The halls of Torchwood One echoed with the sounds of sneaker squeaks and riotous cackling as the two would be intruders made their way to the archives in the basement. A few security doors, a steel bulkhead and seven cameras later they found themselves in the farthest reaches of the cavernous storage facility, scanning through the aisles of miscellaneous alien tech and what unfortunately for Torchwood, turned out to be a rather large amount of broken alien kitchen appliances, useless gadgets and hairdryers.
"What 'bout this one?" Rose called waving a shining silver disk above her head so he could see.
"Does it have any numbers around the centre?" He called back over his should as he extricated himself from the box he had almost fallen in up on one of the higher levels.
"9699968888?" She read out, squinting against the gleam.
"Beatles album in fifty-second century Saturian" He muttered returning to the box, "Useless."
"Right." She sighed, tossing it into the incinerator pile. "Well, at least the boys from R & D will be stoked, we've almost gone through the whole joint. None of it proved useful. I don't know whether to be glad or disappointed."
"Something'll turn up." The Doctor called from his box, "It always does, usually when you least expect it too."
"Yea I guess." She breathed leaning back against the shelving until she could angle her head back just enough to see the soles of his trainers through the rack.
"What exactly are we looking for anyway Doctor?"
"Nutrient tubing, conduit cabling, prismatic converters, organically compatible interfacing, anything that looks like anything you've seen on the TARDIS basically it can all be used."
"That narrows it down," She snorted, "But on the up side there's a bike pump back in the container by the door."
"Very funny Missy," He stuck his head over the edge of the box with a raised eyebrow. "I'll have you know she'll be quite capable of growing her own this time round."
"Are they always females or is it just a thing with men and machines?" She shook her head with a laugh.
"They don't really start out as having any particular sexual orientation, my TARDIS chose to manifest herself as a female entity when we were bound together, had been for centuries but no-one had bothered to pay much attention to her before me."
"Are you alright without her?" Rose asked suddenly and he stopped rummaging and slid from the side of the box, grasping the sides until she could see his knuckles almost whiten.
"The corals doing all it can," He murmured just loud enough for her to make it out, "Plus there's you in the background too."
"You-you can hear me?" She frowned pulling herself from the floor to examine another container closer to him.
"You shared your mind with my sentient ship Rose," He replied moving along to the next cupboard, "A part of her is always with you thanks to the Bad Wolf. And no I can't hear you per-se, it's more like- you know that feeling you get when you're wrapped in a nice warm blanket, when it's really cold and your fingers have finally started to regain feeling?" She nodded.
"That's how you feel," He tapped his temple, "Up here. Well- that and the odd surface emotion but that's nothing new for me, still telepathic. It's funny you know, I thought that would be one of the things I'd lose with the metacrisis." He sniffed and ran a hand through his hair.
"Sometimes I wish there were two of me as well ya know." She replied softly. "I hate the thought that other you is alone."
"He won't be alone long Rose," The Doctor stopped what he was doing to lean over the side of the gangway so he could see her. "He has friends, and he always find someone when he least expects it, usually just when he needs it the most."
"Jus' like you found me." She smiled up at him.
"Yup," He grinned back, something shiny catching his eye in the box in front of her. "Hold on what's that?"
"What's what?" She frowned down towards the crate as he scrambled down the scaffolding and practically dived into the box.
"This," He pulled a mass of old wires attached to prism with a small mouldy green crystalline structure in the centre. "Where did they find this?"
"Consignment says it was pulled from a dig in Wales." Rose read from note on the side of the box.
"Where?" He muttered, turning it about gently in his hands.
"Cardiff," She flipped through a few more pages, "Round where the Plas is now, it's old though, found almost a century ago- why, what is it Doctor?"
"An energy converter." He breathed as he brushed the cobwebs from the wiring. "How did you get here I wonder?"
"Where's it from?" Rose asked reaching into the box to pull out another mass of coiled copper piping and a black stand looking thing she thought perhaps might be used to hold an instrument of some kind.
"My homeworld."
"What?" She stopped still, eyes darting to his as they stared blankly back at her. "Doctor, how can that be?"
"I don't know," He shook his head breathlessly, "But here they are- do you know what you're holding Rose?"
She glanced down at the contraption in her hand, "I dunno, can it help us?"
"Oh yes," He replied softly, "That my little pink and yellow human, is a hydrostatic electro-temporal harness and these parts, oh these, are from a type 40 TARDIS Rose," He gently took the item from her and put it back in the box along with his and carefully hoisted the entire thing into his arms.
"What the whole box?" She raised an eyebrow. "That's too much of a coincidence."
"Or someone's helping us." He reminded her.
"But how?" She stopped still, "Oh- He's been busy then, first the house now this?"
"It's the only thing I can think of." He replied. "How many boxes are marked in consignment with this one?"
She pulled the booklet clear off the side, "Two more according to this," She read it out, "One here, one over in quarantine and another in the vault."
"The vault?" He squinted at her in confusion.
"Yea," She pointed to the bulk head back towards where they'd come in, "It's where they put the stuff deemed too dangerous for in here, or they really have no clue and it 'might' be dangerous and/or a possibility of radioactivity."
"Dear Rassilon that things full of rubbish like that?" He groaned, "Better take a look in there too, just like Torchwood to store all the things that might explode in the one place."
"They're not stacked like this," She laughed referring to the rest of the shelving, "They're in suspended animation, Tosh even put a timelock on the bulkhead just in case."
"She what?" He gaped at her.
"She was a genius." Rose shrugged, "Helped with the work on the cannon."
"Wait you said was, what-"
"She died." Rose glanced down at her feet with a sniff. "Gave her life to help stop the stars goin' out."
"I'm sorry."
"Yea."
You'll tell me," He nodded with an understanding smile, "One day when you're ready?"
"Yea." She nodded, appreciating the gesture.
"Well then," He slid his box onto a nearby trolley, "Let's go find these others so we can get out of here, I don't know about you but I could do with a cuppa, possibly a banana and a good night's sleep."
"Keep the banana out of it and you got yourself a deal." She smirked.
"What's wrong with bananas?" He gasped.
"Dunno, more of a pear fan really." She shrugged pushing the trolley along beside him.
"WHAT?!" He gaped at her.
"Nah I'm jus kiddin'." She laughed, "The look on your face though, priceless it was."
"Rose Tyler that was just mean." He scoffed.
"Ah, but so worth it." She giggled stopping to swipe her security card across the vault door. It opened with a hiss and a spray as the entrance was decontaminated and unpressurised.
"That tickles." The Doctor giggled.
"What does?" She frowned at him.
"Time Lock."
"Oh," She followed in behind him with the trolley, glancing down at the note, "Should be that first green canister over to your right."
"Bugger me." He exclaimed as he opened the canister and a deep auburn glow and hum resonated around the room.
"Oi language."
"Sorry." He muttered reaching a hand cautiously into the contents.
"So what's in it?" Rose frowned at his continued awe of silence.
"Huon particles."
"What? Like remnants only in the heart of the TARDIS huon particles?"
"Oh yes." He breathed then turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "How did you know about-"
"Donna's parallel," She offered by means of explanation, interrupted by a rather large yawn.
"Hmmmm." He dropped his glance back to the canister and screwed the lid back on, gently placing it in the box on the trolley. "Come on then, Quarantine then home."
"Bed sounds brilliant." Rose agreed with another yawn, resealing the vault as he took over the trolley pushing
"That an invitation?" He raised an eyebrow.
"And you tell me to behave." She quipped, tongue poking out between her teeth.
"Hmm we might not get that far if you're mother has anything to say about it." He cringed.
"Jus go ruin the mood why don't ya." She rolled her eyes as she opened another bulkhead and pulled the rest of the consignment from the large tray at the bottom, the Doctor sonicing the quarantine barriers around their artifact to begin digging through its contents. Rose leant wearily against the trolley, her eyes seeming far away, a part of her still not registering that he was here and they were together.
"Did-did you ever think bout' us bein' together, you know- um-" She played with the hem of her shirt, suddenly reverting to a sixteen year old confronting her crush, "Before-'
"Course I did." He replied looking at her as if it should have been obvious. "You said you'd travel forever-"
"No- I don't mean jus' travellin together, I meant us- US-" She corrected finally meeting his eyes.
"How could I not," He replied softly, "I'm the same man now as I was then, well maybe a little worse for wear now but-"
"Still," She gave him a half smile, "You askin' Mum an all, just never imagined, well, no that's a lie, but definitely not leather-"
"Why not," He frowned indignantly, "He started it all."
"You avoided me." She raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"I protected you." He corrected. "From a strange and very, very old alien with more baggage no doubt than could contain your Mum's current wardrobe."
"Still wouldn't have missed any of it for the world." She gave him a small smile.
"Me either." He agreed with a small grin, one hand gently removing the contents of the last container. "Oh look at you." He cooed.
"But that's a.."
"Oh yes." He smirked holding the small green crystal at eye level.
"I've missed this." She smiled softly a single tear sliding down her cheek. "Missed you."
"Me too," He murmured slipping their prize into his pocket, taking her hand in his, "More than you could ever know."
"The things I've seen Doctor," She tried reigning her emotions in as he pulled her against him, head resting atop her hair, "I-"
"Not now alright," He soothed, "Let's go home eh, nice cuppa tea and some rest then I promise we'll sit down and have a nice long catch up eh."
"Bit domestic of you." She sniffed.
"Ah but domestic with you," He smiled, "That's not so bad."
"Shut up." She slapped him half halfheartedly, a smile threatening the corners of her lips. "How we gonna get this lot back then?"
"Same way we got here of course." He grinned.
"Hmmmm, might wanna aim for the cellar this time." She glanced around at what they'd acquired.
"Good point." He agreed with a nod as he soniced over the jumper a few more times. "That should do it."
"Reckon I should put in an order for one of those if it's as simple as that." She quipped.
"Well, Now that you mention it-" He drawled slipping his hand into his pocket to remove a thin pink cylinder, "Here, was meant to be a surprise for Christmas, planned to give it to you but, well you know-"
"You-you made this for me? A sonic?" She was astounded.
"Well, I thought that since you planned on staying around for the long haul you'd need it." He scuffed his trainer along the floor, "Better late than never eh?"
"It's brilliant, I love it." She grinned, depressing the switch to fill the room with a familiar buzzing. "Thank you."
"My pleasure." He smiled as she almost knocked the wind out of him in an embrace. "At least now I won't have to go searching for mine like before." She had the decency to look a little guilty as he kept her held close to him, depositing them both on the end of the trolley and jumped them home.
"Never could work out what you could possibly need it for mind." He continued chattering as they reappeared beside the boiler in the cellar below the kitchen, Rose slipping off his lap as he pushed the trolley safely into a corner.
"Sometimes it's best not to know everything Doctor," She turned to him when she reached the top of the stairs, "But just to be sure, does this new one have setting 6548g?"
"Should have all the settings of the old one," He looked up to where she was standing to find himself talking to a closed door.
"Hold on," He flicked through the settings until he found the right one. "6548g. But that's-" He almost dropped said sonic as it practically vibrated out of his hand.
"Rose Tyler what have you been doing with my-" His eyes almost bulged out his head at the implication. "Dear sweet Rassilon woman you'll be the death of me."