It was mid-morning when Rose finally emerged from sleep. Her hotel room was bright with morning light filtering through the curtains. She smiled when she recalled waking up in the middle of night with Jason spooning her, his semi-hard erection pressed into her low back. Rose had turned in his embrace and pushed him onto his back as he woke up under her ministrations. Rose had straddled Jason and they made love again with only a sliver of moonlight filtering through the curtains.

She stretched and reached out for Jason, only to find the other half of the bed cold and empty. She looked over at his pillow and spotted a note he left for her.

Good morning, beautiful.

First of all, thank you for last night (and this morning).*wink*

Second, I've got to be at the University all day today, but I hope you can join me for dinner. I'll come pick you up at 6:30.

All my love,

Jason

Rose smiled and reached for her phone. She sent two texts before getting out of bed to shower and dress:

To Jason: Good morning. Looking forward to seeing you at 6:30.

To Jack: I'll be ready to go in an hour. Meet me at the valet of the hotel.

An hour later, Jack pulled up in the familiar TARDIS-blue roadster. He smiled his trademark grin at Rose as she climbed into the passenger seat.

"Good morning, gorgeous. I assume you slept as well as Jason did last night," he winked at her.

Rose gawked at Jack for a moment, "How do you know?"

"I was at Jason's flat when he got home this morning. Aside from the fact that he was wearing the same clothes as last night, albeit a bit rumbled, he had a grin like a kid in a candy store," Jack explained.

Rose blushed as Jack pulled out of the hotel and onto the road that led south to Shrewsbury.

"What happened with the brunettes last night?" Rose asked once they were on the highway out of town.

"What didn't happen is an even better question," he grinned. Rose laughed and shook her head at Jack.

Rose was about to ask Jack for more details about his arrival on 21st century Earth when her phone rang.

"Shit," Rose said. "It's my mum and she wants to video chat. It's never a good sign when she wants to video chat." Rose accepted the call and held the phone out so that her mom could see her. "Hi, Mum!"

"Don't "hi mum" me, missy! Care to explain what you're doing in Manchester?"

"I don't know what you mean, Mum. You know I'm here on a forced vacation from Torchwood."

"Don't play innocent with me, Rose Marion. I want to know where the pictures of you in all the rags today came from."

"Mum, first of all, I don't read the rags, so I don't know what photos you're talking about. And second, I thought you stopped reading them too."

"Well, it's awfully hard to ignore them at the grocers when your daughter's face is all over all the covers. And snogging a bloke too!"

"What?! Show me!" Rose demanded. Jackie pointed the camera at one of the covers. There on the front was a collage of photos of Rose and Jason from the last few days. Rose realized that a photographer must have been following her. The headline read "Vitex Heiress Rose Tyler's New Beau". "Shit! Someone's been following me the last few days," Rose explained.

"WHAT?!" Jackie yelled. "You mean these photos are recent? I thought for sure someone had hacked into your computer and pulled old photos of you and the Doctor. What are you doing with himself now? How did he get here?! I'll be damned if you think you'll be swanning off with ol' big ears and leather again!"

Jack, who had been trying to keep quiet during this mother-daughter exchange, barked out a laugh at Jackie's nickname "big ears and leather". It was a fitting description of Jason.

Jackie heard Jack's laugh and gasped. "Who's that with you? Are you sneaking around with 'im now?!"

"No Mum, I'm not sneaking around with anyone. Besides, when you see who it is, I don't think you'll mind." Rose moved the camera to show Jack. Jackie squealed with delight.

"Captain Jack! Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes," Jackie remarked.

"Hello, Mrs. Tyler. It's a pleasure to meet you," he gave Jackie his trademark flirtatious grin.

Rose slapped Jack playfully on the shoulder, "Jack, stop it! That's my mum and she's happily married."

"What? I was just saying hello," he answered playfully.

"Jack, what do you mean, 'pleasure to meet me?' Don't you remember meeting me? Or has that not happened yet for you?" Jackie asked. Rose was pleased that her mum was remembering the wibbly-wobbly-ness of time travel. Rose turned the camera back to herself to try to explain, or at least delay too many explanations, until after she explored the wreckage of Jason's ship.

"Listen, Mum, I'm still not completely sure what's going on. Jack here is this universe's Jack and he's taking me out to see the wreckage of Jason's crashed ship. Jason, "old big ears and leather" as you call him, goes by "Dr. Jason Tempest" in this universe and he's been living like a human and teaching at the University of Manchester for the last decade. That's all I can tell you for now. Okay? I'm not swanning off with anyone."

Jackie appeared to be thinking through everything Rose just said. "Okay, sweetheart, just promise me you'll be careful, with your body and your heart." Rose rolled her eyes at her mum.

"Yes, Mum. I will."

"Love you, sweetheart."

"Love you, too, Mum. Bye."

Rose ended the call and quickly texted Jason a warning:

To Jason: Just learned that photos of us together made it into the tabloids today. Keep an eye out for photogs. Hope that doesn't cause you any problems today.

Jack spoke up when she was finished with her text. "Your mom is just as much a firecracker as I imagined she'd be, based on what I've heard of her in recent years."

"Yeah, she's a strong woman. She had to be all those years when it was just the two of us after my dad died when I was a baby."

"So, you said last night that you're from another universe. I've read lots of theories about alternate universes, but I thought travel between them was impossible?"

"It usually is, but there have been periods when the walls were weakened and it made travel through the void to other universes possible. I've been across the void many times during those periods. Unfortunately, after the last time, I was stranded here with my mum and my friend, the one who owned the time and space traveling ship. It's a complicated story, but he's the man I was married to for 9 years."

"I remember that story. Fairytale love, adorable daughter. I'm sorry about the accident." Jack reached over and squeezed Rose's hand.

Rose's phone beeped with a text message.

From Jason: One of my students brought in a magazine and asked if that was me. When I said yes, he gave me a high five. My popularity has gone up a notch. [laughing emoji] Nice photos of us, though. Might frame one for my office. [heart emoji]

Rose smiled and made a mental note to have the family photographer take better photos of them if this relationship continued.

After a few minutes of silence, Jack decided to change the subject to the reason for their trip to Shrewsbury. "So, I'm not sure what will be left of the ship when we get there. It was engulfed in flames when I arrived. I did my best to extinguish them, but it was obvious that the ship was in bad shape," Jack explained.

"How did you find it?" Rose asked.

"Well, that's the part I don't know. One minute I'm in the hottest dance club on Galaxia VII, dancing with these intoxicating triplets, when I start to glow with this golden light. Almost like nanogenes you might find on a Chula medical ship. Remind me to tell you about the con I was about to pull with one of those. Anyway….The brightness became too much, so I closed my eyes and the next time I opened them, I'm inside the console room of a ship that's engulfed in flames. I manage to extinguish the flames and discovered Jason unconscious under some heavy debris. I pulled him out of the ship and ran back inside to make sure there was no one else. The ship only had the one console room, so it didn't take me long to determine that Jason was alone. Just as I was about to exit, the center console made a strange noise, almost like a strangled alarm and there appeared a large envelope with my name on it."

Jack then reached into his bag on the floor behind Rose's passenger seat and pulled out a tattered brown envelope. As Rose opened the envelope, Jack continued his story. "The letter inside tells me very little about Jason, who he is and how he came to be here, but it does at least explain why I ended up here." Rose looked inside the envelope and gasped. Inside there was a sonic screwdriver, identical to her Doctor's sonic and a folded piece of paper. Rose carefully removed the paper to read the message, written in a beautiful calligraphy that closely resembled Gallifreyan writing:

My Dear Captain,

I am sorry to have pulled you here across time and space, but I am desperate. My pilot is the sole survivor of a terrible war that consumed our universe. Between the war and our crossing the Void, I am badly damaged beyond repair. I searched through hundreds of thousands of universes looking for someone who would one day heal my pilot's broken heart over the loss of his people and the countless life forms in our universe. Unfortunately, I arrived too early in this timeline for his savior to help him yet. She too must suffer great losses before she can be whole enough to help him.

He will not survive on his own with his memories intact. For this reason, I have altered his memories. He believes he is a human from this time, Dr. Jason Tempest, a war veteran of this planet, where the two of you met and became the most loyal of friends. He is to start his new job as a University professor in Manchester in two weeks. You have started your own business as a private investigator. Your vortex manipulator will allow you to travel short distances in time and space, to aid you in your investigations, but it will no longer work well enough to take you home. I am sorry for such extremes, but I feel it is necessary to protect my beloved pilot. Across all the universes I visited, you were always bound to meet each other eventually; I hope this knowledge provides you with some comfort.

I have established identities for you both, bank accounts, and all other documents you need to begin your lives here. I ask that you watch out for him and care for the two objects inside this envelope.

When the time is right, my pilot will meet his savior, the one person in all the universes who could possibly save him from himself. He must learn to accept himself and the role he played in the Time War and he must learn to love again and be loved in return before his memories can be unlocked.

Good luck and goodbye, Captain. And thank you.

T.A.R.D.I.S.

Rose read the letter over again, wiping the tears that had escaped her eyes. She knew how much the TARDIS cared for the Doctor and his companions, but it was a staggering and wonderful thing to have such physical evidence as the letter in her hand. Rose pulled out the sonic and held it gently in her grasp.

After a few moments of silent crying, Rose took a deep breath to calm herself and asked "What happened to the second object?"

"Oh…" Jack dug around in his coat pocket before handing her a battered leather wallet. "Here. It's…

"psychic paper" they said in unison.

"Yeah, once I mastered using that, it has proven quite helpful in my investigations," Jack explained. He let Rose inspect the items again before asking, "So, based on your reaction, it seems all this is familiar to you?"

"Yes and no. It certainly helps answer some of my initial questions," Rose answered. She now knew what gaps were missing in Jack's understanding of Jason's origins. "Jason is a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey in an alternate universe. Time Lords and their planet don't exist in this universe. In my original universe, there was a great war, called the Time War, between Time Lords and Daleks that spanned across time and space. The Daleks were evil, killing and destroying anything that wasn't a Dalek. The parallel version of Jason, a Time Lord known as the Doctor, ended the Time War by destroying both Time Lords and Daleks alike but saved the universe. When I met him, he was a broken man who didn't care if he lived or died. He was the last of his kind. He saved my life the day we met, and then I saved his and he asked me to travel with him…"

Rose took a deep breath and continued her story, telling Jack about their travels, including the adventures where his parallel joined them. She was about to tell him about the Game Station and regeneration when Jack pulled off onto a dirt road and parked the car. "We'll have to walk from here. It's about another mile to the west."

As they walked through the wooded area west of Shrewsbury, Rose told Jack about the Game Station and how she had looked into the heart of the TARDIS in order to get back to the Doctor and save him. Just as the ground sloped toward a small stream, Rose heard the familiar hum in the back of her mind. They were getting close to the TARDIS now and Rose knew that at least the TARDIS wasn't dead.

"There it is," Jack pointed to a gray cylinder in the middle of a grove of trees near the water's edge. Rose recognized this as the TARDIS' default exterior. The ship's power must be low if she can't maintain any other appearance, Rose surmised.

Rose approached the TARDIS and reached a hand out to caress its walls. The hum grew slightly louder and Rose telepathically sent her greetings to the ship. She reached for the door only to discover that it was locked. She dug into her pocked and pulled out her TARDIS key, hoping some universal locksmith had keyed the ships the same. Rose's key glided easily into the lock and turned. Inside, the ship was completely dark. The tiny console room was similar in appearance to the coral design of her Doctor's TARDIS when she first started traveling with him, only the size was significantly smaller.

Rose removed a torch from her bag and moved slowly into the console room with Jack close behind. Just as she approached the console, the faint green glow began to pulse from the time rotor.

"Hello, old girl," Rose said as she stroked the coral of the console. "I'm glad to see you're still hanging in." The time rotor pulsed differently and Rose felt the soft hum of affirmation in her head.

Jack looked on in amazement. "So, she really is sentient? She must be one strong ship to still have some juice left in her after all these years." Jack reached out to stroke the coral as he had seen Rose do. Rose felt the TARDIS reach out to Jack's mind and send him a pulse of gratitude.

Just as Rose was circling the console, not sure what she was looking for, an image, like the one Rose remembered from Emergency Program One appeared. The image was that of Sarah Jane Smith, one of the Doctor's former companions whom Rose had met while traveling with the Doctor in her original universe.

"Hello, dear Wolf."

Rose gasped, "Sarah Jane?"

"No, I am the ship you call the TARDIS. I selected this image from you memories, knowing that this person is someone whose image you would trust and would bring you comfort," the image explained.

"You called me 'Wolf'. How do you know about that?"

"The words of the goddess echoed through the Void as I traveled in search of a new home from my pilot. It is you who I landed here to find. You saved my pilot in your home universe and I know you can do so again."

"What happened in your universe? Didn't Jason end the Time War?"

"Jason hesitated too long. By the time he decided to end the war, it was too late. The High Council had ignored the prophecies of the destruction of the universe at the hands of the Daleks. Rassilon had tampered with The Moment and it failed to work as Jason had expected. Rassilon refused to admit defeat at the hands of their arch enemy."

Rose thought for a moment, recalling all the details about the Time War that John had told her over the years. One question burned through her thoughts. "The Doctor from my universe was riddled with guilt because he had used the Moment to end the war and the lives of all those on Gallifrey, despite saving the rest of the universe in the process. If the Moment didn't work for Jason, why did you need to hide his memories?"

The image of Sarah Jane smiled brightly at Rose, "Brilliant, Wolf. Always asking the right questions. My pilot is a parallel version of your Doctor. Although many of their decisions and actions are the same, there are still some that are different. My pilot avoided intervening in the war for much longer than your Doctor. He felt guilt and shame over not trying to help his people fight sooner. He believed his delay is what caused the war to take such a tragic turn. But, he could not see that the collapse of our universe became a fixed point. As you know, a fixed point cannot be changed, but the life of one person could be rescued, which is why I saved my pilot by bringing him here."

"Did he go by the name "Doctor" in your universe?" Rose asked.

"Yes," the image explained, "and his Gallifreyan name is also the same. That name is burned in your heart and when the time is right, you can use it to unlock his memories. But a warning: do not say his name too soon or his mind will burn with the screams of the dead of our universe. He must be strong enough to endure that pain and only your strength and love can help him."

The image of Sarah Jane flickered, as did the light from the time rotor. The image spoke again, "I'm sorry, Wolf, but the last of my energy is depleting."

"You're dying?" Rose gasped, moving forward as if to embrace the image. Sarah Jane smiled longingly at Rose.

"Yes," Sarah Jane replied. "I have rested here for over ten Earth years, saving my energy for this moment. I was worried that I would die before I could meet you, but I am so glad that you are here now. You are my pilot's savior and I can die content in knowing that you will care for him long after I am gone." Sarah Jane then turned to Jack, "Captain Jack, thank you for watching over my beloved pilot all these years. I knew you would not let me down." She waved her hand in front of her and continued, "Your vortex manipulator will function correctly now. You are free to return to the life you once led. May my love and eternal gratitude follow you always." Jack smiled and bowed to the image.

The image began to fade, but the voice could still be heard echoing in the small room, "My dying wish is for my pilot to be happy and loved for his forever. Wolf, please take my heart and give it to my sister, your TARDIS. She will know what to do with it. Goodbye, and thank you."

The light from the console dimmed and Rose moved forward to see that the console had opened wide enough for Rose to reach inside and remove the small glowing crystal that contained what remained of the heart of the TARDIS. Rose felt a warmth emanating out of the crystal and into her very soul, a warmth that she hadn't felt since the Game Station. She stroked the crystal and wiped the tears that streaked her face. Then she tucked the crystal carefully into her bag before turning and following Jack out the door. When she turned back, the gray cylinder now appeared to be nothing but an empty shell. It was no longer bigger on the inside. Rose watched the TARDIS for a moment, sending a silent prayer of gratitude to the multiverse for the ship's existence and her devotion to her pilot.

Rose and Jack walked in silence back to the car and returned to the road that would lead them back to Manchester. After a while, Jack spoke up, "So, if the man you were married to, John Noble, was the pilot of the TARDIS in your Universe and the parallel version of Jason, why don't they look alike?"

"Time Lords can regenerate. It's their way of cheating death," Rose explained. She then spent the rest of the ride to Manchester finishing her story about her travels with the Doctor, starting with his regeneration after the Game Station until she finished her story with the instantaneous biological metacrisis that created her husband, John, and their arrival in this universe at BadWolfBay.

It was mid-afternoon when Jack finally parked the car near Rose's hotel. "I don't know about you, but I could murder a cuppa," Rose announced as she emerged from the car and stretched her legs.

"Yeah, I'm starving," Jack agreed. "How about we get something to eat and drink at the café in your hotel lobby? Hopefully that will put us far enough away from the photographers who are no doubt set up in front of the hotel."

"Good point," Rose said. "Wouldn't want tomorrow's headline to say "Vitex Heiress' New New Beau"," she laughed.

"Better yet, "Vitex Heiress in Love Triangle with American Hunk"," Jack suggested with a wink, sending Rose into a fit of giggles.

#################

NOTES: So - I'm new to the Who-verse. I only started watching Nine, Ten, and Eleven (never could get into Twelve, but I blame the writing) about 14 months ago. So, forgive me if my knowledge of all things Doctor Who is remedial, at best. I've read in other works that Time Lords only existed in the Prime Universe, but I have a hard time believing that, thus the idea that Jason is a parallel Doctor.