Chapter 5

Rose's breath caught in her throat as she met Toby's gaze, fear slamming through her as his eyes glowed red and scribblings of ancient language distorted his features.

Someone's gotta be the Doctor, she thought, taking a moment to steady herself before she burst into action, yanking Toby's seatbelt free as she fired the bolt gun at the glass window in front of them.

She was mildly surprised when they didn't all die within seconds. Sometimes future technology was rather handy. Yeah…now we can wait, wow…maybe a whole minute to die…hmm…I think I've really been around the Doctor too long–even my own thoughts are getting more sarcastic. Ok…things to do…tone down the inner snarkyness, clean my room…oh wait–'get sucked into a huge, evil black hole and die' just moved to the top of the list… She closed her eyes and gripped the armrests as the ship stuttered, bracing herself for the enviable. Oh God…I hope it doesn't hurt too much…I wish I could have seen him, at least one more time…

I wish I were a billionaire, she thought as the Doctor's voice crackled through the cabin a moment later. I wish I had a bowl of chocolate ice cream right now, because if a girl ever needed some comfort food, this is really really the time. She waited expectantly, but when neither cash nor chocolaty goodness materialized, she shrugged. 'Spose one miracle a day will have to do.

It seemed to take eons for Rose to navigate the few corridors between the cabin and the hold. There was a brief flurry of chaos getting the unconscious Ida off the TARDIS and a rush of hurried goodbyes and then she was through the doors of the police box and his arms were around her, lifting her off the floor, he was laughing in relief and holding her so tight that she almost couldn't breathe, but she didn't care, because why would she need air when she had him back again, alive and safe, and not stuck somewhere in the middle of a planet that was currently being reduced to atoms by a collapsed star?

She sighed mentally when, all too soon, he pulled back to arm's length and set her gently away from him. She wrapped her arms around herself, leaned against the control consol in feigned nonchalance and felt that she did an admirable job keeping any hint of a quaver out of her voice when she finally ceased the through examination of her shoelaces and spoke. "I didn't want to leave–I tried to tell them you'd make it out, but they wouldn't listen, they made me go–but I tried to wait for you, I did–"

"I know. And I'm glad they did make you leave. That place was…a bit dodgy." He quirked an eyebrow her direction, eliciting a small tug at the corner of her mouth. "I'm glad they wanted to keep you safe." He continued brusquely before stepping a few feet back and focusing his attention on the multitude of snaps, catches, zippers and latches that were working valiantly to keep him surrounded in the hypo-allergenic non-penetrable anti-microbial temperature-stabilizing orangeness of the space suite. "Though I would have preferred that they didn't try to dump you in a black hole" he shot an ironic grin her direction "…well…on the other hand, that part was really my fault anyway…however, I did keep you all from actually falling in, so no harm, no foul, right?"

Giving herself a mental shake, she tucked her hands in her pockets, pushed the fear and desperation of the past few hours into the back of her mind, glanced sideways at him and forced a smile. "I think my mum may have something specifically about not loosing me in a black hole. You're going to be in trouble."

"I don't remember that rule! I must have been gone for that conversation."

"You were not! It was that night when mum tried to cook yams, and we watched that one sci-fi show on telly, and there were black holes, and mum said that if you even got me near a black hole–"

"Oh yes. All coming back now. Yes, she something about finding out just how my regeneration process worked, as many times as she needed to in order to gain proper scientific data. Which is ridiculous. Jackie Tyler wouldn't know science if it bit her on the–oww!" He glared at her. "Oh, come on! That's not an insult! She wouldn't!"

"She watches CSI. They have science on CSI."

"Weeellll…I guess they sort of have science on CSI. I mean, television science, which is not really much like real science–well, except on educational shows and the like, and even then, they tend to gloss over the tedious parts a bit, to get to the explosions faster. Mythbusters–now there's a brilliant show. They know just how to mix science and munitions. …But CSI isn't bad, all things considered. Bit messy. Always figured your mum more the type for 'Passions' or some rot. I knew a bloke once–nasty tempered bastard, Billy Idol wannabe…loved Passions.

Never did figure that one out."

"I think mum watches CSI 'cause she has a bit of a crush on one of the actors."

"That does make more sense. You know, I hear they might do a CSI Cardiff." He shot her a grin and finally located the buckle that would convince the suit to relinquish it's puffy orange hold on him.

She leaned against the railing and watched him slough his protective tangerine covering, heaving internal sigh of disappointment as nothing less than his familiar pinstripes were revealed the at conclusion of its removal. She snorted. "CSI Cardiff. Right."

"Anyway," he said, as he began fiddling with knobs and dials on the console, "the point is, you didn't fall into the black hole, and as Jackie has finally started to like me a bit more, there really isn't any reason to tell her that you were near one. It's not like I brought you there on purpose, just to spite her."

"You just don't want to get slapped again."

He glanced over his shoulder at her. "Can you blame me?"

She bit her lip in mock-contemplation. "Well…once, back in high school, I was going through a rather rebellious phase, and, quite a bit mouthy…so there was this one day that I got up in mum's face and said all sorts of things that I shouldn't have, and I'll be the fist to admit I crossed a line, and well…" She paused. "Nope. Can't blame you."

"So, no telling your mum about you sort of almost getting sucked into an itty-bitty black hole then?"

His beseeching look was an unfair advantage, considering that he had the experience of centuries to fall back on when it came to puppy-dog eyes. Accepting defeat she grinned back teasingly. "I suppose. But if it happens again…"

His fingers clenched around the lever he was adjusting. "The one black hole experience was quite enough for me, thank you. Anyway," he continued, forcing brightness into his tone, "it wouldn't do at all to have repeats, now, would it? We really have to keep a bit of variety in our near-death experiences, or–who knows? I might have to start thinking about having multiple outfits!"

"Oh, anything but that."

"Not that I would actually start having multiple outfits, mind you. Just thinking about it."

"The situation would have to be truly dire before you'd succumb to a varied wardrobe, yeah?"

"Oh, absolutely."

"That reminds me, Doctor…"

"Hmm?"

"I think you're making me sarcastic. You're a bad influence."

"What? Oh…no, Rose. You're British. Born sarcastic, the lot of you. It's genetic. Or geographical. I'm not quite sure. Always planned to take some time to study it. If someone has English parents, and is born and raised in say, Spain, will they still be sarcastic? Or, if they are born in the center of London, and grow up in Brighton, but have an Austrian mother and a Brazilian father…will they grow up instinctively sarcastic? Sense of irony, too. Your lot has a corner on the irony market."

"Well, you're making me more sarcastic then. Is Time Lord sarcasm genetic or geographical?"

"Oh…actually, my people are rather stuffy and cold–don't have much use for sarcasm. I got this way hanging around too many Brits." He glanced back over his shoulder and winked at her, as he flipped the switch to activate the comm. circuit. "Zach? We'll be off now. Have a good trip home." He though for a second. "And the next time you get curious about something…Oh, what's the point? You'll just go blundering in." he shook his head and rolled his eyes at Rose. "The human race."

Ida's voice crackled through the speakers, sounding a little tired, but strong and sure despite her ordeal. "But…Doctor…what did you find down there? That creature…what was it?"

His tone was flippant when he answered her. "I don't know! Never did decipher that writing…But that's good! Day I know everything…might as well stop."

Rose watched him as he affected a lack of concern. Considering how close they had all come to dying, how many of them had died…well, the more something affected him, the less he showed. That was something that hadn't changed when he regenerated. If anything, it had become more pronounced.

"What do you think it was, really?" She noticed how he avoided her eyes when she asked him.

"I think…" he answered, pretending that the adjustments he was making to the dials on the console were vitally important, "…we beat it. That's good enough for me."

She hesitated for a second, her brow furrowing slightly . "It said I was gonna die in battle."

He finally met her eyes. He looked at her solemnly before speaking, for once forgoing his shield of enigmatic evasiveness and silly rambling. "Then it lied."

She smiled tremulously.

The he flipped a few final switches and the TARDIS began humming a warm-up sequence. "Right! Onwards and upwards–Ida! See you again, maybe!"

"I hope so," came quietly back over the comm system. Rose thought the fact that she didn't glare at the disembodied voice showed that she was growing as a person.

"And thanks, boys!" she shouted. She didn't do it to prove that she could be flirty with the people they met in their journeys, too, she assured herself. All in all…she really was glad that they had dragged her off that chunk of floating rock, even if it had been necessary to drug her. They had been trying to save her. And, in the end, she supposed they'd succeeded, to be fair. What if they had left her, and Doctor hadn't realized that she was still on the planet? Or…moon, or asteroid, or whatever it was. They were nice guys–even Toby hadn't been bad before he'd gone and gotten himself possessed. She shuddered slightly. She was going to put that on her list of things never to do, for sure. Oh, wait. Already been there, done that and got the bitchy trampoline T-shirt. Right.

Ida's voice poured softly into the TARDIS again. "Hang on though, Doctor…you never really said…you two–who are you?"

"Oh…" He looked at Rose, and his proud smile and twinkling eyes warmed her to her toes. "Stuff of legend." He pulled a lever and the Time Rotor began it's grinding, shrieking cycle.