nothing so { BITTERSWEET }, river, jack && rose !

[The Doctor]

The Doctor felt much better about everything. Somehow, River turned all of the negatives to positives, making the Time Lord feel that he could do anything, save anyone, and be with her forever. He had promised that they would go and visit Jack, so that’s what he decided to do. He was a man of his word, and, well, the conversation that they had… it was amazing. At first, he wasn’t sure what to say, how to go about anything, but it had really cemented not only a relationship, but their wonderful friendship. In simple terms: they were meant to be together.

“Don’t expect too much,” he warned, “the Hub’s only small compared to the Torchwood you’ll know.” He grinned at the thought of it, and why it had come to be built there. “I originally parked the TARDIS right in front of that building there, and Jack decided that was the best place to have his base. Not bad for an organisation created to kill me.” Since the beginning, the Doctor’s attitude towards Torchwood had changed vastly. From hating everything that it stood for, for being the reason that he had lost Rose, he had learned that Jack had changed everything that was left. Now, he was proud of them, all of them.

Instead of holding River’s hand, he linked her arm instead, like they were physically closer than ever. They probably were, now that everything was out in the open. The Doctor couldn’t help but beam, remembering their conversation, pleased that she wanted to be with him despite everything that could come between them in the future. He knew exactly what would happen, but he didn’t want to lose everything that could happen just to escape from a sad ending. He had time yet, he would be able to save her. That was one of the things that the Doctor just had to hold on to.

Entering the Tourist Information shop that masked the entrance of Torchwood, the Doctor noticed that one of the regular staff, Ianto Jones, wasn’t at the desk. He was probably doing errands of some kind for Jack, or maybe he just had some time off. Everyone deserved a break. Opening up the locked door with an alien whistle from his sonic screwdriver, the Time Lord beckoned River inside. His hearts were beating out a quickening rhythm, desperately wanting Jack to accept her. Before walking down the concrete corridor, he looked at River, leaning forward to gently kiss her cheek. “I want you to remember that I do love you. Just… just remember that.” Just before introducing them, he didn’t want to let River know that Jack didn’t seem exactly pleased by their feelings for each other. “Come on. It’ll be a nice surprise.” Smiling, he lead the way down to the central part of the Hub, waiting to see what followed.

[River Song]

River held onto the Doctor's arm perhaps slightly tighter than she meant to. Her cheeks were perhaps a tad flush, and her worries from earlier concerning them had disappeared (at least for now). They had gone to the restaurant and had a talk.... a nice long talk. She honestly was a bit surprised of it all still, she had to admit. But things hopefully were going to work out, and she couldn't help but feel anxious and excited about their relationship. Were things actually going to work out for them? She couldn't help but feel the silly, hopeless romantic, but she had felt as though she had at last found someone with whom she could spend her life. While he wasn't exactly the human male of the 51st century she had grown up expecting, he certainly was beyond all her hopes and dreams thus far.

The Doctor had taken her to the Hub, the Torchwood headquarters there in Cardiff. She nodded in anticipation to his warning. In her time, Torchwood was much bigger and well-known. Here, it was hidden, doing everything in the background, saving everyone and no one would ever know. River had to admit, she found the idea of them in this time period to be much more heroic-sounding than in the future from which she had come. The humans, unfortunately, didn't know what they were missing yet, all those stars and that travelling and all those strange creatures. But it wasn't time for the human race to see those sorts of things yet, so Torchwood risking their tails to save them all was quite impressive, to her at least.

Walking through what seemed to be a tourist office, River kept up the pace the Doctor sat as they went on into what was apparently the real 'Hub.' It was quite obviously underground, quite secretive, and perhaps even a bit cozy. She wondered if it did get depressing at all for them, being so locked away from everything and out of the way of everyone down here. She jumped a little as she saw something out of the top corner of her eye, eyes widening slightly as she figured out what it was. "Is that really... a pterodactyl?" she asked, laughing a little. So there was definitely more here than met the eye.

River couldn't help but feel a bit nervous, in addition to her excitement. She was meeting one of the Doctor's old friends after all, and she had yet to do so. She practically felt as though she were meeting her boyfriend's family, since his old friends practically were his family. She tried to tell herself that she was being quite silly about this, and forced herself to remain calm. Still, there was something strange she felt about this, and she tried to just channel it into the excitement of meeting someone that the Doctor seemed to respect quite a lot, an old friend and perhaps a few of his co-workers.

As the Doctor reassured her that he loved her, River felt that nervousness increase. She had just calmed herself down a bit, and then he goes and tells her that! "Is there any particular reason you say that?" she murmured, not exactly expecting an answer. She grinned anxiously at him, looking around at all the bits that were lying around this Hub, waiting to meet these friends she was supposed to.

[Rose Tyler]

Rose hadn't slept very long, compared to normal peope, but compare to the amount of sleep she was usually gettting these days, it had been a very god amount of time. She'd sat there with Jack in his office in silent for a while, before she knew that they couldn't do that anymore. They both had things that they needed to get done. Jack had Torchwood to run, as well as a few other things, and Rose had to figure out a plan. Somehow, she had to figure out what action to take, and somehow, find The Doctor. It was the only think she could think of.

But before she could do anything, Jack had forced her to eat something. She didn't feel hungry.... well, that wasn't completely, she was a little hungry, but she just didn't want to eat. She wanted to work, and keep moving. But arguing with Jack on this point was something she didn't have the energy to do. He'd taken her down to the kitchen, and offered her whatever she might want. In the end, she ended up having some soup, and some leftover chips. She drank some coffee, to get rid of the rest of the tiredness she felt and ate until Jack was satisfied.

She loved him, and loved that he cared so much about her. In fact, if he had't forced her to eat, there was a god chance that she might have passed out before the day was out, but it wasn't something she could think much about. Food didn't mean much to her these days, but she was human, she had to eat, and she had to sleep, or her body would shut down. It worked hat way with every species, actually, not just the human race. They just seemed to complain about it more than most of the people on any other planet she'd come across.

When she finished her meal, she washed her dishes, and finished her third cup of coffee. Once everything was cleared away, she left the kitchen and headed back up to Jack's office. She assumed that that was where he would be, and it was the only place she thought she should go. Sh would probably go back down to the control room soon, and used the computers to tr and find what she was looking for, but she still have to figure it all out first. She was about to say something to Jack when she heard something. The voices didn't sound familiar, so she assumed the were from people of Jack's team here.

"I thought they had the day off."

[Jack Harkness]

It had been nice to cuddle with Rose for a while. But he did have a duty to the Hub to keep it running on tip-top shape. So he’d convinced her to go to the kitchens and get some food into her. It hadn’t been easy getting her to eat something, he knew that she thought that she wasn’t hungry. But Jack knew otherwise, and he forced her to eat something. Allowing her to pick what she was going to eat, and then making sure that she was actually eating the food like she promised to do so. It hurt Jack terribly that he had to make sure that she was going to take care of herself, but he remembered. It hurt to carry on living after something like this.

And eventually he’d shared some coffee with her. He wasn’t surprised that Ianto’s coffee was almost just as good cold as it was hot. Jack had grinned and told himself to remember to give something to Ianto when he saw the man next. It was only because Ianto wanted to know that Jack was eating something other than the stray pizza and Chinese food that Ianto brought into the Hub for lunches. It was rather enjoyable for Jack to see Rose eating something though. He knew that she was probably going to make it now. The male had returned back up to his office as Rose started to clean the dishes.

He hadn’t told her to not do so, but he assumed that the work would help her devote her energies to something that seemed to make a difference. Jack sighed sadly and had returned to his office. He tried to concentrate on his work, but his mind kept flashing back to the conversation that Jack had had with the Doctor. The man had a new companion. And he loved her. Jack knew the truth when he saw it. And strangely, the fact that the Doctor had moved on from Rose wasn’t something that bugged him, it was the thought of what this was going to do to Rose when she found out. Jack heaved a sad sigh and looked up at his office to see Rose standing there.

And then he heard the voices. Jack’s heart went cold in his chest and he got to his feet in a rush. It was the Doctor’s voice, and Jack was terrified. He wanted to protect Rose, maybe he could send her away and explain the situation to the Doctor? They could fool her for… Jack shook his head sadly. He couldn’t do that to Rose. He looked at his dear Rose with sad eyes, he crossed the room and stood between her and the other two, ready to catch her if she tried to push by him. “Rose, that’s not my team.” He met her eyes.

“It’s the Doctor, and… his new companion.”

At least, Jack assumed that the female voice was going to be that of the Doctor’s new companion. Jack watched Rose very carefully, “Rose, listen to me.” He wasn’t even sure if she was listening now, “The Doctor has regenerated again. He’s different now, a new man. You know what that’s like, and he’s got someone new.” Jack’s heart broke as he told this to Rose. Bad news on more bad news – from him! He hated every second of what he was doing to Rose. But she had to know.

Didn’t she?

[The Doctor]

River grinned, and it was enough to make the Time Lord feel much more confident. Not replying, he instead looked around the Hub, trying to see whether he could spot anyone. Odd. Where were they? “Yep. Apparently so,” he then smiled, glancing at the ancient bird getting up to whatever it wanted to do. This was the first time that the Doctor had actually been inside the place, and he had to say, he was rather impressed. Jack had done really well. This time, though, the Doctor wasn’t going to say anything that would make the man’s head any bigger than it already was.

Taking a couple of steps forward, the Doctor heard something. There were echoes of shoes on the metal grating, the click of feet on concrete. He frowned, sniffing as he glanced back at River. “Probably a slow day,” he tried to explain, not that he knew the answer. Still, something was definitely wrong with this whole scenario. There was an uneasiness that lay a thin veil over every surface. At first though, the Doctor reasoned that something had gotten into the Hub, but there was no mess, no screams or alien noise. The door on the tourism office hadn’t been out of place either, from what the Time Lord could tell.

“Probably doing paperwork.” He smiled again, returning to River to reassure her. Not that she needed it, most likely. The Doctor ran through a million possible scenarios in his head, before deciding that he’d just have to take the obvious route. “Jack! Hey! Second time today you’re going to pretend not to notice me?”

Grinning at his own sarcastic tone, the Time Lord then left River for a moment to paw over some of the technology left over on the desks. The computers were obviously still all locked, just in case, but there were bits and pieces left out. In some respects, it reminded him of an ordinary office. The alien artefacts notwithstanding, of course. Sighing, he then looked upwards, trying to see anything that would give him a clue about what was going on. “Any time you’re ready,” he called impatiently, on the verge of tapping his foot noisily on the metal beneath his black leather shoes. “Sometimes, that man…” The Doctor shook his head, before glancing at River. She looked absolutely divine, although he tried to ignore it for the moment. “He’s here. I know he is. Oh, hang on, is that a shadow? Very funny Jack, now come out and behave!”

[River Song]

River followed the Doctor until he stopped to look at the things on the desks, glancing around more in detail at the items herself. Random artifacts sat on the desk, and she gazed at them curiously. Some of them looked like things she had seen before, and she even recognized one of the pieces, knowing that it wasn't much more than a fancy hair dryer. Everything was quite curious, including the computers that looked much more advanced than those she knew to be in the twenty-first century. She tried not to touch anything, knowing that perhaps the Doctor could get away with it, but it was much more likely that she would not. Plus, she didn't want to seem the nosy type to go messing with other people's things. She wanted to make a good impression, of course.

She glanced up, wondering where the rest of the team were. Obvious workstations were laid out across this main room, but no one was present at them. Perhaps they just had the day off. She would have loved to meet all of them, to find out more about some of the things they had lying around. Besides, she was an archaeologist and had interest in learning the things just as much as they apparently did. The Doctor could probably help them too, seeing as he liked to show off how clever he was quite often. She smiled at the thought, trying to hide it before the Doctor could ask her what the grin was for.

River walked back to the Doctor's side, looking around for this Jack the Doctor was calling for. She wondered what was taking him so long to get to them. Perhaps just finishing something up before he came out to see them. Or maybe he had decided he didn't want to meet her after all. Still, she doubted that such a good friend of the Doctor's would be so rude - even if the Doctor's previous regeneration, in the short time that she had known him then, had been prone to make a few rude comments from time to time. He was much quieter this incarnation, however, and she sometimes appreciated it greatly in memory of what he had been like at times. She still had loved the man though, and that impossible hair of his. The cheekiness as well...

She caught the Doctor's eye as he glanced at her, grinning in response. He seemed close to saying something, but returned to calling Jack. River glanced around, seeing a figure come towards them, remembering the Doctor's teasing warnings concerning the flirtatious man. She gave him a friendly smile, holding out her hand towards him. "Professor River Song," she said. "I've heard so much about you." She glanced at the Doctor with a grin. "It's great to finally meet you."

[Rose Tyler]

The look on Jack's face was enough to confuse Rose. He wouln't react that way about his own team... but what could make him look so worried? He hadn't even looked worried when he'd thought there was an intruder in his basement. Rose's eyes followed him as he dashed to stand between her and the door she'd just come through. Was he trying to keep someone from seeing her, or keep her from seeing someone else? She wasn't sure why either one of those thoughts would come to his head. When he said that it was The Doctor, she was sure he was wrong.

"What?"

She knew The Doctor's voice. It was always in her head, in her heart, whether she was awake or asleep, she could hear him. She knew exactly what he sounded like when he was angry, or happy, or tired, or excited, she knew it all. And that just wasn't it. What was wrong with him? He forced her eyes to meet his, so he could explain, and when he started to, her heart sank. He'd regenreated? She knew what that meant, she'd seen it happen before. When he'd changed from his ninth form to his tenth, s much of him had changed.

Her personality, as well as his looks. It had been so different... but it had still been the same, in so many ways. His heart had been just as caring, to her. He'd still been curious and adventurous. His feelings for her had remained, and even grew. He might havebeen different, but that didn't mean that every single thing about him had changed. What seemed to be even more serious, was the way Jack told her that he'd gotten a new companion. It hurt a little, sure, but he'd had those before. Martha and Donna had traveled with him.. but they'd only been companions.

She had an idea of what could make Jjack react like that, but she just couldn't believe it. She wouldn't, there was no way... Not after everything. She would have argued, but she heard that strange male voice call out again, joking and calling for Jack. It was a different voice, but if Jack was right, it was still The Doctor. She'd traveled with two different versions of him, and loved them both. Why should this third one be any different? She wasn't gong to wait another second in his office, just standing around, and waiting for... well, she wasn't sure what Jack was trying to get her to say or do.

"Jack, move out of my way."

Her tone wasn't threatening, but it was firm and dead serious. Things might have changed, but in her mind, it was still The Doctor. Her Doctor, and a new companion couldn't change that. She pushed past Jack, out of his office and into the main room of the Hub, where the voices had been coming from. Her eyes instantly came to rest on two figures. A woman, obviously the companion she'd been warned about, and a man. Her breath caught at the sight of him. He was so different... But his eyes, those were the same. The same warm, intelligent, old eyes that she knew.

"Doctor?"

[Jack Harkness]

Jack couldn’t tell her the truth. And he really didn’t want to show her, but when she told him to move out of her way… he moved out of her way and allowed her to go out by him. His head hung slightly, this wasn’t going to be a happy greeting. In fact, Jack didn’t think Rose would actually understand that the Doctor had moved on. After all, the time lord had been separated from Rose by a dimension. How was he to know what had happened, or that she had even returned? Jack understood how the man felt, being separated… and he moved on. Found someone else to complete him. It had happened so many different times that Jack felt he knew how this situation might just go down.

He heard the Doctor call him one more time and smiled sadly. “Coming!” he called from behind Rose. As he followed behind Rose, he looked at the female and smiled despite himself. “Well, hello,” he said, not really trying to be flirtatious – and he really didn’t think he was being flirtatious. But oddly enough, most people seemed to think that that was what he always did. As he looked at River Song, he knew why the Doctor was attracted to her. She was beautiful, intelligent… and obviously not put off by the fact that the alien she travelled with changed. She actually reminded him a lot about Rose had she been a bit older when the two had met. Jack’s eyes had a deep shadow of sadness in them. Hadn’t the Doctor said that he knew when she was going to die?

Jack looked River Song up a few more times and then grinned, “So, I hear you’re from the fifty-first century. Gotta say it’s a bit of a shocker to see someone from my generation here.” He smiled warmly at her and nodded his head. Jack reached for her hand and smiled again before (in a very gentlemanly way) kissed the tops of her knuckles. He lifted his head back up, but held onto her hand for a few more seconds, “Well, I certainly hope he hasn’t told you all about me. He tends to ramble though, and change the truth of the matter,” Jack grinned good-naturedly and then looked over as Rose called out softly to the Doctor. Grimly, he let go of River’s hand and moved over to Rose.

Jack’s eyes rose to meet the Doctors when he moved away from River Song and stood behind Rose. His blue eyes were so filled with sadness as he watched the two of them. What would happen? Would Rose actually understand that her Doctor had moved on and belonged to someone else now? He stood behind Rose, ready to be there for her should she need him. And now he’d fallen silent.

[The Doctor]

When Jack finally answered, the Doctor had shaken his head, grinning at the thought of his friend being ‘busy’. Looking back at River, the Time Lord rolled his eyes and then looked towards the sound’s origin, expecting to see Jack bound out and be his usually upbeat and charming self. After all, this was someone new to impress, and Jack certainly impressed everyone that he met. But that wasn’t exactly how it happened.

A blonde woman came first, but the Doctor wasn’t looking for her. Instead, he glanced behind and saw his friend, saw Jack, ignoring the first to give the impossible man a welcoming smile. He moved to River, and then… and then his hearts stopped. All of the colour drained from his face. “R-Rose?” The Doctor hadn’t meant for his voice to crack, or his chest to hurt so much. And then all of the guilt flushed back into his system, the guilt that he had convinced himself wasn’t right for him to bear. He shouldn’t be happy without Rose. She had been his everything, and let her go because that was for the best.

And then it hit him. The Meta-Crisis clone was dead.

He had known the one thing that could have torn the TARDIS apart to bring Rose back here. He had known, and also known not to even mention it. Unless he was also here, and the other universe had been on the brink of destruction, Rose wouldn’t be here. Then again, if the pair had faced destruction, the Doctor believed that both Rose and the other, half-human version of himself would have died fighting. He had one life, and he lived all of it with Rose. And now, once more she was alone.

The last time that he and Rose had been reunited, the Doctor had run across a street’s debris to try and hold her, only to be shot by a Dalek. Now, in his latest form, he didn’t know whether he should run to hug her, or run out of the door, just so she didn’t see that he had found someone else. Someone that, not an hour beforehand, he had decided to have a proper relationship with.

Glancing back at River, the Time Lord knew that he had to go and comfort Rose, She had been so much, and if she were angry with him later, so be it. Maybe she would get over him faster that way. Offering a smile, he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. “Rose Tyler.” What did he used to say? “I’m sorry, Rose. I’m so, so sorry.” If she didn’t want to talk about the specifics, then that was fine. All that the Doctor wanted was her friendship, as well as wanting to know that she would be okay. Once he had let her go, he gestured towards his newest companion. “And… and this is River Song.” Introducing her as his partner now was probably a bad idea, like he was rubbing her nose in the fact that she would have lost her Doctor. She had lost weight, and looked exhausted. It was the only explanation. She wouldn’t have come back here otherwise.

[River Song]

River grinned at Jack. He was quite the interesting character, flirty as the Doctor had promised but it was almost as though he wasn't even aware of his nature. She took her hand back when he was finished with it, letting it fall to her side. She could tell that he had participated in the whole pheromone craze that had swept their generation, being able to spot it since she was familiar with how it worked. She herself wasn't the type to use it, call her old-fashioned. Still, she had a feeling this Jack Harkness would be quite attractive anyway to those he flirted with, even without the pheromone spray. She was just about to reply, when she noticed a blonde coming forth, whose one word set a silence on the room as heavy as a thick, winter blanket.

River quickly looked over at the Doctor, the smile on her face quickly fading away. She glanced between the two quickly, the Doctor's inquiring voice sounding hollow suddenly in the big room. Rose. The Doctor's face showed something that River wasn't exactly familiar with on him as of late, something along the lines of guilt and sorrow. Looking back at Rose, River's heart pounded harder as pieces began falling into place. This was Rose, the girl that the Doctor had mentioned from time to time. He had never exactly said, but she had always had a feeling that he had had special feelings for the woman as well. But the Doctor had never told her, and River didn't know much more about Rose other than facts: she had been his companion for a while, they had been to such and such places, and they had met these aliens during their time together. That and the fact that she was stuck in a parallel world, and had been twice, the second time with a clone of him.

The subject had always felt strange between them, and River was quickly seeing why. Any feelings she had guessed the Doctor had had for Rose were suddenly very apparent. A tinge of jealousy flared up in her own heart, despite how much she tried to push it away. She took an inconspicuous step backwards as the Doctor went forward to hug Rose. He was apologizing to her, and River wondered what this was about. Didn't the Doctor say that she had had that clone of him from the... what was it... the meta-crisis? That was another unfinished story, so many things implied but never finished. She only knew probably half the story, and it had been because River had asked where this Rose was now. Well, she was obviously without this clone of the Doctor's. Was he dead? Hurt? Stuck somewhere? And how had she gotten back? River thought the Doctor had said travelling between parallel worlds was near impossible. But here was this Rose.

River tried to smile slightly, but it came across as something apologetic and unsure. She nodded her head a bit towards Rose in greeting instead. Confusion threatened to overwhelm her. Was that hug just a comforting sort of thing, for whatever had happened to the woman? The blonde certainly looked as though she had been crying recently, mostly out of red-rimmed eyes, and River really wondered if it had been something wrong with the half-human clone of the Doctor's. She obviously wasn't ignorant enough to open her mouth and ask, but she couldn't help the curiosity. She wondered if everything she and the Doctor had talked about in the restaurant still held true, now that Rose was back. She never had to ask, but she knew there had been something there. She would have been a fool not to see the way that the other woman was looking at him now, something of confusion herself. River realized that she wouldn't have seen him since he had regenerated, so that was probably half of the reason. The other half was probably the presence of... well, herself.

River opened her mouth slightly, trying to think of something to say. She knew that anything that would come out would be ridiculous somehow, and she decided to keep it shut. The talking should perhaps be between these old friends and... whatever else they had been during their time together. She was quickly becoming unsure of herself, a feeling she didn't quite like. Up until now, she had felt as though she was gaining a pretty tight hold on her life, and tonight had so far been more promising than recent with her life with the Doctor. And now... well, she didn't know what this meant. She had no idea if this would change anything or what would happen next.

[Rose Tyler]

Rose didn't pay much attention to Jack as he exchanged greetings with the strange woman who stood next to the Timelord. His flrting didn't bother her in the least. It was just who he was, and how he spoke to people. He was charming, and had those 51st century pheromones that very few people seemed to try and resist. She wasn't bothered by his nature, she liked it, because it was a part of what made him special. Besides, her attention was fully on the Timelord standing in front of her, and looking so different from the way she kept picturing him in her mind.

His previous form had been much more lanky and always wore that suit, and the one before that hadbeen fond of the leather jackets, and had no hair. But both versions of The Doctor had been absolutely wonderful, and this one, while he didn't have the face she'd fallen in love with, he still had those eyes. The eyes that over-looked her, at first, but she saw the recogniztion once they finaly took in who she was. Rose had never thought far enogh ahead to know what this moment would be like, seeing him again. All she'd know was that it had to happen.

Now that it finally had, she found herself at a loss for what to say or do. She didn't feel like she could move, to even walk to him, she was too caught up in seeing all of the changes that she hadn't expected to see. Luckily, she wasn't the one who had to make the first move. When he walked over to her and puleld her close, she returne the gesture, wrapping her arms around him. She burried her face in his shirt, holding him tightly. He was so different. There was more muscle, and a different scent, but it was still wonderful. She held onto him, until he pulled away, and she looked back up at him.

His apology was just another sign that it was him, just as clever as he'd always been. Without her even having to say anything, he knew what had happend. She almost forgot about the other woman standing there, until The Doctor turned to introduce the two women to each other. This was the woman that Jack had tried to tell her about... and she could see why he had been so worried. Rose saw it in the girl's eyes, and her face. She wasn't just a friend he'd picked up somewhere. It made Rose feel like a knife had ben stabbed through her heart... did The Doctor feel the same way?

"You're... his new companion."

Something told Rose that "new" wasn't exactly the right word to use in this case. She had the eyes of a woman who had seen a lot... at that look on her face... Rose recognized it, and it made her feel like she was the other woman. But that couldn't be, she'd been there first. Rose looked back at Jack, and the look on his face was all she needed to know. The blonde didn't know what she could, there was no right sentence for this situation. She needed to know more, how long the had been together, why he had picked her... how he had let himself love her, after he kept pushig Rose away. She felt so betrayed.

[Jack Harkness]

Jack swallowed had as the Doctor missed over Rose and then settled his gaze on her fully. The Captain hadn’t been anticipating this moment, and he was looking at it with a certain amount of dread. How would this new Doctor handle having Rose back? After witnessing the Doctor talking about River Song… Jack knew that the man truly loved his new companion – to a degree that Jack didn’t doubt he would have loved Rose. And Jack knew that this new Doctor still loved Rose (because he was still mostly the same man, or at least had the same personality as before), but how much would the man be willing to sacrifice for her? Jack knew that things would never go back to the way they were, too many new things had happened.

But perhaps ends could be tied up and feelings would be let go. At the moment Jack didn’t envy the spot the Doctor was in. Stuck between two women, two women who both loved him an awful lot, it was heart breaking. Jack had been like that before, but there had been more – and they hadn’t been all women. Or even human for that matter. Jack closed his eyes as he remembered a few of those moments, it was like no one could really stay away from Jack. He was a gravitational pull for everyone not tied in true love. And Jack hadn’t denied them anything but his head. He’d never given that up to anyone, well. That was entirely a lie. Sometimes Jack felt he didn’t have a heart anymore left to give.

He’d given it away so many times that he really wasn’t sure what was left of him now. This was part of the problem between Jack and Ianto. Sure, Jack loved Ianto and he was fairly certain that the man loved him back… but Ianto was a one-man kinda guy. And Jack, well… he wasn’t. Jack’s handsome features twisted into a frown as he thought about Ianto, now that Rose was here and going to stay with them (unless the Doctor took her with him… but with River Song there in the blender, Jack was almost positive that Rose wouldn’t go along with it.). It would be a jealous bout between the two, and if it came that Jack had to pick on or the other; Jack wasn’t entirely sure who he would choose.

Both were good for him. Rose was someone he knew could take his wild ways and bring them more to the surface. Make him want to explore. But Ianto grounded him and brought out his calmer side, he needed Ianto right now. But he also needed Rose, needed her too much for words. In an ideal world, Jack wanted to have both of them, and while he would be sure that Rose wouldn’t mind him having a relationship with Ianto along with her, he was confident that Ianto wouldn’t want to be in on it. He had that whole monogamist feel to him, and that was disappointing. Jack’s expression remained sad as he brought himself back to the actions happening at hand. He turned and looked at the female and the male hugging in the middle of his Hub.

And then the Doctor introduced River Song, and Jack knew that Rose would easily have put two and two together. He waited and didn’t say anything to them, or River Song. Speaking of that female, he turned and looked over at her. She had a jealous sort of look about her, and he sighed. Despite her being from the fifty-first century he didn’t get the feeling that she would be that open with her relationships. Shame. Jack thought, looking her up and down again. And then he re-focused his attention back to the situation at hand once more. He looked at Rose and the Doctor, and then waited to see what would happen. He really wasn’t a part of this conversation until he was brought back into it.

It was all up to Rose and the Doctor.

[The Doctor]

The Doctor would have winced if he hadn’t already told River some of the truth. She was under no illusion that she was his one and only companion. Because he had wanted to make her a part of his life, the Time Lord had been more open than he ever had been before with her, even right from the start. It was completely different to Rose, who had only found out about Sarah Jane Smith when they happened to both look in on that school in London. Then again, everything had still been so fresh for the Doctor, the loss of his people and his home planet. All he wanted to do was bury the past, hoping that he could almost pretend that everything was fine, and he just fancied a bit of travelling for a while. Even with Martha, he had tried to keep a pretence that Gallifrey was still there. She had asked to see his home planet, and he lied, saying that he didn’t want to do something so boring.

And it was still hard.

Rose had clung onto him. Her scent was still the same, although she looked like she had finally grown into womanhood. Before, she had been an impetuous teenager, with signs of true maturity when the Doctor had left her with his other self. Now, she had changed. It might have just been the grief, but she certainly had become stronger. There was no telling what she had seen or done in the parallel universe, after all. And the TARDIS coral that he and Donna had given her and the Meta-Crisis Doctor must have grown, and then taken Rose as its own, after the clone’s death. Unless the TARDIS had chosen her to have the symbiotic bond in the first place.

What to do. Although he didn’t want to hurt Rose any more than she had already been hurt, he also knew that he had a loyalty to River. An hour beforehand, they had been talking about the future. He had been admitting pieces of his past, and they had kissed as lovers in a terribly domesticated setting. He loved Rose, and he always would, but his hearts belonged to River.

Retreating from Rose’s arms, he found himself back at River’s side. He couldn’t let the comment slide, making it sound that River was just going to be one in a long line of people. Every companion was special, unique, but the woman was different. And even if he took another companion after her death, she would be the one that made sure he would never love again.

He just couldn’t lie to her. The Doctor respected Rose too much. And that’s when he thought of Jack. He then glared at the captain, a flare of anger radiating his eyes. “And you knew. You let me walk away, and Rose was right here. We’re supposed to be friends, Jack, regeneration or not.” It wasn’t something that the Doctor would hate Jack for, but he was furious with him. Jack was still one of his greatest friends – always would be – but he had stepped out of line. The Doctor had needed to know this, to prepare. Instead, he walked right where he shouldn’t, bringing poor River into all of this mess.

Taking her hand, he looked apologetically at River, hoping she wouldn’t blame him for this. His hearts felt like they were being ripped apart. “Rose. River is my friend. And…” Why did it hurt so much to say, when at the same time, the Doctor was so proud? “And we’re… we’re together.” Wrapping his arm around River’s waist, he smiled at her before glancing back at Rose. He hadn’t felt so awful in such a long time. In fairness, he was angry with Jack for the man trying to do his best. This would have had to happen sooner or later anyway, and it wasn’t fair to Rose to keep her in the dark, possibly hoping for a rekindling of what they once had. He really didn’t want her to find out like this. For now, the Doctor was just glad that he would have River’s support.

[River Song]

River's jealousy wasn't exactly nearing the same heights as the mixture confusion and a little bit of hurt that she was feeling. She looked back at the other woman, seeing a variety of emotions in her as well. She and the Doctor... well, she had thought they had come to something, and while she didn't expect that he would so quickly change his mind upon seeing someone from her past, she didn't know if she could count it out entirely. The Doctor hadn't entirely expounded on this part of his past to her just yet, and while she had had the feeling that he had had feelings for this woman, she didn't know just how deep they ran. Still, she couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy and compassion to her, knowing that it would also be a terrible situation, if she were in this woman's shoes.

The Doctor was at her side once more, and River felt tense. It appeared as though he was trying not to waver in his decision, but felt bad about what had become a horrible mess. She winced as he began to yell at Jack, looking over with another sort of compassion for this captain. Yes, it would have been a lot better if Jack had told him, and yes, it would have helped him prepare for the meeting - but how different would it really have been? River looked up with her eyes at the Doctor, with almost a pleading look at him. "Doctor, please," she said softly, putting her hand on his arm as though to calm him down.

River couldn't help but feel a bit of relief go through her as the Doctor put his arm about her, and she wondered how bad of a person that had made her. Besides trying to calm him with his anger again Jack, River still felt as though it wasn't her place to speak right now. This was between the Doctor and Rose, as much as she hated it. She was the type to want a little bit of bearings and perhaps a little control in situations, but this was completely out of her hands. Whatever they decided... well, that would be it. She looked towards Rose, wondering what was going through her mind, able to see the hurt in her face. With anyone else, she would have been by their side, trying to comfort them, as she did on her adventures with the Doctor, unknowing to her, like many of his other companions had in the past as well. This was not one of those appropriate times, however.


((OoC: Sorry, it's short! But I'm going to be out today and I didn't want to slow down the excitement Quickie before I left is all!))

[Rose Tyler]

Rose could only watch as The Doctor moved away from her, an act that said more than he ever could. He moved away to walk back to River, and it was like with every step he took, he was stomping on her heart, and leaving it in the dirt. Her eyes took in River putting her hand on The Doctor's arm, and she couldn't believe she was actually seeing this. The way the two of them looked at each other, and the deep emotions they shared, it was more painful than almost anything she'd had to live through in the past.

She barely even cared when The Doctor was angrily addressing Jack. She was too busy looking at his arm around the other woman. She didn't bame Jack for anything he'd done to her... there had barely been time for them to talk, and what could he had said with the few seconds they'd had to spare? She was upset, but she wasn't upset enough to cause a scene about it. Jack wasn't the one who had betrayed her, and made her feel as if she was less than an inch tall. She had never felt more insignificant in her entire life.

What she just couldn't figure out, was how? She had seen a lot of thing in her life that had confused her, or taken her a while to understand, but this one just had her floored in the most aweful way. For years, she'd been with him. Their feelings had been clear, yet he'd always tried to ignore them. She'd crossed dimentional walls twice for him, to be with him, and had known that he loved her, but he'd always pushed her away. How had he let all of that go, to be with this woman so fully? What did she had, that Rose didn't?

"You promised me."

It was the only thing that Rose could think to say. When she'd met Sarah Jane, she had been upset. She'd felt like just another girl in a long line of girls that The Doctor had picked up. He'd assured her that she was different, and it wasn't the same thing. He'd told her that he would never be able to replace her. He'd promised that he wouldn't. But he had, with this girl. Once more, he'd left her behind, and she'd been so sure that they both felt the same way. Had he changed so much with this new face?

She couldn't just stand there and look at him. She couldn't look at him, with her, them together with their arms around each other. She couldn't even cry, the pain went too deep. Turning away from them, Rose walked around Jack to get away from the group. The Blonde didn't have the energy to handle it all like that. She'd made a huge mistake coming there. She hurried to make her way around the corner, and started down the stairs that would lead her to the basement.