Disclaimer: The characters of this story are the intellectual property of the BBC and associated writers.

Rose padded down the stairs from her bedroom in the mansion and found her mum in the kitchen, sipping tea.

"Thursday." She said without preamble as she filled a cup for herself.

"So soon." Jackie whispered. "Oh c'mon." She led her daughter into the den and pulled her down onto the sofa where they cuddled together.

They laid in silence, sipping their tea. The last thing Rose remembered before she fell asleep was her mum stroking her hair.

Commander Davis was evidently feeling generous, Rose thought as she looked at the chaos around her. He told them not to take any of the low level cases that could be put off another day, only respond to immediate threats. Instead, they could, and should, spend the day eating the food everyone brought in, talking to Rose, and playing the childish party games they'd been brought up on. Pete Tyler, coming to the top floor to check in, cracked a huge grin as Mickey's second in command, a huge welshman named Dillon, bent over backwards under a broomstick commandeered for a game of limbo.

"Tomorrow, Mick." Rose had told her friend as soon as she arrived at the office. He nodded and looked grim but said nothing.

Rose spent the day spacing out delicious snacks she knew would be in scarce supply in the upcoming year. Fresh fruits and vegetables, sweets and cakes, all of that would be eventually abandoned for whatever cans they could find and bars of processed nutrients.

"You okay?" Jake asked as he caught her grimacing thinking of it.

"Yeah, sure. It's just, I'm gonna have one hell of a year coming up. I'm going to miss real food." Rose had told her family some of the basics of her mission without going into specifics. Rose didn't necessarily know the specifics either and she suspected River didn't tell them to her less out of concern for spoilers and more because it was going to be horrific.

At the party at her parents' house it was much the same. She spent her time surrounded by friends from uni and Torchwood. She thought of it as storing up good memories for the long road ahead. She had the feeling she'd need many to get through.

Whenever someone asked where she was going, she gave the same answer. "Home." And they all assumed she meant back to whatever foreign country she'd been educated in. They guessed that she had a lover there she wanted to return to. Maybe something happened to him just after she left and she thought him gone? They speculated. Or maybe his family was fabulously wealthy, or noble, and they didn't approve of her. But they could all tell that something changed and wherever Rose was going, it would make her happy. Very few of them realized it meant that she was never coming back.

She made her final farewells to Jake and Mickey at the end of the party. She wasn't sure when she'd be leaving the next day and they had work. The commander wouldn't be happy to be down three captains. Even a request from the director couldn't budge him.

The number of times Rose had said goodbye to Mickey was now staggering and it just didn't get any easier. The boys finally left with tears wiped away from more than one set of eyes.

The next morning dawned clear and bright. Rose blinked against the increasing sense of foreboding she felt. Washing up, Rose was again surprised to see her dark hair in the mirror. Well, it wasn't really that dark. It was about the lightest shade of brown that would still be considered brown. But after so many years of bright blonde, it was a little unsettling. Her mum cooked a full English for the family and they all sat down to a pleasant meal. They didn't mention the elephant in the room.

When they finished eating, Jackie handed Rose a box wrapped in purple paper.

"We want you to have that to take with you." Jackie said.

Inside Rose found a book about the size of her journal. Inside were an amalgam of photographs from their time spent in Pete's world. Tony growing up, Jackie and Pete's wedding, Rose graduating from Uni, the family dressed up for New Year's with the President, her Torchwood team. It was put together with care and love. Further in were pages covered in writing addressed to her from Jackie, Pete, and Mickey. A few crayon drawings were evidence of Tony's contribution.

"That's all the things we wanted to tell you and couldn't find a way to say. You keep that with you, you hear? And remember your family. Because you'll always, always, be my daughter." Jackie said, her voice cracking.

"Rose, I know it was hard for both of us in the beginning, but now, you're my daughter too. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way." Pete added.

Rose took their hands and squeezed them tight in wordless thanks.

With Jackie's help, Rose packaged up as many of the leftovers from the party the night before as would stay edible in a backpack and tucked them into the top of her bag. After a pause, she wrapped up one of the chocolate cupcakes with Tardis-blue frosting edged with ball bearings and added it to the smaller backpack that sat, waiting, next to hers. The backpack destined for Martha Jones. Then she packed a stack of sandwiches and added those to her bag as well.

Her things were in order, all the important things said, and now all they could do was wait. Though Rose was initially taken aback by her future self's declaration of the date the paradox would start, she was glad she didn't have to wait any longer. The sitting and waiting was hard.

Fortunately, Tony got bored very quickly and asked her to play with him. He was still too little to really understand what Rose leaving meant, as many times as she'd tried to explain, so he was the only one not too fussed about her departure. So Rose played with Tony. She helped him act out some of her Doctor stories. Tony was always the hero, of course, which left Rose being the monster. Rose was in the middle of chasing Tony with a green Slitheen mask on when it hit her.

"It's time." She gasped to her parents as the feeling washed over her. Dread, and pain, and loss, and horror flooded through Rose, none of which were her feelings. In an instant she realized they were the feelings of the Tardis, she just echoed them through the bond.

"Rosie?" Tony asked, sticking his head out from underneath the table, "Do you haff ta go now?"

"Yeah, Tony-baloney. I do." She picked him up and sat him on her hip. "I love you, little squirt. Don't forget it."

"I won't." He insisted solemnly, eyes wide. "Don't forget me neither!"

"Never. C'mon, kiss kiss."

He kissed her cheek and she ruffled his gingery hair as she set him down again.

"Mummy." She said, burrowing her face in her mum's shoulder one final time.

"Oh, Rose." Was all Jackie said.

"I love you."

"I love you, too. Be safe." Her mum released her.

Rose turned to Pete and hugged him tightly. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too, sweetheart. Good luck out there."

Rose nodded. She slung the large backpack over her shoulders and fastened the plethora of straps. She strapped a plain, black holster with a perception filter in it to her right thigh and slid her modified gun into it. The egg shaped remote went into a pouch attached to the sternum strap of her pack. Rose bounced lightly on her toes. The pack was well distributed and fitting well. It was lighter than the ones they trained with at Torchwood. That meant she'd easily be able to hike all day with it and run with it for at least four hours. She picked up the smaller backpack and carried both over to the dimension cannon. She turned it on, checked the calibration, and started the warm up sequence. She turned to her family.

"I love you. I'll miss you. Goodbye."

"Goodbye." They all said.

Rose pressed her palm down on the big, red, threatening button. She felt the energy field as it crept along her skin. She waited until it engulfed her completely then stepped forward and spun out of space.