A/N: Yeah, quick, right? Proud of me? :D

This chapter's basically one big hugfest, but that's okay, hugging's fun :D

Oooh, note to silvay: This series is all post-S4, so Jenny is kicking about somewhere, unbeknown to the Doctor. The dead Time Lady isn't her, she'll get dealt with next chapter, probably! :D

Chapter 32 - Jebba and Chips

The Doctor woke up with a gasp, as though someone had just thrown a bucket of cold water over him. His eyes snapped open, and he found himself in a chair with something cold and heavy on his head. In front of him was a pile of concrete – he'd obviously been shielded from being crushed by the machine he was in. Above him he could hear the sound of ships and lasers in a full-blown war. The last thing he remembered was Pargeont being shot in the mansion when Rose had been controlling him, and as such he had no idea where he was. But wherever he was, it was clear that he needed to get out, and fast.

He tried to move, but abruptly realised that his wrists were cuffed to the chair. With a few hearty jerks, the rusted metal came away from its fixing and his right arm was free. He quickly undid he left cuff, and then removed what was on his head. It was a helmet of some kind, pulsating with multi-coloured lights and wired into the machine. Psychograft, he realised. And from that, he knew other people couldn't be far away.

'Brax! Jack!' he shouted, but the sounds of the war were too loud for him to even hear himself. 'Rose,' he tried next, but there was nothing but silence in his head. Was she gone?

He pushed himself up, just about stopping himself from standing on his bad leg when it fired through with a warning pain, and he remembered being shot. He searched for a gap to get out of the concrete, and saw a small one to his right. Carefully he ducked and slipped through, emerging in a plume of dust, coughing.

'Anyone?' he shouted.

'Thete!' It was Brax, somewhere in the room. 'Rose is in the psychograft, Jack and Leah are somewhere in the pile! We've got two minutes!'

The Doctor's hearts raced as he realised that the place had probably collapsed right where Leah and Jack had been standing. 'Leah!' he cried. 'Leah, can you hear me? It's Dad!'

'Daddy!' a small, cry came from in the concrete. 'Help!'

'Keep shouting!' he told her, moving in the direction of her voice.

'Help!'

He neared the voice, and started removing the rubble. Soon Brax joined him, and wordlessly they lugged the heavy slabs of concrete away without pause, the Doctor desperate to get to his daughter, until they found a mess of black hair. It was Jack.

'Jack?' the Doctor asked quickly, still shifting the debris.

'Daddy!'

That made the Doctor move faster, practically throwing the heavy broken concrete five metres across the room. Finally he and Brax managed to get the gap large enough to pull out Jack. He was clearly dead, having dived over Leah to save her. Brax held him back enough for the Doctor to reach in and pull his daughter out, deliberately shielding her gaze from Jack's crushed body. They met in a hug, the four-year-old in tears.

'Are you okay? Are you hurt?' the Doctor asked anxiously.

She coughed, but shook her head. 'Okay,' she said, clinging onto him.

'Breathe in and out, measured and slow,' the Doctor ordered her, kissing her forehead.

'Thete, forty seconds,' Brax told him.

'Get Jack out,' the Doctor ordered his brother. Brax grabbed Jack and dragged him back in the direction of the TARDIS, disappearing around the corner. The Doctor set Leah to the floor. 'Leah, run back to the Tardis, quick.'

'Daddy,' she wailed.

'I'm right behind you!' he shouted, and – reluctantly – she ran off.

He turned back to where the psychograft was hidden behind the concrete. Thirty-three seconds left, he mentally calculated. He didn't know what until as Brax hadn't specified, but in his 900 years he couldn't remember many countdowns ending in something nice.

'Rose!' he shouted, limping as best he could through over the mountain, choking in the dust. More of the room was caving in around him, but that wasn't going to make him stop. 'Rose!'

In his rush he stepped on a loose piece of concrete, causing him to drastically wobble and have to leap to a safe place. He managed to land on his good foot, steadying himself on the nearest solid object. Twenty seconds left.

'R-Rose!' he called again, still coughing from the dust. 'A-answer me!'

Eighteen seconds.

Suddenly, he felt a hand slip into his. He turned, startled, to find Rose balancing precariously on the debris, staring at him with wide, happy eyes.

For a moment they just stared at each other, mystified, before Rose grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him towards her, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him. Another explosion rang out, but neither of them noticed.

Finally they pulled back, and instinctively held hands again. They both knew exactly what to say next.

'Run!'

Of course, it was less running and more stumbling, and in the Doctor's case, limping and hopping, but they didn't care. He helped her over the piles and she helped him run, through the destroyed room and straight towards the waiting blue box. Brax met them on the outside, grabbing their arms and yanking them inside, and they both toppled to the floor as Brax slammed the door shut. Seconds later, there was a slightly muted massive explosion that was powerful enough to make the TARDIS jolt.

The Doctor sat up. 'Ah. So that's what the countdown was until.'

'Couldn't have cut it finer, could you?' Brax wondered sarcastically.

'Be no fun otherwise,' Rose insisted with a grin, helping her husband to his feet just in time for Leah to meet them.

'Mummy! Daddy!'

'Hello,' Rose said, dropping to her haunches to hold her daughter for the first time in months as the Doctor struggled to get the concrete dust off of himself. 'Oh god, I missed you.'

'Are you fixed now?' Leah asked, Rose kissing her forehead.

'We'll have to do some scans to check they're both okay,' Brax said from the side, but his input was immediately forgotten as the console room was instantaneously flooded with people.

'Rose!' Jackie suddenly shrieked at a pitch high enough to summon bats, running to her daughter and hugging her tightly, kissing her cheek. 'I don't bloody believe it! It worked!'

'Hi, Mum,' Rose said, laughing joyously.

'Are you okay, sweetheart? That's really you, innit?'

'Yeah, it's really me!' Rose replied.

'Oh, I love you!' Jackie told her, holding her tightly before she pulled back and looked at the Doctor. 'Oh, you beautiful man, you! C'mere!' she cried, turning to the Doctor and grabbing him, planting kisses all over his face before he could escape.

'No, no, just … just put me down!' the Doctor protested as everyone laughed.

'You're okay now?' Martha asked when Jackie finally pulled away.

The Doctor nodded, wiping his face where Jackie had kissed him, looking disgusted. Martha met him in a hug, Mickey following to hug Rose. The Doctor quickly noticed that he could barely get his arms around Martha. 'Wait,' he realised. 'You're still pregnant?'

Everyone immediately winced, tensing. The Doctor got the distinct feeling he'd strolled casually into a no-go area as the heavily-pregnant lady drew back and gazed at him, her eyes on fire.

'No, I thought I'd shove a melon up my shirt,' she replied sarcastically.

'Here it comes,' Mickey muttered.

'Don't you bloody start!' Martha snapped.

'C'mon, calmin' exercises, do the breath thing …' Mickey tried. 'Like that video said.'

'I'll shove that video right up your –'

'Alex!' the Doctor yelled suddenly, desperate to stop the argument he could feel heading their way. 'Where's Alex?'

'Mummy, daddy,' Alex suddenly said. It was so quiet, but the sound of his voice was enough to shut everyone up. He ran forward to meet his dad, mum and sister for a family group hug.

The Doctor looked up at the rest of the group. 'Where's Kiana?'

'Asleep,' Gwen told him.

'And Zak? Is he okay?'

'He's mending,' Brax replied. 'Induced coma at the moment.'

A loud strangled gasp cued Jack's timely revival, the immortal bolting upright to fling off the blanket Brax had thrown on him to disguise his injuries. Newly healed, he stood up, and the Doctor immediately moved to him, hugging him. After a moment he pulled back, gazing at Jack with utter gratitude.

'You saved her life,' the Doctor told him. 'Thank you.'

Jack shrugged nonchalantly. 'I wouldn't let anything hurt your daughter, you know that.' He looked at Leah. 'You okay?'

She beamed, running to him to hug his leg. 'Yeah. Thanks! I love you, Uncle Jack.'

Jack grinned, dropping to hug her in return. 'Love you too.'

'Are we having dinner now?' Leah asked, looking back up at her parents. Everyone laughed.

'Yeah,' the Doctor said, nodding. 'What do you fancy?'

'Jebba and chips!' Leah replied happily.

'Jebba and chips it is,' the Doctor confirmed.

'We'll get the table set up!' Leah said, grabbing her brother's hand and pulling him out of the room as the last few people hugged the Doctor and Rose, saying their piece before filtering away to get ready for dinner, leaving Brax, Jack, the Doctor, Rose and Jackie.

The Doctor looked back at Rose, who was gazing at him. 'What?' he asked.

'Need a word with you two,' she said, grabbing the Doctor's shirt and Jack's arm, marching them through the far door. The Doctor looked at Jack. He'd learnt to recognise Rose's serious face when he saw it.

She led them out of the console room and into the nearest room, which happened to be the library. The door closed, Rose spun around to face them, and she slapped the Doctor across the face.

'Ow!' the Doctor yelped, hand on his cheek. 'What was that for?'

'You want a list!?' she asked seriously.

'Good point,' the Doctor conceded, wincing.

'I don't care that it's dangerous, cos it's always dangerous, but you bloody outright lied to me about Sirrus!' she snapped.

'I'm sorry.'

'You didn't tell me how bad it was, you let me find out when you were locked in a cage with Jack bein' tortured in another room!'

'You'd have talked me out of going,' the Doctor muttered. 'I needed to fix you.'

'Was it worth it, then?' Rose snapped. 'Bein' a slave, hearin' Jack get tortured, and killin' him!?'

'I didn't mind,' Jack said seriously.

'You!' She turned to Jack, pointing an accusatory finger. 'You kept punching him, in the face! You tied him up!'

'He made me, he said you were okay with it!' Jack protested.

'Sure, my favourite bit was when you punched him way harder than you needed to!' she yelled.

'You did what!?' Jackie's voice shrieked from the doorway. No one had noticed she'd followed them. She strolled straight up to Jack, and slapped him. 'You don't punch my son-in-law!'

'It's okay, I told him to,' the Doctor said, but nobody was listening to him.

'You made him bruise and bleed!' Rose snapped at the immortal. 'You knocked him out!'

'I …' Jack began, but was slapped around the face by Jackie again.

'You ever lay another finger on 'im then you'd better bloody watch out!' Jackie yelled.

'Doctor, help,' Jack whined, his hand on his cheek.

'I really think everyone needs to just …' the Doctor began, but Jackie was all over him again, checking his face.

'Are you okay, sweetheart?' she asked anxiously.

'Jackie, I'm fine,' the Doctor said seriously, before turning to Rose. 'Rose.' He cupped her face in both hands. She sagged immediately, turning from angry to upset with his touch. 'Rose, anything is worth you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about Sirrus, but it was the only way I could get you back in your body.'

'I thought you were gonna die all over again,' she said, her voice breaking.

'I know, I know,' the Doctor murmured, kissing her forehead. 'But I didn't. I am really sorry. Forgive me?'

Rose sighed. 'Of course I forgive you. Just needed sayin' that it's never ever happenin' again, okay?'

The Doctor and Jack both nodded.

'Good,' Rose said, hugging them both. She wiped at her eyes, sniffed, and then smiled. 'Dinner?' she asked, taking the Doctor's hand.

'That's it?' the Doctor asked, surprised.

'Shut up!' Jack muttered, elbowing him.

'What did you say?' Jackie demanded to know, gazing at the Doctor.

'Nothing,' the Doctor murmured, looking at Jack, who nodded.

'Let's get dinner, then,' Rose said.

'Wait,' the Doctor said. 'Need to delay dinner a bit.'

'Why?'

'Seth.'

Seth was in the Va'A'gnorn mansion, standing in the doorway. The body of Pargeont Va'A'gnorn had been cleaned up, and the body of the Time Lady had been taken down and covered with a sheet, ready for the Doctor to deal with. But Seth had a sneaking suspicion that the Doctor wasn't coming back. That was the legend, after all. The Doctor came, saved people, and didn't stick around to clean up the mess. Seth supposed he would have to bury the Time Lady.

He stepped forward to go to the woman, when suddenly there was an unworldly noise, like a rusty lever being turned, and a breeze that seemed to come from nowhere. Seconds later a strange blue box began to fade in and out with a light pulsating on top, slowly becoming more solid, until there was a loud thunk, the light stopped, and the box was solid.

'What the …' Seth muttered.

The door creaked open, and a blonde woman stepped out. Seth hesitated, still trying to decide whether to run or not, when the woman smiled at him.

'Seth!' she greeted. 'It's me, Rose.'

'... Rose?' Seth echoed, wide-eyed. 'He got fixed …?'

'Yeah,' she said, just as the Doctor himself limped out behind her, propped up on a crutch for his leg. He gave a wave and a smile.

'You came back,' Seth realised.

'You don't have to sound so surprised,' the Doctor replied, sitting down on the step next to the blue box. He gestured for Seth to take a seat beside him. Seth moved over, finding himself between the Doctor and Rose.

'What is that? How did it do that? I mean, it just appeared,' Seth said, pointing at the blue box.

The Doctor grinned. 'She's called the Tardis,' he said proudly. 'Stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. She's my ship.'

'I've heard about the Tardis, I thought it was bigger,' Seth mused. They both laughed at that, Seth didn't know why. 'I thought you weren't coming back,' he said to the Time Lord.

'Why not?' the Doctor asked.

'You never stick around. You just go.'

The Doctor pulled a face. 'Probably true. Well, not this time. Where are the slaves?'

'They're out,' Seth said, before his gaze dropped to the floor. 'Elliott's definitely dead.'

'I'm sorry,' Rose said, hugging the boy.

'She said … she said that he had to do what Va'A'gnorn said else he'd gas out the underground and kill all … kill all the children he'd imprisoned,' Seth said, struggling to hold it together.

'Then he's a hero,' Rose said.

Seth sighed. 'They found his ... body but I didn't wanna look. They said it was all … it was all charred up. I dunno. I didn't know whether I should've looked. Should I have looked?'

Rose hugged him tighter. 'Not if you didn't want to,' she said firmly.

'I d-dunno what to do now,' Seth muttered.

'You could always come with us,' the Doctor said.

Seth looked up, wide-eyed. 'Um, what?'

'Come with us,' Rose reinforced.

'You mean … live with you?'

'Yeah,' Rose said. 'On the Tardis. There's loads of room.'

'But … where would we go?' Seth asked.

'We travel through time and space,' Rose told him. 'Wherever and whenever we wanna go.'

'Though it can be dangerous,' the Doctor added. 'Don't think it's easy.'

Seth looked at him, his eyes narrowing. 'Are you doing this cos of Elliott? Did he tell you to do this?'

'People don't tell me to do anything. Elliott suggested it and I'm deciding it's a good idea. I'd like you to come with us. You're smart, brave, calm in a crisis and I wouldn't worry about you,' the Doctor replied. 'Elliot said that you deserved better, and I agree with him.'

Seth fell silent. Just as the TARDIS door opened and out came Leah, looking annoyed.

'Daddy!' she moaned, running to him and tugging on his trouser leg. 'You said we were getting food! Hurry up! I wanna tell you about Colossus Major!'

'Leah,' Rose said sharply.

'Oh, sorry, I mean get food now, please!' she said hastily, then smiled and bunched her fists in her shirt, pulling the 'adorable' card to try and eradicate her bad behaviour. She then noticed Seth. 'Hi!' she greeted, sticking out her hand. 'I'm Leah.'

'Seth,' the teenager replied, slightly bewildered as he shook the proffered hand.

'Seth's tryin' to decide whether he wants to come with us,' Rose told the girl.

'Well hurry up cos I'm hungry and we were getting jebba and chips,' Leah said.

Seth laughed, and after a brief moment, nodded. 'Yeah. Yeah, I'll come. Not like I've got anything left here.'

'Good!' the Doctor said, getting up. Leah squealed in delight and ran back into the TARDIS at the speed of light.

'What are we doing about the Time Lady?' Seth asked, pointing at the sheet-covered body.

'We'll give her a funeral,' the Doctor said, looking a bit sad. 'It's the least we can do.'

Rose stood up, Seth following. 'Oh, and what's jebba?' he asked seriously.

'A fish. Well, not really a fish. Well, a meaty sort of fish,' the Doctor replied. 'From the planet Kleepos in the 78th century. Little corner takeaway on 28th Street does some great dips. Shall we?'