Disclamer: I own nothing but the pink laptop that this was typed up on for fun. No copyright infringement intended, I've gained nothing but my own smile for this work

Stories and Sightseeing

They had an enjoyable lunch with Jackie, Luke listen to all of their stories of the past years. He was amazed of the adventures they had had with Mickey and Torchwood, Jackie seemed to get caught up in the wrong place and wrong time quite often now. Rose explained the whole Sycorax ordeal, how it was only weeks after she had been stranded in this universe and she had been ghosting through the motions of life having agreed with Pete and Mickey to at least look into the Torchwood they had rebuilt. She was being given the tour of the tower when they saw the giant ship, she knew who it was immediately and run for Mickey, it took him a bit longer to recognize it but when he did they made their way to UNIT headquarters because until then UNIT ran point with dealing with aliens. After barging in on Harriet Jones, the President of the United Republic, and Rose forced herself in to a conversation with their leader, a female this time, and got herself and Kevin alone transported to the ship and on world television too! Well she avoided the whip, but did brake the staff to the astonishment of the Sycorax, she also mimicked the Doctor's speech of not really knowing who she was in this new world and how she would react to a very large button that was hooked up to the A positive blood sample.

"She was bloody mental, she was," Jackie interrupted, "I rang Mickey as soon as she was on that ship, all he could do was laugh and here I was sitting at home knowing Pete was on some roof somewhere!"

Rose grinned, "He said you deafened his one ear with the scream you let out when I hit the button, well so did Kevin, he was a smart bloke, followed the whole conversation. Well ended up with in a sword fight, couldn't help but thank mum for that year of fencing lessons, she had wanted me to do something after gymnastics," Rose's face darkened for a moment, "didn't lose my hand but Kevin intervened and he died, I did win the match after and I happened to have a Satsuma in my pocket and I had to use it too."

"'No second chances, I'm that kind of woman' she said," Jackie marveled, "Mickey said it was like she was channeling the Doctor the whole time."

"The Sycorax sent me back to Earth with the understanding that they clear out and never come back, because you see Earth its defended," Rose said simply, "Mickey even refused to use the cannons on the retreating ship like Harriet Jones wanted to, she didn't trust me, still doesn't but she's still President for now."

They continued to talk and Luke marveled at Rose, she had been just as broken as he had been but she had kept herself together better than he had. She hadn't destroyed those around her with her heartache like he had with Martha nor use people as a grounding factor like he had with Donna. She was stronger than he was, she had known that she wouldn't be able to hide her pain like he had tired, she let them all see the sorrow in her eyes but she didn't let to rule her life, she had lived with that pain while he had tried to run from it. After lunch they wondered around the city for awhile just the two of them when Rose said, "Should probably get back to life as it was tomorrow, well almost as it was."

"And where do I fit into this almost life as it was?" asked Luke.

"Well, we'll get you classes with Jake; he helped Mickey, Mum and me with this Earth's history. That will be a day for you as cleaver as you are, then it's up to you, UNIT or Torchwood, or you could stay home, you've got a piece of coral to attend to," Rose smiled at him.

"Oh, I do don't I," he asked with a grin, "Well," he stretched out the word for a bit, "I could do more than pay attention to a piece of coral."

"But would you want to work daily with us, or UNIT?" asked Rose only slightly teasing.

"Did I ever tell you of the time I was exiled to Earth?" he asked seriously.

She shook her head no and he was off, babbling about Autons, Omega, Sontarans, Silurians, and the repeated phrase "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow," and Liz, Jo, and of course Sarah Jane. While he regaled her of his past adventures, she easily lead them back to her flat where the cloths that they had purchased earlier where waiting for them at the door. When they entered the small flat in the heart of London it was the first time Luke had stopped chatting, Rose vaguely wondered if he still had a respiratory bypass system with only one heart.

"I know it's not much," Rose started after a moment of silence, "I'm sure there is something else we could find if you want."

Luke started grinning like mad, "No, it's brilliant. Well, a bit white," he said noting the walls, "and not much by way of furniture," seeing the vast empty space with an arm chair and side table, a bed, and a pair of bar stools at the small island in the kitchen area.

She rubbed the back of her neck in a fashion that reminded him a lot of someone as she said, "I don't use this space much, mostly it's here for when it's been a really late night at Torchwood and I don't want to go all the way back to the estate. Mum hates that I pay for it but it's not like I had a lot of other things to spend the money on."

"And this view is almost worth it," Luke marveled looking out over the city from the two walls of windows.

Rose grinned at him and said, "Way more than worth it," and she opened one of the windows and stepped out. She turned to look at him apparently standing in mid air to see him attempt to hide his look of shock, "Coming?" she asked with a grin. He followed her out the window and suddenly felt like he was being stretched beyond his limit before falling to a cold tile floor. Rose helped him to his feet since she seemed to have been able to remain upright, "Bit of a teleportation beam," she explained, "Welcome to Torchwood Main, this is my office."

He looked around and instantly he could tell where the majority of her time was spent, the tile floor was the only thing that looked like she hadn't changed it but there were a few area rugs throughout the room. The walls where a rich burgundy color, but they were mostly hidden behind shelves and miscellaneous plaques including the one from her knighthood, a few swords also hung on the walls and one painting. The rugs and the furniture where a eclectic match but as a whole fit together nicely. Her desk was looked like someone had tried to explode a paper bomb but just looking at the mess he knew there was some crazy order to it that only she would know. He turned his back on the office and looked behind him to see out a large glass wall that looked out over the rest of Torchwood. When he spun around again Rose was at the counter behind her desk apparently potting a pot of tea on a small electronic burner, and his eyes were drawn to the painting. "What's this," he asked.

"Faolchu Droch," she responded not even looking at the painting, "it was given to me by a psychic alien named Etyde gave it to me shortly before the stars started going out, said it was my past, present, and future," Rose explained.

He looked at what appeared to be modern art in swirls of gold and shades of blue, but amongst the swirls he could swear that he could see the shape of a canine's head looking back at him, "Faolchu Droch," he tried the name on his tongue and then barked a bit of a laugh, "would have thought it would be called Bad Wolf almost."

Rose turned and looked at him with her eyebrow raised, "It is. Like I said Etyde was psychic, if he looked into your eyes long enough he could paint you death, he tried to distract me with it but I'm a time/dimension traveler and after an hour this is all he could get, Mickey's was a blue square," she laughed at the memory but became quite somber quickly thinking of her departed friend. "I'm going to miss him," she said.

Luke turned from the painting and gave her a hug, "I know," he said just as there was a knock on the door.

She pulled out of his embrace but entwined her one hand with his as she called, "Come in."

"Sorry Director, Commander Simmers wanted me to leave this report on your desk for when you came back, we thought it would be a few days," the young man stated in a rush, he was wearing dark green pants, black boots and t-shirt with a red beret with the UNIT emblem on it.

"Connells, right?" Rose asked and he nodded, "You one of the UNIT interns with us this year," and he nodded again, "Alright, I'll take a look at this report tomorrow, I'm just visiting today."

Connells nodded his understanding as he quickly left the room obviously intimidated by the two of them in the office, "What was that?" ask Luke.

"He only started a week ago, and had the poor since to try to introduce himself to me when I was down stairs working on the cannon," Rose explained, "I was having a bad day."