Rose hurried into her flat, knowing that her mother would have gone to shower and change whilst watching the news for any word. She didn't know what the Doctor was going to do with Phoenix, she didn't know if the brunette would be okay, but she did know that she could see her mother again. With that in mind, Rose hurried forward to embrace her mother as the other woman came into sight.
Jackie clutched Rose to her for a good minute before pulling away and inspecting her for any damage. "You alright? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine, mum." Rose answered, smiling and blinking back her relieved tears. "How are you?"
"We're fine. You're the one who was nearly blown up. Had me worried sick!" Jackie quickly shifted to scolding before clutching her daughter to her again. "Oh, I'm so glad you're safe, darling. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Jacks, is that them?" Howard's voice sounded and Rose suppressed an eyeroll as he came around the corner, her mother turning to look.
"They're alive, Howard!" Jackie exclaimed in excitement. "Can you believe it?!"
Howard looked between the two for a moment before zeroing in on Rose, wrapping an arm around Jackie. "Where's Phoenix? Why didn't she come in with you?"
Rose paused, her mouth open to respond, but not entirely sure how to. What could she say? She didn't know how Phoenix was faring. All she knew was that the Doctor was taking care of her. But what if she didn't make it? The thought had all of Rose's previous anger and jealousy flooding out of her to be replaced with worry and fear.
"About that..." Rose began, looking between Howard and her mother. "Something happened."
~9~
The Doctor leaned forward, bracing his hands on the spare medical bed beside the one he'd placed Phoenix on. The girl was sleeping soundly, finally having stabilized after a good three hours of him working on her non-stop. For a while there, he thought that he was going to lose her, still might if he was honest with himself. She wasn't responding to the medications in the way he'd expected, the way that she should and they weren't as effective at neutralizing the harmful substance in her blood stream. Even if she hadn't been poisoned, she'd lost a lot of blood and it had taken him a while to get the wound to close again.
He turned to look at the girl, knowing what he needed to do next, but hating it nonetheless. This was the third time he'd nearly let her die and his selfishness didn't outweigh her safety. He needed her to be safe and alive. He needed to know that she was alright. She was the one person who had accepted him completely since the war. He couldn't ruin it.
~9~
Rose sat in the white settee in her living room, chewing on the tip of her thumb to help distract herself from her thoughts of worry. She'd explained what had happened to Howard and Jackie, the two disappearing into her mother's room as Howard worried for his daughter. At first, Rose had just waited for the Doctor to come in with Phoenix, sharing the news that the brunette had survived and would be just fine, but half an hour had turned into one and when it hit two hours, she decided to distract herself with the telly. So far, it wasn't working.
The blonde was by now regretting all of her thoughts from earlier. Even if Phoenix was manipulating people, which might have been an over-reaction from the blonde, she didn't deserve to die. Part of Rose still cared for the girl.
"Harriet Jones!" Jackie Tyler said scathingly, walking out to stand beside Rose. "Who does she think she is? Look at her! Taking all the credit. It should be you on there. My daughter saved the world."
Rose smiled at her mother's antics and the welcome distraction from her spiral of concern. At least that hadn't changed over the years, Smith family or not. "I think the Doctor helped a bit."
"Oh, alright then." Jackie conceded, flopping down in the other chair. "Him too. And Phoenix." Her mother was silent for another moment as they focused on the telly, but Rose knew it wouldn't last. "You should be given knighthoods."
Rose sighed, shaking her head. "That's not the way he does things. No fuss, he just moves on." She turned to her mother. "He's not that bad if you gave him a chance."
"He's good in a crisis, I'll give him that."
"Oh! Now the world has changed," Rose said with a smile, happy to have some moments with just her and her mother. "You're saying nice things about him."
"Well, I reckon I've got no choice. There's no getting rid of him since you're infatuated." Jackie explained, turning back to the television.
"I'm not infatuated," Rose denied, irritated. Of course, she wasn't. What the Doctor and her had went deeper than that. Though she still couldn't explain Phoenix in the dynamic the two had. Maybe the Doctor just didn't want to seem mean by leaving her behind.
"What does he eat?" Jackie suddenly asked, her voice distant and distracted.
Rose looked over, eyebrow raised. "How'd you mean?"
"I was gonna do Shepard's Pie." Jackie murmured, her fingers playing with a new necklace Rose was assuming Howard had given her. "All of us. A proper sitdown. Cause I'm ready to listen." Jackie looked over, eyes serious and worried. "I want to learn about you and him and Phoenix and that life you all lead. I mean, I don't know. He's an alien! For all I know, he eats grass and safety pins and things."
"He'll have Shepard's Pie," Rose answered, grinning in amusement. "You're gonna cook for him?"
"What's wrong with that?" Jackie demanded, completely focused on the conversation now though Rose didn't doubt that Phoenix was still swimming around in her mother's thoughts just as she was doing in Rose's. The casual conversation was just a distraction.
"He's finally met his match," Rose joked, knowing there would never be anything between the Doctor and her mother.
"Oi. You're not too old for a slap, you know?" Jackie responded, rolling her eyes and grinning as Rose chuckled. The light atmosphere quickly disappeared as the older blonde's thoughts returned to the daughter of her best friend. "Can he really help her?"
Rose stopped laughing and turned to her mother, opening her mouth to respond when her phone rang, thankfully saving her from having to think on that too deeply. Turning away, she answered the phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?"
"Oh, alright then." Jackie murmured, sadly watching her daughter. She just knew that this was the beginning, soon she wouldn't need her anymore. And then what would Jackie have? "I'm gonna go see if Howard will help me in the kitchen."
"You've got a phone?" Rose asked in disbelief, barely paying attention to her mother's words as Jackie got up and went into the kitchen. The older woman sighed, letting her head drop into her hands as she worried over Phoenix, hoping that the Doctor had one more miracle up his sleeve.
~9~
"But she's okay?" Rose asked again, having asked the Doctor about Phoenix.
"She'll be better than okay." The Doctor answered, flipping switches and levers and hoping he could stop thinking about the brunette that seemed to dominate his thoughts that day. "Anyway, just finished canceling out the Slitheen's advert. Will be ready to leave in a couple hours."
"My mother's cooking," Rose answered from the other side of the phone.
The Doctor frowned. What did that have to do with anything? Oh, well, maybe it was just one of her dull comments, humans often made them after all. Couldn't blame them. "Good. Put her on a slow heat and let her simmer."
"She's cooking tea," Rose elaborated and he waited for her to move on from the random conversation and actually offer a distraction from his dismal thoughts after what he'd just done. "For us."
At that, he paused, now understanding what she was on about. He was suddenly feeling even worse than he already had done. "I don't do that."
"She wants to get to know you." Rose continued, trying to persuade him. But he couldn't do it.
Not now, not again. For starters, he didn't want to get too attached or weighed down. He'd just have to leave later and honestly should probably leave Rose behind, but he knew that the girl wasn't as personal as Phoenix. And he didn't want to be alone. Another thing, he didn't want Rose to get too attached either. Family visits meant attachments and deeper relationships. He couldn't do that again, not after losing his family. After what he did to them. Closing his eyes against the pain, he forced his attention back to the conversation, saying the first thing that came to mind. "Tough, I've got better things to do."
"It's just tea."
"Not to me, it isn't." He forced out, hoping she didn't notice the quaver in his voice.
"She's my mother." Rose continued, still sitting on the white settee. She didn't know why he was being so complicated about it. Didn't he want to get to know her family? Or did he just want to be with her? She wouldn't mind that too much, but she had put her mother through hell, unintentionally, but still.
"Well, she's not mine." The Doctor answered, nonchalant.
"That's not fair!"
"Well, you can stay there if you want." The Doctor responded, hoping that she would and hoping that she wouldn't. He waited a beat, but only got silence for an answer. Grinning, he continued, forcing every other thought to the back of his brain. "But right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the horse head nebula. Fires are burning ten million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it, then ride the shockwave all the way out, hurtle right across the sky and end up anywhere." Anywhere away from Phoenix. The thought had his enthusiasm dying and his next words were said quietly. "Your choice."
With that, he hung up and braced his hands on the console, surprised at the sudden moisture in his eyes as he thought about his decision. Was it the right thing to do? It was definitely the safe thing, but just the thought of flying off without her had his hearts aching.
Hey, guys! Hope you like this chapter. Sorry, it's so short, but I really wanted to post for you guys and I wasn't sure where to go with this one anymore. Don't worry, there will be more to the story! Or will there? :D Anyways, let me know what you think. And sorry about not responding to reviews last time, I forgot because I only had a limited amount of time to post the chapter.
Reviews I missed last chapter:
scarlet rose white: I'm glad you like the fluff! I am loving how their relationship is evolving.
Kitsunko: I'm glad you like the whole the Doctor is actually a doctor bit. And I was going for a deeper bond, so glad that's working out, though hopefully it's not overdone or unbelievable. There is a reason for it, which will be revealed at a later date. And the lullaby was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but I really liked the idea and how it fit into the story.
Momochan77: There will definitely be an Owen reaction! It's kind of the basis of their relationship. She gets hurt, he worries and patches her up. :) As for the female voice? Spoilers. :D
Unseen Element: Thanks for the feedback. Part of what I love about writing fanfiction is delving into the minds of the characters and trying to figure out what they might have been thinking. Watching the episode I actually noticed quite a few expressions on the Doctor that I hadn't noticed before, so I tried to expand on it. Glad it worked. As for Owen and Jack reactions. I will do my best and there will definitely be a scene where they find out, though it might not be from their perspective. It depends on how it goes, but I will try.
Now reviews for the most recent chapter:
Momochan77: Hello again! And yeah, Rose still has a long way to go, but it should be a fun and frustrating and irritating path for her and the rest of us. XD Hope you like this newest chapter. Sorry, it's just a bit of a filler.
Emzy2k11: I'm so glad you are loving the story and I'm sorry I couldn't update for awhile. Hopefully I will be able to update more regularly now that I possess internet access. Hope you stick with me because I have a lot of ideas and twists for this story. :)
Kitsunko: Hey! So the bit where their stories don't match up, Jackie was just thinking back to when they were first "explaining" things when they just got back from "traveling". Phoenix was spinning a story and Rose was just commenting things like forgetting to call her mother for a year, which is why the stories were skewed and different. As for the manipulation, Rose was more thinking about how Phoenix is good at spinning stories and getting out of trouble. Hope that cleared up any confusion. Thanks for reading and hope you like the new chapter! :)
deathb4beauty: Aww, I'm glad you love Phoenix so much, though hopefully I don't make you guys hate Rose too much. This is in no way meant to be a bash Rose story. I actually really like Rose, though she always was very jealous in the show. Hence why I'm expanding on it and hoping to have her grow throughout the course of Phoenix's adventures. There will actually be a very interesting plot twist with her down the road. But I can't say more than that. Mwhahaha!
BlackbloodedSoul2: Thanks so much for reading and reviewing! And yes, there are times that I want to just hit people. Yes, Rose is very complex and jealous, though I hope I can accurately portray the compassionate sides of her also. Just not quite yet. As for Howard, his relationship with Jackie is definitely going to impact the story but I can't say how. Also, sorry about your Dad. That sounds unfortunate. I'm glad you like the story and really do hope you continue reading. :)
Rosealyn: I'm really glad you're thinking on all of this. I can't answer your question yet because there will be some impact from Howard and Jackie and Miranda in the story, but I don't want to spoil anything for you guys so I will neither confirm nor deny that thought. :) You also have to remember that Rose's anger is from a little more than just a replacement father, but a worry about losing her mother as well, since Phoenix and Jackie hung out a lot when Miranda was alive. I would love to keep hearing all of your thoughts and hope you enjoyed this new chapter!
So, there you have it guys! Thanks so much for reviewing and thinking on everything so much! It makes my job as a writer far more entertaining and fun. Otherwise, I'm just sitting here like, do they like it? Am I writing it properly? Have any of you ever had an idea that sounds perfect in your head and you try to transfer it to paper and it just doesn't work at all? That's how it can feel sometimes if I don't have any feedback from you guys, so I'm happy to be recieving it. It also helps ward off writer's block and keep me interested in the story. Though I do also have issues with remembering to add details so if anything gets confusing or I forget something obvious, just let me know? I already know all the details and the twists and the answers, so sometimes it's hard to keep track of what you guys know and what you don't know already, so I will do my best but don't be afraid to help me stay on track. :D
Love you, guys! Thanks for reading and please review! 3