Beta: Miral-Romanov

Prompter/birthday girl: Peleinferno

Prologue

Cogs

It was bright and early in the morning, the day after the Doctor had rescued Jack from his doomed ship and then had subsequently marked his territory by spending the rest of the night dancing with Rose. Jack had retired early after watching them for a minute or two, already prepared to place himself in the role of the harmlessly flirty friend since it was clear from the moment he met these people that they were idiots in love.

Now, he strolled out into the console room where Rose and the Doctor were already awake and waiting for him. Jack smirked when he noticed faint blushes on both of their cheeks and forced small talk— apparently the little show of dominance the Doctor had put on hadn't been on the schedule for them.

"So," Jack said conversationally, plopping himself down next to Rose and pretending he didn't notice the Doctor's slight glare. "What exactly do you guys do in this time machine box? Besides the obvious, of course," Jack added with an eyebrow quirk.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and Rose giggled. "We have adventures," Rose told him. "Save people."

"You know, the normal stuff," the Doctor said sarcastically, still looking annoyed over the jab at his ship. "Anywhere in space and time, Harkness."

Jack whistled, honestly impressed. A grin spread over his face and he said, "Anywhere?"

"Not where you're thinking," the Doctor snapped, and Rose laughed again. Smacking on a couple of buttons, he said, "How about—"

"Altuvia?" Jack piped up.

"No," the Doctor said, ignoring when Rose tossed him a confused look. "Jinn. It's a very safe, asexually reproducing species of people who are known for their purple apricots."

"Oh my God, those little fuzzy purple things you put on pancakes last month?" Rose said, sitting up at once. "That's it, we're going."

Grinning like a loon, the Doctor did a little dance around the console, shouting, "Right-o, Rose Tyler!"

Everyone's grins of amusement slid off their faces when the TARDIS let out a groaning noise, and another sound followed like the screeching of metal on metal. Rose opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but before she could say anything the ship jerked violently and she was thrown up against one of the coral struts. Jack sailed past her as well, crashing into the wall and falling into a heap on the floor, and the Doctor was thrown into the railing.

When the ship stilled with a quiet creak, the Doctor recovered first, hurrying over to Rose's side to make certain she was all right. After giving him a reassuring nod and rubbing her hip, which had knocked into the hard coral, Rose asked confusedly, "What the hell was that?"

"I dunno," the Doctor said, as Jack managed to untangle himself and stand up. "Might as well investigate."

The trio headed towards the doors, and Jack was the first to step outside. "It's a spaceship!"

A/N: I know this is kind of short, and I wasn't going to post it until the fic was done but the prompter of this fic told me it was her birthday so I just had to :3 Prompt (from Peleinferno) was: "I was hoping to read an AU of Girl in the Fireplace with Nine/Rose. I'd like to see if you think Reinette would still consider Nine to be her "angel" and how Nine would avoid getting himself stranded in France. It's up to you whether the Doctor and Rose are in an established relationship or if this event is the catalyst". The fic is going to be five chapters long, with a prologue and epilogue, and to prevent another long wait in the vain of Natural Selection I have 4/5 chapters written. There's going to be a considerable amount of dialogue from the episode GitF of course, but I've edited scenes to a) fit in with Nine's personality and b) to cater to my own nefarious whims *evil grin* Enjoy...