Between being pulled across dimensions by an alternate version of Peter Tyler and the Doctor's whisper calling out to her inside her mind, six long months had passed for Rose Tyler.
Answering the Doctor's call had led to the worst day of Rose's life.
Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Bad Wolf Bay. Pure desolation.
The words her heart craved stolen from her as surely as the man who'd been trying to say them.
She knew he struggled with those three words, and that's why it had meant so much that the Doctor had even tried to force them out.
Rose had known the Doctor couldn't vocalise his feelings the first time she'd worn a dress from the Tardis wardrobe, and he'd augmented his compliment of 'beautiful' with 'for a human'.
Dårlig Ulv Stranden had ignited hope in her heart and then crushed it by cutting him off. She knew, in that moment, that even if she managed to find a way back, he wouldn't say the words just because. Not without an imperative reason. Those three words were far too heavy on his tongue to be cast about carelessly.
Pete had driven them all back to the mansion after the image of the Doctor had been washed away from the Norwegian beach by tide and tears, and Rose had spent the next week sealed away in her room, her heart breaking.
She cried, she slept, and occasionally ate something to keep her mum from worrying. She often wondered if falling into the void wouldn't have been the less painful option. In a realm where nothing exists, she couldn't possibly feel her soul crying out for the Time Lord every second of every day.
It couldn't have hurt worse than knowing he was out in the universe, alone, and so far beyond her reach.
She knew her mum was worried about her, and Rose tried to reassure her. The stress wasn't good for the baby, but Jackie knew her too well.
It had taken a week of grieving before Rose could bring herself to contemplate pulling herself together, but she knew she had to. She put on makeup and tried to smile. Even managed to force a laugh or two at some crappy TV shows, but her mums' worried eyes rarely left her, and so eventually Rose let herself settle into a quiet state between pure desolation and her old, bubbly self as she fought to keep her head above water.
She'd promised the Doctor that she'd have a fantastic life. Told him that she was working for Torchwood, and he'd been proud. Thrilled that she'd not gone back to work in a shop. That she'd been brave, and not given up.
The memory of his grin at her news helped her to crawl from her bed every day. To shower, dress, and leave her room. It helped her to survive, and to think, and to come up with a plan.
She'd told Mickey once that there was nothing left for her on Earth. Not after seeing the stars. Not after knowing the Doctor. But now she found herself in the same position, only this time there was no Tardis for her to break into to help her escape.
It was a fortnight after Dårlig Ulv Stranden when she walked into Peter Tyler's office and officially applied for the job he'd promised her and Rose all but buried herself in the Torchwood archives, equal parts eager and desperate.
Surrounded by folders and boxes of alien artefacts, records and devices, a calmness enveloped her mind, helping Rose as she fought to maintain her fragile facade.
She was like fine crystal that someone had struck with a fork. Her head was fringing, full of noise and questions, as tiny invisible cracks began spider-webbing across her surface while she struggled to hold her life together and not shatter completely, but the familiarity of the archives helped her stabilise.
Every time she stumbled over an item, alien, or reference that she recognised, it was like a balm against her soul, and eventually, she found herself steadily working through the archives like a machine, experimenting, writing reports, cataloguing, and moving on.
It was a full month after Dårlig Ulv Stranden when Rose realised that what she needed, what she could use the archives for, was a way to cross dimensions. Her hope that it was possible had been kept alive by the tiny fact that somehow, from across the void, the Tardis was continuing to translate for her but what helped her believe was a history book.
Simple sheaves of paper imprinted with words that told her that while it might be impossible from her original universe, in her alternate one there were races that could have ways of crossing the void. A brief mention of multiple dimensions had her mind spinning with possibilities.
The knowledge of different dimensions meant it was a very real probability that someone, somewhere, had figured out how to do the impossible.
The Doctor had said that Time Lords used to travel between dimensions all the time, and while she suspected that there were no Time Lords in her current universe, that didn't mean there wasn't another race that could breach the void.
She only had to find them.
The Torchwood archives weren't her solution, but they were a stepping stone. A resource she could use. Hundreds upon thousands of pieces of various technology made it the perfect platform to contact, communicate, and trade with other species and Rose could use it. She could use all of it.
Transitioning from 'Alien Tech Archivist' to 'Head of the Department for Alien Outreach' happened quickly after she realised the potential of the archive.
With Pete as head of Torchwood, Rose had her pick of staff, and she snapped up Mickey without a moment's hesitation, along with Jake. Both of them knew her, where she was from, and what she was aiming for. More importantly, both of them trusted her. They would follow her orders but also call her on any mistakes.
She stole Torchwood's best medical officer for her new department, Leo Jones, and encouraged his researching tendencies. She got him a state of the art lab, paired him with a scientist, Melissa Stewart, and let them have free reign with any information they gathered on alien medical technologies, biological information, vaccinations, diseases, plants and animals, and even genetic material from alien lifeforms discovered at crash sites.
She paired Mickey's computer skills with a young inventor named Sara Sato, who made John Lumic look like a bona fide idiot, and set the two of them loose with any mechanical pieces of alien technology that could be adapted, learnt from, mimicked or hard-wired into earth technology.
Rose put Jake in charge of the team's combat training, including her own, and with the help of an old friend of his, Jimmy Slight, they were quickly the mod well-trained force in Torchwood.
With the number of hours Rose had them all out in the field, the paperwork quickly began to build up, so she recruited Lucy Cole as their admin assistant and internal liaison. The woman spoke more than six earth languages and when they needed access to other countries' resources, her connections were impeccable. Between the two of them, the mountains of paperwork became manageable molehills.
Pete had jokingly called their combined force the "big bad wolf", and despite Rose's complaints, the name had stuck. While, officially, her department was still titled the 'Department for Alien Outreach', most of Torchwood now knew them as Bad Wolf One.
That had been a year ago, Rose realised, as she walked into their offices only to find a large cake with a single candle stuck on it, in the middle of their meeting room table.
Rose and Lucy, Jake and Jimmy, Leo and Melissa, Mickey and Sara. The team of eight had officially been instated as their own department one year ago, and Rose hadn't even realised that the time had gone by so fast until one of them had brought in a cake to celebrate.
They all loved their job, Rose knew that, but for her the year they'd been working together was just another year without the Doctor, and she stared at the cake in silence. A whirlwind of emotions flooded through her system while she tried to capture each one as they spiked painfully across her mind.
Loss, regret, pride, happiness, contentment, sadness, grief, determination... Mickey's hand on her arm snapped her from her spiralling thoughts, and she swiftly plastered a smile across her features. She knew he'd seen through it, but no one else would and that was the important part.
"You alright, babe?"
"Yeah. Yes," she answered him quietly, not wanting to destroy her teams' celebrations, "just ... shocked, I s'pose. I didn't realise it had been more than a year since..."
She paused, trying not to let her smile slip into a grimace, before forcing herself to continue, "It feels like so much longer, and too long all at once, yah know? But I don't want to ruin this for everyone else, right? This is a means to an end for me, but for the rest of you it's... it's your passions, your jobs, an' I wanna make sure it's sustainable without me."
Mickey had stood there for a moment, dark eyes studying her intently, but after a moment he just nodded silently, and tugged her into a gentle hug. A brief embrace of understanding, before they parted and moved to start the day.
With her choice picks of Torchwood staff located, it hadn't taken long for Roses' elite team to make contact with alien planets, and with her ability to communicate with any species they encountered, more often than not social faux pas were avoided and wars averted.
Trade became the norm for Bad Wolf One. Trade of information, of knowledge, of skills and technologies, and friendships, and by the time they stumbled across a race that reacted with violence, the Earth had the tools and the alliances in place to defend itself.
Their weapons were a deterrent, and always something of a last resort, and when the enemy retreated, Torchwood let them go. Soon, Earth had spaceships being built, space-faring technology, and a reputation for fairness and honesty, with a strength to back them up that allowed Bad Wolf One to head out to the planets they'd been in communication with. It let them meet the races who traded knowledge and technology, learn about their cultures, visit their homes and explore the worlds that had helped Earth advance.
They made friends and allies and the occasional enemy, but everywhere they went Rose would always ask the same thing. Is there knowledge of inter-dimensional travel?
By the time Bad Wolf One's 2nd anniversary rolled around, the only answer she had received was a resounding 'No', but despite that answer, she'd begun to see glimmers of wariness in the species she questioned, and Rose reluctantly let hope begin to grow in her chest.
The first year without the Doctor had been a shock for her. The second year, they had achieved so much that Rose had felt a glimmer of hope, but when the third year spun past and Bad Wolf One was no closer to interdimensional travel than they had been during the previous months, it was beginning to look like the third anniversary would bring Rose's fragile world crashing down around her ears.
The third year, Rose thought to herself as she sat in her office with her head in her hands, fighting back tears of frustration, looked like it was going to end in a fresh wave of despair before she would be able to force herself to pick up the pieces and keep searching.
Many evenings passed Rose by with her head in her hands, fighting against a flood of tears. More than she really wanted to admit to, but she always forced herself to pull her shattered life back together and keep going.
In the teams' downtime, Rose continued translating alien texts in the hope of finding more mentions of interdimensional travel, of finding a species name that was capable of such a feat, of finding any shred of a clue, but it was like seeking out a needle in a haystack and her actual job, more often than not, got in the way of her personal research.
So when Jake knocked on her office door, she set aside her notes with reluctant but well-practised resignation.
"Emergency broadcast for Bad Wolf Alpha, in the communications room," Jake explained as he leant through the doorway into her office, an apologetic smile plastered across his face, and Rose smothered a sigh as she stood.
As he backed up to let her out, Rose moved into the hall and Jake fell into step beside her with ease.
"What do we know?" she asked, brushing non-existent creases from her white blouse.
"Not much. There's been a small transport ship in orbit for about an hour. It's been monitored, but no one felt the need to interfere for the moment, then ten minutes ago we got an audio transmission asking for you."
"Bad Wolf Alpha, huh?"
Jake nodded. "Seems to be the only name they have, and they won't give any more information until they can meet with you."
Rose hummed softly as she let her mind focus on their limited information, and peppered Jake with a few more questions about the small ship before the pair entered the communication centre of Torchwood One.
The staff were well trained, Rose thought, as the moment she and Jake stepped up to the console the technicians in the room cleared out to give them some privacy.
Rose spared a moment, while Jake locked the door to the room, to slow her breathing and smooth her expression into a look of calm diplomacy before she let her fingers press against a flashing red button that allowed their visual interface to connect.
"You wanted to speak to me?" Rose offered, keeping her tone purposefully neutral and, after a moment of silence, the screen in front of her flickered, changing from blank darkness to a bright white as the interior of the ship in orbit filled the screen.
For a moment, Rose thought it was empty, but then her eyes picked up the outline of the albino woman sitting before her, meeting Roses' golden-brown gaze with her own blood-red eyes. She studied Rose with caution, wariness, and what Rose thought looked like reluctant respect, so Rose waited patiently for the woman to speak.
"You are the one known as Bad Wolf Alpha?" the woman asked, but her gaze remained steady, unmoved, and stoic. She was all but unreadable, and Rose took a moment to cross her arms before leaning back against one of the abandoned desks, letting herself continue to observe the unknown alien on the screen before her.
The cold, red eyes were the most striking feature, but they were made more so because they were set against pure white skin. The woman's hair was the same pristine white, and even that had been made to stand out against the solid black fabric of what looked to be a dress or robe of some kind.
Shoulders were held firm, neck extended and head high. Whoever this was, they had rules and guidelines that they followed, lived by, and everything about her suggested to Rose that they had little patience or tolerance for anyone who functioned outside of those rules.
"Year, I've been called that once or twice," Rose confirmed after the silence extended a moment too long to be natural. "Who are you, thought?" she added, tipping her head to one side slightly and watching the woman's red eyes narrow.
"I am the Shadow Architect," the albino announced as though expecting to be recognised, but Rose simply nodded.
"Shadow Architect, okay then, and what do you want? 'Cause you've been orbiting Sol Three for at least an hour, and have only just made contact. Which tells me that you were probably looking for something, and now you've found it."
On a human, the slight movement of the Architect's lips might have been the shadow of a smile, but to Rose, it seemed mocking, condescending, and she forced herself not to react and simply wait for an answer.
"We detected an anomaly, something out of place. Something that didn't belong. Steeped in void dusk and leaking it into the atmosphere of this planet," the white woman explained, and Rose did an admirable job of keeping her face blank, even as her blood went cold.
"You do not belong in this universe, Wolf, and by order of the Shadow Proclamation, you are required to return to your own time and place, or face execution."
The room seemed to spin, and Rose's mind raced. While she'd not understood the Shadow Architect's title, the Shadow Proclamation she knew of. If she was somehow breaking intergalactic law, and they decided that Earth was harbouring her, then this conversation could have catastrophic results and Rose frowned at the screen openly.
"I'm not here by choice, I'm trapped here," she explained quickly, deciding to be honest about her situation, and revelling in the rush of relief that washed over her at the look of surprise on the Architect's face.
"You cannot stay. The others we have identified have filled holes that have been left by the dead, their void dust is being absorbed by the universe, but you do not belong."
Rose nodded slowly, accepting the words even as they slowly sank into her mind. Pete and Jake were born here. They belonged. They had their place. While Mickey and her mum had both taken up spots that had belonged to other people. Real people who had once existed in this world, but Rose had no space to fill. Rose Tyler had never existed on this planet, in this universe, and she'd never felt like she fit either.
It was like overfilling a balloon. Eventually, it was going to burst.
She'd thought the feeling of wrongness had been because she didn't have the Doctor or the Tardis. She'd tried filling that ache with work, aliens, translations, and looking for a way home, but if the Shadow Architect was right then it was because she had no place to slot into. No alternate person to become. Surplus to requirement.
"I understand, but I also have no way to leave," Rose explained. "Believe me, if I had a way to return, I'd have already used it. I've been searching for nearly three an' a half years now."
The Architect leant back from the screen slightly, her eyes scanning across Rose as though seeking out a tell or a lie, but eventually her gaze shifted slightly to the side, as though looking at something beyond, and she frowned.
"We may have a solution," she said slowly, as though it was a reluctant admission, and after a moment of what almost seemed like hesitation, her gaze returned to Rose. "Do not attempt to leave Sol Three. I will contact you again when I have consulted with the Proclamation."
With her instructions issued, the connection ended and Rose was left blinking at a blank screen, her mouth opening as her jaw worked on silent words that wouldn't come.
"What the bloody hell was all that about?" Jake asked from the back of the room, standing by the still locked door, and Rose turned to stare at him for a long moment as she tried to process everything the Shadow Architect had told her.
"I've no idea," she admitted softly, letting the room stay silent for a moment before she shook her head. "Alright, get someone in here to monitor the communications. If... When she calls back, I want to know about it the moment it happens," she ordered and Jake nodded.
"I suggest you head home, boss, speak to Pete and your mum," he said. "Something tells me things are gonna get crazy pretty damn too," Jake grumbled and Rose agreed softly, shooting one last glance over her shoulder at the screen before heading back to her office to lock away her files, before taking her friends advice.
It was just over a week before Torchwood received the promised call from the spaceship still orbiting the planet.
It had been the one day Rose had taken off work, and a small part of her wondered if they knew. If it was some kind of test to see if she would take the call, or try to run and hide. To see if she would attempt to stay in this universe.
Instead, Rose made it to the communications room in record time. She was almost certain she was going to get a speeding ticket, but she didn't care. Pressing the flashing red button to connect the call the moment the room was emptied of technicians, not even bothering to calm her breathing from the run through the building.
"Architect," she greeted, nodding slightly and the woman offered the closest thing to a smile she had displayed so far.
"Bad Wolf. You claim to have no desire to stay, but do not possess a way to return to your own universe. Is that still correct?"
"Yes," Rose answered quickly. "When I was trapped here I was told that the walls between the worlds had been sealed—"
"That is a sufficiently accurate analogy for the complex process of inter-dimensional infrastructure," the albino cut her off, her hand lifting to halt Rose's explanation. "Expanding upon that, however, the walls must breathe, or else that which is contained within would suffocate or rot. To that end, the Shadow Proclamation is willing to help you return to your dimension."
As the world fell away around her, Rose's composure evaporated and she openly gaped at the woman. The breath she was only just beginning to catch, escaped her and the room began to spin.
"What?" she all but gasped. "But... but why would you help me?" Confusion and caution were warring with the blossoming hope in her chest, and she knew all of it was painted across her face, clear as day for the Shadow Architect to observe.
"Your presence here is causing damage, Wolf. If you were here intentionally, you would be tried and executed for your crimes, but you pleaded not guilty and expressed a willingness to cooperate with the Shadow Proclamation. Showing a desire to leave, if there was such a way.
The albino levelled what was almost a glare at her before continuing, "We have found you a method of transportation to return you to your correct place in the multiverse. I recommend taking this offer, Bad Wolf, because it's alternative will not be pleasant for you."
Rose was silent, but only because of the shock filtering through her system, stilling her tongue against her will. The Architect's features were shifting from a warning frown to quiet anger before Rose was able to force anything past her lips.
"Thank you." It was the albino's turn to be surprised, but Rose could barely read her expression anymore through the sheen of tears that were building in her eyes. "You have no idea how much... thank you," she managed to choke out.
"When will you be ready to leave?" the Architect asked, and Rose wiped the tears of relief away before they could fall, taking a deep breath and lifting her gaze back to the communications screen.
The red eyes watching her were as gentle as they'd ever been, her features almost soft and Rose took another calming breath as she let herself consider everything she could need to prepare. Besides saying goodbye to her family, and her team, she knew she could leave imminently. Her whole life on Pete's world had been structured and focussed on finding a way to leave, and she let her shoulders straighten, and her arms fall from where they had curled around herself to hang loosely at her sides.
"Can you give me twenty-four Earth hours to say goodbye to my family?" she asked. "After that, I can be ready to leave whenever is best for you," she offered and the albino nodded, seeming pleased by the proposed time frame.
"Very well. We shall reconvene here, tomorrow, at the thirteenth hour, Earth time," the Architect decided and Rose nodded her agreement. As she thanked her again, and communications were shut off, a grin had crept across Roses' face despite her best efforts to contain it.
She stood silently for a long moment in the empty communications department, and let her eyes flutter closed in relief and grief stained joy flooded through her veins.
She was going home.