Finally got this chapter up! Been moving into my uni house this week, but I'm finally in and have time to continue that, which is good because I love it so much. Will definitely be writing a series of these :) Anyway, have some fluffy niceness!
The Doctor stood up on the window sill, mind racing as he figured out the quickest way down to the ground to help Rose. As he saw it he had two options: either climb out of the window and drop down after her, or make his way through the house. The only problem with going through the house was that he would have to wait for Sarah-Jane's parents to go to bed – he could still faintly hear them downstairs – and he really did not want to wait any longer than necessary to find Rose. The problems with going out the window were fairly obvious. He was going to need a piece of rope so that he didn't fall down just like Rose had, he might break (the thought of Rose lying down there broken was one that he pushed to the back of his mind, trying not to let it take over his brain as he struggled to think clearly.
If he managed to get some sort of rope, it still wouldn't be long enough for him to reach the ground, which meant that, whatever he decided to do, he and Rose would have to make their way back through the house. The Doctor leaned against the window frame and banged his head softly against the wood, closing his eyes in frustration at the fact that he was now going to have to wait to rescue Rose.
"Doctor?" The voice startled him, and the Doctor span around to see Jack standing in front of him, looking concerned.
The Doctor opened his mouth to reply and found that his voice wouldn't come. He swallowed and tried again. "Rose. It's Rose, Sarah-Jane started waking up and we both jumped and she fell, I tried to grab her but she slipped and now she's down there in the dark and I can't tell if she's OK, she could be hurt or broken or..."
Jack stayed still, observing the Doctor try to control his emotions. The Doctor was aware that it was unlike him to be so open about what he was feeling (spending so much time with Rose was bound to rub off at some point) and he was glad that Jack wasn't trying to comfort him with hollow words – Jack knew as well as he did that Rose may very well not be alright, so what would be the point in saying so.
The Doctor had begun to pace up and down the windowsill, hands clutching his hair and making it stand up on end as he tried to come up with a plan. Jack waited a few seconds before making any attempt to stop him.
"Doctor," he said, grabbing the Doctor's arm as he went past, forcing the Doctor to turn around and face him, "what's the plan? We've got to do something, and we've got to do it soon."
The Doctor nodded, his face serious, lips pressed together in a thin line. "We wait until the parents are asleep, that should be about another hour, then we slide down the side of the house on the skipping rope, make sure Rose is alright, make it back into the house via the catflap and sneak back up here. Easy peasy." The edge of confidence was back in the Doctor's voice now, a sparkle in his eyes as he took control once again. He hopped off the windowsill, off the desk and out of sight, reappearing a few seconds later with two skipping ropes.
"We tie these together, they'll be long enough to reach almost to the ground. We find Rose, we make sure she's OK, we get back through the house and pull the ropes back up before anyone realises we've been gone."
Jack continued to look at the Doctor as he worked to tie the rope together. "Is this going to be another one of those plans where everything goes wrong? A "Scooby Doo" plan, as I like to call them. You know, it sounds great in theory, but we end up getting caught in our own trap and have to wait for someone to rescue us."
The Doctor looked up long enough to glare at Jack before carrying on, talking even faster than usual. "Well, I know that some of my plans don't exactly work as well as I would hope, but considering the fact that I always get us out of trouble in the end, and considering the fact that I'm the only one who ever actually makes any plans to begin with, I think that you can trust me on this one. There, finished."
The Doctor jumped down and looped the rope around one of the desk legs, knotting and pulling it tight before climbing back on the desk and letting the rope slowly out of the window.
"Why don't you just throw it down?" asked Jack, impatience beginning to show.
"Because it would clatter against the side of the house, and I don't particularly want to be discovered at this point, do you?" The Doctor's voice was heavy with sarcasm, and he scolded himself inwardly for taking his worry out on Jack. He would make it up to him later, he was certain.
Once the Doctor had let the rope down fully, he and Jack sat and waited, listening out for signs that Sarah-Jane's parents had finally gone to bed, giving them a clear run through the house without risk of being discovered.
The next hour passed painfully slowly.
The Doctor spent it sitting on the windowsill, peering down into the darkness to try and catch a glimpse of Rose, fists clenched and jaw tight. He could feel Jack's eyes on his back, keeping a close watch on him. A part of him resented this – did Jack think that he was going to do something stupid? Hadn't Jack known him long enough to know that he wouldn't just go leaping out of a window after Rose?
When they finally heard the sounds that indicated Sarah-Jane's parents going to be, the Doctor nodded to Jack and stood up, barely hesitating before launching himself out of the window.
The Doctor slid down the rope smoothly, not letting the fact that one slip could send him tumbling into the darkness scare him in the slightest. He hung on the end of the rope for a moment, gently swinging in the air before letting go and dropping down onto the ground. He rolled and jumped straight back up again, peering through the bushes and not even looking around to see if Jack had dropped down safely behind him.
He caught a glimpse of pink and yellow to his right, and dashed towards it, almost crying out in joy when he saw a completely alive and conscious Rose looking up at him from where she lay on the ground. She looked a little crumpled and shaken, and she was holding her leg at an odd angle, but aside from that she seemed fine.
"Rose," the Doctor said, kneeling down next to her and hugging her almost violently. She gripped him tightly in return – she was freezing, but she didn't seem to notice.
"Doctor," she pulled back, smiling a bit before smacking his shoulder. "You took your time!"
"Oi," the Doctor whined, rubbing his arm, "I could just leave you down here, you know, from the looks of it you're going to need me to fix that leg of yours, but if you want to stay here, you're more than welcome to."
Rose smirked. "You wouldn't leave me here, you'd be lost if it wasn't for me."
"Yes, I would," the Doctor stated without thinking, watching as her eyes widened."
"No offence, but couldn't your romantic reunion wait until we're inside. I'm dying of cold here."
"Jack!" Rose sounded delighted to see him, the Doctor felt jealousy flare inside him as he stepped aside and watched them hug. Jack stood up and turned to the Doctor, giving him a wink. "Um, Doctor, do you think you could do something about my leg now?" Rose peered around Jack's legs and looked up at him, pain showing through her smile. The Doctor sprang into action, carefully moving and looking at the leg while Rose hissed in pain, squeezing Jack's hand hard.
"OK, well it seems like your knee joint has come slightly out of place – not completely though, all I have to do is push it back into place and you should be fine." He rolled up his sleeves, not missing the fact that Rose seemed to enjoy the sight of his forearms a bit too much (they were quite nice forearms, even if he did say so himself.) The Doctor placed one hand just above Rose's knee, and one hand just below, positioning them carefully and trying not to move the leg too much.
"Rose?" Her eyes flickered upwards and found his. "I'm so sorry Rose, but this is going to hurt."
"Are you absolutely sure you know what you're doing?"
"Hey!" He gave her an indignant look and jabbed himself in the chest with his finger. "Doctor, remember?"
"Yeah, I bet you've got excellent qualifications," Rose muttered, causing a snort of laughter from Jack.
"If that's the way you feel, you can just hop back up to the room," the Doctor replied, unable to stop himself from grinning. He took a breath and pushed hard on Rose's leg. He heard a snap; Rose gritted her teeth and let out a yell of pain, eyes scrunching shut.
"There, all done." Rose slowly opened her eyes, moving her leg a little and starting to smile as she realised her pain was gone.
Before the Doctor knew what was happening Rose was up on her feet, twisting her leg and testing it before walking off. "Where are you going?"
Rose turned back and sighed. "Surely we've got to be getting back. Come on, the back door's this way."
"Actually, it's this way," the Doctor called after her, pointing in the opposite direction.
Jack sniggered and Rose blushed slightly. "I took a guess," she admitted, walking back to where the Doctor and Jack stood. The Doctor slipped his hand in hers without thinking.
"Thankyou," Rose said quietly as they started walking, pressing a kiss to his cheek shyly.
"How come I never get any of that?" Jack complained from a couple of steps behind them.
"Buy me a drink first," the Doctor replied without hesitation.
"Such hard work."
"But worth it."
Rose laughed, resting her head on the Doctor's shoulder. He had never been more aware of his shoulder in his entire life than he was at that moment.
Hope you enjoyed it, there should be one or two more chapters - couldn't resist the banter between the doctor and jack, had to put it in there, please forgive me! Review if you like, and thankyou for reading.