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Chapter 4

The Doctor and Rose left Jenny to get more rest. She wanted to tell them all about her time trying to find him, but they could both see her exhaustion, so he made her rest.

They walked into the hallway. "So, do you understand now?" he asked.

"Yeah." Rose nodded with a small smile. Not wanting to put any pressure on her hurt ankle, she slid down the wall to sit. She winced as her right foot was used for balance. Then she slowly slid her leg out, suddenly wishing she had a pillow to rest her foot on. Still, the flooring of the TARDIS wasn't too bad…

The Doctor sat across from her. He tilted his head and looked as if he wanted to ask something.

"What?" she asked.

"I was just wondering," he said almost distantly at first. Then his eyes gleamed with mischief.

"What is it?"

"Just wonderin' if you were still ticklish." He shrugged as if it was nothing.

Her eyes widened. "No, no." She pointed her finger at him. "Don't you even dare. See this foot? It may be sprained, but I've got another and two arms that can fight."

He raised his hands in surrender. "I was just wondering!" he defended. And she rolled her eyes. Never mess with a Tyler woman, the Doctor thought. Mickey had said that to him multiple times whenever Rose was angry.

He looked at her. No anger shown on her face. She just rested her chin on her left knee, looking back at him. She sat stiff, though. He stood up and sat next to her, pulling a tube of ointment out of his jacket. He had grabbed it just before leaving Jenny to rest again.

"It'll help heal your ankle, and it'll get rid of your scars," he told her, twisting the cap off.

The moment he mentioned 'scars', she shifted slightly, her face becoming guarded. "Yeah?"

He stopped. "Rose, what happened?"

She stared at her foot. "Nothing."

He lifted her chin and sternly looked at her. "I need to know."

She moved her head away. "It's fine. I promise. No need to burden you with anything else."

"Burden me?" He was baffled. How could she ever burden him?

"You'll only blame yourself." She avoided his eyes.

He continued to look at her intently and said gently, "You could never burden me, Rose."

She shook her head as if she didn't believe him and tried to stand up. It was more of a struggle than it should've been. He hadn't wanted to admit it before, but Rose had definitely seemed physically weaker than she once was. He'd thought she was just in a bit of shock. But when she so easily sprained her ankle…he knew something was up. Sure anyone could sprain an ankle standing up so quickly when not used to running, but Rose had sure spent a lot of time trying to find him again. She should've been used to running—right? And even if she wasn't, she shouldn't have sprained her ankle as bad as it was. Every step she took, he could see the stiffness, the pain clouding her eyes, and the wincing—whether or not she realized what she was doing, which was very possible, because she was Rose. She was never focused on herself, but on others. And earlier, she was very curious about Jenny.

But she stumbled as she attempted to stand and he was up instantly, reaching for her waist to steady her. Immediately after she regained her balance, frustration welled up on her face. "Great, so I can't even stand up without help," she muttered. Her throat tightened as she looked at the Doctor's concerned face. Stop looking at me like that! She wanted to shout. Because that look made her want to break down in his arms. It made her feel weak.

He must have seen the threat of tears on her face because he clapped his hands. "Hey! Wanna go ice skating? Jenny hasn't ever been and I'm sure she'd love it." She made small gesture to her ankle. "Well I mean after it's healed, Rose."

"Mm hmm, yeah, sure. I haven't been in forever anyways," she responded.

He nodded and handed her the ointment. "It'll help your ankle heal."

She hesitated. She knew he wanted an explanation. He wanted her to tell him what seemed to make her so fragile. He wanted her to apply the substance to her scars, too. But he also wanted to take Jenny ice skating, and she knew he wouldn't go without her, so she took the tube and forced a smile. "Thanks."

That night, the Doctor was alerted by Rose's night terrors. He stood outside her door, just listening. His hand twitched for the doorknob, but something made him hesitate as he recalled Rose's earlier words.

"Great, so I can't even stand up without help."

Would she be angry about not being able to sleep, too? He pushed the thoughts away, deciding he was being stupid, as he heard Rose awake and her quiet whimpers echoing her room. He twisted the knob and peeked in the door. She sat on her bed with her legs tucked to her chest.

"Sorry," she said. "Did I wake you?"

"Nope, I don't need much sleep. You know that," he replied gently.

She nodded. "I'm okay." He looked at her disbelievingly. He moved to walk and sit, but she quickly said, "Really. I'll be fine. I'll be back asleep before you know it."

"Only to wake up again screaming?"

She didn't look him in the eye. "I promise. It's nothing. Just some sort of after effect or something."

"Of what?"

"Nothing."

He sat next to her. "Rose Tyler, you keep saying nothing, but there is definitely something. I need to know."

"Why?"

"Because I can help."

"There's nothing to help with."

He looked at her sadly. She was pushing him a way. He wanted her to let him in, to let him help. He sighed. He would get it out of her soon. He leaned over and pressed his lips softly to her forehead, when she then nestled her head to his chest. She gripped his shirt tightly—no tears, but obvious hurt. He stroked her hair and murmured against her head, "Let me help."

"You are," she responded. Then leaned back. "I promise, I'll be fine. Just a little something I need to sort out on my own."

He knew that was her way of saying she wanted him to leave. She wanted to handle whatever was bothering her herself. Perhaps she had already been taken care of enough before she made it back to him. Maybe this wasn't nearly as bad as before. He found that hard to believe, but nonetheless, he couldn't help feel the fighting curiosity and worry of what happened to her. But he nodded, obeying her wish and left the room, fighting the longing to stay with her.

Over the next few days, Jenny had been recovering from her crash. Emotionally, she was completely fine. Just as brilliant as when the Doctor first met her. Physically, however, her body was a bit shaken up from the force of the crash. She was shaky when she tried to stand up on her own, but she was getting it.

The Doctor was even beginning to teach her the basics of flying the TARDIS.

Rose, on the other hand, was almost perfectly back to her old self—at least during the day, that was. Once she fell asleep in the TARDIS's version of night, she would have her nightmares. And she flat out refused to let the Doctor attempt to comfort her. She locked her door at nights now. He could always open it with the sonic, but he respected her too much to do that.

In the morning, he could see her exhaustion, but she'd give no hint of what had happened during the night, except the fact that she wouldn't look at the Doctor, almost as if she felt guilty about something. At this time, Rose and Jenny got along especially great.

With their similar natures, they became friends very quickly. They would tease the Doctor together, and Rose would tell silly stories about him to Jenny. Like the time when he was searching for his sonic screwdriver and it had been right in front of him the entire time.

When Jenny's turn, she would tell them both stories of her little adventures that occurred before she found them.

As for Rose and her ankle, it was completely healed. No trace of limp. And a good thing, too, because despite his worry for her, the Doctor was getting restless.

So this morning he walked over to the table where Jenny and Rose were eating. "You wanna go ice skating today?" he asked, sitting down.

"Ice skating?" Jenny looked like the name rang a bell.

"It's this thing we do for fun on Earth. You put these shoes with blades on the bottom on and skate on the ice," Rose explained.

Jenny's eyes brightened with excitement and looked at her dad. "I want to go ice skating."

"You feel well enough to do it?"

"Of course!"

He grinned. Then nodded to Rose questioningly. "My ankle's just fine, thanks to the ointment. Yeah, 'course I wanna ice skate."

He tried to meet her gaze for a moment, but she looked away, saying, "I s'pose we should go get ready then?"

He nodded. "Could you show Jenny where the wardrobe is?"

"'Course." Rose nodded. She stood up, Jenny following. The girl shot her father a confused look, who just gave her a look and then began messing with his sonic screwdriver. It was very obvious something was going on between them, even to someone who wasn't well experienced with human nature, especially not the emotional side.

Rose led Jenny down a corridor, one turn here, another turn there, but she moved almost robotically.

It was very peculiar behavior, in Jenny's mind. Or perhaps, it was normal for Rose. After all, she hadn't known her for that long.

Eventually they came to a room with a large wardrobe. The room was painted with blue-and-white stripes, and a lamp flicked on when they entered. Rose opened the wardrobe, which was (of course) bigger on the inside.

Jenny looked at it with wide eyes at the enormity of it, and then looked at the rest of the room, at every stroke of paint, every thread of the flooring. She knew it was childish to find something so simple, so amazing.

Rose shuffled beside her. "I know," she said softly with a smile in her voice.

Jenny looked at her. "There's just a story behind everything and it's fascinating. You can never stop being captivated by new discoveries."

"I thought the same when I first began traveling with the Doctor."

"Do you still think it?"

She shrugged. "To an extent, I s'pose. Traveling in the TARDIS is amazing and I wouldn't give it up for anything, but eventually you realize that as many wonderful things there are horrible things, too, that you weren't prepared for. Maybe you knew parts of it existed, but you don't know how to handle it in the end once you've come across it."

Jenny brushed her hand comfortingly on Rose's arm. "How do you mean?"

She sighed as she said, "I know you weren't raised from a child, and you never went to school and haven't spent much time with your parent…but when you're a kid, grownups tell you what to look out for. You nod like you understand, and maybe you do, but you just go on, brushing it off as if it's nothing. After all, that would never happen to you, right? As you get older, though, you learn more about the bad things in the world and take them more seriously, but you still don't fully understand the whole thing. You don't know the aftereffects of something. In the end, you have to learn to live with things you didn't even know could actually exist with you."

"And that happened to you?" Jenny asked slowly.

Rose fiddled with her hands. "In a way, I guess so." Sadness edged her voice.

Jenny looked at her sympathetically. "I know you don't really know me, but you can tell me what happened. I won't tell anyone—not even my dad, if you don't want."

She shook her head. "Nah, I'm okay. Just a little hardship. Nothin' I can't handle, me." She sounded distant, then snapped back into reality and clasped her hands together. "All right! We best be getting our clothes for skating! You'll love it!"

Jenny smiled, pushing her concern for the woman away. "Yeah? I can't wait!"

The TARDIS landed in late 21st century on Earth, a few blocks from the ice rink. Rose and Jenny dressed in light jackets, and carried white skates. The Doctor wore the same clothes, including his trench coat, and carried similar skates to Rose and Jenny's as well.

As they walked, there was a slight bounce in all their steps—especially Jenny. With so much angst over the past days, it was nice to wash it away with a lighthearted activity like ice skating.

When they arrived and laced up their skates, Rose surprisingly the first on the ice, excitement gleaming in her eyes. The eager smile on her face as other skaters raced past her made the Doctor's chest lighten—except for when he noticed the instinctive flinch in her body whenever anyone came too close. Still, she was smiling as if she didn't even notice. It was the truest smile she'd had since they'd been reunited as it reached her eyes.

Jenny was next on the ice. She wobbled dangerously.

Rose grabbed the girl's wrist to steady her. "Here, it's easier to point your skates like this…" She demonstrated with her own skates.

Rose released Jenny's wrist as she nodded, and shook for a moment, spreading out her arms. She positioned her skates as previously shown to her.

"Good!" Rose praised. "Now move your feet kinda like you're walking, but stiffer to keep your balance."

She did as told and slowly moved across the ice, other skaters swerving around her. "I'm doing it!—right?"

"Yep! Just keep doing that!" She called as Jenny skated away. Then she turned to the Doctor, who still hadn't gotten onto the ice yet. "Don't tell me I need to teach you, too?"

"Pfft, no. I'm a Time Lord, Rose Tyler," he said indignantly. "Over nine hundred years old. I think I've had my fair share of ice skating."

"Then whatcha waitin' for?" She raised her eyebrows challengingly.

"Well…you and Jenny were in the way a bit. Didn't want to mess you up, did I?" He stepped on the ice and immediately he was sliding across the ice, obviously not in control. He held out his arms in attempt to balance out, but he still wobbled furiously. "Wait, Rose. Rose. Rose! How do you stop?" He could hear her laughing, but couldn't turn his head to glare at her. "Stop laughing!"

He heard her skate up behind him and she looked at him with a satisified grin. "Nine hundred years old and you don't know how to stop your skates?"

He sniffed. "I'm sure I knew at one point—it's somewhere in here." He knocked on his head. To do this, however, he had to bring in one of his spread out arms. Bad news, considering the outspread arms were about the only thing keeping his feeble balance. He fought for what was lost, arms flailing. He gripped Rose's shoulders, steadying himself—except there was the fact that he'd been flailing, so a caught-off-guard Rose lost her own balance. Together they wobbled, and soon enough, clinging to each other, they won their balance.

Rose panted into the Doctor's chest. This hug—if it could be called a hug—it was nice. She closed her eyes, listening to his beating hearts. Then she looked up at him.

Amusement sparkled in his eyes.

She pulled back with a slightly playful glare and pushed him softly. "Nice work, Time Lord."

"I don't think you were much better," he mocked back.

"Only because you grabbed me as you went down!"

He made a face and shrugged. "Debatable."

She rolled her eyes with a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. Maybe it wasn't a full on Rose Tyler tongue-in-tooth smile yet, but he could see the sparkle to her eyes, which made him want to squeeze her in a tight hug. He resisted that urge, and instead grinned with a wink. He held out an arm to her. "Let us skate, Dame Rose."

"Of course, Sir Doctor." She took his arm, with a light laugh.

It wasn't long before the sun was going down, and it started to get chilly. At least it did according to Rose. With Jenny and the Doctor's "superior biology", the chill of the evening had little effect on them.

"Want me to get some hot chocolate?" The Doctor piped, noticing her shivering.

She nodded. "Yes, please."

"I'll get one for Jenny, too! She'll love it!"

Jenny was off skating on her own, interacting with new people. At first, she didn't talk to anybody else much, but soon it became clear she was "very outgoing and had a gob just like her father", as Rose kindly told him.

He skated over to the edge of the rink, only for a dark woman to crash into him. "Sorry," he apologized as he stood back up, brushing the powdered ice off himself. The woman, however, stood frozen, staring at him distantly. "You all right?"

She blinked. "Four knocks. Your song is ending soon, Doctor."

He looked at her, startled. "I'm sorry?"

The lady did not respond. She simply slid away with him staring after her. His song was ending soon? What did that mean? Death?

Then he mentally shook his head.

That was a random stranger who told him that. He needn't take it too seriously.

He got the hot chocolate and called Rose and Jenny over to a table. Both gratefully took the cups. Jenny was shivering now with her light jacket as they sat across from the Doctor, but didn't seem to notice.

"I love this! It is so much fun, and all the people are so nice. They're all human?" She sounded excited.

"Brilliant, stupid humans." The Doctor nodded, inwardly smiling at her enthusiastic attitude. She was so young.

"Stupid?" She sounded confused.

"He likes to insult—and praise, I s'pose—other species when he's under stress." Rose turned to him expectantly.

"What? Me? No. I'm perfectly fine! All is well. Swell. Well, well, swell. Interesting words 'well' and 'swell'."

Jenny raised an eyebrow and Rose just rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her drink.

"Head back to the TARDIS son, yeah?" Rose asked after a moment, very visibly shivering even more.

"You can use my coat," The Doctor said.

"Nah, I'm good."

"I really don't need it, Rose, and you look like you're freezing." Her face was flushed from the cold, her nose and ears especially bright pink.

The look in her eyes was guarded. "I'm just tired, s'all."

His hearts sunk, and even more so when he realized Jenny's look of concern. Even she could tell something was up. He thought maybe this little trip would loosen Rose up enough to tell him what was going, but obviously not. He just nodded at her with a small forced smile. "Yeah, 'course. We can go right now."

On the way back to the TARDIS, the two girls walked together, slightly behind him, eventually giggling. He turned his head, and they flashed him mischievous looks.

"What?" he asked.

Rose walked closer to him, her chin nuzzling his shoulder. "Jenny's never seen The Lion King."

"I can't imagine she has." He looked back at his daughter, who smiled at him.

"So…let's watch it when we get back to the TARDIS."

"I thought you were tired."

"Sleep can wait. The Lion King is necessary."

He shrugged. "Sure, whatever."

Rose put in the movie when they got back. The girls sat next to each other, while the Doctor sat on the far end of the couch, amused by their excitement over this film. Soon Jenny was into it, very much enjoying it.

Meanwhile, Rose seemed to have trouble keeping her eyelids open. Her head jerked every once in a while, trying to keep awake. Soon she dozed off, though, curled up in the middle of the couch.

When the credits rolled, Jenny walked over to her father and planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "Thanks, and 'night."

"Wait, do you sleep?" he asked her.

"Of course." She looked at him as if he were crazy.

"Well, how often?"

She looked surprised. "Every night for a few hours. Less than an ordinary human, if you're wondering." Then she nodded to a still dozing Rose and padded away to her room.

The Doctor looked at the sleeping form, tenderness filling him. He walked over to her and lifted her to carry to her room. He laid her down on her bed, making no sound. He sat down at the edge and ran the back of his fingers along her cheek. He could hear the little shudders of forming sobs coming into her breathing, making a physical ache in his chest. What was so bad that she couldn't even tell him about it?

Giving in to impulse, he tossed his jacket over to the chair and slipped out of his shoes before climbing onto the bed and easing Rose against him. He leaned against the headboard as Rose let out a small peaceful sigh, all signs of possible crying gone from her breath, bringing a small upward curve to his lips. He planted a soft kiss to the top of her head.

"Goodnight, Rose."