AN- So, I am back. Sorry for the long delay in updating, my muse went on vacation. Hopefully somewhere nice. Back for the moment though, and hopefully plans to stick around for awhile. Thank you so much to Jo13, Dreamcatcher49, Romanticangel92, FogsBlue, JollyRoger1, jeremybekah, & Eleriel for taking the time to read and review, and thank you for all the alerts and favs. Hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

As usual, I own nothing.

Jack stepped behind Rose to look over her shoulder at the view screen, unconsciously mimicking her head tilt as he took in the view outside. "Huh." Was the only noise resembling words that he could form as he saw what could truly only be described as impossible. As useless as that word was when dealing with the world the Doctor occupied. He almost jumped when Rose moved away from the screen and towards the doors. "Woah, woah, what are you doing?"

Rose paused briefly, her expression almost dreamy as she turned to him and he was struck again with the feeling of fate or destiny that sometimes seemed to surround this new Rose. At that moment he missed the uncomplicated girl from the estate he had met so very long ago with a pain in his heart that was almost more physical than emotional. However… Rose was Rose. He knew he would love her no matter what she became. He broke eye contact with her to look down at the prostrate form of the Doctor and knew that he wasn't the only person to feel that way, albeit in a slightly different way. He looked back up at Rose and said, "You know what he would say?"

Tilting her head to the side with some bemusement as she watched Jack struggle with some internal thought, Rose smiled at him as he asked his question. "Oh god, oh god we're all going to die?"

Jack tried not to laugh, but shook his head chuckling as he stepped over to join her. "I was thinking more along the lines of, 'Do not go out there under any circumstances, or a paradox of unprecedented proportions… blah, blah blah.'" He came to a stop beside her at the door and angled himself to block he door slightly until he had her response.

Rose looked at him carefully and asked, "Are you honestly trying to keep me from going out there?"

"Not exactly. I might be slightly worried about that paradox thing though." He raised an eyebrow at her, "Going to try to relieve my concern at all here?"

"Did you see them? Did you see them scared and uncertain out there?" Rose was almost accusing as she asked. She brushed him and his half hearted attempt to detain her aside as she pushed the doors opened and stepped out blinking into the harsh sunlight. She lifted a hand to shield her eyes and looked at the view she had seen on the screen without the aid of technology.

There were four… no, five TARDIS's in sight. One had been behind the one she had arrived in. Milling around in the punishing sunlight were several people she had not thought to see any time soon. Martha and Donna were hovering near the opened doors of the TARDIS they had arrived in, a teenaged girl that a part of her soul recognized as Ace was standing by the doors of another holding a baseball bat and looking uncertainly at the people around her. An impossibly young Sara-Jane was approaching a regal looking brunette in a scarf that had the same feeling to Bad Wolf's soul as the Doctor.

Rose tilted her head as she looked at the fifth TARDIS and wondered why no one had come out. She approached it, not really taking note of the silence that accompanied her as she approached the doors and paused beside them. The unknown brunette was extremely interested as Rose held her hand against the worn blue wood for a moment before the doors popped open. Rose entered the comfortingly familiar console room and saw a slumped form on the floor and instantly understood why there was no wary companion at the door of this TARDIS looking out. She looked at the lonely figure of the ninth Doctor and moved carefully to his side. She knelt there for a moment remembering a time so many years ago that it was hard to know exactly how many. She had been in the alternate universe, before she and John had truly become a couple, when she was still doubtful about who he was to her. She had taken him out for dinner the night after his first successful mission for Torchwood, and he had looked at her over the dinner of fish and chips that they had been sharing.

She remembered looking into John's eyes and almost believing after three drinks that they were the Doctor's eyes. She had looked into those timeless depths and asked a question that she knew had taken him by surprise. "When did you know?" She had asked, almost slurring her speech in her sightly drunken state. She shook her head and clarified the question before he had the chance to wonder what she had meant. "When did you know you loved me?" She looked at him blearily, almost daring him to come up with a response that would prove him something other than the impostor she subconsciously thought he was.

John had looked at her with his deep brown eyes for a moment and then had done something that had completely surprised her, considering their current lack of emotional intimacy. He had actually answered her. Honestly from his memories as the Doctor she wouldn't believe he was. "When we were on Downing street… I remember…" He pause for a moment… his new human metabolism having difficulty with the alcohol he had consumed. "I remember looking at you as you told me to do it. Whatever was required to save the world. I remember looking at you, and truly realizing what it would mean to save the entire human race and lose you. One measly human. Rose Tyler…" He had swallowed and in her addled state she had watched his adam's apple bob as he swallowed, remembering. "I realized that that wasn't ok. Beyond general protectiveness. I realized that I honestly could not live if you didn't." He had looked away from her then for a moment before looking back at her, "Do you honestly realize what I was when I found you Rose Tyler? Honestly truly?" She remembered shaking her head in bemusement, Unconsciously inviting him to continue. The Doctor had gained some momentum and was pressing the advantage he hand't quite realized he had had.

"What I was Rose, was lost. I was lost and angry. And for the first time in an impossibly long time I finally had something to live for that didn't matter to another being aside from myself." He had paused then, looking away. His eyes had scanned the restaurant briefly. Taking in all of these scenes of normalcy that he had always thought himself denied. "And then it kept slapping me in the face. Seeing people in love, talking about sharing taxis at two in the morning. Then in Utah… I almost lost you again." He frowned then remembering. "And you and your pretty boys Rose. That was a trial. Trying not to act like it bothered me that way. Because there you were, all pink and yellow and human and innocent. And there I was, a destroyer of worlds. The Oncoming Storm. I had no right to you." He finally looked at her again, meeting her eyes nervously and wondering if he had gone to far with the fragile way things were between them. He had found her crying silently and shaking her head.

They had been married two weeks later, causing Jackie to throw one hell of a conniption fit over being expected to throw a wedding worthy of the Vitex heiress at such short notice. Rose shook herself from her memories and reached out a hand, gently brushing his very short hair back from his forehead. She stood carefully and brushed her hand lightly over the console as she passed it, stepping back outside to meet Jack and join him in looking at the others who had come slightly nearer to them.

Martha was looking at her face with slightly pursed lips as she seemed to recognize who she was, and Donna was eyeing her carefully as she took in Martha's reaction to her. Rose came closer to them, Jack following on her heels and Martha nodded to herself as she confirmed what she was thinking. "You're Rose." She made the statement with an almost complete lack of inflection.

Jack had come to a stop beside Rose and said with an eyebrow raised, "Good to see you again too Martha."

Martha looked at him and then sighed with resignation. "So we have met then? Rose does come back." She turned almost unconsciously back towards the TARDIS and Donna came forward eagerly.

"Oy, You're her! Spaceman is going to be so happy!" She smiled widely and then gave Jack an appraising look.

He responded by smirking slightly and saying, "Hey. I'm Captain Jack Harkness."

Rose looked at him and rolled her eyes, "Seriously Jack? He is so right about you." She smiled at Donna and held out a hand. "It's good to meet you Donna Noble." She caught Donna's amused look and only then realized that she had unconsciously imitated the Doctor's habit of using both the first and last name of a person.

Donna grinned and shook Rose's hand, "It's definitely good to know we've already met. I have been so curious."

Feeling her smile dim slightly as she remembered what their first meeting had actually involved, Rose nodded and then turned to look at the other three companions that were gathered with them. She found it almost amusing that they seemed to have grouped up according to time period. At least in that all of the people gathered around her here had been companions of the tenth Doctor.

Rose walked towards the others, aware of the others watching as she approached Sarah Jane. The Brunette… When had she started thinking that capitalized she wondered?… The Brunette was looking at her with an odd look of concentration and Rose instinctively sidestepped around her. Sarah Jane was looking at her curiously, and Rose smiled nervously as she stopped in front of her, "We haven't met yet… but I'm Rose."

Sarah Jane smiled back and shook her hand briefly before looking at the others and saying, "I guess you know I'm Sarah Jane. So… There's an unconscious Doctor in each of these TARDIS'… How exactly does one make that plural?" She shook her head and continued without waiting for an answer, "And have all of you lost power?"

Watching as the others murmured their agreement, Rose cautiously remained silent about the state of power in the TARDIS they had come in. She met Jack's eyes and then moved her own over the woman she had decided must be Romana. Something still felt wrong though, and she hesitated to trust her. Perhaps because aside from the Doctor, she understood that the Time Lords were beings to be wary of.

Sensing Rose's reticence, Jack spoke up, taking the lead. "Well, since it seems like the Doctor, all of him, are out of commission for the moment, we should try to figure out what brought us all here. What happened before you all crash landed?"

Ace spoke up, leaning on her baseball bat casually as she answered. "The Professor was about to take us to Barcelona, the planet, and he got a funny look on his face then we crashed here." She looked back at her respective TARDIS with concern obviously etched on her young face then looked back at the others. "He didn't hit his head or anything though, and he passed out. I couldn't get him to wake up."

Rose had watched the girl as she spoke and felt a small part of herself quietly amused by the presence of this one. She felt Bad Wolf as a nearly separate entity for the first time since the incident with the Master, as that part of her soul uncurled slightly, stretching and communicating an image of wolves across her subconscious. She tilted her head to the side and listened as the voices of the others washed over her, describing similar situations that led to them being here. She noticed Jack looking at her with an odd expression, and she focused on the others again. Just in time to catch a disturbingly intrigued look on the Brunette's face. She wondered why she couldn't quite think of her as Romana.

She looked up at the sky and the punishing sun and sighed lightly, why couldn't they get stranded somewhere with non extreme weather?