Objects in Constant Motion, Part 2
Jul. 25th, 2008 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
indiana_jTitle: Objects in Constant Motion (Part 2)
Author:indiana_j[Unknown site tag]
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Ten/Rose, Donna
Rating: PG-13 for language
Word Count: 5,975
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and the characters in the show do not belong to me. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.
Summary: The Doctor and Rose. Objects in constant motion. And not something they would have changed for the world.
A/N: This is my first try at a Reunion piece - it's based at some point in S4 but certainly before the finale. Very AU at this point. :) Many thanks to my beta reader_bounce_[Unknown site tag]. Also, this was too big (o.O) to fit into one post, so I'm splitting it up.
Author:
indiana_j[Unknown site tag]Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Ten/Rose, Donna
Rating: PG-13 for language
Word Count: 5,975
Disclaimer: Doctor Who and the characters in the show do not belong to me. I'm just borrowing them for a bit.
Summary: The Doctor and Rose. Objects in constant motion. And not something they would have changed for the world.
A/N: This is my first try at a Reunion piece - it's based at some point in S4 but certainly before the finale. Very AU at this point. :) Many thanks to my beta reader
_bounce_[Unknown site tag]. Also, this was too big (o.O) to fit into one post, so I'm splitting it up. Donna had tried everything to get the door open but the Doctor had done something fancy with that fancy spaceman stick of his. She'd passed the time, then, in rearranging the contents of the room to better suit her fancy.
One pile consisted of cleaning supplies because, as she had learned on Oxxomia 5, one should always have cleaning supplies on hand. Never know when you'd run into an alien that was allergic to the stuff – or a potential date, for that matter.
Another pile had potential weapons, just in case one of those Huralions decided to break down the door. Though she couldn't figure out for the life of her why they would even bother. She was in a caretaker's cupboard, after all, nothing of interest there.
Unless you found one highly ticked off Earth woman to be something of interest.
The last pile was full of things she was going to beat the Doctor about the head with once he returned from his...well, whatever he'd run off to do. He'd gotten a weird look on his face after nearly being shot at, said something about being rescued by a blonde and then he'd locked her up.
Donna scowled and added a broom with a thick handle to the third pile.
She froze as the sound of voices – not from the other side of the door like she'd expected but coming from the vent on the far side of the wall. One of them sounded like the Doctor but why would he come through the vent of all places? She didn't know what these aliens were capable of and maybe they were trying to trick her...
Squaring her shoulders, Donna scooped up the broom in two hands and waited.
The wait wasn't a very long one as the vent cover was suddenly popped off. Two voices wafted out, one sounding like the Doctor but she couldn't place the other one. They were bickering, though, which was more of the Doctor's style but Donna didn't let her guard down.
A pair of legs dressed in well-worn jeans popped out and they certainly didn't belong to the Doctor. Female from the looks of it. "Nice boots," Donna called out, still gripping the broom handle tightly in both hands.
There was a pause as the girl stopped wiggling for a moment, one leg rising up as if she were trying to look down at them. "Thanks," came the muffled reply, "got 'em on sale."
Donna perked up slightly. "Where at?"
"Harrods," the mystery girl said, grunting as her legs flailed a bit. "Oi, stop pushin', 'm a bit stuck."
The Doctor's voice carried out now, sounding slightly put out, "Now that you two are done talking shoes, Donna, could you care to lend a hand?"
"How do I know that's you, then?" Donna answered, scoffing. "For all I know, Spaceman, you went and got yourself copied and your double ended up in the vent." If that was the Doctor, she could just see his face turning that fantastic color it got when he got all out of sorts. She grinned, cheering up at the very thought.
"Oh for the love of Rasslion," he grumbled, "it's me, I swear! Honestly, you get replaced one time...fine, Donna. The last planet we were on, you forced me to go see that awful play, remember? And at the end, you were pulled up on stage and nearly forced..."
"Hello, Doctor!" Donna said hastily, leaning the broom against the wall before going over to where the legs stuck out.
"Hello, Donna!"
"Well who's this, then?" Donna asked, poking at the knee curiously.
"Donna, Rose. Rose, Donna."
Rose's knee waggled hello at her.
Donna blinked. There was only one Rose whom the Doctor would probably drag through ventilation shafts without her killing him (personally, she would have stuffed his body in the floorboards before going through that, herself) but that was impossible, wasn't it? But she'd get the who, the where and the why out of him later even if she had to hide his trainers again.
Getting a good grip on Rose's legs, she braced herself and pulled as hard as she could while Rose shoved from the inside. She popped out with almost no trouble after that except that the angle she'd been in, and the grip Donna had had on her legs, meant they found themselves in an untidy heap on the floor.
Rose groaned and rolled over as Donna sat up, rubbing her ribs. The former and current companions stared at each other as the Doctor twisted his long limbs through the opening, flailing slightly in his haste to get out.
"So, he locked you in the closet, then?" Rose finally asked after they'd both had their fill of eying each other. "How long?"
Donna huffed. "Been nearly a ruddy hour now!" she said, gaze turning to glare at the Doctor as his shoulder and head finally appeared.
"Nearly an hour? Were you goin' ta use that broom over there on him, then?"
They shared another look and Donna suddenly grinned as she scrambled back up to her feet. The Doctor was flush against the wall, holding his hands up as his eyes widened in panic. "No time!" he squeaked, flailing as Donna grabbed for the broom. "Important sonic screwdrivering to do!"
When Donna turned back, she started to laugh as she saw Rose's hand dig deep into one of the pockets and pull out the sonic screwdriver. "Ta, no worries," the other woman said, tongue peeking out to touch the corner of her mouth. "I'll handle that. Donna...?"
Oh yes, she was going to like this Rose Tyler...
~~
"You parked close, then?" Rose asked, a hand reaching up to pet the TARDIS key that hung under her shirt. In all the excitement, she hadn't even noticed that it had gone from warm-ish to very warm and the closer they got, the more she felt it.
"Yep," the Doctor said, popping his p, as they jogged down the corridor. He was still rubbing the back of his head and shooting Donna dirty looks when he didn't think she noticed. "Won't be long now."
Donna groaned. "He always says that," she said to Rose, shaking her head. "Which means we'll be in a spot of trouble in no time."
He went to protest when Rose stopped short and he nearly walked right into her back, flailing slightly to keep his balance. She put up a hand and mimed being quiet before pointing around the corner. They all peered around and Donna shot the Doctor a dirty look when she spotted the guards surrounding the TARDIS.
Moving back, Rose quietly asked, "Now that they can't get their claws--" Those were definitely claws she'd seen. "--on the technology here, what're they likely to do?"
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck and gave it a thought. "Blow the place up, most likely. Which means we'll have to divert to find the explosions, stop the aliens and...Rose, what are you doing?"
"Hold on a sec," she said, holding up a finger as she hit the speed dial on her mobile. "Dad? I'm fine, completely in one piece. No, really, honest. Listen, are all of the personnel accounted for? What were we planning on doin' with this place, anyway? Uh huh..." She turned and trotted off down another corridor with the other two trailing in confusion in her wake. "Yup, got the mobile, I can do that. I'm fine dad, really, not a scratch on me." She grinned. "I didn't say I hadn't been shot at, jus' that I'm fine."
Despite some protesting on Pete's part, she finally managed to hang up on him and, after a second’s thought, turned the mobile off because she knew he'd be calling back. "Right then," she called softly over her shoulder as they followed her into a room, "I've got a plan."
"Is it a cunning plan?"
She giggled. "It's as cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University but has moved on and is now working for the U.N. at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning."
The Doctor beamed back. "That is cunning. Come on then, Rose Tyler, tell us this cunning plan."
Rose answered while she set up the mobile in the same way as before when she'd been preparing to dump a virus into the midst of the lab. "I'm goin' ta let them blow it up."
"Excuse me?" Donna asked, staring at her. "Isn't that kind of what you want to prevent?"
Glancing up, she found the Doctor staring down at her, hands in his pockets, with a blank look on his face. She took a deep breath and forged ahead, trying not to think about the fact that she'd never wanted to be the cause of that particular look on his face. Again. "Not really. See, this place was gonna be scraped – too dangerous, yeah?" She paused to concentrate on punching buttons on the mobile and then continued. "All the staff, military and civilian, have fled already; we've a headcount and everyone's been accounted for."
"What about the data stored here?" the Doctor asked quietly.
Rose waggled the mobile at him. "It's the superphone you made me," she explained. "Did a bit of jiggery pokery a few years back..."
"Thought you failed at hullabaloo, then?"
Something in her chest eased at the faint teasing tone in his otherwise stern voice. She smirked back up at him. "Got certified for it along with my A levels. Top of my class even."
His eyes warmed. "I just bet."
Donna coughed and Rose turned back to her. "I'm downloadin' all the information from the computers here. After that, nothin' will be important and if they want to blow it up, well, who am I, then, to get in the way of a little alien fun? 'Sides, it'll save Torchwood a good bit of quid, that will. Make dad happy."
Now they were both staring at her but this time she ignored it. That hadn't been Rose Tyler, former shop girl and companion to the Doctor talking. That had been Rose Tyler, five year employee of Torchwood and Defender of Earth. At heart they were the same person but she'd grown, changed, and in some cases, hardened a little bit.
There was movement next to her as the Doctor hunkered down, long arms laid across his knees as he eyed the mobile. Wordlessly, Rose handed it over and suddenly his specs were on his nose as he peered closely at it. "It'll take 'bout ten minutes," she offered and he gave her a manic grin as he produced the sonic screwdriver.
"Remember? I came first in jiggery pokery, my young padawan. Sit back and be amazed."
~~
"You think you're so impressive," Donna and Rose sighed five minutes later.
"I am so impressive!" he protested.
They giggled.
"Right, you two," the Doctor said sternly, ignoring the fact that, once again, he had two companions laughing at him. "We need to get out of here and to the TARDIS – and I know just how to do it."
~~
Rose nearly broke her neck as she dove through the doors of the TARDIS, with Donna’s weight slamming into her from behind causing both of them to end up, once more, in a heap on the floor. But she didn't care, she didn't, really...she gulped in air into her abused lungs as she rested her cheek on the grating.
She was dimly aware of Donna scrambling to her feet and berating the Doctor –
"You call that a plan, Mars boy? Running through the guards, screamin' like a bunch of loonies?"
"It worked, didn't...ow! You've gotten very violent as of late, you know."
- but the majority of her was focused on the ship itself. Golden light swam just outside of her field of vision for a moment as her mind was filled with that clear, precise singing. She was tingling from the tip of her head down to the bottom of her feet and she shuddered as the overwhelming sensations started to fade again.
"Rose?" Hands gently rolled her over onto her back and she blinked back the tears. The Doctor's worried face appeared above her and she waved him off.
"The TARDIS was just saying hello," she reassured him, brushing away the tears that leaked down her cheeks.
Another face appeared now, over the Doctor's shoulders, and Donna was giving her a good look over. "Tea," she said firmly. "Tea and some of those funny little biscuits we picked up on Trella a while back, yeah?" Nodding to herself, she straightened before heading off and Rose watched her legs until they disappeared.
"She has very nice taste in shoes."
"She's absolutely mental," the Doctor said solemnly as he firmly grabbed her wrists and pulled her back up to her feet. He didn't let go, simply slide his hands from her wrists, up her arms and then around her shoulders, pulling her tightly against him.
If he squeezed her any tighter, she was going to be absorbed straight into him but she didn't care. She fisted her hands in the back of his long coat and breathed in his scent, shuddering with all the emotions that were coming loose now that most of the danger was over with.
When he pulled back, the Doctor simply tucked her under one arm and led her up to the column. "Have to get away before everything goes boom," he said cheerfully, letting go fully so he could start spinning, smacking and generally preparing the TARDIS for flight. "Where to?"
She almost said 'home' but she paused – she'd moved out of Pete's place ages ago into a tiny little flat that she could call her own. "Mum and dad's," she settled on after a second’s thought.
He looked up at her, the question clear on her face and she gave him a sad smile. "Proper goodbye this time, all right?"
"Yeah," he said, reaching for her hand, wiggling his fingers towards her, "proper goodbye, I promise."
~~
The Doctor sprawled, nearly bonelessly, in the console chair, feet propped up on the controls in front of him. Belgium had been averted and the TARDIS was now safely back on the correct side of the Void. He'd been privileged to see one of the scariest sights in the world - Donna Noble and Jackie Tyler nattering away like best mates. That was after, of course, Jackie had slapped him and then kissed him in less than ten seconds after the TARDIS had landed. He scowled in memory and thought that he preferred the first reaction.
He hadn't been able to actually see Mickey - despite the fact that the lab had been blown up, Jack and Mickey had still been tasked with clean up, rounding up any aliens who might have been wandering about - but he managed a few quick words when Rose had gotten in touch with the lads. It was a bit of a shame but unavoidable since it had been getting closer to the end and he'd been forced to leave. He rubbed his face as he slid further down in the chair, staring glumly at his shoes as he wiggled his toes slightly.
It was going to take some time to process, even for him, he realized. Donna had gone off to bed ages ago, claiming the need for sleep but he knew better. She was offering up some space, some quiet, some time for him to think through all the thoughts in his head. Like kissing Rose, and how those scientists had managed to work out how to open the Void once more - granted, they'd mucked it up something fierce but perhaps with the information Pete had given him...
"Why are we always out of milk?"
The Doctor poked his head up so he could peer over the back of the chair and he grinned wildly. Rose stood in the doorway to the console room, arms crossed loosely under her chest and dressed in some of the jimjams that had still been in her room before she left (he'd refused to move anything and the TARDIS had simply kept any dust from gathering in the silent room). She looked tired and her hair was damp and stringy from a recent shower but to him, she'd never looked better.
She was looking amused now as he scrambled out of his chair and crossed over to her. "Rose rose rosey rose," he said, still grinning like a loon. After everything, she'd picked him and he had known that hadn't been an easy decision to make. Which was why he was going to turn that data Pete had slipped to him on its ear to see if he couldn't find a better way of doing it. It was the least he could do, since she'd left everything - again but for good this time - to come back with him.
In the end, it wouldn’t matter if it worked or not. It would just mattered that he tried.
Rose giggled and stepped into the hug he was offering, resting her head against his shoulder. "Where we off to then?" she asked, stifling a yawn into his suit jacket.
He mocked scowled at her. "First, bed. You silly humans, tiring so easily..." He easily dodged the quick poke toward his ribs and tightened his arms around her. His excuse was to stop her from trying to tickle him but it was such a false front and they both knew it. "If you're good," he tried again, "we'll make a stop by Cardiff when you and Donna finally rouse yourselves."
"Cardiff?" Rose asked, wrinkling her nose at him. "What's in Cardiff?"
If possible, the Doctor's grin got even wider. "Oh, you'll see..." he said before dipping his head in for a kiss, simply because he could.
Jack was going to keel over right on the spot when he brought her out of the TARDIS and that alone was going to be worth the trip.
One pile consisted of cleaning supplies because, as she had learned on Oxxomia 5, one should always have cleaning supplies on hand. Never know when you'd run into an alien that was allergic to the stuff – or a potential date, for that matter.
Another pile had potential weapons, just in case one of those Huralions decided to break down the door. Though she couldn't figure out for the life of her why they would even bother. She was in a caretaker's cupboard, after all, nothing of interest there.
Unless you found one highly ticked off Earth woman to be something of interest.
The last pile was full of things she was going to beat the Doctor about the head with once he returned from his...well, whatever he'd run off to do. He'd gotten a weird look on his face after nearly being shot at, said something about being rescued by a blonde and then he'd locked her up.
Donna scowled and added a broom with a thick handle to the third pile.
She froze as the sound of voices – not from the other side of the door like she'd expected but coming from the vent on the far side of the wall. One of them sounded like the Doctor but why would he come through the vent of all places? She didn't know what these aliens were capable of and maybe they were trying to trick her...
Squaring her shoulders, Donna scooped up the broom in two hands and waited.
The wait wasn't a very long one as the vent cover was suddenly popped off. Two voices wafted out, one sounding like the Doctor but she couldn't place the other one. They were bickering, though, which was more of the Doctor's style but Donna didn't let her guard down.
A pair of legs dressed in well-worn jeans popped out and they certainly didn't belong to the Doctor. Female from the looks of it. "Nice boots," Donna called out, still gripping the broom handle tightly in both hands.
There was a pause as the girl stopped wiggling for a moment, one leg rising up as if she were trying to look down at them. "Thanks," came the muffled reply, "got 'em on sale."
Donna perked up slightly. "Where at?"
"Harrods," the mystery girl said, grunting as her legs flailed a bit. "Oi, stop pushin', 'm a bit stuck."
The Doctor's voice carried out now, sounding slightly put out, "Now that you two are done talking shoes, Donna, could you care to lend a hand?"
"How do I know that's you, then?" Donna answered, scoffing. "For all I know, Spaceman, you went and got yourself copied and your double ended up in the vent." If that was the Doctor, she could just see his face turning that fantastic color it got when he got all out of sorts. She grinned, cheering up at the very thought.
"Oh for the love of Rasslion," he grumbled, "it's me, I swear! Honestly, you get replaced one time...fine, Donna. The last planet we were on, you forced me to go see that awful play, remember? And at the end, you were pulled up on stage and nearly forced..."
"Hello, Doctor!" Donna said hastily, leaning the broom against the wall before going over to where the legs stuck out.
"Hello, Donna!"
"Well who's this, then?" Donna asked, poking at the knee curiously.
"Donna, Rose. Rose, Donna."
Rose's knee waggled hello at her.
Donna blinked. There was only one Rose whom the Doctor would probably drag through ventilation shafts without her killing him (personally, she would have stuffed his body in the floorboards before going through that, herself) but that was impossible, wasn't it? But she'd get the who, the where and the why out of him later even if she had to hide his trainers again.
Getting a good grip on Rose's legs, she braced herself and pulled as hard as she could while Rose shoved from the inside. She popped out with almost no trouble after that except that the angle she'd been in, and the grip Donna had had on her legs, meant they found themselves in an untidy heap on the floor.
Rose groaned and rolled over as Donna sat up, rubbing her ribs. The former and current companions stared at each other as the Doctor twisted his long limbs through the opening, flailing slightly in his haste to get out.
"So, he locked you in the closet, then?" Rose finally asked after they'd both had their fill of eying each other. "How long?"
Donna huffed. "Been nearly a ruddy hour now!" she said, gaze turning to glare at the Doctor as his shoulder and head finally appeared.
"Nearly an hour? Were you goin' ta use that broom over there on him, then?"
They shared another look and Donna suddenly grinned as she scrambled back up to her feet. The Doctor was flush against the wall, holding his hands up as his eyes widened in panic. "No time!" he squeaked, flailing as Donna grabbed for the broom. "Important sonic screwdrivering to do!"
When Donna turned back, she started to laugh as she saw Rose's hand dig deep into one of the pockets and pull out the sonic screwdriver. "Ta, no worries," the other woman said, tongue peeking out to touch the corner of her mouth. "I'll handle that. Donna...?"
Oh yes, she was going to like this Rose Tyler...
~~
"You parked close, then?" Rose asked, a hand reaching up to pet the TARDIS key that hung under her shirt. In all the excitement, she hadn't even noticed that it had gone from warm-ish to very warm and the closer they got, the more she felt it.
"Yep," the Doctor said, popping his p, as they jogged down the corridor. He was still rubbing the back of his head and shooting Donna dirty looks when he didn't think she noticed. "Won't be long now."
Donna groaned. "He always says that," she said to Rose, shaking her head. "Which means we'll be in a spot of trouble in no time."
He went to protest when Rose stopped short and he nearly walked right into her back, flailing slightly to keep his balance. She put up a hand and mimed being quiet before pointing around the corner. They all peered around and Donna shot the Doctor a dirty look when she spotted the guards surrounding the TARDIS.
Moving back, Rose quietly asked, "Now that they can't get their claws--" Those were definitely claws she'd seen. "--on the technology here, what're they likely to do?"
The Doctor scratched the back of his neck and gave it a thought. "Blow the place up, most likely. Which means we'll have to divert to find the explosions, stop the aliens and...Rose, what are you doing?"
"Hold on a sec," she said, holding up a finger as she hit the speed dial on her mobile. "Dad? I'm fine, completely in one piece. No, really, honest. Listen, are all of the personnel accounted for? What were we planning on doin' with this place, anyway? Uh huh..." She turned and trotted off down another corridor with the other two trailing in confusion in her wake. "Yup, got the mobile, I can do that. I'm fine dad, really, not a scratch on me." She grinned. "I didn't say I hadn't been shot at, jus' that I'm fine."
Despite some protesting on Pete's part, she finally managed to hang up on him and, after a second’s thought, turned the mobile off because she knew he'd be calling back. "Right then," she called softly over her shoulder as they followed her into a room, "I've got a plan."
"Is it a cunning plan?"
She giggled. "It's as cunning as a fox what used to be Professor of Cunning at Oxford University but has moved on and is now working for the U.N. at the High Commission of International Cunning Planning."
The Doctor beamed back. "That is cunning. Come on then, Rose Tyler, tell us this cunning plan."
Rose answered while she set up the mobile in the same way as before when she'd been preparing to dump a virus into the midst of the lab. "I'm goin' ta let them blow it up."
"Excuse me?" Donna asked, staring at her. "Isn't that kind of what you want to prevent?"
Glancing up, she found the Doctor staring down at her, hands in his pockets, with a blank look on his face. She took a deep breath and forged ahead, trying not to think about the fact that she'd never wanted to be the cause of that particular look on his face. Again. "Not really. See, this place was gonna be scraped – too dangerous, yeah?" She paused to concentrate on punching buttons on the mobile and then continued. "All the staff, military and civilian, have fled already; we've a headcount and everyone's been accounted for."
"What about the data stored here?" the Doctor asked quietly.
Rose waggled the mobile at him. "It's the superphone you made me," she explained. "Did a bit of jiggery pokery a few years back..."
"Thought you failed at hullabaloo, then?"
Something in her chest eased at the faint teasing tone in his otherwise stern voice. She smirked back up at him. "Got certified for it along with my A levels. Top of my class even."
His eyes warmed. "I just bet."
Donna coughed and Rose turned back to her. "I'm downloadin' all the information from the computers here. After that, nothin' will be important and if they want to blow it up, well, who am I, then, to get in the way of a little alien fun? 'Sides, it'll save Torchwood a good bit of quid, that will. Make dad happy."
Now they were both staring at her but this time she ignored it. That hadn't been Rose Tyler, former shop girl and companion to the Doctor talking. That had been Rose Tyler, five year employee of Torchwood and Defender of Earth. At heart they were the same person but she'd grown, changed, and in some cases, hardened a little bit.
There was movement next to her as the Doctor hunkered down, long arms laid across his knees as he eyed the mobile. Wordlessly, Rose handed it over and suddenly his specs were on his nose as he peered closely at it. "It'll take 'bout ten minutes," she offered and he gave her a manic grin as he produced the sonic screwdriver.
"Remember? I came first in jiggery pokery, my young padawan. Sit back and be amazed."
~~
"You think you're so impressive," Donna and Rose sighed five minutes later.
"I am so impressive!" he protested.
They giggled.
"Right, you two," the Doctor said sternly, ignoring the fact that, once again, he had two companions laughing at him. "We need to get out of here and to the TARDIS – and I know just how to do it."
~~
Rose nearly broke her neck as she dove through the doors of the TARDIS, with Donna’s weight slamming into her from behind causing both of them to end up, once more, in a heap on the floor. But she didn't care, she didn't, really...she gulped in air into her abused lungs as she rested her cheek on the grating.
She was dimly aware of Donna scrambling to her feet and berating the Doctor –
"You call that a plan, Mars boy? Running through the guards, screamin' like a bunch of loonies?"
"It worked, didn't...ow! You've gotten very violent as of late, you know."
- but the majority of her was focused on the ship itself. Golden light swam just outside of her field of vision for a moment as her mind was filled with that clear, precise singing. She was tingling from the tip of her head down to the bottom of her feet and she shuddered as the overwhelming sensations started to fade again.
"Rose?" Hands gently rolled her over onto her back and she blinked back the tears. The Doctor's worried face appeared above her and she waved him off.
"The TARDIS was just saying hello," she reassured him, brushing away the tears that leaked down her cheeks.
Another face appeared now, over the Doctor's shoulders, and Donna was giving her a good look over. "Tea," she said firmly. "Tea and some of those funny little biscuits we picked up on Trella a while back, yeah?" Nodding to herself, she straightened before heading off and Rose watched her legs until they disappeared.
"She has very nice taste in shoes."
"She's absolutely mental," the Doctor said solemnly as he firmly grabbed her wrists and pulled her back up to her feet. He didn't let go, simply slide his hands from her wrists, up her arms and then around her shoulders, pulling her tightly against him.
If he squeezed her any tighter, she was going to be absorbed straight into him but she didn't care. She fisted her hands in the back of his long coat and breathed in his scent, shuddering with all the emotions that were coming loose now that most of the danger was over with.
When he pulled back, the Doctor simply tucked her under one arm and led her up to the column. "Have to get away before everything goes boom," he said cheerfully, letting go fully so he could start spinning, smacking and generally preparing the TARDIS for flight. "Where to?"
She almost said 'home' but she paused – she'd moved out of Pete's place ages ago into a tiny little flat that she could call her own. "Mum and dad's," she settled on after a second’s thought.
He looked up at her, the question clear on her face and she gave him a sad smile. "Proper goodbye this time, all right?"
"Yeah," he said, reaching for her hand, wiggling his fingers towards her, "proper goodbye, I promise."
~~
The Doctor sprawled, nearly bonelessly, in the console chair, feet propped up on the controls in front of him. Belgium had been averted and the TARDIS was now safely back on the correct side of the Void. He'd been privileged to see one of the scariest sights in the world - Donna Noble and Jackie Tyler nattering away like best mates. That was after, of course, Jackie had slapped him and then kissed him in less than ten seconds after the TARDIS had landed. He scowled in memory and thought that he preferred the first reaction.
He hadn't been able to actually see Mickey - despite the fact that the lab had been blown up, Jack and Mickey had still been tasked with clean up, rounding up any aliens who might have been wandering about - but he managed a few quick words when Rose had gotten in touch with the lads. It was a bit of a shame but unavoidable since it had been getting closer to the end and he'd been forced to leave. He rubbed his face as he slid further down in the chair, staring glumly at his shoes as he wiggled his toes slightly.
It was going to take some time to process, even for him, he realized. Donna had gone off to bed ages ago, claiming the need for sleep but he knew better. She was offering up some space, some quiet, some time for him to think through all the thoughts in his head. Like kissing Rose, and how those scientists had managed to work out how to open the Void once more - granted, they'd mucked it up something fierce but perhaps with the information Pete had given him...
"Why are we always out of milk?"
The Doctor poked his head up so he could peer over the back of the chair and he grinned wildly. Rose stood in the doorway to the console room, arms crossed loosely under her chest and dressed in some of the jimjams that had still been in her room before she left (he'd refused to move anything and the TARDIS had simply kept any dust from gathering in the silent room). She looked tired and her hair was damp and stringy from a recent shower but to him, she'd never looked better.
She was looking amused now as he scrambled out of his chair and crossed over to her. "Rose rose rosey rose," he said, still grinning like a loon. After everything, she'd picked him and he had known that hadn't been an easy decision to make. Which was why he was going to turn that data Pete had slipped to him on its ear to see if he couldn't find a better way of doing it. It was the least he could do, since she'd left everything - again but for good this time - to come back with him.
In the end, it wouldn’t matter if it worked or not. It would just mattered that he tried.
Rose giggled and stepped into the hug he was offering, resting her head against his shoulder. "Where we off to then?" she asked, stifling a yawn into his suit jacket.
He mocked scowled at her. "First, bed. You silly humans, tiring so easily..." He easily dodged the quick poke toward his ribs and tightened his arms around her. His excuse was to stop her from trying to tickle him but it was such a false front and they both knew it. "If you're good," he tried again, "we'll make a stop by Cardiff when you and Donna finally rouse yourselves."
"Cardiff?" Rose asked, wrinkling her nose at him. "What's in Cardiff?"
If possible, the Doctor's grin got even wider. "Oh, you'll see..." he said before dipping his head in for a kiss, simply because he could.
Jack was going to keel over right on the spot when he brought her out of the TARDIS and that alone was going to be worth the trip.