Knots In Time
Chapter Three: Don't Fear The Reapers
Cursing the fanciful impulse that led her to select such a ridiculous dress and the alien kidnappers that dumped her on this planet in said dress, Rose was not amused. She was supposed to be spending the evening celebrating with her friends and family, new husband on her arm, not trudging her way through an alien forest filled with who-knows-what. She'd headed towards the break in the tree line she could see up ahead, but the terrain was rough and muddy. Her mood was not improved when a portion of her lovely diaphanous skirt caught on a branch, tearing and sending her tumbling into the muck. If she ever did see those aliens again, it would be to personally deliver the string of expletives she was working on right now.
Grimacing, she picked herself up and began extricating herself from the wet tangle of mud and chiffon wrapped around her legs. At this point, the damage to the dress was done, so she hardly needed to be gentle. When she'd finished, a good third of her skirt had been removed; what remained hung in shreds, but at least she had enough ground clearance now to avoid further snags. Her mum was going to be furious.
At least she'd remembered rule number one for life with the Doctor - wear shoes you can run in. (It was not, as he'd tried to claim on more than one occasion, 'don't wander off.' Staying put more often than not got you in to as much trouble as wandering did, at least in her experience.) There had been another fight with her mother about her choice of footwear, but Rose had ended that when she'd pointed out that with the dress she'd chosen it wasn't like anyone would even see her shoes. In fact, she'd picked them deliberately to make the one person who she knew would see them smile; white Converse had practically been the Doctor's signature since he'd regenerated. They're not white anymore, she thought glumly as she continued onward through the forest.
Just as she reached the edge of the dense vegetation, Rose felt something buzz against her hip. Hope surged through her; that was her communicator! Excitedly, she retrieved the device from her pocket and fumbled with the keys to bring up the tracker. Whoever had just pinged its sensors had a Torchwood authorization code and wasn't that far away but she didn't recognize the signature code as anyone she knew. She had no idea how anyone from Torchwood could even get out here that quickly. The nearest star system to Earth with planets that had a breathable atmosphere was many, many light years away. Maybe the Doctor had called in a few favors with some of the alien contacts they'd made over the years.
She supposed it didn't much matter who it was, as long as they could get her back home to Earth. She flipped the distress beacon back on active and headed towards the other Torchwood signal. It brought her to the top of what she thought was a hill that revealed itself to be much higher and steeper on the other side. But that wasn't what made her gasp when she got there; spread out below her, she found a bustling city surrounding a large spaceport swarming with all manner of ships. Perhaps one of them was the source of the mysterious Torchwood signal she'd been following.
Picking her way carefully down the hill took longer than she wanted. She kept glancing nervously at the screen of her communicator to reassure herself that she hadn't lost contact with her target. She couldn't tell if the other person was headed towards her, but it did seem to be getting closer, in a meandering sort of way. She'd tried to send a voice message more than once but something was preventing it from linking up properly. She considered using her sonic screwdriver on it to see if she could solve the problem but decided not to risk breaking it further, especially since she had a whole city to search now.
Once she'd made her way on to the streets, Rose garnered more than a few curious looks from the various people she passed. It was far too early for the sight of a human being to be a common occurrence anywhere else in the galaxy so she didn't blame them. There seemed to be a robust selection of species represented in the city though, enough that her presence was merely unusual, not alarming. Mentally she crossed her fingers that she'd be able to spot the Torchwood agent in the crowds; the signal tracker on her communicator was not exactly precise.
She entered what could only be described as a 'touristy' marketplace. The crowds here were even worse and shops lined the streets, filled to the brim with alien goods and multi-species shoppers. Signs around her were written in both Universal and what she assumed was the native language, proclaiming their wares to be the best available in twenty systems. The signal was coming from somewhere very nearby. Rose turned slowly, watching the blinking target on her communicator, trying to pinpoint which direction to head next.
She was so focused on the device in front of her that it almost didn't register when a voice behind her shouted something in English. Blinking, she turned around to find a slim human girl with wild brown hair wearing an incredibly long striped scarf running towards her. Upon seeing her face, the girl shouted again, "Mum!"
Rose stood frozen in shock and confusion as the girl came up to her, babbling in a cheerful, comfortable way. "You won't believe what I found in this store! Dad said I should ask you first if I can get it. Don't say no yet, just wait till you see it. What's with the clothes, Mum? What happened to you? I thought you were going to stay back at the... uh oh." She stopped short, biting her lip, finally realising something was amiss with Rose's reaction to her.
Rose stared at her, struggling to think of something to say as the pieces slowly came together in her mind. She had a soft London accent and her mannerisms felt so like someone she knew, it was unsettling. It wasn't until she looked down and noticed that the girl wore scuffed blue Converse trainers that it finally clicked. She couldn't be.
As if to confirm her suspicions, a familiar voice called out and Rose looked up from what could only be her daughter to see the Doctor come jogging around the corner.
"Jane! How many times have I told you not to wander off? If you're not going to listen then you can go back to wait in the Tar-" He paused mid-sentence when he saw who she was standing next to. "-dis. Hello, Rose."
It had already been an extremely long day and Rose had been ready to deal with many things, but she wasn't quite prepared for this. This Doctor was older, clearly. His gorgeous brown hair shot with silver but still as unruly as ever. He wore a navy blue peacoat over a faintly pinstriped chocolate brown suit with his usual trainers and a light blue t-shirt. It looked like it'd been a while since he'd bothered to shave too.
Motion caught her eye and Rose noticed that behind the Doctor stood a young boy in a hooded jumper. He looked so much like her little brother Tony that it took her breath away. Well, her brother if he'd been slightly older and had a messy head of red hair cut just like the Doctor's.
Mouth gaping a bit like a fish, Rose managed to squeak out a response. "Doctor."
He smiled and approached her slowly. "Jane, take your brother and have a look at the Illurian light paintings over there while I speak with your mother for a bit."
With obvious reluctance Jane shuffled over to her brother and led him away as instructed. It was no fun being sent off whenever things got really interesting.
The Doctor took hold of Rose's hand carefully. "I suppose an explanation is in order. Well... at least as much of one as I can safely give you, I suppose. Rather not risk a paradox here."
Rose swallowed and asked, "Where am I then? Can I know that?"
The Doctor looked pensive. "Which you do you mean? I don't know if..."
She interrupted him, "This planet, what's it called?"
"I don't know if I should tell you that. Really, the less you know about your future, the better. Blimey, I knew this day was coming for years, you'd think I'd have thought of what to say by now."
Rose raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you at least going to give me a lift home? I'm late for something rather important, you know." She gestured to her ruined wedding gown.
At this he laughed, "Of course! Can't leave myself waiting at the altar, can I?"
This was possibly the last straw of absurdity for Rose and she found herself giggling uncontrollably along with him. After they'd both calmed somewhat, he pulled her into a warm hug and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry. I'll have you back before anyone knows what happened."
"I'm just going to call Rose to warn her, and then we'll head back to the TARDIS. I know you know this, but do be careful not to touch her when we get there." He pushed back his sleeve to press a few buttons and speak into a small communicator device on his wrist. It reminded Rose of the one Jack always wore.
Rose found her thoughts swirling again. Children. She and the Doctor had two children. It had never even occurred to her that such a thing would be possible. They'd always taken precautions out of habit mostly. The Doctor may have been part human now but what exactly that translated to in terms of genetics was murky since he'd resisted Torchwood's offers to examine him. With her job, Rose had never even considered whether she wanted to be a mum. Being confronted with the temporal inevitability of motherhood was a bit overwhelming.
She studied them from afar, trying to spot the similarities to herself and her Doctor in them. Jane was very clearly her father's daughter; they shared the same wiry build, animated gestures, and marvelous hair. Her nose was the only feature Rose could clearly trace back to herself. Her son seemed quieter; he was carefully inspecting the paintings in front of him while his sister talked behind him. She marveled at his red hair. That must be Donna's contribution to the family gene pool. She could only imagine what the Doctor's response had been when his son was born ginger. A mixture of joy and envy, she was sure.
She looked back to the Doctor to find him frowning at his communicator. "What's wrong?"
"You're... she's not in the TARDIS; I can't trace her signal either. And she's not replying to me." He looked worried.
His words brought Rose's mind back to her recent encounter with wedding-disrupting alien kidnappers. "Oh no! They said I wasn't the Bad Wolf they were looking for..."
The color drained from the Doctor's face as he came to the same conclusion she had. He recovered quickly though, steely determination hardening his features as he looked at her. "You told me in the past that you were kidnapped and brought onboard a ship in orbit. What can you tell me about where you were held?"
Rose thought for a moment and then brightened when she remembered. "I can do better than tell you. I can show you the map!" She pulled up the photo she'd taken on the ship of the panel schematic. "The prisoner cells were here." She pointed.
The Doctor took the communicator from her and grinned. "Come on! No one kidnaps my Rose twice in the same day!" He broke into a run, waving to the children to join them as they hurried back to the TARDIS. Fortunately, it wasn't parked too far away. The Doctor pushed the familiar blue police box door open for them and Rose dashed inside without pausing to consider why the baby time machine looked exactly like its mother.
Well, at least it did on the outside. Once inside, Rose stumbled to a halt, taking in the control room. It was perhaps a bit smaller than the one she was used to, but nonetheless impressive. The walls were blue, dotted with round amber lights in a similar honeycomb pattern to the old TARDIS. Everything was cleaner, but still felt comfortable and homey to her. A glass floor surrounded the central console and she noticed this new TARDIS featured more seating for her passengers than the original as her son hopped up on one of the seats to watch his father and older sister dash around, setting coordinates. She set her hand against a wall and felt the friendly hum of a response in her mind.
"Hello, little girl." She whispered.
She had to use that hand to steady herself as the young TARDIS lurched under her feet, headed to intercept the alien ship that held her kidnappers and hopefully her future self.
With one smooth motion, the Doctor shrugged off his coat, tossed it over a nearby railing, and pulled his sonic out of his jacket pocket as he marched towards the door. "Allons-y!"
He opened the door to reveal the very same corridor where Rose had faced down her alien kidnappers earlier that day. The green alarm lights had been replaced with the far more serious mauve though, and Rose found she could understand the mechanical announcer this time as though it were transmitting in English. Thank you, TARDIS. They were just about to step out to investigate when Rose witnessed her future self come barreling around the corner, right for them, pursued by blaster fire.
Future Rose was dressed in dark jeans and trainers with a worn leather jacket. She wore a wrist comm like the Doctor's and clutched her sonic in her hand as she ran into the TARDIS, grinning. Rose stepped back to avoid accidentally making contact and bringing Reapers down on them. That would be the last thing they needed today.
"Brilliant timing as usual, Doctor!" Future Rose pulled him in for a kiss after they closed the doors behind her in a hurry. "Well," she amended, "it helps that I knew you were coming." With that, she nodded to her past self, standing awkwardly to the side in her shredded dress.
In a brief moment of vanity, Rose noted that her future self had aged well; still slim and with slightly darker blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. The two Tyler women eyed each other curiously for a few seconds before Future Rose blinked and turned to the Doctor.
"We should leave. I may have set the charges on their long distance transmat system on a bit of a short fuse."
The Doctor released Rose and jumped over to the console where their children stood, staring wide-eyed at the two versions of their mother. "Right. We've got a wedding to crash!"