F/O: Apologies about the wait, and I'm afraid it's going to be the same again this time people. I'm afraid RL has finally got me by the teeth, after trying for several months. All fics are on semi-hiatus as my internet and fic time is to be drastically cut to a few hours on weekends. I'm sorry about this and hope you'll forgive me, but my life just can't continue the way it is.
Because it's been ages… :(
End of Chapter 9:
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."
End of Chapter 10:
And with that, he walked across the well-mown lawn and into the TARDIS. A few minutes later, the familiar police box disappeared, leaving Doris' crumpled roses his only memento. The Brigadier sighed, shook his head, and returned inside to spend some time thinking about life, the universe, and the Doctor.
Chapter 11.
The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, locking the door behind him and jamming his hands deep into his pockets with a shiver. He turned and glanced around the familiar grey estate, frowning as he spotted a figure running flat out towards him.
"I thought I heard the engines," Mickey started, panting. "I've been listenin' out for them for days."
"Yeah?" the Doctor replied shortly, leaning back against the police box doors as Mickey got back his breath.
"Yeah. You see Rose, she was swearin' you'd be back, so I thought I'd look out for you to keep her mind at rest. Flyboy's out lookin' for you near the centre of town – somethin' about lateral time-space somethin's."
'Multi-lateral time-space reco-ordinates, he must mean,' the Doctor mused. In early time machines and ships, it was a mechanism that stopped you from landing in the same place twice, due to time distortion. Ha, Jack knew nothing about the TARDIS if he thought that applied to him.
While he was thinking and acclimatising to the cool air, Mickey dug his phone out of a pocket and hit speed dial.
"Yeah, he's back. Bucknall Street, yeah. We'll go back to the flat – you ring ahead. Meet you on the way. OK." He rang off, and half-glared at the Doctor's confused frown. Inwardly taken aback, he reluctantly followed Mickey as he pondered. However he had expected Rose and Jack to react to his timely disappearance, he had never expected them to be this, well, organised.
Whilst all too familiar with planet Earth in most time periods, it was unsurprising that the Doctor had to carefully follow Mickey as they walked, whilst looking outwardly as if he was leading. It was a pride thing – Time Lords did not work well as servants.
They met Jack just as the Doctor was getting his bearings, and he was slightly startled to see a glare on the Time Agent's features, and that he seemed to be restraining himself from punching the older man. He was rather grateful for that – he hardly wanted physical abuse to be customary every time he visited Rose's home.
"Doctor, Mickey." Jack greeted, falling into step beside the Doctor. He was suddenly stricken by the unnerving thought that he was being frog-marched to the flat, and, for the first time he allowed himself to truly worry about her, consciously stopping his footsteps from speeding up. What if she had got worse? What if she was ill, or hurt? Jack wouldn't know to try and phone him in the TARDIS if something happened to her. Maybe they'd tried that while he'd been with the Brigadier. Heavy guilt uncurled in his stomach.
At the apartment, Jackie opened the door, and looking him up and down scathingly, before letting him in, albeit grudgingly. The unnatural silence from the Tyler matriarch worried him further, and he approached Rose's room with trepidation.
As he stood in the doorway, he was momentarily relieved to see her awake, and pretty much as he had left her. Then he realised that she was sat curled up on her bed, her head bowed and her hand open as she stroked her TARDIS key with her thumb.
"I could tell you were comin'." She said quietly. She didn't look up.
He swallowed, and searched desperately for something to say.
"Rose,"
"I told them you'd be back." Rose carried on, as if she hadn't heard him. Maybe she hadn't.
He was at a loss. The only species in the universe that could bring this out in him. The only woman ever to make him feel like this.
"I knew you wouldn't leave me. But you did."
"Oh Rose," he breathed, and saw her eyes close tightly. Rose swallowed.
"Jack organised the 'search party'. Said he was gonna kill you for leavin' him in a backwater time while you swanned off." She laughed, and he could hear the catch in her voice. "Knew it was just because he didn't want me worryin'."
Leaning back against the doorframe, he glanced at the ceiling as if he could find divine guidance.
"I talked to my mum. She was glad at first – now I think she wants to tear your guts out with a spoon."
It was the tone of voice that got to him. Casual, almost calm – conversational – with an undertone that throbbed through him.
"Mickey wanted to torture you a bit first – he figured anythin' else would be too easy. I told him he'd have to get in line at this rate."
Moving slowly, unsurely, he crept away from the doorframe and towards the bed, one thought running through his mind. Guilt. Pain. Self-hatred.
"I thought you'd gone forever." She whispered brokenly, still not looking up.
"Never." He returned fiercely, climbing onto the bed and touching her shoulder. Despite her earlier words, she leant into the touch, and he slowly put his arms around her, resting his chin on her shoulder as she crawled into his embrace. Anger could come later, and he knew it would. Tyler's didn't take things lying down, he knew. For now though, he held the most precious person in his life close to him. Her broken sobs running through her body and into his, he felt his heart crack, and his own tears fall.
"I am so, so sorry." He whispered in her ear, his voice thick. "So sorry."
They stayed there like that for a long while, barely moving, until both their tears had dried. Then, summoning up his confidence, he took Rose's hand and led her out to face his other companion.
Jack, though privately happy to see Rose better than she had been in days, forced himself to show only hostility to the Doctor. Time Lord or no, he had to know that hurting him, or Rose, was going to have consequences. His heart tugged at the Doctor's vulnerable expression however, and he wondered briefly if he was being too harsh.
'No, he hurt us,' Jack told himself firmly.
"Jack," the Doctor started, still holding Rose's hand. "I'm really sorry."
"Good for you," Jack replied coolly, forcing out the words. "I'm really annoyed."
"I know," he replied evenly, though his eyes betrayed him. "You have every reason to be, both of you. I just, I have no excuse."
Jack's eyebrow rose. "Well, that's novel. Usually when I'm betrayed they at least try to think of one."
The Doctor's eyes flashed with self-righteous anger for a split second, and Jack felt his hostility crumble.
"I'm not perfect, Jack. I make mistakes all the time."
"Didn't say you were," Jack replied in the same even tone, glancing over at Rose's pale face. She was watching the two verbally spar, knowing they had to get it out of their systems. "Why did you go?"
The Doctor's eyes thanked him for letting him have a chance to explain.
"I, I had to talk to someone. I didn't want you two to-"
"You didn't want us there?" Jack interrupted, hurt and anger lacing his voice.
"No, yes, I don't know!" the Doctor replied, throwing his hands in the air and walking away so that his back was to them.
"Oh no you don't," Jack muttered, grasping his arm and swinging him round. "We're gonna have this out right now."
"All right!" the Doctor exploded, anger and hurt breaking out in his expression. "I didn't take you because I didn't want to hurt Rose – I didn't want her to know that I resent her bein' like me 'cause it reminds me of what I haven't got! Because it scares the hell out of me, because I don't want her to do this to herself because of me! Because, for once, I had to think of myself!"
He was panting by the end, before he span around again, not wanting to see their faces. Their expressions.
He flinched as a hand landed on his shoulder, and he realised he was shaking slightly, angry tears pricking his eyes.
"I'm sorry." He heard Jack say, and then another, smaller hand took his and squeezed. He looked across at Rose, and smiled weakly.
"Me too," he replied hoarsely.
"You could've explained," Rose said evenly, resting her head on his arm. "We would've understood."
"I didn't want to hurt you – make you think I don't trust you or anything." He replied quietly.
"Yeah well, sometimes you need to talk to someone who knows how it feels." She replied wisely. "And besides," she continued with a grin, "you've learnt your lesson now."
He grinned back, dashing away the teardrops. "Yup. Clear my every moments through you."
"You don't have to tell us when you go to the toilet or anything though," Jack drawled with a grin. Rose punched his arm as a reply.
"Back to the TARDIS?" Rose said eventually, still holding his hand.
"You sure?" the Doctor asked seriously, and she nodded.
"Yep."
"OK, let's go." He replied with a grin.
Minutes later, Rose was bidding farewell to her mum, who, surprisingly, was taking it well. The pair hugged tightly for a moment, Jackie sniffing, and reminding her to ring every day and to visit often. They were even more surprised when, after shaking hands with Jack, Jackie extended her hand to the Doctor, who shook it carefully.
"Look after her, or you'll have more than a slap," she warned, and he nodded.
"With my life."
"Come on," Rose said, taking his hand with a grin. "Let's go home."