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"Brigadier Tyler."

"Mycroft Holmes, haven't heard from you in nearly a month. I almost miss your constant nagging."

"Yes."

"How is our dear London? Surviving without me, I hope?"

"I am quite capable."

"How's the diet?"

"... That is what I'm calling about."

"Oh? Pull something while working out?"

"Ms. Tyler, I was hoping to address the situation with the Director of UNIT, not a woman playing games."

"Understood, what does your diet have to do with UNIT, Mycroft?"

"A new dietary pill has become popular in London, I found it very useful, until I stayed up late one night."

"Oh?"

"Have you ever come across Adipose Industry in your past?"

"... I have things to finish here in York, I'll be back in town tomorrow morning."

"I'll see you then."

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It had been two months since he left Dartmoor and he had filled his time with meaningless cases that bored him even while he was solving them. However, John wanted to update the blog weekly and Molly had gotten in trouble for giving him too many heads so Sherlock needed the cases. Occasionally, there would be an interesting part of one of them, but nothing like Baskerville, and he couldn't help but think it was for lack of a blonde.

There had been a lull in cases, not because of his lack of trying though. He had been solving any that came to him, however that Thursday, no one had shown up on the doorstep of 221B Baker St. So Sherlock set out looking for entertainment, distraction, or nicotine.

Sherlock considered calling Mycroft to look into any cases he had, but he was always a smug prick when Mycroft went to him for help and it wouldn't do to have Mycroft being smug. He'd stopped at five drug stores on his walk, and all of them had been paid off by John, Mycroft, and Mrs. Hudson not to sell him nicotine, which only made him angry and want it more. While at the store, he'd observed several people discussing the new diet plan that was most popular in London at the time, he was beginning to consider calling Mycroft just to find entertainment in asking about his diet, when a woman in a business suit bumped into him causing him to stumble and the papers she had been absorbed in to spill onto the floor.

"Sorry, mate wasn't - Sherlock?" Sherlock had continued walking after being hit from behind, not interested in finding entertainment in an unobservant woman, however he turned around when she started talking.

"Rose Tyler," Sherlock greeted with a stiff nod, bending down to help gather her papers.

"Thank you, though I suppose I should be apologizing, I was just coming up with a rather big solution for a case I'm working on and was so engrossed in the paper work I didn't see you," Rose explained, standing up with her pile of papers as he did the same.

Sherlock took a moment to observe her, noting the changes from the last time he had seen her. She'd lost weight, hadn't been sleeping well, and hadn't been in London in a long time, most likely since before meeting Sherlock and John. However, despite signs of insomnia and anxiety, Rose appeared to be healthy and in a good mood, which was most likely due to being back in London. Once Sherlock had finished, he refocused on her and caught the end of her observations of him as well, she'd been focused on his hands, which he fisted to hide the slight tremor. It was fading now that he'd found entertainment, but she'd still caught it.

Sherlock looked at the papers in his hand while Rose made a sound of disproval he ignored. "Adipose Industry? What is the government doing looking into a diet pill?" Sherlock pondered aloud, taking his time to look over the paperwork Rose had acquired, he saw something was off about it but couldn't see it right away.

"I was asked to look into it," Rose answered, shuffling the papers in her hands to discover which ones he held in his. "What are you learning from it."

"'The fat just walks away'? Not a typical slogan for a diet pill, and there are no side effects listed which cannot be true." Sherlock began listing the signs he'd seen right away, hoping to come to a bigger conclusion in the process but still failing to grasp what was missing.

"What else? Don't disappoint me, Sherlock, it took me five minutes I was hoping it'd take you less, you're at two."

Sherlock looked up to glimpse Rose smiling, then gave his full focus to the papers in front of him, it only took one more minute to find it. "They faked their records." Sherlock looked up to Rose and saw her grinning widely at him, her tongue peeking out between her teeth. Sherlock grinned back at her for a moment, then stopped and handed the papers back to her. He thumbed a page that had caught his attention and moved quick enough to have it behind his back while Rose rearranged her stack.

"So the government sent UNIT to shut it down?" Sherlock clarified distastefully, after Baskerville he'd assumed UNIT had more power than shutting corrupt organizations down. While shutting Baskerville down is impressive, a dietary facility is not.

"Exactly, however UNIT specializes in," Rose paused, looking up from the papers, observing Sherlock. He stilled, ensuring the paper behind his back didn't make a sound, she couldn't have seen him remove it, the best magician wouldn't have caught him. However, in the months since Sherlock had last spoke with Rose Tyler, he'd forgotten just how extraordinary she was. "I need that page back, Sherlock, or I'll have to arrest you for stealing from the government."

Sherlock frowned and whipped the page forward without a word. Rose laughed good heartedly, and placed the page back in its proper place, however Sherlock was taking a moment to memorize the last image he had of the page, focusing on the name he had spotted: Matron Cofeli of the Five Straighten Classabindi Nursery Fleet. Matron Cofeli was the head of Adipose, however claimed to be a nanny. Sherlock was interested already, but was watching Rose prepare to excuse herself from the conversation.

"Are you going back to UNIT now to turn in your findings?" Sherlock inquired.

"Yes and no," Rose answered, tucking the papers under her arms after clipping them together. "I have to file the paper work but as Director I don't have anyone to turn them in to," Rose explained, politely reminding Sherlock she was more powerful than he had accepted in their first few encounters. He hadn't forgotten in the time away, he hadn't forgotten a single bit of information about Rose Tyler despite his best efforts.

"Of course. And you'll be in charge of shutting the industry down?"

"Yes," Rose answered, though Sherlock noticed she seemed to consider her answer, indicating there was more to the process than what he was being told.

Rose and Sherlock stood there for a moment without speaking but without excusing themselves. It'd been two months since they'd seen each other and Sherlock couldn't explain why he was hesitant to allow her out of his sight or why he just realized that he had been accepting every case in the hopes of running across her. He acknowledged that they were oddities in this community which lent itself to feelings of kinship, however he'd felt no such feelings for his brother who was also an oddity. Sherlock could only admit that he wanted to know more about Rose Tyler and believed spending more time with her would be the best way to do so.

She apparently was thinking across the same lines. "Well, it was great to see you, Sherlock, tell John I'll call him later in the week to set up our next date, yeah?"

"Date?" Sherlock inquired harsher than he wanted to sound, however Rose shrugged and chuckled.

"Just a joke between us," She explained with an easy smile.

"You've joked about dating with Lestrade and John," Sherlock observed.

"Yup." Rose looked down at her phone as an excuse not to answer Sherlock more, missing Sherlock scowling at her evasiveness. Typically curt answers didn't bother Sherlock, he learned more from deducting than interrogating anyways, but with his inability to find anything of consequence about Rose made her short responses irritating. "I gotta go, bye Sherlock," Rose said, walking around him with a wave.

Sherlock turned around to watch her leave, waiting to head home until he saw her turn around and smile at him over her shoulder.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o

"I'm sorry, Director Tyler, Mr. Holmes instructed me to turn everyone away today," Emma, Mycroft's secretary, informed Rose.

Rose had walked straight to Mycroft's office after running into Sherlock, needing to discuss sending the already formed Adipose babies home while contacting the Adipose Family about consequences of seeding on a Level Five planet. She hoped to avoid the mayhem the Doctor had caused in the Original Universe by not alerting Matron Cofeli of any trouble and going around the nanny to contact the Shadow Proclamation and the Host Family. All of the procedures of doing this were already underway, she simply needed to inform Mycroft since he had been worried about this case due to it effecting him personally. Luckily, if any emergency procedures were enacted, Rose had instructed Mycroft to stop taking the pills a few days before and he would be safe from harm.

"I'm not everyone, and I certainly am not asking permission to get into that room, now please step aside Emma, before I fire you," Rose ordered, walking past the brunette and into the office.

Mycroft had many offices, mainly to intimidate people by meeting in so many different places, however his main office was a tall, government building that took up half the floor, with Rose's office on the other side of the floor. She had a hard time locating him most of the time, which was why they were always calling each other, however after he saw an adipose baby develop from his own body, Mycroft had been in his office catching up on and filing paper work to avoid people. Rose hoped that now that she had a solution he would venture out, and perhaps start working out instead of relying on dietary supplements.

"Good evening, Ms. Tyler, I hope your investigation went well?" Mycroft asked as Rose walked in, not bothering to look up from his desk. Rose noted he was skinner than when she had left for Dartmoor, but pale from his scare. His dislike of leg work had much more to do with his temperament than his physical ability.

"Quite well, actually, I have my people making arrangements to have the proper aliens detained and the babies to be sent to their parents." Rose set the papers on his desk and sat down, noting Mycroft's color going a bit green at the mention of the baby Adipose.

"They were babies?" Mycroft asked, looking up in disgust to meet Rose's unamused stare, before beginning to go over the paperwork.

"The pill attracts all fat cells to a localized part of the host body, and then galvanizes it into a body. The process is used on many planets because it is an effective method of loosing weight so long as you're asleep when the Adipose forms, however the Seeding Process has to be approved by several world leaders and has to be planted on Leven Seven Planets and above," Rose explained in the simplest terms.

"So you have contacted the Shadow Proclamation to inform them?" Mycroft ensured, moving the papers to the side and leaning back in his chair to observe Rose, taking note of the differences since he had last seen her as she had seen his brother do a hour before.

"Not yet, I will once I return to UNIT, however the Adipose Family has been contacted to pick up the children at Loch Monar lake, they're required to bring their own levitation devices as we've been courteous enough not to ask for the Judoon to handle the situation."

As Director of UNIT, as well as the person that brought the Shadow Proclamation to Earth's attention, Rose was the sole Ambassador for Earth and the only person with the clearance to contact the Shadow Proclamation. With the help of several Shadow Architects, Rose created a contact system that allowed Earth to send short, cryptic messages when positive a decree was being broken or ignored.

Upon first contact with the Shadow Proclamation, Rose was asked if Earth was prepared to move to Level Six status, to which she gave a decisive no considering less then 1% of the Earth's population was aware of alien existence and there was a large section of the population that believed Earth was the only developed planet in the universe.

"So the pills will stop being disrupted and activated by the end of the day?" Mycroft clarified, sounding far too relieved for his regular self, so Rose took pity on him and decided against teasing him.

"Yes, all that needs to be done now is for you to create a cover story as to why Adipose Industry is being shut down."

"I'll get right on that, thank you, Ms. Tyler." Mycroft nodded to her, pulling out pen and paper to start drafting an explanation. Rose stood from the chair and nodded back.

"Of course, I headed back to York at the end of the week so I'll stop in for a meal before then, but you're paying, yeah?" Rose called over her shoulder, walking back to the doors, but Mycroft called her back.

"Ms. Tyler, I believe it is time you return to London. As Director of UNIT it is unseemly for you to travel around the United Kingdom answering every distress call. As Brigadier there is no problem with you continuing to be a part of UNIT First-Class, however the top team is not suppose to go on every mission, only the important and dangerous ones," Mycroft droned, glancing up just once to insure Rose was listening.

"You don't have the authority to order me around, Mycroft," Rose grit out, reminding another Sherlock brother she was powerful despite her age and despite her gender.

Mycroft looked up and gave Rose and unimpressed expression, folding his hands in front of him and sighing. "I'm aware of that, Ms. Tyler, and I'm doing no such thing, I'm simply advising. UNIT's headquarters are in London, it needs it's Director to be in London as well." Mycroft continued to stare Rose down, until she huffed an agreement and stormed across the hall to her office, planning to hide away in there finishing paper work since she couldn't escape London.