Well, since the throwing of rotten vegetables didn't commence after chapter one, I feel a little more secure about it and I'll go ahead and post chapter two.

Thanks for the reviews! I'm glad someone is enjoying it!

Chapter Two

"I can't believe how cute she is," Rose Tyler smiled as she gazed at the small snapshot her father had handed to her. The small, impish blonde girl in the photo grinned out at her, the cherubic face covered in frosting from the child's birthday cake a few days earlier.

"She looks just like her big sister," her father, Pete Tyler, replied. The two of them were in his office at Torchwood, Pete lounging in his chair and Rose perched comfortably on the edge of the desk.

"I still say," came Mickey's voice from across the room, "that you should have a third and name her Petunia. You've got Rose and Lilly. Then you could just plant a garden in the back yard."

Pete shot him a scathing look. "Don't be cheeky," he retorted. "Jacks chose the names. I had nothing to do with that."

"I think Lilly's a beautiful name," Rose defended her baby sister, gazing fondly at the photo. It had taken Rose many months to muster up any real excitement over the impending birth of a younger sibling. Not that she minded the expanding family. Quite the opposite, really, as she'd been over the moon to see her parents reunited, together, and happy. It had taken her months, though, to muster up any real excitement over anything in the weeks and months that followed Bad Wolf Bay. Jackie had fussed and fretted over her for weeks as she'd slipped further and further into depression. She'd hardly eaten, barely slept, and moved through life rather like a ghost.

But time had been a healing balm to her shattered heart, and gradually she had picked up the pieces of her life and began to live again. Her sister, Lilly, had been an enormous part of the healing process. The first time she'd genuinely smiled had been the day that Lilly was born. The first real laugh that had escaped her lips had been in response to the baby's deep-belly giggle. She had gradually begun to let her family in, allowing them to be close to her and be part of her life.

There was still some part of her, though, that she kept closed off from the world. It was that part of her that held Mickey at an arm's length. She saw him watching her with a longing in his eyes, and a love that she simply couldn't return. Couldn't and wouldn't return because her heart already belonged to another.

Another that she would never see again.

She treasured his friendship and was grateful for the calm, steady presence that he had been in her life in these last eighteen months. But she wondered if he would ever come to accept that she couldn't give him what he really wanted. And wondered if what she could give him would ever be enough.

Her hazel eyes lit up with amusement as Pete launched into a new story about Lilly's latest escapades. Family life agreed with him, had softened him. He was more of a family man, now, than an existential businessman. Jackie, Lilly, and Rose were the center of his universe, and he didn't wonder so much about the universe beyond the Earth and its solar system.

"And now she's learning to walk," Pete chuckled, "so I'm sure you can imagine how that's turning the house into chaos."

Rose's amused laugh gradually faded into an expression of confused concentration as a strange sound reached her ears. It was a sound that she'd heard hundreds of times before, yet was so unfamiliar at the same time that at first she thought she was imagining things. She shook her head to clear it, but the sound was still there. "Shh!" she held up a hand to silence Pete and Mickey, ignoring the annoyed look that Pete shot her.

That is, of course, until they too heard the sound and their eyes widened with shock.

The three of them briefly met one another's gaze, just long enough for it to register that each one of them had heard the unmistakable sound reverberating through the air. Once they all heard it, all three of them scrambled for the door, Rose darting out in front of the other two, desperate to reach the source of that wonderful noise.

They rapidly traced the ruckus to the roof of the building, Rose shoving open the door with a loud bang and dashed out onto the rooftop, glancing wildly about.

She would know the sound of the Tardis anywhere. She'd spent countless hours and two long years on the beloved ship. Her heart was in her throat as she caught sight of the light that pre-empted the materialization of the time machine. She couldn't breathe, anticipation and hope dancing in her eyes as the light suddenly gave way to a…

"A Volkswagen van?" she asked in disbelief. It was a complete shock when she'd been expecting the familiar sight of a police box. The van, like the box, was blue and it had a white racing stripe down the side. Rose lifted a brow and eyed it speculatively. Perhaps The Doctor had gotten the cloaking mechanism fixed?

Once again her breath left her as the door slid open. Slowly, she approached the van. For months she had dreamed of this moment, sure that it would never come. Now that it was truly here, she found herself unable to formulate a coherent reaction. She wanted to cry, laugh, and squeal all at the same time. Images of dozens of memories flashed through her mind, her arms already longing to reach for the dark-haired man that she had missed for so many long months.

All of Rose's romantic fantasies were shattered, however, when the van's occupant stepped out. Instead of the dashing, handsome Doctor that Rose had often fantasized about, it was a rather petite red-headed young woman that stepped out. Her hair was rather short, framing her face in wispy clumps that gave her a tousled, off-beat look. She was dressed neatly in a pair of khaki trousers, and a white blouse layered under a deep green v-necked sweater. Comfortable loafers finished the ensemble.

"Oh," the woman said, clearly surprised to have a welcoming committee. She shoved her hands deep into the pockets of her trousers and smiled at each of them in turn, her green eyes sparkling mischievously. "Hello!"