Character/Pairing: Ten/Rose
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: The BBC owns all, I am merely borrowing.
Spoilers: Through Season Three.

"It took me months to do that!" Tosh remarked when she saw how easily their visitor had bypassed her security protocols.

The Doctor merely shrugged. "I'm very clever."

But more than a little impaired for the situation at hand. The Torchwood in the other universe also had possession of his jacket and thus the unpredictable yet useful contents of his pockets. Which was why he had frantically searched through the Torchwood archives and now leaned so close to a monitor that his nose just brushed the surface.

After several hours of squinting and hot-wiring scavenged technology, the Doctor had to admit he was getting nowhere. Well, nowhere in locating the whereabouts of his daughter. He had significantly improved the reception capabilities of Torchwood's tracking technology, not that it helped, and was pretty sure it would now pickup intergalactic cable.

The Doctor's frustration led to snippy retorts and a complete lack of patience, which only Jack recognized as a hint of the Doctor's previous incarnation. Jack's team was quickly fed up with the alien's waspish attitude, retreating to distant areas of the hub. Ianto, of course, was especially skittish after the firearm incident, but kept the Doctor's mug filled to the brim with tea as an apology. But for once the extra tannins and caffeine were not helping.

The Doctor was so focused that he failed to notice the soft echo of footsteps behind him until something brushed against the bridge of his nose. He stood up immediately, knocking the chair aside and exclaiming, "Rose!" as he noticed the blonde before him. He took a deep breath and then blurted, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. About Jack. I'm so sorry."

Then his brow furrowed as he noticed that Rose was far blurrier than she ought to be at that distance. Unless he'd been stung by the Giant Nettle of Rattan or eaten too many clarpine berries of the orange variety, it was not to be expected. He squinted and raised a hand to his face. Glasses. He lifted them away and stared in bewilderment at the plastic frames.

"I know they're not the same, but I thought they'd help." Rose bit her lip as she watched him. "Figured you'd be more capable if you could see."

The Doctor opened his mouth to reply, but Rose cut him off, pointing a finger at his chest.

"Doesn't mean I've forgiven you."

"I'm..."

"Sorry. I know." She sighed. "Find Hope. Then we can talk about it."

"Jack suggested the console room, if that helps. For the talking. Or...not talking. If you want. We could...well..."

Before Rose could tell him exactly what she thought of that suggestion, there was a beeping noise and the Doctor turned to face the monitor, placing the glasses back on his nose as he went.

"What is it?"

"Oh...our daughter is so very clever. Brilliant, even."

Rose didn't need to see his face to know he was grinning. "Gets it from you."

"No. From both of us." He looked up at the office above and yelled, "Jack!"

"I don't think it helped," Hope remarked after flipping a switch on the device on the floor. She stood but before she could consider a new plan, a burst of swirling blue light appeared on the other side of the room. Out of it tumbled her mother and the Doctor, both holding onto the arm of a man she'd never seen before. They were all winded and separated to recover from the rough journey.

"Hope!" Rose ran to embrace her daughter. "M'so glad you're safe."

"I stayed inside," Hope explained, wrapping her arms around her mother's neck.

"Good girl." The Doctor crouched beside them. "And you stopped whatever was blocking the signal from the TARDIS."

"Oh. I just flipped the reset switch," she stated simply, pointing at the device on the floor.

The Doctor frowned and moved to inspect the device, slipping on his glasses as he went. "Well, we wouldn't have been able to locate you if you hadn't. Not easily anyway."

"What is it, Doc?" asked the stranger in the blue overcoat.

"Something that's no longer a threat," the Doctor determined, setting his glasses on the console. "Still, better to be certain. I'll dispose of it as soon as we're in the vortex."

The stranger nodded and approached Hope, who was watching him carefully from behind her mother. "Hi, sweetheart," the man said, smiling winningly.

"This is Jack," Rose supplied, giving Hope a little push forward.

Hope frowned. "But he's not naked. In the stories he always ends up naked."

Incredulous, the Doctor perked up from the other side of the console. "You told her stories about Jack, but not about me? Stories of Jack being naked?!"

"Those are really the best ones," Jack endorsed.

Rose kissed the top of her daughter's head and stood, moving to stand beside the Doctor. "That's because I wanted you to tell her the other stories. The ones about us, yeah?"

"Oh." The Doctor obviously wasn't sure whether to be pleased or not. Instead he shifted his attention back to the console.

"What're you going to do?" Rose asked quietly, following him as he avoided looking at her. "Doctor..."

"No second chances," he said firmly, turning a dial.

"You're going to..." Rose started, eyes widening.

Startled, the Doctor blanched and turned to her. "No! No. Just...relocating."

"What?"

"It's...it's...it's like a sandwich, Rose." He raised his hands to demonstrate. "We're the filling, the chicken salad, lettuce and tomato, what have you. Pete's world is the slice of white bread. On the top. And then there's a slice of wheat on the bottom."

"Who uses two different kinds of..." Rose narrowed her eyes as she tried to sort through his rambling explanation. "Hang on. You're sendin' them to the other slice of bread?"

"Yep." He reached around her to flip a switch.

"Won't they just come back?" Jack asked, leaning against a strut.

"No." He paused, then amended, "Well, not without following me or having the TARDIS in their storage bay."

"You're sure?" Jack pressed.

"'Course I'm sure," the Doctor replied indignantly. "It's impossible."

"Wish you hadn't said that," Rose murmured.

The Doctor must not have heard her as he dashed around the console in a flurry of activity. "Now, all I have to do is reverse the temporal drive, establish both sets of coordinates and enable the optional polarity. They'll be sent off and we'll be on our way. Ha! Allonsy." He released the hand brake and the TARDIS shuddered into flight.