Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own anything, nor do I make any money from it.

A/N Thanks for the wonderful response on the last chapter. Here we are at last, as the Doctor and Rose finally meet. Things are discussed.

I have also started uploading my stories on AO3 and Teaspoon, in case you prefer to read it there. There's a link on my profile.

Happy Reading!

Chapter Three

The Doctor was in shock, not just because of the sudden arrival of this woman, but the state that she was in. Trousers torn around the knees and calves, black coat in tatters on her torso, and dishevelled blonde hair framing a face streaked with dirt, soot, and unless he was mistaken, hastily wiped tears.

Then his eyes saw past the physical appearance and he took an involuntary step back. Everything in his instincts said that she was a human but he had never seen a human like her. He didn't know what she was, just that she was either the most dangerous thing in the universe, or perhaps the most beautiful. He couldn't decide which yet.

He drew some comfort from the fact that she looked just as shocked to see him as he did her. That was good at least, she hadn't been sent to kill him. Because he knew she could, and with very little effort if she wanted to.

Rather abruptly, he straightened his posture and fixed her with a steely look. Just because she was shocked, didn't mean that she meant him no harm. Times were dangerous and there would be many a people who would want him dead. Or it could be the Sisterhood themselves, since apparently they had tried to convince him to regenerate when he wasn't actually dying. Perhaps, he ought to…

"Doctor?"

His stance faltered at the vulnerability under the veneer of calm that her voice projected. "Can I help you?" he asked, doing his best to sound as gentle as he could.

Somehow, it had the opposite effect on her. Usually that tone of his calmed people down, but she suddenly straightened up, her gaze fierce and quite a bit angry. "Evidently not," she said, and the anger being directed at him made him flinch a little.

He was about to demand that she explain herself when his gaze was drawn to the hand that she was resting on his TARDIS. On her wrist was a cobbled together old space hopper, but the glowing bits on top of it he would recognise anywhere. With two steps, he walked up to her and seized her wrist as if to make sure that his eyes weren't deceiving him.

"What do you think you're doing?" she yelled furiously, trying to shake his grip on her wrist.

He dropped her hand, though he remained right where he was. "Where did you get that?" he demanded.

"None of your business," she snapped. "It's obvious that you don't know who I am which means I can't tell you even if I wanted to."

"I don't give out my TARDIS coral like candy to strangers," he said, sounding quite furious. Why would he tear a piece of his TARDIS apart like this? Unless, he hadn't and his TARDIS had been harvested…

"Is that what you did then? Killed me and tore my TARDIS apart to enhance your little space hopper?" he demanded.

She looked at him like he was mad. "I would never hurt her like that," she said angrily. "You gave it to me, you egotistical, selfish alien git."

He abruptly stepped back at that. Not only had she addressed his TARDIS like a person, but she had sounded sincere when she had told him that he had been the one to give her that. He nodded slowly, showing that he believed her and was relieved when she relaxed a little too. "So, you are from my future?" he asked, doing his best to keep his voice calm as he wondered what his future self was playing at, sending whoever she was in the middle of a warzone. Especially in Kasterborous.

"Yes," she said, and almost involuntarily her hand went to the ring on her finger that he hadn't completely focused on yet. "We got separated, different universes and all. I wasn't exactly planning on returning," she added defensively. "It just sort of happened."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "That makes no sense whatsoever," he said. "I understand that parallel universes have been sealed out to stop the war spilling into different universes but surely if you are from the future, they have been opened by now."

She was looking at him with wide, horrified eyes. "The war? What war?" she asked, as if she already knew the answer.

For an almost absurd second, he wanted to laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of that question. No one asked that question anymore. It was just the one war now. Every higher life form knew it was happening, and even the lower life forms were aware that something was not quite right with the universe. But then her horror registered with him. She was from the future, hence she knew exactly what had happened. He had been right about her being dangerous, but not for the reasons he had thought of before. She was dangerous because she knew too much. She knew the way it ended.

She seemed to have realised the same and she looked terrified for the first time since he had seen her. "I have to go," she said slowly.

"You can't," he said.

She looked at him like he was mad. "Have you lost it? I can't be here, don't you understand?" she asked.

He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. "I understand perfectly," he said. "I didn't mean you shouldn't, I meant you cannot leave. The entire constellation of Kasterborous is existing in a time lock. No one can travel beyond it. It was one of the first things that the Council did to stop the war from spreading."

"What about my vortex manipulator? Can't it…?" she asked.

"No. In fact, unless I'm mistaken, it has already broken down," he said.

She looked at him in shock and then started pressing the buttons on the vortex manipulator frantically, until she realised he was right.

"Time travel isn't permitted for anyone who doesn't have a TARDIS, and even then you cannot leave the time lock," he said. "I am sorry."

She slumped a little, and he realised that she looked exhausted. His eyes flicked between the TARDIS coral parts on her wrist and his ship, and he finally understood how she had bypassed the sealed universes to arrive there. A sharp gasp escaped him, and she looked up at him inquiringly.

"Won't you come in?" he asked, doing his best to sound calm.

She looked at him in confusion. "Is that really wise?" she asked.

"Wiser than us standing out here," he said as he walked up to the TARDIS doors.

"May I?" she asked as he went to unlock it.

He glanced back at her in surprise, and saw the glimmer of excitement in her golden brown eyes. Funny how he hadn't noticed them before, but now he found himself quite unable to look away. "Of course," he said almost reflexively, and he realised it was worth it when the excitement in her eyes grew.

She stepped around him, unaware that his eyes had locked onto her like a magnet, and drew out a key on a silver chain from around her neck. It wasn't quite the right key, this ordinary Yale key in her hand, but it slid in just the same and the lock turned under it. A rather enchanting smile lit up her face as she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

For a moment, he wished his old interior had still been there. He knew she would have loved it. But he had got rid of it a while ago, in a time that he didn't remember with much fondness. The interior now was much like the older, bare white ones that he had preferred when he had been younger. Except he had kept the cavernous quality of the console room, and some of the roundels had golden light filtering through them. A few cables had come loose, and were hanging over their heads but he had done his best to loop them around so it looked like it was part of her charm rather than him avoiding fixing it up.

He was about to turn to her and let loose the barrage of questions on his mind, but they got stuck in his throat when he looked at her. She was standing utterly still, with a smile on her face, and tears flowing down her cheeks. One of her hands rested on the time rotor and he could have sworn the old girl sounded a little brighter in his head.

"It's Rose," she said, after a few moments of silence. "Rose Tyler, that's my name."

He smiled a little at that. "Nice to meet you, Rose Tyler," he said.

She turned to him, and her eyes sparkled with laughter. "So I have heard," she said and it occurred to him that he might have said that the first time he met her. Before he could try and think of a response to that, Rose let her smile drop and crossed her arms in front of her. "Why didn't you ever say that we had met now?" she asked.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, glad that he had kept it shorter rather than the poncey style that he had regenerated with. "There are two explanations for it. One, it technically hasn't happened yet which means that my older self will not remember this. It's a basic temporal sense in every Time Lord. Keeps us from getting into a lot of trouble," he explained.

"What's the other one?" asked Rose.

"We are in a time lock," he said, matter-of-factly. "Everything we do here is happening all over time and at the same time."

Her brow furrowed. "What's that mean?" she asked. "No, you know what? It's fine. So, it's not exactly dangerous if we talk about the future right?"

He sighed again, and sounded much more reluctant to answer this time. "It's why I invited you inside, apart from the fact you look like you could use a cup of tea that is," he said, and watched as her lips quirked up into a little smile. "You know how this war ends, and I know that time is in flux and everything, but I will ask only one thing of you, Rose Tyler. Never, no matter how much I beg, plead, threaten and ask, never ever tell me how this war ends," he said, speaking slowly and clearly as if wanting to make absolutely certain that she understood.

She raised her eyebrows at his tone. "Wouldn't have done it anyway," she said. "What if you try to change something and end up making it worse?"

"That is exactly why I am telling you," he said, glad that she understood.

"So, at what point exactly did we establish that I am coming with you?" she asked, tilting her head towards him in question.

"I realise I have no right to make your decisions for you, Rose," he said. "But with what you know, you would be the safest with me. Not everyone in this war will be prepared to take my view of remaining ignorant of the future. Hell, even my previous self would have demanded every bit of information you possess. I can take you to one of the safe zones and keep you there. Like a witness protection program."

"No," said Rose.

"No?" he repeated incredulously.

"You're not putting me in some safe zone like a china doll. I'm coming with you," she said determined.

"I am walking into the most dangerous war this cosmos has ever seen. I am not taking you in there with me," he said sternly.

"Well, tough, 'cos I am stayin' right here," she said. "And she'll back me on this one," she added, jabbing her thumb towards the rotor.

She was probably right, but he wasn't going to let her know that. "Rose, if you do this, I cannot guarantee your survival. Think of what you would be leaving behind. Think of your husband," he said, with a pointed look at her ring. "Doesn't he need you?"

For a moment, it looked like she was going to slap him but then her shoulders started shaking and hysterical laughter burst from her lips. "You...you...oh my god…" she gasped, tears rolling from her eyes.

He crossed his arms, rather taken aback at her reaction. He waited patiently for her to finish laughing, and answer him. "Something funny?" he asked casually.

She chuckled and wiped off the tears from her face. "I hate the universe sometimes," she said quietly and he wasn't sure if he was meant to hear that. She smiled at him and shrugged almost too casually. "Haven't got anyone," she said. "Mum, dad and brother are dead. My husband died even before that. Can't have any kids. Not exactly got much to lose."

"I'm sorry," he said, automatically though he felt his hearts sink. With the TARDIS coral given to her, and the sparkle in her eyes that he had seen only briefly, he had just assumed that maybe they were...but they clearly weren't since she talked about being separated from him by a universe, not by death. He really shouldn't feel disappointed by it, but it looked like he couldn't help it.

Her eyes softened as she smiled more genuinely at him rather than the bitter smile that was worse than a grimace. "Doctor, believe me, there is nowhere else better for me than here. I can help, I have been doing that for a while now. You said it yourself, this war is the worst thing to ever happen to the cosmos. You're going to stop it, I know you are, but you can't do it on your own. Let me help. Please," she said.

He stared at her stunned, wondering how she knew just the right thing to say. As reluctant he was to take her into war, he could see the hardened soldier in her and knew that she was an asset. Besides, it always felt better when you had someone with you. "Better with two, eh?" he asked, feeling an odd ripple pass over him that made him wonder if they'd had this sort of a conversation in the future.

She grinned brightly at him, a truly beautiful smile that was tinged with only a little sadness. "Better with two," she agreed.

He smiled back at her and nodded. "Very well then," he said. "You must want to get cleaned up, I expect. And a change of clothes."

She looked down at herself, and nodded quickly. "I won't take long. Just give me a few minutes," she said.

"No matter, take your time," he said. She turned to go, and he called out to her again. "Rose?"

"Yeah?" she asked, turning back.

"This may seem like an odd request," he said shyly. "But could I have a hug?" Her eyes went wide as she stared at him with her mouth open. He clarified himself hastily. "I failed to save a young woman from a crashing spaceship today. She is being laid to rest as we speak. But if you'd rather…"

Rose was in front of him with quick steps, and had wrapped her arms around him before he could finish. He hugged her back gladly, holding onto her like a lifeline. The hug lasted for several long moments, and he could feel her single heart beating madly as she buried her face in his shoulder. He stroked her hair almost tentatively, as if afraid that she would pull away if he pushed it too far.

Finally, Rose loosened her grip on him and the Doctor let go of her slowly, his hands lingering in her hair as they pulled away. He could see the tears in her eyes but she seemed to be smiling as she turned to go further into the TARDIS to freshen up.

As soon as she was gone, the Doctor let his smile drop and held up the single golden hair that he had managed to pluck from her head.

It was time to see exactly what Rose Tyler was.

A/N End of Chapter Three. What did you think?

So, yeah the trust is yet to be established. Also, the Doctor seems adamant to keep the knowledge of the future hidden. Wonder how long that will last.

The next chapter will be up soon. See you then!