Chapter One: What's a Nice Girl...

Present Day
Centauris

"Give me an ale, you slimy pile of worm ridden filth!" a large Cheldonian bellowed from the other side of the long bar. Sometimes, well, most of the time, she wished that she could just pull her blaster – a gift from Jack - and shoot those patrons that were too loud for their own well-being.

She had been working in 'Slimy's' for the past week and a half, and she had hated every minute of it. Just because she came into Centauris with a beat up ship thanks to a group of pirates, she had to lay low and get cash. She wiped the bar one more time before being grabbed from behind by Slimy himself, a ten armed monster of a being with a temper to match his appearance.

"Ssssserve him!" Slimy growled into her ear, "Or fire you I will for ssssslacking on the job."

Rose Tyler bit back the sharp retort that was her first thought. 'Yes master,' she thought bitterly, bringing an ale to the Cheldonian. If Slimy was a pleasure to work for, this forced labor would not have been so bad. Instead, it was a living hell.

Rose turned away from the Cheldonian, and headed back to the center of the bar. She was grabbed by a tall excuse for a human male, and she forced herself not to put her fist through his too-perfect nose.

"Hey honey, want to have some fun?" the man asked her with a slight slur. Rose shook off his hand and snapped, "Not with the likes of you, I don't."

"Too bad, once you've had me, there's NO going back." He leered at her, his grin appreciative as he took in her slender form.

Rose shook her head. She had heard more pick up lines, innuendo, and blatant sexual comments in Slimy's than she had heard over the past 25 years of her life – and that included the two years wherein she had lived inside the TARDIS with Jack and the Doctor. Grumbling under her breath, she continued down the bar's length until she was pulled to a stop by a familiar voice.

"One pint," the rich tone was as familiar as it was the day that he had left. She closed her eyes for a moment against the all too familiar sting of tears. She should have known three years ago that they could have never stayed together. He was a Time Lord, the last of his kind, and she was nothing more than a silly little ape with delusions that their mixed up relationship could work. He belonged to space and time while she...she belonged to Earth. He had made that perfectly clear when he had shoved her out of the TARDIS doors.

Rose poured the requested drink and carefully made sure that her hands did not shake enough to spill. "One pint...Doctor," she said, placing the glass on the bartop.

The Doctor started as he stared into a face from his past. He had rationalized that he had been protecting her from the dangerous life that he led but now he recognized that it had been fear. He cared for her too much to lose her and every moment that they had stepped through the double doors to his TARDIS he had wondered if that would be the time she would die. That fear had led him to force her out of the TARDIS doors, but he was not surprised to find that she had found her way back to the stars. His Rose was an adventurer at heart, much like he was. "Rose," her name was an exhale of breath from shocked lungs, "How have you been?"

"How do you think I've been, Doctor?" she said harshly. All of the despair, the fear, and the anger that she had felt over the course of the past several years rolled to the forefront of her mind, "Do you have ANY idea, you bastard, of what you did to me? You left me three years ago. You left me!"

He winced at her tone, "Rose..."

"NO. Don't you dare use that tone. Drink your damn pint, Doctor, and go to hell," she snapped at him, but beneath the words even the Doctor could see the pain was still there.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor began, knowing that even to his own ears the words sounded false. Was he sorry for protecting her? No. Was he sorry for leaving her? Even he had to admit that he was - every waking moment of every day, "I wanted to protect you..."

"Protect me? Protect me! By leaving me behind, you thought you were protecting me?" She was astonished, but on one hand she could see the twisted logic that had led him to that conclusion. Rose knew that he felt the desire to test his companions to see if they would do exactly what he expected by leaving him. However, she suspected that even he had no idea of the lengths she had been (and still was) willing to go for him and with him. "Getting too domestic, were we?" she used his turn of phrase as a weapon, and she could see it hit its mark by the noticeable pain in his eyes.

"No, no it wasn't that," the Doctor spread his hands beseechingly, "I didn't want you to get hurt."

"And your leaving wouldn't hurt? Doctor, you are a complete idiot," Rose sighed.

He was inclined to believe her, and he said so. However, before she could respond a large Raxacoricofallapatorian pushed up to the bar, shoving the Doctor aside so it could lean towards Rose.

"Where is it, little human?"

"Where is what?" she asked, pretending not to understand.

"The Fil-fot Orb –you will give it to me now," the large being replied.

She swallowed nervously and stole a glance at the Doctor and his only expression was one of intense curiosity rather than the one of raging disbelief and perhaps anger that she was expecting. "Not here. Not now, Ral-fot" she whispered to the Raxacoricofallapatorian, studiously avoiding meeting the Doctor's eyes, "Tonight, 2100. Eastside docking berth 92. Ral-fot, Doctor." With those words, she turned and lost herself into the crowd of people gathered at the bar and served drinks again.