Disclaimer: Hmm... What do you think?
Right, you might get two updates here, if I manage to check through the last chapter (and I'm happy with it) in the next hour or so. Here's the penultimate chapter...
Chapter 22: Not Quite Goodbye
When Rose, the Doctor and Jaime walked in through the doors of the Tyler mansion later that day, they had no idea what would happen next. The Doctor stood to the side as Rose took Jamie in through the halls to his bedroom, where he slept off his exhausting past few months for the next few hours of daylight.
Jackie stumbled out of the living room just as Rose went upstairs, ran through the house to the front door and found the Doctor looking sheepish in the lobby. She flung her arms around him, much to his annoyance, but he didn't push her away all the same, just held her reluctantly as she muttered thanks, prayers and loving insults into his coat.
When Rose walked slowly back down the stairs, the Doctor grinned at her, and guided her mother away for her to instead wrap her arms around her daughter, mumbling with relief at her safety and well being. Rose laughed happily, but the mother and saughter parted as the door opened in front of them.
As Pete heaved himself in through the door, he didn't even remove his dirt-ridden coat before taking Jackie in his arms with relief, and they talked over each other as they reunited, both glad the other was okay, after only having talked once since the battle, over the phone.
The four of them eventually ended up in the Tylers' spacious living room, with Jackie and Pete sat together on on sofa, and the Doctor and Rose huddled together on the opposite one. After a moment of silence, Rose was the first to speak.
"So, how's Torchwood?" she asked, for fear of jumping into the conversation with "So, this is the Doctor." or "So, can we take Jamie and go travelling around the Universes with him?" and scaring her parents out of speech.
"It's... okay." Pete replied casually, his eyes not leaving the Doctor. "They're dealing with all the damage." There was another pause before Jackie's curiosity took over.
"So what happened?" she bursted out. "Are you the Doctor? Who was that other girl? And what about those aliens, hey? What was that about? Is Jamie okay?"
The Doctor's face suddenly grew blank. "Oh, Martha!" he realised. "I don't even know where she is!"
"Who's Martha?" Jackie asked protectively, and Rose rolled her eyes, embarrassed.
"D'you mean that new secretary?" Pete interrupted, and the Doctor nodded. "She's fine, she's helping clear up. I got away early to check on... everything."
"But you are the Doctor now?" Jackie checked.
"Yep." the Doctor said happily. "100 percent Time Lord. And the aliens are dealt with." he added brusquely.
"And..." Rose said quickly. "We wanted to talk to you. About Jaime." Pete and Jackie's eyes flickered up to meet the Doctor's, but he didn't speak. "The Doctor knows." Rose explained. "I-I had to tell 'him. It's his kid too."
"But is he okay? Where is he?" Jackie asked immediately.
"Upstairs. He's sleeping." Rose told her, and she breathed out with relief. "I put him to bed when we first came in. He's fine. All back to normal." She couldn't help but grin as she said so.
"And you're going back?" Jackie asked the two of them reluctantly, though already having guessed the answer.
"We're not sure." Rose asnwered truthfully, and Jackie's expression lightened. The Doctor nodded in agreement.
"But either way... Jamie should know." Pete told them. "Do you think?"
"Yeah." the Doctor said, while Rose and Jackie nodded. "I mean, he might even know already."
Rose turned to look at him, surprised. "How d'you mean?"
"Well," the Doctor began, shifting awkwardly. "He might only be five or six, but I reckon he might've worked out by now that he's different from other people. He'll be cleverer, for one -"
"Okay." Rose patted his leg before he could go into a full Doctor-style rant about how superior the Time Lord race was. "Okay, so we tell him?" She looked around the room and saw everyone nodding their heads in agreement.
"It's his right to know." Pete said firmly, and it wasn't mentioned again.
- - - - - - -
Half an hour later, after Jackie being forced to call Rose the minute Jamie woke up if they weren't back, she and the Doctor left the house together, hand in hand, and walked down the path towards the road.
"So..." Rose began, not knowing what to say now that everything else was almost sorted and it was just the two of them.
"I'm so glad I found you again." the Doctor told her gently, and they stopped just before the gate out of the mansion. Rose looked up into his eyes, not sure what would be the right thing to do, and finally settled on smiling. The Doctor grinned back, and so, pushing all her doubts aside, she stood up on her toes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.
As she pulled away, she felt his warm breath on her cheek, and kept eye contact with him as he lowered his lips slowly onto hers. Although in reality it was just for a second, the kiss seemed to go on forever before they parted and continued to walk down the path.
"Thank you." she said simply, as the walked, and the two of them shared a happy sideways glance as the Doctor took Rose's hand again and swung it through the air like a child. "For everything."
"And thank you." the Doctor replied earnestly. "I don't know how you managed the past few months."
Rose grinned. "Well, when you think you're going crazy, things like that are pretty easy to deal with."
"I'm sorry, about all this." he said, though Rose already knew.
"Don't be." she insisted, but he shook his head as they walked towards the Torchwood tower.
"I am. Really. I - I don't know how this all happened, and it shouldn't have. I don't... I don't know whether to be happy that I found you, or guilty that all of this happened to you."
"The first." Rose answered immediately.
"But, Rose, people have died. Mickey, Mickey died because of me. Helena, Suzie, Jeffrey, they died for me. All those explosions... So many people dead, because of me."
"Doctor, if it wasn't them, it would only have been someone else, some other time. Yes, I'm upset; yes, I miss Mickey, so much. But I've still got you, and you've still got me." Rose told him firmly, hoping that this wouldn't be one of the days she cried for Mickey.
- - - - - - -
When they reached the Torchwood building, the Doctor breathed out slowly. "Here we are." he said softly, and Rose squeezed his hand reassuringly.
"We don't have to stay." she promised. "We can just get Martha and go back to mum's."
The Doctor looked down at her with an inquisitive smile. "Just out of interest, why do you still live with Jackie? Not as if you can't afford your own place."
"Well, I s'pose I always meant to, but I never got round to it. Same goes for Mickey, though when he almost got married three years ago, he did move out. But then he moved back. I guess it's just easier. And it meant I could be around Jamie more." She took a deep breath. "So, you ready?"
The Doctor nodded once, and the two of them walked into the building together.
When they walked in through the doors, the place fell to an almost silence. Some of the workers that were cleaning up the debris glared hatefully at them, while others walked over and patted him on the back, giving him their thanks. Some men, such as the two men who had helped them with Jamie, just ignored them, keeping their heads down as they sorted through the weaponry and rubbish.
The Doctor and Rose looked all around the ground floor for Martha, but eventually found her on the first floor with Kate, helping to organise files, folders and other non-weapon items that had been damaged or broken in the battle into several piles. She was ordering someone about and carrying a heavy chunk of metal to a storage unit when she saw the Doctor through the open door. Her face lightened immediately, and she dropped the object carelessly to the floor and dashed over to him without hesitation.
The Doctor picked her up in his arms as she ran up to him, and Rose stepped away slightly, looking down at her feet. But as soon as she did so, the Doctor released Martha and closed the gap between her and himself.
"So, uh, Rose, this is Martha." he said uselessly, and Martha held out her hand. Rose took it reluctantly.
"Yeah," she told the Doctor, shaking Martha's hand firmly and then pulling away to hold his. "We've kind of met."
Martha smiled, and Rose bit her lip sheepishly. "Um, I'm sorry." the older woman said. "For all the hassle I gave you about him." She prodded the Doctor's side.
Martha waved away the apology. "Oh, forget it. I'm sorry I got us here in the first place, even if I'm not sure how. Though, it turned out not to be such a bad thing after all." She indicated to the two of them, then glanced back at the people working away behind her.
"What are we gonna do now?" Martha asked the Doctor nervously. "Are we goin' home?"
The Doctor looked at Rose. "We... haven't really decided yet. I can take you home, if you want, but... well, what do you want?" Martha was about to reply when she realised he was talking to Rose.
"I..." she began, taking her time to think about the question. "I think we should start again. As a proper family. At home."
While Martha frowned at the mention of a family, the Doctor's face fell slightly.
"So, here." he replied, trying not to grimace at the thought of mortgages and other domesticities. He felt Rose shake beside him and looked down to see her laughing.
"You're rubbish at hiding your feelings." she said. "Always have been. To me, anyway." She gave him a big grin, and said with no hesitation, "I want us to start again at home. Our home. In the stars."
The Doctor, finally realising what she meant, grinned back at her. "Really?" he checked, and she nodded.
"As long as mum and dad let us, and that's what Jamie wants, oh, and as long as we stay away from trouble until he's older," with this she raised her free hand and pointed threateningly at him. "I don't see what else should stop us."
The Doctor looked back to Martha. "Well, then, whatever you want, Martha Jones. I should probably be able to find some way to make sure we can come back to this Universe to visit, but then off we go, into the stars! What d'you think?"
"I think..." Martha began sadly. "That it's time I went home."
The Doctor nodded understandingly, though he couldn't hide his guilt and dissapointment. "You sure?"
"Yeah. You two are meant to be together. Even I can see that." Martha told them. "Listen, Doctor, I - I just wanna say, about last night. I would've said anything to get you to change."
"Yeah." the Doctor nodded, to save her the embarrassment of him knowing how she felt.
"I mean, I wasn't really -"
"No, not at all."
"And it was just -"
"It's fine."
Martha turned to Rose. "And... I'm happy for you." she said, though it pained her to say it. "You deserve each other."
"Thanks." Rose said happily.
"Doctor? Martha, Rose?" came a voice from inside the room. Kate had approached them nervously. "I just wanted to say good bye." she said shortly. "And thank you."
"I'm sorry." the Doctor replied, and Kate knew he was talking about Mickey. She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
The Doctor reached into his pocket and drew out the silver fob watch. "I would be honoured, Kate, if you would take this." He held it out to her.
"I-I couldn't." Kate refused, but the Doctor insisted.
"Kate, you saved our lives. Please. I don't need it."
She took the item reluctantly, then frowned. "I don't hear anything."
"No, it's just a watch now." the Doctor explained. "But you should keep it. To remember what you did for us. For all of us."
"Thank you." Kate said earnestly, then turned around, and walked away without another word.
"So, here we are, then." Rose said after the brief silence.
"There we are, yes." the Doctor agreed with a grin. "Martha, I guess, if you want to... I dunno, wait in the TARDIS, or here, or wherever. We'll be quick, I promise, just a quick trip to Rose's, and then I'll come and sort out the TARDIS and take you home. If -"
"Yeah, I'm sure." Martha interrupted before she could change her own mind. "You've shown me... more than I could have ever have imagined. It's time for me to go home." she repeated, and the Doctor nodded once more. "I'm gonna finish helping here." she said, gesturing to the mess in the massive room. "I'll meet you in the TARDIS in a few hours, okay?"
The Doctor grinned. "Okay then." he agreed, and Martha turned back to the room with a sigh.
- - - - - - -
Rose and the Doctor left the tower at a much faster pace then that they had entered with, and only stopped once they were well away from the building. They looked up at each other with expressions of pure amusement as they walked on down the path back to the mansion.
"Where is the TARDIS?" Rose asked suddenly. "Still in the middle of town where it was moved? Won't it look suspiscious there?"
"Rose, you know how it works. " the Doctor laughed. "Besides, what's going to happen to it there?"
Rose shrugged, and they walked back to the Tyler mansion hand in hand, laughing and joking about innapropriate graffiti on the TARDIS.
Do you know how hard it was to refrain from Martha-bashing then?
One chapter left. Then... The End.
Please review before reading on, if the next chapter's up! I still need the feedback!