I've just finished writing Chapter 44 which is the longest chapter yet... I hadn't realised quite how long until I re-read it!
Thanks again for all the reviews!
Rose gets a bit bad towards the end of this chapter... crazy as this may seem, me being in charge of the story and everything, she actually surprised me with where I ended up with writing this... I think it kinda fits! After all, she was never averse to playing games with Mickey... for an example of this, I refer to The Christmas Invasion where, after Mickey asks her "You really love him, don't you?", she doesn't reply, she just sort of flings herself at him. Very fond of keeping him dangling... Sorry, random Rose rant there! I love her, I really do, but blimey she can be an evil cow at times!
Rose met her parents at the bottom of the stairs. Jackie looked terrible, like she'd been crying. A right pair they made, Rose thought, as she felt the last few traces of her mascara slip off the bottom of her face. She'd looked so nice last night, she'd tried so hard. What a waste. Pete looked pale and drawn too.
"What's happened?" Jackie demanded. She hugged Rose ferociously. "Where did you go last night? Where's Janie?"
Rose felt weary; she'd been up all night and now all of this. It felt like her daughter had been missing for years, like she'd been telling the same story over and over again, when in fact she'd told no one the full story. It was almost as though this was normality, a Time Lord in their living room, a man who was supposed to be dead in the kitchen, and her only daughter kidnapped by some aliens. Strange how you could slip back into things so quickly.
"I'm not sure," she told her parents now.
"We should be out there searching for her!" Jackie cried. "Me and your dad'll start scouring the streets if you-"
"No, Mum!" Rose said through gritted teeth. "It's not that sort of missing, she's not… it's more complicated, it's…"
Pete put an arm round her shoulders. "Come and sit down, love, explain what's going on." He began steering her towards the living room door, but Rose suddenly remembered the other thing she hadn't told them, and resisted.
"Before we go in there, I should tell you-" she began but was cut off as Jackie pushed the door open and gave a shriek.
"You!" Jackie exclaimed, staring the man in front of her. Rose saw the look of pure terror pass across his face; it seemed after all this time, Jackie Tyler still had the ability to make grown Time Lords quake in their Converse. "I might have known it was you! Wherever trouble is, you're not far behind." She turned to her daughter. "Does he know? Does he know about Janie?"
Rose nodded. "Yeah, Mum, he knows," she said flatly.
"So it is more complicated than we thought then," Pete remarked wryly.
Rose looked up and him and nodded. "You could say that." She turned her attention back to her mum, who was still standing near the Doctor, making him cower like a frightened animal. "Mum, come and sit down. Threatening him's not helping."
"It makes me feel better," Jackie reluctantly sat down on the sofa. She looked between them. "Where's Janie?"
Rose shrugged.
"Rose, how are you being so calm?" Jackie exploded. "Your daughter is missing, God knows where, and you're just sitting here! It's his fault, you always lose your head when he's around." She gave the Doctor a filthy look. "So you know your daughter's missing then, do you?"
He nodded. "Yes, I do, thanks Jackie."
"So what are you doing about it?" Jackie demanded. "What's taken her?"
Rose's eyes flickered to meet his and she felt something pass between them. Don't tell her. When they used to travel together, so much was left unsaid between Rose and Jackie, things that Rose wouldn't have been able to put into words for her mother to understand. It had been easier that way; Jackie would never have let her only child leave time after time if she'd heard some of the things that had happened to her. It had been an unspoken agreement between the Doctor and Rose; Jackie didn't get told the really scary stuff. Now was one of those times.
"It's all in hand," the Doctor bluffed.
Jackie raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "I asked what had taken her. Is it one of those things that had me and Mickey trapped in his flat? Those… oh what were they called…?"
"Slitheen, Mum." Rose supplied the word. "No, not one of those. It's… this erm…" She needed something non-threatening sounding, something her mother had never heard of…
"The Squidgee." Rose looked up to see the Doctor's answer and pulled a face behind her mum's back. The Doctor ignored her. "It's this alien race, collects humans for its own amusement. You know, like a zoo. But they're harmless, we'll have Janie back in no time at all."
"So where is she?" Jackie asked dubiously.
"Erm, we're working on that," Rose replied.
"By sitting in here?" Jackie looked at her daughter incredulously. "How are you working on anything sitting in here and… and sipping tea?" She stood up abruptly and wrenched the cup of tea out of the Doctor's hand, spilling it over his hand.
"Ow!" he complained as the hot liquid spilled out over his hand.
"I'll give you more to complain about if you don't start looking for your daughter right now!" Jackie snapped crossly.
"We've found her." They all turned their heads as one towards the door where Jack was standing. He backtracked as soon as he saw all their hopeful faces turned towards him. God, he hated disappointing them like this. "At least… we know where she is. Sort of."
"What are we waiting for then?" The Doctor nodded at Rose. "We better get going."
Jon came into the room. "I'm coming."
"No you're not," Rose replied firmly. One child missing was tearing her apart; two and there be nothing left to rip. "You're staying here, Jon, with your gran and granddad." Jackie was still in such an agitated state she forgot to mind being called gran.
"Maybe I ought to come," Pete suggested.
"You?" The Doctor sounded surprised.
"Yes. Me." Pete gave him a brief glare, and Rose wasn't sure who to side with. She adored Pete, worshipped the ground he walked on, and she hated the way the Doctor had sounded. It wasn't like he hadn't saved the world ten times over before. First when he died and then when he'd hacked into the computers. Her dad knew what he was doing. But then again, she hated to see anyone glare at the Doctor like that.
"Dad, I know you only want to help, but…?" She frowned, puzzled. What could Pete possibly do that the Doctor and Jack and the others couldn't?
Pete coughed awkwardly. "There might be something that I need to be involved in," he said cryptically.
Only the Doctor knew what he meant.
"No, no officials," he said decisively, shaking his head. "No Government men crawling all over the place." He headed towards the door. "Just me, Rose and Jack. We've got a Torchwood thanks."
"This is still our territory," Pete insisted, deadly calm, like Rose had seen him before. He never lost his temper, never snapped or shouted like Jackie. Just stayed threateningly quiet and rational, stating the facts and providing answers. He was much more terrifying than Jackie.
"We don't need heroes, Pete. You're not coming."
"That's not really your choice," Pete informed him.
The Doctor whipped round and faced the other man, his eyes blazing and his entire face changing to one of anger and determination. "This time it is," he snarled angrily. The bitterness spilling out of his body amazed even Rose. "Now she might have forgiven you, she might even call you Dad, but I haven't. This time, you're not getting involved. It's dangerous enough already." He pushed past Jack into the hallway and reached for the front door handle when Pete spoke again.
"I thought you said these creatures were harmless."
Rose looked at the Doctor, her face a picture of pain. Don't tell them, her eyes begged him. Don't worry them.
"Even the most harmless creatures can be dangerous if you poke them long enough with a stick. As I'm sure your Torchwood has found out often enough," the Doctor spat. He gestured towards the other two. "Come on, no time to waste."
They followed him out of the front door, Jack throwing anxious glances at a bewildered Rose. They were just getting into her car when a van pulled across the drive, screeching to a halt. The door was flung open and Mickey jumped out. He pulled himself up short when he saw the Doctor and Jack standing on the drive.
Jack spoke first as Mickey tried to find the right words. "Mickey. So glad you could make it," he remarked dryly.
Mickey looked at Rose. "Is this…? Why didn't you tell me when you called?"
Rose shrugged awkwardly. "Surprise?" she suggested weakly.
Mickey nodded. "Just a bit. But Janie, what's happened?"
"That's what we're about to find out." The Doctor looked between Rose's Ford Focus and the van across the drive. "You can drive," he instructed Mickey, heading towards the van.
"What's wrong with my car?" Rose asked, frowning.
"Nothing." The Doctor shook his head. "It just seems like a van moment."
Rose bit her tongue hard. He couldn't help it, these jokey asides, these explosions of temper at random moments. It wasn't the same for him as her, he wasn't worried sick over Janie. This was just another case for him, or so it seemed. The thing that scared her most was the way she was becoming her old self again, the carefree Rose Tyler of so many years ago. It was like just being around him infected her with his own laissez faire attitude. Somehow, with thoughts of him rushing through her head, she hadn't room for anything else, no worry, no fear, no anxiety. It was just pushed aside while she basked in his sunbeams. Mickey had been right all that time ago.
Blinking away tears, Rose asked an utterly selfish question, but she'd lost all tact in the last few hours. "What about me? What if I need you?"
Mickey shook his head. "Yeah, but Rose... you don't. It's just you and him, isn't it?"
Just her and the Doctor. For an instant Rose believed that, believed that this was just the best day of her life as she slipped back into her old role, side by side with two of the best friends she'd ever had. But only for an instant. It wasn't just her and the Doctor anymore. And it couldn't be ever again.
"Rose?" She came back from her thoughts to see Jack standing by the van. "Are you coming?" He held his hand out to her.
Rose nodded and then, slowly and deliberately, catching the Doctor's eye as she did so, took Jack's hand. And held onto it.