Chapter Twelve: Catching Up

AN: This one is looooooooong! But enjoy anyway! Note that there are some Tales from the Hub references, mainly the greatest prank ever and the innuendo squad thing, as they are combined into one 'verse. For this 'verse, we're assuming Partners in Crime happened mid-March, Chapter Eleven of TFTH on April 1st, The Sontaran Stratagem etc on April 4th, and this on April 6th.

Cassie stepped out of the TARDIS to see the faces of Torchwood Three grinning broadly. "So, I take it I came out at the right time?" she asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Jack asked, and then burst out laughing. "I'm kidding. Yeah, you're on time. Cassie, this is my team-"

"Owen, Tosh, Ianto, I know already."

"How the hell do you-" Jack looked a bit taken aback.

"I'm not quite sure," the Doctor muttered. "She has abilities that exceed mine, and I'm interested in finding out."

"I have plenty of a story to tell," Cassie said with a bright smile. "Actually, it's funny because you have a lot to do with it, Jack."

"Really? Explain, if you don't mind." Jack raised an eyebrow.

"We should all take a seat or something," Cassie said. "We have a lot of catching up to do."


"Alright, everyone," said Cassie when the whole party was sitting down at the conference table: the Doctor, Rose, Martha, Donna, Mickey, and all five Torchwood members. The rest of the Tylers had stayed on the parallel universe, feeling as though they belonged there and not on the normal Earth, which saddened Cassie and Rose a great deal, but they also were not in the least bit interested in staying.

"Okay. Introductions. You all know me: Cassandra Yvonne Tyler, Cassie for short. I'm the daughter of the Doctor and Rose. I was born on a parallel Earth that we nicknamed Pete's World. Pete's World was the birthplace of the Cybermen that came across during the 2007 Battle of Canary Wharf. I'm a cross between human and Time Lord, which we'll get to later, and I was once in charge of a junior branch of Torchwood at Pete's World."

"I'm the Doctor," said the Doctor with a grin. "Hello! I know everyone but you four." He made a motion towards Gwen, Tosh, Owen, and Ianto.

"And I'm Rose. I traveled with the Doctor for two years but then was transported to Pete's World at the very end of Canary Wharf. I didn't know at the time, but I was pregnant with Cassie. Cassie was born a few months after Canary Wharf, and we were there with Mickey and my mother and father and little brother, Tony - also born after Canary Wharf - for fifteen years, although apparently it's only been a year and nine-ish months for you guys. But I'm technically dead on this world's records so who the hell really cares. I also don't know you four Torchwood people, and I'd like to get to know Donna and Martha better as they also traveled with the Doctor."

Martha was next. "I'm Martha Jones. Like Rose said, I traveled with the Doctor just after he lost Rose. We traveled together for a year and then I decided to leave for… well, never mind." Donna chuckled.

"I'm Donna Noble. I first met the Doctor six months after Canary Wharf -although I don't know how long after it was for him. Maybe just after?"

"No, it was about a week for me. I had just found a gap in the universes and said goodbye to Rose, and that was a week after Canary Wharf for me."

"Well, anyway, it was Christmas for me. I was teleported inside the TARDIS because my fiancé was in league with a giant spider - long story - but turned down his offer to travel in the TARDIS afterwards. About year later, I met him again during the whole Adipose thing - we stopped it - and started traveling with him."

Jack was next. "Captain Jack Harkness. I met the Doctor and Rose during the London Blitz and we saved the world from people in gas masks calling for their mummies. Long story. Anyway, we traveled together for a little bit, and then… well, some stuff happened involving Daleks and saving a human race from the future, blah blah blah, and afterwards the Doctor abandoned me and apparently that's when he regenerated - long story again. I ended up accidentally teleporting to the 1800s and made mischief for a couple of centuries - and that's another long story." He got chuckles from the Doctor, Rose, Cassie, Martha, and Gwen, and very confused looks from everyone else. "Right, forgot to mention, I don't die, thanks to Blondie over there. She basically broke open the TARDIS during the whole Dalek thing and became like a goddess or something, called the Bad Wolf, resurrected me after being shot by a Dalek, and accidentally made me immortal."

"Oh, well that explains a whole lot," said Owen. "That whole Cyberwoman thing got me confused." He got a glare from Ianto. "Right, sorry."

"Anyway. Now I'm in charge of one computer whiz, one absolute knucklehead, the most incredible coffee maker I have ever met, and Gwen, whom I literally cannot describe; she is just that amazing. Together, the five of us are Torchwood Three."

Then it was Mickey's turn. "I'm Mickey, sometimes called Mickey the Idiot and the tin dog. Long stories. I was Rose's boyfriend but then she met the Doctor and, well, things got weird. I met Jack later on in Cardiff, and traveled with the Doctor and Rose after he regenerated. We went to Pete's World by accident before Canary Wharf, and I decided to stay behind. I fought in Canary Wharf here, but decided to stay on Pete's World again, not knowing that Rose would be trapped there."

"Okay, what's regenerating?" Martha asked. "I know I've heard that before."

"Remember Yana, turning into Saxon?" the Doctor reminded her.

"Oh, right, that!"

"Um…" Gwen looked confused.

Rose decided to explain. "The Doctor's an alien called a Time Lord, and when they die, they don't actually die. They regenerate, which means they change their faces and everything about them."

"So, like Jack, but a bit different?" Cassie nodded in confirmation. "Okay, I've seen Jack die and come back enough to not freak out. And I suppose it's my turn next. I'm Gwen Cooper, part of Torchwood. I was a police officer but then Jack recruited me for the team. Since then I've been working here and it's been the most incredible experience ever. And that's basically it." Owen and Ianto both laughed. "Shut up, both of you."

"Moving on," Tosh interjected. "Toshiko Sato, known as Tosh by most people. Also part of Torchwood. Jack called me the computer whiz, which is pretty much all I am."

"Except for one of the butts of the absolute greatest prank in the history of ever," Ianto teased.

"Yeah, and we're most definitely not getting into that," Owen muttered. "Dr. Owen Harper, also part of Torchwood, and Jack called me the knucklehead, which isn't true in the least."

"I beg to differ," said Ianto. "Ianto Jones, official coffee maker for Torchwood, master matchmaker, prankster, pain in the arse."

"Okay then," Cassie grinned. "So we all know each other now. Let's move on. Jack, I'm guessing you have questions, and I know Dad does as well."

"Yeah!" the Doctor interrupted. "One, how come you have a screwdriver, and two, I have to ask, what the hell is with your name? Cassandra Yvonne? Rose, what's that about? I mean, we've had bad experiences with people of both those names."

"Well, I wanted to name her after someone we had met-" Rose started, but the Doctor interrupted her.

"So you could've named her after any of the folks we met. There was Jabe, from the Forest of Cheem-"

"Yeah, I'd be named after a tree," Cassie retorted.

The Doctor ignored his daughter's comment. "There was Gwyneth, remember her? Sealed up the rift back in 1879? Our first trip to Cardiff? And then-"

"Wait, hold on," Jack stopped him. "Gwyneth? In Cardiff? Coincidence much?" He nudged Gwen.

"Funny thing," the Doctor mused. "From what I remember, Gwyneth looked a lot like Gwen does... But moving on. There was Harriet Jones, although I didn't like her much. And then there was, let's see... Cathica and Suki, from Satellite 5. And Nancy, remember her from the Blitz?"

"That was when you met me," Jack interjected. "I liked Nancy. And what about Lynda-with-a-Y? Lynda Moss, from the Game Station?"

"Yeah, sweet Lynda!" The Doctor thought for a minute. "Okay, I regenerated, and then... we met Queen Victoria! You could've named her Victoria! And when we were there, there was the Lady Isobel, and that servant, Flora. And then you met Sarah Jane! Sarah would've been a lovely name! And then... well, we'll skip that one, I suppose that one's out of the question..." He trailed off as he thought of Reinette. "Yeah, no, okay. There was Angela Price, from the first time we went to Pete's World-"

"Like Rose would name her kid after someone from Pete's World. She was already upset enough about being there," Mickey interjected, glaring slightly at the Doctor.

"Right, okay. There was Rita Connolly-"

"How do you even remember all of these?!" Rose sighed. "Let me guess, it's a Time Lord thing."

"It is! There was Scooti, and Ida, from Krop Tor-"

"Scariest experience of my life. No way." Rose was getting more and more irritated by all of this.

"There were the girls from LINDA, remember? Ursula, Bridget, and Bliss."

"Yeah, because I want to be reminded of the Abszorbaloff."

"Chloe Webber, from when we went to the Olympics."

"Okay, that's a possibility."

"See? All sorts of people you could've named our kid after. But no, you had to name her Cassandra Yvonne. The two least pleasant people we've ever met. They did terrible things, those two. Yvonne's why I lost you!"

"That's the whole point," Rose explained. "I won't launch into the explanation now, as it's boring. But it's also ironic - the Cassandra part, that is. Last pure human, and her name is used for a part-Time-Lord child? Ironic."

"Well, I like that," the Doctor chuckled. "That's what you meant by most ironic name ever."

"Yep," said Cassie, popping the p. "And about the screwdriver - I designed it and built it myself."

"Impressive," the Doctor grinned. He was really getting into this whole having-a-kid thing. Especially with a kid as brilliant as Cassie.

"Anyway, any other questions?"

"You're half-human. How come you register as Time Lord on a genetic scan?"

"Because I'm not half-human. I'm more like seventy-five percent Time Lord, twenty-five percent human."

"But how? Rose is a pure human, right?" The Doctor looked legitimately confused.

"Not really, no." Cassie grinned. "This is where things get very interesting. See, Mum was human when she met you, but she began building up a whole bunch of timey-wimey radiation when she started traveling. She got a lot during your trip to Cardiff, since she was on top of the rift, and even more when she was at the center of a paradox on her own timeline. And then things get even better. This is where you come in, Jack." Jack looked very confused. "She meets you during the London Blitz. Now, what was the center of the whole thing?"

"Nanogenes," Jack replied quickly. "Wait, are you saying those had something to do with this?"

"Oh yes!" Cassie said in perfect imitation of her dad. "Because those weren't usual human nanogenes. They were based off of your DNA and you had been a Time Agent. So you had a ton of radiation laced in your genetic code, and those nanogenes got confused. Rose was a pure human genetically, but she had radiation in her body. So they stayed in her body, feeding off of the radiation but unsure of what to do with her weird genetic code."

"But they would've died eventually," Jack mused.

"They would've, but then you guys went to Cardiff. She was on top of a rift, the same rift she had been on top of before. The nanogenes would've recognized it, as well as the energy from the heart of the TARDIS. They still didn't know what to do, as there wasn't a genetic code to work from. But they stayed alive. And then it all changed at the Game Station - when they had their first kiss. Dad kissed her to take out the energy from the TARDIS, but little did he know it would have another effect… and Martha should know what it is."

Martha thought for a minute. "A kiss," she murmured. "That sounds really familiar… but how?"

Cassie knew how to jog her memory. "Judoon platoon upon the moon," she said with a bright grin.

"Oh! Genetic transfer!" Martha exclaimed. "When he kissed her, he transferred his DNA to her!"

"And that was enough to get the nanogenes going. Between her human DNA and his Time Lord DNA, the nanogenes recognized something, and just like with the flesh-and-bone gas masks, they hybridized her and turned her into something entirely different - half human, half Time Lord."

"And you got those genes, so that makes seventy-five to twenty-five." The Doctor laughed. "But wait, how come-"

"I was hit by a bolt of lightning and I regenerated. Turned into basically a full Time Lord with some tweaks. I only have nine regenerations and I don't change what I look like. But I still have two hearts. I have to get used to that one, actually - it's like I'm beating out a samba." She grinned cheekily.

"Oh, God, that was so awkward," the Doctor groaned. Cassie laughed again.

"Indeed it was," Cassie chuckled. "But it was really funny, that whole thing. I saw it, in my head. I think the Bad Wolf gave me the ability to see people's timelines play in my head."

"What do you mean, the Bad Wolf? It's over. I took the power out of her." The Doctor looked very confused.

"The Bad Wolf isn't the same as the energy from the heart of the TARDIS," Cassie explained. "The Bad Wolf is a living entity, part of my mum, and it was passed to me. I could transform now if I were exposed to the Vortex."

"So you both are the Bad Wolf now?" Jack asked.

Cassie shook her head. "No, when I was born, it left her and went into me. I can feel it there, in the back of my mind, and it's not in hers."

"How do you know?" Rose asked, a bit nervous.

"I can sense it. I can sense the presence of a time-space entity since I have one inside myself. And you don't have it."

"Okay then." Rose looked her daughter over. Somehow, her baby had become a young woman in a matter of months, a strong, passionate young woman who had the ability to take on the universe.

The Doctor, too, was looking at his daughter. It was a bit of an odd thing, being a father, not that he hadn't been one before, but this girl was his in a very different way, the child of the love of his many lives as well as his own offspring. He had never loved anyone the way he did Rose, and the same went for the rather extraordinary young Time Lady sitting next to him. He looked at Rose, and then at the child, and he realized how excited he was to take his family, his wonderful reunited family, across the stars and through time.

"You're not planning on kicking me out now, are you?" Donna asked.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "Of course not! You're just as much part of the team as anyone else. And Martha, you too. If you ever want to come back, I'd love to have you back on the TARDIS. And Jack. Even Mickey the Idiot, if you want."

"Nah," said Mickey. "I was thinking I'd defend the Earth here. Martha, you said something about UNIT, right?"

"I'll get you a job there," said Martha. "Doctor, I can't. I have an Earth to defend."

"And me, too," Jack interjected. "You could come work for us, Mickey…"

"No way. Working for you? Never." Mickey grinned. "I wouldn't fit in with the innuendo squad, anyway."

Gwen grinned, and muttered to Tosh, "See? Innuendo squad!" and they both burst out laughing.

"Anyway. I suppose we'd better be off, then," said the Doctor. "Martha, Mickey, I'll take you back to UNIT headquarters, and then the rest of us will be off, into time-"

"And space!" Mickey, Rose, and Jack all ended the phrase with the Doctor, remembering that trip to Cardiff. Rose finished with a whoop.

Cassie grinned. "Oh, this'll be… fantastic!"

The Doctor grinned, pulling his daughter into a hug. "Indeed it will be, Cassandra Yvonne Tyler."


Hey everyone! Sorry for the long chapter. Anyway, this one is where TFTH and Cassie will go their separate ways in the story, but they will reference each other every now and again. Hope you guys liked this one!

Love,

Kate

UPDATE 6/27: I added in a bit of a spiel on the name thing. I always wanted to write it in, but didn't because of how long it would make the chapter. But the fact of the matter is, I can never resist the opportunity to make a repeated-actor joke (see "Donna Noble, Psychiatrist's Field Day" for more examples of this), and I can never resist the opportunity to write in a ramble. So it had to happen! Kate xxx