A/N: Did...did...I just see two alerts in my inbox? I think I did! Hurry up and work you dumb thing! Maybe I just hallucinated...No, there they are. Two update alerts for the 1st January! Woo!

Onto other things, this isn't the last chapter - and I can't actually guarantee the next one will be either. So, like I said - can't follow a writing plan to save my life. There used to be one for this, y'know. Coz I had to keep track of Rose's pregnancy and how far she was along each chapter. I never finished it past chapter twenty-two, which later became chapter twenty-seven.

Screw plans. I changed my test story once from the plan I had originally written on the starter sheet. Teacher didn't care, really. Though I gret a feeling I'm gonna have to start learning to follow plans through GCSE's...

Err anyway. Plot filling and cheap gag chapter because I'm now back at bloomin' school and I'm tired... (Sob)

For anyone who's been going by alerts - you might want to backtrack quite a few chapters.

Chapter 32 – TLC, TCP and the TARDIS

"Bad Wolf?" Rose asked, the fear plain in her voice as she handed the cup of tea to the Doctor in his bedroom ten minutes later. "But…that's…it's impossible."

"Maybe I misheard or something…" the Doctor said, leaning back into Rose as she gently began to peel off his shirt from the wound he had sustained, and took a sip of sweetened tea. "Those words are easily confused. Probably just a coincidence."

"Yeah, like all the other times?" Rose suddenly said, her voice high and worried. "They turned out to be coincidences and all!"

"Rose, it won't be like last time, I promise."

Rose paused in her nurse act, hugging him from behind and resting her head on his shoulder.

"…I don't want you to die again."

He turned and gave her a small reassuring grin, resting his hand on her arm hugging around his chest.

"Are my new looks just too dazzling for you?" he teased, and she pushed him playfully with a giggle, though didn't deny what he had said.

"Just…don't go dying on me," she said in a voice that seemed to have some forced humour in it.

"Yes ma'am." The Doctor saluted, kissing her on the cheek happily, which she returned with equally as much enthusiasm, before letting go of him and returning to her work.

He winced as she peeled off his ripped and blooded shirt, revealing some long scratches along the left of his back. He flinched as she slowly began to dab at the wound with a tissue drenched in TCP Liquid, occasionally letting out moans of pain as she worked.

"Things I hate; Daleks, Cybermen, and TCP Liquid."

"Oh don't be a wimp!" Rose mockingly hit him, and he cried out again.

"The pain!" he declared in a dramatic voice. "I'm wounded and all you can give me is a smack and a mouth full of abuse. Ow!" he cried as Rose pressed onto his injury harder.

"What about the Darkeese?" she suddenly asked, tending to him a little more gently. "We can't keep on runnin' from them for the rest of our lives. Or will they just run out of Darkeese to send after us? Forget the job? Give the payer a refund and recommend the Mafia a light-year or so down the road?"

The Doctor half-smiled, but shook his head negatively. "The Darkeese were mass produced for work before I was even born – they're not beings, they're stationary for a big money grabbing corporation. Like, as you said – Mafia Hitman, paid to do a job they can't back out of without their own existence being under threat. They're all sustained by one machine – the same one that created them."

"So…pull one plug and every Darkeese in the Universe will terminate?"

"Yeah, basically. Sure, they call 'em a race; even dare to call the Darkeese a species. But they're not. They're nothing but the shipment of pens that arrives at the office in the morning, and anything not used gets put into storage ready for another day when they need 'em. Make a Darkeese, stick in an attitude and you have a perfect assassinator. A figment of someone's imagination brought to artificial life."

"Like a hard-light hologram," Rose beamed, pleased with herself.

"Yeah, in all respect. When I used the sonic, I just cut off the signal from the machine – and the hologram fell to pieces."

"Makes sense," Rose said with a shrug. "Do you need stitches on this?"

"Nah, just stick some protection on it and it'll be fine. But the point is…" he started again as Rose ripped open the endless packets of medical supplies. "As soon as we've got the stuff for Rory, I'll go to the Darkeese HQ and try and find this person Rose, I promise I'll get rid of them. I'm not letting you two get hurt," he reassured as she wrapped the bandage around his chest and gash.

"No, you won't go to the Darkeese HQ after Rory's stuff," Rose suddenly interrupted, continuing her nurse act. "As soon as we've got the stuff for Rory you're gonna take me to that relaxing planet you promised, rest and get better there, and then you can go try and kill yourself again," she said determinedly as she pinned the bandage securely around his chest. "Now don't move while I go get ya a clean pyjama top."

"Yes ma'am," the Doctor mock saluted again, putting his cup of tea back on the bedside table and falling back onto the bed as Rose disappeared out the doorway to the TARDIS wardrobe. He lay there for a moment, staring at the ceiling absorbed in thought whilst he waited. He seriously had no idea what to do if the trip to the Darkeese HQ failed – and even if he did manage to track down this 'Bad Wolf' person, what would he say? 'Hi there, can you stop trying to take my kid'?

Plus, he'd never admit it to Rose, but he was worried. If the Bad Wolf was about, that could only mean Rose would absorb the Time Vortex again and become the Bad Wolf. But if the Bad Wolf was trying to take Rory, would it have a good reason? Maybe it was trying to protect him?

What if the Doctor let it take Rory?

It just didn't bear thinking about. The Bad Wolf was, in all intention, a force for good. Maybe Rory was in danger and the Doctor just didn't know it? The Doctor didn't think he could live with the guilt of knowing Rory could have been saved if he'd trusted the Bad Wolf.

As well as that, could Rory regenerate?

He was old enough to be able to regenerate now – the only reason Eva hadn't was because she wasn't even detached from her mother when she had died. But it wasn't healthy for a baby Time Lord to regenerate. So many complications came from it, which could be a major trauma to a small child – especially one half-human.

Maybe he shouldn't have told Rose. She'd already had enough nightmares about it to last a lifetime – during the first few weeks with his new body he'd had to comfort her night after night as she woke up screaming his name, absolutely terrified. He didn't want her to have to go through that again. He didn't want to go through it again. Having to comfort the person you love as they cry out your name, threatened by a force you can't even protect them from – it hurts.

"I'm back!" Rose's voice suddenly cut through his thought trail, and the Doctor sat back up on the bed again, hiding his obvious worry with a broad smile. "Arm out," she instructed, and he lifted his left arm up for her to slide his pyjama shirt up.

"Wow, so professional!" he beamed as she slipped both his arms into the material and started buttoning up the front. "Almost like you've done it before!"

Rose suddenly stopped tending to him, turning a nice shade of pink, but kept her mouth shut as she got back her focus and finished doing up the buttons.

He stared at her. "…What?"

She didn't answer again, almost looking like she was trying to hold back a snigger as she pulled him onto his feet and pulled back the bed cover.

"Roooose!" he moaned, and she just put her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him down into sitting position on the mattress. "Whaaat?"

"Did you ever wonder…" she started, pushing him down to lay in the bed. "How you magically changed from wearin' your old self's stuff into pyjamas on Christmas Eve?"

"…Oh."

"Don't worry," she added with a grin as she pulled up the cover around him, sitting on the bed on his right. "Mum did the obvious bit."

The Doctor paled as he just gawped at her in horror. "Your…mum…has…seen…my-"

"Yep," she cut over the top of him, reaching for the light switch by the head of the bed.

"Suddenly it all becomes clear…" he muttered, staring up at the ceiling.

All those little smiles she'd given him post his regeneration. All those small gestures of friendliness, like making him a cup of tea or giving him some spare money when he had taken Rose out in the New Year. The way she had looked at him and said, "hmm, not bad, not bad…"

"URGH!!!!"

"Rest up!" Rose grinned, flicking off the light and getting off of his bed, starting towards the door.

"Who are you - Nurse Rose?"

"Yep!" She smiled back, leaning in the doorway with her hand resting on the doorknob. "And as Nurse Rose I recommend plenty of bed rest, fluids and of course, the maximum amount of Tender Loving Care."

"Mmm, that'd be nice…" the Doctor said tiredly as he turned over to a more comfortable position.

"I'll be back in ten minutes to check on you – don't you even dare think about trying to get up and tweak the TARDIS."

"Wouldn't dream of it," he murmured, closing his eyes as the door clicked shut.