Fare Thee Well

Rose turned and shared a long look with Jared, So much killing... The two shots seemed to keep echoing between the crypt's walls again and again, digging deeply down into each of their psyches.

Suddenly Rose realized her ears weren't ringing.

Her mobile was.

She stabbed the answer button with her finger. "Control? Danny?" She gasped through joyful, relieved prickling tears. "Where have you been? … Yeah, I know this rift's collapsing. We only just got to the source. What's that? … Hang on - " Sudden concern crossing her face, she turned on the phone's speakers and held it out so the others could hear. "Say that again, Danny?"

"There's some other signal coming from your location. It's not interfering, but you should be aware of it. It looks like some kind of homing signal."

Jared whipped out his sonic screwdriver and began scanning the room, quickly swiveling and homing in on the local Rose's pocket. She reached a shaking hand inside and pulled out a small jewelry box, holding it out for his scan. At his nod, her face crumpled in teary agony again, staggered by this latest betrayal. Jared lightly picked the box from her fingers and opened it, pausing to shoot her an empathetic, sorrowed look at the sight of the diamond ring nestled within, then he gently pulled it and the cardboard insert out and put them inside the lid. Underneath was a tiny insectoid bit of electronics. Pete reached over and scraped it out, then dropped it onto the floor and smashed it with a bootheel.

Silence reigned between the five fugitives for several long seconds, while Jared delicately replaced the insert and the ring, closed the box back up, and offered it awkwardly to its apparent owner.

Tears streaming, she stared at it for a moment, then suddenly grabbed it, whirled, and flung it as hard as she could into the corner of the crypt. "You bastard!" It was the mark of how far she'd come that the idea she might have carried it knowingly never crossed anyone else's mind.

Pete took a deep breath and tried to begin moving forward again. "They won't be far. We've all got to get out of here. You guys first."

His daughter's twin looked solemnly at her father's mirror image. "Pete? Last chance to change your mind. Come with us. Both of you."

It was obviously a conversation they'd had before – probably the last time she'd been there. They could tell he was tempted. His daughter turned back to catch his eye, and – swallowing her grieved betrayal – gave a tiny shrug: his decision. He turned the other way and gave Jackie a long, yearning look, then sadly shook his head, telling her, "You've already got a Pete. And a Rose. No. Besides, this is our world. And we're gonna keep fighting for it, till it's the world it should be. Till we get it right."

He glanced again at his daughter, and she nodded, slipping her hand into his, a bit of pride creeping onto her features. Her twin hesitated, then nodded too, understanding. She asked for the two transport disks, and the local Rose and Jared pulled them out and handed them to her. Quickly inspecting them, she discovered Jared's was recharged, but Rose's was still offline from her recent use of it, and she turned away to negotiate methods with Control.

Jackie took the opportunity to step across to Pete, and pulled him into a tight, lingering embrace. "You're a good man, Pete Tyler, in any universe," she whispered into his ear. "And I love you, just as I know your Jackie must have done, so much."

Eyes squeezed tightly shut, he whispered back, "And I love you, Jacks. Both of you. And thank you... thank you for coming here, and giving me a chance to say goodbye to her, through you." Quickly shifting his head, not giving either of them a chance to duck, he gave her a long, last kiss, managing to pour all his love into it underneath the flavor of finality. As it ended, they looked into each other's eyes and smiled, then dropped their arms and stepped back. There was nothing more to say.

Then she turned to his daughter, and pulled her into a hug, as well. "And as for you, young lady," she began, attempting a scolding tone and failing miserably. "You straighten up, you hear me? And start living right. And take care of your father."

"I will... Jackie." She couldn't quite call her Mum. Giving each other a final squeeze, they likewise dropped their arms, as Pete and Jared shared a final handshake.

Rose turned back to the group then, a satisfied grin splitting her face. "Here," she said, surprising all of them by handing Jared's recharged disk to Pete. "Control can't see all the way to America through this collapsing rift, but they can get you to Ireland with this. It'll drop you somewhere in the countryside, away from Dublin. Can you get safely on from there?"

Pete stared, then an answering grin shone. "Oh, you bet!"

"Then hang on to each other. This is going to feel really strange, but it'll be over in less than a second. Good luck!"

Pete wasn't going to let her get away with that, though. "Take care, Ulva."

"You too, Red Wolf." The two Roses gazed at each other, still uncertain how to react, then they simply smiled and nodded.

The three visitors stepped back away from Pete and his Rose, who took each other's hand and held on tight. "Punch it, Control!" An ethereal light made a brief dancing, deepening aura all around them, and then they disappeared in a brilliant flash, leaving naught but their afterimage and the smell of ozone.

Jackie suddenly had a frightful thought. "What about us?"

Rose just laughed and held up her mobile. "No disk needed. The circuits are in my phone. You knew that, Mum."

"Right," Jackie shook her head at herself. "Sorry. I forgot."

Jared looked around and spotted Tock, still cowering in a corner, confused by all the noise and lights. Picking the puppy up and cradling him close to his chest, he returned to the other two. "You'll have to hang on to me, I don't have any free hands." So each woman grabbed an arm.

"Ready when you are, Danny!" Rose called out, then dropped the phone – the line still open – into her shirt pocket.

"Stand by. Ten seconds to reset..."

Just at that moment, a clatter sounded from the entrance tunnel, and half a dozen German soldiers ran into the chamber and pointed their rifles at the trio. At their head was a trim General with wheat-blonde hair, and "Schultz" on his name tag; on his heels, a sinister (aren't they all?) SS man in black.

The SS man was apparently in charge. His "Halt! Raise your hands!" echoed off the stone walls, while Schultz merely stared silently at Rose.

The pre-transport aura was suddenly on their skin. Even as the SS man shouted orders at his men to aim and fire, Rose raised her one free hand...

... and gave the General, the soldiers, the Reich, and the entire despised world the finger.

Then they, too, disappeared in the piercing white flash, leaving the Germans gaping at their afterimage.