By the time she had finished, she had opened up her heart and her life to Alec Hardy, for all it was worth and from the look of shock on his face after she had finished, she was regretting it already and hoped the Torchwood Team would not have to come along and wipe any trace of her from his mind because that was the last thing she wanted. She had shown him on screen everything he needed to know, logging into her account, showing him pictures and documents as proof that Mickey, her mum and she were from another world and had travelled in time and space with a man calling himself 'The Doctor' and that she and Mickey had been there before. Then she showed him the images captured from the Tyler mansion on the night the Cybermen invaded and footage of what transpired, of Rose and the Doctor reacting together and Alec's face dropped.
Alec didn't know what to say or do. He'd asked to be told everything and that was exactly what he got. It seemed that Rose was pouring out words ten to the dozen, words he didn't necessarily understand had anything to do with the story she was telling him. Was she making it all up? Was it some elaborate story that Torchwood, if indeed they were real, had come up with? As he listened, he had believed the part of who her step-dad was, he had heard of Peter Tyler and it was possible because he had read that his first wife had died and he'd remarried. As for Rose, he believed she really had been just a shop girl before her mother remarried, she knew how to run the Gallery. The part about her being from another universe was the killer though, how could he be expected to believe that and the fact she had travelled with a man who was from another planet as well as another universe and had changed his face and had looked like him, well that was even harder to swallow. Even with the photographic evidence, statements and stories by Mickey as he'd also recounted his dealings with the Doctor. Then Alec's face changed as images of the Tardis that Rose had sketched appeared on the screen.
The way Rose was looking at him as she finished, waiting for him to take it all in and to see his reaction was agonizing. What could he possibly say to her? Should he tell her he loved her no matter what? Should he question his or her sanity? Hers for telling him this fantastic story and his for actually listening and half believing. A million things were going through his mind as time to him seemed to stand still. "That's a good one," he thought, "she's talking about a time traveller and I'm thinking about time standing still." This Police Box that she called – what was it? It looked familiar but then not because he'd never heard of such a thing, there had been no such devices as far as he knew apart from one place – his dreams and now he'd see a picture and knew they weren't dreams.
Then it slowly dawned on him, the box she showed him and described was blue. It hit him like a ton of bricks, how could she possibly know about the blue box? Why did she have pictures of it? The same blue box she described as the one he had dreams about when he was a child and he'd only ever told one person who was no longer alive – his mother. Now he knew he had to question his sanity. He knew Rose had been able to access his information but there was no way she could know about the blue box, describe its exact detail, inside and out and show him pictures of it because his dreams were coming back to him after all this time, thirty years later that she must be talking about and showing him the same blue box. The one he would see in his dreams, where he woke up believing he'd been transported to other places, the dreams where he couldn't remember them completely, only parts of them and the dreams he'd forgotten since his childhood. The blue box would take him away from the constant arguments between his parents. It was all coming back now, travelling not only to other worlds but to different times, the memories were flowing freely as they ran away with him and he was standing now, only just aware of the look of horror on Rose's face as she watched him.
He didn't remember getting up, he was vaguely aware of Rose moving out of his sight and coming back with two cups of coffee and her handing him one. It was like he was in a trance, oblivious to what was going on except the thoughts rushing through his mind. The laptop was still open on the coffee table. Ever so slowly he became aware of his surroundings and sat down, placing the cup on the coffee table. Rose was now by his side and he now heard her saying his name.
"Alec, are you alright?" she said for the fifth time, getting no response which was when she went to make coffee. "Alec, please say something."
Rose was panicking, Alec was completely out of it, just sitting there, staring into the distance, not saying a word, not even a "Get out Rose" or even "I never want to see you again," nothing. Had she gone too far? She wouldn't have believed it herself if it hadn't happened to her, how was Alec supposed to believe it, why should he? After a few minutes of her finishing, Alec suddenly got up, she let him stand there, saying his name over and over until she got up and went to make coffee, handing a cup to him and him sitting down and her sitting beside him. He'd taken it badly, so badly she feared the worse and was resigned to think she'd been wrong in revealing everything and now Torchwood would have to cover up for her and Pete was definitely not going to be happy and she would surely get an "I told you so" at the very least. He wouldn't be mad with her though, she had believed Alec had feelings for her and Pete wanted her to move on.
Alec finally turned to her. "Rose, tell me again about the blue box, how do you know about it?"
Rose was startled. "You mean the Tardis? The Police Box?" she asked.
"If that's what you call it, then yes. How could you possibly know about it, I've never told anyone."
"Alec, the Tardis is from another galaxy in another universe, it doesn't exist in this one so how could you even know about it?" They looked at each other then Rose said, "Then you had better tell me how you suddenly know about the blue box Alec."
Then Alec told her about his dreams when he was younger, was only now remembering them after they had been buried and how he'd heard her describe in exact detail what it looked like, inside and out, seeing photos of it, with him describing how the columns were made of coral and the lighting from the console. Rose couldn't believe what she was hearing as Alec poured out how he would dream he had travelled places he couldn't possibly know about, places she had been with the Doctor but only since he'd changed. How he described times he had dreamt of travelling to. Things he couldn't have read about in history books and may well have never taken place in this universe. Now Alec knew neither he nor Rose were insane because if they were, they couldn't both be imaging the same thing at the same time. More memories came flooding back. Alec had always been a boy in his dreams but he could do things, impossible things no child of his age could do. He could do clever things, know things, know all the answers, even remembering the parts that had faded with his dreams.
He looked at Rose who surely thought he was mad but she smiled at him and took his hand. "Rose, I need time to take all this in, it's not easy coming to terms with all this information you've given me and my dreams resurfacing. I don't know what to think anymore. Please, just say you will give me time to clear my head. I'm not saying goodbye, at least not now. Please, I need you to say you understand."
"Alec, take all the time you need, I know it's all been too much but you did ask for it. I've held nothing back, you know everything. If you have questions, I'll gladly answer them. Just say you don't hate me and never want to see me again."
"I can't make any promises Rose, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but it's all been just a bit too much. Just give me a few days to sort things out in my mind."
"Just speak to my step-dad, Alec, he'll tell you I'm telling you the truth. He was there; he rescued me from falling into 'The Void' and brought me here after he brought my mum and Mickey here."
Alec just stood there, not wanting to hear any more.
With that, Rose got up to leave, a tear in her eyes and closing down the program but leaving the password for Alec if he wanted access again. She had wanted to tell Alec everything before they both fell too deeply because then it would have been too painful. She had been all ready that morning to tell him how she felt about him and she was sure he was about to do the same after their demonstration of their affection to each other just earlier and coming so close to actually having sex. She should have told him before she almost gave herself to him right on the chair in the kitchen. Thank goodness they stopped in time. They were having such a special time both this morning and last night and the way she had watched Alec run that very morning no wonder she was deliberately holding back behind him. Why did she have to go and spoil it by spilling out every single detail to him? Had it been better than just telling him a little? Then he would have still wanted to know more over a period of time anyway so yes, it had been better to get it all over with. Should she call the team and wipe Alec's mind so they could start over?
That wouldn't solve anything because it would start all over again and it wasn't fair on Alec, he didn't deserve that. They were both falling for each other in a big way and if Alec did love her, he would accept everything she had told him. It was a hell of a way to find out how he felt about her. If he didn't accept it, was it because he couldn't cope with it or because he didn't love her after all?
She walked the few yards back home, opened her kitchen door and cried her eyes out - again. When would she learn to stop falling for the wrong men? Just as she thought she had finally found some happiness, she goes and stuffs it up, was she fated to keep repeating herself over and over again. He'd sat there and listened to every word she said, seen the evidence in front of his eyes, then seen his exact double in front of him – had that been the final straw? Then his admission about the Tardis, how he'd described it before she showed him the pictures so it wasn't like he'd got the idea from them, he already knew. His shock when he'd seen the pictures, like his dreams were coming to life, he surely thought he was going crazy. No wonder he had needed time to sort things out and she was going to give it up to a point.