Disclaimer: Dr Who and related characters are owned by BBC.

A/N: Second story in the "Petals and Thorns" series

Better than Mickey
By Eugena

Rating: T

Post "Boomtown," Jack comforts Rose, and The Doctor wished he had.

oOo

"He deserves better," Rose looked away, her mind going over the last few hours. She'd made up with Jack, but there was still an uncomfortable distance between them since she'd run in on his conversation with the Doctor. If she didn't know better, she'd swear the Doctor was jealous. As much as she would hope, a relationship with the Doctor could never happen – not in the way she wanted. He may look human, but he was still an alien – something she didn't mind, but it was the first thing Jack said the Doctor mentioned about a potential relationship. He'd never see past their differences. She was still a "stupid ape," a shopkeeper, a girl who couldn't pass her A-levels. He'd seen things that she'd never imagine. He showed her more than she'd ever see in a normal life, but it was not even a glimpse of all that he'd seen.

She'd started to fall for him when he gave her that look – the one he had when he said, "Did I mention it also travels in time?" The Doctor turned out to be the heart of adventure. He was the man who gave meaning to her life. Yet, here she was, a regular lover to Jack. She'd shown real loyalty to the Doctor, hadn't she? Why did she feel like she was betraying him? She began to love every time someone mistook them for a couple, and a few times, the Doctor looked like he did, too. Maybe that was because he was alien, and he still didn't understand all of human culture.

Every one grilled her when she first came back to Earth. They assumed she had been murdered. After all, who could hide for over a year without a trace? She came back – with a nine hundred-some year old alien posing EDIT as a forty-something traveler. She was no longer Rose Tyler, shop assistant. She was Rose Tyler, time traveler, but she couldn't tell them about that. No, to then she was Rose Tyler, missing nineteen-year-old girl who miraculously reappeared with a new forty-year-old boyfriend. Ok, so it didn't have the same ring to it, but it would do. Or course, Mickey and her mum knew the truth.

Mickey. Did she feel bad she'd shagged another? Not once but many times. Jack wasn't a one-night stand. Many times, she had moments of regret, but it wasn't Mickey she felt she'd betrayed.

Some part of her missed Mickey. He was her link back to Old Rose, and she needed Old Rose to feel sane. She would have some quiet moments amidst all this adventure. She hadn't quite found someone to confide her troubles in. She couldn't tell everything to Jack. After all, you couldn't go around telling your boyfriends everything about each other.

That's how she felt about them – they were all her boyfriends. Mickey was her old steady – someone she thought she could always count on. Jack was new and exiting, the perfect boyfriend for the new Rose, time traveler Rose. He was her own species, and a time traveler. He'd understand some of what she'd seen. She began to wonder how long he would stay. Would she feel like Mickey in a few months, Jack leaving without any idea of when he would come back?

She'd always have the Doctor, the man she grew to love, the man she felt was her first and only real boyfriend beyond Old Rose's life. But he wasn't a man – a human – he was an alien. Something she never cared about, but she knew she'd never get over. If she'd ever get him to see past that, she knew she'd betray Jack to be with him. Yet every minute she was with Jack, she was betraying the Doctor.

Never did she feel that she betrayed Mickey, and that's what confused her the most. Didn't take her long to think of the excuse, and the Doctor needed to refuel the TARDIS anyway. She could always count on Mickey, and she needed a little advice from Old Rose on what to do.

She never had expected to hear about Tricia. The Mickey that had been there for Old Rose had gone. It wasn't her plan at all. She came back to him, she spent time with him, even agreed to spend the night with him. Jack wouldn't mind. Not while he and the Doctor had Margaret the Slitheen to worry about.

She had to go to Mickey. Both of her companions knew it. The Doctor tried to look away from them as Mickey told Rose it was time to stay. Jack didn't worry. He'd already met Mickey knocking on the doors of the TARDIS. He could tell that if he pushed him hard enough, Mickey would go away. Jack couldn't figure out why this was Rose's Earth boyfriend. She could do better. But she didn't accept that. No, of all things, she said that Mickey could do better than her.

Both Jack and the Doctor left her alone for a while. She needed to decide how she felt before Jack got into the middle of it. The Doctor even let Jack finish helping him with a few minor repairs. The Doctor had already asked Rose if she wanted to go and see Jackie while they were still on Earth, but she didn't want to.

The TARDIS hummed differently again. It had given Margaret a second chance, but Rose's heartbreak made it sing a somber tune.

Rose couldn't realize that she deserved better than Mickey, only believed he could do better than her. Jack didn't' know how to convince her that she could do better. How could you encourage someone with little self-confidence, especially when you didn't know if you were good enough for her? Jack couldn't let go of his two years of missing memory. What if he'd done something so terrible he'd begged to have it erased? Two whole years. What all could he have done during that time?

Perhaps Jack would find out with Rose. She might never speak to him once they knew, but he couldn't let one future possibility ruin his present happiness.

He knocked softly on Rose's door. After a moment, he crept in. Rose's tears smeared her mascara and streaked her face. He took one of her hands and kissed her gently on the lips.

"Mickey is a fool, Rose. No man could do better than you." As he held her close, she let the rest of her tears fall.

"Oh, Jack, I don't deserve you. All the women in your travels and you've picked me."

"I was just a con man, Rose. But I will never lie to you." He brought her face close to him, looking her straight in the eyes. "I love you, Rose. I'm glad Mickey let you go." He kissed her again.

Elsewhere, the Doctor tasted the salt of his own tears. Within him, the inner self he had asked before finally answered, Why didn't you have the courage to say it first?

I am a Time Lord. I see what was, how time can change, and possible futures. I see what could be. Rose lives, she dies. She dies in the arms of Jack. She dies in my arms. She lives. She marries Mickey. She marries Jack. She marries me. She has children. She lives. I am a Time Lord.