Jackie found Rose in the morning, barefoot and still in the pink dress she'd worn the night before. She was slumped on the floor next to her bed, her head fallen forward, her blonde hair covering her face. For one awful moment Jackie thought she was dead. That she had lost her forever. She must have cried out, because something stirred Rose into waking, and she lifted her head with a groan, as the pain in her neck jarred through her. It was only then that Jackie saw Roses face, her cheeks stained with streaks of black mascara, from long hours of tears.
"Rose!" Jackie dropped to the floor next to her daughter, and swept her tight into her arms. She rocked her gently, and Rose held on to her for dear life.
"I remember, Mum." She said in misery. "All of it."
"I know sweetheart." Jackie comforted softly. "I know... it's going to be alright." She pressed a firm kiss to her forehead. "I promise."
Rose sat at the kitchen table, feeling numb. A hot mug of tea had been put infront of her. The great British cure all. If that didn't work, nothing would, Jackie had said, then at once regretted it. The look on Roses face didn't flicker, and Jackie thought that she might not have heard her anyway.
"Rose." She said softly, pushing the mug a little closer. "Drink up, it's hot and sweet. Just what you need for shock."
Rose looked up, staring into Jackies concerned eyes. "I'm not in shock. I'm..." She looked at her hands, clenched tight in her lap and let the sentence remain unfinished.
"Do you want me to call Mickey?"
Rose looked at her again, frowning. "What for?"
For a second Jackie was stumped. "I... I dunno love. I just thought that you might..." She sighed. The room was filling with unfinished sentences.
Jackie had never found words so difficult to come by in all her life. She hated seeing Rose like this. She felt so... helpless. Like there was nothing she could do to make things right. Mothers were 'supposed' to be able to make things right... even without a magic wand. When Rose had been a child, and fell and grazed her knee, as all children do, Jackie would stick a plaster on it and kiss it better. She'd take her to the park, and let her feed the ducks, and soon enough the pain would go away, forgotten. She wished that it could be that easy again. She wished that there was something - anything, she could do to make it better. Then she realised - there was.
She took hold of Rose's hand and tugged."Come on, enough moping. It won't do you any good sitting there." She pulled at her hand again, glad that this time Rose stood up, moving with her as they walked through the flat.
"Mum..."
"You're having a bath, a nice long one with lots of bubbles." Jackie told her as they stopped outside the bathroom door.
"I just wanna..."
Jackie swung around to face her daughter with an expression of determination that took Roses breath away. "I said you're having a bath Rose - with bubbles!"
Wide eyed, Rose stared at her, and nodded. "Okay."
Jackie pushed her into the bathroom and closed the door. "Use that posh shampoo... the one that smells like the Amazon rainforest." Was her last instruction, before she retreated from the door, waiting, listening. She heard the noise of running water, and with it made her escape, into Roses room.
She shut the door. Better that way she thought, just in case. Then she turned to face the room. The silver key and chain was still lying on the floor by the bed. Jackie walked across and picked it up. She held it in her hand, turning it so that it caught the sunlight, and flashed brightly, she threw it back into the open bag. She looked at the bag for a second, before her hands opened it up wide, and rummaged through it's contents. It had to be there, she told herself, it just had to. She'd almost given up, when she found it, slipped inside it's own special pocket within the bag... of course. Her fingers closed over it, and she held it in her hand. It didn't look much, a bit cheap, a bit ordinary, but according to Roses diary... it was a 'Superphone'.
Rose walked to the livingroom, she was wearing trainers, jeans and a grey t-shirt. She'd left her hair loose, and put on just enough make up to convince her Mum that she was over the worst. She'd figured it out while she'd been soaking in a bath full of bubbles... it was no good pretending that she'd wake up and find out that this was all a bad dream. It wasn't. This was real. It was her life now. Whatever she had been part of before - that was the dream. And dreams were just... dreams.
For a second she stood in the doorway, just looking at her Mum. Jackie was staring out of the window, she hadn't even noticed Rose was there. Rose gave a small sigh. Life moves on, she thought. Jackie was probably watching the neighbours. The Powell Estate was better than the tv sometimes. Taking a breath, she walked into the room.
"What ya looking at?" She asked, not really caring. "Is it Samantha Jones again... has Trevor come back?"
Jackie tore herself away from the window and spun to face her daughter. Rose thought she looked like a little girl who had been caught stealing a sweet, that she had already been told she couldn't have. She looked... guilty. Rose frowned.
"What?" Jackie flustered, and glanced briefly back to the window. "No... it's nothing. I just wondered if... if it was raining."
Roses frown deepened. The sky was bright blue with barely a cloud in it. The sunlight was strong and warm. She looked back to Jackie.
"You thought it was raining?"
Jackie shrugged. "You know what the Summers like love, you can never tell."
Rose gave up. She picked up her denim jacket from the back of the sofa and pulled it on. "I'm off out then." She turned.
"No!"
She turned back. "What?"
"You can't go out... it might rain." Jackie said, then looked away, wishing she was better at this whole 'thinking on her feet' thing. Rose frowned deeper still. "What's the matter with you... what's going on?"
There was a knock at the door, and both mother and daughter looked at eachother, neither giving anything away.
Jackie held her breath as Rose went to open the door. She waited. The next second Rose was back in the livingroom. She was angry.
"You rang him!" She accused. "What did you ring him for?"
Jackie stood, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish as she tried to find the words to explain. Then she frowned, looking over Roses shoulder. Mickey was standing behind her, looking all t-shirt, trainers, and Jobseekers.
"Um..." It was the best Jackie could manage, and in the circumstances she thought it was pretty damn good.
Rose swung round to face Mickey. "I thought you understood... last night. I can't... " She shook, not wanting to hurt him. "You and me we're..."
"Over." Mickey said softly. He offered her a smile. "But you can't blame a bloke for trying."
"You know why I cant be with you." Rose said.
Mickey nodded. "But he's a million light years away Rose... and I'm not. I'm here. I always have been."
Rose hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked toward Mickey, letting him take her into his arms, letting him hold her tight. She rested her head against his shoudler and closed her eyes. She tried to push away the thoughts that crept into the dark, the face of the man she saw there, the feelings that were raw and wanting. She tried to leave them in the dark, where they belonged. But she couldn't... even now in a flat on the Powell Estate, in her Mums livingroom, in Mickeys arms... she could hear the roar of the TARDIS engines. The beat and throb and scream that she loved...
She opened her eyes, and pulled out of Mickeys arms. She staggered back. She could hear it! She could really hear it! She looked at her Mum, and saw that she was smiling.
"Mum?" A tear fell to her cheek. The sound of the TARDIS filling the air.
Jackie picked up Roses bag from behind the sofa, and threw it at her. Rose caught it, holding it close and tight. Still afraid to belive that what she was hearing was real. She turned to look at Mickey, and knew that it was.
His eyes were wild with disbelief as he stared at Rose. "You said he wasn't coming back."
Rose came to life. She ran past Mickey, out of the flat, following the sound that rang in her head and heart. She didn't know that her Mum and Mickey were chasing after her. She didn't care.
She stopped about six foot from it. An old, blue, wooden box, hidden in plain sight against a brick wall, next to a row of garages. The TARDIS. She heard the sound of her Mum and Mickey arrive behind her. She could hear how out of breath they were, and she couldn't help but smile. They didn't have the experience she had, in running. Life with the Doctor meant trainers were standard issue. Then she realised something, and turned to face her Mum.
"You knew." She said. "You knew he was coming. How did you know?"
Jackie smiled and took something out of her pocket, handing it to Rose. "It's a Mothers job to make things right."
Rose looked at what she held in her hand. It was her phone. She looked at her Mum, realising what she had done for her, understanding the choice she had made.
Jackie kissed her daughters cheek. Then she looked past Rose to the TARDIS. "You had better go. He's waiting for you."
Rose was almost too afraid to look, but she did. She turned around slowly, and looked into the grey blue eyes of the Doctor.
He smiled at her. His wide, wild, fantastic grin. He held out his hand and Rose took it. He drew her close and she breathed him in.
The Doctor looked at Jackie for a second. "Does this mean we're friends?" He asked.
"No." Jackie said firmly. "It's worse than that, we're... family."
"Fantastic." The Doctor grinned, but not for long, as Jackie moved forward and jabbed him with one finger.
"You hurt her, and I'll hunt you down Doctor, I mean it."
"I'm not going to hurt her." The Doctor said softly. "Not ever again."
Jackie believed him. If she hadn't she would never have let him turn and walk back into the TARDIS, still holding on tight to Roses hand. The wooden door closed, and Jackie and Mickey were left standing alone on the pavement, staring at the TARDIS, waiting for the inevitable.
Mickey looked at Jackie as if he didn't know her. "She came home." He said. "...and you send her back to him."
Jackie shook her head. "She never came home Mickey - not really. I don't think she ever will. Not now."
Mickey looked at the TARDIS, then back to Jackie. "You know what they're doing in there, don't you?"
"No - and I don't want to!"
"He'll have his tentacles all over her, that's what!"
Jackie swung around and hit Mickey across the head. "I said I didn't want to know!" Then she looked back to the TARDIS as it began it's song, and dematerialised infront of them.
They stood in the loudest of silences for a moment, then Jackie turned to Mickey. "Does he really have tentacles?"
Inside the TARDIS the Doctor was at the control console, busy pulling levers and flicking switches, his eyes intently looking at various screens, until the time came when Rose saw a look of calm satisfaction come into his face. Another departure sucsessfully completed. He turned to look at her then, and Rose saw the glimpse of another emotion slip easily into his eyes, but it was not there long enough for her to give it a name.
The Doctor stood straight and tall for a second by the console, then he smiled. Not a grin, but a soft warm gentle smile that made Roses heart stop beating for a second. "Welcome home Rose."
She took a series of slow cautious steps toward him. Her wide eyes never leaving his. "You said I'd never see you again."
"Yes." He agreed softly.
"Never."
"Yes."
"Not even for..."
"Yes."
Rose smiled up into his face. Loving him entirely. "So how come you came back?"
"I've learn't a lot of things in my 900 years." The Doctor answered slowly. "But do you know what's top of the list?"
Rose shook her head, lost in him. "No."
"Some things, are better with two."
She felt a stray tear fall, and sit heavy under her lashes as she gazed at him, and she saw a look of concern come swiftly into the Doctors eyes.
"Don't... don't do that." It was almost a plea.
She frowned a little, not understanding. "What?"
His hand moved to cup her face, his thumb gently stroking away the teardrop, then coming to rest at the rose flushed apple of her cheek. "Don't cry. Not ever."
Rose leant her face into the gentleness of his hand, her eyes fluttering closed for a second, as she memorised his touch, so that she might keep it with her always.
But it was too much. She was too fragile. She had lost him once and barely survived. If he was to break this touch now... she did not think she would survive the loss of him a second time. So to save her own life she closed the small distance that remained between them, her arms winding up and around the Doctors neck, as she buried her face in his shoulder, her body trembeling. The Doctors hands moved swiftly to hold her tightly to him, his fingers brushing under the edge of her t-shirt so that his cool hands came into contact with her skin. For a fraction of a second he hesitated, but then he let his hands pull her closer against him, and when Rose lifted her head and looked into his eyes, he moved to capture her lips in a sure and certain kiss, that could have broken a heart of stone.
Rose could feel the cool touch of the Doctor, as his hands gently carressed her skin. She pressed herself so close to him, feeling only sensation and need sweep through her body. Her mind shut down, and she became a creature of wanton desire, as she clung desparetly to her Doctor, and responded like for like to his own subtle movements and touches. Her lips parted under the gentle coaxing of the Doctors kiss, and her heart soared as his tounge moved to open her mouth and deepen the kiss into a darker realm of sensation. She could feel his hand sliding to the small of her back, just at the top of her jeans. For a second she wondered how such a simple touch could so easily ignite the burning desire within her, but then, as she felt his hands sweep up her body, across her ribcage, one hand cupping her breast, still confined in her bra, she no longer understood thought, and fell completely, willingly, entirely into the arms of passion.
She was unprepared for the sudden loss of him, as the Doctor pushed her from him, his face haunted and his eyes dark with hunger. He held her at arms length, just looking at her. They studied eachother in this charged silence. Rose felt her heart beat hard and fast in her chest, the blood run hot in her veins, and she understood that it was all because of the way he was looking at her. She'd never had anyone look at her in that way before, not ever. Especilly not the Doctor. It was dark and possessive. She could not look away from him, even if she had wanted to, and she didn't want to.
"Rose." He touched her face, and she stirred slightly from the spell of enchantment he held her in. "If I do this... if we do this... there's no going back. It will change everything." His thumb softly crossed her open lips, in a possesive stroke. "You'll be mine." His voice was rough with a desire he was fighting to control, even now, as he warned her what she was risking.
But Rose understood the dangers, the desires, the fire, and she wanted all of it. She wanted him. Her hand touched his face, and she felt his jaw clench tight. But she smiled, and drew his lips down to hers. "Yes." She wispered softly. "Yours. Always." Then felt his mouth take hers in a feirce and barely controled kiss, that she responded to with a passion she had not know existed within her, till the Doctors touch.
In the next second Rose was swept up into the Doctors arms, as he carried her through the corridors of the TARDIS, until they reached his room, where he stopped at the door, looking into her eyes. This was to be her last chance, the last time he knew that he would even be able to offer her a choice, so he spoke the words softly against her cheek.
"Rose... stop me now if you don't want me to do this, because once I do... it will be too late. If you think that I'll be able to stop... I wont. " His eyes turned to almost black as he looked at her. "... ever." Rose stared at his mouth, then lifted her eyes to his, watching the battle that raged there. She loved that he was so protective of her. That even lost in his desire as he was , he still fought to offer her a way out, if she wanted it. She didn't. She loved and wanted him. Craved him. She touched his cheek in a caress that drew a soft sigh from his lips, making her smile as she grew aware of her power over him.
"Make love to me." She wispered softly. "Please."
He lay her gently down onto his bed, and moved his body against hers, kissing her lips and swallowing her moans and soft crys of pleasure. His hands worked their way under her clothes and undressed her in ardent silence. His eyes studied her naked body as she lay beside him, vunerable and passionate, and longing for the return of his touch. He trailed feather light kisses from her mouth, down her throat, across her naked breast, and then at her side, he stilled. His attention fixed on the healed scar she bore from her last journey with him. The memory of that time washed through him and he steadied his breathing. He brushed a thumb across the scar, hearing Rose gasp, seeing her body rise up to meet the touch. He lowered his mouth to her flesh, and flicked his tounge across it, he heard Roses breath catch in her throat. His lips kissed her skin with soft slow attention, learning her, memorising each sound or movement she made in response to every kiss, touch, and taste of her. He closed his eyes and lost himself for a moment in the music of her.
Rose began to push at his clothes, desparate to know his skin, his body. "Doctor." She wispered his name into his returning kiss, as his hands swept up her torso, resting to cup a breast, long cool fingers moving across a rose pink nipple. He heard her drag a ragged breath into her lungs, and he closed his eyes again to savour the sound. His tounge darting at the flesh of her breast, he closed his lips around its aroused peak and oh so gently teased it between his teeth. He heard her gasp, and he slipped further into the darkness of wanting her.
"Doctor!" Again she cried out his name. "Please..." The need to touch him was destroying her.
Understanding, he moved from her, standing at the side of the bed to rid himself of his clothes, his eyes never leaving hers, as she devoured his flesh with her own watchfulness.
He took his place beside her again, his body slipping against hers, the sensation of skin against skin provoking an unstable and rising passion in both of them. Roses hands traced the Doctors body, as his mouth claimed hers once again, his kiss almost savage in it's intensity. But she met his passion with her own. If the Doctor had thought before that he would never be able to give her up, once he had tasted her sweetness, then now, with her body wrapped around his, the scent of her intoxicating him... he knew it as an absolute. He would never, never, give her up now.
His hand slipped delicately down the length of her arching body, one finger deftly slipping inside her, to move slowly in and out in a rhythm as old as time itself. He looked deep into Roses eyes, as she lifted her body to meet his hand, silently begging him to continue, to increase her desire. He moved a little, planting small kissed over her firming tender breasts, until he claimed one as his prize, and fed from it like a hungry child, at the same time slipping another finger into Rose, and continuing his exploration of her most secret skin.
Roses eyes flew wide open, her body alive in a way it had never been before. Nothing had prepared her for this, for his lovemaking, nothing ever could have, she understood that now. Gasps of breath were torn from her as the Doctor continued his stimulation of her with his mouth and fingers. She cried out his name, and sensing that she was ready for him, the Doctor moved as instinct took over Rose, and she opened her legs, letting him move closer still. Their bodies so close now, Rose didn't need words to understand how much the Doctor wanted her, it was becoming increasingly obvious. She kissed him, her hands smoothing over his shoulders, her fingernails digging into his flesh as she felt him move to a place of belonging within her. He entered her, not with a single, sudden, worthless movement, but with infinate patience - each moment pushing deeper, further, until her body had taken him entirely, until he was held firm and tight, encased within her. Her eyes widend as the slow deliberate sensation of his movements sent tremors through her skin.
He looked deep into her eyes, and Rose knew that he was prolonging this for her, so that she would enjoy every breath and pulse of their lovemaking. Slowly, as he still gazed into her, and they held eachother tight, he began to move, withdrawing slightly, then returning to the tight welcoming hold , the slow pattern of thrusts, deeper into her each time, sent Rose spinning. She closed her eyes and let the Doctors slow precise movements wash over her. She thought that he was following the sound of her heart, as with every beat, he moved again, and as her heart began to race, his speed increased. He felt her muscles contracting, tightening and pulsing around him, through him. Such small insignifigant movements, and yet they were driving him further into the dark than he had ever known. Never before had he understood the power of flesh and blood more than this moment with Rose, her body and his body moving together.
Almost at the same moment as she soared up into him crying out his name, he in turn crashed against her hot skin, lost in his release. Rose clung to him as his body shook through her, hearing the breath of agony and pleasure that tore from him, and knowing that in this one act he had claimed her, marked her as his. It was basic and passionate, and she regretted nothing. She was his now. Just as much as he was hers.
They lay together, tangled and breathless, and for the first time in either of their lives... complete. The Doctor moved, looking into her eyes.
"I love you Rose." He said softly, then kissed her lips slowly and deeply before resting his head at her shoulder. Rose, already drifting away into an exhausted sleep, smiled to herself. She knew now that if empires could fall, and worlds could end, and stars could die, then anything was possible, perhaps even... a Time Lord could find a Human heart and love it forever.
THE END