"

"Easy," Emma muttered. "Unlike the Doctor, I need permission to be inside someone's head. Not many people like giving that out and I never like asking them to."

"Such a sweet sentiment," Reinette smiled.

"Reinette, how old are you?" Emma asked and the Doctor perked up at that. Now we're getting somewhere, he thought.

"So impertinent a question so early in the conversation. How promising," Reinette remarked, opening her eyes to look at Emma again.

"It's not my question. It's theirs, the androids."

"Why would they care about her age?" the Doctor asked. "Does it have something to do with when she'll be complete?"

"I think so," Emma nodded a bit. "You're twenty-three," she told Reinette. "They're saying you're still not old enough yet." Emma felt Reinette wince, a small gasp leaving her. "I'm sorry, old memories are resurfacing, I really can't help it."