Disclaimer: I do not own DW or any of it's characters unless they are OCs.
Chapter Twenty Two - Barcelona
For Jack it had been one and a half days since Rose had vanished from Torchwood and he still couldn't stop thinking about her. Not because he was in love with her or anything (there was a time that he thought maybe he could have loved her like that) because the Doctor would kill him if he was, but she had always been such an important part of his life even when she wasn't in it and he was pretty concerned about the whole bad wolf business that she was still a part of despite the Doctor's past assurances that she was still normal unlike him. He snorted slightly to himself as he thought about how it wasn't the first time the Doctor had been wrong about something.
Currently he was sitting behind his desk in his office and sipping a tea with just a splash of whiskey in it when the room began to radiate with a familiar glow. He shielded his eyes with his hands as the light brightened and then removed them as it faded, revealing a much neater looking Rose who was now dressed in a pair of fresh jeans and a dark purple t-shirt with a brown leather bomber jacket.
"Hello" her lips quirked up into a wide smile full of the old warmth that Jack used to be surrounded by back when he was travelling with her and the Doctor. The familiarity of it sent a pang through Jack's heart. He stood up from his desk and engulfed his old friend into a hug, glad she had reappeared.
"I'm glad you came back. Did you find him?"
"Yes" Rose smiled and Jack had to admit he felt selfishly a bit disappointed. If she hadn't found him, it meant she might have wanted to stick around for a while. Since Ianto's death he had been pretty lonely. He loved Gwen and she was a great friend but Torchwood had begun to feel cold and empty and he was scared of the day that Gwen would die and he would be the last member of the team standing. Rose, however, was obviously like him and wouldn't be taken down so easily. He needed her more than anyone. "And I'm going back to him soon. But first there was something I needed to take care of"
Jack hid his disappointment well behind a curious smile. "And this was something he couldn't help you with?"
"Not yet"
His eyebrows rose in question. "Okay..."
Rose glanced at him with amusement before whipping something out of her jacket and passing it to him. It turned out to be an envelop with the Doctor written across it. "That's for you to give to the Doctor when you see him. You'll give him your help but he's gonna need some reassurance as well" Rose explained and Jack nodded, while his eyes locked onto her with a slightly sad gleam in them.
"So that's all you came for?"
"That and this" Rose quickly wrapped her arms around her friend in a tight hug. Jack found himself hugging her back almost immediately, inhaling and memorising her scent. "I just wanted you to know that I know you've lost so much since I made you immortal, deliberately or not, and I am so sorry about that. But know this, you are never alone and one day you will find someone who'll give you everything that you need. Until then I will always be your friend and so will the Doctor. Just trust him, okay? And everything else will fall into place at the right time. Just hold on"
"I love you, Rose" he whispered and she knew how he meant it. It was how a brother would talk to a sister.
"Love you too"
"I guess this is goodbye again then" Jack stated as he moved out of the hug, sensing that she was preparing to disappear again. She gave him a small smile before kissing him on the cheek.
"For now, Captain"
With that said, Rose vanished on the spot, leaving behind Jack who stared at her the spot that she had previously been standing in for a few minutes before glancing down at his vortex manipulator. It looked like he had some packing to do before making his next trip.
River Song was notoriously hard to track down unless, of course, she wanted you to find her. However the Doctor eventually managed to track her to the planet Zavrin where she was attending a party thrown by the wild, rebellious Princess of their planet's capitol Zooko. The Doctor rolled his eyes not really all that surprised at finding the future professor at such a place. He strolled into the large marble manor with a large leather satchel thrown over his shoulder with his companions trailing along behind him. "Oh wow now this is my kind of party" Amy remarked gazing at the ridiculously extravagant decorations and the various species bumping and grinding on the makeshift dance floor to the loud thumping music.
"Would you care for a drink, miss?" A blue skinned, green eyed alien approached Amy who looked interested momentarily until the Doctor cut in and refused on her behalf. Amy pouted at him, having wanted to try some of the interesting looking alien beverage.
"Amy that stuff is the strongest, hardest liquor in the universe. I don't know how Princess Ori managed to procure any of it but it'd be best if you stayed far away from any of the drinks OR food here. I don't want you accidentally causing an intergalactic incident by getting drunk" The Doctor lectured his friend who narrowed her eyes at him and opened her lips briefly to say something. But before she had chance to unleash her annoyance on the bow-tie loving, newly married alien the Doctor spun on his heel and walked away from her and Rory as he spotted River in the corner of the room by herself. She was dressed in a long gold dress with a scandalous neckline that dipped down her chest, giving away a slight hint of her breasts. She wore a long gold necklace that emphasised this fact and her lips were painted with a murderous red lipstick.
"Funny meeting you here" she smirked as she spotted him approaching her. "This doesn't seem like your type of scene at all, sweetie"
"Well you know me, River" the Doctor smiled back at her. "I'm a real party man at heart"
She quirked her eyebrow up at him in question, not buying that for a minute. "What are you really here for?"
"I need your help with something"
"Oh?"
"It's Rose" he explained and River's mild interest turned to curiosity as she recognised the name.
"She found you then"
"Yes but there's a version of her out there that's lost and needs your help still"
"Is this a complicated thing in time and space by any chance?"
"Well...yes" the Doctor admitted sheepishly while River's face lit up.
"Excellent, I've been dying for a real adventure. I'm so bored and this party is somewhat of a letdown"
"You still have your vortex manipulator, yes?" the Doctor questioned her as they began walking towards the foyer where Amy and Rory were still waiting for the Doctor. River nodded briskly. "Good. You're going to need that and a few of these gems that I've provided for you in this bag along with a letter for Rose when you see her"
"Ooh, this does sounds like fun" River laughed loosely as she followed the group towards the TARDIS. "Are you planning on giving me co-ordinates?"
"Nope, I'll do you one better and drop you off in the fifty first century which is where you'll find Rose. After that you'll have to use your manipulator until you find past me"
"Well this is awfully generous of you" River remarked as she walked into the console room. She looked around and then frowned at the Doctor. "Where is Rose? Shouldn't you be with her now?"
"She's off dealing with something else but we'll be meeting up once I've dropped you off" he replied and began punching in the co-ordinates for River.
"You should take good care of her, Doctor. I only spent a little amount of time with her but she seems like she could be your equal"
"Oh she is. Although I'm not quite sure if I'm HER equal" the Doctor commented as he sat back in the captain's seat while the TARDIS flew them through space and time. "But I need her. I was lost without her and I didn't realise until I saw her again" Realising that he was beginning to get slightly sappy, the Doctor coughed and straightened up, fixing his bow-tie. "Anyway make sure to take the bag with you before you go and give the letter to Rose. Make sure to look after her for me while I can't"
River nodded. "I'll do my best". Shortly they arrived at their destination and the TARDIS crew said their goodbyes to River before she disappeared into the busy city of 51st century Earth.
Amy looked at the Doctor as he crossed the console room once the TARDIS doors had shut and watched him put in new co-ordinates. "So is that it?"
"That's it" he confirmed."Now we find Rose"
"I'm happy for you" the Scottish woman said abruptly, causing the Doctor to glance over at her. "I'm glad that you have her. I used to think it was gonna be you and River but seeing the way you look at Rose...I know now how wrong I got it. I've never seen you look at anyone how you look at Rose"
"She's special"
"I think she's great" Rory piped up. "The Doctor needs someone like her to calm him down and stop him from acting like a hyperactive puppy"
The Doctor glared at the nurse in offense "I do NOT act like a hyper puppy. If anything I act like a hyper Zeblonyeskilakis"
"What the hell's that?" Amy gaped.
"An alien giraffe with navy blue skin, white spots and three heads and necks"
"I'm not even gonna ask"
"That's probably for the best" Rory agreed, patting his wife's arm. A few minutes the TARDIS landed. "So where are we?"
"Barcelona" The Doctor grinned before quickly adding "Not the country Barcelona, the planet"
Amy exchanged a look with her husband "Right..."
"Come along Ponds!" the Doctor exclaimed gleefully as he headed towards the doors. Amy and Rory followed and looked around cautiously as they stepped out of the ship. They took in the sight of a deep violet sky with glimmering (literally, they glimmered) sliver buildings. As they walked along the beach they had landed on, Amy did a double take as she saw a pale human with long silver hair walking what looked like a corgi but it seemed to be missing a nose. "So what'd you think?"
"Did that dog have no nose?" Rory asked the question Amy was thinking. The Doctor grinned but before he could answer, someone else did it for him.
"Yes! And aren't they just so cute?" They all turned (the Doctor almost tripped over his own feet in his haste in spinning around) to see Rose standing before them. She had changed clothes into something more exotic as the planet was extremely warm. She wore a strange, leather bikini with a pink flower in her hair and held what looked like a cocktail in one hand. She beamed at them with her eyes sparkling happily as they took in the Doctor who was staring awe-struck at the blonde."Hello Doctor. Glad you could finally make it. Nice to see you two as well" she gave Amy and Rory a warm grin. "I hope he's not been driving you mad with his babbling too much"
"Oi" The Doctor snapped out of his trance to look at her with offense. "I do not babble"
Rose gave him a teasing look as she responded "If you say so, dear"
"So what do we do now? Is there some alien invasion going on or some planet we need to save?" Amy asked, looking at the couple in front of her with slight amusement.
"For once, no" the Doctor was quick to answer with a smirk on his face."Rose and I get to enjoy our honeymoon and you two get a holiday on an alien planet with no trouble in sight"
Rory's eyebrows shot up. Whenever they went somewhere nice there was usually a catch...like the entire planet was about to blow up on them. "Are you serious?"
"Yep" Rose confirmed. "The TARDIS and I have an understanding plus she likes me better than the Doctor anyway" (Rose ignored the 'Oi' that came from her new husband) "She lets me have my honeymoon trouble free with the Doctor and then after this week we go back to saving all the civilisations and of course Earth"
"A week with no trouble" Amy commented as the foursome began to walk further down the beach. "Aren't you gonna get bored, Doctor?"
The Doctor looked at Amy and then looked at the woman walking beside him, holding his hand with her own free hand. He smiled softly as she gazed back at him before replying to his best friend, "Nah I think I'll manage"
The End.
First of all, thank you for everyone whose stuck by this story despite the long breaks between updates and probably some sloppy grammer. Secondly, I was going to write an epilogue but decided I felt like it should end here. I mean Barcelona is quite symbolic to the Doctor & Rose. They never made it in canon and ended up seperated forever but here they are together forever and they made it. I thought that was quite a good way to end.
I was considering a sequel but I think I may just write some short stories set in the same 'verse. For example I could end up posting a short story about Rose & the judoon. For now I think I want to dabble in other things in the meantime like doing the avengers crossover I have been wanting to do for a while now.
Once again, thanks for your reviews and for reading :).