Title: Mercurial Rhythm
Chapter: Three
Rating: T
Summary: The Doctor, Rose and Jack stop on a planet for little bit of shopping but what starts out as an innocent expedition ends up being a trip full of a lot of interesting conversations…okay, someone else write my summary for me.
Pairings/Spoilers: The Doctor(9)/Rose and takes place just after The Doctor Dances

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter two, I'm glad you liked it. Thanks once again to saganmidreams for the betaing.

Chapter One
Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Three hours later there was no sign of the Doctor but having encountered no truly dangerous situations, they weren't really worried. In fact, other than Jack trying to pick up what turned out to be neither male nor female, but rather some sort of teapot and resultantly being chased around by a rather large man who spent the best part of ten minutes throwing teacups at the pair, they'd actually been rather jeopardy free.

Walking through the section evidently dedicated to supplying aliens with all manner of hair brushes (Rose didn't even want to think about the hair some of the overly large or overly weird combs must have been for), Jack finally caught onto the sideways glances she'd been sending him all morning.

"What?" he queried.

"I was just wondering what your plan is." He raised an eyebrow but didn't move to interrupt. "I mean, a few days ago you tried to con me and the Doctor and now we're letting you travel with us. I just want your word there's no ulterior motive here." She didn't really believe what she was saying, there was a gut feeling that told her Jack was the right kind of person, but she was intrigued to know more about him.

He caught on that she wasn't completely serious when she flashed him a smile. "I'm here for the adventure. Just like you. And anyway, you'll find me to be very loyal."

"Yeah," she scoffed, unable to help herself. "When it's worth your while."

"Of course, and what could be better than traveling in that ship with you two?"

Falling silent, Rose realized just why that gut feeling was there: Jack reminded her of one of her old friends, Billy. He'd left England when they were both sixteen and they'd lost touch. But she'd missed him, she'd always viewed him like a brother. With an internal groan, she noted that this really did ruin all hope of relieving any tension of a sexual nature with Jack, now that he reminded her of someone who'd effectively been her substitute brother.

"What?" Jack was feeling a little off-balance. Rarely, in fact, pretty much never, had he found himself interested in a woman (or man, for that matter) that he didn't plan to bed, but Rose was intriguing; she was fun without being a possible sexual conquest. How peculiar.

"Just thinking," she mused, looping her arm through his. It felt right. At the look Jack was giving her she continued, "I think we're going to be good friends."

Before he could help it he broke into a grin, pulling her closer to him and bumping shoulders. "Yeah, me too." Uninvited, the fact that this little development probably wouldn't please the Doctor entered his mind, followed by the reminder that he was supposed to be trying to find out just what the deal was between his two traveling companions and their complete lack of intelligence when it came to undoubtedly brilliant sex.

Turning yet another corner, the two were faced with a decision: to the right, a long straight road led off, metal glinting and the smell of oil and grease permeating the air. Jack could almost taste the technology, the super fast teleporters, the flashy guns. To the left, a curvy lane, laced with shops filled with all manner of girly clothing and accessories.

Rose looked to Jack, pleading written all over her face, her best puppy dog eyes expertly in place.

Jack looked ready to argue, to explain that girls clothing (unless he was removing it) was nowhere near as much fun as guns and teleporters. The words died on his lips as he saw he had no chance in hell of winning. He just sighed and nodded, following her as she dragged him by the arm into the very first shop. He hung his head, half disgusted at his weakness and half excited at the prospect of what could possibly exist in such a foreign place.

Over the following hours they ended up buying all manner of things, quickly finding the Borkdill stones to be worth just as much as Jack had thought. Worth so much, in fact, that soon they'd ran out of small ones and were lugging along parcels of things they hadn't actually wanted but that they'd been forced to take when the normally mercenary stall holders couldn't inflate their prices enough to use up the value of the stones.

Of course, there were several instances in which it didn't go exactly to plan; at one stage, rounding a corner they came to what Jack discretely described to Rose as "The Western Daviidi sex trade," but looked more like a giant jelly wrestling match. Then there was the shopkeeper who insisted that the tiny Borkdill they gave him was worth not just the spiky silver earrings Rose wanted, but also six studded collars of varying design. One of which Jack insisted Rose wear for at least a few minutes, which had earned her several interesting looks, two of which she swore were far too flirtatious.

Perhaps the most interesting run-in of the day, however, was with a giant brown slime heap. Rose jumped back and swore as she walked into the back of it. She was surprised to say the least when Jack yanked her back, saving her by only seconds as the slime turned around, opened its eyes and spat an even slimier article towards her.

How she'd been expected to recognize a Trahuley nobleman and avoid walking into him she wasn't sure, but amidst the hustle and bustle, the thousands of bodies pressing around them and the difficulty of hauling their bags, even Jack wasn't prepared to berate her about it, though he did take a rather long time to tell her she still had a marble sized gob stuck to her neck.

As they turned into yet another aisle of stalls, Rose's eyes lit up. Across the aisle, about three stores up, a tiny little table lay between two giant jewelry showrooms. Behind the table was an alien with green skin, two arms more than Rose was used to and an adorable look of dedicated concentration on his face. He was holding some sort of necklace up to the sun and even from her distance she could tell it was special, just from the way it glimmered in the sunlight.

She noticed that behind the table and the shopkeeper lay all manner of machinery, some of which she vaguely knew to be that of a jeweler. An idea popped into her head. "Jack," she removed her arm from where it had been looped through his. "Do you think he'd mind if I kept one and had it made it into a necklace or a bracelet or something?"

"Do I think he'd mind?" he asked, unable to keep the small smile from his lips. "No, I don't think he would." Jack tried to imagine the look on the Doctor's face at one of the beautiful glowing rocks displayed against Rose's skin. Great skin, possibly better than his, and he could just imagine the contrast between its porcelain whiteness and the mauve fluorescing stone.

He stopped himself before he started thinking about Rose wearing a necklace of the stones, and only a necklace, and exactly what the Doctor's response to that might be...that would have been slightly voyeuristic.

Peering suspiciously at him, Rose raised an eyebrow and asked, "You sure you're not just trying to get me in trouble? Is it illegal to wear them or something?"

"Nah, not trying to get you in trouble, cross my heart." To emphasize his sincerity, Jack raised a hand and drew a cross over his heart, injecting as much charm as he could into his expression and words.

"Okay, well, I'm going over there to see if I can't get it made now." Jack nodded and wandered to the store opposite. He realized too late that the extensive piercings were not just displayed in glass cases and pictures; several of the inhabitants had their fair share of merchandise already attached.

He cringed, screwing his eyes partially shut as a Cothian stalked towards him. He'd always thought of the Cothians as a race of hippopotamuses that had evolved to walk upright and to talk. This particular hippopotamus-like alien was wearing very tight, very sheer clothing and all the piercings, and that meant all, were on display, some that even Jack wasn't prepared to think too much about. He hurried out ignoring the welcome sent his direction by the Cothian and hid in the moving tide of people near Rose.

She returned to his side short seconds later, looking pleased with herself. "He said yes, should only take him a half hour. And he wouldn't accept one as payment, said that it was ridiculous."

"So what does he want instead?" Jack looked over at the four armed alien who was already working away at a heap of metal wires and shavings, hands flying in the air and his eyes focused in concentration. Instantly suspicious of such generosity, Jack was on guard, his movements more deliberate, his concentration more centered.

"Othelius - that's his name - Othelius asked me to pick up a book for him. It's just a twenty minute walk." That pleading look was back, the puppy dog eyes and a pout as well. "See, to make this, he isn't going to have time for a lunch break, so he won't get a chance to get the book." She paused to see if Jack was going to say no, continuing when he remained silent. "We just have to follow this lane to the end," she pointed straight ahead of them, "then turn left and we'll know when we'd hit the book district. He said it had a huge sign with big red writing. Can't miss it and that he'll call ahead so that the owner will be expecting me."

"Sounds dangerous to me," Jack's tone was a little sarcastic as he weighed up his options.

"I know."

"Okay then, off we go again." They walked off, smiling at the jeweler as they passed, though he hardly even noticed them. His head was already bent low over his table in concentration as he took measurements and readings of the stone he planned on making even more magnificent.

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