Disclaimer: Maybe in a Parallel Universe. Possibly. If I'm lucky. Okay, very lucky. Really, really, overly, extremely lucky.

Well, I did tell you my updates would be more frequent, but this time, you can thank Braceface Freak, who wanted me to put up another chapter before she went on holiday (have a good time! Lucky devil...).
Oh, and something I forgot to mention in chapter 8's A/N: Uh, yeah, bascially forget about anything that happened in the finale of series 4 Doctor Who. 'Cause I'm pretty sure I've already called Tony 'Jamie', and, well, have you seen any duplicate!Doctor's running around the place, looking for their glasses?
Oh, and chapter 9? :grins manically: You'll either love it or hate it. A new ship arises out of the dust. Please welcome it before killing me.

NTMR:
-Uh, you don't sound very pleased with my Jamie plan. I'd like to say "Fair enough, I'll change it." but the story kind of depends on it. Sorry. Please don't kill me. But other than that, thanks for the support!

Chapter 9: Not Quite The Perfect Romance

Rose paced up and down the white gleaming floor of her office, biting her nails nervously as she waited for the doors to open. She had gone through the situation a thousand times in her head, but still didn't know if it was the right decision to make.

Should she ask him? Should she really ask him to the dinner? What if it was too awkward? What if he was too much like the Doctor? Or what if she had a great time, and then felt guilty because he wasn't the Doctor? Of course, this was all based on whether or not he said yes, and if he didn't, what would she do then?

Her thoughts were interrupted as the office double doors flew open, and she looked up blankly to see John, sauntering in casually in jeans, red converse, and a brown jacket.

"Morning!" he said brightly. "I took your fashion tips; you're right, no one here wears suits." He walked across the room to her and she dropped her arms to her waist. Taking a deep breath, she made her decision.

"Yeah, hi." she began, her voice shaking slightly. She hid her hands behind her back in the hope that they wouldn't be shaking too wildly, though she felt like fireworks were going off inside her.

"Uh, you - you know the anual company dinner party?" she asked him, faking a casual smile as he nodded. "Well, it's this Tuesday, and I…well, I was wondering -" she broke off and he raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"I have to go." she started again. "Y'know, since I'm the boss's daughter and that. And uh, well, are you going?"

John opened his mouth, taken by surprise at the question. "I - I was going to, yes. I suppose I should."

"Good." Rose said quickly, and swallowed the lump that was gradually forming at the back of her throat. "So I was thinking that…maybe, if you're not already going with someone, just that, if you'd maybe…"

"Go with you?" John finished for her, a small smile playing on his lips. Rose smiled, relieved.

"Yeah." she shrugged, in an attempt to seem nonchalant.

"Yeah." John nodded, and Rose paused, waiting for the answer, before realising it had already been given.

"Yes? That's…a yes? You will?" she asked him, surprised. His face broke into a grin.

"Yeah, why not?" he grinned at her, and she smiled back, overjoyed.

"Great!" she laughed. "That's…good! Can't wait!"

"Me neither." John agreed, and the two looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"So, have you met our new colleague?" John asked suddenly, and Rose remembered what Pete had been saying a few nights previously.

"No. It's Ianto, right? Ianto…Jones?"

"Yeah. I met him a few days ago. He's a nice guy." John told her, and she nodded.

"Good." Rose replied awkwardly, at a loss for anything else to say.

There was a second pause, while John sat back into a chair in the centre of the room, and Rose watched him interestedly, fiddling with her bitten nails and trying furiously to think of something to say.

"Um, I asked dad - uh, Mr Tyler - about field work." she started, pulling up a chair a couple of metres away from John. "But he says UNIT's taken all the cases. So there's not much to do."

"Ah, right." he replied, nodding. "Well, I was wondering…" he paused, contemplating whether or not to continue. "My dreams…I've uh, I've had quite a few more. And I've written them down, in the form of fiction. Well, I brought it along, today." He looked up to Rose briefly, his cheeks tinged ever so slightly pink, and reached into his jacket pocket. "I don't know if you'd be interested - you may not, I mean, you probably -"

"I'd be very interested." Rose cut him off, and he smiled, relieved.

"Really? Right, well, it's…" he trailed off, pulling a leather-bound book from his inside pocket, and Rose dragged her chair across to sit by him, a screech echoing in the room as the legs were pulled along the floor.

"'A Journal Of Impossible Things'." Rose read off the front cover, leaning in slightly to see the room. John opened the book to the first page, and Rose's jaw dropped slightly, intrigued by the drawings and scratchy writing on the page.

"This is where it all begins." John informed her. "A burning city. I don't remember the name."

Rose skimmed over the text, picking out odd words as John talked. She thought better of correcting 'city' to 'planet'.

"And here," he continued, flicking the page over. "The Doctor, uh, he met you. Looking, as I said, quite different. And these creatures - living plastic."

Rose touched the drawing of the Auton gently, fascinated by the accuracy of John's 'dreams' to her own travels, and enchanted by the beautiful drawings. For a second, she forgot the Doctor and became absorbed in the pictures.

"Where did you learn to draw?" she breathed, not lifting her gaze from the book.

"Gallifrey." he said, as if on impulse, and she froze, looking up to him with wide eyes. He was frowning, but seemed unperturbed. "Hm, must be in Ireland." he added, not any where near as concerned as Rose. Her worries were diminished, however, as John began to explain his book again, turning the page once again.

"This is the box - the blue box." he told her, pointing to a drawing of the TARDIS. "This funny little box that transports me to far away places. And these ghosts were aliens, feeding off gas." he informed her. "Terrifying things. Oh, and this creature here: it's from the most absurd planet - 'Raxi-', uh, 'Raxicon-' - well, a very long name indeed." he finished lamely.

"Raxicoricophallapatorius." Rose spoke, pretending to read the word off the page, and John laughed.

"Yes, exactly! Then there are these children, wearing gas masks, and this character, uh, Captain Jack Harknell, I think." Rose smirked at Jack's supposed name, but John didn't notice, too absorbed in his dreams. "And here…the Doctor changed his face; his whole body. It's…ludicrous." Rose smiled peacefully at the ink drawing of 'her' Doctor - or John, depending on which way you looked at it - on the page.

"But, he's the same man. So they keep travelling - they meet Queen Victoria, and go to parallel worlds," - Rose bit her lip and felt her heart skip a beat - "And fight against more aliens. And then…" John's tone grew softer and sadder. "Then, I - uh, the Doctor, I mean - he loses you, I'm sorry to say. It's all a bit of a blur, but the Dalek creatures, and the Cyber-forms, they take you away from him. In this very building, actually, I believe, in that room up the top." Rose felt tears forcing their way into her eyes, but continued to stare at the book, glancing over the phrases and words written around the Dalek and Cybermen drawings.

"And he travels again…on his own for a while. But he's not the same. He's…" John trailed off, clearing his throat, but Rose couldn't help but wish he'd finish the sentence.

Then John flicked over the page and Rose's breath caught in her throat.

"Is that me?" she breathed out, leaning in and pouring over the image. John looked around her head at the picture.

"Yes." he smiled. "I believe so."

Rose didn't answer for a moment, entranced by the black and white copy of herself. She brushed her fingers over the coarse paper lightly, and only broke her gaze from the image to look at the surrounding writing.

She picked out a number of phrases in the scribbled writing: 'Gone', 'I know her', 'Want to find her'; and one phrase that stuck out to her the most, 'In my dreams, she will not answer me, and she keeps walking away'. She blinked furiously, willing the tears away from her eyes, and tried to laugh them off.

"You've made me way too pretty." she smiled, turning to face him for a second, not long enough for him to have seen the tears forming in her eyes. She looked back to the page and her hair flew in front of John's face. He breathed in slowly, smelling the sweet aroma of her hair as she traced around the image with her index finger. Suddenly, she pulled away, looking straight to John. He smiled.

"Well, that's how I see you." he told her, looking directly into her eyes.

Then, without realising it, they were facing each other. The Journal fell from John's hands to the floor, forgotten, as was any air of the Doctor around John. He gazed into Rose's eyes in a way the Doctor would never have done, and for her, despite anything telling her otherwise, that was proof enough that John was a completely different man. Rose's faked smile dropped slightly, as she was overcome by an urge to kiss John, there and then.

She felt guilty, but it seemed right, and as John leaned in, she did the same. His lips brushed hers gently, just for a second, and he seemed to pull away, embarrassed for his actions. But then Rose leaned forwards and pulled him back towards her, and he placed his hand on her waist delicately, letting himself fall into the kiss with ease. His tongue grazed across her teeth, and she reached one hand up to his face, barely touching his smooth skin before diving her dainty fingers into his hair, sinking into the kiss blissfully.

A loud thud broke them apart instantly, and John looked up to the door, while Rose glanced down, feeling the heat on her cheeks. She heard a gasp from the doorway, and looked up to see Martha Jones standing by the double doors, her mouth open.

"Martha!" John spoke immediately, surprised and shocked. "You shouldn't be up here!" he told her, and she rushed from the room with wide eyes and a choked breath.

Outside the office, Martha leant against the wall, breathing rapidly, a thousand different things running through her mind. She pulled herself upright, still leaning against the wall, and rested her head on the cool panel.

"That wasn't on the list." she said to herself, sadly, and felt tears creeping up into her eyes as she ran down the stairs through the building.

- - - - - - -

Jamie laughed to himself as he swung himself down a short pole in the play area. Jackie smiled from the bench at his happy grin, then turned away, talking into her phone as she rifled through her large bag for the car keys.

"I know!" she was saying incredulously. "And they were 40 percent off!" She paused, waiting for her friend to reply. "Hey, I might be married to a millionaire, but I can still enjoy the sales!" she laughed, not noticing the tall figure making its way into the playground.

Suzie Costello moved inhumanly towards the boy, in the dim light of the evening.

"Suzie!" Jamie cried, jumping off the mini climbing wall and running towards her. She smiled welcomingly, but Jamie looked back nervously to Jackie, who hadn't yet noticed the woman. He looked back to Suzie, who had moved to a spot behind the playing apparatus, out of Jackie's sight.

"Mum says I shouldn't talk to you." Jamie said reluctantly, moving slowly over to Suzie.

"Why not?" Suzie asked, bending down to the boy's level. She gave a long sniff, flaring her nostrils out in an attempt to pick up the Doctor's scent.

"You've got a cold." Jamie told her unhelpfully.

"Why does she say not to talk to me?" Suzie asked again, ignoring Jamie's comment.

"'Cause I told you about Mickey and Rose, when I was waiting for her at Torchwood. An' I'm not supposed to."

Suzie faked an amused smile. "Why ever not?"

"'Cause they're secrets." Jamie said proudly.

"Tell me." Suzie instructed him, and her eyes widened madly. Jamie glanced through a hole in the climbing wall to Jackie, who was still rooting through her bag and talking on her phone.

"Tell me about your sister, Jamie." she continued, grabbing his arm and forcing him to face her.

"I should go." Jamie said, scared, and Suzie slackened her grip slightly.

"If you tell me about her spaceship again, I can show you a real one." she said, her eyes glittering, like an animal entrancing its prey.

Jamie looked back through the hole at Jackie, who was putting he phone into the bag, but Suzie prevented him from returning to her. He looked back to her.

"Let go." he said, but Suzie ignored him.

"It's big, and invisible, but I could take you inside -"

"Jamie?" the two heard from behind the climbing wall. Jackie had stood up and was looking around with confusion. Suzie dragged him further behind the wall and clamped a hand over his mouth, muffling the sound as he cried out.

"- and show you my friends. D'you want to see a spaceship, Jamie?" she smiled sinisterly. Jamie shook his head, tears falling down his cheeks, but Suzie ignored his reply. "It'll only take a minute."

"Jamie, where are you?" Jackie called again, more frantically, and the cries echoed around her in the empty park and street.

"Come on Jamie. Let's go and see a spaceship." she told the child, and led him away, still clutching his arm firmly. When they were completely out of Jackie's sight, Suzie lifted Jamie over her shoulder, not reacting to his struggles, and carried him into the approaching darkness.

"Jamie?" Jackie could still be heard, yelling hysterically into the night. "Oh my God, Jamie?!"

- - - - - - -

The curtains blew softly in the breeze, letting a gentle wind into the bedroom as John tossed and turned in his sleep. His dreams still haunted his nights, but now they were different; filled with rage and violence. His face contorted with pain as a memory took form in his mind.

Water drips down from above and sprays his face. The place is flooding, but he doesn't move. He's angry and sad, and for the first time, he wants to kill.
"Doctor!" a voice rings out below him. He looks down. Donna Noble, in her wedding dress, is looking up at him, distressed and afraid. "You can stop now!"
The Doctor looks back up at the Racnoss gravely. The water cascades down the tunnel into the centre of the Earth, destroying her children. He's a murderer. But he can't stop.

John breathed in and out heavily, wishing the dreams away, and another image erupted in his mind.

It's cold. But it can't be, because the moon has no atmosphere. He's gazing across the craters with Dr Martha Jones. Then he's lying on a hospital floor, drained of blood. He's dying, but Martha saves him.

The image fades into another. Daleks fill the night skies of Hooverville, and the Doctor can only scream. He shouts out, angry, but so afraid. He orders them to kill him, and he feels so alive.

A fourth image forms. The sun's alive. He can feel it. He's burning up; he could kill everyone, and he wants to. He has to be strong, but he's scared. Martha's there, and she saves him once more.

Then it's 2007. He's running because he has to escape. The chase is on; the Family are so close. He's in the TARDIS with Martha. He's screaming out with pain, and she's terrified for him. His head feels like it should explode. Every cell in his body is being changed. He's in unbearable pain, and he's scared, so scared.

John sat bolt upright in his bed, breathing deeply and rapidly in the night. He brought his hands down to his sides and closed his eyes for a second, willing away the images in his mind. Glancing to the clock, he saw that it was the dead of the night, and he let himself sink back down into the bed. He gazed lovingly at the sleeping figure beside him before he himself slipped into a deep sleep, this time interrupted only by his own desire to watch Rose sleep peacefully into the night.

Okay, so you can decide for yourselves what was going on: a) between Rose and John (have fun), and b) in my head when I wrote this. Though you may not want to know (b) so much.

Yes, I may have slightly killed off Jamie. And yes, I may have slightly made John and Rose 'a little more than friends'. But remember now, torches and pitchforks down before you review. I want no violence. Though you are welcome to yell. Using Caps Lock, of course.
Oh, and I'd especially like people's opinions on the kiss scene, since I've never really written one before and I'm not too good at that kind of thing.