Auction Fic: Through A Glass Darkly 1/4?
Story: Through A Glass Darkly
Author: wmr /
wendymr
Characters: Rose Tyler, to be revealed ;)
Rated: PG13
Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately, though I'm willing to pay in instalments...
Summary: It’s only when she’s finally given up looking for a way back that she finds him.
Written for the incredibly generous wiggiemomsi, who won my services in the September Support Stacie Auction. I promised a minimum-5000-words fic; so far, this one's over 11,000 words. I hope you like it, Wiggie! With very many thanks to my fantastic team of BRs,
dark_aegis, yamxand
kae_nine.
Through a Glass Darkly
Chapter 1: Shadow of the Past
It’s only when she’s finally given up looking for a way back that she finds him.
Well, more precisely, she finds the TARDIS. It’s at the end of a busy day at work, and she’s just about to pack up for the day when a message comes through that the police are asking for help with something that looks ordinary but isn’t.
“They’re saying it just appeared out of thin air,” the dispatcher reports. “One second it wasn’t there, the next it was. Looks like one of those ancient police boxes, they said, but unless it’s Paul Daniels doing an April Fool then it sounds like it’s something we should check out.”
Police box? Her heart starts thudding, so loudly she’s sure everyone else in the room can hear it. No-one’s giving her funny looks, though. Must be okay. “Where?” she asks. It’s a perfectly normal question. No-one’s going to be wondering why Rose Tyler’s so interested all of a sudden.
Over by the river, she’s told - in fact, by Westminster Bridge. The very bridge they ran across, in the other universe, chasing the Nestene Consciousness. It’s got to be him. Only he’d do something like that, not that he’d even call it romantic, and he’d deny it if she asked. But... yeah, it’s what he’d do.
“I’m on my way,” she says, already on her feet. Heading out the door, she hesitates briefly, wondering whether to call Mickey and Jake, get them to come with her, but then decides against it. She doesn’t need them - and, much as she loves Mickey, this is a reunion he’s best not around for.
It’s been six years. More than enough time for her to realise that he’s not coming back, and she’s not getting back to him either. The walls have closed and, as he told her, the damage that would be done if he tried to come through would be catastrophic.
Not that she didn’t look for a way. But Torchwood’s dimension-jumpers don’t work any more, and although the scientists did test some modifications they told her and Pete that the prospects for success weren’t good - and that there were indications, only slight but real all the same, that damage to the fabric of the universe was inevitable. The Doctor was right, as he usually is.
But... he’s here.
She pauses at the reception desk for her floor - stupid bureaucracy insists that field agents sign out, more or less, when they leave. “Got a call. Probably won’t be back.”
The woman nods and writes something down. “Got it. Let me guess,” she adds. “You’re not gonna be massively upset if I forget to mention it to the big cheese? He was looking for you a few minutes ago. Told him you were in a meeting.”
She grins. Oh, she likes this one - a temp, mouthy as anything, but the most efficient secretary they’ve had since she started working at Torchwood. She’s already put a word in with her dad to get Donna a permanent job. “Yeah, a meeting sounds good. No need to tell him it’s in my car.”
She loves working for her dad, really she does. It’s just that he can occasionally be a little over-protective. And if she talks to him now - well, he doesn’t need to know about this. Not until after she knows what’s going on. And if he’s looking for her because he’s already heard that the TARDIS has been spotted, all the more reason to avoid him for now.
The TARDIS. In this universe. The Doctor.
Westminster Bridge. It’s less than six miles from here, twenty to thirty minutes’ drive depending on traffic. Right now, though, it feels like the longest journey she’s ever had to take. She wants to be there now. A helicopter would be faster, but by the time she calls one and it’s ready for take-off she’d be almost there by car.
Car it is. She hits the local talk radio station as soon as the engine’s running, hoping for more information about the TARDIS - hoping that no-one at the scene’s doing anything stupid. But, other than an announcement that roads in the vicinity of Westminster Bridge are closed for security reasons, there’s nothing.
Her heart pounds and every muscle tenses as she edges west at a snail’s pace. It seems like every light is red. Every pedestrian in London has chosen right this minute to cross the road. Taxis and buses stop and start in front of her. Drivers decide to turn across traffic into a minor road, holding everything behind them - including her - up. At this rate, it’s going to take an hour to get there. He could be gone by then. He might have gone off somewhere to look for her and they’ll miss each other.
By the time she’s close enough to see the Houses of Parliament across the river, her lips are chewed and her fingers stiff from being clenched around the steering-wheel.
A traffic constable steps out in front of her, raising his hand to signal her to stop. Ahead, there are barriers and a no-entry sign. She rolls down the window, her Torchwood ID ready. “Rose Tyler, Torchwood,” she shouts. “I’m expected.”
The officer checks her ID, and then directs her to park her car at the side of the road. Trying to control her impatience, she does as she’s told and then hurries past the barrier and along the road. It’s hard not to break into a run.
Around one more bend, and suddenly there it is: a flash of blue. The TARDIS is surrounded by armed police, some with riot shields, and there are flashing lights everywhere: cars and vans and even a Black Maria or two.
The traffic cop obviously radioed ahead; a senior-ranking officer comes forward to meet her. “Ms Tyler? Don’t you have a team with you?”
“Not necessary, Inspector,” she says crisply. “This craft isn’t a threat. You can tell your officers to stand down.”
“You know what it is?” He raises his eyebrows sceptically. “It’s not a police box. It’s been decades since those have been in use - and anyway, we tested the exterior. Whatever it’s made of, it’s not wood.”
She nods. “I know what it is. Seen it before. It’s not a threat,” she repeats.
“You’re sure about that?” Damnit, will the man ever get out of her way?
“Positive.” She tries to edge past him. “And, if you tell your men to stand down, I’ll prove it.”
After a pause so long she’s ready to scream, the officer nods. “I won’t have them stand down, but you can go in.”
It’s as good as she’s going to get. “Just one question.” She has to ask, even though she’s certain that she’d have been told if the answer’s in the affirmative. “Did anyone go in or out of the box since it appeared?”
The inspector gives one brief shake of his head. “No. Well, not that we can tell. We don’t have equipment to monitor for non-human life-forms. However, I can tell you that the door hasn’t been opened.”
“Good.” With a nod in return, she walks past the inspector, past the wall of police, and towards the TARDIS.
With every step, her breath grows shallower and her chest tighter. This is it. After so long - six bloody years - he’s finally here. In just a few seconds, she’s going to see him again. Hug him again, and... maybe... maybe even kiss him. Assuming he was going to say what she thought he was about to say on the beach, of course. He was, she’s sure of it. The way he was looking at her, he can’t have been intending anything else.
She’s in front of the door, so close she can reach out and touch the faded blue paint. She’s got her key - never goes anywhere without it - but she can’t use it. Not with half the police in London watching her. Instead, she knocks on the door.
Will he already know it’s her? He has to. He’ll have been watching on the viewscreen; of course he will. That’ll be why he hasn’t come out - because he knows the TARDIS is surrounded. So he’s waiting for her to come to him.
She knocks again. This time, the door creaks slowly open. But the face that appears in the gap isn’t the one she’s expecting to see. Instead, it’s a face she never expected to see again - a man she thought was dead.
Her heart pounds, and her jaw almost hits the ground. “Jack!”
He must have found Jack somehow, and together the two of them must have found a way to come across the Void to find her. This is wonderful. Fantastic! Both of them here: the Doctor, and the friend she missed so much.
Jack’s face turns cold. “Who the hell are you, and how do you know my name?”
***
She stares at him, speechless. How can Jack not know her? He’s here with the Doctor, so of course he has to know her. It doesn’t make any sense.
“Jack, what’ve I told you about bein’ rude to the natives?”
Just the first two words in the roughly amused voice from inside the TARDIS are enough to make her gasp, and she has to grip the ship’s frame to steady herself.
It’s the Doctor. But not the Doctor she said goodbye to six years ago. It’s her first Doctor, the one she saw burst into flames right inside the TARDIS. The Doctor who died to save her life.
How? How is any of this possible?
There’s a choke in her voice as she exclaims, “Doctor!”
“What the-?” Jack’s expression alters again and, in a lightning-fast movement, he grabs her arm, his fingers digging painfully into her skin. “Right, that’s it. Inside.” With one sharp tug, he pulls her into the ship. “Doctor, we got trouble.”
Instantly, her gaze flies to the console - and he’s there. The Doctor, looking exactly as she remembers him, tall and proud and dark, with the same short hair, prominent ears and beaky nose, and the leather jacket and jumper combination she remembers so well. She tries to speak, but there’s a huge lump in her throat, and she has to swallow.
“So, who’re you, then, an’ why are you upsettin’ my companion?”
“Do- Doctor, don’t you recognise me?” She cringes as her voice falters.
“Should I?” He sounds as if he doesn’t care either way. What’s going on?
“I’m Rose. Rose Tyler.” No response. “We travelled together. The three of us.”
The Doctor shrugs. “Never seen you before. Prob’ly just haven’t met you yet. Time-traveller, me. Things don’t happen in linear time for me.”
She shakes her head. “I know that. But if Jack’s with you then of course you’ve met me. We’d been together for weeks when we met him. An’ then we lost him when you re-” She breaks off, realising what she’s about to do. No telling him his future.
Somehow, without letting her go, Jack’s got his wrist computer open. She has to swallow again at the sight of that familiar object. He was never without it. “She’s soaked in artron energy,” he says, looking straight at the Doctor. “At least some of what she’s saying is the truth.”
“It’s all-” she begins, trying to object, but Jack cuts across her.
“You’d better see this, Doctor. Looks like Void stuff. Seems like Rose Tyler here’s from another universe.”
***
Finally, the penny drops. Yes, she’s from another universe - but they’re not.
They really don’t know her, and she never travelled with them - because, until she arrived here, the only Rose Tyler in this universe was a dog.
“But...” she protests weakly. “This doesn’t make sense. He - my Doctor - told me there were no Time Lords in this universe. And I asked. I checked. UNIT has no records of the Doctor or the TARDIS. Nor has Torchwood.”
The Doctor’s walking over, and as she finishes speaking he’s close enough to touch. She can’t take her eyes off him. This Doctor. Her first Doctor, who died to save her life. But he’s not. He never met her.
“Let her go, Jack.” Her arm’s freed. The throbbing’s painful; she massages it with her other hand, giving Jack a brief resentful look. “First things first,” the Doctor continues. “You’re with that lot outside?”
“Not with them, exactly. They sent for me. I work for Torchwood, and they reported the TARDIS as a potential threat.”
“What’s Torchwood when it’s at home?” Jack asks sharply. “And - what was it? UNIT?”
The Doctor’s looking equally interested in her answer. But that doesn’t make sense. Of course he wouldn’t know about Torchwood - they only found out about it much later, after he regenerated - but he told her himself that he worked for UNIT years ago. “United Nations Intelligence Taskforce,” she explains. “Peace-keeping, Earth defence, that sort of thing. In my universe, you - the Doctor,” she corrects herself quickly, “- worked for them for a while. Think it might’ve been around the 1970s or so.” He looks sceptical, but says nothing. “Torchwood’s just based in Britain, and we’re more about aliens - alien intelligence, analysing artifacts, making sure we’re ready if there’s an invasion, that sort of thing.”
“The twenty-first century, right?” Jack says. “That’s where we are right now?”
“Yeah. 2012.”
“Now I know you’re making this stuff up.” Jack’s voice is scathing. “This is a waste of time, Doctor. First contact doesn’t happen on Earth until-”
She takes great satisfaction in interrupting him. “No? How do you explain Autons five years ago? And since then Sli-” She stops, correcting herself. She’s not the Rose Tyler who can’t pronounce planet names properly, not any more. “Raxacoricofallapatorians and Sontarans and...” Oh, a long list. It’s been non-stop since she started working for Torchwood. She’s sure there were never so many alien invasions on Earth in her other universe, and it seemed like there were plenty then.
Jack’s still looking disbelieving. “None of that’s in the records, Doctor. You know that.”
“And you know better than that, Jack,” the Doctor says, and he’s looking interested. He believes her, at least. “Time can change at any time. An’ looks like it has.”
“But how come you don’t know about any of this?” That’s one of the many things that makes no sense about this. Incredible enough that there is a Doctor in this universe after all - and that he’s travelling with this universe’s Jack Harkness - but that he wouldn’t know about any of the aliens that’ve tried to invade Earth over the past decade or so makes no sense.
The Doctor shrugs. “Don’t often visit this time. Never had any particular reason to.”
So it’s pure chance that he’s here now, today. She doesn’t know why she feels disappointed, especially given he’s not the Doctor she was hoping to find. He’s not her Doctor, so he’s no use to her, is he?
And yet... yet she can’t help wishing, and longing. Those were good days. Really great days, travelling in the TARDIS with her first Doctor and Jack. If only - but, no. She’s learned more than enough about what her second Doctor called gingerbread houses over the past six years. Just because someone has the same face and name as a person she knew in her original universe, that doesn’t mean they’re the same person. Her dad - Pete - seems to be the exception, and she’s happy for her mum. She’s happy for Mickey and Jake, as well, though Jake’s told her there’s plenty of ways Mickey’s not like Ricky at all.
No. It’s time to bring an end to this before she does something incredibly stupid. Because, no matter how much like her Doctor this man looks, no matter that she always loved Jack as well and mourned him for months after Satellite Five, these two aren’t the men who meant so much to her. This Jack doesn’t like or trust her, too; so different from the dashing ex-Time Agent who saved her life and flirted with her on top of his invisible spaceship.
Gingerbread houses, yes. Time to get out of here. Otherwise next she’ll be pleading with the two of them to take her back to her universe, her Doctor. Or just to let her travel with them. And given the suspicious way they’re both looking at her, especially Jack, either option would be a terrible idea.
“Well, anyway,” she begins, edging towards the door, trying hard to keep her voice level. It’s killing her to see these two again, especially knowing they’re not her Doctor and Jack. Now she’s starting to understand what it was like for Jake after Ricky died and Mickey was still around.
“Been good to meet you, Doctor. An’ you, Jack. I’ll make sure those blokes out there leave you alone, but it might be an idea not to hang around too long. I’ve told them you’re no threat, but you know what people are like. They get curious.”
Of course, she could just put a call in to Mickey or Pete at Torchwood and get them to instruct the police commissioner to clear all police out of the area. But that would involve a conversation she doesn’t want to have. She’s not ready yet to tell anyone who knew the Doctor that there’s a version of him in this universe.
“You said your universe,” the Doctor says, completely ignoring what she’s just said. “You sayin’ a version of me brought you across the Void and just left you here?”
“Wasn’t like that,” she says quickly. “It’s not important.”
“Could be very important,” the Doctor counters, but she shakes her head in denial.
“Got to go. Bye,” she says quickly, then pulls the door open and slips through before either of them have time to answer.
***
“You’re just letting her go?” Jack asks, sounding incredulous. Given he’s walking back to the console, he can understand the conclusion his companion’s jumped to, but Jack still should know better. “There’s just way too much that doesn’t add up about her. And that artron energy - that could be-”
“What attracted the TARDIS here. I know.” He presses a series of buttons on the console, and the scanner starts working. “Not just lettin’ her go, Jack. But I want to find out what we’re dealing with first. Then we’ll go an’ see what’s what with Rose Tyler from another universe.”
Information, that’s what he needs. Such as finding out whether Rose Tyler was telling the truth about alien presence on this planet in this time - because, as Jack said, that’s not supposed to happen. Autons, on Earth in the twenty-first century? He would have known about that.
The scans confirm his suspicions. There has been alien activity here, and far more than might be explained by coincidence. And Jack’s guess - his own, too - is correct: the concentration of artron energy and Void stuff in Rose Tyler, and in particular the traces of Vortex energy from another universe he spotted in the analysis Jack’s wrist-computer performed, is what pulled the TARDIS here. What attracted at least some of the alien visitors over the last half-dozen years or so as well, he’d guess.
Rose Tyler shouldn’t be here, in this universe. She’s a danger to herself and to everyone around her. And since he’s here, that means he’s going to have to do something about that.
A movement at his side alerts him to Jack’s presence. Without a word, he lays his hand on the monitor, and the text instantly changes to a language Jack can read. As he expected, his companion’s face darkens.
“It was her, then. She’s what brought us here.”
“Yep.”
Jack’s fists are clenched as they rest on the console. “So you believe her? That she travelled with versions of us in some other universe?”
He shrugs. “Got no reason not to. How else would she have recognised us, or known what the TARDIS is?”
The other man inhales several times before commenting. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
He hesitates before answering. Jack isn’t going to like this, not one bit. He’d like to reassure the lad, but there’s nothing he can do, nothing he can say, that’s gonna make this any easier for him. “She can’t stay here. You’ve seen what just six years of her being in this universe has done. Gonna have to take her with us, and I’ll have to try to find a way to take her back where she belongs.”
Jack’s knuckles turn white. He’d reach out and touch his companion’s hand, or hug him - part of him’s aching to do just that - but it wouldn’t help, especially not once Jack understands what they could be dealing with.
And Jack already partly understands. “How long will that take you?” To get rid of her; that’s the unspoken question he hears as loudly as if Jack had shouted the words at him.
He meets the younger man’s gaze full-on. “Could be never.”
For a second, Jack looks as if he’s about to snap. Then he turns on his heel and marches out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
***
tbc in chapter 2: Tug of War
Author: wmr /
wendymr
Characters: Rose Tyler, to be revealed ;)
Rated: PG13
Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately, though I'm willing to pay in instalments...
Summary: It’s only when she’s finally given up looking for a way back that she finds him.
Written for the incredibly generous wiggiemomsi, who won my services in the September Support Stacie Auction. I promised a minimum-5000-words fic; so far, this one's over 11,000 words. I hope you like it, Wiggie! With very many thanks to my fantastic team of BRs,
dark_aegis, yamxand
kae_nine.
Through a Glass Darkly
Chapter 1: Shadow of the Past
It’s only when she’s finally given up looking for a way back that she finds him.
Well, more precisely, she finds the TARDIS. It’s at the end of a busy day at work, and she’s just about to pack up for the day when a message comes through that the police are asking for help with something that looks ordinary but isn’t.
“They’re saying it just appeared out of thin air,” the dispatcher reports. “One second it wasn’t there, the next it was. Looks like one of those ancient police boxes, they said, but unless it’s Paul Daniels doing an April Fool then it sounds like it’s something we should check out.”
Police box? Her heart starts thudding, so loudly she’s sure everyone else in the room can hear it. No-one’s giving her funny looks, though. Must be okay. “Where?” she asks. It’s a perfectly normal question. No-one’s going to be wondering why Rose Tyler’s so interested all of a sudden.
Over by the river, she’s told - in fact, by Westminster Bridge. The very bridge they ran across, in the other universe, chasing the Nestene Consciousness. It’s got to be him. Only he’d do something like that, not that he’d even call it romantic, and he’d deny it if she asked. But... yeah, it’s what he’d do.
“I’m on my way,” she says, already on her feet. Heading out the door, she hesitates briefly, wondering whether to call Mickey and Jake, get them to come with her, but then decides against it. She doesn’t need them - and, much as she loves Mickey, this is a reunion he’s best not around for.
It’s been six years. More than enough time for her to realise that he’s not coming back, and she’s not getting back to him either. The walls have closed and, as he told her, the damage that would be done if he tried to come through would be catastrophic.
Not that she didn’t look for a way. But Torchwood’s dimension-jumpers don’t work any more, and although the scientists did test some modifications they told her and Pete that the prospects for success weren’t good - and that there were indications, only slight but real all the same, that damage to the fabric of the universe was inevitable. The Doctor was right, as he usually is.
But... he’s here.
She pauses at the reception desk for her floor - stupid bureaucracy insists that field agents sign out, more or less, when they leave. “Got a call. Probably won’t be back.”
The woman nods and writes something down. “Got it. Let me guess,” she adds. “You’re not gonna be massively upset if I forget to mention it to the big cheese? He was looking for you a few minutes ago. Told him you were in a meeting.”
She grins. Oh, she likes this one - a temp, mouthy as anything, but the most efficient secretary they’ve had since she started working at Torchwood. She’s already put a word in with her dad to get Donna a permanent job. “Yeah, a meeting sounds good. No need to tell him it’s in my car.”
She loves working for her dad, really she does. It’s just that he can occasionally be a little over-protective. And if she talks to him now - well, he doesn’t need to know about this. Not until after she knows what’s going on. And if he’s looking for her because he’s already heard that the TARDIS has been spotted, all the more reason to avoid him for now.
The TARDIS. In this universe. The Doctor.
Westminster Bridge. It’s less than six miles from here, twenty to thirty minutes’ drive depending on traffic. Right now, though, it feels like the longest journey she’s ever had to take. She wants to be there now. A helicopter would be faster, but by the time she calls one and it’s ready for take-off she’d be almost there by car.
Car it is. She hits the local talk radio station as soon as the engine’s running, hoping for more information about the TARDIS - hoping that no-one at the scene’s doing anything stupid. But, other than an announcement that roads in the vicinity of Westminster Bridge are closed for security reasons, there’s nothing.
Her heart pounds and every muscle tenses as she edges west at a snail’s pace. It seems like every light is red. Every pedestrian in London has chosen right this minute to cross the road. Taxis and buses stop and start in front of her. Drivers decide to turn across traffic into a minor road, holding everything behind them - including her - up. At this rate, it’s going to take an hour to get there. He could be gone by then. He might have gone off somewhere to look for her and they’ll miss each other.
By the time she’s close enough to see the Houses of Parliament across the river, her lips are chewed and her fingers stiff from being clenched around the steering-wheel.
A traffic constable steps out in front of her, raising his hand to signal her to stop. Ahead, there are barriers and a no-entry sign. She rolls down the window, her Torchwood ID ready. “Rose Tyler, Torchwood,” she shouts. “I’m expected.”
The officer checks her ID, and then directs her to park her car at the side of the road. Trying to control her impatience, she does as she’s told and then hurries past the barrier and along the road. It’s hard not to break into a run.
Around one more bend, and suddenly there it is: a flash of blue. The TARDIS is surrounded by armed police, some with riot shields, and there are flashing lights everywhere: cars and vans and even a Black Maria or two.
The traffic cop obviously radioed ahead; a senior-ranking officer comes forward to meet her. “Ms Tyler? Don’t you have a team with you?”
“Not necessary, Inspector,” she says crisply. “This craft isn’t a threat. You can tell your officers to stand down.”
“You know what it is?” He raises his eyebrows sceptically. “It’s not a police box. It’s been decades since those have been in use - and anyway, we tested the exterior. Whatever it’s made of, it’s not wood.”
She nods. “I know what it is. Seen it before. It’s not a threat,” she repeats.
“You’re sure about that?” Damnit, will the man ever get out of her way?
“Positive.” She tries to edge past him. “And, if you tell your men to stand down, I’ll prove it.”
After a pause so long she’s ready to scream, the officer nods. “I won’t have them stand down, but you can go in.”
It’s as good as she’s going to get. “Just one question.” She has to ask, even though she’s certain that she’d have been told if the answer’s in the affirmative. “Did anyone go in or out of the box since it appeared?”
The inspector gives one brief shake of his head. “No. Well, not that we can tell. We don’t have equipment to monitor for non-human life-forms. However, I can tell you that the door hasn’t been opened.”
“Good.” With a nod in return, she walks past the inspector, past the wall of police, and towards the TARDIS.
With every step, her breath grows shallower and her chest tighter. This is it. After so long - six bloody years - he’s finally here. In just a few seconds, she’s going to see him again. Hug him again, and... maybe... maybe even kiss him. Assuming he was going to say what she thought he was about to say on the beach, of course. He was, she’s sure of it. The way he was looking at her, he can’t have been intending anything else.
She’s in front of the door, so close she can reach out and touch the faded blue paint. She’s got her key - never goes anywhere without it - but she can’t use it. Not with half the police in London watching her. Instead, she knocks on the door.
Will he already know it’s her? He has to. He’ll have been watching on the viewscreen; of course he will. That’ll be why he hasn’t come out - because he knows the TARDIS is surrounded. So he’s waiting for her to come to him.
She knocks again. This time, the door creaks slowly open. But the face that appears in the gap isn’t the one she’s expecting to see. Instead, it’s a face she never expected to see again - a man she thought was dead.
Her heart pounds, and her jaw almost hits the ground. “Jack!”
He must have found Jack somehow, and together the two of them must have found a way to come across the Void to find her. This is wonderful. Fantastic! Both of them here: the Doctor, and the friend she missed so much.
Jack’s face turns cold. “Who the hell are you, and how do you know my name?”
***
She stares at him, speechless. How can Jack not know her? He’s here with the Doctor, so of course he has to know her. It doesn’t make any sense.
“Jack, what’ve I told you about bein’ rude to the natives?”
Just the first two words in the roughly amused voice from inside the TARDIS are enough to make her gasp, and she has to grip the ship’s frame to steady herself.
It’s the Doctor. But not the Doctor she said goodbye to six years ago. It’s her first Doctor, the one she saw burst into flames right inside the TARDIS. The Doctor who died to save her life.
How? How is any of this possible?
There’s a choke in her voice as she exclaims, “Doctor!”
“What the-?” Jack’s expression alters again and, in a lightning-fast movement, he grabs her arm, his fingers digging painfully into her skin. “Right, that’s it. Inside.” With one sharp tug, he pulls her into the ship. “Doctor, we got trouble.”
Instantly, her gaze flies to the console - and he’s there. The Doctor, looking exactly as she remembers him, tall and proud and dark, with the same short hair, prominent ears and beaky nose, and the leather jacket and jumper combination she remembers so well. She tries to speak, but there’s a huge lump in her throat, and she has to swallow.
“So, who’re you, then, an’ why are you upsettin’ my companion?”
“Do- Doctor, don’t you recognise me?” She cringes as her voice falters.
“Should I?” He sounds as if he doesn’t care either way. What’s going on?
“I’m Rose. Rose Tyler.” No response. “We travelled together. The three of us.”
The Doctor shrugs. “Never seen you before. Prob’ly just haven’t met you yet. Time-traveller, me. Things don’t happen in linear time for me.”
She shakes her head. “I know that. But if Jack’s with you then of course you’ve met me. We’d been together for weeks when we met him. An’ then we lost him when you re-” She breaks off, realising what she’s about to do. No telling him his future.
Somehow, without letting her go, Jack’s got his wrist computer open. She has to swallow again at the sight of that familiar object. He was never without it. “She’s soaked in artron energy,” he says, looking straight at the Doctor. “At least some of what she’s saying is the truth.”
“It’s all-” she begins, trying to object, but Jack cuts across her.
“You’d better see this, Doctor. Looks like Void stuff. Seems like Rose Tyler here’s from another universe.”
***
Finally, the penny drops. Yes, she’s from another universe - but they’re not.
They really don’t know her, and she never travelled with them - because, until she arrived here, the only Rose Tyler in this universe was a dog.
“But...” she protests weakly. “This doesn’t make sense. He - my Doctor - told me there were no Time Lords in this universe. And I asked. I checked. UNIT has no records of the Doctor or the TARDIS. Nor has Torchwood.”
The Doctor’s walking over, and as she finishes speaking he’s close enough to touch. She can’t take her eyes off him. This Doctor. Her first Doctor, who died to save her life. But he’s not. He never met her.
“Let her go, Jack.” Her arm’s freed. The throbbing’s painful; she massages it with her other hand, giving Jack a brief resentful look. “First things first,” the Doctor continues. “You’re with that lot outside?”
“Not with them, exactly. They sent for me. I work for Torchwood, and they reported the TARDIS as a potential threat.”
“What’s Torchwood when it’s at home?” Jack asks sharply. “And - what was it? UNIT?”
The Doctor’s looking equally interested in her answer. But that doesn’t make sense. Of course he wouldn’t know about Torchwood - they only found out about it much later, after he regenerated - but he told her himself that he worked for UNIT years ago. “United Nations Intelligence Taskforce,” she explains. “Peace-keeping, Earth defence, that sort of thing. In my universe, you - the Doctor,” she corrects herself quickly, “- worked for them for a while. Think it might’ve been around the 1970s or so.” He looks sceptical, but says nothing. “Torchwood’s just based in Britain, and we’re more about aliens - alien intelligence, analysing artifacts, making sure we’re ready if there’s an invasion, that sort of thing.”
“The twenty-first century, right?” Jack says. “That’s where we are right now?”
“Yeah. 2012.”
“Now I know you’re making this stuff up.” Jack’s voice is scathing. “This is a waste of time, Doctor. First contact doesn’t happen on Earth until-”
She takes great satisfaction in interrupting him. “No? How do you explain Autons five years ago? And since then Sli-” She stops, correcting herself. She’s not the Rose Tyler who can’t pronounce planet names properly, not any more. “Raxacoricofallapatorians and Sontarans and...” Oh, a long list. It’s been non-stop since she started working for Torchwood. She’s sure there were never so many alien invasions on Earth in her other universe, and it seemed like there were plenty then.
Jack’s still looking disbelieving. “None of that’s in the records, Doctor. You know that.”
“And you know better than that, Jack,” the Doctor says, and he’s looking interested. He believes her, at least. “Time can change at any time. An’ looks like it has.”
“But how come you don’t know about any of this?” That’s one of the many things that makes no sense about this. Incredible enough that there is a Doctor in this universe after all - and that he’s travelling with this universe’s Jack Harkness - but that he wouldn’t know about any of the aliens that’ve tried to invade Earth over the past decade or so makes no sense.
The Doctor shrugs. “Don’t often visit this time. Never had any particular reason to.”
So it’s pure chance that he’s here now, today. She doesn’t know why she feels disappointed, especially given he’s not the Doctor she was hoping to find. He’s not her Doctor, so he’s no use to her, is he?
And yet... yet she can’t help wishing, and longing. Those were good days. Really great days, travelling in the TARDIS with her first Doctor and Jack. If only - but, no. She’s learned more than enough about what her second Doctor called gingerbread houses over the past six years. Just because someone has the same face and name as a person she knew in her original universe, that doesn’t mean they’re the same person. Her dad - Pete - seems to be the exception, and she’s happy for her mum. She’s happy for Mickey and Jake, as well, though Jake’s told her there’s plenty of ways Mickey’s not like Ricky at all.
No. It’s time to bring an end to this before she does something incredibly stupid. Because, no matter how much like her Doctor this man looks, no matter that she always loved Jack as well and mourned him for months after Satellite Five, these two aren’t the men who meant so much to her. This Jack doesn’t like or trust her, too; so different from the dashing ex-Time Agent who saved her life and flirted with her on top of his invisible spaceship.
Gingerbread houses, yes. Time to get out of here. Otherwise next she’ll be pleading with the two of them to take her back to her universe, her Doctor. Or just to let her travel with them. And given the suspicious way they’re both looking at her, especially Jack, either option would be a terrible idea.
“Well, anyway,” she begins, edging towards the door, trying hard to keep her voice level. It’s killing her to see these two again, especially knowing they’re not her Doctor and Jack. Now she’s starting to understand what it was like for Jake after Ricky died and Mickey was still around.
“Been good to meet you, Doctor. An’ you, Jack. I’ll make sure those blokes out there leave you alone, but it might be an idea not to hang around too long. I’ve told them you’re no threat, but you know what people are like. They get curious.”
Of course, she could just put a call in to Mickey or Pete at Torchwood and get them to instruct the police commissioner to clear all police out of the area. But that would involve a conversation she doesn’t want to have. She’s not ready yet to tell anyone who knew the Doctor that there’s a version of him in this universe.
“You said your universe,” the Doctor says, completely ignoring what she’s just said. “You sayin’ a version of me brought you across the Void and just left you here?”
“Wasn’t like that,” she says quickly. “It’s not important.”
“Could be very important,” the Doctor counters, but she shakes her head in denial.
“Got to go. Bye,” she says quickly, then pulls the door open and slips through before either of them have time to answer.
***
“You’re just letting her go?” Jack asks, sounding incredulous. Given he’s walking back to the console, he can understand the conclusion his companion’s jumped to, but Jack still should know better. “There’s just way too much that doesn’t add up about her. And that artron energy - that could be-”
“What attracted the TARDIS here. I know.” He presses a series of buttons on the console, and the scanner starts working. “Not just lettin’ her go, Jack. But I want to find out what we’re dealing with first. Then we’ll go an’ see what’s what with Rose Tyler from another universe.”
Information, that’s what he needs. Such as finding out whether Rose Tyler was telling the truth about alien presence on this planet in this time - because, as Jack said, that’s not supposed to happen. Autons, on Earth in the twenty-first century? He would have known about that.
The scans confirm his suspicions. There has been alien activity here, and far more than might be explained by coincidence. And Jack’s guess - his own, too - is correct: the concentration of artron energy and Void stuff in Rose Tyler, and in particular the traces of Vortex energy from another universe he spotted in the analysis Jack’s wrist-computer performed, is what pulled the TARDIS here. What attracted at least some of the alien visitors over the last half-dozen years or so as well, he’d guess.
Rose Tyler shouldn’t be here, in this universe. She’s a danger to herself and to everyone around her. And since he’s here, that means he’s going to have to do something about that.
A movement at his side alerts him to Jack’s presence. Without a word, he lays his hand on the monitor, and the text instantly changes to a language Jack can read. As he expected, his companion’s face darkens.
“It was her, then. She’s what brought us here.”
“Yep.”
Jack’s fists are clenched as they rest on the console. “So you believe her? That she travelled with versions of us in some other universe?”
He shrugs. “Got no reason not to. How else would she have recognised us, or known what the TARDIS is?”
The other man inhales several times before commenting. “Okay, so what’s the plan?”
He hesitates before answering. Jack isn’t going to like this, not one bit. He’d like to reassure the lad, but there’s nothing he can do, nothing he can say, that’s gonna make this any easier for him. “She can’t stay here. You’ve seen what just six years of her being in this universe has done. Gonna have to take her with us, and I’ll have to try to find a way to take her back where she belongs.”
Jack’s knuckles turn white. He’d reach out and touch his companion’s hand, or hug him - part of him’s aching to do just that - but it wouldn’t help, especially not once Jack understands what they could be dealing with.
And Jack already partly understands. “How long will that take you?” To get rid of her; that’s the unspoken question he hears as loudly as if Jack had shouted the words at him.
He meets the younger man’s gaze full-on. “Could be never.”
For a second, Jack looks as if he’s about to snap. Then he turns on his heel and marches out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
***
tbc in chapter 2: Tug of War