A/N: Remember when I said this was going to be three chapters? It's four now. Sorry if that has given any of you crushing trust issues but sometimes that is just how life plays out, okay?

Also I am super grateful for every review and follow this story has received so thank you to all you wonderful humans. Sorry about the delay but real life is all up in my grill still. Hopefully the next chapter will be a bit more speedy.

There's Quite Possibly Going To Be A Murder

There was a moment where their eyes met and all the arguments and sniping of the past fell away. If there was one thing, in this universe or the next, that the Doctor and Jackie agreed on, it was Rose and her being safe was something they would both give their lives to ensure.

"What do you mean?" Jackie asked frantically. "How do you know? Who by? Is she okay? Doctor, what's hap-"

"Jackie, please," the Doctor said as steadily as he could. Unable to sit still, he jumped up, sending Rose the Dog scarpering into the kitchen and began pacing. "She sent me this." He handed the phone to her. "A code 63 in Torchwood is kidnap but I can't get anything else from that message than that."

Already his mind was racing. Previous cases she'd had that had ended in her being threatened... People who already had a grudge against him... Hostile aliens they had encountered in this universe... It all swirled around, keeping the panic at bay but not making any sense. He tried desperately to remember if Rose had mentioned anything to him this morning before she left that could be important. Any case she was working on, a new partner, a piece of alien tech she wanted him to investigate - anything that could help him.

"What does this last bit mean?" The Doctor whirled around and saw Jackie holding the phone out to him. She looked just as distressed as he felt. "Is that more Torchwood talk?"

In two strides the Doctor was across the room and rereading the text he had already memorised. "No, it isn't," he said. "It's just nonsense. Maybe... maybe she was caught with her phone and sent it early? She could've pressed extra buttons in a struggle?" Even as he spoke the scene played out in his head. He knew Rose. There was no way she would go down without a fight. But he knew enough kidnappers to know how well they usually fought back.

Some part of him heard Jackie gasp, but he had snatched the phone from her hand before he realised he should probably at least make an effort to keep her calm. He hit the redial button and turned back to her, pasting a smile on his face for good measure. "This is Rose, Jackie," he said softly. "She can handle herself."

Jackie sniffed and nodded. The Doctor tried to think of something else comforting to say as he waited for the call to connect but the words just weren't coming. This was as much his worst nightmare as it was hers.

"Is she answering?" she asked, hugging herself.

The Doctor shook his head as he lowered the phone. "It's turned off."

And, just like that, things became very simple indeed.

"Right," he said, pocketing the phone. "I'm going to get her."

Without another word he marched over to the hall cupboard, leaving Jackie gawping after him.

If Rose had used her one chance of reaching someone to send him half a message then something was seriously wrong. She trusted her Torchwood colleagues having been in almost as many dangerous situations with them as she had with him and she had been overly protective of him since he had become human. It had frustrated him at first but, looking back, after spending 900 years being virtually indestructible and flinging himself into peril without a second thought, it was easy to forget that something as harmless as radiation or a bullet could actually kill him. Even now, trapped with a killer, she was trying to keep him safe by giving no hint at her location or kidnapper.

It was the way the text had ended that set him on edge the most. As his own hands fumbled over random objects in the cupboard he could picture Rose's frantically typing while a shadowy figure tried to restrain her. Had she been hurt for trying to alert someone? Was that the last time he'd ever have any contact with her? A unfinished call for assistance that he was too stupid to work out and she believed him too fragile to give?

"Doctor?"

Jackie's voice barely broke through his thoughts and it wasn't until she she grabbed his upper arm that he noticed he was shaking.

"How can we save Rose?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "We don't know where she is, do we?

"Oh, Jackie Tyler, I'm hurt," he breathed, pulling out a small device that looked a lot like an old Game Boy with an antenna attached to the top. Mainly because it was an old Game Boy with an antenna attached to the top. "You should have more faith in me by now."

She gave the Game Boy a glance and then him a shake. "Now is not the time for somduku! My daughter is in trouble, you backwards alien-"

"Jackie!" he said sharply. He gripped her shoulders in the hopes it would stop her violent tendencies. It may have been two bodies ago, but the ghost of that slap still haunted him. "It's not actually a Game Boy."

"It says Game Boy on it."

"Granted, it was a Game Boy, but I fiddled with it," the Doctor told her proudly. "Now it tracks both my and Rose's mobiles, even when they're turned off." He flipped the device and caught it again. "Of course, it still plays Mario and Pokemon. It would've been stupid to have ruined it."

"So this thing can find Rose?"

The Doctor nodded. "Well, it can find her phone and that's a start."

"Brilliant!" Jackie cried. She pulled him into hug that he tried to resist, but still managed to end up with a mouthful of hair and a very near miss for his neck. "I'll just get my coat."

The Doctor, still recovering from hug-induced whiplash and Jackie's perfume assaulting his nostrils, didn't notice what had been said until she had already scurried away from him. "What?"

"It's a bit nippy outside."

"What?"

"Want me to grab yours while I'm there?"

"What?"

Comprehension was still dawning on him when Jackie reemerged, wrapped up in her coat. "Lucky I picked up my black one, innit? Better for camouflage and all that."

"Sorry," the Doctor said, rubbing his eyes, "but why are you wearing your coat?"

She gave him a look that clearly implied that she'd thought he'd gone mad. "Because Rose is in trouble, Doctor. Remember?"

He could feel the weight of his phone that carried the message from Rose in his pocket and hear the echoes of her laughter ringing through the flat. His whole body tensed. "Of course I remember," he bit out. "Doesn't explain your coat."

"Well, I'm coming with you, ain't I?"

Rose kidnapped. Jackie volunteering to come on a mission with him. Maybe Rose had been right last week? Maybe eating three sharer bags of Skittles before bed could cause hallucinations? The Doctor pinched himself, hoping the same rules applied with all kind of subconscious mockery.

"Ow."

"What did you do that for? You're such a muppet sometimes."

Jackie was still staring at him intently. Apparently this was reality and everything in his life was going horribly wrong.

"C'mon, then," Jackie said. "I'll drive."

It couldn't hurt to check again though, could it? Much harder to make sure?

"Ow!"

"Why do you keep doing that for?"

"Jackie, you seem to be under the impression that you are coming with me," the Doctor said as delicately as he could. By most people's standards it was all out rude but, for him, it was nigh on polite. Being part Donna was sometimes a blessing as well as a curse.

"'Course I'm coming. She's my daughter! Can't just sit here and twiddle my thumbs, can I?"

Inside of his still magnificent despite being part-human brain, a thousand reasons why Jackie should indeed sit there and a twiddle her thumbs - perhaps get some knitting done as well, if she felt so inclined - bounced around. Everything from "you're too emotionally involved" to "someone has to look after Rose the Dog" and even "teaming up with a completely mental part-human Dalek was a happier prospect than this" seemed worthy of being his main reason. Unfortunately, his still magnificent despite being part-human mouth wasn't keeping up with his brain.

"Wha- No. Just - no. No. No, no, no. Not happening." He took Jackie by the shoulders, spun her around and walked her back into the living room. "I'll let you know when I've got Rose. I'll bring her straight back here even so you can check she's in tip-top condition as well."

The Doctor smiled as he talked over Jackie's splutters. Anything other than Rose being fine was unthinkable. If he truly believed in his singular heart that she was absolutely fine, then she would be. He'd even decided that he and Rose would not becoming directly back to flat like he had promised Jackie. It would, of course, be their second stop, after a quick(ish) detour that would involve some amazing reunion snogging, possibly with some victory groping thrown in. It depended on how it all went down, obviously.

"You can't just leave me here!" Jackie protested as she reached the sofa.

"Can and will," insisted the Doctor. He pulled the altered Game Boy from his pocket and began setting up the tracking system. He'd wasted enough time as it was. When the co-ordinates were locked in and the device was safely back in his jacket, Jackie prodded him in the shoulder.

"You are not going after her alone," she growled. "No chance."

The Doctor would have been a liar if he said he tried to restrain himself before laughing at the idea that he, the Oncoming Storm, Last of the Time Lords (sort of), needed an escort from anyone, let alone Jackie Tyler.

"Jackie," he chuckled, "I've been doing this since before your Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Grandma was just a twinkle in your Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Great Granddad's eye."

"And how many times have you messed it up, eh?" she glowered. "Besides, my daughter wasn't involved then. It's different."

There was something about that the steely glint in Jackie's eye that terrified the Doctor. He'd seen it time and time again, across species at either end of the universe; nothing stood between a parent and their child. It was time for a different tactic.

"Please, Jackie," he said softly. "I'll be faster on my own. The sooner I sort this out, the sooner Rose will be home."

For a second, the hardened matriarch flickered, revealing the worry and the panic, but Jackie Tyler hadn't got this far in life without hiding her weaknesses well. Her face set into a determined expression and she trooped towards the front door without sparing the Doctor another glance.

"Tylers," the Doctor hissed before quickly checking Rose the Dog had something to eat and drink and then chasing after Jackie down the stairs. "Jackie! Wait!"

She was already on the floor below and didn't look back as she replied. "If you're still trying to stop me then you can save your breath!"

He was taking the stairs two at a time and she was still somehow miles ahead of him. "Jackie, I am a trained professional and-"

"Ha!" she shouted back. "I've heard all about your training from Pete, I have. You barely finished basic and was kicked out half your modules!"

It was a valid point. If it wasn't for his unparalleled knowledge of, well, everything, then there would be no way he'd be allowed on Torchwood property, let alone be on the payroll. If he was on the payroll. He really had to look into that.

"I've still got nine hundred years of experience!" he reminded, deciding it was best not to linger too long on his attempts at Torchwood training. It'd only end in Jackie bringing up the incident with the chickens again and he'd waste precious Rose Saving time insisting on his innocence.

"You're about six months old and probably need adult supervision," Jackie contradicted. She flashed him a sweet smile as she pushed open to the door to the building's underground car park.

"Ten months," he reminded her, giving chase, "and if one of us in need of appropriate care, it's you."

Jackie rummaged in her bag for her keys. "Oh haha."

"Don't laugh too hard. You might have an accident."

There was bleeping noise and a flash as the sports car to their left was unlocked. "You think you're so smart, doncha?"

"Maybe," the Doctor conceded, "but there are definitely things I don't know that I'm sure you do, Jackie. For instance, I haven't the foggiest idea if this universe or the other universe had the better Tena Ladies. Where as you-"

"Just get in," Jackie snapped, pushing the Doctor, causing him to trip into the side of the car.

"Wait - you coming along with me - which we still haven't agreed on, may I just remind you - is one thing," the Doctor said as he righted himself, "but you driving-"

"My car."

"Yes, but also your driving ability."

It was a mark of how serious the situation was that the Doctor was saying the first comeback that came to him, rather than vetting them like he usually did around Jackie. Needlessly angering her wasn't normally worth a witty line, but desperate times and all that.

"There is no way I am letting you drive my car," Jackie informed him. He was still forming a perfectly valid response that sounded a lot like stuttering as she clambered into the driver's seat. He jumped into the passenger side, just in case she drove off without him.

"Hang on," he gasped, noticing the gear stick. "This is a manual. Can you even drive a manual?"

"Of course, I can," Jackie said as she proved her point by putting the car in gear. Never before had the roar of a car engine sounded so much like a death knell. "And I won't land us a year in the future," she added with a glare.

"Jackie," the Doctor sighed, checking the co-ordinates of Rose's phone, "even with my very impressive skill set I very much doubt I could land that far out in a Porsche."

As the car's tyres squealed, the Doctor securely fastened his seatbelt and hoped that whatever Rose was currently facing, it wasn't nearly as terrifying as this.