The next time Rose swam up from unconsciousness, the lights were dim in the infirmary and it was just her mum and the Doctor sitting at either side of her bed. She was laying down in soft new sheets that didn't smell of tea. It was a bit alarming she had slept so heavily that someone could change her sheets without waking her up.
"Hello," the Doctor said softly, noticing she was awake almost before she did.
"Hello," she said, and she had to smile at their routine even though everything was still a mess. At least the worst of the headache had receded.
She shifted her gaze toward her mum, and noted that she looked like she'd been crying. "Mum?" she asked, concerned.
"Hello sweetheart," her mum said softly, reaching to brush aside some hair that had fallen in Rose's face, "Sorry for the fright. We didn't expect…" her mum trailed off and placed a hand over Rose's where it rested on top of the sheets.
"You're here…on the TARDIS…" Rose said trying to make sense of things, "And you're…pregnant?"
"Seven months gone," Jackie said squeezing her hand gently, "You're gunna be a big sister, sweetheart."
Rose closed her eyes and wondered what strange dimension she'd woken up in. "And…Dad? I saw…I saw Dad too?" she shook her head, "But…couldn't have…"
Jackie and the Doctor looked at each other as if they were deciding what to tell her. That, quite frankly, irritated the hell out of her. And scared her that they felt they had to censor themselves. Both of them should know she wasn't some fragile thing that needed protecting. Or…or was she? She had just fainted in shock. It was one hell of a shock, but still.
"You remember going to Pete's world?" the Doctor finally asked her. Her eyes widened with understanding.
"But you said…sealed off," she furrowed her brow trying to put everything together. Then, "Mickey?" she added hopefully.
The Doctor rubbed at his eye, "Yes, well, I suppose not as sealed off as I thought. At least not when some irresponsible apes play around with the walls of the universe. Mr. Mickey is still on the other side, defending Pete's world and fighting the good fight. But Pete stayed on this side of the Void."
When the Doctor mentioned the Void an icy chill of dread brewed deep in her chest. She closed her eyes until she could get it back under control.
"Pete's here," she said after a moment. The Doctor and her Mum nodded. "You two are…?" this time Jackie blushed when she nodded again. "And you're…very pregnant." Well Pete had certainly come a long way from wanting nothing to do with either of them. She wasn't sure how she felt about that.
"God yes," Jackie sighed, "Tired all the time now. Thank god for this ship helping me with half the chores. And I have to pee every ten minutes! Not to mention your little sibling likes to kick me in the ribs anytime I try to sleep."
Little sibling? Rose pondered that for a moment. She'd encountered plenty of seemingly impossible things since she met the Doctor, but this was beyond anything she'd ever expected. And it sounded like Jackie and Pete had been living on the TARDIS? But if that was the case…the timelines didn't match up.
Rose narrowed her eyes at the Doctor, "Seven months? But you said…only lost few weeks!"
"Er…" now the Doctor tugged at his ear, "Well yes, for you - for what I'd expect you to be able to remember - blimey this is hard to explain."
"Just do it!" Rose huffed, but gave him a hint of a smile to take the edge off her command.
"Right sorry," the Doctor said sheepishly. "Back to the beginning then. You remember the ghosts, right?"
Rose raked through her memories, "Kinda. Mum thought…was Granddad?"
"And what was I supposed to think!" Jackie said defensively, "They were all over! Smelling so familiar and popping in and out on shifts, all polite. Everyone thought they were ghosts. Wasn't just me!"
"Yes, Jackie, thanks," the Doctor had screwed up his face when her mum's voice had gone shrill. Rose fought back laughter. At least some things were still the same.
"Anyway, the ghosts weren't anyone's lost loved ones. You remember when we met Queen Vicky?" the Doctor asked.
Rose looked back at him with a raised eyebrow. Of course she remembered, but that was ages ago.
"It's relevant, I promise," the Doctor rushed out, "After she knighted and banished us, apparently she also set up a secret organization to er…fight against us."
"Rude," Rose said and the Doctor nodded, grinning.
"Quite!" he agreed, "Well good ol' Vicky created Torchwood, named after that estate, and the organization was supposed to protect Great Britain from alien threats."
"You?" Rose grinned at him.
"Oh yes. Especially me," he said, almost sounding a little proud, "But they did plenty else too," he added darkly. "They started playing with the walls of the universe. They had a headquarters in a big skyscraper in Canary Wharf. A few times a day they hacked at a breach they found in the walls of this universe. For months they did this. And each time they did, the ghosts would show up."
"The not-Grandad ghosts," Rose said, trying to keep up despite her sluggish brain. Luckily what the Doctor was telling her didn't sound completely new. It was almost like a story she'd heard before but couldn't fully remember. She had flashes of…not quite memories, but impressions of things as he talked.
"Very much not Grandad," he agreed, "The ghosts were beings from another universe…" he trailed off and Rose thought that he was trying to give her time to figure something out. It didn't take her long. She really was coming back to herself, even if slowly.
"Pete's world!" she said then with a shiver of fear at a half-memory, "Cybermen."
"Cybermen," the Doctor confirmed.
"And Pete too!" Jackie said beaming, "He hopped over to help out."
"Right was getting to that," the Doctor said, irritable at another interruption, "With Torchwood messing around, the walls between universes were compromised and things, Cybermen and humans, could cross over. The Cybermen saw this world as ripe for the pickings. And Pete and his team were right behind them, ready to fight."
"Cybermen on Earth," Rose said slowly, "Tha's…bad."
"Oh yes," the Doctor agreed solemnly, "Very, very bad. But they weren't the only things that came through the breach. Torchwood also pulled through a ship. A ship full of Daleks."
"No!" Rose cried, envisioning the complete havoc these two enemies would wreak.
"It was awful," Jackie shivered, "And the two of you in the thick of it, as always. Pete and I too. We met in the stairwell."
Rose wanted to hear all about her Mum and Pete later, but for right now, she was much more concerned with what happened to the rest of the planet. For a second she worried that there was no Earth left after the Daleks and Cybermen were done with it. Maybe they were all living in the TARDIS because there was nothing to go back to. But no, the Doctor would never let that happen.
"We sorted it?" she asked.
"We did," the Doctor said, but there was no pride or excitement in his voice, "At a cost…"
Rose felt a growing sense of foreboding - at his tone, at terrifying memories that were still hovering just out of reach.
"You, Rose Tyler, did something very stupid and very, very brave," he said softly, "You saved the world, maybe even the whole universe." Rose found she couldn't meet his eyes when he used that reverent tone of voice. She was sure she'd just done what she'd needed to.
After clearing his throat, the Doctor continued. He started to explain about utilizing the pull of the Void and all about Void Stuff. Something in Rose's mind sparked as he talked and she had a fleeting memory of deafening noise and tearing wind.
"But…we had Void stuff too, yeah?" she interrupted.
"Yes," the Doctor said.
"And…and I…I was hanging onto something. Something rough. A handle."
"Yes, the Doctor confirmed, but he started to seem wary, like he wished she wasn't getting these particular memories back.
"But I… I couldn't…I - I fell."
The Doctor didn't need to voice his confirmation this time. A hard look came over his face and he stared fixedly at a point across the room.
The brief hint of a memory faded, but Rose was still able to put it all together, "The Void," she breathed, "I fell into the Void."
"You did," the Doctor confirmed in a strained voice. "You fell."