Rose stepped out the TARDIS he face tear streaked. The power flowing through her veins, the thoughts pouring into her head; this was what it felt like to be the Doctor. The feeling of being totally alone in the world.
"Rose, what've you done?" Moaned the Doctor running across the control room of satellite five.
"I looked into the TARDIS and the TARDIS looked into me," Rose replied, her voice misty.
"Rose, the TARDIS heart is a time vortex, no one is supposed to look into it, not even me," the Doctor couldn't bear to see the look of pain in Rose's eyes. A look that, until now, had only resided in himself. "Rose, let it go, let the power go."
Rose could hear the Doctor begging some where in the distance but he own self was being overpowered by the TARDIS.
"I can't," she whispered.
"You can, you have to Rose. It'll kill you if you don't and I can't go through that again. A part of me died when I thought you were dead Rose. Let the power go, please." The Doctor could feel the tears welling up in his eyes. "Rose, don't leave me."
Rose made up her mind, she would force the power out, but first she had to revive Jack. In her heart she knew he'd died so using the TARDIS she bought him back before destroying every TARDIS in existence. But the power had too strong a hold over Rose; she'd let it get too far.
The Doctor knew what he had to do. The power of the TARDIS needed somewhere to go. So the Doctor leaned forward and met Rose in what he thought was a fantastic kiss.
Jack stood still for a minute, shocked. The Dalek's had killed him, yet here he was stood in exactly the same spot as he had done when they'd cornered him. He came back to his senses and ran back to the control room. The sight that met his eyes was surprising. Jack had always known that the Doctor and Rose worshipped each other, but seeing them kissing still made him stop.
"And I thought that guy didn't do domestic," he muttered to himself.
The pair broke apart, the Doctor staggered and Rose fainted. Jack ran forward to help the Doctor get Rose into the TARDIS.
"What happened?" He asked closing the TARDIS doors.
The Doctor didn't answer until he had got Rose into the bed at the back of the TARDIS and set the ship into flight.
"Satellite five should be able to sort itself out now," the Doctor muttered. Jack rolled his eyes.
"What happened?" He repeated more softly this time.
"We kissed," the Doctor replied not taking his eyes of the control panel. He opened the door to the heart of the TARDIS and let the power flow through his fingers back to where it belonged.
"Really?" Jack asked sarcastically. "I meant what happened to the Dalek's and me. One minute I was dead, the next I'm back inside the TARDIS with Rose who's collapsed and you in a state of shock because you kissed. Something weird went on."
"Rose looked into the heart of the TARDIS," the Doctor said closing the TARDIS heart up and locking it with his sonic screwdriver.
"She did what?" Jack walked forward to the bed. "Is she ok, she's not going to…"
"She's fine, she let the power go and she should wake up in a bit, though how much she'll remember after she looked into the TARDIS heart, I don't know." The Doctor flicked a few switches and the TARDIS began to hum.
Jack looked down at Rose who was so beautiful when she wasn't scowling at the Doctor.
"So, are you ok?" Jack asked as the implications of what the Doctor had done began to register.
"I'm… fine," the Doctor replied, though he felt anything but. He wasn't sure exactly what his feelings were; all he knew was that his mind and body were fighting an internal war. He wandered over to Jack and sat down on a stool.
"Your not fine. Fine is the time when you and Rose figured out that the nano-genes had caused that empty child. Fine is when you and Rose helped turn that Slitheen into an egg. This is not fine." Jack said pulling up another stool and sitting on the opposite side of the bed to the Doctor.
"Ok, ok. It's… complicated." The Doctor was struggling to find the words, these emotions were too human for him and being a time-lord meant you weren't supposed to get involved with people.
"You mean you're a nine-hundred-year-old alien and she's a nineteen-year-old girl with an over protective Mum," Jack replied carefully watching the Doctor for any signs that might tell him if he was correct. The Doctor continued to stare at Rose and didn't answer for a long time.
"It's more complicated than that," he said finally.
"Because you're a time-lord. I know," Jack sighed.
"But you don't. You have no idea what alone feels like. You humans, you live for ages and even when Cassandra is the last one she doesn't feel alone because of all the mixed human races. But for me it's different. There isn't anyone else. I can't get involved… not only will I outlive her by a million years but I don't know if she feels the same way and besides I couldn't bear it if I lost her again." The Doctor stood up and walked back to the control panel of the TARDIS. "I'm a nine-hundred-year-old time-lord and I'm afraid Jack, afraid of a few simple human feelings."
"Doctor human emotions are one of the least understood concepts in the universe. It's not cowardly to be afraid. Why are you afraid anyway? Rose worships the ground you walk on." Jack replied following the Doctor and laying a hand on his shoulder. "Listen, if you don't take her, I will."
"Take who?" Mumbled Rose from behind them; the Doctor rushed to her side in a flash and Jack wandered back a little more subdued.
"Rose, are you ok?" The Doctor asked taking her hand.
"I'm fine," she replied.
"Do you remember what happened?" Jack kneeled beside the bed next to the Doctor.
"I looked into the heart of the TARDIS, I bought you back, I destroyed the Dalek's and…" Rose blushed but didn't continue her sentence.
Jack rolled his eyes. The pair of them were as bad as each other. If they didn't get their acts together soon he was going to end up shouting the obvious or banging their heads together.
"Where are we going?" Rose asked changing track.
"Home. You've been through too much. Your mother was right. I can't keep you safe. You're going back to your Mum's flat." The Doctor said massaging Rose's fingers and not looking her in the eye.
"You are not." Rose burst out. "After all we've been through. You 're not getting rid of me that easily."
"Rose, a part of me died when I thought I'd lost you. I can't go through that again. You're going home where you'll be safe." The Doctor replied.
"Jack, tell him he's being stupid." Rose shot at Jack suddenly.
"Oh no, leave me out of your domestic situations." Jack stood up and wandered away.
"If you take me home I'll never see you again will I?" Rose mumbled her voice going wobbly.
"Of course you will." The Doctor stood up and started pulling levers and pressing buttons on the control panel. "I'll come and visit you every evening."
"But it was twelve months, not twelve hours when we went back to Mum. What if you make that mistake again? I can't… I need you Doctor." Rose could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.
The Doctor forced himself not to turn around. It was hurting him as much as it was Rose.
"I'm sorry, Rose," the TARDIS shuddered to a stop. Rose strode across the control room in one swift moment pulled open the doors and ran to her Mum's flat, the tears streaming down her face.
"Excellent let down Doctor." Jack said sarcastically following Rose.
"What else was I supposed to do? I can't loose her again Jack," he replied following Jack. Jack hung back while the Doctor closed and locked the TARDIS doors.
"It looks like you already have." Jack muttered under his breath as the two of them walked across the courtyard to the stairway and Jackie Tyler's flat.