OK, this really is the last one before I go on holiday - I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon so it's official, no more chapters for 2 weeks. I am really sorry for leaving this one how it ends - well, partly sorry. Part of me quite enjoys giving people the pain that has been inflicted on me by countless authors and tv writers for my entire life. Not exactly a cliffhanger, but I apologise anyway. See you in a fortnight!

The Doctor waited until Rose had left before he slammed his hand down onto the console, jolting the controls and resulting in a strange moan from the TARDIS. He was left gripping onto the console, knuckles white, staring into the Time Rotor in silence.

He had never relished fighting with Rose, but this one had been the worst since that time when they had gone to see her father. Only this time it was Rose who had walked away, not him. She had been angrier than he had ever seen her, sarcastic and furious and brilliant in a way he had never seen before. He had been so incensed by Rose's comments and the implication that she did not care about his daughter that he had seen red. It was only now that the red haze was subsiding that he was able to think semi-logically about what she had said.

Surely he had not done that much damage with his actions? He recalled what had happened that day, Rose's face when he had come running up to the TARDIS, covered in soot and coughing, but undeniably alive. She had looked so relieved, but there had been something else hidden underneath her relief, if he had only been bothered to find out what it was.

To tell the truth, he had just about blown up when he had thought that Rose was putting herself above Jenny. He would do anything to keep Jenny safe and sound, and the idea that Rose might have a problem with his actions when his only thought was that his daughter needed protecting was absurd. However, now he had heard her side of the story – it had been more painful and shocking to hear than he would have thought possible – something became clear to him. He wanted to keep Jenny safe. He would do anything to protect her. And yet who had done the protecting? Who had kept Jenny safe when he was off trying to find out the source of the trouble? Rose.

And even if she was with him, together for as long as they could be, that did not mean that she had the responsibility of taking care of his offspring. That was his job. A job that he had thrust on Rose without a second thought at the first sign of any disturbance. And, to top it all off, he had run off and left her with that responsibility, basically rendering her helpless. How much was there she could do with a tiny child there to protect and him nowhere to be found?

Now that he could see her point of view, the Doctor thought about slamming his head into the console, as well as his hand. No wonder she was angry. He did have a history of abandoning her in moments when she needed him, or sending her away for her own good even though she wanted to be there to help him. Of course it had shaken her, scared her even.

Once again, he had taken Rose's feelings for granted, and now he was paying the price.

Of course he wasn't apologising for trying to help people – he still believed that he had done the right thing by running off to save them – but now he realised that he had done exactly what he wanted, without any thought to Rose and what she might feel about that. He was taking away her choice and she was not going to stand for it.

He shook his head, scrunching up his eyes as he thought. Of course what Rose was suggesting was possible. It seemed slightly irresponsible, maybe, to leave a toddler alone in the TARDIS while her parent and the only other adult around went off to do dangerous deeds, but it was infinitely safer than being out with them.

And then of course, there was his last resort.

He had sorted it out with Martha, back when they had last visited. It was the memory of his Emergency Programme One that had spurred him on to consider the worst. If Jenny was in the TARDIS alone and the Doctor and Rose had not returned after a certain amount of time, Emergency Programme 5 would activate (he certainly had more than 5 emergency programmes, but this one was so important he had bumped it up the list to number 5.)

The TARDIS would immediately dematerialise and take Jenny to one place where she could be safe – with Martha and Mickey. Then, once Jenny had been retrieved from the TARDIS, it would disappear and come back to the spot where it had been left. Simply a safety precaution, in case he had been delayed in getting back. If he were still there, he could then fly the TARDIS back to Martha and get Jenny. If he had died – not a pleasant thought, but it had to be considered – then the TARDIS would simply materialise and remain in Martha and Mickey's back garden. Jenny would probably appreciate having it there as she grew up, a remnant of her father and her long dead race. He had recorded a few messages for Jenny in the event that he did not return one day, each one more painful to make than the last. He did not want to entertain the idea that his child might grow up an orphan, but there were some things he had to be prepared for.

So in theory, Rose's suggestion made sense. It was not as if they were going to be facing ridiculous dangers all the time – he was doing his best to restrict them to peaceful places with no danger whatsoever – but just in case, they had a plan. It had been twice in three weeks that he had had to give Jenny to Rose to take back to the TARDIS. A mistake on his part, but one that could be rectified.

And yet still, there was a part of him that acknowledged the fact that, if there was one thing he wanted in this universe, it was for Rose and Jenny to be safe. Those two people were just about all he had, aside from his TARDIS, and if keeping Jenny safe meant Rose being away from danger then – he was ashamed to admit it – he kind of wanted to continue with it. He had sent her away before for her own good – of course it had been the wrong decision and it had not worked – but the fact was that he was used to doing things for the good of other people, even if they didn't understand it at the time.

He shook his head, slumping down against the console. Trying to keep Rose out of danger and away from the life she wanted. What sort of horrible person would want such a thing for the person they love?

The sort of person who was terrified of losing their loved one forever, he supposed. He was a selfish, cruel old man, and he could not do that to her.

It was a minute or so later that he realised he had thought "love" without a second thought. There was that entire can of worms that he was trying not to open as well. The "being in love with Rose Tyler" thing that he had told Martha he would take slowly. Well, if there was one thing that would slow down that process, it was Rose storming off onto an alien planet and refusing to talk to him. That definitely worked.

He decided to put aside the future implications of his actions and focus on right now. Jenny was asleep and safe, which was good. Rose, on the other hand, had left the TARDIS. That was decidedly less good. That, he might even go so far as to say, was very very bad.

He strode to the TARDIS doors and threw them open, hoping that he would find Rose just outside, leaning against his ship. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, or how they were going to work this out, but one thing was for sure – he was definitely scared of losing Rose, and her being off on her own on an alien planet was really not helping matters.

"Rose?" he called out. The Doctor's voice sounded quieter than he remembered, swallowed up by the trees that were swiftly becoming engulfed in shadows. Soon it would be night, and the idea of Rose alone in the woods on another planet in the pitch darkness made the Doctor's stomach twist. There could be anything out there. Anything at all.

Rose was slumped against a tree. She had finished crying a while ago, but she was still in no mood to go back to the TARDIS and face him. Since her anger had ebbed away, doubts had begun to creep into her head. How could she even think of how she felt when that poor little girl had been so scared? She remembered the feeling of Jenny burying her face in her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around the child to protect her. Jenny had needed Rose, and Rose had been thinking about herself. She buried her face in her hands. Out here in the cool air, she was losing her grip on all her brilliant reasons why she was angry with the Doctor. She was certain she would remember them all later, but right now all she could feel was guilt, pain and an intense desire to curl up in bed and sleep for a couple of ice ages.

Once she looked around her and saw that it was nearly dark – it was that familiar sensation of looking up from reading a book and realising the entire room is in darkness – Rose quickly stood up and walked back in the direction of the TARDIS, dusting dried leaves off her bum as she did so. It took a few minutes, and some tense seconds where she was sure she was going to get completely lost, but Rose managed to navigate her way back to the TARDIS. She paused outside the door. Crap. She had forgotten her key, which was still in her jacket pocket in the console room.

As she tried to work up the courage to complete the humiliating act of knocking on the door for the Doctor to let her in, one of the doors swung open an inch or so. Suspecting that the TARDIS was at least a little bit on her side, and smiling for the first time in hours, Rose pushed the door open the rest of the way and stepped inside.

The Doctor was sitting on the jump seat, twirling his sonic screwdriver absently in his fingers and staring into space. He heard the sound of the door closing, and leapt up from his seat, eyes frantically searching in the glow of the time rotor for Rose's face. She stayed where she was, not sure exactly how to greet him, if indeed she wanted to greet him at all. More than anything she wanted to just be in her bedroom, without the hassle of having to make excuses to the Doctor for going straight there without any conversation.

"I called after you." The Doctor's face was unreadable, but his eyes were bright and alive and staring into her own. In them Rose could see his worry, the relief that he felt that she was now back. A little taste of his own medicine. She had not intended it, but now the Doctor knew almost exactly how she had felt earlier when he had been off on his own. "You didn't shout back."

Rose shrugged, willing herself not to feel guilty for making him so scared. She could see how tense he was, and there was something akin to a physical ache in her chest as she restrained herself from running over to him and reassuring him that she wasn't going anywhere. She could really do with a hug right now, but he did not deserve one, no matter how worried he had been. "Didn't hear you."

"Oh, right."

Another long pause. It had never been as awkward as this before, not even after France.

"I'm going to bed then," Rose said matter-of-factly, taking a few steps towards the doorway on the opposite side of the room.

"Oh... right," the Doctor repeated. His fists were clenched, and Rose was sure that he was holding his breath. Even standing there in the same room as him, walking around the console in the direction of her bedroom, she missed him. She missed the way they had been first thing this morning, the easy way they spoke and the hand holding and the way he always seemed just on the verge of kissing her but never quite getting there. As it was, she maintained her distance, leaving the room with a simple "Goodnight," and not waiting to see if he returned the her farewell.

Rose almost ran down the corridor once she was through the doorway, so grateful was she to be able to get back to her own room and relax for a bit.

Once she had pushed the door until it was ajar – the little strip of light that flowed in through the corridor was something of a comfort, she had discovered – Rose changed into a baggy t-shirt and sat down in her bed. She pulled the duvet over her knees but remained sitting up, her mind too wound up to contemplate sleeping at that moment. She sat unmoving for at least 20 minutes, playing and replaying the events of the day in her mind. What an incredible mess they had managed to make.

All of a sudden the door began to swing open.

Rose sat up straight in alarm, not ready to talk to the Doctor about anything just yet, but it wasn't the Doctor who had pushed her door open. In the light from the doorway she could make out a tiny figure with a little mop of blonde hair.

"Jenny, what are you doing here?" Jenny's only answer was to run across the room and attempt to climb up on Rose's bed. "Did you climb out your cot? The Doctor was right; you're going to need a proper bed." She reached down and helped Jenny up next to her. The toddler seated herself next to Rose, legs under the duvet and head against the pink pillows behind her. "OK, just for a little while then," Rose said with a smile.

"Sorry about earlier," she continued conversationally, watching as Jenny pulled at the duvet with her tiny hands, "I guess I got a bit carried away. Hope you weren't too scared." Jenny didn't reply, too intent with trying to pull the covers up over her head. "We did alright though didn't we, out there on our own? Your daddy seemed to think we'd be fine. And we were, I suppose."

She pulled back the duvet that was now covering the lump that was Jenny, saying "Boo!" as she did so. Jenny giggled, before standing up and depositing herself in Rose's lap. Rose let the little girl sit between her legs, resting her chin on Jenny's head, blonde hair mingling with blonde.

"I do love you, you know that don't you?" Rose said quietly. It was definitely easier speaking to someone who seemed to be listening but probably didn't understand and couldn't talk back. It made her head feel clearer. "I just don't want to be told what to do by him. He wants to keep me safe here – sometimes I think he treats me just like he treats you, trying to protect you and everything. The only problem is that you're not even 2 yet. I'm 24. I can decide for myself what I want to do."

She paused, leaving a bit of silence through which she could hear Jenny humming some sort of nonsense song. She seemed content to just sit there and listen to Rose talk. "You know I'd much rather we didn't have to get separated at all. As much as I was worried it would be boring without all the danger and running away and things, I'd rather we were all together in nice, safe places, you know, like a fa-"

Rose stopped, biting her lip. A family. That wasn't exactly the sort of thing she had been expecting herself to want, and yet this strange arrangement on the TARDIS – when it wasn't in turmoil because she and the Doctor were at each other's throats – meant a lot more to her than she would have thought possible. She had been certain before that she and the Doctor were perfect together, but now it seemed that Jenny was not a barrier to their relationship, but rather an addition that they had not realised they wanted until she was there with them

Rose pressed a light kiss to the top of Jenny's head. Just as she was getting used to Jenny and the Doctor being a father and everything else she had poured out to Martha, the Doctor had managed to throw another spanner in the works. That and the fact that, despite wherever she thought they might be in their relationship, it had completely halted its progression now. The solving of each problem just seemed to throw up two more. It was a Hydra of dilemmas, and Rose was tired of chopping off its heads only to see more grow back again.

Snuggling so she was lying down a bit more in her bed, she shifted Jenny until she was lying on Rose's stomach. She turned herself around a bit and patted Rose's cheek. "Wose sad." Rose nodded, catching Jenny's hand and feeling the little fingers grasp tightly around her own. She felt like Jenny understood more than she should do sometimes. Maybe it was just Rose being paranoid, or maybe it was because she was a Time Lord and was therefore more advanced. Either way, she took comfort in holding hands with Jenny, even if there was another person whose hand she wanted to hold as well.

"Daddy?" Jenny was pointing to the door. It took Rose a second to get what she meant. She was asking if Rose wanted her to get the Doctor. Of course, Jenny's solution to anyone being sad would be for the Doctor to come and make them happy again. The problem was, on any day but today, Rose's solution would have been exactly the same.

"No, no Daddy right now, Jenny. We're fine just the two of us, right?" Jenny smiled and then yawned. Rose caught the yawn and felt her jaw stretch wide open. She needed some sleep – it had been an exhausting day.

"Your oblivious dad doesn't seem to understand," she muttered, feeling Jenny's breathing slow and just knowing that she was almost asleep, "he wants to protect me by keeping him here. But if I'm here, who's going to protect him?" Jenny's arms stretched around Rose in a hug, and Rose clutched her close to her chest. "Night night Jenny."

Just before she drifted off to sleep, Rose could have sworn she heard a shifting noise in the corridor. She looked towards the open door, and thought she might just have seen some movement, as though someone who were watching the scene in front of them had all of a sudden dashed away for fear of being caught. "Smooth, Doctor," she whispered drily before letting sleep take her, arms wrapped protectively around the little girl who Rose had grown to love just as surely as she had fallen for her father.

The Doctor spent the night sitting against the wall in the corridor, Rose's words ringing in his ears. He was somehow managing to push Rose away, just when it seemed like they could be together at last. The two most precious people in his life were right there inside that room, and at that moment he did not feel he deserved to know either one of them. He did not sleep that night. He did, however, cry.