Disclaimer: The ideas expressed in this work are not my own intellectual property and I gain no material benefit from this story. All rights to the BBC.
AN: Thank you all for the lovely reviews. They make my day just a bit brighter. I hope you can forgive the shortness of this chapter in exchange for... JACK!
Jack returned to the hub with Ianto after a mission involving particularly problematic fuzzy wuzzies. He was laughing as Ianto struggled through the double lock secure doors while carrying three crates of the critters.
"Jack!" He heard from the doorway to his office. Gwen's voice was alarmed but not panicked.
"Coming!" He called back and sprinted up the stairs. Gripping the top rail, he spun as he turned through the doorway. All he could see was Gwen's back as she pointed a very large weapon at an off-world forcefield by his desk. "Ah. A visitor. Gwen, do I get to say hello."
"Only if you keep it in your pants." Gwen muttered as another voice spoke.
"O captain, my captain," proclaimed a familiar voice.
"So, Whitman exists in multiple universes." Jack replied, his tone light and happy. "Last time I'd checked, you weren't so familiar with poetry."
Gwen lowered her weapon at his friendly tone and stepped aside, revealing the blond sitting on the edge of his desk.
Rose grinned at him, the tip of her tongue poking out of one side. She lowered the forcefield and stood up, stretching out her arms.
"University." She said as Jack scooped her into a hug. "The Doctor's lessons rubbed off." She cocked her head to one side. "You're not very surprised to see me." She accused.
Jack grinned. "Martha stopped by." He explained, "She said some interesting things about my friend, Marion Wolfe. And she brought this." He pulled the slightly creased photo from his pocket and showed it to Rose.
"I forgot she had a camera..." Rose said absently as she studied it. "God, Jack. That year. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Jack grimaced. "Not your fault, Rosie. The bastard's dead."
"Hold up," lilted a Welsh accent behind Jack, "What the bloody hell is going on here?"
With an arm still slung around Rose's waist, Jack turned, spinning both of them to face the furious brunette and the slightly stunned Ianto. "Ianto, Gwen, this is Rose, a very old friend of mine."
"Pleased to meet you." Said the ever polite Ianto.
Gwen inclined her head
"Can't be that old of a friend, Jack." Gwen said, "That girl's no older than twenty."
"I'm twenty-six!" Rose protested. "But I have a feeling it's been a little longer for you, Jack..."
Jack nodded, his face somber again. "You know then? The Doc said you didn't."
"I remembered." Rose said softly. She squinted at Gwen. "Is Gwen short for Gwyneth by any chance?"
Gwen started. "Yes."
"Is your family from Cardiff?"
"Yeah, back to the 1800s."
Rose nodded. "You can be proud of your ancestors."
Gwen gave her a strange look.
"Rose, are you hungry? Maybe we should go for dinner?" Jack suggested, looking at the expressions on the faces of his team.
Rose glanced at them too before replying. "Yeah, sounds good. It's been a while since we were both in Cardiff." She grabbed a jumper from her backpack and nearly danced out the door with Jack close behind.
At a table on the porch of the same restaurant that the Doctor and Blon Slitheen had eaten at only two years before, in linear time, Jack and Rose began to catch up.
"How long, Jack?" Rose asked seriously.
"A century or so." He answered, staring out over the bay.
"I'm sorry. When we left, I asked him about you, I wanted to go back and he said we couldn't. I didn't know then. And now... I'll never be sorry that I didn't want you dead, but I know it's rough on you."
"I've had a long time to think, Rose. I don't blame you for it. Some as the rest of life, this has its ups and downs. I've seen a lot of ugliness and pain, but joy and beauty too. And Rose, you look different from when I last saw you on Satellite Five, but Gwen was right, you don't look any older. Has it really been six years for you?"
Rose nodded and counted them off on her fingers. "One with the Doctor, four in the other universe, and the Year that Never Was. I won't be dying for a long time either."
"You are going back to the Doc, aren't you? He's a wreck without you there." Jack said.
"Of course. As soon as I possibly can."
Jack frowned, he knew from experience that it was difficult to track down the Tardis and her captain, but something still wasn't adding up. "Rosie, how is it that you remember the Year that Never Was? Martha told me you stayed on Earth, so your timeline would have reversed."
Rose shook her head. "I was on the Valiant, in the Tardis. It was the only safe place."
He stared at her. "Alright. I'm confused. Just tell me what's going on." He demanded.
"The Tardis kicked me out." Rose muttered before starting her story.
Jack was a patient listener, resting his head on his hands with his eyes fixed on Rose until she finished her story. "So you've met River then." He grinned, "I don't think the Doc has, just yet."
Rose arched a dark eyebrow at him. "So you've met her then?"
His answering grin had the smugness of the cat that got the canary.
"No, he hasn't yet." Rose said, "He will soon though. For him, the first time he meets her will be the day she dies. And he will continue believing that until the day I rescue her." Rose looked away, it didn't feel right to her to deceive the man she loved that way.
Jack took her chin in his hand and gently drew her back to face him. "Rose Tyler, if you told yourself that it must be done that way, then there must have been a good reason for it. Some things you cannot change."
"And there are some things I cannot change back." She added quietly.
Jack just moved his hand to cover hers on the table. "Thank you for saving my life, Rose."
Rose then asked about Torchwood and his team. She could see in the way he spoke that it had been good for him, but hard, and that he loved his people. A hundred years of watching his friends age and die around him and he still had the capacity to love. Rose hoped she could do as much.
They walked back to the Hub, where Jack slept, still talking, arm in arm. Faced with the choice between the couch and sharing Jack's bed, Rose chose the latter. Her friend held her safe through the night and shook her from her nightmares.
"Not that I'm complaining, mind, but why have you come to see me, Rosie? I got the impression you were on something of a schedule." Jack asked the next morning over a cup of tea.
"I have an assignment for you, from River." Rose explained, turning to dig her journal from her backpack.
"What kind of assignment?" Jack asked, his voice wary.
"Your favorite kind," Rose teased, "The kind with a time, location, and a type of gun." She showed him the information River had written.
Jack's face was curiously blank as he studied the line of numbers and letters. The date was nearly half a year away, the latitudes and longitudes corresponded to London, and the gun...
"Rose, do you know why I need to be there? What enemy I'll face?" Jack said slowly, his voice measured and painstakingly even.
Rose shook her head. "I don't even know if I'll be there. I'm not supposed to read ahead. Spoilers."
Jack nodded. That was the strongest gun he had, it was the only one he had that would damage dalekanium. "Well, I suppose I'll find out when I get there. How long are you staying for?" He said, infusing his voice with all the heartiness he could muster. It wouldn't do to tell this long suffering girl that she would once again face the enemy she feared the most, the one who had caused her the most grief.
"Only a few days." Rose said, "I'm getting so close to the Doctor again..."
He smiled at the wistful expression on her face. As tempted as he'd been by her when they'd first met, he'd recognized before either Rose or the Doc had the kind of relationship they had. And as he'd told Martha, he wasn't going to get in the middle of that sort of love. "You do that, Rosie, it sounds like we'll have centuries more to see each other."
She grinned back at him. "I'll even force the Doctor into making house calls if that's what it takes."
"I expect nothing less."
After two more days with Jack, filled with chasing aliens and eating takeaway, Rose went on her way, the ugly wounds on her heart, which had scabbed over at Sarah Jane's, beginning to heal into scars.