The Doctor gave the TARDIS's monitor a thwack and it flickered, seeming unable to decide whether it wanted to display the usual Gallifreyan readout or the ominous phrase Bad Wolf. Seeing it made Rose very nervous.
"What are you trying to do, exactly?" she asked him.
"Trying to stabilize the Void," said the Doctor. He tapped a few buttons and the picture flickered again. "I want to try to talk to someone on the other side–if they do the same thing with your Rift that we're doing with ours, we can reverse this. Who did you say it was?"
"Mickey's there, probably," she said. "And Tosh… our Tosh."
The Doctor chuckled. "Parallel world. Love it. Molto bene!"
"You're not going to send me back, are you?" she asked hesitantly.
The Doctor paused, his hand in the process of turning a knob. "Why would I do that?" he asked quietly. "I brought you here. It was wrong and I admit that, but…" He sighed. "We wanted to get you back, Jack and I. Was a bit selfish, is all."
He squeezed her hand and Rose felt flooded with warmth. They'd both wanted to find her. Somehow, knowing that Jack had been in on this, too, made it even better. She hoped that after all this was over, if they kept the worlds from collapsing, the three of them could travel in the TARDIS, together, just like old times.
Just like old times.
She shivered a little involuntarily, remembering what it had been like to be spending so much time with both of these men. For Rose, it had been a completely new experience–Jack and the Doctor were both so, so different from the men she'd known before, and naturally, she'd been attracted to the both of them, not that anything had come of it.
"I'm glad it worked, though," the Doctor said suddenly. "Whole world's falling apart, but I'm glad you came through in one piece."
Rose smiled. "Me too."
For a moment, they just grinned at each other and then, as if this day hadn't been full of impossible things, the Doctor was kissing her. It was quick, too quick, and she'd barely registered the taste of him before he had pulled away, turning to devote his full energies to the TARDIS.
Rose stayed stock still for a moment, barely able to process what had just happened. If she and the Doctor could have something like this, then that would be even better. But… Jack's face drifted in front of her mind. She shook her head to clear it.
"Right then," the Doctor announced. "Here we are!" There was another surge of static. "Mick-Mick-Mickey! Can you hear me? Are you there?"
"Doctor?" Mickey's bewildered face appeared amongst the static. "Rose?"
"Mickey!" Rose leaned over the monitor so he could see her. "I'm okay."
"What happened?" he asked. "What's going on?" He tapped his computer monitor; Rose recognized it as being the one they'd planned most of the dimension cannon trips from. "The sky's, like, splitting apart."
"Yeah, it's like this on our–on this side, too." She looked up at the Doctor, who had his glasses on and was studying Mickey intently. "The Doctor says he thinks he can fix it."
"So you found him, then?" Mickey sounded as though he was trying to hide his disappointment and Rose felt a pang of guilt.
"Yeah," she said, smiling. "And Jack, too."
"That's great," said Mickey, beaming. "All that work paid off."
Rose's smile widened. Somehow, with everything that was going on, she hadn't been able to fully grasp what it really meant to be back with the Doctor. She'd have to say good-bye to Mickey, forever. And her mother. Her mother didn't even know where she was.
"Mickey," the Doctor continued. "Do you perhaps have a Toshiko Sato there with you?"
"Tosh!" Mickey called over his shoulder and her face soon appeared on the screen.
"Oh, Rose, you did it!" she exclaimed. "And that's the Doctor?"
"In the flesh," said the Doctor proudly. "Toshiko, tell me about your Rift equipment."
"Well," she looked thoughtful. "I built it from different things we found. It was hard, of course, but–"
"You built it?" The Doctor's face lit up. He dashed across the grating and stuck his head out of the TARDIS. "Jack!" he called. "Can I borrow your Toshiko?"
On the screen, Tosh's brow furrowed. A few seconds later, the other Tosh, this world's Tosh, had joined the Doctor and Rose at the viewscreen.
"Oh my God," she whispered. She covered her mouth with her hand. The Tosh on the screen did the same. The Doctor grinned.
"The theory of the multiverse," Tosh breathed reverently.
"It's really true," the one standing next to Rose whispered.
The Doctor's grin widened. "You designed the Rift monitors, didn't you?" he asked again.
The two Toshikos exchanged glances. "Yes," they both said.
"Brilliant!" exclaimed the Doctor.
Rose watched the Doctor as he sprang into action, calling instructions. "Jack! Get those cables linked up. Rose–tell Mickey and your Toshiko to get ready to turn that thing on."
All around her, everyone was getting ready. She'd heard Jack mention he'd worked here, and Gwen and Tosh seemed quicker to trust the Doctor when he came with Jack's endorsement. What Rose really wanted was a chance to talk to both of them, the Doctor and Jack, to tell the how she'd missed them, to hear about everything she'd missed and how they had planned to get her back.
"Rose!" the Doctor called. "Need you out here for a sec!"
"I'll be right back," she promised Mickey and hurried out of the TARDIS.
"Hold these up," the Doctor instructed, thrusting an armload of cables into Rose's arms. "So Jack can connect them."
"These are the equations," said Toshiko, handing him a stack of papers.
"Right," said the Doctor. "Why don't you input them…" His eyes scanned the room. "Donna!" he exclaimed fondly. "Would you like to do some typing?"
Donna beamed and plucked the papers from the Doctor's hands. "They don't call me supertemp for nothing!"
"Once we get those in, the Rift should be active," said the Doctor, running a hand through his hair. "How's it coming, Jack?"
"Almost done," Jack called from the other side of the machine. "I've just got to…" He grunted, and Rose gave him some slack.
The Doctor began pacing. "If we use the TARDIS as a conduit, we should be able to link up the two Rifts and close the Void." He stopped and turned to look Rose squarely in the eye. "This is your last chance," he said in a low voice. "If you're not one-hundred-percent sure you want to stay."
"I am," said Rose confidently, her head filling with images of traveling with the Doctor–and Jack–again. "I want to stay."
The Doctor's gaze lingered on her for another moment; his eyes were full of something Rose couldn't place, but it was almost like gratitude. "All right, then," he said. "Let's do it! How are you coming, Donna?"
"Almost done, Doctor," she announced, typing so swiftly that Rose could hear the keyboard clattering.
"Brilliant! Jack?"
"Nearly… there…" Jack sounded like he was straining, but Rose didn't have any more to give him. She dropped her length of cable and made her way up to him, just in case it had gotten caught on something.
What she saw made her heart stop.
A shower of sparks shot out from the Rift Monitor.
"Jack!" Rose shouted, though no one else seemed to hear her. There was a tremendous crash from outside; she could hear it even as far underground as they were. The Doctor whooped at their apparent success. But Rose's attention was only on Jack.
She knew, even before she reached his side, that he was dead. Her heart sank and she choked back a sob. Vaguely, she could hear the Doctor congratulating everyone, but Rose didn't care. She knelt by Jack, stroking his hair.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "This is all my fault. Jack, I'm so sorry."
She sensed the Doctor's presence behind her, but she didn't turn around. She leaned down to kiss Jack's forehead.
He opened his eyes.
"Needed that," he said weakly.
Rose started. She whipped around to the Doctor, whose face was impassive. "He was dead," she said.
"He was," agreed the Doctor.
"Do we have to explain this again?" Jack asked weakly. He looked so tired, his head lying in Rose's lap. He didn't seem willing or able to stand.
"Explain what?" Rose asked, looking back and forth between them.
"We don't have to now," said the Doctor, kneeling beside them and reaching out to brush Jack's cheek with his fingers.
"She should know," said Jack. The Doctor nodded. He looked up, away from Jack and Rose, to see where Donna was standing by the TARDIS with Gwen and Tosh, watching them.
"Well, it's over now," said the Doctor softly. "We should go." He glanced back down at Jack and Rose for confirmation. Together, the Doctor and Rose helped the still-unsteady Jack to his feet.
He gave Gwen and Tosh an apologetic smile. "Say hi to Owen and Ianto for me."
"Sure thing," said Gwen, giving him a hug.
"Don't be a stranger," Tosh added, hugging him, too.
The TARDIS felt so familiar to Rose, though it also highlighted her absence, and she remembered with a pang how sudden that initial separation had been.
"I'm going to take a bit of a kip if you don't mind," said Donna. "You would not believe the day I've had," she added to Rose. Her smile made Rose grateful for her presence and eager to get to know her.
They said their good-nights and the Doctor, Jack and Rose were left alone in the console room. They said nothing as the Doctor brought the TARDIS into the Vortex.
Finally, he murmured, "Jack, are you tired?"
Jack shook his head. "I think we should tell her. Everything."
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, making it stand on end even more than usual. "Right, then. Yes. We'll go to the library and we'll talk."
When they reached the library, Jack noticed with a grin that the TARDIS had provided three steaming cups of cocoa.
"So," said the Doctor, taking a seat on the couch. "Where should we start?"
"How about with telling me how he can still be alive?" Rose challenged, perching on the edge of an armchair. "Or how you found him when he was supposed to be in the year 100,000."
The Doctor tugged on his collar and shifted awkwardly. Jack handed him a cup of cocoa and brought one to Rose. She smiled her thanks.
"That's a long story," said the Doctor.
"I don't have anywhere else to go," said Rose. "Everyone else I know is in a parallel universe."
"I can't die," Jack cut in. "I'm immortal."
"Why didn't you tell us before?" Rose asked. "Or did you… did you tell him?"
Jack looked pained. "I'd never keep something like that from you, Rosie. I wasn't immortal back then."
"So…" She looked back and forth between them. "What… What happened? What… caused it?"
"You did," said the Doctor, his tone low. "When you came back for us. He was dead, killed by a Dalek, and then, when you absorbed the Time Vortex, you brought him back to life."
Rose paled. "I… I had no idea, I–I'm sorry, Jack, I–"
Jack crossed the room to pull her into his arms. "Don't. Rose, don't. If I wasn't immortal, I'd have never found the Doctor again. And I wouldn't be here to see you again."
Together, he and the Doctor related the story of what had transpired since they'd last seen Rose, though Jack followed the Doctor's lead in not dwelling on the Master.
When they had finished, Rose was staring at the in shock, he cocoa cold and untouched. "So," she said quietly, "you were trying to get me back the whole time."
The Doctor nodded.
"But I was trying to come back, too," she said.
"I know," said the Doctor. "I think…" He paused, rubbing the back of his neck. "I think something happened, I think… I'm not sure this…" He scratched his nose. "It's a funny thing, fixed events. Time Lord sense tells me… this shouldn't have happened. Not–" He held up his hand. "That I didn't want it to happen. But as I say, fixed events. They say each choice causes a new universe to be created…"
Rose stared at him, round-eyed. "I traveled through so many universes. Each one was different. Are you saying–?"
"You might have tweaked something," said the Doctor. "Based on your own subconscious desires, the universe may have tweaked something."
"So," said Rose calmly. "We wouldn't all be here if I hadn't been traveling through all those parallel worlds."
The Doctor nodded.
Rose got to her feet and walked right towards them. The Doctor and Jack stood, holding out their arms for her and they came together in a three-way hug.
"I wanted to come back to you," Rose said softly, after a while. "To both of you."
And then, before Jack even realized it, Rose was kissing him. He was surprised, having just barely registered what she'd said, but he kissed her back, tightening his grasp on her waist. When they broke apart, Rose turned and kissed the Doctor without preamble. Jack watched them, feeling a tug of desire in the pit of his stomach. When they broke apart, he leaned in and kissed the Doctor.
"I'm just glad," said Rose, blinking back tears. "I'm glad we're all three together. Again."
"And we've got a whole new universe out there to explore," said the Doctor. "Technically speaking. Rose shouldn't have changed much, but still… well, we'll have to see."
Together, they left the library, arm-in-arm, spirits lifted with the hint of the possibility of three impossible things.
