Rose sighed tiredly as she unlocked the door of her flat. After 48 hours in the field, it was the only place she wanted to be at that moment. It was small and simply furnished, but she had made it her own. She liked it and the independence that it provided. Jackie had not wanted her to move away from the Tyler mansion, but Rose had convinced her that she would never be able to fully move on with her life if she did not have her own space. She had also turned down Pete's offer to buy her a nicer flat in the city.

Instead, she decided to live in the same Torchwood housing that was offered to all of the other field agents, scientists, and other employees with positions that required high security clearances. All of these types of employees tended to keep strange hours and sometimes had to bring their "work" home with them. Therefore, it was deemed necessary to provide housing with specialized security measures and where the occasional unusual looking "visitor" would not seem out of place. The arrangement was a little unorthodox, but really helped with employee morale and the strong feelings of companionship that tended to develop among Torchwood employees. They tended to stick together because it was really hard to develop relationships outside of work when you led such a lifestyle and could not discuss so much of what you did on a daily basis. When you took that into consideration, it really wasn't surprising that all of the couples that Rose knew all worked together at Torchwood in some capacity or the other. Fortunately, Torchwood also realized this and (mainly thanks to Director Tyler) took a very lenient position on these relationships. As long as matters were kept professional in the office and out in the field, personal lives were considered none of HR's business.

Grateful to be back home, Rose took a quick shower, threw on some comfy pajamas, and then debated whether to put the kettle on or fall into bed immediately. She chose to have a relaxing cup of tea first in order to wind down. Since she had basically been out of communication with everyone for two days, she also took the time to check her voicemail. She sighed again as she listened to her mother try to set her up with yet another single, eligible, handsome, blah, blah, blah man for her party scheduled for the upcoming weekend. She knew her mother meant well, but Jackie just didn't understand that Rose was not interested in dating right now. Maybe she would be one day, but for now she was happy with her work and her friends. She still missed the Doctor, but it had been three years, and she was not holding on to the past anymore. She felt that if romance was meant to happen to her, then it would happen. However, she was not going to try to artificially force something that she just did not feel. She would, however, try to go to her mother's party, but she would either go alone or invite a friend from work.

Speaking of friends from work, the next message was from Mickey. He wanted to know if she wanted to go out to the pub with the usual crowd tomorrow night. If she was not working, then she would probably go. Since they were leaders of separate field teams, and worked in different departments the rest of the time, they did not get to see each other as much as they used to. She found that she missed the comfort and familiarity of his company – especially now since he was living with Martha. Rose liked the young doctor from Torchwood's medical team, though, and knew that she was very good for Mickey. They lived a couple of floors below Rose and they all got together whenever their schedules allowed. There was no awkwardness between them and that was nice because Martha was one of the few people who knew the whole parallel universe story. Mickey had told her everything before they had moved in together and, although she had been surprised, she had not been shocked. She had seen far stranger things at work. Rose only hoped that she would have as much luck telling her story, if she ever met anyone to whom she would want to tell it. For now, it was just another reason not to rush into any kind of relationship. She sighed and returned her mind back to her voicemail.

The next couple of messages were from work. The first one was a reminder from Jake to turn in her field team report first thing in the morning and the next message was from Donna. Donna was her fiery spirited and haired assistant from the Inter-Species Relations department. She was also her closest female friend in this world and knew many, but not quite all, of her secrets. Rose had broken down and told her about the Doctor and their time-and-space travels after a night of tears and several bottles of wine following Donna's broken engagement with the good-for-nothing cheating Lance (who was thankfully not a Torchwood employee). Donna was not really surprised because she saw everyday how well Rose did her job and it was quite obvious how comfortable she was with other species. Therefore, it made perfect sense to her that Rose had once been in love with a two-hearted and practically immortal alien and had traveled the universe with him. Anyway, Donna had called to tell her that the adorable Lee, who worked in the tech dept with Mickey, had finally got up the nerve to ask her out. Rose was happy for her friend because she thought that Lee's quiet and calm personality would complement Donna's brashness. Mickey had thought the same and, after the Lance fiasco, the two of them had purposefully thrown Donna and Lee together whenever they could. Rose really hoped it would work out between them.

Thankfully, there were no more messages after the one from Donna. Rose, therefore, happily went on to the bed – sparing a few moments of thought for Mickey's and Donna's romances before sleep overtook her. She was glad that her friends were happy, but she just did not need that for herself. Not yet, anyway...

Important: The plot lines diverge here...

Stop here if you plan to read my Sherlock's Rose (Sherlock/Rose) series.
It starts with the story, "A Night Full of Surprises."

OR

Continue on to "Torchwood Rose: Cardiff" if you plan to go on to read my Saving the Multiverse (Doctor/Rose) series.