Chapter Four: What Happened Then

Beta: Candylizard101

Author's Note: Sorry for the long wait, but this chapter was really hard to write. There's probably a lot of mistakes time-wise, but I've tried my best to remember what year Mycroft and Sherlock met the Doctor, when Mycroft and Jack were together, etcetera, but as I said, I've probably made some mistakes. All I really wanna do is have Mystrade, Johnlock, Rose/Doctor, Janto, and see some flashbacks of Mycroft and Jack getting it on.

Thanks to all of you who have reviewed, and a big thanks to the lovely Candylizard101 for beta-ing for me.

{Dreamer}

Rose smiled as she leaned back on the sofa. It had taken a while, but her mum and dad finally had their flat the way they wanted it. They lived in the same building as Mickey and Martha, who had helped out quite a bit money wise. Pete hadn't been able to bring any money over from the parallel world, but that was because they'd literally fallen through a hole in time and space and landed back on the Earth Rose had grown up on.

It had been an insane three weeks of the Tylers falling back and forth through some kind of rip. Rose didn't know how to explain it; it was like one minute they were on the Parallel Earth, reading or eating or just walking, and the next all four of them- Rose, Jackie, Pete and Tony- were ripped through time and space, their bodies twisted and broken apart through the worm-hole, before they were fused back together and dropped back on this Earth.

The first time they'd ended up in Australia, in the middle of the Outback, wandering around and trying to work out where they were. And then they fell again, through a large white crack, and were back in Pete's large house.

It happened again and again and again; Argentina, the Thames, the middle of the rain forest, Buckingham Palace, South Korea and Rome. And every time they were unscathed, just shaken and sore.

Until, once again, they landed on this Earth, in England, just in time to see the TARDIS crash land and get swept up in the newest alien invasion, Sherlock Holmes, Torchwood and the British Government.

The Doctor had tried to explain it to the Tylers, really he had. But there's only so much "wibbly-wobbly", "worm-hole craziness", "particles on you from travelling through time caused you to fall", and "aliens really have no idea what they're doing, messing with time", Rose and her family could take before they gave up and accepted that they were here, back again, for real because the Doctor had fixed everything for good.

So Martha and Mickey, not material people, had helped get them a place to live, furniture, and all the odds and ends the Tylers needed. It had been Jack, Martha and Mycroft Holmes together using their influence in the government to get the Tylers' status' changed from "missing" to "alive". Rose hadn't seen Jack yet but was looking forward to catching up with the immortal.

Rose would forever be grateful to Mickey and Martha, not that her friends cared. They didn't want the money back, they were just happy to have Rose and her family safe and sound.

Currently Martha was at work while Mickey had taken the day off to see Rose. Rose was travelling with the Doctor again but the Time Lord made sure to come back for two weeks every month to let Rose visit her family. Jackie made sure her daughter visited often and the Doctor agreed; he didn't like getting slapped by mums.

Pete was working for UNIT- strictly in the office- and Jackie was spending all her time taking care of a five-year-old Tony Tyler, while Rose travelled once again with the Doctor.

Rose had been all smiles when she hugged Mickey and made him tea, the best friends sitting in the lounge room to catch up. Rose hadn't gone into too much detail when Mickey had first seen her. So now was the time to catch up properly.

'What happened to the human Doctor?' Mickey asked suddenly after a few minutes of silence. He watched as pain flashed over Rose, making her youthful face darker, older.

'He, uh... he died,' Rose said.

Her fingers were white where they gripped her mug, and her face had taken on an ashen quality. Her normally bright brown eyes were dark with sorrow and Mickey immediately regretted asking.

'A robbery gone wrong.' Rose took a deep, shuddering breath. 'He was protecting me- he always protected me.' She smiled slightly, but it was a pained gesture, one that told of how much she'd cared about the human-Time Lord hybrid. 'He died in my arms,' she whispered, her eyes locked onto a spot on the wall, head bent and entire body hunched over.

Suddenly there were tears brimming in her eyes, and her hands shook, spilling tea down her skin. Mickey placed his own cup on the coffee table and sat beside his best friend. He wrapped an arm around Rose and the young woman fell into his body, shaking and giving him breathless sobs.

'He just... just d-died,' Rose choked out.

'Shh, it's okay,' Mickey whispered.

'He was... g-gone, just... g-g-gone,' Rose stuttered. She squeezed her eyes shut against the pain, feeling grief and sorrow and everything else she'd felt when she lost the human Doctor well up again.

It was unlike anything she'd ever felt before. It had been worse than losing the real Doctor. But he had still been alive, flying across all of time and space, saving people and showing others the mysteries of the universe.

And the human Doctor- her Doctor- had just stopped breathing, stopped moving, the usual intelligent twinkle in his dark brown eyes squashed because of a stupid, human bullet.

Neither knew how long they sat there, Rose crying and remembering, Mickey trying to hush her and bring her back. He wished he could take her pain away, live with it himself, but all he could do was hold his best friend and try to comfort her.

What felt like hours later, but was probably only about half-an-hour, Rose pulled back and rubbed at her wet, tear-swollen eyes. She gave Mickey a small, shakey smile and Mickey smiled back.

He handed her back her tea and Rose took large gulps, trying to pull herself together, while Mickey disappeared briefly to grab some tissues.

After Rose had blown her nose and cleaned herself up, Mickey said, 'Alright there?'

'Yeah,' she breathed heavily. 'I'm sorry.'

'Don't be stupid,' Mickey shook his head. 'You lost someone you loved.'

Rose nodded and rubbed her eyes again.

'I'm sorry,' Mickey said.

Rose just nodded.

Mickey decided to move on from the human Doctor and said, 'So, how'd you run into the Doctor?'

Rose looked up at him and took a deep breath. 'Um... about the five or sixth time we fell through the hole between the parallel worlds. We were in London and some aliens invaded. The Doctor crash landed here after being hit by one of their ships. We literally ran into each other, I... I couldn't believe it.'

Rose blinked rapidly and took another gulp of tea.

'He saved the Earth, of course,' she said and gave her best friend a small smile. 'The Holmes brothers helped too, Mycroft and Sherlock. It's amazing what they can do when they're not fighting.'

'They fight a lot?' Mickey asked.

Rose laughed softly and nodded. 'Yeah, they have a real sibling rivalry. For all their intelligence, they can act like five-year-olds.'

'I've heard of the older one, Mycroft,' Mickey said. 'A big shot in the government, practically everyone's boss. Knows all about Torchwood, UNIT, and the Doctor.'

'It's hard to keep anything from Mycroft Holmes,' Rose smiled. She leaned back on the sofa, the pain from earlier melting away to be replaced by warmth and friendliness.

'Martha likes him,' Mickey said. 'I heard Jack really likes him.'

Rose chuckled and shook her head, taking a sip of tea before speaking. 'Well, Jack likes everyone,' she said, sharing a knowing look with her best friend. 'I know Martha's worked with Mycroft before, but she was vague. How is she, anyway?'

'Good,' Mickey nodded. 'In Cardiff on some assignment with UNIT. Torchwood took the aliens and left UNIT to deal with the human aspect of things; witnesses destruction, stuff like that.'

'Mum was tellin' me about that,' Rose nodded. 'Somethin' about a small space ship crashing?'

Mickey nodded. 'The aliens weren't a threat, so Torchwood took 'em, I think Jack was gonna send 'em home. A few people witnessed it all and the ship caused some damage. Martha went to treat a few cases of shock and just some scratches and things. It's small, she didn't need my input.'

'Aww, married life not treating you right?' Rose teased.

'I'll have you know my marriage is more than right, Rose Tyler,' Mickey said, puffing out his chest and earning a giggle from the woman sitting opposite him.

'I'm glad, Mickey,' she smiled. 'Real glad.'

'Thanks,' Mickey said. 'And hey, I'm glad too; you got the Doctor back, your parents and brother are safe... everything's right.'

'Yeah,' Rose nodded.

'It all turned alright, eh?'

Rose nodded again.

'So, do I get to meet these Holmeses?' Mickey asked.

'If you want, I s'pose,' Rose said. 'The Doctor's with 'em now, wanted to see how they're gettin' on. Said he'd call when he settled in and promised not to leave me behind.'

'He'd better not,' Mickey said, grabbing a digestive from the tray Rose had set out. 'Imagine ol' Jackie if he abandoned you?'

'Did you just call me old, Mickey Smith?' Jackie demanded as she walked into the sitting room. She went straight to Tony, who was busy making exploding noises as he stabbed at the PSP Mickey had given him.

'Nah, 'course not,' Mickey said, shaking his head violently while Rose smirked. 'Never, Jacks, you know you're not old- never.'

Jackie looked at her daughter, who had a hard time wiping the smile off her face. ''Course he didn't, Mum.' She beamed brightly and Jackie tutted.

'You young people,' she said.

Before Rose and Mickey could try and defend themselves, the front door burst open and the Doctor strolled in.

'Doctor!' Tony shouted when he saw the alien. Rose and Mickey both smiled at the young boy as he threw his PSP aside and leapt at the Doctor.

'Tony,' the Doctor beamed as he hugged the human back. He set Tony on the floor and looked him up and down. 'Have you gotten bigger since I left?'

'Maybe,' Tony grinned. 'I'll be ten next month.'

'A good, strong age,' the Doctor nodded.

'Mummy said you're over nine-hundred,' Tony said with wide eyes. 'Are you?'

'Yup,' the alien confirmed.

'Wow,' Tony giggled. 'You're old.'

'Tone, don't be rude,' Jackie tutted.

'Sorry,' Tony apologised but the Doctor just laughed.

'Nah, s'alright,' he said. He leaned closer to the boy and whispered loudly, 'I am old!'

Tony giggled again and Jackie held her hand out. 'Come on, Tony, gotta clean your room.'

Tony pouted but did as he was told, waving to the group as he followed his mother down the hallway.

Rose stood to hug her partner tightly and the Time Lord beamed, pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. Mickey was glad when he didn't feel any jealousy; for so long he'd loved Rose, but now he had Martha.

Mickey's attention was drawn from the happy couple to the man who had followed the Doctor in. He was now closing the door and when he turned back he smiled politely at Mickey.

'Myc!' Rose said and smiled brilliantly. Mycroft chuckled as he received an enthusiastic hug from the blonde woman. 'How are you?'

'I'm quite fine, thank you,' Mycroft said. 'And you? Is your family settling in okay?'

'Yeah, Martha and Mickey helped a lot,' Rose said. Mycroft raised an eyebrow at that and Rose said, 'Oh, yeah.' She moved aside and gestured at Mickey, who was still sitting on the couch. 'This is my best mate, Mickey Smith. His wife, Martha, used to travel with the Doctor too.'

'Nice to meet you,' Mickey said and stood. He shook the mystery man's hand.

'A pleasure,' Mycroft nodded. 'I've met your wife; she's an intelligent young woman.'

Mickey smiled at that. 'Did you travel with the Doc?' he asked, wondering how this man knew their favourite alien.

Mycroft chuckled. 'Good heavens, no. I work for the British Government.'

Mickey frowned. Wait, this man wasn't...

'We met in London, 2005, when the Floe'on invaded,' Mycroft continued.

'The Floe'on?' Mickey questioned.

'Giant green blob-like aliens that absorb electronics,' the Doctor explained. 'They were hiding out in people's iPod's and killing them- accidentally, of course, the Floe'on aren't violent creatures.'

'The Doctor eventually found them a planet where they could live with the local population,' Rose told Mickey. 'And with Mycroft's help we figured out how to talk to them.'

'I now speak Floeish fluently,' the Doctor beamed. 'The TARDIS was having an off day and couldn't translate the Floe'on language, but I've fixed that now.'

'Again with Mycroft's help,' Rose added.

'And Sherlock,' Mycroft nodded.

'So you met the Doctor because a bunch of aliens invaded Earth?' Mickey asked Mycroft.

The older man nodded. 'How else does one meet the Doctor?'

'Oi, was that a stab at me?' the Doctor demanded.

'Did you see it as one?' Mycroft asked.

'I don't know,' the Doctor admitted with a grin. 'I have no idea how your mind works, Mycroft Holmes.'

Mickey's mouth fell open at that. Mycroft Holmes. It was Mycroft Holmes! God, how could he be so stupid? This was the liaison between UNIT, Torchwood, and the government. And not only did he do that- and do it very well- but he was practically in charge of MI5, MI6, the SAS, and God knows how many other branches of Britain's defence force.

He was the British Government.

'Holy crap,' Mickey gaped.

The other three had turned to him, but Jackie re-entered before they could ask about his outburst.

'So, Doctor, you're back,' she smiled. 'And you brought a friend?' she continued when she saw Mycroft.

'Mycroft Holmes,' the red-head nodded at her. 'I apologise for the impromptu gathering, but the Doctor came to visit my brother and me earlier. We're just here to collect Rose.'

'You are?' Rose and Jackie said at the same time.

'We thought you might like to see Sherlock again,' the Doctor explained.

'Oh yeah,' Rose nodded. 'I haven't seen him in months.'

'Years, for us,' Mycroft said. 'You last saw us in 2009 for a few hours. It's now 2012.'

'Oh,' Rose blinked. 'You don't look any older, Mycroft.'

Mycroft smiled. 'Thank you, my dear.'

'But you're still having dinner with us, right?' Jackie interrupted.

''Course, Mum,' Rose beamed, turning to face the older blonde.

'Jack's coming down tonight with his partner,' the Doctor said, 'but he'll be meeting us at Sherlock's tomorrow morning so we can spend the day with them, maybe have dinner after.'

'There ya go, Mum,' Rose said. 'The Doctor and I are perfectly free tonight.'

Jackie rolled her eyes and said, 'Alright, alright, get going. No later than nine, missy.'

Even though Rose was well into her twenties, her mum still worried all the time. Rose couldn't really blame her after everything that had happened. Jackie was still worried the Doctor was going to disappear with her daughter. But he was keeping his promise this time; every month he returned Rose safe and sound for a visit.

Rose walked across the room and kissed her mum's cheek. 'Thanks, Mum.'

'Yeah, yeah,' Jackie chuckled. 'Mickey, you goin' with them?'

Mickey looked at the group- Rose and the Doctor were both smiling, while Mycroft remained passive- and said, 'Nah, I'll catch up with 'em tomorrow. I'd like to see Jack again. Martha's comin' home around midnight, I'd rather not miss her.'

'We'll be back before then,' Rose said.

Mickey just laughed. 'Yeah, right. You'll be 'alfway to this Sherlock's place and end up battling some alien race to save earth.'

'That doesn't happen that often,' the Doctor pouted.

'I'll sit this one out, mate,' Mickey shook his head. 'You go see your friends,' he said to Rose, who hugged him.

She pressed a kiss to his cheek and said, 'It was good catching up.'

'Yeah,' Mickey agreed, 'I'll see ya tomorrow, ar'right?'

Rose nodded and the Doctor said goodbye to Mickey and Jackie before the three left. Mickey sat back on the sofa and breathed out.

'Wow, Mycroft Holmes,' he mused.