AN: As per usual, I own nothing

Thank you to those who read, reviewed and favoured

Who knew?

"You know her?" Both Gwen and Andy looked confused.

"We used to be friends, a long time ago." Gwen noted the sad tone in Jack's voice. Then suddenly his whole attitude and posture changed. "Has someone been to see her, a doctor?"

"I don't know" Andy said.

"What about a big guy, leather jacket, big ears and nose, kinda rude?"

"I can ask a nurse" Andy offered with a confused look.

"Yeah, you do that" Jack said with a smile.

"You seem happy" Gwen noted.

"Oh Gwen, this is wonderful" Jack exclaimed and kissed her forehead. "If only you knew!"

"There has not been anyone asking for her" Andy's voice interrupted the moment. "But the nurse said that you could go in and talk with her, if you want. They gave her something for the pain, but she should be lucid."

Jack nodded. "Thank you" he said and entered the room.

Rose felt something warm touch her cheek and smiled. Finally, she was where she belonged and he was here now, with her, and everything would be all right. She opened her eyes, eager to see his warm brown eyes again, but was met with steely blue ones instead. Her features immediately fell.

"Not who you expected?"

"Sorry" she mumbled.

Jack smiled. "No worries. I'm sure he'll be here soon."

"He will?"

"Well yeah, once he discovers that you're not in the TARDIS, he'll come running."

"Oh…" Rose felt silly for getting her hopes up, even just for a second. Obviously Jack didn't know what had happened. "I don't travel with the Doctor anymore" she said. She still felt numb when she was forced to talk about it.

"What happened?"

"I got stuck in an alternative dimension. It's a long story, really" Rose said.

"Oh. I saw the records after Torchwood One was destroyed. You were listed as a casualty, but I just figured…. Since there was no body…"

"There was a gap between the dimensions. I was forced through and got stuck when the walls closed."

Jack was at a loss for words. He had never seen Rose look this defeated. "How are you feeling?"

"Bit woozy. Confused. I still don't know how I ended up here." Rose was aware that it wasn't what Jack had asked about, but she didn't want to talk about it.

"I think you came through the rift. There has been massive activity today." Rose just nodded and the room was silent for a while. "How long has it been?"

"About three years. But time moves faster in the other dimension."

"So what do you plan to do now?"

Rose shrugged. "Don't know. Suppose getting a job is a bit hard if you're officially dead."

"Well… It just so happen that I am in a position to hire someone" Jack said with a smirk. He had a feeling Rose would be a great addition to the team.

"Yeah? You don't work at a…" she leaned forward and almost whispered, "a gentleman's bar, do you?"

He couldn't contain his laugh. "Not exactly, no. I work for Torchwood, the one here in Cardiff. And I recon you would know a thing or two about aliens?"

"Suppose I do, yeah" she said with a smile.

"Great! I'll go get you discharged and then you can come with me." He stopped at the door. "So can I just ask you… You and the Doctor…?"

"We were never like that."

Jack looked thoughtful. "Hm, I always thought the Doctor would get it together and you would make a lot of rude, big-eared kids." Rose didn't answer.

"Jack, what's going on" Gwen asked. She had been waiting outside the room, watching the conversation between him and the woman.

"She's coming with us" Jack said, striding towards the nurses desk and asking them to discharge Rose.

"What? Why?"

"I just hired her. She works for Torchwood now."

Gwen's facial features took on a striking resemblance to a fish and she just stood there watching Jack take care of the papers. It wasn't until her phone started to ring that she was shook out of her daze. "Yeah?"

"Gwen where the hell are you?"

Gwen looked up as the woman exited the room and walked towards them. "Rhys, not now" she said and hung up.

"Rose, I'd like you to met one of my agents. This is Gwen Cooper" Jack introduced them.

"We've met" Gwen noted and crossed her arms. She didn't trust this woman. "How's the rips?"

"Oh… A bit sore, but I'll live" Rose said with an uneasy smile.

"How did you two meet?"

"I stepped out in front of Gwen's car this morning."

"Try not to make a habit of that" Jack said with a smile and took Rose's hand.

"Where are you going?"

Jack looked at Gwen. "Back to the Hub. Rose needs to rest."

"Jack you sleep in your office, where is she going to stay?"

"It's fine" Rose intervened. "I'm not really that tired and Jack and I have a lot of catching up to do."

Gwen scowled but didn't retort. She mumbled a goodbye and left the hospital in a huff.

It was raining when Jack and Rose exited the hospital and Jack offered his jacket to her, seeing as she was only wearing a hoodie. He was almost at the jeep, when he noticed she had stopped, and turned to look at her. She looked so small and frail, standing there in the middle of the street wearing his jacket, so lost. He wasn't sure, if she was crying or if it was just the rain.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just…. It's a bit much to take in" she said and followed him to the jeep.

The ride was silent, with Rose just staring out the window of the car. Jack parked the car and led her around to the back entrance. Ianto was sitting faithfully at the desk, looking through some papers. "Hello" he greeted. Things between him and Jack had been weird lately. Ianto wasn't the jealous type, but seeing Jack entering the Hub with a pretty, blonde woman, who was even wearing Jack's beloved coat, made him feel uncomfortably. "I made coffee."

"Thanks, Ianto. This is Rose Tyler, an old friend of mine. She's going to be working with us for a while" Jack said.

Rose smiled at the baby-faced man standing behind the desk. "Ianto is our coffee boy."

"Nice to meet you" Rose said and was met with a strained "likewise." Rose had a feeling she wouldn't exactly be welcomed with upon arms by the other people who worked for Torchwood.

Jack showed her around the Hub, stopping a few places and explaining things.

"Oh god" Rose suddenly exclaimed.

"What? Oh the sign? Yeah, it used to say Torchwood. We don't know what happened."

Rose looked at the sign hanging over an old dingy couch. Bad Wolf. Those words had haunted her all the way into another dimension. She hadn't talked to anyone about her "condition", no one knew that she wasn't just Rose Marion Tyler anymore.

"Didn't the Doctor mention something about those words following you around, through time and space? Remember Margaret the Slitheen? She was connected to the words too. And the Game Station."

"I… I don't know" Rose lied. "I don't know what it means."

"Guess it means something is coming. Someone wrote it on Gwen's car as well. Maybe it's a warning."

"Yeah, maybe…"

Jack led her into his office and they sat down.

"Is that a hand? In a jar? You got a hand in a jar in your office?"

"It's the Doctor's hand, actually. Don't know how, but it's his hand all right. It gives some sort of signal whenever he is near."

"That's the Doctor's hand?" Rose eyes suddenly widened. "Oh my god, that's the hand the Sycorax cut off!"

"What?"

"The Sycorax, a couple of years ago at Christmas? The Doctor duelled one of them and got his hand cut off."

"So, he has one hand now?"

"No he grew a new one, he was still…" Rose stopped herself. She wasn't sure how much she should tell Jack. Torchwood was still Torchwood and the Doctor hadn't even told her about regeneration before it happened, which meant it was something private to him. "Well, it grew back, he's still the Doctor."

They sat in silence for a little while, until Rose couldn't contain it anymore. "You probably think I'm silly."

"What do you mean?"

"Hoping for some nine hundred year old alien to love me back. Doing all these things to get back to him, and he isn't here and I don't even know how to contact him."

"Rose, I'm so sorry…"

"They kept telling me, mum, Mickey, even Sarah Jane…. They kept telling me he would break my heart, but I didn't listen, I didn't want to hear it. I was so stupid, so stubborn, but I really thought we would be together forever. I didn't matter that he was older ("or an alien" Jack said with a smile), I just wanted to be with him. And now look at me…"

"I think he felt the same way, Rose, and now that you're back, we just have to wait until something crazy happens and he shows up and then everything will be back to normal. Or at least as normal as things can get when you're dealing with the Doctor" Jack said with a big smile.

Rose just smiled. She knew this wasn't the case. She had had three long years to think things through. They had left so many things unsaid between them, things that needed to be said and she knew it could never be like it was before. She wanted more, she wanted him to say the words he didn't say when they said goodbye for the last time. And she wasn't sure he could do that.