Author note: Hey guys! I'm sorry its been so long, and I'm sorry this is such a short chapter, but unfortunately time has not been on my side recently. Still, I'll soon be back on track...oh well.
Ooh, and I've just remembered...see if you can work out who the mysterious figures are towards the end of this chapter. It shouldn't be too hard, but lets see if you can work out how they got there! I bet none of you can! There we go, a challenge for you...work out who it is, and how!
Enjoy!
oOo
Four things happened in the week following Rose's return.
The first was that work on Torchwood Tower 2 finally finished and the organization was officially back up and running again.
The second was that Rose and Darren split after one and a half years together. Darren had phoned Rose from Torchwood in Cardiff on Tuesday night, after hearing about her return. They had a very lengthy talk that kept them both awake long into the night, and both decided it was the right thing to do. Rose wasn't angry that he'd left her, because now that she understood what had been going on in her absence, she knew it wasn't his fault. If anything, it was hers. She'd had the chance to phone him on Jack's ship before they'd crashed in Rome, but she'd chosen not to, because she'd been too caught up in her own selfish emotions to even think about anyone else. She told Darren this, and expected him to be mad at her, but he wasn't either. He seemed to understand, telling her that it had never really worked between them, no matter how hard they tried to pretend it had, so perhaps it was better this way. Rose couldn't disagree, but she hated the thought of losing Darren, so he promised her that any time she ever needed him, all she had to do was call. After a tearful farewell, Rose hung up on her ex, not realising this was to be the last she would ever see or hear from him.
The third was that Rose and Captain Jack had a major row about them landing in the wrong time...again. After her return home, Rose had been so worried about her family and how they were, that the thought never crossed her mind to be angry with Jack. But later on - admittedly after she'd had a few too many top-ups of Pete's precious champagne - she challenged Jack about his poor navigational skills, and after a long, heated and very noisy row, the two parted company and went to bed giving each other the silent treatment.
This stubborn silence lasted through Tuesday, but by Wednesday, Rose was so distressed by her break-up with Darren that Jack took pity on her and apologised. Rose apologised too, and after a friendly hug, the two were back on speaking terms again.
And the fourth thing to happen that week was that all the Sanctuary Base crew - except Scooti - returned home through the time window Mickey and Pete had found. After all, Ida and Mr Jefferson had families that they were missing, Zach wanted to report his findings to his boss, and Danny and Toby decided that Earth 2015 wasn't to their liking after all, because they'd been stabbed by a holly bush, punched, involved in more than one fight, almost been kidnapped by the police - who would no doubt continue to hunt them if they stayed, and chased endlessly by Jack Jnr, Suki, Ood and Scooti the kitten.
"Give me an impossible planet any day," Danny had half joked as he and Toby said farewell to Rose, who had come to see them off at the time window - seeing as they needed her psychic paper incase anyone tried to stop them.
"Good luck, both of you," she replied, laughing as Toby had to climb on Danny's shoulder's to reach the hole in the ceiling, and accidentally kicked his nose.
"Take care of Scooti for us, won't you?" Toby asked from Danny's shoulders, suddenly concerned for his friend's welfare.
"I will, I promise," Rose told him sincerely. "She'll be treated like one of the family."
That greatly put their minds at rest because they'd both seen how Rose's family cared for each other, and despite their rather loud, argumentative nature sometimes, it was clear they all loved each other very much - even Pete, who was very reluctant to admit Rose was his daughter once upon a time. Now he was proud to call her his daughter...and perhaps one day he'd be saying the same about Scooti too.
"Thank you Rose...for everything," Danny said gratefully as Toby finally pulled himself up into the gap where the others were waiting. "I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too," Rose replied as he suddenly ran to her and crushed her in an unexpected hug. "Take care of yourselves, yeah?"
"We will," Danny promised as he went back over to the hole and Toby and Zach pulled him up into it. The whole crew - minus Scooti - looked back at her for a moment, before the hatch shut and they were gone forever.
Well, not forever, Rose told herself as she sighed and turned towards the exit. As long as those windows are still open, they can come back. And I can't close them until Jack's ship is repaired, so that might be a while yet.
As she left the building and wandered back through the busy streets of London, a light wind picked up and dropped just as suddenly as it had started. Rose thought nothing of it as she waited at a pedestrian crossing for the lights to stop the busy traffic. Then, as a big red bus passed by, she could have sworn a reflection in its window flashed a few times, and as the bus changed gears, its engine wheezed and groaned, but again this was nothing unusual in London, so Rose thought nothing of that either and continued her journey back towards the edge of the city, and Tyler Manor.
Crossing Westminster Bridge, Rose paused and looked out over the Thames, at the London Eye. Then she turned and leant against the stone wall while she looked up at Big Ben and the houses of Parliament. A little further down the way, she'd find Henriks department store, and about twenty minutes further down, she'd find the Powell Estate.
But all that was her old life, and she had a new one now...a better one...one that gave her a purpose in life. Turning to look behind her, she could see the flashing light of the newly re-built Torchwood Tower beckoning to her, and decided to go and take a look at her new office. After all, she had nothing better to do, and Pete and Mickey were supposed to be showing Jack round, so maybe she could meet them there and resume work? It might take her mind off Jack and her very confusing feelings towards him. She didn't love him, as such...but then he reminded her so much of the Doctor, and she had loved the Doctor, so did that mean she did love Jack after all?
Digging her hands into her pockets, she turned around and strode purposefully towards Torchwood Tower, not even noticing two figures hiding in the crowd of eager tourists on her left.
oOo
Her new office was exactly the same as her old one...same size, same shape, same blinding white walls, same frosted glass window in the door, engraved with Rose Tyler: Deputy Head Of Torchwood and Head of Earth Defence. Underneath that was the familiar Torchwood logo - the T shape made of lots of small hexagons - and in big bold letters TORCHWOOD.
"Hmmm, no-one will ever guess what I do here then," she muttered sarcastically as she examined the window. It was awful, and she hated it, but what choice did she have now? It was already installed. Perhaps she could accidentaly break it and ask for a new, less in-your-face design?
Somehow I don't think Dad would appreciate that, she decided. I guess i'll just have to live with it.
Then something on her new desk caught her eye. It was a small blue box tied with gold ribbon, and in the ribbon a bit of paper had been carefully tucked. The box was no bigger than a small tin pencil case, and when she shook it gently, something rolled about inside, like a pen.
"Not more stationary," she groaned, pulling out the note and unfolding it. "Especially not if it's got Torchwood emblazoned all over it."
Rose,
Captain Jack was in one of our workshops earlier, examining some of the bits we managed to salvage from the last tower, and he was struck with an idea. I helped him, of course, and together we made this. I didn't think it would work, to be honest, but when he put some blue crystal in, it worked! I was amazed!
Well, I hope you like it, and like Jack says, it'll be more use that his blaster because all the special features on his really drained the battery. But yours is a more economical design, or something, apparently, so it should technically last forever. I know its like the one he had, but thats because its the best design to use. Jack's programmed a few settings in already to get you started, and written them down for you but he said that you should do the rest so that you get to know how it works. After all, it is yours now. I hope this is ok with you, and I'll see you at home later.
Hugs
Mickey
xxx
"What on earth is he going on about?" Rose frowned, dropping the note onto the desk and undoing the ribbon. "Like the one who had? What design? What blue crystals?" Then she removed the lid of the box, and suddenly she understood. "Oh...that design..."
Pulling out a long thin tube from the box and unwrapping the tissue paper from around it, she found herself holding a sonic screwdriver - almost exactly the same as the Doctor's, except that this one had a pale blue ceramic tube, instead of cream and the metal work was gold instead of silver. She turned it over carefully in her hands to examine every angle, and smiled sadly, as she remembered all the times the Doctor had used his - which had been quite alot, mostly to open or lock doors. Then curiosity overcame her sadness, and she turned to the door, aiming the screwdriver at the lock. Pressing the button, she smiled in delight as the end glowed blue, it whirred and buzzed for a moment, and then the lock clicked. Releasing the button to stop the device, she strode over to the door and pulled the handle down. The door was locked. Glancing at the bit of paper that Jack had scribbled all the settings down on, she switched it to a different setting and aimed the screwdriver at the lock again. She gave it another short blast then tried the door. This time it opened.
"Fantastic!" she exclaimed as she tucked it into her jeans pocket with her psychic paper. Then she glanced at all the other settings Jack had set it to.
Open locks - 1A
Close locks - 2A
Scan organic materials - 3B
Scan inorganic materials - 4B
Interfere with signals - 5A
Track a certain target or signal - 6C
Access restricted computer networks (this will work on anything from computers to mobile phones...even cash machines wink wink) 7D
Cut soft materials (paper, fabric, rope, etc) 8A
Cut hard materials (wood, glass, metal etc) 8B
Undo seals and joins (in metal work, etc) 9D
Undo screws and nails 9F
Hope this helps,
Lots of love,
Jack
xxx
"Blimey!" Rose muttered as she read the list, choosing to ignore Jack's message at the bottom. "I don't think there's anything else I could add to it. But I'd better keep this safe for now. Just until I'm familiar with each setting." She tucked the paper in her pocket too, and then decided that she'd pay a visit to her father's office to see if she could persuade him to let her change the colour of her walls. This new white was hurting her eyes and giving her a headache, which was the last thing you needed if you were going to save the world...or at least planning to.
As she stepped into the lift and used her sonic screwdriver to take her up to the next level (because she wanted to test out her new gadget) the second lift in this half of the building decended the other way, towards the ground floor, to collect two figures who'd just bluffed their way into the building.