After spending the night in a comfortable hotel room, Rose felt a little better, not having slept for quite a while. She and Jackie had talked over dinner, Jackie asking what Rose was going to do.
"I know you weren't going to come back Rose," her mother told her.
"I never said that Mum," Rose replied, drinking her coffee.
"You didn't have to, why do ya think I went after you?" Jackie asked her. "I couldn't let you stay without asking if you'd thought about the consequences?"
"I did Mum, trust me. Anyway, it doesn't matter now, does it? He's gone for good this time, there's no way back now. I still don't get it though, why he ran off like that."
"Yeah, it was a bit odd after all that on the beach. What were the chances of that though, you know?" Jackie asked, not wanting to come out and say he'd more or less split himself in two.
"Leave it Mum, it doesn't matter any more, neither of them wanted to commit themselves, did they?" Rose asked, still feeling rejected. "I thought I would finally get him back but I was wrong, wasn't I? What am I supposed to do now Mum?"
Jackie was about to give her daughter the old 'Same as the rest of us' speech but it hadn't worked last time and she doubted it would this time either. Rose was tough though, she'd got over it once and Jackie was sure she'd do it again though this time, there was no light at the end of the tunnel, that glimmer of hope that had kept Rose going and trying different universes to find the Doctor.
They flew back home the next morning, Rose wishing they could have got a plane, which were becoming more popular because this world had finally figured out they were faster on longer journeys and even private zeppelins were in decline since Lumic's demise. Two days later, Rose was sat in Pete's office with him and Jake.
"Sorry Rose but the project's been closed, Jake's overseeing the dismantling," Pete informed her.
"What if there's another gap?" Rose wanted to know, not happy about it.
"There is no gap Rose, we've double-checked," Jake told her, hating to see her like this since she'd got back.
"I have to close it love, you know that?" Pete asked her. "What if some of those Daleks got away and find a way through eh? They could lock onto the device and we wouldn't stand a chance. The Cybermen were bad enough but from what we know of them, it will just take one of them and we all know how it will end. I wish I could guarantee that if a gap did open, it would be to your old universe but the Daleks could be hiding anywhere, what if not all of them were wiped out eh?"
"Pete's right Rose," Jake told her. "We have a duty to protect this world, you most of all should understand that? I read your reports, it was that Dalek who escaped the time war that was manipulating everything. The duplicate Doctor did the right thing, despite what the other one thought."
"I know Jake but what if there's still a way of getting through without alerting any stray Daleks?" Rose wanted to know, not wanting to be defeated.
"It's not open for discussion Rose," Pete told her firmly, handing her a folder. "This is an official sanction, any devices that are still in any Torchwood agent's possession are to be handed to Jake and that includes you. I realise Mickey still had one when he decided to stay but he won't be able to do anything with it."
"Is that what this is all about?" Rose asked, knowing she was treading on very thin ice.
"Rose, don't make me order you on this," Pete replied. "Jake and I have already talked it over, that's it, end of discussion. Jake will go to your office with you and you will hand over your device. I'm sorry Rose, that's it. If I were to let you continue, I'd be responsible for unleashing lord knows what on this world. I read your report on that other world that was created around Donna Noble, any idea how that happened?"
"No, not a clue but we put that right, it's gone now," Rose replied sadly, wondering what had happened to the fiery redhead.
"I know and that led you to the Doctor and I'm glad you were able to find him," Pete tried to console her. "I'm sorry the new Doctor took off at the last second, really I am but if he'd have come here, we would have had to have gone to a lot of trouble to explain it, like we had to with you."
"Yeah," Jake agreed, trying to cheer her up. "You caused a lot of bother Rose."
"Well excuse me," Rose replied, not appreciating it.
"Oh come on, I was joking Rose, geez," Jake sighed. "Come on, let's go collect your device and get it over with," he continued, getting up and picking up the folder. "You sign this when I have it in my hands and I sign it off. Everyone else on the team's already handed theirs in, yours is the last. Mind you, getting your mother to part with hers took some doing," Jake joked.
"Really?" Rose asked, getting up and facing Pete. "I would have thought she'd be glad to get rid of it. Why did you let her follow me Dad?" she asked him.
"I had no choice Rose," Pete told her "She found out Mickey was going to find you and she insisted, we had to give her a crash course before she went and that wasn't easy, trust me. She said if you weren't coming back, she had to make sure you were okay."
Rose looked at him. "Funny, that's not what she told me after I got left behind again."
She headed for the door, Jake following her. "I'll sort her Pete, she'll come around," Jake promised him.
"Jake," Rose shouted behind her and making Pete's secretary jump.
Jake shrugged his shoulders at Pete, then went to catch up with her by the lift.
"What's got into you Rose?" he asked as they waited, Rose kicking the wall with her trainer.
"Leave me alone Jake," she warned him, pressing the button again.
Jake grabbed her hand. "That won't make it get here any faster Rosie," he told her. "What did you leave out of your report?"
"Why do ya think I left anything out Jake?" Rose asked him, pulling her hand away.
"You were the reason Mickey stayed, weren't you?" Jake wanted to know.
"Yeah, go on then, blame me again why don't you?" Rose asked angrily and hitting the button again, not that it did any good considering the time of day and an access code was needed for the top two floors.
"Mickey told me everything you know?" Jake told her, wondering what the delay was in the lift arriving himself. "He told me why he stayed here the first time. He didn't say as much but when you went off, I think he was planning on going back himself and staying, even if you had got back with the Doctor again."
Rose was about to ask him why Mickey would do a stupid thing like that and ruin her chances with the Doctor again when the lift arrived. Then they saw the reason why it had been delayed as Jackie was about to get out.
"Mum, what are you doin' here?" Rose asked as Jackie stood in the lift doorway.
"I was worried about you, your secretary said you were in Pete's office and I had to wait bleedin' ages for the lift, then it wouldn't take my code, has it been changed?" Jackie asked, Jake wondering how she'd managed to get to the top floor without it. "What you looking at Jake Simmonds?" she added, trying to get him to move.
"Nothing Jackie," Jake replied, having long since stopped calling her Mrs Tyler. "Did you call Pete for the code then?"
"What do you think?" Jackie replied as he got into the lift to hold it for Rose, who considering her mother was there would take her time and hold everyone up, since only that lift came up to the top floor.
"You never said why you're here Mum," Rose reminded her as Jake's finger was on the button.
"Your father can take me out for lunch since I'm here and you don't want to talk to me," Jackie huffed. "Where are you going anyway?"
"Back to my office and if I'm lucky Jake might leave me alone after that," Rose replied, stepping into the lift. "See you at home then?"
Jackie was about to reply when the lift door closed, leaving her standing there. "Charming," was all she had to say as she pushed the frosted glass door into Pete's outer office and greeted Amy.
"Mrs Tyler, a pleasure to see you, go right in," the Scottish redhead told her.
"How are you Amy?" Jackie asked her. "How's that boyfriend of yours, Rory was it?"
"He's my husband now, didn't Rose tell you?" Amy asked, flashing an engagement and wedding ring at her.
"Oh yeah, she went to the wedding, sorry," Jackie apologised. "Things have been a bit hectic lately, so you settling down to married life then?"
"Yeah and Rory's getting used to using my name, he gets some stick at work over it," Amy smiled.
Jackie shook her head, wondering what she meant and opened the door to Pete's spacious office, well his main one.
In the lift on the way down to Rose's office on the 7th floor, they were both silent, Jake thinking he'd best keep quiet since she wasn't in a very good mood. Once in her office, Rose looked at the chair Mickey always favoured to lounge in.
"We'll all miss him Rose," Jake told her as she got the key to unlock her top drawer where she'd placed her device the previous morning.
"How did you get my mum's device Jake?" Rose wanted to know.
"It wasn't easy, trust me," Jake smiled as she took out her own device. "It wasn't an easy decision Rose but it was the right thing to do, in view of what happened. What if Pete's right and one Dalek gets here? You've met them more than once, you know what damage they can do."
"You don't have to remind me Jake," Rose told him as he put the device in his pocket and indicated where she was to sign. "I might have seen them more than once but nothing was scarier than their leader, Davros. Can you believe the Doctor wanted to save him?"
"He must have had a reason," Jake told her, signing off that he was in possession of Rose's device.
"Well you could have fooled me, then he had the nerve to accuse his twin of genocide, I mean he left two of them behind and they'll just crop up again throughout time like they always do. They wanted to wipe everything out Jake and the Doctor would have let them."
"I'm not gonna debate this with you Rose, you're angry right now and you maybe have a right to be but it'll go away. You have to accept they're both gone."
"Easy for you to say Jake," Rose told him, offering him a coffee. "I had hope Jake, that I'd find him and I'd go back to travelling with him and it's all gone. He ran away from the only chance he had of being happy and I would have been, even with his twin. He was a part of him, that's all that mattered to me."
Jake accepted the coffee but put it down.
"Any time you want to get all sentimental over it, you know where I am," he told her. "I won't judge you and tell you to move on, like your mother will. Also, if you feel like getting totalled, remember I can drink you under the table, Rose Tyler," he smiled.
Back in the other universe, the Doctor had said goodbye to Donna's granddad and gone back to the Tardis.
"Told you it was going to rain," his twin told him as the Doctor looked sad and took off his wet jacket. "So, what do we do now brother?"
"Same old life," the Doctor sighed, taking over the controls. "Do you want to come with me?"
"You're giving me a choice? After what you said? I left Rose behind to travel with you, because you decided she had to stay there. We could have all travelled together, she didn't want to be left there, with or without me. Didn't you stop for one second to consider what she wanted?" his twin answered.
"You think it was easy? You of all people should know that was one of the most difficult things to do, leave someone behind that you care about. Why did you leave her, you're just as much to blame as I am," the Doctor told him.
"We can argue this until the end of time, brother. Neither of us is going to win this. I told you, she wanted you, not me. Just do me a favour and wipe my mind like you did Donna's."
"Oh no you don't get to forget what we did. If I have to live with it, so do you. I'll take you somewhere, anywhere in the universe," the Doctor offered.
"That's it?" his twin asked. "A one-way ticket? Fine, then if you won't wipe my memories, put me under the chameleon arch, then if you feel like I'm getting off lightly, you can bring me back. I don't want to be John Smith again, I can't face Joan and she'll know I'm not you."
"Well think about it, we've both had enough for one day, I'm powering the Tardis down and just floating above the earth, get some rest, you're half human now," the Doctor told him.
"Are we going to keep fighting?" his twin asked. "I'll let you know in the morning but maybe we can set the arch to random? It can't be any worse than running away from Rose."
They both went off, the duplicate Doctor opting to go to Rose's old room that had been preserved carefully by the ship and the next morning, the Doctor asked his twin if he was ready to change, placing another fobwatch the Tardis had produced into the slot.
"What do you think?" the duplicate Doctor replied, still in the striped blue suit and the purple t-shirt.
"You should have stayed with her then," he was told as the Doctor adjusted the settings to what passed as 'random' which basically was like regenerating, since you never knew what you were going to get.
When he thought about it, when he'd become John Smith back in 1913, he'd not known what he was going to get then either, this was no different but there would be no Martha Jones to bring him out of it in three months time. This was it, semi-permanent because the way he felt about his twin rejecting Rose like he himself had virtually done, it would be a long time before he opened the fobwatch, if he could even find his twin.
"You know this is going to be painful?" he asked his twin, who was under the arch, waiting for it to be lowered.
"I have the memory of it brother, you got through it while Martha watched you. This time, I'm not hiding from my enemies, I'm hiding from you because if I stay, all we'll do is regret what we did to Rose. If you ever get the chance to see her again, tell her that I'm sorry."
"Yeah, I will, brother. Sure you want to do this? Last chance? It's all ready, I can leave if you want?" the Doctor offered.
"Think you're getting out of it that easily?" his twin asked him, raising his eyebrows. "I thought I was going to enjoy this, merging with Donna and being as sassy as she was but we both know I can't stay like this. Even when you regenerate, I won't change, I'll be a constant reminder of who you were and how much Rose loved us."
"You think I don't know that?" the Doctor asked him. "No, I'd best leave and let the Tardis do it all, I don't want to know who you are, it's best that way. Rose used to say there was this upcoming actor she thought I looked a bit like. Just do me a favour and don't become him eh?" he smiled, rubbing his chin with one arm folded.
"Yeah. Best not," his twin grinned. "Don't want hordes of screaming fans following me everywhere. Bye then, brother, it's best this way, for both of us."
"I still have to live with it, that's how it has to be. If I see Jack or Martha, I'll tell them we parted company and I dropped you off on a remote planet, best they don't know you're still here," the Doctor told him.
"Yeah, they'll assume I went back with Rose, they don't need to know. Well, let's get this over with, shame I didn't get to see a few more planets but knowing my luck, I'd get chased by something and lose. You were wrong though," the duplicate Doctor told him.
"About what?" the Doctor asked, knowing his twin was delaying.
"I'm not the one who's dangerous, you'd have left the Daleks to still destroy everything."
"Would I?" the Doctor asked as his twin put the device over his head.
"Yes, even with one mad Dalek and their creator, they could have conquered the universe, started again but do you know what?"
The Doctor shook his head.
"You would be the one responsible, not me. Can you live with that?" his twin asked.
"Maybe I won't have to. Bye brother, have a good life. You didn't ask to be created, I don't suppose I can really blame you for wanting out."
With that, the duplicate Doctor locked the device over his cranium and began to shake, the Doctor hearing the screams all the way down the corridor. When it finally went quiet, he ventured back to the console room to see the chameleon arch dangling and the watch still in place. He took it from the torturous looking device and placed it on the console, to remind him that one day, he should reinstate his clone.
After all, he hadn't asked for Donna to touch the hand in the jar and be brought to life but he could have stayed with Rose, if he'd really wanted. Was this what was meant to happen, instead of a part of him remaining with Rose and being happy? Maybe he was never meant to be happy but Rose deserved to be, with one of them and now she had neither.
He looked at the monitor, to see where the Tardis had landed but wondered if the ship had moved herself so he wouldn't know where his twin had gone? Even if it were the place, there was nothing to say his twin had to stay there. He brought up a local map and smiled to himself. There was a red dot indicating where the Tardis was – Aberdeen.