Chapter 12 – Impossible Things
Rose awoke from a deep and dreamless sleep. Before she opened her eyes, she took a moment to let her other senses take in her surroundings. She had gone to sleep in the Doctor's bed again; the TARDIS was humming quietly. She felt different; as if her body had expanded, making her fingers and toes stretch all the way through the endless rooms and corridors of the ship. She could feel the emptiness with every fibre of her being, sensed the quiet, regular hum in her core like a heartbeat. With a pang she realised that this was what the Doctor felt all the time, this loneliness. Before she had become… whatever she was now, she hadn't been aware of this curious dimension of thinking. Now that her mind had become used to the telepathic connection, the widened awareness inside herself, she realised how empty she felt. It was like she had never been able to see colours, and now that she was able to, all the colour had faded from her world.
She opened her eyes and took a deep breath, staring at the swirling galaxies in the ceiling. Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed through her mind, and she felt vertigo. She clutched a hand to her forehead and sat up. The vertigo slowly faded, but the headaches remained. She felt as if someone had pushed over a stack of heavy books in her mind. She tumbled to the bathroom and shed her clothes on the way.
Her heightened senses seemed to be on overdrive now. She could taste something on her tongue, like… blood or fire or vengeance. She felt a heat curse through her veins, a glittery stream of golden knowledge and might. Another stab of pain rattled her mind, and she suddenly saw the Empress of the Racnoss, glorious and crimson, rear up on her many legs, screaming in terror. She saw the golden glow envelop the laboratory, saw her own mind burning with the flames, trying to save the earth from this horror. But what was the horror now?
Rose fell to her knees. What had she become? She wasn't just Rose any more. She felt the heat in her mind rise. The Bad Wolf was consuming her entire being. The vertigo returned, worse than before. She dragged herself to the lavatory and threw up.
x
Through a haze, Rose finally dragged herself upright again. Her mouth tasted stale and horrible. She realised she was almost naked and shivered. She moved into the shower and turned it on. The hot water began to chase away the rest of her dizziness. The headaches had gone for the moment, and her mind seemed to have returned to normal. However, somewhere in her mind, somewhere almost unnoticed as of yet, there was something shifting. She looked at the droplets of water on her body and moved her hands through the spray slowly, almost hypnotically focusing on the sensation of water on skin, heat on cold tissue. She felt her mind wander down infinitesimal routes of future and past; thinking about where this water came from, where her skin came from, why she was born human on Earth and not any other thing on any other planet in the whole universe…
Suddenly, her foot slipped a little on the tiles and her hand snapped to the wall to steady her. Her mind returned to the act of getting clean, and she tried to put her momentary distraction down to sheer fatigue.
After she was clean and dressed comfortably in her jeans, t-shirt and favourite zip-up hoodie, she stopped by the kitchen for a bite to eat. Once again, the silence weighed on her. As she was munching absent-mindedly on some alien breakfast dish, she pondered whether she should have asked Donna to come with her. She'd always wondered what had made the Doctor ask his companions on board so frequently – now she felt she understood. The ship was literally too big for just one person all by themselves. She'd go stir crazy before long if she kept this up.
But Donna had her family to go back to, and her life to sort out… she had messed up things for her enough already. It wouldn't be fair to drag her into this quest of hers. But who else was there in this universe to help?
Suddenly it hit her. Jack. There was always Jack. She thought back – had it really only been a few days since she had become this new being? When she'd looked into the TARDIS, when she'd changed to what she was now, she had finally remembered. She saw Jack before her, in the dark red glow of the Gamestation on Satellite 5… breathing in ragged gasps the life she had given back to him. He was alive, out there, somewhere. And if there was anyone who would be willing and able to help her find the Doctor again, it was him.
But how would she find Jack? She looked up at the ceiling doubtfully and said, "is there such a thing as the universal phone book?" She chuckled slightly, a bit confused to hear her own voice ring out in the silence, her throat still a bit raw.
The warm humming of the TARDIS was in her mind. Rose Tyler, there is a way. It's on my central console.
Rose jumped up, leaving the remains of her breakfast, and quickly went to the console room. The warm light comforted her mind a little, as she remembered how the room had changed along with her. She gently brushed a hand over one of the coral supports. Then she examined the console. There were quite a few functions, buttons, balls and levers she had never used, and probably never would; but there was also something new. A large panel opened up before her, as if the TARDIS had kept it hidden until now. It consisted of a strange, coral mass, like a glowing rose-quartz coloured rock that had been hollowed out by the sea.
Touch it, the TARDIS urged. My telepathic circuits can connect to your timeline and find a person you had contact with.
Rose raised an eyebrow as she studied the device. "And no chance that would have ever come in handy before…?" she murmured a little sarcastically. She looked up. "Why didn't we use this all the time? Seems way more convenient than flying… normally," she asked. She grinned a little at the end, fondly remembering the Doctor's many crash landings and crazy flight manoeuvres. Lately, I've contributed to that list, she thought. Donna and the motorway. The Doctor would have been proud.
The device is not always accurate, the TARDIS offered. You have to concentrate. Clear your mind.
Rose stared at the telepathic circuitry and slowly reached out. 'Try anything', she thought, and with a little leap of faith plunged in her hands. It felt soft and gooey, but not unpleasantly so. The humming in her mind intensified, and she felt a warmth creep up her arms and torso. She focused her mind on one thing only.
Jack.
Captain Jack Harkness.
Images appeared in her mind, memories of their time together. A golden thread spun onwards through the events that tied them together. Him in his World War II uniform. His charming, infectious, irresistible smile. Dancing on a space ship in front of Big Ben. The con man, a stranger, becoming a hero, and a friend. Dinner in Cardiff. Kyoto. The Gamestation. The Daleks. Death. Life.
Too much life. Endless life. Immortality.
The golden thread began to glow. It grew brighter and brighter, causing her nausea to return. I am the Bad Wolf. I bring life.
No, Rose whimpered.
The golden thread wound through the universe, fixed, unshaking, unchanging, forever a certainty. It hurt her to look at it, to feel its wrongness in her very nerves.
No. This is wrong, she felt the TARDIS project in her mind. This cannot be, ever.
We must find him!
NO. He is fixed. We can never be close to him. He is an impossible thing.
He is our friend, we need him.
He is the antithesis to everything we are
And yet we need him!
Rose felt herself speak the words, ringing throughout the TARDIS, forcing the ship to go where instinct told them both not to. She gripped hold of the golden thread, and felt it to be hard as steel, hot as burning iron. Her face felt wet and her entire body was exhausted; she vaguely heard the ship land somewhere, before everything went black.
x
Jack was sitting in his office, talking to Gwen, just barely processing the events of the previous week. His body still ached from his recent resurrection, his mind still seeing images of Abaddon and the ensuing chaos.
"What's happened to the rift?" Gwen was sitting on his desk, staring into space.
"Closed up when Abaddon was destroyed. But it's gonna be more volatile than ever," he said.
Gwen's voice was serious. "The visions we had. We all saw people we loved." She hesitated, and he tried to focus on the papers on his desk. "What did you see?" she continued.
He looked up. "Nothing," he said. "There was nothing."
Gwen bit her lip briefly, and sighed. "Jack. What would have tempted you? What visions would have convinced you to open the rift?"
He didn't have to think. He looked past Gwen, seeing in his mind's eye the people he'd cherished in his memory for over a century. "The right kind of doctor."
He abruptly pushed back his chair and left the room. He could never explain this to his team, as much as they'd grown closer now; they couldn't understand the complexity, the shared history. The Doctor and Rose, they had changed him, made him into the man he was now. They had shown him a way of living in this crazy, dark universe which he had not known before.
He walked out of the office and tried to laugh off Gwen's too perceptive questions. Just as he was passing the walkway, he heard something beeping. Something bubbling. The hand.
The Doctor's hand, which he had so carefully preserved, was finally triggering the alarm he'd built into it. Excitement spread through him and his heart beat faster. Then he heard that familiar noise, that wonderful, heart-wrenching sound he'd missed for so long. The TARDIS was here, no doubt about it.
And he ran.
The stone elevator couldn't move fast enough for him. As it ascended, he quickly stuffed the bubbling container with the hand in his rucksack and tried to take a steadying breath. His heart nearly did a backflip when he finally reached the Plass above and saw the beautiful blue box standing right in front of him. He never had seen a greater sight.
"Doctor!" he called, but was only greeted by silence. He was thinking of the man he'd once known, with the big ears and the nose, and the grumpy disposition. And of the woman by his side, who'd saved him with her smile and her wit; the two of them, so clearly infatuated with each other, yet somehow blissfully unaware of what it was they shared.
He'd missed them both so much it ached. He stepped closer, gently touching the aged wooden box. It seemed like a shudder went through it, but then everything was still again. Something was wrong. Where were they? He walked around the box, shouting, complete ignoring the stares from some onlookers.
"Rose? Doctor! Open up! Please!" He dropped his heavy backpack and slammed his hand against the door repeatedly. "Please," he said, choking up. This was insane. It was right here, yet… suddenly, a thought struck him. Perhaps it was the wrong TARDIS, the wrong Doctor! Perhaps it had been such a long time since they last met that the Doctor had forgotten about him. But even the closed-off man he'd known was not that cold or cruel. On the contrary. He could never forget things easily, that much Jack had seen. Maybe it was an earlier version of him. Or maybe the Doctor and Rose were both dead. Maybe the TARDIS was an empty shell, returned to the rift just by default…
Just as he was ready to give up, he saw his backpack glow faintly. A golden tendril crept from the container up to the doors. The TARDIS gave another little shudder, and finally, the door slowly creaked open.
Jack bounded inside, but stopped dead halfway up the ramp. The lights were dimmed and flickering, and several things appeared strewn about as if the ship had crash-landed. Badly. He just about registered that the interior seemed to have changed, when he rounded the console and saw her. Cold fear gripped his heart.
Rose.
She was lying on the floor, arms spread from her body in an unnatural angle. On her head and face, he saw traces of blood. Everything was deadly silent. His breath stopped as he dropped to the ground next to her, checking her vital signs. Her skin was cold; but tears began spilling from his eyes when he felt a faint pulse. He brushed some hair out of her face and called her name, but she didn't stir.
"Doctor!" he called again. He looked around the strange, new console room. The silence was almost tangible. The Doctor was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps he was deeper inside the ship, maybe injured or dead… Jack took a deep breath.
First things first.
He gently gathered up Rose in his arms, and turned around. As he made his way down the ramp, he heard Gwen call his name.
"Jack, are you in there?" she asked, disbelief in her voice. "Your coffee is getting… cold…" She trailed off as she poked her head inside the TARDIS, her mouth gaping wide. "What in the…"
She withdrew her head, then looked back. "It's… bigger on the inside!"
Jack exited the TARDIS, holding Rose protectively against his body, and let the door fall closed. Gwen stared at him and the injured blonde in his arms, her face the image of confusion. "Who's that?"
"That's Rose. And I promise I will explain all I can as soon as she's not dying any more. Help me, please?"
Gwen's eyes widened briefly, but then she nodded in understanding. She grabbed his backpack and followed him to the hidden elevator. They made their way back to the Hub, and Jack was greeted by three more wondering looks. Owen, however sprung into action immediately when he spotted the unconscious woman and led the way to the infirmary. Jack laid Rose carefully down on the medical bed, and Owen began examining her, no instructions needed.
He looked at the blood stains on her head and nose, and frowned. "There seems to be no apparent head injury that I can see, and this appears to be the result of a nosebleed." He examined her arms, torso and legs, briefly raising her shirt, checking for wounds or obvious injuries. He ran a scanning device over her body, briefly frowning at the results. Then he pulled out his stethoscope and checked on her vitals the old-fashioned way. Jack noticed that the entire team had gathered in the infirmary, silently watching. Owen frowned and moved the stethoscope over Rose's chest, first once, then twice; then he slowly looked up at Jack.
Jack was so nervous, he couldn't even think straight. He clenched and unclenched his fists in desperation, looking down at her body. What the hell was the problem here? "Is she okay?!" he finally burst out when Owen didn't say anything.
Owen took off the stethoscope and raised an eyebrow. "There's no internal or external injuries that I can find, but…"
"What?!" Jack shouted, exasperated at his strange hesitance.
Owen shrugged. "Well, hear for yourself." He handed him the stethoscope, and Jack frowned as he put it on. He gingerly placed it on Rose's chest.
He froze. His eyes snapped up to Owen's in shock, who looked down at Rose with a serious expression. Jack moved the stethoscope back and forth once again, but it was unmistakeable. There was a double heartbeat; it was a little faint, and perhaps a bit fast, but… she had the heartbeat of a Time Lord.
He pulled down the stethoscope and gently laid his hand on Rose's cheek, brushing away some of the blood-stained strands. "Oh, Rose," he said sadly.
"Who is she?" Owen asked, sounding intrigued.
Jack didn't answer. He didn't know what to say. "Why isn't she awake?" he asked quietly.
Owen sighed and looked down on the sleeping woman. "I don't know… I'd say she's experienced some kind of trauma and is now recovering from it. I think, seeing as she's stable for now, that she'll just wake up when she's rested a bit."
Toshiko walked down the stairs and gazed at the girl on the medical bed. "What happened to her?" she asked, concerned.
Jack sighed and took a step back. "I think she crash-landed her spaceship on the Rift."
x
A few minutes and several disbelieving stares later, Jack and his team sat assembled around the table, drinking their lukewarm coffees. Owen had assured them that they could leave Rose sleeping for now, and that any change the machine monitoring her would immediately alert them. Jack had washed away some of the blood as gently as he could, once again noting that there was indeed no injury to be seen. Not a scratch was on her; well at least that was something. He only hoped it wasn't somebody else's blood entirely.
He'd briefly gone back to check on the TARDIS, but he had found no trace of the Doctor. He hadn't expected to. Something about Rose in her current state simply screamed 'desperate measures', and Jack was sure something had happened to the man she loved.
He cradled his coffee in his hand, staring into space. He knew his team was waiting to explain. But how could he possibly summarise Rose and the Doctor?
"Before Torchwood," he began, and sighed. "I was a different man. From a different… time, in fact." He looked around cautiously. He'd never told them this much, but he figured after the recent events, a little bit of openness couldn't hurt. "There was this… time traveller, called the Doctor. Him and Rose used to travel together. I met them… during World War II. Good times," he smiled, and drained his cup.
Gwen looked at him like her eyes were about to drop from her head. "You're a time traveller," she said.
"Well," he began, feeling a little self-conscious all of a sudden. "Not really. Used to be. Why do you think I know so much about aliens?"
Gwen cocked an eyebrow. "We just thought you were that clever," she replied with a ghost of a smile.
Toshiko looked at Jack and held his gaze. "Is she an alien?" Jack heard the unspoken question beneath that and sighed.
"She wasn't last time we met. I don't know what happened to her, or the Doctor, but she's not a threat," he emphasized, making sure they understood that bit. "After what we've just been through, I realize you're all a bit shaken. But I can promise you that this has nothing to do with Abaddon or the Rift. She's my friend, just to make this abundantly clear."
All of them looked down at their hands, and nodded quietly. He added, a bit unsure himself, "I think she may have come to find me. Something must have happened to the Doctor. He'd never leave her side."
"So, when was the last time you saw them," Ianto asked pointedly, looking around at them in turn.
Jack felt the memories stir in his mind. The Daleks overrunning the station. His death and inexplicable resurrection. Everything turned to dust… and the TARDIS abandoning him. He had wondered for so many years why they left him behind. There must have been a good reason why they never looked for him, never came back. He'd spent long times in the past blaming them, nursing the pain of being deserted. But he'd long since concluded that there had to be some plausible explanation for everything.
"We were…" he swallowed, and tried again. "We were travelling, and suddenly, something transported us to this station. A space station," he clarified. "In the year 200,100…" he finally sighed once again, and launched into the story. The team remained riveted to their seats in silence the entire time. He never thought he could tell anyone about what happened then, but it felt good to share it. It felt like it helped a little to knit them back together.
"The last thing I remember," he finished, "was that I… died. Three Daleks cornered me, and I was the last line of defence between them and the Doctor. He was the only one who could stop them, and he was ready to lay down his life, too. He was going to destroy the Earth, just to make sure the Daleks were gone for good."
Gwen shuddered. "Thank goodness we've never run into them," she muttered.
Jack nodded. "They're almost indestructible. The ultimate killing machine, the perfect soldier. No feelings, no remorse, just a metal can full of hate…" he trailed off, remembering the Doctor's speech on the Dalek command ship. "The Doctor was the only one who was able to intimidate them." He laughed. "He was so bold, it was incredible. And Rose… she refused to leave his side. Ever." I even kissed them goodbye… he thought mournfully. He wiped a hand over his face, when tears threatened to fall. "He sent her away, into the past. Home to her family, in the TARDIS, so that she wouldn't be killed alongside us. That's the last time I saw her."
Tosh frowned. "So… he sent her home, and this is where she ended up?"
Jack looked up, thinking about it. "I don't know. It's possible, yes. It could be that she has only just left the Game Station… but something tells me that's not it. She's different, she looks a bit older… and the ship's different, too. I have a feeling some time did pass for her, too." Only not as much as for him, he knew that much.
The team was silent again. He looked around, raising an eyebrow at them, challenging them. "So! What do you think? The boss is not what he appeared to be."
Owen narrowed his eyes. "So how come you… can't die? Did those Daleks do something to you?"
Jack shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea. I woke up, ankle-deep in Dalek dust. Everybody was dead except me, the Daleks were gone, and the Doctor and Rose… vanished."
"It was me," came a small voice from behind them. Jack spun around.
Rose stood by the stairs, looking extremely self-conscious. She twisted the hem of her hoodie, which was stained with soot from the crash and some blood from her fall. Jack immediately jumped up and put an arm around her, leading her over to the couch. "Rose, oh my God, you gave us such a fright. How are you?"
"I'm okay, I think. For now." She looked around and spotted the Torchwood team. Jack sat down and took off his coat, placing it around her shoulders.
"This is… where I work now." He knew she'd probably not like to hear the next part. "You're in Cardiff, where the Rift is. This is Torchwood Three."
She recoiled from him immediately. "Torchwood?!"
"W-wait, just let me explain."
She held his gaze, her eyes blazing with a golden glimmer. "Do you know what Torchwood has done to me?! It's taken… everything from me. And you work for them?!" Her last words came out as a shout, and she scooted off the couch to stand wobbly by the stairs again. Jack saw that the team had come over to them now, watching the exchange warily. Anyone reacting like this might be a threat – but at the same time, she was an exhausted, not remotely threatening looking blonde girl. He could see the hesitation in everyone's eyes.
"Guys, could you… give us a moment? Rosie, it's different now, please give me a moment to explain. If… if you want to leave again, I understand. Just 5 minutes, okay?"
Rose stared at him for a second longer, before she faltered. She let out the breath she'd been holding and shook her head sadly. "Whatever, Jack. I have nowhere else to go."
That resignation nearly broke his heart. What the hell had happened to her?
Reluctantly, the others filed away, presumably to pretend to work. He led Rose to his office and closed the door, noticing that Gwen was still standing there, watching after them thoughtfully.
"Right," he began, then looked around the mess. "Drink?"
"Jack," she warned.
"All right, all right. Make yourself at home."
Rose looked around, then sat down, and he pulled up a chair next to her. "Oh God, where do we even start," he sighed.
She looked at him, and he noticed she seemed incredibly… twitchy. Like she had some kind of nervous tick, or just seemed on edge. But she didn't say anything. She just waited.
He tried to explain. "After the Battle of Canary Wharf, the old Torchwood was destroyed. The regime there was gone, nobody in charge. Effectively, this small hub is all that is left. I took over and rebuilt it. We're trying to do better this time. You and the Doctor are no longer considered enemies; we are still committed to protect the Earth from threats, but not to interfere as they did in London. I basically rebuilt it… in yours and the Doctor's honor."
Rose frowned. "You… run Torchwood now."
"Yes."
"The institute founded against alien threats."
"Yes."
"Talk about irony!"
"Hey, I'm human, you know," he pulled a face.
"Yeah, from the 51st century!" she blurted out.
For about a second longer, they stared at each other; then the tension finally broke. Rose launched herself at him, laughing in relief. He gathered her in his arms, happily hugging her to him closely, breathing her in, just revelling in the fact that she was alive.
"Oh Rose, I never thought I'd see you again! I saw the list of the missing people after the Battle of Canary Whorf, and I thought you were dead!"
At this, she just sobbed into his shoulder. "Oh Jack, I'm so glad to see you!"
For a while, he just cradled her on his lap, before she pulled back. He held her while she wiped away her tears. Finally, she scooted back to her chair, trying to regain composure. "It's so good to see a friendly face, despite…" she glanced up briefly and shook her head. "….everything."
"Rose, what the hell happened? Last time I saw you, the Doctor sent you away."
She took another deep breath. "I-I came back for him. On the Game Station." Her eyes became distant, staring past Jack. "I looked into the heart of the TARDIS, and… she took me back. I had all this… power. Remember the Bad Wolf everywhere? That was me." His eyes widened. "I left them as a message for myself, throughout time. To tell myself I could come back. I became the Bad Wolf. I… turned all the Daleks into dust. I destroyed the Emperor." Her voice was hard, but then her gaze softened. "I saved the Doctor."
Then she looked at Jack, and her eyes became infinitely gentle. "And I saved you. You were dead, and I… I'm so sorry, I didn't know what would happen!"
He scooted forward, and took her hands. "No, don't be sorry! You saved my life, why would you be sorry!"
"But you're wrong, you… can never die."
He waved it off. "Bit of a side-effect, who cares?"
She gave a small laugh, then twitched again.
"Rose, what is it? You seem… on edge."
She blinked and tried to shake it off. "It's… you. I can hardly look at you. Makes my skin crawl."
He pulled a face. "Hey, I know ears and leather was more your type, but there's no need to be rude," he chided.
She pulled a crooked smile and rubbed her arms, looking at him with a strange expression. "I… I can't help it. Everything about you is… wrong." Jack frowned. "You're… fixed, Jack. When I brought you back, I couldn't control the power… I… I brought you back forever. Now you're fixed in time and space. A fact in a universe that should always be in flux…"
He looked into her eyes and saw that faint, golden glow again. Her voice had taken on a different quality as well. "Rose… what happened to you?" he breathed. "We checked your pulse…" He put his hand on hers again. "Where's the Doctor?"
She swallowed, and brought her gaze back to reality. The gold seemed to fade. "He's gone."
"Oh God is he…" he muttered as his heart constricted.
"He's alive," she interrupted his train of thought forcefully. "We were there, at Canary Whorf. The walls between the universes were torn. He saved everyone… saved the Earth, by pulling in the Daleks and the Cybermen into the void between realities. But he was pulled in, too. He's trapped in a parallel world, Jack. Along with my mum, Mickey… my dad," she added quietly, and tears again began to spill from her eyes.
"Oh, Rose," he said and held her hands a bit tighter.
"I'm all alone," she said in a small voice. "Except for you. You're… all wrong, but you're the only one I have left in this universe."
His heart went out to her. He had seen how close the Doctor and Rose had been, and no doubt they'd grown closer still. The thought of them being separated made him mad at the universe for being so unfair.
"I need your help, Jack," she said, her voice steadier now. "I'm… I'm dying."
"What?" He looked her up and down again. "But.. you seem fine."
She sighed and ran her hands over her face, then through her hair. "After what happened, I… I wanted to do whatever it took to get the Doctor back. He can't be trapped there without the TARDIS, it's just wrong. This universe needs him."
So do you, Jack silently added.
"I needed to get away from the ruins of Torchwood, and I couldn't. I was in the TARDIS, but I was useless. But then, the TARDIS… she talked to me, Jack." She shook her head as if she still couldn't believe it herself. "She said there was a way to get him back. She… changed me, so I could fly her." She hesitated a moment, then took Jack's hand and placed it gently on her chest. The double heartbeat pounded steadily beneath his fingers, and her skin was cool to the touch. "I am like him now," she said, with a small smile.
Jack stared at her in amazement and slowly removed his hand, still feeling the phantom of her beating hearts on his skin.
"That's why I can sense you," she gestured vaguely. "What you are, I can feel it. Don't ask me how, I don't understand all of it myself. But I suddenly had all this knowledge in my mind, like, everything expanded," she gestured around her head, pulling an adorably confused face. "I could fly the TARDIS, and, and… do all these things… but…."
"What?"
"I think it's killing me. The TARDIS said she wasn't sure how dangerous this would be." She self-consciously pushed some hair behind her ear. "I feel like, sometimes I drift off, and all I can see are timelines and possibilities and, and… I feel sick, all the time. I get these headaches… but I heal really quickly, apparently, and I can smell and hear everything, and taste everything... like, did you know the Doctor used to lick things? Now I know why!" She gave a small laugh, trying to play over her fear.
"Oh God, Rose," Jack murmured. "Why did you do this? If you knew it was so dangerous?" He already knew the answer, though.
"I had to," she simply said. "I can't leave him trapped there. But I'm afraid I won't figure out what to do before it's too late."
Jack stood up in frustration and ran his hands through his hair, thinking. "But… if the TARDIS said there was a way to get him back, why can't she tell you what it is?"
"It… doesn't work like that, sadly," she said. "It's like… I can see that there is a way. I can see a possible future in which I get him back, and then I die or I don't… it's all in flux, constantly changing. I know there are probably several ways to breach the walls again, but I haven't found them yet."
Jack sighed. "I guess we have our work cut out for us, then."
A smile lit up her face. "So you'll help me?"
He grinned at her. "Impossible odds, the man you love trapped in a parallel world, two gorgeous time travellers with superpowers running against the clock? How could I resist!"
Rose laughed and jumped up, throwing her arms around him once again.