Chasing The Wolf.

A/N: I do not own Doctor Who. Sadly.

Summary: AU following the events of Girl In The Fireplace episode. Just before the Clockwork Droids went through the time window to claim Madam De Pompadour, one of them grabbed Rose. Once the monsters have been stopped, the Doctor must face an enemy more dangerous than he could ever imagine. Himself/His hearts.

Prologue

She couldn't believe that she had been so stupid. When the Doctor had broken through the time window on Arthur the horse, Rose foolishly thought that he was there to save her as well as Madame De Pompadour. He hadn't even noticed she was there, not until the Clockwork Droids told him to make a choice.

Rose or Reinette.

That was when Rose knew she going to die. She couldn't really fully explain it to herself how she knew this, there was just something in the way the Doctor looked at Reinette through that wretched mirror. Then there was the way he had effectively dismissed Rose back to the spaceship to find that Clockwork Droid. Not to mention the way he behaved when Rose and Mickey were about to literally loose their heads, she had felt something was off between her and the Doctor from the moment she had met Sarah Jane, but it was hearing him talk about Reinette that really began to trouble her.

What made it worse was the fact that, Rose also knew her death would have nothing to do with the fact, that Madam De Pompadour was the uncrowned Queen of France. But, in true Doctor style, he had found a way to save them both. But the damage was already done.

Five hours later, after the Droids had been thoroughly destroyed. She now watched the Doctor as he danced with the woman who was nothing more than an expensive whore. He hadn't even come over to talk to Rose and see that she was okay. If anything, the second the droids shut down the Doctor seemed to have developed amnesia about Rose even being there.

"For a man who hates domestic, he doesn't seem to be dragging his feet at the idea when it comes to her." Rose thought to herself.

Watching them sway and move around the dance floor, made Rose's heart break even more than she thought it could. He hasn't even looked at her once, not since he saved the day again. The memories of Jimmy's words were screaming in her head. How he would taunt her about never being anything but a play toy to a bloke. A play toy that would easily be thrown aside, once something better came along.

"Something's are worth getting your heart broken for..." Sarah Jane's voice echoed in Rose's mind.

Her eyes were beginning to sting with her tears as she watched her Doctor, and that woman exchange laughs and smiles, seemingly in their own little world. With her breaking heart, and feelings of worthlessness, a new emotion began to stir inside of her. Foolishness, Rose was starting to see now just how foolish she had been to think that the Doctor would ever want someone like her when he could have the likes of Sarah Jane, or Cleopatra, but of course the Doctor was friendly enough with the Queen of Egypt to call her Cleo. Rose couldn't take it any longer, she felt like she was going to physically smash into a million pieces if she had to watch another second. So, without another glance to the seemingly happy couple, Rose turned on her heel. Fleeing the packed ballroom, and the happy couple in the centre of it.

~~~~~DW~~~~

2007, Powell Estate

When he stepped out of the TARDIS, the reality of the situation hit Mickey Smith hard. Rose was gone. He would never know how she lived the rest of her life. Mickey gulped, as he now had to tell Jackie that her daughter was gone, and didn't even know where Rose was buried. But he was gong to find out. He would find Rose's final resting place and do whatever it took to take Jackie there, so they could mourn together.

Though he was still angry with the Doctor, livid in fact. Mickey's mind went back to the last time he had spoken to the Time Lord.

51st Century, Unknown Spaceship.

At the sound of the TARDIS door opening, Mickey looked up, the feeling of hope quickly disappearing when he saw that Rose wasn't with the Doctor this time either. It was then that Mickey noticed the Doctor looking like someone who'd just been told Christmas had come early, that idiotic manic grin in place.

"Mickey, be good chap and go find something useful to do. I'll be back in a second." The Doctor told him causing Mickey to look at him with genuine shock.

"Doctor?" Mickey spoke, his voice tense as he tried to control his rage.

But was completely ignored as the Doctor began to press buttons, and that is when Mickey's heart seized up.

"Oi! Where the HELL is Rose?" Mickey barked at the Doctor, his fear mixing into his anger.

The Doctor's head snapped up, his eyes quickly widen in horror.

"What? What do you mean? She's here in the TARDIS, isn't she?" The Doctor shot off questions in quick succession. His own hearts seizing in fear he hadn't felt since the Daleks had effectively held Rose captive.

The fist came out of nowhere and the Doctor found himself hunched over the console.

"OW!" Mickey and the Doctor both screamed at the same time.

"NO! Didn't you notice that robot thing had...you didn't did? Getting your dick sucked by a French Whore was so important to you that didn't even notice that Rose had been kidnapped!" Mickey snarled at him.

The Doctor staggered back feeling incredibly ill and rather faint. Rose had been kidnapped and he was so eager to try and protect himself from his feelings for her that he hadn't even...oh Rassolin...Mickey meanwhile now looked ready to be sick himself.

"You...you don't even know if she's dead do you. Those robot things probably killed Rose the second they took her there and you don't even know..." Mickey gasped out in shock...

The sound of a car horn jumped Mickey out of his memories, and he soon became horrified to learn that he was now standing at Jackie's front door. Fighting back the urge to cry, Mickey knocked on the door and waited. The door flew open to reveal one Jackie Tyler, and it broke Mickey's heart even more to see that she was smiling, he was about to break her heart.

"Oh, Mickey. About time you showed up, come on. I'll get the kettle on." Jackie cried happily as she opened the door wider to let him in.

Had Mickey been paying the slightest bit of attention, he would have found her greeting a little strange. But he was too guilt ridden with the knowledge, that he was about to give Jackie the second worst news of her life. So, almost in a trance like state, Mickey entered the flat, closing the door softly behind him. But when Mickey walked into the living room, he found something that he wasn't expecting.

"R...Rose? D...Doctor?" Mickey choked out with a mixture of shock and anger.

Rose Tyler smiled at Mickey softly. "Hey Mickey," Rose said simply, there was a strong hint of remorse in her voice

When Jackie Tyler came back into the living room, it was to watch Mickey hit the ground in a dead faint. Jackie's eyes locked on to the Doctor.

"What you done now?" Jackie barked in anger.

The Doctor felt himself pale, well, it seemed that his hope of not getting slapped by Jackie Tyler was a foolish one. The Doctor opened his mouth to start explaining, but he couldn't find the words to start. Luckily, Rose jumped in.

"Mum, why don't we get Mickey more comfortable, yeah. Then when he wakes up, the Doctor and I will explain what's happened," Rose said soothingly, as she got up from her seat next to the Doctor and went to help Mickey.

Jackie, however, was now on a roll and was paying no attention to the unconscious man who was currently sprawled out on her floor.

"How come your hair's brown again?" Jackie added, as though he had just noticed that her hair was different. Though the truth was that Jackie had been itching to ask a whole essay worth of questions.

"Mum!" Rose exclaimed exasperated.

"It's longer too, all the way down to the middle of your back it is! Why?" Jackie exclaimed.

"Mum! I'm fully aware that my hair is different and we will explain, I promise. After Mickey comes too, though." Rose said firmly.

"You're even talking different now! What did you do to my Rose, Doctor?" Jackie demanded.

"Mum! Please!" Rose begged this time.

Jackie fell silent at the sound of her daughter speaking so firmly. It was at this moment, that Jackie's fear that something had happened to her daughter was confirmed. The Rose she had seen a mere two weeks ago was no more. This Rose was older, wiser, stronger and comfortable in her skin. Jackie nodded and proceeded to help her daughter make Mickey more comfortable. Afterwards the two of them sat back at the table, and silence fell over the flat. Jackie never noticed that Rose was sending a text under the table.

Five minutes passed before Mickey finally came too, and the Doctor was convinced that it was the longest five minutes of his very long life. Especially when you have Jackie glaring at you, tapping her foot impatiently on the floor, of course. The Doctor had the feeling that it wouldn't be long before he was wishing that Mickey had remained unconscious.

A/N: After hitting massive writing's block with ALL my stories, as well as trying to write an actual book, I have decided to go back to the beginning with all of them and do some re-editing as well as adding some additional pieces to the stories in hopes of breaking through the wretched steel plated concrete wall that won't come down. Hope you enjoy the additional parts and that it brings more sense to the stories.