Chapter Six

Romana breathed in deeply as she stood in Cardiff's center.

"You know," She said thoughtfully, "I always used to think the Doctor was crazy for liking Earth so much. But now that I really think about it, this really is a wonderful little planet."

Rose just smiled, too busy absorbing the familiar sights of her true home around her to reply.

"I think K-9 is upset with me." Romana continued after a moment.

"Why?" Rose asked now, curious. In the short time that she had known Romana, she had gotten the impression that the tin dog was in fact extremely loyal and devoted to his mistress.

"He doesn't like staying behind in the Tardis." Romana replied. Then she rolled her eyes, "Although it's not as if there's no one to talk to. That dog is just spoiled rotten."

Rose grinned again. "Kind of reminds me of Emily. She's only one and mum and Pete have already given her everything anyone could ever want." She sighed here, a longing expression apparent on her face. "It hasn't been that long, and I already miss them." She turned to Romana now. "Was it like that for you, when you first left your home to travel with the Doctor?"

Romana frowned slightly at this question.

"Not exactly." She said slowly.

"It's just complicated." She hurried to clarify as Rose looked at her, utter disbelief written across the other girl's face. "On Gallifrey, families are just structured differently. And when I left, I had every intention of coming back as soon as the key was found." Now it was Romana's turn to sigh. "I liked life on Gallifrey, and at first I was rather upset about having to leave, I suppose. But as time passed, I grew accustomed to the Doctor's way of life. I told you before that we were supposed to be returning to Gallifrey when we got stranded in E-Space." She chuckled slightly here. "That was probably one of the best days of my life; I didn't want to go back home. The other Time Lords wanted me back, but now that I'd seen a better life, I didn't want to live my life they wanted me to…"

Romana trailed off there, staring unseeingly at her surroundings.

"I suppose there's another good reason for staying in E-Space." She said thoughtfully, and still with a faraway look in her eyes. "I'm still alive now because of it." She turned to Rose now. "You'll get used to not having them around, eventually. After all, you have traveled with the Doctor before. And maybe, one day, it will be possible to travel between the universes again. You never know, having more time lords around might help in more ways than one."

"Excuse me," A voice interrupted suddenly from behind them.

Romana and Rose both spun around at the sound of the voice to see a woman before them dressed almost entirely in black. Looking over her shoulder, they could see two others dressed almost exactly like her.

"Can I help you?" Romana asked pleasantly, but still cautiously.

"I'm going to have to ask the two of you to come with me." The woman told her.

"May I ask why?" Romana said, still sounding very civilized.

"We just want to ask you a few questions." The woman replied easily. "So if you'd just follow me-"

"No." Rose said suddenly, her eyes going wide with recognition as she spotted the name emblazoned on the side of a black SUV a few yards beyond the woman before her. "I'm not going anywhere with you people."

As one, Romana and the woman both looked at her in surprise.

"I'm afraid you don't have a choice." The woman said. "Either you can come in peacefully, of your own accord…or you can be taken in by force."

"On what grounds?" Rose challenged. "We haven't done anything wrong."

"That's still to be determined." The woman said.

"By whom?" Romana asked now.

"Well, by Torchwood, of course."

Rose's eyes hardened at the sound of the name of the sole thing responsible for trapping her in another universe spoken aloud.

"We haven't done anything wrong." Rose said again, looking directly at the woman before her. "If you want to arrest someone, then arrest everyone at Torchwood. They're the ones who are doing something wrong."

The woman's expression didn't change. It was almost as if she was used to the idea of people not liking Torchwood. Although as Rose remembered it, Torchwood had been a secret institute, hidden from the world for more than a century. Maybe things in this universe had changed more in the past few years than either she or Romana could have known. The people could have found out about Torchwood, like they had in Pete's universe, which really wouldn't have surprised Rose, anyway.

"It's been two years since the Daleks and Cybermen invaded through Torchwood, hasn't it?" Romana asked the woman suddenly.

Now, for the first time since he had arrived, the woman's expression changed.

"What do you know about that?" She asked Romana suspiciously.

"I know that the Doctor was the one who sent them all back into the void, and saved all of you." Rose replied. The woman's head turned to face in her direction.

"You know the Doctor?" She questioned her eyes wide.

"We do." Romana said shortly. "What about it?"

"Our Leader will want to speak with you." The woman said swiftly, taking both of their arms as she spoke.

Rose began to struggle against her grip, but Romana shot her a look and Rose became still immediately, surprised by the expression on Romana's face. The woman took advantage of this and led Rose and Romana to her car. Once they were inside and the door was closed, Rose turned to Romana.

"What'd you do that for?" She hissed, not wanting to be overheard although there wasn't anyone else in the car with them yet. "I've told you what Torchwood is like. It was their fault the Cybermen and Daleks got back into this universe."

"Give me your hand." Was all Romana said.

"Why?"

"Just give it to me." Romana said, holding her own hand out impatiently.

With a look of uncertainty upon her face, Rose slowly placed her hand on top of Romana's waiting one. As soon as Rose's hand was touching hers though, Romana's eyes closed, and an expression of utter concentration appeared on her face.

Suddenly, Rose felt another presence in her mind, and as she felt that, all of her memories of Torchwood came floating to the surface of her mind. The many images flashed before her eyes quickly, until coming to a stop at the very first time she had ever been in Torchwood Tower; the only time she had ever been there…when the Cybermen had crossed universes and the Daleks had reappeared.

"They aren't the same." Romana said softly, her eyes still shut.

"Who isn't?" Rose asked.

"This leader of theirs." Romana said, her eyes opening slowly. "You remember a woman, but her mind," She jerked her head in the direction of the woman who had 'arrested' them, "Shows the head of Torchwood as a man. And he doesn't look like anyone you ever met or even saw when you were at Torchwood with the Doctor."

"Yvonne, the old director, was upgraded." Rose replied. "The Cybermen made her one of them. Torchwood will have gotten a new head by now."

Romana nodded. "I figured." She paused. "That's why we're going to let them take us to Torchwood headquarters. I want to meet this new director and see if they've changed their…mission."

Before Romana could say anything else, however, the car door opened and the woman from before sat down in the driver's seat and started the car.

"Sorry for the wait." She said, without looking back at Rose and Romana as she started to drive away. The two people who had been with her were walking in the opposite direction. "We should reach Torchwood in a few minutes. We're going to the front entrance."

Ten minutes later, Rose, Romana, and the woman from Torchwood were standing within a small shop, which appeared to be totally devoid of life. Just as Rose had come to this conclusion on her own, however, a man stepped out from what was most likely a back room. He was very primly dressed in a neat suit.

"I see you've brought visitors back with you." The man said, reaching down to the desk in front of him, which separated him from the three women. "I thought you three were only going out for coffee?"

The woman shrugged. "Just couldn't help myself."

Nothing more was said, however, because just then the wall to their right slid open. Romana whistled softly in appreciation.

"Come on, this way." The woman said, ushering them through the doorway with one last wave to the man. "Oh, and I'm Gwen, by the way. I don't think I've properly introduced myself."

Neither Romana nor Rose said anything.

Gwen led the two of them into the passageway that was beyond the door. It was as they began the trek to what Romana and Rose could only assume was Torchwood's headquarters that Romana finally decided to speak up.

"Are you going to tell us why we were brought here?" She asked.

"Do you have any idea where you were standing?" Gwen replied by way of an answer.

"On the ground?" Rose said. "But last time I checked, there weren't any laws against that."

"You were standing in the exact center of Cardiff."

Rose's eyes went wide. "The Rift…" She said softly.

Gwen nodded, though her eyes looked slightly suspicious again.

"Our main job here at Torchwood is to keep an eye on that Rift. We got some unusual readings off of it, and when we got there, the two of you were standing there. The Captain will just want to ask you a few questions about that, especially since you say you know that Doctor fellow."

"Who's the Captain?" Romana asked as they finally reached another door.

The door opened, and Gwen gestured for Rose and Romana to step through this one as well.

"Our leader." She said. "You'll meet him shortly."

Gwen led them down a few steps and through what looked quite like a gate to Rose.

"Welcome to Torchwood Three; this is the Hub." She said, holding her arm out to open space around them.

Looking around, Rose spotted the man and woman from before, both sitting at what appeared to be their separate work stations. At first Rose wondered how the two had gotten here first, but then she remembered Gwen saying they were going to the front entrance. The other man and woman must have used the 'back' entrance.

"This way," Gwen said, again taking the lead as they walked across the Hub. She nodded at what looked like a glass-encased room above them. "That's the Captain's office."

She walked up the stairs leading to the second level, Rose and Romana following closely behind. Although neither of them thought they'd done anything worthy of being arrested, they couldn't help but be intrigued by this Torchwood. Rose hadn't even known there was more than one Torchwood on this earth, although she probably could have figured it out, since she knew of the existence of others on Pete's world. This one was different from the rest, though. For instance, it seemed less military-minded, plus they hadn't seen more than four people yet, including Gwen and not counting this Captain she had spoken of.

Gwen suddenly stopped, and Rose noticed that they had reached the Captain's office. Gwen lifted her hand and was about to knock, when the door opened and another woman stepped out.

"Oh, hello Gwen." The woman said pleasantly, glancing curiously at Rose and Romana. "Who've you got there?"

"Hello Martha." Gwen replied. "Just some people to see the Captain…about the Rift activity we called in. Is he available?"

Martha nodded. "I was just talking to him. In fact, I'll come back with you, if they're here about the Rift."

Martha opened the office door again and led the way back inside.

"Hey, Jack, Gwen has some visitors for you." Martha said, speaking to the man sitting at the desk before them. He was turned away from them, so they couldn't see his face.

"Jack…" Rose repeated softly. "Captain Jack…"

The man in the chair spun around, his eyes wide with surprise.

"Rose?"