Chapter 15

The dognappers' ship was hot and cramped. The hallways were narrow and poorly lit, and between the heat and the constant shaking, Rose was feeling sick to her stomach.

"What are we looking for?" she asked softly as she kept a tight grip on the Doctor's sleeve. "I mean, other than dogs with no noses?"

"Transmat controls to send the dogs back. A way to disable the engines would be even better. Slow them down long enough for the Barcelonan authorities to catch up." He looked around again to get his bearings. "Their engineering bay should be right though here." He held the sonic screwdriver up to unlock the large metal door and slid it open slowly.

The room was only slightly more spacious than the hallway, though far better lit thanks to large overhead lamps hanging from the ceiling. Tools and wires were scattered everywhere, and Rose flinched when she accidentally knocked a spanner with her toe, causing a metallic scraping sound that could be heard even over the constant rattling of the ship. The Doctor's head whipped back towards her, and she made an apologetic face.

The Doctor must have seen what he needed, as he suddenly took off in a series of surprisingly light leaps across the room. Rose followed as quickly as she dared given the clutter. When she caught up to him, he was running the sonic screwdriver across a giant electrical panel. Satisfied with the readings, he yanked the second and fifth levers down, and the shaking finally ceased. Rose took a deep breath, already feeling better now that the ship had stilled.

Using the sonic, the Doctor opened the same panel that contained the levers and pulled a handful of wires, seemingly at random, and stuffed them in his pocket. "That should stop them for at least a couple hours. Hard to go anywhere when your engine's missing a power coupler. And I speak from personal experience."

Back in the hallway, they heard footsteps and darted inside the nearest door, which proved to be another tiny storage cupboard. They stood still as two statues pressed close together in the tight space until they were sure the threat had passed. Now that the ship had become so quiet, they could hear the door to the engine room slide open and shut again. Making their way carefully from the cupboard, the Doctor sealed the engine room door shut, locking the crew inside.

"There's two down."

"And only three more," Rose added.

"How do you know that?"

"The TARDIS scanned for lifesigns when we landed. Thirty-two in total, not counting us, and twenty-seven of those are dogs." When the Doctor looked duly impressed, she added, "You don't always need to waltz in blindly."

"It gets tiresome knowing everything," he replied glibly. "Right then, three of them, two of us—"

"And twenty-seven dogs," Rose added with a raised eyebrow and knowing look.

"I like the way you think, Rose Tyler. Distract them with the dogs, waltz on to the bridge," he grabbed Rose's hand and twirled her around, "and use the transmat to send dogs and dognappers alike back down to Barcelona."

Rose's arm jerked as he tugged her into a sprint down the hallway. "Do you know where we're going?" she panted. Even partly human, he seemed to have more energy than her.

"All jokes aside, those dogs do smell rather terrible. I'm following their scent."

"Just promise me you won't lick one."

The Doctor stopped abruptly in front of a door and looked at her curiously. "Why would I lick one?" Rose just shook her head as the Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out to open the door. "Release the hounds," he exclaimed as the door slid open. "I've always wanted to say that."

The dogs bolted out of the small holding cell and took off in all directions. The Doctor and Rose continued quietly towards the front of the ship, ready to hide at any sign of the dognappers. The pounding of boots on the metal floor gave them plenty of notice to slip into another cupboard just off the main hallway. The Doctor pulled Rose in after him and slid the door shut, keeping his other arm around her. Rose could feel him practically vibrating with energy.

Once the sound of footsteps faded, they poked their heads into the empty hallway before fully exiting the safety of the cupboard. Rose paused for a moment, finding a metal canister that was likely a fire extinguisher in the back corner of the cupboard. It had good heft but wasn't so heavy that Rose couldn't swing it easily, so she decided to take it with them. The found the ship's cockpit staffed by just one man. He looked human from what Rose could see, with short black hair, two arms, and a torso clad in a dirty black jacket. The Doctor entered the small space first whilst Rose stayed hidden in the hallway.

"Hello," the Doctor called brightly. "Just wondering where you keep your transmat controls. There didn't appear to be any in the engine room, so if there's any logic at all to the layout of your ship, they must be up here."

The man jumped up from his seat to face the Doctor. "Who are you?" he growled. "How did you get here?"

"I'm the Doctor." He edged his way towards the viewscreen so the man's back was to the door. "And this is my lovely girlfriend, Rose."

Rose nearly paused in shock mid-swing but managed to keep focused, hitting the man in the side of the head with the fire extinguisher. The final dognapper tumbled to the ground, unconscious, and Rose gave the Doctor a bewildered stare. "Girlfriend?"

"Is that the wrong term?" he asked innocently as he looked down at the display panel in search of transmat controls. "Humans always seem so preoccupied with these labels. Figured if I'm partly human now, I ought to learn the lingo. Aha!" Rose watched mutely as he started entering coordinates into the ship's computer and flipping switches rapidly. "Five dognappers are now safely ensconced in our former jail cell on the planet surface." When Rose still didn't comment, he looked back at her. "Rose?"

She shook her head to clear it a little. There was domestic and then there was domestic. "No, I s'pose that's right, it's just weird coming from you. Very weird. And you're alien," she said, sticking her tongue out at him. The Doctor bounded across the small cockpit in a single leap and pulled her tight against him, lowering his head to hers for what Rose considered a proper snog. She fisted one hand in the back of his blue suit jacket as the nails of her other hand raked through his hair. The Doctor finally let her go with a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Now let's bring Lassie home."

"What about the ship?" Rose asked, rather proud of herself for such rational thought at the moment.

"Oh, it's not going anywhere. The Barcelonans will be along soon enough to confiscate it."

They ran hand-in-hand back to the TARDIS and into the kitchen, where they pulled out a jar of peanut butter and a package of biscuits to lure the dogs inside. Once the TARDIS assured them all 27 dogs were on-board amid the chaos of barking and wagging tails, the Doctor hurriedly moved the ship back to the temple on the planet's surface. The doors to the TARDIS swung open automatically as the Doctor and Rose herded all of the dogs out to the sound of surprised exclamations from the Barcelonans outside. With all the dogs out of the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose hurried down the ramp to witness the joyous scene in the temple. The noseless dogs ran around happily, seemingly unaffected by their misadventure. The people ranged from smiling to crying to dancing around the edges of the room. A few more ran outside to spread the good news.

"Not bad for a day's work, Miss Tyler," the Doctor commented, giving her hand a squeeze.

"Kinda average, really," she deadpanned. Rose tensed when a woman in long red and orange robes rushed up to them. She wondered if she should have stayed inside the TARDIS after being declared persona non grata on Barcelona.

"Thank you! Thank you both so much," the woman gushed, taking Rose's free hand in hers. "How can we ever repay you for what you've done?"

"Really, it was nothing," Rose said hesitantly. She looked up at the Doctor. "This is what we do."

"You are the guardians of the dogs," the woman continued, unfazed. She gestured to someone behind her. "Please accept our gesture of gratitude." A man in an orange caftan approached them holding a squirming puppy reverently in his hands. The noseless puppy gave a high-pitched bark as the man passed him to Rose. She cuddled the puppy against her chest as she looked at the Doctor with pleading eyes.

"No pets," he declared, deliberately avoiding her gaze. "Your human ones were bad enough. Mickey, Jack, the one with the…" He made a circular gesture towards his forehead.

"Oh, we could call him Jack," she said, lifting the wiggling grey furry bundle up in front of her face.

The Doctor was trying his hardest not to give in. "We live on a ship, Rose. What would we do with a dog?"

Rose's face fell a little. "You're right. It wouldn't be safe for him." She hugged the puppy one more time before handing it back to the man in the orange robe. "But there is one thing you could do," she said to the woman.

"Simply name it," she said anxiously, wringing her hands in front of her.

"Get rid of my arrest record so I can come back to this planet to visit."

"Of course," she replied, clapping her hands. "We can overlook your infraction for the guardians of the dogs. But don't do it again," she said, suddenly turning serious.

Rose drew back a step at the sudden shift in attitude and only the Doctor's hand on her back kept her from bumping into the TARDIS. "And that's our cue," he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her back into the safety of the TARDIS. He wasted no time removing them from the dubious hospitality of Barcelona into the Time Vortex before taking a seat beside Rose.

"I'm sorry about the puppy," he said softly. It was always hard for him to deny Rose anything.

She leaned against him on the jumpseat and rested her head on his shoulder. "No, you were right. The life we lead isn't exactly pet-friendly."

"Maybe it will be, one day. We could get a house with a nice garden to park the TARDIS. And a dog. Although probably a dog with a nose, at least if the house is on Earth."

Rose sat up and turned to look him in the eye. "Who are you and what have you done with my Doctor?"

"Oi! I'm not saying next week. Call it a retirement plan. We've got a whole lot of travelling to do before then."

Rose smirked and settled back against him. "Yeah, I know. You don't do domestic. 'Cept I'm not so sure I believe you anymore."