Chapter 3:
Owen allows his arm to snake around Gwen's waist. He feels her tremble against him.
"Its horrible," she says softly.
He nods. "I think I saw a Weevil. I mean who wants to do it with a Weevil?"
She gives him a filthy look.
"I know it's horrible. But if we let it get to us we won't get the job done will we?" he says giving her side a squeeze.
She leans against him gratefully. "You do have a point. I wonder what Jack is doing?"
Owen snorts. "Jack is probably buying himself a slave girl. Ruled by his…"
She digs an elbow in his ribs. "Jack wouldn't."
"Oh he would. And you know it." Owen steers her past a feline looking alien, before stopping her beside a wall where they can survey the scene. "Honestly I have no idea what we're doing."
Gwen raises her eyebrows at him. "Should we call the others?"
Owen shakes his head, leans in and kisses her.
"Do you trust him?"
Tosh looks up from her laptop. "What?"
"The Doctor." Ianto is unable to hide the faint trace of jealousy in his voice. "Do you trust him?"
Toshiko thinks for a moment. "Yes I guess I do."
"Why?"
"Because Jack does."
His cheek twitches. "We should report him you know."
"Will you?"
Ianto's eyes slip away from hers and he does not answer.
"Will you?" she demands again, voice sharper.
"No," he mutters sighing. "They would never forgive me."
"Jack would kill you."
"Yeah," Ianto sighs, knowing the full truth of the words.
Tosh returns her gaze to her laptop for a few more minutes. "Hang on…"
"What?" Ianto looks up sharply at her tone.
"I think we have a problem."
She never expected her knees to be knocking together like they are. Long forgotten words of advice from Captain Jack Harkness come flitting into her mind. Everything has eyes, he'd said, eyes and reproductive organs – although he hadn't used those words – and you hit them there. She keeps her back to the door and her eyes on her dress that is thrown over a chair. She fully intends to hurt them. Hurt them so badly that they know not to mess with Rose Tyler again. She is ready. But not ready for that. How on earth could she be?
"R…R…Rose?"
She takes a deep breath, she's imagining it. It isn't real. Then his hands hesitantly touch her shoulders. Gentle, familiar. She turns and stares into his eyes. She cannot make her mouth form words.
His fingertips tremble against her bare shoulders. "Rose? How? You?" He stares at her wide-eyed in shock. "Oh Rose!" He scoops her up into his arms, off the floor in a crushing hug, his face buried somewhere in her hair.
She feels tears spilling down her cheeks. The Doctor is here. Everything will be alright. He sets her lightly down on the floor.
"What are you doing here?" they say simultaneously.
"Jack picked up a signal," the Doctor says his hands against her arms.
"Jack?" Rose stares at him. "But he's…dead? Isn't he?"
"Long story. He's outside somewhere." His hands brush up and down her arms lightly. "Please tell me you didn't…haven't…" He can't bring himself to ask and his eyes stray to the bed.
She shakes her head. "No. You're the first."
He throws her a grin, then realises that his hands are resting on her shoulders, only a few centimetres above her bra. He pulls his hands back blushing. "Umm…I…" he scratches his head awkwardly. But she notices a strange almost lustful look come into his eyes as they flit back to the bed.
"Doctor?" she asks hesitantly.
He shakes his head as though to clear it. "Put your dress on."
"Okay," she says reaching for it. "It won't help though, its not exactly covering."
The Doctor is looking at the door. "I can't take you back out there yet. I've paid for you for a while longer yet." His eyes trail back to the bed. "I'm supposed to be…ravishing…you…making…love…"
Rose frowns at him. "Doctor? What's wrong with you?"
He drags his eyes back to her, but only as far as her cleavage. "They put stuff in the air to drive up the libido…Oh it won't work on slaves, stress levels are too high. I thought it wasn't working on me when Jack…"
"When Jack what?"
The jealous note which has crept into her voice makes him haul his gaze to her face. "He sort of kissed me." He pushes her hair off her face tenderly. "Oh Rose I missed you. Come here." He draws her into another hug.
She leans her face against him and inhales his scent. "You wore his jacket."
He just nods, a lump in his throat as he looks down at the top of her head. Rose's eyes are closed and she has her nose pressed into the leather smelling the man she lost a long time ago.
"That had better be the sonic screwdriver in your pocket," she says a minute later looking up at him.
The red flush that creeps up his face as he steps away is enough to tell her it isn't.
"I'm sorry," he mutters embarrassed.
She smiles at him, then her face falls. "Oh no!"
"What?"
"Mickey and Wolf will be so worried about me!"
"Mickey? Mickey the idiot? Oh yes trust him to get you into this mess!" There is a weighted pause. "Who's Wolf?"
"He's not the big bad wolf. And he's not an idiot! We're going to start a revolution…well they are."
"Just what I'm here to do." There is a harder edge to his voice now. He reaches inside his jacket pocket and pulls out his earpiece. He hooks it into his ear. "Jack?" There is a pause while Jack is replying. "Yeah, room 214...Quickly Jack!"
He pulls the earpiece off and tucks it back into his pocket, grinning at her.
"Any reason you've just enticed Jack to run in here and pull a gun on us?"
"What's life without a little drama?" he shrugs.
The door bangs open that moment where Jack has kicked it. "Doctor? What's wrong?" His words die on his lips and his eyes go wide. His face drains of blood. "Rosie?"
"Hey Jack."
"You can't be," he is staring at her. "This is a trick."
She shakes her head. "Nope."
Jack crosses the room in a few long strides, grabs hold of her and kisses her deeply. He keeps his lips pressed tightly to hers for a long time. Finally he pulls back, stares at her in childlike wonderment, stroking her hair with one hand. "Rose…Rose. I don't believe it. What are you doing here?"
Rose's lip is trembling and the tears are threatening to spill again as she looks up at him. "I missed you Jack."
He pulls her into a crushing hug. "I missed you too Rose." He rubs his hand up and down her back. He has already taken in her attire. "Please tell me you haven't had to…" He swallows.
She shakes her head against his chest, her arms wrapped tight around his back. "No."
"Good." Jack breathes a sigh of relief. He looks to the Doctor. "Now what?"
"You call Martha. And Owen and Gwen. And we start our revolution."
Jack gently releases Rose who is looking confused.
"Who is Martha? And Owen and Gwen? Travelling with a crowd now Doctor?"
He can see the hurt look in her eyes.
"Owen and Gwen are members of my team," Jack says pulling out his earpiece.
"Team?"
Jack has the grace to look a little shamed. "I work for Torchwood."
Rose gives him a small smile. "So do I. They call me Scully."
"They just call me sir," Jack's grin gets wider as he hooks his earpiece in. "Calling my pretty ladies," he drawls happiness evident in his voice.
A minute later, Martha appears through the door, shutting it behind her. "Jack?" She eyes Rose warily. "We're buying slave girls now?" she asks confused.
Jack feels Rose bristle from her place between himself and the Doctor. "Slave girl?"
The Doctor smiles. "Martha, this is Rose Tyler."
Martha gapes at him. "Rose? Did you say Rose Tyler? The Rose Tyler? Your Rose?"
Rose smiles as the Doctor's face flushes pinkly. "So I'm your Rose huh?"
The Doctor ignores that. "Rose Tyler meet Martha Jones."
"Hi," Rose says with a smile. "So you're the one keeping him out of trouble?"
Martha smiles. "Something like that."
Jack chuckles and grabs hold of Rose's hand and squeezes. "So now what? We just waltzing Rose back to the TARDIS and home with us?" He pulls her round and dances her a few steps up the room.
"It doesn't work that simply Jack." The Doctor's voice is quiet, too controlled, like he is holding back.
Jack stops dancing, and Rose stares between them.
"What do you mean?" she asks fearfully.
"I can't take you with me Rose." He is staring at her, their eye contact so intense that Jack and Martha feel excluded from the moment. "I want to but I can't."
"But Doctor…" Her eyes well up again.
"Rose please don't. I can't." He walks over and grabs her shoulders firmly. "It will destroy everything. I have to send you back."
"What?" Jack explodes suddenly intruding. "Doctor you can't!"
The Doctor whips his head round to look at the other man. "I have to Jack! We take her and Mickey and the breach collapses. Then we destroy both her universe and ours and any other that this ship has touched. Do you know how many lives that is Jack? How many worlds? Because I don't. I won't be the cause of that."
Rose is biting her lip, but she looks up clear-eyed. "Its okay."
"No it isn't!" Jack shouts making Martha jump. She doesn't think she has ever seen Jack so close to losing control. "How is this okay? And Mickey?"
"Mickey? Mickey Smith?" Martha asks suddenly.
"He does work fast doesn't he?" the Doctor says, almost grimly.
"I met him, he thought I was either a Time Agent or Torchwood."
"Mickey's here with me," Rose explains to Jack tearing her eyes from the Doctor. "He's a good agent. He's helping plan a revolution right now."
Jack sees the look in her eyes and slips an arm around her shoulder. He gives her a squeeze. "Me too Rosie."
At that moment the room is shaken by what sounds like an explosion.
"Jack?" Ianto says hurriedly into the comm. He swears in Welsh. "He's not picking up."
Tosh hooks her earpiece into place. "Doctor?" There is nothing but a slight hiss of static. She looks at Ianto uncertainly. "What do we do?"
Ianto chews his lower lip thoughtfully. "We reroute the power through a secondary circuit. See if we can buy them some time."
"Will that work?" she asks moving as she speaks. She unplugs her laptop from the machine.
"No idea. But we have to try. For Jack. We have to get him home safely."
The desperation in his voice makes her realise something. "You love him."
Ianto looks up sharply.
"You do. You always did. Even when he left. Even now, when he won't talk to us." She stares at him with a look of realisation on her face.
"That doesn't matter now," he says softly. "If we don't hurry, they'll all be dead."
"Huff puff, its time," Wolf mutters to Mickey beneath his breath.
Mickey nods grimly, and reaches for the lighter someone has stashed beneath the bar. Molotov cocktails, here we come. I'm sorry Rose, he thinks. He was too late in noticing she was gone from her stage. Some bastard bought her. He was going to find them and beat them to death. He stuffs the bar cloth into the neck of the nearest bottle of spirits and gives the bottle a shake to wet the cloth before lighting it. He lobs it over the bar and waits for the screaming to start.
Behind him he hears Wolf howl, and the sound makes him shudder. Somehow he didn't think 'Wolf' was just a name. He grabs a couple more bottles and lends them to the growing inferno that so far has engulfed two tables, before vaulting over the bar. Working for Torchwood meant keeping fit, thank goodness.
"Rose!" he shouts over his shoulder at Wolf who just nods.
He starts sprinting through the suddenly mad mass of people, slaves, patrons and slavers alike who are panicked and moving. He heads towards the stages, a broken bottle in his hand like a weapon. "Rose?" he yells, shoving a human man out of his way. A patron cowering under a table. Mickey gives him a dirty look and continues towards the rooms beyond the stages. He hates to think what has happened in them.
He hears a growling behind him and whirls to see Wolf beating down an insectoid slaver who had raised his whip towards him. Wolf snarls, showing his teeth, and bounds in big strides to Mickey's side. He sniffs the air.
"In there!" He points at a door.
"How do you know?"
"Can smell her," Wolf replies. "Quickly, there are others in there too."
Mickey brandishes the bottle a bit higher and gives the door a sharp kick. It is not locked and flies inwards causing Mickey to stumble inside. Wolf manages a rather more dignified leap, and lands with a flourish, glaring at the four people inside.
"Mickey! Wolf! What are you doing?" Rose demands.
"Rescuing you?" Wolf says looking at her in confusion.
Mickey is staring open mouthed at the other people in the room. Rose runs to him and hugs him tightly. Mickey continues to stare over her shoulder.
"Wh…what?" he finally blurts out.
"I know," she grins at him, holding him at arms length, her hands on his shoulders. "They're here to start a revolution."
Mickey blinks at her. "Really? I'm not just hallucinating this?"
She shakes her head. "No."
"But the Doctor…he told you…"
She interrupts. "I know what he said." She looks over her shoulder at the Doctor as she speaks. "But we're not in either dimension here so we can co-exist."
Mickey frowns. "What do you mean?"
Rose keeps her eyes on the Doctor who is staring at her so intently that everything else is excluded. "I mean that we have our revolution then we leave. He leaves. We go back to normal."
"Rose…" Mickey starts.
"Don't Mickey," she says still not looking at him. "We've discussed this."
A muscle is twitching in the Doctor's cheek and his eyes are chips of ice. "We've got to end this."
Jack pulls Owen off Gwen just as his hand is moving up her skirt.
"Not the time Owen!" he says sharply to him.
Owen blinks at him dozily. Gwen however presses herself against him and purrs, "Jack did I ever tell you…"
Jack pushes a hand over her mouth. "You'll regret saying that in the morning." He looks at Owen. "Are you gonna behave?"
Owen raises an eyebrow sceptically. "Well I'm sure as hell not going to try and kiss you!"
Jack slaps him on the shoulder, grinning. "Good to hear. Now shift yourselves. Since you were so busy 'dancing' you haven't noticed that we have a revolution?"
Gwen looks blankly around. "So we do."
Jack frowns at her. "Rhys is gonna kill me." He grabs hold of her arm. "Come on."