3 Razor-sharp Butterflies
The diner that Peter takes her to is just like something from the movies, all shiny chrome and glass—Rose is instantly in love. The smell of frying potatoes greets them as they walk in, along with the aroma of coffee and bacon. Rose's only previous experience with the US was a couple of years ago on a mission for Torchwood; but she had never left the military base, and the food had been tolerable if boring. The glorious smells of this restaurant has her mouth already watering in anticipation.
"Oh this place smells gorgeous," she enthuses as she and Peter find a lucky booth toward the back of the restaurant. It's early enough that the diner isn't busy yet, but more people are filing in steadily after them.
"Olivia and I love this place. Walter would too, but leaving the lab isn't his favourite thing, though he's getting better at it. We'll bring him some danish and he'll act like it's his birthday," Peter says with a smile while glancing at the menu before setting it down. He knows what he's going to get.
After helping Rose decide on what to order, they enjoy a moment with the fresh coffee before Peter inhales deeply, preparing for his turn at storytelling. Rose beats him to it by asking the question that's actually at the heart of everything.
"So you're from a parallel universe and experienced in time travel; makes you a bit different from your friends, yeah?" Rose asks him, smiling into her coffee.
"You could say that, but I'm not alone in being unique. How did you know? Olivia can tell sometimes, but her the ability comes and goes. She calls it a shimmer," Peter explains.
"Oh, I don't see anythin'. I feel it. You vibrate at a different frequency than this Universe."
"Walter would launch into an explanation using tuning forks," Peter says with a grin. "We just went over this last week. This Universe vibrates in the key of 'C', the Alternate in 'G.'"
"Good to know; my alternate is the key of 'B' and the Prime is 'A.' With a potential of infinite parallels though I would assume there's some kind of overlap, but who knows?" Rose says with a shrug.
"How could you tell the difference?" Peter asks wondering about her ability.
"Dunno. I started noticin' the differences after the first few jumps with the cannon. I assume it is something I got from Bad Wolf. Comes in handy, though. If the situation I jump into is bad, I can just lay low for a bit, and know if I'm in the correct Universe. Hasn't happened yet, but I think I'll know instantly when I'm back in the Prime. Just a feelin' I have," Rose says softly, gazing into her coffee.
"Why do you call your original Universe the Prime?" Peter asks after their food has been delivered.
"The Doctor's people, the Time Lords, used to be able to travel at will between parallels. The Prime is the only Universe with Time Lords. The Doctor said his species was one of the oldest in all the Universes; billions of civilised years apparently, but he wouldn't talk about them often. I learned more from Jack and gleaned the rest," Rose tells him in explanation.
Peter stares at her with his forkful of egg halfway to his mouth, slightly agape. Putting the fork back down, he looks at her intensely for a moment when he says quietly, "And he had to destroy his people and his home." Peter shakes his ahead and looks back up at Rose with an understanding look. "I had to make the same decision, but I was able to find a different solution. I'm getting ahead of myself, though; should probably start at the beginning as well."
"Weeell, that's how I did it; no reason to be a copycat," Rose teases. "If it involves timeline weirdness, sometimes the linear explanation isn't the easiest, as you saw with my own story. What year is it here, by the way? I meant to ask earlier."
"2012. When is it for you?" Peter asks. He hadn't thought about those potential defferences yet. The look of surprise on Rose's face makes him wonder.
"Well, Pete's world runs faster than the Prime by a few years. It was 2014 when I jumped last night, morning for me. But I'm tryin' to reach the Doctor as close to when I was lost as possible, so I'm aiming for 2008 or 9. And we are only workin' with the Earth in our search. It presented too many conflicting variables to try and find the TARDIS anywhere in time and space, so we're narrowin' our parameters quite a bit. This bein' 2012 is interesting. I can't imagine why I was pulled here. It was a pretty weird jump, but I've never been this far outside our parameters before." Shrugging, she starts eating thoughtfully.
Peter and Rose save the rest of the conversation until after the meal, except for commenting about the food. Rose is thrilled with hash browns. She'll have to see if she can't make them when she gets back. Finishing, their coffee is warmed up, and Rose encourages Peter to begin.
"Before I get started, can you explain a little how the Dimension Cannon works?" he asks.
"I have a really helpful analogy that works pretty well and made the Torchwood board happy, though it's horribly simplified," she says smiling. "It makes it sound safer than it is, but I'll save the technical conversation for when we're back to your lab and the whiteboard." Nodding his agreement, she continues, "Think of the cannon like your hand when you're skipping stones across a lake. It takes an enormous amount of power to punch through the Universal walls, but the cannon opens a hole and shoots me out across the Void skimming past the Universal walls. The Void is the space between Universes. When my jumper finds the signal we've tuned it to, I drop out of the Void into that Universe—plop! A rubbish explanation, but you get the gist of it."
"My God," Peter says slowly, brow furrowed. "Rubbish is right, there's no way that's at all safe. In fact, it's hideously dangerous!"
"It's not like I have a choice, Peter. I'm not just doin' it for the Doctor. I miss him…so, so much, but I wouldn't risk the destruction of Universes even for him…or him, me," she replies with a sad smile. This time Peter can see the haunted and painful depths of Rose's despair and loss. She's previously hidden it well in distracting grins and easy banter, but now he can see that she doubts her own success, no matter her determination.
Reaching out in sympathy, Peter squeezes Roses arm where they are crossed on the table. "Rose, you'll succeed. I have a feeling you'll see your Doctor soon. I'm not just saying that to make you feel better, either."
"Thanks, Peter," she says quietly, trying to smile bravely. Taking a deep breath, she prompts Peter again, "Don't think you can distract me, Peter Bishop. Spill."
Smiling, he takes a deep breath and leaps in to his own impossible tale. "Right, so in 2008, I was hip deep in this con I was running in Baghdad when Olivia came and drug me home to …," Peter begins.
—∞—-
"Holy shit, Peter, and I thought some of the stuff the Doctor and I saw was weird. I even got turned into a statue once, but see-through half-dead traitors, mental razor butterflies, Walter's porcupine man…? Blimey!" Rose comments, shaking her head.
"Oh and the porcupine man that Walter mentioned last night isn't even the same one. Well, it is, but not…well, I'll get there," Peters says, getting tripped on the differing timeframes.
"Yeah, sorry. You must have been so worried for Olivia," she says sympathetically.
"Oh, yes, but in so many ways," Peter replies softly, almost to himself. "Anyway, there was plenty more weird cases. I've only scratched the surface. We haven't gotten to…" he continues.
—∞—-
"Zeppelins? Your alternate next door has zeppelins?" Rose asks incredulous.
"Ya, and the Statue of Liberty is still copper coloured, not green like ours."
"Pete's World has zeppelins, too, but the US doesn't have the Statue of Liberty. After Queen Victoria was killed, the States invaded France for some reason. The French weren't so happy with that, as you can imagine. Relations only got better between the two recently, but I don't think they'll be makin' 'em statues anytime soon."
"Wow! So many little things that can be different. It was strange being there in the parallel. It did feel right, like you said. And my mom was still alive." Peter gives a sad little smile at Rose's gasp. "It was…enlightening, to say the least. My first Walternate, as my dad calls him, was not a good man. He was the antithesis to my Walter. I started getting hints of that when my Olivia burst in to rescue me," he reminisces with a fond smile that falters after a moment. "It gets worse though. When we returned, we couldn't know they had captured my Olivia and switched her with theirs. Walter called her Fauxlivia once we figured it out, but that wasn't until after…"
—∞—-
"Oh my God, Peter! So this is a completely different timeline for everyone except you and now at least Olivia knows, or remebers. I'm so glad that all worked out. Blimey, you had me on the edge of my seat," Rose says with a grin.
"Tell me about it!" Peter agrees. "I still have no idea how I found a way back, and the machines are still working for now, but I'm afraid we're going to have to turn them off to keep Jones from destroying everything…again! It always seems like the shit hits the fan as soon as it starts getting better."
"I know that feeling well. I think I know why you were brought back, though, Peter," Rose says thoughtfully.
"Oh? Care to share?"
"Well, in the other timeline, the machine was created only for you by Walter, yeah? That happens in the future and the past. The alternate must have been created sometime after the components were buried, which isn't too hard to believe since he used that wormhole in Central Park to go way back in time," she says laughing. "Anyway, because they were only created for you, they can't work without you. The fact they existed meant that you had to; it was a paradox. And since Olivia is the only person that can manipulate them other than yourself, she's part of the paradox. I think she retained the memories of the vanished timeline when it was reset in her subconscious. You said she was dreaming you, right? I think the proximity to the paradox of the machines brought the memories back. She literally remembered you back into existence, relieving the paradox. Can't have the machines…without the Peter Bishop."
"You'd think Walter would have remembered me, though he said could see and hear me in reflections on things. I don't remember anything. For me it was like I was lost in a dream. I'm aware of something, but I have no memories of whatever limbo I was in."
"I'd agree about Walter, but as you said his mind is not as resilient as it could be. I can't explain why he wouldn't remember as well, since he obviously was connected to you. Maybe the damage to his psyche was too extensive…wait! Did he go to the parallel anytime before you returned?" Rose asks, having an idea.
"No, I don't think so. Oh!" Peter says in realisation. "He didn't experience the paradox inherent in the proximity to the machine! Once I returned it wouldn't have effected him the same way." Running his hands through his hair, he looks up at Rose with an obvious lightening to his entire demeanour. "Rose, you have no idea how being able to tell someone all of this has helped. Olivia knows all the circumstances, but it's different when you can talk it out. Thank you."
"The feeling is entirely mutual, Peter Bishop. Knowing you actually understand how I feel about the Doctor, tempered by my responsibilities is amazingly cathartic. It makes a big difference talking to someone who doesn't secretly think you're completely mental or at the very least, a bit daft."
"Agreed, I wish Olivia was here. I would love for you to meet her."
"Me, too," Rose says, smiling at him. "It's interesting that with the reset, all the parallel versions of your people turned out to be nicer than before; well, except for alt-Nina, blimey that was ugly," Rose commiserates. "I'm glad, though. If you have to seal the breach, it makes it easier to know your sister reality is in good hands."
"I hadn't thought about that, but you're right, it does. I just hope the damage continues to repair itself."
"I think it will. In fact, it is the repairing that gives me hope that I'll be successful."
"How's that?" Peter asks, confused.
"I think the reason that any of Walter and Bell's work around the Universal divide was successful was because of the damage currently being done to all of the Universes. Whatever is causing the stars to go out is not held back by something as flexible as time," Rose tries to explain. "When I'm successful in finding the Doctor and we fix whatever is happening, all of the breaches will close and damage should begin to correct itself. The other Universe beginning to heal may be a reflection of that, or I'm going to tell m'self that, anyway," Rose finishes with a slightly dinted smile.
Peter blinks a couple of times, processing. "So you think the gateway would close anyway?"
"Yeah, but I have no idea what would happen with the machines still active," she says, brows furrowing in thought.
"I think I do. Let's head back to the lab and see if we can't work this all out. I've been so worried about closing the gateway as the only way to stop Jones, it would never have occurred to me that we would have needed to anyway. I think you just saved our two Universes from a completely different threat… that is if we can stop Jones."
"What a nutter! I am so sorry you have to deal with him twice."
"Right? You ready? I'll grab Walter's danish or we'll be in trouble," Peter says, getting up to pay the bill and grab the treats. Rose nods and retrieves her coat and backpack.
The walk back to the lab is uneventful, though Peter has to do some quick talking to get Rose back past the FBI agents stationed at the doors. Rose holds her laughter back and does her best to look like a starstruck student from the UK to see the Walter Bishop! She didn't even have to use the psychic paper she still had. Luckily, she carried her University ID just for situations like this; it was even marked the same year—how convenient!