Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who

I'm really thrilled to see that people are reading this. Thank you! Reviews would be really lovely, I'd love to know what you think.

This chapter tidies up and closes off the first part of the story. It's a bit more fluff than substance but after all that's happened, it sort of needed to be.

There's a long way to go yet though. I don't know if that's good or bad new s for you ;)

Chapter 11

"Doctor! Gwen and Ianto have just had news. There's been a sighting of the Master in Cardiff!

The Doctor looked up at Jack's anxious, excited face. "Right, well… the thing is, Jack, the TARDIS can't really go anywhere at the moment."

"What's wrong with the TARDIS, Doctor?" Rose asked, worried.

"Well…" the Doctor struggled for a second to think of an explanation that meant he didn't need to tell her what he'd had to do to get her inside.

"What did the Master do to it?" She demanded.

"The Master, oh him! Yeah!" The Doctor seized on the opportunity she presented him. "He messed up the console room quite a bit and she needs a fair amount fixing before we can go anywhere."

Jack gave him a look which clearly said 'More lies…?'

The Doctor shrugged in return. "Right now the first priority is to get Rose better, then to get the TARDIS in working order. Can your Torchwood team keep an eye on him?"

"Yeah." Jack said, clearly taken aback.

"Doctor, I'm fine!" Rose protested.

"No you're not. So get them to 'check in' – or whatever – with you so that you can keep me up to date?"

"Consider it done." And with that, he swept back out of the room.

"Doctor?" Rose grabbed at his sleeve.

"Hmmm?"

"What were you about to say when Jack came in?"

He pondered for a second. He'd been about to say that if they were in that situation again where he had to make a choice between staying with Rose or abandoning her to save the Earth, then he'd stay with Rose and history be damned… but the moment for that had passed. And how much of that sentiment had been fuelled by his relief that she was here… with him… alive? He was a Time Lord, he had responsibilities – and he shouldn't have to remind himself about that as much as he did.

He saw her face fall for a second before she hitched a wide, if synthetic smile, back on it.

"Does it hurt?" he was referring to the after effects of the poison, but for a second her wounded expression told him she was applying the question to something else.

"Do you want some pain relief?" he clarified.

Her expression smoothed, "Oh, yeah. Please."

"I fixed your bullet wound for you while you were out." He said then, wanting to distract her from their previous conversation as he fetched the analgesic and replenished her glass of water.

"Really?" She tentatively put her hand to her side. "How'd you do that?"

"Dermal Regenerator." He smiled at her.

"Dummer wha'?"

"Dermal Regenerator." He said more slowly, amused.

"Haven't they got one of those on Star Trek?"

"You watch Star Trek?" that was a surprise! "Yeah, I think they might have." He didn't want to admit that that's where he'd got the name from.

"Not me, Mickey." She said, shaking her head. "He used to watch it when he was round my mum's. Used to drive my mum nuts!" She smiled at the memory, her smile faltered a little and he guessed it was because she'd suddenly remembered that her mum was gone.

"Hey." He said gently, taking her hand and squeezing it for a second before placing the painkillers in her palm. "I wish I could take you to see her, Rose. But you know I can't?"

"Mmm hmm." She nodded, swallowing the pills. "I know. And I told you, I made my choice a long time ago. I don't regret it. I just miss her."

"I know." He pulled her into a hug. "I'm so glad you're okay, Rose." He closed his eyes for a moment, breathing in her scent, trying not to picture what it would be like if he had actually lost her.

"Me too!" she laughed into his chest as she returned the embrace. "Thank you, Doctor. An' I'm so sorry about before."

He smiled into her hair. "I'm the one who's should be sorry, Rose." He broke away to look at her. "I meant to come back you know. If the TARDIS hadn't taken us into the future and then been stolen by the Master, I was planning to come back to Canary Wharf for just after I'd left you."

She looked up at him in confusion. "Really? But you'd've crossed your own time stream."

He smiled at her proudly. "Weeelll…" he said, amused. "On the face of it that's really nothing compared to what your future self had just done!" He nudged her playfully, grinning, before his face turned serious again.

"And if I hadn't shut you out, you wouldn't have felt the need to run out of the flat. I'm so sorry about that Rose. How much did you hear?"

"Enough." She said sadly, looking away for a second.

"I don't think you did. But we'll talk about it later. Okay?" he waited for her to look up at him. She nodded with a small smile.

"And… I didn't think this needed saying before, I thought it was kind of obvious in fact, but don't drink any of Jack's alcohol now you've taken those pills." He grinned widely at her and his heart soared when she grinned at him in return.

"Can I get up now?" She asked, her eyes straying to the tubes and monitoring equipment plugged into her body.

"Yeah, course. You should be okay now. But take it easy, you might be a bit dizzy." He detached the tubes and wires from her and helped her to her feet.

"I'm starving!" she confessed, with a laugh.

"Right, of course! First stop's the kitchen then, and then to the console room so I can start repairing the damage the Master did."

"Can't I go to bed?" She asked. "I'm really tired."

"Well, Rose. The thing is…" What was the thing? The thing was that he wasn't leaving her alone anywhere on the TARDIS for fear of what the TARDIS might do to her. At least until she was fixed and accepting Rose's presence. "The thing is, I need to keep a close eye on you to make sure that there are no after effects from the poison that I haven't considered."

"Oh, okay." She nodded happily, seeming to accept that.

Several hours later Rose was asleep, curled up on the chair in the console room, the Doctor's trench coat wrapped snugly around her, the remains of her snack on the floor beside the chair. The cloister bell had finally stopped ringing and the TARDIS was repaired. She still wasn't happy with him though and she was still annoyed at having Rose on board, although the Doctor was convinced his TARDIS wasn't going to do anything to harm the human, but she probably wouldn't let her back in if she stepped outside.

"Rose." He shook her gently. "Rose, you're okay now. You can go to bed if you want."

She didn't stir.

Smiling he hoisted her into his arms, trench coat and all and carried her to her bedroom. Upon opening the door and seeing the devastation though, he decided on another course of action. The TARDIS had destroyed Rose's room. The bed, chest of drawers and wardrobe were all in tatters. He was relieved to see that none of her personal items seemed broken, just strewn around the room, but everything the TARDIS had constructed had been smashed apart. Sighing and shaking his head he carried her to the library, the journey taking longer than it should have as the TARDIS kept switching corridors on him.

Once he'd got her comfortable on one of the leather settees and covered her once again with his trench coat he retreated.

"Don't you dare!" he warned the TARDIS in a deadly whisper as he left the room to find Jack, Gwen and Ianto.