Ok...so it's been a little longer than I thought. Oops?

That night, Rose decided she couldn't continue sleeping on the couch. Both Tosh and Suzie had offered to let Rose stay with them but Jack wouldn't allow it. They hadn't seen any sign of the Master since that first sighting on the CCTV except for the occasional possible glimpse, but nothing confirmed. That didn't mean anything though. He was a Time Lord and he had the TARDIS at his disposal. Rose was adamant that the TARDIS would fight him—was fighting him—but agreed that there was only so much she could do. The Master was not to be underestimated and Rose was not to be left alone and defenseless.

"She won't be alone or defenseless," Tosh argued. "I'm perfectly capable of keeping an eye on her."

"I have no doubt, but you're no match for him." Jack warned her. "Neither are you, Suzie. I'm not going to argue about this. Rose, you're living with me."

"I'll live where I choose." Rose snapped, bristling. "I am not nineteen years old anymore, Jack."

"And how am I supposed to face the Doctor if you get hurt?" he asked. "You've got to admit that I've got the best chance against the Master if he shows up. And I make a great shield," he added with a grin.

She scowled. "You make that joke one more time and I swear I will test that theory."

"Rose, it's up to you." Suzie said.

She inhaled slowly and let it out through her nose. Jack wouldn't make her do anything she didn't want to do; at least she didn't think he would. They'd never been a position where he'd taken it upon himself to decide for like the Doctor was prone to do. She didn't know if he would try with this or not but she wasn't keen to find out.

His logic was sound. Jack would make a better offense against the Master. She knew him better than Tosh and Suzie, had lived with him before, and was more comfortable around him than anyone else on his team so far.

After everyone else had gone home for the night, Jack motioned her into his office and gestured to a manhole cover in the floor near his desk. She stared, confused, until he laughed and lifted it out of the way. She peered over the side and was surprised to see a narrow tunnel with a ladder leading down into a small room. She could see a bed, a nightstand, and what she thought might be a wardrobe.

Rose straightened. Mouth twisted in displeasure, she rounded on Jack. "I am not sleeping down there for the next—however long I'm here."

"I didn't expect you to," he replied evenly. "I was just showing you where I sleep in case you ever need anything. Or if you want to take me up on the offer of a sleeping buddy."

"You don't have a flat? You really live here fulltime?"

He shook his head. "I don't like to have any lingering attachments in case I need to disappear. It's easier for me to stay here. And this way someone is here at almost all times."

"Do you plan to just keep me locked down here?" she demanded. "I don't let the Doctor wrap me in cotton and you're not gettin' away with it either, Jack Harkness. I will box your ears and make a run for it if I have to."

"I'm going to protect you, Rose. That doesn't mean I'm going to lock you up, it means I'm not going to leave you vulnerable. Right now I'd like you to stay down here where we can keep you safe until you can do it yourself. I'll teach you how to shoot a gun, how to fight, how to know when you're being followed, and more. Everything the Doctor never bothered with. I'll teach you how to be a Torchwood agent. Until then, please, just let me sleep peacefully knowing there's not a homicidal Time Lord sneaking into your bedroom."

Rose bit the inside of her lip and considered him. "And then later, after you teach me all this, if I want to stay with Tosh?"

"Go for it, as long as Tosh agrees."

She sucked a long, slow breath in through her nose and then exhaled. "Alright. Deal. So where will my room be?"

"You mean you don't want to share?" he asked, looking put out.

She shot him a look.

"There are several of these throughout the Hub." He explained as he closed the manhole. "They're for storage or emergencies, in case we have to hide, for whatever reason. They're not on any of the schematics, either, so if anyone hacked our systems the rooms will be all but invisible. That's one reason why none of them know I live here. I'll show you where each of them are and you can decide for yourself. Tomorrow we'll go out and get you a mattress and sheets and all that. Plus," he looked her up and down. "You're going to need more clothes."

"And how will you explain the charges on the Torchwood accounts?" she asked. "Torchwood One can't know I'm here. Ever."

"I understand. But I wasn't planning on using any official Torchwood accounts. Got a bit of money to my name. And as soon as you finish your first pay period, so will you."

"I'll pay you back."

"No, you won't. Trust me, Rose, my account has been gathering interest since 1906. We could get you a flat in the most expensive part of town and it would hardly make a dent. You can pay for your own clothes if you want but the furniture? That's on me."

Before they could even buy her a bed, though, they had to know what space they were working with. Jack led her around the many halls around and beneath the Hub, a more extensive tour than the one she'd been given before. As they went, he showed her the room options. They were all concealed behind shelves or signs or even a fake wall. Most of them were incredibly tiny, a mere fraction of her room on the TARDIS. The most spacious one was the size of Jackie's kitchen.

"This place wasn't designed to be lived in," he reminded her when he noticed her displeasure. "These are storage rooms, emergency shelters."

"I know," she sighed. "But if I'm gonna live here…I'd at least like to be able to move around. Don't you have anything else?"

Jack leaned against the wall, twisting his mouth thoughtfully. "You know…I just might. But it's on the map," he warned her.

"I don't care."

"This way." Jack motioned with his hand.

Rose followed him up from the basement back into the Hub. She thought he was leading her back to his office but instead of turning right at the top of the small steps, he turned left and headed up the stairs that led to the more recreational areas. Then he led her up another set of stairs. The third floor was where the kitchen and rest and recreation rooms were. He led her past them both. When he finally stopped it was in the middle of the hallway in between two steel doors labeled with the Torchwood logo and big yellow letters: WARNING: HIGHLY DANGEROUS OBJECTS WITHIN. Beside each door was a simple thumb print scanner. Jack placed his thumb on the scanner on the left side. It beeped once and the door hissed as it unlocked.

He pulled it open and hit the light switch on the side. The room was mostly empty. A few shelves, also mostly empty, lined the walls. The walls and floor were made of smooth concrete, completely plain, and the lights were standard fluorescent.

"What is this?"

"Storage room. But I've moved most of the stuff down into the vaults now. The rest of this we could have out tonight. It's big enough for a bed, bedside table, even a wardrobe if you wanted. What am I saying? You need one to put your clothes in. There's even an electrical output somewhere over there." He gestured to the back of the room. "What do you think?"

"Looks like a prison cell," she said bluntly. "But it's better than the others. Could make it look homey with the right stuff. All right. This one it is. But, uh, could we…not tell the others where I live?"

"Why?"

"'Cos if I gotta live down here, I need something that's…mine. You don't invite them down into your little cubby, do you?"

"They don't even know about it," he confirmed. "But this means you and I are going to have to do this all ourselves. It's going to take a few days."

"Then we should probably get started."

They got the alien artifacts moved to a temporary vault in Jack's office that night. He also disabled both cameras in the hallway so no one—namely Tosh and Suzie—could track her through the CCTV footage. Once the room was clear, he used his vortex manipulator to calculate the exact dimensions of the room down to a millimeter. By the time they were finished Rose wanted nothing more than collapse into bed. Her muscles were aching and she could feel a migraine building behind her eyes.

Jack looked around the room with his hands on his hips. He exhaled. "That's all we can do for tonight. Tomorrow we'll go shopping whenever I get the chance and work on getting these shelves disassembled and the room sanitized. In the meantime, let's get you to bed. You look like you're about to fall over."

No surprise there. She hadn't had a good night's sleep since her last night on the TARDIS and it was really starting to take a toll. Owen had called her a zombie earlier. She sure as hell felt like one most of the time. She followed him silently down to the main hub and wasn't even bothered when Jack took hold of her arm and walked her down the stairs with the same care given to a two year old. God, she needed sleep.

The TARDIS hummed sympathetically in her mind.

Can't you just…fly yourself back to the Doctor? Or fly yourself to me? She thought and received a wave of denial and sorrow in reply. Then an image of a section of console controls, including the lever that Rose knew kept the ship from dematerializing. They were both equally trapped.

"Rose. Rose?" She suddenly became aware that Jack was standing right in front of her. She flinched away at the sudden the wrongness and averted her eyes.

"Sweetheart, why do you do that?" he asked.

"Do what?" she mumbled.

"Look away. Don't think I haven't noticed. You can't stand to look at me for more than a minute even when its just the two of us."

Tears welled in her eyes. She'd tried so hard to not make it obvious. In the Silo he hadn't seemed bothered by it at all so she'd just assumed…. "I'm sorry. It's just difficult to look at you. You're not right, Jack. And I know it's my fault, I bloody know it, but some instinct of mine says you're wrong. I'm trying to get it to shut up, I really am, 'cos you know I love you and I didn't want to hurt you but…"

"Okay, okay, shhhh," he soothed and she realized she'd been babbling. He cupped her face in his hands and rubbed her cheeks soothingly with his thumbs. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, and tried to stop the tears. "I understand, okay. You're not the first one to react to me in some way. It's been happening for decades. It's not your fault."

"It's getting harder," she mumbled.

"Maybe because you're tired. You haven't had a good night's sleep in, what? A week?"

"Just about."

"Why don't you sleep with me tonight? You don't have to face me if it makes you more comfortable. Just please let me help you."

Rose wrapped her arms around her chest. "I need…I need him, Jack."

"I know. But I can't bring him back to you. Not yet. Besides, you've never had a real cuddle with me before," he added teasingly. "You don't know what you're in for."

She managed to smile. He left her alone so she could change into her jammies and brush her hair. She was too tired to make the trip back up to the bathroom so she just left her toiletries in her bag. Then she grabbed her bag and pillow and stumbled into his office. He was waiting for her, leaning against his desk in a t-shirt and black trousers that looked suspiciously like track pants.

Opening the manhole in his floor, he tossed her pillow down then set her backpack underneath his desk for safekeeping. He motioned for her to go first and she carefully eased herself down the thin metal rails that served as stairs. The bed was directly next to the bottom of the steps and instead of going all the way down, she angled her body and dropped onto Jack's bed.

"Having fun?" he asked as he descended.

"Your bed's cushy," she informed him.

Jack grinned at her then climbed down the rest of the way. He undid his vortex manipulator, pulling open the drawer of his bedside, then reached inside. Rose heard a tiny click and she craned her neck to see inside. Jack slid the bottom of the drawer back, revealing a small compartment. He set the vortex manipulator inside then closed it all back up.

Jack glanced at her. "Gotta keep it safe. The odds of anyone making it this far are astronomical but you never know."

"If it makes you feel better, you were wearin' it when I saw you."

"Really?" He bobbed his head to the side once. "Good to know. Now scoot."

Rose rolled over to the other side of the bed to give him room. It was barely larger than a single person bed so it was going to be a tight fit but they'd be fine. They'd slept in tinier places, long ago. He settled down next to her, facing the opposite wall, careful to keep space between their bodies until she scooted closer to him on her own. She pressed her back against his and found, to her delight, that it was bearable. So she snuggled closed, stretching her neck to bump the crown of her head against the base of his.

"Okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. …Thank you."

"Any time."

And despite the warning in the back of her mind, the uncomfortable sensation in her gut, and the prickling along her skin, it was the best night's sleep she'd had since arriving. She woke up the next morning with her face buried between Jack's shoulder blades, no worse for the wear, and smiled to herself.

"I feel you smiling," he whispered. "You slept well, then?" Rose nodded. "So did I. We should do this more often."

"Mmm," she hummed in agreement. "At least until I get a proper bed."

The rest of Torchwood was quite surprised when they showed up for work to find Rose fresh-faced, makeup on, hair pulled back, and dressed like she was more than a freeloader. She put on her nicest pair of jeans, her pink trainers, and a pink t-shirt with the blue crown on it that she found at the bottom of her bag.

"You look nice," Tosh said with a sweet smile as she set her bag down at her terminal.

"Yeah, what's the occasion?" Owen asked snidely from his chair.

"Y'know, funny you should ask." Jack sauntered out of his office, fully dressed, manipulator on his arm, and ready to go. "Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?"

Tosh turned around in surprise. Owen leaned back in his chair. Suzie looked up from her desk across the room.

Jack put his hands on Rose's shoulders. "Say hello to the newest member of Torchwood."

"What?" Suzie deadpanned.

"You accepted?" Tosh was surprised. "But you said—"

Rose cut her off. "I've got nowhere else to go. Nothing else I can do. And this way, everyone benefits."

"And what exactly is a 20-year-old with no A-levels, no job experience outside a shop, and a giant target on her back qualified to do around here, eh?" Owen demanded. "Stack papers. Water plants? Fetch coffee?"

Rose swiveled her head around and glared at him furiously. "I'm not exactly new to aliens or any of this."

Owen's lips were pressed together in a thin line and he glared at her. "I don't know what it is you get up to in your free time, Tyler, but this is not some game. We don't just sit down here, dicking around, eating pizza, and rescue friendly birds. The stuff of nightmares comes through the rift and this entire city depends on us making sure they are contained. There's a reason our staff is so small and I've seen nothing that makes me confident that you're suited for Torchwood."

Rose knew he had a point and it was her fault for not having told them the truth about her life. She could do it now, but would they believe her? She had no proof of ever being on alien plants other than her word and most of the notable incidents she would normally use for credibility hadn't even happened to them yet.

"I decide who's got what it takes to be on this team," Jack replied. "And I say she is."

"Why? What's she done? What can she do?" Owen shot back. "And I mean apart from the language thing 'cos that—"

"I know how to handle myself, Owen." Rose cut in sharply. "Been doin' it for years. You don't have to worry about me."

"You ever gonna tell us why?" Suzie asked

"You ever gonna give me a reason to?" Rose countered and no one had anything to say to that.