Thanks again for all the reviews, favs, and follows! ^^
And in response to the Guest reviewer, I don't want to give an average update time. Stuff happens that conflicts with writing, I get writers block, etc. Just know that I update almost as soon as I complete the chapter with editing and all. :)

Chapter 5

"Doctor?"

Someone poked his nose. He groaned and forced his eyes open. Looking at him with a bemused expression was Rose.

"Hello," he smiled. She returned a small one, with an arched eyebrow, looking like she was expecting some sort of another reaction. What? he thought. He looked around to see what was so funny. Then he realized the hold he had in his arms. He looked down to see Rose was tightly being held to him, his arms looped around her waist. "Oh."

"Yeah, I wondered 'bout that, too," she giggled. "Not that it was a bad thing or anything." Then she stiffened, her face turning a pink. "Well—I mean…y'know?" She sighed.

He released her and she scooted slightly away, though her face was millimeters away, their breath mingling—if he happened to be breathing at all, of course.

Her eyes flickered away from his, and she sat up, leaning against the headboard. She began playing with her fingers. "Okay, so one question."

"I'm all ears," he responded, scooting closer to her as he sat up, so their legs were touching.

"Not anymore!" She poked his stomach.

"Oi!" he said defensively. "My ears weren't that bad."

"Debatable," she shrugged.

He made a face. "So your question…?"

"What were you doing here all of last night?" She sounded hesitant in asking. "Was I having a…nightmare?"

"That's two questions, Rose."

"Doctor..."

He shrugged, not exactly answering the question. "You fell asleep during the movie so I brought you in here."

"And I had a nightmare, right?"

He nodded slowly. "Or at least you were beginning to." He scratched the back of his neck.

"Great." She kept eyes fixed on hands as she asked with voice sounding uncertain, "Were you having a nightmare this morning?"

He scrunched up his face, crossing his legs. "I don't really know."

"Because you were murmuring and sweating."

"Oh." He touched his forehead, where he felt the wetness of sweat. Yes, he did have a nightmare.

She nudged him lightly. "S'okay, we can be night twins!" She paused. "Oh gosh, I'm starting to sound like you."

"Me?"

"Yep."

"I do not sound like that," he replied indignantly.

"Yeah, you sort of do." She shrugged matter-of-factly.

"When have I ever said anything like that?"

"Oh, I dunno." She started counting fingers, then stopped. "Better stop, don't want to ruin your ego," she teased.

"My ego? You know, I am making an effort here not be offended." He unconsciously leaned closer.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She smiled softly at this. "Rose," he began, "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable. I didn't really think. It's just…"

"It's fine," she said sincerely. "I got a good night's sleep, right, which is more than I can say for the past few nights."

He looked at her intently.

She shook her head with a sad expression. "I know you want me to talk to you about…but I just can't go through explaining it again. I did it back in Pete's World, and I relive it in my sleep. Telling you…it'd just make it more real and it's not like…"

"Like what?"

"Like…it'd make any difference..."

He cupped her cheek. "Rose, I promise you, I can help you get through whatever you're struggling with. You just need to tell me what's going on."

"But you are helping. Right here, right now." Her hand twitched upward toward his own face, but it froze mid air as if she wasn't sure that's what he would want. Fighting the tightness of his throat, he grabbed her hand and placed it on his cheek, covering it with his own. Her eyes watered at this, what seemed like a mixture of happiness and hurt.

She leaned forward, causing an increase in heart beats, and pecked his cheek. "Everything's going to be all right," she said softly, though it almost sounded as if she was trying to convince herself of that as much of him. Then she pushed him lightly. "I'm starving. Go make some breakfast while I change."

"But Jenny's probably already making breakfast…" he pouted.

"Still get out and go help her. I have to change."

He quickly got up. He glanced over his shoulder once more before he exited, closing the door behind him.

Rose got up and locked the door. She knew from experience that the Doctor often forgot about knocking and if she wanted privacy, she had lock doors. She went over to the dresser and went through her clothes, whipping a set out.

Her head hurt. It always did once she woke up, especially after a nightmare. It wasn't just an ordinary headache either. It was a slight burning sensation. It didn't hurt excruciatingly, but just enough to cause her discomfort.

She ignored it, the pain already fading, and changed into the pair of clothes she'd whipped out.

She walked into the hallway. Instantly, she caught a whiff of pancakes, along with the small of…burnt? She rushed into the kitchen, her mind racing. Oh what had the Doctor done now?

She halted in the doorway. Jenny was fanning the flames at the stove frantically with her hands, not exactly knowing how to deal with this event. Meanwhile, the Doctor was racing about the kitchen, obviously in search of an extinguisher. Rose resisted the urge to do a face palm. After all this time, the Doctor still did not know where he kept his own fire extinguisher. Rose reached to the left of her and opened a cabinet. She pulled out the extinguisher, rushed over to the fire, and released the foam. The flames died quickly.

Rose wiped her brow with a small "phew". Jenny panted for moment before giving Rose a pat on the back as she brushed by. She looked like she was about to say something, but was too out of breath for it. She raised her hand and dropped it as she slumped into a chair, still attempting to catch her breath. She coughed.

Rose couldn't help but giggle at her. "Never experienced a fire before, huh, Jenny?"

The girl shook her head.

Rose rolled her eyes as she turned to the Doctor. He leaned against the counter, coughing into his sleeve. He caught her eye. He tried to clear his throat, but it resulted in more coughs. "Smoke inhalation," he managed to choke out.

"Ah," was all she said. Then she raised her eyebrow at him teasingly. "Still don't know where the fire extinguisher is kept?"

He hacked once more and was able to clear his throat for real this time. He straightened his tie. "Of course I do."

"Just takin' your time then?"

"I…I was erm, assessing on how Jenny would react to the situation." He nodded to his daughter.

The girl glared at him, but didn't speak, her throat probably sore from the coughing.

"Yeah, sure." Rose turned to the stove. A pan sat on it, a black not-so-much-a-pancake-anymore in that.

Jenny stood up and walked over to Rose. "I was cooking some breakfast before Dad came in. He told me that he could show me a better way to make pancakes. You see how that ended."

"Jenny," Rose began, "one thing you should about your father is that he is horrible with anything even slightly domestic." She dropped her voice. "Don't ever trust him with it." They giggled.

"I can hear you," The Doctor narrowed his eyes at them, looking slightly embarrassed with the tips of his ears pink.

"Dad, I think Rose and I can handle making the breakfast now," Jenny told him. "You can go fiddle with your screwdriver or something." It seemed she obviously hadn't forgiven him for screwing up her chance to make a delicious breakfast first try this morning.

He made a face and sat down at the table getting out his sonic and a few random things from his pocket.

Rose shook her head fondly and then showed Jenny the "proper" way to make pancakes.

When they finished eating, the Doctor stood up with a stretch. "Good work, you two," he said to Jenny and Rose. "I could've shown you the Time Lord style-"

"Oh, no," Jenny shook her head urgently.

"No more pancake-making for you," Rose told him.

"But-"

"Nope. Besides, what happened to 'no domestics' anyways?"

He muttered something under his breath.

"Huh?" Rose raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing!" He clapped his hands together, seemingly forgetting the pancakes for a moment. "Rose, Jenny, how would you like to pay Torchwood a visit?"

"Jack?" Rose piped up. "Yes, please!"

"Torchwood…?" Jenny said, looking confused.

"It's an institute founded by Queen Victoria—Rose and I met her in 1879 Scotland—it's meant to protect Earth from alien threats." The Doctor adjusted his tie.

"Wonder what you did to provoke that?" Jenny snickered glancing from Rose to her father.

Rose shifted in her seat and took a sip of her drink. "May have had a thing or two to do with a werewolf."

"A werewolf?"

"Technically it was more of a lupine-wavelength haemovariform," the Doctor said.

"Same thing." Rose rolled her eyes playfully. And Jenny's excitement with "werewolf" didn't seem to dim. She opened her mouth with obvious intent of pestering them with questions, but the Doctor interrupted before she could get anything out.

"I'll be in the console room, set the TARDIS on course for Cardiff. You can talk about our little knighting. Maybe tidy up a bit? The TARDIS doesn't like to be left dirty." He backed into the hallway.

Rose stood up instantly. After spending that time working in the kitchen at that school for the Krillitane mission, she wasn't very fond of working with dishes even now. "Haha, very funny, but we made breakfast so it's only fair you clean up. Y'know, do your part."

"But I did help…" He frowned.

"Make a mess!" Jenny laughed and walked over to him. She poked him. "Rose mentioned you don't like domestics, but I think if you're going to eat, you need to actually help out, not make a mess," she told him affectionately.

Rose couldn't help but inwardly be amused by this sight. Jenny had only been here for about a week (it was hard to tell in the TARDIS), and she was already telling her own dad how to manage his ship.

"It's my TARDIS…" he began.

"Exactly my point." Jenny smiled at him. "Rose and I'll go talk or do whatever female humans do and you can tidy up as much as you need to keep the old girl happy." She rubbed the wall of the ship, which hummed in response.

He looked rather perturbed, not exactly processing that he was going to have to do the dishes. Rose couldn't help but wonder what happened when no one was with him. Maybe he didn't eat? It could be he was too lonely for an appetite. Or perhaps he simply ate bananas all day, or food that didn't need the cleaning of dishes.

Then he called after Jenny, "Wait, I'm your dad! You're not my mum! And this is my ship, I'm in charge."

Rose brushed him and patted his arm. "Keep telling yourself that, Doctor," she teased. She saw his disappointment as she slid into the corridor. She was about to mention how they'd spent a lot of time together lately already and that Jenny needed bonding time. After all, didn't he want them to become close? His best friend (she didn't really want to think anything else more yet) and his daughter? She wanted to spend every moment with him that she could and he knew that—she was sure of it. But as true as that all was, it just didn't seem right to say. There was something in his eyes that made her think there was something other than missing her that was bothering the Doctor. She touched his arm lightly with her hand, then retreated almost without a thought. It seemed almost instinctive to do that, to retract anything that showed any type if comfort or concern or support even.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" she asked softly.

"Wrong?" He shook his head and patted her head. "You silly little humans always thinking something's wrong. Nope, I'm all good!"

"Oh okay." She looked down. Something told her to push the subject, because she knew him. She knew when something was wrong. But at the same time, she could not bring herself to do that, fresh memories pouring into her mind. She headed toward Jenny's room.

"Wait." The Doctor reached out and grasped her arm. She started and flinched which caused him to immediately retreat. She saw the hurt in his eyes and felt guilt claw at her throat. In attempt to mend it, she clasped her hand in his.

"Yeah?" she said softly.

"Just…erm." She could easily imagine him biting his lip if he were one prone to that. He took his hand out of hers. "Oh, it's nothing. Just…just make sure Jenny's all good, will you? It's just I haven't exactly gotten the chance to talk with her one-on-one very much really. I want to make sure she's doing all right."

"Oh yeah, 'course I will." She nodded. Then she bit her lip. "Um, if you want, you can go talk with her. I'll do the dishes. I haven't done them at all recently anyways."

He was already shaking his head before she finished. "Oh no, I'll be fine. You've done your part. Just enjoy Jenny, that's all."

"Okay."

He smiled a small grateful smile. He leaned toward her in an almost-hesitant manner, which probably came from her earlier flinch, but he cupped her check and tenderly kissed her forehead. "Thank you."

He turned away before she could move. She felt her cheeks redden slightly, but she mentally shook herself and she made her way to Jenny's room. She hadn't gone in the girl's room before, but she'd seen the outside. It had Circular Gallifreyan on the door, just like on hers, but the symbols were slightly different. She'd always assumed it was just their names.

The door was already creaked open so Rose entered without knocking. Jenny was kneeling on the floor playing with the lamp on the nightstand.

"How'd you know how to make pancakes anyways?" she asked to start conversation.

"Oh just looking around, experimenting, y'know. It didn't seem that difficult. I read a book or two about it," Jenny replied.

Rose nodded. "Interesting room," she commented, looking around.

The room was painted dark blue with white stars. There was a yellow-green mist-like painting over the blue and white in random places. Toy spaceships hung from the ceiling. Jenny may've looked to be in her late teens, but she was a child at heart.

"Yeah." Jenny stood up and placed her hand on her hips, looking around. "The TARDIS decorated for me. Must know what I like."

"She tends to do things like that." The TARDIS hummed. Rose sighed happily. "You're a lot like your dad."

"I know." They sat down on the bed, side by side. "You know, when we first met, he tried to deny that we were anything alike."

"Really?" Rose arched an eyebrow, though she wasn't too surprised. She'd witnessed the Doctor push people away when they could potentially be of comfort to him after he lost someone. It'd happened with Reinette. With Jenny, though, him rejecting her at first likely came from the fact that he lost Gallifrey with all his family there. He wouldn't want to let Jenny in for fear of more pain.

"Yep. Then Donna checked and found out I had two hearts just like him." She looked across the room. "He kept insisting that he wasn't a soldier."

Rose laughed a little. "I'm guessing he didn't take well to being called a fighter?"

Jenny shook her head vigorously. "No, not at all!"

"But you two met in the middle somewhere, right? Good at negotiating, that man is. Couldn't imagine you're much different, considering he is technically your biological father and mother." It was weird to think of the Doctor as a father in itself, but mother? The thought humored her.

Jenny shrugged. She obviously didn't think there was anything odd with it, but it was all she knew, so how could she? She didn't have a reason to. Silence echoed in the room for a few moments. Then Jenny looked at her. "What happened to Donna?" Rose stiffened slightly. "The way you and Dad look when I mention her…I don't want to think anything bad happened to her, did it?"

"Jenny…" Rose began.

"Don't tell me it's not your place to tell me or something, because if you do, Dad'll never tell me and I'll never know. She was my…friend…? I think that's the word. I liked her."

She sighed, her throat already tightening. "It's…complicated."

Jenny looked at her expectantly.

Rose gave in after a moment. Jenny deserved to know what happened to Donna, maybe not the whole story, but she could know the reason she wouldn't be able to see the ginger again. "Her memory had to be wiped…"

The girl's eyes widened. "Say that again?"

Rose unconsciously played with her wrist, willing herself to not break down like she'd done every time she so much as thought about the "meta-crisis" situation. "She um, absorbed a Time Lord consciousness…your Dad's actually. And humans can't handle all that information. Her mind was burning. To stop that, the Doctor had to erase every memory that linked her to him."

Sadness washed over Jenny's face. "I didn't even get to know her…" She shook her head. "That's why I shouldn't be too upset, right?"

Rose rubbed Jenny's back sympathetically (ignoring the urge to pull back). "Maybe that's why you should be upset," she suggested. "I didn't know her well, but I wanted to, and that's what hurts. That and the fact she was so important to the Doctor. I hate seeing him hurting."

Jenny glanced back at her. "He feels the same way with you."

"How do you mean?"

"I know I haven't been around very long, but it's obvious the way he feels about you and you him." She shrugged. "And I know something's bothering you. I see it in the way you react to most physical interaction." Rose pulled back a bit, swallowing. "You're fine with hugs and forehead kisses, that type of thing, but when someone reaches out you either stiffen or flinch. You seem like you hold back from saying a lot of things, too."

Rose bit her lip. She willed herself to stop shaking, but it was like when you shiver in the freezing cold. She couldn't. And she hated it. She was under no threat right now. She was in the TARDIS, the safest place in the universe, yet she couldn't help a tremble.

"I'm not going to keep trying to pressure you, because I think I already know, but I think you should tell him." Him, as in the Doctor. "He can help you, but he's daft. He won't figure it out. I think that there's something more that happened than any normal attack."

He could hear his name being cried out by multiple people. Some in grief, some in pain, and others in rage. Explosions rang throughout the room. He caught glimpses of people running. Others were being sucked away by a greater force.

Pain shot through him, his vision going blurry. His name was called out several more times, but he could not distinguish any of the voices

Darkness soon overcame him.

The Doctor leaned against the sink as he remembered his dream—or nightmare.

Four knocks. Your song is ending soon, Doctor.

He'd brushed the lady's words off yesterday, but he had had this reoccurring dream all night last night. Thank goodness, Rose had waked him up when she had, because he apparently was unable to do that on his own.

On top of that, those eight words kept echoing in his head.

Four knocks. Your song is ending soon, Doctor.