Rose awoke the next morning and went about her usual morning routine. When she was done eating breakfast, she wasn't really sure what she should do next. The morning before, she took Jake for shooting practice before the school had breakfast. The morning before that, the Doctor had taken her into the forest to discover edible plants. This morning, she still had at least an hour until she needed to be at the school.
She decided that her next stop should be the workshop to see the Doctor. She brought him breakfast like she had the morning before.
"Good morning," she greeted.
"Is it really morning already?" he asked in surprise. "Yes, I suppose it is."
"Oh, my love, you need a break," she said seriously. "Two days and two nights straight. It's incredible what you're doing for them, but you need to rest. Even if you don't want to sleep, you need a break."
"I've had breaks," he stated. "I shower at some point every day. I eat dinner with you every evening. I helped out with school dinner last night. And the night before, you and I… well, you remember."
"I'm still worried about you though. Why don't you take a little break right now?"
"Not a chance. It's really coming along and there's no way I'm stopping now."
"How close is it to being done?" she inquired.
"Well, have a look." The Doctor put down his tools and stepped back to proudly display his work.
The device was much bigger than it had been when she last saw it, but if she remembered correctly, his was still quite a bit smaller than the original. She didn't have anything to compare it to though because where the original 'time bomb' had been, there were just thousands of tiny scattered parts.
"Sorry, but you do realize I have no idea what I'm looking at, right?" she said apologetically.
"A nearly finished time bomb-like time device," he declared.
"How nearly finished? Do you have an estimation of when it might be ready?" she asked hopefully.
"I should be able to finish building by noon to sometime early afternoon. Then comes the tweaking, calculations, and calibration. My guess is that they should be going home sometime this evening or tomorrow morning."
Rose squealed with excitement. "You are brilliant. Absolutely amazing."
"I like to think so," he agreed.
"Have you found any clues about where this 'time bomb' might have come from?"
"Yes, I have. It's from Earth or one of its colonies. One of the parts had numerals on it. Western Arabic numerals," he explained.
"Which are used all around the world and become known as Earth numerals… So it could be from about any time or any place in the Earth Empire. What about the Time Agency? They use Venusian crystals in their devices. Did you find any in the 'time bomb'?"
"No, but that doesn't rule them out. This is very primitive. It could be a personal experiment, which there have been a few of, but it could also be one of the Time Agency's earliest attempts. They wouldn't have thought to use Venusian crystals until they realized they needed something like that to stabilize their devices."
"What do we do if we can't figure it out?"
"I don't even know what to do if we do figure it out. It was obviously a mistake. I know of most, if not all, groups that time travel successfully. Everyone has failed attempts at first. They either succeed and the mistakes stop or they give up and the mistakes stop. I say give up, but usually personal experiments stop because people die in the attempt. Either way, the mistakes stop. So what do we do?"
"I guess we'll just have to figure out the situation and go from there," Rose answered. "I'm going to start getting water ready for the school. I know you want to keep working and I want that, too, but take a few minutes to eat your breakfast first, alright?"
The Doctor agreed and Rose went to fill the water jugs. Instead of filling them up and handing them out one at a time to waiting assistants. She filled all four and put them outside the TARDIS. She went back in one last time to grab the protein bars and headed for the school.
"Morning, Boss Lady," Troy greeted.
He and Jake had come up behind her and she jumped when he spoke.
"Boss Lady?" she asked.
"Sorry, Mrs. Boss Lady," Troy corrected.
"Is the 'Mrs.' part supposed to tease me?" she said with a smile. "I quite like being married. It's you that find it amusing."
"It's the whole 'ball and chain' thing," Troy explained. "That's supposed to be when you're older and stuff."
"And heroic Rose with a ball and chain? Doesn't seem right," Jake added.
Rose shook her head. "It's not a ball and chain. Life is an adventure and, in my opinion, an adventure is always better with two. The Doctor and I made the commitment to live that adventure together."
"If you're married, why do you always call him 'the Doctor'? I mean, it's not just when you refer to him; you call him 'Doctor' when talking to him," Troy commented. "Why do you have a name and he has a title?"
"'The Doctor' isn't just a title; it's his name," Rose explained.
"That's what Rachel was saying," said Jake. "No first name. No last name. Just 'the Doctor'."
"Yep," Rose affirmed.
"That's crazy though," Troy remarked. "How do you get bank accounts and contracts and passports?"
"We don't have any of those. No bank accounts, contracts, or passports. Our mode of transportation is our home and takes us wherever and whenever we want. We don't have a 'home point' that we return to. We're not part of society so we're not restricted by their rules."
"You don't have a home?" asked Jake. "What about family and stuff?"
"I just told you that the lab is our home. And neither of us have family. It's just the two of us."
"You guys had to have had homes and names at some point though. You said you were born in the 20th century like us," Jake reminded her.
"I was born in that time period, London, but I haven't been there in a long time. I had a mum, but she died a long time ago. I've put my past behind me. The Doctor's past is buried even deeper. It's just the Doctor and Rose in the magic blue box."
"Tell us though. Come on. You had to have a last name," Troy probed.
Rose smiled and shook her head. "Tyler. Rose Tyler."
"I'm so gonna Google you," said Troy. "Just to let you know."
"Which is why I don't usually hand out my last name to people in your time period. I'll tell you what you'll find though – missing person reports. Rose Tyler disappeared."
"To become Mrs. Doctor," Jake teased.
"That wasn't actually my motivation, but if that's how you want to think about it…" She shrugged.
They entered the school together and four people were assigned to fetch the water. Rose stood back as everyone grabbed a protein bar. She was deep in thought when Jake and Troy returned to her side.
"Got a plan for the day?" asked Jake.
"I'm thinking it over. I'm really not sure what we should do. Gathering is a good idea, but…" Rose trailed off as she continued thinking.
"But what?" asked Troy.
"I'm afraid of Jake's response, but I was considering the two of us going hunting."
"Seriously?!" Jake was just as thrilled as she'd imagined.
"Considering. I'm really not sure. I really don't know what to do…"
Troy was about to speak, but Rose stepped away. Everyone had a protein bar and the water had been brought in. Rose stood in front of them and called for their attention.
"Okay, Glen Henry High School, time to listen. I have an announcement. I guess it's more like a progress report. The Doctor has worked two days and two nights, almost non-stop, on a time device that will send you home. The progress report is this: Either tonight or tomorrow morning, you're going home."
Rose had to pause because of all the cheering.
"That doesn't mean the work is done. We still don't know when exactly you'll be able to leave so we need to plan like we're still having dinner here. We have to think about breakfast tomorrow, too, because we're all out of protein bars. You may not want to bother because you're going home soon, but if we're here for another 24 hours or more, you're going to be hungry. As soon as breakfast is through, I'm calling names for a plant harvesting party. Anyway, there's the announcement. Hang in there. You're going home soon."
Rose returned to Jake and Troy and both the boys were positively beaming.
"Oh, I could kiss you," said Troy. "I can't believe it's actually going to happen! We're going home!"
"If you're kissing anyone out of appreciation, it should be the Doctor. I'm not exaggerating when I say he's working day and night. He hasn't slept since we got here. He never comes out of the workshop. It's really nice to know that you appreciate me, but he's your salvation."
"I wish we could repay you," Troy said seriously.
"Me, too," Jake agreed. "Really, if you can think of anything you need, anything we can do or give you, just name it."
"Edible plants for dinner," Rose answered. "You definitely don't have to, but if you want to help, that'd be great."
"We meant something for you and the Doctor, not something for the school," Troy clarified.
"I know. Thanks, but we're really alright. Just… once you get home, don't forget this. Appreciate all the little things at home and don't forget what you've discovered about yourself here. You're strong, independent leaders. When almost everyone had given up and hidden away, you stepped up and did what needed to be done. If you can do that in this environment, think about what you could do in your own time period. I'm not making any suggestions on what you should do with your life. Just, in whatever you decide to do, remember how special you are. You are brave and indomitable. If life starts getting tough, don't forget that."
The boys didn't seem to know what to say.
"So, veggie gathering… you in again or do you want to have a rest day?" she asked.
"I'll grab the mop bucket," said Troy.
"I've got the sample bucket," Jake added.
They were good boys.
When the group finished gathering and returned to school, Rose spotted the Doctor kneeling in front of the front doors with the time device in front of him.
"It's finished? You're calibrating?" she asked excitedly.
"Yep," he affirmed. "It's still going to take awhile, but today might be the day."
"Take a guess for me. Dinner or no dinner?" she asked.
"Really not sure, but you won't need tomorrow's breakfast. If I can't get it this evening, I'll most definitely have it before they wake up."
"Fantastic. I won't worry about hunting then." Rose sighed in relief.
"Hunting?" the Doctor asked incredulously.
"Well, it wouldn't be for sport. If they needed dinner and breakfast, I would need more food. Veggies are great, but they take more time and effort and they only go so far," she explained.
"Understood, but you don't need to worry about that. Might not have to worry about dinner either. Still questionable."
"Looks like I've got some free time then. Anything I can do to help?" she asked.
As soon as she made her offer, Rose's free time vanished. It was press this, hold that, scan this, help me carry, and please get something from the TARDIS. Rose was working as hard as she ever did, but so was the Doctor. Many people had gathered around just to watch. Jake and Troy were among them and each time Rose went back to the TARDIS, they followed to see if they could help. She told them they didn't need to, but they still did.
"That's alright. We're bored and just getting exercise," Troy told her.
"What kind of flunky would I be if I wasn't at your beck and call?" Jake had teased.
"You're flunkies when I need help, but right now, you're like puppy dogs following me around," she ribbed.
"At least we're cute puppy dogs?" said Troy.
They worked for hours and when the Doctor felt he was getting close, he asked Rose to go run a few tests for him. He was going to turn the device on and it was her job to use the TARDIS to measure its readings. Rose stepped up to the monitor and immediately saw what she was looking for. There was a red flashing dot in the corner of the screen that warned her of time manipulation outside of the TARDIS. The device wasn't activated, but it was still accessing time energy. Those were the levels the Doctor was interested in.
Rose highlighted the red dot on the monitor and expanded it to show her a viewing of it. It wasn't a camera view, but like an embossed image that was zoomed in to focus on the device. There was a faint outline of the Doctor in front of it, but she could still see the details of the device. She pulled up a few more screens and then typed in the command to take the readings.
Rose used the TARDIS's loud speaker to call out. "Okay, Doctor. You can turn it off."
It would only take her a few minutes to finish up in the TARDIS and a few minutes more to walk back, but she wasn't sure what kind of power the device was running on and wanted to conserve all she could.
Rose plugged a tablet computer into the console to transfer the data and when it was finished, she took a second to page through just to make sure she had remembered all the tests that the Doctor requested. She was just about to leave when she noticed another red dot on the monitor. Two red dots.
She opened the embossed visual and instantly knew what she was looking at. The embossed image focused on two wrist straps. They almost looked to be floating, but she saw the vague outline of the two people wearing them. Two humans with vortex manipulators.
Rose immediately opened the louder speaker and cried with urgency, 'Doctor! Time Agency!"
She took her hand off the button and searched quickly for another. She adjusted one dial for distance, typed in a code, and hit the second button. She felt a soft vibration through the TARDIS which confirmed that her command was executed, but would it work?
Rose had acted as fast as she could and then began running as fast as she could. She flew out of the TARDIS doors and raced toward the time agents' location. She saw the Doctor running toward the TARDIS, but when he spotted the direction she was taking, he changed course so that they would meet up. Running side by side, the found the time agents. The man stared at them in confusion, but the woman was too busy looking over the large weapon in her hands to notice them.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" the Doctor demanded.
"Who the hell are you?" asked the man. The woman had finally looked up when the Doctor had spoken and was startled.
"I asked first," said the Doctor. "Though I already have a pretty good idea of what you're up to. Give me the weapon."
"Who are you?" the woman asked.
"I'm the person that came to save these people and I'm not about to let you blow them to bits. Give me the weapon," the Doctor ordered.
"What do you mean 'to save them'?" asked the woman.
"They're all alive and well and going home in just a couple hours," said Rose. "There's no way we're letting you screw that up."
"Who are they?" asked Troy.
Rose and the Doctor turned around to find Jake and Troy. Rose hadn't even thought of her 'puppy dogs' following.
"They're from the Time Agency," said Rose. "That time bomb must have been theirs. They're here to cover up that mistake."
"How do you know about the Time Agency?" the man demanded.
"Hand over the weapon and we might tell you," the Doctor answered.
"Might as well," said Rose. "It's not working anyway, right?"
"Did you do this?" the woman asked heatedly.
"Yes," Rose declared. "It's like he said, there's no way we're going to let you blow them to bits. We've worked damn hard to fix your mistake. We're not going to let you burn it all. Your weapon doesn't work anyway, so just hand it over."
"We've got a job to do," the man insisted.
"So do I!" said the Doctor. "I'm sending them back. There are 263 living people over there. It was your mistake not theirs! You can't murder 263 people to cover your own arses!"
"They want to kill us?" Jake's voice quivered and he looked over his shoulder toward the distant school. Rose turned to the two boys and motioned for them to be quiet.
"What do you mean 'sending them back'?" asked the man.
"Home! Where else? We both agree that they don't belong here. I intend to put the school and everyone in it back on Glen Henry High School property in 2012," the Doctor explained.
"You have those capabilities?" the woman inquired.
"I have far more advanced capabilities than that. Far more advanced than the Time Agency will ever see. Your most advanced technology never gets better than those silly little space hoppers you've got." The Doctor gestured toward their vortex manipulators.
Rose really wished the Doctor hadn't insulted them. It was only going to make it harder to reason with them.
"I bet those manipulators aren't working now either, are they?" the Doctor added.
Both agents flipped open their wrist straps then looked furiously up at the Doctor.
"What the hell did you do?!" the man roared.
"Sorry, that was me again," Rose confessed. "Kind of scary being stuck here with no way to get back home, huh? If you hand over that weapon, we might be able to work something out."
"Fix them," the woman commanded.
"Not until you hand over the weapon. Hand it over, we do our work, and everyone goes home," said Rose.
"They can't be allowed to go back. There will be evidence and personal testimonies. The Time Agency-"
"I know all about the Time Agency," the Doctor interrupted. "'The Agents' purpose is to change without interfering, to leave an effect with no evidence of cause. To be untraceable, undetectable, invisible. To all intents and purposes, the Agents do not exist.' And that's why you're here. One of the Agency's failed attempts tore the school away from its time. Now you want to leave no evidence. You want to disintegrate the building and everyone here so that no archaeologists dig up a school and modern humans right beside a mastodon. It's disgusting! Your mistake and you want to take it out on innocent people."
"They were supposed to be dead already," the man replied.
"Yeah, that's why you waited so long to show up. You wanted to wait until they all died of dehydration or starvation," Rose accused. "Does that make it easier on you? Give them time and let them suffer and die slowly so you don't feel as much guilt as you would if they were still alive when you got here? Well, they're alive and we're keeping them that way. Now hand over the damn weapon."
"It's our responsibility to-"
"To hell with your responsibility. Mine is more important," the Doctor claimed. "Now if you don't want to be stuck here yourselves, you'll hand over the weapon."
The agents looked at each other uncertainly. Both were considering their options and looked uncomfortable at how very few options were available.
"Might as well. The weapon doesn't work now," said Rose. "You've failed your mission already and on top of that, you've been discovered. The question now is: do you want to be stuck in the Pliocene or do you want him to fix your vortex manipulators?"
The agents still looked undecided so the Doctor took the chance and slowly extended his arms to beckon for the bazooka-sized weapon. The woman huffed and shoved it into his arms.
Rose took it from the Doctor and held it steady while he used his sonic screwdriver to take pieces apart. Once he finished with the gun, he took out the bomb that was housed inside and dismantled that, too.
"Alright, thank you for your cooperation," said the Doctor. "Vortex manipulators?"
They were still skeptical, but slowly, the man extended his arm so the Doctor could have a look. The sonic screwdriver whirred and the screen flashed on. The man looked relieved and when the woman saw that his was working, she quickly offered hers up to the Doctor.
The moment the Doctor stepped back, Rose let out a huge sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god. That was really cutting it close."
She started laughing, not out of humor or joy, but from the sudden release of fear and anxiety.
"We were really cutting it close on both ends, weren't we?" the Doctor laughed with her. "Very fast thinking. Well done."
"If I was just a second later…" Rose shook her head, not wanting to think about it. "And then this end. What's your time sense say?"
"Two minutes left," the Doctor answered.
Rose laughed even harder.
"Two minutes 'til what?" asked Jake.
"Until the weapon and their vortex manipulators came back to life on their own," the Doctor stated.
"What?!" the male fumed. He rushed forward and grab the Doctor by the collar. "That was a game! That was a stupid, fu-"
"Game's still on," said Rose, "so you better put him down. He got to play with your wrist straps, remember? Now you're really not going anywhere until he lets you. They're still functional, but you can't travel without access codes. He's the only one who has them."
The man looked ready to snap and Rose was starting to worry.
"How about this game? I'll beat the codes out of him," the man threatened.
Jake and Troy stepped forward, one on each side of the Doctor. They said nothing, but the message was clear.
"Violence. Always violence," the Doctor muttered. The man made no move to hit him, but also no move to release him. The Doctor started peeling the man's fingers off his shirt. "I'll thank you to let me go. Yes, thank you. Very good."
Once free, the Doctor spun around to have a look at everyone. "Good. Right then. Everyone back to the school. Oh, and Rose, I'm sorry, love, but do you think you could still grab those readings?"
"Of course." Rose pulled him forward to give him a quick kiss and then separated from the group to go to the TARDIS. This time, Jake and Troy didn't follow her. They stayed to guard the Doctor.