Disclaimer: The settings and characters of this story are the intellectual property of the British Broadcasting Corporation. I use them for my own amusement and gain no financial or commercial gain from their use.

Author's note: Another longer chapter. Question for you all: I've never liked the name for this story but I couldn't come up with anything better. Now I have. Is it better to change it or leave it? On another note, I will probably add another chapter later today, but that may be the last chapter until September as I will be living in the woods without internet.

Rose was very glad she'd checked with River. Having the resources of the largest library in the universe was certainly something she could get used to. The wire she'd been planning on connecting to the phase regulator was, in fact, the wrong one. After Rose drew out what the part they had looked like, River too, was unsure. It took them some time to find the part in the computer since they had to guess which species made it originally and then they had to sort out the circuit diagrams. But, it was well worth the time Rose thought as she bid River goodbye with a tight hug.

Her stomach rumbled as soon as she was back in her body. Evidently she'd been gone past dinner. She stood slowly, stretching out the ache in her legs from sitting on the floor for so long.

"Care to explain what's going on?" Her dad's voice asked from inside the room.

She froze and turned her head slowly, eyes widening as they fixed on Pete sitting in front of the dimension cannon.

"Um. Hi, Dad." She squeaked. "What are you doing here?"

"Funny. I was going to ask you the same thing."

"You go first, I have a feeling my answer will take longer." Rose said cautiously.

"The security guard at the front desk noticed that you haven't been leaving the building. He figured we might have a security breach."

"Oh. I should have thought of that." Rose mused.

"Your turn." Pete said firmly.

"I've been working on a project?" Rose hedged, avoiding his eyes.

"That's not going to cut it." Her dad told her. "Does this have something to do with the Doctor?"

Rose started, her eyes flickered back to his.

"We're not stupid Rose, we know something's up."

She sighed. "Yeah. This will take me back to the Doctor."

"So all of a sudden you found the knowledge of how to build a machine to take you to another universe? And what does this have to do with you going unconscious?"

Rose winced. "It's... complicated. Can we go somewhere else to talk about this? This room isn't very comfortable for conversation."

Pete nodded. "My office."

"One minute." Rose unraveled the paper copies of the plans for the cannon and marked the necessary wiring changes before she forgot. "Alright, let's go."

Rose fidgeted nervously in the elevator on the way to Pete's office. It was definitely worse than a trip to the Head's office; her dad and her boss at the same time. She was just fortunate that her mum wasn't there too. She wanted to talk to Jackie on her own terms and had been writing down ideas for how to approach the topic for a week now.

"So." Pete said as they sat in the armchairs in his office.

"So." Rose repeated. This must be how River had felt. She had a lot of information without any good point to start the explanation.

"Were you going to tell us?" Pete asked suddenly, filling the silence.

"Yeah, 'course. Probably on Wednesday, before I leave for Mursag."

"When are you leaving?"

"That's it? No fuss, no 'Rose you should stay here with your family', just when?"

"Rose, Mickey, your mum, and I have been suspicious for weeks. You know what tipped us off? You've been happy. Happier than I've ever seen you. That's all I want for you." Pete said slowly, ending awkwardly with a shrug.

Rose smiled weakly at him. "Thanks, Dad." She said quietly.

"So?"

"No less than two weeks, no more than four."

"And then you're gone? Forever?"

"No. Not quite."

"I thought the Doctor said it was impossible."

"The Doctor usually says something is impossible just before it happens. We found an entire planet that was impossible." Rose added with a smirk. Though she had, for the most part, believed him this time. It took River Song to help her see a way back.

"Can you wait a bit longer?"

"No. It has to be then."

"Why?"

"Cracks in the skin of the universe. Like before I s'pose, makes it easier to get through. And I can't be late."

"So the dimension hoppers will work again?"

Rose shook her head. "No, not yet. These cracks are only in the other universe, to leave this one the dimension cannon locks onto slight, unclosed gaps."

"How do you know there are cracks in the other universe then?" Pete asked

"Right. That's where things get much more complicated." Rose paused to think but Pete stopped her.

"Then let's leave that for later. Start with the easy- well, easier, things. You said you can come back?"

"Yeah, sort of. I'll only be able to come back twice."

"When?"

"A couple years. Time moves slower over there." Rose said sadly.

"Years? Will you be able to communicate with us when you're coming?" Pete was incredulous.

"No, but you'll know it. It will be when the darkness comes. The stars going out. The dimension hoppers will work then, the darkness will be destroying every universe." That part Rose wished she understood, but River stood firm about not telling her what was coming.

"That sounds bad. Really, really bad."

"Which is why I have to stop it."

"Rose, you keep talking like you know the future."

"Because I do, a bit. Pieces here and there. That's part of the complicated bit."

"So when you go over the first time, will it be dangerous then too? Anything that puts cracks in the universe sounds pretty bad to me." Paternal worry was creeping into his voice.

"Yeah, it'll be dangerous. But it's another thing that I can help fix. That I have to help fix." Rose insisted.

"Then I'm sending a team with you. I'll find people to help you." Pete said firmly.

Rose sighed. "You can't."

"Why not? You'll be able to send them back, I'll just find people who don't have things tying them here, that won't mind being on a mission for a few years."

"First off, good luck. Second, the machine won't work for them."

"What do you mean?"

"The cannon can send me, and only me, across the void."

Pete frowned. "Is that because you're from the other universe? Or you've got that void radiation? If so, I'll send Mickey for sure. Jake too if it's the void stuff."

Rose shook her head. "No, Dad, it's not that."

"Then what, Rose? Why only you?"

"Because of this." Rose said as she stood and took a step forward, twirling on the spot and twisting out of existence. She skipped forward five seconds and reappeared on the other side of Pete's office.

The moment Rose vanished, Pete stood from his chair, his mouth dropping open. A flash of golden light in another corner of his office caught his eye and he whirled as his daughter appeared in the center of it.

"Wha- wha..." Pete stammered as he fell back into his chair.

Rose slumped back into her own. "And now comes the complicated part."

"I think I need a drink." Pete said weakly.

Rose flashed him a cheeky grin. "Sorry Director Tyler, sir. No alcohol on Torchwood premises."

Pete was in no state to appreciate her humor. "I don't suppose you have some other device that lets you disappear like that?"

"Nope." Rose popped the p.

"Rose, I'm trying to follow along with all this and most of it I think I've got, but this... This I just don't understand."

"I know. I'm sorry. There isn't anything about this that's easy. It's taken me these two weeks to figure it all out an' I'm still not sure I understand it all."

Pete frowned. "Great." His voice was hollow.

Rose grimaced as she glanced at her watch. It was past ten now and she wanted to get to bed on time but there was no way she could leave her dad with the information he had now. "I'm not completely human, not anymore." She said in a flat voice.

"Well, that... explains all that," he gestured to the part of the room where Rose reappeared, "at least a bit. But not how."

Rose settled down for a long explanation. "When I was traveling with the Doctor, my first Doctor, we got into trouble with some Daleks, thousands of them with no way out. It was thousands an' thousands of years in the future so the Doctor tricked me back into the Tardis and sent me home. But I-"

"Hang on, Mickey told us this part." Pete interrupted.

"Mickey did what now?" Rose fumed.

"Last week Mickey came by the house and told us he thought something was up and it had to do with the Doctor because of a kids' story."

"The Bad Wolf." Rose said with a faint smile, regaining her calm. She remembered being the Bad Wolf now and spreading her name across space and time. She didn't remember everywhere she sent it, of course, but she understood it better.

"Yeah, that one."

"What all did Mick say?" Rose asked.

"That 'Bad Wolf' was a message that you could make it back to the Doctor, so you did and you saved him."

"Right then. So the Tardis isn't just a machine. She was grown, not made, and she's very much alive. The Doctor says she's an eleventh dimensional being which is how she can travel in time and space. She's telepathic too, gets in your head in all sorts of ways. Translatin' stuff and making rooms just how ya want them and everything. Once before, part of the Tardis opened up and an alien we were fighting looked into the light spilling out and the Tardis reversed her timeline and reverted her to an egg, gave her what she wanted, a fresh start.

"So I figured if I could connect with that part of the Tardis, called the Heart of the Tardis, she could help me get back to the Doctor and save 'im. Mickey and Mum helped me pull open that hatch with a tow truck and it worked. It worked a bit too well. I absorbed a large portion of the Heart of the Tardis and the Time Vortex itself. I used that to destroy the Daleks and send the words 'Bad Wolf' across space and time. It was too much for my brain to handle though, all of time and space happening in my head, so the Doctor took it out. But he missed some. He didn't notice because funneling that power from me back into the Tardis killed him, forced him to regenerate. That set him a bit wonky for a bit so he never noticed that part of it was still there, just locked away where I couldn't remember it or use it.

"He also didn't realize that I held onto it at least ten times longer than he did before it started killing me. It also added a bit to my genetic structure which allowed me to handle it at all. So now I'm human plus. Human plus Tardis, I suppose. I have a bit of the Tardis in me and now it's been unlocked and I can use it again."

Pete blinked as he processed all the information Rose gave him. "And the device?"

"The dimension cannon provides a direction to a gap and a bit of an extra kick for me to get out of the universe. But the actual traveling is something I have to do on my own."

Pete nodded. He was taking the news better than Rose expected. Anyone other than her family would have sectioned her long before.

"You said it was locked away, that you didn't remember it. How did it get unlocked?" Pete asked.

"I unlocked it. With a little... guidance."

"Another piece to the puzzle." Pete muttered.

"And this one has to do with the blackouts." Rose informed him.

"Good. Tell me."

Rose tapped one finger against her lips as she thought. "Alright, so humans can perceive four dimensions; length, width, depth, and time."

Pete nodded.

"There are lots of others. So the multi-verse, existing as we can see and measure is a bit like a bunch of balloons tied together and traveling along time in the same direction, though some move faster than others. The spaces between the balloons is the void. The other dimensions are less contained though. The important dimension is one that can be perceived on a psychic level and it overlays multiple universes. Not sure how many.

"Anyway, the first time I fell unconscious, I was pulled into this other dimension, but it isn't a physical dimension, so only my consciousness was transported. Are you following so far?"

"I think so."

"That dimension is, in essence, a virtual reality created by the largest computer in my home universe. In it are five people who only exist now as brain waves saved to the computer. One of them is a woman called River Song. She's a time traveler who knows both me and the Doctor but I'd never met her before. She's been helping me design the cannon and teachin' me how to use the Tardis part of me."

"So you just randomly fall unconscious when this woman wants to talk to you."

"Oh, no. The first time was accidental and subconscious. Now that I'm aware of it, I control my travel there."

"I'm not sure whether that makes me feel better or worse."

They sat in silence for a long time more.

"You really need to tell your mum."

Rose ran a hand through her hair. "I know."

"Soon."

"I know."

"Dinner on Wednesday then?"

"Yeah."

"I'll invite Mickey and Jake too."

"Good, sounds good." Rose said glumly. She was more like the Doctor than she'd thought. Part of the reason she'd been putting off telling her friends and family what was happening was because she didn't want to say goodbye.

More silence.

"Your device, what did you call it? Cannon? It's almost done?" Pete asked.

"The dimension cannon. I hope to have it finished before I leave for the ball. Then I have to build the remote."

"When you come back... How long will you stay?"

She looked away. "A few days." She whispered. "A few days, then a few days gone, and a few days back."

"Then, that's it? You're just... gone?"

"I can't stay, Dad! I just- I just can't." Rose wasn't going to let him guilt her. "I'm not happy here, and I don't think I would be. And if I don't go, then everyone on earth in that universe might die. And a few years later, the universe would die and then this universe and every single other one. So I have to go." She told him firmly before adding softly, "I want to."

"Well then. I suppose that's it." Pete said, resignation flooding his voice. "Oh, Rose..." He said as he caught the tears welling at the corners of her eyes. He stood and pulled his daughter into his arms, letting her sob softly into his shoulder. "Let's get you home to bed. Okay?"

She sniffed and nodded into his shoulder.

"Do you want a ride home?" He offered.

Rose gave him a watery smile. "I can be there less than a second after I leave here if I go my way."

"Now that's efficient travel." Pete gave her a wink.

Rose laughed a little. "Thanks, Dad. For everything."

"Always. Now get to bed, Captain Tyler. See you in the morning."

She gave a quick salute before hopping back to her flat and heading straight to bed.

Rose was finding it harder and harder to focus on her work. She itched with the desire to flee to the labs and finish the dimension cannon but also a dread of leaving this life behind. While she had been, and still was, devastated to lose the Doctor, the fresh start afforded to her was nice. She had experience and knowledge of her own now as well as a confidence born from leading a team. It was true what she told Pete, if she stayed she wouldn't be truly happy. But she could have been content. At least for a while, until those she loved grew old around her and she stayed young. She would miss her mum, and dad, and Tony. Mickey, Jake, and her team too. But even that was not enticing enough to keep her from going back to the Doctor.

Mickey and Jake exchanged a multitude of looks during lunch Rose seemed down again in a way she hadn't for weeks, but they said nothing. Rose was glad for it, not wanting to explain that it had to do with the half finished letter of resignation open on her computer. She also didn't tell them that she had made a side trip on the way to pick up lunch that included brief stops in 1923 New York, 1601 London, and Beijing in 1294. She had to sneak the time travel trips in whenever she could and cursed herself for not being able to stay and explore. She had a sleep schedule to adhere to after all. There would be plenty of time to explore when she was back home, she reminded herself. It was just important to make sure her hopping skills were developing. The larger jumps in time were still less accurate but her time in the vortex was getting infinitely better.

Rose cursed her emotions. Worry that the cannon wouldn't work properly, nervousness about all the things she had to do, excitement to go home, sorrow for leaving her family; each feeling ran through her stomach, causing it to flip and contort. Everything that she'd been able to ignore when it was just her and River, she thought bitterly, was wreaking havoc on her now.

By the end of the day Rose was pale and peaky. She'd run her team through their operations as smoothly as usual with her usual blend of intuition and caution. As a result, only one thing exploded. Rose had smiled faintly at the fireball engulfing the small (and empty) storage shed that had housed a damaged spaceship. All this had started when the Doctor blew up her job, now it was her job to blow things up. Some things come full circle.

She finished the dimension cannon that night. Her breath caught as she slid the switch on and she waited for the lcd screen to come to life. The air whooshed free of her lungs as the display lit up and numbers and symbols appeared just as they were supposed to. Rose started the calibration cycle and recorded every bit of information the device spat out. She grinned at the results. Everything appeared normal to her, though she'd double check with River. She hummed idly as she reshelved tools and gadgets before hopping home. Reluctantly, she set up the psychic echo for the results and went to see River.

Rose leaned against the front door as she pushed it open, trying desperately to keep her feet beneath her. It wasn't so bad as the first time. There was, after all, less information there than the pages of assignments from River. And, Rose thought, it might just be easier to store numbers than letters, especially inside a computer. To her relief, River rounded the corner carrying a stack of paper, which she offered to Rose. Rose grasped the stack and sighed as the din inside her head ceased.

"It's done!" Rose grinned at her friend.

River hugged her joyfully. "You are brilliant, Rose Tyler."

"You too, River Song, I couldn't have done it without you."

"Then there we are; two brilliant, complicated creatures of time and space. Come on out to the back." The curly haired woman said, leading Rose through the now familiar mansion. The patio table was covered elegantly by a white cloth that stirred ever so gently with the wind. It was pinned in place by the silver bucket of ice with the large bottle of champagne sticking out.

Rose smiled, her trademark tongue in teeth smile. "River, I like the way you think."

"There are certainly benefits to living in a world without money. It's so easy to get one's hands on 19th century champagne here." River said with a smile that almost reached her eyes.

Rose knew that, while River really was pleased that they'd finished the dimension cannon, it meant that Rose would be leaving soon and wouldn't be able to contact her for a while. At least potentially, they weren't sure how time would line up in a year that never happened. So River would go back to her confined routine. Their lives were so complicated and so incredibly intertwined.

They sipped the champagne as River read over the results of the calibration.

"This all looks good, sweetie. And if I just... here, and here.. and then..." River trailed off into mumbles as she took a pen from her pocket and started running calculations on a sheet of paper.

"River dear? Full sentences are nice." Rose said.

"Aha! Two weeks and three days. Plus or minus three days." River announced, setting the pen down triumphantly.

"Ya know, that'd be a lot more helpful if I knew what you were talking about."

"The time frame for the cracks to appear. I've narrowed it down."

"So soon..." Rose murmured.

River stood and wrapped her arms around Rose's shoulders from behind, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You'll be brilliant."

Rose leaned into the contact. "I miss him so much, River. Sometimes it feels like I'm going to be sick just because of how much I miss him." She whispered. "How am I going to survive being so close to him for so long and not be able to go to him?"

"Because you're strong and you know it's right."

"Is that enough? It doesn't feel like it."

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I'm so sorry."

Rose wiped away the moisture at her eyes. "So many tears. Let's celebrate, yeah?"

"Yeah." River sat back down and raised her glass. "To new beginnings."