Rose's POV:
"Another day at Torchwood,"Rose thought as she grabbed her coat and headed out the door. Despite the warmth the sun had brought, the dark of night now wrapped its frigid hands around the town of Cardiff. Cars and people looked like mere shadows, the amber street lamps revealing their silhouettes as they busied themselves with the harmless events of their lives.
Torchwood tower loomed over the surrounding buildings as if it were just as ominous as the mysteries it held. Bowing her head against the wind the blonde girl made her way to the entrance.
"Well hello!" Jack's flirtatious tone was only emphasized by the way he draped himself against the door frame as Rose clocked in for the night shift.
She was in no mood for his antics. Though his intentions were good, all she really wanted to do was get her work done. "Jack, stop it."
"I was just saying hello! Why does everyone think that's flirting?!" The ex-time agent spread his arms dramatically as he spoke as if his outstretched hand would grasp at an answer.
Rose took her time before replying, she didn't want him to get the satisfaction out of messing with her. Hopefully if she bored him now, he wouldn't pester her for the rest of their shift; so, she kept her response simple, "That's flirting for you."
He seemed to pick up the hint well enough, letting his gaze rest on a computer monitor nearby, "Whatever, what are you working on tonight?"
"Sorting and editing public files about aliens." Rose sighed, pressing the button on the wall that would call the lift to their floor, "What about you?"
Jack tapped on his keyboard a few times before he rolled his eyes dramatically, though he didn't speak until he joined Rose in the now arrived elevator. "Another night of checking security logs…I wish we were allowed to drink at work."
She didn't reply, her mind was elsewhere like it was much of the time these days. Five and a half years ago she had been stripped of what felt like her entire life, and perhaps she had. For two years she had traveled the stars with the Doctor, a 900 year-old Timelord, and they had been some of the best of her life. Then one day she found herself trapped in a parallel world, separated from the life…and person she had grown to love.
Still, she never gave up hope that she could find her way back to her own world without tearing apart the fabric of reality, and eventually her determination paid off. Six months ago with the help of parallel Torchwood, she finally managed to create a machine that folded the walls of time and space making it possible to slip through, and that's exactly what she did.
Now she worked a full time job at Torchwood in the hope that they could track down the Doctor. So far, he hadn't turned up, but if he was going to arrive on Earth anytime soon, then this is where he would be.
After an hour, Rose was certain she was going to die of boredom; even the ceiling tiles had become more interesting than her work. As she was editing yet another document on Weevils, the droning of the machines downstairs seemed to get louder until it resonated into a sound that nearly caused her to drop her papers.
She scrambled for the communicator on her desk, "Jack, do you hear that, or am I going crazy?"
"You're completely sane, I hear it too." Rose hardly heard his reply come through the speaker as she jumped up and bolted for the door.
She and Jack met on the stairs, both under the influence that the lift was too slow. Swiftly they made their way out of the Tower, only just managing not to get knocked out by the TARDIS as it soared over their heads, narrowly avoiding Torchwood Tower.
The time-machine's engines wheezed to a halt, leaving in the surrounding area a deafening silence. The back of the TARDIS faced the Torchwood pair as a squeak broke the quiet of night. The doors opened on the other side followed by the Doctor's converse clad tread.
Rose forced herself to stay where she was, and barely noticed Jack standing by her side as the Doctor came into view. He wore a brown pin-striped suit, accompanied by his blue tie and dirty white converse, topped off with the tan trench coat in his hands. When he came around the courner his chocolate brown eyes locked with hers.
Doctor's POV:
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" The Doctor rushed around the console as his time-machine lurched to the side. He flipped leavers, hit buttons and only just managed not to crash into the side of Torchwood Tower.
The landing was far from smooth and almost knocked him off his feet. It was as though the TARDIS was eager to soak up the energy from the spacio-temporal rift that ran through the heart of Cardiff.
Grabbing his trench coat he checked that his sonic screwdriver and psychic paper were tucked safely within its pockets before stepping out. It was rather cold for early autumn, probably sometime around midnight judging by the stars.
Perhaps Jack is on duty. No sooner had the thought run through the Timelord's mind did he round the edge of the TARDIS. The Doctor was right about the ex-time agent, but that wasn't what stopped him dead in his tracks, causing his hearts to skip a beat.
Standing next to Jack was Rose Tyler, his lovely companion who had travelled the stars with him for two years. He had lost her to a parallel universe for more than double that time without having been able to tell her how he felt about her. The time without her had been excruciating, despite having another companion named Martha, he had never gotten over Rose.
Now he could scarcely believe she was standing 20 feet away, he dropped his coat as Rose ran into his arms, the way they always used to after dangerous adventures. For the first time in the Doctor's life, time didn't matter; as they stood wrapped in each other's embrace for what could have been moments or hours.
They only untangled themselves when Jack piped up, "We should really go back to our posts."
The Doctor pulled back and held Rose by her shoulders, her eyes shining in the half-light, "How did you manage to get back…you didn't use a dimension jumper, did you?!"
Rose's POV:
With the Doctor's arms around her, Rose finally let herself think how lonely she had felt over the past five and a half years. Just how broken she had been.
"Rose we should really go back to our posts," Jack looked at the tower worriedly as if it were going to turn against them.
They pulled apart from their embrace, but the Doctor left his hands on her shoulders, letting his chocolate brown eyes rest on hers. "How did you manage to get back…you didn't use a dimension jumper, did you?!"
Rose smiled at his worry, "No, in the other universe I worked for parallel Torchwood and reformed it. We began work on a machine that folds the walls of the universe to let you through rather than ripping them apart. I used that to get back, and it teleported me right onto the roof of the real Torchwood tower where Mr. Harkness here was on break. He was so shocked he almost fell off the building, not that that would have killed him," She giggled. "I've been back for about six months with no way of contacting you; but, I knew you would come to Cardiff sooner or later."
"Holy…TARDIS…of…Gallifrey." The Timelord's stunned expression all but sent the bottle blonde into a fit of laughter.
"I hate to break up this reunion but we really need to get back inside before the tower locks us out." Jack's anxious tone was followed by his footsteps as he began to walk back towards the entrance, the Doctor and Rose following in his wake. Once they were safely inside the building, the ex-time agent spoke up again, "So, what brings you to Cardiff?"
The Doctor smiled, his normal cheeky grin sending a rush of nostalgia through Rose. "Refueling, that's why the landing was so bad."
The blonde couldn't help but laugh the first real laugh she'd had in years, "It seemed fairly normal to me."
"Hey!" Though he sounded indignant, the sparkle in the Doctor's eyes revealed his humor, "Last I checked you couldn't fly her very well either."
Jack watched the two with side-splitting laughter as Rose formulated her retort, "Yes, but I haven't had centuries of practice, have I?" With her comment the TimeLord's resolve finally broke and he too fell into the grip of laughter.