Laura-Rose turned her back on her elder brother and muttered something about brothers and not being able to choose them, ignoring the look of victory on his face.
"Relax. Mom'll call. She always does. She's just been held up thats all."
The expression on Jimmy's face did little assauge the nagging feeling that Laura-Rose still felt. She always worried about her mother when she was away at the Embassy, but this time there was something different about it, something that was eating away at her mind, some premonition of impending disaster.. or .. or an storm about to break?
Shaking her head, she snatched back the comms device and set it down for the fiftieth time on the coffee table in their lounge. Why wouldn't Mom just call?

Laura-Rose was just three minutes younger then her brother, Jimmy, with blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. Her father's apparently, although Laura-Rose had never known him. He had left without ever knowing about his twins, a sad secret that her mother had only recently revealed to her at her last birthday.

Jimmy was ruggish looking, even at the age of 16, with an unruly brush of brown hair, blue eyes and a grin that could infect the entire room in seconds.
His was a talent for making you laugh, a shoulder to cry on - but with such fierce intelligence between his eyes - the intensity could swallow you whole.

Laura-Rose was her mother's daughter. Quieter then Jimmy, she spoke only when she had something to say - demure but forthright - ready to jump into any situation that called for it. There was no mistaking the children of Rose Tyler.

Ambassador Rose Tyler now, of course. Following the Interplanetary War and the subsequent Alliance that had been set up following it, their mother had gone from being a mere Director of Ambassadorial Relations to Earth Ambassador to Gallifrey - a role which sometimes required her prescence in person on that world.
Rumors had circulated that she would upsticks and move to Gallifrey with her family, but Rose Tyler had neither confirmed or denied them. Merely dismissed them as unimportant. After all, who cared what people thought?

Of course, they'd heard the stories of their mother's alien encounters - in particular one alien encounter, with their father.
He had been a Time Lord from another universe, who had whisked her off into Time and Space, introduced her to all manner of wonders and horrors, and had ended up falling in love with her. He had had to return to his own Universe after saving this one from the Daleks (with a little help from his friends naturally), and had never returned. Perhaps, if he had known about them, he would have. Perhaps. And perhaps he'd have run a mile.

Guess we'll never know Thought Laura-Rose gloomily. Oh why didn't her mother call?

In the Capitol on Gallifrey, Ambassador Tyler exited the meeting which had seemed as transdimensional as any TARDIS she'd ever flown in, and headed for her quarters.
She had turned down the Ambassadorial Suite, claiming that she was just a 'Chav' at heart, a private joke which nobody else got naturually. She still missed him - even after all these years.
Still remembered his quirky eyebrow, his infectious smile which she saw reflected in her son every day, the way he could go from slow to quick, from serious to joking, how his lips would ...

"Ambassador? You're up late?" Observed Captain Fallen, her personal bodyguard.
"And you're following me again. Haven't I told you about that?" She teased back, and yawned. "Late meeting as always. I'm just turning in after I speak to my kids." She answered.
Her expression hardened, when she saw the serious expression on his face, the disquiet in his eyes. She had learned over the years, to trust his instincts and to follow his lead when the situation called for it.

"There's been some indications.." He began.
"Indications of what?" She asked, edging them into a quiet enclave.
"Factions moving against us and the Alliance. Theres a stong possibility that you have become a target." He revealed to her, looking everywhere and nowhere, seeing everything and nothing.
"A target? Thats nothing knew. I'm always pissing someone off - why in tonight's meeting I managed to insult the JaSqu'a anbassador. Twice." She observed ruefully.
"I would advise caution - the JaSqu'a ambassador? Twice you say..."
"Yup." Replied Rose gloomily.
"I would suggest you stay in your quarters, leave only with me. And leave tomorrow."
"I had planned to leave tomorrow." Confessed Rose.
"Most wise" Captain Fallen escorted her to her quarters and bid her goodnight.
He would come to collect her in the morning, but for now he would see to the security arrangements.

Rose sighed and flopped down onto the Gallifreyan equivalent of the sofa and turned on the communicator.
"Earth, Tyler Residence."

Laura Rose was about to despair of talking to her mother again, anytime soon, when the communicator spat forth the smiling, if drained, face of her mother.
"Hello, darlings. Sorry I'm so late. Meeting dragged on. How's things?" She asked her daughter.
"Well other the Jimmy being a jerk... fine." Replied her daughter, studying the lines on her mother's face, anxiously.
"Is everything alright there, Mom. It's just Laura-Rose here was getting all anxious... as usual." Jimmy put his foot in it as usual, and got the expected result - a whack from his sister on the arm.
"Hey behave, or nobody gets any Gallifreyan Whip when I get home." Warned their mother, watching their playful banter.
"He started it!"
"Did not!"
"Did!"
"Not!"

Their mother's laughter interrupted their reposite, and both looked up surprised.
"What?"
"Nothing.. you just reminded me of me and your father!" Spluttered Rose.
A sudden noise behind her, made her whip about. "Mom? What was that noise? Is someone else there?" Asked Jimmy.
"Wait a sec.."
She walked out of shot for a couple of seconds, and there came a loud cry of pain, followed by an omnious silence.
A black gloved hand reached out and flicked the switch - the communicator went dead.

"Mom? MOM!"