On the Other Side - Chapter Four - Come With Me
Rose Tyler ran into the small information office that disguised the entrance to Torchwood, pulling off as many of her wet clothes as she could before she reached the point of indecency. She reached the Hub wearing just a vest top and her jeans, as she entered the vast room, her eyes fell on Martha who was pacing the Hub, occasionally stopping to examine a bit of alien of tech. ‘He had an accomplice,’ Rose announced.
Martha spun on the spot and looked up at the soaked form of Rose. ‘Really,’ she croaked, and Rose’s expression softened. ‘I’m sorry, Rose, but, I didn’t know, I’m sure he was working alone.’
Rose gave a curt nod of her head and without another word she walked off in the direction of the lockers and changing rooms. A few minutes later, Mickey appeared from another part of the Hub, having parked up their car. He passed his eyes over Martha who was now bouncing on the balls off her feet as his comm. went in his ear. ‘Jake, what have you got?’ asked Mickey. Martha looked around to him as Jake informed him that they had caught the other man. ‘Has he got any ID on him?’
Mickey waited while Jake asked Tash to search the man for some ID. ‘Got a counterfeit Torchwood ID here,’ came Tash’s voice over the comms as Rose reappeared, now dressed in her Torchwood issued uniform, which was similar to an officers uniform, her finger on her own comm. ‘Says on “On behalf of her Majesty’s Service,”’ continued Tash’s bemused voice. ‘Been over sixty years since we had a monarchy,’
‘What name is on the ID card, Tash,’ said Rose, trying to keep her voice as level as possible.
‘Captain Jack Harkness, it says here,’ said Tash, ‘although, it looks like he has just fallen out of the Great War.’
Then there was a deep gasp of breath over the line followed by a deep American tone that Rose thought she would never here again. ‘You know, its bad form to knock out someone who is willing to go with you,’ he said to the other two.
‘And risk you garrotting us while we drive?’ retorted Jake over the comms.
‘You’ve obviously had a couple of bad experiences with that,’ quipped Jack.
‘Mick,’ said Jake, ‘we’ll be down with this idiot in a moment.’
The comms went dead and Mickey looked over at Rose with a raised eyebrow and she replied back with the same expression. ‘Probably not the best outfit,’ she finally commented, looking down at her outfit, doing up a couple more buttons on her shirt and pulling on her jacket.
Mickey looked at her in amusement. ‘Beats walking around in soaking clothes,’ he commented before going back to the computer, pulling up the CCTV footage from outside Rose’s flat. ‘Jake pushed John into the Bay,’ he told Rose before clicking off the screen.
Rose grimaced as she sat down. ‘Not a wise move,’ she said, leaning back in her chair and opening a desk drawer. ‘The police will be all over this by the morning.’ Rose pulled out the necklace she had been wearing earlier and put it around her neck before shoving it behind the folds of her shirt.
‘Won’t do them much good,’ commented Martha, speaking for the first time since Rose’s return. ‘He’s from another universe and from the fifty first century.’ Then gathering up a bit of bravado, she walked over to Rose desk, placed her hands square on the desk and leant over. ‘Who was the accomplice, Miss Tyler? You and Mickey were talking to the other two agents about him - who is it?’
She was distracted from answering by the sound of a beep from the other side of the office coinciding with the doors opening. Rose and Martha’s head jerked towards the beeping and the two girls made their way across the Hub and Rose picked up the item, which seemed to beep in her hand and began flashing though a light sequence.
Rose’s eyes widened as she watched the object, but she was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of someone speaking. ‘Always enjoyed a bit of bondage, if you’re offering.’
Rose spun around on the spot as Jake led the American down the stairs. Rose raised her eyebrows. ‘Don’t you even start,’ she told him a wide smile crossing her lips.
Jack stopped stock still on the stairs, causing Tash to walk right into him.
Mickey rolled his eyes in amusement. ‘Not even bothering with the innuendos now,’ he said with a chuckle and Jack’s head snapped to look at him.
He had almost forgotten what the Doctor had told him. Rose was trapped in the parallel universe with Mickey and her mum. ‘Not all that cheesy any more,’ he replied with a wink toward Mickey, causing the man to shake his head in further amusement.
‘You keep telling yourself that,’ Mickey muttered, going back to his work station.
In the time taken for Mickey and Jack’s exchange of words, Rose had walked a few paces forward and had been taking in Jack’s features. The former Time Agent still had his cheeky side, but beneath that lay a seriousness and age that belied the youth on his face. ‘So, Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood is it?’ she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
In the past few years, she had forgotten that at Jack’s core was a conman, her memories of their time together with the Doctor had seemed to erase that. But Torchwood, why him?
Jack picked up on what she was implying; it was the same thing the Doctor had said to him in that abandoned warehouse before the whole Valiant. ‘It’s different now,’ he told her, walking down a few steps. ‘And look at you, also working for Torchwood.’
Rose looked around. ‘This is different,’ she told him, ‘we don’t try and open the Void and bring though monsters that kill people.’
‘Neither does Torchwood London, seeing as it no longer exists,’ conceded Jack, as he dipped his hands into his Great Coat. ‘Torchwood back home, Rose, I promise you, like I promised the Doctor, it’s different, I’ve changed it - we’re the good guys.’ Then he looked over Rose’s head to Martha who was watching the scene unfold with trepidation. ‘Isn’t that right Doctor Jones?’
Martha nodded. ‘Yeah,’ she agreed.
Rose took a deep breath and as she exhaled she let her arms drop to her side. ‘I was talking about John Hart,’ she said, ‘what did you do to piss him off?’
‘Didn’t pay much attention when he swaggered into Cardiff a few months back.’
‘Old friend, I take it,’ replied Rose, with a hitched eyebrow. Jack opened his mouth to answer, but before he could speak, Rose threw her arms around the American, pressing her head to his chest. ‘I thought I’d never see you again, Jack.’
Jack wrapped his arms around the petit woman who had given him so much life. ‘I thought you were dead for so long, Rose,’ he replied with a cold chuckle.
‘I have been,’ she whispered back, before pulling away from Jack. His eyes looked back at her in concern. ‘I see you remember Mickey, and I take it you were looking for Doctor Martha Jones.’
Jack nodded his head as Martha walked over to the other two. He let go of Rose and swept Martha into a hug. ‘Thought we’d lost you Marth.’
‘So you thought you’d make a death defying leap though the unknown to try and get me back?’ she asked with an amused tone in her voice as they broke apart.
‘Not nearly as terrifying as travelling to the end of the universe clinging to the outside of a little blue box,’ Jack told Martha, which earned him a smile.
‘I thought you were dead and from the nineteen forties,’ she laughed, glancing over at Rose.
Rose blinked and looked between them before settling on Martha. ‘Oh,’ she said, as if her brain had finally caught up. ‘Of course, you said and I didn’t even realise.’ Rose laughed bitterly and looked away. ‘Explains everything really.’
Martha’s expression turned to one of concern. ‘It was never like that,’ she said, glancing at Jack for support, but the American shook his head, so she looked back at Rose’s head. ‘But as I’m here, I just want to help.’
‘Well, that’s excellent news,’ came Mickey’s voice from his work station, ‘perhaps one of you can tell us how Captain John Hart blew a hole though the walls of the universe, because the fissure is growing.’
Rose ran over to Mickey’s side, and within seconds Jack and Martha had joined them. ‘Here,’ he pointed to a blip on his map, ‘it’s expanded in all the excitement over this evening.’
‘Any thoughts on how we can stop this?’ asked Rose, looking up at Jack. ‘What type of bombs did he use? I mean, this shouldn’t even be possible, and yet there it is, a gaping hole between my world and…’ she trailed off. ‘And home.’
Jack’s expression softened as he looked at Rose. ‘Whatever he was doing was designed to open the Rift to escape from me,’ he said, ‘but no one expected it to crack open though the Void and God knows what lies out there.’
‘Daleks and Cybermen,’ said Rose, turning back to the computer, ‘with an all out entry to this world and ours.’
Martha swallowed beside Rose. ‘Perhaps,’ she started, ‘if an explosion caused this, maybe an implosion to suck it all back in.’
‘Works in theory,’ said Jack, looking down at Rose who was shaking her head.
Rose shook her head a couple more times before speaking. ‘Do that and you’ll suck in anything that has Void particles over it,’ she said, ‘on both sides of the gap, Jack, You, me, the Doctor and anyone who has been though the Void will be sucked in.’
Mickey tapped a pencil on his desk, looking thoughtful for a moment. ‘We could cause a second explosion,’ he said, getting up from his seat and heading over to the weaponry cabinets. ‘Create an avalanche effect to seal the wall this end, and then…’
‘And then what?’ asked Rose, walking around the desk, resting her hands on her hips. ‘We do that, we’ll spend the rest of our lives waiting for the avalanche to collapse and all hell to let loose.’
‘I think we need to check it out,’ said Jack, ‘see what the damage is to the area and make a decision based on that. Rose, you’re with me, Martha and Mickey, you two can be our eyes and ears.’
Rose turned to look at Jack, her hands on her hips, both her eyebrows buried in her forehead. ‘Excuse me Jack,’ she said with a slightly miffed tone. ‘Who’s in charge here?’ she reminded him. ‘You might be in charge back home, but here, I run the show.’
Jack glanced at her in surprise, wondering where the Rose Tyler he knew had gone. ‘Sorry, ma’am.’
She gave him a crafty grin as he looked away. ‘Right, as Jack says, fantastic plan. Jake, Tash, give these two back up and Mickey, set Jack and Martha up with comms before we head out.’
‘So,’ said Rose, as she and Jack got out of the car, ‘what’s the deal with Martha, then?’
Jack cast a sidewards glance at Rose and a smirk appeared on his lips. ‘How long have you been bottling that one up?’ he responded as he pulled a flash light out his pocket.
‘I wasn’t bottling it up,’ she said, pulling out her own flash light and switching it on. ‘I’m just you know…’
‘Wanting to know whether you should be jealous or not?’
Rose looked at him aghast. ‘No,’ she said, a little defensively. ‘No,’ she repeated, ‘I just meant, you know, where is she from and how did you meet her.’
‘She was travelling with the Doctor when I finally caught back up with him after he left me on that satellite.’
There was an edge to Jack’s voice that she didn’t like. She scratched her head nervously as Jack pulled in front of her. ‘But all sorted now?’ she asked as she followed him.
‘Nothing says “sorry for deserting you” like spending a year together as the prisoner of a megalomaniacal Time Lord,’ replied Jack looking back around at Rose.
Her brow creased as they walked into the dockyards. ‘Time Lord?’ she repeated, ‘a…another Time Lord?’
‘Yeah,’ replied Jack, looking over his shoulder, ‘total maniac. Caused a paradox by butchering the TARDIS and then made the whole of the human race his slaves.’ He glanced around at Rose who was listening as she walked, her head bowed so he couldn’t see her eyes. ‘It was Martha who saved the world and then we were able to reverse the paradox.’
‘Good for her,’ said Rose, nodding her head as she caught up with Jack.
They walked along in silence as Rose assessed her thoughts. She was desperate to ask the question on the tip of her tongue, but she was too scared to, so instead she stuffed her free hand into her jacket pocket.
‘He still misses you,’ Jack said suddenly, causing Rose’s head to jerk up and look Jack in the eye.
She was silent for a little longer, taking in deep breaths. ‘Thank you,’ she said eventually, pulling out a device that was faintly emitting a noise. ‘It’s expanded massively since I was last here,’ she said, her eyes gliding over the read outs. Together they walked towards the gaping hole that was now engulfing the dockyards. As they got closer, Rose noticed that her chest was growing warm. She put her hand down her top, which earned her a smirk from Jack, and pulled out her necklace, which appeared to shine. ‘That never happened before,’ she commented, taking it off over her head and holding it to eye line.
‘Do you think if I just jumped through it, I’d arrive back home?’ asked Rose wistfully.
Jack scanned the area. ‘With the gap getting so big, there is no guarantee of where you would end up Rose.’ He sighed deeply, looking into the nothingness. ‘It would be a leap of faith. What’s to say you wouldn’t collide head on with a Dalek if you made the move?’
Rose swallowed hard. ‘But I’m so close.’ She dipped her head, looking down at her feet. As she opened her mouth to continue speaking a voice came on over the comm. But it wasn’t the voice of any of Rose’s Torchwood Agents.
‘Gwen,’ said a voice unfamiliar to Rose, it was crackly and distorted, ‘you need to get out of there. You can’t go ploughing ahead after Jack.’
‘Your lot?’ asked Rose and Jack nodded. The blonde blinked and looked back up to Jack. ‘First, we find a way to send you and Martha back safely, and then we’ll do what we need to do to close the hole.’
‘Come with us Rose,’ said Jack, turning to face Rose and grabbing her shoulders. ‘You don’t belong here and you know it.’
‘But my family, Jack,’ she said, looking him back, ‘I can’t leave them, not after everything.’
Jack sighed and pushed some hair away from Rose’s face. ‘He needs you Rose,’ he said softly into her ear. ‘God knows I’ve wanted to kill him for leaving me behind, but I can’t go back without you after seeing you - do you really think I could go back knowing I could have brought you with me?’ he asked, boring into her brown eyes, ‘and you just said yourself that you wanted to jump in, find a way back home.’
Rose was breathing heavily. ‘Jack, in reality I can’t, you’re just telling me he needs me because you think it’s what I want to hear,’ she pulled herself out of Jack’s grip, ‘but the Doctor, he’ll move on, meet someone new, he already did, he met Martha and I need to stay here and play the dutiful daughter.’
‘What’s happened to the Rose Tyler I knew?’ asked Jack, pulling Rose closer to him. ‘The woman who would absorb the Time Vortex for the man she loved without thinking of the consequences of her actions.’
Rose swallowed. ‘She died, Jack,’ she said, tears steaming down her face. ‘She never came back from Norway.’
‘Then Rose, I’m giving you the chance to come back to life,’ said Jack. ‘You did it for me and now I can give you something back.’ Rose looked at him quizzically for a moment before he placed his lips on hers and drew her into a long, tender kiss. She froze for a moment, before parting her lips and kissing him back. ‘I never got the chance to thank you before,’ he told her as he pulled away from her, leaving her swaying on the spot slightly.
Chapter Five - Not Taking No For An Answer