Author's Note: I'm sooooo sorry for the delay in doing updates. I unexpectedly changed jobs nearly two weeks ago, and that threw my entire schedule off. The bad part was that the new job wanted me to start immediately so desperately that they were willing to work around my schedule at the old job until I was able to give notice to my boss. So, for a week I was working two jobs. It was pure insanity here last week, but things are calming down now and I'll have more of a regular schedule from here on out.

Chapter Sixteen

"So what did you find out?"

Jen leaned casually against the console of the Tardis, her legs lazily crossed one over the other, and her arms folded over her chest. Jack stood opposite her, his arms folded on the railing, leaning comfortably against it. Rose had taken a seat on the small sofa, the Doctor seated beside her. Every once in a while he would shift uncomfortably, and Rose could see a slight glimmer of pain in his eyes. Sympathy coursed through her, and she gently reached over to smooth her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck soothingly.

The Doctor had managed a shower and cleaned up, but his ribs and shoulder still ached miserably. Still, he hadn't been up to dressing completely, and so had slipped into a comfortable pair of pajamas, a warm dressing gown belted around him.

"Things have gotten kind of… weird," Jack responded to Jen's question. "First of all, it's very difficult to find anyone in this city that's willing to talk about Rooney and his cronies. I had to do quite a bit of poking and prodding to find out anything."

"Just exactly what kind of poking and prodding?" Rose asked, a teasing brow lifting in his direction.

He shot her a silencing glare and continued. "What I found out was kind of surprising." He paused and glanced around. "Rooney is dead."

Jen's eyebrows disappeared behind her thick bangs. "Dead?" she asked, disbelief in her voice. "How?"

"From what I've been able to find out, Rooney wasn't the one behind all of this," Jack replied. "He was only the middle man. Apparently he failed to deliver as promised, and so he had to, ah, pay the price."

The Doctor looked puzzled. "He was supposed to deliver me? To who? And why?"

"That's the thing," Jack responded, thoughtfully. "You have never specifically been mentioned. All I keep hearing is something about an unlimited power source."

"So why take him, then?" Jen mused. "If he was looking for a power source then the Tardis would make more sense." She shrugged, confusion on her face. "But even the Tardis doesn't have unlimited energy."

"Do we have any idea who Rooney was supposed to deliver this power source to?" Rose asked.

Jack shook his head. "Not a clue. Only the goons closest to Rooney seem to know that, and I haven't been able to get in close enough to them to ask."

"Well then…" Jen replied, a slow grin spreading over her lips. "I suppose we know, then, what our next course of action should be."

"You're willing to help me try and infiltrate that group?" Jack replied, unable to resist returning her grin.

The Doctor's eyes flew up to Jen's. "You're not serious!" he exclaimed.

She shot him a slightly annoyed glance. "Of course I am," she replied, as if her answer should be obvious. "They know who you are, so you can't do it." A small, mischievous smile touched her lips. "And I don't suppose that Rose will be too willing to stray too far from you quite yet."

Slowly, the Doctor took a deep breath and blew it past his lips. "I don't like the idea of you putting yourself into something so dangerous," he replied, and then nodded in Jack's direction. "And I definitely don't like the idea of you doing so with him."

"Hey!" Jack retorted. "I won't get her killed."

"That wasn't what I was worried about," the Doctor snorted, and shot Jack a pointed glare.

Jack considered it and looked Jen over. "She looks like a consenting adult to me," he observed, smirking.

Rose could have sworn that the Doctor would have killed Jack on the spot if she hadn't rested a well-placed restraining hand on his bad shoulder.

The Doctor cried out in pain and turned to glare at Rose. "At least let me punch him," he said to her, indignant that his fatherly duties had been interrupted.

Through the entire exchange, Jen studied her father with frank curiosity. "Since when are you the protective father?" she asked quietly, concern mixed with the curiosity in her eyes.

The question seemed to startle the Doctor, and he shifted his gaze up at her once again. When had he become so protective of her? While no one had ever been able to question that he truly loved each of his children, he had never been an overly protective parent, particularly when his children reached adulthood. He had always maintained that by that time they should be able to make their own decisions, and supported them whatever they decided. It wasn't like him to protest a decision that any of them made.

Of course, they had been separated for decades. Until hours before, he had thought that his youngest child had perished at the Fall of Arcadia with the rest of their family. And if she went on this particular quest with Jack, there was a very real possibility that she wouldn't come out of it alive.

The thought terrified him.

"I suppose since I just got you back," he replied, softly. "And I don't want to lose you again."

Understanding dawned in Jen's eyes. "You won't," she assured him, smiling. "The worst that could happen is that they'll shoot me and I'll regenerate," she pointed out with a wink.

"And I can't die," Jack added, "so we're the most likely candidate." He flashed Jen a dashing grin. "So, you up for doing a little snooping and schmoozing with me in the morning?"

Jen chuckled and smiled back at him. "I wouldn't miss it."

It felt strange after all this time to be heading into her own cozy bedroom on the Tardis. Strange, yet comfortingly familiar. For several moments, Rose could only stand in the doorway and stare into the room. It was exactly as she'd left it, clothes strewn about the dresser and all. She smiled, leaning against the doorway. Had he missed her so much that he hadn't been able to bring himself to clean up the room?

"Ah, Rose?" the Doctor's voice interrupted her thoughts. She turned and found him hesitating in his own doorway, a look of uncertainty on his face. "I was just going to tell you that… Well… that is… If you'd rather sleep in here… You… can."

She nearly laughed out loud at the heated flush in his cheeks. "Do you want me to?" she asked.

He glanced briefly to the side, the redness climbing higher in his cheeks. "Well… yeah," he replied. "But if you don't want to, I'd understand…"

"Oh, no I want to," she replied quickly, and then blushed herself when she realized how that sounded. Anxiously, she fiddled with the thumbnail on her left hand. "But I wasn't sure if you'd want me to…"

"Oh, I do!" he replied, just as quickly as she had. His face was completely aflame when a sudden thought occurred to him. He silently swallowed, and then looked at her with wide eyes. "Wait, you know that I didn't mean…" he began, quickly. "I couldn't! I mean, the ribs and all…" He trailed off, appearing more uncomfortable than Rose had ever seen him.

Chuckling, she slipped her arms gently around his waist. "Is that the only reason why?" Rose asked, a touch of coyness in her tone.

He couldn't remember blushing this hard since he was a schoolboy. Still, he grinned at her, his expression filled with a mixture of shyness, curiosity, and a touch of desire. "Well… ahhh…" he hedged. He cleared his throat. "I don't think I'd mind… the other," he admitted, shyly. "I just… Um…" He paused and sighed. "I'll just say that it's been a very long time since… the other," he admitted.

She chuckled and leaned up to brush her lips over his. "For tonight, just sleep. The other will come… when it's time."

Grinning foolishly, he took her by the hand and led her into his room to settle down for the night. For once, the Doctor felt like he had all the time in the universe with his Rose.