Author's note: I am getting the chapters up as fast as I can! Thank you so much for following and having patience with me! I'll have the next chapter up by tomorrow night, hopefully =) R&R!
P.S. I just had to bring in Jack for a quick bit, you gotta love Jack xD
The Doctor and Rose stepped out of the TARDIS and into Cardiff. "We'll just leave the Old Girl here for a day, give her a bit of a recharge..." The Doctor trailed off in his ramblings when he saw Rose's face. Her expression was one of pain and happiness; an expression The Doctor had seen in his own eyes many times.
Rose was frozen outside the TARDIS, looking around at everything. None of the damage that the Cybermen and Daleks were sure to have caused was visible.
Then she sprinted off. "Rose! Wha- Oh, why do they always do that!" The Doctor went sprinting after her.
She had come to a halt overlooking the ocean, her eyes on the sky. "Rose?" The Doctor approached her hesitantly, as if approaching a frightened animal.
Rose then looked over at him, her eyes glistening slightly. "I'm back. I'm really back." She laughed softly and looked back up at the sky. "No Zeppelins." She looked back around her. "It's as if nothing changed..."
She smiled, brushing her hair from her face. She turned and faced The Doctor. "He was you, I suppose, but I never got the chance to know him." She took a deep breath, bracing herself in a way, her face growing serious. "What I said before- nothing has changed."
"Everything has changed." They were silent for a moment, just watching each other. Then he stepped forward, and Rose's breath caught. The Doctor reached up, his hand coming to a stop before actually touching her. Panic fluttered through his eyes. "Rose, I-"
Then they were both interrupted. "Doctor!" They both spun around at the sound of his name being called. "Who was- Rose!"
They were greeted by the sight Captain Jack Harkness racing towards them, a grin split across his face. Jack paused in front of Rose before pulling her towards him and giving her a quick, but thorough, kiss. It was Jack, after all. Whatever protest Rose tried to make was cut off.
The Doctor had enough control over his facial muscles that he was able to lock away the glare he wanted to give Jack. The man must have picked up on the vibes, though, because he soon stepped back from a very dazed Rose and grinned at the Doctor before giving him a very Jack kiss as well.
"It's good to see you two! It's been a good two years, hasn't it?" Jack's grin stayed on his face as he spoke to them. Rose couldn't help but laugh both at Jack's exuberance, as well as the Doctor's continued shock at being kissed by Jack once again.
"Yeah. How've you been?" Rose smiled.
"Oh, same as usual, chasing aliens and - " Then he paused mid-sentence, his hand reaching up to his ear to listen to his Bluetooth. "Okay, thanks Ianto, I'lll take care of it." He then glanced up at Rose and the Doctor, a smile growing on his face. "How do you two feel about reliving old times, and coming and helping me out. It seems we have a situation downtown with some of those alien friends."
The Doctor grinned at the prospect of another adventure, and looked towards Rose. "What do you say?"
Rose grinned. "I say let's do it!" And the three of them were off, running to downtown Cardiff.
After only a few seconds of running, a sudden and intense pain blossomed in her chest, causing her to gasp and stumble. She lost her footing just long enough to cause her to trip, twisting her ankle enough to send pain shooting up her leg. The pain in her chest began to recede at that time, but it was too late. Her ankle gave out beneath her, causing her to fall to the ground. She hissed out a breath, holding back the expletive that threatened to leave her mouth.
She wasn't down more than a few seconds when the Doctor glanced back, seeming to sense the lack of her presence behind him.
"Rose!" The Doctor immediately ran back to her, kneeling down beside her, Jack right behind him.
Rose had been holding her ankle, so she knew she wouldn't be able to hide her injury completely, but she had the Doctor's excited look in her mind, telling her he wanted to go on another adventure.
So, she pulled up her poker face, and tried to smile at him. "I just tripped, I'll be right behind you." She tried to stand up, avoiding putting any pressure on her ankle. She wasn't able to succeed entirely.
The Doctor was keeping an eye on her, though, so when she winced even once, he made up his mind. He turned to face Jack. "You go on ahead and do your job."
The Doctor could see the protest in Jack's eyes, but he must have gotten the message the Doctor was trying to send, because Jack then nodded.
"Alright, I'll see you two around!" Then he was sprinting off.
By that time Rose was standing. "What was that about? Why aren't we going?" While part of her still wanted to convince the Doctor nothing was wrong, the rest of her knew that the Doctor knew something was up.
"We are going back to the TARDIS, and I don't appreciate you lying to me, Rose." The Doctor's tone allowed no room for argument.
But she was Rose Tyler. She had to argue.
"I wasn't lying!" Rose objected, the two of them staring at each other. The Doctor knew he was right, and Rose believed she was in the right, so the two of them held a staring contest, willing the other to back down.
After a minute, Rose sighed, giving in. "Fine, but I didn't lie." She crossed her arms, ever the stubborn woman.
The Doctor couldn't help but smile at Rose, looking all indignant. "Guilty by omission. Now, back to the TARDIS, you."
She was still more annoyed than amused, so she narrowed her eyes instead of letting herself laugh. She declined the Doctor's attempt to help her walk on principle. She was annoyed with the timelord for seeing through her facade. She struggled not to limp on her way back to the TARDIS, but only halfway there she had to pause because the pain in her ankle got to be too much.
"Okay," The Doctor had had enough. He let her be stubborn for part of the journey, now it was his turn. "Are you going to continue to be stubborn, or will you let me help?"
That only caused her to regain her determination. She straightened her back and started to walk again, not answering him.
"You asked for it.." he said too quietly for her to hear. He then walked up behind her and swung her legs up off the ground, carrying her.
"Oi! Put me down!" Rose struggled against him, but it was useless.
"You had your chance, Rose Tyler, but you didn't want help, remember?" The Doctor was calm in the face of Rose's wrath. "So I decided to take the situation into my own hands. No pun intended." He grinned at her, amused with himself.
She crossed her arms once more, not saying anything else. She didn't really want to have to walk more. Plus, being held in his arms? That's not so bad.
Once they reached the TARDIS, the Doctor gently set her down, careful not to do anything to hurt her ankle any more. Once he got the door open, he turned to her. "Will you accept help this time, or do I need to carry you again?"
She narrowed her eyes at him, but nodded in acceptance anyways. The two of them hobbled through the TARDIS to the med room. The TARDIS was giving out a slight hum, alerting the Doctor to it's worry over Rose as well.
Rose hissed out a breath as she hopped onto the table, accidentally bumping her ankle. "I think it's just a sprain, nothing that bad. You can go help out Jack."
The Doctor paused in his rummaging around and looked at her, slightly annoyed. Gesturing with some sort of alien artifact, he interrupted her from saying anything more. "You of all people should know better than to argue with me when it comes to your safety." Then he paused, something occurring to him. "Oh wait, no, that's what you always do." He turned back to his rummaging as if nothing had been said.
Rose sat there, not sure if she was more shocked or amused. Then he turned back to her, holding what looked to be a bigger version of the sonic screwdriver. She raised an eyebrow at that, surprised it wasn't some other weirder looking item.
Then the Doctor was gently pulling up her pant leg. She struggled not to react to the gentle touch of his fingers on her skin.
"Tell me when it hurts." His voice was flat, neutral. It was the same one he used whenever he tried to distance himself. Very similar to when he tried to send her away to the parallel universe the first time.
"Doctor?"
"Hmm?" He didn't even look up at her.
She almost asked him, almost asked if he wished she hadn't come back, but she swallowed down the words and looked away. She knew he would never admit that. "Never mind."
He glanced up at her, confused in his face. "What is it, Rose?"
She just shrugged in response. Then the Doctor's fingers came into contact with a sensitive part of her ankle. She hissed out a breath. "That hurt."
Then the Doctor began to do something with the big sonic screwdriver thing and her ankle, and she never felt a thing after that. After a few minutes she laid down, the fatigue from the last couple days finally coming down on her. She struggled to stay awake, but ended up giving in.
It was maybe a half hour later when the Doctor stopped whatever he was doing and stepped over to where her head was. When he saw that she was at least mostly asleep, he gently gathered her into his arms before carrying her back to her room.
He carefully laid her down onto her bed, pulling the covers over her and putting a pillow behind her head.
"Goodnight, Rose." He whispered to her sleeping form.
He meant to leave after that, he really did, but he was frozen in place for a minute. He had her back. It was finally hitting home. He had a second - no, third - chance to make it right with her. With his Rose.
He gave in to his urge and leaned down and kissed her forehead, his lips lingering. Then he left before he could do anything else.