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Chapter 28
Rose walked into the sitting room area of her room inside of the New York penthouse that belonged to her step-father Pete Tyler.
The entire area had several bedrooms that were large enough to have the extra space that held both a small living room space with a small kitchen. It rather gave it a feel of being independent, rather than living inside of an apartment with a group of bodyguards that she didn't know.
Learning to live within her new life had been hard, but Lewis had been amazing. Not only did he work as her lead bodyguard, she considered him a friend.
Her bedroom, living space, bathroom, and small kitchen were still larger than the apartment she had shared with her Mum back in the other Dimension.
This particular space had a fantastic view of the city.
"Fantastic." She repeated aloud.
That had been his favorite word. Just saying it had made the memory of the Doctor come back to flood her mind. She grew angry at the hurt she still felt towards him.
Her hair was still pulled up loosely on top of her head. Wearing only her black yoga clothes, she sat down on the floor in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. She crossed her legs and looked at the city as she made up her mind that she wanted to try to make contact with the presence she believed was trying to contact her calling herself Bad Wolf.
There was a nagging in her head as she sat in the dark room, looking out at the city that night that was full of lights and life.
A life that she knew she may be giving up if she willingly accepted the Bad Wolf's invitation.
What sort of life may that be?
Maybe she was already going mad.
"Better to just let this thing do what it needed to and get it over with." She thought to herself. Before she could fall for Danny anymore. She didn't want to hurt him. She didn't know what he had been through but knew he was still dealing with it. Maybe this would be the kinder thing to do. If she must connect with this thing and go mad because of it, so be it.
Her Mum was so involved in her new life that she was certain she wouldn't even miss her. She had a new baby to look forward to. Pete would probably love nothing more than to have this extra burden eliminated. Even Mickey probably wouldn't miss her. Torchwood kept him so busy anyway.
A lump grew in her throat, tears began to roll down her face. Making up her mind this was the right thing to do, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Her phone rang over on the bar on the other side of the room.
She groaned and stood up. Wiping her tears from her face, she walked over to answer the phone. She smiled when she saw it was her dear friend, Mickey.
"Hello, you!" She smiled.
"Are you alright?" He insisted.
"Of course-"
"You are the worst liar. What's the matter?"
She sighed. "I was just…in my head too much….and…"
"Yeah. Lewis said you had been depressed."
"Damn it." She complained quietly, but loud enough for Mickey to hear.
"Rose. This is hard. I'm sorry I haven't been able to be there with you."
She sat on the barstool and propped her head in her hand. "It's alright, Mickey. I know you are busy."
"But, I shouldn't be too busy for you. Rose. I need to go talk to Pete."
"No, don't-"
"No. I'm actually at work, and he's the boss."
She giggled. "Right."
"Nah, I have a bit more before I go in. So, tell me about the date!"
Rose giggled.
"Sounds like it went well."
"Yeah." She smiled. "We had a good time."
"Do you think you'll see him again then?"
She continued to smile. "Yeah, he's bringing over dessert later."
"Is that what you're calling it?" He teased.
"Shut up." She laughed.
"Nah, tell him I said 'hey'. Danny's a good guy."
"Yeah." She said dreamily.
"But, Rose. About this. You need me there with you. I'm going to talk to Pete about this. There are other teams he can send out. I mean, it's nearly Christmas. Are you planning on coming home?"
She sighed, "No. Mum and Pete want some time together."
"Well, you can't blame them."
"I'm her child, too!"
"But, you're also an adult. Or haven't you thought of that?"
Rose sat up straighter. Why hadn't she thought of that? "What?"
"Oh, honey. I'm sorry, but I need to run. I'll ring you later."
He ended the call before she could say anything. But he had left her plenty to think about. She set the phone down on the bar and walked back into her bedroom to put on a sweatshirt over her yoga clothes. The apartment was warm, but it had begun to snow again. The temperature had to be dropping below freezing outside. There seemed to be a draft throughout the small flat.
She made herself a cup of tea and sat down across the sofa. She pulled a blanket over herself and watched the beautiful flakes fall against the black night sky.
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Danny walked into Rose's flat quietly. He found it dark and silent. Thinking she must be sleeping, he slipped off his shoes as to not disturb her.
He had put on his New York Yankee's baseball cap which looked odd with his long, trenchcoat that he normally wore with his suit. He carried two paper bags that he quietly took to the bar of the kitchen.
Walking slowly in his socked feet, he took off his gloves and his hat and sat them gently on the bartop. Then he quietly removed his jacket and lay it on the back of the barstool.
"How-"
Danny nearly jumped out of his skin. "Oh, geez."
She walked over to him in the darkness. "How many things did you bring back?"
He held his chest, "No, that's not creepy at all. Some…swamp monster creeping out at the guy in the night."
She smiled and kissed him quickly. "How many scary movies have you watched?"
"Too many!" He insisted. "Can we turn on some lights?"
She giggled and sat down at the bar as the lights came on in the flat. She reached into one of the bags to pull out some of the desserts that he had brought.
"Did you get one of everything?" She asked.
"Two!" He smiled. "Two of everything."
He finished unloading the bags and sat them out of their way. "You seemed like you had a bigger problem than one slice was going to help. And, who knows? Some of this may be new to you."
She smiled at his comment and sat down on a barstool. She looked through the tops of the plastic containers. Everything looked amazing. "Sounds like you have some experience with stress eating."
"More than I can admit." He told her and sat the paper bags over out of the way. "I overdid it once with some Jell-o. Don't even let me see it."
She giggled.
"Do you know what they make that out of?"
"Do not tell me." She insisted.
He looked through the display of sweets. "So, chocolate? I have something you need to try." He looked around the boxes and spotted it. He picked it up and handed it to her. "Chocolate Cheesecake with chocolate filling and feelings."
"Feelings?"
"It's made by nuns upstate. I imagine there's more prayer in there than sugar."
She opened it, "Sounds like just what I need. Thanks."
He handed her a fork and then choose an apple pie that he warmed up first in the microwave. Rose had never had it warm before, and Danny was delighted to allow her to sample it off of his fork.
"That's lovely." She smiled.
"And even better with vanilla ice cream when it's warm. I'll teach you how us Yanks over here do it."
She smiled and continued to eat her cheesecake.
"So," He began. "I suppose this is as an odd of a place to do this as any, but…we need to talk."
"About what?"
"Me. And a big problem I have."
"With me?"
"Well, kindof. I mean…well-"
"Okay, new plan. You stop preparing me for what you're going to tell me and just tell me."
He stopped and thought. "Okay."
They continued to eat while he thought. Rose knew he had chickened out when he sat his container on the bar and leaned against the cabinet. "So, yoga. What else did you do?"
She sat down her cheesecake. "Oh, now don't even do that-"
"Do what-"
"You are changing the subject."
"There is no subject-"
"Yes, there is!"
"Hang on, is this an argument?"
"No! I'm just saying-"
"Sounds like one. I need to make some coffee. Do you want some?"
"What? No."
"Okay. Continue."
Rose stopped and watched as he walked over to the coffee maker and flip it on. He leaned against the cabinet and closed his eyes.
"Are you tired?" She asked.
He slowly nodded.
She slid off of her seat and walked over to him. Taking his hand, she stepped in front of him and wrapped her arms around his neck.
"I'm not going to fight with you, Danny." She whispered.
"Sure?" He asked. "It will just take a minute for it to heat up."
She laughed, "I'm sure. Do you know what I've been thinking about?"
He turned off the coffee maker and wrapped his arms around her. "What's that?"
"How I've been looking at this entire new situation in the wrong way."
He kissed the end of her nose, "Rose's New Life. Tell me all about it."
She smiled, "Well, I've been so caught up in what I lost that I haven't given it any thought of what I've gained."
"What's that?"
She felt him slide his hands to her bum.
"Well, there is this guy."
"Yeah?" He grinned. "What's he like?"
"Mysterious."
He nodded.
"Handsome."
He smiled.
"Oh, such a pain in the ass."
He laughed and then they met one another's eyes.
His deep voice said, "Sounds like someone I've met recently."
"Yeah?" She smiled.
"Oh, yes."
"Tell me about her."
He bit his lip and looked at her.
He admired the beautiful coloring of the iris and thought how much he would love to draw it. He noticed the corner of her smile just before his lips met hers.
His mind raced as much as his heart. Rose's skin-tight yoga clothing was so smooth as his hands slid down to her bum. He pressed her to him. He was certain she had felt his erection because she briefly stopped kissing him and smiled at him.
His hands cupped her cheeks and he began to gently kiss her. From how tightly she was holding the back of his sweater, he could tell this had thrilled her. She was beginning to pant already.
The phone that lay on the bar top began to ring.
Rose already had her hands in his hair as he sat her on the top of the cabinet. She wrapped her legs around him.
"Rosie. Phone." He managed.
She reached over and pressed the button on the side of it to make it stop ringing.
He smiled at her, "Let's go into the bedroom."
"You know where it is."
She playfully shouted when he picked
