Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

Chapter 7

They'd been caught.

Rose and Jackie had been peering in the window of an office of some sort, trying to find the Doctor, when they'd each felt a hand on their shoulder.

Now, they were being led down the corridor.

As they were marched, Rose glimpsed a young nurse watching them. The girl looked concerned, and slightly afraid. But then she was out of sight, as they turned a corner and away from her. And, well, you know the saying, 'Out of sight, out of mind'. Rose didn't think any more of the girl.

Rose and her mum were taken to another room, and asked the usual questions; how did they get in, what was their purpose for coming here, did they know anything about what was going on etc. Rose remained quiet, plotting their escape. She let her mum make up a story as to why they were there, though how plausible it was, she didn't know.

Suddenly, there was a lot of commotion coming from somewhere in the building. The soldier who was questioning them went to investigate, locking the door behind him, and leaving them alone.

Jackie turned immediately to Rose and asked, "What're we goin' to do now?"

"I don't know, maybe if--"

The scraping of a key in the lock interrupted Rose. However, when the door opened, it wasn't a soldier. It was the scared-looking nurse that Rose had seen earlier, and she was holding the Doctor's trench coat.

"Here," she said, thrusting the coat at Rose, "I put all his other things in the pockets." Before Rose could say anything, the girl said, "That man, or alien, or whatever he is. I don't think he's dangerous, no matter what the army officers keep saying. He's being held here for no reason, and I just… don't think that's right. So, umm… you can, you know, go rescue him now. All the soldiers are busy at the other end of the hospital. It looks like someone set off a smoke bomb or something."

With that, the girl was gone, leaving the door open behind her. Immediately, Rose and Jackie were out and hurrying along the corridor. The only problem was that they still had no idea of where the Doctor was.

They were standing in the middle of a corridor, wondering where to start looking, when someone came out of a room adjoining the corridor, closing the door behind him. It was a tall, dark-haired man dressed in a white, bloodstained shirt and brown trousers. He leant against the wall, his eyes closed. It was the Doctor!

Rose couldn't believe her eyes, and her mind was racing. Surely this was too good to be true! It seemed he'd been able to rescue himself! Seeing him, in the flesh, after all this time, she could contain her happiness no longer, and shouted "Doctor!" He turned towards them and froze, Rose also stopped where she was.

The Doctor still looked terrible. He looked minimally better than he had on the news yesterday in that his wounds had been stitched up, and weren't bleeding everywhere anymore. However, he was still very pale, his bruises standing out lividly against his otherwise colourless face. Rose could also clearly see the scar running down his face. She shivered, wondering what had happened to him.

Their eyes met, and in them, she could see relief and recognition. He knew who she was! It was her Doctor, and not the one from this dimension!

That was enough to put a grin back on her face. She ran to meet him.

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The Doctor had just managed to escape from that god-forsaken room. He leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. He'd played the classic sick-prisoner routine, and the guard had fallen for it. Well he was only human, so he couldn't hold that against him. But now the Doctor was exhausted, neutralising the guard had taken a lot of energy out of him (A/N no, before you ask the doctor didn't kill the guard. All will be explained later…). No you idiot, he berated himself, you can't just stand here, you've got to keep moving or you'll get caught!

He was trying to collect his energy when someone shouted his name further down the corridor. He wearily turned around, only to see… Rose. She was slightly thinner than he remembered, and her hair was longer, but she still looked absolutely beautiful. To him, she looked like an Angel. But then, that's what she was, ever since the first day he'd met her; his salvation. He couldn't live without her anymore, ever since the moment he'd first taken her hand and said, "Run". He'd been hooked from then on. Of course, he'd tried to persuade himself otherwise, doing his best to lose her. However, after seeing her swing from a chain and help him destroy the Nestene Consciousness, he knew it was pointless. She was one of a kind, and he was smitten.

When she'd taken the Time-Vortex into her head to save him, and he'd taken it from her in turn to save her, consequently regenerating. He'd been terrified, his feelings often changed with regenerations. What if that had happened and he no longer loved Rose? He'd been more than completely relieved when he woke up and found that if it was possible, he loved her even more than before.

But what was she doing here? Of course! She'd come to rescue him! And Jackie too by the look of things. How had they known he was here?

All further thoughts were wiped from his mind however, as Rose ran to him and threw her arms around him. He staggered back from the impact, and nearly fell over. Regaining his balance, he hugged her back, painfully aware of how tight she was holding him.

"I was starting to think I'd never see you again!" She sobbed into his shoulder.

"I told you Rose Tyler. Never say never ever. I also told you I'd find a way back to you," he replied, tears in his eyes.

Tightening her hug, Rose said, "But I didn't give up on you, just like you told me!"

Here, the Doctor didn't reply, but instead let out a groan of pain. Rose cursed herself for her thoughtlessness, his injuries! "I'm sorry!" she cried, "Have I hurt you?"

"No, I'll be fine," the Doctor replied, doing his best to put on a brave face.

Jackie had been making her way slowly towards them, aware that they'd want to be alone after being apart for so long. But they really had to get a move on before all the soldiers came back to their posts. So she approached the Doctor and held out his coat to him.

"Jackie! You got my coat back for me!" He exclaimed happily. He put it on and winced slightly when he pulled his stitches.

"Actually, some nurse got it for us. Dunno who she was, but she looked scared of her own shadow," Jackie explained.

"That'll have been Kaylee! She was the nurse who patched me up."

At that moment, Pete and Mickey ran up to join the trio.

"All right there boss?" Mickey asked, nodding at the Doctor.

"I've been worse," he replied.

"Doctor, I found the TARDIS, but we'd better get movin'. The soldiers aren't goin' to stay away from it for long." Pete said, trying to catch his breath.

The group reached the storage room that held the TARDIS no problem, and were relieved to find that there were no soldiers in sight.

Mickey smirked, "They're probably all still busy with my smoke bomb."

"What, you actually used a smoke bomb?" Rose asked.

"Where'd d'you get one of those from?" Jackie added.

However, Mickey just tapped his nose and said, "I have my ways."

Pete turned the handle, but the door wouldn't budge. "Locked," he said.

"Fortunately there is no lock in this world that can stand in my way!" the Doctor said, getting out his sonic screwdriver. "Except a deadbolt seal…" he added in a mutter, "however, even more fortunately, this door doesn't have one of those!" He finished, opening the door with a flourish.

Before they could go into the room however, they heard the unmistakeable sound of a gun being loaded behind them. "T-Turn around," a nervous voice said, " A-And put your h-hands on your heads."

The humans of the group obeyed without question. However, the Doctor, while he did turn around, didn't raise his hands.

"Doctor!" Rose hissed at him, "What're you doin'? He has a gun!"

The young soldier was looking terrified now, as the Doctor just stared at him, emotionlessly. However, scared as he was, he couldn't seem to look away from the Doctor's penetrating stare. Then, shocking everyone except the Doctor, the young man's eyes rolled back into his head, and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Pete, Mickey, Jackie and Rose lowered their hands tentatively and looked at the unconscious soldier. Then they turned their attention to the Doctor, who was leaning against the wall again, looking like he was about to pass out.

"What the bloody HELL just happened?!" Jackie shrieked.

"Not now mum!" Rose begged, not taking her eyes off the Doctor, who now has his head in his hands. She asked in a tentative voice, "Doctor? Are you ok?"

"We've got to get to the TARDIS," he whispered, not answering her question.

The group all entered the room, where the Doctor got his TARDIS key and opened the door and they all filed inside.

Rose was amazed at the state of the Doctor's beloved ship, how could he have let it get like this? There was a whole cavalcade of new machinery there, most of which was bolted to the floor. Everything that was loose in the TARDIS, including all the bits and bobs that usually sat on the console, was all in a jumbled heap on the floor by one of the walls. There were cables and wires everywhere, and the console was emitting small puffs of smoke and the odd shower of sparks.

The Doctor staggered around the console, flicking switches and pulling levers. The TARDIS groaned in protest, but obediently dematerialised.

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This chapter gave me GRIEF!!!! That's why it was so long in coming (sorry!) I'm still not completely happy with it, but it was just depressing me every time I tried to edit it, so I'm very sorry if it doesn't live up to your expectations of how you wanted the Doctor and Rose's reunion to be.

Yeah, umm… chapter 8 might be a little while because at the moment it's only a 9 line summary (I wrote one for each chapter when I started this story) which I'm going to have to completely change anyway! Also I have huge amounts of psychology and history coursework to be doing, squeaks in fear and tries to run away from the history folder and psychology experiment folder that have mutated (from lack of use), grown limbs and are now advancing looking menacing! But if I take too long, feel free to prod me! lol

Anyway, happier subject, anyone watch Torchwood yesterday? I watched it, then I watched minority report after it, and then I couldn't be bothered to get up (I had a blanket over me and a cat sitting on me, so I was nice and warm for once - our house is freezing), so I watched both episodes of Torchwood again! (they were repeated after minority report). So I didn't got to bed til about 3 am (you don't need to tell me I'm insane, I already know!)

Ok, every chapter, I tell myself, "Only write approx 2-3 lines of author's notes" and yet somehow, those 2-3 lines always end up being longer than the actual chapter! (well not quite). Ok really stopping this time. Please review!