Author's notes:

So, this is the final chapter. I did think about ending the story at the previous chapter when Pete phoned Rose about going to Torchwood to identify the Chula Medical Transport. But then I thought it might be fun to see how Rose was recruited . . . so here it is. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to have a read.

Chapter 9

Selection Process

Pete turned left off Aspen Way into Upper Bank Road in his BMW. He then turned right onto North Colonnade and headed for the underground car park at Torchwood Tower. His passenger was wearing a smart, business outfit of black trousers, jacket, and a light green blouse. She was fiddling nervously with her fingernails.

Pete glanced at her. 'You alright, Sweetheart?'

Rose looked over at him. 'Eh? Oh, yeah. Didn't think I'd be this nervous.' She gave a single laugh. 'Even got butterflies in my stomach.'

After helping out with identifying a Chula Medical Transport pod, Mickey had told Rose that she would be a really good addition to the Special Operations Unit. His field partner, Jake Simmonds had agreed with him and said that she should apply for a position. They would even act as referees for her application if she wanted them to. As if being the director's daughter wasn't enough.

'You'll be fine. Someone with your unique experience will be a godsend in Special Operations,' Pete told her.

'I s'pose. An' it's not like I'm gonna be there for long is it?' Rose replied.

Pete kept his face neutral. Rose was still certain the Doctor was coming back for her, but Pete wasn't so sure. He'd seen what the Doctor could do. And surely, he'd have done it by now if he was going to come back. He and Jackie kept these thoughts to themselves though, because it was only the thought of the Doctor coming back which kept Rose going, and her mood had really improved over the last few weeks.

'Well. While you are here, you give it your best shot, eh?' Pete said.

'Yeah. I will.'

They drove to the barrier of the car park, and level with the driver's window was a display screen built into a plinth, on which a security officer's face appeared. 'Hello, can I help you?'

'Morning Steve. Pete Tyler,' Pete said to the security officer, holding up his ID badge to the camera above the screen. 'And my daughter, Rose. She hasn't got a pass yet.'

'Hiya,' Rose called out with a little wave.

'Oh. Morning Director. Go on through,' Steve, the security officer said as the barrier raised.

'Thanks. See you later.'

Pete drove through the maze which was the basement car park of Torchwood Tower until he came to his reserved parking place. He reversed the car into the space and turned off the engine, before a realisation hit him.

'Y'know Rose. I've only just thought about this. Can you drive?' he asked her.

'Yeah. Mickey taught me in the "Banana",' she told him.

'A banana?' Pete asked with a frown as he opened the car door.

Rose laughed. 'No. Mickey's car. It was an old, beat up VW Beetle. It was yellow, an' 'cos it had a curved front, roof, an' back, I called it the "Banana".'

Pete laughed with her. 'I can imagine Mickey loved that.'

'I think that's why he traded it in for a mini not long after,' Rose said, and then thought of something. 'I don't have a license here though . . . I've just thought, I don't have a passport either. Do you have passports here?'

Pete smiled at her as he locked the car and guided Rose towards the lifts. 'We do, yeah. Don't worry about those though. I'll get them sorted for you and Jacks.'

Pete held his pass against the reader at the side of the lift doors, and they saw the numbers count down to "B", when the doors opened. They stepped inside, and Pete pressed the button for the seventh floor.

'What's on floor seven?' Rose asked.

'The Security Office. We're going to get you a pass,' Pete replied.

'But I'm not even on the payroll,' Rose reminded him.

Pete gave her his "trust me on this" grin. 'Well, even if you decide not to go on the payroll, you might want to visit your old dad now and again.'

Rose smiled and held his hand. 'Yeah. I might.'

After having her photograph, fingerprints, retinal scan, and DNA swab taken, Rose was issued with her security pass. They went back to the lifts and Pete took them down to the third floor. When they stepped out of the lift, Pete turned right and opened one of the double doors which led to the Standby Room of Special Operations.

In front of them, were a series of windows looking out across South Colonnade towards Jubilee Park and Middle Dock. On the right hand wall was a large, multimedia screen which was split into different viewing windows, showing various Torchwood information screens, a news channel, and a light entertainment programme. Facing the screen was a long sofa shaped like a square bracket, with a low table in front with cups, plates and magazines on it. There were a few men and women in the black, Special Operations uniform sitting on the sofa.

'Morning Pete,' they called out in greeting.

'Morning,' Pete replied. Rose was feeling a little insecure, and remained quiet.

To the left of the doors, were dining tables and chairs, with an "L" shaped kitchen countertop forming a kitchenette in the far corner. The left hand wall was a glass partition wall to the watch supervisor's office. Pete went left, apparently heading towards the supervisor's office, but Rose saw that there was another glass wall, with double glass doors opposite the windows. He opened the door for her to go through into the Despatch office, where an agent was working the Despatch Desk.

Opposite, was another glass wall with double doors, and on their right was the office of the Head of Special Operations. Rose recognised Andy McNab from when she had helped to identify the Chula capsule the week before. They saw Andy stand and move around his desk to open the glass door.

'Morning, Pete. Rose. Come in and have a seat,' Andy said, indicating a sofa on the right hand wall.

Pete kissed Rose on the cheek. 'I'll leave you to it Sweetheart. See you later.'

'Thanks, Dad. See ya later.' She had a seat on the sofa.

'Would you like a tea or coffee, Rose?' Andy asked.

'I'm good, thanks,' she replied.

Andy went to his desk and picked up a folder, before joining her on the sofa. He took some papers out of the folder.

'I've read through your resume Rose, and it is very impressive. It would be unbelievable to anyone who didn't work here, or hadn't met Mickey Smith and heard some of the same reports,' Andy started. 'Now, how are you with technology?'

'I keep showin' my mum how to set the timer on the video recorder,' Rose said with a cheeky smile.

Andy grinned. 'That's a yes then . . . what about computers?'

'We could never afford one, but Mickey let me use his when I needed one. I'm okay with the basics.'

'Good. And I notice that you left school without any qualifications?' he said as he re-read her resume.

'Er, yeah. I regret that now,' Rose said. 'I got distracted by this loser an' dropped everythin' to go an' live with 'im. Will that go against me?'

Andy smiled at her. 'I've learnt over the years that education and intelligence are two totally different things. We never prejudge anyone here. We have an aptitude test which everyone has to take, regardless of their education or upbringing . . . or their parentage.'

'Parentage?' Rose asked with a frown.

'Sorry to bring this up, but you are the director's daughter.' Rose was about to put him straight on that subject, but he held up his hand. 'I know, I know. I've already spoken to Pete about it, and I know who you are. But there are others who don't know you and are going to make assumptions.'

'Well they can go and . . .' Rose stopped herself from finishing that sentence. 'Sorry . . . Not the best job interview I've ever had. I've blown it, haven't I? Do you want me to go?'

'Are you kidding? It's one of the most honest interviews I've done,' Andy said with a grin. 'Pete warned me that you had spirit.'

'Spirit. Not heard it called that before. I get it from my Mum,' Rose confessed.

'Look, Rose. You'll take the aptitude test, just like everyone else. You'll take the fitness test, just like everyone else. And, if you're as good as I think you are, you'll show everybody that you wear the uniform because you've earned it. Just like everyone else.' He held his hand out for her. 'What d'you say?'

Rose slowly shook his hand. 'Deal!'

Rose was sitting at a desk in one of the empty offices of the Special Operations Unit, on the other side of the lifts from the Standby Room. The aptitude test was a series of problems to test her ability to think logically and reason things out. To assess pattern recognition and three dimensional manipulation in her head, and to think outside the box and be creative.

After half an hour, Chrissie Anderson entered the office. 'Hi Rose. How are you getting on?'

'Phew! That made my head spin,' Rose told her.

Chrissie gave her a friendly smile. 'Yeah, the level of concentration can be a bit daunting if you're not used to it. Are you ready to try the fitness test?'

'As I'll ever be I suppose,' Rose replied.

'Okay. I'll take you down to Medical on the next floor down for a check up, and then we'll go up to the gym. Is that okay?'

'Yeah, fine,' Rose said.

The whole of the second floor of Torchwood Tower was a hospital, with an Emergency And Trauma Department, Critical Care, operating theatres, Outpatients Department, Medical and Surgical wards. Rose was in a consulting room in the Outpatients Department, wearing a hospital gown, and waiting for her results. She'd had an ECG, a blood sample taken, a urine sample, eye test, lung function test, as well as being weighed and having her muscle to weight ratio calculated. She thought that last one was a bit of a cheek.

Eventually, she was declared physically fit and able to take the fitness exam. If they went to this much trouble to make sure she was up to it, she wondered how bad it was going to be. Rather than give her the smart business suit to put back on, they gave her one of the black uniforms and a pair of boots to wear, and took her to the gymnasium.

She was met by a fitness instructor. 'Good morning, Miss Tyler. My name is Adrian, and I'm going to be supervising your fitness exam.'

'Mornin', Adrian,' Rose said nervously.

Adrian smiled at her. 'Don't look so worried. It's just a series of tests to assess your fitness level. I don't think you'll have any problems. The first test is a stamina test.'

He led her to a straight running track which went from wall to wall. The edges of the track had LED lights along their length.

'The lights will illuminate in sequence along the track. All you have to do is keep up with them,' Adrian explained.

'Oh. Okay. I can do that, yeah,' Rose said.

The lights started flashing to form an imaginary moving line, and Rose started jogging to keep pace with them. When she reached the wall, she turned around and jogged back. When she reached the original wall, she realised that the lights were slowly starting to speed up. After a few minutes of jogging, she was having to run to keep up, and eventually she was sprinting to try and catch them up. She lifted her leg as she approached the wall and pushed herself off it with her foot to bounce back in the opposite direction.

Eventually, the lights got too far ahead of her, and a klaxon sounded. The lights went out, and Rose collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath. She rested her forehead on the floor as she gulped in air.

'Are you alright?' Adrian asked.

'Y . . . Y . . . Yeah,' Rose gasped. 'Just . . . a bit . . . out of . . . breath.'

'I'm not surprised. That was an excellent effort. Well done,' Adrian said. 'Have a seat on those chairs over there, and we'll wait for your heart rate to return to normal. There are some bottles of water if you need a drink.'

'Thanks.'

After ten minutes, and a small bottle of water, Rose was feeling able to continue.

'The next test is a reaction test,' Adrian told her. She was standing in front of a wall which had seven large buttons in a hexagon, with one in the middle. 'Have you ever played "Whack-a-mole" at an amusement arcade?'

'Oh, yeah. At an arcade in Tenby when I was a kid,' Rose remembered. Cartoon animals would pop their heads up out of holes at random, and she would hit them with a padded mallet.

'So, it's the same principle. The light comes on, and you tap it to turn it off.'

Rose smiled. She was going to enjoy this one. 'Okay. Bring it on.'

The lights illuminated in a random sequence, and Rose would shoot out her hand and hit them. She knew the secret was to focus on the centre button and use her peripheral vision to see the outer lights and hit them without taking her eyes off the centre. The lights got faster and faster, and so did Rose. She was like a woman possessed, but eventually, she'd missed three in a row and the klaxon sounded again.

'Another outstanding performance, Miss Tyler. Very impressive,' Adrian congratulated her. 'We'll give you a few minutes again before the strength test.'

'Okay. Thanks.'

When she had rested, she was led to a climbing wall which had thick crash mats on the floor in front of it.

'I think you can guess how this one works,' Adrian said with a smile. 'Just get to the top.'

Rose climbed onto the crash mats and looked at the wall. She was trying to work out a route with the foot and hand holds. Rather than going straight up and hitting difficulties half way, she reckoned if she went diagonally from bottom right to top left she could do it without too much difficulty. Adrian nodded as he watched her move to the right of the wall. This was a smart cookie who'd taken a little time to assess the problem instead of just rushing in.

She heaved and grunted her way to the top, and swung her leg onto the platform to roll onto her back. 'Yes!' She exclaimed, and lay there for a few minutes until her legs and arms had stopped burning, before descending the steps back to the ground.

'You're doing well, Miss Tyler. Have a half hour break to recover and then you're on to the final test. The endurance test,' Adrian said.

Rose didn't like the sound of that one. There was something in Adrian's voice when he said it. A tone which said, "Be afraid. Be very afraid". When her rest period was up, he led her through a door into another section of the gym, and that's when she saw it. It was like the Eliminator from the Gladiators program she used to watch with her Mum on a Saturday evening on the Powell Estate.

Adrian walked her through the course so she would know what to expect and then took her to the start. 'All you have to do is get to the other end as quickly as you can.'

'Is that all,' Rose said sarcastically.

Adrian smiled. He liked her spirit. 'If you fall or trip on a part of the course, just try it again until you get past it . . . Ready?'

'No. But what the hell. Let's just do it.'

'That's the spirit. In three, two, one, GO!'

Rose threw a leg high over a padded beam and rolled over it. She dropped to the floor the other side and rolled under the second beam, before leaping up and over a third. She ran to the cargo net and climbed to the top. Now, her gymnastic abilities came to the fore as she leaned over the top of the net, grabbed the net on the other side, and did a forward flip over the net. When she was hanging on the other side of the net she dropped to the floor. Adrian raised his eyebrows in admiration. He'd not seen that technique before.

Rose grabbed a rope and started to climb.

"Okay, okay, I've got you."

"Who's got me? Who's got me, and you know . . . how?"

"I'm just programming your descent pattern. Keep as still as you can and keep your hands and feet inside the light field."

"Descent pattern?"

"Oh, and could you switch off your cell phone? No, seriously, it interferes with my instrument."

"You know, no one ever believes that."

"Thank you. That's much better."

"Oh, yeah, that's a real load off, that is. I'm hanging in the sky in the middle of a German air raid with the Union Jack across my chest, but hey, my mobile phone's off."

"Be with you in a moment."

"Oh, not now Jack. I've got to focus", Rose thought as she had a flashback.

She climbed up to a platform, and found some bicycle pedals with handles on them, fixed to an overhead beam. She jumped up and started peddling the handles with her arms. When she made it to the end of the beam, her biceps were burning, but there was more to come. She jumped off the platform and grabbed the trapeze. It swung forward and she "jumped" her arms onto the next one, which propelled her to the next platform.

There was another cargo net, and Rose groaned. What was it with the cargo nets already? She took a deep breath and climbed to the platform at the top. She ran along the platform to a zip wire, and slid all the way back down to the ground, landing on a thick crash mat. She scrambled off the mat and easily negotiated two narrow see-saw beams, which led her to the thing she dreaded most.

On the TV show, it was called the Travelator. A treadmill on a slope, running against her direction of travel. She had to get to the top to finish the course.

"Oh well. Here goes", she thought to herself. She took a couple of deep breaths.

"RUN!"

She ran at the treadmill and started to climb the slope. She was sprinting as fast as she could, and could see she was slowly making headway up the treadmill, but her lungs were burning and her legs were feeling like jelly.

"RUN, ROSE!"

She dived at the lip of the platform and just managed to hold on with her fingers. She hauled herself onto the platform, and took hold of the final rope.

"I've got no A Levels, no job, no future.

But I tell you what I have got.

Jericho Street Junior School under seven's gymnastic team.

I've got the bronze!"

She swung out and let go of the rope. She fell backwards onto a crash mat and cried with relief. She remembered halfway up the treadmill she thought her legs were giving out, and then she could have sworn the Doctor grabbed her hand and told her to run, pulling her on to the end. Her body was trembling with the post adrenalin rush and she doubted she would be able to stand just yet. She rolled over and over until she was off the crash mats and onto the floor on her hands and knees.

When she raised her head slightly, she could see her distorted reflection in the shiniest black boots she had ever seen. She sat back on her haunches and looked up the black uniform to the grinning face of Captain Andy McNab. He was holding out a bottle of water for her, which she gratefully took. She gulped the sweet water down.

'How . . . did . . . I . . . do?' she gasped.

Andy looked across the room. 'Ade? How'd she do?'

Adrian came to join them. 'Fourth fastest time yet!'

'Fourth?' Rose asked in surprise.

Andy nodded. 'Yeah. And that's against a triathlete, an iron woman competitor, and a fitness instructor. You could have taken twice the time, and still been within the allotted time allowed.'

Rose groaned. 'Now he tells me.'

Andy roared a laugh. 'But I've got the feeling that you wouldn't have been happy with that.'

'How I feel right now, I'd have taken it,' Rose told him with a weak smile. She took his offered hand and Andy pulled her to her feet.

'Let's get you showered and changed, and you can meet some of your new colleagues,' Andy said.

'Colleagues?' Rose queried.

'Yes. You've earned the right to wear the uniform. Welcome to Torchwood, Agent Tyler.'

The End (Or Beginning)