It's not over
"You're crushing me" Rose said with a smile.
"I don't care" the Doctor replied. "I'm not letting you go, Rose Tyler!"
Rose's smile widened and she closed her eyes. After all this time, he was finally here. "It's really you!"
"It's really me."
"What's going on" Donna's loud voice interrupted. "Who are these people? Why are you hugging that girl? And what was that about a dragon?"
"Captain Jack Harkness. And we've met, actually" Jack said.
"Are you going to let go anytime soon" Owen asked in a sour tone and looked at the man holding Rose in a tight grip.
"Wasn't planning on it" the Doctor replied without even looking at Owen.
Jack spotted Gwen and Ianto running towards them. "What's going on? Who's that man holding Rose" Gwen asked.
"I have no idea" Jack said. "Any luck with the dragon?"
"No" Ianto replied. "Apparently people will laugh at you if you ask them if they have seen a dragon in the last couple of hours."
"Who would've thought" Jack said. "I suppose introductions are in order, before we continue. I'm Captain Jack Harkness and this is my team, Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper ("Dr. Owen Harper!") and Rose Tyler. And we all know you, Donna Noble!"
"I'm Martha, Martha Jones" Martha said in a small voice. She had been hit on by Shakespeare, been stuck in both 1913 and 1969, fled from horrible beasts and shared a single bed with Donna for two days, but this was by far the most awkward and uncomfortable situation she had ever been in. And she figured it was mostly because of the blonde woman the Doctor was currently trying to squeeze the life out of.
"And I'm the Doctor" the Doctor said in a cheery voice, having finally let go of Rose (although having opted to hold her hand in a vice-like grip).
"No you're not" was Jack's instant reply. "The Doctor is all bald and grumpy and big nosed…"
"Oi! That was a perfectly fine nose, I'll have you know" the Doctor said in a indignant voice. "And it is me, just… A different me, a new me."
"A new you?"
"Jack, it's true, it's the Doctor" Rose said.
"What happened?"
"It's a long, complicated story. Well, it's not really that complicated, or long for that matter, but very interesting, I'm the hero of the story, actually. We'll save it for a rainy day, or a day without dragons, shall we?" Jack just nodded, looking dumbstruck. "So, let's figure this out, eh? Rose is here, in the right but wrong universe. You" he pointed at Owen "I'm sorry, I forgot your name, Ogden, was it? You opened the rift, which suggest you're not exactly the brightest. There's a dragon on the loose, which is bad, even in Cardiff, or especially in Cardiff, I haven't made up my mind yet, and the walls of the universe might be collapsing. Oh that's bad, we should definitely do something about that, end of the world and all. And…"
"DOCTOR!" Three female voices interrupted his tirade.
"Was I babbling again" he asked Rose in a hushed voice and she nodded. "And being rude."
"Yes that me, rude and not ginger. Never ginger!"
"Why don't we return to the important stuff, like the dragon. And it's Owen, Dr. Owen Harper" Owen sneered.
"Really, you're a doctor? And you still opened the rift? Bet you weren't top of your class. Where did you find these people" the Doctor asked Jack."Here and there" he responded. "Tosh do you think perhaps you could like scan the area above Cardiff, check if the dragon is still in the vicinity?"
"I… I don't know. I can try, but I don't think the dragon is going to be giving off any kind of signal the computer can pick up."
"How hard can a dragon be to find" Gwen asked in an exasperated tone.
"Well apparently quite hard, based on our luck so far" Ianto mumbled.
"It's probably gonna land soon. It looked like a Dracono Lapu, based on the picture. They're native to the Cirulu system, which has very low levels of oxygen."
"So it'll become short of breath, yeah? And be forced to land" Martha deduced.
"Very good, Martha Martha Jones" Jack said. "Question is when and where. Hopefully it will not land on anyone."
"Oh I know, it could like land in Scotland, yeah? In Loch Ness!" They all turned to look at Donna.
"Why would it do that" the Doctor asked.
"Well, because it's a dragon. Like the Loch Ness monster, you know. It would fit…"
"The Loch Ness "monster" is not a dragon" the Doctor said, "it's a waterbased life form from…"
"Yes, thank you, let's save that for later as well" Jack interrupted. "Rose, I'm guessing you didn't disobey me alone?"
"Sorry Jack" Rose said and looked shameful.
"Where are they?""They probably got lost. Mickey's only been in Cardiff once and there's no Cardiff in the other world."
"Mickey's here? Mickey the Idiot?"
"What 'till you here the rest; not only did our little Rose her manage to find her own way home, she also managed to manipulate these idiots into opening the rift so her mother, father, ex-boyfriend and three colleagues could cross over" Jack divulged.
"You did WHAT?" The Donna had never heard the Doctor's voice sound so squeaky, not even when she appeared out of nowhere in the TARDIS.
"It's a bit more complicated than that" Rose mumbled.
"I'm gonna get slapped" the Doctor said in a faint tone. "Your bloody mother is going to slap me! Again!"
"Doctor I hardly think this is important" Martha spoke up.
"You've obviously never been slapped by her!"
"There's been a sighting of the dragon" Tosh suddenly said. "A pilot spotted it above the harbour a few minutes ago."
"So where is it" Gwen asked. They were all standing on the docks looking around for any sign of a dragon.
"You would think a dragon would stand out" Ianto commented.
"Maybe it flew home" Donna suggested.
"It can't, it's home exploded five thousand years ago, so unless it found a way to open the rift, it's still around here somewhere" Jack explained.
"But… It'll suffocate! Because of the oxygen, it'll suffocate. Slowly" Martha said.
"That's awful" Donna said.
"It's a dragon" Owen almost yelled. "It's not gonna be all sweet and cuddly!"
"We can't just let it die" Donna said.
"Well unless you have spare room at home, we really don't have that many options."
Donna suddenly looked hopeful but the Doctor quickly shot her down: "No dragons in the TARDIS!"
"So what, we just sit around and wait for it to die" Donna asked.
"Maybe we could send it back" Tosh suggested.
"No, we're not opening the rift again, under any circumstances" Jack said and shot Rose a dangerous look.
"I don't think we have to" Ianto said, looking up. They all followed his lead and finally spotted the dragon, who was currently hurtling towards the open sea. They all managed to take a few steps back before the dragon hit the surface and created a huge wave.
"That felt oddly anti-climatic" Ianto said.
"We need to talk" the Doctor said and closed the door behind him.
Jack nodded and indicated the Doctor should sit down.
"Tell me about Rose!"
A/N: Thank you to all those kind people who have reviewed, favoured and alerted. Please know that it means a lot to me and I take your reviews to heart and appreciate them infinitely. And although it sounds silly, they do inspire me to write more, so please do review. Thank you for your time