Author's Note:

I do not own Doctor Who.

Chapter 1 - Nightmare

Second Bedroom, Flat #33, Building B, Powell Estate, London, England – January 24, 1995

Rose Tyler sat in her bed with her arms wrapped around her knees. Her chin rested on her arms as she tried to make sense of her nightmare. She took in huge gulps of air to calm herself down. She was terrified. The things she saw sent shudders through her.

It couldn't possibly be true, could it? Someone, something, named Bad Wolf showed her the future. Some parts were extremely vivid and detailed, while others were inexplicably vague and shrouded in shadows.

She shook her head as another shudder went through her at the thought of ending up in a parallel world where she simply faded away. She tried to shake away the terror and helplessness at the thought. Unwrapping herself from her sheets, she got out of bed. The walls were closing in on her. She needed to get out of there.

The fourteen-year-old blonde stumbled through the flat and headed to the kitchen to get a glass of water. However, she still felt the panic trying to constrict her heart, so she hurried out of the flat and up to the roof access of the building. Sitting on the ledge with her legs hanging off the other side, Rose closed her eyes and took deep breathes of the chilled air.

Her heart slowed down to normal after what seemed like hours. Tilting her head up, she opened her eyes to stare at the sky. It was an hour or so before dawn and for once there was not a cloud in sight. A clear sky in London was a rare treat –that too in January – and she was especially glad for it tonight.

The stars were visible tonight, for some reason. They rarely were in a city like this, with all the air and light pollution. All the stars out there. The constellations, galaxies, planets, and systems. He knew the names of each and every one of those. The Doctor. The mad man with a blue box that was bigger on the inside.

Was he real? Was Bad Wolf real? Was everything she saw in her nightmare real?

But if it was real, then what did it mean for her? Was she fated to fade away in a parallel world? Did that mean her dad was alive somewhere out there? Oh, how she yearned to meet him! But then the monsters were real too. The Daleks, the Cybermen, and the Slitheen. Did Torchwood exist?

No. No, it couldn't be real. Sure, the Doctor from her dreams was glorious, but his world was full of monsters and demons.

The Bad Wolf was terrifying in its all-knowing and all-seeing nature. It said that they were the same. How was that possible? Bad Wolf could see everything. She remembered the pain associated with that. She didn't want to go through that again.

How could she find out whether it was real or not?

She groaned out loud. Why did this happen? Up until last night, her greatest worry was if Jimmy Stone liked her or not and whether she'd have the time to complete the Calculus homework before class in the morning. She had regretted procrastinating by going shopping with Shareen last night. Now she was worrying about timelines and aliens and dying in parallel worlds. Homework and Jimmy Stone didn't seem that important anymore.

She needed to know if her nightmare had any truth to it. Was it simply a product of her overactive imagination? She dearly wished it to be just a dream. But she needed to be sure. What if it was true and she ignored it and ended up doing it all over again only to end up fading away in a parallel world?

How to get a confirmation? She needed to find proof. She'd been reading the Nancy Drew series for a while now. She needed proof to validate anything before believing it. She wasn't smart like Nancy Drew, but she wasn't stupid either.

To start, she needed to gather all that she knew and suspected before looking for sources that could prove them right or wrong. She could do that. Taking one last deep breath and a last look at the stars, she jumped off the ledge and headed back inside. She had a lot of work to do before going to school in a few hours. And the list did not include Calculus homework.

Eons Away, Time Vortex

Bad Wolf watched over the moments in time that were the key to changing Rose Tyler's fate. It was a huge risk entering her vessel's dreamscape to show her the future she had foreseen. But it had to be done.

The last TARDIS in existence had reached out to her. The Bad Wolf existed in the Heart of the TARDIS. And they both had witnessed, first-hand, the destruction wrought upon the universe just because Rose Tyler got trapped in the parallel universe and eventually faded from existence.

Should Rose Tyler decide to make different choices, the timeline could change for the better. They had foreseen it. This was a key moment in the child's life. She needed a nudge, a reason to fight for a better future for herself. The interference in the dreamscape would scare her, she knew. But it would only be for a little while. The girl will forget the details eventually and only remember the broad strokes of the events to come. She will know that she had an important part to play in the fates of countless beings. She will be aware of the burden that lay on her shoulders. She will remember that she had to protect her Doctor.

Bad Wolf felt the TARDIS reaching out to her. She sent an answering nudge back to the sentient ship. It was done. The events will play out as they will. And they can do naught but watch.

But it was enough. Rose Tyler had already changed her future. She had decided that there were other things more important than Jimmy Stone and shopping. It was a matter of a few years before she would become Bad Wolf and Bad Wolf would become her.

The TARDIS sent her a hum of satisfaction. Along with images of the anomaly named River Song. Bad Wolf would not allow her Doctor to suffer the fate of knowing that he will have to choose the last day he was ever going to spend with his loved one. Amy Pond and Rory Williams will not lose their daughter. How, though? The Bad Wolf could not see. But it was enough for now. She could wait to see the how and why.

For now, she turned her eyes towards Rose Tyler in 1995 once again. The fourteen-year-old had spent an entire night working. She wanted to see what the child had planned to do.

Thank you, readers!