Chapter summary: The Doctor and Rose finally have their talk - even if neither of them dares to admit to their feelings fully. They manage to procure some hot chocolate and enjoy a nice walk around town, but trouble is brewing in the marketplace. The appearance of the Tardis and an old friend puts an end to their night out.

Author's Notes: Well, here we are - this is officially looking like a long story from here onward. They just carried on despite me shouting stop. Oh well, it's happening now. I cannot promise a regular update schedule, although I'll try to have no more than 2 weeks between chapters.

The place was absolutely crowded - positively heaving with people shouting over each other, people shoving their tongues down each other's throat, dancing, and drunken couples, bored, or alternatively panicking waitresses. When they stepped inside both the Doctor and Rose froze for a minute, taking in the scene with wide-eyed shock. Then Rose grinned up at the Doctor and asked in a mischievous tone, "Jack picked the place?"

The Doctor groaned and covered his face with one hand. Rose had to fight the urge to laugh out loud and turned her head to one side so he couldn't see the amusement in her eyes. She half expected the Doctor to flee and retreat back into his shell. He probably would have done exactly that, had she given him a chance. But Rose Tyler wasn't going to back down - the Doctor promised her a conversation, and a conversation they were going to have. About what, she couldn't guess, but it seemed important enough to battle the crowd and try one of the place's specialties.

She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the counter at the front of the bar. A glowing-yellow girl with purple hair and several tentacles in place of arms greeted them with a nod.

"Erm… Hello there! Me an' my friend would like to try out…" Rose glanced up, skimming over the menu and landed on a pink drawing of rose petals inside a porcelain cup filled with dark liquid, "Xoco… Xocotzin's milk. Yeah, that's it. Two of those, please."

The Doctor could have probably told her that it wasn't such a good idea ordering the special, but he was hardly paying any attention to Rose or the bartender, his eyes fixed on a particularly passionate couple groping each other beside the aquarium. The tips of his ears were turning red and he timidly put his hands in his pocket, lest Rose try to hold them again.

He only grunted in response to Rose's "Let's find a place to sit, shall we?" and didn't look at her again until they were seated in a dimly-lit corner on the second level of the establishment.

When he did look up at her he immediately regretted it: the candle-light made her eyes sparkle with a light that he wasn't sure he could endure, painted her hair golden, and her cheeks pink, and her smile soft and endearing. He wouldn't be able to get a single word of what he wanted to say out at this rate.

So he chose to focus on his hands instead, watching the shadow-play on white skin, trying to untangle his thoughts enough to start speaking. Rose beat him to it.

"So. You… wanted to talk?"

She tried to catch his eyes and a sudden panic overwhelmed him - he couldn't do this. She was just going to laugh and request to be taken home after their trip. Worse yet, they might go and have a good laugh about it with Jack; the two of them seemed to get along awfully well lately. This was never going to work… She didn't…

Before he registered what was happening he was on his feet and charging downstairs. He heard Rose call his name behind him, but he couldn't stop. He wouldn't stop. This was a very bad idea. He'd tell Jack…

Oh, he wouldn't tell Jack anything. He just needed a bit of air and then he was going to go back and get it over with.

The night air was freezing on his exposed skin, since he was still only wearing his leather jacket, but he was grateful for the distraction. Rose would appear in a few moments in the doorway, no doubt, and he needed to gather his thoughts before that. The idea of telling her how he felt still seemed like a horribly bad one. Especially here, in the crowded chocolate bar.

Curse Jack and his ideas. What on earth was he trying to accomplish with sending them there in the first place? Did the Time Agent really think he could talk to Rose here? It was hard enough to get the words out when they were by themselves on the Tardis - he had no chance of doing it here!

But they had to move forward, he had to do something, say something, otherwise this was never going to work. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. Maybe if they took it slow…

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on, or do you want to stand there and freeze instead?"

He smiled as Rose's voice drifted to him through the chill air, but didn't turn. This gave him an idea though.

"Are you very cold?" he asked.

"No, not really. Why?"

"We could… I don't know. Bring our drinks outside and have a walk instead?"

He finally turned towards her and was relieved to see that her expression wasn't angry - merely confused and a little unsure.

"Erm… yeah. Why not? I'll just… go and pay then?"

He nodded gratefully and rubbed his palms together; not because he was particularly cold - his body could withstand the weather much better than either Rose's or Jack's could - but he had nothing better to do.

He still had no idea what to say or even where to start, and he was painfully aware of how little time he had left before he had to start talking. Ironic really: a Time Lord running out of time. He had a sudden, overwhelming urge to run back to the Tardis and just leave - as he always did when things got too complicated, too… domestic - but he stayed put. He couldn't run away from this anymore, and no matter how out of practice he was, they had to have that talk.

"There you go."

Rose handed him his own drink, packed neatly in a blue cup-holder made out of paper, surrounded by tiny rose-petal shaped cookies. He fussed with it much more than entirely necessary before looking up at her face again. She seemed to be in a much better mood - a smile was playing at the corner of her mouth, her eyes were gleaming and the spring in her step told him she was definitely interested in what he was going to say, but she also wouldn't pressure him to talk. He smiled and murmured a thanks to whatever deities might've been listening.

They walked in silence for a long while, heading automatically towards the marketplace, their pace languid and relaxed, even though the muscles in the Doctor's chest were still as tightly wound as a spring. They sipped their drinks occasionally, but he didn't pay any attention to its taste or properties at all. There was a faint flowery pang to it, but he didn't find it particularly important at the moment, and couldn't make his brain care to analyse the flavour.

The Doctor didn't notice when he switched to using his respiratory bypass, so it took him by surprise when Rose nudged him and said, "You sure you're alright, Doctor? You're not breathing."

He took a deep breath and shook his head, "Respiratory bypass system. I'm okay, Rose. Could go much longer without breathing, me."

"I know that, it's just… you don't usually stop breathing on slow walks in the middle of a lukewarm winter night, do you?"

He smiled and finally looked into her eyes. They were shining oh so bright, and there was no flicker of annoyance or anger in them anymore. Just questions and maybe some answers - but they were buried too deep and the Doctor knew it wouldn't be fair to dig for them. So he sighed and started talking instead.

"Rose, this isn't easy for me."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to, you know," she cut in. "Just… I sometimes think I know where we are… and then you put me out of balance again. And I have no idea what's what anymore and…" she huffed and blinked rapidly, squeezing her cup a little, "I just want to know what this is."

She looked helplessly into his eyes and continued when he didn't say anything.

"Us. What are we? Where are we going? Just… What's happening? Is there even an us?"

She motioned between them, but stared straight ahead.

"I mean I know I'm your companion and I do help out sometimes, even if I'm more trouble than worth…"

He opened his mouth to deny that statement, but she wasn't paying attention to him.

"But I like to think I'm also your friend. I care about you, you know. A lot actually. And I'm not sure you understand sometimes."

She still wouldn't look in his direction and this time it was the Doctor who tried to catch her eyes in vain.

"And then there other times… When I think you do know. And when… well, when we danced, for example… When Jack got on board… And…"

She was slowly stopping; both her words and her feet stilled and she turned away from him, still blinking rapidly and he realized only now - daft alien he was - that Rose was trying to keep herself from crying.

The Doctor went to her and put his arms around her waist, resting his head on top of hers. They both took a gulp of their drinks before he said quietly, "Companion isn't a degrading term, Rose. At least it shouldn't be. It does not mean "stupid little ape who I carry with me because I don't care for travelling alone."

She made a muffled sound that might have been "I know".

"It means you're my equal. Someone I asked to come with me, someone I need just as much as they need me - and sometimes more, since it's very rare anyone stays, yet I have to keep going."

She turned slightly in his embrace and burrowed her nose in the crook of his neck.

"It's just the easiest term for me to refer to you. You're a friend, absolutely - the best of friends - but you're also much more. A friend can be someone I meet once, who helps me with a gravity satellite so we both get out alive. A friend can be someone I only speak to, but never meet face-to-face. It can be someone I leave behind and don't feel bad about it - someone I can think back to with a smile and no tears. A companion… A companion is different."

She was silent, waiting for him to continue, but he suddenly ran out of breath and there was an uncomfortable squeezing feeling inside his chest and his arms hugged her tighter on their own accord and tears were stinging his eyes and he couldn't get the words out.

She beat him to it, as usual - her voice soft and her words quiet, "I'm not gonna leave, you know. If that's what you're afraid of, I'm not gonna leave."

His hearts throbbed with joy at her words and he was afraid for a moment they'd leap out of his chest. He took a ragged breath and kissed the side of her face, pulling her to him, inhaling her scent and finding peace in the fact that it was Rose - his Rose - staying in his arms, finding solace in his nearness just as much as he was finding it in hers.

"Yeah, that's one of the things I'm afraid of."

"Well, I'm not going to go. I'm going to stay with you."

He leaned back to be able to look into her eyes and asked in a broken voice, "For how long, then?"

She smiled widely and shook her head, "Forever, Doctor. I'm going to stay with you forever."

He laughed then - a true, joyous, crystalline laugh - and picked her up, spun them around and she couldn't help but giggle with him.

"Oh, Rose Tyler…You are truly the most fantastic human being I've ever met!"

She stuck her tongue out between her teeth and grinned at him - he didn't let go of her hands. His eyes were pools of blue light, melting her, turning her legs into jelly and her lips parted of their own accord, her gaze flicking down to his lips. He ran his tongue over them nervously before enveloping her in an embrace once again, head leaning towards hers, nose brushing along her jawline and she whimpered. He rewarded her with a small smile before closing his eyes and coming even closer. Rose's eyelids fluttered shut and her stomach was in knots from the anticipation, from the wait for his lips to meet hers, when a sharp cry rang out from the direction of the market place.

Their eyes snapped open and the Doctor pushed Rose behind him in a swift motion before crouching down and motioning for her to hide behind the low bushes on the side of the path.

When they were both out of sight, lying flat on their stomach below the strange purple plants he whispered to her, "Do you know where Jack went?"

"No, I haven't seen him since we got back."

The Doctor scowled and tried to make out what the figures standing in the square were saying but they were too far away. There were only 5 of them, talking in low voices, so neither him nor Rose heard anything useful. There were others coming however. Lots of others.

In the course of just five minutes the square filled with people of all sizes and shapes - there were some of the lizard people present, quite a number of the Tethannis, and a dozen or so Cardalians, along with a couple of off-world species thrown into the mix. There was a great deal of shouting, but none of it loud enough to understand the individual words.

Rose was about to suggest they go and find another hiding place closer to the square when the crowd parted and something large and very blue was rolled into their midst. The presence of the Tardis clearly angered the crowd as they started yelling again - with the Doctor now being able to catch a few curse-words - and picking up various objects to throw at it. When one of the Yirelin burst into flames and threw himself at the Police Box the Doctor swore and tried to jump up, only to be restrained by Rose. He scowled at her and was about to argue when she pointed into the direction of the marketplace's entrance, at the far side of the square, where the crowd was the thinnest.

Something else was brought forward as well. Their line of vision was blocked by both the gathering mob and the thick-leaved plants, but it looked suspiciously like a human. A human in a military-style coat, with a mop of dark brown hair and a rather handsome face. A human who was decidedly unconscious and thus completely helpless against the angry crowd. A human both Rose and the Doctor knew very well.

"Jack!" They cried at the same time, scrambling to their feet, and started running towards him.

Author's Notes: This chapter was mostly about the Doctor and Rose, but Jack is still going to get the attention he deserves and I plan to have him in a much bigger role later. (He was complaining, yes.) Also, just a hint - look out for those hot chocolates, we'll come back to those at some point.