Parallels and Intersections

"So... you really are me, then, right? From a parallel world?"

After verifying Charlie's report that the readings from the Cornish Rift were indeed fading, and at the current rate would disappear late the following day, Rose, stymied at her inability to do anything at the moment other than wait for morning, had drifted back over to watch Jared do his magic with the donated watches and hairs. The so-incredibly-familiar voice from behind startled her, and she swiveled around to see her doppelganger standing a few feet away, hands jammed in her jacket pockets. Pete had pulled Charlie into his office for something of a change of command briefing, leaving his daughter at loose ends, too.

"Yeah..." Not the most eloquent reply, but what else was there to say? She eyed the other girl warily.

"And... she's your real Mum." Local Rose tipped her head towards Jackie, the fourth member of the group, netting a pair of nods in return. Jackie patted the crate next to her in invitation, and the blonde crossed over to it, not noticing when her twin jerked away as she passed in front. Then she turned to Jared. "And you are?" she asked politely.

Jared had been watching under his eyebrows. Now he hooked one up amusedly, and tipped his head towards his Rose. "Hers." Then he grinned. "Jared Wolfe."

"Hi." She gestured towards his workbench. "That's amazing, what you're doing. Is that standard technology where you're from?"

"Nope," he replied. "Just me, bring brilliant."

Jackie snorted. "Don't listen to His Brilliance, Rose. He always did have a high opinion of himself. But no, that isn't standard, either."

Blonde Rose grinned uncertainly and turned the other way, back to her brunette twin, her grin fading swiftly at the solemn, wary expression on the mirror-image face. She took a deep, shaky breath. "I know I did awful, unforgivable things, but..."

The visitor shook her head suddenly. "No, it's not that. Do-" She stopped herself, wincing. "Jared... is this OK? I mean..." She struggled to find a way to express her concerns without giving too much away, and starting a complicated explanation she didn't want to give to either woman. "Are we in danger of attracting Reapers?"

Jared blinked. Her almost-use of his old name had startled him; the first time she'd done that, it had signaled her agitation clearly. Then his brain managed to make the connections she was alluding to, and he shook his head reassuringly. "No. This isn't a paradox. Completely different situation. Relax, you're fine."

"Has this happened before? Parallels meeting?"

"Mickey and Rickey, remember?"

"Oh, yeah... right." She snorted at herself, and after a beat made herself turn back toward the other Rose. "Sorry. This is just freaking me out. I've never run into myself before."

"There weren't any Rose Tylers in the other worlds you hopped across?" Jared put in, curious.

"Not that I ran into. I didn't stop and investigate every time. This is the only one where I met anyone I 'knew', until I got – home..." Diverted, she struggled again, and Jared read her mind this time. Which universe is "home" now?

"How about this?" he suggested. "The world we came from originally, let's call that one Alpha. The one we're trying to get back to, that we've been calling Pete's World, let's call that one Beta. There's too many Petes now. Then this one is Gamma."

"Trust you to go Greek on me," she replied. "No, we'll call this one the Reich." Her eyes shone at him, acknowledging his neat sidestep of the 'home' issue. We'll figure that one out later. She turned back to her twin, and was shocked at the hurt oozing from her hunched frame.

"I guess that makes me the Reich Rose, then, huh?"

"No! I.. I didn't mean that. I'm sorry..."

Jackie spoke up, softly. "I think that kinda depends on you, Rose."

Startled, the blonde stared at the woman wearing her mother's face. "What do you mean?"

"It depends on what you do from here on. Which direction you turn, and what you do with your life."

Rose took a deep breath and sat up straight. "I'm going to America, to get a brand new start."

"Then I'd say that makes you the American Rose."

A slow smile lit up the American Rose's face, and she lifted her chin proudly. Everyone could tell it was the first thing she'd had to be proud of in a long time. "I like that."

She leaned back against the wall, and everyone fell silent, thinking. Then the "American" Rose turned to her twin again. "In there," she began uncertainly, waving a vague hand at Pete's office door, "you said you knew a Jimmy Stones too?" Her twin nodded. "With the name, too, or just somebody like him?"

"No, that was his name. He talked me into dropping out of school and moving in with him. Four months later, he goes to prison for armed robbery, leaving me flat broke and homeless. I moved back in with Mum and finally found a dead-end job as a shop girl." Her eyes slid back to Jared, teasing. "Until somebody went and blew it up!"

"Oi!" he shot back. "I could have just left you down there in the basement with those Autons, you know! Probably should have, too. You've just been nagging me ever since!" Ignoring her outraged expression, he turned and tossed the watch he'd just finished to Jackie. "There you go, Jackie. Try that on."

Jackie caught the watch and slid it on, watching her own face in the mirror someone had pulled off the wall and brought out. Her disguise had a longer, thinner face, dark skin, and black hair – Jared had given her the same hair donor as he'd given his Rose, so they could remain related-looking. "That is absolutely astounding, Jared! What do I do to turn it off?"

"Just take the watch off, and keep it in your pocket. Now," he went on, turning to the two Roses. "The two of you. Same disguise, or different?"

"Nagging?" His Rose was still outraged.

"Same or different?" he repeated.

"Nagging?"

Realizing he'd really put his foot in it, he took a fortifying breath and stood, walking over to her crate and leaning over it on his hands beside her hips. His eyes were inches from hers. "I take it back. You don't nag. You have never nagged me. Rose Tyler is not a nag." Closing his eyes, he leaned in and kissed her frowning mouth, keeping at it until – several beats later – she gave in and began to respond. Coming up for air, he grinned, and couldn't resist one last touch. "You do have the most adorable pout, though." Ducking quickly away from her half-pretend swipe, he sat hastily down again, continuing as though there'd been no interruption. "Same or different?"

"Different," his Rose came back immediately. She looked at her twin. "They know you've got a double now, and as soon as they find out you've done a runner – if they haven't already – they'll put us together, and be looking closely at every set of twins they see. We don't want to attract any attention."

"Oh," replied the other, swallowing her automatic hurt reaction. "Good thinking."

^..^

An hour or two later, very late that night, Jared finally finished the last of the watches, his own – though it was strictly for emergency use; there'd been no indication the Nazis had any description of him yet. He was going to continue using the ID Pete had made for him up north. Leaning back, he stretched stiff arms and cracked his back and neck, looking around the cavernous warehouse. Most of the Resistance group had left, trickling back to their homes. Pete was puttering around his office, packing a small suitcase, putting the few remaining things in order for Charlie and watching over his daughter and Jackie, bedded down on makeshift cots in the corners.

His own Rose was sitting on the floor near his workbench, dozing against a corner made of crate and wall. He stood up and silently padded over to crouch beside her, whispering "Rose..." in her ear. Her liquid eyes fluttered open, and she smiled dreamily at him, making his heart catch. "Come here..." His voice was suddenly husky.

He took both her hands and stood again, pulling her gently up beside him, then switched one clasp to their new finger-twining and began leading her towards one side of the room. He tried a couple of doors, finding them mostly broken or hanging open, then whizzed the sonic on a locked one to reveal a dusty, abandoned office. He pulled her inside and shut the door, carefully locking it again behind them.

Then he pulled her close. "Where were we? Oh, yeah..."

Dust? What dust?

^..^

"Stop..." she cried softly.

He stared at her, bereft and confused, and began to pull out.

"No, wait, I didn't mean..." She tried again. "I mean, stop for a minute. Stay here. Stay right here. I just want to feel this..." Arching her back underneath his frame, she held his gaze with hers, and he sank deeply inside her again with a low moan, drowning in her white heat and brown eyes. Time stood absolutely still, both of them completely present, just breathing together, aware of every glorious, sensual inch of contact.

And then she squeezed, and it sent him right over the edge. He had just enough presence of mind to bite his lips to keep from groaning so loud that the whole building would hear.

When he could see again, he raised his head off her shoulder and put his forehead to hers, panting. "Do you need... any more proof... Rose Tyler?"

"Of what?"

"That I'm wrapped around your little finger."

Smothering a soft snort, she bumped his head back an inch so they could look at each other. Her mouth twitched, and she deliberately slid a challenge into her eyes. "Yeah. Prove it."

He groaned again, then his mouth descended on hers to begin devouring her once more.

^..^

Finally sated, they lay entwined on the dusty floor, breath slowly returning to normal.

"Yes," he said suddenly, apropos of absolutely nothing.

She hooked an eyebrow at him. "Yes, what?"

He smiled, then gave a huge sigh. "Yes, I like being part human." His eyes finally opened, and he turned to twinkle them at her. "This is so much better. You have no idea..."

Finally catching on, she snorted, then giggled. "Hmmmm," she hummed, as a memory popped up. "You mean Cassandra was right?"

That threw him. "Cassandra? What did she say?"

Raising herself on an elbow, she did her best to pull out the "Last Human's" voice. "So many parts... and hardly used!"

Struck, he laughed aloud, quickly smothering the sound with his free hand. Then he looked sideways at her. "I remember something else she said now: 'You've been looking...'" He was a touch more successful at the voice.

She smiled mysteriously, and leaned over to snog him to silence.

^..^

Sitting up to gather their scattered clothes again, Rose finally sneezed at the dust, then looked around and laughed. "I don't know whether to sweep up the evidence, or leave it to tell the tale," she said of the distinctly suggestive patterns.

"Leave it," he said. "I like it." Then he leaned over to a relatively undisturbed patch, and took a few quick swipes with a finger.

Rose leaned over to look, and saw he'd written "JW & RMT" in the dust. She shook her head, and squeezed a tiny B in between his initials.

He hooked an eyebrow at her, thoroughly bewildered. "B?"

She grinned. "Blue!"