A/N: This is kind of a silly chapter, in some parts, but I wanted to break up the angst a little bit (you're welcome). Please review, lovelies!

The Doctor went to say something, but he was interrupted by Owen's entrance.

"She's waking up," he said.

Both men moved forward with a speed that took Owen by surprise, as he stepped back into the door frame on impulse. They were both about to push past him when the Doctor put one hand in the middle of Jack's chest, halting his path.

They looked into each other's eyes with an understanding that Owen hadn't seen Jack share with many people before (with the possible exception of Ianto, but he wasn't completely sure what was going on there), and his boss nodded and turned around, walking back into the centre of his office.

The Doctor stopped still as well, looking back at Jack for a moment, before running out of the room.

"The camera's are still on," Owen said to Jack's back, "if you want to watch."

"Go help," Jack said, walking over behind his desk again.

Owen nodded, and ran after the newcomer.

The first thing Rose knew was that was cold.

Then she noticed she was itchy.

Someone had taken her shirt off, she realised… all she had on was her jacket. Well, that explained it. She wasn't really worried about the mysterious disappearance of her t-shirt - after all, she was with the Doctor. The Doctor. A confusing flash of images ran through her mind too quickly to make sense of. Something had gone wrong. Then she noticed the pain.

She let out a deep groan.

"Rose?" a soft voice said. "Rose, can you hear me?"

She didn't recognize that voice, but something inside her trusted it. She opened her eyes.

Someone was leaning over her. It took a few seconds for the image to come into focus, and she blinked twice. A pretty woman was leaning over her with a gentle smile, her short black hair hanging down around her face.

Usually, when this sort of thing happened, Rose would sit up quickly and demand to know what the hell had gone on. This time, however, she couldn't seem to find the strength, or the will-power to force it.

"What happened?" she asked, with far less authority than she would have liked. She sounded groggy. "Who are you?"

"My name is Toshiko," she said, smiling that same comforting smile. "Don't worry, you're okay. We've been looking after you."

Rose wanted more than anything to close her eyes. Never in her life had the idea of sleep been so appealing. She was so tired. She could close her eyes, couldn't she? Toshiko seemed nice. She seemed good. Nothing was going to happen. Yeah, she could close her eyes.

"Rose, keep your eyes open for me, okay?"

Rose frowned. Maybe she didn't like this woman after all. Couldn't she see how tired she was? Then a question hit her with the weight of a brick.

"The Doctor," she said, "Is the Doctor okay?"

"He's fine," Tosh said.

Rose let out a sigh of relief, suddenly finding herself back to liking Toshiko. "Where is he?"

"He's here, he's with - uh - he's with our doctor. Don't worry, he's coming now."

There was a loud banging noise, as if on cue, immediately followed by the sound of swearing, and what Rose recognised as the Doctor's voice chastising someone. The words "alien moron," followed by "trust the human" drifted over to her.

She couldn't manage to sit up and look for herself, but the half amused, half annoyed expression on Toshiko's face told her it wasn't anything to worry about. And the Doctor was here now. It was all fine. Toshiko was nice, wasn't she? Yes. Yes, Rose liked her. She was with the Doctor. The Doctor and Toshiko. Lovely.

The sound of swearing continued in the background.

Were her thoughts usually this affectionate? Maybe she was drunk.

Would she have gotten drunk with the Doctor? Probably.

She wasn't sure if the Doctor could get drunk. She hoped he could.

Did they get drunk with Toshiko? She didn't know. Possibly. She could get drunk with Toshiko. That could be good - it seemed like a good idea. Wait, why did she want to get drunk with this woman?

Maybe she was a lesbian.

No, she didn't think so. No, definitely not, she didn't think you usually forgot that.

Why was everything so foggy? Something didn't seem right about her drunk theory. What had Toshiko said had happened?

Still looking at Tosh's face, Rose felt her eyes close, and she finally drifted back into sleep.

Owen and the Doctor fell over for a second time, still partially tangled from their fall down the stairs.

Finally, without much grace, they separated themselves, both frowning accusingly at the other man.

"If you had managed to keep your shoes on it would have been fine," Owen said.

"I'm not the one who ran into someone!"

"I was only trying to keep up with you!"

"Run faster then!"

Tosh held back a laugh as she watched the Doctor put his shoe back on, wanting to look as disapproving as she thought she probably should be, and looked back down at Rose. Her eyes were closed again.

"Rose," she said, shaking the girl gently, "Rose, can you open your eyes for me?"

Suddenly the Doctor was next to her, doing the same thing.

"Rose," he said, "come on, you've got to open your eyes, okay?"

"She should be fine," Owen said, cracking his neck as he did. "It's probably okay to let her sleep a little while longer."

"Oh, well, probably's probably good enough then?" the Doctor said, voice thick with sarcasm. Owen rolled his eyes behind him. "Rose, I'm here," he continued, "open your eyes for me."

"She was talking to me before," Tosh said, glancing at Owen.

Rose gave another small moan, stirring a little. "Rose," Tosh said, "Rose, it's me, Toshiko. I'm still here."

Rose frowned, not opening her eyes. "I'm not a lesbian," she muttered.

Owen let out a loud laugh behind them. "That's told you, Tosh," he said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, and Tosh blushed, smiling down at the sleeping girl. "Never said you were," she said.

"That'll be the drugs," Owen said, still grinning, crossing his arms.

Rose opened her eyes.

"Rose!" the Doctor said. He pulled her into a hug.

"Woah, careful!" Owen said, rushing forward and pulling the Doctor off. "Be gentle, alright?"

The Doctor swatted Owen away, but lay a wincing Rose back down on the couch with a gentle apology.

"Doctor," Rose smiled sleepily. Her face suddenly became very serious. "Did Toshiko get me drunk?"

Tosh looked back at Owen, both struggling not to let out a giggle.

"You've been given some pretty powerful drugs," the Doctor explained. "They might make you a bit foggy."

"Ohhh," Rose said, nodding as if she understood. "Are we at a party?"

The Doctor frowned.

"I think I like this girl," Owen said.

"Whose that?" Rose frowned.

"Owen Harper," Owen replied, stepping back into her line of vision, kneeling down next to the others. "I'm a doctor. How are you feeling, sweetheart?"

"A little confused."

"That's alright, we can do all the thinking for you, yeah?" Owen said, using the understanding tone Tosh had noticed was usually reserved for patients.

Rose nodded.

"Does anything hurt?" Owen continued, touching her ribs lightly. "Is this okay?"

She frowned, closing her eyes, and the Doctor winced.

"Does that hurt?" Owen moved his hand away.

"No, it's okay."

"Good girl," Owen smiled down at her. "I don't want to put you on anything else for a while."

Gwen picked up the last two cups of coffee, following Ianto back out into the main room.

"We come bearing gifts," Ianto announced, and the Doctor, Owen and Tosh turned around to face them.

"Oh, beautiful, thanks," Owen said, taking his mug from Ianto's tray.

"Here you go Tosh," Gwen passed the other woman her coffee. "Doctor?" she inquired.

He had already gone back to holding Rose's hand. "I'm fine," he said.

"Whose that?" Rose asked, looking at the two newcomers.

"Hello, Rose," Gwen said, immediately noting that the girl was clearly on some heavy duty medication. "I'm Gwen, and this is Ianto."

"Hello," Ianto waved.

"Good," Rose said. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Ianto said, with an amused smiled.

Rose nodded. "Where is he?" she asked, sitting up a little.

Gwen shot a look of worry at the Doctor.

"Where's who?" Owen asked, frowning nervously. Tosh bit her lip, glancing at him.

"Mickey!" Rose said, as if it was obvious. She shook her head. "He's gone somewhere," she said, sounding annoyed.

The room let out a collective sigh of relief.

"Who?" said Gwen.

"Asking for Mickey the idiot," the Doctor muttered under this breath. "He's at home, Rose."

Rose lay back down again. "Can I go back to sleep now?"

"No, I want you - " the Doctor started to say, but was interrupted by Owen.

"Yeah darling, you can go back to sleep now," he said, rubbing her arm affectionately.

"Brilliant," she muttered, her head falling onto her chest. Owen smirked at her. She was pretty cute.

The Doctor went to frown at Owen, but was distracted by an almost unconscious Rose taking his hand again, and his expression softened. The expression shifted back to a slightly jealous frown, however, when Rose mumbled: "bye, Toshiko, I'll miss you."

"Owen," Jack's voice came over his headset, "I want to see you in my office."

"On my way," Owen replied, still smirking at Rose. Ianto looked thoughtful for a moment, then followed him upstairs to Jack's office.

When they entered the room Jack was sitting in the same position he had been before, staring at a screen.

Owen cleared his throat, and his boss looked up, noticing the men.

"How long will she be asleep for?"

"At least an hour," Owen said. "If we can keep the Doctor away from her, that is. If he had his way she wouldn't have gone to sleep at all." He shook his head.

"Get Tosh to show him her computer programs. He'll love that," Jack said. "He can't get enough of the genius'."

"Will do," Owen said, turning away.

There was a pause.

"Are you sure she'll be asleep for that long?" Jack said.

Owen turned back around. "Why?" he frowned.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I want to know how long I can work downstairs for, alright?" he said, sounding annoyed.

"Alright, alright, sorry," Owen said, putting his hands up. "I'll let you know if there's any change." He left the room.

Ianto, who had been looking at the floor, stepped forward.

Jack looked up at him with an expression he now recognised as permission, and the younger man came around to his side of the desk, sitting on top of it and taking one of Jack's hands.

Jack put his other hand on Ianto's with a sigh, before bringing it to his face and kissing it once.

"You're going to go and sit with her, aren't you?" Ianto said.

"Is that a bad idea?" Jack asked him, dropping his hand, with more sincerity than Ianto had expected from him.

Suddenly Ianto felt the urge to reach out to Jack again. He reached towards his face, fingers just touching his jaw, feeling Jack leaning in ever so slightly as he did.

"Yes, it is," a voice said from the doorway.

The two men looked over. Ianto stood up quickly.

"Why?" Jack said, frowning at the Doctor.

"Will you leave her?" the Doctor countered.

"You know I will."

"I wish I did."

Ianto looked between the two men. "Maybe I should go," he said.

"No, you don't have to," Jack said, taking his hand, almost defensively. He didn't break his eye contact with the Doctor.

Ianto looked back up at the alien man, who was looking at Jack with the same intensity. He suddenly felt like a human shield. Jack glanced up at him, then let go of his hand again. He cocked his head towards the door, and Ianto walked across the room with a grateful sigh.

"Excuse me," he muttered, a little awkwardly, as he went past the Doctor. Jack couldn't help smiling a little, but his expression turned stony once again when Ianto was out of sight.

"If I was going to ruin this I would have done it already," Jack said, standing up.

Silence.

"You know, I'm the one who can't trust you, Doctor, not the other way around."

"I know," the Doctor said, loosing the anger in his eyes. He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"I'm sorry Jack," he said, "I really am. But I don't know - "

"If you don't trust me, then this was never going to work," Jack crossed his arms. "But you do trust me. Don't you?"

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets, and gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"Thank you," Jack said, and went to walk out of the room. He stopped as he came side to side with the Doctor, and without warning, pulled him into a hug.

If the Doctor had been surprised he didn't show it, immediately returning the gesture.

"She's fine, Doctor," Jack said.

"I know," the other man replied. They could both feel the other smiling against their shoulder. They broke apart.

"Now go see her, while you still can," the Doctor said.

Jack grinned at him, and left the room.

The Doctor sighed to himself, looking at Jack's desk. His eyes couldn't help but land on the bullet lying innocently next to an old fountain pen.

"I'm sorry," he said, under his breath.