"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Jack yelled as he stood over her, his chest heaving.
"J-Jack?" Rose gasped again. How was he even here?
"Seriously Rose, I know you have an ass of a boyfriend, but that doesn't mean you can just check out! I thought you knew better! Yet there I was, going for a walk when I see you getting ready to jump off a bridge!"
Rose didn't know how to respond; Jack was here, with her, in 2002 and obviously knew who she was.
"Rose-"Jack paused as he took in her distressed expression. "Honey, you can't just quit on life when it gets tough," He said kneeling down next to her. "You have so much to look forward to."
Rose swallowed the lump in her throat as she stared into the blue eyes of one of her very best friends. He placed a hand on her check and smiled softly at her. "I'm probably creeping you out huh, random guy comes and stops you from jumping, knows your name." A crease appeared in his forehead as he considered the consequences his actions could have.
Rose quickly made up her mind that if anyone could help her out of this time line mess it was Jack, and honestly, she needed the comfort only he could provide. Feeling a huge weight lift of her chest, Rose threw her arms around Jacks neck. "Nah, just pleasantly surprised. I've missed you Jack."
She felt his shoulders stiffen and hurried to clarify. "I'm kinda in a bit of a mess. Nothing end of the universe inducing as far as I know, but still problematic."
Jack untangled her arms from around his neck and pulled her back so he could see her face. "You know who I am?" He eyed her curiously.
"Jack Harkness, like I was ever going to forget you." Strong arms were suddenly around her and Rose felt the breath rush out of her lungs as she was squeezed against Jack's warm chest.
"Oh God Rosie, what the hell was the bridge jumping about? And your sixteen! How do you know who I am?" Jack questioned as his hands gripped her silk vest top.
Rose grinned weakly before inching out of Jack's lap in favor of sitting beside him. "It's a really long story."
Jack made an exaggerated show of checking his watch before settling in next to her against the stone ledge of the bridge. "I think I've got time."
…
The Doctor never got his shovel.
Instead, Pete Tyler called in a Torchwood unit complete with crime scene lighting and a backhoe. The team was now at work to bring Rose Tyler's body back to the surface. The Doctor stood stoically overlooking the procedure with an observant eye. Occasionally he would shout brief instructions to the agents as they dug up the casket, but was mainly silent. Martha positioned herself next to him and watched the machine lift pile after pile of dirt from the growing hole.
"If your planet is gone then how did you get that flower?" She asked.
The Doctor stroked the soft petals of the golden plant in his pocket. "The Tardis can create synthetic environments in any room specified. I found the spores on some clothing I had worn before the planet was gone, and for the sake of preserving history I grew them. "
He took the flower out and offered the head to Martha, who eyed it curiously. "The plant possesses a low-level telepathic field and can recreate certain memories in intense forms."
Cautiously Martha leaned forward and breathed in the heady scent that drifted up from the shimmering plant. With a gasp the medical student smelt the delicious aroma of her mother's chicken soup which then transitioned to her late grandfather's chocolate chip cookies, which she hadn't tasted since before his death when she was eight. The ghost of arms encircled her in the unique way that only her father could do, providing comfort and safety which Martha relished in as the feeling overflowed from her body. Next came the soft pressing of lips to her own in the tentative style that came with her first kiss on the patio of her house at fifteen. All of these feelings dimmed as she felt the awakening of butterflies in her stomach that only occured when the Doctor gave her that silly grin of his.
A lazy smile worked its way onto Martha's face as reality swam back into focus and her senses quieted. "That was amazing." She whispered a new appreciation for the flower at the forefront of her mind. The Doctor hummed his agreement and slipped the flower back into his jacket pocket.
"So why are we digging up her grave?" Martha asked slowly. Pete hadn't even questioned the Doctor's request and she wondered what kind of history the two had for him to net even blink at the thought of digging up his daughter's grave at the Doctors request.
As if summoned by her thoughts, Pete Tyler approached the group. "They reached the casket; my people are lifting it up now." He nodded toward the pulley system being strung through the hole in the ground and tied to the backhoe attachment.
"Brilliant." The Doctor said, watching as the sleek obsidian box rose from the ground. With a dull thud the casket hit the grassy floor, and three agents quickly untied the elastic ties, freeing it from the machine. Pete waved his hand and the small group of agents surrounding the site moved away from the grave and allowed the three some privacy.
"Okay Doctor, what this about?" Pete asked as they made their way toward the casket.
"You buried Rose within two days of her apparent death, why?" The alien asked as he squatted next to the grave and ignored the casket completely.
"The poison she ingested is an acidic mixture. Just leaving it on your skin to long will cause intense burning. When it showed up on the toxicology screen we knew her body would last three days at most with the best preservation methods, before the acidic effects of the poison would start taking effect." Pete answered as he watched the Doctor run his fingers through the dirt.
"And you have that in darts? What in the world do you plan on shooting?" Martha asked, disgusted at how much pain the poison would cause.
"We use it when taking in dangerous suspects with a tendency of fleeing. All the poison will immediately do is numb your body, allowing for easy transport of the suspect without hassle. When we finish with questioning we administer the antidote. If the suspect escapes custody, the numbing will ware off within seven hours and the blaze of hell will replace it. We have only had two suspects escape when on this drug and both returned within twenty four hours pleading for help." The Torchwood director responded. "We think Rose took it because taken in large quantities will allow the numbing solution to last longer while the acid attacks the body. With the amount she took, she wouldn't have felt anything."
"How many days has it been since you buried her?" The Doctor interrupted, rising from the hole.
"Nine."
"So eleven days in total, what would you estimate decomposition at?"
"Nothing but bones."
The Doctor walked over to the casket and ran his hand over the covering. "That's what I thought."
With a strong push, he slid the glittering black lid of the box and allowed it to fall to the side.
Martha and Pete stood astounded as they gazed at the untouched body of Rose Tyler looking exactly as it had when buried.
"Martha, do a quick examination." The Doctors voice was strained and the medical student looked up to see a fiery darkness burning behind his eyes.
Not having to be told twice, the young woman hurried over to the casket and let her eyes take in the still body.
"Victim suffers no obvious decomposition side effects." She responded, gently trailing her fingers down the woman's arms and sides. "Swelling and inflammation are not apparent anywhere besides the face." She felt along the body's thighs and calves before working her way up, gently feeling along the sides of the woman's breasts. "No muscle and fat decomposition of any type." She tuned to the Doctor, "If she wasn't so cold, I'd put time of death around a few hours ago."
The Doctor nodded his face blank. "When I knelt by the stone I couldn't smell any decomposition, it wasn't until I tasted the headstone though that I knew something was wrong." He walked back to the headstone and brushed off the layer of dirt coating it. "The granite absorbs a small fraction of the nutrients in the soil, including gases given off by the corpse, but instead of tasting the usual mix of that bodies give off, it was straight formaldehyde." He walked back over to Rose's body. "That means there is absolutely nothing happening to this body. It simply exists in this state with no decomposition whatsoever, leaving only the formaldehyde fumes to drift upward." He paused suddenly before abruptly jerking his face over Rose's stomach. "It's there."
"What is?" Martha asked, her body tensing at his dark tone.
"I can smell it faintly. Something decomposing, but it's not Rose."
"She's the only thing in the casket Doctor!"
With a shaking hand the Doctor reached behind the neck of the cold body and pressed down forcefully.
The effect was instantaneous. One moment Martha was looking at the body of Rose Tyler and the next a mangled skeleton sat in its place. The stench of death rolled of the corpse in waves making Martha's stomach turn and Pete gag.
"Doctor is that—"Pete began.
"No." The Doctor stood above the skeleton with a blazing fury in his eyes that frightened Martha to her core.
"And if this isn't Rose Tyler, then someone else has had her for the past eleven days with the mind-set of no one ever knowing she been taken." He laughed humorlessly. "That was a very big mistake."
...And here comes the oncoming storm *cue dramatic music*
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