Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in the story, I am merely using them for my own entertainment.

Massive thanks to everyone for the support they have been giving me, this is the most I have ever written as I often lose confidence after the first few hundred words. Now let's see if we can get this story moving a bit

Chapter Five: Painful Revelations

"That's the thing about pain, it demands to be felt." Fault in our Stars

Rose sighed as she entered the elevator washed and dressed once more, her shoulder throbbed with every move she made. Pain was good, she could deal with pain. It was more reassuring than another feeling in the world, well that's slightly morbid she thought with a slight smile. A groan escaped her as her thought's drifted to what was waiting for her below. Three Doctor's, all stuck on her ship and apparently no way out. She knew that she was playing her cards close to the chest but she couldn't deny the affect he/they had on her, she would always care for the Doctor he had been a big part of her life but she noticed that the feelings no longer rushed forth, they were just there like an old friend. But no matter how much she cared for the Time Lord, he wasn't her John. Oh she had loved him dearly and after quite some time, a long time, she had managed to move on from his death.

The elevator doors slid open to reveal three Doctor's, Jack, Vega and Cortez. Rose wondered briefly where the three others but pushed it to the back of her mind as Jack whirled on her with fury in her eyes. Well, that's not good. A sigh escaped her as she moved towards the group, pain flared in her shoulder as it met Jack's fist. Nine moved forward grabbing Jack and pushing her away.

"What the hell are you playing at?!" His words seemed to be backed up by Ten and Eleven? Rose rubbed her head in exasperation before moving between the leather clad man and Jack. Turning towards Jack,

"OK, first off, ow!" Jack glare intensified slightly and Rose say Vega and Cortez try and stifle the sniggers they held in.

"Well gee Blondie, how about not getting shot on your own fucking ship!"

"It's not like I woke up this morning and thought to myself, 'hmm I wonder what would make this day more interesting? Oh I know, let's go get shot!' Miranda had no idea what was going on, something happened to her on the research base and she needed an act of faith." Jack backed off slightly but still looked far from impressed by the situation.

"Haha, hell Lola, trust you to have a valid reason for taking a bullet." Vega sniggered while Cortez out right laughed. Rose turned her glare to towards him, he sobered slightly but still looked amused.

"Can I help you with something Mr Cortez?" Rose's amusement seeped through her words and took the heat out of them.

"Joker was looking for you ma'am, wanted to see if I could find you. Don't ask me, I don't know why he didn't use the com either." With that the man turned away to work on the shuttle as usual. Rose turned her questioning gaze towards the other two. Jack snorted, and motioned to Vega.

"C'mon tree trunk, let's get some grub. Try not to get yourself shot, hmm?" Rose's visible eye rolled at that.

"Yes mum!" Jack flipped her off and moved off to stand by the shuttle with Vega, must be bad if food is being pushed back. She laughed slightly before sobering and turning her gaze towards Nine, "Don't ever put your hands on a member of my crew again, understand?" She saw the absolute shock register on the faces of all three men.

"Rose! She hurt you! Do you realise the damage that is caused from a bullet? I wasn't about to let her make it worse!" Rose was surprise he refrained from calling her a 'stupid ape', this was the same tone he had used with her in the church oh so long ago. But this was different, she wasn't a stupid nineteen year old shop girl who knew nothing about how the world worked. Drawing herself up Rose returned his glare.

"And did you forget everything I said to you? Faster healing? Stronger in general? River even said It herself that it was starting to heal almost immediately. Jack is who she is, hell that was the equivalent of a hug coming from her!" Rose all but snarled but Nine was never one to back off, Ten beat him to a response but she had a feeling they had the same thought process

"Yes I heard it, but that doesn't mean that I want to see you hurt! Look at what's happened to you, you're commanding in a war! You put yourself constantly in harm's way, look at what's happened to your eye! God, Rose this is not you, you don't carry guns! You don't hurt people!" His voice rung throughout the cargo hold and Rose could feel the eyes of her marines on her wondering just how Commander Thorn would react. She had had quiet enough of this man.

"You're right, I don't hurt people." Ten opened his mouth to say something but Rose interrupted, he had made his peace with her, it was her time to talk, "I have helped saved the lives of a lot of innocent people and will continue to fight in this was to save even more. I may not be able to float in and save the day with nothing but a screwdriver then leave before the mess clears up, but damn it I am a good person who has devoted over a hundred years of my life trying to help save the galaxy. These are good men and woman who put their lives on the line to protect innocents, not just butcher lives!" By this point she probably had the attention of the whole ship but she couldn't bring herself to care, just because he didn't agree with that she had lost all sense of who she is.

"Rose I am sure that there are other ways that you could have helped instead of putting yourself on the front lines. What would he say? You are not honouring his memory by taking lives." Rose couldn't believe that he had just said that and apparently neither could Eleven if the startled gasp that came from him was anything to go by.

"How dare you, how dare you bring him into this and use him for your own purposes." How she managed to keep her voice level was a mystery even to her, she looked between Nine and Ten both of whom seemed consumed with fury at her life choices. What fucking right did they have!

"The metacrisis was a copy of everything he, we, are. If we think this way then it is a sure bet that is how he felt when you decided to throw your life away!" Ten was all but screaming in her face but he looked far from done at this point, "You are not invincible Rose! Your eye, which you don't seem to acknowledge, is gone! You lost it because you decided to play soldier!"

"You are not invincible Rose! Your eye, which you don't seem to acknowledge, is gone! You lost it because you decided to play soldier!" Ten panted heavily, this was not the way he wanted this conversation of go but he had to get through to her. What she was doing wasn't right and the sooner she realised it the sooner they, and himself and the other two versions, could help stop this war and they could take Rose Tyler away from all of this. What happened next left him completely speechless. Rose reached up and ripped the eye patch away, opening the closed eye Ten felt his world come to a halt. She hadn't lost her eye at all, instead of the once honey brown iris now looked molten gold, the pupil was a brilliant gold dot in the middle. He stumbled backwards at the surge in power that coursed through her causing a golden outline to surround her, even out of her armour she looked like a warrior goddess.

"R…Rose…" Nine stuttered in shock, it was so like what happened on the Game Station that it physically hurt Ten to look at.

"I am only going to say this once so you better listen up! I am not playing soldier, I don't need you to rescue me from my choices and I most certainly don't need you using my dead husband against me. The Horde are threatening to destroy all life in the galaxy and if that means that I need to use whatever means that I have to, then so be it. I have never felt guilty for the choices I have made or the lives I have taken to ensure that innocent people are not harmed. Now if you want to help me stop these things, fantastic I will take ANY help I can get but if all you want is to fix the TARDIS and leave then that's fine too. You will be given any help, equipment and man power that you need but you will not second guess the decisions that I have had to make while you are on my ship!" Ten saw it then, he saw Commander Rose Tyler. Defender of the galaxy, and he had never felt so disgusted with himself for doubting her.

Both Nine and Ten opened and closed their mouths a number of times before clenching their teeth together and nodding in agreement. All eyes turned towards the remaining man who had remained quiet through the entire exchange. Ten watched in stunned silence as the man in question moved forward crouched down to pick up the blue eye patch and stood to face Rose before sending her his own nod and handing her the eye patch. With that Rose turned to leave it was then he noticed that the men and women who had been working in the cargo bay had been listening to everything that had been said. Vega stepped forward with Cortez and Jack slightly behind him.

"Yo Lola, after that little display we all just thought you should know something. It has been an honour and a privilege to fight by your side in this war. You have saved a lot of lives, hell most of us would have died long before now if it wasn't you pullin' our asses out of the fire." With that every marine in the cargo hold saluted Rose which she readily returned.

"Oorah!" Rang throughout the cargo hold and only served to make Ten feel even more ashamed of himself at the smile that grew on Rose's face as she dismissed her crew and moved towards the elevator. His had ruffled through his hair in exasperation, he didn't know why he couldn't seem to get things right when it came to her anymore. He never messed up half as much as he had in the two years he travelled with her, it's not even been a full day!

"Well, that was eventful. Shall we try and figure out get the TARDIS up and running again." Eleven stated while moving back towards the three boxes in the corner. Ten had been feeling a surge of fury since his conversation with Rose and directed it towards, well, himself.

"What is wrong with you?! You have barely looked or spoken to Rose since we got here, then when we find out what's happened to her you seem more interested in getting away from her!" Green eyes clashed with brown.

"I agreed to help in any way I could, same as both of you." At this Ten felt more rage bubbling up while his future-self remained passive to the whole issue. It was then that Nine decided to weigh in.

"You can't seriously be happy with what she has become…"

"And what exactly has 'she become'?" Eleven interrupted harshly, the passive mask melting away quickly to reveal the annoyance underneath, "What was she supposed to do when she lost her husband and family to this war? Was she supposed to stand aside and let her whole species, the whole galaxy be wiped out when she has a chance to save it?"

"She was never supposed to be a soldier. She was never supposed to be in danger!" Nine scowled, Ten nodded in agreement before continuing,

"We never wanted this life for her, we wanted her to live a long and happy life. We wanted her safe." Ten was not prepared for the onslaught he received.

"Safe? She was supposed to be safe?" Eleven turned to Nine, "And was she safe when we trapped her in a bunker with a Dalek? She was safe when we left her stranded on a spaceship while we jumped through a window to save another woman, with no knowledge if we would be able to get back? She was safe when she was trapped in a parallel universe? Tell me, since meeting us when has she ever been safe?!" Ten felt his throat clog in pain, he had never truly thought about how some of his actions would affect Rose but he still had a bit of fight in him,

"Rose knew this life wasn't safe, but she always knew we don't like guns. We aren't soldiers!" Ten felt the leather clad man beside him tense ever so slightly, the war was still too close for him.

"Have you listened to what you are saying? 'We, we, we, we, we' what about her? Have you ever thought that maybe Rose is happy with the way things are?" Eleven sighed and shook his head, but Ten couldn't help but wonder how his opinions could be so different.

"Why are you different?" Eleven sent him a questioning look, "Why do you feel differently? The packaging changes but the important stuff that stays the same and everyone knows no matter what that 'the Doctor doesn't like guns' no matter what and neither of us wanted this for Rose, so why are you different?" Ten watched as Eleven squirmed at his questions

"Because…because we lost her once by making her decisions for her! The only reason that she was in this universe is because we left her here. And what she has done…she did what felt right to her, without us being her number one thought. And I think that's brilliant." Eleven looked down with a fond smile on his face before looking back up, "We never get over Rose Tyler and I am not about to risk losing her by trying to take her choices away from her." Ten looked down once more, he really was the biggest idiot in two universes.

"We won't lose her again." Ten muttered, but there was no real confidence in his voice. There is no reason for her to give up the life she has here, why would she come with us.

Rose glared at the reports on her desk once more in the hopes that by some miracle they would go away. I would really rather be doing anything other than this. As soon as she had finished her train of thought the Aegis lurched violently sending her tumbling as the alarm overhead sounded. Her eyes narrowed as she lurched towards the elevator and heading towards the CIC. The doors slid open again and there was another lurch, Rose could hear the shouts from the crew as they scrambled to find something to hold onto. She ran past the stumbling marines towards Joker.

"Joker! What the hell is going on?!" she demanded as she finally made her way towards him.

"Commander! We have a Horde ship on an intercept course. Oh shit! They're firing!" A red beam streamed across the ship grazing them, not enough to do any major damage but as Joker veered to the left Rose heard a few curses as people crashed to the floor again.

"Commander, shields are holding and main gun is at 100%" EDI input while Rose nodded in agreement.

"Right Joker, you heard the lady…" Joker smirked in return and brought the ship around to fire at the Horde vessel. Explosions rained on the side of the ship as the weapon impacted directly.

"How do you like that?!" Joker shouted eagerly as more explosions came out of the ship.

"Finish it." Rose watched with a slight detachment as the piolet brought the ship round once more and opened fire.

"Yeah, you sons of bitches!" Cheers rang out throughout the CIC as the horde ship finally exploded entirely, the shock wave causing the ship to sway ever so slightly. "We sure showed them, eh Commander?" Rose however was distracted, that was too easy.

"I'm going to check on the crew, EDI I want a full status report. Joker head for the Citadel, I want us out of here as soon as possible." Joker seemed to read her mood quite well as he nodded his head and turned towards the screen once more.

"Aye aye, Commander." With that Rose turned and made her way to deck 3 stopping often to check on a number of crew who had been injured in the attack. She bumped into Garrus, who after confirming that no damage was done, let her know that all her guests were in the starboard observation deck. Heading towards the room she heard the loud voices of the Doctor's companions, Rose couldn't help but roll her eyes really? Another argument? With a sigh she pressed the button to open the door but couldn't have been more surprised as she once again found the redhead launching herself at her.

"You're alright! No one would tell us where you were and the elevator wouldn't go to the right floor." Rose smiled slightly before pulling herself away from the Scottish woman.

"I'm fine, everything has been sorted now." Rose said lightly before moving her gaze towards the three Doctor's, "Have we had any luck with getting the TARDIS up and running?"

"Actually, yes we have had a few ideas but…we are going to need your help." Ten stated lightly while Rose drew up an eyebrow.

This should be interesting.

And think I am going to wrap it up there, this has been the hardest chapter to write so far so as always reviews are appreciated.

I know it may not be the reaction many wanted from the Doctor/ Rose interaction but trust me it is going somewhere.