Author Note: Oops, forgot to do an author's not last chapter. Oh well, there wasn't that much to say, so I'll say it now. A big thank you for all the great reviews, I'm so glad you like my ideas and chapters etc...and I would like to give a special thanks to MJ4 for all his help with some of the chapters, and his great reviews of them. Thanks so much everyone!
I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always, ENJOY! Hang on...I just said enjoy twice, didn't I? Oh well...that means you have to enjoy it twice as much! Lol.
Oh, and so sorry for the late update...thought I'd already put this chapter up...oops! I think I was away with the fairies. Oh well.
oOo
"You alright, Rose?" Scooti Manista asked the next morning as she and Rose sat at the breakfast table in the kitchen.
"Yeah, I spose. I didn't get much sleep last night...don't s'pose anyone did actually, with my idiotic boyfriend charging round the house all night like a madman."
"What was all that about, anyway?" Scooti asked as she took her fourth slice of toast. "I noticed you two were kinda ignoring each other this morning, and guessed it had something to do with last night, and - What is this stuff? Its gorgeous!"
"Its called toast," Rose grinned, a little wrong-footed by the sudden conversation change. It fascinated her to see how Scooti was reacting to everything. Everything was new to the young woman, exciting...even a little daunting maybe? She found herself wondering if that was how the Doctor had felt watching her on each new adventure they went on.
"You have to give me the recipe!" Scooti gasped, helping herself to three more bits and loading them with marmalade and interupting Rose's thoughts. Rose wasn't angry. Infact, she was glad she'd been interupted before she could dive head long into another bout of pining for the Doctor that would almost certainly ruin her day before it had even really begun. So instead she laughed and pushed the whole toast rack towards Scooti, who looked like she'd just unwrapped her biggest Cristmas present and found out it was a brand new bike.
Seeing as Scooti now had the toast, Rose was left with soggy cereal that had been sitting in her bowl for well over half an hour. Why had she even poured cornflakes when she didn't even like them?
She decided she'd lost her appetite and after pushing the sloppy flakes around her bowl for a while, pushed the bowl away completely, pulling her mug of tea towards her instead. She heard a shout from outside and saw Toby land in one of the holly bushes out in one of the flower beds. Clearly Darren's attempt at making up for his mistake yesterday by teaching the newcomers how to play rugby wasn't going as well as he'd hoped. She giggled as Danny, in an attempt to grab the ball, ended up pushing Toby further in and the two disappeared completely. Then Oli went over to help them out and accidentally got a rugby ball in the face.
Rose watched as Darren went over to sort the situation out, and sighed. She did love him...just...not enough. He deserved someone better than her. Someone who could give him all the love and affection he needed. After all, he was a very affectionate young man, and thrived on the love of others. His main goal in life was not to do well in his job, but to simply be loved. Rose even felt a little angry that she couldn't be the one to love him like that, because someone else was stealing her affections. Someone who wasn't even in this universe.
She let out a long sigh and tore her eyes away, taking a sip from her mug. Scooti had been watching Rose out of the corner of her eye and finally set down the slice of toast she'd been munching on, leaning forwards to fold her arms on the table.
"Alright, what's the matter? What's up?"
"Who says anything's wrong?" Rose countered casually, trying to hide her expression behind her mug.
"Look, I may only have met you last night, and I know there's still so much I don't know about you, but I can tell there's something bothering you. You seem sad...depressed even...like there's something on your mind. You know its better if you don't bottle up your emotions. Its better if you tell someone. You'll feel loads better after."
"And you want me to tell you everything so that you can give me some long lecture on how to make everything better, right?" Rose asked, but not in an unkind way, before taking another sip of her tea and pulling a horrified face. It was no good. Cold tea was almost as horrible as soggy cornflakes. Rose's mug joined her bowl as far away from her as the table would allow.
"Not at all." Scooti replied quickly, worried she may have upset Rose. "Its just...well what I meant was...I mean...if you ever wanted to talk...you know...I'm more than happy to lend an ear...not literally, but...you know...figuratively." She was floundering, and getting herself all flustered, so Rose smiled reassuringly.
"Its ok. I'de be more than happy to tell you everything if it was that easy. Infact, if it was that simple, I'd have told you anyway. Because you're right. It's good to talk."
"So, what's so complicated?" Scooti asked, relaxing a little after Rose's reassurance.
"Well, its not complicated exactly. You just wouldn't believe me."
"Rose, if someone told me yesterday that I was gonna fall down a trap door and land forty thousand years in my past, and spend the morning eating - what is it? Toast? - with the Deputy Head of Torchwood from the 21st century, I wouldn't have believed them either. Yet here I am now, and I'm ready to believe anything." Scooti replied defiantly. "And I'm loving this by the way...you really have to give me the recipe!"
"Ok," Rose agreed.
"Ok? Ok what? You'll tell me? Or give me the recipe?"
"Both."
"Ok...can I have the recipe first, before I forget?"
So Rose scribbled down how to make toast on the back of an empty envelope and handed it to Scooti, who delicately folded the paper and tucked it into her pocket, like it was some sacred parchment that needed careful handling.
Then, as Rose shifted in her seat and wondered where to begin her story, Mickey charged in, breathless and covered in mud. He bent double, placing his hands on his knees so that he could catch his breath, and Rose and Scooti looked at each other in amusement.
"Rose..." he managed to gasp.
"Yeah?"
"Window..."
"What about a window?"
"Found..."
"Found what?"
"Me and Dad..."
"Window...found...you and dad?" she repeated. "A window found you and Dad?" And then her eyes flew wide open. "No! You've found the time window!"
"Yeah."
"Does it work?" Rose cried, standing so fast her chair fell over backwards. Scooti jumped and looked from Mickey to Rose in alarm.
"What is it? What's happened?"
"Only the best thing that could have happened today!" Rose replied triumphantly as she grabbed her boots from the back door. "Come on, Mickey and I can show you. Can't we Mickey?"
"Can't...possibly...move any...further," Mickey gasped, collapsing into the nearest chair. Rose rolled her eyes in disbelief.
"You're impossible, you are!" she moaned, before leaving him to it. Scooti grabbed her jacket from the back of the chair and followed.
oOo
After Rose had found out the location by ringing Pete, she shoved her phone back in her jeans pocket, planted her hands firmly in her jacket pocket to protect them from the cold, and looked up and down the gravel drive, as if trying to decide which way to go.
Scooti just stood beside her rubbing her hands together and pulling her jacket collar even higher. There was a strong wind whipping her long hair and sending a chill down her neck, but she said nothing to Rose, who seemed perfectly used to this kind of bad weather.
At last, it seemed Rose had decided the best way to go, and instead of turning left down the drive, or right to go round the back of the house, she walked straight ahead, across the grass. Scooti followed a little less confidently, slipping and skidding a little in the sloppy mud and cringing everytime it flicked up her trouser legs. She was wearing supposedly all-weather boots, but apparently the manufacturers had forgotten to state that they were for all weather, except for that of the 21st century. The rain water was soaking through the laces and already her feet were beginning to squish and squelch.
Rose was having no trouble navigating the disgusting bog, and when they reached a dip at the beginning of the huge forest, she went ahead and slid right down it without fear, keeping her balance perfectly. Scooti had to grab a branch to help her keep her balance, and still fell down anyway. This was when Rose finally realised something was wrong and turned to her new friend.
"Are you alright?" she asked, forcing herself not to laugh as Scooti stood back up and groaned at her mud-caked boots and trousers.
"Is this really the best way to get to wherever we're going?" she sighed, trying to wipe her hands on her trousers to clean them - but they were so muddy now anyway, that she only ended up covering them even more, and in the end gave up completely.
"Sorry, but it was either a twenty minute walk through our forest, then the back lanes, or an hour's walk along the main roads."
"Right now that hour's walk is looking pretty inviting," Scooti muttered, and this time Rose really did laugh.
"You're really not an outdoors person, are you."
"Actually no...I like technology and spaceships."
"But where's the fun in that?" Rose asked as they continued on again, at a slower pace this time, which suited Scooti alot better than the rapid pace they'd been going at earlier. "In a spaceship, you never get to see the seasons change. Never get to see the leaves turn pretty colours in the autumn, the snow in winter, the new flowers in spring, the hot summers spent lying on a beach somewhere."
"I've never seen them anyway, so it doesn't bother me," Scooti shrugged.
"What, never?" Rose asked in surprise.
"Nope. For as long as I can remember, I've always been in space, travelling here, there and everywhere. Never properly visited any other planets before. Well...not till Krop Tor. But even then I wasn't on it very long before we were dragged here. One moment I'm with Ida, exploring the ship - the next we've both fallen through a hole in the ground and landed here. The others came looking for us and fell too. Now we're all stuck."
"Not for much longer," Rose replied. "I think I've found you a way home."
"You can do that? Get us home?" Scooti asked, bemused.
"Course I can. Anyone can if they know how."
"And how do you know, when no one else does?"
"Lets just say...this isn't the first time I've dealt with...similar things."
Before she could elaborate any further, Rose jumped suddenly and whipped out her phone. It vibrated in her hand, and looking at the screen she could see that it was Darren. Considering they hadn't spoken to each other all morning, she was wondering why he would be calling her now.
"What?" she asked, a little frostily, as she answered.
"It's Darren."
"Yeah I know. I saw your name on the screen."
"Oh."
"And?"
"And...I was just gonna say...well...I've been thinking - "
"Did it hurt?" she retorted, and he just laughed...sort of. Well, it was more like an amused snort or a muffled giggle.
"So, erm...I was thinking, how about tonight, we go out together. For a meal or something. You know, my treat. We could go to that Indian place you said you wanted to go to for your birthday, but never actually got to go to, coz of those Krillitaines. So I was thinking maybe we could go there tomorrow, instead."
"Why the sudden change in attitude?" Rose asked suspiciously. This wasn't like Darren at all. Normally after one of their rows, he'd sulk and mope for at least two days before deciding to forget that anything had happened.
"Because...well, I've realised that I was a jerk. A complete and utter jerk, and what I did last night was stupid. I know all these things that have happened recently must be really hard for you, and I should be supporting you, not trying to pretend they never happened. Rose, I'm sorry."
There was a long silence as Rose recovered from the shock of hearing Darren appologise. He never appologised. Even when he was wrong, and he knew it.
"So, what do you say?" he asked nervously after a moment. "Rose? You still there?"
"Yeah...yeah I'm here."
"And?"
"And...I think that's a great idea." This was her chance to try and be a better person, and a better girlfriend to Darren. After all, he deserved better.
"Great. Tomorrow night at seven, then. Don't be late."
And with that he hung up, and Rose tucked her phone back into her pocket. Scooti was looking at her curiously, one eyebrow raised quizically and her head tilted slightly in a curious manner. Rose just grinned and set off across the field again.
oOo
Her good mood, however, lasted as long as it took for her and Scooti to gain access to Madame Tussauds using the psychic paper, then weave their way through the exhibits to the place where the time window was.
When they arrived, they were greeted with six or seven police officers, and twice that amount of reporters, journalists and amused spectators. In the middle of it all, Pete Tyler stood, in handcuffs, arguing with the officer in charge, and the owner of the attraction.
Rose groaned and started forcing her way through the crowd until she reach the police barrier.
"What the hell is going on here?" she demanded, pushing her way through to the officer in charge.
"Who are you?" he asked angrily.
"DCI Rose Tyler," she replied, brandishing her psychic paper for the second time in ten minutes. "And you are?"
"PC Steven Philips. And this is Mr Skinner, the owner. I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't recognize you."
"Yeah, well, I'm undercover, investigating some mysterious events in this building recently. I sent my colleague to investigate earlier after sending a memo to Mr Skinner warning him of our investigations. But clearly he never got that memo, because now my colleague appears to have slipped into a set of your handcuffs, for some peculiar reason. Why is that?"
"We, erm...received a call about twenty minutes ago telling us that someone was trying to break into this place. When we arrived, we found your colleague up that ladder." He nodded to the ladder standing behind the model of the Queen. "He didn't have any ID on him, so we arrested him for breaking and entering, but he started to kick up a fuss - then you arrived."
"No ID on him?" Rose repeated. "Did you check his pockets?"
"Of course ma'am."
"Then I suggest you check them again," she suggested, secretly slipping her psychic paper into Pete's pocket as she did so.
One of the other officers stepped forwards and searched Pete's pockets, pulling the paper back out again seconds later.
"Erm, sir?" he said nervously, holding up the psychic paper. Rose had to really force herself not to laugh at the officer's face as he stared at the paper.
"And another thing, PC Philips." Rose started, placing a finger on her chin and cocking her head in a thoughtful manner as she started to pace a little infront of Pete." I wonder if you could explain to me why you arrested my colleague for breaking and entering when he was already inside the building when the offence was apparently commited? Surely inside a building, there's nothing for him to break and enter?"
The officer looked lost for words, and started to turn an even redder with embarassement.
"It seems to me that DC Smith here should be, if anything, arrested for his curiosity, because that is the only offence I can see that he has commited. But seeing as I told him to investigate this part of the building, and seeing as we don't arrest people for that kind of offence, how about you kindly remove those handcuffs? Then we can go somewhere a little quieter and less crowded and clear up this mix up. Or better still, pretend it never happened. Yeah?"
"Of course, ma'am," PC Philips replied, now a deep shade of crimson as he nodded for one of the other officers to remove the cuffs. Pete rubbed his sore wrists, then went to join Scooti and Rose.
"Thats better. Now shall we go and find somewhere quiet...Mr Skinner, can we use you office, perhaps?"
Mr Skinner, who until that point hadn't said a word, finally spoke up.
"Can't we just resolve it here and now. Then I can go back to running this place again. Every minute we waste is costing me money!"
"Mr Skinner. Look around you. By tomorrow morning the front page of every newspaper will be telling the world about this incident. Do you want them to say that it was a misunderstanding and no harm was done? Or do you want them to say how the man in charge of Madame Tussaudes was causing trouble by not co-operating with the police. Hmmm?"
"I suppose so," he agreed reluctantly, moving to lead them away through a side door marked STAFF ONLY. PC Philips followed, while the rest of the officers set about dispersing the reporters.