Jackie stood at the sink, rinsing out their cups from their morning tea. It didn't matter that she had hired help that would wait on her hand and foot is she so desired. For someone who grew up with next to nothing, it felt odd having people doing everything for you. It was good for people to keep some sense of normalcy, even if they did suddenly become ridiculously wealthy. She appreciated Hilda and Clarence, and the rest of her staff. They were wonderful. But these little things, doing a bit of dish washing, sorting out the pantry, cooking a meal for her family; Jackie liked to do these every day things to remind her of who she was and where she came from.
She stood there, gazing out the window, half in a daze. She thought of Pete and how she loved all of his quirks and his cleverness. And Tony, her precious little darling. Then Rose entered her mind and an overwhelming sadness come over her. It was quite possible that she would never see her daughter again. But she still held out hope that one day, she would see that bloody blue box appear in her garden. Somewhere deep down inside, she had faith in the Doctor and his promise to always bring Rose home.
Then, before another thought could enter her head, she heard a familiar sound. It was a sort of wheezing groan of old gears grinding in an ancient machine. Tears welled up in Jackie's eyes as her heart raced. She dropped what she was doing and dashed toward the back door. Throwing it open, she saw the TARDIS standing tall in proud next to Tony's playset. The door creaked open and she saw a familiar blonde head pop out. Jackie gasped as they made eye contact. Her Rose, Her beautiful, brilliant, wonderful daughter Rose. She bolted out the door and toward her smiling child.
Rose beamed at her mother as they rushed toward each other, colliding midway through the garden. Jackie was squeezing Rose, holding on to her for dear life, and Rose let out a chuckle.
"Told you we'd make it back," she murmured, holding on to her crying mother. Jackie pulled back, smiling through her tears.
"About bloody time! I thought you'd never be home!" Jackie quipped, grinning at her daughter.
"Sorry it took a bit. Had a little trouble with merging the tech," came a voice from behind them. Both women turned and saw the Doctor standing just beyond them.
Jackie pulled away from Rose, her hands going to her hips. "There you are, you barmy alien! Wondered when you'd turn up again! Good thing you brought my Rose back, or I'dve come after you m'self!" Jackie spat, eyes narrowed.
The Doctor smiled tightly, hands in his pockets as he rocked on the balls of his feet. "Hello Jackie! Good to see you, too."
"Oh come off it ya daft plum! C'mere!" the elder Tyler woman said with a laugh, reaching for the Doctor and pulling him into a tight hug.
Rose laughed as she watched the awkward embrace, the Doctor flailing a bit as Jackie squeezed him. It was a welcome sight that warmed her heart. Just then, Rose felt a tug at her pant leg. She looked down and saw a smiling little boy with a mess of blonde curls. Rose scooped him up and hugged him tight.
"Hey there Tone! I told you I'd be back!" she said as she hugged her brother. The little boy hugged her back, clinging onto her tightly. He whispered in her ear and pointed to the Doctor. Rose grinned and nodded her head. "Yup, that's him. Wanna meet him proper?" Tony nodded enthusiastically. He had been hearing stories about the Doctor his entire life and had to come to view him as a superhero of sorts. Rose set him down and took his hand.
"Doctor, there's someone I'd like you to meet," Rose said in an official sounding voice. The Doctor looked to her and then to Tony. He grinned brilliantly.
"Is that so? Who do we have here?" said the Doctor, crouching down and bringing himself to the little boy's level.
"Doctor, this is my brother Anthony Peter Tyler. We call him Tony," Rose said, gently tugging on Tony's hand to bring him out from behind her.
"Well hello there, Tony. I've heard a lot about you. It's an honor to finally meet you," the Doctor said warmly, holding out a hand.
Tony's eyes went wide and his mouth formed a small O. "You heard of me?? Whoa!" Both Rose and the Doctor chuckled as Tony took his hand, shaking it with enthusiasm.
"I sure have! I hear you're quite brilliant!" the Doctor said brightly, grinning at the boy.
"I heard a lot about you too!" Tony exclaimed, still shaking the Doctor's hand. Both the Doctor and Rose chuckled. It seemed that Tony approved, and that meant the world to Rose.
A short while later after introductions were made, everyone had settled down in the Tyler's lounge. Hilda had brought in a full tea service, and fussed over Rose when she saw her. The older woman insisted that she looked overworked and vowed then and there to get some nutrients into the lot of them. Jackie agreed wholeheartedly. She had already done a fair amount of fussing over all of them since they landed. The only one she felt might be competent enough to have taken care of themselves was Donna.
"Finally! Someone who isn't barmy! You best keep this one around," Jackie said, nodding her head toward Donna. "Maybe then I won't worry about you so much!"
Donna leaned over to Rose and whispered. "I love your Mum! She's such a character!"
Rose smiled and winked at Donna. "Seems she thinks you're pretty great, too."
"Well, she had taste, I'll give her that," Donna said with a wink back at Rose.
The whole lot of them were getting along quite famously. Rose looked over at the Doctor, who was in deep conversation with her dad. She caught his eye and he glanced her way, flashing a smile. She smiled warmly and then looked back to her mother, who was talking about some affair the neighbors had thrown recently. The whole scene was rather odd, when she thought about it.
On one hand there was her family just being their usual, typical selves. Dad talking shop, Mum going on about people and places and things, Tony playing with a couple of his action figures on the carpet while munching on a biscuit. Nothing odd or out of the ordinary. But then you add in the Doctor, a time and space travelling alien from another world. Then there were her two best friends, both time travelers themselves, one also an alien and the other from the 52nd century. Even Donna was an oddity, given she was from another universe and a time traveler (not to mention the best temp in Chiswick). They were an interesting bunch, that was for sure. This was her family, and she felt like she was the luckiest being in both dimensions put together.
It was decided that they would all have a nice big dinner right there at home, prepared specially by Jackie and Hilda. Donna insisted on helping in the kitchen, as she and Jackie were neck deep in a conversation about the differences between the celebrity scene of Pete's World vs the prime universe. Kema opted to take a kip, and Hikari was helping Pete with some PC issues his desktop was having. Rose had volunteered to help Hilda's assistant Molly with preparing rooms for the crew. While fluffing a pillow, she peered out a window and saw the Doctor entering the TARDIS. Likely he was off to tinker with something until dinner was ready. He never was one to just stand around idly. Though, he was taking this all like a champ.
Normally asking the Doctor to stick around and play domestics for more than a few hours was a stretch, and this time he had agreed to stay on at the Tylers' for a long weekend. They had landed on a Thursday afternoon, and Monday was a bank holiday. As she and Molly finished off preparing the rooms, something dawned on Rose. She hadn't let Mickey and Jake know they had made it! Scrambling for her phone, she pulled it out and promptly chose Mickey's name from her contacts list.
After a couple of rings, someone picked up, but no greeting came. She could hear some shuffling and indistinct chatter. Then came a sort of thunk sound followed by a clearly audible swear. Rose, covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. Then, finally, someone answered.
"Rose?! That you??" Mickey's excited voice came blaring through the phone. She could hear what sounded like Jake in the background, prodding Mickey for confirmation.
"Yeah! Yeah, it's me," she said with a laugh, pulling her mobile away from her ear. "Jeez Mick, you don't need to shout!"
"Sorry about that. Just got excited, ya know?" he said, chuckling. "So, what happened?? Did you find him??"
"Yes! We found him!" Rose said, grinning from ear to ear. "And we made it back here, in the TARDIS!"
"What? You're joking! But I thought she couldn't fly here without burning up!" Mickey cried.
"Well you see-- oh you know what, I'll just tell you when you get here. We'll tell you the whole story! Mum and Hilda are cooking a big supper. You and Jake should come round about 6."
"Okay, great! See ya then!" Mickey said. "Oh and Rose?"
"Yeah Mick?"
"It's really good to hear your voice," he said honestly. Rose smiled.
"Good to hear yours too Mickey."
That evening they all gathered around the Tyler family table, the ladies telling a shorter version of their travel tale to Mickey and Jake, followed by the Doctor explaining the merger of the new tech into the TARDIS. Both of the guys were especially interested in the Doctor's bit, given they both had a background in technology systems. Rose watched the Doctor explaining in great detail how he managed to rig Kema's invention into the TARDIS matrix. He was quite excited to explain the technical aspects of his work to anyone willing to listen, and the two young men were eating it up.
Several hours later, well after desert was finished and evening tea had been served, Rose helped her mother put little Tony down for the night. As Jackie closed the bedroom door, leaving it open just a crack, Rose realized that she hadn't told her mother about she and the Doctor. Quite obviously, her parents knew how she felt about it, and it had always been assumed that the Doctor felt the same. It wouldn't come as a surprise to them, for certain, but all the same, she felt the need to share the news directly.
"Um, Mum, before we go back downstairs," she said quietly, hanging back a bit. Jackie turned and looked at her, slightly alarmed. "Don't worry, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to talk to you about something."
"Of course sweetheart! Let's go to my lounge," Jackie said, taking her daughter's hand and leading the way toward the master bedroom.
It was quite a large room, taking up a sizable portion of the upper west wing of the house. There was the bedroom itself, with adjoining en suite, lounge, and walk-in closets. Rose had spent many nights on that couch with her mother, crying over the Doctor. As they sat down, Jackie took Rose's hands.
"Now what is it, Rose? You can tell me anything, you know that right?" Jackie soothed, rubbing the pads of her thumbs over Rose's knuckles. Rose looked at her mother and realized that she was close to tears. The whole scene was quite dramatic, and she couldn't help but chuckle.
"Mum, everything is fine, I promise," Rose said, smiling and giving her mother's hand a squeeze. "I just wanted to tell you about me and the Doctor. We're official now."
Jackie's eyes narrowed as her mouth twisted into a grimace. "Are you sure that's all you have to tell me?"
"Yes, Mum, I promise. That's all. Though I'd think you'd be a bit happier for me, considering," Rose quipped, raising an eyebrow.
Jackie shook her head. "And here I was thinking you were going to tell me I was about to be a grandmother!"
Rose choked out a laugh, half in shock. "Oh, God, Mum! Don't jinx me! I mean, maybe one day?" she sputtered, stumbling over her words. "But ANYWAY, no. Just, that we're in a relationship now. That's all."
"So you and that barmy alien do get up to no good in that bloody blue box of yours! I knew it! I oughta smack him one" Jackie exclaimed, pointing a finger at daughter. Rose stared at her for a moment, and they both sat stone silent. Then they both erupted in laughter, and Jackie leaned in to hug Rose. They embraced for a long moment, Jackie rubbing small circles on Rose's back.
"I'm happy for you sweetheart, I really am," Jackie said as they pulled apart. "About bloody time, after al!"
Rose laughed again and nodded. "You're telling me!"
After their little talk, the two Tyler women returned to the others downstairs. Jackie started to make a fuss about all of them staying over at the mansion. Rose insisted that they would be fine on the TARDIS, but promised that they would be in for breakfast in the morning. With a great deal of nagging, Jackie managed to coax the ladies off the TARDIS with promises of hot toddies and biscuits in the kitchen, while Rose and the Doctor retired to their bedroom on the ship.
After a quick shower Rose got dressed in the ensuite. As she pulled a vest top over her head, she thought about the events of the day. Seeing her family again meant so much to her, and she got to share that joy with the Doctor. She truly did have the best of both worlds. She got to keep all of the people she cared about in her life. No one had to be cut out or left behind. It was almost too good to be true. Though the Doctor had explained that there were some stipulations to their cross-dimensional travels.
Because of the huge amount of energy for the TARDIS to both locate and travel through the gaps in the universe, they wouldn't be able to make frequent trips. Just one trip could wipe out nearly half of the ships energy stores, leaving her in need of a serious recharge. She was also limited to the trips she could take in-universe as well. While the introduction of the foreign tech had allowed her to operate in Pete's World without crashing, it didn't enable her for interstellar travel in that universe. Luckily enough though, there was a time rift in the Pete's World Cardiff, just as there was in the prime universe. This would allow them to fully recharge the TARDIS power cells, and be fueled up for the trip home.
She emerged from the ensuite to find the Doctor already changed and lounging on the bed. When she entered he looked up from his book and gave her a smile. He got up out of the bed and began to pull the duvet down. As the both slid into the bed, Rose glanced over at him.
"So, I had a little talk with Mum," Rose mentioned casually, smoothing out the bed sheets. She looked at the Doctor. He was looking back at her.
"Oh? What about?" he asked, smiling.
"I told her about us," Rose admitted, biting her lower lip. His smile fell.
"Oh. Should I be expecting a slap then?" he deadpanned.
"No," Rose laughed, shaking her head. "Though she did mention it."
"No surprise there," he said dryly, shaking his head. "I think I still have a mark from the last one she gave me."
"Oh come on now, that wasn't even in this body!" Rose chuckled.
"Doesn't matter! A Jackie Tyler slap leaves an impression that will span over many regenerations to come!" he said indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest.
"You have a point there," Rose admitted. Her mum's slap was a powerful one indeed. She had learned that one as a smart-mouthed teen. "But anyway, she's happy for me. For us."
The Doctor smiled then. "She said that?"
Rose nodded. "She certainly did. And she said it was about time, too. Have to say that I agree with her." She flashed him her signature tongue touched grin. His eyebrows shot up in question.
"Is that so, Rose Tyler?"
"Yes indeed, my dear Doctor," she said, scooting closer to him. "You know, Mum thought I was going to announce I was pregnant."
"Oh ho! Leave it to Jackie to cut to the chase," the Doctor said with a laugh.
"Yeah, no kidding. She said she knew we got up something in here," Rose said, grinning
"Well, I propose we stop talking about your mother, and get up to something right now," the Doctor whispered in her ear as he slipped an arm around her and pulled her body flushed to his.
"Ooo, I like the way you think," Rose cooed, turning and pressing herself to him.
"Oh you have no idea what I have in store for you, Rose Tyler," he said huskily, his voice deepening.
"Well, you have plenty of time to show me," she said with a grin. He smirked at her and then captured her lips with his own.
That night they did indeed get up to something that most certainly did not involve talking about Jackie. And the Doctor did indeed show Rose quite a number of things that he had planned for her. However, there was one very important thing that he wasn't telling her just yet. It was something concerning a pretty little TARDIS blue, velvet lined box in his coat pocket. But she would find out soon enough.
The End
(For now...)