I know everyone's angry with the Doctor for sending Rose away - again. But the Meta-Crisis Doctor is still the same man, and he's going to make the same decisions that the Doctor would - and the same mistakes. Although, I don't think he'd see making sure Rose got home safely as a mistake. They wouldn't be the Doctor and Rose if they weren't sacrificing for each other. Let's have a little faith in our favorite half Time Lord, though. He wouldn't have done this if he didn't have a good reason...

And thanks so much for the reviews! They really make my day to have people so invested and sticking with the story!

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The Vortex Manipulator detached from her wrist and fell to the floor with a heavy 'thunk' as soon as Rose found herself in the living room of the cabin. As dazed as she was (and a little unsteady on her feet), she was able to see that it was present day. There was barely any time for her to compose herself before her mum and dad came sprinting into the room from the kitchen.

Her mother grabbed her in an embrace immediately. "Rose! Rose, what 'appened? We woke up this mornin' and your room... the whole bedroom was gone! It looks as if it's been ripped off the wall! And you and the Doctor were missin'…We reckoned some alien snatched you both. Are you alright? Where did ya go?"

Rose took a deep, shaky breath through her tears. "Mum, the TARDIS coral took us back to this resort in 1974. It was an accident. She was only tryin' to make me happy…but there was something bad goin' on and there were these aliens that were causin' it all." She sat on the sofa and covered her face with her hands as she attempted to get a hold of herself.

"Rose…Sweetheart, where's the Doctor?" her dad asked, coming to sit next to her and rubbing his hand over her back.

She looked up at him with plaintive eyes. "He left with the aliens so that everyone at the resort could be set free. When I woke up…he was just gone. Somethin' about ending a war and…" Her voice broke as she tried to keep her composure. "He sent me back home with a Vortex Manipulator and he just left…" She turned to her mum. "He did it again, Mum. He sent me back." Rose buried her face against her mum's green velvet clad shoulder.

"He did what was best for you," her mum tried to console her. "You know he only did this to protect you."

Rose pulled away from her and gave her an odd, calm look. "Just like all those other times, yeah?"

"Yes, Sweet'eart," Jackie told her. "He 'as only sent you away when he needed to keep ya safe. He made me a promise. He's daft, that one, but he loves you and he knows you need your family."

"Well, all those other times I've found my way back. And that's just what I'm gonna do now," Rose said, standing up from the couch and going over to grab the Vortex Manipulator. "I built the dimension cannon; I can fix this thing too. Use it to find the Doctor. It'll be fine. I'll find him."

Jackie went to speak, but Pete held up his hand. "Jacks, let me." Rose's father went over to her. She held the Vortex Manipulator in her hand, but it was dead and silent. "Rose, even if you got that thing to work again, it wouldn't take you to the Doctor. He won't be on Earth in 1974 again. Do you have any idea what planet he's on?"

"No," Rose admitted. "But I've gotta try, Dad."

She gave Pete Tyler the same determined, broken look that she had given him before when she was building the dimension cannon to get back to the Doctor. It was that look that made him give in last time. But this was different. "No, not with that you're not," he said, taking it from her hand. "Torchwood operatives are already here on sight looking for you and the Doctor. I'll put another call in and we'll see if we can find another way to get him back. But you're not using that thing and you're not doing this alone."

Rose was becoming angry now. Didn't they understand? The Doctor had been basically kidnapped. She needed to find him. "I can't just sit here while he's out there somewhere – stranded. Dad, he can't regenerate now. He's human!"

"Agent Tyler," Pete addressed her firmly, "this is an order from your father and your boss. You will comply with orders and I expect you to behave like the Torchwood agent that you are."

He was right, Rose realized. The Doctor didn't just send away Rose, his nineteen year old shop girl companion. She was Rose Tyler, Torchwood agent and Defender of the Earth, and she was not going to take this lying down.

After wiping the tears from her face, she took a deep breath and began to pace around the room, fiddling with her earring while she tried to come up with something. "Right, Dad, call the operatives in. We need to put out an APB on the Doctor. He could try to contact us and he'd go through Torchwood first."

"Rose, wouldn't he be…much older now?" Jackie asked cautiously as Pete gave her a look of warning.

"He took the TARDIS coral with him. He had a plan to get back, I just don't know what it is," Rose explained. "So we'll need every field agent on hand to be on the lookout for…I dunno…something. Maybe he could use the coral to come through the rift in Cardiff… seems like something he'd do. We need to be monitoring it. I need to see the scans that were done on the area where the bedroom was. There could be some residual link left. It hasn't been that long in this time since we left."

"That's my girl," Pete said and nodded at her before getting on his mobile and leaving the room.

Jackie was still sitting on the sofa, staring at Rose. "What?" Rose asked her, tucking her hair behind her ear and feeling slightly self-conscious under her mother's eye.

"You're just so different now," Jackie said. "You're not my little girl anymore."

"Mum," Rose lamented, rolling her eyes, "I'm twenty five now. That's a long ways from bein' a little girl. And let's not start this again."

"No, that's not what I meant," Jackie protested, getting up to stand in front of Rose. "You grew up. When you first started travelin' with him, I thought you'd change and become this person that I wouldn't recognize. I thought that you wouldn't be the same little girl that made me read 'The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe' over and over again or let me braid her hair for primary school pictures even though you hated those frilly dresses that I put you in. I worried that the girl that I stayed up at night with talkin' about what Jimmy Stone did that week to put you out or what trouble Shareen and Keisha got into at the downtown clubs would be gone. I thought that I'd lose that Rose. But 'ere you are, Rose Tyler…all grown up. And ya know what? You're not that Rose anymore…but you're still Rose Tyler. You're still my daughter…even if you are barkin' orders at Torchwood operatives and out savin' the world. You still come home and have tea with me and play with Tony. So when you do find the Doctor…and you will find him…don't be cross with him. He's only doin' what someone who loves you would do."

"I know," Rose admitted. "I understand why he's done everythin' that he's done. I know it's all been for my 'own good.' But that doesn't mean that I'm any less angry at him for making decisions for me without even consultin' me on it."

"What would you do?" Jackie asked her, putting her hands on her hips. "If you were the one in his position…Say you had the chance to get him out of danger; wouldn't ya take it?"

"That's not fair."

"I'm tellin' ya… knowin' the two o' you and all the trouble you get up to, the day is gonna come when there's that option. And as stubborn as both of ya are, it's no wonder the both of ya are always sacrificing yourselves for the other. It's a bloody merry-go-round, it is."

Rose almost huffed in response. "But he doesn't just get to choose for me. I dunno why he thinks that he can,"

"When you're a parent, I think you'll understand. He's not only thinkin' about you, Sweet'eart. He's thinkin' about your entire family."

"I'm still gonna find him," Rose said, pulling out her mobile to put a call into to Torchwood. "And when I do, I'm still gonna be cross about it."