A/N: This is a sort of vaguely AU of Rose's time in Pete's World after doomsday and before JE.
Rose spends 5 and a half hours staring at a blank white wall. When she finally turns to face her family, her mother (who is surprisingly silent as she watches her daughter warily) leans against the man who is but isn't her husband, and Mickey nods at her with something close to understanding.
There is a sign on the wall behind his head. Some poster one of the tech crew must have put up. It's some band Rose doesn't recognize. What she does notice is that the name of the record company is Bad Wolf and the album title is Get Me Back To You. She cannot decide whether to laugh or cry and a strange sort of strangled sound comes out. Mickey notices her gaze has shifted slightly behind his head and turns around. Eyes large as he turns back to her.
"Maybe 's a sign yeah?" He tries, taking a step closer to her and resting a hand on her shoulder. "Those words in this universe, means your s'pose to be here. A message to yourself." Before she can yell at him for even considering that she belongs anywhere the Doctor is not, he continues. "I'm not suggestin' you forget 'im, I know you can't, but maybe there's somethin' that needs doin' here? Or maybe there's somethin' in that world woulda got you killed." Her eyes grow wide, because, if she could see all that was, is and ever could be, than it is possible this vacation (she refuses to believe it's permanent) is necessary.
"Don't go givin' up on everything. You got your Mum here, and your Dad, and most importantly (cocky smirk and eyebrow raise in an attempt to make her laugh—she makes the strangled sound again, but there is a small, almost smile at the corner of her mouth) you got your best mate." He opens his arms for a hug and she rushes into them and holds on until her tears stop. When she pulls back, she no longer looks quite so empty as she wipes the mascara from her face and smiles back at him.
"Thanks Mick." Kisses him softly on the cheek. "So, how 'bout some chips?" The words are a little hoarse from crying and disuse and the phrase falls a bit flat, but it's an attempt. Her mother grabs her in a hug, babbling about how happy she is that Rose is there. Rose struggles to pretend it's not making things worse as she glances pleadingly at Mickey and Pete. The older man gently pulls his almost wife aside, making soothing noises as he leads her away. Mickey comes up and takes her arm in a comforting grasp as she watches her parents. She steels herself, she can do this, smiles at him as they follow the others to the lift.
She's fine (or at least duct taped and rubber banded together, paper mache heart to replace the one she lost, made up of Mickey's jokes and her mother's tea, and the acceptance of her (not really, but sort of) father). She takes her A-levels (finds them surprisingly easy after spending her time doing the impossible and interpreting high-speed techno-babble) and works at Torchwood, saving the world from alien threats on a regular basis.
She's on her way home late one night when the hairs on the nape of her neck stand on end and there is a tingling sensation that flutters across her skin. She reaches for a hand that is not there. A strange echoing sound in her head, like music, and everything turns gold for a second before she closes her eyes and squeezes her unbearably empty hand into a fist.
When she opens her eyes again, her head is silent and everything looks normal. (Except for the Zeppelins in the sky, and the empty hand at her side—she does not belong here.) But she steels herself, wipes at the salty tracks on her face and unclenches her fist. The bad wolf howls as she turns away, and pretends the familiar graffiti on the dilapidated wall has no meaning, only to stumble on a crack in the sidewalk. Lays sprawled on the cold concrete.
A hand pulls her to her feet and an older gentleman, somewhere around 60 she thinks, asks if she needs assistance, if he should call a cab or help her home. She's about to refuse (perhaps she's paranoid—comes with the job—but seemingly innocuous strangers offering help for no reason make her uneasy), when she notices the label of his shirt.
Written below the logo of a golden wolf in elegant script is the word Bad in poorly conjugated Latin.
She immediately accepts the offer, and drags him to a nearby chip shop in thanks. Turns out Doctor John Smith (she would have laughed, if it wasn't so painful) is this universe's version of a Noble Prize laurite, and presently teaches physics at the nearby university, and he finds her theories on time and parallel universes fascinating. By the time she gets home, he's already offered her a place as a PhD candidate and is willing to work around her busy Torchwood schedule.
That night she dreams a message from the Doctor. Instead of ignoring the John Smith's email with the graduate studies information like her desperate optimism and unfailing belief in the Doctor insists, Rose responds (it's only polite, after all if she does get home to the Doctor she should at least warn the professor she might not be available). She tells him she will be out of the country on Torchwood business, but she will contact him with the necessary paperwork if she comes back. He replies with a nice message, ignoring the subtle hint that she may not return, and tells her that will be fine.
When she does come back, he raises an eyebrow at her depressed demeanor but doesn't say anything (she's glad, after sitting for five and a half hours on a cold beach named after a goddess, waiting for something that didn't happen, she's not really sure she can say anything without bursting into tears). Instead, he takes her to his friend's lab.
Although his PhD is in theoretical physics and he was one of John's graduate students, Doctor Gordon Freeman presently works as an experimental physicist. After having to fight his way out of his old laboratory during the Cybermen invasion (with a crowbar of all things), he felt it important to study something more applicable than theories. So he's taken a liking to lasers and robotics.
The two doctors watch as Rose Tyler; Defender of the Earth burns pictures into a crisp sheet of paper with the laser from Gordon's lab, looking a lot less sad (if a bit surprised that the shape of the laser marks look vaguely like a wolf) once she's finished.
As time goes by, she tries not to let her despair consume her. The Doctor once told her to have a fantastic life, and she is attempting. Goes to the pub with Mickey and some of the other Torchwood staff to catch a match. (Laughs with Mickey as they sit at the bar, watching this universe's version of football) Gets along quite well with her co-worker Gwen, and they go shopping for "girl time" every few weeks.
She takes this time (before she figures out how to get back, because she will, she's Rose Tyler) to get to know her family, and to get to know herself too. So much time spent with the Doctor as such a defining part of her; that she never really learned who she is. She likes the confidence she's gained. Isn't really sure what she thinks of that little bit of hardness that reminds her of a diluted Storm.
She enjoys babysitting Tony once a week so her mother and Pete can have a date night. She snuggles with him as they view Disney movies and it almost doesn't hurt to watch The Lion King, not with her little brother curled into her with his love and devotion, and she's glad she gets this chance to know him.
Doctor Smith and Doctor Freeman, keep her busy with journal articles and physics books and wacky, half thought out experiments. When she is halfway through her dissertation, she officially introduces the doctors to Torchwood. And they have loads of fun experimenting in R&D, before officially signing on as Science Consultants.
She may be learning how to live without the Doctor, but she hasn't given up trying to get back. Just because the Doctor said it was impossible doesn't mean it is. He uses that word all the time, like some badly chosen catch phrase. She's seen the impossible enough times that she doesn't really believe it anymore. But she knows the Doctor well enough to know he does.
It's once the stars start going out that her attempts become something desperate (that little bit of herself she has been trying to keep safe for her family and friends starts to disintegrate.) because if anyone can fix this, it's the Doctor. She tries to pretend she's not worried, not obsessed, but everyone notices. Even little Tony realizes something is wrong, he cuddles into her and gibbers adorably, opening a beautifully illustrated children's book and handing it to her to read.
The Bad Wolf.
It's apparently this world's version of Little Red Ridding Hood. Rose grasps the book in shaky hands and it slips between her fingers and falls to the floor, losing the page. It's finally hits her; that she is going to leave her family and friends behind, and she's not really certain what she thinks of that. Later that night she writes letters to her friends and family, hidden in her desk drawer for them to uncover when she doesn't come back.
She sneaks the book out and reads Bad Wolf to herself. In this version of the story, there is no woodsman to save Red, and the girl is forced to do it herself. Rose finds it oddly fitting. Her woodsman is in another universe…and believes saving her is impossible.
Rose takes another look at the dimension cannon calculations sprawled across her desk and several whiteboards. There was a time when she never would have considered herself capable of this, but not anymore. She has grown up, and learned who she is and what she's capable of.
With a decisive nod and a thank you to her fellow scientists, she heads to Pete's office. She'll start jumping tomorrow.