Fic: Don't Worry, I've Got You 3/4
Title: Don't Worry, I've Got You 3/4
Author: Qtrhorserider
Pairings: The Tyler troop
Ratings: PG
Spoilers: through Series 4
Disclaimers: Not mine, not even close, I just channel them.
Summary: The copter ride home, with a slight delay



Rose's demeanor changed as soon as she set foot on the copter. No longer was she the young woman who traversed different dimensions to find her lost love and then kissed him on the beach. This Rose was a woman in charge.

She went forward, donning a headset so she could talk with the pilots. This was more than the fact that she was now an heiress, she was plainly their commanding officer. After a brief conversation, where presumably they had been given their instructions, she returned to the back and motioned for them to take their seats.

Jackie donned her headset and motioned for the Doctor to do the same. Obviously she was used to this sort of travel too. "So what's the plan?" asked Jackie.

"Well, once we've dropped you home, Rose and I…" began the Doctor but Rose quickly interrupted.

"We were trying to figure out the best way to do this without some sort of media attention," said Rose. "I'm having them radio Dad to meet us at Torchwood. He's going to drive there on his own. Nothing unusual there, but then we'll switch to a Torchwood car. One of them mentioned Dad wanting to bring Tony, so I arranged for one of the unmarked limos so we'll have enough room."

"I'm sorry I interrupted you," Rose said to the Doctor, taking his hand. "But this is the best way with Mum, Dad and Tony involved. Besides, you've shown me so much already, it's time for me to show you what I've learned. Let me take care of things until you get acclimated, ok?"

The Doctor nodded his assent. For the first time in since he was a boy, he was well and truly not in charge. Well except for Midnight and that was terrifying. At least he was with people who had his best interest at heart.

At the back of his mind, though, he could hear Donna. "What's the matter, Martian boy, can't take it when a woman's in charge? Isn't that what you wanted? For her to go on and do her best? Admit it, you're jealous. Get over yourself. Besides, she traveled how far to find you? She loves you. Let her do this for you." That woman had definitely made an impression, not to mention leaving some of herself with him.

He stretched his legs out and looked at Rose and thought to himself, "She is so beautiful. But same man or no, it wasn't me she came after, it was him. It was the guy with two hearts and a TARDIS, not the scaled down, mixed up human version."

Rose smiled at him and gave his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back but he wasn't sure if it was for her reassurance or his. He could feel his single heart thumping in his chest, which was another thing. It's not that he felt lopsided, but just not as physically powerful. He was used to feeling the extra energy, the extra life force, from blood that was doubly oxygenated. Now he was aware of his own frailty. One heart, one life. This was going to take some getting used to.

Rose watched him nervously. "I really shouldn't have stepped on him like that," she thought. "He's so used to being in charge and I switch into command mode without any warning." She wanted to scoot over and sit next to him, but she couldn't in the air craft's seats. She wanted the jump seat back. "How is he going to fare without a TARDIS? Will he want to leave me?" She had responsibilities now. Would he want a different traveling companion when she couldn't leave whenever he wanted her to?

Just as she thought they were about to take off, Rose heard the engines power down. "That's odd," she said rising to her feet.

"What is it? What's going on?" Jackie asked.

"Dunno, Mum. Just stay there, I'm going to find out." The Doctor was right behind her as she started for the cockpit. The co-pilot saved her the trip by emerging from the front.

"What is it?" she asked, keeping herself composed.

"Ma'am, we thought we should ask you what to do before we took off and just left it."

"Left what?"

"Once you were on board, the blue box reappeared momentarily. The back was towards us, but when it left, it seems that a trunk had been left behind on the beach. We didn't know if it was dangerous or not, so we're asking you for instructions."

The Doctor was hanging out of the door and gave a gleeful laugh. "I recognize that trunk. It's my old academy trunk. I wonder why he would have left it."

"Well you did come with, if you'll pardon the expression, just the clothes on your back. Maybe he thought he'd better give you some things to get started with. Though that would take some thought on his part."

The Doctor shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. It gave Rose butterflies to watch the familiar body language. He had a puzzle to solve. "I'll bet Donna made him."

"Bet you're right," grinned Rose. She turned to her staff. "Do a quick scan, just to be on the safe side, but then bring it on board. I think the Doctor's luggage has just caught up with him."

The Doctor and Rose returned to their seats to wait for the results. They hadn't even sat down before Jackie was demanding answers.

"Soo, come on, what is it? Are we under a quarantine or something?"

"Nothing like that. It looks like the Doctor popped back in to leave the Doctor a going away present."

"A present?" Jackie mused. "If Donna had anything to do with it, I'll bet it's underwear. Practical girl that one. I really did like her. I'll miss that one."

The Doctor had managed to cover his face with one hand. He didn't want Jackie to see that her contemplating his underwear was a bit embarrassing. Ok, more than a bit embarrassing.

"Miss Tyler," the co-pilot addressed her as he re-entered the passenger cabin. "We're stowing the trunk now, but this envelope was attached to the top. It's addressed to the Doctor."

"Thank you," she said, taking it and passing it to him.

The Doctor opened the large manila envelope and removed its contents. The letter on top began:

Dear Me,

That didn't quite start out like I'd like it to. Donna reminded me that I shouldn't send you out naked and helpless into the world, so I packed you a few things, well actually more than a few. You should recognize the trunk from our old academy days. Bigger on the inside you know. There are some things for Rose and Jackie too. You may each want to open yours when you're alone, then decide if you want to share or not. Well, not much time, good luck.

The Doctor.


Dear Friend,

I won't call you the Doctor because you are your own person. I made him leave you with some things. He protested, I'll have you know but I set him right. "What's the point of havin' a flippin' time machine if you can't go back until just before you miss your connection?" I said. Like I said, there's stuff for you and also Rose and Jackie. Tell them I'll miss them. I'll miss you to. You've got a little bit of me in you, so you'll be just fine. Take care.

Love,

Donna.

"Well, seems we're to have a bit of Christmas in July then," said Jackie. "Wonder why he wants us to open them alone? You don't think there's anything weird or anything in there do you?"

"Nah" said the Doctor. "Probably wants to save me the embarrassment of having you see my underwear."

"Save who the embarrassment, because I'll tell you this, mate, I've got no desire what so ever to see what separates your bum from your suit. That said, it's Rose who'll do your laundry. No way am I gettin' involved with those knickers."

"Oh my god, you two," groaned Rose. "Tell me I haven't just got a glimpse of the rest of my life."

Jackie and the Doctor laughed with her and they all settled in for the long ride home.

The trio was dead tired. It was several hours from Norway to London, so despite the noise from the engines and rotors, they slept. Rose and the Doctor managed to keep their fingers meshed for most of the trip and it wasn't until one of the pilots called out to Rose that they would be landing in about 10 minutes that she dropped his hand to stretch. The Doctor, noticing the lack of contact, stirred and stretched out himself.

"Needed that," she said to him. He nodded and yawned in agreement. "We'll be landing in 10 minutes or so.

"Mum," she called to Jackie, "wake up, we're almost there."

Jackie stirred in her seat. "Where are we?"

"About ten minutes, well five by now, away from Torchwood. Rise and shine!" Rose teased.

"Don't get cheeky with me, I'm still your Mum, and we still have that crayon on the wall issue to deal with." Jackie gave her daughter a wink and the group dissolved into laughter as the copter descended.

The craft settled onto the ground and they waited for clearance to disembark. Again the Doctor went first, giving a hand to Jackie. Rose gave the crew a small salute before allowing the Doctor to steady her descent. She smiled up at him and took his hand. She was once again "Rose the girl" not "Rose the commander" and the Doctor relaxed. They turned and watched as Jackie sprinted towards Pete.

"They missed each other," said the Doctor.

"Yeah, they're always like that and trying to pretend their not. Act like you didn't notice."

"Were you that glad to see me?"

''Course I was, what a silly question," she replied. "Where'd that come from?"

"I guess what I was wondering was, are you happy that it's me? Rather, is it okay that it's not him? I mean, I'm him, just a bit different, and I can't take you places in space anymore and…"

She put her fingers to his lips and hushed him. "Thought we went over this on the beach? I'm here for you. I haven't been off planet for years and I'm surviving. And yes, I am glad it's you. We just have to get used to each other. I've changed too, you know."

"Yeah, I kinda noticed. Rose Tyler – Defender of the Earth, with guns included. The helicopter and pilot team sold separately."

"Does that bother you? Did it bother him?"

"Yeah, him a bit, but when he was running towards you, he chose not to see it, and just saw you. I only know that because I was still him then. Does it bother you that I killed all the Daleks? Can you accept a man who did something that horrible?"

"I vaguely remember doing the same thing once. I guess birds of a feather, you know."

By then they were at the car. Rose dropped his hand to give her Dad a hug. Pete gave him a serious look before breaking into a grin and shaking his hand. The two pilots stowed the trunk in the boot of the car while they were greeting each other. Then they saluted Pete, turned and strode towards the waiting aircraft.

"We'll need to pile in quietly," Pete said. "Tony slept all the way here and only woke up a bit when I switched his car seat. The kid can usually sleep though anything but he's crabby if you wake him when he's not ready."

"Yeah, you really don't want to hear that all the way home," said Rose. "He's got Mum's lungs," she said mostly to the Doctor, though the joke wasn't missed by the rest of the entourage.

"I'm going to ground you if you keep it up," Jackie said in her best "Mum" voice. "Where did we go wrong with her, Pete? She's got that cheeky streak, writes on walls, and rumor has it that she tags space stations."

"That's one story I'll have to hear, but first, let's get home. It's been a long night.'

"I agree with that," the Doctor said, shutting the door to the limo. As soon as they were all buckled in, Pete signaled the driver to proceed.

The Doctor and Rose sat in one seat in the back of the limo holding hands. Pete and Jackie, with Tony between them in his car seat, took up the other. The Doctor and Rose were both sound asleep almost as soon as the car started moving. Tony, too, was asleep, having never woken up during the car ride to retrieve his mum and sister.

"Look, Pete, all the kids are asleep," said Jackie with a giggle. "I always wanted to say that," she told him wistfully. "When my other Pete and I got married, we talked about having a lot of kids and car trips to the country on Saturdays. Never got that with him. But here I sit with you, my new improved Pete. I don't care, really, if we're in a limo or some rusted mess of a car. Just look around, you're all here. My whole family and I'm so lucky."

"That you are," said Pete stretching his arm over the top of Tony's car seat so he could rest a hand on Jackie's shoulder. "You do anything like this again, you go and get yourself mortally wounded, and I'm going to kill you. You scared me, Jacks. I'm serious. I was here when my other Jackie got taken by the Cybermen. I found her inside of one of those abominations. I can't bear the thought of going through that again."

Jackie reached up to hold his hand. She turned her head so she could look Pete in the face as she nodded her assent. "I promise," she said softly.

Just then, Tony stirred a bit. "Mummy," he asked, "is Sissy 'Ose going to be a mummy now too?"

"Where'd you get that idea?" she asked in a low but amused voice.

"'Cause she's holding his hand."

"Why does that mean she's going to be a mummy?" asked Pete, equally confused.

"Because Mummy holds my hand because she's the mummy. She holds your hand because you're the daddy. And he isn't Sissy 'Ose's little boy, so he must be a daddy and that means she's a mummy."

Pete and Jackie gave each other that universal look that all parents give each other when their child has just done something that they find terribly cute or amazing. "Well, I don't think that they are going to be parents for a long while yet," Jackie told her son, smoothing down the strawberry blond fluff that covered his head. "But holding hands is a good place to start." She gave Pete's hand a firm squeeze and counted her blessings.