A Quiet Breakthrough

Rory sat down at a desk in the study and flipped opened his laptop. Immediately, static appeared on the screen and remained for several seconds before a blonde girl appeared. To Rory, she looked around Amy's age.

"Uh, hello," Rory began cautiously.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Rory Williams. How . . . how are you on my laptop?"

"Torchwood on this side created a subwave network similar to what Harriet Jones developed. We also developed a way to communicate with other universes without any risks."

"Umm . . . what?"

"We can communicate across two parallel universes, but only communicate. Anyway, I'm looking for the Doctor. Are you with him?"

Rory quickly shifted his gaze down before looking at Rose again. "Oh, I used to travel with him, but not anymore."

Rose sighed. "Torchwood was been working on this for a very long time, and personally, I've been trying to use this network to contact the Doctor for the past three days. I guess this still needs some tinkering."

"You're Rose Tyler, right?"

Rose smiled. "The Doctor's talked about me?"

"Yeah, occasionally. So, umm . . . you need to talk to the Doctor? Do you want to leave a message in case I ever see him again?"

"No, that's all right. I can ask someone to reconfigure this device." Rose sighed. "She was certain it would work this time."

"Do you miss him?" Rory asked.

"Yeah, I do. "

"I did at first, too, but when I realized how different everything was after he changed, maybe it was for the best that I left."

Rose frowned. "He changed?"

"Yeah; actually, one of the times he was talking about you, he mentioned that he had undergone several changes since seeing you last."

"Oh," Rose said. A slight look of heartbreak appeared on her face, making Rory feel badly for her. He aimed to change the direction of the conversation.

"The Doctor mentioned that he saw you shortly before one of his changes. He said a lot of you saved the universe."

Rose smiled. "Yeah."

"Would you tell me a bit about that adventure?"

Rose went into vivid detail about the darkness that crept upon her universe, her contacts with Donna, seeing the Doctor again, defeating the Daleks, and leaving Norway with her mother and the human Doctor.

"It seems like you got a happy ending there."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because you got to be with the Doctor and no one else did."

"But it's not him. I tried to make it work, but I can't and that's why I'm here."

"You're right that he's not the Doctor. He's better. He's human. He can feel what you feel and age how you age. Less alienness, I gather. You have a life partner who is a human in the ways it matters and the Doctor, the Doctor you knew, in the ways that count. What could be better than having the best of two worlds?"

"I . . ."

"You don't know this current Doctor, anymore. No one does."

"You said no one else got to be with the Doctor. What happened to Donna?"

"The Doctor had to erase her memories. It was painful for them both."

"And you, why aren't you with the Doctor?"

"Disagreements. Tensions that began after one of his changes just got the better of us. I suppose there's a limit of a couple years in how much time a human and a complete alien can spend together, not that you have to deal with that."

"What do you do now?"

"I'm a nurse at Grey Medical Center. I just got promoted to a supervisory position."

"It looks like you're doing well after your time with the Doctor."

"You too, from what I hear. You're working at Torchwood you said?"

Rose smiled. "Yeah, I'm defending the planet against aliens."

Rory laughed. "You get to continue in your adventures, then, with the Doctor you knew?"

"Yeah, but I don't travel as much."

"It's still just as fun, though, right?"

Rose nodded, and then she sighed. Tears started to cover her eyes. "I have a good life."

"We both do. Are you going to be happy with the Doctor you have?"

"I'm going to try again. Thank you for talking to me, Rory. "

"I'm glad I could help. Uh, should I expect more visits from you on my laptop?"

Rose took a second to answer, though it felt longer to Rory. "No, I think I got the closure I needed. It's time to pass this technology to others in Torchwood. It'll do a lot of good."

"Take care then, Rose."

"Bye, Rory."

Rose disappeared from Rory's laptop, replaced by Rory's desktop wallpaper. He closed his laptop and headed into the hallway. As we walked down, Amy poked her head out from the bedroom behind him.

"Is it done, Rory?"

Rory turned his head. He slowed down, but continued walking. "Yeah, I'll be there in a minute."

"Hurry up and come to bed."

"All right."

Rory continued down the hall and to the TARDIS console. He saw the young-looking alien with a bowtie, floppy brown hair, and tweed jacket staring at him.

"Is it done?" the Doctor finally asked.

"Yeah, I don't think she'll be bothering you again; she said she got closure. I told her what you wanted me to tell her." Annoyance and disappointment were subtle in Rory's voice, and he maintained a stone face.

"Thank you, Rory."

Rory gave a slight nod before turning towards his room.

"Rory . . . " the Doctor called to him.

Rory stopped and turned around.

"I won't ever ask you to lie for me again. Well . . . lie like this." The Doctor gave a small chuckle, but saw no expression on Rory's face. "And, I won't ever ask you to shield me from another person again. This . . . this wasn't typical of me."

"All right."

"I'm sorry I asked you to do this, but Rose needs to move on. She can't keep on like this."

"Yeah."

"It's not good for her, Rory, and hearing what you said will help her."

"That's your decision, yeah?"

The Doctor sighed. "I know that I don't know what's best for everyone, contrary to my actions, but I think this will be good for Rose."

Rory kept up his stone face.

"She needs closure, and you gave it to her, like you said. She can move on now."

Rory nodded. He was about the turn away again.

"Rory, are we good?"

"Yeah, we're good."

The Doctor could detect uncertainty in Rory's response, but some optimism as well. "You should join Amy in bed. Thank you, Rory."

"Good night, Doctor."

Rory went to his bedroom and lied down next to Amy, who was still awake.

"Amy, has the Doctor ever mentioned anything about changes to you?"

"Changes in what?"

"To him."

"Like what kind of changes?"

Rory paused. "Never mind."

"Was it something Rose said?"

"Yeah, but it seems like she was talking about something else."

"Why don't you ask the Doctor?"

"No, I don't want to. Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"All right."

Rory and Amy kissed each other softly and Amy closed her eyes, falling asleep quickly. Distracted, Rory continued to look up at the ceiling, blinking infrequently. He ran through his conversations with both Rose and the Doctor. He finally reached the conclusion that perhaps Rose would be better off after all. She couldn't ever be with the Doctor again, she could only communicate with a different version of him. Rory told himself that he helped Rose away from a potentially painful situation. He focused on this thought to relax himself. After forty minutes, he finally closed his eyes and managed to fall asleep.

END