Title: Breaking the Habit

Summary: One-shot based on the Doctor Who Random Pairing Generator prompt of Rose Tyler/Suzie Costello/addiction. Set just after Rose disappears at the end of Partners in Crime.

Rating: K+

Pairing: Rose/Ten implied

Disclaimer: Nope.

"Just one more time, Mickey," Rose said as she re-materialized back in the Torchwood lab. "I was solid for a good thirty minutes this time. There has to be a way to make the exchange permanent."

She slipped a small device off her finger and placed it on the table near him. Mickey could see that her eyes were gleaming with anticipation and it worried him.

"I dunno, Rose. We've been working on this project for two years. Maybe it's time to call it quits."

Rose's gaze flicked over to Mickey, her eyes flashing dangerously. It was a look that was well known to him; he was about to get told off.

"We'll make it work," Rose snapped. "I've not spent two years developing this device to give up now. I just need more time. It will work. It has to."

Mickey hated hearing the hope that had crept into her voice. Every trip to their original universe had only strengthened Rose's conviction that the small piece of alien technology found in the Torchwood archives would be able to return her there for good. So far she had only been able to manage short trips, first as a phantom and then as a solid person capable of interaction. But each success pushed her that much harder to find a permanent way across.

Sometimes he cursed the day Rose had found the object in the first place.

She had been retrieving something for a case they were reviewing when she had stumbled across it. If only he had gone down to get the file himself, he wouldn't have had to watch his friend torture herself for two years.

"Rose, I don't think we'll ever get it to work properly," Mickey said. "What we're doing is dangerous, not just to the universe, but to you. Every time you come back, all you ever talk about is the next trip. It's becoming an addiction. You need to stop. Remember what happened to Suzie?"

He watched Rose as a range of emotion flickered across her face. Her expression finally landed on sadness and it hit Mickey like a punch to the gut.

"How do I stop, Mickey?" she asked softly. "How can I give up without knowing I've done everything I possibly could to make it work?"

"Maybe you don't stop completely," he replied. "Maybe you just don't put every waking moment into it. Maybe you leave it alone for a few months, do other things, and then come back to it for a few days. Make it a side project. The Doctor would want you to have a great life, Rose. You can't do that if you're stuck in a lab all the time."

Rose contemplated Mickey's words. Perhaps he was right. She had begun to rebuild her life in the two years prior to finding the device in the archives. Her position at Torchwood fulfilled her and she had her mum, dad, and little brother Robbie, the most precocious four-year-old she'd ever known.

Plus, Mickey was right about one thing—she didn't want to end up like Suzie Costello, head of Torchwood Three in Cardiff. That woman devoted so much time and energy to her job that she actually lived in the Cardiff base of operations. And then there was that whole incident with a piece of alien tech that had fascinated her. She had become addicted to the rush of using it. They'd had to confiscate it and retcon her about the ensuing carnage. That had been a mess to clean up. Yeah, she definitely didn't want to end up like Suzie.

Mickey could see the moment she finally came to a decision. Her eyes took on the same fire that he had seen so many times before. He held his breath, waiting for her to speak.

"I'll finish up the week on this project and then reassign my team to other areas," she said quietly. "I think it's time I got back out into the field."

Mickey smiled at her words. He'd been hoping she'd say that.

"The Doctor would be proud of you," he said. "And who knows, Rose. Maybe you'll find the answer when you least expect it."

"Thanks, Mickey," she said, as a smile spread across her lips. "You're a good friend."

A week later, Rose was back in the field and realizing how much she had missed it. She only spared her travel device a few stray thoughts every now and then—usually when she was in the middle of a situation that she knew the Doctor would love—and before she knew it, two whole months had passed since she left the lab. She was content again.

But then the rifts started opening and the world went straight to hell.