June 2018: re-edited since its original publication.


Chapter 11 - Torchwood

"What do you want to do?"

The Doctor looked up at Rose's question. "Hmm?" he asked. They were in Rose's car, following Pete into work.

Rose glanced over at the Doctor. "What do you think you wanna do at Torchwood?" she asked.

"Not sure," the Doctor told her. "What do you do?"

He noticed her blush as she focused on the road ahead of them as she drove. "Field agent and... special projects, lately," she replied.

The Doctor figured he knew just what sort of special projects she'd been working on: a Dimension Cannon, and who knew how many prototypes and other ideas, all so that she could... come back. Well, they were both back, now.

He thought about Torchwood. Where would he fit in? It would only be temporary - well, for the next ten years or so. Okay, so he should find something he'd enjoy. He was sure he'd be able to contribute in almost any department, but what he really wanted...

"Could I work with you?" the Doctor asked Rose.

She raised her eyebrows, but didn't answer right away.

"Or not," he volunteered. He understood she might be apprehensive about workplace tensions or some other such nonsense, but he couldn't deny it hurt. Just a bit.

"No, no," she said, shaking her head slightly. "That'd be great, it's just," she paused, then said, "I mean, I'll probably go back to bein' a field agent. An' you'd have to go through all the trainin' for that, includin' firearms..." She glanced sidelong at him, and he smiled.

"Is that all?" he asked.

"Well, yeah," she answered, "but I thought you kinda had a thing about guns. You were always gettin' on Jack about his."

He shrugged. "Not so much, anymore," he said. "And that was your fault, actually," he added.

"What was?" Rose asked.

"The whole gun thing," he told her, remembering exactly when it had happened. He'd been so ready to kill... "Remember back in Utah, Van Statten's alien museum?"

"The Dalek," Rose said, quietly.

"When you stood between me and that Dalek, I don't know, I just felt disgusted with myself. I'd been berating myself for my part in the Time War, and then I'd picked up that gun, ready to jump right back into battle - or, execution as it would have been. And then, when I regenerated, I guess it just carried over as sort of a point of pride. You should have seen me when I ran back into UNIT."

"So what's changed, then?" asked Rose.

"I guess the regeneration," he said. "This one, the metacrisis," he clarified. "I realized how hypocritical it was for me to be looking down on anyone with a gun, when I still did more damage than any single firearm could."

"But," Rose said, hesitantly, "you still wiped out the Daleks. Not that I'm in any way complainin'!" she added, quickly.

"And that's my point, exactly," he told her. "Whether it's a gun, or a delta wave, or an atmospheric converter, or Dalekanium power feeds, it's how and when they're used that matters."

Rose was quiet for a few moments, then asked, "So, you wanna be my partner?"

The Doctor smiled. "If you want," he said. Then, "Better with two, don't you think?"

"The old team, back together?" she asked.

"Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, Shiver and Shake!" the Doctor said, as Rose laughed.


The Doctor was interviewed by the Torchwood department heads, all of whom said he'd be more than welcome to work in any area he liked. He accepted a tour of the various departments, but afterwards made it clear that he wanted to work in the field as Rose's partner.

"I'll gladly help out," he told Pete, "languages, identifying technology, whatever you need. But I really, really, don't want a desk job," he told Pete firmly.

"Well, the UFO department's gonna be disappointed," Pete told him (Unidentified Fallen Objects had become the name of Torchwood's stockpile of yet-to-be-identified alien technology), "but it's your choice. Both of you," he said, including Rose.

"Yes, please," Rose said, grinning at the Doctor.

They had the Doctor's photo taken for his Torchwood ID and other documents. He got his ID back right away, but the forged driver's license would take some more time. Since they were at Torchwood anyway, Rose took him down to get equipped.

The Doctor was surprised when she led him to a locker labeled "Smith". "Already?" he asked, surprised that they'd set aside a locker just for him, so soon.

Rose shook her head. "'S not 'John Smith', this was Mickey's," she said, entering the combination and opening the locker door.

Subued, the Doctor watched as Rose sorted through what was left inside. He noticed that the locker wasn't very personalized. Or, rather, it had been stripped of personalization. There were pieces of adhesive tape left inside the door, indicating where pictures had probably hung and been removed.

"Looks like he took what he wanted with him," Rose said, confirming the Doctor's assumption as she sorted through what was left. "Uniform won't fit, but the vest's adjustable, an' you can use the rest of the gear," she told him.

Instead of handing said gear over to the Doctor, she pulled out the uniform and closed the locker. "Now, it's John Smith's," she told him.


They still had another hour to kill, so Rose took the Doctor to the firing range. She admitted that she'd spent a good deal of her off time down there, just to relieve the stress of whatever she was working on.

"It wasn't like I wanted to kill things," she said, passing up the man-shaped silhouettes for the simpler bull's-eye targets. "The whole mind-body concentration thing just helped." She handed the Doctor the necessary hearing protection and safety glasses, before checking out a couple of semi-automatics and ammunition.

They set up in adjoining stalls, and Rose gave him a quick tutorial on the particular handgun she'd selected.

Once their targets were set up, Rose noticed the Doctor was glancing over at her, just as she was looking back at him. It seemed they were each a bit nervous about their performance in front of the other. Rose just smiled at him, then turned back to her lane, focusing on her grip, her breathing, and her sight alignment. She fired off a couple of shots, then heard the Doctor do the same.

Light was clearly visible through the center of both their targets.

She looked back over at the Doctor, and this time, her smile held a challenge.

Rose spent her entire clip, and pulled the target back in, noting proudly that she'd completely destroyed the center of her target, within a one-inch diameter. The Doctor had retrieved his target, as well, so she peeked over into his stall to see how he'd done.

She didn't have to peek. He handed her the target with a smug grin on his face.

She bit her lip, trying very hard not to smile, but couldn't help but give in. It looked like he wouldn't have any trouble with the marksmanship training. A few well-placed shots had turned the center group into a heart, with the letter's "I" and "U" on either side of it.

She gently elbowed him as he moved behind her to look over her shoulder. "Arrogant Time Lord," she muttered, still smiling.


To be continued...