I've finally regained my muse from somewhere. Fab.


There was nowhere else she could go. She had no other choice.

Gwen had stayed in bed as long as she could after waking up at just gone four in the morning. She'd only drifted off to sleep, her face sticky and hot with tears, at around two-thirty, and she felt physically sick as she realized she wasn't getting back to sleep. Her entire body ached, and her throat felt dry and sore from the choking sobs that had engulfed her again as soon as Janie had left the room and Gwen had sat down heavily on the bed. Her eyes were sore from where she'd rubbed them, and there was a pounding ache behind them too.

Lying in bed didn't make her feel any less wretched and disgusting. She felt hot and restless and yet so tired all she wanted to do was curl back round the duvet and sleep for a hundred years, like some fairytale princess who hadn't just lost her Prince Charming. She'd never even thought of Rhys like that before.

After forty-five minutes, she gave up trying to settle herself back down into sleep. Misery was seeping through her veins and making it impossible for her to clear her mind and doze off again. She might as well get up and do something. Getting out of bed, she noticed the pile of clothing by the doorway. She frowned. It was some, not all, but some, of the stuff she'd intended to wash. Janie must have put it all through the wash last night and dried it too. She picked up the jeans which were stiff and creased; she hadn't ironed them, but that was probably expecting a bit too much of a virtual stranger. Gwen pulled the jeans and a crumpled t shirt on, pulling her slightly greasy treacle coloured hair back off her face where it had stuck in clumps.

She was surprised to find the Doctor up, sitting in the control room, his feet resting on the control panel as he lounged in the seat. He had his glasses on, but he wasn't reading anything, just sitting back, his hands in his pockets, staring at the time vortex, his eyes blank and glazing over. He didn't even notice she'd come into the room until she moved directly into his eyesight.

He jerked himself out of his reverie. "Gwen! You're up and about late."

"Or early," Gwen replied. "So are you."

"Well, you know." The Doctor shrugged. "I stayed up until they got in, and then I didn't really fancy sleep."

Thinking back, Gwen couldn't remember seeing the Doctor sleep at all since they'd started this whole mad journey. She'd seen moments of weariness obviously, they all had. Moments when it seemed like everything was getting the better of him. But then he'd bounced back, and she'd started to wonder if he even needed sleep. Maybe that was a Time Lord thing, not needing sleep. Looking at him now, she doubted it. He looked more tired than she'd ever seen anybody look in her life, his usually rich brown eyes dull and looking more like muddy puddles, and his skin looking even paler than usual. There was something else about him that unsettled her too, and she couldn't quite place her finger on it. Just something.

Gwen realized it was probably time she said something more. "I was just… going out for a bit." She had no idea where. It was barely even beginning to get light at five in the morning in September, and even if it was, she was certain that clouds would already have rolled in. But she couldn't hang around here any longer.

"Right." The Doctor nodded, and turned his attention back to the time vortex. "Oh, Gwen," he added suddenly as she turned to go. "Sorry about last night."

"That's alright." Gwen ventured a wobbly smile, before leaving the TARDIS.

That was how she'd ended up down in the Hub at five in the morning, walking round the quiet Torchwood base, and not minding the silence at all. She'd walked from workstation to workstation, her fingers lingering on dozens of pieces of paper that they'd all put aside when the Doctor showed and up and enlisted them on this trip. Though enlisted was probably the wrong word; Jack had more or less insisted on their involvement. As Gwen remembered it, the Doctor had been less enthusiastic over taking them all with him. But Jack had charmed his way around him, like he always did, and that had been that.

Gwen eventually, inevitably, found her way into Jack's office. She didn't know why. There was nothing there that was part of him, nothing that would bring her any closer to working out who Jack Harkness was. She should really just walk out of here and go and find Rhys and make it all alright again. It hadn't been that long ago since she'd come within inches of losing him forever, and she thought she'd never get over it. Now she was willing to throw it all away over… what? A man in another universe who just didn't see her.

But she didn't leave the office. She sat down in his chair, and made believe she could smell him in the cracked leather. She flicked through the papers scattered loosely on his desk and managed to convince herself that he was standing over her shoulder, talking her through all the bizarre names and events written in front of her. Once or twice she could have sworn she caught sight of him out of the corner of her eye, and she turned her head to look. Only of course it was just her imagination. She was losing her mind.

Lost in her thoughts, she was jolted back into reality when the telephone rang. She was shocked to discover it was seven in the morning, and she scrabbled for the phone awkwardly.

"Jack?"

Gwen was taken aback at the sharp voice on the other end and didn't answer for a second.

"Jack, are you there?"

Gwen finally found her voice. "Sorry, Jack's not here."

"Oh." The voice changed its tone, and became guarded and suspicious "Oh. Any idea when he'll be back?"

Gwen knew this edginess. "It's alright. It is Torchwood. What's the problem?"

The man on the other end proceeded to fill her in on the details. Gwen listened attentively and took a few notes on the pad by the phone. It was strange; she'd never noticed that before. Jack had never struck her as a notepad by the phone kind of guy. She could even see the indentations on the page from where he'd pressed to hard on the previous leaf. It didn't seem too hard an investigation, probably nothing, but better to be safe than sorry. It would at least take her mind away from her own problems for a while.


"The country? Again?" Owen pulled a face as Gwen relayed the information she'd been given. "What is it with the country?"

Gwen shrugged. "It's not like I fancy it much either. Not after last time." She didn't even dare let her thoughts stray back to what had happened the last time. "But we've been told to go." Part of her was glad someone was giving them directions like this. She needed someone to take charge for a while and direct her somewhere.

Owen nodded slowly. "Okay. Well, I'll go and start loading up the SUV then. Any idea at all what we need?"

Gwen shook her head. "No. They just said there was something strange going on in the village. People going missing and things."

"What's going on?" Jon wandered into the control room.

"Feeling better?" The Doctor raised his eyebrows from where he was still seated at the control panel. Gwen wondered if he'd moved all morning.

Jon blushed, feeling a bit guilty about the state he'd managed to work the Doctor up into this morning. "Yeah, a bit." He'd finally woken up through a haze of alcohol-saturated brain cells in time to hear the Doctor let out a miserable groan as he gave up hope of ever waking his son up. Jon had to smile though as he remembered his desperate words.

"Jon, please! You have to wake up! I can't tell your mum you've perished after a particularly heavy night out. Or your gran. Oh Christ, how am I going to tell Jackie that?"

Jon had dragged his eyes open and that and put his father out of his misery. It had all been a bit embarrassing really; it was the first proper hangover he'd ever had.

"What were you saying about people going missing?" Jon looked between Gwen and Owen. "Are you going to investigate something?"

All three of the others in the room were instantly on alert, though none could say why exactly. There was something in Jon's eyes suddenly that they all recognized. Interest and passion and a spirit of adventure. The Doctor looked away first, realizing where he knew that look from. It was the way Rose had looked as she'd run towards the TARDIS for the first time all those years ago.

"Just something they want checking out." Owen shrugged. "Out in the country. Probably nothing."

"Can I come?"

All eyes flew to look at the Doctor, who looked back with a blank stare for a moment before standing up. He fiddled with a few buttons on the TARDIS. "No," he said eventually, calmly and coolly.

Jon frowned. "What do you mean, no?"

"I mean no." The Doctor lifted his head to look at his son. "You can't go with them."

"Why not?"

The Doctor didn't know what to say. How could he possibly begin to explain why he couldn't let his son go with them into who knew what? He wanted to say so much, to tell Jon that he'd been alone so many years, with nobody to care, no family, nothing. Then he'd found Rose, and he'd found a base again, something and someone to call his own. Then she'd gone, and he'd been scrabbling around again. Now he had the twins, his children… But looking at Jon again, he knew, just like he'd always known with Rose, he couldn't lay that huge burden on his shoulders. Being someone's son was had enough, trying to live up to even normal aspirations. Trying to become the family they'd lost was impossible.

So he fell back on the old parental excuse.

"Because I said so."

Jon's eyes blazed, and the Doctor saw his hands curl up into fists. Owen readied himself to leap to the Doctor's defence if Jon tried to lay him out again. Then the boy stretched his fingers out, and threw his shoulders back.

"Yeah, well, you can't stop me."

The Doctor saw a resolve in Jon's face now, a slight setting of his mouth. A stubbornness. It was pure Rose. It reminded him of when they'd first visited the other world; the second she'd laid eyes on that moving advert, with Pete's grinning face on it, he'd seen everything play out in his head. Well, not everything, he obviously hadn't seen the Cybermen coming or anything. But he'd known instinctively that she wanted to see her father, was going to see him, no matter how many times he or anyone else tried to tell her that this Pete Tyler was not her daddy. He'd known she'd refuse to listen to reason and would obstinately cling on to the thought that if she could just see him, then somehow, everything would be alright.

"I've got to see him." Rose stated the words like they were some kind of universal rule, no room for error.

"You can't." The Doctor answered almost on autopilot.

"I just wanna see him!"

"I can't let you!" All the time she'd spent with him, and she was still arguing over things like this. He sometimes wondered if she listened to anything, if she remembered anything at all. Remember last time, Rose, he wanted to say suddenly, as the tiny vindictive part in him reared its ugly head. That part hadn't even existed in this regeneration as far as he knew until that walking trampoline Cassandra had jumped inside his head. Remember the last time you saw your dad? Remember what nearly happened? Remember what did happen? She'd been silent for a few days afterwards, not wanting to go home for fear of letting slip to Jackie what had happened, but unable to connect with him.

"You just said twenty-four hours!" Like that was a golden ticket to allow her to meet up with the father that shouldn't even exist. Typical Rose logic.

"You can't become their daughter! That's not the way it works!" If he knew anything, he knew how human emotions worked. Moreover, if he knew anyone, he knew Rose Tyler, and he knew that no matter how much she claimed she just wanted to see Pete, observe him from a distance and make sure of his existence, once she clapped eyes on him, it just wouldn't be enough anymore. She'd have to talk to him and laugh with him and try and get familiar. She'd try and be his little girl. And he'd disappoint her because he wasn't her daddy. "Mickey, tell her." Maybe her naturally more cautious boyfriend would talk some sense into her.

"Twenty-four hours, yeah?" Mickey got up off of the bench.

"Where're you going?" He'd picked a fine time to find that backbone he'd been hiding so long. Part of the Doctor wanted to congratulate Mickey on finally not hanging round Rose's ankles, but that was buried away at the moment under the sheer indignation that had risen from not one but both his traveling companions suddenly staging a revolt.

"Well I can do what I want!"

"I've got the address and everything." Rose began backing away.

"Stay where you are, both of you!" The Doctor looked between the two of them frantically, unsure when exactly he'd lost the knack to keep control of these humans. Well, not that Rose had ever been particularly receptive to his orders. Not that any of them ever were actually… she'd broken rule number one more times than he could mention. Still, this was serious. "Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back here right now!"

"I just wanna see him!" Maybe she thought if she repeated it enough times, he'd understand her or at least be deceived into letting her go with his blessing.

And he supposed he had. It had, after all, been him who produced the psychic paper and got them into the Tylers' house. And it hadn't turned out too badly. He'd forgiven Rose's folly for demanding to see her dad. In fact, he'd more than forgiven her. It had only made him love her more.

Now their son was showing the same obstinate face that he knew and loved so well. He could already feel himself giving in to it. Jon apparently didn't seem to think he needed his permission, but Owen and Gwen were still standing by, waiting for the nod from him.

"Don't wander off." He directed a finger at his son. "Listen to what they tell you."

"Of course." Jon nodded eagerly, and a grin lit up his features. Even though it was the grin of a boy who had got his own way, the Doctor couldn't help smiling back.

"What's going on?" They all turned to see Janie, her dark hair still tangled from sleep and making a strange sight in the vest and shorts she slept in, along with the Ugg boots that had barely been off her feet since she'd dragged them out the travel bag yesterday. The contrast between the chunky boots and her slim legs made her look gangly and fawn-like; her big dark eyes only contributed even more to the Bambi effect.

"We're going along with Gwen and Owen to help out." The Doctor felt his hearts sink as Jon brought his sister up to speed.

"We're what?" Janie frowned, blinking her big brown eyes in confusion. "When was this decided?"

"Jon's coming," Owen corrected him. "It's just a routine thing, checking out what's going on." He was sounding overly nonchalant even to himself, and Gwen couldn't help raising her eyebrows at him. She could see right through the Mr. Big Guy act; he was trying to impress Janie. She wasn't even sure he was aware he was doing it.

"You don't have to come," Gwen added kindly. Jon seemed so overjoyed at having his sister back that he wanted to do everything with her. She wouldn't blame the girl if she was to run back down the corridor screaming at the mere thought of getting involved with any more alienesque things.

Janie didn't look or feel overly relieved at that thought. Her eyes flicked over to Owen and wondered what he thought she should do. Last night, she couldn't help thinking he was going to say something before Gwen interrupted them, and now she was dying to get him alone again. She didn't know why. She only knew that he made her feel safe in a way that no one else she'd met recently did, let alone her father. Every time she looked at the Doctor she felt such a tangled mess of emotions that even starting to categorise them gave her a thudding headache. After identifying delight and adoration and love and fear and sadness and confusion, she'd given up. His eyes always seemed to land on her with such a strange look that she didn't know where to put herself. He was holding out on her and she didn't know why. At least Owen was being straight with her.

She nodded firmly. "No, it's fine. I want to come." She noticed the Doctor straighten his back awkwardly as she spoke. Out of some deep built instinct, she quickly turned to him. "If that's alright, Dad?"

Funny how one word can change history. If she hadn't added that tiny string of three letters onto the end of her sentence, he'd have refused her permission. He'd have kept her safe. But she'd played him just right. He couldn't refuse her anything. Even if he could, he couldn't explain why.

"Yeah, of course it is." He nodded, hating himself for not having the guts to stand up against her. "Just don't wander off."


Jon caught up with his sister as she headed back down to her room to get dressed ready for their trip.

"How can you do that?" he asked in a low voice as he drew alongside her.

"Do what?" Janie looked up at him, frowning.

"Call him that."

"Who what?" He was momentarily annoyed as he thought she was being deliberately dense, as Janie was sometimes known to be. He managed to avoid snapping at her as he saw the penny drop. "Oh. Dad."

"Yeah. Him."

They walked into her room and Janie began searching through the few clothes she had with her, pulling out a pair of black jeans and screwing her nose up.

"I haven't worn these for ages, why did you bring these?" She launched them across the room.

Jon dodged the flying clothes and steered the conversation back to the original point. "How can you just call him that so easily?"

"Because he is our dad?" Janie looked at him with a 'duh' expression on her face, before sending a t-shirt sailing over her shoulder. "And that top is minging."

"He's our father. It doesn't make him our dad."

Janie rolled her eyes. "Do you always have to be so pedantic?" she asked. "Father, Dad, what's the difference?"

"He's not our dad! He wasn't there for eighteen years!"

"Which was hardly his fault," Janie pointed out. "He would have been if he could."

"How do you know?"

"He told me."

"And you believed him?" Jon looked at his sister incredulously.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"Because…" Jon struggled to find the right words. He couldn't understand how his sister had glided so easily into being this man's daughter. He'd been trying for ages, trying to feel like that about the Doctor, but all he could keep thinking was that he'd hurt Rose, and he couldn't forgive that.

"He was there when it mattered," Janie said slowly and quietly. "Which is more than Mum was."

"That's unfair!"

"How? She walked away from our own birthday party! If she'd stayed…" Janie tailed off.

"What?"

"Just… maybe none of this would have happened." Janie bit her lip, before shaking her hair back off of her face. "Now, just go, Jon! Let me get changed!"


It had been a long drive. Rose had dozed off within minutes of leaving her house, as though she'd resigned herself to the fact she couldn't do anything while cooped up in the van. Now, as they pulled up in Cardiff, Jack switched the engine off and looked across at her, a smile spreading across his face. She looked so peaceful, her head resting against the window, utterly dead to the world. He'd noticed in the weeks before the phone call that she hadn't been sleeping well; he'd had trouble too and had heard her pacing round her room in the night time, her feet almost feather-light on the carpet but enough to rouse his attention. More than once he'd considered going in to her and seeing if there was anything he could do, but he'd held back. He wished he hadn't now; maybe he could have let everything out much earlier and he'd have had the Rose he remembered back again. Since their long talk, she seemed much stronger.

He wished he could leave her sleeping a bit longer. If she was right, and something was wrong with Janie or Jon, she wouldn't get much sleep for the foreseeable future. But she'd kill him if he wasted even one second of the time they had. Gently, he leaned over and touched her shoulder.

"Rose? We're here."


The TARDIS seemed quiet again after they'd all traipsed out, Janie and Jon noticeably quiet. The timeship hummed away to herself, busily extracting the information the Doctor had asked for. She was really getting old, he thought, or maybe he was just expecting a lot of her. She'd been through more lately than usual, what with crashing through universes and being handled by Jon. Still, he wished she'd just do this one last thing for him before she had a good long rest. He just wanted to know what they were up against here. He wanted to know what the legend entailed, and how he could stop it. The others all thought it was over with now they had Janie back, but he knew in his hearts that it was very far from over. Legends didn't just go away. Those aliens would be back sooner or later, and they'd want Janie again for whatever purpose. He knew it couldn't be good.

He still had Abby to deal with. He'd mellowed a little since Jon had woken up and he was certain his son wasn't dying. He felt a bit bad that he'd spoken to her like that. But really, she was hopeless. He remembered now why she'd left; they drove each other crazy. There was something else though. She'd promised him when she left that she'd be fine, that she wouldn't lose her mind like the others. He'd believed her too; of all the people he'd traveled with, he'd believed Abby would return home unscathed. And it seemed she'd been alright, even scraping enough exams together to get into university. But she wasn't fine, he could see that now. She was just better at hiding it than most of them. He was beginning to think he'd never understand her, and he wasn't sure he had the energy to try anymore. She was trouble, she lashed out, she'd half-killed his son. He couldn't keep her onboard anymore; sooner or later she'd do something dangerous and that would be an end to one of them. He couldn't risk it. But then he remembered how kind she'd been to Jon, how her arrival had brought the first smile he'd seen on his son's face. How could he just turn her away like that? If only he could figure out what was going on in that head of hers… It wasn't her fault she wasn't Rose.

The Doctor felt the ground shift underneath his feet. He frowned. Something was wrong. If he was feeling especially paranoid, he'd go as far as to say… something was coming.

End of Part 2


Pure cheese ending! Love it!