Chapter Four -o- Us

Rose hated waking in the morning with the sounds of the TARDIS in her head. It was hard enough, being stuck away from her Doctor, but the constant reminder was heart breaking. She sighed and rolled her neck before she opened her eyes. She drew in a sharp breath at who was lying in her bed with her. As she stared at his sleeping face the last days events came crashing down around her like a tidal wave.

She wasn't stuck, she was home, she was safe, and she was with her Doctor. And she remembered, the night before, walking him through her most precious memories of her daughter, their happiest times. She smiled lightly as she reached out and brushed a strand of his hair out of his face. In all her time with him, she'd never just sat and watched him sleep. Not that he slept a lot, hardly at all in fact. So it was nice, he looked peaceful, watching him sleep. His arm was over her stomach, a welcome weight. And when she shifted slightly he groaned softly in his sleep.

Lightly she ran her hand through his hair and smiled when he moved into her touch. Slowly, so as not to wake him, she leaned towards him, and gently pressing her lips to his. It was like no other feeling in the world, kissing her Doctor. And when his arm tightened around her abdomen she knew he was awake. She smiled into his lips as she kissed him again, raking her fingers through his hair. After a long sensual kiss he pulled away and looked at her, his eyes full of wonder.

"I thought I dreamed you." He told her his voice soft, as though he was scared if he talked to loudly she may disappear.

"I'm right here Doctor." She said putting her free hand over his chest, feeling his hearts beat. "I'll always be right here." She told him before she leaned in and kissed him again.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

A long while later, wrapped up in nothing but the Doctor and a sheet, Rose slept again. It amazed the Doctor sometimes; he was a man who, when he met her, had had nothing. And now, he held everything in his arms. It had taken losing her to make him come to terms with it. And yet, he'd know he loved her with two little words.

'Do it.' She said her voice deadly serious, a look on her face that told him she wasn't just being dramatic.

'You don't even know what it is. You'd just let me?' It had been a moment that seemed frozen in time, as he stared across the table at her.

'Yeah,' she'd said, her voice still just as serious. In that moment he had fallen, and he'd never found his way out again.

And, lying there with her now he knew, nothing had changed, for either of them. Lying there with her, it was like coming home. He pulled her close and smiled when she shifted so her head was on his chest. He ran his hand through her hair; he really did like it so long and just smiled down at her.

"Rose," He said her name softly, unsure if she had woken or not. She tilted her head back and looked up at him a lazy smile on her face, she was half awake.

"Yes?" She murmured her voice full of sleep.

"I love you." He told her, and felt at once as though a weight had been lifted from his heart. He watched as her whole face lit up with a smile. She was awake now. She scooted back a little so she could look at him properly. She nodded her head one then leaned in and kissed him.

"I love you." She told him when she finally pulled away. She ran her fingers through his hair and then yawned. The Doctor laughed lightly and she laid her head back down on his chest.

"So," The Doctor said as he started to play with her hair. "Bad Wolf, we're going to have to work on that."

"I know, whatever it is I can feel it in me now. The power, it's right there, at the surface, just waiting." Rose said her voice awed and a little worried. "I can control it, surprisingly enough, but I'd like to understand it better, be able to use it when it's not a life and death situation."

"Right," The Doctor said nodding his head. "Well, we'll work it out."

"Course we will." Rose said closing her eyes again. "I'm just going to, close my eyes for a moment." She said yawning again.

"Right," The Doctor said pulling the blankets closer to them. "You do that."

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Jack could feel the change in his friends as soon as he stepped onto the TARDIS. There was a new feeling in the air, a feeling he knew well. He smirked as he walked over to Rose; she was sitting in the control room, watching the Doctor as he fiddled under the control panel. He leaned against her chair and turned to look at the Doctor too.

"Had a good shag have we?" He asked as bluntly as he possibly could then laughed at the look on her face. She laughed too and slapped his arm before she sighed and shrugged.

"Don't hide it very well huh?" She asked looking back to the top of the Doctors head.

"No, though, he's pretty much glowing with it." Jack said and she smirked. He sat down next to her and wrapped his arm over her shoulder.

"Bout time too." Jack said just loud enough for the Doctor to hear him. The Doctor's head popped up from under the grate and he stared at Jack. "Just sayin." Jack said shrugging his shoulder. The Doctor rolled his eyes but both Rose and Jack saw the small smile as he disappeared again.

"So, now what?" Jack asked looking down at her.

"Ah well, you know, same old same old." Rose joked shrugging her shoulders. "Saving the worlds, one at a time." Rose smirked and Jack laughed.

"You could come." The Doctor's voice rang out from under the consol before his head popped back up again. It surprised Jack to see such a hopeful look on the Doctor's face. With everything going on with Rose he'd have thought they'd want to be alone for a while.

"I'd love to, but, I've got my team here." Jack said looking from a disappointed Doctor to a disappointed Rose. Well, that was a surprise; both of them wanted him to come along. After a moment Rose stood and smirked down at him.

"You know, I don't know if you know this, Jack Harkness," She reached out and grabbed his hand pulling him up too. "But this here ship-

"TARDIS." The Doctor clarified and Rose smiled nodding her head.

"She travels through time." Rose told Jack as though he'd never heard it before.

"You could be gone for years with us and when you get back no more than twelve hours will have passed." The Doctor said smiling at Jack. Rose snorted and shook her head meeting Jack's eyes she smirked.

"I've heard that before." She told the Doctor pulling Jack over to the control panel. The Doctor climbed out and closed the grate before smiling up at Jack.

"So, we could go anywhere, any time." The Doctor said and Jack looked between the two of them. He so badly wanted to go. And the team could do without him for a few days, right?

"Somewhere we've never been before." Jack said looking between the two of them as he leaned against the railing.

"There are lots of places we didn't get to go too, right Doctor?" Rose asked looking over at him a huge smile on her face. Her, the Doctor and Jack, she had never felt more right with two people in her whole life, and she's met a lot of people.

"There are a lot of places." The Doctor agreed nodding his head as he typed a few things into the control panel. "But there's this one place, and this one time I think you might find interesting." The Doctor said looking up at Jack after a moment. Jack leaned forward when the Doctor swiveled the screen around to show him. Jack's eyes went wide for a moment and he looked back over at Rose before meeting the Doctor's eyes again.

"It'd be dangerous." Jack said and Rose laughed nodding her head. She didn't know where the Doctor was thinking of taking them, but she could see he'd just about hooked Jack.

"It's always dangerous." Rose told him as she walked over to look down at the screen. "Though I don't know what we'd want in the year 5034. What's that, like the 51st century?" Rose looked up and met Jacks eyes and it dawned on her. "That's when you're from, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is." Jack said nodding his head as he looked down at his hands. The Doctor was offering him answers, answers he wasn't sure he wanted. What if he didn't like what he found?

'Your friend over there doesn't trust me. And for all I know... he's right not to.'

It had been a very long time since he'd told Rose that, but it was still true. For all he knew he'd done something, something bad. He wasn't sure he wanted to know. He liked who he was now, mostly. What if these answers, what if they told him something he couldn't live with?

"It can't possibly be worse than not knowing." Rose said putting her hand on his shoulder. He hadn't even heard her approach. He looked up and met her eyes. The mood had suddenly changed and Jack knew he was the cause of it. But they both looked concerned, and neither of them looked afraid, which was more then he could say.

"When did you start reading minds?" he asked trying to flash her his trade mark smile, but he failed and sighed.

"Just know you is all." Rose told him reaching down to take his hand.

"What if it is worse than not knowing?" He asked and Rose could see the fear in his eyes, it was not something one often saw with Jack Harkness, "what if I did something really horrible?"

"I don't think so." The Doctor said and Jack looked over Rose's shoulder to meet his eyes. "I think the horrible was done to you, not by you."

"And, by some small chance something you did back then was bad, even really bad, that's not who you are now." Rose pulled his face back to hers by his chin. "Right?"

"Right," Jack said after a moment's hesitation. He took a deep breath and nodded his head, "right." He said again, not quite sure who he was trying to convince.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-

"I'll only be gone a few days." Jack told Gwen as he stuffed a few papers into his bag. He looked up from his packing and smiled at her. "But, while I'm away, you're in charge."

"What? Jack you can't just-

"Boss," Jack said pointing to himself a smirk on his face. "I can just anything, I trust you Gwen, you should trust you too."

"So, you're just going to go off with this Doctor-

"You lot go on vacation, Paris, America, Tosh and Owen just got back from Spain, I'm not allowed a week?" Jack asked her still smirking as he walked over to his file cabinet and pushed in a code. "You'll do fine without me."

"Why do you have to be gone at all? I mean, isn't that thing a time machine, couldn't you just pop out and pop back in minutes later." Tosh asked poking her head into the office. Jack looked over at her and rolled his eyes. He hadn't even noticed her hiding behind the door, which was saying a lot seeing as she was almost bigger than the door.

"I could," Jack laughed lightly as he handed a file to Gwen. "But, the Doctor and the TARDIS, well, mostly it's the TARDIS I think; they have a hard time with specifics." Jack chuckled again shaking his head. "One time we accidently left Rose on a planet for- He shook his head at the looks on their faces and sighed.

"This isn't like last time, I'm telling you where I'm going, when I'll be back, everything." Jack said looking away from Tosh back to Gwen. "These are the codes you'll need while I'm away. Try to stay out of trouble." He pulled his duffle bag off his chair and headed out his door passed Tosh.

"A week?" Ianto asked from the couch looking up from his coffee.

"Ten days, tops." Jack said smiling at him before he looked around the hub. "Where's Owen?" He asked looking at Tosh.

"Right here." Owen said walking in from the back. He looked a little irritated too.

"Man, can't a guy go on a vacation?" Jack asked looking around at all the stony faces.

"That's just the thing Jack." Gwen said stepping forward before she reached out and put her hand on his shoulder. "Whatever you're doing it's not a vacation, you have that look in your eyes."

"What look?" Jack asked looking down at her.

"That, this-could-get-us-killed, look." Tosh said smiling a little.

"Ah, that look," Jack said nodding his head, it wasn't as though he was the only one here who had that look; he just wore it the most.

"Ok, yeah, it's probably not 100 percent safe." Jack told them shrugging his shoulders a little. "But, hey, it's not as though you run the risk I'll come back in a body bag, what are you worried about?"

"Well, we're your team; you're supposed to do this kind of thing with us." Owen said and Jack sighed again smiling at them. He was so proud of his team, even if he did want to shot them sometimes.

"This is..." He shook his head a plastered a smile on. "This is something I need to do with the Doctor, he can help me."

"And we can't?" Ianto asked and Jack detected a hint of jealousy to his voice.

"It's not that you can't, it's that I don't want you too." Jack said bluntly looking over at Ianto. "I need you here, watching the rift, keeping this place in check." Jack told them looking at each of them. He smiled and moved off towards the lift.

"It's only ten day's guys, you'll be fine." Jack told them as he stopped in front of the lift. He smiled at them and waited till each one smiled, or, in Owens case, smirked back at him. Then he climbed onto the lift and pulled his bag up.

"Don't let this place fall apart while I'm gone yeah?" Jack asked as the lift started to rise. "And keep each other safe. Tosh, try and wait till I get back to pop ok?"

"Oh yeah, I'll work on that!" Tosh yelled up at him making him laughed. They all watched till he was gone them milled about for a few moments.

"Ok then," Gwen said sighing a little as she looked around. "You heard Jack, let's not let this place fall down round our ears." She smiled at them as they all went off to their stations to start for the day. Gwen stood there a moment longer, and then she turned and almost ran head on into Ianto.

"You think he'll be ok?" Ianto asked looking down at her.

"Sure he will, he's Jack." She told him as though that explained everything. Ianto smiled slightly and nodded his head, still a little worried. But then, they would all probably worry a little for the next ten days.

-o-o-o-o-o-

"Are we all ready?" The Doctor asked as Jack shut the doors behind him. Rose smiled over at him from her seat on the banister and Jack smiled back.

"Yeah, ready and waiting." Jack said nodding his head.

"Well, your room's right where you left it, go settle in while I finish fueling up." The Doctor told him a smile on his face. Jack nodded and squeezed Rose's shoulder as he passed her on his way towards his room.

"So," Rose said hoping down and walking around the control panel till she was standing next to him. "Just like old times huh?" She asked a smirk on her face as he looked up at her. He leaned over slowly and kissed her softly before he pulled back. She loved the look he got on his face just after kissing her; it was so full of love and happiness.

"Well, maybe not just like old times." He told her and she laughed nodding her head.

"Quite right too," Rose told him nodding her head a smile on her face as well. She leaned in and kissed him lightly. She didn't pull away till she heard someone clearing their throat behind her.

"You two going to be doing a lot of that?" Jack asked with a it's-about-time look on his face.

"Well, what can I say, a hundred years is a long time to wait for a kiss. I've a lot of time to make up for." Rose told him a satisfied smirk on her face.

"Are we all fueled up?" Jack asked looking at the Doctor.

"She's ready and waiting." The Doctor said and Rose moved away to watch as the Doctor went to work. Jack just stood there, a pensive look on his face, staring at the large column in the middle on the room.

He could tell him to reset the coordinates, take them somewhere else and the Doctor would do it. No questions asked, he'd take them where ever Jack asked. Did you really want to know? Was he ready for what he might find? Jack looked from the Doctor to Rose; she looked the same, till he met her eyes. And yet, after so much time she was ready to jump into the mix with him again. Set off on an adventure like they'd never been apart.

The Doctor could sense Jack's hesitation and didn't blame him. This was a big step, finding out what he was missing. It was hard, finding a piece of yourself you didn't remember having. And, knowing a little of how Jack was feeling the Doctor smiled and pushed a few different buttons.

"But I was wondering if it'd be ok if we drifted in the vortex for a few days." Jack looked up sharply at the Doctor meeting his eyes. "I'd like to have a little time to help Rose work on her Bad Wolf side." Jack knew what he was doing, could see it in his eyes, and he was grateful

"Yeah, ok." Jack said nodding his head. A few days, that would be nice, get himself ready for the fight ahead, he could live with that. "A few days would be fine."

"Ok," The Doctor said nodding his head. Jack smiled and turned walking out the door.

"I'll make dinner!" he called over his shoulder as he disappeared out the door. Rose snickered and looked at the Doctor. He looked over at her and sighed.

"What?" He asked and she laughed a little harder shaking her head.

"Nothing," She told him still laughing a little. "It's just...going a little soft in your old age?" She asked, he grabbed for her but she was too fast, leaving him grabbing onto the air.

"Rose Tyler!" He called as she ran out of the room.

"You'll never catch me!" She called over her shoulder and the Doctor laughed as he set the TARDIS to drift in the vortex for a while. He smiled to himself, it wouldn't take long to run her down, and then, since Jack was cooking, they'd have a good meal. 'When did I get so domestic?' He thought to as he started towards the door.

"Doctor?! You comin?" Rose called from just down the hall. 'Oh, right.' He thought as he ran out the door after her.

A/N- Ok, so what do we think? What was your favorite part about the end? The whole story? Did I keep everyone in character? Let me know because I love to hear from you guys! This is the end of this one, but it will continue on in the sequel, soon to come.