She had jumped in after him, again. Why did she always have to jump in after him? Stupid decisions! Oh, who was she kidding, she always would jump after him. He could say 'jump', and she would say 'how high?' no matter the circumstances. She would follow him to the end of the universe, and she had on multiple occasions.

The problem this time was that when she had jumped after him, the rock she landed on had crumbled away beneath her. Delaying what would have otherwise been a quick subterranean investigation. She fell further into the crevice than they intended to go and had gotten thoroughly tangled in a sticky spider web, which had inadvertently alerted the nearby spidery creatures to their presence. There were thousands of them swarming the cavern below them, and now they had turned and were heading their way. She could have fought off three or four of them maybe, but thousands? And while stuck in a web? Impossible!

The fissure shook with another round of tremors, more rocks crumbled and fell, the area was quickly growing unstable. She looked up to her companion whose face had drained of color and mouth hung open. He attempted to scramble down to where she was, in an effort to protect her and help remove the constricting web. There was no way he could take on thousands of the badger sized creatures either. There has been many instances in their travels in which she had worried that her presence was diverting him from his intended timeline, but this was not one of those instances. She had an ace up her sleeve today.

Before he could sacrifice himself for her, again, she called to him through their comm link. "Wait! Stay where you are! Everything is going to be fine!"

"How can you say that?! We only have an hour and a half before this place collapses entirely!" Came his response.

Right at that instant, a familiar wheezing sound filled the cavern. The Tardis had materialized next to her. Its flashing, bright, disinfecting light shone into all the dark nooks and crannies around her. The creatures that didn't flee quickly enough started to shrivel and disintegrate, like the nasty giant germs that they were.

The Doctor opened the door partially, but stayed inside the protective boundaries of the Tardis's atmosphere. "Hello? Anyone there?... Rose stay back, there's no air out here."

"I knew you'd come!" She said before she realized that he couldn't hear her through the spacesuit she was wearing. Eye contact and a wink would have to suffice for right now.

With the creatures gone, she could focus her energy on wiggling her hand towards her sonic pen in the outer pocket of her spacesuit. A quick buzz from the sonic, and her web restraints dissolved. She retrieved the note that she had written upon learning where they were going that day and handed it to the bemused Doctor, who was still lingering in the doorway of the Tardis. Her companion jumped down on top of the police box with a loud thump and extended his hand down to her. When she took it, he hoisted her up onto the top of the Tardis as well. The two of them climbed out of the deteriorating fissure to rejoin the others and tell them of their discovery before it was too late.

...

The Doctor pulled the Tardis door closed and stood there with one eyebrow raised as he read a small scrap of paper. What had just transpired out there? He had blocked her view for the entire duration of the short interlude. The door was only open for a few minutes, that couldn't be right, could it? This was supposed to be important, she could feel it at her core. What about the paradox? What about the answers they were going to get? What about their future? Anxiety chipped away at her usual calm demeanor. Rose felt as though she might burst.

"What happened?! All that buildup for only 3 minutes?! Is that it?!"

"It certainly was… something… I believe this note is for you."

"Who was on the roof? Were we really inside the moon, like the Tardis monitor showed? You didn't even give them the chain back!"

"Heh, calm down! I think I know what's going on and it's all going to work out in the end... Read the note." His nonchalance only proved to aggravate her further.

"Another sodding letter?! Why so cryptic? Why won't someone just tell me what's going on?!"

"Yes, we were indeed inside the moon. Satisfied?… Now if you'll excuse me, I have some additional coordinates to enter."

"Ugh! Doctor!"

"Look, this whole thing is meant for you, Rose Tyler. I don't want to bollocks it up with my interpretation... You'll soon understand more about all of this than I do."

Exasperated, she unfolded the paper. It read:

My dearest Rose, thank you for coming! Apologies for the brevity of our encounter, but there was an urgent matter that I needed to attend to. I do need to speak with you face to face, however. There are a set of coordinates below, I will meet you there shortly. Bring the chain!

"This isn't some sort of wild goose chase is it?"

The Doctor shook his head no, as he piloted the Tardis to the location indicated in the note. The ship landed with a mild shutter, and the Doctor crossed his arms and leaned back on the console, sporting a smug smile. "Go on then." He nodded toward the doors.

"You're not coming with me?"

"Nope… There's nothing dangerous out there. Weeelllll, nothing too dangerous anyway." He looked pleased with himself, as though he had just made a joke that no one else had gotten.

"And you trust me to do this alone, yeah?"

Affection chased away some of the smug in his expression, he walked over to her and placed his hands on both of her shoulders. His face was close to hers so that she could see and feel his sincerity. "Rose, believe me when I say that I trust you more than I trust myself. And I would never ever send you into harm's way alone."

The Tardis hummed her own brand of reassurance as the Doctor kissed her forehead softly. With a creak the door opened on its own, prompting Rose to go out and face her destiny.