This little story piece takes place just after "The Girl in the Fireplace". Many thanks to YaoiNekoHaruna for beta reading for me!

"I'm back!" Rose announced cheerfully as she walked through the TARDIS doors and dropped her overstuffed duffel bag on the floor. "All re-packed and ready to go."

"That was quick," the Doctor remarked.

"Well, I only did one load of laundry. I mean it's all for show, right? If Mum thinks I've gotta come back to do laundry, it gives her reason to believe that I'll always be home soon to do it again," Rose explained.

"Strange the way her mind works, but so long as it appeases her." The Doctor shrugged. "I have to wonder though: if she doesn't think I have a laundry room on the TARDIS, what does she think I do with my own dirty clothes?"

Rose laughed at the possibilities. "Not a clue."

"So," the Doctor said with an enthusiastic clap of his hands, "all set?"

"No! Not yet. We still have to wait for Mickey," she reminded him. "Mum's held him up a minute. She claims she needs him to change a light bulb for her, but I have a feeling she's giving him the 'watch over Rose' instructions."

Rose rolled her eyes at the thought and was surprised when the Doctor groaned rather than joining her eye roll.

"Mickey the Idiot's coming again, is he? I thought that was one the reasons we were stopping: laundry and lose Mickey."

"Oh, come on, stop calling him Mickey the Idiot. You don't really think he's so bad, right?"

The Doctor responded with a noncommittal shrug but Rose accepted it with a smile.

"So where are we off to?" she asked, dragging her finger along the edge of the console as she circled the room toward him.

"It's a surprise," he beamed.

"Oh, come on, tell me."

"I have told you. I told you that it's a surprise. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait a little longer to find out because you insist on waiting for dear Ricky."

"Mickey," she corrected.

"Yeah, him."

Rose shook her head at him with an amused half smile. "Well, while we wait, I'll run my bag to my room."

"I could take it for you if you want. I'm already headed that way. Well, not to your room, but to mine."

"Thanks," she answered with a bright smile.

The Doctor's eyes widened in surprise at the weight of her bag. "If bringing your stuff is all for show, do you really need to pack it all?"

"Oh, that's far from all of it," she replied with a chuckle. The Doctor shook his head, muttering something about women and their things as he disappeared down the hall.

Rose plopped down in the tired jump seat by the console when the door opened and Mickey stuck his head in. "Good. I was worried he might've run off without me."

"So you stuck your head in thinking this was just a regular 1960's police box?" she chided.

"Haha. You're makin' fun of me now too, are ya?" His voice sounded playful but he still looked a bit put-out.

"You know I'm just joking," she replied, bumping his shoulder with hers.

"So where is he?"

"Getting something from his room."

"So where we off to this time?"

"Dunno. It's a surprise."

"Doesn't that worry you?" he asked incredulously. "After all of the dangerous places that madman's taken you, you don't worry about where he's gonna take you next?"

"Don't call him that," she admonished. "And no, not at all. Even if he told me, I wouldn't know what to expect. That's the fun of it."

"You get shot at, captured, strangled, and are constantly running for your life and you call it fun? I'm starting to wonder if he's not the only nutcase on this ship."

"You're running off with us, too. What does that make you?"

"That's different. I'm here for you. I might trust him to save the world, but with as much trouble as you get yourself into, I feel better if I'm there to keep an eye on you, too."

"You think you can protect me better than the Doctor?" Rose looked doubtful and amused.

"Yeah, I can take care of you."

"Like you did against the clockwork droids? You were crying for help, same as me. He might cut it close at times, but he's always there for me."

"Like when he left you for that French concubine?" Mickey asked spitefully.

"He came back," Rose answered , trying her best not to sound wounded. "Now stop putting him down. You're doing it to try to make yourself look good, but you just look foolish."

"Foolish?" Mickey's face contorted as he tried to suppress his anger and indignity.

"Yes. This whole conversation started because you don't want to admit you get scared," she stated as a matter-of-fact.

"Any person in their right mind would be, which is why I'm worried about you. Traveling with the Doctor does that to you; you don't think right anymore. You take way too many risks."

Though she thought she should feel offended by the statement, Rose shrugged it off. She didn't see the world as she once had. She took a lot more risks in life, but she was a lot happier for it. "If traveling with the Doctor messes up the way you think, aren't you worried about yourself?"

"I haven't got a choice. I told you, I gotta look out for you."

"Of course you've got a choice. No one's making you come."

"Yeah, well-"

"You know, that's exactly right," the Doctor interrupted as he entered the room. Mickey and Rose were immediately taken back by the ferocity in his voice. "No one's making you come. In fact, I never invited you. Never even wanted you here. So you know, I'll make it easy for you - get out."

"What?" Mickey stepped back in alarm as the Doctor approached him with a vicious, threatening sneer.

"I thought I was quite clear, but I suppose you do have trouble catching on." The Doctor's fierce eyes never left Mickey's as he picked up Mickey's bag and tossed it out the door.

"B-but I don't understand," Mickey squirmed under the Doctor's stare and looked to Rose for support or assistance.

"It's easy. There's your bag. Go get it." The Doctor gave Mickey a light shove in the direction of the door.

"Doctor!" Rose cried, leaping from her seat. "What's this about?"

"He's overstayed his welcome… Though he was never really welcome in the first place."

"But you never said anything before," Rose protested. "What's happened?"

"That's right, I haven't done nothin'. What are you-?"

The Doctor lost his patience completely at that point and pushed Mickey the rest of the way out, shutting the door behind him.

"Doctor, what's going on? Why are you so upset?" Rose asked frantically. "Did he do somethin? Was it him insultin' you? Because-"

"Are you staying or leaving?" His eyes met hers and Rose stopped breathing. She wasn't even sure that she'd heard him. She was terrified under his intense gaze and recoiled back onto the seat. She had seen him this way on a few occasions, mad with fury, jaw clenched, nostrils flaring but she never thought she'd see it aimed at her. It was then that she realized it might not be; not all of it anyway. His eyes, though intense, lost a bit of their flame and she finally registered what he'd asked her.

"W-what?"

"Are you staying or leaving with him?"

Rose blinked at him in shock, unable to believe the question posed. "S-stayin'," she stammered.

He turned his attention to the TARDIS console, flipping switches and dials with a lot more force than necessary and walking past Rose like she wasn't even there. She physically started when his mallet created a large clang. The time rotor began it's up and down motion, accompanied by the familiar whirring as the TARDIS began to dematerialize. The Doctor flipped one last switch and turned from the console, stalking away as the TARDIS began flight.

"Doctor, wait!" Rose cried, leaping from the seat again. "You can't just walk away! What happened? Did Mickey do something? Whatever it was, I'm sure he didn't mean it. It had to have been an accident. He's an idiot but he never means any harm. Doctor, please!"

The Doctor stopped in his tracks and Rose stood at his side, staring at him in distress. "Was it Mickey? Was it me, Doctor? Did I do something?"

When the Doctor looked at her again, she nearly gasped. The fury had drained away, leaving a man with a hard, cold face. His eyes spoke loudest. He looked broken; filled with unspeakable pain. He looked betrayed.

"It's me," she breathed. "What have I done? You have to tell me. The last time you were upset with me, I'd created a paradox and people were dying. What have I done to upset you?"

"I never said you did anything," he answered quietly.

Rose's heart throbbed in her chest as he moved forward again. "But you didn't say that I haven't," she questioned uncertainly.

The Doctor stopped once more and looked over his shoulder. His voice was low and just above a whisper when he replied, "You haven't done anything wrong."

Rose stood motionless. She wanted to believe him, but something told her that she was the cause.

"I'm going to the wardrobe," he announced. "You're a bit overdressed for climate, as well. Nexor Prime averages about 35 degrees Celsius this time of year."

Rose pressed her lips together, holding back her tears as she watched the Doctor continue down the hall. He looked defeated. His body was stiff, but his limbs looked heavy, and his steps slow. Taking in a shaky breath, she turned back to the hall that led to her room.

The Doctor, alone once more, walked slowly around the wardrobe room, scanning the many clothing items that hung on the seemingly endless rack. He looked without interest, not stopping to examine anything closely as he made his way up the large spiral slope. It wasn't until he reached the top that he realized he'd walked by it all.

He sighed despondently and removed his favorite pair of sunglasses from the pocket of his jacket; the item that he had fetched from his room. He wanted to take Rose somewhere special, something to make up for the way he abandoned her in the 51st century aboard an empty ship in the Dagmar Cluster. He wanted to make it up to her, but needed it even more to ease his guilt. Despite what he was feeling now, Rose still deserved the trip. She hadn't done anything wrong...

"You looked through my things."

The sound of Rose's voice took him by surprise as much as the realization that he was at the bottom of the ramp again. Her words were delivered as a statement more than an accusation, but the Doctor was affronted.

"Never," he denied. "I'd never invade your privacy like that. Your bag wasn't zipped all the way and some things fell out."

"Like this?" Rose held up a small plastic disc of birth control pills. "This is what upset you."

"It's none of my business," the Doctor declared, turning his back to her and beginning to physically peruse the wardrobe's many offerings.

"They're not mine!" she argued, her voice shill with distress of the Doctor's anger. Realizing how foolish that sounded, she explained, "Well, they are but they're not. I'm not taking them. They were a joke."

"A joke?" the Doctor snorted quietly to himself.

"Mickey slipped them in my bag, trying to be funny. Or maybe not, I don't know. But I had no intention of taking them," she vehemently proclaimed.

"Well, that's not very responsible of you, is it?" he muttered in return. "I have no idea what'd happen if a child was conceived in the time vortex."

"I mean that I have no use for them! I'd never try anything like that. I know there are boundaries and I never intended to try and cross those lines because I knew it'd upset you!" Rose bowed her head and a hot spate of tears ran down her flushed cheeks.

"I'm not upset," he denied.

Rose huffed incredulously. "This is you 'not upset'?"

"Yes!" The Doctor barked at her. He had looked at her and immediately turned his back again. Her tears hurt and he realized how much he was overreacting. "What you and Mickey do is none of my business."

"What?" Rose asked in quiet confusion. Her breathing was still shallow but she blinked in utter bewilderment and took a seat on the stool beside the large, gold gilded mirror. "Me and Mickey? Doctor, my feelings for Mickey-"

"Don't concern me at all," the Doctor interrupted.

"My feelings for Mickey aren't like that!" Rose's voice strengthened to almost a shout when the Doctor looked like he would interrupt her again. "Mickey and I haven't been like that for a long time - not since I left him behind, choosing you and the universe over him."

The Doctor turned around and stared at her in a state of perplexity and Rose realized that she'd have to explain further. Bowing her head to hide her shame, she spoke through her fading tears. "Mickey put them in my bag as a joke... sort of a joke. He said they're for me to take... for you. The two of us alone so much... Says we don't want any human/alien hybrids comin' about. I told him it's not like that."

"Wait... Y-you thought that I..."

"I thought you thought that I was intending to... to put the moves on you. I swear though, Doctor, I wouldn't. I'd never cross the boundaries like that."

"Oh." The Doctor swallowed hard and looked away, concentrating on a random point of the wardrobe floor.

"B-but," she started tentatively. "If you thought it was me and Mickey...?" Rose left the question hanging. He wanted to avoid the conversation from the start and she was afraid of upsetting him all over again.

The Doctor sighed deeply and took a moment. Could he really explain?

"I'm a jealous man, Rose. The belief that you'd choose Mickey the Idiot over me... Not that-"

"You chose Reinette over me." The words were out before Rose could catch them and she tried her best to hide the wound that the event had left behind.

"No," the Doctor denied. "Well... I-I didn't mean it. It was a split second decision and I swear to you, I regret leaving you behind more than you would believe. The moment I found a way back, I ran."

"And then back to her..." Rose breathed the words in little more than a whisper and scolded herself for pushing the matter.

"With every intention of returning to you." The Doctor stared at her in earnest, needing her to believe it. "I'm sorry. So sorry I did that to you. I'll never do it again, Rose. I'll never abandon you like that again."

She forced a small smile, but she couldn't push herself to believe it. It was the first time he left her behind, but he had sent her home on the TARDIS before.

"Still... she must have been pretty special for you to leave the TARDIS behind."

The Doctor breathed deeply and stared down at his red trainers. The thoughts of Reinette... He still felt guilty towards her as well. "I looked inside her memories to find what the droids were after, and she snuck into mine. She saw all that I was and all that I'd done, and loved me despite it. She trusted me to save her and I don't know if I would've been able to live with myself if I hadn't tried."

"Did you love her too?"

The Doctor shook his head slightly. "I hardly knew her."

"I hated her, you know... for taking you away," Rose admitted, "but I guess I can't blame her."

"I'm sorry, Rose, so sorry." The ardent look in his dark eyes made her eyes mist again.

"She's not the only one, you know. I see you too, Doctor. And I..." Rose stood before him and bowed her head. She couldn't say it. It was one of the lines she knew she couldn't cross. She wanted him to know, but she was afraid it would upset him. Boundaries. If she took the chance, if she said the words, she couldn't take them back. Gazing into his eyes and upon the small frown of his lips, she ran the back of her finger over his sideburn affectionately. Her breath caught when he closed his eyes at her touch. "Whatever the question, Doctor, I'll choose you every time."

Her smile was sweet and her eyes solemn. She turned to go but he couldn't let her.

"Rose..." He took her arm and turned her to face him properly. His eyes were so sincere as he regarded her with open adoration, cupping her face with one hand and gliding his thumb over her still damp cheek. With his hearts racing, he dipped his head and placed the lightest of kisses upon the corner of her mouth. "I choose you, too, Rose... always... whatever the question."

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