They were out there, talking about her again. Outside the cafeteria. She could see their shadows on either side of the doorway. But she just knew they were there.

Gwen Cooper smiled before inviting herself to sit with Rose. "This is better than Cardiff. We have a kitchenette." The effervescent and overtly perky woman set a bright orange tray down in front of Rose, sitting in the seat across from her at the long narrow table. "So have you known Jack long?"

Rose continued to stare at the play of shadows on the industrial tile floor as she bit into a piece of fried potato. Chewing thoughtfully, she wiped her hand on a napkin, watching the darkness on the floor shift and Jack edge uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Forever and a day. They think I'm crazy, you know." That's what Gwen Cooper was there for. She was supposed to tease information out of Rose that Rose had not given up to Jack already.

But what could she tell Jack that he'd accept? Nothing. She'd seen how things would play out. In the past. The past that hadn't happened yet…How things were to play out, if this universe was to still have its Time Lord to watch over it.

She would fall away from him. He would scream, she would be too stunned to scream until she hit Pete's arms and ended up in that other place. Her hands would slam against a barren white wall until they were red. She would hear his voice and follow it. She would cry, saying goodbye.

She'd never remember frantically making love with Jack, seeing the Doctor or talking to the TARDIS, eating these overdone chips. It would all be gone, and she wouldn't understand what had happened until much later, when she was desperate and alone. Much more alone than she was now, without Ianto to urge her to eat vegetables and drink less caffeine, or Jack who would kill her with kindness if she let him.

Rose wasn't meant to have her ribs crushed by bony arms as they swung her in exhilaration at being alive ever again. Maybe by him, but not by those arms. He'd regenerate before she saw him again. Everything would fall away and she would be walking along that lonely beach before she saw her old blue box again, waiting there for her in the cold wet sand.

She'd be so very alone by then. This would only be a taste of the isolation to come. Never staying in one place very long, never keeping a job that was fulfilling. She couldn't be too good at it, or make too many advances. She knew she'd never quite figure out fitting in, because he never had. Jack would have beaten them at that game. The difference would be…she'd have no means of running away or escape, the Doctor did.

Perhaps it would be better to not remember this. Especially when Gwen Cooper looked at her with such sympathy. As though she agreed with Jack and Ianto's assessment of her facilities. "Jack thinks very highly of you." The other woman smiled as she opened a cup of yogurt. "He never lets us forget just how far you've come and just how pathetic we are in comparison."

Rose managed to look away from the door and actually smiled sincerely. "From shop girl to region head of a shadow organisation in the blink of an eye." She'd eventually spend six months in an asylum for no other reason than ennui and finger painting being fun.

There'd be a shop job among others, two failed marriages, a bullet wound in her back that would leave a star-shaped scar. When she saw the Doctor again, she would be quite changed. That was how it was supposed to be. "Jack…we had some interesting times. It was always the three of us, getting into trouble. Getting out of trouble. He once set up a cave man with a big boned city girl. I'm not making that up."

Even though she was smiling, and it was a happy memory, there was something distant in her voice. "He had a way with my ship—the Doctor's ship. "Whose ship was it, any more? She couldn't imagine leaving it. Forgetting would be for the best, because the mere thought of leaving the TARDIS made her anxious and caused her palms to sweat. Who knew what the actual act of separation would cause? "It wasn't the three of us. It was the four of us, now that I look back. It only ever felt like the three of us." Till now, till she could hear what the TARDIS was thinking. Now every memory seemed to be filled with her presence, as if the awareness of the ship had always been with Rose. "Jack is very shrewd, setting you on me." The last was a distant afterthought.

Wiping her mouth with the coarse paper napkin, Gwen Cooper took a moment to swallow. More like gathering her thoughts, if Rose had to venture a guess… but the woman's pause was almost natural. "I wanted to help. That's all I want to do. Jack's a little frustrated. He wants to help, but you're holding back information from him."

And that was the other shoe being dropped. At least Gwen Cooper was honest and forthright. Rose had learned a few things in the last half a year or so about unclear motives and dishonest sentiments.

Rose just didn't know how to respond. "I'm sorry I lost it earlier. It was just a little…overwhelming, emotionally. I shouldn't have put that on Jack or you or anyone else." Especially poor Ianto who had looked ready to sedate her out of desperation. "And I care about Jack. More than anyone on this world. But…he can't try to stop this. I know it's what he'll want to do. But he just can't. Things are bigger than either of us now. They're bigger than the Doctor too." The Doctor. Another soon-to-be casualty in this universal realignment. As much as she wanted to tell him, she knew that she couldn't. This had suddenly become a need-to-know environment. Basically no one else needed to know. No one else needed the burden of the knowledge of what it had taken or would take to set things right.

XYZ

The only conclusion to the conversation was that there was no conclusion. They had no idea what to do with Rose. No, that was an unfair statement, Jack thought as he walked back into the cafeteria, massaging his neck. That meant that there was something they could do, without going so far as to relieve her of her position.

And who really wanted to get their eyeballs clawed out by an unhappy Rose Tyler? The list of people was pretty short.

She was sitting with Gwen, actually engaging in conversation. Jack knew he was right to bring the newest member of his team for this. Gwen had a way with people that the rest of them currently lacked. He used to be such an insufferable flirt, where had all that energy gone? Oh, to be a hundred and ten again. Those were the days.

Back before he had to start being responsible and in charge of others. Which, quite frankly, sucked. He was trying to do this whole thing all diplomatic-like with Rose, when all he wanted to do was have a knock-down drag out that resulted in her being tied to a bed for her own good until they were done running every test known to man and scanning her within an inch of her life. It'd certainly be more fulfilling too.

Ianto had made a few monitoring recommendations, and they'd both figured out a few ways to continue working on the artifacts to see if there was anything else they could determine. At this point, any small glimmer of a clue as to what was happening would be appreciated.

Sitting next to Gwen, he smiled at Rose. Glancing at his teammate, he caught sight of the haunted look on her face, her lips rounded with surprise and her eyes wide open.

"Enjoying the pudding? The tapioca isn't bad. I'm not sure about the chocolate, though. How is it?" Small talk was an art he hadn't had to put into practice in ages.

Rose's brown-cum-hazel eyes slowly raised until they were practically shooting electricity into his own. "They're all going to turn on you."

Jack blinked, wondering just what the hell one was supposed to say to that. "What?"

Blinking, Rose continued as if this was the most normal conversation in the world. "Owen Harper shoots you in the head. Even Ianto betrays you in the end. Miss Cooper's boyfriend… oh all the blood. All that blood, in the basement of your secret little bace, in the deepest darkest parts of the Hub. The Hub… with your flying monster and that rift manipulator. All these things…"

Startled by her account, he grabbed her forearm. "Rose…"

The spoon slid out of her hand. When it hit the tray, it flicked pudding onto the table with an oozing splat. "Then you're killed by Satan. You're killed, Jack. By Satan, even though we've already killed him… You won't like the answer the Doctor gives you. It's about me and what I've done, and where I will be. There's so much you won't like. Martha Jones…she seems like a nice girl. Don't be afraid to let her know that, the way you let me know. It's ok, you know. To let people know that. It makes them feel better about things. All the stars can go out in the sky, but if they know they're an ok sort… it makes things better."

Picking up the spoon, Rose shoved it into her mouth, barely swallowing down a reluctant chuckle with the pudding. "But you won't remember any of this," she finished. "I can still tell you. Cos you won't remember any of this."

Jack nudged Gwen. "Step into my office," he muttered, not bothering to care how obvious it must have looked to Rose. He wasn't entirely sure she was with them at the moment. Of course, he was losing faith in the 'Rose has gone completely crazy' theory too. Truthfully, he'd been kind of hoping it was 'just' that. That the boxes were putting off some sort of radiation that was making her stark-raving mad. They could fix that.

When they were a few tables away, he turned Gwen away from prying eyes. "What's going on?"

The woman shifted uncomfortably. "I really don't like the things she's saying, Jack. She's talking about things that haven't happened as if they're going to happen. But in the past. Like she's going to somehow go back and change it."

He nodded. He had been starting to get that impression. "And she thinks if she tells me, I'm going to stop her. And she's damned right about that. No offence or anything, but I'm not all that fond of the part where Owen shoots me and your boyfriend ends up dead, if that's OK."

Gwen looked over her shoulder at Rose, who was absently pushing peas around on her plate. "So what do we do?"

Sighing, Jack shook his head. "I don't know. But she's talking like she's seeing what could be, or what wasn't. She's writing in the language of the Doctor's people and generally acting a little weirder every time you look around…Which is all Time Lord territory. Which means… well… she isn't going to like what it means."

Swallowing back a frown, he touched his headset and turned away from Gwen slightly. "Ianto… that thing we were talking about before? Yeah. Now's a good time," he offered casually then shut off his headset. "I'm going to need you to run interference," he informed Gwen as he started back towards the table. Get her started talking about something. Anything."

Jack sat down next to Rose and Gwen took her place across from them again. He tried to keep it casual, as if there was no reason, other than Rose's friendship, for why he'd plop himself next to her.

Gwen tried to feign interest in her food again, but it wasn't really working. She looked up at Rose, who was still pushing the peas around with a vacant look about her. "So. Jack tells me the two of you used to travel together. Did you go any place nice?"

Rose glanced up at her as if she should have been kidding or something. "To Cardiff once. Then to the end of the Time War. It's over, you know. I ended it."

Jack eyed Ianto as he quietly crossed the empty cafeteria. He slowly lowered his hands from under his chin, trying not to draw attention to himself.

Licking her lips, Rose continued at Gwen's encouragement. "It's over. But the Daleks are coming back. They always come back. Martha's a nice girl. She stands up to them."

As unassumingly as possible, Jack put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. "Martha… Her last name's Jones?"

"Martha Jones. Long-suffering Martha Jones. Be nice to her, Jack."

He kept his arm around her and smiled. "I promise. I'll be nice to her. When I meet her. In the past."

Her eyes locked with his, and he almost felt like a ghost had passed through him. "Jack, don't try to stop me. It's for the best. You'll see. This universe will have him back."

With his free hand, he stroked her cheek. "I know you believe that, honey. And I'm sorry for this." Glancing up at Ianto, he squeezed her arms down at her sides so she couldn't struggle as the man injected something with a thin needle into her neck.

Unfortunately, it didn't have the desired effect. Instead of sedating her, it made her furious. She screamed, nearly piercing his ear drums, and kicked out, trying to push herself away from Jack. Even though he wasn't expecting it, he was ready for it. He squeezed her arms even tighter. "Rose, this is for your own good. You won't tell me what's happening, so we need to find out." He ignored the critical glares from Gwen. "A little help here, huh?"

Rose began thrashing back and forth like a fish on dry land, nearly tearing his arms out of the sockets as he tried to keep hold of her. She finally managed to clip him above the brow bone with her own head, and he almost lost hold until Gwen grabbed her head, trying to shush Rose's screaming. And she did calm down, for just a second. And that was all Ianto needed to get a second needle under her skin.

Her struggling slowed. Tears streamed down her cheeks as Gwen stroked her hair. Eventually her head came to rest on Jack's shoulder and he brushed the tears off of her cheek. "Honey, I'm not going to let you change the past. I'm not going to let you take his place just because you think this universe needs him more than you." He kissed her forehead. "I need you more."

Eyelids sliding closed, she let out a sigh. "You can't change it, Jack. You can't change…" The rest of her breath escaped, and she was asleep.

Jack looked up at Ianto. "Good job. It shouldn't have taken that much to drop her though. That has me worried."

Before he'd even finished the thought, Gwen felt for a pulse. "Jack… there's something wrong."

Ianto was off like a shot then. He didn't wait to find out what it was, he simply sprung into motion, no doubt to alert the medical team that they had a problem. They hadn't notified them before of their little plan simply because the less people that knew, the less it was likely that Rose would become privy to their planned betrayal.

Jack's hand went to Rose's neck. It was regular. That was the thing that was worrying. It wasn't the rhythm of a human heart; it was something consistent and steady. Sliding his hand along her jaw line, he felt for the pulse on the other side of her neck. This was faster but also steady. "Shit," he whispered, putting his thumb on the other side. There it was, beneath his fingertips…two separate but distinct pulses.

Anger building up inside of him, he looked around at the empty expanse of the cafeteria as Gwen put a hand under each side of Rose's jaw to see what he had felt. "I don't know if you're here, Doctor. But Rose seems to think you can hear her. I don't care what's going on. But whatever you're doing here, whatever think you're doing… stop it. She isn't trading places with you. You're special, but you're not that damned special, do you hear me?" His lip trembled once as he tried to hold back the urge to scream at nothing. "I don't care if her family's there. I don't care if you think it's a fair trade…what you're turning her into. You stop it. Or else when you come back here… I'll kill you myself."

It was hard to keep himself in check. Somehow he managed to lock his jaw and swallow back his venom enough to kiss Rose's sleeping forehead. She was worth fighting for, and he'd fight for her. Even if he was fighting the Doctor…or the TARDIS or the hands of Time and Fate to do it. "You let her go," he whispered. "I don't know what she's turning into… but stop it."

Gwen touched his shoulder. " Jack," she said gently, pointing to the approaching medical team. He looked away from them and sniffed, trying to keep the wetness out of his eyes.

He couldn't have anything, could he? She was going to be taken away from him. Worse, still—it sounded like she'd be the catalyst of this rewrite. This wasn't right. That was the only thing he knew. Jack didn't give a damn if it seemed like some easy or brilliant solution to the problem, trading places, but history had already been written.

He wasn't going to let her rewrite it for the sake of one man who probably didn't even know what he had in Rose Tyler.

TBC…