Domestics and Divisions

Thanks for the reviews and thanks for not killing me. Sorry it's taken two weeks but my PC had a virus and wouldn't start and then I had (and still have) loads of work to do… Hope you enjoy,

Disclaimer: Nothing that you might recognise belongs to me.

Part 8: Three Years Later

The alarm clock rang, signifying half past six in the morning.

Rose groaned, slammed her hand down on the top of it to switch it off and then rolled over, pulling her pillow over her head and once again sensing the feeling of loneliness swirl in the pit of her stomach as she had every morning she'd woken up in the past three years since it had happened.

It was the start of a brand new week in the parallel world and Rose had to go to work. Great.

Right on cue, the wailing of a two and a half year old started up in the next room. Rose groaned again.

"I'm coming, Jonny," she muttered, throwing back the cover and shivering as the cold morning air met her skin. She'd forgotten to turn the central heating on again. Fantastic.

Plucking her slippers from somewhere underneath her bed, and reaching for her woollen dressing gown off the back of a nearby chair, Rose shuffled into the next room, yawning and stretching as she did so.

"Morning, sweetheart," she greeted the young boy in front of her, "Welcome to a new day." She picked Jonny up, who cuddled into her side, his tears instantly disappearing at the sight of his mother. From the outside, he looked like a regular two year old toddler, with silky blonde hair that had a few darker patches in it, and gorgeous chocolate brown eyes, which always reminded Rose of the man she had loved and lost. But on the inside, Jonny wasn't a regular young boy. He had two hearts for one thing; something which had terrified his mother when he was born. Luckily, due to the intervention of Pete, it had been put down as a rare abnormality. The doctors and nurses, after their initial shock, didn't seem too worried. Both hearts functioned normally and Jonny was as healthy as he could be.

Rose had discovered another of his oddities only a few months earlier. She and Mickey had taken Jonny swimming in the local pool. About three quarters of an hour into their session, when Mickey had disappeared somewhere to flirt with a girl, Rose had accidentally dropped her locker key and had quickly dived down to get it, leaving Jonny floating on the raft. She had had a bit of a problem managing to pick it up and when she had reached the surface, it was to discover Jonny face down in the water. Rose had panicked for a minute and picked him up before discovering he was fine. He wasn't even gasping for breath or appeared frightened at all. She had puzzled over it for ages afterwards and still didn't have a definite answer but finally concluded that Jonny must have had what his father, the Doctor, had, which enabled him to rescue her from a smoke filled club on her twenty third birthday. That had been nearly seven years ago now. Rose let out an involuntary shiver. She'd been so happy back then…

Shaking her head, Rose turned her attention back to her son who was happily sucking on his thumb. Jonny was very close to his mother and only really seemed happy when she was around. She was able to calm him down in a way that had many of the other mothers at the preschool Jonny went to, marvel at. They couldn't believe how quickly he'd stop crying when she held him. It was yet another thing that Rose didn't understand but assumed it was some Time Lord-y trick that the Doctor had never mentioned. Not that he'd had any reason to.

"Mummy?" Jonny said, removing his thumb, "Need wee wee."

Rose smiled. "C'mon then. Let's go get ready. You've got a fun day at preschool with Alex, Tommy and Lizzie ahead of you and tonight we've got to go to Nanny and Grandpa's house 'cause its Uncle Mickey's birthday,"

"Uncle Mickey silly," Jonny nodded, causing Rose to bite her lip to stop her giggles. He definitely was his father's son. Not that his father knew about him.

Rose had discovered that she was pregnant about one month after she'd arrived in the parallel world. It had been four weeks of complete and utter hell. She'd barely stopped crying. Her heart and soul had been ripped out and felt like they were trapped in her universe with her Doctor. She hadn't been able to believe she'd been torn from the love of her life and might never see him again. It had been too much to bear and one night, which her mother would never forget, she'd tried to commit suicide- the pain of separation being too much to bear. Luckily- although Rose didn't think so until a while later- Jackie and Pete had discovered her before she'd lost consciousness after her overdose and managed to get her to a hospital on time. The weeks after that had been painful for all members of the new family but after several long days, a couple of arguments and numerous tears, Jackie had gotten through to her daughter, with the only way she knew how. She'd told Rose that the Doctor wouldn't have wanted her to hurt herself; he'd have wanted her to have a fantastic life. Rose had gone away silently and spent the night thinking and weeping but it had worked. She'd decided to try and live for the Doctor.

The news that she was pregnant only made her more determined to live, especially if she had part of the Doctor to nurture now. At first, she'd been terrified…

"I can't have this baby, Mum!" Rose cried, "The Doctor said he didn't want children! He'd be so angry!"

"Now, don't be silly!" her mother had said immediately, "He'd be over the moon and you know that. It doesn't matter what he said before. One look at the face of your newborn child and all your old worries melt away."

Rose had wiped her eyes before placing one hand on her slightly rounded stomach. "I might never find out what his reaction would be," she'd said with a sob, the ache inside her intensifying, "But I'm going to have this child, Mum. Then at least I'll always have a part of him."

Her mother had nodded and kissed her on the forehead before holding her tightly as she wept…

She'd been almost three months along when the whisper from the Doctor had come, drawing her and her family to a cold, windswept beach in Norway, where her heart had been mended and broken again in the space of five minutes.

Rose kept on swallowing down her tears as she waited for the Doctor. She didn't know what he was going to say or how he was even going to get there. Was he coming to take her home or to say goodbye? Was he going to be there physically or would it just be his voice?

When at last, his image appeared; she walked slowly over to him, blinking back her tears.

"Where are you?" she asked,

"Inside the TARDIS," he replied quietly, "There's one tiny gap in the universe left. Just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a supernova. I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye."

Rose let a tear run down her cheek. "Goodbye?" she squeaked.

The Doctor nodded painfully, tears in his own eyes.

Rose swallowed. She had to stay brave. "You look like a ghost," she whispered,

The Doctor frowned, "Hold on." He did something with the sonic screwdriver and suddenly it looked like he was physically there. Rose stepped forward, one hand raised.

"Can I touch…"

He shook his head. "I'm still just an image. No touch."

Something snapped inside of Rose. "I need you to hold me and tell me it's gonna be alright," she whimpered,

"I'll always be holding you, baby," the Doctor replied, "Just close your eyes whenever you feel alone or upset and I'll be there."

Rose nodded, closing her eyes for a second before reopening them. "Can't you come through properly?"

Her lover shook his head. "The whole thing would fracture. Two universes would collapse,"

"So?" Rose asked, a sob entering her voice.

The Doctor smiled sadly. "You know I would if I could, angel."

She nodded, another tear escaping the corner of her eye.

"You've still got Mr. Mickey then," he said, looking over her shoulder.

Rose nodded, glad for the change of conversation. "He's been brilliant. At least that's one good thing of coming here." She took a deep breath. She had to tell him. "There's five of us now. Mum, Dad, Mickey… and the baby,"

"You're not…"

Rose studied his eyes, seeing a mixture of hope and fear in them. No, she couldn't do it to him. "No. It's Mums," she invented quickly, hating to lie to him, "Three months gone. More Tyler's on the way,"

She saw equal measures of relief and disappointment enter his eyes.

"But what about you?" he asked after a moment. "Are you…"

"Yeah, I'm back working at the shop," Rose kidded, praying to see a smile on his face.

He didn't disappoint. "Ah, good for you,"

"Shut up," she smiled sadly, "Nah, I'm not. The Torchwood on this planet; it's open for business. Think I know a thing or two about aliens."

A look of immense pride appeared on the Doctor's face. "Rose Tyler. Defender of the Earth," he stated, "I'm so proud of you, Rose."

She nodded, her eyes welling up. She wanted to be in his arms as he whispered that he was proud of her; not stuck on a cold beach, a whole universe away from him.

"You're dead officially back home," the Doctor stated quickly, " So many people died that day and you'd gone missing. You're on the list of the dead. But here you are, living a life day after day,"

"Can you tell Kirsty and the others?" Rose whispered shakily, "Tell them I miss them and love them."

The Doctor nodded. "Consider it done."

Rose smiled through her tears before a sob erupted out of her. "Am I ever going to see you again?"

He sighed. "I don't know, Rose. I'm searching and I'll never give up searching to get you back but I might never find a way,"

"But I need you," she wept, "I can't go on alone. I need you by my side to support me and love me. I can't do it on my own,"

"Yes, you can," the Doctor urged, "You can do anything, Rose Tyler. I know you can. You can do this,"

"What if I can't?" Rose cried, "I've had five years with you holding me up and I'm just falling over now. It sounds pathetic but it's true,"

"I'm falling over too," the Doctor admitted, a tear rolling down his cheek, "But I believe in both of us. I'll find a way, my love. I'll find you again, I promise."

Rose wiped her eyes. "You can't promise me that, Doctor," she whispered, "But I'll always wait for you."

The Doctor nodded. "Live a fantastic life, Rose. Do that for me,"

"I will," she sobbed, "And you make sure Jack stays with you. I don't want you to be lonely."

Something flickered over the Doctor's face, too fast for Rose to catch.

"Will you tell him I love him?" she requested.

He nodded slowly.

Rose let out another sob but forced a watery smile onto her face. "I love you, Doctor. I'll never stop. I'll still be in love with you when you find me again."

He smiled back, looking lovingly at her. "I love you too, Rose. You're in my hearts forever. I will see you again,"

"You better." Rose joked weakly.

He grinned at her; the grin that always made her knees buckle but then she blinked and he was gone. She was on her own again.

Rose brushed away her tears. She hated thinking back to the last time she'd seen him. He still hadn't found a way through yet but she never gave up hoping.

A knock at the front door aroused Rose from her thoughts. She hoisted Jonny onto her hip after quickly finishing dressing him before going to answer it.

"Hey, Micks," she greeted her ex-boyfriend warmly,

"Hi," he smiled back, "Morning, champ," he said to Jonny, tickling him and making him squeal.

Rose laughed and handed her son over. "Can you watch him while I finish getting ready?" she requested, "I'm a bit late this morning,"

"No worries," Mickey said easily, "Pete won't mind if we're a bit late. He never does."

Rose grinned. That was one of the perks of being the head of Torchwood's daughter. Well, sort of daughter. But both Rose and Pete had taken to one another in a big way and now thought of the other as their dad or daughter. Pete had been there for Rose while she was still grieving. It had helped her to have someone to talk to who didn't really know her. Jackie, of course, knew her and the Doctor inside out, and Mickey knew enough, but sometimes Rose needed someone to discuss things with who hadn't been involved.

"I won't be long. Help yourself to breakfast," she told Mickey before disappearing up the stairs.

She was so glad to have Mickey back in her life. She'd missed him so much but hadn't realised it until she'd been reunited with him. In the first couple of weeks, he'd let her know he was there for her but it had been a long time since they'd seen one another and they'd both changed so much. As a result, it had been a little awkward at first. But one evening, a few days after their return from Norway, Rose had been sitting on a sofa in the lounge, staring into the fire when he'd come in. He'd sat down next to her and suddenly; she'd thrown her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder. They'd begun to talk and catch up and as the hours slipped by, Rose had told him the whole story of her and the Doctor. He'd laughed with her in the funny bits and cried with her in the sad bits and generally just let her talk herself out. She'd fallen asleep on him that night and ever since then, they'd become close friends again. Mickey was someone Rose knew she could rely on in this crazy new world.

Ten minutes later, Rose came down to discover Jonny giggling as Mickey made faces at him. She smiled. Mickey was brilliant with kids. He was going to make a fantastic Dad one day.

"How's Emily doing?" she asked of his current girlfriend, as she stirred the porridge that Mickey had helpfully began to cook for her and chopped up a banana for Jonny,

"She's great," Mickey smiled, "She's coming tonight. I asked Jackie and its all fine,"

"Great," Rose said, "Can't wait to see her again."

Mickey grinned. "Just got to get through a full day at work first. Won't that be fun?"

Unsurprisingly, it wasn't.

Rose enjoyed her work at Torchwood but sometimes the paperwork was so dull. It also got a bit boring when there were weeks between alien sightings or mysterious occurrences. Anyway how could anything be deemed exciting after travelling with the Doctor for nearly seven years in total?

Rose signed the report that she'd been writing with flourish before putting it in her drawer to deal with in the morning. It was nearly five o'clock and she had to hurry to her parent's house to pick up Jonny and get ready for Mickey's dinner party.

"See you tomorrow, Sandra," she called to one of her co-workers as she picked up her bag and made for the door,

"Yeah, see you, Rose," Sandra called back, "Have a nice time tonight,"

"Will do," Rose grinned before walking away.

She'd only gone twelve steps or so when she caught sight of a young man running towards her.

"Miss. Tyler," he panted, "Mr. Tyler asked me to fetch you immediately. A strange woman's been found in one of the offices downstairs with no apparent knowledge of how she got there."

Rose frowned. Why did Pete want her to deal with this when he knew full well she had to get home? So did he, for that matter.

"She says her name is Gwen Cooper and she's from Torchwood Three," the man hurried to say, "But that doesn't exist! Mr. Tyler told me to tell you that it's possible that…" He gave a puzzled frown, "That it's possible that she's from an alternate Earth..."

Review please. Constructive criticism is gladly received.