A/N: Wooo new chapter! Sorry it took so long to upload i had loads of stuff on my plate what with exams and such, but now its the summerrrrr thank god (y). So i can spend wayy more time writing Fanfiction (: Anywho, credit as always to MeVsRiversong thanks for all your help on this and my other stories (:

Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC and so does Ashes to Ashes although if i owned them it would be totally and utterly amaziing (:

Rose Runs

"Rose Tyler, come back." The Doctor shouted after her rapidly receding figure. But she didn't stop; just kept on running until her slight form had been swallowed by the brick corner. He stared after her for several numb moments, before Donna tutted quietly behind him.

"Do you really think shouting her full name at her is really gonna help this situation?"

He blinked, confused. "What is wrong with her? She's never reacted like this before."

Donna shot him a despairing look, as if she were talking to a teenager. "You know, for a Timelord you can be so thick sometimes."

"What do you mean?" he blanched at the insult.

"Do you have no capacity in that big head of yours to try and understand how she's feeling?"

The Doctor gave Donna a bemused look. She sighed- it was like trying to prompt an illiterate child into reading.

"You promised her things would change; you said you'd tell her how much you care. Rose left her entire family behind for you- including her little brother. She's missing them, and she's just trying to get some attention from you. God, you know I do get tired of being the only adult sometimes. You know what your problem is; you're so brainy and wrapped up in all your Martian rubbish that you can't see what's in front of your eyes."

"Why didn't she just tell me that?" The Doctor said putting his hands in the deep pockets of his brown overcoat and frowning hard; as if he were trying to calculate one of his long spatial maths problems instead of trying to see into a girl's head.

Donna gave the Doctor a 'are you thick' kinda look.

"Because she's a girl and she would never tell you how she feels because that's a girl thing; she wants you to figure it out for yourself and make it up with her. Have you never been in a relationship before?"

The Doctor didn't answer, only shuffled his feet. Donna groaned in disbelief.

"Oh my God, you've never been in a relationship. This is gonna be harder than I thought."

The Doctor stared at Donna. What she'd said about Rose wanting him to "make it up to her"; that was so childish, so…

So very, very human.

He sighed and rubbed his face. After all this time dancing though time and space with her, he'd forgotten the most important and basic thing about Rose.

She was still- in her mind at the very least- a teenager. With a teenager's confusion and the stroppiness that came with being a young idiotic human.

The Doctor walked off.

"Doctor!" Donna cried. " Where are you going?"

He paused mid-step and swivelled round to face her.

"Where do you think? I'm going after her; to sort this out."

Donna held her arm out to him, smiling as only the wiser person can. "No. You can't, Doctor- let her cool off."

He shook his head, refusing to take her proffered arm. "She's in 1980s London by herself- anything could happen."

"She lived in London her whole life; I think she knows it by now, Doctor." Donna glanced around appraisingly. "It doesn't look that different."

The Doctor threw her a look. "Donna, I can't leave her on her own."

Donna gave the Doctor a warning look- he winced. He knew that look well- a slap seemed to always follow it. Almost always, it was directed his way.

He sighed in defeat and looked down at Donna. She gave him a small smile; he knew that Rose could take care of herself. She'd done it in the past. He just felt so guilty about abandoning her this time.

The Doctor sighed, and allowed Donna to pull him into a hug.

***

Meanwhile, Rose had run. As fast and far as she could.

She hadn't meant to be so childish, but she'd scarper on an impulse. All she'd wanted to do was get away from the Doctor, and running away had seemed like the best way to do that. God, he could be infuriating.

Rose ran straight into Alex Drake.

The two stumbled slightly at the impact, and the other woman reached out a hand to steady her. Her eyes widened. "Rose, are you ok?" Alex said, remembering that she had just met this young girl a mere ten minutes ago.

"'m fine." Rose replied, gently shrugging off the hand and forcing a smile.

"Oh," Alex nodded to the guy standing next to her. "This is DCI Hunt- Hunt, this is Rose."

The DCI held out his hand, which Rose shook.

"What were you running from, luv?"

"I just had a massive fight with my… travelling partner." Rose struggled. "I just had to get away."

Before she could say anything more, Rose burst into tears right in front of Mr Hunt.

"It's ok, luv." He wrapped a hesitant arm around her shoulders. "Come on, let's get a drink down ya."

Rose nodded, sniffling.

"Right then. Lets fire up the Quatro."

Rose walked with Alex and the DCI over to a red sports car.

"This is your car?" Rose exclaimed, eyeing the car in wonder. "It's gorgeous! I remember mum used to tell me about these cars and all…"

Rose noticed that Hunt was giving her a look of disbelief and Alex looked as though she was questioning Rose's statements; her eyes held a blanket of suspicion. Rose coughed.

"Never mind." She said quickly.

"I'll tell you what Bols; she could give you a run for your money! You women and your bloody cryptic talk."

Alex smiled at Rose and motioned her to get in the car.

The seats were light leather and were extremely comfortable. Rose sat down and felt Alex's eyes boring into her, questioning who she was. Had she given too much away when she had rambled earlier? No, she usually said more than that. But still… the Doctor was right- you have to be careful when you go back in time; you can't change history, or give too much of the future away.

Rose got to the place that Mr Hunt had brought them; mere minutes later. It was an Italian café; small and bright, like a tiny beacon in the darkness of the street. The squashed building had flats above it, and the sign proclaimed that it was "the best for miles!" and its name was Luigi's.

They got out of the car and walked into Luigi's; Rose followed meekly, quickly realising that she'd never heard of this café- maybe it only existed in the 80s? Mind you, even if it was still around in Rose's lifetime, her mum never went to Italian restaurants anyway. She'd always spent her time in pubs.

Gene Hunt pushed the door open with an air of force which distinguished him as being the boss of this place.

"Luigi, my good man! The usual for me and Drake, and a… what do you want?" Gene asked, turning to Rose expectantly.

"Erm, wine please." Rose said, stumbling slightly.

"There you go, Luigi- white wine for the lady."

"Yes, right away Mr Hunt." Luigi rattled, nodding his head in Rose's direction. "I haven't seen you around here before, senorita." He said, smiling warmly at her.

"No, I'm just travelling at the minute." Rose replied, and Luigi handed her a glass of white wine. She took a big swig and walked over to where Gene and Alex were sitting.

"I needed that drink." Rose said to Alex and Gene. They grinned.

"Sit down, Rose." Alex replied.

"So luv, where are you from?" Gene asked, sipping from his own drink.

"Erm, London." Rose said taking a quick sip of wine.

"Close to here?"

"Yeah, sort of." Rose tried to keep it vague. "I'm from all over the place me. I like to travel, see."

Gene nodded at Rose as he drank some more of his pint; she didn't look like a gypsy but that's what people who travel a lot are, by translation. They're gypsies. Gene brushed this off as he saw Ray and Chris enter. He mumbled a word of 'I'll leave you two ladies to it' to which Rose and Alex nodded at him and continued their discussion; he wasn't drunk enough to talk to two cryptic women.

Rose watched Gene saunter off towards two men; one was Chris from earlier today. The reason she had run away- because that stupid Timelord had to get all protective when she didn't need it.

She felt for her phone in her jacket and realised she still had it, thank God. She didn't like the idea of being away from the Doctor or Donna with no way of communicating. At least now it would teach the Doctor a lesson for being all macho when there was no need; she wondered how he was feeling right now and if he and Donna were ok.

There you go

Hope you enjoyed

R + R

Lizzle xx