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"You haven't seen the size of my flat yet," Rose said. "I might spend too much time at work, but when<br />
I'm home, I want to love the place."<br />
"Well, that settles it," the Doctor said. "It must be brilliant. I'm tingling with anticipation, want to feel?"<br />
Rose found her door, and was about to say something sassy about feeling him tingle when she came to a<br />
horrible realization that stopped her in her tracks. "Oh, bollocks," she said. "I left my keys at the office."<br />
The Doctor's face fell. "What? Why?"<br />
"I was going through to all those different universes, wasn't I?" Rose said, going for her mobile instead.<br />
"I wasn't going to lose my keys on a Dalek mothership in an parallel universe. Hold on, I think there's<br />
somebody at the office this late, I can...do something." Because she didn't relish traipsing to work at an<br />
hour like this, especially with the Doctor and their bags in tow, but she'd be fantastically lucky to reach<br />
somebody who'd come out here to rescue her.<br />
But while Rose was fumbling around with her phone, the Doctor reached out to rattle the knob. It<br />
turned easily in his hand, and he pushed it inwards about half an inch. "Hello," he murmured. "Are you<br />
sure you didn't leave the gas on, too?"<br />
"I always lock my door," Rose said, and a thrill of alarm went up her spine, along with a heavy sense of<br />
no, no, no, not now, not when I've finally got everything sorted! She put her phone in her pocket. "Stand<br />
behind me, okay?"<br />
"Hardly," the Doctor sniffed. "I'll have you know I'm well schooled in the gentleman's art of Bartitsu. I<br />
defy anyone to come at me with a walking stick." He set aside his suitcase and reached automatically<br />
into his breast pocket; he seemed surprised to come up with nothing but the wrapper of a Mars bar he'd<br />
bought at Paddington Station. "Or, you know, a piece of plastic," he said. "I'm very deadly with a piece of<br />
plastic."<br />
Rose sighed. "If someone's expecting me, they probably won't expect you," she said. "Doctor, please."<br />
He lowered his brows at her, but took a step back. "All right," he said. "Just...be careful. This isn't my<br />
best position."<br />
She nodded, and ease open the door, fully prepared to duck the onslaught of an alien assassin or rogue<br />
Cyberman or some more mundane, home-grown threat, like terrorist. She thought she heard a slow<br />
intake of breath, a shift of clothing, the creak of the floorboard near the kitchen, and then she pushed<br />
the door open all the way and--<br />
"Surprise!"<br />
It seemed that she'd developed a slight infestation of Torchwood in her living room.<br />
Her team were clustered near the sofa, with Tosh holding a banner that said CONGRATULATIONS ROSE<br />
AND MICKEY and Grace clutching a bunch of balloons in one hand and a bottle of vodka in the other.<br />
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