Title: I Get By With A Little Help
Author: PrincessOfQuestionableMorals
Genre: Action/Adventure, Friendship, Romance
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Ten/Rose, Donna, Sarah-Jane, Jack, Torchwood, Martha, Sally Sparrow, the Master...?
Summary: The quintessential Rose-returns-pre-s4 story! Will Rose be reunited with the Doctor? Will she be able to save the world if the Doctor isn't there to help? Did I write this fic just to use the word "quintessential" in the summary? Read on to find out.
A/N: Feed the muse, my dears!

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Chapter Three: …From Torchwood

"Explain to me again why I'm doing this," said Donna, irritated, as she and Rose sat in the car of a train that was running towards Cardiff.

"It might be Jack before I knew Jack," explained Rose. "Which would make it very, very bad if I met him. End of the world bad."

"So, I'm supposed to do…what?" prompted Donna.

Rose straightened her shoulders. "Ask him why he's looking for the Doctor, and if he tells you he traveled with him, ask him if there were any companions with them. If there were, then however impossible it might be, there's no chance of creating a paradox."

"Right," said Donna doubtfully, and the rest of the ride was spent in silence.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Jack Harkness had gotten a phone call from Sarah-Jane Smith, he had been very surprised. He had been following her work, and had guessed that she might have traveled with the Doctor, but he didn't know that she knew about him. When he asked her, she chuckled and told him that she had made it her job to know everything about Torchwood after Canary Wharf, at which point her voice had grown serious and morose.

"I know you're looking for the Doctor, Captain," she had said. "I don't know why, but I know you are."

"He owes me a few explanations," Jack had replied.

Sarah-Jane had sighed. "Of course he does. I hope you have better luck finding him than I did. I didn't find him until he…" she trailed off, remembering. "Anyways, I have someone looking for him as well, and she wants to meet you."

Jack had frowned, forgetting that she couldn't see him. "What's her name?"

"Ro—" Sarah-Jane had seen Rose motion wildly at her not to mention her name, and smoothly switched tactics. "Donna Noble."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

When Donna entered the building that Torchwood was supposed to be in, she found a small room, filled with leaflets about different events, and a desk with a bell. She stepped up to the desk and hit the bell, which tinkled pitifully. She sighed, and leant against the desk to wait.

She didn't have to wait long. Within minutes, a man appeared in the doorway, clad in a suit and radiating politeness.

"Hello." She said, smiling. "My name is Donna Noble, and I'm looking for Jack Harkness."

A small smile lit his face, and he pushed a button under the desk. A door appeared in the wall, and she looked at him, startled, before walking warily through the door.

The sight that accosted her eyes was of a large room, filled with a strange glow that practically screamed "alien". Strangely enough, only four people, two men and two women, inhabited the room, and the two men were arguing rather loudly.

"Just because it doesn't look dangerous, Owen, doesn't mean it isn't!" roared one of the men in an American accent.

"It was just laying there, I didn't think it was going attack me," the other man (Owen, Donna assumed) defended himself.

One of the women, rolling her eyes, caught sight of Donna. "You know, if you two would stop arguing for a minute," she said in a thick Welsh accent, "you might notice that we have company."

"What?" asked the American. The woman nodded towards Donna.

"Donna Noble," Donna said, feeling foolish as she stood in the middle of the large cavern, with four—make that five, as the man who had greeted her came in—pairs of eyes staring at her curiously.

"It's my pleasure to welcome you to Torchwood, Miss Noble," the American man said, striding over and taking her hand. Almost positive that he was about to bow over it, she yanked her hand away, placing it on her hip.

"Do I look single?" she asked the ceiling.

"Does it matter?" replied the man.

"Jack, stop it," said the Welsh girl. She held out her hand to Donna, who took it. The woman had a strong grip that belied her small stature. "Gwen Cooper. Casanova over there is Jack Hark—"

"Jack Harkness, I know." Donna interrupted her. "I figured." She turned to the man in question. "I need to talk to you about the Doc—" She was cut off by Jack motioning wildly at her. "The doctor who operated on my leg." She finished lamely.

Gwen raised an eyebrow at Jack. "'The right kind of doctor?'" she quoted.

Jack winced. "Donna, come to my office."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"You know, this wasn't the first time I'd heard of you." Jack said conversationally.

"Really?" asked Donna.

"You've been popping up at almost one out of every four alien-related circumstances in London," Jack informed her. "Ever since 2006, Christmas, when you were going to get married but your fiancé was killed by an alien." He winked. "I've been reading up on you."

Donna rolled her eyes. "But," he continued, "what I don't know is why you're looking for the Doctor."

"Before I say anything…" Donna started carefully. "I need to know some things."

Jack leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head. "Go ahead."

"Did you travel with the Doctor?" asked Donna.

"Yes," said Jack, simply.

Donna bit her lip. "Did he have any other…companions?"

Jack smiled, eyes growing distant. "The most amazing girl. Saved my life and stole my heart—"

"Please, stop him," said Gwen, standing in the doorway. "I might have to hit him if he keeps on like that. Jack, Tosh says she might have found a possible intruder. A blonde woman is on the cameras in front, and she keeps looking at the building. Should we…?"

"I'll be right there," said Jack, taking a quiet note of Donna's stricken expression.

"What was her name?" asked Donna quickly.

"The girl?" asked Jack. "Her name was Rose." His face grew sad. "Her name was on the list of the dead from the Battle of Canary Wharf."

Relieved, Donna hugged him. "Yeah, we know that," she informed him. "Didn't stick. She's going to be thrilled." As an afterthought, she said, "She thought you were dead, too, you know."

"What?" asked Jack, confused at the ginger woman currently shooting her mouth off at about 200 mph.

"Come on, Captain!" said Donna, pulling him back through the Hub. "Paradoxes, bah."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

While Toshiko Sato was watching the security footage from the front of the Torchwood building, she witnessed a very unusual sight. The ginger woman (Donna Noble, if Tosh remembered correctly) was pulling a protesting Jack outside towards the restless blonde woman who had been pacing for the past hour and a half.

Then, suddenly, the blonde looked up and met Jack's eyes, and he stopped struggling altogether. The ginger smirked behind her hand as Jack and the blonde got closer and closer to each other.

When they were only two feet apart, they both stopped. The blonde lifted a hand slightly, as though to touch Jack's face, but halted, biting her lip. Then, Jack said something, and the blonde laughed unsurely, still staring at his face. He held out his arms, and she threw herself into them, hugging him hard.

"Weird," said Owen, watching over her shoulder.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

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