Title: Domestic Travels

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Anything you recognise from 'Doctor Who' episodes, books, or general canon, is not mine. Izzy, Tim, Rose's extended family and the storyline are mine, however.

Notes: Sequel to 'Domestic Battleground' and 'Domestic Space'. I highly recommend reading at least the latter, because otherwise a lot of this won't make any sense. This is the third instalment in the larger 'Domestic' universe.

Notes 2: Gallifrey is back, through means unknown to any except Bad Wolf. Old friends have appeared, and more will come, as time and space are woven into knots by Bad Wolf. Something is very wrong with the fabric of the universe, and the Doctor is torn between protecting his wife and unborn child, and saving Gallifrey. Things are going to get a lot more complicated. He never really planned for domestic.

Dedication: Charlotte and Helen.

Chapter Two

When the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS, Jack and Romana were starting to get worried. Rose, Izzy and Susan had been gone for nearly two Gallifreyan hours.

"What is it?" the Doctor demanded as he took in their expressions. Jack stood up and took a step towards him. "Where's Rose?"

"We're not sure," Romana admitted after a moment. "She went with Susan and Izzy for a meal, but that was some time ago."

"What do you mean, you're not sure?" the Doctor demanded. "Haven't they come back?" Jack shook his head. An awful expression wandered across the Doctor's face. "She's gone," he said in a low, angry voice. "She's gone back to Earth."

Jack shook his head. "Doctor, no, she couldn't have. There's no way she could leave Gallifrey."

"There's always TARDISes around here!" the Doctor lashed out. "She knows enough to fly one reasonably well, Bad Wolf would do the rest, and somehow she's persuaded Susan to help her!"

"Susan would not – " Romana began. The Doctor interrupted her.

"Susan would. She remembers Rose – remembers her as her grandmother! She doesn't know I know, but – " He broke off, shaking his head. He turned suddenly and punched a wall. "I can't believe she'd do something so utterly stupid."

"Doctor – she's upset, she's not thinking straight," Jack tried to rationalise.

"And that's an excuse, is it?" the Doctor demanded, whirling back to glare at the human. "That's a reason to – " He broke off and looked at Romana. "Find out if they've gone," he ordered tersely. "I'm going to try to track her with the TARDIS."

Jack followed him into the time ship.

"If you're going to make excuses for her, don't waste my time," the Doctor rumbled warningly. His back was to Jack and the door; he was bashing at the keypad with unnecessary force. "She's a bloody idiot."

"I'm not here to make excuses," Jack said calmly. "Do you want a hand?"

"I've managed for six months, relatively speaking, without your help, Captain. And hundreds of years before that."

Jack raised his eyebrows. The Doctor was at his most prickly, and he needed to find out why if he was going to get anywhere. He'd have to handle it carefully, he knew. If he pushed too hard or too fast, he'd be shoved out of the door and into Romana's desk before he could say TARDIS.

On the other hand, sometimes the direct approach was best.

"So, is this about Rose, the baby, or Gallifrey?" he inquired with studied nonchalance.

The Doctor stilled for a moment, then started typing again. He reached over and flicked a switch. "Don't see how it's any of your business."

"Rose is the closest thing I have to a family," Jack said clearly. "If it's to do with her, I make it my business." He moved towards the console, stopping just beyond the Doctor's reach. "She's my sister. She's hurting badly. So are you. Doctor, talk to me."

"I –" The Doctor stopped for a long moment, then he turned to face Jack. Unshed tears shone in his eyes for a moment, then he blinked them away. "Jack. Everything's so twisted around, I don't know how to straighten it up again. This is what I do, it's what I was born and trained to do. And I don't know how in this situation." He leaned back onto the console. "And Rose…"

"She ran from you," Jack said softly. "That's it, isn't it? You think she ran away from you." The Doctor said nothing, but he folded his arms. Jack nodded slowly. "Right. Because you're so awful, she couldn't possibly love you more than anything else in the universe, right?"

"You don't – " the Doctor started, but Jack cut him off.

"She couldn't possibly just be overwhelmed by everything that's going on," he continued. "Because no, she's not just a young woman – not only a twenty-one year old from pre-space travel Earth – she's Rose, she's your other half, she's the love of your, admittedly long, life." He paused. The Doctor had closed his eyes, but didn't take the opportunity to speak, so Jack went on. "She's Rose. She's strong. She's capable. She's…she's better than anything you or I will ever be. But she's still just a young woman, Doctor. She's just lost her cousin – you know she thinks it was her fault." The Doctor gave a sharp nod. "And this Bad Wolf thing – I remember you telling me your ideas about it, when we were travelling before, and now we know it's Rose…I bet she hasn't ever dealt with that, has she?"

The Doctor remained silent.

"Has she?" Jack demanded.

"No," the Doctor answered gruffly after a moment. "Everything was so weird, after…I took the time vortex out of her, and I thought I was going to regenerate, only I didn't – I don't know why. And then…and then we went back to London, to let Jackie know she was okay, and then we just…kept on going like normal."

Jack nodded sympathetically. "One adventure after another, always getting in or out of trouble."

"I don't try to get into trouble," the Doctor defended himself. Jack looked at him with scepticism. "Well, I never used to," the Time Lord grumbled. "But…yeah. Basically."

Jack nodded again. "And you went to Earth for a rest, right? Izzy said something about Rose's birthday."

"Yeah, and then this time jumper showed up." A thought crossed his mind, and he frowned faintly. "Thought it was a bit weird at the time, that. Thinking about it now, it must've been attracted by Bad Wolf." Jack frowned faintly. "Bad Wolf isn't Rose, exactly," the Doctor enlarged. "It's more like…a kind of energy field that's within her. And it attracts things, sometimes, and alters things."

"Like bringing Gallifrey back into existence?" Jack checked. "It can do things that big?"

The Doctor looked straight at Jack. "Bad Wolf, influenced by Rose, brought you back to life."

There wasn't quite anything Jack could say to that.

Jackie Tyler was waiting for them when they arrived in London. They'd got the date right, almost – it was a day after Rose and the Doctor had left with Tim and Izzy, a day after her birthday. Rose stepped out of the TARDIS – it disguised itself as a large white van, of all things – and couldn't quite look her mother in the eye.

"Where were you?" Jackie demanded, seething. "You disappear off with Tim and Izzy, not a word – and then you come back in this strange thing? What happened to the other TARDIS?" Her barrage of words stopped when Rose lifted her head to reveal red-rimmed eyes and unnatural pallor.

"What's happened?" Jackie asked in a whisper. "Rose?"

Rose's face crumpled and she stumbled forward into her mother's arms. "God, Mum, I'm so sorry, it's all my fault."

"What's happened?" Jackie asked again. "Where's the Doctor?" She looked over Rose's shoulder and saw Izzy and Susan emerge from the van. "Izzy? What's going on?"

"Mrs Tyler?" queried the woman who Jackie hadn't seen before. "I'm afraid…I'm sorry, but there's been an accident…"

"It's my fault," Rose said, her voice muffled as she spoke into Jackie's shoulder. "I killed him."

"What're you talking about?" Jackie asked. She hugged her daughter tight. "Rose? Izzy? Where's the Doctor? And where's Tim?"

Izzy hugged herself. "Tim's dead," she said in a flat voice. "He died." She leaned against the white van. "We brought him back."

"It's the Doctor's fault, isn't it?" Jackie muttered after a long, awful moment. "Where is he? I'm going to wring his neck."

"He's not here," Rose said, pulling away from her mother. "We got another ship, and came back." She looked studiously at Jackie's vibrantly-coloured earring. "I…he'll probably find us soon."

"You left the Doctor?" Jackie said incredulously. "Rose – "

"I'm pregnant," Rose interrupted. "And somehow Susan's my grand-daughter, and somehow the Doctor's planet's back, and I killed Tim."

Jackie covered her face with her hands momentarily, then took a deep breath. "We need tea," she muttered. "Good cup of tea, and a box of tissues, yeah?" Rose and Izzy both nodded; Susan looked faintly confused. "And then…" Jackie swallowed. "And then we can work out what to say to Bridget."

Rose nodded miserably, and allowed her mother to lead her. The four women walked up to the flat, where the younger three crowded together on the sofa. Susan had an arm protectively around Rose.

Jackie busied herself with making tea for as long as she could. She dug out a packet of biscuits – chocolate digestives, bought because they were the Doctor's favourites, and Rose could always persuade him to stay for a bit if there were chocolate biscuits offered – and made three trips to and from the kitchen, carrying mugs of tea and the plate of biscuits.

Finally, though, she had to sit down and face her daughter, and the truth.

"What happened?" she asked. She knew, with one part of her mind, how ridiculous she must sound, asking the same question again.

Once again, it was Susan who answered.

"I don't know how much you know about time travel, and temporal physics and things, Mrs Tyler," she said, a hint of apology in her voice.

"Not a lot," Jackie shrugged.

"Well, I'll try to explain it as simply as I can," Susan nodded. She paused, thinking. "When one travels in time, it's very important that you don't go to a place where you've already been. So for example, you couldn't go back and see…I don't know, Rose's birth. Because you would already be there, you see?" Jackie nodded slowly. "And we call that a temporal paradox. It can create big problems. Meeting oneself can be very dangerous. And having physical contact with your past self, or your future self – it can have extremely bad consequences."

Jackie frowned. "Is that what happened to Tim? He met himself?"

"Not exactly," Rose muttered. Susan took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Go on, Susan, you're doing a better job than I could."

"The thing is, Mrs Tyler," Susan said, continuing, "Rose is my grandmother. Or at least, she will be, when her children are grown up and I'm born. I'm from the future – the far future. And Tim, of course, was from my past. And when we met, it was in a place that shouldn't exist."

"The Doctor's planet," Izzy told her aunt. "It was destroyed."

"Wiped out from space and time," Rose said quietly.

"Anyway," Susan said, effectively stopping any further comment, "somehow Gallifrey was brought back into time, and we all ended up there. And then…" She floundered suddenly, and Rose took over.

"D'you remember what I told you," she began, "after I took the TARDIS and saved the Doctor? That I'd changed." Jackie nodded yet again. "It's because of that. Somehow, when Susan and Tim touched…something happened. Some sort of paradox, like Susan was saying, and anyway, it doesn't matter. Tim died. Because of me, because I changed back then."

"No, love." Jackie pushed the coffee table out of the way and knelt in front of Rose. "No, it wasn't your fault. I don't believe that. I refuse to believe that, Rose. I know you. I've seen you, I've seen what you do for the people you care about."

"I destroy them," Rose muttered.

"You put your life on the line for people you've never even met – that you're never even going to meet!" Jackie exclaimed. "The number of times I've laid awake at night – " She stopped and took a breath. There was no need for hysteria. "D'you remember Downing Street, love?" she asked then. Rose nodded, frowning faintly in confusion. "D'you remember the Doctor saying that he could save the world, but that you might die? D'you remember me pleading with him, telling him not to do it?"

"Yeah," Rose said hoarsely. "I remember."

"And what did you say?" Jackie pressed.

Rose cleared her throat slightly. "I told him to do it. To save the world."

Jackie nodded. "I was so proud of you, Rose. Scared as hell, but so proud. My little girl had grown up into this wonderful woman. And I sure as hell don't know where you get it from, but you're strong, Rose, and you're smart and you make the right choices."

Rose was crying again, tears quietly running down her cheeks.

"I don't understand how Tim died," Jackie wound down. "But I know it wasn't your fault. You would never, ever be to blame for something like that."

It was agreed that while Jackie and Izzy told the rest of the family that Tim was dead – they'd concocted a believable tale of an accident – Rose would have the responsibility of telling Grandpa Mark, and he would be told the truth.

Rose stood at the front door of her grandparents' semi-detached house. She felt sick and scared and she wished with all her heart that the Doctor was here with her to give her support.

But no. She was a grown woman – a mother, soon enough, and a grandmother too – and she had decided to do this alone. Alone she would do it.

"Get a grip," she muttered to herself as her hand hovered over the doorbell. "Did you or did you not destroy the entire Dalek race? You can do this." She moved to press the bell; the door swung open before she could do so.

"Rose!" declared Grandpa Mark. "Rose Tyler, as I live and breath. Come in, come in. What're you doing standing on the doorstep? And where's that Doctor fellow?"

Rose hugged herself. "He's…not here." She looked at her shoes, at Mark's slippered feet, at the welcome mat – anything to avoid meeting his eyes. "Grandpa…I need to talk to you."

Mark gave her one of his sharp looks, then nodded. "Right. Come in. Tea?"

"No, thanks," Rose murmured. She closed the door behind her. "Is Grandma in?"

"No, she's out with Katie Holmes. You remember her?"

"Next door neighbour," Rose said. She sank into her grandmother's usual armchair and twisted her fingers together.

"Whatever you've got to say," Mark said after a moment, "you can just say it. Don't dawdle around the issue, Rose."

Rose took a deep breath, looked her grandfather in the eye, and said it. "Tim's dead."

Mark sat down shakily. "How?" he demanded hoarsely.

"He…he was with the Doctor and me," Rose said, forcing the words out. "There was an accident, and…and he died."

"What kind of an accident?" he almost growled at her.

"A sort of temporal paradox," Rose answered him truthfully. "I don't really understand it…only it's nobody's fault, Grandpa. It was just…" She shuddered, trying not to cry yet again. "It was an accident," she repeated softly.

Grandpa Mark closed his eyes for a long moment, then he looked at her again. "The Doctor – he's a time traveller," he reminded both of them. "He can go back – stop it, fix it somehow. Stop Tim dying."

But Rose was shaking her head. "No," she told him. "He doesn't do that. It's not safe – crossing timelines, it's dangerous, it's the same sort of temporal paradoxes, it could destroy much more than just one life."

"Tim is your cousin," Mark snapped. "Don't you –"

"No," Rose cried out. "No, I don't!"

They stared at each other. Rose was taking deep gulping breaths; she felt sick again.

"What's wrong?" Mark asked after a while. "Are you ill, Rose?"

"Not exactly," Rose said lowly. "I'm pregnant, Grandpa."

Mark expelled a slow breath. "Oh, Rose. I'm not old enough to be a great-grandfather!"

"I'm not old enough to be a grandmother," Rose returned. "But thanks to time travel, I've met my granddaughter." Mark raised his eyebrows. Rose shrugged one shoulder. "She's back at Mum's," she explained. "She came back with Izzy and me."

"Oh ho," Mark said grimly. "So where's the Doctor, then?"

"He's on Gallifrey," Rose muttered. "His home planet."

Mark took a deep breath. "Young lady, you'll start at the beginning," he directed. "Or we shan't be able to make head nor tails of this nonsense."

Rose sighed and tried to explain. Mark stopped her with questions time and again, and they paused for cups of tea at various points as Rose tried to control her emotions. At one point Mark cried as well, and Rose ended up squashed in a chair with him as they hugged each other.

Finally Rose finished her story, and Grandpa Mark blew his nose.

"Oh, dear girl," he said heavily. "What a mess."

Rose nodded miserably. "Yeah."

"So what are you going to do to sort it out?" Mark wanted to know.

"I don't know," she shrugged. Mark shook his head at her.

"Oh no, you can do better than that," he told her tartly. "You've not been travelling around the universe without picking up some things. You need to sort this out, especially with the Doctor and especially with a baby on the way."

"So you're not mad about that?" Rose wanted to know. "I mean, I know Grandma was young when she had Auntie Bridget, but that's different…" She looked at him pleadingly. He smiled at her.

"It was different," he agreed. "But every time is different, Rose, every person is different. And you're going to make a wonderful mother, I know you will." The doorbell rang suddenly, startling them. "Answer that, will you?" Mark directed.

Rose obeyed, and opened the front door to reveal Izzy and Susan.

"I thought we'd come to see if you'd been murdered," Izzy joked weakly. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," Rose nodded. "We're fine. C'mon, come in." She flashed Susan a smile. "Come meet more of the family."

Mark stood up when the three came into the sitting room, and he enveloped Izzy in a hug before looking Susan over.

"So," he said. "You'd be Susan, yes?"

"Yes sir," Susan said, a little uneasy. She looked to Rose for direction; Rose simply smiled. "Susan Foreman," she added.

"Rose's granddaughter," Mark said. "Yes, I can see it…you've got her nose…" Rose and Susan both fingered their noses self-consciously. "So you're from the future?" Susan nodded silently. "Well." Mark nodded once. "Welcome to the family, Susan."

"Thank you," Susan said, bewildered.

"If you've passed muster with Grandpa Mark, you'll fit right in," Izzy explained to her with a broad smile. "He's a tyrant." Mark glared at her, and she smiled innocently at him. "But he's the loveliest grandfather ever," she wheedled.

"And would you be saying that if you weren't in front of me, I wonder!" Mark retorted. "Well, what are you two going to do about getting Rose back to her Doctor, then, eh?"

"It's not easy."

Silence.

"It's not. And yeah, I'm scared. Bet you're sitting somewhere laughing at me for that, aren't you?"

No reply.

"I'm scared of what he'll say. I'm scared of what I am. God, I don't even know what I am, Tim!"

The new gravestone gave her no answer, but Rose expected none. The dead couldn't talk. Not like this.

The funeral had been that morning – a week after Rose had brought back the body from Gallifrey. Bridget had been inconsolable, her other children had cried quietly. Julie and Jackie had helped their sister as much as they could, and Uncle Jeff had helped with the children. There'd been a wake, of sorts, but that had been much earlier.

It was nearly dark now, and Rose sat on the damp grass next to her cousin's grave.

"D'you remember when we were kids?" she asked the air. "We were inseparable. Did everything. You remember the firework, and that cat?" She lapsed into silence again and tugged a few blades of grass from the earth. "I'm sorry, Tim."

She stood up then and stretched carefully. "I have to find the answers," she said quietly. "I have to find out why you died, Tim. I will find out, I promise."

"The only place I can think of going for answers," Susan said from behind her, "is Gallifrey. The Doctor will know."

"No."

"Rose – Grandma – "

"No." Rose was adamant. "I'm not ready to go back there yet, Susan. I'll understand if you want to go, but I can't. I'll find some other way to travel. I know where I have to go."

"Where?" Susan wanted to know.

"The Doctor," Rose said. Susan frowned. "But not in this regeneration."

"A past regeneration? Grandma, you know how dangerous that is," Susan said worriedly.

"All of this is dangerous," Rose said, waving a hand about vaguely. "Life is dangerous. But there's only one person I trust to give me a straight answer, and that's the Doctor. I can't go to my Doctor, so I'll go to another."

Susan sighed, and visibly resigned herself. "Which regeneration, then? Where do you want to look?"

"Not the one that raised you," Rose decided. "From what the Doctor's said, the first few regenerations won't understand. Maybe…" She trailed off as her eyes lit up with an idea. "The Defender of Time," she murmured. Susan frowned. "His seventh body," Rose enlarged. "I'll go to him."

"I'm not sure this is a good idea," Susan confessed.

"Neither am I," Rose said truthfully. "But what other choice do we have?"

To be continued...soon.