Author's Note: Thank you so much for the wonderful response to this story! All your reviews and follows make my day! :) At this point, I'm looking to publish about two chapters a week for awhile. Now onto the chapter! :)

Chapter 4

If it was up to her, Rose Tyler would have stayed in that spot all day and gloated. She had never managed to surprise Jack Harkness with anything when they were traveling on the TARDIS. Now he stood there, open mouthed, staring at her as if she had just unzipped her forehead and turned out to be a Slitheen.

"Okay, you were right. We do have more than a bit of catching up to do, Rosie."

She wasn't traveling with the Doctor, and she knew about Torchwood. He was in charge here, had been in charge here for longer than Rose had been alive, so it wasn't like she could have visited. Unless... Jack stopped the thought before it had started. There was no way a member of his team had snuck Rose Tyler in without him knowing about it.

Jack allowed Rose to go in front of him, marveling at the way she smiled at the Hub. To be completely honest, the Hub was a bit of a mess. Random tables with mismatched alien tech lying around and floors that have never really been cleaned certainly prevented the Hub from looking homey. But that was exactly the look Rose Tyler was giving it: she looked like she was coming home.

"I haven't seen it this empty in a long time. Or, at least, this operational. This isn't what mine looks like anymore. Funny, though, the way some things stay the same no matter what," Rose said, brushing a hand against the wall as she descended the stairs. "So... Torchwood Three, right?"

"That would be the one. Care to explain how you know what Torchwood is? Well, actually, considering the reports I've read, you are the reason for Torchwood." Rose gave half a smirk at that. Jack needed to remember to ask about that story later, how the Doctor and Rose had ended up battling werewolves with Queen Victoria. "But, Rose Tyler, I do believe you owe me an explanation for how you know about Torchwood Three and the Hub."

"Easy, Jack. This was my team." When Jack started to open his mouth to question how she could have ever led this team, she smiled and held up a hand. "Remember the catching up, Jack? This is point number one for me. I've kind of been living in a different universe for... well, a while."

Jack stared at her. "You can't be serious." Rose's face assured him that she was, indeed, serious. "That isn't possible! There is no such thing as travel between universes. There was talk that Canary Wharf had something to do with another universe, but with how much damage was done, there was no way to confirm it."

Rose gave him a sad smile. "I should have figured the Doctor wouldn't stay around to answer questions. Now, Jack, weren't you going to be a good host and help me feel better? Granted, I'm pretty sure there isn't much you can do. I could probably settle for a cuppa and a few hours rest."

"You mean it, Rosie? You just came back from another universe?"

"With adverse effects, yes. No permanent damage done, I hope. This happened the last time, though not as immediate and not as harshly. Just a bit of an aching head for a few days. Maybe I will let you run a few tests. Tomorrow, of course. If you're anything like me, you have a bed somewhere in this building because leaving just seems too illogical sometimes. And you've practically been trying to get me into your bed since you first met me. Would you mind if I borrowed it for a single night?" Rose smiled so sweetly, teasing to cover the serious statement she had just made: both of these two commanders had often felt the need to ignore the rest of the world for entire days at a time sometimes and hide in a secret base. What had happened to Rose to make her react to situations the same way Jack did? The Rose he had left was always an optimist who would run out and face her fears, not hide away from them.

"Up in my office," Jack answered her with a nod. "Unless you've stolen Time Lord technology and that bag is bigger on the inside, not likely you have much of a wardrobe in there."

Rose shrugged. "There's enough for a couple days. Plus a bit of cash for new things. Really, Jack, you didn't think I decided to leave home with absolutely nothing, did you?"

Jack hadn't answered by the time they reached his office. Rose wanted to explain to him, to sit up for hours with tea to rehash old trips on the TARDIS and to explain Canary Wharf and her work with the Dimension Cannon. Her chest was still hurting, though she was trying to hide the pain from Jack. The numb feeling she had felt in her limbs was starting to fade, though, so she was hoping the feeling of an elephant on her chest would fade soon as well.

Meanwhile, Jack was worrying over the room, barely making eye contact with Rose. He had made an effort to start and fix the sheet on the bed, before just tearing them off completely, mumbling something about he had to have extra sheets somewhere in the Hub. He pushed past Rose on his way out of the room and Rose stayed silent. She knew the idea of parallel universes and Rose being alive was a lot to grasp, but Jack had always been a vocal person, choosing the think out loud just as often as inside his head.

"Jack? What's wrong?" Rose asked as Jack made his way back into the room, sheets in hand.

He turned with a brilliant smile on his face, looking like the Captain she used to know, but it was more than obvious that he wasn't feeling like her Captain. "I'm just not used to house guests, Rosie. Haven't quite had the accommodations for a while. I guess I'm just too much of a man, huh? Never changing my sheets."

"That's not what I meant, Jack, and you know it."

For a long moment, he just stared at her and, though she was the one in pain, all she wanted to do was to heal him. It was obvious, for as much as there something physically wrong with her from the dimension jumping, Jack was deeply hurt emotionally, by so much and so many over these long years since their last meeting.

"Rose, for so long now, I honestly thought you and the Doctor had abandoned me on Satellite 5. I would have rotted up there if I hadn't had my vortex manipulator. I understand, you didn't know I was alive. Hell, it even makes sense when I think about it." His voice was soft as he spoke and he reached forward, putting his hand against Rose's cheek as he continued. "And then Canary Wharf happened a year ago… Your name was on the list of the dead. Both you and your mother. I knew the Doctor had to be involved—honestly, who else would be involved with Daleks and Cybermen?—but I thought that you must have slipped out of his hands, gotten a little too close to some danger."

He took a deep breath, tears starting to gather in his eyes. "Rose, finding you today, I thought everything was going to be solved. I thought I had found you and good old Big Ears would be waiting around the corner. I am so relieved to find you again, to know you're still safely breathing, but I guess it just unearthed a lot of old emotions I've been ignoring."

Rose reached up and put a hand over the one on her cheek, leaning into the Captain's embrace. She couldn't imagine what had happened to him over the century and a half he had been alone, or how he had managed to survive. If only they could spend this night talking, using each other as a pillar of strength to lean on, maybe they could fill in these missing pieces to the stories they knew. But Rose was still hurting, had been holding in a coughing fit for as long as Jack was talking, and her energy level was at zero. She needed a good twenty-four hours before she would be able to confess her side of the story to Jack.

"You don't need to ignore any of those emotions now, Jack. I'm right here, I promise. Somehow, together, we'll find the TARDIS traveling through our area and the Doctor right along with her. We can talk more tomorrow, yeah? I really need that rest."

Jack could see the way her muscles were going limp; she still wasn't completely steady on her feet. Part of him longed to just drag her down to Owen's medical equipment and give her an examination, but he also wanted to respect her wishes. He helped her lay down, gently kissing her forehead.

"Good night, Rosie," he whispered against her forehead, desperate not to move away from her, even to let her sleep. What if he woke up downstairs at his desk, face pressed into the folders of reports he was attempting to complete, and found out he had dreamed this whole surreal situation? Brushing back her hair, he smiled slowly at her. "I'll be right downstairs when you wake up, okay? Seems like you know your way around anyway."

"What about the rest of the team? They'll be here tomorrow."

"I guess we'll just have to make introductions. They might be suspicious, but nothing we couldn't handle. Didn't you learn anything traveling with the Doctor? Not everything needs a plan to be successful. We can just wing this one."

Too tired to remind him how often that method of attack had gotten them into trouble, Rose gave him a small smile and pulled the blankets up close to her chin. "Good night, Jack." Within seconds, she had given in to her exhaustion and her breathing evened out, slowing quickly.

Jack intended to go back downstairs and try and catch some sleep in his chair. He needed all possible patience to deal with the team tomorrow. All of his team was suspicious by nature—the fact that they spent their live chasing aliens probably didn't help that—and Jack didn't think any of them were going to accept Rose very easily. Owen, especially, was likely to snap over the presence of an unknown girl. Jack was prepared to a fight; Owen had been testing his authority recently and this might be all he needs to push him over the edge. Which was exactly why Jack should go downstairs and try to rest.

But he couldn't find the strength to leave the doorway or Rose Tyler. She had seemed so sick, obviously in pain she wouldn't admit; what if her condition worsened with sleep, instead of getting better? She said she had traveled between two parallel universes, with God knows what in between, unprotected by a capsule. What if that gave her something close to a concussion and leaving her to sleep would be the opposite of helpful? Jack knew he would never forgive himself if Rose somehow managed to slip into a coma right after he had first found her.

So that was how Jack Harkness found himself in a hard metal chair beside Rose's sleeping form that evening. And why Gwen Cooper was the first member of Torchwood Three to discover Rose Tyler's presence.