Author's Note: While the Doctor has been busy, Rose's time hasn't exactly been uneventful. Most of this chapter happens at the same time as the last chapter, but there won't be any parts repeated in both.

Some quotes in this chapter from The Time of the Doctor.

Beta: scullywolf, with special thanks to resile for help this chapter!


Chapter Seven: Returning to You

Back in Seraphina's TARDIS, Rose watched the monitor, picking at her nails as she waited for the Doctor to return.

This really wasn't in her nature, following orders and staying put. She'd gotten better at it over her years of working with Torchwood, but it still took a supreme amount of effort not to get involved in a situation she was told to stay out of.

Especially, she was finding, when the Doctor was involved.

Rose thought back on her travels with the Doctor, remembering the times they were separated, how nothing felt right until they were reunited, two halves of a whole once again joined.

Of course, the joining became more literal shortly before they were parted at Canary Wharf, but if she were being honest with herself, she'd missed the things they'd always done, the handholding and the hugs, almost as much as the shagging.

Almost.

Now, alone in someone else's TARDIS, Rose worked to convince herself to stay where she was. She knew she was an asset in many different situations, but this was a case in which she'd be more hindrance than help; she was unfamiliar with the planet, the customs, and the inhabitants. That could possibly have been overcome had they taken some time before landing, but Rose knew she didn't have the Time Lord mind that the Doctor and Seraphina seemed able to sense from each other, and she wasn't sure that could be faked.

She stood up from her seat again and started pacing, taking just a few steps before turning back, glancing at the monitor every other time she passed it.

The third time she looked at the screen, Rose came to a sudden stop. A girl was in the room outside. She looked to be in her mid-to-late teens. She was thin, and straight blond hair reached her lower back. She was looking around the room as if searching for something out of place. The girl's eyes narrowed and stopped directly on the TARDIS.

"Mum?" the girl asked. "Is that you?"

Rose blinked, suddenly realizing what language she must be speaking, wondering whether all TARDISes were able to translate Gallifreyan when they chose to. Though she'd been used to needing a translation in her alien interactions on Earth, traveling off-planet with the Doctor and hearing things in English was so normal for her that she hadn't even considered that she might hear a translation of the Doctor's native language. The few times the Doctor had spoken in Gallifreyan, she hadn't been able to understand it.

Rose continued watching the monitor. The girl seemed hesitant to come any closer to the disguised time-and-space ship.

"You know I won't go in there when I'm not on a leave-day from school," said the blonde. "TARDIS travel isn't allowed on school days, and I won't risk a misunderstanding this soon after the last student was caught."

Rose sighed. Remembering how she'd felt just days earlier when she didn't think she'd see her mother again, prepared as she was to stay with the Doctor when her mother returned home, she didn't feel right ignoring this girl's search. She could offer comfort, if nothing else.

"I won't leave the room," she told herself. "I'll get out of the TARDIS, but I'm not leaving the control room. Then I'm not really leaving the TARDIS," she reasoned, "just stepping outside of it."

Pleased with her logic, Rose moved to the TARDIS doors, opened them, and stepped through.

As Rose stepped into view from what appeared to be a superfluous, cabinet-sized computer, the other girl's eyes widened marginally.

"Hullo," said Rose kindly. "You're looking for your mum?"

"Yes," came the girl's response, more formal than Rose had expected. "I apologize. I seem to have been mistakenly informed as to the location of Seraphina's TARDIS. I shall leave now."

"Wait," said Rose as the girl turned to leave, "You're Lucia, right?"

"Yes," she responded cautiously. She frowned as she studied Rose, who could see the moment Lucia realized Rose wasn't exactly a local. "Who are you?" she asked, sidling closer to a computer panel.

"I'm a friend of your mum's," said Rose quickly, before Lucia could alert someone about her presence. Lucia paused but didn't relax.

"May I inquire as to her current location?" the girl queried.

Rose gave her a little smile as she tried to decide how much to tell this law-abiding daughter of Seraphina's.

"She's helping someone. Something to do with the government, I think," she said, trying to avoid an outright lie.

Lucia didn't look convinced.

"Since when has Mother begun traveling with lesser species?" asked Lucia.

Rose sighed. So much for liking Seraphina's daughter at first impression.

"Right," said Rose, resigned. "She's just got us along for one trip. Needed my friend's help with something important."

Lucia's posture relaxed marginally, but she didn't move any further from the panel she'd tried to reach.

"If she landed you in a control room, even an inactivated one, Mother must trust you," she said.

"What's it control, then, this control room?" asked Rose, studying the various pieces of equipment, all of which looked to her like some form of computer.

"The control rooms are used to monitor time streams, time stability, parallel integrity, regenerations, and everything that is related to travel through time and space," explained Lucia, a hint of pride in her otherwise-flat voice. "In addition, it is equipped to deal with any emergencies or unplanned events that might arise relating to any of these aspects of traveling as a Time Lord."

"What about if there's an emergency need for chips?" asked Rose, attempting to get the girl to relax. When she got a blank stare in response, Rose continued, "Never mind. So do you know how to use these, then?"

"I do," answered Lucia, holding herself even more erect. "I was trained as a control room technician. I was the best in my class, the best controller the Academy has seen in years." She paused, deflating slightly. "After the shift, all of the equipment relating to travel through parallel universes ceased to work correctly. Eventually, Control Room C was abandoned, and fewer controllers were needed. Mum always lands here when she can. She knows it will be empty, and she knows I like to see the room."

"Couldn't you just work in a different control room since you were so good?" asked Rose.

Lucia shook her head.

"Though each control room has the same types of equipment, each specializes in a different area of concentration," she told Rose as if reciting the information from memory. "Control Room A is for standard time monitoring, Control Room B is for crossed time streams, and Control Room C is for parallel travel. The controllers for each are trained to work in the specific, specialized room, and I trained for Control Room C. The room was very busy when the shift first occurred, but I had not yet completed my training and was unable to assist in the efforts to return Gallifrey to the Prime Universe. After approximately twelve months of the greatest Time Lord minds all attempting to reconnect any of this room's equipment to another parallel, the room was abandoned by order of Almerin."

"And that's who your mum works for, yeah?" said Rose.

Lucia nodded.

"He is a competent enough leader, but he does not wish to resume parallel travel, it seems," said Lucia, tilting her head to the side slightly. "Do all humans inspire the desire to speak uncensored? I feel as if I can tell you my desires without fear of repercussions, as I do with my pet. That is not logical since you are sentient, technically."

"Thanks," said Rose, just managing to prevent an eye roll. "So, you don't really care for Almerin, then?"

"It is not my place to care for him or not," responded Lucia emotionlessly. "I did prefer our society prior to the shift, Time War effects excluded, of course. Currently, our society does not quite adhere to Rassilon's design. It is… uncomfortable. I do believe that the majority of the differences stem from the lack of available travel to parallel words. This has limited both ability and desire to travel, especially for those reserved or cautious enough to wish to avoid visiting places in this particular parallel rather than in the correct one. As a result, many societal values are beginning to shift."

"If my friend could put it back, get Gallifrey back where it belongs, would you be willing to help?" Rose asked Lucia.

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, a voice came from the direction of a blank screen on the other side of the room.

"Listen to me, you lot. Listen," came a female voice. Rose frowned and moved in the direction of the voice, vaguely aware that Lucia was following. "Help him. Help him change the future. Do it. Do something."

"None of these monitors or systems should be on," said Lucia, sounding puzzled. "They've all been deactivated. They would only be activated if we regained a connection to another parallel."

"You've been asking a question, and it's time someone told you, you've been getting it wrong," continued the woman's voice emanating from the equipment.

"Who the hell is she talking to?" asked Rose, eyeing the speaker attached to a blank screen as Lucia started doing something on the nearest keyboard, hands moving quickly.

"His name," came the voice again, "his name is the Doctor."

Rose froze and continued to listen as Lucia tapped away at the keys.

"All the name he needs. Everything you need to know about him. And if you love him, and you should, help him. Help him," the voice finished in a whisper.

Rose covered her mouth as her eyes teared slightly, picturing the Doctor as he left her on the beach, picturing him desperate for help, sending a message that was reaching her despite its impossibility.

"Lucia, can we answer her?" said Rose. "Can we do anything?"

"I'm trying to raise a visual," Lucia responded curtly. "None of this should be functional at all, so I'm unable to verify whether we will be able to provide assistance until I know what is happening. I'm attempting to adjust the location slightly because there seems to be some interference at the voice's point of origin. I hope that it will be near enough to ascertain the problem."

"There has to be something we can do. It's the Doctor," said Rose. "The Doctor is the one with the best chance of getting Gallifrey back where you want it."

Lucia looked thoughtfully at Rose for a moment before resuming typing, occasionally reaching to press buttons on the machine next to the one she was concentrating on. The monitor flickered, suddenly providing a visual. The screen wasn't filled, static covering most of it, but through the sliver of static-free space, Rose could see a battle raging.

A town was being attacked. Lights flashed, fires flickered, people ran and screamed as something metallic flew through the air.

"Are those…" started Rose.

"Daleks," finished Lucia, emotion showing in her voice for the first time as a flash of fear crossed her face.

Rose spotted an old man at the center of the view screen.

"Can you zoom in or anything?" she asked, pointing to the man.

"I can't," said Lucia, "but I am getting readings. It's a Time Lord, confirmed identification listed as 'Doctor.' Sensors indicate he has used all of his regenerations."

"Well, can't you… give him more or something? You said that was something you could control from here, yeah?" asked Rose, desperation creeping into her voice as she watched shots fly near the Doctor.

"The technology is here, yes," answered Lucia, "but the members of the High Council are the only ones who can authorize that."

Another shot hit a target close to the Doctor.

"We can't just let this happen," Rose said almost frantically. "We can fix this! He's the only one who can return Gallifrey to its rightful place. Isn't that what the High Council would want, anyway? And they aren't here to approve it, but you are. You can. The Doctor's the only one who can help, and I can't just watch him die!"

Lucia paused, an assessing look aimed at Rose.

"You can't stop!" Rose told her. "You have to do this, you have to help, or you're never going to get things back to how they should be. This is the only way, do you understand? The Doctor is brilliant and amazing and he can fix this, but he can't do it if he's dead. I've seen him save so many worlds, and now you have to save him!"

Lucia nodded once and returned to the keyboard, typing even faster than before, fingers flying across the keys.

"We have just one chance at this," she told Rose as she worked. "It is imperative that you be correct, because I want things back the way they should be. Press that button," she finished, indicating one in front of Rose.

Rose complied, and she immediately saw a flash of light across the screen for a moment, then watched that light reach the Doctor through the static obscuring her view.

"You will die now, Doctor," came the mechanical, rage-filled voice from the speakers.

Light started emitting from the Doctor's hands, and the view started to shrink.

"What's happening?" asked Rose.

"This is the end of you," said the Dalek's voice as the image was obscured completely, the monitor fading to black and audio ceasing.

"I had to send a new cycle. A single life didn't hold enough power to cross the dimensions since they still seem to have been sealed apart from the one crack. The surge in sending the new regeneration cycle was strong enough to break the connection," explained Lucia. "However, I was able to verify that it was received. He will regenerate rather than die." She paused, looking down at hands she folded in her lap, looking young to Rose for the first time since she started speaking. "Did I do the right thing?" she said in a small voice.

"You absolutely did the right thing," said Rose firmly, pushing aside her own nearly-overwhelming emotions to try to help Lucia. "He's a good man, and if he shifted Gallifrey, he had a good reason, and he's your only way back. The High Council would have done the same thing, I'm sure of it."

Lucia curled her hands into fists, clearly fighting an internal battle. Rose's arm twitched as she fought the impulse to give the girl a hug, fairly certain it would upset her further rather than help calm the young Gallifreyan. Lucia took a deep breath, relaxing her hands again as she let it out.

"Thank you," she said calmly. "I almost forgot for a moment that you are just a human."

Rose took a steadying breath of her own before speaking again.

"So he's alright, then?" she confirmed. "His regenerations, they looked pretty violent before, and you said this one was stronger, so…"

"This will have a stronger surge than is typical, yes," replied Lucia, seeming fully back to herself. "However, he will be able to direct the surge as needed and should be able to avoid any unintended casualties among the humans around him, if that is your concern."

"Thanks," said Rose, trying to calm her breathing and heart rate. She sat in the closest chair, put her elbows on her knees, and covered her face for a moment as she regained her equilibrium, trying to banish the image of the Doctor, aged, alone, surrounded by violence.

She took one more deliberate breath, dropped her hands, and looked back at Lucia, who was sitting in a chair just a couple feet away, facing Rose.

"You are an unusual human, I think," said Lucia, watching Rose closely. "Your clothes reflect a time period in which the Earth is not particularly familiar with non-terrestrial species, and yet you seem to think nothing of being on a different planet. You've seen Time Lords regenerate, you know the Doctor, and you traveled here with my mother."

"What do you know about the Doctor?" Rose said in response, out of both curiosity and a lack of ideas about how else to honestly answer the implied question.

"I know that he is unusual for a Time Lord. He spent a lot of time on Earth, some of it a punishment rather than a choice," said Lucia. "I know that I heard Almerin discussing the fact that the Doctor shifted the planet when those in the War Room thought all was lost."

Rose nodded, acknowledging what Lucia had said.

"Okay," said Rose. "Well, I met the Doctor years ago on Earth. I traveled with him. After a while, we came across some Daleks, and he… he regenerated. I stayed with him longer, until we were separated. I don't… I don't really know how it works, but I guess without you lot in the Prime Universe, parallel travel couldn't be stabilized, so it took years to get back to him. I finally found him, and he regenerated again, Daleks again, but it was different. He did something with the energy, put it in a hand he'd got cut off, and then when a friend touched it…"

"Biological metacrisis," interrupted Lucia, looking fascinated.

"Right," said Rose. "So me and him, the newer Doctor, we came back to this universe through cracks before the walls sealed again, and then we met your mum. So, that's how all that unusual stuff happened with me, basically," she finished.

Lucia sat quietly, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I think that's what happened to you," said Lucia after a long minute, "but I don't think that's why you're unusual. I don't think all Time Lords could handle some of those situations, so for a member of a lesser species… I may have to reconsider my thought processes as they relate to those who aren't born on Gallifrey."

Rose wondered how the Doctor had come from a planet that thought so little of other species. As much as he did have a tendency to brag about his superior biology, the Doctor seemed to genuinely love interacting with other species, mixing with them, getting to know them. Except, of course, when it came to Daleks...

Rose shook her head, focusing back on Lucia.

"Yeah," she told her. "I had to learn real quick, travelling with the Doctor, that just because people are from another time or place and seem… lesser, chances are good that the people will surprise you. Everybody's got something different to offer, even if sometimes it's not a good thing, like a knack for showing people the wrong end of a gun."

Rose turned, hearing the door to the control room open. She stood, prepared to fight or run if need be, and saw a man she didn't recognize. Behind him, however, were Seraphina and the Doctor, Seraphina looking irritated and the Doctor concerned.

When Rose met his eyes, a feeling of relief clearly passed over the Doctor, intensifying as he saw she appeared to be unharmed.

Unable to stay where she was after nearly having watched his counterpart die, Rose darted across the room, dodging the unknown Time Lord, and flung herself into the Doctor's arms. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, breathing her in as had become his habit.

"Rose Tyler," he said, voice muffled slightly by her neck, "what trouble has found you this time?"


Reviews!

I do love reviews, did I mention?

Happyfish: I'm so glad you're liking it!

britgirlatheart: Not everyone can be brilliant at everything ;) I hope you like what happened next! Also, I'm very glad you asked me to write this, too!

JChase: I never go long between updates on a work in progress :) I think my longest break in any of my stories has been four days.

Venus Smurf: I'm glad you liked the chapter, and I hope you enjoyed this one, too! The rough draft was actually done before I posted the last chapter, but since it was a bit complicated, I needed some time to make sure everything worked.