Rose walked past Ianto at his desk and muttered her thanks for the coffee. She entered the lift and rode it down a couple of floors to her office. Jake Simmonds, her closest friend and fellow commander at Torchwood, was just arriving to begin his work day. Jake and Rose had been friends since her first day in this universe. He had been Mickey's friend too and they had been through their fair share of dangerous alien encounters together. Rose trusted Jake and valued his friendship.
"Morning, Rose" Jake greeted. "Pete tells me you're finally taking a vacation. Where to?"
"I don't know yet. I only just found out this morning." Rose explained with a sigh of resignation.
"I see," Jake nodded in understanding. "So this is more of a forced vacation, huh? Well..." Jake continued as he followed Rose into her office and sat down across the desk from her. "Might as well make the most of it, I suppose. I'm sure there are loads of places you'd like to visit - Paris, Madrid, Barcelona..." Jake stopped talking when Rose inhaled a sharp breath at the mention of Barcelona. In the years they had known each other, Jake knew that he'd said something to remind her of him - either the Time Lord Doctor or her husband the half-Time Lord. Jake instantly opened his mouth to apologize, but Rose waved her hand and smiled a reassuring smile.
"Yeah, I guess I'll start thinking about that once I get things organized so that I can leave town without feeling like I've left you with a mess to clean up after me." Rose replied. The conversation shifted to work topics, which Rose was grateful for.
The rest of the day passed quickly. Just as she was about to shut off her computer, Maxwell Alter, another agent, stuck his head into Rose's office.
"Hey, Rose," he said cheerily. "I heard you're taking a vacation! Good for you!"
Rose glanced up at Max with a small grin, bordering on a grimace. She liked Max well enough but there was always something about him that set off warning bells in her head. She had heard rumors from Jake and Mickey that he was interested in dating Rose when she first arrived in Pete's World, but he never made a move or if he did, Rose didn't notice as she was too busy trying to find a way back to the Doctor. When John arrived, he seemed to keep his distance, even more so after they got married and Rose got pregnant with Samantha. But since their deaths, Max had an uncanny ability to be included in missions with Rose, despite not being the best agent even after all these years of training and experience.
"Hi, Max," Rose replied with as little enthusiasm as possible. "Yep, bit of a forced vacation. I'll be back in a few weeks."
"Oh, well, where are you going?" Max asked with a bit too much enthusiasm.
"Don't know yet." Rose said shortly.
"Um… okay, well, have a good trip," Max said, sounding a bit deflated.
As she walked out of her office, Rose opted to head home instead of going to the training gym like she usually did. It hadn't been a hard day physically, but mentally she was exhausted. It was hard to keep her anxiety about this forced vacation in check while still getting her work done. Besides, she needed to commiserate with her only remaining family member who understood her pain better than anyone else.
Rose walked through the doors of her flat and right down the stairs to the basement where the young TARDIS sat in the quiet darkness. The humming in Rose's mind grew brighter as she approached and the doors opened welcoming Rose inside.
"Hello, Beautiful!" Rose announced to the TARDIS as she walked up to the console and caressed the coral. The TARDIS was just a few weeks shy of being ready to travel through time and space when the accident changed everything. The one man on this Earth (or even this universe) that could pilot her was gone and now she sat alone in the basement.
"Well, girl, looks like I get to take a vacation for the next few weeks." Rose sighed. "Dad thinks I should get out of London for a bit. I'm terrified of the idea and I hate to leave you alone all that time." Rose admitted. The TARDIS hummed comfortingly, sending Rose a wave of reassurance.
"Thanks for that." Rose responded. "If only I could hide out in here for the next few weeks. But, I'm sure Tony is going to expect postcards and souvenirs, so unless you can handle that for me..." The TARDIS hummed in disappointment in response.
"It's alright. I suppose I should have expected this eventually. Now, how do I pick a vacation destination that is so boring and uneventful that the Doctor would have never suggested we go there?" Rose asked the sentient ship. The TARDIS dinged in response and with a quick glance at the jump seat, Rose noticed a large duffel bag with some colorful brochures stacked on top that hadn't been there before. Rose walked slowly over to see what destination the TARDIS had in mind.
"Manchester?" Rose questioned. "Why in the world would I go to Manchester?!" The TARDIS giggled at Rose's reaction. "Well, I suppose you're right. I'm not sure we would have ever gone to Manchester with the Doctor." Rose opened the bag to find it already full with all the clothes and necessities she would need for a trip to Manchester - warm clothes, rain gear, etc. Rose also noticed a train ticket for tomorrow afternoon and a reservation at a hotel with a check in time for tomorrow night, but no checkout date. "Thanks. Guess I can add travel agent to your long list of incredible skills." Rose smiled as the TARDIS hummed happily. Rose picked up the bag and brochures and headed upstairs after one last glance at the beautiful ship and another word of thanks for her help.
Rose fell asleep an hour later. Ready or not, her vacation began tomorrow.