The trip home was uneventful. The Doctor spent most of it looking out over the bleak landscape, constantly overcast and choked with pollution. Most of the wealthy had left the city for the country, leaving the mess they had made for the lower classes to deal with as they chopped up the rural terrain with their small lots occupied by over grown houses, useless shows of wealth and ostentation, conspicuous consumption.

He hated this, being brought back like an errant child. But it was silly and petulant to take it out on the people tasked to do the job. He would have words with her when he got back. She most likely would have her own words. There was a time, a brief time when they got along. It started about a week after they had arrived. Jackie had had all of Mickey's belongings moved out of the room, so the Doctor could make it his own. It basically left him with a bare space, bed, night stand, dresser, mirror, and not much else. He really didn't know how to furnish. The TARDIS was more an accumulation of things over time, not a planned decor.

He had been sitting cross legged on his bed, trying to figure out what to do with the room, feeling a bit out of place when Rose came in and said, "This is you, living in a house." He laughed and looked up at her.

"Well, your mother wants me to make this room more 'mine' as she puts it. I haven't a clue as to where to start."

She smiled at him in that little girl way of hers, looking pleased with herself. "Don't worry about that. I have a surprise for you."

He was pleased at that, finally she might be warming up to him a bit. "A surprise, for me? What did I do to deserve this?"

"Oh nothing I just thought you needed a little welcome present."

She was holding a garment bag in one hand and a box in the other. She handed the bag to him. Inside there was a duplicate of his brother's brown suit, a light blue shirt and a few ties. The box contained a pair of off white trainers. The Doctor was a bit taken a back. He liked his blue suit but, Rose was very pleased with herself and he didn't want to wreck her mood. "This is really quite unexpected, Thank you."

"I couldn't find a suit like yours, so I had it made. Try it on and see if it fits."

The Doctor hoped that maybe this meant things were changing between them. It had been a tense week. Rose had been upset at being dumped back in the parallel world and she blamed him for it. 'Having to play nursemaid to a mental case' is what she had called it. Though it was Jackie who had realized he was ill. Plied him with tea and kept asking what he needed. Rose never even noticed he'd been sick.

He went into his bathroom to put on the suit. He came out to get Rose's opinion. "What do you think?"

"Now that's the Doctor I know," purred Rose. She walked up to him, grabbed his tie and pulled him down to her. She gave him a kiss that was filled with all the passion that had only been pretended at the beach. He kissed her back giving to her what his brother never had. What they both had felt she really wanted.

She was playful and affectionate after that. Often coming up behind him, putting her arms around him when he was sitting down, nuzzling his neck, letting him know it was time for bed.

There were no more derogatory comparisons with his brother. She had Pete bring him into Torchwood so he had something to do, in a place that could use his knowledge. Rose proudly showed him that they had mothballed the dimension cannon. He made a point of checking it later and taking a few parts off it. He felt that his bad start on the beach had been overcome. She had seemed happy with him and content to stay here, no longer obsessed with his brother.

Then one day he came upon her in the garden, sitting on a bench, crying. He sat down next to her, put his arm around her and asked what was wrong.

"The baby, I've lost the baby," she sobbed into his chest.

He gently took her by the shoulders and pushed her upright so he could look her in the eye. "What baby?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

"Ours, our baby."

The Doctor's mind was flooded with questions, none of which appropriate to the situation. Starting with 'Isn't it customary to let the father know what your plans are?' He put his face in his hands and rubbed it. Then he looked at her. "What happened?" It was the best he could do.

"They don't know. It never developed a fetal heartbeat and it was gone at 8 weeks."

The Doctor took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, that would be about right. I'm sorry, you should have talked to me about this." That the fetus had failed to develop that vital organ didn't surprise him.

She snapped at him. "Why? I just wanted to have something of his to call my own. You didn't seem to mind the process. What did you think would happen?"

The Doctor was startled at her change of mood and stumbled for an answer. "I thought you were taking precautions, like you did with Mickey. I also…"

"What I did with Mickey is none of your business," Rose hissed at him, taking her disappointment and loss out on the Doctor. She got up to storm off. He grabbed her wrist and turned her towards him. Desperate that she understand what had happened.

"Rose, you need to listen to me. This is important." He looked up at her pleadingly trying to connect with her.

Rose glared back at him angrily, but kept quiet.

"We can't have a baby that way. It would take a genetics lab with far more advanced equipment than you have here on this planet."

Her expression turned to one of disbelief and scorn. "Why? You're half human. There was no genetics lab for you. Why can't I just have his baby?"

"Come on, sit down, please." The Doctor gave her wrist a slight tug to reinforce his request. She resisted and broke his hold. She then placed her hand on her hip looking at him accusingly but said nothing. He sighed, "It's only because of the healing that comes with regeneration that I ever drew a breath. Thousands of things had to be fixed while I was being created. The same would be true of any child we had."

She set her head back a little so she was looking down her nose at him, suspicion oozing from every pore. "Why didn't he ever tell me this? He never told me there would be problems if we had children."

"Because he never intended to have sex with you. So there was no need to bring it up." A poor choice of words that only added fuel to Rose's anger.

"He loves me! You said so." She yelled at him.

"Yes he did, but not in that way. Never in that way. He knew that's what you wanted which is why he sent you here so you could have that kind of life."

"What, that kind of life with you!? You're just a pale imitation of him, a flawed copy. Why would I ever want that? You're useless, totally useless." She'd turned on her heel and run into the house. The Doctor sat on the bench, putting his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes as he tried to figure out how he could have handled it better.

She had wanted his brother's baby. He was just a DNA delivery system to her and now she found out he couldn't even do that. All her affection had been a ruse.

Later he had gone to find Jackie to see if she could help. She fixed him some tea and told him to just give Rose some space. It really wasn't an area men were much help in anyway. She'd settle down soon. That night Jackie helped him decorate Mickey's old room, make it his own.

It was a few days after that he found there were places he wasn't allowed to go anymore in Torchwood. He'd talked to Pete about it, but it was out of his hands. Pete had been relegated to just handling the business side of Torchwood. Others were in charge of the operations.

A few months later the dimension cannon was fired again.