A/N: The absence of fluff… what to do!…. We wait until the next chapter! lol The return of mindless fluff is forthcoming, I promise. I love all your suggestions and will surely see as many as possible are worked into the story one way or another, so keep them coming! I find it utterly amazing how each of you have inspired such a great amount of the good stuff yet to come! The next part is already well under way and will likely be posted by Sunday, as for this part, thank you, DestinChild - this piece was actually rewritten in part due to your comment - I loved the idea so! As always, please read and review - the muse is thriving on your comments and suggestions and she vows to not disappoint.

Disclaimer: I so obviously don't own Doctor Who; I just like to borrow the characters and mutate their inner voices. Please don't sue, my house is small, my car is useless and my dogs are pains in the arse, but they're all I have.

Scientific Method

Part 4: Drawing Conclusions

By: Danae Bowen

The first two days she didn't leave the flat. She curled up in her bed, staring at the pink walls, the pink clock and watched the hours tick by. Jackie brought her tea and she drank it. Jackie brought her food and she ate it. She got out of bed to use the washroom and then curled back up in the cocoon she'd developed for herself.

The tears only lasted a few hours. The depression lasted a few days. When the sun came up on the third day, Rose pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and wandered out to the living room where her mum was watching the television.

"Any word on Sharine, then?" she muttered as she sat down beside the older woman and rested her feet on the coffee table.

Jackie gaped at her in surprise for a moment but thought better of commenting. "Haven't heard a thing from the girl in an age. I expect you can find her down at the pub any night, from what I've heard anyway."

Rose nodded, knowing her friend's antics well. "Think maybe I'll go 'round tonight, try and track her down."

Jackie hesitated but shrugged and looked over at her daughter. "Feeling better, then?"

"Yeah," Rose shrugged, "Getting on with it."

~~~3

The pub hadn't changed; same old group of guys hanging around the pool table, hooting at the match being broadcast over the bar; same old group of girls hanging around the bar, shaking their heads at the guys, chattering about whatever had come to mind.

Rose sat at the far end of the bar, sipping on a half pint as she looked for anyone she cared to talk to. There were a few courtesy, "Oi, Rose Tyler, where ya been?" conversations, but no one really cared. When she came here she had Mickey or Sharine at her side, now she was alone.

"If that blonde were any more bottled, girl, we'd need to keep it behind the bar."

A grin broke across Rose's features as she turned to face down her old mate. "You should talk, that hair went out the year we were born."

Through the laughter and chatter that followed, Rose found herself thinking less of the Doctor and more about having fun. How they ended up at a dive of a dance club, however, Rose doubted she'd ever know for sure. They stayed a while drinking at the pub before Rose found herself dragged to Sharine's flat. If nothing else, Sharine loved to dress up, which is how Rose found herself in a cute little black dress that hugged her body in all the right places just enough to raise the eyebrows of Sharine's mates who appeared on the doorstep a half hour later.

"Rose, meet Andrew and Michael. Boys, this is my best mate, Rose."

The one called Andrew sidled up to Rose, not hiding his eyes as his gaze travelled down the front of her dress. "Hear you're quite the experienced traveller. All over the world, Sharine says."

Rose shrugged non-committally. "Yeah, do a bit here 'n there." She wormed herself away from him and back closer to Sharine, crossing her arms over her chest as she went.

More alcohol was consumed, Rose found herself in Michael's car and the four of them were off to the club. She was still hard pressed to remember how she ended up in Andrews arm's, struggling uncertainly to keep his hands off her bum as they danced. Rose momentarily missed her real life, running from Daleks, Slitheens and the rest - crazy cat nuns and werewolves were nothing compared to a drunken sleaze ball determined to cop a feel. She excused herself from the human octopus and returned to the bar, drinking anything the bartender put in front of her as she struggled to forget.

~~~3

He paced the steel grating on the TARDIS. He paced from the control room to the kitchen, kitchen to the library, library to the pool. In the end he found himself standing in front of Rose's bedroom door, courtesy of the TARDIS as she shifted her interior dimensions to suite her nefarious needs.

The Time Lord was struggling with the recent events that had occurred. He'd encountered Rose in a number of situations prior to the last week, not the least being the mind blowing kiss laved upon him by Cassandra whilst in Rose's body. However, he'd never reacted so poorly as he had recently. The first morning in the kitchen had been the worst. He couldn't help himself as his most base functions took over, forcing him to practically devour the girl with his desperate, hungry gaze.

She'd gone pale when she turned and caught him staring, not that he could blame her. He was a nine hundred year old alien that for just a single moment in time lost control, lusting after a twenty year old human child. He couldn't explain the change, but that morning it was as if something had filled the air, a subtle difference in either Rose or himself, and he found himself helpless to fight the closeness that had been growing between them.

Over the next few days he'd found any time she was in his presence, the sight of her, the smell of her drove him to places he hadn't been in years. The finale break had come when he'd inadvertently run into her clothed only in a towel. He'd laid his hands on her only to prevent her from falling, but the second his fingers brushed over the soft flesh of her thigh, her fresh scent wrapped its tendrils around his brain and his body had instantly reacted. He'd kept the thinnest hold on his sanity, ordering her silent as he struggled against the urge to force her against the nearest wall, to press his lips to hers and drink deeply of her flavour directly from the source. Every subtle shift of her body, every gasping breath she drew between her ruby lips left him helpless, threatening to shatter whatever fragile control remained.

He was useless after that; every second he was in her presence became torture, his body immediately coming to attention, demanding a release he couldn't honourably provide. He'd tried avoiding her, but her scent followed him into every room; he'd tried ignoring it, but sitting across from her as she consumed some sticky treat made him wish beyond all else that her lips would favour him with the same treatment.

He'd needed a break, she was driving him completely mad; when she'd merely popped out of her bedroom and perched on a railing and his brain started screaming take her, he knew he had to separate the human from the situation before she got hurt. So, he suggested visiting her mum, effectively pushed her out of the TARDIS and now stood in front of her door, lonely, depressed and wasn't his hand just a little cold?

Ignoring the little voice in his head that whispered invasion of privacy, the Doctor opened the door and found himself all at once encompassed by her scent. He groaned softly as he stepped forward and let the door close behind him. He was halfway to her bed when it struck him that the large picture of Jackie that Rose insisted on keeping with her no longer sat perched on the girl's armoire. He frowned and turned, taking in the rest of the room, recognizing the barren walls and table tops for what they were. His hearts began beating rapidly out of synch, his skin dawning a green pallor.

It wasn't until he lay down on her bed and realized that her favourite fluffy pink pillow was gone, with it the picture of them she kept hidden beneath it, that he understood completely.

Rose had gone home, and she wasn't planning on coming back.

What had he done?

~~~3

It was near midnight when Jackie Tyler awoke to a furious pounding on her door. Startled and concerned, she slipped the chain lock over the doorframe before peeking through the peephole.

"Oh, come on," he muttered impatiently, pacing in front of the door.

The elder Tyler sighed as she released the chain and opened the door to the dishevelled looking alien on her doorstep. "I oughta slap you, y'know?" she muttered, unsure if she was pleased to see him or raging that he'd come back.

"I need to talk to Rose, Jackie. You can slap me later." He looked around, his mind instantly recognizing the absence of Rose's presence.

A ghost of a smile crossed her mum's features as she chuckled softly, "Promise?" before shrugging, "She's not here anyway. She's gone off with her mate, Sharine. When those two get together, she could be gone days without a word."

The Doctor's frown deepened. "Do you know where?"

"Who's to say, I mean really, Doctor, it's not like I keep tabs on my Rose these days." She paused, "And although I certainly wouldn't know where Sharine spends her time, you can check the pub down the block." She paused again. "'Course at this time of night, s'more likely you'll find them at that new club opened up down the road. Heard Sharine spends a lot of time there, these days." She frowned, "Not that I really listen to estate gossip, you know."

The Doctor grabbed her and planted a kiss on her cheek before turning on his heel, "Of course not, Jackie. Can't help what you hear by the mailboxes, right?"

"S'right, Doctor." She closed the door behind him, breathing a silent sigh of relief as he took off down the street in search of her daughter. "Good luck, then."

~~~TBC