Title: Ten People Rose Tyler Moved On With
Author: Joanne/
joanne_cEmail: bennmatt @ gmail.com
Fandom: Doctor Who/Torchwood
Pairing: Rose Tyler/Jack Harkness, Rose Tyler/Lisa Hallet, Rose Tyler/Alex, Rose Tyler/Sarah Jane Smith, Rose Tyler/Owen Harper, Rose Tyler/Lucy Cole (Saxon), Rose Tyler/Captain Jack Harkness, Rose Tyler/Martha Jones, Rose Tyler/Ianto Jones, Rose Tyler/Gwen Cooper
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: All characters are the property of Russell T. Davies and the BBC, not me.
Summary: Ten different ways Rose might have moved on, with ten different people.
Author's Notes: Written for
multific's finish-a-thon.
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Jack Harkness
It should have been obvious. It was Jack. Oh it wasn't Jack who Rose had danced in front of Big Ben on a barrage balloon with, but it was still Jack Harkness. Time Agent. Most handsome man she'd ever met. Even if she did feel a bit guilty for thinking that. But Jack was simply stunning, it was the only word for him.
Even Jackie liked him. And not, in this case, because he flirted with her (though being Jack, he did, and she liked that too).
But of course it wasn't that easy. He wasn't the Jack Rose had known and there were a few things she'd… well… let slip was the way she liked to think of them. But there had been words. Harsh ones.
Of course there was also the Doctor to get over. And that wasn't easy. He was a hard act to follow, and even Jack agreed, even though he hadn't known him. Rose had thought it prudent not to mention the kisses.
It ended up taking years, literally. Four Christmases, Rose used to bring Jack over to Pete and Jackie's, tease Mickey and Jake when they wound up under the mistletoe and had to kiss. The same for Owen and Tosh. And she and Jack had done the kiss on the cheek. Every year.
It wasn't Christmas when it happened, either. Or any other big holiday. Another day at work. One more alien threat vanquished, at least for the moment, and Rose had eased her shoes off. Without even being asked, Jack had started rubbing her feet gently. And something had sparked. Rose had whimpered and Jack had looked up.
She'd been the one to lean down and initiate the kiss. Jack had eased up and taken her into his arms. And a wide smile had crossed Rose's lips when he said, "Finally." She'd nodded and kissed him again.
It wasn't happily ever after but it was a good start to it happening eventually.
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Lisa Hallet (Cyberwoman)
Lisa had seemed like just another of the workers, for a long time. Rose had exchanged jokes and smiles with her - though she'd noticed Lisa wasn't one for them as much as she was. She was a lovely woman. But very quiet and reserved.
"Do you spend all your life here?" Rose had asked her once, trying to get her to come out to the pub.
"My life is here," Lisa had answered, and looked away sadly.
Rose hadn't said more, but she'd wondered how someone so young could be so isolated. Even when she'd been getting over the Doctor - and it wasn't like that was a quick or easy process - she'd never shut herself away if she could help it. She knew that being around people helped.
Rose had got Lisa out a couple of times, and a few more they'd had fun laughing together in Rose's office. She remembered times with Shareen, lifetimes ago it seemed. That first practicing kiss. The tender, fumbling, teenage explorations that had been so much gentler than being with Jimmy Stone. Rose had wondered if, when she'd left, if Shareen had found another girl. She'd never made her any promises, but it still stung Rose. Even more than when the loss of the Doctor came up, because though that was an ache that would always be with Rose, she'd known that would end one day.
Rose couldn't remember the moment she'd realised that she was in love with Lisa. Watching her go over medical data with Owen? Teasing Ianto about how devoted he was to Owen? That day she'd worn that slightly open blouse and Rose had caught a glimpse of her bra? No that had been when Rose had realised it was lust too… god she longed to stay behind with Lisa one day and…
And one day she decided to do that. She'd followed Lisa down corridors, waiting to reveal her presence. Of course she was prepared for Lisa to say no. That was the other reason she'd decided to do it here, where they'd be alone.
Rose had been shocked when Lisa had opened a door and said, "I'm here, darling." She'd crept forward, heard Lisa talking and a soft, sexy male voice answering. But there was something off about the man'' voice. Rose listened and when Lisa had mentioned conversion, Rose realised, he sounded like a Cyberman. She moved closer, looking inside and almost gasped but remembered she was being quiet.
There was a cyber conversion unit in the room. Holding a partially converted man. Rose heard Lisa call him Ianto, and say that she'd find a way to get him back. Rose sighed. They'd already found that there was no way to do that. She wished there was one. But Lisa had been… the one to find it. And she still couldn't accept it. Rose felt sad for her. But she couldn't let this go on.
"Lisa," she said, stepping into the room. "I think you have some explaining to do…"
"I know," Lisa answered. "Can we talk alone?"
Rose nodded. She took Lisa a few doors away to a soundproof room.
"He's dying," Lisa said. "Has been for months."
"I'm so sorry," Rose whispered, hugging Lisa. "I can see you love him."
"Loved," Lisa said. "Love, still, in a way. But I accepted, when I found out there wasn't a cure, I was going to lose him. He's close to dying, Rose. I'm all he has left,"
"Then you should let him die with dignity, with you beside him."
"The systems are closing down. It's a matter of days. He knows," Lisa added. "He knows. He told me… when he's gone, to go on. Find someone else. I want to."
Rose smiled. "He doesn't want to shoot up the base?"
Lisa gave her a teary grin. "I think he might if he was strong enough?"
Rose nodded. "When he's gone, I want you to come and let me know. Then we'll go out and get really drunk and you can tell me all the funny stories about you two. I know there's funny stories."
"Okay," Lisa nodded and went back to the room.
Rose thoughtfully left the base and went home, thinking. She'd have done the same for the Doctor. Or Shareen.
Not quite a week later, at the end of another work day, Lisa came into Rose's office. "He died a few minutes ago. Can we do something, get him found…?"
Rose nodded, making arrangements for the body to be dispatched to the river, float up and be identified.
"His parents will be grateful," Lisa nodded. "And I'm… free." She burst out crying.
Rose went to her and held her, murmuring soothing words.
Lisa's sobs had reduced to sniffs and she'd smiled at Rose. "Thank you."
Rose had just poured Lisa a drink and had one herself.
They decided to stay there instead of going out. Rose had a bottle and well, Lisa was prone to the occasional fit of tears. So it was easier, really.
They talked for hours, even ordered Chinese in, and were in a fit of giggles over some alien they'd seen, when Rose kissed Lisa, unable to stop herself.
The surprise was when Lisa kissed back. "Wondered how long it'd take," Lisa grinned at her, her hand already moving over Rose's leg.
"So you like girls too?" Rose asked.
"I like the people, gender doesn't usually matter," Lisa answered, her other hand moving inside Rose's bra and pinching her nipple.
Rose moaned. "Okay… yeah…" she was already wet. Her hands were on Lisa's body, one moving up between her legs and the other clasping her head, pulling her forward for a kiss.
The first time was, they agreed later, partly about getting over things, for both of them.
It was the second, and third, that was about them.
They'd both lost, in horrible ways, but they'd also found each other. And that was a good thing.
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Alex (The Christmas Invasion)
Torchwood was aligned with the Prime Minister's office, so Rose worked very closely with Harriet Jones' (and she was happy that Harriet was the Prime Minister) office. Or, more particularly, with Harriet's assistant, Alex.
He was a very efficient worker. That was the first compliment Rose ever gave him. Oh, she couldn't help but notice how attractive he was - no matter how much her heart was sore from losing the Doctor in the beginning. He reminded her, oddly, of Jack in some ways, and far beyond the obvious physical similarities of dark hair and blue eyes. Not that they hurt, of course.
Rose would take papers to Alex, or Alex would bring them to her, making his way past Ianto and Owen bickering or smiling, depending on the day.
Rose would smile and shake her head when Alex asked her out for a drink. She wasn't ready.
Then one day, Alex asked her and instead of the headshake, Rose found herself in the pub with a glass of wine in her hand and some very sweet words from Alex in her ear. She couldn't even blame drink, really, because he'd only had one and so had she.
There was a long conversation - about everything but work - and Rose smiled.
He walked her home in the cool night air and kissed her on her doorstep. Rose was going to leave it at that, but she found herself asking Alex in for tea.
They even drank tea. Kissed a lot more. But decided not to take it further just then. They knew it would happen and Rose was just happy to be in Alex's arms, being thoroughly and delightfully kissed and petted. The rest would happen in time.
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Sarah Jane Smith
It wasn't a surprise that reporters investigated the public side of Torchwood. Keeping an open secret, or hiding in plain sight, there was more than enough for anyone to get a bit suspicious of.
No, for Rose, when she agreed to an interview, the shock was that the reporter was none other than Sarah Jane Smith. Even though she knew the Doctor didn't exist on this world, it was still a surprise to see the other woman. Someone she'd thought would be in her world. Someone she'd hoped to maybe share tea and memories with someday.
The interview was routine, Rose putting on her "you can't possibly think we would know more" face and Sarah Jane probing deeply.
It was when Sarah Jane mentioned aliens that Rose realised there were certain similarities to the Sarah Jane she'd known. Rose tried not to get specific, but it turned out Sarah Jane knew a lot more than she should, really. Rose smiled as she remembered the Doctor calling her "my Sarah Jane" and she realised that even without the Doctor, Sarah Jane was an amazing woman.
Realising how much Sarah Jane knew, Rose ended up recruiting her. It made sense to have someone who could get into a few places with a smile and a press pass, and it also helped them cover things up more efficiently than they had before. Which on the whole, was a good thing.
After one particularly messy alien encounter, Rose and Sarah Jane were trying to clean up from the black goo the creature had sprayed all over them. The shower was the only place to do it and Sarah Jane energetically scrubbed Rose clean and Rose did the same for Sarah Jane.
Rose made the first move forward, kissing Sarah Jane softly, but it was Sarah Jane who pushed Rose against the wall of the shower and helped her find out just what kind of pleasure she could give her.
Not very long after that, Sarah Jane acquired a pet name from Rose. "My Sarah Jane." And it didn't make Rose think of the Doctor at all.
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Owen Harper
There was one word Rose used to describe Owen Harper. Irritating. Oh there were many others, some of them loudly uttered at his back after an unsuccessful attempt at what Rose thought was seduction. Hopefully it was something less crude than he tended to make it sound.
The only reason he was a part of her team was that some of the other terms used to describe him were brilliant, knowledgeable about alien physiology and efficient.
Rose just wished that they were a little more evident than irritating. It would have been nice. She couldn't help thinking that they argued rather a lot. Admittedly they did always come up with some good solutions for whatever the problem causing the argument was, but Rose still found it stressful.
And it never stopped. Owen would always try his luck with a little smile, a "why don't you come to the pub?", a remark that only just escaped being sexual harassment.
Then things changed. Slightly. Owen was still irritating but his tone and words changed to a more polite, gentler flirting. It reminded Rose in some ways of Jack, which made her think of the Doctor. But he was a world away, literally. And Owen was getting much more appealing as he lost some of his arrogance.
Rose wasn't sure if he or she was more surprised the day she finally said yes to one of his invitations. Maybe it was that it was only for lunch or maybe he'd finally worn her resistance down. It didn't really matter by the time Rose was sitting across a table eating ham salad and drinking tea.
He walked her back to the office - amusing as he worked there too - and he asked her out for the evening.
Rose smiled and said yes, kissing Owen's cheek before going to her office.
She hoped this was just the beginning.
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Lucy Cole (Saxon) (The Sound Of Drums/The Last Of The Timelords)
While Rose was used to Torchwood duties being far-ranging, she'd never expected to be put in the role of bodyguard to Lord Cole's daughter, Lucy, who was perfectly capable of looking after herself, or so she told Rose, quite irritated at the notion herself.
Rose tried to make the best of it, and after a while Lucy mellowed enough to start talking to Rose about her life. It made Rose smile, and think of the Doctor a little, and she told Lucy some of her life, the carefully edited version, about how her parents had been separated for a long time and now were back together, and how she was getting to know her father. With of course no mention of the Doctor.
Lucy had asked her if she'd been to boarding school and Rose had laughed, shaking her head. Lucy had told Rose then of all the things the girls got up to after the lights went out. Rose had been able to counter with stories of what she and Shareen had got up to, which didn't sound as fun as the things Lucy talked about.
Lucy had looked amused - and pleased - when Rose had mentioned Shareen. She'd looked even more pleased when she'd kissed Rose and slipped a hand inside Rose's shirt.
Rose liked the feeling of someone else's touch after so long and she liked Lucy.
Soon they were finding all kinds of excuses to slip away from parties and functions, Rose's fingers moving between Lucy's legs or Lucy making Rose come with her tongue or fingers.
They were caught, eventually, luckily in a not too compromising position, and Rose had leapt to such a strong defence of Lucy that she knew it was more than just fun.
After the dust had settled and the man who'd caught them was appeased, Rose took Lucy away to talk and they realised that it was more than just sneaking away to be alone. They moved in together and were very happy.
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Captain Jack Harkness (1941) (Captain Jack Harkness)
It wasn't unusual to find an occasional person pushed forward from the past, not with the Rift so close, and time agents and all the other things that could happen.
The difference this time was that the name the man was claiming was one that Rose knew very well. Except this was not her Jack.
She rather wished the Doctor was there to ask about how to deal with this, but because he wasn't, Rose threw herself into it.
After some questioning and research, Rose figured out that her Jack had borrowed the name, or something like that - she really didn't want to think too closely about it. And she had other, more pressing things to think about.
It was surprisingly easy to help Jack - they'd gone to first names surprisingly quickly, but Jack had teased Rose that they weren't that stuffy back in his time - find his way around. Rose felt he needed her to lean on, and she was happy to let him. There were a lot of changes since his time, after all. It reminded her a little of how her father had helped her adjust when she'd come here, too.
Rose ended up staying in the base with Jack, showing him DVDs and giving him books about the changes in the last centuries, until he was ready to go out, into the real world. With Rose on his arm, they took a walk down the street and Jack held tight to her. He greeted people and bought Rose a flower - a carnation. "Not your namesake but just as pretty," he said with a touch of gallantry. Rose smiled and tucked it into her buttonhole.
Rose felt a pang of jealousy when Jack remarked on a couple of girls walking past, and calmed when he said they weren't as pretty as she was.
He chuckled then. "Not that you're jealous, are you, Rose?"
And she realised, maybe she was a bit.
"You have nothing to be jealous of," Jack whispered, leaning down to whisper in her ear. "Who has helped me adjust? W ho has been so kind to me? You, Rose."
Rose smiled. "So, what does that mean, Captain?"
Jack didn't answer in words, he brushed his lips over the soft skin of her cheek and kissed her lips.
Rose returned the kiss and held tightly to Jack. Then they went somewhere to be alone.
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Martha Jones
It was all Owen's fault, Rose decided. It had to be.
It was his fault for getting caught by that alien, and being confined to hospital for longer than Torchwood could possibly go without a doctor. That was the reason they'd had to bring another doctor in.
Martha Jones. Some cousin to Ianto who was almost as absent as Owen, taking him books and grapes and spending all the time he was allowed to with Owen. Not that Rose blamed him for that. If it had been the Doctor, she'd have been beside him, too.
And maybe she wouldn't be so confused. Every time she looked at Martha Jones she felt odd. Attracted. And aroused, looking at Martha's figure in the clothes she wore.
And Martha was a good doctor. A very good doctor. Almost more efficient than Owen, who had asked her not to tell him that. Rose had assured him that his job would be waiting for him, though. She would never fire Owen.
Still, it was with some sense of relief that Rose was told that Martha would have to stay too. Relief and annoyance mixed and Rose nodded. Owen wouldn't be back to full strength for a good while and even after he was, he'd been complaining before he got hurt about the lack of help. So Martha was there to stay.
Rose took her out for a drink to celebrate. And one turned into a few. Rose confessed her attraction to Martha around the fourth glass and was surprised - and pleased - when Martha kissed her.
Rose told Martha that she'd never done anything like this before. Martha gave her a warm smile and whispered into her ear, "I have."
Rose smiled, then Martha took her back to her flat and showed her just what she'd been missing.
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Ianto Jones
Rose and Ianto started to get to know each other while they were both in mourning. Rose for the Doctor and her old life and Ianto for Lisa, who had finally died, after all the ravages being partly converted by the Cybermen had taken their toll on her body.
Rose didn't go into many details about the Doctor, just said they were separated and he wasn't coming back. Ianto tended to cry in Rose's arms a lot. Over time, though, it lessened and they spent more time outside, in the sun, soaking up the warmth and light, when they weren't working.
Rose would make Ianto tea, and he would make her coffee. They went to the pictures. And then it was Christmas and Ianto had no family and Rose of course asked him to join them.
It was Pete who pointed out the mistletoe and Rose was the one who kissed Ianto. It had seemed to pass, but later that night, they were walking outside in the snow and he kissed her.
Rose smiled and said they should really do that in warmer places, preferably more private than the last one in the lounge.
Ianto took her to his flat and kissed her for a very long time.
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Gwen Cooper
Rose had recruited Gwen to Torchwood herself. A slightly too inquisitive police officer, and she'd had skills that could be - and had proved to be - useful.
Profiling worked amazingly similarly on aliens. As Gwen said, it was all about patterns of behaviour whether it was Joe Bloggs or Victor Venusian. That made Rose giggle and remember some of the more interesting alien species she'd run into with the Doctor.
Days were long and nights were longer working for Torchwood and it caused the inevitable strain and breakage on Gwen's relationship. Rose tried to help, but Rhys had just had enough.
So Rose took Gwen out for a drink or several, and they got very giggly after a while.
Some yobbo said that they should kiss after they practically fell into each other's arms giggling.
Without even thinking of it, Rose pressed her lips to Gwen's, who gasped, but pressed her lips right back.
"We'd better get out of here," Rose said.
Gwen nodded and took Rose back to her empty flat. "Doesn't seem so empty now," she said, pouring them another glass of wine.
They drank it on the couch, in front of the fire, and Gwen leaned over and kissed Rose when they finished.
It was slow and sweet and natural and they lay together, after, still kissing and touching.
Then Rose spoke. "This is nice, but you know what? I'd really like to see the bedroom…"
Gwen was only too happy to show her.
FINIS
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