Rose had her head resting on Jack's shoulder, eyes skimming the alien magazine he was flicking through. He turned the magazine upside down to better examine a semi-holographic image of what appeared to be some sort of… something. Jack made a noise that sounded as if he understood, but she knew that he probably didn't. She sighed.
"I wish we knew where he was," she said, biting the inside of her cheek. "I mean, I know he's coming back, but he's taking his sweet time…"
"I know," said Jack, "this is getting boring. As cute as you look down there," he added.
She smiled. "Thank you," she said, putting on a slightly silly inflection.
Jack smirked and kissed the top of her head, before leaping up and pulling her with him.
"Let's find something to do!" he said, like it was a brand new idea.
Rose pulled a face. "We've already found everything there is to do here and done it twice already. Been to the gallery, been to the shops, ate, drank, seen a movie, been to the aquarium, looked at the houses…" she faded out.
"Alright, we've been to the shops, but we haven't actually been shopping yet, have we?"
"We don't have any more money," she pointed out.
"Really?"
Rose's sullen expression slowly shifted into a tentatively excited one.
"Go on," she said.
"I might not be a criminal anymore," Jack said with a grin, "but I still know something about pockets." He pulled out the Doctor's unlimited credit stick from his own jacket. "Ta-da!"
Rose giggled despite herself. "He's going to kill you when he finds that's missing, Jack!" she pointed at him.
"Oh come on, you know he almost definitely already knows I took it. He wouldn't miss that. I take that as permission, Rosie. And you know you want me to give you a 51st century style makeover."
Rose bit down a squeal – she wouldn't normally be this excited about a shopping trip, but they'd been stranded (completely trouble-free) for at least six hours now, and it was starting to get the better of her.
"Alright, fine!" she said, smiling at her best friend's (well, one of them) triumphant air punch. "But I have some ground rules first!"
"Okay, lay 'em at me," Jack replied, beckoning her like she had just initiated a bar fight.
Rose put on her best stern face and held up a finger. "Number one," she started, "nothing that might be, technically, in my time, considered underwear."
"You know that, from a creative stand point, that does kind of restrict - "
"Number two!" she continued, stern face not breaking yet. "Nothing with any…. Any aphrodisiac properties, yeah? Including smell!"
"Okay, look, that was one time, and you've got to the admit it was hilarious when the Doctor - "
Rose held up her hands. "Whether or not it was hilarious is not the point. Just… none of that on me, alright Jack?"
"You done now?" Jack said, crossing his arms with an amused smirk.
"Yep."
"Then let's go, Tyler!"
"Yes, sir!" she laughed, and the two of them half walked, half ran, back to the line of expensive alien boutiques.
The Doctor hit the console with frustration, breathing out a heavy sigh. His thoughts were going around in a tiring loop…
Okay, so, yes, technically it might not have been the best idea to bring them to Herrada 7, but how was he supposed to know it was still under quarantine, and they couldn't actually leave the suburban bubble (which was, quite literally, a bubble)? Sure, he could have checked the dates, but that took all the fun out of it! And fine, sure, maybe dematerialising was the only way to get the TARDIS to emit the right frequency, so, you know, they wouldn't be arrested as outsiders, but did he really think it was a good idea to do it without the others on board? Of course, it wasn't that crazy to expect the TARDIS to just land in the same place again, but it wasn't like she had been on her best behaviour recently, and…
The Doctor let out another annoyed groan, hitting the dashboard again.
"Come on!" he said. He looked up at the rotor with a deep frown.
"Why are you being so difficult?" he asked the ship. "I know you like them! Just land!"
Rose twirled around in her new outfit and laughed.
"What's so funny?" Jack said.
"I look like you!"
"What? When have I ever worn a skirt? In front of you, anyway."
"Okay, fine. I look a time agent, then," Rose said.
Jack looked her up and down, crossing his arms. "You know, you do a little. What can I say - I know what I like. Do you like it?"
"Yeah, actually," she said, surprising herself. "I look very… tough."
"You are tough."
She shot him a smile before looking back in the mirror.
She was wearing a black leather skirt that cut off a little above the knee, a tight white t-shirt not unlike Jack's own, and boots he insisted would be very easy to run in. He'd also put her in a dark green jacket that would have looked military, had it not ended at her waist.
"Don't tell the Doctor I said this," Rose said, "but I could totally rock a gun with this outfit."
Jack gave an exaggerated groan. "Stop it," he said. "It's too much."
Rose winked at him, laughing.
Jack looked around the store quickly, and then (after unloading it so quickly Rose almost missed the movement) passed a small gun to her.
"We look like partners," she said, holding it by her side.
"Best looking partners I've seen in a while," Jack grinned. "Just make sure you give that back to me before the Doctor finds it."
"Not a problem," Rose said, still checking herself out in the mirror.
The ship made a low humming noise, and with a loud bang - and a few sparks - finally started landing again.
"Thank you!" the Doctor said, grinning despite himself. "That wasn't so hard," he muttered, sighing as he strode over to the door.
He opened the doors without really looking around him, turning to lock it before he did anything.
"Doctor?" he heard a soft voice behind him.
"Yeah, yeah, I know I might have taken a little while, but don't start whining too much, alright?" He put the key in his pocket, and put his head against the wood.
"To tell you the truth," he said, "the TARDIS has been having a hell of a bloody tantrum. But anyway, I'm here now, so whatever you wanna do is fine with me," he turned around to face Rose.
She was staring at him open mouthed.
"What 'ave you gone so quiet for?" he said, crossing his arms. He looked Rose up and down. She was dressed differently – not wearing the jeans and t-shirt he remembered her leaving in. Now she was wearing a scuffed looking leather skirt and a light blue muscle shirt he could have sworn was Jack's… The only thing he recognised were the silver hoops in her ears.
He frowned. Her hair was different too – not quite so yellow, and a little blunter at the edges… was it shorter?
"Get a haircut, then?" he said.
Rose suddenly laughed, taking him by surprise. Her face was a picture of happiness and disbelief.
All of a sudden she was hugging him. He didn't really understand, but he wasn't going to say no to a hug from her, so he returned it with a smile into her hair.
"What's brought this on?" he asked.
She didn't say anything, not letting go. After a few seconds she finally whispered in his ear, "I knew you'd come back."
He was about to ask her what she was talking about, when he heard the sound of running footsteps.
"Doctor!" Jack's voice yelled. "Rose! I heard it!"
The man rounded the corner and almost ran at the TARDIS with so much speed the Doctor was worried he'd fall over. He didn't.
"You heard it," Jack said, looking at the Doctor with an unreadable expression.
Rose finally let go of the Doctor and turned around to face Jack.
She nodded. "He came back," she said.
"Of course I came back!" the Doctor said. "I told you, I just had to dematerialise so the computer wouldn't recognise us as outsiders and forcibly quarantine us – now would you two tell me what you're looking at me like that for?"
Jack frowned, looking over at Rose, who had now taken his hand.
"I don't think he knows," he said.
"Don't think he knows what!" the Doctor said, annoyed at being out of the loop.
Rose looked at Jack. "I think you're right."
"Will you two shut up and tell me what it is I don't know already?"
"It's been a while," Rose said, weakly.
"To put it mildly," Jack muttered.
"How long?" the Doctor said.
His companions looked at each other. Jack looked back at him.
"Two years," he said.
To be Continued. Please review and let me know what you think so far! :)