*A/N - Sorry for the bad upload last night. Technical problems now fixed.*

Chapter 1

"Harmless you said! Just need an understanding ear, you said! They weren't looking for understanding, they were looking for lunch!" Rose called out as they ran through an alley, dodging litter and puddles and — ewww, what WAS that? Behind her was the subject of her conversation, seven feet tall, big teeth and a lovely shade of lobster red.

"Well, you know — alternate universe!" the man known as Doctor John Noble called back from his position several feet ahead of her. "Now come on, shake a leg! Unless you're looking forward to being Y'niac lunch." He made a quick dart to the left into an open door and grabbed her hand as she ran past, pulling her in behind him.

"Is that gonna be your excuse every time you cock it up, then?" Rose asked. "You've used it three times this week alone. 'Oh — sorry I shrank your laundry — must be the alternate universe'" He had been in Pete's World for three months, six days, 4 hours and 17 minutes, give or take a few seconds and perhaps the whole "alternate universe" excuse WAS beginning to get a bit old. But really — the Y'niac in their old universe were a peaceful race. Well, he says peaceful, maybe content would be a better word?. Of course, the only time he ever met them was after the three-day Feast of Neighborly Goodness. Hmmm. Come to think of it, he never did find out what that feast was all about and the Y'niac didn't have any neighbors, really. Not anymore anyway. All the neighboring planets were just empty ruins. Ah. Oh well.

"Whinging won't fix it now, Rose. Nothing for it but to follow the plan and lure it into a deserted area until help arrives. Come on then — up these stairs. I think I hear it coming!" And he pulled her bodily up the stairs.

From her vantage point following him up the stairs she had a prime view of his bum in his new jeans. Pinstripes were a thing of the past for this one. He'd been experimenting with jeans and turtlenecks, wooly jumpers, and was beginning an impressive t-shirt collection. Looking up at him, the view couldn't help but reminder her that, although he had told her he loved her on that beach and continued to make suggestive comments when they were alone, they had yet to do more than what Shareen would have called "making out". To say Rose was frustrated would be an understatement. Oh she understood why. He had explained that he wanted to make sure that before they did move forward in their relationship that she saw him as separate from the Doctor she knew and first fell in love with. And in her more rational moments she could respect that position. It's just that sometimes when they spent twenty minutes kissing goodnight she had a little trouble being rational, that's all.

She was pulled out of her reverie when he suddenly yanked open a closet door and said, "This ought to do nicely!"

She quickly followed him into the dark closet and closed the door. It smelled faintly of pine-scented cleaner and mould.

"Y'niac are not the most intelligent of creatures, Rose. He knows that we came into this building but he doesn't have the sense of smell of a tracker nor is he likely to think of opening closed doors. He should just wander the building endlessly confused. That should give Jake enough time to follow our signal and get some backup out here to capture it."

Rose noticed that however convinced he was that the Y'niac wasn't going to find them, he was still whispering. She mentioned that to him.

"Yes, well. They don't have a very refined sense of smell, but they are particularly good at hearing, so we just need to keep quiet and we'll be fine." Just then they heard heavy footsteps in the hallway. Rose turned to face the door and moved until her back was pressed up against him. In the silence of the closet the only sound was their rapid breathing from their run and the thumps in the hallway just beyond the door.

He felt her press back into him and breathed her in. He could smell her apple shampoo, the coffee she had that morning, a sharp tang of perspiration and the overpowering aroma of the adrenaline that was currently rushing through her veins. The combination was intoxicating to him and he took another deep breath in through his nose and slipped his arms around her waist to hold her closer. She smiled at the move and leaned back into him with a sigh. She never tired of this life of theirs.

"Just like old times?" he asked quietly.

"Better than old times," she replied.

"Oh?" And he dipped his head down to her neck and started moving his hands so they slid under her blouse and up her stomach. "Is that right?" His hand inched up her abdomen until his fingers brushed against the taut pebble of her left nipple.

"Mmmm hmmm," she murmured with a grin.

"And why is that, then?"

"Well to start with, I can't remember anytime I was hiding with the other you that included you feeling me up," she said smiling.

"Not for lack of wanting to," he replied quietly in her ear in a voice that sent a shiver down her spine.

He put his lips to her neck and kissed her. Oh, she tasted good. He could spend hours doing just this. Then he had an idea and grinned broadly. He moved his lips up to her ear and said, "No noises, remember? Must keep absolutely quiet, okay Rose?"

As she turned her head to look back at him questioningly, he captured her lips with his and kissed her but didn't let her turn around to face him. His right hand stayed on her left breast teasing the pointed nub of flesh there, but his left hand. Oh, his left hand was undoing the button on her jeans. She wasn't sure what he intended but she wasn't going to complain. She let out a quiet gasp as he pulled her zipper down just a little and then that clever hand of his was brushing across her stomach, down, down, slipping inside the waistband of her knickers until his middle finger s found her center. He ran his finger back and forth a few times, swallowing the moan she made with his mouth. Lifting his head away from her, he said again "Absolutely quiet, Rose. Or should I stop?"

She gulped and looked back and up at him. It was so dark in the closet she could barely see his face, but the little bit of light there was from the cracks in the doorway let her see the expression on his face and her knees went a little weaker than they already were. Silently, she looked him in the eye, grinned, then put her hand over his and began to move it again for him. She could tell he was grinning back when she saw the white of his teeth and heard an almost inaudible growl. He started moving his hands again and her eyes fluttered closed.

With his right hand, he continued worrying at her hardening nipples until they formed tight peaks. He pulled her bra — not one of her better ones but she wasn't really expecting THIS — up and over her breasts so he could have better access. His left hand stroked between her legs with a rhythm that was almost more than she could bear. Stroke, stroke, stroke, and then a finger moved deep inside her. Another three strokes and it was two fingers. Three more delicious strokes and suddenly he had three fingers inside her. As he began pumping them in and out of her, his thumb flicked at the small bundle of nerves that was right above his fingers.

Her response to his hands on her was having a definite effect on him as well. The smell of her arousal, the quickening of her breath and heart rate, it was everything he had been dreaming of, well, obsessing on, recently and more. His trousers were starting to grow uncomfortably snug and he began to wonder just where they could take this from here. He hadn't really planned that far in advance.

Rose's breath started coming in pants as she felt the tension coiling inside. The rhythm he had set up was more than she could take. She was just seconds from coming undone when they suddenly heard a voice in the hallway calling, "Rose! Doctor! Where are you? … Wait, I'm getting a signal! Over here guys!"

The sound of footsteps pounding towards them made him quickly pull his hands back to himself. With a groan, Rose tried to support her weight with her own legs; she suddenly realized how heavily she had been leaning into him — and fastened her jeans and repositioned her bra so it covered her breasts as designed instead of acting like a necklace.

So close. She can't believe she was that close. She wanted to cry and scream at the same time. She wanted to bar the door and rip his clothes off and say to hell with Jake, the Y'niac and Torchwood. But instead she tried to compose herself and turned to look at him. Her efforts were useless when she saw he was carefully, deliberately (joyfully!) licking the "evidence" from each and every one of his fingers. The look in his eyes was hunger and fire and a desire that was almost animalistic in nature. She felt the heat that had been fading inside her suddenly rage to a full boil again.

Just then, the door was yanked open. "Rose, Doctor! There you are! All clear! We've got the beastie in a containment unit and the boys are loading it onto a truck as we speak. You know, you really ought to look into carrying some blasters so you don't have to keep hiding in closets. It's not very Torchwood, you know. Running and hiding. You'll give us a bad name."

The Doctor answered, "Ah, but Jake, the running and hiding is half the fun!"

Rose tried to cover her discomfort by getting right down to business, "Make sure those containment units are sent directly to the Green Unit, Jake. What this guy lacks in smarts he makes up for in determination. I don't want him getting loose before we can figure out a way of getting him home."

Jake began calling orders out into his walkie talkie and the three of them headed down the hall toward the stairs.