Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I get paid for it.

A/N Happy Eight x Rose appreciation day! It's Eight x Rose appreciation day on Tumblr, and this little story is in honour of it. Always happy to write one of my favourite pairings ever.

Happy Reading!

Meteor Shower

Captain's Log. Stardate 5241.17. Left the planet of Gerome Beta after delivering the medical equipment that they needed. Earth government, or incompetent fools as they should henceforth be known, had the whole thing wrapped in so much red tape that the plague would have wiped off the whole population by the time the medicine got to them. Fortunately, their security is shite and it was almost easy to get the equipment. At least I'll sleep easy tonight knowing that those people have the medicine that they need.

Rose ended the entry and smiled to herself as she remembered the relief of the people on Gerome Beta. The crate that she had stolen and delivered to them would last them a year, maybe more if the plague stopped spreading.

She was approaching her night cycle and was perusing her astral charts to find a planet or asteroid to stop for the night when a mauve beacon lit up on her dash.

Mayday. Mayday. Please, is there anyone there? We need help. Please. Anybody!

Brow furrowing, Rose picked up her comm. and quickly answered the distress call. "This is the good ship Bad Wolf. Come in, please."

Hello! Oh thank the stars! Please, you have to help us!

"Okay, okay, calm down," said Rose. "What's your name?"

Marcia. My name's Marcia. Our freighter is crashing. Please.

"Marcia, my name's Rose," she said, trying to calm down the hysterical woman. "Who else is with you?"

My husband and our baby. There was a malfunction in our nav system and now we are very close to getting caught into the gravitational pull of the sun. Please, we don't have long.

"Marcia, I'm gonna need you to relay your exact coordinates to me," said Rose urgently.

We are at 3-8-34-12-1 by 2-3.

Rose entered the coordinates into her nav system that immediately charted up a flight plan. "Marcia, is there an escape pod on your ship?" asked Rose as she set her ship racing onwards.

Yes, yes there is.

"Good, now I want the three of you to get in there but don't jettison yourselves yet. Keep your comms. on. I'll be there in twelve minutes," said Rose.

Thank you. Oh my stars, thank you so much, Rose.

"You can thank me in person, Marcia," said Rose, sounding a lot more optimistic than she was feeling. The coordinates that she had sent told Rose that they were very near to crashing into a very volatile blue star, the kind that was unforgiving to any who ventured into its gravitational pull. If they were more than a few feet into the fieldl, Rose wouldn't be able to get them out.

As she approached the set coordinates, Rose saw the freighter in front of her. It was drifting without power and in the distance she could see the star.

"Marcia, are you all still in the escape pod?" asked Rose.

Yes, we are.

"Good, now I'm gonna need you to jettison yourselves. I'm gonna use the tractor beam on my ship to catch the escape pod and then tow you all away. Have you got that?"

Is it safe?

"Safest option we have right now," she said, looking down at the radar that showed her that the freighter wasn't far from gettting caught in the gravitational field." Her voice softened. "Please, Marcia, you have to trust me. I don't intend to let you die on my watch."

Al-alright. We're jettisoning now.

Rose readied the tractor beam as the escape pod separated from the freighter in front of her. Before she could activate the beam though, her radar shot up an alert. They had taken a little too long to decide and the escape pod had entered the gravitational field.

Rose, something's wrong. We can't operate the controls in here.

Rose only hesitated briefly before piloting her ship towards the escape pod. Her ship's system started firing off warnings, but Rose ploughed on until she was close enough to activate the tractor beam on the escape pod.

Without wasting any time, she threw her gears in reverse, piloting them all away from the sun. She could hear Marcia and her husband's exclamations of shock and worry over the comms. system but Rose's focus was entirely fixed on getting them away as quickly as possible. They were still not out of the woods yet, and Rose's ship was still very much on the outer edges of the gravitational field.

"Come on, come on," Rose urged her ship, pushing the systems to the limit. Luck was on her side and as she took the gears up a notch, the Bad Wolf gathered speed and took off away from the sun. Rose heaved a sigh of relief as she piloted them away to the closest asteroid with breathable air. Situating the escape pod on the asteroid was a child's play and her ship landed a moment later.

She stepped out of her ship and found herself swamped into a hug by Marcia. "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much," said Marcia.

Rose laughed as she hugged her back. "It was nothing, honestly," she said.

Marcia pulled away and wiped her tears. "You saved our lives," she said. "It wasn't nothing to us. Oh, this is my husband Hector and that little one in his arms is our Millie."

Rose waved at the man who had the toddler in his arms. "Thank you for your help," he said, shaking her hand.

"No problem," grinned Rose. "Anywhere I can drop you folks off?"

"Are you sure it won't be any trouble?" asked Hector.

"'Course not," said Rose. "My ship's got plenty of room."

"If you are sure," said Marcia. "Then Earth should be good."

"Earth, it is," said Rose, nodding towards her ship. "Come along then."

Captain's Log 5241.17 supplement. Rescued a lovely family from crashing into the sun. Marcia, Hector and Millie Osgood were on their way to observe an outpost in Crespallion. Hector is part of UNIT, an Earth organisation that dates back all the way to the 20th century. Apparently, his ancestors have been part of the organisation too. Either way, they are good people and I was glad that I was able to save them. Hector has mentioned about having to speak to me about something important once we get to Earth. As nervous as that makes me, I hardly think he is going to hand me over to the authorities for saving his life. Whatever it is, I am curious.

London was always home of sorts to Rose. She had left it when she was only seventeen, stowing away on the ship carrying her favourite band Silver Stones. They hadn't even discovered her until they were five outposts over. Even then, their lead guitarist had taken a shine to her. Young and naive, Rose had been flattered beyond belief at being the centre of Jimmy Stones' attention. Of course, it only took a short while for her to realise that the only person at the centre of Jimmy Stones' attention was himself.

She returned to London soon after that, and tried to spend time back with her old friends but it never seemed to work out. Once she'd had a taste of what the world outside Earth was like, she just couldn't go back to her old life in London. She took a measly paying job as a shop girl on the moon for no reason other than getting away from Earth. It was there that she met a Time Agent for the first time.

John Hart was a cunning, ruthless bastard but if he was good for one thing, it was to teach Rose how to survive. Rose would deny this till her dying days but she considered him to be a mentor of sorts. Not for his morals (or the lack of them), but his zest for life and his determination to get everything that he desired. After that it was only a small matter of acquiring a ship and the whole universe was her oyster, so to speak. Rose enjoyed what she did and helping people was something that she was good at. It was difficult to believe that eight years had passed since she had been an idiotic girl who had stowed away on a ship to meet her favourite band. She guessed it was accurate what they said about time flying when you were having fun.

Having spent the majority of her life in London, it came as a surprise to her when she realised that the UNIT HQ was under the New Tower of London. It was just like the old one except this one was built after Earth's rebuilding in the 30th century following the solar flares of the 29th century. Rose was quiet as a stone-faced driver drove Hector and Rose to the Tower. Marcia and Millie were on their way home, with Marcia thanking Rose again and again.

Rose wasn't naturally a nervous person but the silence and the secrecy was making her skin itch. She pulled her leather jacket closer to her chest, feeling slightly comforted by the teleport bracelet sewn into the lining of the jacket. One press and it would take her right back to her ship if she had to escape in a hurry.

The car pulled up in front of the Tower and the driver got out and opened the door for her. Rose stepped outside, consciously clenching her fists to stop herself from using the teleport.

"This way please, Rose," said Hector.

Rose forced a small smile and followed him. He scanned an identification key at the entrance and instead of the door in front of them opening, the slab that they were standing on started descending into the ground. A surprised squeak escaped her mouth before she could stop it, and out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a small smile lift Hector's lips.

The makeshift lift descended for five whole minutes through a darkened shaft and by the time it finally touched firm ground again, Rose was nearly vibrating with curiosity. But the sight in front of her was quite disappointing. It was a long corridor lined with boring wooden doors on both sides. The hallway itself was painted white, the carpet was brown and the light were harsh, fluorescent white lights. After the dark elevator shaft, Rose had to squint at the sudden brightness of the place.

"Shall we?" asked Hector, nodding towards the hallway.

Rose gave a nod and followed him, wondering not for the first time what it was exactly that she had got herself into. Hector led her right to the end of the hallway and opened the door on his right. After the bright hallway, this room was a surprising contrast. It was dark inside, with only a few dim lights left on. Rose peered through the darkness, trying to see what was in the room when a voice made her jump.

"Get out."

Rose looked at Hector, who looked frustrated. "Doctor, please…"

"I said, get out."

"You have a visitor," said Hector.

The man, for it was definitely a man's voice, snorted. "I doubt it," he said. "What are you up to now, Osgood?"

"Fine then," said Hector, sounding even more frustrated than before. "I was about to introduce you to the woman who saved me and my family from crashing into a sun today. But if you are much too busy…"

A light switch flicked on and Rose shut her eyes reflexively as the room brightened. As they adjusted to the newly bright room, Rose saw a man in his thirties wearing the oddest clothes she had ever seen, sitting on an ornate wooden desk, with his legs resting on the chair. He had long, curly brown hair, and was quite handsome, if Rose was honest. His clothes though, were nothing like she had ever seen. Breeches, a wing-collared white shirt, grey vest and cravat and a green velvet frockcoat on top. If she had passed him on the street, she'd have thought he was a nutter. Although, for all she knew he really was a nutter, considering UNIT was keeping him tucked away underground.

He glanced at Rose in interest, and then to her greatest surprise, he picked up a sonic device and pointed it right at her. Rose took a step back reflexively, her fingers itching to reach for her compact stun gun tucked into her jacket.

"Curious," said the man, the Doctor, as Hector had called him. "Are you planning on fleeing?" Without giving her a chance to answer, he returned his gaze back to the leather-bound tome in his hand. "Can't say I blame you, since I have lost my own source of escape." He threw a bitter look at an old blue police box in the corner, that Rose hadn't noticed until then.

Hector rolled his eyes. "Rose Tyler, meet the Doctor. He comes from the planet of Gallifrey, and belongs to the race called the Time Lords," he introduced.

"Oh, I belong, do I?" asked the Doctor, his voice full of bitter amusement. "That's why they dumped me here."

Rose, on the other hand, was a little stunned. She had heard of Time Lords, of course. Who hadn't? They were one of the oldest and most powerful civilisations in the universe. But she had also heard of their corrupt tendencies, their power-hungry control over time and their rigid, stuck-up attitudes. She'd even had a run in with a Time Lord before and she had never been gladder to be away from them after that.

She looked at Hector, wondering why he had brought her to see a Time Lord. An exiled one too at that. Hector looked back at her and then at the Doctor. "Miss Tyler has a ship," he said.

Rose raised her eyebrows as did the Doctor. "Good for her," said the Doctor, returning to his book.

"Doctor," sighed Hector.

The Doctor shut the book with a snap. "Osgood, I realise that having me here is an inconvenience for you, but since I am still technically UNIT's scientific advisor, you cannot pawn me off on some intergalactic traveller with their own ship. No offence, Miss Tyler."

"None taken, and believe me the feeling is more than mutual," said Rose, crossing her arms in front of her. "No offence, but I stay away from Time Lords as a rule."

To her greatest surprise, the Doctor smiled at her. "Something we have in common then," he said.

Rose blushed a little, he looked years younger when he smiled. Neither of them noticed Hector slip out of the Doctor's lab quietly. "Is that your TARDIS?" asked Rose curiously, looking at the blue police box.

"Yes," said the Doctor, looking a bit downcast. "They've altered the sequences and taken away the dematerialisation circuit."

"What'd you do to piss them off?" asked Rose as she propped herself up on the desk next to him. Up close, she could smell his honey and sandalwood scent that was slightly intoxicating.

He sighed a little. "I prevented the massacre of a small civilisation," said the Doctor.

"You broke the laws of noninterference," realised Rose, remembering one of the most hypocritical Time Lord rules. They had no trouble interfering when it was to their benefit as evidenced by the existence of the Celestial Intervention Agency.

"I saved the lives of nearly a million people," snapped the Doctor. "I would not regret that."

"I understand," said Rose, fully agreeing with him. "Why haven't you tried to leave Earth though? You don't need a TARDIS to travel the universe, and a quick trip to one of the Time Agency outposts will get you a vortex manipulator if you are keen for time travel again."

He smiled a little at that. "What's your ship's name?" he asked.

Rose blinked at the odd question. "The Bad Wolf," she answered.

"If something were to happen to her, would you leave her behind and find some other ship?" he asked her.

"'Course not, I'd fix her up...oh," Rose met his twinkling blue eyes and smiled. "I guess, I understand."

"I don't abandon my friends in times of need, Rose," he told her. "Least of all my oldest and bestest friend," he added with a glance at the TARDIS.

"That's good to know," said Rose, jumping to her feet. "I'll be on my way then. Unless…"

"Unless what?" he asked curiously, a smile playing at his lips.

"You could come with me. For one trip. Just for a change of scenery?" Rose worked hard not to sound too eager. But she couldn't help but like him a little bit. His loyalty for his ship and his willingness to have his freedom curtailed to save a civilisation resonated deeply with her. It was rare to meet someone like him in a universe full of greed and selfishness.

The Doctor appraised her with a smile, and Rose felt her heart starting to sink. She ducked her head in embarrassment, reaching for the teleport bracelet so that she could leave before letting him refuse her. But he caught her wrist gently and stopped her.

"One trip?" he asked her and she was struck by the excitement in his voice.

"One trip," she nodded with a bright, tongue-touched smile.

He got to his feet and entwined his fingers with hers without any hesitation. "Splendid. Onwards then, Rose Tyler."

A/N Thanks for reading. Let me know what you thought of it.

~ Phoenix