Updated: April 1, 2019

Chapter One- Alien's of London Part 1

The metallic sound of metal rubbing against metal slowly faded into the small alley as wind, that had not been there before, began to blow with the sound. Loose paper and rubbish that littered the ground of the alley shifted as a blue Police Box began to blink into existence. The light on top of it blinking with the rhythm of the metallic sound and wind. Once the box had finally settled into existence, the door opened and Rose Tyler walked out laughing, the Doctor following her out in a much calmer manner. He was used to time traveling by now, had been for a while.

He smiled as he watched Rose look up and down the alley, her mind trying to wrap around everything that they had done. The Doctor always enjoyed watching his new companions take in the experience that traveling through time and space always gave them. His hearts stuttered briefly as his eyes locked onto Rose's shining amber eyes. There was something different about Rose than his other companions. With his other companions he was happy letting them just simply enjoy the experience, but with Rose he didn't want her to just simply enjoy the experience, he wanted her to be amazed by it, to crave it, to not be able to live without it, without him.

As Rose spun around, her eyes taking everything in, the Doctor tried to calm his racing hearts and mind. Ever since he had found her cowering in the basement of Henriks he had known she was different, even before he had taken her hand in his. His right hand began to open and close as the urge to take her hand in his hit him hard. The Doctor gulped and forced his body to look much calmer than he had suddenly become as he leaned against his ship. The Doctor didn't know what it was about Rose that caused him to act like this, like a love struck school boy of ninety rather than a fully grown Time Lord of over 900.

"How long have I been gone?" Rose asked, laughter in her voice. The Doctor smiled at her smugly. He had made her like this. He had made her happy, the way it should be. No one else should be allowed to make her eyes shine the way they were now. The Doctor blinked and mentally shook his head. There he went again, being all possessive with her. He had never been the possessive type, at least until he had met Rose. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that there was no one left. That he was the last of his kind now. Or maybe it was something about Rose that made him want to claim her, make her his, keep her with him for as long as the universe would allow him to.

"About 12 hours." The Doctor told her smugly, needing to prove to her how impressive he was. Rose barked out a laugh and twirled, the light hitting her hair just right to make it shine golden. The Doctor couldn't stop the chuckle that flew past his lips even if he had wanted to. "Oh!" Rose gasped out happily as her mind recalled something, and the Doctor had to bite the sudden urge to demand what she had just recalled. "Right, I won't be long." Fear flashed through him, she was leaving him. Thoughts of everything that happened to her (or could have happened) flew through his mind of the last times she had been away from him. "I just want to see my mum." The Doctor forced himself to calm down. She was safe here, there was nothing here that would harm her. Some dark part of his traitorous mind whispered to him darkly of everything that could and would hurt his Rose. He forced those thoughts away. He wouldn't allow any of that to happen to his Rose.

"What're you gonna tell her?" The Doctor asked, causing her to pause in walking away. That sent a shot of happiness through him. He had stopped her from leaving him, at least for now.

"I don't know." Rose told him teasingly as she turned to smile at him. "I've been to the year five billion and only been gone, what, 12 hours?" The Doctor shook his head at her with a small huff of a laugh, oh his pink and yellow Rose was so cheeky. But he wouldn't change her for anything. "Nah, I'll just tell her I spent the night at Sharine's." Rose said taking a step away from him, and the Doctor had to force himself to stay where he was to keep from rushing over to her and keeping her beside him. "See you later." She called turning fully around and walking from him. "Oh!" Rose called spinning back to look at him, his hearts jumped as her eyes caught his. "Don't you disappear."

The Doctor smiled at her. She wasn't leaving him for good! She was just popping in on her mum and then they would be on their way. He would willingly wait for her here if it meant he could spend time with her. As Rose's footsteps faded away, the Doctor sighed and forced himself to focus on anything but the sudden silence that he found himself with. It wasn't that long since he had taken her hand in his and stolen her away, maybe 22 hours at most. But it felt longer. Maybe it was because every small noise she made (knowingly or not) kept the painful silence in his mind that had once been filled with the small whispers and mutterings of all the thoughts of his people. Now silent because of him.

The Doctor sighed as his ship, his TARDIS, gave him a mental push away from that depressing thought. His ship was right, he shouldn't be focusing on that right now. The Doctor sighed once more as his thoughts shifted back to the beautiful pink and yellow human that he found himself quickly becoming addicted to. She was so bright and happy and young and full of life. Why she had decided to allow such a dark and brooding and broken old man into her life he would never understand.

The Doctor's brows knitted together as his slowly healing time senses caught something wrong. Not dangerous, just not right. His eyes locked on a pole just at the end of the alley way. A white piece of paper was taped to it, the light wind folding it over so that he couldn't see what it was. That hadn't been there when he had stolen her away from this very alley just hours ago. The Doctor quickly walked over to it, just knowing that this piece of paper would tell him everything he needed to know about what was wrong. His hearts sank when he was suddenly looking at a printed picture of his beautiful pink and yellow Rose (the picture not nearly doing her beauty justice). His time senses slapped him in the face.

He had been wrong!

The Doctor took off after Rose, following her scent hoping to catch her before she made it back to her flat.

-One-

Rose happily ran up the stairs of the Estate building to the flat she shared with her mum. Her mind racing about everything that had happened. She laughed. It was mental really! And if she hadn't lived it she wouldn't have thought it possible! Even now that rude little voice in the back of her mind kept whispering that she was asleep and soon her alarm clock would go off and she would wake up to find that Henriks had not been blown up by a mad alien called the Doctor and that she had not traveled time and space in his bigger on the inside ship.

She made it to the door to the flat she shared with her mum, quickly dug out her keys and unlocked the door. Rose wanted to tell her mother that she would be leaving to travel with the Doctor for an unseeable amount of time as quickly as she could so she could get back to him. The Doctor was quickly becoming her everything. "I'm back!" Rose called out to her mother as she shut the door behind her tossing her keys onto the small hall table as she usually did. "Sharine, she's all upset again." She easily lied having had plenty of practice when she was 16 and with Jimmy. "Are you in?" Rose asked as she walked into the kitchen to find her mother staring at her in shock.

"So, what's been going on? How've you been?" Rose asked trying to get her mother to stop looking at her as if she were a ghost. "What? What's that face for? It's not the first time I stayed out all night." Rose jumped in fright when her mother dropped her mug, shattering it.

"It's you." Her mother whispered, her eyes roaming over her face as if suddenly afraid she would vanish. What was happening? She had only been gone 12 hours. Why was her mother acting as if she had been gone longer?

"Course it's me." Rose said trying to keep herself from hyperventilating. Her left hand opened and closed, seeking the hand that had been holding it not but hours ago. Her mind race to try and calm down so she could figure out what was happening, but without the Doctor there to ground her she couldn't.

"Oh, my God, it's you. Oh, my God." Her mother cried throwing her body at Rose, wrapping her in a hug. The same kind of hug her mother had given her that fateful day in the hospital after having been rescued by that strange man in that weird tweed jacket and bowtie. Her eyes landed on the piles and boxes of missing persons papers. Rose felt the room begin to tilt and spin. She was about to have a panic attack! She needed to leave, needed some air! She needed...

The door to the flat flew open and the Doctor ran in. She needed the Doctor! His ice blue eyes, wild and panicked locked with hers. No matter what was going on, Rose knew that the Doctor would find a way to protect her, to right whatever was wrong!

"It's not 12 hours, it's 12 months." The Doctor told her. Rose pulled back from her mother to stare at him in shock. She had been gone a whole year? Without word to her mother? Rose felt her eyes begin to tear up, words caught in her throat. She wanted to beg him to take her away from this mess, to make it right, to yell at him for lying to her, to demand why he had brought her back a year later, to order him to tell her why she had unintentionally made her mother worry like that. She wanted to slap him, hit him. This was just like Jimmy Stone all over again for her mother. But the sorrowful look in his ice blue eyes trapped her words and anger. Just looking at him Rose could see that he hadn't meant to bring her back a year late, hadn't meant to make her mother suffer the way she had. "Sorry." He whispered to her reaching for her hand and she automatically reached back, taking it in hers. Her anger forgotten as she forgave him.

-One-

Rose found herself cowering from her mother's anger as she curled up in the arm chair that Jackie had basically tossed her into. Her eyes tearing up as she stared at her scared and furious mother as she ranted and raved, pacing up and down the living room. The poor young officer that had come by to take their statements and try to figure out what had happened to her and where she had been for the last year watched the pacing woman with nervous eyes. When her mother's furious eyes locked onto hers once more, Rose had to fight the desperate urge to reach up and take hold of the Doctor's hand as he stood as protectively as he could behind her chair.

"The hours I sat here, days and weeks and months!" Jackie spat glaring at her and the Doctor. "All on my own! I thought you were dead! And where were you? Traveling! What the hell does that mean, traveling?" Rose felt the Doctor grip the back of the chair tighter as Jackie stormed around the new coffee table (the other one having been broken the last time they were here) and got into Rose's face. Rose fought the urge to look up at the Doctor, knowing it would make the whole situation worse. Rose could handle her mother's wrath, and besides her mother deserved to be allowed to rant and rave like this. "That's no sort of answer! You ask her, she won't tell me!" Jackie growled to the officer. "That's all she says, 'traveling'."

"That's what I was doing." Rose told her softly as she curled further in on herself. She wanted to tell her mother everything, wanted to tell her how utterly terrifying yet beautiful the End of the World had been. Wanted to tell her about meeting Charles Dickens and everything that had happened in Cardiff that night. Rose wanted to be able to cry in her mother's arms about the loss of many innocent lives. Wanted to rant and rave about Cassandra. Wanted to complain to her mother about how stubborn the Doctor could be. But she couldn't! Her mother would never believe her! Would toss her in the loony bin if she even tried to explain! Of course she knew the Doctor would get her out, but that wasn't the point!

"With your passport still in the drawer?" Jackie snapped causing Rose to flinch. She had forgotten about that, she hadn't needed it in the TARDIS so she had never even thought about her passport. "It's just one lie after another!"

"I meant to phone, I really did." Rose snapped back, not able to stop herself. And technically she had phoned her mother! It wasn't her fault that just hours after she had called her mother that she was dropped back at home a year later! "I just... I forgot." Rose breathed out, her attitude instantly disappearing as thoughts of how scared and worried Jackie had to have been flew through her mind. Her eyes teared up, had her mother feared that Jimmy Stone had come back and finished what he had started all those years ago?

"What, for a year? You forgot for a year?" Her mother snapped back. "And I'm left sitting here? I just don't believe you!" Jackie began to pace again, tears in her eyes. "Why won't you tell me where you've been?" The fear in her mother's voice caused Rose to let a tear roll from her eye. She hated that she had done this to her mother, even if it wasn't on purpose.

"Actually," The Doctor started shocking Rose enough to have her look at him, his eyes were locked onto the tear rolling down her cheek, "it's my fault." The Doctor's eyes moved from the tear, his jaw tensing and his hand tightening on the back of the chair. Rose felt her heart stutter, was he drawing attention to himself for her? But why? Why would he do that? "I sort of employed Rose as my companion."

"When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?" The officer asked glaring at the Doctor. Rose sucked in a breath as she tried to force herself not to think about all the thoughts that had invaded her mind about the Doctor and her. She couldn't allow herself to think like that. She was just a stupid, human shop girl! The Doctor wouldn't want someone like her! At least not like that.

"No!" They cried out together and Rose tried not to feel hurt. The Doctor was someone who deserved someone better than her, someone who could actually help him, not some lowly shop girl from the Estates with no A-levels. She was just lucky enough to be able to travel with him.

"Then what is it?" Jackie demanded storming over to him. "Because you, you waltz in here, all charm and smiles, and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth!" Rose had to force herself to keep seated at the sorrowful and slightly scared look on the Doctor's face. Couldn't her mum see how much he hadn't meant for this to happen? Couldn't she see how sorry he was that this had happened? "How old are you, then, 40, 45? What, did you find her on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?"

"I am a doctor!" The Doctor defended, his voice weaker than she had ever heard it before.

"Prove it. Stitch this, mate!" Jackie snapped and before Rose, or anyone, could stop her, Jackie slapped the Doctor hard enough to cause him to stumble back half a step. Rose gaped at her mother as the Doctor groaned in pain. Rose didn't know whether to laugh at the situation or jump up and slap her mother for slapping the Doctor.

-One-

A few hours and a nice hot, relaxing shower later found Rose walking out of her room after blow-drying her hair to find the Doctor silently opening the door. Fear shot through her, he was leaving her! "You're not leaving me here, are you?" Rose asked causing the Doctor to whip around and stare at her in shock. Had he hoped to leave before she had finished her shower?

"Rose." The Doctor breathed out, his eyes roaming her face as if trying to memorize it. Was this it then? Was this goodbye? Could she at least convince him to stay for a few more hours? To help her through this? One last adventure before he left her for good?

"You can't leave me here to face this alone." Rose told him, trying to keep herself from begging. She wouldn't be one of those girls, she would never lower herself to one of those girls. "This is your doing, you have to help me face this." Rose told him and watched the Doctor's eyes fly towards the kitchen where Rose could hear her mother moving around. Fear flashed through his eyes before she could blink. What was he scared of? Staying here until everything cooled down? The Doctor looked away from the kitchen and back to her with a small smile as he reached out for her hand. Rose automatically reached back, taking his hand in hers.

"I'm not leaving you, Rose, I'm just going to go to the roof." The Doctor told her.

"What for?" Rose asked.

"I thought you and your mum could, you know, talk and, I don't know..." The Doctor muttered looking slightly embarrassed. Rose could obviously tell he wasn't comfortable in this situation, and she didn't want him to force himself. So with a sigh and one last squeeze to his hand, she let go of him.

"Just promise me you won't leave, at least not without a proper goodbye." Rose whispered, eyes tearing up. Within seconds she found the Doctor's rough and calloused hands gently holding her face.

"Oh, Rose." He breathed out before resting his forehead on hers. "If you still want to travel with me, then I'll not leave without you." He promised her before sealing the promise with a kiss to her forehead. They stayed like that for a long minute before the Doctor finally pulled away, his fingers slowly slipping from her face causing her to open her eyes that she hadn't realized she had closed. The Doctor took a breath that almost seemed impossibly shaky to Rose. "Right, you go in there and spend some time with your mum." He told her before slipping out the door.

Rose stood in the hallway trying to collect herself. Her heart was racing at what had just transpired between her and the Doctor (nothing had transpired between the two of them that rude little voice shouted at her from the back of her mind). Once she was sure she had her heart (and mind) under control once more, Rose walked into the kitchen. Hesitating when she caught sight of her mother leaning against the counter with a mug of freshly made tea in her hand. She was staring into it as if it held all the answers to the universe in it.

"Mum?" Rose called out softly.

"Where were you for a year, Rose?" Her mother asked without ever looking up from the tea.

"I told you, mum, I was traveling with the Doctor." Rose told her. She flinched back when her mother suddenly looked up from the tea to glare at her. She hadn't expected that and she didn't know why she hadn't expected it.

"But where were you traveling, and why did you go without telling anyone? Why didn't you call me?" Jackie asked setting the tea down on the counter.

"The Doctor took me on some adventures, I didn't expect to be gone a whole year. I swear! I doesn't even feel like I've been gone a year. And had I realized I would be gone so long I would have called, I swear! And every time I did think to call, something came up." Rose told her.

"For a whole year? Something kept coming up keeping you from calling for a whole year?! Was that something this Doctor?" Jackie demanded and Rose glared at her.

"No!" Rose growled out shocking her mother. "Don't you dare try to blame the Doctor! He has been nothing but a good friend! He didn't mean for this to happen! Had he known how long it had been for you he would have never let it happen!"

"It is his fault!" Jackie yelled. "He kidnapped you! He took you away from me! He's the reason you won't tell me where you've been!"

"The Doctor didn't kidnap me! I willingly went with him!" Rose yelled back not caring if the neighbors could hear them. "And he isn't keeping me from telling you anything! I've been telling you where I've been but you just ain't listening! I've been traveling with him!"

"But where?" Jackie demanded.

"What's it matter where he took me!" Rose cried throwing her arms in the air and began pacing the kitchen to keep from running out of the flat and to the roof where the Doctor was. To beg the Doctor to take her away, to take her on another adventure, to make her forget about this mess! But she knew that if she did that then it would make everything worse. Rose stopped her pacing when she heard her mother begin to cry.

"I was so worried and scared, Rose. You're all I have!" Jackie told her and Rose felt guilty for having forced her mother through this once more.

"I'm so sorry, mum." Rose said rushing over to her mother and pulled her into a tight hug as she began to cry as well.

"Did you think about me at all?" Jackie asked her.

"I did, all the time, but..." Rose started forcing herself to stop.

"One phone call. Just to know that you were alive." Jackie whispered tightening her hold on Rose before letting her go to take her face in her hand. Rose leaned into her mother's hand, guilty when a large part of her wanted it to be the Doctor's hand instead.

"I'm sorry, I really am." Rose sniffed out.

"You know what terrifies me is that you still can't say." Jackie told her causing Rose's tears to fall faster. God she wanted to tell her mother everything. "What happened to you, Rose?" Everything! "What can be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?" Rose began to bawl. It hurt her that she couldn't tell her mother about the TARDIS, about how amazing it was. About how amazing the Doctor was.

"He took me to see the world and showed me Cardiff's History." Rose whispered.

-One-

The Doctor sighed as he leaned against the small concrete wall surrounding the roof. His right had ached to hold Rose's hand in his once more. This was his fault. If he hadn't been so intent on showing off, to have Rose so amazed with him and his ship then he wouldn't have screwed up so bad. The Doctor cursed in his native language as he glared out unseeingly in front of him. There was no way Rose would want to travel with him anymore! Not after this!

The Doctor sighed once more and buried his head in his hands. He knew he would screw up! Would do something to cause Rose to run away from him screaming! He didn't deserve her! She deserved someone better than him. He knew this. Yet at the same time he couldn't make himself give her up. He was selfish and he knew it. But she was his light in the dark! He couldn't give her up! He would surely die if he was forced to give her up.

The Doctor straightened up when he heard the door to the roof open and smelt his Rose's scent. She had come for him. The Doctor glanced a peek at her, eyes locking with hers. Her eyes were red and puffy. She had been crying! Anger shot through him, how dare someone make his Rose cry! (Her mother! His mind supplied.) His fists clenched and his teeth ground together as he fought the powerful urge to go downstairs and show Jackie Tyler why one did not make his Rose cry.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked softly as she made her way to him.

"You've been crying." The Doctor told her unclenching one fist to raise a hand to her cheek that was stained with her tears. His hearts ached to take her pain away. His Rose should never look like this. She should be smiling and laughing and glowing so bright that she took all of his darkness away.

"Oh, yeah, well, that tends to happen to us human females when we get emotional." Rose joked weakly as she pulled away from his hand to try and wipe away the evidence. The Doctor gently reached out to her, stopping her before he pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket with his free hand.

"What did your mother say to make you cry?" The Doctor asked as he started to gently wipe her cheeks clean of her tears. He hadn't liked her mother when she had been yelling and causing the bitter scent of sadness and guilt to taint Rose's scent earlier that day, and now down right hated the woman for making his Rose cry.

"She didn't say anything to make me cry." Rose told him backing up from him before moving to his side and began to try and jump up onto the concrete wall to sit on it.

"Then why did you start crying?" The Doctor asked turning and helped her up onto the wall before leaning next to her, making sure she didn't fall.

"Because she started to cry." Rose whispered to him. The Doctor watched her, not knowing what to say. "I can't tell her. I can't even begin." Rose said with a sigh. "She's never gonna forgive me." The Doctor's hearts dropped. Was this it? Was she telling him goodbye? There had to be some way to convince her to stay with him! "And I missed a year. Was it good?" Rose asked as his mind raced to figure out how to keep her with him.

"Middling." The Doctor informed her.

"You're so useless." Rose muttered.

"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you gonna stay here now?" The Doctor snapped out. No! That's not what he wanted to say! He wanted to beg her forgiveness, beg her to stay with him.

"I don't know." Rose said with a sigh. This wasn't good! He needed her with him! "Can't do that to her again, though." Was she asking him to take her mother along with them? Could he allow that woman to live with them in his TARDIS? To constantly yell at his Rose? To continually make her cry? No! He would not allow that!

"Well, she's not coming with us." The Doctor growled out to her glaring ahead of him.

"Why not?" Rose asked and the Doctor gave her a hard look.

"Because I said so. I will not have your mother on my TARDIS." The Doctor told her willing her to understand. "Who knows what trouble she will cause."

"My mum wouldn't do anything to your precious ship." Rose cried obviously offended. The Doctor blinked at her. She thought he was worried her mother would damage his TARDIS? He knew her mother couldn't damage his TARDIS! He was more worried about what her mother could do to her!

"I don't do families." The Doctor told her before mentally slapping himself. That wasn't true! At least not any more. Not since he had taken her hand and told her to 'Run'. If Rose wanted a family, he would find away to give her a family. Even if it would kill him to see her with someone else, as long as she was happy he would find away to do it.

"She slapped you!" Rose reminded him.

"900 years of time and space, and I've never been slapped by someone's mother." The Doctor told her.

"Your face." Rose laughed.

"It hurt!" The Doctor cried trying to sound hurt but his smile at her laughter was making it hard.

"You're so gay!" Rose teased before tensing up as her mind recalled something. The Doctor tensed up as well, wondering what she had just remembered. Had her mother done something? Had she been slapped? The Doctor's eyes searched Rose's face for any signs of being slapped. Jackie better not have laid a hand on his Rose! "When you say 900 years..." Rose stared and the Doctor blinked at her.

"That's my age." He told her cautiously hoping that this wouldn't hurt his chance to keep her. He knew he was an old man (technically he was only middle-aged, probably late 30's early 40's in human standards his oh so helpful mind whispered).

"You're 900 years old?" Rose asked in shock.

"Yeah." The Doctor told her fearful of her reaction.

"My mum was right. That is one hell of an age gap." Rose joked allowing the Doctor to relax some. At least she wasn't running away (yet that dark voice whispered). Rose slipped from the wall and the Doctor held his breath. This was it. She was going to run screaming from him now. "Every conversation with you just goes mental. There's no one else I can talk to. I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word." The Doctor wanted to tell her that he would always be there to talk to her about it on the TARDIS. "Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist."

As if her words were a cue the Doctor heard the stuttering engines of a crashing spaceship heading towards them. Without thought the Doctor dove at Rose, who had walked a few feet away from him, his body crashing into hers and knocking both of them to the ground seconds before the ship could hit either of them. Once it had passed over them, a trail of perfect black smoke following it, the Doctor and Rose shot up from the ground to watch its perfect decent (a little too perfect his mind hissed). The ship nearly collided with the bridge before it pulled up and flew around a bit before hitting Big Ben and landing in the Thames, creating the perfect amount of chaos to get the perfect amount of attention. Something wasn't right here! This wasn't right! This was dangerous!

The Doctor needed to figure out what was going on, he couldn't allow this danger to harm his Rose.

"Oh that's just not fair!" Rose yelled. The Doctor looked at her and couldn't help the bubble of laughter at her look. It wasn't funny, not really. Rose looked at him and smiled before taking his hand in hers (or maybe he took her hand) before they both took off running.

-One-

Rose and the Doctor ran down the street, dodging stopped cars and angry people as they made their way to where the ship had crashed. The Doctor pulled them to a stop with a slight growl of annoyance. "It's blocked off." He said as Rose's eyes took in everything around them. The men in military uniforms holding guns, the military vehicles blocking the way to and from the site miles away. A young man in military gear, no older than herself, swept a young girl with long dark hair in pigtails into his arms and ran down an alley.

"We're miles from the center. The city must be gridlocked. The whole of London must be closing down." Rose panted out her eyes catching the words 'Bad Wolf' written in window chalk on the back of some person's car. There were those words again. Same ones that Gwyneth had whispered about her.

"I know, I can't believe I'm here to see this." The Doctor said and Rose couldn't tell if he was excited or annoyed. Was this supposed to be happening? Was this why the Doctor had brought them back a year late?

"Did you know this was going to happen?" Rose asked looking at him. Why hadn't he told her? Why make her believe it was an accident?

"No! I had no idea!" The Doctor told her, his eye begging her to believe him. And she did.

"Do you recognize the ship?" Rose asked excitement starting to bubble up in her. She was getting the adventure she wanted from him! Maybe she could use this to convince him to let her stay with him!

"Nope!" The Doctor said as his excitement started to shine through his eyes. Rose smiled at him. This was their thing!

"Do you know why it crashed?" Rose asked hoping to find a way to be of some use to him.

"Nope!" The Doctor told her with a small laugh.

"Oh, I'm so glad I got you." Rose muttered. How could she find a way to be of help to him if he had know idea what he needed help with?

"But Rose, don't you see? This is what I travel for! To see history happening right in front of us! Don't you just love it?" The Doctor asked in a slightly guarded voice. Had she offended him? She didn't mean to! She had to make it up to him.

"Well, let's go and see it!" Rose said with a smile, she wanted him to see that she loved everything he showed her. "Never mind the traffic. We've got the TARDIS."

"Hmm, better not." The Doctor told her turning away from her to glare at the gun wielding soldiers. "They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London. I don't wanna shove another one on top."

"Yeah, but yours looks like a big, blue box. No one's gonna notice." Rose told him mind racing back to Platform One and Cardiff 1869, no one seemed to notice the out of place blue spaceship.

"You'd be surprised, an emergency like this. There'll be all kinds of people watching. Trust me, the TARDIS stays where she is." The Doctor informed her and Rose looked away from him in thought. That made sense. With all of London in a panic, people would be looking for anything and everything that seemed out of place. And a big, blue box just appearing out of no where would definitely be out of place. No need to cause an even bigger panic. Rose sighed as she tried to figure out how to be of any use to him now.

"So history's happening, and we're stuck here?" Rose asked.

"Yes, we are." The Doctor told her happily confusing her. Why was he so happy that they were stuck away from the action?

"We could do what everybody else does." Rose suggested as she watched his face slowly dissolve from happiness to something she couldn't define, but knew it wasn't happiness or excitedness. He looked at her in confusion. "We could watch it on TV." She told him before taking his hand and leading him back the way they came.

Almost half an hour later Rose found herself sitting on the couch across from the Doctor who had taken the chair as he flipped the telly between multiple news stations. Rose fought the urge to get up and squeeze herself into the chair next to him. Afraid that if he knew how much she was falling for him then he would run out the door and never look back. She couldn't have that. She would do anything to keep him next to her, even pretend her quickly growing feelings for him weren't anything but feelings of friendship.

"Big Ben destroyed as a UFO crash-lands in central London." The male newscaster said cutting into her thoughts. Rose clung to the voice to keep herself away from the dangerous thoughts she had been having, and hoped it would help her fight the urge to crawl into the Doctor's lap. "Police reinforcements are draught in from across the country to control the widespread panic, looting and civil disturbance. A state of national emergency has been declared. Tom Hitchingson is at the scene."

"The police urge the public not to panic." Tom reported as the Doctor sighed through his nose slight annoyance as he rested his head in his hand and glared at the telly. This obviously wasn't what he had expected, what he was used to. Was he becoming as restless as she was? Would he leave to go find a better adventure? One where he could run like he was used to? Would he take her with him if he did? "Here's the helpline number on the screen right now, if you're worried about friends and family." The Doctor changed the channel.

"The military are on the look out for more spaceships. Until then, all flights in North American airspace have been grounded." The female newscaster for AMNN reported before the Doctor changed the channel.

"The Army are sending divers into the wreck of the spaceship." Tom announced. "No one knows what they're going to find." He changed the channel once more.

"The President will address the nation live from the White House, but the Secretary General has asked that people watch the skies." The female newscaster for AMNN announced.

"I've got no choice." Jackie said to Bev snapping Rose back to the fact that she and the Doctor were commandeering her mother's television.

"You've broken your mother's heart." Bev hissed at her and Rose bit her tongue to keep from snapping at both her mother and Bev. There was something more important going on at the moment, could they stop with the guilt trip.

"Either I make him welcome..." Jackie continued to complain as Rose caught sight of the Doctor rolling his eyes. Rose glared at her mother as she handed her a cup of tea trying to will her and Bev to shut up before they run the Doctor off for good.

"She's sobbing in my arms." Bev hissed.

"...or I risk never seeing you again."

"I cradled her like a child!" Rose closed her eyes as a headache began to form. If this commotion was getting to her she knew it had to be getting to the Doctor. How long until he snapped and ran out of here?

"Oi! I'm trying to listen!" The Doctor growled out glaring at Jackie as she grabbed the phone and began to dial it. Rose and the Doctor locked eyes and she gave him what she hoped was a smile before he turned his full attention back to the TV.

"News is just coming in." The newscaster reported showing 10 Downing Street before switching to the Thames and the divers that had been sent in. "And we can go to Tom at the Embankment."

"They found a body." Tom announced and Rose watched the Doctor's reaction, he was interested now. "It's unconfirmed, but I'm being told that a body has been found in the wreckage, a body of non-terrestrial origins It's being brought ashore." The cameraman zoomed in to show two police men caring something covered by a white sheet. Was the alien dead? Had they died in the crash?

Rose jumped in shock as her attention was ripped away from both the news and the Doctor when more people entered the room. Rose curled in on herself as they all seemed to crowd around her. One man, an elder Asian man that (if she remembered correctly) ran a restaurant just down the street, put his arm around her. It took all of Rose's strength to keep from pushing all of them away and snapping at them because she knew that for them it had been a year since they had seen her, but for her it was only a few days.

The Doctor and Rose locked eyes again before he glared back at the TV, and Rose could have sworn she heard a low growl coming from him. Had he just growled? And if so, what had caused him to growl? Obviously he was annoyed, but was he annoyed with not being in the middle of what was happening or was he annoyed at all the guest her mother had invited over?

"Guess who asked me out?" Jackie gossiped as she crossed in between Rose and the Doctor to take a seat on the couch. "Billy Croot!" Rose caught the Doctor rolling his eyes before she forced herself to focus on the news as much as she could. She wanted to be as helpful as she could to him and right now learning everything she could from the news station that seemed to have caught the Doctor's attention seemed to be the only thing she could do.

"Unconfirmed reports say the boy is of extra-terrestrial origin." The newscaster reported as even more people piled into the tiny flat. "An extraordinary even unfolding here live in Central London. The body is being transferred to secure unit mortuary. The whereabouts as yet unknown. The roads in Central..."

Rose saw the little boy rushing over to the Doctor and had tried to make a grab for him, but had been blocked from him by one of the many guests. The little boy climbed into the Doctor's lap and took the remote from the Doctor changing the channel to a baking show that was already making a UFO cake. The Doctor gently wrestled the remote from the little boy before changing the channel back to the news station.

"Albion Hospital. We still don't know if it's alive or dead. Whitehall is denying everything. But the body has been brought here. Albion Hospital. With the roads closed off, it's the closest to the river." Tom announced as the Doctor gently removed the little boy from his lap. For some strange reason Rose's evil mind conjured up the image of the Doctor holding their child in his lap as they watched telly on the TARDIS.

"Go on." The Doctor told the little boy as he gently pushed him away and towards the other guests.

"I'm being told that's General Asquith now entering the hospital." Rose was able to catch over the sounds of the multiple conversations happening around her and wondered how the Doctor could even hear the telly. Rose tried her hardest to hear the news over everything happening but she couldn't.

Sighing in annoyance, Rose stood up and squeezed her way through all the people and to the restroom. After quickly relieving herself and washing her hands, she returned to the living room and her heart dropped when she noticed the Doctor was gone. He had taken the time she was in the loo to run? Rose turned and quickly made her way outside. She didn't know if she was relieved to see his retreating back or upset that he was trying to sneak away. What happen to not leaving without her?

"And where do you think you're going?" Rose demanded. He had obviously expected to be gone by the time she had realized he was missing from the shocked look in his eyes.

"Nowhere." The Doctor told her and Rose glared at him. He was obviously lying. Did he really think it would hurt any less if he told her the truth or not? Hurt shot through her. Did the Doctor really think she was stupid enough to believe he really wasn't leaving her? She may have been stupid enough to allow Jimmy to convince her to drop out of school without her A-levels, but she wasn't that stupid. And, besides, she would have eventually realized he was never coming back. But, by that time, he would have been long gone (just how he had wanted it her mind whispered).

"It's just a bit human in there for me." He continued nervously, Rose felt her glare intensify. He really wasn't going to tell her, was he? "History just happened and they're talking about where they can buy dodgy top-up cards for half price." Rose crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm off on a wander, that's all."

"Right. There's a spaceship on the Thames, and you're just wandering." Rose snapped out.

"Nothing to do with me. It's not an invasion." The Doctor told her. "That was a genuine crash-landing. Angle of descent, colour of smoke, everything. It was perfect."

"So?" Rose asked, a small part of her wanting to believe that he wouldn't just leave her like this. That this wasn't their goodbye.

"So, maybe this is it! First contact. The day mankind officially comes into contact with an alien race. I'm not interfering, 'cause you gotta handle this on your own. That's when the human race finally grows up. Just this morning you were tiny and small and made of clay. Now you can expand!" The Doctor told her excitedly and that small hope grew. "You don't need me. Go and celebrate history. Spend some time with your mum." The fear over took her hope. He was wrong, she did need him.

"Promise you won't disappear?" She asked trying to remind him of his earlier vow as he turned away.

"Rose, I told you that if you still wanted to travel with me then I wouldn't leave without you, and I meant it." He told her sincerely and she wanted to believe him, she really did, but that nasty little voice was growing larger and larger over taking everything. The Doctor seemed to see her disbelief and began to pat at his jacket before finding whatever he was looking for. "Tell you what." He said pulling out a key she had seen him use to lock and unlock the TARDIS. "TARDIS key." He told her confirming that it was indeed the TARDIS key. He gently took her hand and placed the key into her palm. "About time you had one. See you later."

As the Doctor walked away, Rose looked at the key in shock. What did this mean? Was he asking her to stay with him? She smiled and held the key to her chest. Was this his way of saying that he was never going to leave her? With her heart and mind lighter than it had been since this whole mess started, Rose returned to the flat.

-One-

The Doctor felt guilty for lying to Rose, but he needed to make sure his theory was actually right before he let her come with him. There was no reason to get her in trouble with the authorities here, in her time period, if this really was a genuine crash landing. But everything was just too perfect to be a genuine crash landing. The Doctor sighed and forced himself to continue walking towards the TARDIS instead of running back to Rose. If he was actually wrong and this was a genuine crash landing then he would apologize to Rose by forcing himself to sit in that flat and listen to her mum and guests gossip. He truly hoped he was right.

The Doctor sighed and shook his head at the humans 'celebrating' the aliens arrival. The loud, pounding bass hurt his sensitive hearing and the smell of alcohol and many things he knew were illegal irritated his sensitive nose. The Doctor picked up his speed, ignoring a woman when she called out for him to come back, and quickly dug out his spare TARDIS key to unlock his ship. He needed to find out if he was right or not as quickly as he could so he could get back to Rose.

Once inside his beloved ship, he let out a breath of relief before rolling his eyes as she began to ask him where their Rose was. But the fact that his beloved ship seemed to take to Rose just as quickly as he was made him happy. True, his ship seemed to tolerate, if not like, all of his companions (some more than others). But the only other companion that his ship seemed to actually love was his granddaughter Susan, and the Doctor didn't really see Susan as a 'companion'.

The Doctor sighed and shook the painful memories of losing Susan from his mind and ran to the console. The quicker he got this done, the quicker he could get back to Rose. The Doctor quickly started up the process to hop the TARDIS over to Albion Hospital and growled at his ship when she shocked him.

"We're not actually leaving Rose! How could you even think I would leave Rose?!" The Doctor asked his ship in shock. Had she truly thought he would leave their Rose? "I want her here just as much as you do, old girl. I just need to check something real quick. The sooner you let me do this, the sooner we can come back."

The Time Rotor groaned, as if his ship was sighing in agitation, as it began to move. The Doctor smiled in thanks at her as she moved them from the alley to the hospital. Once she had landed them in the lower levels of the hospital, the Doctor exited the TARDIS and was slightly shocked to find a trolley of broken computer parts and empty boxes. Carefully the Doctor slipped out of the TARDIS and closed the door behind him before locking it. He silently made his way to the storage door while pulling out his screwdriver, he had made it into the building without being caught, it wouldn't do to be found now. The Doctor's hearts nearly stopped when he unlocked the door and opened it to find a room full of soldiers.