By the time they returned to the hub, everyone was waiting for Gwen, Jack and Rose in the conference room, and Tosh had images of the Cottingley faerie photographs up on the screen.
Rose made a pot of tea before joining everyone, bringing the ray up with her so that the team could help themselves.
"This is the youngest girl and the girl's cousin," Tosh was saying as Rose entered the room, flipping between two images as Rose slid the tray into the middle of the table and took her seat.
"I blame it on magic mushrooms," Ianto said, pushing a cup of tea towards Jack before taking one more himself, and Rose raised an eyebrow at him.
"How did they get pictures of hallucinations?" She asked, and when he hesitated Jack cut in.
"What you do in private is none of our business," he teased.
"But these photographs were fake," Gwen protested, waving her hand at the pictures still on screen, only to start up a debate on the subject with Owen of all people.
"Conan Doyle believed in them," he announced, moving to grab a cup from the tray, a soft "thanks, love," muttered in Rose's direction, but Gwen's swift denial drew his attention.
"He was gaga at the time."
"And Houdini," Owen continued.
"Actually, he thought they were fake," Rose chimed in, smiling apologetically as she handed a cup to Tosh and slid the tray over to Gwen so she could reach her own.
"Exactly," Gwen said, "thank you, Rose—"
"Oh, I'm not agreeing with you," she corrected, grinning, "I think there's something to it, but how do you know so much about them?" she asked and Gwen frowned at losing a potential ally.
"Because I wrote an essay on the Cottingley glass plate photos when I was at school, and when the girls were old ladies they admitted they were fakes."
"Ah," Rose cut in swiftly, "they admitted that the photos were fakes, but they maintained that the faeries were real, didn't they?" she asked, and after a moment Gwen reluctantly nodded.
At Jack's questioning look, Rose shrugged, "I liked fairy tales as a kid, and that was as close as I was going to get to the real thing," she admitted.
"So, where was this sighting then?" Tosh asked, and Jack turned back to her drawing a deep breath.
"In a place called Roundstone Wood."
"I know it," Owen chimed in again, having already drained his scalding hot tea, "has an odd history."
"Odd how?" Jack asked, and Owen shrugged.
"It's always stayed wild. In ancient times it was considered bad luck to walk there, or even collect timber. Even the Romans stayed clear of it."
"I've had no reports of any sightings," Tosh mused aloud, using the tablet in her hands to skip through a few programs she was running, the screen showing her flicking from one data stream to another.
"You won't," Jack told her gently, and Rose knew he'd be able to see the worry on Tosh's face, that she might have missed something, as clearly as Rose could.
"These things come in under the radar, but they play tricks with the weather, so set up a programme for unnatural weather patterns," Jack explained.
"Right," Tosh said, nodding just as Rose smacked her hand against Jack's arm loudly.
"That's what tipped you off this morning!" She snapped at him as he rubbed his arm, almost pouting at her like a child, "You could have said something!"
"I wasn't sure," he told her, "I had to be sure."
Rose continued to glare at him for a moment, before eventually letting it go, huffing out a soft sound of irritation that he'd kept the information to himself, and turned back to the rest of the table.
"So," Gwen started softly, "are you saying that our machines can't pick them up?" she asked, and Jack stopped rubbing at his arm to meet her eyes seriously, shaking his head.
"Nothing can."
The table fell silent, the only sound the quiet hum of the projector before Jack rose to his feet. "Alright, Tosh get that programme set up. Gwen, Rose, I need you with me to check out the site in Roundstone Woods—"
"Actually, Jack, I'd like to go back to see Estelle, if you don't mind," Rose cut in. "She knows you think the faeries are bad, so it's possible she'll reveal more talking to me."
"You think she's not telling me everything?" he asked, head tilted slightly and Rose shook her head.
"Not intentionally, but she might subconsciously be holding back details," Rose explained and Jack slowly nodded his acceptance.
"Alright, I'll give her a call, let her know you're coming over," he offered, "in that case, Owen, you can come with Gwen and me, and bring the sample collection kit while you're at it. The more we know about these things, the better.
"Ianto, help Tosh collate any data she can find. We need to get ahead of these things," he announced, and everyone began moving to follow his instructions almost simultaneously.
It only took Rose an hour to drive back to Estelle's home, on the outskirts of the city, and she sat in the car for a few moments just staring up at the house.
She couldn't put into words why she'd wanted to come back and speak to Estelle again, but she'd learnt a long time ago to trust her own instincts, and they were screaming at her that there was more to Estelle's sighting.
Even before falling into a parallel world, the Doctor had begun teaching her to trust in her own perceptions by always asking her what she was thinking, and listening to her.
More times than not, the things she noticed would help him put the pieces together and while Rose might have never managed to see the whole picture, she admitted to herself as she stared at the gorgeous old house that she had always excelled at spotting the puzzle pieces.
She got out of the car and locked it behind her before jogging up the front garden path to the front door, her skin prickling like she was being watched, but Rose refused to stop, turn or look, and just rang the doorbell as though she couldn't feel her skin crawling.
Estelle answered the door with a smile, and seemed glad of the company, ushering Rose inside and plying her with tea and a slice of lemon cake as the pair made small talk.
As the older woman moved with casual familiarity around her kitchen, Rose found herself leaning against the counter, nibbling on cake and smiling.
She liked Estelle, and she could easily see how Jack had fallen in love with the woman. Her friendly demeanour and light, easy-to-talk manner meant that they'd barely touched on the faeries before Rose's phone began buzzing in her pocket.
"Sorry, Estelle, I need to take this. Can I borrow your garden?" Rose asked, and the woman nodded, ushering her away with a wave of one hand and clearing away the cake plate with the other.
"Of course, dear. Here, take Moses out with you. It's time he went on another adventure," she said and Rose grinned, cuddling the cat in her arms as she cradled the phone between her shoulder and ear.
"Hey, gimme a moment, I'm just stepping outside," she said and made a beeline for the back door.
"Rose? I need you to stay with Estelle," Jack's voice came down the phone, and she pulled the back door near to closed behind her, before placing the cat gently on the ground.
"Of course, I mean... That's why I'm here. What's happened?"
"No, I mean. Even if you think there's nothing she hasn't said. Even if you think you're ready to leave. I— I need you to stay with her, Rose, please?" He asked, and Rose nodded instantly, even though she knew he couldn't see.
"Sure. Of course. I'll stay until you tell me otherwise, but Jack, seriously. What's happened?" She asked, unnerved by the additional concern he was suddenly showing.
"A man's dead. He suffocated on flower petals. It's them, Rose. I've seen this before," Jack whispered, voice lowering and she could tell he was trying not to let anyone else overhear him. Trying not to panic the rest of the team or listening civilians.
"I just... I just don't think they'll be happy that she managed to get pictures of them," Jack continued, and Rose cut him off.
"Don't worry, Jack. I'll stay with her. You focus on finding them, alright?" There was a moment of silence before she heard him release a breath.
"Thanks, Rosie."
It was all he said before the line went dead, and Rose lowered the phone from her ear, frowning at it a moment before heading back inside, leaving Moses behind settled on the stone garden bench.
"Everything alright, Rose?" Estelle asked, and Rose realised she was still frowning, quickly forcing a smile onto her features as she scrabbled for an explanation and settled on the near truth.
"Sure, it's just... Look, I'm sorry about this but... well, Jack knew I was coming to visit, and he's all tied up in knots about these faeries," she admitted, running a hand through her hair and watching Estelle soften at her apparent embarrassment.
"He asked you to look out for me?" She asked, and Rose nodded, letting her grin turned sheepish.
"Yeah," she admitted," you don't mind if I stay for a while, do you?" She asked, "Jack did promise to ring when he's happy nothing's gonna crawl outta the woodwork and fly off with yah," she joked, hiding the reality of the danger behind teasing words and Jack's overprotectiveness.
"Of course not, I'll be glad of the company, honestly," Estelle said quickly. "He's such a sweetheart, that boy. His father was exactly the same, always so protective," she added, before asking what Rose wanted for dinner as the sky began to darken into evening.
Rose sat herself down on the floral sofa in the lounge, and let the woman talk, but her eyes were focussed on the windows that led to the wilderness of a garden, all her senses concentrated on guarding the woman close to her best friend's heart.
She spent a quiet evening with Estelle. Chinese takeaway that she refused to let Rose pay for, and card games played across the coffee table to pass the time, with the loser offering a story about Jack to the winner as the prizes that left both women in frequent bouts of laughter.
It was only when the clock on the mantle struck nine that Estelle stopped their games, and offered Rose a smile.
"I'm sorry, my dear, but I usually send a little wish off to the faeries right about now. Do you mind?" She asked, and Rose shook her head, eyebrows raised in surprise.
She helped Estelle clear the coffee table, and was putting away the deck of cards while Estelle pulled out a large, ornate box, spreading out a velvet cloth and beginning to line up crystals and incense.
Although the whole practice seemed a bit too much like the tarot card scam artist that used to live above them on the Powell Estate, Rose said nothing and let the woman have her rituals and wishes.
Several candles were placed and carefully lit before Estelle turned out the lights and sat on the sofa in front of her little display. Slowly she ran her hands over the crystals, letting her fingertips brush over each one lightly before she settled on the large white stone to her right.
As she picked it up, something prickled along the back of Roses' neck, and she shifted in her seat suddenly uncomfortable. The same sensation that she'd felt as she approached the house returned, sharp eyes watching her, and Rose found herself studying every dark nook and cranny in the room.
"Quartzite," Estelle whispered, cradling the stone in both hands, as Rose tried to split her attention between Estelle and the sensation of being watched.
"It's known as the searching stone," Estelle added, before closing her eyes. She let her head tip back and raised the rock as high as she could. "Oh! Let the energies flow! Help me find them again!" She called, the sudden shout from the small woman making Rose jump in her seat.
Despite her heart thundering in her chest, it was the soft fluttering sound that her enhanced hearing picked up that had Roses' head whipping around to stare at the bank of large windows across Estelle's kitchen.
The fluttering, swooping sound came again, louder this time and it pulled a surprised gasp from Estelle, the crystal thumping softly against the coffee table as it was lowered and released.
Rose was on her feet in seconds, eyes still fixed on the kitchen, and when she felt Estelle move to stand by her side she held out her hand to stop the woman from stepping further forward into the kitchen.
"Let me check first," she told the woman, only glancing sideways long enough to see Estelle nod, but the woman didn't return to her seat. She let Rose lead but stayed close enough to see for herself what was going on, and Rose itched to bundle Estelle into her car and drive back to the hub.
Advancing into the kitchen one slow step at a time, Rose strained all of her overpowered senses for some sign of what had made the sounds, but she found nothing.
Slowly she came to a stop in the middle of the kitchen, Estelle only a pace or two behind her, but nothing in the room seemed out of place, so Rose turned her attention to the darkness outside the windows.
Rose could feel a low thrumming sound building, shuddering through her very bones before she could truly hear it, like the very air was vibrating and she tensed in preparation. She could tell Estelle heard nothing by the way the woman advanced once more, peering intently into the garden.
Cold blue eyes snapped open in the depths of the hedge, and Rose felt herself reel back before she could halt the instinctive motion, and Estelle cried out beside her.
A moment later, Rose had moved. She stepped forward and placed herself between Estelle and the faerie, her arms encircling the woman. She blocked the blast of glass shards that erupted from the bank of windows, shattering their way into the kitchen like an explosion.
Estelle cried out, arms raised to protect herself, but Rose had her covered. She could feel shards hit her arms, slice through her thin shirt, scratch her face as she slammed her own eyes closed, and she was suddenly relieved that she'd decided to stay with Estelle.
The room fell silent. No more buzzing, and no more tinkle of glass fragments falling to the floor, but the quiet was deafening, Estelle's harsh, panicked breathing the only sound.
Rose glanced over her shoulder to make sure the faerie wasn't lingering for a second attack but finding it gone, or at least out of sight, she quickly turned back and gripped Estelle's upper arms, firmly steering the woman out of the kitchen and away from the carpet of shattered glass.
"He was right. Jack was right," Estelle was muttering under her breath, her whole frame trembling in shock and fear and Rose sighed softly as she carefully sat her down on the sofa, before handing the woman her mobile.
"Call Jack," she instructed, keeping her voice gentle and firm, reassuringly steady as Estelle gazed at her with wide eyes. "Tell him what happened and stay here. I'm going to check the other windows," she told the woman firmly, and Estelle slumped against the arm of the sofa, the phone cradled in her shaking hands as she dialed Jack's number and pressed the ringing phone to her ear.
Rose moved back into the kitchen doorway and spent a precious moment or two listening intently, but when she could hear nothing but the ringing phone in Estelle's hands she moved on, checking the windows and doors, but there was nothing else broken and no signs of the faeries.
Part of her wanted to check the upstairs as well, but a larger part told her not to let Estelle out of her sight, and that's the part she listened to as she all but stalked a perimeter around the elderly woman, shoulders tensed and eyes sharp, a growl of frustration hovering in the back of her throat at the faeries apparent blitz attack style that left her on alert and with nothing to strike back at.
"Yeah?" she heard Jack faintly on the other end of the phone, and sensing safety Estelle's breathing became erratic, and her voice trembled.
"Jack, it's me, Estelle," she told him, and when Rose checked on her the woman's eyes were wide and darting around to study every shadow in the room.
"What is it?" She heard the Captain ask, his voice tightly controlled, but if Estelle knew Jack, as well as Rose did, she wouldn't miss the thread of concern buried in his voice.
"You were right Jack. There are bad ones," she muttered, voice revealing her fear, and the tone of Jack's voice changed in response.
"Estelle, where's Rose?" He demanded.
"They've come to me..."
"Where is Rose, Estelle?" He asked again, and Rose found herself standing beside the woman and gently taking the phone from her.
"I'm here, Jack," she said. She itched to hug the terrified woman, but if another attack came she wanted her hands and movements free.
"Rose, we are on our way. Don't go anywhere near them!" he called down the phone, and Rose could hear movement in the background.
"Don't think that's gonna be an option, Jack. They broke through the kitchen windows and then just vanished," she explained and could hear the frustration in his response.
"They like to torment, and play games. Rose..." There were a hundred things he asked in her name. For her to stay safe, for her to protect Estelle, for her to run, to hide, to fight. None of which he felt he could say aloud and Rose sighed silently.
"Quick as you can, Harkness," she teased gently, and she heard the beat of silence on the other end of the phone like a physical thing before the line went dead.
Instantly she crouched before Estelle, and took the woman's shaking hands in her own, "Listen to me alright? Jack's on his way. He won't be long and until then I'm gonna make sure nothing happens to you, okay?" She asked, and Estelle nodded sharply.
"We're gonna be just fine," Rose promised softly before standing against and hovering beside Estelle where she could watch the windows and the garden at the same time, her enhanced senses still straining for some sign as a headache built behind her eyes.
A yowl that sounded distinctly like a cat fight echoed out of the darkness, and Rose's back tensed in response, her head turned towards the sound as Estelle gasped.
"Moses," she moaned, her voice a soft cry as she realised that the cat was still outside. Rose bit back the string of curses that floated through her mind.
"We can't go out there," she warned instead, and Estelle gazed up at her, tears forming on the edges of her eyelids as another yowl floated to their ears and Rose took a deep breath, her eyes fluttering shut.
"If I go out there and something happens to you, Jack will never forgive me," she whispered, opening her eyes again in time to see Estelle glance at the back door.
"If I go out there, then you'd have to follow me," she whispered, clearly still terrified, and Rose studied her face before rubbing her hands across her face in frustration. For the first time in a long time, Rose wished she was carrying a gun.
She rarely needed to resort to the weapon, but its presence had become a reassuring weight on her hip, and she could have used something reassuring just then.
"Fine," she agreed, "but if we get out and back in with no problems, we never breathe a word of this to Jack," she bartered, eyes flashing and Estelle nodded, already rising to her feet and beginning to step towards the back door, calling for her cat softly.
She reached the back door and unlocked it, opening it just wide enough for the fluffy cat to get through, with Rose mere inches behind her, eyes scanning the dark for any kind of movement or threat.
"Come on, Moses, come on darling," Estelle called, her voice faint with fear. "Moses!"
She hesitated in the doorway, and Rose placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, "You don't have to go out there, Estelle. They're not interested in your cat—"
"I can't risk it," she whispered back. "He's all the company I've got..." Her voice trailed off before she slowly pushed the back door wide and stepped outside, Rose on her heels and her hand still resting lightly on the woman's shoulder, prepared to pull her out of harm's way at a moment's notice.
"Moses! Come on. Come here, darling!" Estelle continued calling the cat, and the creature continued to ignore her as they advanced out onto the patio.
A second too late, Rose heard the movement behind her and spun just in time to see a blur of shadow push at the open back door, and she cursed aloud as it slammed shut, drawing Estelle's attention.
It was instant panic as the woman staggered back to the door, and clung to the handle, twisting and rattling the door as she tried to retreat back inside.
"No! No, oh no!" She cried.
Rose gently pried her hands away from the handle and pulled Estelle into her chest instead, hugging the distraught woman tightly.
"Breathe, Estelle," I promised I'd protect you an' I will," she offered, rubbing her hands along the woman's back in a comforting gesture, and feeling dangerously vulnerable with her arms full of the terrified woman.
With a low roll of thunder, the heavens opened. Rose remembered what Jack had said about the abnormal weather patterns surrounding the creatures and tightened her grip on Estelle as she felt the woman begin to sob.
"Alright! That's enough!" She shouted out into the rain, her long hair already plastered to her head. "She took a picture, that's all! She did no harm to you!" Rose shouted, the thunder all but drowning out her words as the rain came down in torrents, blinding her. The sounds were deafening her enhanced hearing, and she had to draw back all her senses to a human level, leaving her as blind to the faeries around them as Estelle had been.
Even without her senses on high, Rose could hear chilling laughter travelling through the rain as Estelle sank to her knees. The constant edge of fear weighed her down as much as the rain-soaked clothes, and the deluge of water and bitter cold quickly took their toll on the elderly woman.
"You've scared her good an' proper! That's enough now!" Rose cried out again, praying that the creatures could even understand her and suddenly Rose was knocked back from Estelle with a sharp blow to her jaw, causing the woman to cry out in fear once again.
Rose could feel bony appendages grasping at her shoulders and she forced her frame to twist in the creature's grip, lashing out with a blow of her own as she growled low in her throat.
"I won't let you touch her!" She shouted again as she tore free, advancing quickly on Estelle, but the second blow came hard against her ribs. Once again, it was unseen and this time it sent her sprawling across the patio.
As she sat up, slightly dazed, Rose froze. She could see Estelle out of the corner of her eye, and crouched over her was something that looked like a giant mosquito had been mixed up with a human and created a creature from her nightmares.
Long, spindly arms and legs, paper-thin wings, and wicked joy spreading across its features, revealing tiny pointed teeth as it held Estelle down, water bubbling out of her mouth.
"Leave her alone, or I'll hunt down every last one of you!" Rose snarled, but the faeries laughed and somewhere in the darkness, Rose heard Moses meow.
"Through time and space we dance, Rose Tyler. You will not find us," the faeries whispered and Rose could do nothing but watch as Estelle's chest stopped moving, as she stopped breathing and her eyes grew glassy.
A fury overtook Rose then as the creatures drew back, releasing Estelle as the rain receded, and she took a gamble. She pulled knowledge from fragments of dreams and she hoped she wasn't making a huge mistake.
"I'm known by another name," Rose growled, staggering to her feet, not bothering to push her fury behind a mask. "It's also scattered through time and space, so maybe you know it better than 'Rose Tyler'," she warned, feeling sick as she invoked a name she didn't truly understand.
"Bad wolf."
Instantly the faeries scattered, abandoning the garden, and Rose didn't let herself stop to wonder at their reaction, moving to Estelle's side and prying her mouth open to start CPR.
She'd only completed two sets of compressions when she heard Jack's voice shouting for them both, but she didn't dare stop to call back and let him find them.
"Estelle! Rose!?" She heard from inside the house, "Rose, where are you?!"
She heard him crash through the back door and come to a dead halt, and Rose finished her count before turning to him.
"... three, four, five, Jack get over here and keep up the CPR. It's only been a few moments," she ordered, but when he didn't move she ground her teeth together and raised her voice.
"Owen! CPR! Now!" She called, and the doctor appeared behind Jack's shoulder quickly.
"On it," he said, darting forward and dropping to his knees beside the woman as Rose staggered back to her feet, unsteadily.
"You're going to fix this!" She shouted out at the garden, and Tosh wrapped her arms around her. Maybe she thought Rose was distraught, or mad, but Rose didn't have time to explain, and pushed the techie off her.
"Beings of time, my arse!" Rose shouted, "This should be child's play to you!"
There was a long moment of silence before a small glimmering light appeared near the end of the garden, and Jack drew his gun, halting only when Rose flung her hand out towards him.
The faerie had the small delicate appearance that Estelle had photographed, and Rose eyed it warily, having seen its true form as it had held the woman down to drown her.
Slowly, the creature approached, hovering in the air before it spoke.
"We do this as part of our deal, Bad Wolf, do not forget to uphold your end of the arrangement," the creature said, its voice barely a whisper on the wind, but everyone heard its words.
"What deal? What arrangement?" Gwen asked, but the creature didn't respond to her questions, darting towards Estelle's body and dancing across her chest as Owen leapt back.
A sudden, sharp gasp came from Estelle as she drew in a deep breath of air of her own accord, her eyes snapping open, wide with fear.
"Estelle!" Jack cried, taking Owen's place beside her and cradling the now sobbing woman in his arms.
During the flurry of motion, the faerie disappeared into the hedgerow, and once it was gone Rose let her knees give out, sinking back to the ground with a relieved sigh.
"What agreement?" Gwen asked her, crouching down so she could meet Rose's eyes, but Rose didn't know what to tell her and shrugged.
"I don't know. It's still in the future for me," she admitted, and Gwen frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"They can travel through time," Rose reminded her wearily, "since I don't know of any deal, I can only assume that at some point in my future I offer them something in exchange for Estelle's life and they, apparently, accept."
Gwen frowned, and Rose let the woman think as she tried to catch her own breath.
"How did you know they could fix it?" Gwen asked her at long last, and Rose just shook her head with a sad smile.
"I didn't" she whispered, and Gwen let loose a humourless laugh, before shaking her head and moving to help Tosh take Estelle inside where Owen could check her over properly.
Before Rose was able to summon the energy to drag herself to her feet, Jack's long coat was wrapped around her shoulders, and he'd pulled her into a hug, a startled exclamation escaping her as her eyes shot open.
Her frame tensed, adrenaline still running through her, but Jack just held her, waiting until she relaxed in his grip before his hand soothed along her back.
"You could have been killed," he muttered into her neck. "The Doctor would have found a way to permanently murder me if you'd died here," he told her, "and I'd have let him. Drop me into a supernova, maybe."
Rose huffed a soft sound of amusement and shook her head against his shoulder.
"They weren't interested in me, Jack," she explained wearily, and he pulled back, hands holding her shoulders as he studied her face, and Rose gently brushed away the tears falling from his eyes.
"Then why is half your jaw turning purple?" he asked her, and she could see his throat working to swallow back more words or emotions than he was willing to let loose.
She gently pressed her fingers to her chin, where the faeries first blow had landed, the one that had thrown her away from Estelle, and winced when the touch lit up the nerve endings under her skin.
"I was just in their way," she muttered, but when Jack continued to stare at her, she frowned.
"What was I supposed to do, Jack? Just step aside and let them kill her?"
He flinched at her words, and Rose immediately softened with a sigh, "Come on, help me get inside where I can dry off a bit," she muttered, pushing him to stand so he could help pull her onto her feet, a small grunt of effort escaping her as her shoes squelched loudly and water dripped from her clothes.
As they reached the unlocked, and now open, back door to Estelle's house Moses ran out from underneath a bush, darting back into the house with a soft, offended, meow.