Rose was amazed by how much Mickey and Jake had developed Torchwood in her absence. It was hard to believe that two people could have done so much. Even in five months.
All the wires that had been strewn across the floor had disappeared. All the walls that had been knocked in by the Cybermen had been repaired or removed altogether. Several rooms had been added, she noticed including two rather large rooms allocated to Overseer's Jake Simmons and Mickey Smith.
''Guys. This is amazing. Please don't tell me you did this all by yourselves!''
''Rose, don't be a Lulu. Through that door at the end of the corridor, there are ten people who are ecstatic about your arrival. Seriously they are all so in love with you, it's scary'' said Jake in his 'no nonsense' voice
When Rose had started Torchwood before Bad Wolf Bay, it had just been her, Mickey, Jake and Pete. But Rose had been a bit out of it then, her one sole goal being to follow the voice in her head. Rose had other ideas for this Torchwood. It was all going to change.
''Okey Dokey. Let's go meet the gang.'' Rose tried to sound confident with her response.
Mickey and Jake grinned at her and led her through the door.
Rose walked into a huge white hall with a glass wall looking out onto central London. There were fifteen desks spread across the room with experiment units, Weaponry Modification units and scarily high tech computers and other hardware she didn't recognise scattered everywhere. Suddenly the rooms' busy atmosphere was killed as someone said:
''Oh my God, It's her!''
Rose turned her head to see the owner of the voice, but he had already leapt off his chair and made his way over to her. He was a jolly, slightly overweight man with shocking red hair. As he approached her she offered her hand for him to shake.
''Hey, I'm Rose,'' she said
He completely ignored her hand and pulled her into a tight bear hug.
''Oh my god, I know who you are!'' he said in a dramatically camp voice. It almost sounded like he was crying.
He let her go, and she caught her breath quickly. He drew her to arms length, his hands holding her shoulders.
''I'm Derek. And you are amazing.'' he said wiping tears from his eyes
''Derek, pull yourself together, man!'' Jake almost snapped
''Hey! I'm Gay! I'm allowed to be over dramatic!'' Derek retorted
Rose grinned. She was gonna like this one, she thought.
''Well Derek, thank-you very much for saying I'm amazing. I have a feeling you and I will get on very well,''
''Of course we will! I already know everything about you. I have even made your cup of tea exactly the way you like it!'' Derek turned to pick up her tea from a counter ''There you go. Please be brutally honest.''
Rose sipped at the tea. Heaven, was all she could think. Never in her life could she aspire to make a cup of tea like this.
''Perfection!'' she grinned
''Oh my god! She likes it. She likes it!'' Derek screamed with joy, jumping up and down, flapping his arms in excitement.
''You are on tea duty, my friend,'' she smiled at him.
All the rest of her new team had formed a line to meet her. The first person she layed her eyes on was a tiny blonde woman who greeted her with a beautiful smile and so much love in her eyes.
''Miss Tyler. It is incredible to meet you at last. I am Astrid, Astrid Peth,''
Rose shook her hand.
''It's brilliant to meet you too Astrid- Great Name- And please call me Rose. I will never feel comfortable with formalities-''
''Rose has just never realised how great she is, Astrid,'' Derek chipped in ''Because she has only ever worked in shops- like that tacky clothes store Henricks.''
Mickey made a point of clearing his throat so that Derek would shut up.
''Thanks Derek,'' Rose smiled at him ''I just feel a bit weird when anyone calls me Miss,''
''Duly noted,'' Astrid gave her another smile as she replied.
''Astrid, get out the way, it's my go!'' came a voice from behind her
Astrid moved out of the way as a tall Caribbean man bounded forward to pull Rose into yet another tight hug. When he finally let her go he spoke.
''Rose, It is such an honour to finally meet you. I am Zefania Jangro, or Zef if you prefer?''
''Zef, yet another great name,'' Rose beamed at him. He had a huge ginger afro, which surprisingly contrasted beautifully with his chocolate skin ''Great to meet you too. I love your hair!''
Zef looked like he had just won an Oscar. He put his hand on his heart and opened his mouth, about to say something. When two men barged past him. Rose was about to complain, but yet again she was pulled into another bear hug- even tighter this time because there were three participants.
But she was not complaining! Both these men looked like they had walked straight out of a Calvin Klein advert. One was slightly taller than the other, and they both had lush black hair and big blue eyes. It was obvious they were brothers.
'Rose. First of i am going to tell you this: You're a legend. Now let me introduce myself, I am Alex Appleton- and this is my brother-''
''Thank you, Al, i am quite capable of introducing myself,'' chipped in the taller one ''Rose- Such an honour- I am Ben Appleton.'' he said, shaking her hand firmly.
''Yeah those two may seem charming, but be warned.'' chimed a strong Irish accent.
A sturdy looking woman with stunning orange hair and a kind face made her way round the brothers, took Rose at arms length, and pulled her into yet another hug. But this hug was by far her favourite, It was soft and warm and strongly reminded her of hugging her mother.
''Rose, I am Roisin MacGeachy, I also happen to think you are incredible. But i will look after you, my love. I already love you like me' own daughter,''
It was impossible not to love Roisin, with her kind face, strong Irish accent and glowing maternity. Rose grinned.
''Thank you Roisin,'' was all Rose could say. She was still finding it hard to take in how much all these people seemed to genuinely love her. Roisin grinned and went over to stand with Derek.
Next in line was a rather odd looking girl, about her age, she had dark green eyes, pale white skin, and the tightest blonde ringlets Rose had ever seen. Rose braced herself for another tight hug, and was not surprised when Nancy flung her arms round Roses neck and started sobbing.
''I'm so sorry!'' Nancy tried to speak clearly '' I 'm just star struck. You're so beautiful!'' and she started crying again.
''Thank you Nancy,'' Rose said ''I think we're gonna get on.''
Roisin eventually came over and took a star struck Nancy out of Roses arms.
The next two people were a man and a woman. They were -joint with Astrid- the most normal looking people in her team. The man had cropped blonde hair, big brown eyes, and a 'don't mess with me face' which didn't look scary, because he was beaming. The woman also had blonde hair cut in a bob. She was in her late twenties with big blue eyes, a pointy nose and the rosiest cheeks Rose had ever seen
''Hello there,'' Rose said with a smile, they were obviously nervous.
''Miss T- Rose. It's an honour. My name is Aretha,'' said the woman, shaking Roses hand firmly.
''And I am Sidney,'' said the man ''Honoured to be on your team Ma'am.'' he took Roses other hand and shook it firmly as well.
The final member of her team was another relatively sane looking man. He had ginger hair sticking up all over the place and green eyes. He grinned at her, when he saw her flashing a set of alarmingly white teeth. She held her hand out to him and returned the grin.
''Rose Tyler. What a privilege. I am Brynn Williams, Ma'am,''
''Brynn lovely to meet you. Doesn't that mean hill in welsh?''
''Yes. It does. You are the first person who hasn't made a Gavin and Stacey joke about my name. Thank you.''
''No Worries'' she said, smiling at him
''Miss Tyler,'' Came a voice from the doorway '' will you have me as well?''
Rose turned round to see her dad staring at her pleadingly. She knew he answer to this straight away.
''Of course i will, you plum!'' she said '' Come inside and join the festivities.''
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Mickey appeared at her shoulder.
''So what do you think about your new team? They're a bunch of nutters, of course, but they know what they're doing and they all think you're the bee's knees for saving the universe. Which you are. Are you sure you can deal with these nutters?''
''Yes,'' Rose replied ''Because they're my nutters.''
