6 The Custodian of Memories

Peter comes back to consciousness like the snapping crack of a whip. One moment he's out, the next perfectly awake, with the squirming bodies of Nina and Walter beneath him, obviously waking as well.

"What the hell happened?" Nina grouses.

Peter helps them both to their feet, shaking his head. He isn't sure exactly what happened. They came to see the machines. They were bringing…Rose!

"Rose!" Peter shouts as memories of the reason behind their visit click back into place. Racing around the end tables toward the machines, he can see that the space is empty. There is nothing there. The air feels a little strange and there's the taint of ozone in the back of his throat. Looking around, he feels like he can see every little detail with more clarity than usual.

Thinking back, he remembers Rose being drawn toward the machines and then starting to glow. There was more light, flashes of Rose floating, eyes glowing… Did she say something to them? To him, to Walter? All the pieces are jumbled and he can't remember.

Taking a step forward, still looking for Rose, he feels something under his foot. Looking down, he lifts his foot back and sees a small pile of golden dust. Kneeling, he picks some of it up and the dust dissolves into nothing between his fingers. Looking up and around himself, he knows Rose is gone. He wishes her well and success in her mission. His Universe, hers, all of them depend on it.

Standing, he moves around the machines, looking for any other sign of Rose or the dust. He would love to analyse some of it. Finding nothing, he heads back towards Walter and Nina.

They are busily checking all the readouts for any evidence of the energy or sound spike and finding…absolutely nothing. As Peter approaches, Nina and Walter look up at him. Shaking his head in reply to the unspoken question of Rose's whereabouts, Nina points to the computer.

"There is no record of anything strange happening in the last five hours—nothing! How is that possible?" Nina asks in frustration.

"Do you remember anything past her starting to glow? Did she say anything?" Peter asks them.

"Well, I…she looked at me, but…no, Peter, nothing. I think the harmonics between the machine oscillated wildly at one point and I think I had to cover my eyes from the glow; but I don't remember anything she said." Looking around the room in awe, Walter turns back to Peter. "Where did Rose go, Peter? Do you think she's alright?"

Peter stares at the machines and mutters "Bad Wolf" to himself, thinking back to her story. He feels, with no doubts in his heart, that Rose will be successful. With a small secretive smile, he turns back to Walter and Nina, who are still trying to figure out why there are no records of the event, whatever it was.

"Yes, Walter," he answers his fathers worried question. "I think she went home and I think she'll be fine. Let's get this cleaned up and get out of here. I don't know about you guys, but I need a caramel sundae—my treat."

—∞—-

Bad Wolf had been waiting for this moment; with a little kick of energy from an impossible scenario, She is able to accomplish several very small feats that will have much larger ramifications in the future.

—∞—-

She is standing next to a bed in a small house outside Chicago. In it are a sleeping Olivia Dunham and her niece Ella. Bad Wolf gently reaches over Ella, and with a smile, touches Olivia lightly on the forehead. There is a small flash of gold and Olivia smiles in her sleep. Cortexiphan is amazing, but it will need to do so much more soon; and now it will be able to do so.

—∞—-

Appearing invisibly on a street in Chiswick next to a frightened Donna Noble, She gently reaches out and touches Donna lightly on the cheek, giving her the strength to do what she must. The coming events will be the most rewarding and the most powerful for her. Bad Wolf wishes it could be otherwise, but certain moments must occur, and so hers will also be the greatest sacrifice. With a new found determination, Donna steps boldly in front of the truck, knowing it's the only way.

—∞—-

In the dead of night, Bad Wolf swirls into existence in an underground office. An exhausted man lays sleeping on a couch nearby, arm over his head and coat splayed around him. She watches him a moment, sympathy evident in her gaze. Looking to Her side, She reaches down and lightly touches the bubbling receptacle containing one very special hand. The contents flare a second before settling back to their previous bubbling.

Moving to the sleeping man's side, She kneels, running Her fingers through his hair. Indulging in an affectionate moment, She leans forward and brushes Her lips lightly across his temple. Visibly relaxing in his sleep, Jack Harkness rolls over and snuggles into the pillows with a small smile on his lips. Hours later, he awakens feeling well rested for the first time in years.

—∞—-

Finally, She arrives in the Console room of a very special time and space ship. Placing Her hands on the Time Rotor, Bad Wolf and the TARDIS have eons worth of conversations in a few moments. Patting her lightly, Bad Wolf makes Her way through the corridors of the Ship and into a very particular room. Lying sprawled and fully dressed on his bed is one exhausted Time Lord. Smiling at his disarray, She undresses him and places him under the covers. Sitting beside him a moment, She watches him sleep. She stays until his breathing changes; leading toward wakefulness. Laying Her palm against his cheek, She winks out of existence.

Eyes blinking open, the Doctor raises his hand to his cheek where he could swear he'd just felt a feather light touch. Shrugging, he stretches in his bed and realises he's only in his pants and under the covers. Blimey! He must have been tired. He has no memory of that at all. Shaking his head at himself, he throws the covers aside to rise and begin his day. He freezes mid-motion, as he is suddenly surrounded by a hauntingly familiar scent—Rose. Now, that's weird. Weirder yet is the realisation isn't accompanied by the usual regret, only peace.

Thinking he may be just a tad less insane than he's been worried about being, he bounces up and begins his day, trying to decide where to take Donna. Midnight had been a very…VERY bad idea, not that he knew that at the time. How about shopping? She LOVES shopping…Ooo he'll take her to Shan Shen! There's loads of great shopping there and the best dim sum…the BEST!

—∞—-

Mickey and Malcolm's heads both snap up as the air in the Cannon Room starts to get thick. Glancing back at his monitor, Mickey flips it from the report he was working on to the data stream for the cannon—nothing.

"What's goin' on, Malcolm? The cannon isn't spinnin' up. Do you think it's…" His question goes unanswered as the object of it pops into existence right in front of them.

Rose arrives standing and solid in an instant. None of the usual blue flash, stumbling or running, just bam—there! She appears to be covered in bright gold a moment, but Mickey blinks and it's gone. Shaking his head, he blinks again and looks at Rose, who is just opening her eyes.

"Peter?"

"Who's Peter?" Mickey asks, confused.

"Mickey! I…what the bloody hell?" Rose exclaims.

"Miss Tyler! We weren't expecting you. It's only been an hour for us since you left," Malcolm states.

"An hour? Right." Looking around herself, she pinches her arm and winces at the pain. Not a dream then, she thinks to herself. Reaching around frantically, she feels the backpack where it should be. Letting out a shaky breath she looks back over to Mickey. His expression is narrow. She knows he's cataloguing all the things out of place, waiting for the moment to barrage her with questions about what went wrong. And there's the problem with your best mate being your wingman—they know you too well.

"Hey Micks! How's it goin'? Crazy jump that," she says with a grin, stepping forward and slinging her backpack off, trying to play like everything's normal.

"Uhn-uh. I'm not buyin' it, Rose Tyler. You're goin' to Medical now, and I'll meet you at Debriefing in an hour. I already signalled Pete you're back, so you better get your story straight. There's no way this was a regular jump," he tells her sternly. She knows he only gets that way when he's worried, and truthfully, so is she. That was definitely the weirdest jump yet. She doesn't even remember using her jumper to get back. Strangely though, she feels great. Medical ought to be easy for once.

Heaving a dramatic sigh and rolling her eyes at him, she removes her jumper from the pack and the rations she always keeps in there, placing them on the table. Leaving her change of clothes within, she picks it up and slings it back over her shoulder nearly empty.

"Fine, Micks. I feel great, but I'm off to Medical. See you up at Dad's office. Since it's so early, maybe we can get another jump off today. Malcolm, we need to check the dimensional fold algorithms you were using. I ended up in a parallel in 2012. We need to narrow the field," she tells the wide-eyed scientist.

"2012? That…that's impossible!" he postulates.

"Sorry, mate, not this time it wasn't."

"You're sure you're okay, Rose?" Mickey asks more gently. She really does look okay, so maybe his worry is unfounded.

Stepping up to his side, Rose goes up on tiptoe and gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and her famous grin. "I'm great! Stop worryin'. I'll see ya up there."

Turning on her heel, she heads out the door and down the corridor to Medical. Not her favourite depertment, but she hasn't been able to get out of these required visits yet.

—∞—-

Three hours later, Rose is seated at a table with Pete Tyler, Mickey Smith, Malcolm Taylor, and Yvonne Hartmann. None of this is unusual for a debriefing except that Rose was an hour late. Medical had been anything but easy. They had taken enough blood that she'd had to drink some juice just to stand, and they'd run her through the scanner…three…times! By the time they had let her go, Rose was angry, frustrated, and in no mood to be without answers.

Sitting at this table with her closest friends, family, and colleagues staring at her like she's grown a second head is about all Rose can take in her current state. She's already told them everything she can remember happening. Of course, she's a little bothered that she has no memory of anything after getting her first look at Peter and Walter's machines or of how she got back, but here she is. Everything obviously worked out fine...right?

"What? Stop staring at me, and tell me what the bleedin' hell is going on," she says testily to the group. "Was it some weird readings from the cannon, somethin' in Medical…WHAT? And you'd better not sugarcoat anything, Dad," Rose says folding her arms over her chest and hunching down into her chair.

"Settle down, Rose," Pete says gently. "It's entirely all about you…this time. Part of the problem is there are no readings from your return jump. Your jumper is still fully charged. It registers that you were in the other Universe for nearly twelve hours. It shows an enormous energy spike just before you returned, but you never used it. Also, where is your stunner?" he asks.

"Err…I lost it, maybe?" she dissembles.

"Miss Tyler, you cannot keep 'losing' your stunner! They are not only extremely expensive to produce, but you could be altering their futures by 'accidentally' misplacing it," Yvonne says with an understanding but still exasperated look.

"I know. I never leave them if their tech level couldn't reproduce it. We made it without any alien help and it's a great bargaining tool. I bartered it to see the dimensional gateway they built. Malcolm, you would've had kittens if you'd seen it!"

Before Malcolm has a chance to get excited about Rose's observations, Pete steps back in.

"But, Rose, what happened? How did you get back?" Pete says, bringing them back on topic. Distraction is a Tyler technique and he's the master.

"I have no clue, but I did, and everything's fine. I'm fine, the jumper's fine…all fine, yeah?" she says, throwing her hands in the air.

"Umm, yeah, about the you part of that…Rose your medical exam was…abnormal, to say the least," Pete says, brows furrowed. Picking up a sheaf of papers, he recites, "Your blood barely registers as human and is still changing. Your blood differential is at normal levels but the ranges are off, as is your DNA. Your brain activity is off the charts, and it appears your brain itself has begun…altering. And your cellular degeneration has stopped…entirely.

"Rose, something happened. Your Artron and Huon levels are way outside what we have as normal. Now, you and Mickey are our only baselines for these measurements, and we're very close to being able to use that energy signature to refine our searches for the Doctor, but your levels are 600% higher than they were 24 hours ago, before you left," Pete finishes up. Looking at his daughter's stunned expression, he knows she isn't keeping anything from them.

"Do you think their machines had anything to do with this?" Pete asks Rose gently. "Try thinking back to just after you first saw them. Did you feel anything strange, hear or see anything that could have caused this sort of reaction in your body?"

Rose does her best; she focuses in on the last 15 minutes or so that she remembers, trying to find his answers. "I was standing there looking at the machines. Nina moved to the computer terminals to show me the data, and I wanted to follow," she pauses a moment, lost in the memory. She doesn't notice the gasp from her colleagues as her eyes seem to flash. Sounding like she's dreaming, Rose slowly describes what she can remember. "I was drawn to the humming. It was so much like the TARDIS. I only wanted to be closer." Gaze unfocused, Rose lifts her hand up like she's reaching for something and stays like that for a few seconds. Then, with a shake of her head, she looks around the room at the wide-eyed expressions, dropping her hand to the table. "What?"

She gets a mandatory week off, but they can find nothing wrong with her. The obvious and most drastic initial changes have calmed down and she is more than she was, but still seems fine. If it wasn't for Pete, though, she just knows she'd be getting dissected somewhere. After proving she's fit for the mission, she is still the only hope for the project. Worried about her wellbeing or not, everyone knows it has to be Rose Tyler.

They did make progress with the refinement and are now focusing on the combinations of Huon and Artron particles for their jumps. One week after Rose's return, they are ready to resume.

DIMENSION CANNON FIRING IN 9…

"You have your stunner, Rose?"

"Yes, Micks, blimey!"

8…

—∞—-

Three weeks and 68 jumps later, Rose is once again standing on a windy and cold beach in the Norway of Pete's world, turning away from this new, new, new man and taking a few stumbling steps towards the vanishing TARDIS.

"No! What have I done?" she gasps out, tears beginning to pour down her face. In her despair, she hasn't heard the sand grind around his feet as the "not Doctor" comes to her side.

"Why would he leave me? I worked so, so hard to reach him," she says quietly, more for herself than him. "I'm not even human anymore," she adds more quietly still, obviously in shock.

"He didn't," the man next to her says, startling her into embarrassed fury.

"What? You just saw 'im! You walked out here, too. You were in on it weren't you, distracting me, telling me you love me, just so that he could leave me here with you..a…a half-breed?" she yells at him, trying to hurt him in her own crushing agony. "Because he thinks I'm still human!"

"No," he says quietly. He's careful not to touch her. He can tell she's wound tight, and would rather not earn himself a slap if he can help it, but everything from this point onward is hinged on how this interaction goes. His self that left was right about how she would react. He only gets one chance to get this right.

His quiet and singular reply flips Rose's fury to grief like a switch. The change is so quick, even he's startled by its suddenness.

"No. No, he didn't give you a choice either, did he? You're stuck here with me, and he…"

"No, Rose Tyler. You remember when he and I left the Console Room together; while we were towing the Earth back, you were talking to Sarah Jane?" he asks her. At her wary nod, he continues, "He drug me to the Library for a chat. He knows and he gave me a choice…one I never thought I'd have. One that shouldn't have been possible," he tells her, willing her to listen and believe him.

"What? Why are you saying this? What are you going on about?" she asks in confusion, trying not to go ballistic again.

Instead of answering, he reaches for both her hands. She stiffens, but allows him to touch her. Turning Rose towards him and away from the square footprint in the sand, he places both her hands flat against his chest, and wills his second heart to begin beating again. The look of betrayal on her face evaporates into one of incredulity.

"But…you…just a bit ago…I kissed…and you only…and you said…OH MY FUCKING GOD!"

"Rose Tyler, language!" he snaps, startled.

"But?" Taking a deep breath, both hands still on his chest, she tries to gather her thoughts into something resembling coherence. "How? Answer me that," she says, taking her hands away and crossing her arms over her chest. She isn't cold, but she doesn't trust herself to not slap him into next year at the moment if she doesn't like his answer.

Feeling the loss of her palms from his chest keenly, the Doctor considers his words carefully. Running his hands through his hair a moment more in thought, he begins, "Well, I didn't want to go and regenerate into someone new. I'd just found you, I wanted to stay the same, for you…and for me. I'm awful fond of this me and I know you are, too." He rocks back on his heels with a cheeky grin, hoping she'll smile. Unsuccessful, he stuffs his hands in the pockets of his trousers, looking down at the sand working its way into his trainers.

"I know that part, I was there. Why the deception?" Rose asks, not backing down.

"Blimey, hard audience. Alright, let me try again. When I funnelled my regeneration energy into the handy hand, I never expected anyone to touch it! I just figured I'd hide it deep in the TARDIS and I'd never see it again. Obviously, that's not what happened," he says with a shrug.

"Donna," Rose whispers in awe.

"Yes, Donna," he agrees and tries not to let Rose see his wince. He'll have to tell her about Donna at some point, but now isn't the time. The deception had been for Donna. She didn't need to know that he wouldn't have been able to do what was necessary, not to his Donna. Well, he would have, if he didn't have any other option, but he did, and so he took the offered opportunity. Maybe, newer him will find a solution, though he doubts it. Poor Donna won't have time to realise her Doctor doesn't know her as well as he ought to, before he'll have to take everything away to save her life. The thought nearly makes him vomit—oh Donna.

"But see, here's where it gets interesting," he says with strained brightness, swallowing the grief for his best friend. "Donna told me his first words after he was…born," he says, looking at Rose expectantly. She's still in too much shock to notice his poorly concealed distress.

"What, what were they then?"

"Bad Wolf." Her gasp mirrors the one he'd made when Donna told him.

"Exactly! Bad Wolf apparently fiddled with something, because he's a full Time Lord with just a bit of Donna's mojo added in for spice and, he thinks, a full set of regenerations," he tells her thoughtfully. "I'm not sure, so he'll have to figure that one out. He didn't get anything from me, but my good looks and the regeneration energy. His memories only extend to the point where the hand was cut off by the Sycorax. Which still means he cares for you…but not…well, not the same way that I do. He offered to stay and soldier on so I could come and be with you. That is if you still want me, Rose Tyler—you did say forever," he reminds her, trying out the cheeky grin again.

Seeing her brow furrow, the Doctor takes a moment and steels himself to be more honest than he's been in years, decades…aww hell, maybe centuries. "Rose, he loves you. He will always love you. Past me loved you so much, but he didn't have time to learn how to be 'in love' with you. I, Rose Tyler, have had an extra year to learn that valuable and necessary skill, and two years to appreciate what I lost. Please, don't throw it away now," he says to her with all his sincerity shining on his face, his eyes deep and vulnerable. Rose has covered her mouth with her hands as she starts to actually believe that this might all turn out well.

"You mean your you, my you? Really? Really, my Doctor?"

"The one and only; welllll, I guess that isn't technically true, but the one and only in this Universe," he replies, seeing he's meeting with more success this time around in the grin category.

All of a sudden, the fully original Time Lord known as the Doctor has his arms full of gorgeous, delighted and sobbing happily somewhat human woman. He picks her up and spins them around till they're breathless. Setting her back to her feet, he grins down into those beautiful golden brown eyes he'd missed so much and thinks about kissing her, but she pulls back. Not letting him go this time, but still inserting a little distance, Rose isn't quite finished with her questions.

"Oh, Doctor, I thought…well you know what I thought. I'm sorry. But wait, you said he knows I'm not human anymore—how?"

"For one thing, you don't smell human anymore, and I may have surreptitiously scanned you with my sonic when you weren't looking," he says, already wincing from the swat he knows he's about to receive.

Instead, she's blinking owlishly at him. "Oh."

"It isn't a bad smell, Rose Tyler, oh no, not bad at all; you're perfumed with time. I can smell and…," he trails off, reaching down to grab her hand and brings her wrist near his mouth. Watching her the entire time, his tongue slides out and he delicately takes one long swipe with it up her wrist to her palm. "…taste the years on you, and there are many, many, many of them," he says with a smug grin.

Staring at him intensely for a moment, Rose latches on to the lapels of his coat and pulls him into their first real, long and languid kiss, filled with possibilities and promises for the future. A long and eventful future if she has any say in the matter.

"Rose Tyler, I love you with everything I have in these two ol' hearts of mine and eventually in our new TARDIS. Once I get this baby girl figured out, we'll explore all this Universe has to offer," he says hugging, Rose to himself and showing her the piece of coral. Donna's theories were brilliant and he's excited to try them out.

"My Doctor, I've loved you since you had ears you were embarrassed about," she replies, leaning up to kiss his nose. Laughing, he swings her around again, hugging him to her fiercely.

Sending a silent and heartfelt thank you out to Bad Wolf, Rose wonders what other surprises She may have designed. Snuggling into her Doctor's side, they turn at Jackie's "halloo" and start up the beach toward her and the car waiting to take them to Bergen, where they'll catch a zeppelin headed home.

Walking across the beach toward Jackie, Rose is tucked securely into his side. Looking up, he sees the soft smile on Jackie's lips and a knowing look. Sending her his thousand watt grin, she waves at him and turns around to head back to the car; the wind is getting chilly.

Half way there, the Doctor feels Rose stiffen as they start up the slight rise. Looking down at her, he sees her face is drawn up in a frown.

"Rose? What is it, luv?" he asks, squeezing her shoulders.

"If I have the original you, what about Donna?!" she asks with an expression of dawning horror.

Sighing heavily, hoping this could have waited till later…

—∞—-

In the year 2040, Peter Bishop is sitting in his study, going through his mail while enjoying a cup of late afternoon tea. Henrietta and her husband, Simon, had just left after a week long visit. Seeing the twins, Phillip and Walter, is always a delight for him and Olivia. They're only three and such handfuls. Screaming through the house, being chased by the dog or chasing the dog, along with a myriad other activities has worn the grandparents out. As soon as they'd waved their last goodbyes, Olivia and Peter had looked at each other and grinned.

Going back into the now blissfully silent house, Olivia immediately went upstairs to have a nice long soak and Peter went to make tea, looking forward to a couple of quiet hours nearly alone, just his tea and a book. Olivia would join him after her bath and they would move to the back deck, the mid-summer evening requiring outdoor enjoyment. First, though, he'll take care of his mail.

The first piece he opens is a letter and a baby announcement from Astrid. She still loves the feel of pen and paper, and he and Olivia always enjoy receiving her little missives. Her son Walter just had his first child a baby girl, he called Rose. Smiling gently at the awful old-fashioned photograph of the squished up and wrinkly newborn, he sets it aside to pick up a small flat but long box.

It has no return address and an odd heft for as small as it is. Curious, he slides his letter opener through the tape and gently pries off the lid. Inside he sees an envelope and a small flat stone. Puzzled, Peter picks up the envelope and flicks it open. Inside is a single card and drawing it out he gasps, his eyes snapping to the stone. With shaking fingers he slowly reaches out and lifts the stone from the box—it slides to fit smoothly into his palm-the perfect sort of stone for skipping. As it rests in his hand and he holds the card with a beautiful and simple outline of a Rose on it, all the memories of that day slide forward. A day so long ago when a girl named Rose had vanished from his life, just before it went crazy. And then, in a flash, the rest of the memory that had been hidden from him snaps into place—and her words.

In his mind's eye he watches Rose advance toward the machines and begin to glow. He sees her turn to him eyes shining with a golden knowledge they shouldn't contain, and then her prophetic and terrifying words to him.

"Peter Bishop, you have brought Rose Tyler here, this must be."

"Peter Bishop will succeed, Rose Tyler will succeed, Walter Bishop will succeed in all the trials that are to come. I see all possible futures, Peter Bishop."

"For Etta to live, Olivia must die, Peter Bishop. There must be balance."

And finally, the most eery of them all, her final words to Walter, "They are coming."

Just as all of his memories of the other defunct timeline's apocalyptic events and Walter's sacrifice for Michael had been returned to him when he'd opened Walter's letter receiving the white tulip, so too now, his memories are again completed. And he knows Rose was successful—she saved not only the Multi-verse, but also found her Doctor.

Olivia enters the room with a smile and a pot of fresh tea to see her husband shakily holding a rock and a card-weeping, wearing a gentle serene smile. Frowning in concern, she moves towards his desk and sets the teapot down.

"Peter? Is everything alright?" she asks worriedly, glancing between his hands and his face.

"Yes, better than alright, actually. Do you remember when Rose came to visit from another parallel world?" he asks her.

"You mean the security breach that took me two weeks to smooth out and almost a month for you to no longer be in trouble for? Yeah, I remember," she says, teasing him.

Lifting the two objects he's holding, he shows them to Olivia. "Well, somehow she just let me know that everything worked out."

"That was a long time ago, Peter. I'm sure we would know by now if the stars were going out and everything was about to end," she replies indulgently.

"Not if it worked. Sure it's been a long time for us linearly, but for her, it might be the day after she got back. Time, my dear Olivia, does not progress in a strictly…"

"Yeah, yeah, don't wave your temporal physics at me, mister," she says affectionately to him. "I made a fresh pot of tea. Lets go lounge on the deck and you can regale me with the story again; I know you want to."

"Olivia your memory is eidetic," he says to her, setting the gifts aside and levering himself out of his chair to follow her.

"Yes, but yours isn't, so you better hurry up and share it, old man," she replies, teasing him further.

Laughing, he follows her out to the deck. Recounting the story to her, he keeps the newly remembered portions to himself, just as he had with Walter's. For whatever reason the Universe chose to make him the custodian of these echoes from lost timelines. They will finally cease when he does one day, only remembered vibrations in the vastness of reality.

A/N: Well, there you go! I hope you liked the ending and the entire story in general. Many thanks to Zarbi for the review. I've never done a crossover story before, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone. I enjoyed writing it. :-) Cheers!