Small Edit Note: Forgot to add my disclaimer last night so I figured I should do that now, also I would like to thank everyone who had already read and commented thus far on Chapter 6, it really means the world to me that you all are enjoying the story. Also I really hope that the 5,000+ words made the wait worth it, by far the longest chapter yet I believe.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the pink laptop that this was typed up on for fun. No copyright infringement intended, I've gained nothing but my own smile for this work


Chapter 6

Explain

"Bad Wolf," the Doctor said as he sent the last plant home and set the Dalek ship to self destruct, there was no sense letting it sit here in space where just anyone could get it, the Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and said, "Time to go."

"Sorry?" asked Rose as she ran back to the TARDIS with him hand in hand.

"I set the ship to self destruct," explained the Doctor assuming that's what she had been questioning, "No point letting it sit out here in space."

"No," Rose said, "I get that, but you said." She started but was interrupted when they heard Jack's voice demanding to talk to the Doctor.

They went over to the screen and saw Martha and her mother, Jack and two agents from Torchwood, and Sara Jane Smith and a boy. When Jack saw him appear on the screen he shouted, "Doctor, where the hell have you been? It's the Daleks."

Donna just rolled her eyes, but it was Rose who responded to Jack, "It was the Daleks, look outside, your home."

"Who's she?" asked Martha.

"Rose?" asked Jack confused. It was Sara Jane and Martha's mother who had gone to their windows and let the sunlight shine though. "I thought," he started confused.

"She was but she's not now," the Doctor said.

"Doctor, what happened?" asked Sara Jane back to clinging to the boy, seeing the Daleks had really rattled the former companion. "What happened to the Daleks?"

"I did," said Rose looking down at her hands. "I killed them all."

"How? You didn't," started Jack.

"No, nothing so risky," she responded at the same time as the Doctor.

"How's not important," the Doctor finished.

"Well I have to get back to UNIT now that everything is back to normal, congratulations on finding her Doctor" Martha said with a smile.

With Martha's departure the sub-wave network started to break apart, Sara Jane went to make dinner for her and Luke, and Torchwood invited the Doctor, Donna and Rose for drinks and an explanation. The Doctor looked at the girls and then accepted the offer, Donna looked like she could use a drink and he knew Rose could use a distraction, or at least his Rose would have, but then would his Rose have don't this? He pushed those thoughts out of his head as he directed the TARDIS to Cardiff.

Donna and Rose both excused themselves to get ready, Donna to doll herself up a bit after taking a bit of a shine to Captain Jack, and Rose wanted to collect herself before going out and she realized she still needed to clean herself up a bit as well still having that sticky drink all over her clothes still. They walked in silence till Donna went into what Rose assumed was her room, "Your room is around here somewhere," the ginger woman said, "Its always popping up from time to time."

Rose nodded her understanding not really sure what to say to this woman and continued down the hall, she thought about going to find her room when she suddenly had the urge to empty her stomach of what little may be there. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten, thankfully the TARDIS was there and she was suddenly standing next to a loo. She shut herself in and after emptying what little was in her stomach, she sank to the cool tile floor and the evens of the last hour replayed in her head. Tears started to flow freely down her face as she thought about the rift she was feeling between the Doctor and herself and though she felt far more whole then she had in years being back on the TARDIS there was a whole in her hear that only the Doctor's hand in hers could heal. She thought about the fiery way Donna had yelled at her and then how calm she had been stating that her room was around here somewhere, but then maybe it was to goad her that the ginger woman had mentioned her room popping up from time to time instead of staying in one place. She ran her fingers through her blonde hair and sighed just as a knock sounded at the door.

"Rose, are you alright?" called the Doctor from the other side of the door and she couldn't help but smile at it as she hastily wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks.

She pulled herself off the floor replied, "Yeah, I'm good, just a tic." After quickly trying to smooth out her appearance fruitlessly she opened the door to him.

He turned around on his heel when he heard the door open and his heart sank at the state she was in and he took in a sharp breath, he had known her for too long to miss that her skin was too pale and her eyes a bit too pink, he knew that she had recently been crying and sick though maybe not in that order. "Oh, Rose." He brought her in to a very large hug and within his embrace she lost control and sobbed openly into his chest. He let her cry for awhile and he tried to comfort her as best he could stroking her hair. When she had gained control of her emotions again he pulled away just a bit to look her in the eyes, "Is this all for the Daleks," he asked unsure why his Rose was falling to pieces in front of him but in a small way hoping she was still enough of his Rose to be affected by killing an entire race.

She whipped at her eyes again and said, "No, I did what I had come to do."

"Then why are you so upset Rose," he confusion coloring his voice.

"I came here to save you and Donna, but in accomplishing my goal I alienated you both," she replied looking at the space between them not able to meet his eyes.

With her down cast gaze she missed the momentary look of surprise that danced on the Doctor's face before a small smile tugged on his lips. Her answer for killing a whole race was so simple, so eloquent, so Rose, and very human. She had done it out of, well she had done it out of her caring heart, he thought and he could live with that thought far easier then a cold blooded killing Rose. "What would have happened to me?" came a voice from behind him.

"Donna, I thought you went ahead," asked the Doctor.

"I was going to but I came back," she brushed off the Doctor's question and then locking her gaze on the blonde, "What did you save me from?"

"If things had gone the way they could have you would have lost your life with him, you would be back to your old life just the temp in Chiswick, missing all the alien encounters because if you remembered just for a second you would die," Rose said sadly. "He showed you a better life, like he had shown me, I didn't want you to lose that, because you would miss it, you wouldn't know why or what but you would know something was missing."

Rose glanced up at the other woman in time to see her wiping a single tear off her cheek, "I'm going to travel with him forever."

"And now your forever isn't ending today," Rose gave her a small smile and a nod, "Excuse me, I really should go change, I'm still a bit sticky." With that Rose turned and walked away from Donna and the Doctor but she heard their hushed conversation.

"Go after her," Donna prodded softly pushing him a step forward.

"I don't think she wants me to," he replied but she could see that he was torn between following the blonde and not.

"Don't be so thick space man, she's done the impossible to get back to you, go after her," Donna insisted giving him another shove but he still resisted.

Rose lengthened her stride, afraid of what he would say next, to fully get out of hearing range. After turning a few corners she slowed her pace and found that the TARDIS was not leading her to her room but to the wardrobe. The room was larger than she remembered and Rose really didn't recall the sink, but she gladly took the moment to scrub her face clean of the makeup, sticky drink that was still sort of there, and her tears. Rose remembered that the TARDIS had always liked to help her pick out her style and usually in the twenty first century she would light up the section with the hoodies and jumpers, but Rose was surprised when the TARDIS had picked a section that covered more of the twenty third century fashion, she smiled at the memory of the Doctor telling her of all the different time periods of style the TARDIS had. She picked a deep purple button down blouse made of a fabric that was not yet around in the twenty first century but it didn't stand out either, she left the top few buttons undone and found a low cut gray wool that wasn't wool vest that gave a nod to twenty first century business fashion, where she was able to keep her boots but she looked for a pair of trousers and brown leather jacket that would match what she had picked up from the other Doctor. With some help from the TARDIS she found a pair of trousers that she was happy with but she was starting to get disappointed about the jacket when she felt the tickle of a presents in her mind which startled her as the TARDIS highlighted a jacket a few feet away, "Thank you," she mumbled to the ship as she donned the jacket leaving her things to be cleaned and added to the wardrobe, a process she never quite understood.

As she was replacing the few items that had been in the pockets of her previous jacket into the current pockets of her new jacket as she heard a sound by the door, without turning around she asked, "How long have you been there Doctor?"

"Not long," he replied and she could hear the smirk in his voice. "What are you doing over there?"

"The TARDIS suggested it," Rose replied with a shrug turning around to face him.

"Did she?" the Doctor questioned his companion, he wondered what his ship knew that he did not after all its not usually her practice to push for a companion to wear clothes out side of their own time period. "Well you look fantastic," he said with a grin.

She waited a beat and said, "And no insulting stupid ape comment?" as he raised an eyebrow at him with a grin that found her tongue between her teeth.

He felt his hearts melt at the sight of that smile, it was that smile that reminded him how much he had missed her, his Rose. "Ready to see the Captain again?" he asked as he took a hold of her hand.

"Always," she grinned back basking in the feeling of her hand in his. He told her how Donna had gone on ahead and the place was just a little way up the road. Rose mentioned that Cardiff was much the same in the other universe, "and there is this one pub," she started to say as they stopped in front of the building Jack had described, " Doctor look," she said with a grin pointing to the sign.

"No," he said stretching out the word with a grin and led her inside. They easily found the others sitting at a few tables with drinks in hand and the Doctor looked to Jack with an eyebrow raised, "Blaidd Drwg Coutresan?"

"Its Jack's go to place," quipped Gwen.

"Is it really?" asked the Doctor with a bit of a grin.

"What can I say, I missed her too," said Jack with a bit of a pout. "And the good people of Cardiff seemed to enjoy the name so much as when we had last been here. Though I'm baffled by the Madame de Pompadour references," replied the former Time Agent.

"Wait; that was you three?" asked Ianto, having been a part of Torchwood One he knew a bit of what happened with the nuclear power plant.

"Well," started the Doctor stretching the word a bit, but he was interrupted by a playful hit from Rose and her small laugh, he smiled and stuck with the simple "A much younger us."

Rose feeling a bit more herself in the crowded pub with the Doctor's hand still within her own took a look around at their friends, she took a harder look at Gwen feeling like she'd seen her before in this universe, the other Gwen had been a blue eyed woman with auburn hair and a thinner face. Gwen who noticed Rose studying her got a little paranoid, "Sorry, is something on my face?"

"Oh no, sorry," said Rose quickly, "You just look very familiar to me."

"Her double perhaps," questioned the Doctor before really taking a look at Gwen's face himself and smiled, "Ah, you're from an old Cardiff family?" he asked her instead.

"Yeah," replied Gwen surprised, "my family goes all the way back to the eighteen hundreds."

"Oh," exclaimed Rose with a grin.

"Why do you ask," the Welsh woman asked.

"Well you know of the Rift, but do you know its started?" asked Rose with a grin.

"That was you two?" asked Jack not believing what he was hearing.

"Oh yes," Rose said in a very Doctor-ish way, "A fantastic story with our leather clad friend and Charles Dickens." She paused as their drinks where delivered and then she went into the Story of the Christmas Ghosts and the famous author.

The night continued in much the same way and was full of laughs and drinks, Torchwood talking about past missions and friends and the Doctor's companions relating past adventures. Donna had just finished talking about her strangest trip to 1926 and the encounter with the Unicorn and the Wasp with Agatha Christie and Rose then when into telling the group about her time at the end of the world and the strange gifts being exchanged. "Oi, and some of these gifts," she said with a roll of her eyes and exaggerated hand movements partly brought on by the alcohol, "This one was giving out air from his lungs," pointing to the Doctor next to her with her thumb, "But that was nothing compared to the Moxx of Balhoon spitting on me," which earned a large laugh from everyone present, "and bubbles from the nose of…" but here the Doctor grabbed her hand and shook his head cursing himself mentally for not stopping her sooner, "Doctor?" she finished with a question.

"Why did you stop her Doctor," asked Donna concerned, it was unlike her friend to interrupt someone unless he had something to say himself, even Jack sat up a bit straighter, which was just what the Doctor didn't want.

After opening and closing his mouth a few times Rose gave him a glance that said I-am-saving-you-but-you-owe-me look and said, "I don't think he wanted me to tell you that he got a bit slimed too," she laughed as if that was spot on and the others joined her.

Indignant that he was the butt of another joke he foolishly tried to defend himself saying, "I did not get slimed from the Face of Boe."

This caused the others to laugh all the more except for Jack who said, "What?"

Rose raised her eyebrow in question to the Doctor and Jack for a moment until she recalled a conversation with her other Jack about his very slow aging and his vanity. "Can't be," she said looking at the Doctor.

"Could be," he said glancing at her and then went back to holding Jack's gaze, he still was not all that sure himself if the Face of Boe really was an older version of Jack.

"No, shut up," she said having a hard time absorbing that the Face of Boe was her dear friend, "but that would mean," and she stopped for a moment remembering what she had heard about Boe, how he had out lived all of his family, children being born in this century, his long life. "Oh Jack," she said looking to her old friend remembering that she had yet to be forgiven by this Jack. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she said again sounding very much like the Doctor. "I didn't know."

Jack taking it all in stride even with the little information they had shared he knew she was talking about his immortality, after all she shouldn't even be there with them why shouldn't she know about that, gave her a true smile and said, "I take it as a complement, can't say there's been many who like you enough to keep you around forever," he finished with a grin and a wink for the Doctor.

Rose forced a sad laugh as Donna leaned over to the Doctor to ask what they were going on about; the Doctor looked at both Rose and Jack getting their silent permission before responding to Donna, "They're talking about Bad Wolf." Ianto and Gwen both sat up a little straighter, the Doctor really hadn't said a whole lot just chiming in here and there as Donna or Rose told a story or peppering them with questions about their own tales and they had seen the words around before as well. Donna was curious because she too had seen the words follow the Doctor every now and then and Rose never heard his account before.

The Doctor recounted all of the Bad Wolf, including the mentions of it leading up to the evens on the Game Station such as Gwyneth, giving Gwen a pointed look again, and the Blaidd Drwg project. He told them how the Vortex had made her like a god destroying the Daleks but bringing Captain Jack back to life, "Wait, she's the reason?" asked Gwen shocked.

Jack nodded having heard the explanation before, but Donna ask having not put the pieces together, "She's the reason what?"

"She's the reason I can't die," Jack responded his eyes fixed on Rose as she played with her glass on the table.

"You what?" asked Donna shocked, she couldn't believe that he couldn't die.

"That's right," said the Doctor, "He's a fact, a fixed point in time and it's just wrong."

"Hey now," Jack complained as Rose snorted a laugh with the rest of them.

"Doctor," she started "are you prejudice of our friend here?" she remembered the Jack from Pete's world asking his Doctor the same thing. Her question brought a stunned look from the Doctor and Jack before they both laughed.

"I've been asked that before," the Doctor said slowly, for a strange reason he thought she knew that.

Rose shrugged trying to act as if she hadn't just made a mistake and replied, "It's just a shame really, cause it's not his fault. If you need to be upset about it should be me you're against," she finished quietly.

"Aww, he couldn't stay mad at you it he wanted to blondie," Donna quipped, "To love sick that one is," she finished with a hiccup.

The Doctor flushed at her words but hoped they would be disregarded with the amount they all had been drinking, "Besides the Captain had given me other reasons as well," he said with a bit of a grin to Rose.

"I can't even say hello around you," the immortal Time Agent complained.

Ianto laughed and said, "It's never just hello with you."

The group shared another laugh and the Doctor took a moment to gage how his human friends where holding up with the effects of the alcohol. After all he was even feeling a bit of a buzz so he knew all of his human friends where drunk, and he got the impression that was part of the reason Rose was being so opened about some things she had said, in fact looking at the group he could see Ianto and Donna where pretty out of it, followed by Gwen who he thought could still hold her own, and then Jack and Rose. Neither where really showing the sings that the other three where but they were experiencing some effect. In fact as on cue Donna declared that it was time for her to shove off with Ianto and Gwen following suit. As they left the Doctor, Rose and Jack sat there just looking at each other.

Rose knew she should probably follow Donna back to the TARDIS, after all she as saying too much, but for the first time in ages she felt complete just sitting here with Jack and the Doctor and she didn't want to give that up. As she was contemplating those feelings Jack whispered to the Doctor, "Do you see her eyes?"

The Doctor looked a bit harder at her and his eye brows shot up when he saw that faint gold hue there. "Rose," he said pulling her out of her thoughts.

She blinked and responded, "Yeah," and both Jack and the Doctor noticed the hue was gone.

"What where you just thinking about?" the Doctor asked.

"Nothing," she responded, "just that if felt good to be back here, with both of you" she added.

The Doctor gave her a look knowing there was something she wasn't telling him. Jack replied "Like it did before the Daleks?"

The Doctor gave him a curious look as she nodded her head and said "yeah," quietly.

Jack pressed on, "Rose how long has it been for you since Canary Warf?"

"To long," she tried to sound that that was all he needed.

"Rose how long?" he asked again, the Doctor was just sitting there looking at the two of them.

"A little over two," but she stopped pleading Jack to stop with her eyes.

"A little over two what?" Jack pushed he had noticed her blouse and the Doctor had told him once that the TARDIS tries to try and keep you in your own times fashions.

She sighed, "A little over two hundred years," she replied as quietly as she could.

"What?" the Doctor was shocked "What? You're not a fixed point like he is; I know what that feels like and you're not it. How…"

Rose just held up her hand causing him to stop midsentence. "Pete's Torchwood did all sorts of tests when they finally noticed I wasn't growing older, I apparently have some foreign energy tied up with my cells keeping them as they said perfect."

The Doctor interrupted, "Energy?" But before he could get on one of his rants but Rose and Jack both gave him looks that made him shut up immediately.

Rose bit her lower lip trying to figure out what she could tell and after a sigh said. "Specifically Huon particles with Argon energy," she said with a paused trying to see if they would make the leap and was disappointed that only Jack had a knowing smile, the Doctor looked completely lost. "That mix with the already abundance of Artron energy and later spiced with some Void stuff caused this."

"The Void caused this?" the Doctor asked disbelieving.

"Doctor weren't you listening to her," asked Jack shocked that the Doctor was being so dense.

"Of course I was listening," the Doctor retorted. "She said specifically Huon particles with Argon energy…" he trailed off eyes going wide, "Oh, no, no, shut up. I took the Vortex out of you."

"You tried yes, and the over abundance did leave my body sparing me from, as you had so aptly put it, burning. But I had already remade myself or, well, Bad Wolf remade me to suit her. She has been the one guiding my hand back to you, after she made me leave you. It wasn't just this universe that she had pull over either; I, she, well we affected three different universes. In Pete's world the Doctor had died fighting the Autons since Rose Tyler in that world was just a yippy dog," the disgust in her voice about sharing her name with that dog was evident, "but there was still Jack Harkness oh and the pain he had been though because she, we, well I knew I needed someone to keep me going living all those years without you." Rose paused looking first at Jack apologizing with her eyes and the to the Doctor doing the same, "But it wasn't all bad for him, at least I don't think it was really because he still got to travel with the Doctor because the Third world still had its Doctor who was left heart broken when his Rose burned from the power of Bad Wolf. That Doctor told me when I finally met him that he had tried to save her but there could only be one Bad Wolf and our world is ahead of his, just like Pete's is ahead of ours."

Rose paused again as another round of drinks where brought to their table, once the waitress left she continued, "He said that the Bad Wolf had formed but couldn't last killing his Rose, the Doctor even connected with my mind showing me all of their adventures together some which had looked familiar and others that hadn't but the biggest difference was that this Doctor didn't seem to worried about showing his Rose how he felt," she paused to take a sip of her drink, partly to hide her smile that was threatening to from at the shocked look on her Doctor's face and the smack that Jack had thrown him with a I-told-you-so look. "I cried knowing I had survived when his Rose did not but he told me that it wasn't my fault that he hadn't needed his Rose as much as you had needed me," she said looking right at the Doctor, "He said that when he pulled Bad Wolf from his Rose with a kiss he had all the knowledge that she had had and he saw my coming and he knew that though his Jack was forever dead via Dalek there was another Jack that could take his place by the Doctor's side. So he jumped universe's into Pete's world and traveled for awhile with Jack regaining some of the partnership he had felt with his Rose, but he knew it couldn't last as he knew the time for me to travel to Pete's world was drawing near, he calls it that too which is odd he didn't know Pete, so he dropped Jack off and shortly thereafter that Jack became a fixed point in time as well. After falling into Pete's world it took me over a year to find him and it was shortly after that I regained my memory of Bad Wolf and all that had happened," she was afraid to go into much more detail not knowing where they were in the timeline of this universe.

"How," the Doctor questioned, "How could you remember without burning, no one is supposed to have the Time Vortex in them let alone thrive on it."

"The other Doctor said it was partly my own stubbornness and just the right amount of Artron energy when I was first exposed and when the power started to reawaken in me that right amount of Void stuff temped the power enough to keep me from going up in smoke though he joked saying that I may just start glowing in the dark soon," she replied with a smile and the continued "I also think it was partly Bad Wolf, I think she changed me more then I like to think sometimes".

"But what triggered the memories?" asked Jack.

Rose looked at him for a moment before for saying, "I heard a song."

"What song?" both Jack and the Doctor asked, though the Doctor did have a bit of a smile remembering his quip to Rose of how he sang a song and the Daleks ran away.

Rose just shook her head, "I can't say, the event hasn't happened here yet," she said sadly. She knew the loss her friend still had to go though and it wasn't fair, but she knew there wasn't anything she could do to stop it, her Jack had to lose everything so they would be ready for the next big threat, she could only console herself with the knowledge that she saved the other Jack from the same loss. She may not understand why but there was something in each of their sacrifices; the Doctor's home for the universe, Rose's life for everyone else's, and Jack's family for the safety of all; that would allow them to take on this next threat head on.

It was the Doctors turn to ask a question, "You're talking like the Bad Wolf is separate from yourself," he left the question implied.

"She is, and she is not. Our desires are pretty much one but our choices to get those desires tend to drift apart. She can see all that is, all that was, all there ever could be but usually I can't, not like that at least. I can see the blurring of time around major events when choices need to be made, and I can see when an event in time is fixed, and I also know that not everyone can be saved even if I don't like it," she finished softly.

Jack was the one to pick up the next question as the Doctor just looked at Rose, "Like today, you guys didn't show up until the planet was moved and Harriet Jones died?"

Rose nodded, "She held too much power to be saved, it was her time, everything dies," she said and she recalled that her first Doctor had said much the same thing back at the end of the world when the earth burned. "And we had to wait till the Earth was moved, the human race's development hinged on it."

The Doctor was sorry to hear that Harriet Jones had died trying to get him to save the day, the guilt he felt from her being right in a way weighted heave on his shoulders. "One day Doctor the Earth will be in danger and you won't be there to stop it." Her words echoed in his head. Jack and Rose both noticed he lapse into depression and Jack grabbed his arm, "She knew what she was getting into, and she told me to tell you, you chose your companions well."

A tear came to the Doctor's eye as he thought of how he had been so mean to her condemning her after what happened during the Christmas Invasion. Rose gave him a small smile and said, "Come on, I think that enough explanations for one night, yeah. Let's get back to the TARDIS."

The Doctor nodded and looked at Jack, "Are you coming with us?"

Rose's heart leapt into her throat, she would love to have him along in the TARDIS but he had to stay, the 456 where coming and he had to be here for it otherwise they would have already lost. She held her breath as Jack opened his mouth to respond, "I would love to but Torchwood is already down a lot of staff, I can't just go and leave Ianto and Gwen. Rain check?" he asked looking not at the Doctor but a Rose.

She wondered if he had sensed her apprehension, but she smiled and replied, "Of course." As they walked out of the pub Jack turned and gave the Doctor one of the biggest hug Rose had ever seen the two share.

When they pulled apart Jack said, "Well I guess this is it then." Giving the Doctor a salute he turned to leave.

Rose was shocked and call after him, "Don't I get some love too?"

"Thought you would never ask," Jack replied with a smirk pulling her into a big hug and then kissing her on the lips, "Now don't ever leave us again." He chided with a smile to her and then a smirk to the Doctor.

The Doctor was almost fuming seeing Jack kissing his Rose but he did his best to keep his temper in check after all Jack had partly kissed her just to provoke him. Rose replied as she stepped back and grabbed the Doctor's hand, "Wouldn't dream of it," with a smile to bot.