Disclaimer: All rights to the BBC. I own very little.
Author's note: Just a warning, I am American, so I imagine I'll be getting a large bit of the slang wrong, I apologize in advance.
Her eyes flickered open to a white ceiling just as someone stuck a needle into her arm.
"Ow!" She yelped as she held herself still, she didn't want that needle going anywhere fast. "I'm awake, I'm awake!"
"Jesus." Dr. Owen Harper swore as he instinctively slid the needle out of her arm.
"Rose!" Her mum gushed coming to stand by her bed. "Are you alright sweetheart? I was here having lunch with your dad and they said they couldn't wake you up. Are you dizzy? Sore? Did you hit your head? Were you exposed to a gas? Were you poisoned?"
"Mum, Mum, calm down. I'm fine. Breathe"
"Actually, she has a good point." Owen drawled as if surprised. "That wasn't a normal unconscious state. In the last half hour your brain showed massive amounts of activity, more than you would say, while taking a test on astrophysics."
That surprised Rose. "Huh." Well, that was articulate. It made sense, she supposed. She had accessed a part of her memories that required a massive amount of brain to process.
"How do you feel?" Owen asked lazily. Rose nearly rolled her eyes. Owen put a lot of effort acting as if he didn't care about anything. Like today, she could usually forgive it, she knew what losing a loved one could do to you.
"I'm fine. Like I just woke up from a good night's sleep." She said sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the infirmary bed.
"Woah there, you aren't going anywhere until you've had a full check up."
"Owen, I'm fine. I don't need a check up, I'm not even dizzy."
"Well you know me, if I could let you walk out those doors I'd be glad to get rid of you. But you know the rules as well as I do. Any time you come to medical, you have to get checked before you can resume work."
"Rose, you need to find out what it is. What if it happens again? What if it gets worse? What if you fall unconscious in the middle of a mission? What then?" Her mum was nearly hysterical.
"Mum, calm down. Breathe. I'm fine. It won't happen again."
"Do you know what caused this then?" Owen interjected abruptly.
"I-" She paused, there wasn't a way to explain what had happened without sounding like a nutter. "It won't happen again." She said firmly. She sighed, "But you can run your checks." She knew that would be the fastest way to get out of there now.
Owen raised an eyebrow at her sudden change of mind.
"I'm gonna go tell your dad you're awake, sweetheart. You make sure you're healthy." Jackie said and walked out the door.
"Did you lose consciousness before or after you got that giant lump on your forehead?" Owen asked.
"The what?"She squawked, lifting a hand to her forehead. Gently, she fingered the egg shaped lumpy bruise. "Ugh. Before. I must have hit my desk."
"Here." Owen grabbed a tube of cream and tossed it to her. It was an off-world bruise balm that worked like magic. Gratefully she dabbed some on the bruise. It shrank under her fingers as the blissfully cool cream soaked into her skin.
"Thanks."
"Did you come into contact with anything in the past few days that may have affected you?" Owen asked as he turned to study his computer.
"No." She all but growled
Remembering the feeling of her skin prickling and burning, she glanced at her arms. Sure enough, she found multiple needle marks.
"What the hell did you give me? That stuff hurt." She demanded.
"You were aware of your body?" Owen asked quickly.
"Only once it started burning." She muttered darkly to him.
He glanced at her over his shoulder. "The last thing I gave you was dilute epinephrine. Which, while it did wake you up, should have had a very different physiological response." He nodded to the heart rate monitor which still scanning her. He turned back to his computer. Epinephrine, that sounded familiar. Right, the chemical name for adrenaline. Rose looked at the monitor too. If she'd had an injection of adrenaline, her heart should be racing, along with a number of other side effects.
"There doesn't seem to be anything unusual in your bloodstream. Your white blood cell count is high, but that's consistent with your other tests and you're definitely not cancerous." Owen told her. "Now that you're awake we can do some more brain scans and compare, see if anything pops. Otherwise, we'll just assume that whatever it was is now gone. If it happens again, Tyler, you're getting a complete medical overhaul."
Rose gritted her teeth and nodded. She was suddenly glad he wasn't checking her DNA. Her mother's voice from four years before came flooding back.
But she's not Rose Tyler, she's not even human.
The Tardis in the Girl.
Was she still human? Only now did she feel sick.
The brain scans done, with Owen finding nothing problematic, she was allowed to walk out. She paused in the doorway.
"Owen, how long was I out?"
"Three hours, as best we can tell."
She nodded and left. Back to work.
She knew there were advantages to having her dad as the Director of Torchwood, but right then she couldn't bring any to mind. She stomped through the door of her flat, dropping her keys in the bowl by the door and shrugging out of her jacket. Her mum, close behind her, shut the door gently.
"If you're going to act like a bleedin' teenager having a tantrum you might as well go to your room without any supper."
Rose glared at he mother. She had returned to her office, taking the stairs two at a time, hastily so that she could finish the incident report and go home. Once home, she figured, she'd be free to contact River at her leisure. Instead, her parents met her at the door to her office.
"Captain Tyler, you are placed on medical leave for the next week. Don't let me see you anywhere near this office. If you don't have any more blackouts, we'll put you back on active duty." Her dad told her.
"And you might have a head injury, so I'm staying with you tonight." Her mum added.
"Mum, Owen scanned my brain, remember? No internal injuries."
"All the same, we can't be too careful."
Rose sighed. If she were looking at the situation from the outside, she'd probably feel the same way. And there wasn't a way to explain what happened to her mum, a mysterious woman in her head told her there was a way back to the Doctor? Yeah, they'd probably think she'd had a psychotic break from overwork. No, for now she'd have to keep that a secret.
"Sorry Mum, I just don't want all this fuss."
"Sweetheart, we just worry about you."
"I know." Rose said, wrapping her arms around her mother and squeezing tight. "I'll make dinner."
After dinner and a movie, Rose helped her mum set up a bed on the couch before retiring to her own room. Rose had hoped to use some of her sleep period to spend with River, but her mum was still worried about a head injury, so she'd be waking Rose up every two hours to make sure she could be roused. Tomorrow, she thought firmly as she switched off the light. She slid into dreams of the Doctor and each time her mum came in to wake her, Rose was smiling in her sleep.
Rose woke early the next morning and prepared breakfast quietly while her mum slept on the couch. She watched her mum sleep over the rim of her tea cup as the eggs cooked. Jackie had taken off the expensive jacket, all the jewelery, and the shiny shoes that came with her new life, but Rose couldn't deny that this woman was different from the one who compared bargain prices on the phone with Bev while wearing a pink track suit. This life suited her. She looked happier than Rose had ever seen.
Her musing was interrupted by the buzzer. Rose answered the door as her mum stirred. A streak of ginger and blue rushed past her at hip level and flung itself at her mum. Pete followed the toddler into the room as Rose opened the door the rest of the way.
"Morning Rose." He said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Feeling alright?"
"Yeah, Dad. Just fine. Hey Tony-Baloney! Are ya hungry squirt?"
Pulling away from his mum's kisses, the three year old ran at his sister and wrapped himself around her legs. "Rose!" He cried happily.
She laughed and picked him up, spinning him in a circle.
"Are you going into work with Daddy today, squirt?"
"Yeah! Someday I'm gonna fight aliens, just like you!"
"Then you're gonna have to grow big and strong. So you'll need a nice big breakfast." She set him on an extra high chair at the table before collecting the food.
Rose knew her parents were watching her closely as they ate, but she ignored them. Her chatty little brother was enough of an excuse. And really, she adored the kid. They were obviously related, despite the red hair Tony inherited from their father, with the same full mouth and warm brown eyes.
"Are you sure you'll be alright sweetheart?" Her mum asked as she followed her husband out the door. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay?"
"I'm fine Mum. I promise, if I start feeling the slightest bit poorly, I'll ring. And I'll ring this afternoon anyway."
She finally shooed her family out of her apartment and closed the door, leaning against it with a sigh. She checked her watch. 8:30. She should be fine to contact River now, her mum shouldn't start to worry until two or three.
Leaving her empty mug clattering in the kitchen sink, she sat on her bed and took a deep breath. She sought the song and the golden light and thought of River. It took time, more time than she thought it would. Her frustration was enough to bring her out of the meditation once. Well, twice. Maybe three times. Finally regaining her calm, she opened her eyes to the mansion.
With a grin, she walked to the door and hesitated, unsure whether or not she should knock. Before she could decide, the door opened and River's curly haired head poked out.
"For next time, you don't have to knock. Come in, I made tea."
Rose followed her into the sunny kitchen and took a seat at the table.
"How did you know I was here?"
"You're mental signature was fading in and out as you were trying to get here. Once I could feel it fully, I knew you'd made it." River handed her a steaming mug.
"My what?"
"Unlocking your connection to the Tardis yesterday had a few other effects. Your telepathic abilities among them. We'll work on your telepathy today, right now your mind is almost completely unshielded."
"River... You said I'm not Time Lord. Am I still human?" Rose kept her eyes on her tea, almost keeping the quiver out of her voice and hands.
"Oh, sweetie." River's voice was warm and sad. "This is so much, isn't it? Genetically, you're about seventy-five percent human. What the Doctor likes to refer to as human-plus. But being human is so much more than genetics. What makes us human is what's inside, your heart, your soul. And you, Rose, are the most human-human I've ever met."
Rose looked up into the steady eyes of her companion. She gave a wobbly smile.
"Thank you." She said, inhaling slowly. "Should we start then?"
An hour later, Rose gasped for air, her skin soaked in sweat. River handed her a glass of water and she gulped it gladly.
"Let's say we take a break then?" River asked.
Rose nodded, wiping a hand across her sweaty forehead. The mental effort of repelling River's entrance into her mind was enough to leave her shaking. She swallowed more of the cold water.
"So, you know all about me, better than I do, I s'pose. What about you?"
River smiled broadly. "I told you yesterday that my timeline is scattered around yours and the Doctor's. I knew I was getting closer to the end when he trusted me less and less. And then the final time when he didn't know me at all, and you weren't there. But you, you've always known me, the real me. You knew who I was. You can't imagine how wonderful that was. And you never told him how you knew, and you lied to me about it. You told me that the Tardis gave you the times and the dates... and all along it was me, telling you." She shook her head, smiling. "I'm writing down everything I need to tell you, so that I get everything and all in the right order. As for me, I need your word that you won't change one single part of my life. Can you promise me that?"
Rose gazed back at her, startled by the intensity of the request. "Is it likely that I would? I've seen a paradox in action." She added bitterly, her heart clenching, remembering seeing her father die over and over again.
"My life, Rose, it hasn't always been easy. It isn't the sort of life that anyone would want for their child. But it is my life. And it has been one grand adventure. I wouldn't trade it for a happier childhood."
Rose nodded. "I promise."
"Plus, the scale of the paradox that would occur if you did change anything... That could cause universal cataclysm. The things I've done, the way my life is tangled with the Doctor's, with yours. It would be bad."
Something River said caught Rose's attention. "River, you aren't my daughter, are you?"
River laughed. "No, sweetie."
"Well then, tell me."
"My name, my real name, is Melody Pond..."
River finished her story some time later with both women in tears. Her kidnapping by the Silence, Rose's rescue of her, and her life in a foster home in Leadworth, watching her parents grow up without being able to tell them who she was. Being astoundingly bored in school with her Time Lord-Tardis brain expanded beyond that of a normal kid. The brightest points of her childhood were visits from Rose. Lessons in using and hiding her abilities as well as normal conversations and, when she was old enough, trips to other times and places.
"Hang on," Rose added after some thought, "And what was the Doctor doing while I took little you around the universe? Did I steal the Tardis while he was busy?"
River laughed, "Sweetie, you're part Tardis, you can travel on your own."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Okay. How's that work, then?"
"We'll get there. Shall we try shielding your mind again?"
"Director Tyler? Dr. Harper wishes to speak with you." Pete Tyler's secretary said.
"Send him in, Carol."
The thin, cynical doctor stepped into the wide office with an unusual level of expression on his face.
"Something wrong, Dr. Harper?" Pete asked, hoping it had nothing to do with his daughter.
"It's about Rose, sir." Well, there goes that one.
"Is she in danger?" His voice caught in his throat.
"No sir. It's just... I think she knows more than she's saying about her black out."
Pete's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? Why?"
"I've treated Rose before, any number of times after missions. She's always easy to treat and anytime there's been a potential of exposure to alien tech or substances she's cautious and willing to be checked out. Yesterday she was, dunno, defensive, and impatient. It was odd."
"Do you think that she's being controlled by something?"
"No, her body language was right and her interactions with her mum."
"She did seem perfectly normal at breakfast. Was there anything else you noticed?"
"Two things, after the first few methods we tried to rouse her failed, we did some scans. Some to check for brain injury and some to check for brain activity. Her brain activity was incredibly high. Usually when someone is unconscious, they have almost no activity. There's almost no chance that she was completely unaware of something. Plus she was aware of her body to some extent, she said that the final injection I gave her burned. She shouldn't have been aware of that, and the drug wouldn't have done that anyway."
Pete stood and turned to the window as he thought. "I'll talk to her, Dr. Harper. My guess is that something's going on that she doesn't want to talk about yet. Thank you for your concern and assistance."
"Yes sir."
Pete sighed as the door shut behind Owen. "What have you gotten into now, Rose?"