Disclaimer: I am not doing this for any monetary gain. I do not own Doctor Who nor the music of the wonderful Sara Bareilles.
Chapter 5: Come Round Soon
All your stormy words have barely broken
And you sound like thunder though
you've barely spoken
Oh, it looks like rain tonight and thank God
'Cause a clear sky just wouldn't feel right.
When Peter Tyler personally called an agent in for a mission, no one wanted to keep him waiting. Rose felt wide awake as she quickly changed out of her night clothes and into a comfortable tee-shirt and jeans combo with matching trainers and jacket. She caught the nearest cab she could and told them to take her to Vitex Headquarters. All of London didn't need to know that deep within the walls of an honest, health-drink organization like Vitex lays the command center of London's top alien investigation conglomerate. Rose thanked the driver as she exited the vehicle and ran up the steps, leading to the front entrance. The greeting secretary wasn't there at this time of night (obviously) and it made Rose feel like she was breaking in rather than being invited.
Taking the lift up, Rose hummed along with the background music subconsciously before catching herself and stopping. She really needed to have a talk with Pete about piping in better music. The doors swished open and Rose walked purposefully to the CEO's giant doors and pushed them open. Pete was sitting in his chair, with his back facing her, while on his ear buds having a heated conversation with someone who seemed to be very important.
"Well, as soon as you do hear from them, I want a full briefing on their status. Got it? Good. No, I'm just waiting for-" Pete shifted his seat and finally noticed that Rose was standing in the doorway. She awkwardly waved and stepped forward an inch before stopping, allowing him time to finish.
"She's here. I'll ring you back."
"I hate those things," Rose said as she walked up to Pete's desk as he removed the buds.
"I'm not as fond of them as I used to be myself," Pete said with a heavy sigh, "but Government's been insisting..." He motioned to the chair across from him and she took her seat.
"We don't really have to get into that right now," Rose said, crossing her legs and sitting straight and tall. "What's going on," she then asked, "because I was in the middle of this really fantastic dream and..."
"Down to business then," Pete said returning to his seat. He grabbed a red file from his top drawer and put on his glasses while opening the folder. "Right then; Case File 1788J-2. Rose, I'm sending you out on an exceptionally crucial mission."
"Me?" she asked, shocked, "but what about a freelancer? What about Sanders or Peters? I've got an entire team to watch over. I can't just..."
"Your team will be fine in your absence. Now, pay attention because I'm only going to tell you this once and then you are on your own."
Pete moved the mouse of the computer around and clicked on the recorder program, tested it a few times, before beginning to speak again. "This is CEO Peter Tyler speaking privately with Special Agent Rose Marion Tyler on October the 3rd, 2k10 at 4 o'clock in the morning, GMT. Now, Agent Tyler, I have had two agents working deep undercover, across the ocean, in the US. A few months back, an unidentified vessel was spotted and reported to Torchwood, New York Headquarters. They've been identified as beings from the planet MP-6072. We've since then learned that it's fairly far outside of our solar system and the beings from the planet call it 'Eternus Crepusculum' or, in modern English, that's 'Eternal Twilight' in case you were wondering."
Rose was intrigued. "And what sort of beings come from this 'Eternus Crepusculm'?"
"That's the thing," Pete said biting back a grin, "they look completely human." He leaned back in his seat, holding his hands together across his stomach.
"Completely human?" Rose questioned.
"Completely human."
"No long necks or, say, green hair?" Rose asked while leaning forward. Rose absolutely loved moments of banter such as this; it felt as though she had been living with this Pete for all her life and that he completely understood her.
"100 percent like you or I."
Rose nodded. "All right then, continue."
"Our two agents were working on completely infiltrating their society. Learn whatever they can by any means possible. They were supposed to report on the situation five days ago but we've still had no contact. I know it might be a bit early to jump the gun but..."
"You want to send me along to check up on them?"
"Not exactly. Now, I've contacted two other agents in the area already and they're going to pick up the case file from where our other two left off. Their names are Bennet and Stone and in a few hours you are going to be meeting up with them and work on the case as a new team."
"Where am I meeting these agents?"
"They're both men first of all, and you'll be meeting them at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. You're taking the 'Company Zeppelin' there and it'll be leaving from the rooftop in, oh," Pete said, looking to his watch, "five minutes."
"Five minutes? What about telling Mum?"
"Oh, you can call her on the way. You can't tell her about any of this case, of course, because then we'd have to have her taken care of and you don't want that."
"Not funny Pete," Rose said, standing up.
"No, of course not," he said, walking around the desk to give his daughter a hug.
Rose hugged him back. Pete handed her the file and she went out the office door walking to the lift again. On the ride up she gave the file a quick glance before pulling out her mobile and dialing Pete's number.
"Vitex Industries, Peter-"
"Dad, you left out one big piece of information," Rose said, looking through the file again and seeing nothing she was looking for. "How am I supposed to know who Bennet and Stone are?"
"They have your number on file; they'll contact you after you arrive."
"Doesn't that sound a bit…off?"
"Good luck." He hung up on her and Rose stared at the phone for several minutes before finally stepping outside and boarding the waiting "zeppelin".
Clouds appeared in the sky above the meadow and a fierce wind buffeted Rose, forcing her back from the man she loved.
"Doctor!"
She could see him call out but a boom of thunder hid his voice.
"Doctor!" she tried again, hopeful.
"Ms. Tyler? Ms. Tyler, would you care for a beverage or light snack?"
Rose sniffled and woke up from her second deep sleep of the day. It took her a minute to remember that she wasn't, in fact, in her nice, warm bed but sitting in a very uncomfortable leather chair that smelled of pipe tobacco. The only wonderful thing about the "company zeppelin" was that it wasn't actually a zeppelin at all, but a privately funded, luxurious jetliner that Pete commissioned to be built using leftover, but safe, alien technology a little over a year ago. Thank goodness they used perception filters off a Martian air cruiser otherwise Torchwood (and Vitex) would have a lot of explaining to do.
"What was that? No, no thank you," she said, adjusting her position in the chair in order to be more comfortable. "How much longer will it be?"
"Another two hours I'm afraid," the attendant, Yvonne said before walking into the main cabin and shutting the door behind her.
Two more hours. Right now though, instead of thinking about jets and falling back to sleep, Rose really needed to heavily study those necessary case files so that maybe she might able to catch some sleep after arriving.
Rose took a taxi from the Air-Station to the hotel and her body felt like it was about to collapse from fatigue at any second.
After thanking the driver and paying him, she looked up and up further to see the Waldorf in its entirety. The name of the hotel was written in shimmering gold lettering and an angel statue watched over the entrance.
Rose dragged the suitcase Pete provided for her over the threshold and into the main lobby. If she thought the outside was gorgeous, it was nothing to its interior. She did her best impression of an heiress as she went along, all swinging hips and ignoring everyone looking her way. She walked up to the receptionist's station and asked if there was a room reserved for Rose Tyler in their "establishment."
"Yes," the young male said, "and might I say it is an honor to be taking care of you here, Ms. Tyler. If there are any problems with your room then please do not hesitate to let us know."
"Thank you," Rose said, giving him a tight-lipped smile.
He handed her key-cards to the room, and she quickly gave it a once over. "You are in one of our luxury guestrooms. Just take the elevator to your left, slide your card in the slot and it'll go up from there," the man explained.
"Thank you...ummm?"
"Oh, it's Anthony."
"Right. Thank you Anthony."
She gave him the sauciest grin she could handle while trying her hardest not to think about the warm bed waiting for her and sauntered off, swinging her hips again as she went. She waited for the lift's door to close before wiping the silly look off of her face and swiping her card to get to her guestroom.
The lift was faster than the usual and, before she knew it, the doors opened and her room awaited her. Taking a moment to think back to the days living on the council estates, Rose smiled as she walked, taking everything in. A large kitchen area, comfy beds, a boudoir with its own dressing space; it was all a bit much. When she arrived at the work desk, the little light on the phone was blinking.
Shrugging, she pushed the button and a man's voice filled the room, "This is a message for one 'Rose Tyler': Messrs. Tristan Stone and Andrew Bennet wish to see you at approximately 12 o'clock noon at the Peacock Alley Restaurant. Please phone us back downstairs if that is fine with you and we'll contact them ourselves. Thank you and enjoy your stay here."
Rose immediately dialed down and told them that noon would be perfect. She took one more look at the bedroom before deciding that work would need to come before a proper rest. Rose took a seat at the desk, opened the file (while simultaneously cursing Torchwood) and continued to study what the case entailed so she would be properly prepared for the meeting in a few hours.
Rose felt dead on her feet but she didn't allow that to show on her face when she stepped into the restaurant. She changed a white, cotton pants suit, white flats and sunglasses. Partially to hide the dark circles under her eyes and partially because it generally went with the whole 'heiress' look she was still going for.
Since the hotel knew that 'Rose Tyler' was staying there, she was given a table right away, near the back and, after ordering a salad and glass of wine, told the manager that if anyone asked for her, then they were allowed to come.
Some, maybe five minutes later, a shadow appeared above her table and when Rose looked up, a man she had never seen before began speaking, saying, "Excuse me, Rose Tyler is that...?"
"Yes?" she said, removing the glasses that wouldn't have allowed her to see him properly.
"Oh brilliant," the man said, sitting across from her, "Tristan Stone, at your service."
"Nice to meet you Tristan," Rose said as the two shook hands.
Tristan certainly didn't look very intimidating but then again no one working for Torchwood hardly ever did, herself included. He wore a black suit with a silky, black shirt and black tie. Judging also by the height difference when they were sitting down, he didn't appear to be much taller than her.
"Where's your partner?" Rose asked, looking around.
"Bennet? He was up in the room finishing up. He should be right down in, oh; there he's just walked in. Andrew, back here!"
Rose looked in the same direction as Tristan and couldn't stop staring. He was walking towards the table wearing a similar suit to Tristan save a deep red shirt under his suit jacket and no tie. He looked ahead, daring to look her straight in the eye and she couldn't help but give him a smirk back which went unreturned. She didn't expect him to. She needed to earn his trust. Same face, same attitude, same everything she remembered though his hair did look a bit more…shaggy than she remembered. She liked it, it suited him. The new him. Andrew Bennet was the Doctor's human counterpart, his clone, forced to live in this world, just like her. And Pete probably knew it was him all along! It looked as though this case was about to get more interesting than she originally bargained for.