Disclaimer: Once again, I don't own much of this, not the characters or setting.
Author's note: I hope you folks are in for the long haul. This story is at 30,000 words and Rose still isn't back in her home universe...
"I should probably be getting back, I don't know how the timing works. Last time they told me I was out for about three hours, but I wasn't here that long." Rose told River around gulps of water. This time, River was gasping for air too, Rose's defenses were becoming strong enough to make the older woman break a sweat.
"That's right. The time of this reality is fixed to the home universe. Your universe-" Rose made a face, "Sorry, the other universe, runs faster than your home universe. I'll work out the time difference so we can be more accurate."
"Right. So, um, how do I get back?"
"Same way you got here, just think of being back there. Getting sucked back into your own body should be easier than getting here."
"Should be." Rose mumbled as she closed her eyes.
River chuckled. "See you soon, sweetie."
Within a few minutes, Rose vanished.
"Come back soon." River whispered to the empty room. She stood and walked upstairs to her office. There were advantages to existing only as brainwave in a computer, the main one being that she could influence her surroundings with her mind. CAL provided most of the things they needed and they could always ask. But this was specific. River doubted that any of the others had the mental strength to influence anything in the reality and too much change could cause system failure. All the same, River sat and closed her eyes. The focused on an image of the desk in front of her and added in a very familiar book. She imagined what it would look like brand new, the dark blue leather cover uncreased, the creamy pages smooth and blank. Then again, Rose's journal was always in better condition then everyone else's, she took more care with it.
She opened her eyes and stretched out trembling fingers to touch the journal. Gently she traced the golden Celtic rose pattern that dominated the cover before opening the cover and beginning to write.
The moment the paradox machine is enabled. Take a stash of Tardis-blue spray paint and an energy gun emitting a charge of 510 megajoules. Help Martha Jones as she walks the Earth. Don't be seen until you absolutely must. Finish her walk together. Use an alias. Stay deep in the Tardis as the paradox is broken.
Page after page, River wrote out the instructions that would take Rose on her long journey to to the Doctor.
Rose flooded back into her body with a gasp. Sweat still shimmered on her skin and her mouth was drier than a desert. She checked the clock, ten to one.
After a glass of water and a shower, Rose called her mum while making a sandwich. After assuring Jackie that she was fine, just checking in, she ate while her mum chattered happily in her ear. As she didn't need to actually respond beyond an 'mmhmm' or a 'hmm' she could safely fill her mouth with food.
"Oh and don't forget, Rose, Jake and Mickey are going over to yours for dinner." Jackie reminded before she hung up.
Rose almost spit out the swig of milk she'd just taken. "Right." She sputtered.
"I'll talk to you later, sweetheart, glad you're okay."
"Bye Mum, love you."
"Love you too."
She sprinted to her fridge and flung the door open. Nothing. At least, nothing to cook for more than one person. Well, she had time, she supposed. She flicked through a few cookbooks before slipping on her jacket and slipped her wallet and keys into her pocket. She'd stopped carrying a purse after she'd found that, like the Doctor, trouble seemed to follow her wherever she went and it was awkward running with a purse.
She was walking to her usual shop when she saw it and stopped in her tracks. It must have always been there, but she'd never noticed it. Bad Wolf Stationary.
I take the words and I scatter them through time and space. And apparently universes too.
"Oh and Rose," River had said, "Buy a journal, a thick one."
Time to get a journal.
The bell above the door tinkled faintly as she stepped into the shop. It was old-fashioned and posh. The walls, floors, and shelves were dark, shiny wood. The entry was flooded by colored light from the sun passing through the squares of stained glass above the door. The center of the shop held a large counter where and older man sat quietly. He was carefully cutting paper, a sheet at a time. Behind the counter was a large display of paper in different colors and textures. In the glass display of the counter sat a few beautiful fountain pens and gorgeous stationary edged with gold. The walls of the shop were covered with shelves of leather-bound books.
"Have you come into my shop for something particular or are you just going to stand- Ah. Miss Tyler. Welcome." He began irritable but changed his tone as he looked up and saw her.
Rose sighed slightly, she would never get used to being a celebrity.
"Hello. I'm looking for a journal, is that what all those are?" She asked, pointing to the shelves.
The man smiled. "Yes, I make each one by hand. Perhaps you could tell me what kind of a journal you're after, I may be able to help."
"Oh, there's no need to trouble yourself, I'm sure I can find one."
"Nonsense Miss Tyler, a journal is a personal thing, it should mean something to you. And sometimes you choose the journal, and sometimes the journal chooses you." He stood from the counter and came forward to shake her hand.
Rose stared at him for a minute. If Harry Potter had existed in that universe... He was a bit like Ollivander, less creepy though.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Tyler, I'm Mr. Swarton. Now, what do you want from your journal?"
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Swarton. I need something thick, and sturdy. I'm going to be traveling for a while and I need something that will hold up."
"Hmm, let's see." He turned and walked to the shelves, hands hovering as he debated which ones to pull.
As he worked on the growing stack of tomes in his arms, Rose ventured a question. "Sorry, can I ask, why've you named your shop 'Bad Wolf'?"
He looked over at her, eyes wide. "Well for the folktale of course. Lovers separated, reunited. And nothing says separated lovers like love letters."
"Right, the folktale, of course."
"Alright, miss, why don't you take a look at these." He spread the selection over the counter. Rose glanced at them and found herself drawn to one immediately. She couldn't even have said what colors the others were. Dark blue, a deeper shade than the Tardis but just as rich, accented by the golden design winding it's way across the cover. A twisting design centered by a rose.
"This one. I'll take this one." She said and shelled out the required bills. She would have paid twice as much for it.
"Here, miss. If you're going to be traveling and want to take care of it, have a case." He handed her a thick felted wool sleeve the color Rose associated with space. The kind of purple that glowed along the edges of nebulae.
"Thank you." She told him sincerely. "It's beautiful. It's perfect."
"So Rose, you're sure you're fine?" Mickey asked over dinner.
"Perfectly." Rose told him, "I just don't know what I'm going to do all week."
"And you aren't curious about what caused it?" Jake pressed.
"Sometimes things just happen." She shrugged it off.
"Yeah, but usually our type of things s'cause of aliens." Mickey reminded her.
"Which is why I'm not worried about it being a long term thing. Whatever it was, it's gone from my system, according to Owen."
Both the boys stared at her suspiciously.
"Do you lads want pudding or not?" No one brought it up after that.
"Hey Jake, is there a fairytale about the Bad Wolf?" Rose asked as casually while the boys pulled their jackets on.
Mickey glanced at her sharply.
"Yeah, 'course. Why?" Jake said, giving Rose a funny look.
"I heard someone mention it in a shop today and it sounded different from the ones we had. I'll have to look it up sometime."
"Yeah. Alright." Jake said as he went out the door.
Mickey looked after him for a moment and stepped closer to Rose. Looking down into her eyes, he made it clear he thought he was intimidating. "You don't fool me Rose, I'm not an idiot. And I remember all that bloody graffiti everywhere. You know something."
"And I'll tell you when I know more." Rose replied levelly, meeting his eyes and forcing him to look away first.
"Fine. See ya, Rose."
"Bye, Mickey"
'Story of the Bad Wolf' Rose typed into the internet search engine as soon as they left. A series of links popped up. She clicked on one that linked to page run by a professor of early English literature. According to the professor, no one was sure where the story came from, or when it started as there were references to it scattered throughout the collected literature and folktales of the island nation. And then the story began.
Once, a long time ago, or maybe not so long, or maybe just another time, there was a young wolf. But she wasn't a wolf yet, she was just a girl and her life was boring. It wasn't until she met her mate, the Lonely Man, that she became something more. Together, hand in hand, they changed together, growing and learning as they traveled away. They always found trouble. When they started out, the Lonely Man was constantly saving the girl. But she learned and she began saving him. She saved his body the way she had already saved his heart.
No one was sure whether trouble followed the pair or they followed it, but they always appeared and saved the day. They saved other travelers and they saved whole villages. Along the way the girl picked up many names, some given to her by friends and some by enemies, but none were her name.
When her mate was captured by his most ancient of enemies, she became the Bad Wolf. She called herself the Bad Wolf, for she was ferocious in her defense of her mate and she broke the rules to return to his side. She was something new and she vanquished the ancient enemies with aught but a heart of gold.
Years later, the enemies came back, pulling the Bad Wolf to a far away land and imprisoning her in walls so thick that it took a whole day to walk through a door. But the Bad Wolf didn't give up, she knew that her mate needed her, so she would never give up.
According to the professor, no one had ever heard an end to the story with the lovers reunited, but they all agreed that it was the only way the story could end.
Weird. Rose thought as she came to the end of it. This universe where she wasn't meant to exist, she existed as a folktale and a yappy dog. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. Her phone beeped with a new message. She agreed to meet Mickey and Jake for lunch the next day. She needed to set a schedule for her meetings with River that she could maintain after work started again which meant the middle of the day was out. She'd have to start going after dinners. She needed something to do during the day, otherwise she'd get bored. But now, she was exhausted. Time for bed.
Two transfers on the underground and a short walk later, Mickey Smith was frowning as Jake keyed in to their apartment. Something was off about Rose and Mickey was determined to find out what. If it was alien, he needed to stop it. With Rose away from Torchwood for the week though, it would be much harder to keep an eye on her and he didn't want to worry Jackie and Pete if it was nothing.
"Hey Jake," He called to his flatmate, "Should we see if we can get lunches off and meet up with Rose this week?"
"Yeah, sure. Why?"
"Pete's banned her from the office and she's gonna be bored. And trust me, we don't want that to happen."
Jake chuckled. "Probably a safe move. I'm sure Pete'll let us off. For that at least."
Mickey grinned, and sent a message to Rose before ringing his boss.
"Talk to me." The older man said quickly.
"No emergency boss, sorry to worry you." Mickey told him as he realized what calling after hours might mean. He could almost hear Pete relax on the other end of the call.
"What's up Mickey?"
"Jake and I wondered if we could take lunches off site this week, meet up with Rose, keep her out of trouble, if that's possible."
Pete chuckled, Rose did have a knack for finding trouble. "Permission granted. Good luck. Goodnight Mickey."
"'Night Pete, see ya."
So, it seemed Mickey was worried about Rose too. Pete turned to his wife who was curled up at the end of the sofa, eyes fixed on the evening sitcom. "Jacks, maybe we should have Rose over for dinner this week. Just to check in."
Jackie turned to him quickly. "Do you think she's still in danger?" She asked, her voice rising with panic.
"No, no." Pete soothed, "I just want to make sure she's fine." And he didn't think she was in danger, mostly. But it was still suspicious.
"So." Anita's voice came from behind River. She turned from the journal she was filling and found herself facing the rest of her crew. River folded her hands and waited for the inquisition.
"Who is she?" Proper Dave asked.
"Her name is Rose."
"Yeah," said Other Dave, "That's not what we asked."
"She's an old friend."
"Like the Doctor?" Anita asked after a moment, remembering the conversation she had with River in the library.
River smiled. "Older. But yes, very like the Doctor."
"But how did she get here? And leave? And come again?" Proper Dave pressed.
"That's complicated."
"We have time." Miss Evangelista said innocently.
The corner of River's mouth twisted. "Follow me."
She led them out of her study and back downstairs to the sitting room. Once they were all settled, she began. "Very well. I suppose the first thing I should tell you is that Rose isn't exactly human, not completely. The second thing is that I'm not either." She held up a finger to stop the flood of questions about to spill from the others. "Both of us were born to human parents but we were exposed to something very powerful which... altered... us."
"You mean, like radiation?" Other Dave asked.
"Actually the radiation was a side effect and didn't do anything anyway. This was something much more powerful, and no, I'm not going to tell you what it was. We were exposed in different manners, so the results were slightly different. But both of us are telepathic and we are psychically linked. When she comes here, it is her consciousness only, her body remains on Earth. She has a body to return to. As for her coming here, it was initially by accident. It was a combination of her abilities and my accidental pull on our link. My best guess is that I wanted her here because I missed her and she wanted to get away from where she was, resulting in traveling. These are the early days for her and she doesn't know her own abilities, so I'm teaching her."
"Alright but hold on, she said she's from the twenty-first century. And she knew to ask, so she's a time traveler." Other Dave said.
"Yes."
"So why doesn't she just find you before this happened?"
"She can't."
"Why not?" Proper Dave asked.
"Because she's stuck in the wrong universe." Leaving them with their mouths open, River stood and returned to her study, closing and locking the door behind her. She continued to write directions to send her oldest and dearest friend on a journey that would change her forever.