I saw DT in HP last night, and grinned all the way through his scenes. I saw my DW music videos and sobbed throughout. shakes head I so wish he hadn't left.
So, as a balm, I post this for you all. And, eventually, I have an exciting, possibly nearly finished fic that could be fun for you to read. Keep your eyes out for it.
Enjoy.

Chapter 9

Rose looked in her wardrobe indecisively for a moment, before grabbing her familiar blue jacket, a white t-shirt and a pair of jeans, which she threw on. All the while, she was deep in thought, and absently corrected herself when she tried to put her sock on her hand, instead transferring the garment to her foot.

What on Earth was she going to tell her mum?

All this time, it struck her guiltily, she hadn't thought of her once. Had just decided to change who she was completely without a thought for her. She hadn't rung home in ages. And now what?

She could just not tell her. But, she sighed; the Doctor would almost definitely mention it. This whole thing, now her suspicious mind was back up and running, sounded like a plan to change her mind - take her home, guilt her up, change her mind.

"I'm not changing my mind!" she said vehemently, then cringed as she realised she was talking to herself. Well, sitting here wasn't going to get her anywhere. Best to just play it by ear… and hope there would be no slapping this time.

"All ready?" the Doctor called as she entered the control room. Nodding nonchalantly, she took her usual spot – hanging onto the rails – and watched as the Doctor pranced around his time machine. Rose was just enjoying the view of his happy face, and the way his body moved fluently, when she caught herself and flushed slightly, unnoticed in the rocking ship. It seemed to be a smoother ride than usual, or maybe she was just used to it now. Eventually, the Time Lord stood back, and his happy expression faded, before returning – now rather forced.

"2006, London. It's, ooh," he checked his watch, "about a month since we were last here."

"Sure about that this time?" Rose replied lightly, and for a moment, his lips quirked a smile at her.

"Certain. After last time, I made absolutely sure. I don't want another lovely purple bruise from your mum."

Jack smirked. "Now I really want to hear that story."

The Doctor mock-scowled, before gesturing to the door. "Come on, London awaits."

Rose smiled, and raced forwards, out the doors, and gasped as she was immediately soaked in icy rain.

"Oops." The Doctor muttered, before shrugging off his jacket and handing it to Rose, who took it gratefully. Jack watched the exchange and grinned, despite the drops of water worming their way through his own jacket. If they were more obvious they'd be walking round with t-shirts declaring their undying love. Hey, that wasn't a bad idea…

They arrived at Jackie's flat soaked and cold, but happy – Rose's enthusiasm at being home almost contagious. Rose knocked and let herself in, gesturing for the other two to follow her lead. The Doctor readily agreed, having had prior experience, and Jack just followed the other two, turning the charm on.

"Mum? It's me, Rose." She called, taking off the Doctor's jacket and shaking off the water.

"Rose! You're home!" came Jackie's reply from the kitchen, followed by the woman herself, who bustled up to them and hugged her daughter enthusiastically, before pulling back. "You're soaked! Doesn't that place of yours have umbrellas? You'll catch your death!" she glared at the Doctor as they gradually made their way into the living room, before spotting Jack. Her glare intensified.

"And who on Earth are you?"

"The name's Captain Jack Harkness, marm," Jack replied charmingly, taking Jackie's hand and kissing it. "It is a pleasure to meet you, your daughter is a wonderful friend."

Taken aback, Jackie stuttered a reply.

"Friend?"

"Yeah," Rose jumped in quickly, "he's like an older brother to me; you'll love him."

"Oh. Good." Jackie replied, and the three inwardly sighed with relief. Jack's intelligent words had saved them half an hour of ranting. Now they only had the usual 'nickin' my daughter, draggin' her off with you' rant.

"So mum, how's things?" Rose chatted, walking off into the kitchen to make them up some tea.

"Alright, but it would be better with you here, sweetheart." The older woman replied, hugging her daughter again. "Oh, go and get a towel and change your clothes, I'll get the tea. Get one for that Jack as well, the nice blue one."

Grinning, Rose did as she was told, snatching a fluffy white one from the airing cupboard as well and tossing them across to the other two. Then returning to her room, she changed clothes, and returned to find that Jackie was already laying into the Doctor, Jack sitting astounded on the sofa as the Doctor leant against the far wall. Sighing, she wondered how best to break them up.

"…no word for months and you turn up out of the blue! What's the big idea? She idolises you, and you just take it for granted!"

"I don't!" the Doctor replied indignantly, and Rose smiled to herself before coughing. The Doctor flushed slightly, Jack sat back with a smile lingering on his lips, and Jackie turned.

"Mum." Rose started firmly. "I am fine. If I went to university, you wouldn't see me often, so quit worrying. And he brings me home, and I have a phone." She took it out of her pocket and waved it in her face. "You can ring me any time you like."

"Last time it was a year, an entire year I spent lookin' for you!" Jackie started, but Rose cut her off. Literally.

The combined emotion in the room was practically tangible, and as her mum continued, Rose felt herself get more and more annoyed. Finally, wondering why they had bothered to visit at all, she threw up her hand to tell her to be quiet, when something uncurled in her mind and unleashed itself through her palm.

Suddenly, everything stopped. The rain pelting the window was silent, like it had been turned off. Jackie was frozen in place, mid-word. Jack was as still, stuck in a moment. Shocked, Rose lowered her arm, trembling as she looked around. When she finally looked at the figure in the corner, her gaze locked with the Doctor's as he walked across the room, to take her arms. Rose felt slightly faint, and wildly awake, and closed her eyes, trying to resist the urge to faint.

"…It's alright Rose, it's OK. Listen to me, it's OK…" The Doctor was saying, and she clung to that as the world swung back into focus. She was curled in his arms now, her head on his chest, his arms around her waist, his mouth next to her ear. Still trembling, she tried to calm her breathing, and after a few minutes, she opened her eyes. Luckily, his body was sheltering the weird scene from view, so she licked her dry lips and asked instead.

"What happened?" her quiet voice cut into the near-silence, filled with his breathing, murmuring reassurances and twin heartbeats.

"It's alright." He repeated quietly, calmly. "You just stopped time."

"What?" she asked, shocked, pulling back to check his face, that he wasn't having her on. He wasn't.

"It's a Time Lord trick. I didn't realise you were this far on, or I wouldn't have brought you here." His face was worried as he explained. "The TARDIS has separate time to the rest of the universe, it still runs on Gallifreyan time, so it wouldn't be as dangerous."

"How, I stopped time?" she stuttered, relaxing slightly under his voice.

"Yes," he replied simply, before looking out the window. Rose couldn't stop herself, and looked with wide eyes at the raindrops frozen in time, just about to hit the window. "At least, around the flat, I think."

"How do I, stop it?" she said, pulling back. "I can't leave my mum like this!" The Doctor smiled reassuringly, and she looked back at him, after glancing over her mum, still standing next to them, mouth half-open.

"You were listening to her, right?" she nodded. "And it was a bit tense in here, I'll admit. I bet you wanted her to listen to you?" She nodded again. "You put your hand out, and up here," he tapped his head, "you felt it. Like you've suddenly realised how something works, or remembered something you thought you'd forgotten." Listening to him describe it, Rose realised that was exactly it.

"All you have to do is do it in reverse."

"How?" she asked worriedly, biting her lip. "I don't even know how I did it the first time! Why can't you do it?"

"I can't, you stopped time, you have to start it again," he replied gently. "Besides, you need to know how you did it so you can prevent it from happening again."

"OK." Rose replied, now feeling calmer.

"Wait," he held out his hand as she closed her eyes to concentrate. "I'd better get back, or they'll notice. People don't normally jump across rooms in split seconds, unless they're from Andrigious Six." With that, he walked back carefully, and repositioned himself against the wall. His gaze met hers across the room, and suddenly, his voice was at her ear.

I shouldn't really be doin' this at the moment, but I thought you might need some more help, and I don't feel like yelling across the room.

Confused, Rose opened her mouth, but the voice stopped her.

Ever heard of telepathy? Right, let's get on with this. She closed her eyes, and followed his instructions to quiet her mind and imagine an hourglass.

Reaching out mentally, she grasped the image and turned it, and suddenly, there was a rush of sound that hit her senses.

"…I spent looking for you!" Jackie continued, and paused. Had Rose really been stood there a second ago? Shaking it off, she tried to keep going, but she felt odd.

"And she turned up perfectly safe." The Doctor saved. Jack had a shrewd look on his face that looked as if he knew exactly what happened, and eyed Rose for a second.

"Do you have any cookies, Mrs Tyler? I'd love some, if you have any."

"Of course, Captain. Call me Jackie, everyone does." She replied with a smile, which he returned.

"Call me Jack, Captain sounds so official."

Jackie bustled off into the kitchen, and the Doctor crossed the room to Rose.

"Are you alright?" he muttered in an undertone, and she nodded. Moving across to Jack, she flopped down on the sofa, sighing.

"What happened?" the astute American asked quietly, after checking his watch.

"The change, it's getting worse." The Doctor replied quickly, before Jackie returned and he resumed his position in the corner as she handed him a plate of ginger biscuits. Shame, he liked ginger biscuits in this regeneration.

Not quite sure what he was going to do, he watched the three interact, and silently followed Jackie out the room as she went to find Jack some cake. The Time Agent was really in his element, and for once the Doctor was grateful. Hopefully Jackie might be more amenable in this state.

"Mrs Tyler?" he asked, standing in the doorway. The blonde woman tensed, and turned, folding her arms.

"What do you want?"

"Look," he said quietly. "I know you think I stole Rose off you, and OK, it's not fair. But can we just lay that aside for a second?"

"Alright…" Jackie replied doubtfully, and he inwardly sighed with relief.

"I'm going to leave for a few days, there's some things I want to sort out that Rose shouldn't see, so I'm going to leave her here, Jack too. I want you to talk to her, OK?"

"And why wouldn't I talk to my own daughter?" Jackie replied angrily. He shot her a serious look, and for a moment, her breath was taken away.

"I mean really talk to her."

"Are you coming back then?"

He looked away. "Yes. It's her decision if she wants to come with me when I come back. I'll give Jack some money, he can get a hotel-"

"No, I'm sure we can put him up here." It was weird, they were having an almost adult conversation. The Doctor glanced back into the living room where an amused Rose was showing Jack the TV. Jackie watched his expression suspiciously, and as he went to leave, she called out to him on a whim.

"Look after yourself. I don't want you breakin' her heart." The Doctor just looked at her for a moment, then left, closing the door quietly after him, his jacket once again over his damp shoulders.

Rose looked up as her mum came back in, bearing cake, and glanced around. Where was the Doctor? Feeling slightly panicked, she stood and crossed to the kitchen, ignoring her mum and Jack, both of whom were startled by her sudden behaviour. Frantically, she searched the whole flat, even barging into the bathroom without knocking (which could have been embarrassing). Eventually, she returned to the living room, looking lost.

"He's gone."