Chapter 6

The Doctor sat in the control room, his feet up on the control panel and a mug of tea in his hands, he didn't turn as he heard Rose walk in, he kept both hearts beating steadily by sheer force of will. He had been awake most of the night, worried that she would regret what had happened, he honestly didn't know if he could bear to lose her, and he knew that he might if she had any doubts, regardless of what the older Rose had said.

"Hey you" Rose said as she came level too him, her hand reaching over and taking his tea from him

"Hey, that's mine" he scolded trying to get it back, but failing as Rose drank it

"It aint now" she said as she handed the empty mug back to him, she perched on the edge of the console. Wearing a large oversized t shirt and little else, his eyes automatically skimming down to her legs and coming back to her face to meet her grin

"That answers that question then" Rose grinned, enjoying the way his eyebrow rose in silent question

"Thought you didn't want me anymore, when I woke up alone" she said in response to his look, which caused the Doctor to grin at her

"That answers my question then" He returned grinning at her, and the eyebrow she raised at him

"Thought you might not want me anymore when you woke up" he said paraphrasing her own words before he pulled her to him, and settled her on his lap

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly his blue eyes intense as they bored into her soul

"Yeah" she grinned "you aint so bad for a 900 year old HALF alien" she said cheekily wrapping her arms round him and giving him a quick kiss

"But your telling my mum" she added, hopping off his lap and out of reach of him, laughing at his shocked expression

"That's one way to get rid of me" he grouched, his expression worried at the thought of Jackie finding out, his eyes shot to the door as if expecting her to burst in at any second

"Want to go and see a solar flare?" he called to Rose's retreating back

"Nope" she called not stopping, "promised mum I'd have breakfast with her and give her all the gossip" she called as she vanished from the room

The Doctor sat in his chair and looked pensive

"I'm not going to make another 900 years when Jackie finds out" he muttered getting up to get the hobnobs.

…………………………………………..

Rose walked back into the control room, after showering and dressing to find the Doctor as usual tinkering with the Tardis, she watched him silently for a moment, enjoying just being with him, and hugging the knowledge to her that she loved him, but she couldn't forget what her older self had said, nor the sadness that had radiated from her.

"So what are the cryotrons?" she said quietly, grinning as he bumped his head on the panel above him and the obvious alien swear words coming out of his mouth, she thought absently that he really did need to teach her some of them sometime

The doctor emerged rubbing his head and glaring at her

"Cryotrons are these things being developed for a low temperature flux pump power supply to energize super conducting coils without the excessive helium boil off characteristic of high current input leads…" he started then grinned at her "Oh you mean the other Cryotrons" he said nodding knowingly then shrugged his shoulders

"Don't know" he said happily before turning back to what he was doing

"Oi you" Rose said hitting his disappearing shoulder "Be serious, what are they" she persisted. The Doctor sighed and edged back out again

"Really don't know" he said, rubbing where she had hit him. "but we will find out" he told her seriously, "But you had better run along and have breakfast with Mummy dear before she thinks I've run off with you again and sold you to human slavers" he said grinning at her "And I will fix my girl here, and find out who they are" he continued nodding his head as if everything was already solved "OK?" he asked smiling that funny tight lipped smile of his.

Rose stared at him for a moment, not sure whether to press him or not, he could be a right funny bugger sometimes, she thought

"Yeah whatever" she said unenthusiastically turning to and heading for the door of the Tardis

"Oi you" the Doctor called out, making her stop and turn to look at him

"What?" she asked him moodily

"Typical human" he called to her "Had your way with me last night and then I don't even get a goodbye kiss today" hemoaned at her grinning, his eyes sparkling with mischief. He had only a second to brace himself for the impact of Rose's body flying at him from across the room, her legs wrapping around his waist and her lips melding to his.

"That better?" she asked as they came up for air, a huge smile lighting up her face

"Much" the Doctor replied setting Rose gently on her feet and his grin staying in place until she left, his face turning serious the minute the door closed behind her. He looked at the mess on the floor and ignored it, heading to the data banks of the Tardis; he spun round at the sound of the key in the door, his grin returning in time to see Rose's head poke back around the door

"Don't run off, my mum warned me about dirty old men, who wanted only one thing and then left you" Rose said with a smile before her head disappeared out the door again.

"Yeah, she was right to" the Doctor muttered, thinking of the pain he had seen in the older Roses eyes when she talked of the new Doctor.

……………………………………….

The room was lit only by a single light, inside that room three men stood watching a monitor, on that monitor was an estate in a run down part of London that had an old police telephone box on it. The three men looked at each other and nodded

"It. Is. Him" the taller one said in halting broken English, a slightly mechanical sound to his voice. The other two nodded and took out what looked like mobile phones before disappearing with a shimmer and a hiss.