Chapter Six

19 September, 12:00pm

Someone was holding her hand. She could feel the weight of it through the swirling memories that troubled her uneasy sleep. It wasn't the Doctor. While his temperature was a bit warmer than his other self, it was still cooler than a human's, and his fingers were long and delicate—an artist's hands. Rose tried to open her eyes; they were heavy, as if they were steel bulkheads instead of flaps of skin. The memories clamored, plucking at her, trying to draw her back down into sleep. She shrugged them off and tried again. Cracks of light appeared, widened, and blinded her. She blinked as she tried to focus. Blurs of color swam in front of her face. Slowly they stilled and sharpened.

"Mum?" Her voice was weak and crackly.

Her mother gasped and pulled her into a tight hug. "Rose! You're awake! Pete!" Jackie called. "She's awake!"

Her father was there in a flash. He looked tired, Rose noted, but the smile that lit his face was genuine. "Welcome back," he said quietly, and hugged her a great deal more gently than her mother had a moment ago.
Rose tried to speak again but failed. She cleared her throat. "The Doctor?"

Jackie glanced at Pete, who nodded. "He's on his way," her mother replied. "He did it, Rose. He found a cure." She snorted. "And he didn't even get properly sick!"

"Just one advantage of being not-quite human, Jackie." The Doctor's voice drifted out from behind her mother. And then he was sitting on her bed and her parents withdrew, giving them as much privacy as they could get in what amounted to a hospital ward.

"Hello," she said, smiling.

"Hello." He smiled back and cupped her cheek in one of his long-fingered hands. "You gave us quite a scare." His voice was soft.

"Can't go dying yet," she attempted a joke. "Someone's gotta look after you, y'daft alien. Can't even operate a washing machine."

He dropped a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Get some rest, Rose. I'll be here."

"How long?" She murmured, on the verge of sleep all ready. Who knew talking could be so wearying?

"Forever." He whispered as her eyes drifted shut. "Forever."

23 September, 3:00pm

The Doctor sighed as he leaned back in the chair and put his feet up on the desk. His desk. His desk in his office at Torchwood. Would wonders never cease? Rose had been right, he realized, before the space ship crashed. This Torchwood wasn't the same as the one in their first universe. Unlike Yvonne Hartman, Peter Tyler would listen to him. Still—he had an office: a proper office with a desk and a book case and windows overlooking the Thames, and soon enough he'd have a proper house, or at least a proper flat. Blimey. The last time he'd had anything so...domestic for any length of time had been when the Family was pursuing him. His lips tightened into a thin line as he remembered. Then he shook his head and a smile spread across his face. He would have a proper house—with Rose. Nothing with her could ever be domestic, not really. It would be fantastic.

30 September, 4:30pm

Rose dropped her black jacket on the floor next to the loveseat and slid onto the cushions wearily. The Doctor sat next to her. He still wore his dark suit jacket and tie. He took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers, and she gave him a weak smile.

"You'd think I'd be used to funerals by now," she murmured.

He shook his head. "No one gets used to funerals, Rose. Not even me. And I've seen a lot more than you have." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She leaned against his chest and closed her eyes. Gently he stroked her hair and kissed her lightly on the top of her head. She sighed.

"They were good people."

"I know." He smiled. "You'd only work with the best."

"Learned it from you," she replied with a smile, her eyes still closed. It was strange, listening to the sound of his single heart beating, but soothing. They sat for a moment, drawing comfort from each other, until someone knocked on the door.

Jackie opened the door to Rose's rooms and stuck her head inside. "Ten minute warning, you two. The rest will be here soon."

"We're coming, Mum," Rose called back to her. She nodded and closed the door. Rose sighed and straightened. "We'd best get out there."

"We've got ten minutes before they coming looking for us," the Doctor pointed out.

Rose arched an eyebrow. "What were you thinking?"

He slid a hand behind her head, leaned in close, and kissed her. He tried to put all his reassurance and love for her into the gentle movements of his lips on hers. One of her hands crept up behind his neck while the other circled his shoulders. She copied his actions, exploring, caressing. He twined his fingers in her hair, reveling at the softness of her lips and the feel of the blonde strands between his fingers. She pressed herself close to him and he could feel the buttons of her shirt through the thin fabric of his own. He was slightly disappointed when she pulled away, but he noted with some satisfaction that she was breathing more heavily than when they started. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to counteract his mussing.

"That was nice," she said.

He nodded. "I thought so myself."

Martha hesitated for a moment before she knocked on the imposing double doors of the Tyler Mansion. At the funeral Rose had invited everyone back to her family's house, citing a traditional gathering after the death of a field agent. They were a tight-knit group, and they felt the loss of one of their own keenly. She understood, but she still felt like an outsider. The sickness had left her with little time to get to know the people she would be working with. Actually, she realized, she hadn't been introduced to anyone besides Rose, Jake, and the Doctor.

The woman who sat with Rose at the hospital—her mother, Martha remembered the Doctor saying, opened the door. "You must be Martha Milligan!" Jackie said, and ushered her inside. "Second door on your left, everyone else is here."

Martha did as she was told, and opened the door on a room that was bustling, if subdued. Rose and the Doctor were talking with a small Asian woman and a tall man with blue eyes and brown hair. Jake was giving Rose's younger brother a ride on his shoulders, and a tall, slender woman with brown eyes and brown hair was talking quietly with Rose's father and a short stocky man with green eyes. A young man with short black hair and brown eyes watched the others with an unfathomable expression on his face.

"There's Martha," she heard Rose say. The other woman smiled at her as she came to greet her.

"You're looking better," Martha observed.

Rose nodded. "Thanks. First day back tomorrow."

"Me too."

"Right, introductions are in order." Rose beckoned and the others formed a half-circle around them. "This is the lovely and incredibly brilliant Toshiko Santo," she said, motioning to the Asian woman, who smiled politely. "She's our field tech."

"She's almost as smart as me," the Doctor interjected.

Rose rolled her eyes. "High praise," she assured the other woman. "Next to her is Dominic Cross," the tall man with blue eyes and brown hair. "He's moving to the other team so we can have two operating and get a day off every-so-often. You've met Jake, he's going to take over Derek's team." He nodded and waved a greeting at Martha, with Tony smiling down from his perch. "Estelle Bordeaux," the woman with brown hair and brown eyes, "and Arthur Llwellyn," the green-eyed man, "are on that team as well. And this is Ianto Jones." She motioned to the lost-looking young man. "I don't know what we would do without him, which just leaves my father: Peter Tyler."

"Call me Pete." Her father insisted, and shook Martha's hand. "Welcome aboard, Doctor Milligan."

"Martha, please," she insisted.

He nodded, and sighed. "I wish our gathering was for a happier reason." He glanced around the room as faces slipped back into the serious expressions they wore earlier. "They were good people, and it was an honor to work with them."

They ate supper together in the large dining room. Martha listened more than she talked. It was a strange place, this Torchwood Institute. Pete didn't act like any supervisor she ever had, and Jackie took the place of everyone's mother. She made sure that people had enough food and actually ate it instead of pushing it around on their plates. She scolded Tony, who seemed to know everyone at the table, and visited each of them before he would settle into his own seat and clean his plate. Rose and the Doctor sat next to Ianto Jones and seemed to be paying special attention to him.

Dominic noticed where she was looking. "Lisa Hallet, his fiancée, was one of the agents who died," he said quietly.

"Oh." She thought about Tom, so far away in Africa. If he died she would be heart broken. "I'm sorry. That's terrible."

"Yeah." They were quiet for a moment. "So, how did you end up here?"

"Here?" she asked.

"You know, working for Torchwood."

Martha shrugged. "Same way as everyone else—I applied for a position. Of course, I didn't know it was Torchwood then."

"Yeah, but why did you decide to accept after you found out?" He was quite persistent.

She frowned. "I don't know. It sounded interesting."

"There's more than that," he replied.

"How do you mean?" She was starting to get a little irritated.

"Everyone comes to Torchwood for a reason," Arthur said from her other side. "My sister was killed by an alien, we call them weevils. They labeled her death an accident, but I didn't believe them, so I kept digging. Eventually my research led me here, and the offered me a job."

"I'm sixth generation Torchwood," Dominic said with obvious pride. "My older sister runs Torchwood four over in Belfast, I've got a cousin in Torchwood three in Cardiff, and my younger brother—the black sheep of the family—works for UNIT. So what about you?"

Martha shrugged. "My cousin Addy works in the Tech squad, apparently. She told me the position was open and I should apply. Ever since Lumic went mad I've wondered how much the government isn't telling us. And then those two," she nodded at the Doctor and Rose, "made me curious."

Arthur and Dominic shared a look of mutual understanding. "They're a bit odd," Arthur began.

"Driven is more like it," Dominic interrupted. "Don't get between Commander Tyler and something she wants. It will end badly for you."

"Commander?" Martha asked, confused.

"She runs the London branch of Torchwood," Arthur supplied.

"I thought her father did."

He shook his head. "Pete's the director. He deals with the government and organizing the different branches. She deals with the day-to-day details."

"Is she any good?"

Both men raised their eyebrows at her. "There's a reason she's Commander," Dominic replied. "And it has nothing to do with her family."

"You're in good hands," Arthur assured her.

Rose stood in front of the mirror in her rooms after the rest of the Torchwood crew left for the night. She studied herself in the glass's reflection. She looked older, but better than she had when they first arrived. The dark circles under her eyes were gone, and her face was losing some of its previous angularity. Although she was emotionally drained from the events of the past few days, she felt more alive now than she had in six long years. The Doctor walked behind her and wrapped his arms around. He rested his chin on top of her head and smiled.

"You're beautiful," he murmured.

She leaned into him. "So are you."

He bent so his mouth was next to her ear. "I love you, Rose Tyler."

She shivered at the feel of his breath on her neck. She loved how he said her name—the way his lips formed the words, like he was tasting them, like they were tangible. She turned so that she was facing him, looking into his eyes. "I love you, my Doctor," she responded, and kissed him soundly.

Fin.

A/N: And that's a wrap! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed! If you liked what you read, then feel free to check back next week for my next effort in this series, to be titled "Sensible Shoes." It's going to be just a little bit lighter than this one was. I originally meant for it to be a longer one-shot, but I think organizing the different events into episodes makes it more understandable. I'm also going to be trying to post regularly on Monday mornings (8-9am USC) as work and school are taking away from my fanfiction time.

~Izzy