Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

Author's Note: This fanfiction takes place as if the events of series 4 never happened. Therefore, there is no meta-crisis doctor.

Chapter 1: A Glowing Cave

Rose pulled on the harness and hooked up to the lines. Her Torchwood team had been researching and investigating into a strange reading that had popped up near the top of a cliff, and Rose was the one sent to investigate, being the lightest team member currently in the field. She clipped herself into the safety harness and began the long ascent to the top of the cliff, where the cave sat.

She began her ascent with little nervousness, however, when she began climbing higher, she realised what a workout this was going to be and how unsure of the safety lines she was. Glad she had opted for full team training as a younger team member, she called upon her seldom used climbing instructions to get to the top without slipping. Sure, she had a safety harness on, but one can never be sure of the old restraints drilled into the rock face.

And it brought her great pleasure to be able to say she never actually needed the safety rope.

She reached the top within twenty minutes and heaved herself up over the edge. On the ledge, there was, as suspected, a cave opening. However, this particular cave opening was shooting out a bright white light. Rose, unsure of the nature of this cave, pulled out the handheld scanner Torchwood had finally issued her after many near-fatal accidents while examining unknown things.

According to her scanner, the light was perfectly safe, though Rose was still wary. Being in such an occupation taught one to be wary of everything, even if technology deemed it safe. Deciding there was further investigation of the area necessary, Rose took off her harness, called to the team below, and began venturing towards the strange glowing cave. As she walking closer to it, she got a strange sense from it as if it had its own gravitational pull. The cave seemed to be expelling some kind of attractant, as every step closer Rose got to the mysterious cave, the more the need to touch it led her body in its direction.

She leaned towards it and suddenly, something seemed to shift around her. Whether she was catapulted through the light or the light came to meet her, there was no time to figure out. All of a sudden, Rose's vision was full of blinding white light, and then she fell. She landed on something hard and the white light went away, leaving her momentarily blind to her surroundings.

With wobbly legs, she stood up and looked around as her vision returned, and couldn't believe her eyes. She was in the middle of Cardiff! But this wasn't the Cardiff she was used to; there were subtle differences, differences she could only place as being from her original world, somewhere she thought for sure she would never find her way back to. After being in her universe for over twenty years watching her family grow older while the Bad Wolf inside of her kept her young without her knowledge, she never even dreamed that she could ever find her way back to her world, the doctor's world!

From the corner of her eye, Rose noticed the tell-tale signs of a perception filter, yet another skill acquired from her Torchwood training. She turned her head to see a group of people not previously there before.

Jack walked out of the perception filter with his team in tow. There had been some weevil sightings nearby and they needed to go make sure there weren't any more weevils wandering the streets of Cardiff. Gwen, Owen, Tosh, and Ianto were following him to the truck, but something caught his eye. Jack, being the man that he was, always noticed an attractive person, so when he saw a blonde woman standing several meters away from him, he immediately noticed. However, something about this woman seemed familiar to him, and when he studied the hair, he realised exactly what it was. This was Rose, Rose Tyler! Of course, that was impossible, but he knew Rose Tyler when he saw her.

Jack, oblivious to the team's confusion, began running towards the blonde girl in jeans and a deep purple leather jacket. The woman turned to face him and he knew for certain this was his Rose Tyler. Rose looked at him and immediately a smile broke on her face. He quickly turned to his team and yelled, 'Go on without me! I've got something I need to do!'

He returned his attention to the young companion and smiled, opening his arms for a hug. They rushed to meet each other and shared a wonderful hug, missing the other which they loved like a sibling. 'Rose! I can't believe you're here!' Jack cried into her ear.

'I know, neither can I!' She replied to him, pulling out of the hug.

'How… How are you here?' Jack asked, remembering perfectly well that Rose was supposed to be gone for good. (Not that he wanted her gone, of course.)

'I honestly have no idea! One minute I was investigating something for Torchwood, the next I'm falling to the ground in the square! I wish I knew what was going on!' Rose explained quickly, hoping Jack would have some answers for her. Sadly, neither Rose nor Jack had any idea how she possibly ended up in this world.

'Well, what all have you been up to? Nothing naughty, I hope.' Jack said to her jokingly.

Rose looked down at her hands before looking back up at him. 'Jack, the TARDIS did something to me. I don't know what, but I haven't aged ever since going to that parallel universe. It's been twenty years over there, and I'm still the same. I've watched people grow older… watched Tony grow up… Now I know how you feel. At least by being back here, I have someone sort of like me. I never realized how lonely it'd be. Well, I guess I know now.' She laughed half-heartedly.

Jack sat down on a bench next to her and rubber her back. 'Yeah, I know it's tough. But, on to more interesting things, what exactly were you doing before you came here?' Jack replied, trying to lighten the mood a little bit.

'Well,' Rose replied to him, 'I was on a scout for Torchwood. My team had been sent out to investigate some strange readings we were receiving. They were coming from a cave up on a cliff, so I climbed up there to see what was going on. When I got up there, the cave was emitting a bright white light. I don't know exactly why I did it, but I approached the light.' With a worried glance from Jack, she quickly tacked on, 'I scanned it first! It was supposed to be safe… Anyways, I approached it and it spit me out here. And that was when you showed up.'

A gust of wind blew and cut right through Jack's shirt. He had left his coat inside, since it was supposed to be a nice sunny day today. 'Why don't we go back to the hub where it's warmer?' He suggested.

Rose nodded. 'Sure thing. I bet it's more comfy in there as well.' Rose led Jack lead. They walked to the stones where Rose first saw the gang and Jack stepped up onto a platform. He motioned for her to get on too, and when she did, the stone began to sink down into the ground.

A 'Wow!' escaped Rose's lips as she was awed by the differences in this Torchwood and her Torchwood. Jack chuckled and put his arm around her in his friendly manner. When the stone stopped and the pterodactyl flew overhead, Rose laughed. 'This is great! So much more cozy and… Torchwood-like than my silly office building!' She said, referring to the Torchwood base back in the parallel universe. Jack stepped off the platform and began to lead Rose in the direction of his office.