A/N: Hello :D Right, just got to explain, I've adopted this story from CullenandSwan1993 (who is brilliant, btw :D) and so the first chapter was written by her. She asked me to continue it and I loved her chapter so much that I kept it exactly as she wrote it when I uploaded it onto my account. And so chapter 2 onwards is where I begin. I'd just like to say a BIG thankyou to her for trusting me with it, I hope I do ok...

So there you are. Enjoy, enjoy!

Laura x

The Slow Path

"Hmm. That's… strange..."

Rose popped her head up over the magazine she was reading and eyed the Doctor curiously. Despite the fact that she was engrossed in a particularly interesting article, the person in her company always dominated her attention. The advice column could wait.

"What is?" she asked.

He was currently wearing his usual thick rimmed glasses, squinting at the TARDIS console screen in apparent confusion. His hair was looking incredibly wild today, flicking up in several random directions, and Rose tried her hardest not to stare. She couldn't stop herself from imagining running her fingers through it, seeing how he reacted…

He pouted. "She's acting oddly."

Rose gulped and began chewing on her lip; had he noticed her behaviour? She'd probably made a real spectacle of herself… she'd never quite mastered the art of subtlety…

"It's almost as though she's unwell…"

He began delicately stroking the TARDIS and Rose very nearly sighed aloud with relief. Despite this, the Doctor's fondling of his ship was a little worrying… he was gazing at it almost lovingly.

She suddenly felt very jealous.

"What makes you think that?" she managed through gritted teeth. She knew that she was being ridiculous; why on earth was she getting jealous over a time travelling machine?

Because she loved the Doctor. That was why.

She couldn't deny it any longer. When he'd first regenerated she was terrified; she thought the man she'd grown to trust and adore had died. She believed her time travelling days were over. But, when he'd clasped her hand after defeating the Sycorax and looked up at the stars with her, she knew he was still there.

Just with a different, more attractive face.

"Can't you hear her?" he replied in a low, cooing voice, taking her out of her thoughts. "She sounds unwell."

Rose stifled an eye roll. "I clearly don't know the TARDIS as well as you. Even though I looked into its heart…" she trailed off briefly. "But apart from that, we're not really that close."

The Doctor grinned. "I've had over nine hundred years practice. We're like an old married couple."

There it was again; the jealousy. It situated itself in her stomach and made her feel slightly sick.

"Maybe I should leave you two alone," Rose grumbled under her breath, slumping back into her chair. Despite this, the Doctor still heard her and frowned in her direction.

"Now, now, Rose, don't get all green eyed."

She felt her cheeks blushing but concealed herself behind the pages. There was another interesting article, this time on make-up tips, and she started focusing on that, wanting to calm herself down.

"It's almost as though… as though she knows something."

Rose sighed and looked at him again. In the process, she slammed her magazine down on her knees with a little too much force. "What?"

"It's like the TARDIS knows that something is about to happen," he continued, mostly speaking aloud to himself. He circled the controls, checking random levers and buttons. "She's a very clever machine, y'see."

"Yeah," she mumbled. "You've told me that plenty of times."

The Doctor took off his glasses and scratched his head for a moment. "I wonder…"

"Doctor," Rose said suddenly, a little sternly, "will you please let this go? Just leave the stupid thing alone! It's not like anything bad is going to hap-"

The TARDIS console suddenly came to life and the familiar guttural sound flooded the room. Rose lurched out of her seat and onto the floor from the force, causing the magazine to flap around noisily. The Doctor momentarily lost his balance but managed to look smooth as he clung onto the column, staring on in disbelief.

"You'd better hold on tight!" he yelled, just as several violent sparks erupted from his ship. "There's nothing I can do! We're being pulled somewhere!"

Rose took his advice and gripped onto the main console, panting for breath from the effort. She knew the Doctor was useless at steering, but this was a whole new extreme. She sometimes thought he did it to tease her.

Not that she would complain really…

"We're landing!" he announced a few seconds later. "Hold on!"

They suddenly jolted forwards and the Doctor rolled onto the floor, completely losing his footing. He looked far from elegant and Rose had to hold in a snort.

It became completely silent around them, then, apart from their frantic breathing. They both stayed still for a few moments and the Doctor suddenly popped his head around the console to meet Rose. He was grinning, once again showing his straight white teeth. The grin was contagious and Rose soon caught it, unable to resist the enthusiasm.

"I wonder what's out there…" he said slowly, helping Rose to her feet. "You alright?"

She nodded, brushing herself down. "You?"

"Yeah," he sniffed. "That was nothing for me."

"You looked pretty disorientated, though," Rose pointed out.

"But I looked pretty disorientated with style."

She laughed and he hurried off, reaching for his usual long brown coat. He then rejoined her, taking her hand. They both felt the familiar tingle travel up their arms and Rose's heart began hammering in anticipation. The Doctor tried to ignore his own body's obvious reaction and turned towards the woman who had caused it.

"Ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she replied.

The Doctor smirked happily, heading for the doors. In all honesty, he was really grateful for this distraction; today, Rose had decided to wear a particularly attractive outfit and he was having an annoyingly difficult time controlling his thoughts.

He couldn't help noticing the way her jeans clung to her legs, the way her blue top showed off her lovely curves…

"Right," he said, clearing his throat. He reached for the doors, taking a deep breath. "Here we go!"

They both stepped outside in anticipation and both sucked in some fresh air.

The landscape around them was spectacular; it seemed as though they were in a future version of New York, because everywhere they turned there were sky scrapers and brilliant flashing lights; they were small compared to everything around them, like tiny ants.

In the sky above there were strange ships of every size and, as they flew by, they left a trail of smoke and a little whirling sound that lingered in the air. It was strangely similar to New Earth, Rose briefly noted, but she realised that wasn't the case because there wasn't any apple grass around. Just concrete slabs that many humans busily rushed around on.

But this wasn't what shocked them the most.

The fact that they were surrounded by several men dressed in police uniforms brandishing strange looking guns in their direction was a little more disturbing. Quite a few people were staring in interest as well, making the experience even more humiliating.

The Doctor immediately lifted up his arms and Rose copied him, trying to mentally calculate how quickly they could both dive back into the TARDIS without getting hurt. While she did this, the Doctor subtly placed himself in front of her, ready to protect her at all costs.

"Um…" he began. "Sorry to be rude, that's just the type of man I am, y'see, but what exactly are you doing?"

The man closest to them frowned, deep lines appearing on his tanned face. "You must be pretty stupid."

The Doctor gasped. "I'm offended." He glanced at Rose. "I am actually offended! I thought I was quite an intelligent being! Well, I know I am. But calling me that would be like calling Rose bl- "

"Shut up," he snapped. "You are aware that you have both just broken the law, aren't you?"

Rose's mouth fell open. "You what?"

The man glared at her. "It is illegal to drive an unregistered vehicle on the planet of Kalo."

The Doctor frowned and looked upwards. When he squinted, he could see registration plates of some kind on each machine that was flying around.

Uh oh.

"Ah," he said slowly. "I think ours must have dropped off… it is quite windy here after all…" He quickly skimmed the area around him with his eyes.

The man's expression didn't falter; he was like an angry sculpted statue. "It is an offence to drive a vehicle without a registration plate." He produced a strange looking gadget from his pocket and began scanning the TARDIS. The Doctor started to protest but the look on the man's face quickly quietened him.

"It's registering as foreign," he concluded. "You two are in serious trouble."

Rose couldn't help wanting to sigh at the Doctor; this was another fine mess he'd gotten her into.

But, in all honesty, she wouldn't have missed it for the world.

"We're going to have to confiscate this vehicle and ask for a fine to pay for your offence."

Two other men pushed past the Doctor and Rose and began placing some strange yellow clamps on the TARDIS. The Doctor tried his hardest to protest and complain but the men just ignored him. He wasn't exactly the strongest alien in the Universe and, whenever he tried to push past them, nothing at all happened.

"We had no idea about your rules!" Rose tried. "Please just… just let us have the TARDIS! We don't live here anyway! We're visiting! It was a mistake!"

"You two are beginning to get on my nerves," the man hissed, making Rose shiver. He reminded her of her old school headmaster.

"What are we gonna do, then?" Rose asked. "How do we get away from here without the TARDIS?"

The Doctor's face was grim. He didn't reply and, suddenly, in an eruption of bright light, the TARDIS disappeared.

"You can't do this!" he erupted. "This is not fair!"

The man handed the Doctor a piece of paper with his fine written on. He glanced down at it and his eyes bulged.

"What?" he exploded. "This is ridiculous! I- "

"Goodbye, sir."

All of the men surrounding the pair suddenly disappeared, leaving a cold breeze behind them. Rose's hair whipped around her face and they both remained silent for a while, too shocked to form any words.

"Well, now we're really in the sh-"

"Rose," the Doctor interrupted. "I really am so sorry. I… I told you I'd always take you back home. I said I'd always keep you safe." He looked down at the floor. "I guess I can't keep my promises."

"We'll find a way back," Rose said optimistically. "Won't we, Doctor?"

He didn't reply; just stared at her.

"What do we do in the mean time, anyway?" she asked. "How much was the fine?"

"I won't say," he murmured quietly. "It's enough to make your eyes water."

"Good thing we've got the psychic paper, then," Rose smiled.

"Yeah…" he muttered distractedly. "But… but we're gonna have to… live here. Well, until we get the TARDIS back."

"Can't we just find it?"

"I doubt we'd be able to get it back easily," he sighed. "Those men are tough. And they have guns."

Rose's eyes momentarily widened. "Well… if we didn't…" She paused. "Stuck here with you… that's not so bad."

They met each other's gaze and smiled at each other. "Yeah. Vice versa. But… but we'd have to be all…" His face screwed up. "Domestic." He said the word like it was something disgusting.

"It could be worse," Rose frowned.

He frowned at her sceptically. "Could it?"

"Yeah. We could… we could have faced a bunch of Daleks or something."

He considered this. "Good point. But still… a house… with windows and… and doors. Ugh," he shuddered.

"Calm down," Rose said, reaching for his hand. The small gesture brought him some comfort and he sighed heavily. "We'll be OK."

He looked at her for a long time. "Yeah. I guess we will be."

"So… what's the plan?"

"I guess we should go into the city and find out some stuff about the police. We need to know what they do with foreign vehicles. Foreign - I ask you! That's an insult to the TARDIS. Bless her." His eyes widened. "I told you she knew that something was wrong! She's such a clever thing."

"Where are we, anyway? And when?"

"Kalo, that man said," he replied. "We're in the future and it's a planet very similar to Earth, as you've probably guessed. Humans have inhabited it, but that's just about all I know. Oh, and the police are idiots."

She snickered before turning serious again. "Why were we pulled here, anyway?"

He exhaled. "No idea. Just happens sometimes."

"Right. That explains a lot." He grinned at her. "But what do we do after we've been to the city?"

The Doctor stared ahead, his grin fading. "I guess we'd… well, we'd have to find some place to stay. Temporarily, of course."

She didn't reply.

The Doctor tried to look enthusiastic. "This should be interesting."

"Yeah," Rose muttered. "That's one word for it."