Epilogue
Her head felt fuzzy and she raised her hand to her forehead with a low groan. Her stomach growled irritably, and she felt as if she had not moved for days. She blinked her eyes and willed the fuzzy image leaning over her to clear.
"Rose? Can you hear me? Do you know where you are?"
For one horrible, horrible moment Rose thought she was back in the asylum. Then she saw Jack's face. With what could only be termed a happy squeal, Rose launched herself into Jack's startled arms and gave him a solid kiss. "Jack!"
His arms full of twenty first century shop girl, Jack could only grin, "If I had known that this was all I had to do to get you to kiss me, I should have done it sooner."
That was when Rose realized that Jack was completely naked. Blushing a bright red, she released him and moved away, "Um, Jack, you're naked."
"So I am," Jack agreed, "And you're alive." He couldn't stop grinning, and his grin only got wider as the Doctor moaned as well.
"Doctor!" Rose exclaimed as she finally saw him. She crawled across the bed to his side and grabbed his hand, "Doctor?"
The Doctor's eyes opened slowly, blinking at the harshness of the light. He muttered an ingenious, "Ow," before he focused his gaze on Rose. "You saved me," he whispered, "I remember."
"Of course I did," Rose said, feeling as if she were drowning in his eyes, "We saved each other." The two smiled happily at one another, content in the knowledge that they were together. Vaguely, she wondered if he would kiss her again.
Jack cleared his throat when it became apparent that neither one of his companions was going to move anytime soon. Ordinarily, he'd be jumping for joy at the apparent change in his rather sexually frustrated (his attempts to rectify those matters had been ignored, sadly) friends' relationship. However, there were other considerations to think about – specifically Adam-the-idiot. "Guys?"
Rose blinked as the moment was lost and fought the urge to yell at Jack for doing so. A moment later, all thoughts of kissing the Doctor (for real, this time) fled from her head.
"Adam!" The Doctor's incredulous shout caused the subject of his aggravation to stir and let out a low moan. "You mean Adam captured us; figured out how to cause me to wipe myself from Time; and almost succeeded?"
Jack nodded, "Yes, hard to believe isn't it?"
"It would...ow...have worked, too," Adam groaned from the floor, feeling as if he had been used as a punching bag. From the trio of glares aimed at him, he suspected that he had been. He slowly shifted himself into a standing position and wavered on his feet. He was unsurprised when no one reached out to steady him.
"Why?" Rose asked, sensing that she might be the only one who could possibly deal with this situation logically. Jack probably wanted to hit Adam and as for the Doctor – he was using that stare. She recognized that stare. It was the one he used to put the fear of death into his enemies. There was no telling what he might do.
"Because you dumped me, Rose! You stuck with him, and left me here on Earth with this hole in my head. You didn't even think about me, did you? Oh I saw you in history books, and remembered things from all the knowledge that I had downloaded from Platform Five, but there was no indication at all that you even cared. You left me!" Adam shouted.
"Can you blame me?" Rose asked, feeling all of the anger and fear that she had suffered during the 'three weeks' she was inside the asylum bubbling to the surface. "What have you done with your life, Adam? Nothing. You've put yourself on hold to get back at me and the Doctor. And you know what? Even if you had succeeded; even if you had wiped the Doctor from time; I would never stay with you. You, Adam, are an idiot. Me? I stick with the best, and I've got him..." she smiled at the Doctor before turning towards Jack and amending, "Them."
"You left me," Adam repeated in a small voice, as if he were pleading with her.
"She did," the Doctor said, standing beside Rose and entwining their hands together, "And we're going to do it again. Jack? Destroy that machine."
"With pleasure," Jack replied with a feral grin. He grabbed his blaster from where it was on the bed and proceeded to decimate the technology that had almost caused Time itself to rupture.
"Where's the TARDIS?" The Doctor asked, glaring at Adam.
"Outside. N…next to the shed," Adam stuttered. It suddenly dawned upon him just what he had almost done. Or, rather, had almost succeeded in doing. He felt rather small.
"I'll be keeping an eye on you, Adam. If you ever even think about doing something like this again – or kidnapping or otherwise harming Rose – there will be consequences."
Adam found the courage to laugh, "Consequences?"
"I've destroyed entire worlds," the Doctor growled, and Adam could see the truth of that statement in his eyes, "Do you honestly think that you, a tiny little ape, could stand a chance against me?"
Adam remained silent, but his eyes were wide.
"Doctor? Let's go home," Rose said, wanting nothing more to do with Adam Mitchell's tiny view of the world.
"Rose?" Adam asked, a pleading note in his voice.
Rose's eyes narrowed as she stalked up to Adam, "I have a gift for you, Adam. Something that I should have done a long time ago." Without telegraphing the move, Rose punched Adam's too-perfect chin. "If you ever, and I mean ever think of doing that again I'll kill ya. Got it?" She looked down at him with contempt in her eyes and quite deliberately turned her back on him.
"Rose!" Jack's exclamation was part astonished and part impressed.
"What? A little something that I learned from a friend," Rose shared a grin with the Doctor as she threaded her fingers through his, "Shall we?"
The trio left Adam fingering his chin in shock and headed outside. "Where to next, Rose Tyler?" The Doctor asked, his familiar manic grin setting her at ease.
"Oh, I don't know...surprise me."
"Don't mind if I do," the Doctor replied as he led his companions through the double doors to his TARDIS.
A moment later, nothing was left of the blue police box but a piece of paper twirling through the air and a memory.