A/N - Slight talk in this chapter about a certain topic. Nothing really bad, don't worry about that. Just these two trying to figure things out. And one of them is human after all.

Chapter Three

The crunch of the earth under her feet made her look down, and she frowned at it for a while. It looked exactly like the ground on Earth, where there is just soil instead of grass. Slowly she lifted her view. The trees were different though, more wild and twisted with very few leaves, and those leaves were a vibrant purple, which would probably make Rose gush over them.

The grass when she did spot it was yellow. It looked like normal earth grass that was dying, except this grass looked healthy instead of wilted, which made her think that it was normal for this place. Then she raised her eyes to the sky, and was looking at a normal night sky with an abnormal amount of moons.

"Its night time?" she asked, looking about at how bright it was that it looked like day to her.

"Yes. 5 moons keep the planet just as bright during the night as it does during the day. Makes it a very good planet for shopping. You only sleep when tired you see, so the shops can stay open all day as long as more than one person runs them."

It thrilled her, it really did, and she couldn't help but grin like a maniac at the thought of how much shopping she could do with shops that were opened all day and night.

"Does it have extra suns then?" she asked, getting more courageous and stepping fully out of the TARDIS, she went over to the nearest patch of grass and plucked some from the ground.

"Just one sun. When all the moons are full, which happens about...once every millenia or so, the night sky is brighter than the sky during the day."

Oh, Jackie thought as she moved her gaze to wander over to where the Doctor was pointing and there, clear as day, was a huge, sprawling open town market. It was like the medieval equivalent of a shopping centre. Or what she thought a medieval shopping centre would look like anyway.

"We're here roughly a week after our last visit, Rose. Remember where you bought that?" He pointed to the bowl that her daughter was holding delicately in her hands, wrapped in tissue paper.

"Yes. It was very close to where we parked last time. Same place?"

"Yes."

"This way then," Rose stated, waving them on. Jackie moved in behind her, and the Doctor stayed by her side instead of Rose's. Maybe it was because he was shorter? Or maybe he was trying to keep her out of trouble, or stop her from running like a mad woman away.

The people at this place were definitely not human. For a start, they had five arms. Two legs, which was a relief, and their skin was some sort of ruddy brown that you don't normally see in humans. Well, unless they painted themselves that colour.

She remembered the conversation at the table the other night of an orange race with six arms and almost fainted, because there was something even weirder out there than what she was currently seeing.

The Doctor took her to the nearest chair and sat her down on it, before she had the chance to fall to the ground in a dead faint. This was not as fun as it had started out. Seeing the Doctor without his jacket on was a plus, definitely, but now she wished she had it so she could put it on and somehow hide herself in it.

"Just...sit for a minute. Told you it can get a bit much."

The alien at the store who owned the chair was looking at her curiously, and the Doctor grinned. "Sorry about her. She's never been away from Earth before and so hasn't seen another race that doesn't look exactly human or seen anything like your night sky before."

"She? Looks like a male of the species."

"Ah, bit of an accident. That's my body, this is hers."

The alien's eyes lit up with an understanding at that and laughed in a high pitched way that made her ears ring more than they already were.

"Ah, yes. It's been known to happen, but never here before."

The Doctor nodded and grinned. "Well, best to check anyway. My friend's around here somewhere inquiring about a bowl she bought for Jackie." He pointed at her.

The alien nodded and as if to comfort her, laid a hand on her shoulder.

Next thing she knew she was waking up on a bed in the TARDIS.

As soon as the shop owner put a hand on Jackie, he saw her eyes roll up in her head and wilt. He got to her just before she fell off the chair. He checked heart beats and pulse rates, even checked her temperature. Heart and pulse were up, temperature was down.

"Bit of a nasty shock it seems. Better get her back to my ship. If you see a human girl running around, blonde, brown eyes, carrying a bowl with flowers on it, tell her I'm in the TARDIS."

The shop owner gave a short nod, before he got busy with a customer, leaving the Doctor to drag his body slowly back to the TARDIS.

It was a lot harder than it would have been if he was in his own body, instead of lugging it around. He was a lot stronger than a human for a start, and he tired less easily. By the time he had gotten Jackie back to the TARDIS, the one heart in his chest was beating wildly from exertion, he was sweating profusely and he needed to lie down before he too fainted.

He wouldn't be having that.

He left her in a spare room that the TARDIS had made ready for her. At least his ship was being kind to Jackie. The last thing he needed was Jackie's screeching around because of her.

He had a shower first to cool down a bit, before going to his bedroom. As soon as his head hit the pillow he was asleep. Humans, he thought before completely getting lost in Jackie's subconscious, were very easily tired out.

No dreams had bothered him before he was woken up, and he was put out about it when consciousness reared its head, because it had been such a long time since he hadn't suffered from nightmares.

Lucky for Jackie, his subconscious had a habit of batting down and locking doors when his mind is invaded, and should be safe enough for Jackie. She would either not dream, or have residual memories from her own life, or her short adventure on Pentellien.

If she found something to trigger it though, she may end up with his memories, so the thing he could do was keep her from anything that might do that. The problem with that is, he had no idea what could or wouldn't do that.

It wasn't very likely that was to happen anyway. So Jackie was safe in his head.

He couldn't say the same about himself. Being human, Jackie was a wide open book to him, and he saw everything, and chose to shut most of it out. He shook his head and stared up at Rose who was still shaking him.

"Finally! You really know how to sleep when you want to. Where's mum?"

Slowly he got up and stretched. Unfortunately he didn't know much about women's clothing and after the quick shower he had just put on the same clothes, minus a few items. And he was beginning to feel rather...uncomfortable.

"The TARDIS gave her a room. She fainted. Had to drag her all the way back here. Can you show me how to put one of these blasted contraptions on?" He held up Jackie's bra and swung it gently in front of Rose's face.

Rose snatched it from him and went red. "Doctor! I am not getting naked in front of you, I don't care what body you're in! Stop asking things like that."

He stared blankly at her, before he felt heat flush his cheeks and he looked away. "I don't know how to...I didn't mean on you anyway."

After a few seconds of awkwardness, he took the shirt he was wearing off and looked down and frowned. "Well?" he said, looking back up at Rose.

Sighing loudly, she went on to show him how to put it on. Dressed properly and feeling much better about it, he smiled at Rose and took her in the direction of Jackie's new room.

The woman who was currently in his body was awake, and staring at the wall in front of her. Rose went over and immediately gave her a hug. Jackie managed a half smile, before looking up at him and turning to face the wall again.

"I really didn't mean to do that," she said, trying to bury her head in the pillow it was laying on.

"Told you, culture shock. It was bound to catch up with you sometime. Even Rose ran away the first time we went anywhere."

Rose nodded and smiled at her mum, squeezing her shoulder gently. Jackie relaxed a bit more into the blanket that she was buried in. Her head cocked to the side, and he noted that the TARDIS was probably trying to say something to her. He had centuries of experience of working out what his ship meant, and now Jackie was trying to work it out. Because the TARDIS didn't exactly have an actual voice. She spoke by using sounds, mental pictures and emotions.

Even he didn't know what she meant sometimes, though those days were getting longer between, thankfully.

Jackie sighed. "Alright, I get it. It happens to everyone. And you...you could have asked before touching me in any way."

He blinked, before realising that the TARDIS must have told her about the shower. "I just dragged you all the way here. By myself. I just found out that I weigh a bloody lot more than I look alright. I needed a shower."

She scowled at him, and it looked rather horrifying to see his own face with one of Jackie's looks on it. He took a step back. "Well, imagine the fun I'll be having in the shower when I go have one..."

"Oi! I didn't do anything indecent."

She looked at him and smiled. "No? Nah, I believe you. I'm curious though..."

He closed his eyes and buried his head in his hands, the heat rising up in his face making it feel like it was about to burn off. He had never blushed like this in any one of his own bodies. Humans! So full of hormones. Hormo...oh no!

"Oh bloody hell! I really don't want everything that goes with the territory of being a human. Female or male!"

He could deal with blood. He had seen plenty of it in his time, his own included. So he could handle that part of it all. It was what Jackie was talking about though. Hormones, desires. Jackie was sexually active. Very much so. While he dabbled in sex when he felt like it, he didn't feel the urge to like a human would. It wasn't natural for him after all. He hadn't needed it to reproduce. There was no real desire for it.

"Fine. Dabble away. Experiment. It is to be expected I suppose." He couldn't stay angry at her, and if he was going to have to put up with hormones, then she might as well get some kind of joy out of the experience.

He'd probably be driven to do...that anyway. 'Cause there was no way, none at all, he was going to have sex as Jackie Tyler. That didn't mean he had to be happy about it though. He was on some basic level was disgusted with himself for even thinking it.

He'd ask beforehand. It made him feel better to ask permission if things came to that. It felt too much like sexual assault if he didn't. And at least Jackie told him she was going to. And it really was to be expected. She still had a human mind after all.

And it was a very human thing to do. An ape thing to do for that matter. Hell, a mammal thing.

Right now though, he could just forget about that. This body was too knew for him to even want to try, and it didn't need it, and he supposed he was still a bit shocked over finding himself female in the first place. And human.

Didn't Jackie know that this was hard on him too? That he was slightly in shock over it? That it wasn't just her that wanted to curl up in a bed and stay there until it was all over?

"You're actually giving me permission to? Hmph, never thought I'd hear that coming from you, Mr. No."

He sighed, shook his head and sat down. "This isn't exactly the most fun experience I have ever gone through Jackie. It'll help you relax a bit anyway."

Rose shuddered and walked to the door. "I'll leave you two to talk about the sex stuff, I'm going to go get something to eat. Meet me in the control room after you're...done in here. This place was a bust. Sorry Doctor, Mum."

With a glance towards Jackie, and a slight shrug, he followed Rose. The 'talk' was done with anyway for the time being. And hopefully there was not going to be any need for it to pop up again.

Rose looked behind her and smiled at him, and he smiled back, not really up to keeping it on his face though, and fell into a sullen sulk. How come stuff like this always seemed to happen to him? Was he just plain meant to suffer his entire life? Because that's all he seemed good at doing, suffering.

"Doctor?"

"Mmm?"

"You alright?"

He looked at Rose for a few seconds, blinked and looked away. "Just wish she'd know that this isn't exactly easy on me either. I'm not used to so many hormones and things. I just want to go bury myself in a bed somewhere, sleep for a bit, and just...I don't know. Everything seems so wrong right now."

She looked at him, smiled and nodded. "Yeah well, at least you know what to expect on other planets and moving about the universe, she doesn't. She's bound to be thinking just of herself. It's what humans do. Silly apes remember?"

And he found himself grinning in response, because Rose always managed to get him cheered up a bit. "How could I have forgotten?"

She grinned back, her tongue poking out from between her teeth. "Just one of those small signs of old age, Doctor."

"Oi! That's enough of the old, thanks."

They made it to the kitchen, and were surprised to see that somehow Jackie had beaten them there, and was in the middle of filling the jug with water to boil for tea. "So, what did you find out, sweetheart?" Jackie said, as she turned to look at them, lanky male body leaning almost casually against the counter, oddly looking like she belonged there. The Doctor just stared, because he had never been able to relax like that since his last regeneration.

Maybe, just maybe, there were some good points to this whole mess. If he was really lucky, Jackie would get his body some proper rest. He hadn't had that in a while.

Nightmares. It seemed like he had always suffered from nightmares. But now they were much more intense than they had ever been before the War.

He'd be able to rest his mind too in Jackie's body, since he would dream whatever is in her brain. And speaking of, he was tired still from his work today already.

How did humans end up living as a species for as long as they do? They seemed to be everywhere once they had started off. They didn't have as much stamina, needed a lot of sleep each day which seemed to be a waste to him, their brain was normal for a sentient being with moderate intelligence, and they needed to eat regularly to keep it all going.

Well, they adapt better than a lot of other species. One of the best species in the universe for it. And yet for all that, they had difficulty believing in aliens in Rose's time.

"Doctor? You in there?" Rose asked, looking at him worriedly, and it wasn't until then that he noticed he had been so caught up in his thoughts that he hadn't heard a word that might have been said.

"Yes, sorry. Just thinking. So, Pentellien was a bust then. Where to next?"

It was Jackie who answered. "You're taking me home. You're going to need more than one set of clothes."

He looked down at himself and nodded. Yes, he really would. He really didn't want to do shopping. It was much more domestic than this whole scenario was already getting. Had already gotten, if he thought a little harder about it. He didn't like that. It was too much of a reminder.

"Alright, off to the flat, and then where to?"

The two women stared at him. He stared back. It wasn't that it wasn't a question that needed answering right this second, but it would make him feel better to know that they were actually doing something productive to getting back into their own bodies.

Rose sighed and shrugged. "How about that small planet we went to with just the animals. You know, non humanoid, unable to speak using language...Somewhere in MX5 wasn't it?"

He frowned and thought about that. It was unlikely that they had picked anything up there, though he did notice sometimes Rose did things like pick grass or flowers to take back with her. Sometimes she even collected just the dirt form the ground as a souvenir.

"Lixan. What'd you pick up there?"

She blushed, looked down and said grass.

He loved people who liked travelling so much that they collected things from their visits. It showed enthusiasm. She kept most of the things on the TARDIS, except if it was a gift for her mum. Speaking of Jackie, he had a rather good idea why Rose would have chosen that place. There was nothing there that was threatening. Well, to anything bipedal anyway.

He nodded again. "Alright. First though London. Clothes for me and anything the two of you want you can collect."

With more of a plan in action now, they went into the console room and the Doctor took the controls and sent then to their destination.

Just like last time, the TARDIS landed without so much as a weak tremble, and in her usual spot outside Bucknall Place in the Powell Estate.

Hopefully now that Jackie knew a bit about what to expect of alien creatures, she would not be fainting any more.

Turning off the TARDIS's engines for a bit, he stepped outside and into the so familiar blue day of Earth in the 21st century.

The others followed behind him.

It was only now that this adventure would truly begin.