On the last mostly normal day of her life, Rose Marion Tyler awoke in a strange bed.
Her life had been the normal series of random accidents and wondrous mishaps, but now, they coalesced into an intricate and unbreakable pattern. Although the delicate balance of the universe had been disturbed, only the stars knew it. The sun warned her by setting five minutes late. The galaxy compensated by shifting slightly to the right. A green light flashed across the sky, froze for a millionth of a second, and then was captured by a pair of large hazel eyes.
But that had nothing to do with the fact that she wasn't in her bedroom.
Rose turned over and groaned. Jumbled recollections from the night before filled her brain. She had been drinking at the pub, she definitely remembered dancing with—oh god—
"Shareen!" she yelped, voice slightly muffled by a navy blue pillow of indifferent cleanliness. Her friend appeared quickly, with a grin that did not look promising.
"Morning. Do you want any breakfast?"
"Shareen, why am I at your brother's flat?" And in his bed, she added silently.
"You crashed here last night." she answered lightly.
"I— look, Shareen, last night, I didn't…"
"Didn't do what?" Shareen asked, examining her nails.
"Anything." Her eyes closed in humiliation.
"What, don't you remember?" she smiled innocently.
Rose growled at her.
"Down girl. You didn't sleep with anyone, you just had a few drinks…."
She relaxed a little.
"…danced on the table, tried to sing Madonna, got us kicked out of the bar, drunk-dialed Mickey, and threw up on your boss's new girlfriend!" finished Shareen, starting to giggle.
Rose flushed scarlet. "Oh God. Which one?" she moaned.
"I dunno. How you keep track is beyond me. What do you think you're doing?"
Rose had jumped out of bed and was starting to collect her things.
"I'm late for work."
"You're always working! You should have more fun in life…you are not going out in that."
Despite herself, Rose stopped. "What's wrong with my outfit?"
"It's the same one you wore yesterday! What kind of friend would I be if I didn't stop you?"
Rose shook her head. "I don't have time for this." She made to continue dressing, but Shareen grabbed her wrist.
"I'll be back in a tick," she promised, and reappeared with a bundle of what she considered 'suitable.'
"You call that…. stripper outfit a dress?"
"Your jacket will cover it."
Rose would have liked to argue, but she didn't have the time. She dressed quickly and fled the flat.
As she ran, the estate began to wake up around her. Mrs. O'Reilly was letting her cat out, and the couple in 15B had started their daily argument. She passed the postman at a run, managing only a quick wave to his "Mornin' Rose" and nearly got run over by Officer Daniels on his morning patrol.
"For god's sake girl, watch where you're running!" he snapped, rolling down his window. When she didn't react, he drove off, muttering something about inattentive blonds.
She reached the diner where she worked in the morning with seconds to spare, huffing and puffing in a way that would have done the big bad wolf proud. She knelt beneath the red awning of the diner to massage her ankle briefly.
"Rose! Thank goodness you made it, Delia's already late. Blimey, you alright?"
Rose had tried to spin round and get up at the same time, and had nearly fallen.
"I'm fine, thanks, Charlie." Rose said.
"Good. That's good. Umm… the General is spitting mad." The speaker had light brown hair and astonishingly blue eyes.
Rose blinked. "What! Oh no, is it that blasted espresso machine again? I don't know why he doesn't just replace it."
Charlie offered an embarrassed smile. He was rubbish with electronics.
"I'll do it," she sighed, deciding to focus on the one thing she could help. As she passed him he opened his mouth to say something, and a flash of memory returned from the night before. Great. It was the General's girlfriend that—ah well, too late now.
Ten minutes later, the diner opened, and both Rose and Charlie were swamped with the usual morning rush. Rose whirled, taking orders from the customers, exchanging jokes with regulars, and helping Charlie man the espresso bar.
At last, the breakfast rush was over, and only a few people remained. Rose was talking to Charlie while having breakfast at the bar when the doorbell jangled.
"How can I help you, sir?" asked Delia the hostess in a voice that told Rose that the stranger was good-looking, and also that Delia had argued with her husband the night before.
Rose hastily put down her muffin so that she could interfere. She couldn't have Delia flirting with the poor man; her bear of a husband would strangle him if he happened to walk by.
"Would you like some coffee?" she asked politely. He was fit, she'd give Delia that. His head snapped round and he looked at her oddly. It was as if he had never seen a woman before. Rose flushed, uncomfortably aware that her hair was a mess and that she hadn't showered.
"Not if I'm interrupting your breakfast," the stranger replied. Rose realized that she still had crumbs on her chin, and hastily wiped it.
"It's no trouble, sir really," she promised, feeling a bit off-balance.
"Some tea, thank you," he said, his grin slightly suggestive. His eyes are gorgeous she realized.
"Glad to find someone who isn't completely Americanized," she teased. "Would you like any breakfast with that sir?"
Delia glared at her, and Rose met her gaze steadily. It's really not worth it Rose told her silently. Delia huffed and went back to hostessing. The customer looked from her to Delia's retreating back, amused. Embarrassed, Rose realized how their staring match must have looked.
"Do you have any banana muffins?" Damn! She had taken the last one.
"No sir, but we do have banana pancakes with a side of eggs and hash-browns." This time she was all business, allowing no other emotion to cross her face.
"I'll take that then."
By the time Rose finished her shift, she was running late again. Today was Monday, and on Mondays she worked at a department store. If it was the weekend, she would have been fine, she worked in her friend Sally's shop then and Sally always understood when she was late.
If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed the two tall men that entered the diner once she left, or at least heard the door jangling shut behind them.
When she left Temmels at 5:00 precisely, she saw her mysterious customer again. He was wearing different clothes, and in what seemed to be a rather serious argument with some woman; her shrieks could be heard from across the park. He seemed to be trying to calm her down. There was someone else with them, but she quickly forgot the incident when she saw the time.
Arriving at her last job, she let the familiar contentment wash over her. Her days were full of work and precious little else, but in the evenings, she taught gymnastics to the under-sevens class at Beckindale's gym. She loved everything about it; the gleaming mirrors, the broken water cooler, and the bright, enthusiastic, lazy or sullen faces of her students.
"Ms. Rose, Becky says that Suzie might be absent this week," reported Lila.
"Are you sure?" Rose asked. Her little lieutenant nodded glumly. "Well, why don't we give her some time anyway."
Raising her voice, Rose shouted "Freestyle for an extra ten minutes, girls," and smiled at their evident delight.
The gym was a little more crowded than usual, and her class ended late because of the absent Suzie. The owner eventually just handed Rose the keys to the gym with an admonishment to lock up carefully. Rose had missed the last bus and briefly debated calling her dad, but it was a warm summer night so she decided to walk. As she walked, she worried about the absent Suzie. The girl had already missed three practices because of her divorcing parents.
Suddenly, she heard a loud crashing noise coming from a nearby alleyway. Turning, she was momentarily blinded by a harsh white-blue light. Rose jumped back, shielding her eyes, and was running before her mind even registered what she had seen. She pulled out her phone to dial 999, but her attacker wrestled her to the ground before she could press send.
"Oof! God you're fast," panted a woman, then, as Rose continued thrashing, "You're okay, I'm not going to hurt you, don't worry."
The voice was somehow familiar.
"Let me up then!"
"Do you promise not to run?"
She shook her head, still wondering where she had heard that voice before.
"Fine," she grunted eventually. The woman released her, and Rose massaged her ankle, biting back a whimper.
"Did I hurt you?" the voice was contrite and a little panicked.
Rose shook her head again. "Old injury."
She looked up, and saw… herself. The woman's hair was shorter and darker, her expression fierce, but apart from that, they could be twins.
Rose reached out a curious hand to touch her face. "I must be going mad. Who are you?"
Other Rose smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. They looked unutterably weary.
"Don't worry you're not going mad. I'm not you, well I am sort of...what on earth are you wearing?"
Somehow, she didn't find the woman's answer reassuring. Then, her comment registered. Rose winced and decided to ignore it. She had always been her own worst critic.
"Listen GI Jane, what do you mean, sort of me? For that matter, why are you here?"
"I can't tell you," said other Rose regretfully, "but you'll find out soon enough."
"If you can't tell me why you're here, then why come in the first place?"
The other woman sighed. "Look Rose, very soon you are going to be… dimensionally fluid and I just wanted to warn you. If you wake up somewhere odd, don't panic, play along. I'll find you."
Rose's head spun. This was quite possibly the oddest conversation she had ever had. Despite her alter ego's assurances, she was quite sure that she'd lost it completely. There was so much that she needed to ask, but all that came out was, "What should I call you? I'm not calling you Rose, that's too weird."
"Call me!?" asked Other Rose, sounding incredulous.
"Everyone's got to be called something."
The other woman gave a quick, pained laugh. "Call me…Bad Wolf. It's more accurate than Rose anyway."
Bad Wolf leaned down and picked up the thing that had made the noise back in the alleyway. Rosie jumped back with a gasp. It was a large gun, no— cannon as big as she was, but she held it easily.
"I'm not going to shoot you," Bad Wolf said, exasperated. "This is my ride."
"Where are you going" Rosie asked.
Bad Wolf smiled crookedly. "I don't know!"
Rosie realized that the other woman was frightened. She felt bad for her, although she was only a hallucination. She gave Bad Wolf an encouraging smile before she faded away.
Rose finished her walk home in a daze. Mechanically, she ate the supper that her father had laid out for her, ignoring his questions about her day. She honestly didn't know how to answer him. After dinner, Rose climbed up the rickety stairs and opened her bedroom door, but despite her best efforts, the next morning she awoke in a strange bed again.