Jackie ponders her daughter's relationships.

Rose's Men

by Owarinari

It had all started with Mickey. Sure, Rose had had boyfriends before, but In Jackie's opinion Mickey was the first proper boyfriend Rose had. The kind that you wouldn't mind introducing to your parents.

She didn't mind Mickey so much as his relationship with Rose. Despite the fact that at the time they obviously loved each other, she still found it hard to place lazy, cowardly Mickey with her lively, bold daughter. Jackie had never believed in 'opposites attract' and had therefore settled for alienating Mickey, watching from a distance for growing cracks in their relationship.

So she had been pleased when Rose had turned up with another boy, from a future England as he later told her. She had prayed that this would be the person to keep Rose safe and on-planet. Even as the thought had entered her mind, she noticed that Rose was completely oblivious to his longing gazes. She had tried to nudge them together, but had given up after several failed attempts.

Then later Jack had been pulled into the equation, and her hopes for a sensible man rose again, and she watched with alert eyes as they flirted with each other and the Doctor. Her hopes had been quashed yet again as the flirting gave way to gentle teasing, and brotherly affection on Jack's part. They loved each other, but not in the way Jackie had been hoping for.

It seemed that the last relationship was going to last, despite her misgivings. 'The Doctor' had wandered into her idyllic existence and left with the one thing that really mattered to her, and then expected her to just kick back and watch it happen.

Sometimes she wondered 'Why me? Why my Rose?' but her mind always had a reply ready.

'Because Rose is brave and beautiful and he loves her' and she never managed to shove the thought away before it got in a parting shot 'And you can't do a single thing about it'.

She could though. She could force Rose to stay with her, guilt her into remaining with her family. But she realised that Rose could never really be completely happy again in one place. Even if she remained on Earth until she was forty, her love would stay with the Doctor. Despite the fact that Rose hadn't been 'her little girl' for a while now, Jackie still felt like she had had something stolen from her. So she covered part of the reason for her mistrust of the Doctor by saying that he wasn't safe – which was also true. She knew Rose knew, by the look in her daughter's eyes when she said it.

Jackie turned again and glanced at the clock. They were now two hours late. She rose from the sofa and started to pace, fingers beating out an agitated rhythm on her arms when she folded them. She looked out the window, spotting the cranes in the distance, where Downing Street lay.

'I could save the world but lose you'

She had known then. That was just as close as that man would ever get to saying 'I love you' publicly. Her estimation of the Doctor had improved significantly, but it would never change the fact that the next time he came back, he may be carrying Rose's body.

She once again checked the clock. Rose had always teased the Doctor about being late, despite having a time machine, but it had always seemed just in fun. She now prayed that they were just late, not anything worse.

After Rose had reappeared on her doorstep a few weeks ago, eyes haunted and dark with sorrow, she had asked no questions, taking her daughter in and caring for her the way she had for the last 19 years. Between bouts of tears, Rose had explained the regeneration, Jack, and the holes in her own memory.

'I don't know what happened. Why don't I know?'

Rose had spent a few days drifting around the flat, looking for all the world like a lost little ghost. The small part of Jackie that had been hoping that her daughter had been delivered back to her died. This wasn't Rose; this was a little shadow of the person that had captivated so many people.

So when a young man had appeared on her doorstep, wearing the Doctor's jacket, she had taken one look at the old look in eyes and had slapped him. He hadn't even flinched, merely informing her that he had deserved it. She had scowled as only a woman in the throes of maternal rage can, and had shoved him into Rose's room, praying that she had done the right thing. She had walked into the room after an hour, and found them clinging to each other as if their lives depended on it, and she had been unfazed. She had found them like that a million times before.

Jackie resumed her pacing, worry escalating with each passing second. A soft murmur and the clicking of a key in the lock, and Jackie bolted for the door, flinging it open. Rose, the Doctor and Jack were stranding there, Rose dangling a key from one finger.

"'Ello" The Doctor's Rose had grinned cheekily at her "'Ave you changed the locks again?"