To the Stars and Back

by LiteratusAO3

Following the Game Station and the Christmas Invasion, Team TARDIS set out to do what they do best: explore the universe, get into trouble, and run for their lives. And as a threat to their happiness grows in the form of a shadowy organisation known only as Torchwood, they learn that the past doesn't always stay buried and the future isn't what they think. (Covers season two.)

18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

"...an' I didn't know it was goin' to work, how could I? I just – y'know – took a stab that Momo'd made everythin' just a little too realistic. I thought if she could kill Ulster by scarin' him to death then maybe she was daft enough not to realise the danger to herself." Rose shoved a forkful of roasted aubergine into her mouth. "An' I was right, the shock from the Cyberman blew a circuit or somethin'. Next thing I know I was wakin' up in that coffin thing."

Sitting in the kitchen, the rich aroma of Jack's much-loved spiced aubergine in the air, Rose ate hungrily. Without the sick press of nerves and fear running through her, her appetite roared through her and helped her polish off her meal and Zoe's before making her way through the remains of the Doctor's. It wasn't often that she had the full attention of the others, and she was enjoying being the focus as she recounted her experiences inside the Krakovian computer system. Throughout the retelling, Zoe kept leaning over to top up her wine, making it impossible for Rose to keep count of how much she was drinking – judging by the blush she felt in her cheeks and her general light-headedness, it was too much; and, as she spoke, her eyes kept shifting to the Doctor, quietly but eagerly seeking his approval and praise, even if she was too proud to ask for it.

"It was a good gamble," he said, leaning back in his chair, ankle resting on his knee. Her eyes drifted to his long fingers that played with the stem of his wine glass. "The best I can figure is that you surprised the system –"

"Momo."

"Momo." He nodded. "And that element of surprise was enough to disrupt the pathways that had been created over the proper framework. It looked like it created feedback and caused a burnout in the central system, triggering the secure release for the Krakovians. Lucky when you think about it, because I reckon an abrupt awakening might've killed some of them."

Jack mopped up the sauce on his plate with some bread, letting it drip from his fingers as he spoke. "They're going to be okay though, right? The Krakovians?"

"Should be," the Doctor said, remembering mid-sip that didn't enjoy wine; swallowing his mouthful with a grimace, he tipped the rest of his glass into Zoe's. "They've got a lot to catch up on but, really, in the grand scheme of things, 150 years isn't that long. They'll catch up to where they're supposed to be before long, it'll just be a little harder than it should've been."

"I don't know," Rose said with a frown, eyes focused on a point beyond Jack. "They were in there for a long time with Momo, an' she wasn't the nicest of people. A lot of them are goin' to have issues with what happened." She toyed with her food. "It was a really, really abusive place. She liked to play these power games with them an' keep them on the edge of afraid all the time; she never left them alone in all that time. People don't get over that quickly."

Softness tugged at the corners of his eyes. "They will though. In time. People are generally more resilient than they look. But, thanks to you, they have a future again, freedom. I still say we should've stuck around for you to get that medal that they were talking about."

Heat climbed up the back of Rose's neck and spread through her cheeks at the reminder. So grateful for what she had done for them, she had been thrust in front of a makeshift ruling council via the inter-planetary communication system where their gratitude bordered on obscene. There had been talk of a ceremony, a medal, possibly a new city named after her before the Doctor sensed her embarrassment and made their excuses, hustling them away.

"Who needs medals when they have Jack's spiced aubergine?" Zoe said, grinning at rose. "And I did break out the good wine for you as well."

"Don't know why you bother," she said, busying herself with her glass of wine. "It all tastes the same to me."

"That's because you have the taste buds of an unrefined cactus," Zoe said. "But I'm trying to slowly train you into drinking quality."

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks anyway."

Jack lifted his glass. "To Rose, who saved the day with absolutely no help from the rest of us. We were, I have to say, completely fucking useless."

The Doctor scratched behind his ear. "We were a bit useless today. I didn't like sending you in there alone but, like always, Rose Tyler, you managed to succeed. I'm very proud of you."

"Hear, hear," Zoe said, enjoying the way Rose's skin burned bright red. "I'm still a little envious I didn't get to go in though." She waved her hand to forestall any remarks. "I know, I know, horrible system that terrified its prisoners and all that, but you actually got to be inside a computer system that's unique in the universe. You got to interact with it and everything."

"Zoe," Rose said, resisting the urge to fan her blush away. "I love you, but you're the biggest nerd I know." Zoe and Jack both pointed at the Doctor who preened under what he took to be a compliment. "Him included."

"How am I bigger nerd than he is?" She protested. "He talks to the TARDIS."

"You talk to the TARDIS," the Doctor reminded her. "All the time. You were discussing Emily Dickinson's poetry with her just this morning."

"All right, yes, I talk to her, but she's good company," Zoe admitted, holding up a finger that turned in his direction. "I don't stroke her though."

"That is true," Jack said. "You do stroke her. Sometimes it borders on creepy."

"And disturbing."

The Doctor threw an unimpressed look at Zoe who held his gaze as she sipped her wine, smiling behind the rim. "Just because she's a machine, doesn't mean she doesn't need a bit of TLC every now and then." A thought struck him. "And need I remind all of you that Zoe sniffs her books?"

"Yeah, not ashamed of that," she said, instantly. "Books smell amazing, the books in the library smell even better. It's like a drug – that instant rush of endorphins. It's perfect. Why anyone would do cocaine when they could sniff books is beyond me."

"Nerd," Rose repeated. "An' a weirdo to boot."

Zoe drew in a deep breath, mouth opening in a rebuttal, and Rose immediately tuned her out: a lifetime of experience having to suffer through her rants about the various benefits and advantages of her odd and sometimes fetishistic relationship with books triggered an automatic response; Jack, still comparatively new to his relationship with Zoe, made a valiant effort to argue with her only to be knocked back with well-worn arguments.

Silly sod, Rose thought with a laugh, noticing that the Doctor wasn't engaging but was rather watching Zoe as his mouth softly curled and his eyes lingered on her as though entranced. She supposed it happened every time one of them got passionate about something, but there was a quiet, settled delight in the Doctor's eyes that made Rose's forehead twitch into a frown. She was used to people being taken aback by Zoe – when they were younger, people often joked that she must have swallowed a dictionary because of the things she said – but there was something in the Doctor's eyes as he watched her, an unguarded expression on his face that hinted at something more, that made her frown deepen.

Just as the thought started to take root, it was chased from her mind when a yawn cracked through her and allowed thought of nothing but the exhaustion that was settling into her muscles and the horror of the last few moments in Momo's system.

Being back in the TARDIS, surrounded by familiar rise and fall of her friends' voices and the comforting thrum of the ship, was a relief. She felt safe and protected but the desire to be alone pulsed inside of her. she wanted to go to her room and try to make sense of the uncomfortable pressure that swelled in her chest as she remembered Momo's dying scream as the surroundings fluctuated, flipping too fast between all the memories, before she fell out of existence in a shower of electrical sparks so bright that Rose still felt the burn in her eyes.

She didn't think it was murder what she did – she wasn't even sure Momo was alive, but there had been a time when she thought that about the TARDIS as well. The memory of trying to pry her console open, desperation to get to the Doctor and save him clawing at her, filled her with shame now she knew better. If the TARDIS was sentient then there was every chance that she was wrong about Momo and had killed something that was alive and had a right to life; the thought of what that might mean - of what that made her - sent a chill through her. She pulled on the sleeves of her baggiest jumper and curled her fists inside them, pushing back from the table. Zoe paused in the middle of loudly lambasting Jack for daring to suggest that electronic books were an acceptable alternative for physical copies – a point Rose was sure he had made just to get her riled up – and looked at her.

"Where are you going?"

"Bed," Rose said. "Unlike you three, I've been bloody busy today. I'm goin' to get some sleep."

The Doctor's chair scraped across the floor and stood with her. "Mind if I check you over first? I just want to make sure nothing got scrambled."

Privately enjoying his worry, she nodded. Bidding the others good night, she left with the Doctor as Jack and Zoe picked up their discussion, their voices trailing them down the hallway. Instead of guiding her to the medical bay as expected, the Doctor took her to her bedroom, holding the door open for her to pass under his arm, and seating himself on the edge of her bed, silently indicating that he was prepared to wait for her. Unsure of what to do with herself, his presence in her bedroom unnerving her, she gathered up her pyjamas and fled into the bathroom.

After a quick brush of her teeth and gargle of mouthwash, she wiped the make up from her face, moisturised, and tried to make herself look as attractive as possible in one of Mickey's old T-shirts and a pair of faded pyjama bottoms. Looking at herself in the mirror, she wished she had grabbed one of her nicer sets of pyjamas but figured that he had seen her looking far worse – not an unusual occurrence considering some of the things they got themselves involved in.

"Ta-da," Rose said, self-consciously, standing in the doorway of the bathroom; the smile that picked up the corners of his mouth warmed her chest and threatened to draw another blush to her cheeks. "Here I am."

"Looking lovely," the Doctor assured her, standing up to pull the covers back for her, patting the bed invitingly. "Come on then. I'll tuck you in."

Losing the battle with her blush, she hurried across the room and slid beneath the covers. "You goin' to read me a bed time story too?"

"Maybe." He flashed a grin that made her heart beat faster, and her eyes tracked him as he leaned forward to pick up her book from her bedside table. "Ooo, the Half-Blood Prince. Yeah, well, I suppose you missed that release date what with meeting me and all." His eyes lit up, an idea sweeping into his mind. "We should go to the last one. There's a huge event for it in London. We could dress up."

Rose's eyes flicked over him. "Dumbledore?"

"Yep." The p popped between his lips. "Hermione?"

"I always liked Tonks, actually," she admitted. "I thought it'd be nice to change my appearance like that."

His eyes considered her hair. "I can see you rocking the pink."

A yawn stretched her mouth again before she was able to respond, tears popping into her eyes that she blinked away only to find the Doctor already scanning her with the sonic screwdriver, book back on the bedside table. The tips of his fingers were feather-light under her chin, thumb brushing over the softness of her cheek, and she held her breath, watching him. In the low light of her room, the freckles that were dashed across his cheekbones weren't visible – coming and going depending on how much sun he got – and his hair appeared darker than it normally was; his mouth was parted in concentration, the tip of his tongue visible as it pressed against his bottom lip. The heady pulse of arousal began to build inside of her, tiredness eroding her normal self control around him, and she let her hand rest on the curve of his knee, feeling the cool heat of him through his trousers.

"There we go," the Doctor said, pulling back the screwdriver to examine it. He dropped his hand from her jaw and turned his attention from her. Feeling the absence of it, she swallowed back her disappointment. "All in all, you're as fit as a fiddle. Bit of a headache though, I imagine."

"That thing you gave me earlier helped," Rose said, conscious of the rounded cap of his knee in her palm. "'S not as bad anymore."

"Still, let me give you another one." He rooted through his pockets and popped a blister pack for her. He held it out to her but, feeling coy, she opened her mouth, and a smile tugged at his mouth as he placed it on her tongue for it to dissolve, the pain dripping out of her. "You did very well today. I'm sorry I wasn't able to help more."

"You'd have figured it out," she said, shuffling down in her bed and turning her head on her pillow, hand resting lazily on his thigh, not daring to move further. "If it hadn't worked, you'd have rescued me."

His eyes softened. "You didn't need me. You rescued yourself."

"I did," she agreed. "Still scary though."

"I bet."

"Doctor..." she hesitated, heart beating a little faster while he waited, patient and kind. "D'you think – Momo – was she alive? Did I – did I kill her?"

A series of emotions whipped across his face too fast for her to name but his reaction was to poke her in the hip and shove her across the bed, lifting his legs up to settle next to her. Seizing her opportunity, she shifted closer and rested her head on his chest, his arm tucking itself around her.

"You didn't kill it – her," the Doctor said, words rumbling through him to vibrate against her ear. "She was a responsive system that mutated into something no one could predict, but I don't think she was alive. Not truly, in any sense."

"Not like the TARDIS?"

"Definitely not like the TARDIS," he said, firmly. "No, I think Momo was an aberration, a sort of mixture of the people inside of her – their fears, their worries, all of them amplified to the nth degree and given physical form."

Rose flattened her hand against his stomach. "That's kind of what Ulster said. He said that they'd created her an' by the time they realised she was dangerous, it was too late."

"That sounds about right," he said, taking her hand in his. She tilted her head back to meet his eyes as his thumb passed over her knuckles. "You didn't kill anyone or anything. You saved over 100,000 people today because you paid attention to the weaknesses in the system and turned that into an advantage. Don't feel guilty about what happened, be proud of what you do."

She nestled into his side, eyes sliding shut and, when she spoke, her voice rasped over her emotions. "Thanks."

"Anytime," he said. "It's what I'm here for."

Rose hesitated, not wanting to seem desperate or clingy but wanting to keep him with her for a little bit longer. "Will you stay? Until I fall asleep?"

His lips pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "I'll stay."

Letting the smell and feel of him wrap around her, cocooning her in a safe embrace, the beats of his hearts slowly lulled her to sleep.

---

In a manner sharply reminiscent of her sister, Rose snored.

The Doctor watched her sleep with amused fondness, taking in the way that her mouth pursed and nose creased as something in her sleep disagreed with her, tracing the familiarities between her and Zoe. He was so used to seeing both of them on a daily basis that he didn't pay attention to the familial resemblance any more unless one of them did something that made him pause. Sometimes Zoe would grin and it would be identical to the tongue-kissed smile Rose had given him when she joined him on the TARDIS the first time, or Rose would catch his eye when someone was doing something stupid and he would only be able to see Zoe reflected in her expression.

Humans and their likeness to those within the same genetic pool fascinated him. He looked nothing like his parents and brother – now or through his regenerations; even as a baby there had been no similarities, nothing someone could point to and say that came from his father or that from his mother. He had been pale and blonde as a child while his mother was so dark she seemed to shimmer with blue and his father had an olive cast to his skin with thick dark hair and a stocky build. Even he and Brax had never looked similar, his brother rarely regenerating but, when he did, able to exercise more control over his final form; so, being able to catch sight of the people he loved in someone else's face delighted him, and it was one of the many reasons he loved the human race.

However, one thing he didn't like about humans was their ability to contort themselves into twisted shapes and sleep peacefully.

Rose was wrapped around him like an octopus, his spine twisted awkwardly to accommodate her, and pain lanced up and down his back. He was loathe to move in case he woke her but the pain was becoming intolerable. Carefully, he shifted from beneath her, moving inch by inch, carefully monitoring her breathing, before he removed himself from beneath her snoring, drooling form. He slipped out of her bed and gently tucked the blankets around her, watching as she snuffled deeper into the covers. Affection for her filled him, and he pressed a small kiss to her sleeping temple before leaving.

Outside her room, he groaned as he stretched, his back popping, acknowledging that he was getting too old to hold himself in contortions for too long. Letting his yawn finally break free, he shrugged out of his jacket and rubbed at the patch of drool on his pale blue shirt before making his way through the hallway, tugging his tie loose. Reaching out with his mind, he prodded at the TARDIS who gave the equivalent of an eye roll before directing him to the kitchen where French music played out of Zoe's phone as she washed up. The sight of her swaying on the spot to the beat made him pause in the doorway, light amusement chasing any thought of a quick ten-minute nap from his mind.

"No Queen?"

Dark eyes glanced over her shoulder, mouth curving in welcome. "Can't really dance to Queen, much as I love it."

Setting his jacket down on the back of a chair, he stepped behind her and lowered his head to nuzzle at her neck, hands warming her waist. "You want to dance?"

"With you? Always."

He pressed a kiss to the soft spot beneath her ear and hummed, small vibrations against her skin. "Why don't you leave the washing up and we can dance?"

"Look at you," she teased, pressing back into him. "Using euphemisms. Jack'd be so proud."

"Got it from you, actually."

"Oh?"

"London, height of the blitz, you were busy confusing me with your powers of flirtation."

She laughed. "Something to look forward to."

"Where is he anyway?" The Doctor asked, slipping his arms around her, content to simply hold her and be close to her. "I thought you'd be trying to beat him down with logic still."

"He made an escape about ten minutes ago," Zoe said, setting a fork to dry on the rack. "Said he wanted to call Mickey."

He hummed thoughtfully. "His crush seems a little more than a crush, doesn't it? Has anything happened between them?"

"If it has, no one's told me." She emptied the sink and pulled the rubber gloves off. Turning in his arms, she leaned back against the counter and took hold of the end of his tie, slowly pulling it from him. "But I don't think so. I actually think they're courting." His eyebrows lifted, and she grinned. "I know, but it's kind of sweet. Jack's properly taken with him and I don't know of anyone who's not taken with Jack, so I think something's going to happen one day. I just don't know what or when."

"That'll be nice," he mused, slotting his knee between her legs as he toyed with the hem of her dress, slowly dragging it up her thighs. "Mickey and Jack together. I suppose it'll save on the TARDIS making another room when he eventually comes and joins us."

"Soft touch," she said before poking his hand that was dragging the backs of its fingers against her thigh. "What's this doing?"

"Seducing you." He waggled his eyebrows. "Is it working?"

"Maybe a little." His hand dipping further up her thigh, fingertips brushing the edge of her underwear before - "how's Rose?"

He groaned, freezing as though ice water had been thrown on him. "Can you please not mention your sister when I've got my hand up your skirt?"

Zoe's face lit up with laughter, hands smoothing an apology over his chest. "Sorry, but, yeah, how is she?"

With a sigh, he removed his hands from her body and placed them on either side of her, bracketing her against the counter. "Sleeping. She just wanted to talk a little about things. She was worried the system was sentient like the TARDIS and that she'd killed it."

"I hope you told her –"

"That she hadn't done anything to worry about," he finished. "Of course I did. We don't know exactly what it was, and I'm not about to give Rose anything to worry about."

"I know." She drew her hands down his chest and hooked her fingers into his trousers, staring at his throat. "I was worried about her today."

"You're always worried about her."

"More than normal then," she said. "Shouldn't have been though. She took care of everything."

"That's because Rose Tyler is brilliant," the Doctor said. "Like her sister and – never tell her this – her mother."

Zoe's eyes snapped to his, a smile spreading across her face. "You know, Mum'll never believe that you sing her praises like this when she's not here. She thinks you take the piss when you compliment her to her face."

"Yeah, well," he said, with a small, embarrassed shrug. "I've got a lot of ground to make up with her. Besides, it's all true. She's not half bad your mum."

Her face was a battleground as she fought the urge to laugh.

"High praise indeed," she said, mouth twitching. "But Mum likes you too now. If she didn't, you know you'd be hearing about it – at length."

"Don't I know it – ow!" He rubbed his nipple where she pinched him. "You're a mean woman."

"No, I'm not," she said, rising up onto the balls of her feet to pass her lips over his, and his attention shifted again. "Now, what were you saying about dancing?"

"You're distracting me."

"No, I'm seducing you."

"I thought that was my job."

"We can take it in turns," she said, arms around his neck as she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him slow and deep until he was breathless and his fingers ran eager traces down her side. "I'm sorry I yelled at you today."

Swallowing the taste of her, he brushed his nose against hers. "You more snapped than yelled, and it's fine, you were worried."

"It doesn't matter, I still shouldn't have snap-yelled." He huffed a laugh. "I know you'd never put Rose in danger, I just didn't like being out of control. I worked for too long and too hard to keep you lot safe that I'm more aware of how difficult it is to fix things when they go wrong now. I let that panic overwhelm me and took it out on you. I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"Doctor?."

"Yes?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Forgive me."

"You're very demanding at times," the Doctor told her. "I forgive you."

"Good," she smiled. "Thank you."

"It is a shame you weren't able to go in there," he said, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her to him as he turned her in a small dance to the music, drawing her away from the sink. Her hand came to rest on his shoulder, feet automatically making room for him. "I still don't know why you couldn't. You and Rose are sisters, you should be able to access the same technology if it's biologically based. It's strange that it didn't work for you."

"We still don't know the full extent of the changes done to me after Mondas," Zoe said, sinking into the dance and letting the Doctor guide her. "There might be changes small enough to make a difference but not big enough to notice."

He hummed and looked down at her. "Let me scan your brain."

"Weirdo."

"Zo –"

She sighed and eased back from him. "Your dancing techniques require a little more focus."

"You've never complained about my dancing before," he said, pointedly, and she bit her lip to stop from retorting. He laughed and pulled her close, kissing her firmly before releasing her. "Come on, quicker I scan your brain, quicker we can get back to dancing."

"Such romance," she sighed, hand slotting into his, allowing him to pull her from the kitchen. "Have you looked at my second blood results back, by the way?"

"Not yet," he said. "I meant to do it this morning but I got distracted by cinnamon rolls. I'll have a look while you're being scanned. Mind if we do a comprehensive one? It's going to take longer but I want to see what we're working with here."

Zoe submitted to the full scan with reluctance, never enjoying spending her time in the medical bay when she could be doing anything else, and the fact that they could have been in bed rather than attaching electrodes to her head was particularly galling. Not even the way he dragged his fingers down the side of her neck to make her squirm made up for it as he left her sitting cross-legged on the bed to focus his attention on the blood results. For lack of anything better to do, she straightened her posture and watched him. She enjoyed watching him work – the deep concentration and air of the serious scientist he exuded intrigued her; it was as though she was able to glimpse the man he had been in the years before he left Gallifrey. Her eyes on his face, she saw the moment he opened her blood results on the computer and paused, confusion and then concern appearing.

A cold, nervous sensation trickled down her spine.

"What is it?" Zoe asked. "You've got that look on your face."

"What look?"

"The something's-wrong-but-I-don't-want-anyone-to-panic look," she said. "Is something wrong with the results?"

"Not wrong, just...interesting," the Doctor said, leaning back in his chair and spinning to face her. "I haven't looked at your blood since you left the TARDIS to recover just before the Game Station. Under normal circumstances I'd have kept a close eye on you but there were four years that we weren't together and you didn't see the need to keep weekly scans because why would you? You felt awful but were slowly getting better. No need to scan yourself to tell you that."

She had considered keeping more detailed records of her health but it was just one thing too many to deal with at the time. Some days it had been a fierce battle to get out of bed, barely having the energy to sit up let alone live her life, and it hadn't seemed worth it since she didn't know where to start as well; so, she had taken her pills, scanned herself when she felt worse than usual, and trusted the TARDIS to keep an eye on her.

"But?"

"It just makes it a little difficult to tell what's normal and what's not," he admitted. "Your blood work is definitely different from before. Not bad different, just different. You're perfectly healthy."

"Okay," Zoe said, not understanding. "Why's that concerning?"

"Because you're a human," he said. "Humans always have something wrong with them – high cholesterol, weak hearts, malfunctioning livers, wonky kidneys, not to mention than nasty bout of cholera who had about six years ago. There's always something happening even if it's small but, with you, you're perfectly healthy, and I mean perfectly."

"And that's strange?"

"Yes."

"You told me that you had to change me to make me better," Zoe said, thinking out loud. "Maybe you accidentally changed me into having perfect health? And, I have to say, as far as side effects go I like this one more than the increased appetite. Those energy shakes were horrible, and I get flashbacks when I see them in the cupboards."

"They were good for you," the Doctor said distractedly, fingers tapping on the counter. "I suppose it's a strong possibility this is just another side effect. What I did was unprecedented and humans do have odd reactions to things. You lot are an unpredictable species, it's really quite annoying." Amusement passed across her face. "Since you got better, have you been sick at all? Colds, allergies, that sort of thing?"

"Er –" she considered the question. "No sicknesses. I think I have a mild allergy to some mango ice cream from Massachusetts that's in the freezer though. It always makes my mouth and throat tingle."

"Is that the one in the yellow box?"

"Yeah."

"That's not an allergy," he said. "It's supposed to make you feel like that. You know pop rocks?"

"The things that are like firecrackers in your mouth?"

"Those are the ones." He rubbed his jaw, eyes not quite focused on her, thinking even as he spoke about something else. "The ice cream in the 31st century has tiny little pop rocks in them to combat dental issues. It was a way to get people to keep eating ice cream when there was a global health crisis over dental diseases after the newly-established planetary government tried to drive up dwindling sugar sales for the high taxes in the 25th century."

Zoe blinked, surprised. "Did people just stop brushing their teeth or something?"

"Or something."

"All right then, in answer to your questions: no colds, no allergies, no nothing."

"Well this isn't the worst thing in the world," the Doctor said, though the not knowing clearly ill with him. "I could always infect you with the common cold to see what happens, use that as a control result."

"You're not infecting me with anything," Zoe said, firmly. "That is off the table."

"Just a little sore throat?"

"No!"

"Fine," he huffed. "Some scientist you are."

"I am not Dr Jekyll," she said. "I do not experiment on myself."

"Probably for the best," he replied. "My mother experimented on herself once."

"Oh?" Her eyebrows lifted. "What happened?"

"Me." He grinned, drawing a laugh from her. "All right then, let me check your brain scan, then I'm going to do a full physical on you."

"Oh god," she groaned, head tipping back. "That takes ages!"

"Better safe than sorry," the Doctor said, jumping to his feet and digging out a white medical gown for her. "Pop this on and we can get started."

She held it. "Why do I need to wear this?"

"It's been specifically designed to give off no readings when you're being checked," he said. "Your clothes carry all sorts of bacteria and pathogens that might confuse the scanners." His gaze turned dark and mischievous. "Also, you look ravishing in it."

She laughed again. "You're such a dork."

"You love me anyway."

"Strangely enough, I do," Zoe said. "Shame there'll be no dancing tonight. I was looking forward to that. Instead, I get to be poked and prodded."

"And a few kisses here and there," he said, sweeping in to give her one. "Now, get your kit off."

---

Shan Shen Market

Rose examined the jewellery on display closely, releasing Jack's arm to drift towards the sparkling gems that caught her eye, wondering if a necklace would be suitable for Jackie's fortieth birthday that was fast approaching. Plans were in full swing for a huge party on the estate, everyone they had ever known was invited, and the Doctor was under strict instructions to not miss the day no matter what; Rose wanted to make sure that she got Jackie something memorable and lasting for her birthday since the last one had been spent under a cloud of worry about Rose's disappearance. Guilt tugged at her, and she pressed her lips together, bending low over the display to hide her sudden moment of discomfort. Neither Jackie nor Zoe blamed her for her year-long disappearance, the blame squarely placed on the Doctor's shoulders, but she didn't like being reminded of absence.

Having experienced what it was like to be left behind, not knowing if people she loved were alive or dead, she had a new understanding and sympathy of what her mother and sister went through during that year. It was why she wanted Jackie's birthday to be special. She wanted to fix what she had accidentally broken the night she ran into the TARDIS to join the Doctor, but she also didn't want to go over the top. Normally birthday presents in the Tyler family were small, simple things – books, earrings, a new jacket – but it was the first year that Rose actually had money to spend, even if it was the Doctor's, and she wanted to treat her mother to something different and meaningful. Zoe hadn't given much thought to a birthday present yet, shrugging over breakfast when Rose asked, but, knowing her, it would be something book related.

"This is nice," Jack said next to her, lifting up a bracelet that changed colours in the light. "Very light."

"For Mum or you?"

"For Mickey."

"He's not really a jewellery guy," Rose said. "Men in my time don't really wear it. If you want to get him somethin', try clothes. Or somethin' obviously alien. He'd like that."

"No jewellery, got it," he nodded, setting the bracelet down. "What about something that releases fragrances?"

"Like candles?"

He pulled her to another stall. "No, like this."

Having needed a bit of rest and relaxation after Krakov, the Doctor had brought them to Shan Shen. It was Rose's favourite market where she could buy anything she wanted for a reasonable price, and she enjoyed stepping out of the TARDIS and recognising her surrounding; she knew the best place to get noodles, where to get her hair cut, how to properly haggle, and how to avoid the pickpockets that ran through the crowded streets. She liked that people recognised her and called out a greeting when she moved through the covered streets, stopping to chat with those that she liked and ducking out of sight to avoid those she didn't. It was a bustling community of ramshackle stalls with faded fabric covers and the sound of a Chinese variant carrying in the air that came from the Chinese settlers of old who had taken a barren rock and transformed it into a centre of commerce as well as a top tourist destination for the more adventurous traveller.

As Jack worried over an appropriate gift to give Mickey that walked the line between a gift to a friend and a gift to a boyfriend, Rose let her mind wander.

The Doctor had begged off trawling the stalls, preferring to accompany Zoe to the book section on the other side of the market; they were all going to meet up for lunch in a few hours, and Rose fully expected the Doctor to be weighed down with Zoe's purchases. Part of her wished that he was there with her. After the previous night when she fell asleep in his arms, the sound of his hearts under her ear, she wanted to be close to him and disappointment sliced through her when she woke up and realised he wasn't there anymore. Her fingers skirted her neck, the tight, buzzing pressure of her feelings for him threatening to seep out of her skin.

Sometimes she thought he barely even registered that she was a woman, lumping her into the just-above-primitive apes category that he had for humans. Other times, like last night, she did wonder if perhaps he saw her as something more.

He was so sweet to me, she thought, playing with the ends of her hair. But he's always kind. He'd have done the same for Jack an' Zoe, even Mum.

"What about this?" Jack asked, holding up something that looked like a metallic starfish. "You programme it to show a night's sky. I thought maybe he could put it in his bedroom and project the constellations around."

"That's actually a really nice idea," Rose said, a warm smile spreading across her face. "He'll love it."

"Yeah?" He asked, childlike in his eagerness to please. "There's also a telescope but the light pollution in London is awful, and I don't think he'd –"

"Jack," she interrupted. "Get him the starfish thing."

He beamed and turned to start haggling. She slipped away from him and decided on a pair of earrings that would suit Jackie, handing the money over.

The problem with the Doctor, she considered, was that he wasn't human. He acted like a normal bloke most of the time but then he would say things or do something stupid like lick a skeleton and Rose would be reminded that he was very much an alien. She had spent enough time travelling with him to know that culture determined a lot about how a person reacted to situations and events. It made sense that the Doctor wouldn't think about certain aspects of human culture that might draw the wrong conclusion. To him, holding her as she slept was probably something he thought human friends did and, to be fair to him, it was, but the touches and the smiles and the hand-holding and the tying her hair back when it was in her face – he had to know.

Except maybe he didn't.

She groaned, frustrated with her circular thinking.

"Uh-oh," Jack said, tucking his gift away. "That sounded pained. What's up?"

"Just gettin' annoyed with myself," she said, sliding her eyes towards him, a nervous courage taking root in her chest. "You an' the Doctor talk, right?"

"Sure."

"About things that maybe the Doctor wouldn't talk with me an' Zo about?"

His expression shifted and turned curious. "What kind of things?"

"You know," she said, awkwardly. "Like girls an' stuff. Women."

Amusement swept across his face. "Are you asking if the Doctor and I talk about women?"

"Yes."

Jack laughed and a blush sank into her cheeks. "Sorry, Rosie, I'm not laughing at you. Well, I am a little, but the Doctor and I don't really talk about that."

"Oh."

"Why do you ask?"

She shook her head, embarrassed. "No reason."

"Rose." His voice held a timbre of disbelief. She glanced at his face and sighed, shrugging. Sympathy flashed across his face. "Oh, honey. You too, huh?"

"You –?"

"Course I'm in love with him," Jack said as though the thought of it never happening didn't eat away at him. "I have been since we met. No, tell a lie, I've wanted to bed him since we met but I started to love him after the Zygon incident in Berlin when I nearly split my skull open." Rose remembered being surprised at how much blood there was, panic crawling through her because she had already loved Jack then and didn't want to lose him. "I don't know – it's just inevitable, I suppose, for anyone who travels with him."

"Is it?" She asked, pained. "Because I didn't use to feel like this, y'know, before. I fancied him, course I did, but now? It's so much worse."

"He is very sexy now," he grinned. "That hair." She groaned again, and Jack slung an arm around her shoulders. "I know, I know. It's just something we've got to deal with. Maybe he'll do something so awful that we'll just stop loving him."

Her face pressed into his chest. "Like what?"

"I don't know," Jack said. "But that banana pizza came pretty damn close."

A weak laugh slipped free. "I wish I could be like Zoe. She doesn't seem to be affected by him at all."

"Well, Zoe's always been a little bit odd," he said, rubbing her back comfortingly. "And she's still grieving for Reinette, I think. I'm not sure the Doctor even looks like a man too her."

"Must be easier," Rose sighed. "Do you – d'you think that he might –?"

"No," Jack said, softly, firm but kind. "I know we joke about him and Cleopatra but I don't think he does that sort of thing. At least not the way we would need him to. Time Lords probably had really different ways of having relationships with each other – cerebral or telepathic or something. I don't think it'd even cross his mind."

Her body deflated. "Yeah. I guess – I thought it might be like that, I just...hoped."

"Me too." He kissed the top of her head. "Nothing wrong with loving someone though, even if they can't love us back the way we want. And he does love us, in his own way."

"He does," she agreed, heaving in a deep breath before pulling from his arms and brushing the tears from her eyes. "Sorry, I'm bein' silly."

"Nah, you're just being human." He passed her a handkerchief. "Unrequited love is a bitch and all that."

She laughed wetly. "Yeah."

It wasn't as though what Jack told her was new information; he had just confirmed everything she already thought and suspected, but hearing it spoken aloud by someone who wasn't her made it real. She wanted the Doctor to look at her with love in his eyes; she wanted to feel his hands on her and be the sole focus of his attention; and, she spent an inordinate amount of time wondering exactly how far his oral fixation went, eyes lingering on his mouth when he was talking. There was a part of her – a small, selfish, arrogant part – that thought maybe she was different. They had met at the worst time in his life and maybe she was just different enough – special enough - for him to make an exception for her, and she knew it would hurt in the long run but she thought it would be worth it.

She wanted everything from him, but as Jack had said, the Doctor didn't even think of them like that.

Sniffing and mopping up the rest of her face, she understood that she needed to deal with her feelings for him so she was able to enjoy what he was offering her – friendship, fun, excitement.

She didn't want to ruin that because he didn't return her feelings.

"Come on," Jack said, giving her shoulders a squeeze. "Let's go get some food and –"

A loud commotion stole the words from his mouth as a stall exploded in a shower of colourful jewellery and curse words. The Doctor burst out from the chaos, tripping over his feet, and smacking his forehead against the table of a stall on the way down; Zoe followed him quickly, leaping over his fallen body with a yelp. She grabbed a piece of artisan soap and hurled it back into the chaos, grabbing the back of the Doctor's coat and hauling him to his feet as people darted away from them, screaming.

"This is your fault," the Doctor yelled, hand clamped to the red mark on his forehead. "You couldn't keep quiet. You just had to say something."

"Like you weren't thinking it – duck!" They both dropped as a weapon's blast singed the wall behind them. "And let he who has never said the wrong thing throw the first stone, you bloody hypocrite."

Jack shook his head in amazement. "They went to look at books. How does this always happen?"

The Doctor threw Zoe out of the way of another blast. She fell against a stall, caught herself, straightened and found herself looking at Rose and Jack. Relief bloomed across her face.

"Hello," she said, making her way towards them as though they had bumped into each other on a peaceful stroll. "We need to run."

Rose looked between her and the Doctor. "What happened?"

"What happened?" He repeated, looking dishevelled with a burn mark on the bottom of his coat while Zoe looked put together if a little windswept. "What happened? I'll tell you what happened, Zoe bloody Tyler happened."

"Oh, don't go on about it."

"I will go on about it," he said, spinning to her. "I'll go on about it a lot!"

Jack stared at them. "What –?"

"This one here stumbled upon a Zygon minding its own business as a bookshop owner and decided to roundly insult it," the Doctor said, jerking his thumb at Zoe who spared him an annoyed look. "Next thing you know, we're running for our lives."

"He's conveniently leaving out the fact that there was a dead body in the back room and a stack of drugs in a hidden room behind the bookshelves," she said, patting the bag that was slung across her chest. "Which I have, by the way, and I really think that's the bit that the Zygon took offence to, not me questioning its parentage."

The Doctor's jaw tightened. "Well, it didn't help."

"If you've stolen the drugs –"

"Confiscated," Zoe corrected.

"And the Zygon was shooting at you," Jack continued. "Then were is it now?"

The Doctor stilled and looked around, suddenly aware of the silence. "That's a very good – AH!"

Jack kicked the Doctor in the back of the knees, sending him to the ground just in time to miss a shot that would have taken his head off. He was laughing when he pulled the Doctor onto his feet, grabbed Zoe by the bag strap and put his foot on Rose's behind to get her moving.

"Run, now!"

Never a dull day, he thought happily to himself as they raced away from the Zygon blaster fire with a bag full of stolen drugs and pointed accusations flying freely between them.

---

Cairo, Egypt, 1923

Unprepared for the small step off the dance floor, Zoe stumbled. The low heel of her period appropriate shoes turned beneath her weight and her ankle gave way. Lovely polished stone with a beautiful mosaic embedded in it started to rise up in front of her before the Doctor's arms slipped around her, securing her against him and keeping her upright. Her head fall back with a laugh as he walked her off the dance floor, manoeuvring her around the other party goers dressed in their finery. Tongue pressed against her top teeth, she snagged a glass of champagne from a waiter that walked past, lifting it to her lips.

She was breathless, flushed red from the Doctor's enthusiasm at having her on the dance floor, leading her in a waltz, a foxtrot, and – delightfully – a jive. Her shoes, which had been comfortable on the TARDIS, rubbed against the tops of her feet and were pinching at her toes but as long as she ignored the dull throbbing in them, she was fine. Turning in the Doctor's arms to look up at him, she felt more carefree than she had done in a very long time. She tried to put her finger on when she was last so relaxed and free of worries and she figured that it was in the days before she became stranded in France for her life-changing sojourn there. Everyone she loved was safe, nothing was demanding her attention, and she was alone with the Doctor while Rose and Jack had their feet popped up in front of the East enders omnibus, cocktails in hand.

After a long and busy week of exploration and adventure where the Doctor had seemed determine to run them ragged, Jack had surprised them all by begging off first, asking for a day of doing absolutely nothing, complaining that his skin was dry and he needed a manicure. The Doctor had turned to Rose, his mouth half open with a suggestion for where to go next, and took in the sight of her with a cool gel pack on her eyes to combat the tired swelling and his mouth had shut, a small feeling of guilt creeping into him and not realising how tired his friends were. They were normally excellent at keeping up with him that sometimes, in his more manic periods, he forgot they were humans at the end of the day. Fortunately for him, after a quick nap – four hours, which the Doctor thought was a long time but she assured him was the perfect amount – Zoe was ready to go off and do something with him, which had taken the sting out of Rose and Jack not wanting to participate.

Zoe swayed into him, her mouth a distracting red. "This was a brilliant idea. You are a brilliant man."

"So I've been told on occasion." His hand was on the small of her back and the other was plucking the empty glass from her hand, enjoying her affectionate, tipsy state. "But I recall having promised you dinner and dancing some time ago. I'm sorry it took so long."

"No." Her hand ran down the length of his back, verging on impropriety. "This is perfect. I love it." Her mouth pressed against his, warm and slightly sticky from the champagne. "Thank you."

The Doctor was proud of his choice for their official first date. After going back and forth on the matter for days, he decided to simply do what felt right and combined Zoe's love of dancing, eating, and history in one neatly packaged evening. Parking the TARDIS at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza some 14km from the city, the Doctor had brought them to Cairo, Egypt in 1922 for the grand New Year's Eve celebration that was combined that year with a celebration of Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon's discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun. Anyone who was anyone in archaeology, journalism, the colonial office, and the aristocracy based in Egypt were in attendance at the party with plenty of food and free-flowing alcohol despite the fact that were in a Muslim country.

The party was being held at Shepheard's Hotel, a large building with grand architecture that loomed over the other buildings in the area; it was decorated with candles and sweet-smelling flowers, waiters moving about the large ballroom in crisp white tuxedos, offering trays of canapés to the attendees. The music was vibrant, the food excellent, and the dance floor just large enough for the Doctor to spin Zoe around.

She looked breathtaking in a calf-length emerald green dress that left her arms and back bare though it did have a disappointingly high neckline. Her hair was swept up off her neck and pinned low, decorated with gems that glittered in the light, her mouth a vibrant red borrowed from Jack's make up. She had been in her element moving about the room with a grace picked up in France, talking with everyone about everything. As far as he knew, archaeology wasn't a specific interest but she did enjoy history and was able to hold her own in conversation with people like Howard Carter, Flinders Petrie, and the Emersons.

Pleased by her obvious delight, he ducked his head, mouth brushing against her ear. "Have I mentioned how beautiful you look tonight?"

"Once or twice," she said, toying with his bow tie, glancing up at him from beneath her eyelashes, heat spooling through him. "But I do love to hear it."

"Then let me tell you again and again and again," he said, pressing a small kiss to beneath her ear, delighting in the light pink colour that rose to her cheeks. Unable to resist, he kissed her mouth, wishing her lipstick would smudge but it remained stubbornly on her lips despite his best efforts. He kept his arms around her when he pulled back. "What do you think of the 1920s?"

"I'm liking it," she said, freeing an arm so she was able to take a whole tray of canapés from another waiter, flashing him a charming smile to forestall any complaints, and a handful of crab cakes went into her mouth. "Less racism than I thought there might be, but I suppose these people are used to working with the Egyptians."

"It is a more enlightened society right now," the Doctor agreed, plucking a crab cake from the silver platter and examining it. "Not by much, admittedly, and it won't last, but there's less overt racism at play right now."

"Ah, well, most of us here are British," Zoe said. "And you know what we British are like – rude but only behind your backs."

He popped the crab cake into his mouth. "You're a complex people."

It was inevitable that the heat of the room eventually became too much for her, though they were able to squeeze another dance in before she took his hand and led him outside into the cool night's air, English and Arabic swirling together on the breeze. Their path was illuminated by lanterns that swung from the lower branches of the trees, and she followed it to see where it went, taking them deeper into the the carefully cultivated garden attached to the hotel – a little taste of Europe in the middle of Egypt. The flowers gave off a soft, lovely fragrances, and the night's sky was a blanket of stars above their heads, filled with places yet to visit.

"When I was little," Zoe said, tilting her head back to see the stars. "I used to think that I could swim in them."

He smiled. "That's adorable, tell me everything."

She laughed, bringing her gaze to him. "I just thought it was logical, that's all. I could swim in water so why couldn't I do the same in the stars? I must've frustrated Mum so much because I kept asking to go and swim in them."

"I do think Jackie deserves a medal for raising you and Rose," he said, tugging her closer to him. "And I think I'd like to meet you as a child. Maybe I'll skip back in time and have a look at you – the questions alone would be well worth the trip."

"You'd have been all my Christmases come at once," she told him. "With your alien self and the TARDIS. I'm not sure I'd ever let you go if you come across me as a child."

"Oh?" He asked, intrigued. "Does that mean you intend to let me go now?"

"Not a chance," she said. "You're mine. Finders, keepers and all that."

He nodded, solemnly. "That is the universally accepted rule, of course. I think the Shadow Proclamation have passed something to ratify it."

Her fingers poked him in the stomach in response before they climbed over a low stone hedge to lie on the grass, his jacket spread beneath her to protect her bare skin from the chill. When she was comfortably nestled against his side, he traced the stars for her. She knew most of the constellations but he was able to point out the stars that had planets orbiting them.

"Oo, that one, there," the Doctor said, taking her hand and guiding her finger to it. "That's an interesting star. It's got some long, boring scientific name but the people in orbit of it call it Halani, which means ice goddess in their language. It burns cold, and you'd think that it wasn't capable of supporting life in the solar system and you'd be right to a point, but there's one planet in orbit of it that draws its heat from geothermal wells beneath the surface. It's enough to heat the entire planet and have a fairly robust ecosystem but they have the most vicious winters imaginable."

Zoe's head rested on his chest. "Have you been there?"

"Once, with Charley." He lowered their hands to rest on her stomach. "Bit of a piloting error –"

"Shocker."

He pinched her stomach lightly and she squirmed. "Ended up having a nice time though. We landed just before one of the snowstorms that swept the city and had to wait two weeks before the drifts died down enough to get back to the TARDIS. Plenty to do indoors so we weren't too bored."

"All these places to see..." her words trailed off into the night's air. "It's like books. I'm never going to read all the ones I want, just like I'm never going to get to see all the places in the universe. It's disappointing."

"We'll see more than most people," the Doctor said. "But I get what you mean. There's too much to see and do for any one person."

She rolled over onto her stomach and rested her torso against his, propping herself on her elbow above him. "What's the one place that you really want to go to but have never been?"

His face twisted in delight at the question. "Oo, that's a question. I don't know. I suppose – I'd like to go to the founding of Gallifrey. That was a really interesting time in my planet's history. I'd love to have met Omega, Rassilon, and the Other in their prime."

"I know Rassilon," Zoe said. "And you've mentioned Omega before, but the Other?"

"It's a little bit of personal curiosity," he admitted. "There were three founders of Gallifrey – Omega and Rassilon who were these titans of Time Lords: they towered over the rest of us, none have measured up to them since, but history told us that there was a third Time Lord whose name was lost to time and we just called him the Other. I want to meet them to find out if there was any truth to the rumours."

"What rumours?"

"That I was the Other." Her eyebrows shot up. "I know you don't like the word but it would be nearly impossible for that to be true. Travelling through time on Gallifrey would violate the First Law of Time – for the present to never interact with the past. I know I've broken a lot of rules over the centuries but that's the biggest of them all. I don't think even I'd break it. I mean, if I didn't break it when Gallifrey burned, I can't see a time when I would."

Zoe stared at him, momentarily speechless. "Against the rules it may be, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you were the third founder."

His mouth twitched towards his eyes.

"Me neither," he said to her laughter. "What about you? What's the one place or time you want to go to that I haven't taken you yet?"

"Nothing comes to mind," she admitted. "You were very thorough in helping me tick off my old list from when I was seventeen." He smiled at the memory of her notebook filled with places and times she wanted to go, uncertain if they actually existed only to be thrilled when he was able to deliver. "I'm happy to go where the wind takes us."

"It is fun not knowing what's coming." He brushed his fingers over the bare skin on her back. "Keeps us on our toes."

Zoe showed her agreement by kissing him, his hands on her body, and by the time they were chased from the gardens by an irate manager who was yelling in a mixture of English, Arabic, and French, they were pleasantly dishevelled from agreeing with each other. Instead of catching a carriage back to the TARDIS, they walked the road back hand in hand until the pain in her feet got too much to handle and the Doctor gave her a piggyback instead. He was trying to explain why a joke about a boatload of woman dressed in fishing nets was considered the height of humour in Pharaonic times when they entered the TARDIS hours after they left, her arms around his neck, shoes dangling from her fingers.

The Doctor stopped short at the sight of Jack sitting on the jump seat dressed and looking ready for action while Rose fiddled with the buttons on the console, hair pulled back from her face. Slowly, he set Zoe onto her tender feet, worry creeping over him.

"This looks serious," he said. "Everything okay?"

"Fine," Jack said. "How was your night?"

"It was great," Zoe replied, eyes flicking over them, trying to understand why the air felt taut. "We danced, we made friends, we got chased from the hotel garden, the usual."

Jack's eyes creased with amusement. "Sounds like fun."

"Sorry you missed it," the Doctor said. "Now, what's going on?"

"Nothing serious," he said. "Just potentially troublesome. Mickey called and he thinks there's a problem on Earth that's alien in origin. He's done some investigating on his own and is about 95% sure aliens are doing something to school children in West London."

Zoe set her shoes down. "Does he say what?"

He shook his head. "No, only that he thinks we might want to have a look."

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "Aliens in a school? That's interesting. He could've called UNIT though, but I suppose if he wants to see Jack, who am I to say no?" Rose coughed to hide her laugh, ducking away from Jack's annoyed expression. "All right then, London it is. Guess it was time to pop in and see Jackie anyway. May as well stock up on milk as well."

"In that case," Zoe said, moving past them. "I'm going to soak my feet quickly. Don't have fun without me!"

The Doctor watched her go before he input the co-ordinates for the Powell Estate. "Right-o, home sweet home we go."