Jackie stared at Jack in disbelief for several seconds. Then she spoke.

"That's the Doctor?"

"No!" Rose laughed, to even her own surprise. "No, Mum, this is Jack, he's… an old friend."

"Captain Jack Harkness." Jack smiled at Jackie, and shook her hand. He hadn't lost any of his charm when he needed it, Rose observed. "You must be Rose's mum, I would never have believed it."

Jackie, to Rose's embarrassment, blushed. "Oh, hello." Then she turned back to the problem at hand. "Rose, what do you mean, he's back?"

"He is, Mum, he's back." Rose nodded.

Jackie frowned. "Rose, are you sure? I mean, have you actually seen him or anything?"

"I have," Jack spoke up, and Rose had never felt more like kissing him. Jackie's head whipped round to look at him in disbelief. "No, I really have. And he's back here. Or at least, he should be." Jack frowned. "I'm going to get on to my colleagues, see if they can shed any light on all this." He headed out of the room. Rose had never expected Jack to use the word "colleagues"; it was like the Doctor using the word "impossible" and meaning it. She wanted to follow him, ask who these colleagues were and demand that he at least start his explanations properly, even if he didn't manage to finish them. She'd forgotten how Jack could so often blind you with his charms and completely turn the conversation away from himself. Just like the Doctor…

But Jackie wasn't going to let her daughter escape in the same way without any explanations. Rose expected a multitude of questions, and lifted her eyes guiltily to meet her mum's. But there wasn't any question in her eyes. Only… Rose couldn't help thinking it was pity and some disgust. It shocked her to see that expression turned upon herself.

Jackie gazed at her daughter. "Rose, what is going on?"

"Mum, I don't know exactly, Jack's just finding out, then I'm sure he'll explain everything-"

"I didn't mean that!" Jackie glanced over her shoulder and shut the door behind her, closing out the sounds of Jack pacing up and down and hurling abuse at some unfortunate person. She turned back to Rose. "I mean, why are you even discussing this with him, today of all days?" When Rose didn't reply immediately, a baffled expression passing over her face, Jackie resisted the urge to shake her. "Rose, it's your son and daughter's eighteenth birthday. They're having a party in the back garden now. And you're in here, reminiscing over old times with some bloke you've never even mentioned before now!"

Rose was torn between anger and knowing her mum was right. It was Janie and Jon's day, she should be out there, celebrating with them. And instead she was locked away somewhere, quizzing a long lost friend. If Jack could even be counted as a friend…she'd worked with people for longer and never considered them as anything more than acquaintances that she never gave a second thought to once they parted company. And yet… Jack…

She tried to control her temper. "Mum, I know it seems awful, but don't you understand, Jack knows stuff about the Doctor, and-" Jackie rolled her eyes. Rose felt her temper flare up. "What was that for?"

"It's always about the Doctor, isn't it?" Jackie asked, her voice, for once, much quieter than her daughter's. "Don't think Mickey hasn't told your father and me what you've been doing for the past few weeks."

Rose snorted, feeling very like the teenager she was suddenly becoming. "Yeah, well, trust him."

"He's worried about you, Rose, we all are." Jackie sighed heavily. "Don't do this today, tell this Jack whatever his name is-"

"Harkness. Captain Jack." Rose jutted her jaw out stubbornly.

"Tell him that you can't do all this now, he can come back another day and you can talk it over properly." Jackie looked her at pleadingly. "Rose, the kids want you to come outside. They've been waiting ages."

Rose gritted her teeth. "And I've been waiting longer for this," she said, feeling every bit selfish and an awful mother, but knowing she had to do this. "Mum, I've been waiting to hear of the Doctor ever since he left me, and I'm not going to wait any longer. He's missing, he could be in trouble, and I can't just ignore that. The twins will understand."

Jackie stared at her in silence for a few seconds and then shook her head slowly, before turning round without another word and leaving the room. Rose took some deep breaths. She had to do this, she had no choice. This was the only thing she could possibly do, for herself, for the Doctor and for Jon and Janie. It was all she'd ever wanted to do; find him and bring him home, so they could be a real family. If Jon and Janie couldn't understand that, it wouldn't be her fault. This was the first and possibly only chance she'd ever have; she couldn't help feeling a sense of growing fear that if she didn't act now, today, this minute, then it would all just slip away like a bad dream, never to be touched upon again. This had to be done today.

Jack opened the door again. There was a sense of urgency about him, of the old action-packed Jack ready to pick up a gun at any second and take out anyone who stood in their way. A poor man's Action Man, as the Doctor used to put it so dryly. Remembering that, Rose felt the same urgency rush through her, a need to be doing something, anything, so long as it meant they were getting one stage closer to finding him again.

"Right, I've spoken to Toshiko and she says-"

"Who?" Even now, Rose couldn't resist interrupting, but she was silenced by an irritated look from Jack.

"I'll explain it later, she says she's run a trace on his path of flight and she thinks he's landed a bit off, to the west of London, and he took a bit of an erratic course. He could be in some trouble." He flicked a few buttons on the watch on his arm. "We're getting picked up any second now." He glanced up at her. "You might want to think about grabbing a jacket and maybe changing your shoes. It could get cold out there tonight."

Rose had kicked her impractical court shoes off before he finished his sentence and already had on a pair of Janie's trainers, discarded some weeks ago after returning from a shopping trip with her gran in favour of a new pair she'd bought. It had always horrified Rose how her daughter treated Pete and Jackie's house like an extension of her own; now she was just glad her daughter had the same size feet as her. She'd grabbed Jon's hooded sweatshirt off the sofa from where he'd abandoned it earlier as Jack led the way out to the front door.

In the hallway, Rose hesitated, hearing the sounds from the garden. There was a squeal of delight and she knew it was Janie, she knew that squeal like it was her own. And it tugged at her heart, reminding her that she shouldn't be going off on some stupid adventure with an old friend like she was nineteen again without a care in the world. She should be being the Rose Tyler of this world, and it made her hesitate.

Jack couldn't have known what was rushing through her mind, she had to remember that, as he glanced back from where he was heading out the door. "Rose!" She jerked back into reality. Or non-reality, whatever you wanted to call it. "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing's wrong."

"Am I disturbing something?" He nodded towards the garden. "You're having a party, anything special?"

Rose hesitated. "Yeah," she said, her voice very soft and distant. "Yeah, very special." She shook her head. "But it's okay, we can go, no one will miss me here." She nodded firmly. "And you can explain on the way what on earth is going on."