A/N: Nine/Rose. Sentenced to death on an alien planet and put in a cell to await execution. But together. Not so bad.

Only One

Rose listened in numb horror as their speaking magistrate, at a desk high above them, slowly became their jury and executioner. She blinked as he spoke three last words. "…penalty is death." She would have protested had she been able to open her jaw, but the police holding her arms roughly behind her had done something to prevent her from speaking. The both of them, though if he'd been able to talk, she was positive the Doctor would have happily explained the scientific terms behind her inability to speak out against her own execution.

For a second, as the guard turned her back towards the door they'd walked through, she was able to catch the Doctor's eyes, filled with questions she could almost hear him asking: Are you alright? Did they hurt you? And assurances: I'll get us out of this. Always do. Promised your mum I'd keep you safe. Then he was gone, led ahead of her. She followed listlessly behind.

As they approached a dank, dark cell, the guard's hold on her loosened. Her short relief was soon followed by panic when she felt a shove at her lower back. She hit the wall with her face, pain spreading through her skull. She heard a scuffle from ahead and opened her bleary eyes to see the Doctor struggling with his captors to get to her. She started forward in anger when one of the guards knocked him over the head with his baton.

Suddenly, she found herself able to open her mouth. Naturally, she yelled the first word that came to mind. "Doctor!" This was followed by a blow to her side. She doubled over in pain.

"Rose!" She heard the Doctor shout in blessed relief, then winced at the sound of another strike and a grunt from the Doctor.

"I'm alright," she gasped, then yelped at a kick received by her shoulder.

"Don't hurt her," he roared. And this time, it was one of the guards who got it. He reached out a hand, and Rose hurried to take it when it was snatched away.

"No!" She exclaimed. The cell door was thrown open, and the Doctor was tossed inside. With horror, she heard kicks and blows landing followed by grunts and groans.

"Rose," she heard him mutter.

"I'm 'ere," she called rushing forward, but one of the guards grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back. With a sickening crunch, her head hit the wall, and she slid to the floor dazedly. Two other guards pulled her up by her arms and yanked her, thankfully, inside the same cell. She was too happy at her luck at getting shut up with the Doctor that she hardly felt the few finals blows. As the door closed with a clang, she put a hand to her forehead. Her palm came back warm, sticky and red. From the other side of the cell, she heard a groan and some shuffling but couldn't bring herself to turn. She wanted to sleep, so she could stop feeling the pain and fear.

"Rose." His voice, desperate and panicked, brought her to her senses like nothing else could. She struggled to lean up on her arm, which was throbbing. She realized then that she was shaking, and she could hardly turn herself around on her arms. A noise came from her throat, a dry sob. She saw the Doctor, bruises and cuts battering his usually gleeful face, dragging himself up to lean against the wall. "Come here."

Still shaking, she crawled slowly and painfully over to him.

"Come here." He repeated, holding out an arm. She collapsed on him, dry sobs racking her whole body. He held her against him tightly. She felt his lips in her hair. "Shhh." He calmed her. As the minutes passed in his arms, she felt her shaking subside. "Rose," he whispered.

She tilted her head up. Their faces were infinitely close. She could feel his warm breath on her skin, see the dark blue flecks in his eyes. She could see the guilt etched there as well. He pressed his lips to her forehead, and she closed her eyes, tightening her fingers around his coat.

"There's something I have to say," he murmured.

Rose glanced up sharply at the tone in his voice, the helplessness. His eyes were drenched in it. "Doctor." But it was a question.

"I can't," he started, but there was a tremor in his voice. "I can't promise you we'll make it out of here."

She didn't believe him. "You'll think of somethin'. You always do."

Her irrevocable trust in him filled him with such elation, such hope that he almost believed her. "I do, don't I?"

She nodded trustingly. He traced the cut on her forehead, the blood there drying already. "I'm so sorry." He struggled to say in a low voice that grew stronger, angrier as he continued. "I won't let them hurt you again."

"I know," she said, her voice catching. She kissed his jaw. "I know." She rested her head on his shoulder now, but his fingers were back. They took her chin and tilted her head, so they were eye to eye again.

"I can't promise you we'll make it out of here."

Surprising him as she always did, she smiled. She smiled in the last place he'd ever expected she could smile. She smiled, and he couldn't stop the automatic smile that crept onto his own face, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Dying with you," she teased. "That's not so bad."

His smile faded. "I can't promise," he repeated once more. "In case-." He stopped himself. "Just in case, there's something you need to know."

"Stop." Her smile was gone. "Don't talk like that, Doctor. Everything's going to be alright. You'll see."

He put a finger to her lip, and her throat clenched, leaving her as unable to speak as before in the court room. "In my life," he began. Tears streamed down her face. She shook her head, but he pressed his finger down a bit harder on her lips. "In my life," his voice was catching, "there is only one."

She grasped his hand in hers and looked down, closing her eyes tightly to stop the tears. She pressed his palm to her lips, then looked up again. She pressed her lips to his jaw again, then his cheek. "Well find each other," she murmured, kissing the corner of his lips. This time his lips pursed, returning the gesture. "We always find each other," she finished, and their lips finally found each other. The kiss was desperate and sad. It was everything they'd shared and everything they'd never said in their long time together, and at the same time not long enough to express what they were trying to say.

The cell door burst open again, and they parted in quick fear to see what lay in store for them. Rose let out a shriek of disbelief. The Doctor just stared.

Captain Jack Harkness smiled widely. "And to think you're not a couple,'" the last words in a nearly perfect replication of Rose's voice. He winked. "Wonder what you two do when you are a couple. Now, let's go. I didn't get this naked so you two lovebirds could sit here and gawk all day. Let's get a move on!"

A/N: Not too angsty, I hope? Especially with that ending. Fluffy, I know, but where's the fun without a bit of fluff? To be perfectly honest, this is a borrowed idea from "Alias," other greatest show in the world, which I do not own and would never ever take credit for. Please do not sue as all appropriate credit has been given where due. And that rhyme there was completely unintentional. So review for my awesomeness of accidental rhyming or suffer the consequences of more…accidental rhyming.