I have to say, this is my favourite chapter yet. It just...worked in the end. Thank you to the many people who have given me warm fuzzies so far, your reward is as follows...

27th December 2005

Jackie Tyler was pulling apart the Christmas tree when a low wailing noise vibrated through the air. Most people would have ignored it, maybe stuck a finger in their ear and wiggled it slightly, cleaning out the earwax and then continued with what they were doing. Some people would have mistaken the sound for an elephant slowly and painfully taking its last breath and they'd probably have feel confused as to why an elephant was apparently dying in the middle of a Council Estate in South East London.

But these people were used to it, because, for the residents of the Powell Estate, this noise was a regular occurrence and they had quiet simply given up trying to figure out what on earth this it was.

But Jackie Tyler could identify the source of this sound, having listened to it as she waved goodbye to her only daughter, a strange man in long brown coat and a large blue police box, just two days previously.

Although she knew timing was a strange thing to depend on when it came to the appearance of the Doctor's machine, they had only been gone two days. She knew it could have very well been two years for them but the first thing that popped into her head was that Rose was coming home. She didn't want to be with this strange new Doctor and had finally decided to come back home.

Subconsciously, Jackie knew that Rose would stay with the Doctor forever, regardless of who he was and would be, but a large part of her wished they had had a horrible falling out and she never wanted to see him ever again.

Which meant Jackie would never be left behind again, stuck at home, alone, without her daughter. With thoughts like these at the forefront of her mind she threw the plastic pine branch into the cardboard box, jumped over said box and raced to the door, wrenching it open and standing out on the balcony, leaning over the rail, looking down, searching for the TARDIS.

"Jackie!"

Her head whipped up as Mickey called her name and she looked across to his building directly opposite to see that he too was leaning over his nearly nonexistent balcony, having hear that familiar noise also.

"Where is it?" she hollered over to him, her voice carrying over the wind and only just audible by Mickey.

He shrugged, glanced around once more, gestured at her down to the ground below then disappeared back inside.

Jackie frowned and took the stairs two at a time, meeting Mickey in the courtyard outside, both of them glancing around desperately, moving towards the playground.

"I swore I heard it." Mickey said, turning on the spot, glancing around before looking up to the sky.

"Maybe we're going mad." Jackie said with a sigh, walking around to the end of Mickey's building and glancing around the corner.

"We'd be going mad together." Mickey replied absently as Jackie pulled out her cellphone and rang her daughter's number.

"Rose, sweetheart, where are you?"

"MUM! What's wrong, wait...NO! Doctor!"

There was a bang in the background then a long deathly silence, a rumbling of static and Rose returned back to the phone, now sounding slightly breathless, "Mum, what is it? Is everything okay?"

Jackie felt herself becoming increasingly confused, "Are you back home? Mickey and I though we..."

"No, we're...what? We're...hang on," her voice muffled for a moment, "where are we Doctor?"

In the background Jackie heard a distant reply then Rose translated, "The Eda...Edajion Constalation, we're eight thousand years away! Mum, I'm sorry, I can't really talk right now, can I call you back..."

"Rose!" came the Doctor's voice in the background, "Rose, run!"

There was a shriek and Jackie couldn't be sure who it had come from, growing desperately concerned as something huge then snarled loudly in the background.

Jackie found herself shouting down the phone, Mickey watching her, looking increasingly worried, "Rose, Rose, sweetheart! Can you hear me?"

More static then the Doctor's voice spoke, "She'll have to call you back, Jackie."

And the line went dead.

Jackie stared at the phone for a moment, then glanced up at Mickey, tears springing up in her eyes, "She's eight thousand years away."

A sob escaped her and automatically Mickey pulled her into a hug.

Donna had never been so happy to hear a sound in her life. She raced a hundred meters or so, past a middle-aged blonde shouting down a phone and a black man standing anxiously next to her. Donna ignored their obvious anguish and darted around the corner of the flats where, sure enough, just like he said it would, tucked in the corner between a rubbish skip and two graffiti strewn walls was the TARDIS in all it's glory. The door opened before she had a chance to pull out her key and Martha appeared, a relieved smile on her face as she saw Donna before her, "Oh god, you had me worried!"

Donna grinned at her and they hugged briefly but tightly, "Please tell me you can shed some light into my bafflement? Where's the Doctor?"

"We don't know." Came a voice behind Martha and Donna looked up to see a tall impressive man dressed in a military coat leaning against the doorframe, a grim expression on his face.

Donna eyed him carefully, "What do you mean, you don't know?"

The man ignored her and pushed past them both, gazing out at the estate, hands deep in his pockets.

Martha gave Donna an apologetic smile, "Donna Noble, let me introduce you to Captain Jack Harkness."

Jack made no move to acknowledge Donna, his gaze focused out on the estate.

Jack was saved a Donna speech on manners when a woman stumbled out of the TARDIS behind them, pointing back over her shoulder looking rather shell shocked, "There are more rooms in there, it just seems to go on forever."

A male in a crisp black suit followed after her, peering out from behind the door, and spoke in a deep Welsh accent matching the woman's, "I found that hand of yours in there, Jack. All this time and it was the Doctor's."

He sighed and lent against the wood panelling of the TARDIS, immediately standing upright again when he noticed Donna, "Oh, ah, hello there, you must be…"

Martha took her cue, "Donna Noble. Donna, this is Ianto Jones and Gwen Cooper."

Ianto held out a hand and Donna shook it awkwardly, asking, "So who are you two then?"

Gwen surveyed Donna warily then glanced at Jack, who had his back to them, "We work with Jack, for Torchwood."

Donna digested this bit of information then quickly rounded on Martha, "Hold up, I thought we were anti-Torchwood. The Doctor said…"

Martha interjected with a snort, waving a hand airily, "Oh, the Doctor's completely anti-establishment in general, haven't you heard half of his stories? Torchwood this, UNIT that, have you listened to the one about the Boon Corporation on Kestreline? Trust me, don't get him started on Kestreline."

Donna grinned, having unfortunately already heard the story various times to various exaggerations.

"Kestreline…is that a planet?" Ianto asked. He cleared his throat, "It's just that this my first trip in space and time and I was half expecting to at least end up on another continent. Another planet would have been nice. But by the looks of things, we ended up in…"

Jack finished Ianto's sentence, without turning, still looking at something out on the estate, "…the Powell Estate, South East London."

"London." Ianto repeated flatly. He sighed then gave a shrug, "Well, we work in Cardiff, I suppose I can't complain."

Martha gave Ianto a look, "Nothing wrong with Cardiff; lots of things to do in Cardiff." she glanced at Jack and asked, "So what next?"

Jack still didn't turn around, "Well, like the Doctor said, we're only allowed to worry about him once she's safe. She's moderately safe now, so….." he trailed off, finally turning to glance at Martha.

Martha opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by Donna, glaring daggers at Jack, "She..!" Donna exclaimed in indignation, "I don't know where you get off mate but I have a name! Donna," she stuck out her hand, "Donna Noble. Nice to meet you too, Captain!"

Martha bit her lip, hiding a grin and both Ianto and Gwen looked shocked. Jack finally glanced at her, a twitching smile on his face, and slowly took her hand, shaking it, "It's a pleasure, Donna. A real pleasure."

Donna glared at him for a moment then relaxed, "Well, that was only slightly condescending so I'll let it slide. Now, can someone please tell me what actually happened to the Doctor?"

Jack looked almost apologetic, as if he was afraid to say anything at all in case it set her off, "We were actually hoping you would tell us."

Donna blinked at him, "What do you mean…" she looked horrified, "I don't know anything." She looked from Jack to Ianto to Gwen to Martha, "Is the Doctor seriously gone? One minute we were in the control room, he's on the floor, waving his screwdriver under the grate when suddenly, I'm here!"

Jack sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, "He sent the TARDIS to me; empty, with a message. Find you." He shrugged and graced her with warm smile, "So I found you."

"And now we go and find him." Said Gwen simply.

Martha snorted and Jack shook his head, a soft laugh escaping. Donna huffed, causing her hair to fly up haphazardly before she took pity on Gwen so explained, "You make it sound so, very very simple. Tell you what, I'll give you a little bit of worthwhile advise. Nothing is ever..."

"…ever..." Jack added in for emphasis.

"...simple with the Doctor." Donna concluded.

Martha laughed warily, turning to the matter at hand, "Where were you then, Donna, had you landed anywhere?"

Donna leant herself against the wall and shook her head, "No, we were in the vortex, must have been. We weren't going anywhere in particular, just…"
"Aimlessly wandering?" Jack asked

Donna shrugged, "He muttered something about in flight modulating."

Martha frowned, "So, if Donna were sent here, the TARDIS was sent to you Jack…then the Doctor was sent..."
"Anywhere or when in time and space." Jack finished with a sigh.

"But why was I sent here?" Donna asked finally.

Jack smiled, a true grin on his face, and pointed out across the courtyard, "Because of them."

The other four followed his gaze to see the couple Donna had run past earlier; a middle aged woman with a large chest and dyed blonde hair and then a young black man, hair cut short, nearly nonexistent who had now pulled the woman into a tight hug; she crying and the man looking deject and worried.

"Who are they?" Gwen asked.

Jack sighed and took a long moment to respond, "That's them. That's Mickey Smith and..." his voice trailed off for a moment before he exclaimed suddenly, "ROSE!"

Donna frowned, slightly taken back and Martha looked from the middle aged blonde, to Jack, then back at the woman.

"That's Rose?" she finally demanded, unable to believe this woman, looking like any other average, everyday person in the street; dyed blonde hair, cheap clothes and heaving chest, could really be the legendary Rose Tyler.

Jack snorted half-heartedly and shook his head, his face pale, "No, that's her mother."

His eyes were focused straight past Jackie and Mickey, under the large oak tree next to the playground and to the person standing under it, "That's Rose."

He grinned, mesmerised by the young blonde girl, dressed casually in jeans and a tight blue jacket, her gaze intent on her mother and her boyfriend comforting each other in the courtyard.

Martha surveyed the girl for a moment, only slightly more impressed with her than the girl's mother. She looked young, slightly younger than Martha herself and she had that fake blonde hair matching her mother's, not quite as large of a chest but she was dressed simply and if Jack hadn't have spotted her out, Martha would never had guessed. For as long as she had known the Doctor, this Rose Tyler had sat on the captain seat in the TARDIS, always in between Martha and the Doctor, a sense of lost majesty about this girl who had stolen the Lord of Time's hearts. And there she now was. Just a sad little lost girl, standing under a tree with a longing look on her face as she stared at the people of her past. This couldn't actually be Rose Tyler, really?

Martha found herself fumbling for logical reason, for justification that Jack was wrong, "But the Doctor said she was trapped, trapped on another world."

"It's impossible." Jack whispered to himself, ignoring her, intent on Rose, "She can't be here, she just can't."

Martha shook her head, coming up to stand next to Jack, a hand on his shoulder. "That might be the Rose from this time. The old Rose."

Jack shook his head, a small grin beginning to stretching itself over his features, "She's travelling with the Doctor now. As Donna said; that Doctor's not here, so that Rose isn't here either."

He broke off and glanced at the four of them at his side, "That's the Rose Tyler." he shook his head again, "But it's impossible."

Donna Noble grinned, a bubble of raw excitement slowly building inside her, threatening to spill at any moment as she glanced at Rose; the Rose, then back at Jack, finally managing to breathe, "Oh, silly, it's not impossible; just a bit unlikely."

Rose Tyler drew her eyes away from her mother and Mickey and glanced back at where she had spotted the TARDIS earlier, startled to find Captain Jack Harkness staring right back at her, grinning at her from across the courtyard.

And no matter what was happening, no matter what she knew was yet to come, Rose couldn't help herself.

She grinned back.

No, she positively beamed back.

Next chapter is the Doctor and Rose!!

Not together mind you, that had you going there for a mo, sorry!

Hopefully we'll get there in the end. Hopefully, but you never really know what might happen?? ;)