Welcome To Torchwood

Part 5

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N: So I realize the story I use for the photo is one of my own, not to mention it was with the 10th Doctor. Just disregard that and easily imagine it with the ninth xD

A/N: Cancel that 'hint for the next chapter' in the last one I did. It's simply not going to work! Sorry, I warned you.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Jack darted into his room with the delight of a young child who's just been told that his very expensive Christmas present was in there. Upon entering, he picked up a photo off of his dresser that made him laugh out loud. It was a picture of Rose and the Doctor, the Doctor was duct taped to a chair with a duct taped banana in his mouth, and Rose was sitting on his lap with a grimace trying to release it. He grinned again. He remembered taking that photo. With a sigh he tucked it into his jacket and glanced around. Travelling around for at least a few months, the had-been empty room had acquired a few things. Little mementos to celebrate certain moments. Jack grinned as he picked up each thing in turn and remembering how he had come to possess the object. Most of it was plain fun, or pranks, such as the giant fish the Doctor had stuffed in his pants.

Others were more serious – the shining, silver ring Rose had given him for his birthday. It had to Captain Jack Harkness, Love Rose engraved around the inside. He smiled. She was priceless. It had been lovely of her to get him that ring - now he slipped it on the middle finger of his right hand. He had never taken it off, except for that one time – when he was doing the dishes. He had forgotten to put it back on and then he had been captured by that beam mat thing. He didn't have the heart to remember even what it was called. He simply didn't care. The metal of the ring had cooled slightly, but it felt good against his skin.

He glanced at all of his things and grinned. Might as well take it all with me now, he thought to himself. He grabbed a black duffel bag and started gently setting his stuff in, starting with his clothes. He glanced at his pillow on his bed, the shape of his head still imprinted. It must have not been so long for the TARDIS, but it sure as heck was long for him. Finishing 'packing', he briefly considered taking pictures of his room, but decided that one, it wasn't like him to be sentimental, and two, whenever he would see the pictures it would make him feel lonely. Then again, he didn't belong in 21st century Cardiff.

With a sigh he walked to the door and realized that, although he thought that he would be here all day, he didn't want to lose his stuff again. He walked out, carrying the duffel bag tightly to his side.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In the meantime, Rose was showing the 'guests' around. "Let's see…" She glanced at everyone behind her. "Right, Owen, this is your room," she told Owen as she pushed open a door.

"Make sure there isn't a connecting door," Tosh warned good-naturedly.

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, any doors that had been in the room disappeared and Owen continued on into his room, scowling slightly.

"Be back at the Console room soon!" Rose called right before the door slammed in their faces – much to the astonishment of all present.

"Thanks, TARDIS," Rose said affectionately. She heard a little rumble and laughed. "For everything," she whispered, and if Gwen didn't know better, she'd think tears were in the girl's eyes. As they began to walk again, leaving Owen in his room, Gwen sighed.

Why are you staring at my girl? came a female's voice suddenly, out of nowhere.

Gwen's head shot around to see who it was, but there was no one. She glanced at the others to see if anyone else had heard the strange voice, but it appeared that no one else had. She decided to dismiss it.

Excuse me, but I am talking to you, the voice came again, this time sterner.

"Me?" Gwen asked out loud, and everyone turned to glance at her except for Rose. She just shrugged it off.

"Probably the TARDIS talking to her. She does that sometimes," Rose told them all absently, and the ship gave another gentle rumble that earned a laugh from Rose.

Yes you. Why are you staring at my Rose?

"Your Rose?" Gwen whispered now.

You're not deaf. Stop repeating everything I say. So, do you have a problem with my Rose? Why are you staring at her?

"She seems… so sad," Gwen whispered. "She was crying. Well, at least I thought I saw tears."

It was awkward, talking to a voice in her mind. The others courteously pretended not to hear her as Gwen slowed so she was walking behind everyone a pace.

Tears of gratitude.

"Why tears of gratitude?"

Gwen suddenly knew that if the TARDIS could sigh, she would have. Her secret to tell.

And just like that the connection was broken.

The ship's words swam around in Gwen's mind. Her secret to tell. Her secret to tell. Her secret to tell. What was happening to her? Gwen shook off the repetitive voice and shook her head.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Doctor grinned as he flew along his ship's console room. The bright force of glowing and dancing lights, more brilliant than ever, matched his mood.

Jack wandered in just in time to watch him in his dance. "'Sup, Doc? I haven't seen you this excited since… well, never."

"Hmm?" The Doctor wasn't paying any attention to Jack as he darted around, walking on air.

"You're not even paying any attention to me, are you, Doc?" Jack asked dryly. "What a surprise."

"Well, Rose is in the next room –" the Doctor found himself saying, then stopped suddenly.

Jack chortled. "And I know she feels the same way about you. I have eyes, you know."

"You never used them enough," the Doctor shot curtly, his good mood cut short for the time being.

"Ouch," Jack winced, then sobered. "I've changed, Doc."

"I know," the Doctor answered back shortly, frowning, deep in thought.

"How can you know?" Jack almost choked, his throat closing on him. Oh great, this made it what, the third time today he had to start blubbering in front of the Doctor… and Rose. The Doctor may have understood, may have sympathized; may have roughly said something and left him to himself, but Rose was a different story. She would hug him, maybe kiss him, maybe even… Jack shuddered. Tussle his hair. She would rock him like a baby and sit him down in her lap. Not that he wouldn't accept the invitation willingly – just… blubbering like a kid in front of his friends – not to mention his staff – Jack shuddered again. If he did he would never live it down. And they would never understand. Jack felt desperate. Very desperate.

"Oh, I know."

Jack blinked, startled and looked up at the Doctor. He didn't even notice how hurt and desperate the look in his own eyes was; if he did he would have wiped it clear from his face; he didn't want pity.

"I would know more than you think."

"No kidding," Jack agreed half-heartedly. He hesitated. "But Rose?"

"She's still mine," the Doctor confirmed with a slight growl of possession in his throat.

"You don't want to part from her, do you?" Jack asked him sadly, shaking his head. He knew that the Doctor would rather have both his hearts ripped out and a stake driven through one of them… wait, he knew that the Doctor would rather have both his hearts ripped out of his body, squeezed and then sold on e-bay. (I thank Al for that, yeah. He deserves all the credit – I'm not even sure I got it right.)

The Doctor's eyes snapped as pain was squeezed into them slowly and gradually. "No," he whispered brokenly.

"It's inevitable," Jack continued on, still in the small, sad tone. "I know it even if she doesn't. You know it. She's human. You're a Time Lord. They just don't mix. Doctor - "

The Doctor groaned, flinging his head down on his hands. "I wish I had never met her – I wish – "

"No, you don't," Jack interrupted calmly.

"Jack, could this be any more difficult? Faced with the fact that I have to, sooner or later, let go of the woman I love?!" the Doctor suddenly cried out in anguish, his face pale as tears began to gather in the corner of his eyes. Jack saw that they threatened to spill over, but the Doctor remained firm.

"I know how you feel," Jack whispered back sadly.

"How can you?" the Doctor spoke bitterly, whirling around to face him. "I am… a Time Lord. Doomed to live my life alone, having one companion after another – until I won't be able to take it anymore. Until I die. How can you understand – even begin to fathom how I feel?"

"I loved… once," Jack said stiffly and slightly cool. "And I thought that I would never love again. Not as a friend, not as a family, not as a partner. You and Rose changed all that. I'm doomed to live the same sentence that you are, Doctor. But you go on. I'm stuck here, alone… never changing, never dying. Alone as one after the other come to work for me – I grow attached, they die… so easily… so suddenly…" he remembered Suzie's face and the fact that Gwen was close to death and his throat constricted. "But I cannot. And you cannot help me. So you see, Doctor, we're doomed to the same sentence. Only, we can't carry it out together."

"The Doctor remained silent as tears fell unheeded from his face. "I'm sorry, Jack. I'm sorry for what I did. I'm sorry for what I didn't do. I'm sorry for what I can't do and what I can."

"Listen to me, Doc. Don't throw Rose away. You certainly know a gem when you see her," Jack said firmly with a note of admiration and maybe underlining jealousy in his voice.

"If I don't…" the pain was back in the Doctor's eyes and Jack knew that the turmoil the Doctor was experiencing was much more deeper than his own. "It will be harder when that day comes."

"Doctor, listen to me! She loves you! You love her! NOW is all that matters!" Jack's rage and frustration got the better of him as he lashed out at the Doctor unmercifully.

They were interrupted by Rose bouncing into the console room happily on the balls of her feet, just like she had seen the Doctor do so many times. With a wide grin she swept up to her Doctor and gave him a bear hug and an intense snog that removed all of the doubts that he had had about her loving him. He snogged her back with equal passion, gently digging his fingers into her golden curls, breathing in her scent.

With a dreamy smile Rose gently released him. "When are we ready to go?" she murmured, having eyes only for the Doctor - her Doctor.

"She's charged up," the Doctor replied, smiling gently at Rose. "Any minute now…" He leaned forward and gently kissed her again. Rose gently reached up and wiped away the traces of tears from his cheeks.

"Hey, why did it take so long last time?" Jack interrupted their semi-romantic moment – which was probably only semi because Jack was there watching them; he had not missed the fact that Rose had noticed him before she snogged the Doctor.

"Coz…" the Doctor began, racking his brain for his usual tip off the tongue answers to questions such as these, and wasn't surprised when he couldn't, seeing as Rose was gazing at him with those gorgeous brown eyes of hers and touching him tenderly with her soft fingers. Abandoning his sentence, he ignored Jack and turned his gaze to Rose, gently trailing his hand across her cheek.

Jack sighed and got the picture. They obviously wanted to be alone, but they didn't want to be rude to him. Jack jumped over to the door leading to the hallway and walked through. "I'll be… around. I want to see what everything's like after I've been away."

He could have been talking to a brick wall for all they paid attention to him.

With a sigh he left the room. Some things never change.

Jack wondered if… if Rose would be interested… nah, he could think of something better to do to ease the pain when the Doctor abandoned her. It stung, but he knew the feeling of abandon all too well; and he knew that the sooner the better.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Why the tears?" Rose asked softly as soon as Jack had left. She was gazing up into his face with eyes full of concern and love. "Doctor?"

The Doctor sighed and clasped her hands in his. "I don't want to let you go," he whispered brokenly.

Rose smiled then, a beaming smile. "You will never have to," she whispered back, tenderly.

"But I… I will – " the Doctor choked out before she stopped him.

"No." Rose gently brushed his cheek with her fingertips. "No, you won't. I never told you what the TARDIS could do to me. What she did to me. I asked her to. She knows you need me."

"You mean – " The Doctor stared at Rose and was cut off by her again.

"Yes. I will never leave you, my Doctor."

The Doctor, overwhelmed with joy and pain, took Rose in his arms and kissed her again. "You're kidding me." His Rose, half Gallifreyan? It was inconceivable, but at the same time… believable. Utterly believable. She was finally, completely his.

"I'm not, Theta."

The Doctor blinked. "How did you know my nickname?"

"TARDIS showed me a picture and there were these people calling you 'Theta'."

"Nickname." He hadn't liked it when the others had called him by it, but it sounded wonderful to hear Rose speak his old nickname in her tender voice.

"It suits you."

The Doctor smiled and buried his face in her hair. So the TARDIS had translated - no, Rose could understand what it meant. He hoped. "Glad you like it."

"I swear, I'm going to call you Theta from now on. So much better than 'the Doctor'."

"Don't forget the 'Sigma'."

"I think I'll stick to calling you Theta," Rose insisted with a laugh.

"I agree."

"We can leave now?"

"Yep." Taking Rose by the arm gently, he strode to the controls.

"Before we leave, should we wait for the others to come in?" Rose hesitated.

"Nah," the Doctor said absently with a grin. "Don't want to give it away, do we?"

With a laugh Rose joined him and he put an arm around her. "Let's blow this Popsicle stand!" Rose teased him, grinning.

With a chuckle, the Doctor began turning this lever and that, pushing buttons; every once in a while eying the extraploator on the floor. "Be right back," Rose shouted above the noise as she hopped off and out of the console room. The Doctor gave an absent nod as he twirled round and went 'Ha!'.

Rose bounded down the corridor as the TARDIS landed and knocked on Jack's door. "Anyone home?" she called. It swung open quickly and Jack poked his head out.

"Yo."

"We're here," Rose told him cheerfully, and couldn't hide the glow in her eyes.

"Fine," Jack replied hesitantly. "Where are the others?"

"TARDIS will show you – won't you girl?" Rose asked affectionately to the ship.

The TARDIS gave a rumble.

"There's your answer," Rose told Jack happily before running back into the console room and straight into the Doctor's open arms.

"Whoo!" she shrieked as he picked her up and swung her upside down, grinning at her. She giggled as he put her back on the ground and kissed her.

"Love ya," the Doctor whispered hoarsely against her hair.

"Love you too," Rose replied immediately with a smile as she kissed him back.

"That's good," the Doctor told her, grinning back.

"Very," Rose agreed.

"We're here," he said loudly and as at the sound of footfalls in the hall, his hand slid from her waist down to hold hers.

"We're here already?" Owen asked, bounding into the room and practically tripping over his feet. He looked with disbelief at the Doctor and Rose. "I don't believe you. It takes more than a second to travel to London; even in a spaceship," he retorted.

Rose laid a hand on the Doctor's arm to hold him back and felt his muscles flex tightly beneath the thin material of his shirt. The Doctor looked down and smiled at her, then turned back, a little of his anger evaporating. "Actually, it's not just a spaceship. It also travels in time," he said as politely as he could, mad Time Lord notwithstanding.

Rose gently squeezed his arm and stepped forward towards the door, drawing both the Doctor's and Owen's gazes to her. With a deep breath she opened the TARDIS door and… ran right into Jackie Tyler's arms.

"Oh, Rose!! How are you? How you been? What's the point of havin' a mobile; you neva use it!" Jackie chided affectionately, giving her daughter a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.

The Doctor glanced once at Owen with a frown, warning him to stay put, and walked out the door behind Rose, shutting it firmly behind him. He was immediately swamped by Jackie, who gave him a crushing hug and a big smooch.

"Jackie –"

She kissed him again. "Oh, you're all mine, yes you are!!"

"Eugh…" While making loud protesting noises, the Doctor tried to unwind Jackie's arms from around him.

Rose noticed and with a grin, helped get her mother off of the Doctor. "Sorry, Mum, he's mine," she said playfully, and the Doctor grinned at her while wiping his mouth on his sleeve, looking for all the world like a little school boy who'd been trapped in the clutches of his over-affectionate mother. In fact, he looked so much like said school boy that Rose laughed.

"What?" the Doctor asked, an injured expression on his face.

"Nothing," Rose told him innocently, capturing his hand in hers as she leaned forward and playfully pressed her lips to his.

With a moan, the Doctor pulled back after a while with a smile. "Now you're someone I don't mind snogging me. Your mother on the other hand…"

"Oi!" Jackie angrily stated as she looked at both Rose and the Doctor. "Just 'coz I'm letting you date my daughter, it does not mean that you can insult me whenever you please!"

The Doctor had the decency to cringe. "Sorry," he replied meekly as Rose gave him another peck on the cheek.

"Don't worry about it," she whispered in his ear, her lips just gently brushing his skin. The Doctor sighed; things like that always made him shiver or squirm, and Rose knew it.

"Oh, Mum!" Rose quickly said once she had backed away from the Doctor. "We have a few… guests." The Doctor gently reached down and captured her hand, gently squeezing it. More like 5, the Doctor thought as she subtly returned the pressure. "Mind if they come for tea?" Rose asked brightly. The Doctor felt Rose whisper in his mind, 5 quid she says she let's them.

Ten, the Doctor thought back, amused. They didn't even have to be touching or looking into each other's eyes to relay their thoughts telepathically.

Done.

"'Long as they're not aliens," was Jackie's pert reply.

DANG IT! Rose winced as the Doctor's thought rang through her mind with alarming power. The Doctor noticed and squeezed her hand again, gently brushing his thumb across it. Sorry, love.

"No, they're perfectly human," Rose replied, and with a thought to the Doctor told him, It's alright.

"Well, maybe one of them isn't," the Doctor muttered under his breath and Rose elbowed him.

"What was that Doctor?" Jackie asked.

"Nothing, nothing at all, let's just go on our merry way, shall we? Back to the land of the Banana Farm where I used to go whenever I needed a Banana…"

"Doctor," Rose whispered, interrupting him.

"What?"

"You're rambling on again."

"Oh," he replied almost absently, and shut his mouth.

"Finally, peace and quiet," Jackie unwisely remarked.

"Peace, Jackie? I dunno about peace. Did you hear that Blitheen this time are coming from Raxicoricofallapatorious and they're coming just for you, Jackie – just for you. They're coming prescisely because they got mad the last time I went to Justica – Remember that Rose? You got shipped to another… what was it, jail? For young women or something? Yeah, you befriended that – was he blonde? – bloke who adored you and knocked out your pilot who was actually from Raxicoricofallapatorious, and he –"

"Doctor," Jackie interrupted when Rose wouldn't. She was just staring at the Doctor bemused.

"Yeah?" the Doctor asked, pausing in his retelling of their adventure.

"You were talking about Blitheen," Rose told him, smiling as she telepathically said, Shut it.

The Doctor pulled a sheepish grin and shut his mouth promptly.

"Let's get the crew then," Rose said cheerfully as she leaned over to the TARDIS and carefully knocked on the door.

Apparently Jack had been waiting for this moment, coz he poked his head out and said playfully, "The name's Captain Jack Harkness, whatever you're selling we're not buying."

Just then Mickey ran up. He groaned when he saw the Captain standing in the doorway of the TARDIS, looking for all the world like he owned her.

"Bloody…" Mickey mumbled before walking up to Rose and giving her a hug, all the while receiving poison dart glares from the Doctor. He glanced at Rose and nodded in the Doctor's direction. "What's wit him?"

Rose shrugged and returned to the Doctor's side, her hand sliding naturally into his.

Mickey turned to gawk at the rest of the Torchwood gang. "What's with them?" he asked Rose with only a questioning glance.

"Torchwood. Apparently Jack works there now," Rose said airily.

"Torchwood. I've heard of them before," Mickey replied, frowning.

"Um, might we skip the work? I want a nice refreshing cup of tea," Gwen suggested, growing slightly unsettled. She wasn't even in the Torchwood team yet – even though she had been offered a job by Jack.

Everyone agreed with enthusiasm and ran all the way to Jackie's flat.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -