Rose walked into her hotel room feeling happy and carefree for the first time in two years. An imaginary weight had been lifted off her shoulders and she had Jason to thank for that. She changed into her pajamas and washed the makeup from her face. As she climbed into bed, she took her phone out of her purse and glanced at the screen to see a text from Jake.
Jake: I finished that research you asked about. I sent it to your tablet. Call me when you get it.
Rose got out of bed and fished the tablet out of her bag and sat down on the bed to open the file. She glanced at it briefly and then hit "call" on her phone.
"Hi, Rose!"
"Hi, Jake. What did you find?" Rose asked, getting right to the point.
"I'm great Rose, thanks for asking," Jake teased.
"Sorry, Jake. I've just been a bit preoccupied."
"It's okay, Rose. I was only teasing. So, Jason Tempest has every bit the normal profile. Well, maybe not normal, but perfect. Parents, a sibling, bit of a wayward youth, military career, education, marriage, etc."
"So, everything he told me is true, then?"
"Not necessarily."
"What do you mean?"
"His back story is perfect…. Too perfect. You see, for most people who've lived in this universe their whole life (and I'm sure the same is true in your universe), everybody's got hiccups in their history. Little blips that add an alias or some other anomaly. For example, imagine when you apply for a loan at the bank or you apply for lease at a flat. All it takes is for the person inputting your data to make one tiny typo and a whole new persona is created. Instead of Rose Tyler, suddenly you're Rose Tyler with an alias of Rose Gyler. Nearly everyone over the age of 20 has some sort of error like this in their history. But, Jason's is suspiciously error free, at least anything prior to about 12 years ago."
"So, you're saying that someone made up his background a decade ago? Was it Torchwood?"
"I wondered that too, but it just wasn't possible for Torchwood 12 years ago. I'm not aware of any government entity here or elsewhere on Earth that was capable of this type of thing that long ago. But, I can see how it would have gone unnoticed. After the mess with the cybermen, loads of people could move freely around the world, assuming a new identity in the place of someone who had been cyberized, especially if their appearance was similar." Rose sat silently, her brain trying to process everything Jake told her. Sensing her turmoil, Jake asked "You okay, Rose?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a lot to process," she replied, a bit breathlessly. She hadn't been sure what she wanted Jake's research to tell her, but she had at least hoped for some answers. Instead, she only had more questions. "Thanks for all this Jake. I guess I'll just have to put my Torchwood skills to work and see what else I can find out. I can't really explain it, but I know there is more to this than just some genetic twin or coincidence."
"Look, Rose," Jake continued, with a bit of hesitation in his voice. "I know it's hard to look at him objectively, but if you really want to solve this and not risk your heart at the same time, you've got to step back. Regardless of the woman you've been since you lost John and Sam, I know that deep down, you're still a kind and empathetic person who believes the best in people. Those are some of your greatest strengths, but they are also putting you at risk if you can't look at the situation from a neutral place."
Rose knew Jake was right. She had loved the Doctor, both incarnations, and his half-human "brother" (for lack of a better term) with all her heart for so very long, and still loved them. It had been easy to let down her guard around Jason and she needed to raise it back up until she knew what was going on and that it was safe to be that vulnerable again.
"Thanks, Jake. You're absolutely right."
"I know I am," Jake replied cheekily. "But, seriously, I love you, Rose. And it would kill me to see you hurt again. I'll try to dig around some more and let you know if I find anything. And in the meantime, if you need me to come to Manchester, I'll be there on the very next train. Got it?"
"Got it. Thanks again, Jake."
"Anything for you, Rose. Goodnight."
"Goodnight, Jake."
Rose read through Jake's research and couldn't get her brain to shut off while it attempted to process everything she had read and heard from Jake. Where did Jason come from? If his background was made up 12 years ago, who could have done it? And why? Rose knew the answers were out there. She just had to find them.
She decided to put on some workout clothes and go find the hotel gym. It was nearly one in the morning, so the gym was empty. She worked up a sweat and finally found the exhausted state she needed to fall asleep a couple of hours later. Knowing that she didn't have to meet Jason until later, Rose knew she could sleep late if necessary.