Title: Flirting and Peril
Author: Shen
Rating: NC-17
Characters: Rose Tyler, The Tenth Doctor
Spoilers: Takes place during and after New Earth
Teaser: Cassandra's teasing on New Earth has made Rose think about how she views the Doctor...and what she should do about it.

Chapter 3: Investigation

"That hurts!" the Doctor yelped as Rose put her hand on his knee. She gave him a withering look.

"Big bad Time Lord. You weren't supposed to hurt yourself, just stumble." He was sitting in the grass, and she was kneeling by his bent leg.

"Cheater," he pouted. Rose finally looked apologetic and ventured a smile.

"Well, you're not bleeding through your trousers, so I think you'll be fine. All I can do is kiss it to make it better." At that, she planted a peck on his knee and sat back to look at him. To her surprise, the Doctor wore an incredulous expression.

"Kiss it to make it better? Kiss it? Where on earth is that from?" he asked, honestly confused.

"Um, well, Earth. When a little kid skins his knees or elbows falling off his bike or whatever, and he's in hysterics, mums kiss it to make it better. Calms them down, or something." The Doctor still had a quirked brow.

"Besides, they say, 'love heals,' yeah?" Rose rambled, then hastily added, "'S what mums are for!" He was no longer looking at her, however. His gaze was miles away, contemplative.

"Love...heals," he muttered, bringing his gaze around to look at his now concerned companion. A slow smile on his part helped reassure her.

'Perhaps it does,' he thought as he stood up, brushed himself off, and took her hand again.

After an hour or so spent browsing small shops and surreptitiously taking readings with the sonic screwdriver, the pair were at last outside an official-looking building. Rose noticed a sign above the door, "Facilities Management and Event Scheduling."

"Here it is. There's a strange radiation signature coming from this building, or maybe from under it. What do you say we do this time?"

"Hm," Rose considered, "routine maintenance? Changing dead light fixtures or something. Oh! We could be from a magazine or paper. That fits our clothes better." The Doctor grinned. Rose knew he loved going undercover, and the more brash the better.

"Alright, then! Got our press pass right here," he announced, pulling out the psychic paper. Rose reached past his hand, to his collar.

"Can't have you looking unprofessional," she said as she buttoned his top button and straightened his tie. Perhaps more slowly than necessary, she smoothed out the front of his suit with her hands and finished by placing one on his cheek.

"There! That's better." She smiled up at him and was pleased to see she'd caught him off guard. Pleasantly so, apparently, because he grinned and leaned into her hand a bit.

"I think the grass stains will interfere, but I'm sure that helped. Thanks," he replied. Rose was thankful to notice that he politely ignored the questionable professionalism in wearing jeans like she was. A few moments later, they were at the front desk.

"Excuse me! Hello, miss, I'm Bill Tyler, and this is my intern, Rose Phillips." The Doctor flashed his psychic paper. Rose fought back a glare. First he named them Smith instead of Tyler, then he stole her last name for himself!

The woman examined it carefully before replying, "Ah, you're from Boe System Bride! But you aren't due until next week. I'm not sure we'll be able to accommodate you like we had hoped." The Doctor breathed a mental sigh of relief; he hadn't known the names of any actual bridal magazines and was thankful the paper had drawn one out of this woman.

"Yes! Sorry. There was a mix-up at the home office, virus in the scheduling program; there's been some chaos. Just yesterday, someone tried to conduct an interview with a creature who wasn't born yet. But don't worry, we won't let any lack of preparedness affect our review, since it's our fault. Maybe we can start by looking around here?"

"Oh, I'm sure I can get a higher-up to show you around. No need to wander aimlessly and get lost." The receptionist smiled politely and began making pages. The Doctor and Rose nodded and waited patiently to the side until a tall orlick came through the door beside the desk.

"Hello! No worries about the scheduling error; I should be able to show you all you need to see. I'm sure you'll find that this is one of the very best places for a couple or a symbiotic triad or what have you to celebrate their union. My name's Jindrick." The orlick gave a winning smile, which the time travelers returned in kind. They then introduced themselves and asked to be shown around the building.

"Certainly. This will be informative for you, since it's basically the brain of the satellite. You can see what sort of events and attractions we have upcoming, as well as the dedicated staff that finds them."

"Brilliant!" replied the Doctor. "Lead on." A few offices later, Rose suddenly stopped to talk to a particular secretary about spa treatments, and Jindrick delightedly joined in. The Doctor thought it was handy that the orlick was so proud of his company because it gave him the time he needed to whip out his sonic screwdriver and quickly test the area.

"Excuse me," he interrupted the animated trio sheepishly, "can you direct me to the nearest bathroom?"

"Of course. We'll wait for you he-"

"No need!" the Doctor protested, pulling a small notebook and pen from seemingly nowhere, "my intern needs the practice anyway. I'll catch up soon as I can." He gave Rose the items and smiled winningly at Jindrick. The man shrugged and gave him directions, which the Doctor took with thanks.

"So," he heard Rose say as he retreated, "What's next?"

His companion had provided the distraction he needed to test the area, and now he trusted her to continue to do what she did best – ask questions and show a genuine interest in the workers of the office. She could eat up time that way while he went downstairs to find the source of this radiation.

The next room the small party reached was maintenance dispatch. A few good-natured techs and janitors were hanging around, presumably either taking a break or waiting on orders from the lone computer terminal and its operator. Jindrick gave a spiel about organization, and then Rose started chatting with the staff. After a few minutes, she asked,

"So what powers this place? It's exceptionally quiet here, and I bet such luxurious facilities require a fair bit of energy."

"We have several reactors spread throughout the satellite, and they've recently been refitted. That explains the quiet. They're extremely efficient, as well – the latest model," Jindrick explained.

"I'm wondering if we shouldn't have waited on that upgrade, though. There have been some power fluctuations, sudden drops in efficiency – I think that company needs to work some bugs out yet," added an older tech. Rose caught Jindrick shooting him a glare.

"What kind of fluctuations? I hope it's nothing dangerous," she said brightly.

"Of course not! Though now I wonder where your boss is; I hope he didn't get lost." Changing the topic – interesting, but not necessarily indicative of villainy. He could just be trying to save face in front of the "press."

"Oh, it wouldn't surprise me. I'm starting to think the boss assigned me to him just so he would have someone around to make sure he made it safely back to the office every day." Jindrick started to smile but stopped suddenly.

"I could always replace you with a pocket computer, Rose, but they don't make tea quite as well," came a voice from behind her. Rose pretended to look sheepish before she turned around to see at his cheeky grin.

"Thanks, boss. And you know I wouldn't learn half as much from anyone else!" she said with false nervousness, slipping him a wink. After another hour of touring and chatting, as well as a comprehensive run-down of every activity and show available for the next two months, the trio found themselves back at the reception desk.

"I do hope you found that informative! But I see now it's getting late."

"Yes!" Rose said, perhaps too desperately, "we're just beat. Jet-lag, you know."

"Perhaps we can resume this tomorrow, then?"

"Oh, absolutely," replied the Doctor earnestly. They said their farewells and left the building.

"Well, that was godawful boring. We don't have to go back tomorrow, do we?" Rose asked once they were in the street. The Doctor shook his head, looking grim.

"We may not be here that long. Have to sneak in there tonight, actually. There's something living on the lower level of this satellite. It-"

"Feeds on the reactors?"

The Doctor blinked, "It might; I wasn't sure."

"A senior tech told me they're getting power fluctuations, that sort of thing."

"Well, that narrows it down. There's a creature buried in the machinery, too deep for me to get to on a fake bathroom run. But if it's feeding off the reactors, it'll be a minzo egg. Just as well we don't try for it now; UV light would probably make it hatch. Still, we need to remove it as soon as possible; it will tear this place apart if it hatches and most likely damage an important system down there."

"Can't we just tell the owners? It doesn't sound like something they want down there," Rose asked.

"If they believed us – and that's a big if, since minzos are extremely rare, and we're less than credible – they will panic and remove it now. For that matter, I don't trust them to take care of it properly if they do manage to extricate it safely. No, we'd best take care of this. Besides, it's more fun that way!" His seriousness faded away with that last sentence, and Rose could hear a trace of giddiness. It was infectious, and she bounced a little on the balls of her feet.

"Night-time infiltration, boss?"

"We'll get to the bottom of this one yet, Phillips," the Doctor answered with mock seriousness. Rose laughed at him.

"Then let's eat something and maybe have some fun before dark. Please?"

"Sure. Did you mention a pool earlier?"