The next day, Rose wandered out of the Tardis, to find that she was indeed at the Powell Estate. Her childhood home, even from the first moment, she had returned to this timeline, it was still all surreal.

'You really here, little wolf." Causing Rose to stumble slightly, as the voice took her by surprise for a moment after not hearing it for a while.

'You.'

"Are you okay, Rose?" The doctor asked, drawing her out of her thoughts as he came up behind her.

"Of course," Rose replied, brushing off the doctor's concern. "How long have I been gone?"

"About twelve hours." He informed her, though she knew that was not the case whatsoever.

"Without trying to sound, disbelieving are you sure?" Rose questioned, trying her best not to give him, that knowing look, you gave someone when they were wrong. "I mean we were supposed to be in Naples, not Cardiff and in the year 1860, not 1869."

"Oi."

Rose couldn't help but laugh at the indignation expression written on his face.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Rose replied, grinning, which immediately softened his features as he smiled. "Right, I won't be long," She assured him. "I just want to see my mum."

"What're you going to tell her?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," She said, peering up at him. "I want to tell her the truth, but what would I tell her?" She asked rhetorically, and she didn't want to put him in an uncomfortable position where he would have to explain what he was until he was ready. "Oh yeah, mum I've been to the year 5 billion and only been gone for, what, twelve hours?" Rose said sarcastically. She would be lucky if her mum didn't put her in a straight jacket. "No, I'll tell her I spent the night at Shareen's. See you later. Oh, don't you disappear." Rose said as she began to walk home.

As she strolled home, she thought of the path ahead. She kept replaying events after events, trying to conceive, how to accomplish what she needed to achieve without changing fixpoints. Fixpoints that she was sure would cut deep.

Shaking her head, she tried to think of the present, to do what needed, to be, accomplished now.

Standing, outside her mum's flat.

Rose stared at the door for just a moment before taking a deep breath before entering.

"I'm back!" Rose called. "I was with Shareen. She was all upset again." She entered the living room, to see her mother's shocked expression. "What? Mum are you okay?"

She saw the tears fall from her mother's eyes as she dropped the mug of tea and went to her.

"It's you." Jackie mumbled as she reached up to touch her face.

"Of course, it's me." Rose choked out, as her mother pulled her into a hug, allowing her to see the wanted posters on the table.

"Oh, my God. It's you. Oh my God." Jackie repeated over and over again.

"It's not twelve hours," The doctor said out of breath as he ran in. "it's twelve months. You've been gone a whole year." Rose and her mother turned to stare at him. "Sorry."

000

"The hours I've sat here, days and weeks and months, all on my own," Jackie shouted as the police officer sat there watching as the scene unfolded, while the doctor stood behind her. With him there, she knew she could face anything.

He was like a pillar of strength, that she didn't know she needed until he was gone. Shaking her head slightly, she tried to block out the images.

"I thought you were dead, and where were you? Travelling."

She couldn't say, she blamed her mum for calling the police when the doctor came running into the room, she would have probably have done the same if it was her daughter.

"What the hell does that mean, travelling? That's no sort of answer." As she withdrew on the armchair, her mum turned on to the police officer. "You ask her. She won't tell me. That's all she says. Travelling."

"That's what I was doing." Rose said, though the guilt ate away at her for being the cause of her mother's distress.

"When your passport's still in the drawer?" Jackie demanded. "It's just one lie after another."

"I meant to phone, mum. I really did." Rose said carefully. "I just forgot."

"What, for a year?" Jackie remarked sarcastically. "You forgot for a year? And I am left sitting here." Rose felt her eyes water at the disappointment in her mother's voice. "I just don't believe you. Why won't you tell me where you've been?

"Actually, it's my fault." The doctor interrupted, which she was grateful for, though she knew what would happen next. "I sort of er, employed Rose as my companion."

"When you say companion, is this a sexual relationship?" The police officer asked.

"No." Both she and the doctor replied.

"Then what is it?" Jackie demanded, whirling on the doctor. "Because you, you waltz in here all charm and smiles." Jackie narrowed her eyes as she took him in. "and the next thing I know, she vanishes off the face of the Earth! How old are you then? Forty? Forty-five? What, did you find her on the Internet? Did you go online and pretend you're a doctor?"

"I am a Doctor." The doctor answered.

"Prove it. Stitch this, mate!" Jackie then slapped the doctor.

"Mum!"

000

After the policeman left, Jackie and Rose stood in the kitchen, starting at one another and honestly it was hard.

Harder, then she would have liked to admit.

'Little wolf." The voice caressed.

"Did you think about me at all?" Jackie begged, clearly in distress and it made Rose break that little bit more.

'Everything has a purpose, little wolf.'

"I did." Rose tried, breaking down in tears. "All the time, but-"

"One phone call," Jackie interrupted. "Just to know that you were alive.

"I'm sorry mum," Rose mumbled quietly, as she looked away. "I really am."

"Do you know, what terrifies me is that you still can't say," Jackie stated, hitting too close to the truth, more than she would like. "What happened to you, Rose? What can be so bad that you can't tell me, sweetheart? Where were you?

"Mum, I know you don't believe me but I was safe travelling." Truths and lies were so hard to blend into one but she had to try and she couldn't allow her mum to blame her doctor for the choice she chose. "And please believe me when I say I was safe with the doctor, he's a good man."

She then moved over to her mum hugging her before kissing her on the cheek. Then left the flat to find the doctor.

The one, she couldn't bear to be apart from.

000

Wandering up to the roof of the estate, she found the doctor in deep thought leaning against a low wall with his arms crossed. So she hopped up to sit next to him.

"I don't know what to tell her," Rose told him, though there was more to that statement than she could admit. "God I hate lying to her. She's never going to forgive me."

The Doctor didn't answer.

"You're so useless." Rose muttered.

"Well, if it's this much trouble, are you going to stay here now?" The doctor questioned, though she could hear the surprising anticipation in his voice.

"Of course not." She immediately answered, looking at her doctor with a sad smile. "I just can't do that to her again, though."

"Well, she's not coming with us." He said adamantly, causing her to laugh.

"No chance."

"I don't do families."

"How's your face?" She inquired.

"Nine hundred years of time and space," The Doctor began. "and I've never been slapped by someone's mother."

She couldn't help but giggle at his pout, causing him to shoot her a look.

"To be fair," She said, turning slightly to face him. "I was gone for twelve months without a word."

She saw his lips twitch slightly.

"What did you tell your mum?" He asked.

Rose didn't reply at first just nibbled on her lower lip for a moment and began playing with the hem of her shirt while she thought.

"Honestly, nothing, it's not my place to tell her." She answered honestly. "Anyway, she probably would think that I was crazy if she didn't see it herself, she's a person that's seeing is believing."

Rose then got up from where she was seated and moved in front of him peering up to the sky.

"I've seen all that stuff up there, the size of it, and I can't say a word. Aliens and spaceships and things, and I'm the only person on planet Earth who knows they exist."

She then turned back to look at the doctor, who was just staring at her.

"The one thing I do know, is I haven't missed anything interesting at the moment."

"How?" The doctor asked, twisting his head.

"Because you would have been here faster than the snap of your fingers." Then she clicked her fingers.

It was like magic because a deep horn and a spaceship trailing black smoke passed overhead. So close that Rose and the doctor dropped down to a crouch.

Immediately after, he stood up and pulled her to his side as they watched as the ship proceeded to head towards the city, weaving all over the place fast with flames emerging from it before crash landing into the Thames.

"You were saying!" The doctor laughed.

"Well, at least I'm right on the money." She replied, smiling wide at him."Do you recognise the ship?" Rose inquired.

"Nope," The doctor marvelled, he grabbed Rose's hand as he pulled her along. Rose could hear the excitement in his voice. "I can't believe I'm here to see this. This is fantastic!"

Rose halted, making the doctor stop and look down at her. "However I doubt we'll be able to anywhere near it." His brow furrowed at her in question. "We just saw a spaceship crash land, doctor, I bet the authorities will be doing everything to cover it up."

He looked at her, considering for a moment.

"We can't use the Tardis." The Doctor responded. "They've already got one spaceship in the middle of London. I don't want to shove another one on top."

"That's true," Rose agreed, "Alright, come on then if we can't get up close and personally at this moment in time we have to do what everyone else is doing."

"Which is?"

"Watch it on the T.V of course." She told him, pulling him along to her mother's flat.