The Doctor was going to drop her outside the store again and they were both quiet on the way there, thinking they may not see each other that night.
"Mum wants us to go round for tea tonight," Rose told him as they approached the store.
"She's asking a lot, since we told her I'm going away. Does she want to have another go at me?"
"Of course not Doctor. Anyway, how could I tell her you might not be with me? She'll see it on the news, if the store goes up in flames, she'll know before I get there."
"Good thing I remembered you'd just been trying to hand the lottery money in," he smiled as he pulled up and a few girls waved to Rose, giggling and nudging each other and pointing to him.
"You were very popular when you started dropping me off. I'm sure they missed you yesterday?"
She gave him a kiss in front of them and got out of the car.
"I hope I'm gonna see this version of you tonight?"
"So do I Rose, I really hope this isn't 'That' Thursday?"
He drove off to the school, meaning to go to the headmaster and explain he may have to go away suddenly but he'd have time tomorrow, events would only kick off tonight, it would be tomorrow before the fun started. He knew Rose had made no attempt to contact Mickey so during his lunch break, he brought up Mickey's number on the phone Rose had chosen for him and called him.
"Who's this?" Mickey demanded to know.
"It's Rose's friend, John Smith, we met?"
"That was month's ago, where did you get my number?"
"From Rose. Listen, I don't have much time to explain but very soon, Rose is going to need you as a friend."
"Tough, she dumped me, for you."
"Get over it Rickey, I'm being serious. I'm going to have to go away, for at least six months, I want you to keep an eye on her for me."
"It's Mickey. You are so kidding man, why are you going away?"
"Work and stuff. Do it for Rose, not for me, you'll find out why she needs you soon enough, just be there whenever that is."
"You don't know when you're going away?" Mickey laughed.
"I'm waiting for a phone call," was all he could think of.
When he did have time to think about it on his way back to their flat, it was like waiting for a phone call. Ten minutes after he got back, he was sending her a message to call him as soon as she got to her phone because if he wasn't going to see her again this time around, he wanted to at least talk to her.
Rose was in the staff room on the dot of five, checking her phone and the Doctor answered it on the first ring.
"Hi love, anything to tell me?" he asked, letting out a deep breath.
"Nothing to report lover. Are you waiting for me to go to my mum's?"
"Maybe it's better eh? If we're right about it being tonight, I shouldn't be there when you get back. Remember the plan?"
"Yeah, if a stranger down in the basement, wearing a green jumper, black jeans and a leather jacket grabs my hand and tells me go with him, I go."
"Yes love, you'll have to ask him questions and he'll ask you some, I can't tell you what they are, I can't put the words into your mouth."
"I know, I gotta go now, I love you Doctor and I hope I'll see you soon."
He hoped so too.
"I love you Rose, always, always remember that no matter what happens."
Rose knew the routine, get in the lift with the other girls, go to the front entrance and the doorman was waiting with a clear plastic envelope.
"Oi, Rose, lottery," Steve mumbled at her, dangling it in front of her like he'd been doing forever.
Rose rolled her eyes and got back into the lift, pressing the 'B" button and wondering what was waiting, the chief electrician or shop window dummies and another version of the man she loved.
The Doctor had only warned her that something was moving the dummies, she'd begged him to tell her more but he couldn't.
"Wilson?" she called out as the lift doors opened.
No answer. Rose ventured toward Wilson's 'room' to find it locked and she didn't like this, he always sat in his chair reading the paper and waited for her. She heard a noise in the distance, thinking it was one of the cleaners putting something away.
"Who's down here?" she called out.
She heard it again, still not liking this. She got her phone out but there was no reception – typical when she needed the Doctor's reassurance she was imagining things. She heard another noise and went through the double doors in front of her, knowing she was going to regret it and she'd been right, it was today and she couldn't even contact him, had he known that?
Before she knew it, something stepped out behind her and she turned around.
"Very funny, who's that? Is it you Derek?"
She began to back up as more figures appeared to be moving and a million things ran through her mind. She was backed up against a pipe as one of the figures raised an arm, Rose wondering what was controlling them. Suddenly, a hand grabbed hers and she knew instantly. As the events unfolded before her, she found herself taking immediately to her lover's former self but things were not going to be that easy.
After he told her to go home and eat her beans on toast and to forget him, she was dying to call her Doctor but he'd told her if she didn't come home, he would know anyway and for her to stay the night at her mother's and his other self would show up as she was still holding the arm from the dummy.
Jackie was frantically trying to call both Rose and the Doctor, neither of them were answering. The Doctor knew exactly what time Rose got home and she wasn't there, giving him his kiss and hug like she'd done every night since they'd been together. He was ignoring Jackie's calls, he'd told Rose not to call him and that they couldn't see each other until it was over, which was breaking both his hearts as much as it was her single one.
He dare not even turn on the TV but Jackie had it on and she got so desperate, she was the one to call Mickey.
"Jackie, I've not seen her for six months," Mickey answered when she asked if he'd seen Rose.
"I mean tonight Mickey, don't you watch the news? The store Rose works in just blew up."
"What? No, I just got home. Where's that bloke of hers?"
"I dunno Mickey, neither of them are answering their phones. What if she was caught in it?"
"Calm down Jackie, the police would've called. I'm coming over now."
He had already forgotten his beef with this John Smith who had waltzed in and ruined any chances of he and Rose getting back together again.
"Hang on, someone's at the door, it could be either of them," Jackie told him, ending the call.
Rose stood at the door, trying to hide the plastic arm but Jackie pulled her into a hug, making it awkward to ignore.
"Rose, I was so worried about you, why are you on your own, where's the Doctor? What are you doing with that?"
"This? Long story Mum, you should have seen the look the taxi driver gave me, I had to tell him it was a prank I was playing on my boyfriend."
"So where is he?"
"We were supposed to meet here," Rose lied, tossing the arm in the corner, since she didn't even know why she'd brought it back after it had been thrown at her.
Jackie hadn't locked the door, expecting the Doctor to come bursting in and comfort Rose, who was clearly shaken up but Mickey came barging in.
"What are you doing here?" Rose asked as her mother went to make the answer to everything – tea.
"Well excuse me for worrying about you. Are you ok?"
"I'm fine, I wasn't inside, I'd already left, the bus was late."
"I got a call from him earlier, what you give him my number for?"
"He must have got it from my phone, he never said anything."
Jackie brought tea in.
"Tea?" Mickey gasped. "You need a proper drink, come on, I'm taking you to the pub."
"If the football's on, you go."
"I'm hurt by that Rose. Where's your boyfriend when you need him? He asked me to watch out for you, when he goes away so where's he going?"
"He's got a job in America somewhere," Jackie interrupted, displeased at Mickey insulting her tea making skills and that Rose's boyfriend of the last six months was absent, just when she needed him.
"So, answer my question, where is he then?" Mickey insisted, sitting down next to Rose, who moved over like he was the plague, then remembered what the Doctor had asked her to do, be friends with him.
"I think he might have gone off, for an interview."
"Without even telling ya?" her mother asked.
"He said if he got a call, he'd have to just leave, they'll have been a ticket for him at the airport. I'm sure he'll be back tomorrow at some point, he'll call me when he can."
"Well a fine time for him to be gallivanting across the other side of the world," Jackie complained.
"They have the news over there you know?"
"Not the English news," Mickey butted in, getting up and trying to grab her arm.
Then he spied the plastic arm in the corner and leaned over to retrieve it.
"Is this some kind of joke?" he asked.
"Just throw it in the bin on your way out, I never even realised I was holding it," Rose explained, getting her a frown from her mother.
"Well if you ask me, Mickey's right, you need a strong drink."
The phone interrupted her, Rose's heart skipping a beat in case it was the Doctor and he'd changed his mind about them discussing what had happened. Rose grew impatient when her mother began discussing compensation and grabbing the phone, hung up on the caller.
"Well what are you gonna do, if the Doctor's going off to work over there? You can't live here rent free you know?"
"Don't worry, he'll send me money," Rose lied, thinking now she'd have to go back to relying on her tampered with bank card again though thankfully, she'd just been paid.
"You're coming back here?" Mickey asked, waving the fake arm around and Rose wafting it away. "He asked me to look out for you, while he was gone and I will but I'm not doing it for him."
Rose knew the Doctor was worried about her though he'd said he wanted her and Mickey to be friends again, he'd never told her to call him, since they didn't know when everything was going to kick off.
The Doctor was staring at his phone, he was tearing up inside, not being able to talk to her then he brought up her number, thinking she'd been right all along. He was a Timelord and what harm could it do by just hearing her voice as long as they didn't discuss her meeting with his former self.
Rose's phone rang and her heart leapt.
"Doctor?"
"Rose, are you ok love?"
She didn't want to let on he was still in their flat, which if things went according to plan, she would be clearing out before the notice was up on it. He knew she couldn't give the game away.
"Hi, where are you?" she asked, trying to sound cheerful.
"Did you tell your mother what we talked about?"
"So how's New York then?" Rose asked, trying to escape into the kitchen so they could talk properly but Mickey took the plastic arm, waved it at her again and left, intending to toss it in the large bin downstairs.
Rose made sure the hatch and the kitchen door were closed.
"I'm fine. It happened, I met him, now what? I thought you weren't gonna ask me?"
"I was worried about you love and no, I don't want the details, I was there, remember?"
"How do I know I met the right person? There was a lot going on down there."
He knew he shouldn't reply. "I told you to run," he said sadly.
That was all she needed. "I still love you Doctor, I always will."
"I know but you can't tell the other me that."
"Why not? I thought we agreed I convince him we were together?"
"Not that version of me, I thought about it. You make me better Rose, that will never change but you can't tell the other me how you feel, not until the end."
"The end of what? When you turn into you?"
She was aware how enigmatic that actually sounded, to anyone else.
"Yes Rose, when I'm me again but I'll take some convincing so don't you ever take no for an answer, do you understand? Never give up telling me how you feel, I'll try and put you off at first but you have to wear me down."
"Like I did when we first met?" Rose smiled.
"Exactly my love. You stay there, you have to be there when the other me comes looking for the arm. Did Mickey take it?"
"Yeah, he said you called him."
"I had a feeling it was today, I had to be ready, just in case. Tomorrow, you can say I'm on my way back from New York, to collect all my things then I'll just disappear, at least to everyone else. Just think Rose, what better way of hiding is there than to hide in front of everyone eh?"
"You think you're so clever," Rose laughed. "You won't fool mum for long."
"You have to break it to her gently, over time but I think she might guess and Mickey certainly will. Remember, you have to go through the motions of looking me up, like we discussed, everything has to be the same and oh, watch out for Mickey."
"Why? Is he gonna grow two heads or something?"
"Not quite. Just go along with what the other me tells you, ask the right questions and give me some answers, that way, I'll be certain to come back for you because when you turn me down, well, I never go back and ask someone again to travel with me, you were the exception."
"Hey, maybe some of what we have now, trickled back to the other you so that means I convince you."
The Doctor smiled to himself – she was something else.
"Yes, you could be right love, maybe it did? I never thought of that before. Contact me, when I ask you to go with me but you can't let him take you anywhere, I can't be here for too much longer. Me already being here may have alerted him, Timelords could sense each other but I'm out of my time, that should dampen it a bit but if I use my sonic screwdriver, that will give me away."
"Then don't use it. Have you told the college?"
"I said I may have to leave suddenly. I'll risk the morning but after that, I'd best just come back here, on my own and I'm sorry Rose, I am really sorry but what's about to happen, I can't interfere, you know that? If I do, you'll never get me to come back and when I do, tell him there's something he needs to know, before he puts the Tardis into flight, then call me and I'll be right over. I'll get a taxi, you'll have to send the car back, the lease is almost up anyway, just tell them they can take it, your name's on the agreement with you making the payments."
"Doctor, please let me see you, just once more?" Rose sobbed.
"Oh Rose, my love, I would give anything for that but we can't. He can't detect I've been over there or he'll start looking for me, before everything's resolved."
"Then why don't you work together?"
"What? No, we can't," he told her sadly.
"Why not? Then at the end, he'll be more likely to take you back."
The Doctor thought about it. He'd met a few of his past lives and nothing had been harmed, in fact some outcomes couldn't have been achieved without a collaboration. For one more night with his true love, surely it had to be worth the risk, if he took a back seat?
"I'll be round in five minutes, no, make that four, meet me downstairs but we can't stay there, I'm supposed to be away, remember?"