The Wednesday after her coming back with the rest of her personal belongings, having had to make another trip, Rose was standing in the middle of the shop surveying her handiwork. She had got back as planned and spent a few day arranging things at home as she wanted them. She was now trying to get the shop looking right for the opening on Saturday, having only taken two days to get it stocked. Were the pictures straight? Did the card display look ok? Had she overdone it? The cash register was arriving on Friday, the phone line was being installed the same day along with internet access so she could bring her laptop to do her work for Torchwood and keep a stock register. The back of the shop had been fitted with a new kitchen and separate rest room, she didn't really need a stockroom.

She'd decided on re-ordering when stock got to a certain level. After all, she wasn't exactly on a tight budget, Torchwood was paying for it all, even her rented house. Plus as an added bonus she was still receiving her salary even when she was in the process of moving. "One of the perks of being the boss's step-daughter," she smiled. Anything she made from the shop was hers to pay any staff she employed and expenses. She was going to need it; after all, the gallery was only a front for the real purpose.

When she got connected to the internet at work, she could work from there as well as at home with her secure connection to the London office. Jake would be setting that up for her as he'd done at home. They'd finally got everything sorted, everything was moved in. She had chosen to get all new furniture, done out both bedrooms mainly so Jake had somewhere to stay and if her mum wanted to come down with Tony, fittings and electrical goods, not wanting to pinch anything from the Tyler residence and Jake didn't have anything to bring as he wasn't staying much longer, he was missing his home comforts back in London.

She realised she'd been staring at the walls for too long and had forgotten she'd left the blind on the window up. It was just to give a bit of natural light to the place. She had gone for spotlights in clusters rather than tubes, they gave her a headache after a while. Spotlights were much easier on the eyes. She'd got rid of the mint green and cream and replaced it with a peachy colour instead, with one wall to the right of the doorway covered in white peg boards to hold the various sizes of the prints, just two of each, though not too high for safety reasons. The wall on the same side of the door had some posters and a few prints firmly hung up as with above the counter and a rack with display sleeves holding posters of various floral decorations and single flowers. In front of the window was a display stand full of various sized greeting cards, all of flowers. She'd decided to call it 'The Sunflower Gallery' due to the colour of the shop exterior but she was against just selling sunflower themed items.

She turned around and her mouth dropped as she looked through the window.

"No!" she thought, "No, I'm seeing things, it can't be."

There, on the other side of the glass stood an unshaven Doctor. She shook her head, trying to see if she was actually seeing things or if he really was there. He was, and looking slightly bewildered. She turned around, heading for the counter and grabbed her mobile phone. She was just about to speed dial Jake when something caught her eye. She saw a Police I.D badge and moved the phone away from her. She calmed herself and walked to the door. Thoughts were rushing through her head, all jumbled into one, she had to see who this man was, who had scared her and surprised her all at once and who shouldn't be there, in this universe. She gestured for him to show her his ID so she could take a closer look. She unbolted the door and yelled at him, not thinking.

"You scared the hell out of me, what are you doing here?" was all she managed to come out with.

The man just looked at her and replied, "Nice to meet you too."

She looked at his I.D again, it read Detective Inspector Alec Hardy just as the man said "I'm Detective Inspector Alec Hardy, Broadchurch Police and you are?"

With all the effort she could muster she very quietly replied "Rose Tyler."

The man standing in front of her couldn't possibly exist in this universe, could he? Surely not. Time travel between two universes was impossible, he'd told her that so long ago now. The man just looked at her, mumbled something about sorry for frightening her and couldn't get away fast enough as he half walked and half run back down the street. Rose just stood there, slightly trembling, regained some sense and closed the door, pulling the blind down, forgetting the window blind was still up. She was just about to bolt the door again when it started to open. She panicked but it was only Jake who'd been to get them some lunch. She looked at him. He was holding a bag over his wrist and balancing two cups in a tray.

Jake saw immediately something was wrong. A man in a dark suit and overcoat had just passed him on the opposite side of the street, apparently in a rush and Jake was worried now, thinking the worse. "Rose, what's wrong, did someone just come in the shop?"

He went to put lunch down on the counter as Rose bolted the door. "What have I told you, keep the blinds down and the door locked until the shop opens properly." He distinctly remembered saying that to her, he wasn't happy about the location that had been chosen but there were a few people around. "A man just passed me opposite, did he try to come in the shop?" he asked again.

Rose could hardly reply so he just handed her a cup. She took it gratefully as she went behind the counter and sat down on the only chair. After taking a few sips she calmed down.

"Did you see his face Jake?" she asked.

"No, he was in too much of a hurry," he replied "but you never answered my question."

So Rose proceeded to relay the brief encounter to Jake after which Jake just stood in silence. He was dumbfounded to hear that Rose had observed one very specific thing about Detective Inspector Alec Hardy – he was 'The Doctor's' double. No wonder she was taken aback. Jake insisted they finish their lunch and close up. The gallery wasn't opening until Saturday and Rose's mind clearly wasn't on things. He thought about calling Pete but thought better of it, he would talk to Rose when he got her home. Maybe now though, she was ready to call the whole thing off, get someone else to run the gallery and this branch of Torchwood and go home to London.

They closed up, walked to the main street and crossed the road to the car park. They retrieved Rose's car silently and drove home in the same manner, neither of them wanting to broach the subject. Rose went to her bedroom, Jake thought she was sulking for him telling her off. She had but also to gather her thoughts from earlier. There had to be an explanation she thought. Some reason why she had seen this man and immediately thought he was the Doctor. It had taken a lot of effort not to call him by that name but she'd needed to stop herself.

"Think, think, think," she said aloud, a habit she'd picked up a lifetime ago. Everyone has a double, don't they? OK, maybe not me but almost everyone and if they do, it's reasonable that the man I just met is just that, this universes double of the Doctor. Even my mum had a double, she laughed. The more she thought about it though, the more the memories came flooding back, just as she thought she was moving on. Life just wasn't fair. She had not meant to be happy and she knew it, life kept dealing cruel blows and she was getting the brunt of them. She looked at the photos on her phone and realised she'd not looked at them since she'd been there, not needed to.

She had been keeping herself busy and that's what she'd wanted, not thinking about him and getting away from Torchwood and whatever else kept reminding her. Tears were already starting to well up in her eyes. She couldn't go through all that again and now after seeing this man today, living in the same town she would constantly be reminded. Maybe she should just pack up now and go home? After all the effort she'd made to start afresh she decided no, she would get past this once and for all. He was not the Doctor. She heard Jake calling her from downstairs and began to dry her eyes.

ooooooooo{silversurfer60}ooooooooo

Jake switched on the TV and began thinking of a way to cheer her up. After all, she'd had a bit of a shock but Rose had also pointed out that the Detective Inspector had a scruffy beard unlike the Doctor who he had only seen clean shaven. He toyed with the idea of looking up this Detective on the Torchwood files, see if there was anything about him but didn't want to alert the team just yet. So instead he searched the Police website and found what he wanted. He'd seen glimpses of the infamous case on TV but not taken that much notice.

After that, he did a more general search, he knew he shouldn't really but he wanted to know more and to say it was enlightening was an understatement. He would have to think carefully before revealing what he had learned to Rose, give her chance to settle down and leave it until the weekend. He turned his thoughts to making them both something to eat and went into the kitchen. He'd make her favourite, Spaghetti Bolognese, that would cheer her up. Having it nearly ready he called up to Rose to come and eat. Five minutes later he heard movement and she came downstairs. It was quite apparent she'd been crying but he left it – for now.

They began to eat in silence, they'd hardly spoken since the incident. Jake was going to tell her he was thinking of going home at the weekend but wasn't sure now. Rose broke the silence.

"I'm not a kid Jake, I know he looks like him but I also know he isn't him, it was just a shock. It just took me back a bit, that's all. I know it's impossible for him to be here."

"I'm only trying to protect you Rose, mainly from yourself. I don't want to see you fall to pieces again just when you are moving on finally," Jake said "and I know you're not a kid but you are vulnerable," he added.

"Am not, don't say that." Rose lifted her head from her plate and continued. "You can't treat me like a delicate piece of glass all the time, I'm not going to break."

Jake also looked up. "That's the problem, you are delicate," he said.

Rose just glared at him. "Is that what you think? Is that what everyone thinks?" Rose was getting slightly angry now though she didn't know why.

"Why are we even having this conversation Jake? Did my dad tell you to keep me from getting broken?" She'd put down her fork at this point and was about to leave the table when Jake caught her wrist.

"No, he didn't, what makes you think that Rose?" She moved her wrist to break his grip and half stood but he held on. "I'm sorry Rose, I didn't mean it to sound like that, I'm just worried about you, that's all," as he slowly let go.

She rubbed her wrist and turned to the window just as someone walked past, only seeing the back of the person but something told her it was the very person they had been talking about. She was no Detective but had this strange feeling that it was and if it were so, he either lived on this street or he'd been following her. She hoped it was neither. It was the very last thing she wanted. She'd had an encounter with Alec Hardy and once was more than enough for her liking. She didn't want old wounds re-opening.