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Chapter Six
Slowly Rose strolled through her parents' large, spacious home memorizing every last detail that she could. She had no idea if this would be her last night there, and that knowledge made it nearly impossible for her to sleep. Her hands traced over the pictures on the mantelpiece, lingering over a framed shot of her, her parents, and her baby sister when Lilly was only minutes old. Picking the frame up, she smiled down at it and wondered if her mother would let her keep a copy of it.
Sighing, she returned the snapshot to the mantle and shuffled her way upstairs. If this wasn't her last night here, she should get some sleep. She would need her strength to get her through the next day or so of saying good-bye to her family. Quietly, she made her way down the silent, dark, still hallway towards the bedroom that she occupied at the back of the house. Halfway down the hallway, however, she noted that a light was still on under the door that her parents had graciously offered to Jen while she was there. Rose hesitated and debated for a moment before she stepped over to the door and knocked softly.
"Come in," she heard Jen's distracted voice call out.
Rose opened the door to find Jen seated at a desk in the room going over a series of notes that she had scribbled on several sheets of notebook paper. The other woman was dressed in pale blue pajamas that were decorated with large yellow stars. On her feet was a pair of oversized blue slippers in the shape of monster's feet. Her hair was pulled up in two haphazard pigtails, and the same pair of thick-framed glasses she'd worn earlier was again perched on her nose as she intensely studied the paper.
"You're up late," Rose observed, slipping into the room and curling on the end of the bed. She glanced over Jen's shoulders to see what the notes said, but quickly found that she couldn't read it. Curiously, she squinted at it, but still none of the lettering made sense.
Jen glanced over and caught her confusion. "Gallifreyan," she said, chuckling. "Although… that does make me wonder why my Tardis isn't translating that for you. I might need to check the translation circuits." She sighed and shook her head. "I've had her in storage for so long that I probably should have overhauled her before I made this trip." Setting down the papers, she turned and smiled at Rose. "And yeah, I am up late. But, to tell you the truth, I don't sleep much. Time Lords don't need nearly as much sleep as humans. A couple of hours does us very nicely."
"Yeah," Rose replied, softly. "I don't remember the Doctor sleeping much, either." She paused. "Except…" she trailed off.
"When he was regenerating?" Jen asked, pulling one foot up onto the chair and resting her chin on her knee.
Rose nodded. "Yeah."
"Not surprising," Jen smiled. "Regeneration takes a lot of energy."
"So what are you doing up?" Rose asked, shifting the conversation away from the Doctor. She was finding herself growing increasingly uncomfortable with the familiarity with which Jen spoke about him. With the intimate knowledge that she had of him and his patterns. Perhaps, she thought, the less they spoke of him the better.
"I was working on a way to get us back to the Doctor," Jen replied, turning in her chair to pick up a paper, "and I think I've figured it out. At least, I hope so."
"Oh?" Rose asked. "How?"
"Alternate timelines are formed every time you or I make a decision," Jen began.
"Yeah, the Doctor told me that once," Rose replied, and then mentally kicked herself for bringing him up again.
"Right then," Jen went on, nodding. "At some point, though, all of the timelines that are formed connect." She held up a paper and drew a line, and then several branches off of it. "So, what we have to do is go back into time to a point that the two timelines connect, and then follow the other time line forward."
"How will we know which line is the right one?" Rose asked.
"Time Lords can sense one another in time and space," Jen explained. "Even as I sit here right now, I can feel the Doctor's presence out there."
Rose shifted uncomfortably. It took every ounce of control that she had to fight back the wail of jealousy that threatened to rear its head in response Jen's last statement.
"So," Jen said, "we find the intersecting point, and then follow it forward straight to the Doctor. He becomes like a homing beacon for the Tardis, leading us straight to him."
Restlessly, Rose stood up from the bed and paced around the room a few times. Finally, she came to a stop in front of the window. "Sounds pretty easy," she stated, flatly.
Carefully, Jen replaced the paper on the desk. "Pretty cut and dry," she replied, casually. "It's not possible with only one Time Lord, but two could pull it off." She fell silent and regarded Rose for a long moment. "You don't sound very excited about it," she observed.
Inside, Rose was wrestling with a myriad of emotions. Excitement at the prospect of seeing the Doctor again. Confusion, as she wondered why on Earth he hadn't followed a plan similar to Jen's and returned to her. And, above it all, insane jealousy at the intimate relationship that this woman appeared to have with her Doctor.
"Who are you?" Rose finally asked, whirling around from the window. "You never did really answer my question. How do you know the Doctor?"
Jen's gaze shifted away. "I told you that I've known him all my life—" she began.
"But that still doesn't tell me who you are," Rose retorted, firmly.
Slowly, Jen's eyes rose to meet hers. "Does it matter?" she asked. "As long as I can take you to him, does it matter?"
"Yes, it does," Rose replied, quietly.
Jen only gazed at the other woman, her green eyes dark with defiance. And it was precisely that look that brought the gasp to Rose's lips. Something in the intensity of the gaze, or the furrow of her brow, or that defiant look behind those thick glasses brought another, very different conversation that she'd had with the Doctor to Rose's mind.
"Easy for you to say," Rose chuckled as she toyed with another piece of equipment. She and the Doctor were seated on the Tardis, discussing – of all things – children. "You don't have kids."
"I was a dad, once," the Doctor replied, his tone so casual, so careful, and so soft that Rose very nearly missed it.
"What did you say?" she asked, snapping her head back around to look at him. Shock shone on her face as she openly stared at him for several heartbeats.
"I think we're there!" the Doctor suddenly burst out, completely ignoring Rose's question. He began moving rapidly around the Tardis, his mouth moving as quickly as his feet, rambling on about their current quest, dodging her question until, several minutes later, she forgot completely about it.
"Dad," Rose managed to squeak out, drawing Jen's sharp glance. "He's your father!"
Author's Note: So, was Rose right or wrong? Bwahahahaaaaaa...