Chapter 1
Rose does some training with Jake and Mickey while she and Jackie get integrated into society and get used to living in a new world and Jamie Smith is indifferent when told he'd be having someone working with him.
On Rose's first day at work, she almost faints to see who looks like The Doctor sat at a desk covered in bits of alien 'tech' as he calls it and he looks up and tells her he'll have a coffee, thinking she's his new assistant.
She puts him right, saying who she is and thinks there's no way she's going to be able to put up with a cross between The Doctor and a smart-ass. She soon sees a difference between the two although this one still goes looking for trouble by dragging her to alien crash sites and digs.
Rose was never so horrified as the force of 'The Void' was pulling on her towards it, The Doctor calling out for her to hang on.
"Rose! Just keep hold for a few more minutes," he called out again as she was only hanging on with one hand.
"Doctor, I can't," Rose admitted as it was taking all her strength.
"You have to," he replied, wishing he could trade places with her.
It seemed like his whole nine hundred plus years as a Timelord were flashing in front of his eyes and in all that time, he'd never met anyone like Rose Tyler, well maybe Sarah-Jane was a close tie as he'd been reminded when he'd met her again recently.
"Doctor, I'm sorry," Rose called out as she willed herself to hold on to the lever.
He heard a loud noise and knew she'd let go and he watched helplessly as she was pulled in slow motion towards the last of the gap. Maybe it would close before she got there, he hoped. At least the last of the Daleks and Cybermen had gone, which might trigger the gap to close but Rose would crash into the wall or at least drop to the floor.
Why had it been her side that Dalek had bumped into the lever? Then, he saw a flicker of hope as a dark shadow appeared from nowhere and formed briefly as Pete Tyler, who had given in to Rose's mother nagging him. Pete had agreed to go talk to Rose and persuade her to go back with him and he'd hoped the Cybermen and those Daleks had been dealt with.
Pete quickly took in his surroundings and held his arms out to catch Rose as the backdraught from the force of The Void began to subside but Pete quickly activated his device around his neck before Rose had the chance to argue. He couldn't face Jackie if he returned without her daughter, even though Rose had chosen to go back of her own free will.
He'd already gathered this Jackie Tyler wouldn't accept no for an answer. As Rose realised she'd been taken back to the other universe and her mother dashed towards her she couldn't believe it.
"Mum, why did ya send Pete to get me?" Rose wanted to know.
"Too late," Pete told her as his device went dead. "You can't get back now and you heard what The Doctor said," he reminded her.
"It's not fair," Rose said tearfully. "I want to go back."
She walked towards the wall, where she knew The Doctor was at the other side.
"Leave her Jackie," Pete told her. "You both have to get used to living in this world now."
"Had those things gone?" Jackie wanted to know.
"I never saw any of them but think of what went on there Jackie?" Pete replied. "You'd best both come with me, until we get sorted out. Mickey, bring Rose."
"Leave me alone," Rose insisted as Mickey tried to lead her away from the wall. "He's still there, I know he is."
"Come on Rose, we have to go," Mickey still insisted. "He's still trying to get this place sorted out, me and Jake have been helping."
Pete drove them all to his mansion, which he'd been about to sell but now he wasn't so sure about it.
"You're both welcome to stay as long as you like," Pete told Rose and Jackie. "Unless you want to risk staying with Mickey?" he then joked.
Jackie had visions of green slime on the kitchen walls the last time she'd been in Mickey's flat.
"I've got control of Torchwood," he carried on telling them. "I'm hiring experts to sort things out and salvage anything that was left behind."
"How could ya let the Cybermen escape to our world?" Rose wanted to know as reality finally hit her.
"Nothing to do with me," Pete replied, knowing she was still angry. "I was still trying to get my company back after Lumic's demise, remember? Blame the population, they wanted to know why the Cybermen were locked up when they'd once been Human."
"I know, I was at the factory when they walked in to be converted," Rose complained. "Will you get those devices working again?"
Pete couldn't blame her for asking.
"No, I don't think so, Torchwood's not fully back yet, there's a lot to do," Pete admitted. "Mickey will bring you up to date but there's a job for you, if you want it?"
"Why would I want to work there?" Rose replied. Then she realised she was being ungrateful for being saved from The Void. "Sorry."
"Forget it. Here we are then," Pete replied as he pressed the remote on the dashboard and some tall gates opened. "I got the house sorted out," he told Rose.
"Have ya been here before then?" Jackie asked her.
"It's a long story Mum," Rose told her.
"Well I suppose I'll have time to find out?" Jackie replied as she stared at the house they were approaching. "You lived here, on ya own Pete?"
"After I lost my wife," he replied sadly. "She was converted, by the Cybermen."
Pete stopped the car and Jackie put her hand on his shoulder.
"I'm so sorry Pete," Jackie told him.
"Yeah. Well I have minimum staff, they'll make you both comfortable," Pete snapped out of it. "Are you staying tonight Mickey?"
"Yeah, I'll help Rose settle in," Mickey agreed. "Rose, you could have any job you want if you come and work at Torchwood."
"What about me?" Jackie asked as one of the male staff appeared from the house and helped her out of the car.
"Ah, Jackie," Pete thought about it. "Let's get you settled first?"
"Well I'm not gonna be the cleaner," Jackie replied as she looked up at the house, making Rose smile.
They were shown to some rooms and Pete then addressed the staff, who had been with him since he'd secured it from the Cybermen attack.
"My guests are to be extended every courtesy," Pete began to tell the half dozen or so staff. "I don't know how long they'll be here."
He then thought Rose would probably leave at the first chance she got after being here before. He still doubted she'd move in with Mickey though after being told they'd broken up after Rose had first met The Doctor. He'd already warned both Jake and Mickey not to say anything to Rose about the new head of alien artefacts he'd recently hired.
Although Doctor Jamie Smith resembled the Doctor Pete had encountered, he'd seen no reason why he shouldn't employ him. He'd no reason to think he'd ever see Rose or The Doctor again and the Cybermen when they had vanished three years ago, the only thing still to put right at Torchwood was the old abandoned lever room.
How would Rose react if she accepted a job?
"Pete, I'll think about the job but won't I need some sort of training?" Rose decided to ask.
"Mickey and Jake can sort that out," Pete replied. "Jackie, I wasn't suggesting you did the cleaning," he then laughed.
"I should hope not," Jackie complained. "Rose, what are we gonna do about the stuff we left behind? If I'd known I was gonna end up here, I'd rather have gone to Mars."
Pete looked at her.
"Mum, there's nothing on Mars," Rose reminded her. "If either of us knew what was gonna happen, we'd still have got caught up with the Cybermen fightin' everywhere. Pete's right, it's safer here but all the Cybermen went into the void. Don't know about the Daleks though. I'm gonna find a way back to The Doctor, can ya get those devices workin' again?" she asked Pete.
"It was just lucky they worked before," Pete told her. "I'm making no promises but I have someone checking for any signs there's a way through. It was just in case the devices didn't work and Mickey needed help."
"How did ya know all the Cybermen had got through?" Rose then wanted to know.
"There was no sign of them here," Pete began to tell her. "According to The Doctor, it had taken them three years to reach your world, that means we're three years ahead of your world, since it couldn't have taken them all three years. I reckon the first of them had some way of communicating with those left here."
"We started working for Pete when we got back from trying to rescue those who had been captured," Mickey explained. "It was a right mess, right Pete?"
"We'll talk more, meanwhile make yourselves at home," Pete told Rose and Jackie. "You can go shopping tomorrow but you might find things a bit strange, I'll get someone to take you."
Mickey took Rose by her arm and led her upstairs.
"Rose, you'll get used to it here," he tried to tell her.
"I don't wanna get used to it Micks, I wanna go back," Rose insisted.
"I know you loved him," Mickey admitted. "After he changed, so did you."
"That's not fair, I would have wanted to stay with him even if he'd not changed," Rose replied.
"You liked him then," Mickey reminded her. "He knew that Rose."
"Stop it, I'm tired and I don't even want to be here Mickey. He's back there, dealing with everything and he's on his own," Rose reminded him.
They were joined by Pete's housekeeper, who took Rose around a corner and opened a door.
"You'll be comfortable here, Miss Rose," Emily told her. "If you need anything, just ask, I'll have one of the maids find you something to wear."
"Not of Mrs Tyler's?" Rose hoped.
"Of course not Miss," Emily assured her. "We have a linen cupboard with nightwear, that was kept when Mrs Tyler invited people to stay. You know what happened to her?"
Rose nodded, looking at Mickey.
"Yeah, I was here that night, we tried to save her," Rose replied.
"Don't think about it Rose," Mickey insisted. "Pete told me most of it."
"If you leave your clothes, I'll have them cleaned for you by morning," Emily added.
"Thanks. What was your name?" Rose then asked.
"It's Emily, Miss," Rose was told.
Rose thought she would have freaked out if the woman had been called Flora.
"Dinner is at six," Emily then informed Rose.
"Thanks, I need some time to let it all sink in," Rose admitted, Emily looking at her.
"Rose, we need to talk," Mickey told her, leading her inside. "I don't think Pete will want the staff to know where you and your mother came from."
"Yeah, sorry," Rose realised he was right. "They know what happened to the other Jackie though."
"They'll have been told what they needed to know," Mickey replied. "You should go talk to your mother, at least you've been in similar situations," he reminded her. "Did ya tell her about this world?"
"Not much. Mickey, she'd have freaked out if I'd told her there was another Pete here," Rose had to smile.
"She did freak out when she saw him," Mickey laughed.
"So, what's been going on at Torchwood then?" Rose wanted to know. "Will someone try to get those devices working again?"
"Don't tell Pete I told ya but they may be on to something else," Mickey admitted. "I can't say much about it."
"Great, then I can get back," Rose replied. "I left a load of stuff in my room in the Tardis."
They talked for a while longer, Mickey trying to tell her the differences and who the president was, Rose not believing it was Harriet Jones. Then they went to find Jackie, who was trying to come to terms with where she was.
"Are ya gonna go work at this Torchwood then?" Jackie asked Rose.
"Mum, I don't know yet. I mean I might need some qualifications. What do you do there Mickey?"
"Security with Jake," Mickey replied proudly. "We sort out any trouble."
They went down to eat, Pete telling them he'd take care of them and get them set up if they wanted to leave but Jackie wasn't so sure she wanted to be out on her own just yet. As time went on, Rose was enrolled in a local collage to complete her education, Pete giving her a generous allowance and Jackie just did what she felt like doing but was spending more time in the evenings with Pete, who was careful where they went as he didn't want anyone thinking his Jackie had come back but then he had an idea, if Jackie agreed.
"Ya want me to what?" Jackie wanted to be sure she'd heard right one evening.
"Jackie, think about it? Things are still confused here after what the Cybermen did," he admitted. "Only the staff know apart from us. What do you think Rose?"
"Mum, think about it, you could be a reformed version of her. No offence Pete but the other one wasn't very nice, she was nasty to me."
"Yeah, sorry about that, she never treated any of the staff fairly," Pete had to admit.
"Well, that was the second time I was treated badly," Rose replied. "Never mind that now but Pete's right Mum, it would explain a lot of things. What about me though?"
"Well, no-one's seen much of you. You could be the daughter we gave up all that time ago," Pete suggested. "You could have found us that night you were here then in all the confusion, you decided against it and ran off. You could say we finally found you again?"
"Well if I have to have a cover story, so can you," Jackie decided.
So Pete went about sorting everything for them and he called a press conference to explain that he'd been keeping it all quiet until they had got used to the idea of being back together again and once they had, they'd decided to go public to avoid any speculation.
Slowly, Jackie began to settle down and decided it was time to play her part for real, which made Pete happy since things had not well between him and the other Jackie in the later years but then he wondered if things had ever been right from the start.
He now felt more at home with this Jackie and treating Rose like his long lost daughter made it even better, since he couldn't thank her enough for trying to save the other Jackie and helping to free those who were about to be turned into Cybermen.
Pete and Jackie had a private ceremony to renew their wedding vows and Rose was now officially their daughter. She'd done well at collage and was almost ready to join the team at Torchwood. It was now eighteen months Rose and Jackie had been in their new world and Jackie announced she was pregnant just as Rose swore The Doctor was trying to contact her.
She waited, thinking no-one would believe her at first then one weekend, Mickey was staying over and when she thought she'd heard The Doctor's voice calling her, she woke them all up and told them.
"Rose, you're certain?" Pete asked her after Mickey had.
"It's been happening a while," Rose admitted. "He told me to follow his voice."
"Well I'm coming as well," Jackie told them. "He owes us an explanation."
"Jaks, you were told to rest," Pete reminded her.
"Well I'll be resting in the car Pete," Jackie insisted.
"We'd best take my old jeep, if we don't know where we're going. Mickey, get dressed and help Rose and Jackie bring their stuff down, I'll get the jeep out of the garage. It'll be less conspicuous than either of the others."
They drove for hundreds of miles, across the water, Rose being pretty certain in her old world that such a journey by ferry was no longer in use then they finally ended up on a beach, Jackie trying to pronounce the name on the map.
"If ya ask me, that looks Norwegian for Dalek," Jackie pointed and laughed.
"Don't be daft Jackie," Pete insisted as he helped her out.
Rose was already at the water's edge, looking for any signs of The Doctor. She looked at her parents, thinking maybe she shouldn't have let her mother come with them. Then she turned back and a faint figure appeared in front of her.
"Ya look like a ghost," she told The Doctor.
"Hang on," he told her as he pointed his sonic screwdriver towards what Rose guessed was the Tardis control panel.
"Can't ya come through properly?" she asked him.
"Sorry, it's not possible, the two world's would collide," The Doctor grinned. "So, your mum and Pete are together?"
"Yeah, another little Tyler on the way," Rose smiled.
"You're not?" The Doctor acted surprised.
"No, you plum, it's mum. Anyway, this Torchwood's open for business and I'm about to join them."
"Good for you. In Pete's hands it will maybe do some good," The Doctor agreed. "I can't keep this projection much longer, there was so much I wanted to say to you."
"Yeah, so did I," Rose told him. "I'm gonna find my way back."
"If anyone can do it, it's you," he laughed.
He saw tears in her eyes and knew she was determined. He knew she needed some encouragement but time was running out.
"I'm in orbit around a nebula, I'm burning up a sun, just to say goodbye," he then told her. "It won't last much longer."
"Doctor. I…. I love you," she managed to get the words out.
"I suppose, since it's my last chance to say it," he began as he realised he wasn't going to be able to deny it any longer. "Rose Tyler. I…"
Time ran out just as he said 'love you' and he knew she'd not heard it. There had been a tiny gap, enough to talk to her but it must have taken a while for her to realise she wasn't imagining hearing his voice. It must also have taken them a considerable time to get to Norway. He'd hoped she'd seen the significance of seeing him at a place called Bad Wolf Bay.
Jackie had noticed Rose turn around and ran towards her, pulling her into a hug.
"He's gone Mum," Rose cried.
"I know sweetheart but maybe you'll meet someone who will take the pain away?" Jackie tried to console her.
The Doctor also had tears in his eyes at the thought Rose hadn't heard what he just tried to tell her. Why had he been an idiot and not told her when she was with him? He was just going around the console to get ready to take off again when he came face to face with a red-headed woman in a wedding dress who wanted to know where the hell she was.
As if losing Rose hadn't been enough.