Rose entered the doors of Torchwood and entered the lift. She winced as the blue scanner quickly catalogued her arrival, the bright light always hurting her eyes. The charm worked by identifying who had entered the lift (or cataloging them as visitors) and then moving a lift to the desired floor.

Rose braced herself as the lift jerked to a stop and exited quickly. She grinned when she saw Ianto waiting for her with a cup of coffee. "You have brilliant timing," she complimented.

He smirked knowingly. "I know."

Rose laughed as they walked towards the office where they worked. Most employees didn't have their own offices, but Rose, as the head of the Dimension Cannon project, had earned her own.

Quite a few employees at Torchwood, of course, assumed it was because Rose and Fred were incredibly close. In fact, several of the tabloids had suggested that they might even be sleeping together. When they heard this, Rose and her uncle burst out laughing. It was both ridiculously disgusting and absolutely ludicrous at the same time.

Needless to say, Rose and her Uncle were quick to put those rumors to bed, but even now some employees were still doubtful.

Thankfully, Ianto was not one of them.

Rose grinned. "And so humble. So what's on the schedule for-"

Rose was cut off by a loud scream. This was followed by a crash and Scorpius Malfoy coming out of his office, his poor assistant following helplessly. Rose's mouth dropped as she realized what he was screaming about.

His hair.

Instead of its usual pale blonde, it was bright red and gold.

Rose had few problems with the Scorpius in her universe. He was alright (for a Malfoy) and she had even dated him for a while, before Jimmy.

The Scorpius here, though, was as much of a jerk as his father had been (at least, from what she had heard about him from her father). So, to be honest, she felt no sympathy towards him

Instead, she turned to Ianto and asked, "How did that happen?"

"Apparently somebody put something in his coffee and it turned his hair Gryffindor colors," Ianto said innocently- too innocently.

"You didn't!" Rose gasped.

"You told me not to take crap from him anymore!" Ianto defended.

Rose stuttered. She had said that. Scorpius was a bully, especially to the Muggles around here, and they shouldn't have to put up with him.

"Yes, but I meant stand up for yourself, not-" Rose waved her hand towards a still fuming Scorpius- "sabotage and subterfuge!"

They burst into giggles as Scorpio went off into another rant and left quickly. When the reached the office, Rose closed the door behind them and sunk down into the plush, faded couch she kept off to the side.

Aside from the couch, the office was small, well lit, and sparsely furnished. Two desks, chairs, a potted plant, and piles of paper. Both she and Ianto preferred to keep their private lives private, and in an office surrounded by large, glass, windows, that meant keeping personal items to a minimum.

Rose began to rub her temples, trying to hold off the impeding head-ache. They had become more and more frequent these past few weeks. She had also been prone to frequent bouts of nausea and stomach pain. Still, Rose just chalked up to overworking herself.

Ianto sat down next to her and eyed her hesitantly. Now would not be the best time to broach the subject, she would find out soon enough. Torchwood employees talked, after all. It was better that Rose found out from him than anybody else, and she needed to know sooner rather than later.

"Rose, before we get started on what we need to do for today, there is something you ought to know," he said hesitantly.

Rose opened her eyes and groaned, throwing her head back in frustration. "I know I'm not going to like this."

"It's not a bad thing," Ianto encouraged. "Just...odd."

"Alright," Rose sighed. "Now I know I'm really not going to like this."

"There's a crack in The Wall," Ianto said.

Rose asked blankly, "What wall?"

Ianto raised an eyebrow and Rose sat up straight. "What? Show me!"

She didn't wait for Ianto to explain anything else, instead choosing to burst out of her office and head quickly down for the hall into the lift. Ianto managed to follow her just as the doors closed.

He pointed out, "It's not what you think, Rose. It's just a crack."

"I need to see it," Rose saids firmly, and the matter was dropped.

It took several minutes for the lift to finally take them to the right floor, since it was a busy time of the day. During that time, Rose couldn't help the nervous flutter in her belly.

Sure, Ianto said it was just a crack, but what if it wasn't? What if it was something more? What if it was her way back home?

Her way back to the Doctor?

The lift finally opened at the right floor and Rose stepped out, Ianto right behind her. Rose, ignoring the whispers of the workers on the floor, took the familiar route to The Wall, as it had become known to most working at Torchwood.

The room containing The Wall no longer held any real purpose. Now just a white, empty, room, nobody really felt right working there.

Whether it was because of what had happened or because of some lingering after-effect of the Void, Rose didn't know.

Rose did know that she herself never liked to spend much time in the room, but that probably had more to do with the fact that this room was where she had lost the Doctor and her family than anything else.

Standing outside the door to the room, Rose had to take a deep breath and calm herself. Ianto didn't say anything, respectfully waiting for her to gather her thoughts. When she was ready, she opened the door and was greeted with-

A crack.

A normal, boring, run-of-the-mill crack.

Rose wasn't really sure what she had been expecting, especially not after Ianto's warning.

Maybe a big, gaping, hole in the wall.

Maybe a gateway back home.

Or maybe just something, anything, more mysterious looking than the crack that she was staring at now.

Ianto apologized. "I told you it was just a crack."

"Yea," Rose said softly, "You did. Silly of me to get all worked up."

"It's not," Ianto assured her. Although Rose's story (that she was really Fred's niece from a parallel-world, stranded here after the Battle of Canary Warf) was classified and only Fred and his (now, wife) Jackie knew, it hadn't taken Ianto long to find it all out.

He had confronted her one day in her flat and Rose had admitted everything- mainly because she was so sick of not having anybody to talk to. Sure, Fred was understanding, and Jackie, too (to an extent), but Rose knew that Fred still felt odd about the whole situation and had yet to come to terms with it, even if he had been incredibly helpful in getting her set up in her new home.

Now that Ianto knew everything, Rose had somebody to talk to who knew when to shut up and listen and when to give her advice.

This was one of those, "shut up and listen" moments.

Well, maybe just a "shut up" moment, since Rose didn't say anything.

She walked up to the wall and gently placed her hand on the crack, fingering it gently. It really did look like a crack. It felt like a crack. Then why couldn't Rose just accept that it was just a crack?

"When are they going to have somebody down to repair it?" Rose asked Ianto, turning around.

Ianto straightened and tried to remember what he had heard. "Actually, they had a man down here from maintenance earlier, but the Charm wouldn't stick. They're calling in some Muggles to do it the Muggle way tomorrow."

"The Charm won't stick?" Rose asked, surprised. She turned to look at Ianto, who just shrugged.

"No, but is that really surprising?" He asked. "Magic has never worked right in this room since-"

Rose nodded, not needing him to finish the sentence.

Another reason why nobody used this room anymore was that magic here could be... sticky, at best. The staff had tried to make do at first, but when one of them had accidentally apparated to Cuba while performing a routine Levitation Charm, the administration had decided that enough was enough.

"Still. Is Fred going to have anybody look into it further? Maybe run some tests or something?"

"I don't think so," Ianto said slowly, knowing that this would not make Rose happy in the least.

"Why not?" Rose demanded.

Ianto winced at her shriek. "He didn't see a need."

"Well, I see a need." Rose snapped.

Before Ianto could (carefully) tell her that she was being irrational, Rose left in a huff. Ianto grimaced. Two angry Weasleys- even if one was from another universe- never ended well for anybody.

Rose gave a curt nod to the secretary sitting outside Fred's office. She stood up when she saw Rose and stuttered apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Tyler, but Mr. Weasley is busy. Can I take a-"

Rose didn't listen and barged right in.

The secretary sat down weakly. "-message?"

When Rose entered Fred's office, he was in the middle of a phone call, leaning back in his chair, feet on the desk, twiddling his wand- the perfect picture of a leisurely business man. Rose had been surprised when she learned that he was taking control of Torchwood, especially considering his love for the joke shop, but after losing his entire family against an alien invasion, he had a particular vendetta against them.

He held up a finger and Rose rolled her eyes, but nodded and sat down in one of the chairs. While Fred finished up, Rose took a chance to look around the office.

Unlike the office she shared with Ianto, Fred's was dressed to the nines with pictures of friends and family- most of whom had perished over a year ago.

It was so bizarre to think that it had only been 18 months since the first time Rose had met Fred. At that time, he hadn't even believed that Rose was from another universe. Since she had come to live here, though, she and Fred had grown to share a bond similar to the one she shared with her Uncle George...if not a bit more complicated because of the whole "The version of you from my world is dead/doesn't exist" issue.

She had heard story after story from Uncle George in her world about Fred. It taken some time for her to get used to seeing and hearing and knowing Fred, even though he was sort of dead. Every now and then Fred would send looks her way that told her he was similarly conflicted.

Together, she, Fred, Jackie, and their newborn son Teddy made a small, oddball sort of family. Fred and Jackie had gotten together shortly after Rose and the Doctor had first left the parallel-world. They married a few months after the Battle of Canary Warf and had given birth to Teddy.

Rose, who had been living with Fred at the time, had moved out at that point. She had nothing against her little parallel-cousin, but she wanted to give the new family a chance to be a family together.

Still, Jackie, who had one of the largest mothering streaks Rose had ever seen, always made sure that Rose knew she was welcomed at the home.

Rose was broken out of her thoughts when Fred hung up the phone and sighed, sitting backwards in his chair. He propped his feet up on the desk.

"What are you going to do about the crack in The Wall?" Rose asked, not giving him a chance to relax. He scowled and stood up.

"'Hello, Fred. How are you today?' Fine, thanks for asking. And you?" He muttered sarcastically, waving his wand to start boiling some water for tea.

"I was doing alright until I heard about the crack," Rose retorted, refusing to be intimidated. "Are you really going to do nothing?"

"Yes," Fred said firmly, "because there is nothing to do. And do you have to always burst in here like that? We just got those rumors settled. We don't need more people thinking we're sleeping together again."

"'Again?'" Rose snorted. "They never really stopped. And what do you mean there's nothing to do? There's a crack in The Wall!" Rose argued.

"Merlin's beard, Rose, it's just a crack!" Fred argued. "It isn't a way back home. It's just a crack in the paint or something."

"Then why won't magic work on it?" Rose demanded. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Magic has never worked right in that room," Fred pointed out.

Rose, deciding to ignore this completely valid point, retorted. "So? Better safe than sorry! Always be prepared! And- well, no, that's about it, isn't it?"

"Don't fix what isn't broken," Fred said firmly.

"Not broken?" Rose asked incredulously. "There is a big, gaping, crack in The Wall!"

Alright, perhaps this was a bit of an exaggeration.

"It's not big or gaping," Fred said, "And it's not important."

"Uncle Fred," Rose begged.

Fred shook his head. "Rose, I'm sorry, but I honestly can't spend money on investigating a crack in a wall that probably isn't anything. I'm already allocating a crazy amount of money on that Dimension Cannon project- and how is that going?"

Rose shifted. "It's- going."

Fred made a doubtful noise in the back of his throat. "That's what I thought. Not to mention all of these new restrictions on Muggle rights. We're due for review, did you know that? Any day now a government official could come in and rate us on our treatment of Muggles. Everything has to be in tip-top shape. Do you understand?"

"Of course I do," Rose said with a frown. "I just-"

"I know you want to get home," Fred said carefully. "I know you miss your family."

He didn't mention the Doctor's name, which Rose was grateful for.

"I just- can't. I am sorry."

Rose didn't say anything. She just nodded quietly and turned to leave.

"So am I, Uncle Fred. So am I."

When Rose entered her office again, Ianto was already waiting for her. He offered her a sympathetic smile, not needing for her to tell him what had happened.

"Sorry, Rose."

Rose gave him a tired smile, her exhaustion (it wasn't even lunch yet! She shouldn't be this tired) creeping up on her.

"It's alright," she assured. "I should have listened to you."

"Look, Rose," Ianto said, "I know you're upset, but this might be a good thing. If it is just a crack, then it'll be gone in a few days. If it turns out to be more, we'll know soon enough."

"I just hate doing nothing," Rose grumbled, not caring that she was sounding like a whiny, Slytherin, first-year.

"Oh, you won't be doing nothing," Ianto assured. He smirked and waved his hand at the desk, where several piles of paper were resting. "You have plenty of work to do."

Rose laughed.

Ianto always knew what to say to cheer her up.

AN: I'm sorry I made y'all wait so long for such a short chapter, but writer's block, plus SAT prep, plus the 1 year anniversary of Harriet Potter coming up (meaning I had to make sure that I had a chapter ready to post on 2/4) meant that this chapter took forever to get out, and I still don't like it. On the upside, the next chapter is shaping up to be much better. Hope you enjoy and hope you enjoyed Scorpius's little cameo.

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