Disclaimer: I don't own anything or any of the characters in this story, this is merely for my own entertainment.

Big thanks to everyone who has reviewed, followed or Favorited. You guys are the best! Now on with the story

Chapter Four: Memories of a Time Gone Past

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." – George Santayana

"You wanna tell me what the fuck that was all about?" Ten flinched as the question was directed towards him. OK maybe, just maybe, he had been a bit harsh by grabbing onto her like that but he couldn't contain himself, he needed answers! What was going on? What was she fighting in a war? How was any of this even possible? He was saved from answering by Nine speaking up.

"We just want to know what happened Rose. You're fighting in a war, commanding a ship! You have to know this is never what we would have wanted for you." Ten watched as she stared hard into Nine's face with her single eye, another thing he had wanted to know about. Rose let out a quiet hum before responding.

"Well you don't always get what you want, do you." It wasn't much of a question and he struggled to find a response. It was River who spoke.

"Who is it that you have been fighting?" Something was off in River's tone but no one had time to analyse it before Rose continued.

"We are still not completely sure what their true name is, many names have been used, but we call them the Horde. They are come from the Dead Zone." Ten's head was spinning, he had never heard of anything like it and he knew of almost every species in the galaxy!

"Sorry, what exactly is the 'Dead Zone'?" Amy piped up, looking rather bemused by the entire situation.

"The Dead Zone is what we call a region of space located near the outskirts of the galaxy. From the little amount of information we have been able to gather, there is no planet capable of sustaining any life, yet the Horde thrive out there. While many ships have ventured into it none have ever managed to return, we can only guess that it is only accessible to the Horde. But we have never been able to salvage enough to confirm it." Rose rubbed the back of her neck, as if trying to think of the best way to describe everything that had happened in such a short amount of time.

"When did the war start?" He had finally managed to find his voice which seemed to come as a surprise to the table.

"There had always been attacks throughout the years but never anything to this scale. They first attacked Earth in the year 2023." A chocked gasp escaped Ten, a sound that had been echoed by Nine and Amy. Eleven and River had been staring in horror at Rose.

"How…how is that possible?" River whispered towards the woman, Ten glanced between the two hoping for all the answers to just suddenly appear.

What had happened to his Rose?

Rose always figured she was being extremely hopeful that this conversation would be easy, more than anything she just wanted to get back to work and not take this fun little trip down memory lane. But they deserved to know her story

"When I first joined Torchwood I went through the same basic training as everyone else, fitness weapons and what not. After a few years we started to notice changes, I could run faster for longer, injuries healed at a faster rate and there was no difference in the way I looked. No grey hairs, no wrinkles not even an extra freckle. John ran some tests on me and we found out that I wasn't aging…"

"John, c'mon is this really necessary?" She questioned again as she fiddled uncomfortably with the wires that had been attached to her. She heard him sigh and couldn't stop the wince that escape her. She knew he was just worried about her but sitting atop an exam table, in her black tank top and shorts, the paper crinkling with every move she made and don't even get her started on how cold it had been when he hooked up the wires. Two hands landed on her shoulders as he lowered his head to rest against hers.

"I just want to check, for all we know it could be absolutely nothing and you just have the best genes on the planet." He chuckled weakly at his own joke and it was then she seen just how worried he actually was, "Please Rose, just do this for me. Please?" Rose made a show of making an exaggerated sigh before nodding her head, he gave a genuine laugh at that.

He worked diligently, taking blood and running any scan he could think of. By the time he had finished he had paled several shades, his hands were clutched tightly on the counter as he read the results again and again.

"John? What is it?" The only response was the word 'no' being whispered over and over again. Rose's eyes widened in surprise as he let out a roar and swiped everything from the counter sending it crashing to the floor. "John! John, stop it!" She had to shout to be heard above the noise, and was not expecting him to grasp her by the arms suddenly and push her against the table she had previously been positioned on, the edge digging into her lower back.

"Why? Why did you have to do it?" Rose gasped at the tears that escaped his eyes, she had never seen him looking this vulnerable before. She moved her arms slightly but he tightened his grip, not enough to hurt he would never hurt, it just seemed like he was terrified of letting her go.

"Why did I do what?" Rose whispered, afraid that anything louder would cause him to break.

"Save him, why did you have to save him?!" It took her a moment to realise who he was talking about. He had long since given up as referring to himself and the Doctor as the same place, stating that he wanted to be his own person and Rose was more than happy for him, "When you….when you took the vortex into you, it was going to kill you so he took it out. But something must have gone wrong, he only had it in him for a couple of seconds and even that had caused him to regenerate. It had been in you for longer, you should have died. It's changed you Rose; physically you are stronger, and your bones are denser, you heal in half the time if not less and I honestly don't know how your body will age.

Rose stared in shock struggling to comprehend what he had just said. It had changed her, she had been willing to die to save the Doctor but after it was all over she could barely remember a thing. The memories did eventually come back but the Doctor never asked so she never mentioned it and surely he would have told her if she had been changed in such a way. She was interrupted from her musings by muttered confession.

"If you had left him to die, you would have been fine. You would have been happy." She let a small smile show at that. He had since let go of her arms placing both of his hands on either side of her hips, head bowed in hurt. She raised her hands to his face to make him look at her, his eyes registered some surprise.

"If I hadn't save him, I wouldn't have you now would I?"

"Rose I don't think you understand what I am trying to say. You are going to our live everyone you know, your brother…me. You are gonna watch me wither and die."

"No, I am going to spend the rest of your life with you. As long as I get to spend as long as I can with you then I am happy. And you never know, the great John Tyler could be wrong!" His mouth crashed down on hers and he held her tightly. Everything would be fine…

"Six months after that the Horde invaded Earth, we were caught completely unaware. Five percent of the population was wiped out before the defences were even raised, it was a slaughter. Luckily the military had been upgrading their weapons and shield systems for years, ever since the Cybermen. The Horde invading jump started humanities technological advance by almost seven hundred years."

There was nothing but a stunned silence surrounding the table, both of the Doctors familiar to her had gone pale and part of her couldn't help but wonder if they were going to be sick. Amy was glancing at the remaining Doctor worriedly as he stared down at the table, Rose noticed that River was also staring at him but her expression confused Rose more than anything. River was staring at him with a mixture of horror while subtly shaking her head.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked the other woman completely unprepared for her to fling herself backwards turning his horror stricken eyes towards Rose. She was completely surprised to see tears were forming.

"Yes. Yes I am." Did she really expect anyone to believe that? Amy by this point decided to step in, clearly something more was going on with her friends.

"Is there somewhere we could get some rest? It's been a long day."

"Of course. There should be bunks set for you in the starboard observation, the room you were in before. You are welcome to a shower but it is a military ship so don't expect much privacy." With a flustered nod from Amy, both women turned to leave the ship but River stopped and turned towards Rose.

"What happened to him?" She asked nodding towards Roses left had, the simple silver ring had dulled slightly.

"He died."

"So the clon…"

"John." Rose interrupted not unkindly, at River's confused look she elaborated, "His name was John, not 'The Clone'" There was nothing hostile about her tone, simply matter-of-fact, and River nodded in understanding.

"So, John died in the war then." Again Rose simply nodded, "I'm sorry for your loss." With River turned and left but not before Rose saw a flash of…something in her eyes.

"Shouldn't you go after her?" she directed her question towards the Doctor she didn't recognise. Surprise seemed to flash in his eyes slightly and she wasn't sure if it was because she was interacting with him or the question. He was saved from answering by Rory and Ashley coming from the med-bay.

"Miranda is awake and looking for you skipper, you wanting me to get Garrus to take over babysitting duties?" Rose snorted at the affronted looks all three Doctors were sporting.

"Nah, they can be trusted." She turned to one of the terminals on the wall as a blue sphere popped out, "EDI, give all of our guests access to deck 3 and the cargo bay."

"Confirmed Commander, I have altered their access and alerted the crew of the change. Is there anything else Commander Tyler?" She shook her head negative, "Logging you out."

"I don't like it Commander, but it's your call. But if they do anything I don't like I'm going to shoot them." Rose laughed at Ash's statement, probably going to take more than that.

"If you will excuse me, I need to go check on our patient. You have full access to the TARDIS without any issue." She turned slightly towards Rory, "Amy and River are in the observation deck if you wanna join them." After excusing herself she moved towards the med-bay, what she wasn't prepared for were the doors sliding open and Miranda launching herself, teeth bared and arms raised, blood running from her hands.

Nine surged to his feet, ready to step in the way of the woman but as he moved he stopped suddenly in shock. He watched in stunned silence as Rose moved out of the way, grabbed the unknown woman's arm twisted it behind her, kicked her legs from under her and pinned her to the floor yet still managed not to further injure her.

"What the hell has gotten into her?!" Ashley exclaimed suddenly drawing her pistol. Nine couldn't control the frown that graced his face. He didn't like guns.

"I have no clue, go check on Chakwas!" Rose grunted as she pinned Miranda's arms with one hand and her legs down with her own, a concerned frown gracing her face. "Miranda?! C'mon, snap out of it!" Thudding feet sounded from the med-bay indicated the arrival of Doctor Chakwas and the Lieutenant. The older woman thrust a needle towards Rose clearly not wanting to be anywhere near the struggling woman, and if the gash on the side of her face was anything to go by, Nine couldn't blame her.

"Commander, it's a sedative! It should knock her out." Rose plunged the needle into Miranda's neck, the woman twitched slightly before laying still. "I don't know what happened, one minute she was just out cold next thing I know she is rushing out of the room. Her face was nothing like I had ever seen before!" Nine looked back and forth between the two, clearly this wasn't something that happened every day.

"As long as you are alright, get one of the gurneys and some equipment moved down to the starboard storage hold. I want answers, but we can't be sure that this was a one off. Ash make sure there is someone on that door at all times."

"If it is alright with you Commander, I think I would like a lie down. I am not quite stable on my feet." By this point two men had come forth to load the unconscious woman onto a stretcher and more her. Rose nodded at towards Chakwas in understanding before turning towards him.

"Don't suppose that there is anything that you would be able to do for her? Run some test?" Nine stared at her in shock, he really wasn't expecting her to ask for help, not that he minded don't get him wrong.

"I should be able to run some scans, see if I can get to the bottom of it." Nine could feel two pairs of eyes burning into the back of his head which he ignored and sent a grin of reassurance towards Rose which, to his delight, she returned.

"Thank you, it is appreciated. I will take you down to the hold, it is near where that TARDIS is so I don't know if you two want to go as well?" Nine could tell from the grumbles that neither liked being seen as an afterthought, but at this moment in time he really couldn't give a damn. "Also, I don't mean to be rude but you all being the same person could confuse things a bit, is there anything we could call you?"

"The regeneration cycle that we are would probably be for the best." Pinstripes piped up, the glance he through towards Rose seemed to be warring between pride and affection, "I am the tenth version, old leather is nine and quiet boy in the corner from what I can tell is eleven." Rose glanced towards said 'quiet boy' with a slight smile, which if anything only caused him to close off more, what is with him? You would think he would be delighted to see her! If Rose noticed anything off about him she made no indication.

"Well you seem to be getting younger all th…"

"Commander, sorry to interrupt you have an incoming transmission."

"Patch it through to the war room, Joke. I'll be right there." Rose turned towards us with a small smile, "Guess this is where I leave you, if you need anything just let EDI know and she will alert either myself or one of the crew. I will come check on Miranda as soon as I can…Nine." With that she turned and walked away from them. Again. But he didn't dwell on that for too long as something that he had been holding in bubbled up and he spun round towards Eleven.

"What the hell is going on with you?!" Eleven looked up at him with that closed off look he had been sporting ever since he got there, Ten had also moved round to study him with a strange look in his face.

"I don't know what you mean, I just want to find a way to get the TARDIS operation and get my friends home. Now if you don't mind I would like to check up on them." He moved to stand but was interrupted by Ten who had surged forward to stand in his path, his brown eyes studying intently.

"You don't care about her anymore, do you? She means nothing to you anymore." It wasn't much of a question but Nine found himself hoping that there was once. He didn't want to imagine what it would be like to not care about Rose Tyler. His hopes went unheard as Eleven brushed past the other man and walked towards the observation deck.

"I think that was all the answer you needed." Nine looked at Ten through a narrowed gaze as the other man's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"We always move on, running from one adventure to another, it's what we do best. But when was the last time we ever forgot about someone who…"

"Someone who meant everything? Never." Nine sighed and moved towards the elevator, Rose had asked for his help and by the looks of who badly he had messed up her life, he would do everything he could to make up for it.

River had stumbled blindly through the door and sat heavily on one of the bunks that had been set out for them, a dreadfully uncomfortable thing but she couldn't care at the moment. She felt Amy place her hand on her shoulder.

"River? What's going on? Are you ok?" The concern in her voice made her smile, she could always count on Amy to look out for her. But she couldn't hide this, she needed to tell someone.

"I don't know what's wrong, I feel like my time with him is up. And she is part of it." She sounded bitter even to herself but she couldn't help it, something was going on with the Doctor and that woman had something to do with it.

"You mean Rose? She has her own problems to deal with rather than running off with the Doctor and had you looked at how he has treated her? He has barely even glanced at her." The mothering scolding tone to her voice had River smiling a bit more, but that's the thing you are forgetting rule one.

"The Doctor lies, you know as well as I do, I mean just look at the other two they are having all out brawls in her name." She paused as the door opened however on seeing Rory she continued, "You don't act like that unless you care about the person!" River heard Rory sigh as he lowered himself into the bunk opposite them. He looked exhausted himself.

"You know that you are important to him, right? I mean he has barely even glanced at the Commander. You really think she is going to take your place in his life? You're his wife!" Rory exclaimed, before River could find the words to say the man himself walked in. River noticed his fists were clenched yet his face was blank. For some reason this made her more worried.

"Is everything alright?" She asked relaxing a bit when she saw that he had softened his expression while looking at them.

"Hmm? Oh, everything is perfectly fine! Just came to see how everyone was holding up then off to check on the TARDIS see if we can't get back home sometime soon!" River smiled, his enthusiasm contagious as always. "Ponds, Doctor Song would you care to join me?"

"How could we ever refuse you, sweetie."

"If it's all the same I am going to find it in me to refuse him, I am knackered!" Rory exclaimed but nudged Amy on stating "I am just going to sleep, besides I know you are dying to know what's going on."

With that the three headed towards the elevator, River noticed that there seemed to be more crew members around than before and she couldn't help but wonder if the Commander had something to do with it. She also found herself wincing at the harsh emphasis she put on the name, the woman had done absolutely nothing while she had been forced to relive some of the worst moments in her life as well as losing her husband. Jealousy was not sitting well with her, but she couldn't seem to control it. Reaching the cargo bay she saw the two other Doctors standing by the TARDIS'.

"Amy, River we have all agree that you can't walk around calling all three of us 'Doctor' God knows how confusing that would be so you can just call them Nine and Ten" He pointed to each man dismissively not noticing the glares he received in return. Both River and Amy looked at them while giggling.

"Hello I guess." Nine and Ten both gave a cheery grin in Amy's direction as a response, "So why are we all just standing outside? Surely if there is a problem we need to be inside the TARDIS." River laughed at the scowl that crossed Nine's face as Ten sulked.

"Well that has now become her number one problem….she won't let us in. We went to run a few tests on the woman, Miranda, but couldn't find anything other than some heightened brain activity. Then we thought, 'let's go to the TARDIS loads of different tests can be run with the equipment in there' but no….she decides to be stubborn and won't open the door for either of us. None of her will." Everyone couldn't help but stare as Ten continued to ramble on and on about 'unopening stubborn time machines going in a huff' so much so they didn't notice the door to one of the storage bays open until it was too late.

Amy's gasp of fright made everyone turn and River felt her blood run cold. The unconscious woman from before, who she assumed to be Miranda, had both arms covered in bandages, black straggly hair fell in her face and a gun pointed at Amy's head with an arm around her neck. River reached for her own gun but cursed when her hand never grazed it, it must still be on the TARDIS! River watched as her Doctor, Eleven, moved forward with fury in his eyes.

"Let her go, now. I can help you but you can't hurt her so just let her go!" The other Doctor's had also moved forward slightly, Ten placing his arm on River's in a comforting and protective gesture that brought a small smile. The smile was quickly wiped of at the grunt of pain from Amy as the gun was pushed further into her head. Eleven's hands were clenched as he stepped forwards again, Miranda dragging Amy further back as a result. River looked around for anything that could help cause a distraction but found she didn't need to.

"Miranda!" There edging closer to them in a slightly crouched position with a pistol at the ready but not aimed was Commander Tyler. River honestly didn't think she would ever be happy to see anyone as much as she was right now. "Miranda, you have to let her go."

"No! Don't come near me! You come near me I will blow her head off right now!" River could feel the anger burning within her, no one would treat Amy like that and get away with it. A scuffle out of the corner of her eye indicated that Rory had come down just in time to see his wife with a gun to his head. A man and women were holding him back, preventing him from getting in the way.

"Alright Miranda, we'll play it your way. Tell me what's going on?" She saw the three Doctor's eyes swivel to the Commander in shock but River could see exactly what she was doing. She reached up and gave a squeeze of reassurance to Ten who looked down in surprise before nodding.

"Put the gun down, slowly. Kick it to the side. Put your hands behind your head and turn, I don't want you having any surprises behind you!" River watched as Rose complied with all of the instructions, the tight blue t-shirt and the combat trousers that had been tucked into faded blue army boots wouldn't have been able to conceal any weapons.

"I've done what you asked, now do you think you can let her go?" Miranda's weapon was suddenly pointed at Rose the chocking noise from Amy increased. The three Doctors both surged forward but Miranda fired a warning shot at their feet that stopped them. River rushed forward and grabbed Eleven.

"Don't! Anything could set her off and Amy isn't safe right now!" She could tell that he was warring with himself but he relented when she pushed him further back. By this point the gun wielding woman seemed to have forgotten about them and focused her attention back on Rose who had moved slightly closer.

"This is a trick! You aren't the real Tyler! She wouldn't have given her gun up for anything." River wondered if this was true, judging by the look on her face it probably wasn't far from it, he is not going to like that. She brushed that thought aside, now was not the time for that. Amy was the priority!

"That's true but that girl means a lot to a good friend of mine and I am sure that he would like her back unharmed. No just giv…." A gun shot and a grunt of pain echoed out and River glanced at Amy in fear, but she wasn't hurt. Following the path of the she saw Rose clutch a hand to her shoulder, red blood pouring in between her fingers. She could almost feel the horror from the three men behind her. Shouts of 'Commander' ran throughout the cargo bay as marines rushed forward but she waved them off.

"Miranda, it's me. Look at me, you know that this is the real me. I just want to help you." Miranda's face was filled with horror, her grip on both Amy and the gun loosening slightly but not enough for either to fall free

"I…I'm scared Rose, I don't know what's real anymore. What did they do to me?!"

"I know you're scared, and I swear to you I will find out what they did. But right now you need to let Amy go, she hasn't done anything and she is just as scared as you." There was a moment of hesitation before the arm slipped from Amy's neck. The girl ran away, stumbling slightly as River caught her in a fierce hug making soothing noises as she sobbed her heart out. She heard Rory's pounding feet make their way over to them, snatching Amy up in a reassuring hug. River saw the look of utter relief on Eleven's face and reached out to give his hand a comforting squeeze which he eagerly returned. They both looked up at the small noise of protest that came from Ten as he tried to push forward along with Nine.

Turning slightly she saw that Rose had moved closer to Miranda, who turned and waved the two men back, reached forward slightly with a blood coted hand.

"C'mon Miranda, give me the gun then we can see about getting you better." Miranda glanced down at the bloodied hand with eyes wide.

"I shot you! Oh my g...I nev…I'm sorry!" Miranda threw the gun towards Rose repulsed, River stepped forward with her hand out. Rose passed her the gun with a grateful smile before taking the shaking Miranda into her arms. Both women stood gingerly as the elderly doctor, Garrus and Vega all rushed forward. Rose silently passed the shaking woman off to Vega who swept her into his arms and left with the doctor.

"You know, you said you were going to invite me next time you decided to have fun. I'm beginning to feel left out!" Rose chuckled at that before hissing as the movement jerked her injured shoulder.

"Hey, least this time I had a party on the ship. Not my fault you are late!" River couldn't help but chuckle, they two definitely had a good relationship. Rose glanced over and gave her a small knowing smirk.

"Think you need to get fixed up Thorn, you're bleeding all over the place." Garrus had said it so flippantly that if it hadn't been for the display earlier one she never would have guessed that he was concerned.

"Doc's a bit busy with Miranda, although." Rose turned her gaze towards Nine who went to step forward but was interrupted by Ten rushing past. River saw Garrus tense up beside the woman, clearly he wasn't over the incident from before. "It's alright, he can fix me up good as new." She patted him on the arm and with a grunt he left. River watched in exasperation as Ten hovered over his new patient while Nine brought over a stool and eased her into it, she could tell that Rose's patience was wearing thin.

"How about I handle it from here? Woman's touch and all that?" River said nudging both me out the way and laughing at the relived look on the other woman's face. "You're going to need to take you're t-shirt off, I can't do much from here." She rolled her eyes as both Nine and Ten gapped before blushing bright red as Rose stood and pulled off her t-shirt with not a care in the world revealing a black sports bra with 'N7' on one strap. Looking over at Eleven, she saw him hastily turn his attention back towards Amy's throat but even from here she could see the tell-tale flush to his ears.

I'm not even surprised. What did surprise her was the lack of jealousy and anger that she had expected.

Rose sighed as River cleaned her shoulder with the water that had been given to them buy one of the marines.

"There doesn't seem to be any obvious damage and the wound isn't bleeding half as much as it ought to be, but am sure you know that." Rose snorted slightly at that and saw the woman send her a smirk. Once the bandages were rapped round her shoulder she stood and examined her ruined t-shirt with a frown, I'm going to run out of these at the rate I'm going. Glancing over she caught the eye of the redhead.

"You alright?" Rose was startled to see tears in the young woman's eyes, she was even more startled when she pushed away from her husband and Eleven and launched herself in the form of a hug. Rose held in the hiss when pressure was placed on her injury but shook her head when Eleven came to move the girl from her, he caught her eye and for the first time that he arrived there was more than just a blank face. An involuntary smile broke out on his face before he ducked his head and moved back.

"Thank you, thank you so much I honestly thought…" Rose patted Amy on the back in sympathy.

"It's alright, I want you to know something. That isn't Miranda something she would ever do if she were in her right mind. You get that, right?" Amy hesitated slightly before nodding. Rose sighed in relief, "Now if you don't mind I'm gonna go and get changed, as much fun as it is to walk about half naked, it is chilli in here."

Rose rolled her eyes as Nine and Ten flushed scarlet and Amy made a chocking noise. She noticed River was studying Eleven curiously but didn't think too much into it before turning and heading to her cabin, stopping once to reassure Cortez that she was fine. What else could go wrong?

She had the distinct feeling that she should not have said that.

And chapter four is done, massive thanks for sticking with it. I did focus more from River and I know she is a bit different from show but it is heading in a direction so stick with me