Father's Day:

A Paradox Lost

Rose did not relish the thought of seeing her father die again. It had been a constant worry at Torchwood, watching her father, the director that should have stayed behind his desk, out in the field defending the Earth right next to her. She often wondered if it was because her mother had asked him too- to take care of the daughter they didn't birth nor raise together but shared DNA with. He had been a scholar, an inventor and an intelligence agent against the Rise of the Cyberman, and part of her questioned how he had raised Torchwood from the hole it had found itself in the events after.

The death of his wife had altered the man, Rose couldn't deny that. It had altered her too, because just as much Pete was her father, that Jackie had been her mother. That was something the Doctor got wrong for once. Because he had even said it, he was Parallel, not alternate, they reflected the other. The Pete of Pete's World had just lived a little longer, got the right break, remember the condom in his jacket pocket that prevented her. He had dropped that stupid vase in the street and watched as the young driver sailed by while he tried to pick up the shattered pieces. Her father of this world just hadn't made that lucky mistake(had forgotten the condom) but been no less of a braver man in his actions in the Paradox she had brought on his head.

Now, as she sat in the library, she wondered if it was such a good idea to see him of this universe. Part of her thought she would be too distant, too removed from this Peter Alan Tyler, she had mourned him already after the Paradox, cherished the few extra moments that not many people got. And she was long past the teenage girl wanting to know her Daddy or at least the most prominent part of her was. She had learned to love his parallel self, and he had done the same in turn. She had a father in her mind, seen him die and then had him again... But it still remained that this Pete would die alone and no one should die alone. She died with her family around her, screaming and perhaps but with her and that was all she could have asked for.

Peter Alan Tyler willing to die for his daughter to set things right, deserved that more than anything.

She sighed, and stood, absently patting Porrco on his head. She licked her lips.

"Doctor?"she asked, and she hated how weak and trembling her voice sounded. She had been so arrogant the first time around, so sure of herself and her purpose to see her father alive and well. So sure that she could keep her intentions pure and stand by as her father was killed in front of her.

She knew better now.

The Doctor's head turned, lifting the vivid purple goggles he had been wearing, greased stained face morphing into a worried frown.

"What's wrong?"

"I want to ask you if we can do something."

He blinked, grinned.

"Alright, you've left it up me until this point, what do you want to see?"

"My dad, Peter Alan Tyler, He died November the seventh, 1987."

He froze, brows furrowed.

"Rose."

She clenched her fists and shook her head.

"S' not what you think."she sighed, ran a stray hand through her long hair, "He died alone, Doctor. Just alone on that street with that stupid vase. No one deserves to die alone."

He stared at her, blue eyes stark and firm. He stood, carefully, warily as if he would frighten her. His hands settled on her waist a new habit that she adored. His thumbs made soothing, maddening circles. Tentatively, as if he were afraid of what he was doing, he placed his forehead against her's. Part of her was not sure how to respond to his newfound affection and tactile nature. This Doctor had always been eager for a hand to hold and an easy embrace that did not linger. But the small touches, the hand on the back of her head, the hands drifting to settle on her waist briefly were so utterly new. Always tentative, always wary as if she would reject the touch she longed for and missed terribly. She did not know how she had caused this change in him, perhaps her hindsight in knowing him had pushed the buttons of tactile acceptability, perhaps a changed inclination to cling to him when she was unsure of what was really happening(how could she be living again, how could she be with his earlier self again?). She did not know, she did not care, she only enjoyed each new touch.

"Rose I'm not sure if that's the best idea."

She licked her lips, hating the heat in her eyes.

"He's fixed, isn't he? His death I mean. I wouldn't be the same person if I push him out of the way."she laughed, wetly and without humor, "Is it terrible that I don't want to change who I am?"

"Yes, it's fixed."he said, and his northern burr washed over her, "And no. Don't change who you are Rose Tyler."

She found herself able to smile.

"Can I be with him? In his death, please, Doctor, no one deserves a lonely death."

"Your wish is my command. But be careful what you wish for."he said, and he gently gripped her hand.

She knew how deadly wishes could be. She had wished to return to the Doctor, wished to hold his hand once again. Her death had allowed it, and now she had to go through time once again to correct her death, suffer through his ignorance of her feelings. Through all the secrets she could not tell, through all the people she allowed to walk towards their deaths to keep things from spiraling into a terrible, terrible paradox at her fumbling hands at changing her own timeline.

~BW~DW~BW~DW~BW~

"November the 7th?" asked the Doctor.

"1987."she supplies, and she breathes deeply for what she is going towards. In her head, the TARDIS is a soothing, gentle, mourning song.

Their pain is shared, the TARDIS had lost people as well(all of her kind, other Time-Lords had owned TARDISes, so the Doctor is not alone in the fact that he has lost all of his kind), and she understood. She starts up, and Rose grips the console as Porrco snuffles at her legs. They land with a soft jolt and the Doctor stares at her as she stares at the door. She breathes briefly through her nose, before she nods, gives Porrco one last pat and walks out of the TARDIS.

It is a bright, ordinary day. Just as it was before. The sun was shining, the air felt slightly warm despite being November, but other than that, the Day that Pete Tyler died was as normal as it could be. Rose shivered as she stepped out, head to toe dressed in black to mourn the father she would never know more than a few hours in this universe. The Doctor stepped out next to her, expression stiff and solemn. But assessing, measuring her as she stepped out on a delicate point of time.

"It's so weird. The day my father died. I thought it'd be all sort of grim and stormy. It's just an ordinary day."she said softly and eased her hand in the crook of the Doctor's arm as they walked towards the street where her father died.

"The past is another country. 1987's just the Isle of Wight. Are you sure about this?"said the Doctor, as they made it to Jordan road.

Her hands were slick in a cold sweat and her heart roared in her ears. She knew her father better, this time, around, that kind, slight wandering eye man that had a heart of gold and believed in doing what was right. He was not the mystical man who could do no wrong to her. Not the hero of her childhood bedtime stories. But a man of flesh and blood who had died for her. In an alternate reality of himself, he had loved her as a daughter. Picked her up at her lowest moment and given her a purpose, a drive to work beyond the devastation that would eventually kill her.

"I don't know what I'm doing, but I'm sure of doing this."she said simply, eyes down the street, "This is it. Jordan Road. He was late. He'd been to get a wedding present, a vase. Mum always said, that stupid vase."

A green van comes around the corner, parks rapidly and askew. The man that stepped out was ordinary, in a suit that didn't fit quite right in places. He was rushing, not noticing things as he locked the car door quickly.

"He got out of his car."she recited, the story that her mother had told again and again echoing in her head, "And crossed the road."

The Doctor's hand in her's squeezed. Tightly and slightly cool as a beige car came 'round the corner. It's just a minute, just a single act of looking only at the ground as he rushed across the street. The driver shields his face with his arm, swerves violently as Rose screams. That stupid vase shattered against the ground as he father was violently thrown back.

"Go to him, quick."whispers the Doctor.

Rose is already running, black boots thundering on the leaf-strewn asphalt. It is so far away, so distant than the time she had run out and pushed him away from that bloody car, the Doctor was so far away at this point that she doubts he can hear the rasping breath of a dying man as she reaches her father. She drops, kneeling and at his side in less than a minute. Her father is gasping, clutching at himself. The vase is shattered around him. There is so much blood that it makes something twist in Rose's stomach. She hasn't seen this much blood since Jake died, jumping in front of Mickey with a yell as a blast hit him dead in the chest. So much damn blood.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Daddy."she sobs, body shaking.

Her father stares, and his gaze is confused, in vain, despite that she knew that it won't do a thing, her hands press against his wound. She feels a rush of something course through her, a pounding heart and the sound of a golden song starts in the back of her head.

"You are. You are. The Bad Wolf. You're my Rose. You're my Rose grown up."it is sudden and not what Rose expected, and she leans forward because his eyes have turned a molten gold, a soft shining that she shields from the world by her long hair draping forward to cover his face.

Rose sobs, bloody hands shifting to press against his temples.

"Dad. My Dad. My Daddy."she whispers, and he gasps, hands coming to rest against her hands on his face.

"I'm a dad. I mean, I'm already a dad, but Rose grows up and she's you. That's wonderful. I mean, I

suppose I thought that you'd be a bit useless, what with my useless genes and all, but…. You're wonderful. Oh, all the things you're going to do, my Rose."he says and his voice is a soft echo and tempering melody that comes out in a painful gasp.

Rose is stunned.

"How do you know me?"

"God, I don't know, my head's spinning. A golden song, sweetheart, echoing in my head. I don't even feel a thing."he says happily, hands squeezing her's.

Rose's own head is spinning, drunk on the golden song in her head.

"This didn't happen before."

"No. But things change, love You change things. The Bad Wolf is created through your will. Right there in that Game Station when you have the most power: all of time, all of space at your fingertips."he gives a soft, gurgling laugh, "This man, this Doctor, isn't your boyfriend? Being your dad and all, I think he's a bit old for you. Blimey, over a thousand years old."

Rose blinks.

"I love him. Oh, I'm so sorry."she confesses, she hadn't been able to tell even the Pete of Pete's World, even if he already knew.

"That other me, that man that I see in my head with my face and thankfully not bald, is he a good dad?"her father asked, and he sounded desperate to know, "Will he take care of Jackie?"

"You never let us down. You were there for us all the time. Someone I could really rely on."

Her father laughs again, tears in his eyes as he shakes his head violently.

"That's not me. That's why I haven't done anything with my life, why I didn't mean anything.: Rubbish. I'm so useless, never got see you grow up."he laments, and his hands squeeze her's again.

"That is you, always you, Mum saw it, I saw it. That good man that does not change despite anything."she corrects fiercely.

There is another rush, another crescendo of a song in her head. Her father sucks in a shaky breath, golden eyes flaring.

"Oh. I can see that too. All that I would've done if you pushed me aside… God, was I really that rich in the parallel?"

Rose gave a watery laugh.

"Yes. You didn't know what to do with half of it. God, I wish I could save you, sod paradoxes." she says and she starts to cry in earnest.

Vaguely she can hear sirens off. The clear sign that this, whatever this was or however it had been caused, was coming to an end.

"No, love. I've had all these extra memories, all you've seen of me, even in a different life. I can even see what will happen to your Mum and you after I'm gone. No one else in the world has ever had that. And on top of that, I got to see you. And you're beautiful. How lucky am I, eh? Thanks for showing me all of you."said her father, smiling, tears in his golden eyes.

Her father's breathing started to slow, the gold faded from his eyes, and she felt him leave, touch her somewhere deep and personal, and fade away from the living world. Rose sobbed, and eased her hands away from his face, kissed his head. Checked his pulse instinctively, and stood. Sirens screamed in her ears and she stumbled back. People from the church were starting to come out, and her mother wailed as she saw who was bloody on the street. For a brief second, their eyes locked.

Blue met gold.

Her mother stumbled back, grips on her baby self and lets out another wail. She just takes another step backward before she turns 'round and runs back to the Doctor.

"Pete just ran out. People say there was this girl, all in black like some sort of grim reaper. Pale and crying, with theses eyes- Oh her eyes Rosie. You can tell a lot of someone from their eyes. And this girl, she had the eyes of something else. Gold and burning like the sun, old and deep. And she sat with Pete while he was dying. She held his face and waited 'till he died. Then she was gone like a ghost. Never found out who she was."said her mother voice, Rose's memories of what her mum had told her echoing in her head. Different than before, she noted, changing the past to the point that it even altered her memories.

A fear, unlike anything, ever before enters her. And she wonders if at one point she will forget her first time around with the Doctor forget herself to the point that she would only remember this time around. The Doctor pulled her towards him, knocking her out of her brief, paralyzing fear and they began to run. Shouts and sirens chasing them as they went racing back to the TARDIS. In the console room, everything catches up to her.

The fear of the Bad Wolf coming back in full force, fear of losing herself to her own was going to do that, down in the Gamestation give her father memories of the Paradox that she never caused. She might lose herself in her alterations: the new memories of her mother's story of her father's death, that damn book, that worn copy of A Christmas Carol that she had 'forgotten' she had received this time around. Fear was damn prominent that all she could do was stare at her hands, covered in her father's blood and sob.

"Peter Alan Tyler, my dad. The most wonderful man in the world. Died the 7th of November, 1987."she whispered through her sobs and gently, the Doctor pulled him towards him again.

His chest was solid and slightly cool in comparison to her. But it was what she wanted, she gripped at him, clawed at him really. He simply wound her arms around her in a small protective cage of him. The smell of him that clung to her jumper assaulted her nose, a strange combination of whatever ran through the TARDIS's tubes, leather, wool, the faint odor of his favorite tea and something that screamed TIME. She took it all in, the feel of his body and the crease of his jacket and the sounds of his northern bur whispering softly in a musical language that she did not understand. That, in combination with the TARDIS's song of mourning, caused Rose to slump forward, eyes closing as she took this all in.

Fears and uncertainty hit her like a freight train.


AN: I do not own Doctor Who. Its world and characters all belong to its broadcasting company.

This is me just basically making misshapen and lumpy sandcastles in its sandbox for both of our entertainment.

Yeah. This happened. Because this time around the Bad Wolf knows what she's getting into once she gets her fangs and claws via the Time Vortex and the TARDIS. And that echoes back and forward into everything.

And of course Rose wouldn't cause a Paradox this time around. She knows better and this is something that would be corrected all over again if she pushed her father out of the way. She didn't need the lecture nor have to learn the lesson all over again. She has to learn an entirely new lesson. And that's that alternating a timeline, even one that hasn't occur yet(only in her temporal memories) has effects. This is something that will be expanded upon later and in greater detail, but for now, Rose's fears is all we got on the subject.

So. Pete. Can I tell you how much I adore the 'Rassilon's Universe' Pete? He's a guy that never made it big, never really did anything important in his life at this point other than marry Jackie and cause Rose to exist. Yet he is completely willing to kill himself to protect the daughter he will never know, save the bloody world and thanks his daughter for causing them to be able to meet even if it is for a few hours, even if it is a massive mistake that caused the entire universe to nearly break.

I never bought the Doctor's whole theory that parallel people aren't the same people. I mean, he even edges on Pete and Jackie together in Doomsday. In my opinion, things echo across the multiverse. It has to, or the whole thing that Time-Lords only exist in one universe wouldn't work('locking' a species in one Universe would cause a myriad of repercussions across the parallel world's because a lot of things that happens to the Universe because of the Time-Lords), or even the Dalek's plan in the events of The Stolen Earth and Journey's End is complete BS. Things cascade in this universe to others. So yeah, I figure sentient beings are similar, because the Pete of Pete's World was fairly similar to the Pete of the Rassilon's World, and so is Pete's World Jackie, the only difference seems to come from the fact that they were finically successful and never had Rose. That just changed how they viewed the world.

Pete's Work Jackie never had a child to hold and cherish, never was a single mother and never had the devastating loss of her husband. She married Pete fairly young when they were both on equal feet. Then he got rich and her social standing literally became her only merit. The trophy wife, the socialite. She never had to worry about bills after her husband got rich, never had to worry about feeding her child. Jackie Tyler in that world was just what would have happened if she had never had Rose and had a stale marriage. So, yeah, that's my two cents about Pete and Jackie from Pete's World, the former getting together with Jackie of the Rassilon universe.

I was hesitant to post this chapter. It's so short in comparison to the other episode chapters, but there really isn't much more I could add to it. I wanted to write a chapter between this one and The Long Game, but couldn't write anything that really felt right. As for my extra long pause between the Long Game and the chapter before it, I'm going, to be honest... I was writing stuff for the future of Blooming Again, like way down the line. We're talking season three and season five. I've also started working on multiple scripts of episodes to try to speed up my process. And that caused me to slow down on the current chapter. Not to mention, I was working on my other stories. So yeah, hopefully, you've enjoyed the chapter and the subsequent previous chapter, and the wait wasn't too horrible...

Happy reading, and please review.

~Moon Witch '96