A/N: It's here! Finally. I'm terribly sorry about the wait, you all have been so kind and patient. I'm really excited about rewriting series four, though I think it will be much more challenging than series three. In fact, Partners in Crime has turned out to be way more difficult than I imangined. Keep in mind that things will get more exciting as the series progress (I have some fun plot twists planned!). I hope you enjoy!

Note: I'm going to try my hardest to get the next chapter up before Christmas, but with everything I have going on there's a good possiblity I won't quite make it before. Once the holidays are over though, I should be more regular with updates :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or anything related. That all goes to the BBC. *Note: Some lines below are borrowed from the episode Partners in Crime. Credit for those lines belong to their respective writers.*

Rose smiled as she made her way from the bedroom to the control room. She and the Doctor were on their way to a well-known resort planet, something they had done several times in the past few months. Or what she assumed had been months. It was always hard to keep track on the TARDIS and even it was even harder now that she no longer made regular visits to Earth to see her mum. Rose felt a slight pang in her heart and the thought of Jackie Tyler. It had been a long time now since they had been separated at the Battle of Canary Wharf. The Doctor had been able to grant her one tiny visit with her mum through a tiny crack in the Universe. It had been difficult, but through that two minute projection, Rose learned that her mum was happy and had another baby on the way with the parallel version of Pete Tyler.

Confident that her mother was living a happy life, Rose was determined to do the same. She still had bad days. After being kidnapped at the end of the Universe by another Time Lord who called himself the Master, Rose often suffered from nightmares or panic attacks. With the Doctor's help though she was getting loads better. She often went several nights in a row with peaceful dreams, and could even run for her life with the best of them on whatever planet the Doctor took her to, without having a panic attack.

They avoided Earth though. Sometimes Rose wondered if the Doctor was done trying to save them. How many times had his life or the ones of those he cared about been put at stake while he tried to save the human population? Maybe he just needed a break. Maybe they both did. Either way, Rose had decided to enjoy every second she had with him. Because something deep inside her, something she wasn't even fully aware of yet, was telling her that time was running out.

The Doctor grinned when Rose entered the control room, wearing a light blue sundress. "Good morning, love," he greeted, using a term of endearment he only used in private.

"Morning," she replied in a chipper manner.

"So ready to visit the planet Mid-" He was cut of by an alarm going off on the monitor.

"What is it?"

"Suspicious activity on Earth looks like and I'll give you one guess where the activity is located," he told her.

"Why is it always London?" Rose grumbled after reading the map on the monitor. "So we gonna investigate?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrows. "We don't have to. Time Machine."

"Doctor, we've been away long enough. We can't avoid Earth for forever."

"You sure you're up to this? I don't know the specifics of what we're looking at here."

"I'm better now, Doctor. Much better. I'm ready to get back out there and do what we what do best."

He kissed her soundly. "If you start to feel uncomfortable, you'll tell me yeah?"

"Yep." She pecked his lips once more. "Now I better go change into something a bit more sensible."

The Doctor frowned, not wanting to see her change out of the sun dress. "Dress smart," he called out to her. "Looks like we're going to be investigating a business... Adipose Industries."

Rose peeked her head back in the control room and gave a tongue in teeth grin. "Undercover work? My favourite."

Several hours later...

"I hate undercover work. Honestly. The nerve of that woman! 'You be health, I'll be safety.' Can you believe her!? And you! You just stood there like a gapping fish. Never mind the fact that I was standing right next to you."

The Doctor sighed. Rose had been ranting for the past fifteen minutes straight about that silly woman at the Adipose call centre. So she may have offered him her number... It's not like he took it! He really wasn't sure why Rose was so upset with him.

After the incident with the poorly named space-cruise ship , the Titanic, the Doctor and Rose had spent their time away the planet Earth. Instead they spent their time getting to know one another on a more intimate level by spending weeks on end just floating through the Vortex or going to visit various resort planets throughout the Universe.

But then the TARDIS had to go and alert them of the suspicious activity taking place on Earth. Neither were surprised when the learned just where the activity was located.

"Why is it always London?" Rose had grumbled.

The Doctor often asked himself the same thing.

This was how the time travelling pair finally found themselves back on Earth working "undercover" to get the inside scoop on Adipose Industries. They apparently manufactured diet pills. Their main slogan was that "the fat just walks away." After procuring a client list from the flirty Adipose employee, Clare, the Doctor and Rose were off to interview one of the clients.

Course for the life of him, the Doctor still couldn't see why Rose was so upset.

"Rose, I, honest to goodness, have no idea why you're angry with me," he admitted. "It's not like it's the first time someone's come on to me."

Rose shook her head. "Oh, don't look so smug about it. And I'm upset because you didn't correct her."

"Correct her how?"

"I was standing right next to you! The least you could have done was told her that you already have a health and safety partner!"

"I didn't feel the need to explain our relationship to that silly woman, Rose." He stopped walking and took her by the shoulders. "You're not doubting my feelings for you, are you?"

She shook her head. "No. Course not. It's just... We don't really have a name for what we are. On that planet, Mios, everyone referred to me as your stavina, whatever that means. And on most other planets I've been referred to as your mate or your partner. But on Earth? There's no word to define what we are and when that woman came on to you I wanted so badly to tell her to back off because you're mine. My what though is the question."

In response, the Doctor placed a gentle kiss on her lips and Rose felt her heart melt. Over the past few months, Rose had learned that the Doctor was not one for public displays of affection. Hand holding? Absolutely. Hugging? Sure, when the occasion called for it. But snogging in public was another matter. It wasn't that he was ashamed of their relationship, quite the contrary, and he had been quick to make that clear to her. It was that he treasured those intimate moments so much, he didn't want to share them. Not one bit. Inside the TARDIS, he felt completely different on the subject. Rose blushed when she thought about that very fact.

"Rose Tyler," the Doctor said, breaking her thoughts. "That's just it. I'm your's. I'm your Doctor. No matter what title we use for one another, nothing is going to change that."

"You're right. And I'm your Rose." She grinned widely. "God, how cheesy is that."

He gave a hearty laugh. "That's us. Now come on, we have a Mr. Davey to go see."

When they reached the home of the Adipose client they were going to see the Doctor gave Rose's hand a gentle squeeze before knocking on the door.

A middle aged man opened the door. "Hello?"

"Hi!" the pair greeted in unison before the Doctor took over. "Mr. Roger Davey? I'm Dr. John Smith, this is Rose. We're calling on behalf of Adipose Industries. Just need to ask you a few questions."

"Please, call me Roger, come on in. Make yourself at home," the man said, leading them into his sitting room. "What can I do for you lot?"

Getting into character, Rose pulled out a notepad and said, "How about we start with how long you've been taking the pills and how much weight you've lost?"

"I've been on the pills for two weeks now. I've lost fourteen kilos," Roger answered dutifully.

"That's the same amount every day?" the Doctor questioned as he paced back and forth.

"One kilo exactly. You wake up, and it's disappeared overnight. Well, technically speaking, it's gone by ten past one in the morning."

"What makes you say that?"

"That's when I get woken up. Might as well weigh myself at the same time."

Rose cleared her throat. "But why are you waking up at that precise time?"

Roger sighed and led them out front to show where his alarm was placed. "It is driving me mad. Ten minutes past one, every night, bang on the dot without fail, the burglar alarm goes off. I've had experts in, I've had it replaced, I've even phoned Watchdog. But no, ten past one in the morning, off it goes."

"But with no burglars?" the Doctor asked.

"Nothing. I've given up looking."

"Tell me, Roger. Have you got a cat flap?"

The homeowner led them to the back door. "It was here when I bought the house. I've never bothered with it, really. I'm not a cat person," he explained as he and the Doctor laid on the floor examining the small flap.

"No, We've met cat people. You're nothing like them."

Rose gave the man a reassuring smile. "Not at all," she confirmed.

"It's that what it is, though?" Roger shrugged. "Cats getting inside the house?"

The Doctor looked up and gave Rose a knowing look before saying, "Well, thing about cat flaps is, they don't just let things in, they let things out as well."

"Like what?"

"The fat just walks away." Pulling himself up, he grabbed Rose's arm and began leading her, once more, to the front door. "Well, thanks for your help. Tell you what, maybe you could lay off the pills for a week or so." Something began beeping in the Doctor's pocket. "Oh. Got to go. Sorry." With that he ran out of the house.

"It was really nice meeting you," Rose called out as she chased after the Doctor.

"What's that?" Rose asked as they ran, and nodded to the device in the Doctor's hand.

"It's my adipose detector! It goes beep when there's stuff!" he replied, not even breathlessly. Suddenly a van came screeching down the street, almost knocking them down. "Are you alright?!"

"Fine, fine," she responded and followed as he started to chase after the van. After a few minutes though, both begin to slow their pace.

"Lost the signal," the Doctor said, shoving the three pronged device back in his pocket.

"We've still got that pendant you got at the call centre though, yeah? We could go back to the TARDIS, see if there's anything fishy about that thing."

He pulled her in for a hug. "Brilliant thinking, Lewis. Let's go home."

After stopping for chips, and munching them on the way, they went back into the TARDIS control room. Rose flopped herself down on the jump seat as the Doctor pulled out a large magnifying glass and a few other instruments he would need to test the pendant Adipose gave out with every purchase. After nearly ten minutes of testing, he knew exactly what the necklace was.

"Oh, fascinating. Seems to be a bio-flip digital stitch, specifically for-" he stopped when he noticed how quiet Rose had been since they entered the TARDIS. He turned and found her sound asleep on the jump seat. Quietly, he began putting his equipment away, before carefully picking her up and taking her to their bedroom where she would be more comfortable.

Rose closed her eyes and leaned her head against the wall. "Tell me again why we're hiding in a closet?" The Doctor had woken her up bright and early, claiming they needed to get an early start on the day, only to then lead her into some tiny storage "room". She opened her eyes when she suddenly heard a shifting noise.

"Because of this!" the Doctor proclaimed, gesturing to the large machine that took up an entire wall.

"Well, there is that."

"Yep! This is some fine work, it'll take me most of the day to hack into it."

"We're stuck in here all day!? What if I have to use the loo?"

He smirked and nodded to a nearby bucket. "Already taken care of."

Rose gave him a blank stare. "No," was all she said.

"I've brought plenty of snacks for us as well!"

"Doctor," she pouted. "Are you seriously going to make me wee in a bucket?"

He rolled his eyes. "It's not like you haven't done it before."

"Yeah, when we've been in prison!"

"Fine. When the urge hits, just let me know. I suppose you can sneak back out to the TARDIS to use the loo."

She pecked his cheek. "Thank you."

Four hours in and Rose was officially bored. She had already snuck out once to the TARDIS to use the loo and on the way she grabbed a few gossip rags she hadn't caught up on, and a couple of books she had been reading with the Doctor. Well, she finished the rags and couldn't find the attention span to actually focus on the books. And the Doctor was too busy fiddling with the machine to pay her any attention. She knew of only one thing that might distract him for a bit. It was a tactic still new to her, but she had used it a couple of times while he was tinkering in the TARDIS and, so far, it had worked each time.

"Doctor?" she said in the most seductive voice.

Oblivious to what was going on around him, he responded with an automatic, "Yes?" as he typed something into the keypad.

"Doctor, I'm bored. Can't you take a break?"

He sighed. "I'm sorry, Rose, but I'm right in the middle of-" His sentence was cut off by Rose's top landing on his head. "Rose, what are you doing?" he asked, embarrassed by the squeaky tone it came out in.

She leaned back, now without a shirt, and began fanning herself. "It's a bit warm in here, dontcha think, Doctor?"

He groaned. He knew exactly what she was doing. "Rooose. As lovely as you look right now, I really should focus on..." he trailed off as Rose stood and began nibbling on his ear.

"Focus on what, Doctor?"

"Minx," he muttered as he pulled her flush onto his lap.

Rose giggled. Mission accomplished. She suspected she wouldn't be bored again for the next couple of hours... At least.

"So instead of just sneaking about the building, like we normally would, you want to get in a window cleaner's cradle and use that to investigate?" Rose asked. After all the employees had gone home for the night, she and the Doctor had snuck out of the closet and were making their way to the roof.

He huffed. "Think about how much time it will save us! We'll just lower the cradle and get a peek at each floor. See which one that Foster woman works in the most."

Rose sighed and heaved her body into the cradle. "I have a feeling that this is going to end badly."

"Don't be silly. What could possibly go wrong."

"You had to go and say that, didn't you?"

The Doctor slowly lowered the cradle till they got to Miss Foster's office window. When they saw the woman herself enter with another woman and two guards, both the Doctor and Rose ducked out of sight. With a finger to his lips, he pulled two stethoscopes out of his pocket and handed one to Rose.

Repeating his actions, she held the stethoscope of to the window and listened in on the conversation being had.

"You can't tie me up," they heard the nameless woman say. "What sort of a country do you think this is?"

"Oh, it's a beautifully fat country. And believe me, I've travelled a long way to find obesity on this scale," Miss Foster replied.

"So, come on then, Miss Foster, those pills. What are they?"

"Well, you might just as well have a scoop, since you'll never see it printed. This is the spark of life."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" the woman questioned.

"Officially, the capsule attracts all the fat cells and flushes them away. Well, it certainly attracts them. That part's true. But it binds the fat together and galvanises it to form a body."

"What do you mean, a body?"

"I am surprised you never asked about my name. I chose it well. Foster. As in foster mother. And these are my children," Miss Foster told her as she pulled something out of her desk drawer.

"You're kidding me. What the hell is that?"

Both Rose and the Doctor maneuvered themselves to see in the window. What they saw sitting on the desk was a small marshmallow looking blob waving at the woman.

"Adipose," Miss Foster answered. "It's called an Adipose. Made out of living fat."

"But I don't understand," the woman told her.

Suddenly, the Doctor felt Rose nudge him. He looked questioningly at her, but all she did was nod toward the office door. There, looking through another small window was none other than Donna Noble. The woman they had met, what felt like, ages ago, when she was transported into the TARDIS in the middle of her wedding. It had been a crazy adventure, one the Doctor wasn't sure he and Rose would have made it through if not for that fiery ginger.

"Donna?" he mouthed.

"Doctor? Doctor! Rose!" she mouthed back enthusiastically.

He looked between her and Rose. "But what? What? What?"

"Oh my god!"

Rose rolled her eyes and mouthed. "How?"

Donna pointed frantically at herself. "It's me!"

"Yes, we can see that," the Doctor responded.

"Oh, this is brilliant."

"What the hell are you doing there?"

Rose shoved him and mouthed, "Rude."

"I was looking for you two," Donna answered.

"What for?"

She began miming, "I read it on the internet. Weird. Crept along. Heard them talking. Hid. You."

Rose made a sudden STOP motion and pointed to Miss Foster, they all quickly realised that the two women in the office had watched the entire exchange.

"Are we interrupting you?" Miss Foster asked in mock politeness.

"Run!" the Doctor mouthed in what looked like a shout.

Miss Foster motioned for her guards. "Get her."

Whipping out the sonic screwdriver, the Doctor zapped the office door, locking it and trapping the guards.

"And him."

Meanwhile, Rose began pulling the cradle back up to the roof. "Told you this wouldn't end well," she said as the Doctor used the sonic to help her.

Once they made it inside the building, they quickly began running down the stairs in search of Donna, hoping to get to her before Miss Foster or her guards did. Thankfully, within seconds they ran right into her and immediately embraced.

"Oh, my God. I don't believe it. You've even got the same suit! Don't you ever change? At least Rose is wearing something different!" Donna proclaimed when they broke apart.

The Doctor sighed. He'd almost forgotten how blunt she could be. "Yeah, thanks, Donna. Not right now."

Rose made a shushing noise. "Do you hear that?"

The glanced down the window next to them. It was Miss Foster's guards, bounding up the stairs. The Doctor laughed and grabbed both Rose and Donna's hands. "Just like old times!"

Coming Soon: Partners in Crime Part 2

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