Rose went off to the bathroom and Alec continued to get ready for bed, leaving just his shorts and thinking he'd best not put Rose's favourite briefs on just yet, she still seemed very upset about her experience that morning. To him and everyone else, she had been gone a long time but he was no expert in how the cannon worked though he meant to get some answers the next day by taking Jake to one side.
Rose looked at herself in the mirror. She didn't even know at this stage if she looked different to everyone else and this was a terrible mistake, that she was someone else or they all thought she was another Rose Tyler, well now apparently Rose Hardy. She had to convince Alec, he was all she had.
She left the safety of the bathroom and Alec smiled at her.
"I'll be right back love, want me to cheer you up?" he asked, going to put his arms around her neck.
"Yeah, though can we talk about something else rather than a new addition to our family?" she asked nervously.
He kissed her cheek. "For now, I know you are just as keen as I am now Maisie is two. I know you are just confused but you will soon come round."
"Have I done it before?" Rose asked, trying to get some answers.
"Only when you had that terrible experience while you were having Maisie, we don't talk about it," he replied, letting go.
"Did I threaten to divorce you again if ya did?" Rose smiled.
"No love, once was enough," he smiled back. "It was agreed it would never be mentioned."
"Well since I can't remember, maybe you could tell me some of it? I'll need a check-up tomorrow, won't I? If Owen's dropping the project, I won't need to get banned from going again, will I? I need to tell you something first."
"Sure love, I won't be long, you get into bed eh?" he suggested, wondering what had really come over her.
He knew she liked having discussions about having another baby but before her departure that morning, they'd decided to have a final one and set a goal, preferable to have another before their daughter's third birthday. They had only put it off because of Rose's commitment to the project and he knew he should have been firmer over it but he knew it made her happy, it gave her hope concerning her best friend.
Rose quickly found a vest top and pyjama shorts and got into bed, figuring she must have worn them at some point and hoped he'd keep his shorts on once he got in. She couldn't cope with trying to fend him off, she did have a headache and he'd probably take it the wrong way so she had no choice but to try and convince him she had some mysterious kind of memory loss.
Alec indicated for her to lie on him once he got in, Rose not sure about it but it was looking more and more like this was a changed version of her Alec, there was no indication she'd landed on yet another version of Earth.
"So what did you want to talk about love?" he asked, kissing her neck.
"That I lost some of my memories today. Do you think it's possible?"
"Let's leave that to the experts eh? I know something is wrong Rose and I want to help you, what do you remember?"
"Most things except more recently and my version of past events being different. Do ya think I'm crazy Alec?"
"No love, Jake said it could have an effect on you and it will wear off," he assured her.
"Yeah but when Alec? How can I live with everyone telling me one version when I think it's another?"
"How do you mean love?" he asked, looking at her in the moonlight coming through the window. "You mean while you were away, you think things changed?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I mean. I remember things differently, haven't I been trying to say that? What if I didn't move Alec, that everyone and everything around me moved?"
"Like a ripple effect?" he asked, letting Rose move and leaning on his elbow over her.
"I was in the middle Alec, everything around me rippled. What happened to Mickey? I need to know."
"He died, on a mission, saving you and your unborn child, Maisie. You were so upset, they wouldn't let you go on any more missions, they were concerned for both of you but when she was old enough, you started again because you refused to believe he was gone."
Rose sat up in bed, Alec doing the same and putting his arm around her.
"I'm sorry love, you wanted to know and now, I know there is something not right about this. Since we got back earlier, you have been looking at your parents differently and hardly talking. What is it?"
"Pete was my stepfather, now he's my real one," Rose admitted.
"That's not the only thing is it Rose? Is someone missing?"
"Yeah, my four year old half brother – Tony. My real dad died, mum met Pete and they got married and had Tony. Can't you see Alec? The ripple shifted things, me at the centre, you just outside and the further out it went, the more things changed. I left Mickey on another world."
Well that part was true and so far, no-one had even mentioned she hadn't been born here and it had to remain that way.
"You have to tell them tomorrow Rose, Jake is working full out to find a fault with the cannon," Alec told her.
"How can I Alec? You can't recreate a ripple, no two are the same. If I told them, they'd lock me up."
"No, your father wouldn't let them do that to you," he tried to assure her.
"Well nothing's gonna change things back, is it? I can't tell them and you have to promise me Alec, you're all I have now, they'll either not believe me or have me put away for testing, to see what I know from my version. Can't you see Alec? If Owen closes the project, they can still get information from me, I'll never be free of it."
"You are serious? Okay, say that's what happened, you closed your eyes and everything and everyone rippled around you, whether they were present or not and as the ripple got weaker, it changed things more radically, like your missing brother and what happened to Mickey?" he asked, wanting to make sure he'd got it right.
"Yeah, how can I make something like that up Alec? Why would I lie to you? You've changed but for the better."
"Really?" he asked, Rose trying to tell if he was smiling.
"Yeah. Sorry but the Alec I knew had a bad heart, that he'd just had fixed plus an ex wife and teenage daughter, called Daisy."
"Ah, so that explains our daughter's name? I wanted to call her Daisy but we thought maybe we shouldn't keep to floral names so we compromised. I was never married before I met you Rose, I had a few long term relationships but the last one, we grew apart. Then I arrived in Broadchurch and I met you, that was the reason we didn't get on at first, I was not ready for anything else at that time."
"So why'd ya give in then?" Rose asked, lying back down again.
"You were most persistent love. Then I found out you were running away from a failed relationship though at the time, you failed to mention I was the double of your ex."
"So how did ya feel when you found out?"
"It should have bothered me but by then, I'd already fallen under your spell and we agreed to forget about it. Is that how you remember things?" he asked, lying on his side again and his fingers going for the hem of her vest top, Rose putting her hand on top.
"More or less, I'd not seen mine for four years and when I saw you, well the other you on TV, I thought he'd come back but had lost his memory. When I found out, I had to go off and think about it but I went back to him a few weeks later and told him I loved him."
"You mean you told me, well your version of me. Did you think of something else though?" he asked, trying to move his hand.
"Such as? I've lost enough Alec, I can't lose you as well."
"Well a ripple takes time fading away Rose, maybe everything will merge, as the water does when it's all died down?"
"You mean I'll forget what my version of events were? It's all I have Alec, I can't let it go just like that."
"I would never ask you love but you may have no choice, it will happen naturally, over time. Look at it as a giant ripple, the whole world will have changed, it could take a while. I agree Torchwood should not know about it, they may try and recreate it and change things again and again and only they will know about it. Rose, this is very dangerous, you know that?" he asked, putting his hand on top of hers.
"I never thought of that. If they kept doing it, they'd gain all sorts of advantages because they'd put a bubble around Torchwood and watch everything else change and eventually, they'd gain all sorts of knowledge. Alec, what was the reason we went on missions?"
As things were now making more sense to him, he figured she hadn't actually lost her memory but had been altered, well maybe that wasn't quite accurate, more like everyone else's had? He quickly tried to explain, since he only knew about it after he'd got to know her. It was different, as Rose suspected, to her version, which had been to find the Doctor but now, she had to keep that part out of it as it was clear the Doctor had never been here.
"Well my version's not that much different," Rose admitted to him when he said it was one of exploration. "So when someone went off, it was to see if anyone wanted to contact us? Sounds a bit like Stargate to me."
"What's Stargate love?" he asked, trying not to laugh.
"I suppose it's better than space travel, a sort of wormhole? How was it controlled though?"
"Jake never explained it to me love. You were just insistent I was with you every time and recently we started taking Maisie with us and Pete arranged with my chief I would get time off to go with you. Rose, you have to go with the story you lost some of your memories."
"I know that and I thought it had been bad enough when the other you had done it," Rose sighed, relaxing her grip on his hand and him taking advantage of lifting the vest top.
"So, am I still your Alec?" he asked her, trying to lie on her.
"Yeah, at least I think so, well I hope so 'cos I need you Alec. You're the only one I can trust, if Pete's stepping down from Torchwood, even if he does believe me, there's nothing he can do and he might mention it to Owen. I have to face them tomorrow, what do I do?"
"Say you are still confused and it will all start coming back to you, what else can you say love?" he asked, making it clear he wanted something.
"What about you Alec? Doesn't it bother you?"
"Why? You are still my Rose, to me, you have not changed, well apart from your recollections of what we had. Maybe you need a gentle reminder?" he asked, going for her breasts.
He pulled her vest top up and began kissing her gently, propping himself up and making her put her hands on his shoulders.
"Yeah, maybe I do?" she had to give in, going to rake her fingers through his hair, that she thought was already messed up. "Alec, I can't just be with you, not until I get used to it."
"Why not love? It always relaxes you when you've been away. Well just tonight then, while it all sinks in but now, you just have to trust me we have done all this before."
He continued kissing her breasts and neck then rolled onto his back, pulling her vest top over her head so he could see her in the moonlight, then he pulled her closer for a kiss.
"Rose, relax love, we can't change this, as much as you may want to, not without involving Torchwood and we both agree it would be disastrous, if they found out what happened. They could keep trying until they recreate it and I hate to think what it will do to you. If they find nothing, go along with it, don't insist they keep trying."
"I know Alec," Rose had to admit, leaning on his bare chest. "I gave it up four years ago, it stopped working for some reason and they got it going suddenly. I wanted to find Mickey."
That was all she could do. Alec had accepted what they thought had happened and she'd put her old world and the Doctor in danger if she told anyone, even Alec. He seemed fine with the fact she'd loved another version of him because that was who he now was but she dare not risk telling him she thought he'd been a Timelord with a time machine. It may be too much and he'd turn on her and tell Torchwood.
Stopping short of actually having sex, Rose put her things back on and Alec pulled up his shorts, though reluctantly.
"I only wear shorts when we are visiting your parents, in case she calls us to see to Maisie," he informed her.
"What about at home?" Rose giggled.
"Ah, there I have time to slip into my shorts if I have to see to her. You do it during the week, I do it at weekends. Here, we are always worried your mother will come barging in without bothering to knock, she is somewhat out of practice dealing with a two year old who will not go back to sleep."
"Yeah, I remember what it was like with Tony, all the sleepless nights and she wouldn't get a nanny in at night, only during the day. I miss him already Alec, you can't ask me to just forget him."
"I would never do that Rose but you have to be careful. You will only get away with so much, you will have to start remembering things so you will have to follow my lead and I will help you as much as I can. Okay?"
"I have no choice, have I? Sorry, I didn't mean it like that but now, I have two lots of events to deal with."
From Alec's point of view, that was true but she really had three, how could she let go of the last few years she'd been on this world and the twenty she'd spent on her own world? Could she risk telling Alec? Maybe when she got used to him again but not yet.
"Get some sleep love, there will be plenty of questions for you tomorrow. What about your father? You told him you don't belong here," he reminded her.
"Yeah, I know. I'll have to admit I was confused and most of it's coming back. I'll have to let Jake carry on though or they might get suspicious."
Rose fell asleep, Alec just holding her and rubbing her back and shoulder and wondering if she wasn't really imagining all she'd just told him, it was quite a tale even for her. She'd been genuinely upset about this brother she thought she'd had and losing Mickey, who as far as he knew had only ever been her friend so there was someone else she'd lost but who?
He had been jealous when he'd found out he looked like her ex but he'd swallowed his pride and accepted it and it had paid off when she'd said she'd marry him, something he'd never got around to with his other girlfriends. Now, he knew he had to protect her because even he didn't know what Torchwood could really do if they thought she was someone else and not his wife.
When she woke up, Alec was missing so she assumed he'd gone to rescue Maisie from her grandmother, who Rose thought went a bit over the top in the role. She could tell by her mother's insistence she took charge of the toddler that she'd not had any more but she couldn't ask about it. She'd not wanted to accept it last night but it was now a reality, she'd lost Tony and Mickey and gained a husband and a daughter.
Just when she'd thought things were finally going her way and she'd found the Doctor's twin, he'd left her and she'd found Alec but now, reality had changed and even if Torchwood continued running missions, which Alec wouldn't want her to go on after this, she could never tell them why she really wanted to go. Now though, this reality had changed, there may be nowhere to go, all the equipment was set for this reality, not her old one.
She got dressed then went across to Maisie's room to see Alec asleep in the rocking chair, the girl asleep on his shoulder and him just in a t-shirt and some other shorts. She heard a door opening down the hallway and who was now her mother coming out. Rose closed the door quietly.
"Shush Mum, Alec got her back to sleep."
"I know that, I heard them and he should have let me see to her," Jackie huffed. "He was just going in, how did he know?"
Rose wondered what sort of arrangement they'd come to.
"He was maybe seeing if she was awake Mum, I'm sure he was just trying to avoid you being woken, it's still early."
"Well you have some explaining to do Rose, giving us all a scare yesterday, being away for so long. Where did ya go?"
She was about to try and answer when Alec came out with Maisie, who wanted to go to Rose.
"Mummy, I'm hungry," the girl told her.
"You get her dressed love while I get dressed," Alec suggested as Jackie went off at the sight of him.
"Yeah, come on you, what are you wearing today?" Rose asked, used to saying that to Tony.
At least she'd had some experience but what about when the girl got older? They were just about finished when Alec came in, Rose surprised he was dressed in a pair of jeans again and a red and black jumper that Rose almost burst out laughing at as it reminded her of a comic character.
After breakfast, having to leave the girl with Jackie again, they all set off for Torchwood, Pete asking how she was doing today.
"Rose is feeling much better today," Alec answered for her, holding her hand in the back of Pete's car.
"Yeah, I'm not as fuzzy today," Rose had to agree.
"Feel like answering a few questions when we get there?" Pete asked, looking through the mirror at her.
Alec squeezed her hand. "It's not all come back to me yet, I still don't think I went anywhere though Alec thinks he can explain it."
Alec glanced at her, surely they'd agreed it was dangerous to say anything?
"Yeah, so what do you think happened Alec?" Pete asked as they drove into the underground car park when they arrived.
"Maybe we should wait until we have our meeting and Rose has her medical?" Alec asked, hoping he was wrong about her changing her mind.
"Yeah, save you saying it twice," Pete laughed, pulling in the deputy director's parking space.
Rose was wondering who that job would go to once he finished properly and hoped she'd be out of by then because she was handing in her resignation as soon as she'd spoken with Owen – whether the project was finished or not. There was nothing she could do about recreating the ripple without them taking advantage so now, this was where she was.