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Chapter 2.
"Nothing is impossible. The word itself says 'I'm possible!'"
-Audrey Hepburn.
POV: Rose
Date: Spring, 1562
Needless to say, our visit with her majesty wasn't going entirely as planned.
It had started off all well and good, mind you. The Doctor and I presented ourselves as dignitaries from a faraway land—Gallifrey, naturally—in search of an alliance with the Queen. Of course, after a five minute conversation with the Doctor, she was all too happy to forge an alliance and offered us a place to stay for the duration of the negotiations.
That's where things started to go wrong.
"What are you doing?" I asked the Doctor as I followed him down to the kitchens.
"Lovely day for a picnic, Rose, don't you think? I've suggested to her majesty that the three of us take a break from negotiations and spend the day in the great outdoors!" He thrust the door to the kitchen open wide, and shot me his most brilliant smile. "What do you think?"
I crossed my arms. "I think it's time you tell me why we're still here."
"For the basket," he quickly explained as he swiftly swiped the object off of the counter and held it up proudly. "See?"
I rolled my eyes. "You know that's not what I meant. It's been two weeks, Doctor. How long do you think we can stay here before Queen Elizabeth discovers Gallifrey is not actually a country?"
The Doctor grabbed an apple out of his picnic basket and took a large bite. "Where's that spunky Rose Tyler I know and love? You're worrying too much."
I sighed, but took hold of the other end of the basket handle when he offered it to me. "You better be right."
POV: Jenny
Date: August 7, 2013
My eyes hurt from the number of hours I'd forced myself to stare at one tiny computer screen. It had been months, and I was still no closer to finding my family than I was at the start of my search. The one time I wanted them to find me, and they were nowhere to be seen.
I abruptly slammed a hand down on the keyboard and shoved myself away from the computer.
"Whoa there," Jack said as he glanced up from another station. "What did that poor console ever do to you?"
"It's been over three months since I saw that anomaly. Three months, and I still can't find them. I haven't even been able to contact them through our telepathic network." I sighed angrily, and shoved a pile of papers to the floor. "They could be in trouble! I should never have left them."
"Hey." His voice went soft as he stood up and walked around his desk to approach me. "You did what you had to do, Jen. Even if something has happened, you can't blame yourself for not being there because you had to do what was best for you. I know your parents wouldn't."
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes. "While that's a nice thought, Jack, it doesn't make this any easier. It's not mainly my parents that I'm worried about."
"Ah," he said. "Well, Mara is a big girl now, Jen. She's all grown up. I'm sure she's doing a good job of taking care of herself. You taught her well."
I sighed again, and attempted to concentrate. I'd been trying to establish a connection for months, but telepathy was like any other muscle—the less you used it, the weaker it would become. My family's bond had been so sadly underused for the past few years that I could barely feel it humming at the back of my mind at all anymore.
I felt the world slowly fall away as I focused my mind inward. I could still feel it—the turn of the Earth beneath me, the ever-changing timelines swirling around me—but every other sense fell away until it was just me. Me, and the soft lights that represented each member of my family.
It was only then that I felt a spark, and I gasped as Mara's light grew brighter. She was close, I could feel it. She was probably even in this year.
"Mara?" I tentatively called out. I didn't expect an answer, not really. She was still so far away.
I jumped when I felt her surprise. She had heard me. She must have been closer than I had thought.
I waited to see if she would reply—only noticing that I had been holding my breath when my respiratory bypass kicked in—and then…
"Jenny?"
For the first time in a long time, relief filled my hearts.
POV: Mara
Date: August 7, 2013
I followed her spark all the way to the very heart of Torchwood. I followed it so intently, in fact, that I nearly crashed into her computer console when I landed.
I gasped, and had to shake off the smallest hint of nausea that accompanied this type of travel. "You'd think I'd be immune to this by now," I grumbled.
It was only then that I could feel eyes staring at me.
I spun around to find both my sister and Jack behind me. Jack had the widest smile on his face. Jenny, however, looked less than pleased. I couldn't blame her, really. When she had left we had promised each other to check in every few months. It had been more than a year since I had last fulfilled that promise.
I waved. "Hello!"
Jack ran forward first to scoop me up into a hug. "Oh, it's so good to see you! It's been too long, Sweetheart!"
I grinned as I hugged him back. "Lovely to see you too, Uncle Jack." I waited until he had released me to kiss his cheek. "I missed you."
"Have you spoken to your parents lately?"
I swallowed. "No, actually. That's why I'm here—Jenny?" I raised my eyebrows as Jack stepped aside. "Have you seen or heard from them since…"
Her lips tightened. She knew what I was referring to. "Where the hell have you been?"
I blinked. "Well it's a long story, really."
She crossed her arms. "I'm a Time Lord, Mara. I've got nothing but time."
I swallowed again nervously, and pulled a desk chair over. "Then you might want to sit down."
I waited until both she and Jack had settled themselves, and then bit down on my lip as I searched for an opening to my story.
I let out a slow breath. "Okay…okay. You remember how Dad used to teach us about Gallifrey and the Time War?"
She nodded.
"And do you remember what he called the weapon that destroyed it all?"
"The Moment," she said quietly. "Yes I remember, but what does this have to do with anything?"
I leaned forward. "When I left Mum and Dad's TARDIS, I didn't have any destination in mind. It was my first time exploring the universe by myself, so I went wherever the wind took me. But as I traveled, I began to notice a pattern—four words written everywhere across the stars."
Jenny raised her eyebrows. "And what were they?"
"The Moment is coming."
The three of us were quiet for a long time.
"But that's…" Jack seemed at a loss for words. "That can't mean…the war is time-locked! It can't…can it?" he looked to Jenny.
She huffed. "Your guess is as good as mine."
"You've felt it, haven't you?" I asked my sister. "Something's not quite right. The balance has felt…off, somehow. Haven't you felt that?"
She pinched the bridge of her nose with both hands. "I don't know. All I do know is that I've felt as though I need to contact you and our parents for months now. There've been hundreds of anomalies showing up on the scanners—mostly small ones, mind—that I can't seem to figure out. They all come from the same location, though, which is odd."
I narrowed my eyes. "Show me."
She pushed her computer monitor towards me, and I quickly jumped up to look at it. My eyes zeroed in on the coordinates, and my hearts all but stopped.
10-0-11-00:02.
"Jenny," I croaked, "have you actually looked at these coordinates?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed in frustration.
"Look again," I told her, and shoved the monitor back in her direction.
She sighed, but squinted at the numbers on the screen. I saw the exact moment when they clicked into place in her head. "Oh, I'm so thick. How could I not have seen it?"
"Seen what?" Jack asked.
Jenny tapped a few keys on her computer, and yanked out her sonic screwdriver. She downloaded the contents of her hard drive, and jumped to her feet. "We need to find them."
"Seen what?" Jack demanded.
We both turned to him. "It's home," I said.
Jenny grabbed my hand, and we closed our eyes as we concentrated. It was easier to sense them now that there were two of us, and we quickly pinpointed their position.
"Jenny, what's going on?"
My sister ran forward to kiss our uncle on the cheek as I calibrated my Vortex Manipulator. "Thank you. For everything."
He stared at her with a perplexed expression. "I still don't understand."
"It's Gallifrey, Jack," I said as Jenny reclaimed my hand. "The anomalies are originating from where Gallifrey used to be."
I pressed the final button as his expression became even more confused, and closed my eyes as we were hurled into the vortex.
