Wolf Signal

Chapter Six: Connected

by Lumendea

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.

"I used to travel with the Doctor and I spent fifty-five years married to a clone of him in an alternative reality."

The room was completely still as Jenny stared awkwardly at Rose and tried to process what she had said. Rose stayed quiet, fully aware that she had dropped something huge on the girl and waited patiently.

Finally Jenny took a deep breath and softly asked, "Can you repeat and explain that please?"

"Right," Rose said softly with a small smile tugging at her lips. "Well I suppose I should start at the beginning." She took a deep breath, a sad look in her eyes, but after a moment she started talking. "I met the Doctor when I was nineteen years old in London, that's a city on Earth when some aliens were invading. After that I traveled with him for a few years," Rose paused and Jenny noticed the far off look. "I traveled with him until I was pulled into another universe."

"People can travel to other universes?" Jenny asked, shivering with excitement.

"Normally no," Rose quickly informed her even as she couldn't help but smile at the girl's enthusiasm. "The wall between realities had been worn down and in order to close the wall back to protect both universes the Doctor and I had to send a bunch of aliens into the Void between universes. Well to make a long story short I got stuck on the other side, in another universe."

"Did you meet an alternative of my Dad then?" Jenny asked as she leaned forward on her knees, raw excitement running through her.

Rose noted Jenny's expression and gave a bittersweet smile, "You look like him when you do that." Rose reached out a hand and touched Jenny's hair before she could think better of it. "I'm guessing the hair came from his fifth body. He told me he had blond hair then." She noted Jenny's confusion and added, "I'll explain regeneration to you later."

Rose sighed and brushed some of her hair behind her ear, "A few years later the stars began fading in my world and we became aware of the walls between universes collapsing. I went through the void to find the Doctor and we met up just as Earth was being made into a piece of universe destroying machinery. He was shot by an alien called a Dalek and was about to regenerate . . . " Seeing the confusion return Rose shook her head, "Okay Jenny, regeneration is a quirk of time lords that allows them to rebuild every cell in their body from a new randomly created genetic code when they are fatally wounded. In essence they discard their current dominate genetic code and create a new one from recessive genetic material. It happens in an instant and their appearance and personality change to a certain point, but all the basic character traits of them and memories remain."

"Their face changes?" Jenny asked suddenly, "Are you sure?"

"I saw it happen to him once and he explained the full story behind it to me later," Rose told her, noting the odd look on the girl's face. Rose reached out and brushed Jenny's cheek softly. "What is it sweetie?" She asked gently, watching Jenny's face carefully.

Jenny smiled at the affection, but the worry in Rose's eyes pulled her attention back to the odd fact presented to her. "I died on Messaline," she reminded Rose nervously.

"I know," Rose said before correctly herself, "I mean he told me that you died . . . right in his arms. He thought about you a lot."

"I don't know what happened," Jenny told her in a soft voice. "I just woke up, my friends said I'd been dead for hours and that Dad had left so I took a ship and…"

"Started running?" Rose asked with a smile.

"Yeah lots and lots of running," Jenny agreed with a dazzling grin and a nod. "So Dad's face is different now?"

"No, well actually I don't know. Let me finish telling you what happened. The Doctor started to regenerate, but directed the energy into a hand that had been cut off from him before," Rose held up a hand to silence Jenny's question. "No you can't regrow limbs," she informed Jenny. "It was cut off right after another regeneration so luckily he had enough energy to regrow it. That energy stayed in the hand, until it was disturbed by Donna. Do you remember her?"

"Of course, she named me," Jenny told Rose before a worried expression crossed her face. "Do you know what happened to her?"

"I'll get there. According to my Doctor, this caused a metacrisis and made that hand grow into a full grown human Timelord hybrid. That hybrid saved me and the Doctor with Donna's help." Rose paused for a moment to collect her thoughts. "The walls between universes began to close so the Doctor took me and the clone to the other universe. That was the last time I saw him. My Doctor, he took the name of John Noble and joined me working at Torchwood to protect Earth. We got married and had three children together Donna, Jack and Adric."

Jenny was still for a moment, taking Rose in carefully with the new information. "You loved my father didn't you?" She asked softly with wide innocent looking eyes that reminded Rose so much of Donna's that it hurt.

"Very much, I told him before we were separated," Rose answered in a sad, but clear voice. She was silent for a moment before she added softly, "He loves me, or at least he did."

"Then why didn't you stay with him?" Jenny asked, a blend of anger, confusion and sorrow churning in her stomach.

"Jenny," Rose called gently to calm the girl. "Your father may have loved me, but he would never have acted on it or told me," she informed the young woman sadly." He knew that so when the universe presented him with a human version of himself... he knew that while he couldn't love me, John would and that I could love him."

"Three kids," Jenny whispered, leaning back against the wall. "Would they be my siblings?" she asked in a small voice.

"I guess so," Rose said blinking, "Sort of at least, since you do have a lot of genetic information in common. Though I'm not sure how a DNA test would have registered that relationship."

"Then we need to figure out how to get you back to your universe," Jenny said suddenly. "I'm sure your family and your Doctor are worried." While her voice sounded strong and determined, the sad expression was still in place.

"That's the other things Jenny. John and I were married for fifty-five years before he passed away an old man," Rose told Jenny gently. "The last thing I remember before waking up here is falling asleep in my bed with my children and grandchildren around me. I was eighty-three years old and I was an old woman."

"Then how?" Jenny asked, looking over Rose's features in shock. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know Jenny," Rose said taking the girl's hand, "But I am certain that I died in that world and I am certain that we need to find some way of contacting your father."

…..

Sitting down gracefully in his desk, Jack could feel the Doctor watching him and could feel the man's impatience for an explanation. Mickey shut the office door behind them and pulled out a small notepad with dates and places written on it. Handing it to the Doctor, Mickey sat down and waited for Jack to start explaining.

"That is a list Doctor, of all the times Mickey and I have crossed the phrase Bad Wolf in the last few months," the Captain informed him as calmly as he could, even as nervous energy rushed through him.

Shaking his head, the Doctor tossed the notepad on the desk with a small huff. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his coat and adopted an almost cold neutral expression. "It is just an echo Jack. Bad Wolf has been encircling me for years on my travels, here and there. Ignore it."

"Ignore it," Jack hissed in alarm rising out of his desk chair. "Ignore the message of a very powerful being?"

"A very powerful being that didn't know what she was doing," the Doctor told him with a solemn face, betraying no emotion. "She was making a bread crumb path and tossed some pieces too far." Jack might have yelled at him for that were it not for the way the Doctor's voice broke slightly at the end of that statement.

"Don't underestimate her," Mickey put in quickly drawing the Doctor's attention. "She was the first one to notice that the walls were falling and she was one good agent for that universes Torchwood. Rose just as herself was clever and determined, powers not needed."

"I know that," the Doctor snapped, his neutral expression beginning to creak. "But that's it. It is over. She's living a good life in another universe," the Doctor added in a weaker voice, his shoulders slumping. "She's happy and safe."

"Yeah with a human you," Jack reminded the Doctor giving him a sharp look. "Interesting tactic Doctor. When you manage to get rid of the girl, but she comes back you make a consolation clone to make sure she stays away the next time you dump her," Jack said loudly, watching the Doctor's tensing shoulders and darkening face.

Jack didn't flinch as the Doctor stepped forward with dark and angry eyes, grabbing Jack's collar tightly in his fist and half pulling him across the desk. The Doctor glared at him and Jack could see the anger radiating off of the Time Lord, but refused to cower even in the face of the Oncoming Storm.

"Harkness," the Doctor said in a tight low voice, "You don't understand what you talking about."

"I understand that at Rose Tyler loved you Doctor, completely," Jack answered loudly keeping his voice even. "I understand that Rose Tyler took in the Time Vortex and gained the power to affect all of time and space. I understand that she fought tooth and nail to protect you and that she never wanted to leave you. Do you understand all of that?"

Releasing Jack, the Doctor shoved him back into his chair. He stepped away, glowing under his breath. As he moved away from Jack, he caught sight of the notebook and glared at it before looking over at Mickey.

"It is just an echo," the Doctor informed him sternly, almost daring him to argue. "Just a memory left over to our universe as it has nothing else of her. Let it be."

The Doctor said nothing else, but turned and walked out of the office toward the TARDIS. Martha gave him a worried look, but said nothing at the expression on his face. Jumping onto the lift, the Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to go up and tried to relax. As he reached the surface, the Doctor exhaled slowly and unlocked the TARDIS door, planning on setting up a time to meet Natalie and then getting some repairs done. Anything to get his mind off Bad Wolf.