A/N: Yes it's another Ten and Rose fic. Just something that I couldn't resist when I found what to me, was a massive gapeing hole in the not getting her back theory. But it is my first Doctor fic so be gentle. Oh and a cyber cookie for anyone who can name who his friends brother is!!!!! (hint: he doesn't know his sister is still alive! And he's not from the world of Doctor Who. I may explain all in another fic)

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, but boy if I did would I be the happiest girl on the planet?

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Doctor John Smith."

The corner of his lips tugged at a wisp of a smile as he recognised the soft Irish lilt that came from behind him.

"Catherine O'Connor." He greeted.
"So Doc, what brings you to New York, New York? The city so great they named it twice."

He heard Rose's voice as she said it. "What makes you say that?"

"It's a standard question one asks when they see someone they wouldn't expect to in a place they wouldn't expect to, and I never thought I'd find you in one of these places. Far too smart for this world, you are."

"Got sloppy." He shrugged.

Cathy moved to sit next to the Doctor. "Doctor, if you're here, what have they done with Rose?"

The Doctor heard the worry in her voice.

"She wasn't with me. She, er… hasn't been for a long time."

Crouching down in front of his and looked into his eyes. "Oh, sweetheart! My poor, darling Doctor. I'm so sorry. What happened?"

The Doctor sat staring at the wall on the opposite side of the cell before speaking again. "You're not going to look for yourself?!" He asked, blinking back tears.

"Well, I could. But I'd rather you told me. Last time I looked in your mind I had nightmares for weeks."

He tried to give her a smile but it crumbled into a grimace as he kept his feelings in check. Placing her arm around his shoulders, Cathy pulled him to her letting him rest his head on her shoulder as she held him stroking his head. "You wear way too much gel." She teased trying to lighten the mood.

"So I've been told." He mumbled pulling back. He patted his pockets looking for a tissue.

"Looking for one of these?" Cathy asked holding a tissue to him.

"The only thing I don't have…. In my pockets anyway."

"So. You gona tell me why you're wallowing in this cell instead of making a good escape?"

XxXxX

When he finally looked up at Cathy he saw tears that mirrored his own hovering in her eyes.

"The pair of us eh? Tears at the drop of a hat." He gave a sardonic laugh.

"You never got to tell her." She whispered before she exploded. "I told you to tell her before it was too late, but you didn't listen. Typical, bloody bloke!" She stomped around the cell.

"Don't yell at me! There wasn't time to say it."

"Why not?!" She jabbed her finger towards him accusingly. "You had two years with her and you couldn't find the time to tell her three little words? You control space and time at the flick of a switch for god's sake! I warned you nothing is certain, that lost chances can't be taken back. And still you ignored me. I've spent my entire afterlife watching people like you mess it up time and time again. I can't have what you have. I have to watch over the prince of darkness and it's a twenty-four seven job, unless I get stuck in a cage, then it's all the rest of the time. You have no idea how lucky you are to love someone and have them love you in return. Do you know how rare that is? Of course you do realise that means a 20 year old girl has more courage than you?! You're a complete …. complete…."

"Complete?"

"I don't know what but you're one of them. And a complete one at that!"

"She knows how I feel about her."

"Oh really? And how do you figure that one?" She looked at him expectantly. "How? How does she know? You never told her. She's not a mind reader, Doc. You really are a typical male. Assuming that women know what you think and feel all the time when you give us no indication of it, shrug it off as if it's nothing, then get annoyed when we say 'I didn't know'!"

"You really think she doesn't know?" The Doctor's voice cracked and Cathy softened.

"She may have suspected but by now she'll have put that down to wishful thinking. Poor Rose." Sitting heavily back on the bed she put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Why are you still here? You just 'popped' into my cell from yours, can't you just 'pop' out of this place completely?"

"No. I can pop from room to room but there's something about the cells that stops me popping out completely. You still got your sonic screwdriver?"

"Of course."

"Have you tried using it?" She asked slowly.

"No. Didn't seem much point."

"You know, I preferred you when you were grumpy northern bloke. At least you had energy. It was contagious. Now you're just a schlep that sits feeling sorry for himself. What if someone needs you? How will you know?"

"Leave it alone."

"What if Rose needs you?"

"I can't help Rose. She's in another universe. There's no way back."

"You sure about that?"

"I sealed every rip between this world and that. I've searched and searched every corner of the universe for another way to get back to her. There just isn't another rip."

"Well there's your problem, you've only been looking for rips."

"What else is there?"

"Worm-holes? Have you looked for them? With an inter-universe worm-hole you might be able to get her back."

"They're just a theory. They don't actually exist."

"You believe in werewolves and vampires but not worm-holes?" She asked incredulously.

"Well have you ever seen one?" He asked sarcastically.

"You mean I know something the great Doctor doesn't?" She got up and laughed as she moved around the small concrete room. "Wow, I may be about to prove you wrong Doctor. But first you have to get us out of here; we need your big blue box."

She looked back at the Doctor to find him staring at her, his mouth bobbing like a gold fish.

"What?...What?!" She asked him.

"Don't joke. It's not kind."

"Am I laughing?" Her voice was sobered from it's jollity a moment before. "I can't promise it'll be a quick find or that it'll land us where we need to be but we can try." "You can get me back to Rose?"

"Possibly. Like I said I can't promise. But isn't it worth a try?"

"We, you keep saying 'we'."

"Well you don't think I'm going to let you do this alone? I wana see how it turns out! I wana see the look on Rose's face when she sees you!" She grinned.

"IF we find her."

"Of course, if we find her." She said trying to hide her grin.

"Let's get out of here then!" He through his arms wide and for the first time in months let a huge grin crack his face as he enveloped Cathy in a hug.

"How did Martha ever get bored of travelling with you?!"

"Probably my incessant stories about Rose. Oh God. Now I know how Mickey felt. Must've driven him mad!"

"Will you stop babbling and get that door open?!" She laughed.

"Oh yes, right." He pulled the sonic screwdriver from his pocket and aimed it at the door. It took a few moments but the glass door flew open, as it did a piercing alarm sounded.

"Doc? Hold tight and think of the TARDIS. I've never done this with passengers." They could hear hurried footsteps approaching. The Doctor wrapped his arms around her waist and squeezed his eyes shut, as she rubbed her fingers before clicking them.

He didn't feel any movement. Opening his eyes one at a time he looked around. They were in an alleyway; people were rushing past the entrance on the busy street, huddled against the snow.

"You did it! You really did it! That has got to be the best bit of time bending I've ever witnessed! Of course officially I'm against it."

"Let's find the TARDIS. Where'd you park it?"

"Are you ok? You don't look so well." The Doctor took hold of her arms and looked directly into her face.

"I'll be fine. I've never jumped with a passenger before, took more energy than I thought. Let's just get out of here." There was a loud bang and the sky lit up for a few seconds then faded again, making the Doctor jump, it happened over and over again.

"What's that?"

"Relax Doc. It's Christmas. They're just fireworks. Come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled him out onto the street. "Good old Fifth Avenue, always where you leave it."

XxXxX

He watched as Cathy walked round the consol over and over, looking like a caged animal, nervously waiting for something to happen.

They'd been there for days now, watching, waiting, tapping buttons. The Doctor was about ready to give up.

"So, Rose was your thirteenth companion, right? Wow, unlucky for some, huh?" Cathy said.

"Yeah I suppose so." The Doctor rubbed the back of his head. "They were all pretty unlucky I suppose."

"What makes you say that?"

"You know what they say, where I go monsters follow."

"But without you they would never know what their lives were worth. They would never know the wonders of the universe. You showed

them things no one ever could. That's an amazing gift to be given."

"Maybe. But as a wise hobbit once said, how do you pick up the threads of an old life? Have you ever wanted to see what's out there?"

"I already have, in a way. I saw them through your eyes when you went brain surfing on me back in Sunnydale. That was more than

enough for me. Maybe one day I wont have anyone else to worry about and I'll find a way up there."

"How is your brother? I meant to ask."

"Oh you know Angel. Always getting in to scrapes. He's ok though, he's in L.A now, trying to atone for his sins. Runs a detective agency

don't you know!" she said with a laugh on her lips.

"I can see that. Tall, dark, broody and a vampire. Must blend into the shadows really well."

"Oh he does. Something's brewing though. Don't know what though, but it makes my fangs tingle."

"Always trust your instincts. If I had then maybe …. Well, just trust yourself."

"You guys really do like complicating things" she said changing the subject. "So many buttons and switches." She stopped as the

TARDIS beeped and clicked. "Ah ha, looks like she found something."

"Looks about right. Ooo my fangs are twitching. Gotta be it."

"Your fangs are twitching?" The Doctor asked dubiously.

"It's an expression. Like when you think someone's talking about you, you say your ears are burning."

"Ah right. So what do we do now?"

"We need to get here." She pointed to the screen.

"Piece of cake. Hold on tight!"

XxXxX

"I don't think I can do this!" The Doctor said striding back into the control room in the sixth suit he'd put on that day. "Nothing I do

seems right."

"I liked the brown one best." Cathy said wearily.

"Well I don't have the brown one anymore. Someone ruined it."

"Have you still got what's left of it?" She watched him nod. "Well lets see it then!"

The Doctor returned with his torn jacket.

"What happened here?" She frowned turning the ripped fabric in her hands.

"I ruined her wedding." The doctor shrugged.

"Who's wedding?"

"Donna's. That woman who appeared after…" If voice trailed off as Rose's face appeared in his minds eye, streaked with tears.

"Ah, right. Well. I might actually be able to fix this. Maybe."

"Sarah-Jane gave me this one." He told her absently stroking the blue fabric on his sleeve, "to replace that one." A fond smile touched his

lips. "My Sarah-Jane. You'd have liked her."

"I like it, it's a good suit. She has taste. Rose might prefer the brown one though. It's going to be enough of a shock when she sees you

let alone in new clothes. How long did you wear this one for?"

"Dunno, lost track. Ever since my regeneration how ever long ago that was."

"Thought about what you're going to say when we find her?"

"Nope. I guess I'll start with hello and wait for the inevitable slap, see where it goes from there." He shrugged and laughed nervously.

"Why do I feel like I'm about to give birth to a million butterflies?"

"What have you got to be nervous about? She loves you, you love her."

"What if she's moved on? What if she's got someone else?"

"Want me to do a bit of recon?"

"No. Yes. No wait that would be incredibly wrong, I can't ask you to do that. It wouldn't be fair on her."

"Just as well you haven't asked me then isn't it? Here you are." She handed over the jacket.

"How did you?" The Doctor's jaw dropped at how quickly she'd repaired his jacket. "Good as new." She said as he slipped it on.

"Wait here, I wont be long."

"No wait!" Too late, she popped out of the TARDIS. "What the hell am I doing?" He asked the empty room as he went about finding the bottom half of his suit.

XxXxX

A/N: well that's chapter one over with. Not very eventful but it got to the point. Reviews given loving homes.

"catch ya on the flip flop"