Chapter 13

Rose felt the same shifting of her being as she had felt coming through the portal the first time, and she opened her eyes to find herself on the Cliffside back in her parallel universe. Vatra soon appeared behind her. Voices from the cliffside alerted Rose that they were not going to be alone for very much longer, and so she turned to Vatra with hatred in her eyes and screamed.

Of course, the humans scaling the Cliffside rapidly scaled the last of the rock and, upon seeing Rose, they took up a protective stance. It seemed, Rose decided, that not much time had passed in this universe as she had thought.

"What happened to you? Why didn't you respond to us?" One of the Torchwood members asked.

Rose turned to him. "It's a long story."

Vatra interrupted her. "Rose, what the hell is going on?!"

The Torchwood members stood on high alert, awaiting a response from Rose.

"Take this woman into custody." She said, and began making her way towards the edge of the cliff. Vatra began yelling nasty things at Rose for walking her straight into a trap, and Rose laughed at how untrue that was; this was just pure luck. Rose's harness had not been moved from where she dropped it, so she hooked it back up and repelled down to the bottom of the cliff. From above, she heard the other Torchwood members calling for a helicopter to pick up Vatra.

At the bottom of the cliff, people flocked around Rose, asking what had happened. She finally learned that she had been gone for several hours, which was a surprisingly short amount of time to her. The nearby helicopter hovered over the cliff and Vatra was restrained and lifted into the copter. At the same time, Rose was led into one of the SUVs and she began explaining her experiences to her superior. She led her through the events of the entire time between stepping through the portal and arriving back on the cliff, and her superior listened in awe. Rose finished her story and looked back over her shoulder at the cave atop the cliff, growing smaller and smaller as they drove away. As it was about to go out of sight, the white light flooding out of the opening suddenly disappeared. Rose's heart caught. Had the portal just closed? But she was going to go back to her doctor!

Her supervisor, Sherry Harver, pulled her away from her panicked thoughts. "Rose, how will we handle this Vatra?"

But Rose could not focus on the question. "The portal… it just closed! It closed! I've got to go back!"

Sherry raised her voice, trying to snap Rose out of it. "Rose, we need to know what to do about Vatra!"

Rose turned to her supervisor and slumped in her seat. "Not again…" She whispered. She would not let this happen again. The light probably hadn't disappeared, it had simply not shone that far. Simple. It was still there, still open.

Sherry touched her arm. "Rose, focus."

Rose looked up to her. "I gave you my story. Can I just get back to the office and clean myself up? It's been a long several hours."

Sherry sighed. "Fine Rose. But we won't forget about this. You'll have to deal with it tomorrow."

Rose nodded, knowing in her heart that tomorrow she would be happily living with her bow-tie wearing doctor.

The Doctor watched helplessly as Vatra pushed Rose through the portal. "No!" He screamed. He ran towards the wall, reaching for his Rose. He reached the stone wall and felt cold stone under his fingers, the wall would not give. The portal wouldn't let him through. "No… no no no…" he began muttering to himself. It couldn't happen again. He'd already endured this pain once, isn't that enough? He slapped the wall. Amy and Rory walked slowly towards him, unsure of what to do.

The Doctor looked up pleadingly at them. "I'm a time-lord, they're humans! Maybe it only works for you?"

Amy suspected what would happen, but she pressed her hand against the cold stone to prove it to herself and him. The portal was closed.

The doctor slid to the ground and pressed himself closer to the wall, rare tears leaking from his eyes. Amy and Rory sat down next to him and tried to help as best they could.

The SUVs had dropped Rose off at her apartment for the night, and she was expected to shower, rest, and return to work the next day. Instead, as soon as the SUV was out of sight, she hopped into her own car and sped back down the road faster than most people would dare.

Sherry was very concerned. She had seen Rose shortly after losing her doctor the first time, and she didn't know if Rose would be able to handle it again. If Rose didn't show up for work tomorrow, Sherry knew exactly where to look for her. In fact, Sherry turned her car right back around as soon as she reached the office

Rose pulled up to the Cliffside. She didn't have her harness this time, but she had made it up the first time, right? She began her climb, staying completely focused and trying not to rush. Not quickly enough, she reached the top safely. She stood up and ran towards the dark cave. "No…" She began whispering. Her eyes teared up the closer she got. She entered the small cave and found the cold wall. "No!" She cried. "No no no no no, not again! This can't happen again!"

She rested her face against the wall and sobbed. "No. no no no."

Sherry pulled up and saw Rose's car. "I knew it." She pulled out her gear and began scaling the rock. "I sure hope she can handle this." It took her much longer to reach the top than it did Rose. At the top, she heard the tell-tale noises of a broken heart. "Rose…." She whispered. She walked over to the collapsed girl pressing her face against the rock and patted her shoulder. She was freezing. "Come on Rose, let's get you warmed up." She picked up the girl by her arms and led her away from the rock, praying everything would be okay.

Amy and Rory glanced at each other and knew what they had to do. They both grabbed an arm of the doctor and pulled him off the ground where he had his face pressed up against the wall. "Come on Doctor, let's go. I'm sure the TARDIS has somewhere great for us to go. River may want to see you again, yeah?" Amy tried to make some small talk after that, but the doctor did not respond. They led him quietly away into the TARDIS where he was once again without his Rose.

THE END