![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflyStory Title: A Most Noble Undertaking (5/6)
Series Title: part of the Realignment universe
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
butterfly
Summary: Some reunions are just meant to be.
Pairing: Doctor/Rose
Rating: PG-13.
Warning: AU after Doctor Who 3x13 - "Last of the Time Lords". Spoilers for Torchwood 2x01 - "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and The Sarah Jane Adventures 1x10 - "The Lost Boy".
Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four
A Most Noble Undertaking
"Hey, darling, just got your message. What's the trouble?”
Hearing Jack's voice on the line was the most welcome sound Rose could imagine. She quietly excused herself from dinner with Sarah Jane and Luke, going over into the front hall, sitting down on the stairs leading up to the attic.
“Did you ever know a blonde Time Agent who went by the name 'Holly Cole'?” Rose asked, once they'd exchanged pleasantries.
“We went by all kinds of names,” Jack said, sounding cautious. “I knew more than one blonde. Have... have they been sniffing around? Do they know about the Doctor? I mean, do they know that he's more than myth?”
“This one does,” Rose said, tucking the phone in the corner of her shoulder and climbing the stairs that led to Sarah Jane's alien computer. “She knew about the Doctor and she claimed to know me.”
“A woman?” Jack asked, soundingly slightly startled.
“Who were you expecting?” Rose asked. She paused, summoning up a picture of Jack in her head. She could imagine the way his face might look right now, lips parted from the surprise and eyes thoughtfully narrowed. She wondered what his office in Cardiff looked like -- she and the Doctor really had to get out there to see it.
“When I got home from travelling with the Doctor... there was a Time Agent here to visit me. Something of an old friend, enemy and lover all at once,” Jack said. “He didn't say anything about the Doctor, but you can never be too careful. He's going by the name John Harper right now, so if you run into him, be wary. He's slightly short for a man, well-built, though on the slim side. Great abs. Light brown hair, but it's been blond in the past. Blue eyes and cheekbones sharp enough to cut ice. Pouty lips.”
“Lover, you said?” Rose asked, amused. That particular list was probably long enough to make anyone blink twice. “Holly had delicate features and big, blue eyes. Pale hair. She was very determined to get me to listen to her and she was very upset when I refused to keep playing her game.”
“That description could fit over a dozen agents,” Jack said.
“She said that she knew you... quite well,” Rose added.
“Doesn't narrow it down much,” Jack said, with a chuckle. Then his voice lowered slightly, sounding more serious. “There are a couple of specific names that come to mind – Juniper Cupid and Quesen Brunit are both blonde and blue-eyed, with delicate features. As far as I'm aware, they're both still in good standing with the agency. It could be one of them.”
“Would you say that either of them is trustworthy?” Rose asked. “Holly really wanted me to believe that I could trust her.”
“Not on your life,” Jack said. “Or, more to the point, not on the Doctor's. Juniper was primarily sent out to help with rebellions – very familiar with a wide variety of weaponry. Quesen focused more on research. They're both dangerous, Rose, and the Time Agency has no reason to be fond of the Doctor, if they do believe that he exists now.”
“I suppose that they might almost consider him a competitor,” Rose said, absently, opening the door to Sarah Jane's attic and going over to the wall where Mr. Smith lived. “I'm going to pull up that file on Holly and send it to you through the computer here. You'll be able to take a look at her picture and tell me if you know her.”
“Where are you, anyway?” Jack asked. “And where's the Doctor?”
“His high and mighty Time Lordness didn't think I was up to an adventure,” Rose said, not able to completely swallow her annoyance. “I'm staying in at a friend's house, just this once.”
“Hey, don't be so hard on him,” Jack said. “Losing you... he took it hard.”
“I know that,” Rose said. “But that doesn't mean that he gets to order me about.”
“Of course not,” Jack said. “I'm just trying to remind you that he's probably going to continue to be particularly careful for a while.”
Rose bit back the sharp reply that hovered on the tip of her tongue.
“He's not the only one who worries,” she said, instead. “I don't like the thought of him out there alone.”
“He's more than proven that he can take care of himself,” Jack said. Rose's free hand curled into a loose fist – like the Doctor seemed to do at times, Jack was perhaps forgetting that Rose had been alone for eight years. She's survived and she'd thrived and she'd shown that she didn't need anyone. She'd worked alone, more often than not, and after she'd broken things off with Mark, she'd lived alone, too.
“Are we talking about the same Doctor?” Rose asked, lightly. “He's brilliant, of course, he is, but he generally needs a bit of help to solve things. He can't do it all by himself.”
“He did survive without you, Rose,” Jack said.
“He's not as strong as you think he is,” Rose said, the maelstrom in the Doctor's head coming to mind – she had only a dim memory of what she'd experienced in there, but enough to show her that the Doctor was much more brittle than Jack seemed to think. “Believe me, Jack. I know.”
“Funny, he said the opposite about you,” Jack said. “Rose, what's going on over there? Why aren't you with the Doctor, really?”
Rose touched her stomach reflexively, where a small pain lingered.
“I got a little bit hurt at Christmas,” she said, reluctantly.
“The Titanic replica?”
“The same,” Rose said.
“Rose... how badly... don't be brave or stoic or whatever they taught you to be over in your Torchwood... just tell me... how bad was it?”
Rose breathed in sharply, then decided to go ahead and lay her cards out – if she couldn't tell Jack, then the Doctor really was the only person she could be honest with and she's not going to live that way. She needed Jack to know.
“A couple of inches in any direction and I might have died before the Doctor reached me,” she admitted.
“Fuck me.” It was barely a whisper of sound.
“I'm fine now,” she said, despite knowing that the reassurance was going to change nothing. “There's no need for worry, Jack. The danger's past.”
“Was it a spear or a gun or... not that it matters. Rose, could you please try not to die?”
“It wasn't intentional,” she snapped, already half-regretting her honesty. “I was trying to stop a stupid bloody spaceship from crashing into London. Honestly, you and the Doctor... it's like you think I go out looking for trouble.”
Her breath caught in her throat as she had the sudden memory of her mother making that same accusation of the Doctor... oh, so many years ago, during their only Christmas all together. “Trouble's just the bits in between,” the Doctor had said, blithe and full of cheer – he'd been so very brand-new, with quirks that she'd only just started to realize existed.
“You tend to wander off a lot, as I recall,” Jack said. “That's how I met you. You would have died if I hadn't been there.”
“I was following Jaime,” Rose said, trying to keep her voice level. “Following something suspicious. I never 'wander off', Jack. There's always a reason.”
“Maybe that's exactly what worries him,” Jack said. “He knows that if you're gone, you're chasing something. And that's usually dangerous.”
What am I supposed to do, sit quietly in the TARDIS and never do anything useful? Rose didn't ask.
“I don't know why we're talking about the Doctor,” Rose said. “I called to ask you about Holly, not to get my head examined. I've had plenty of that already, Jack.”
“You aren't the only one-” Jack cut himself off and then started again. “You're right. Send Holly's picture to harknessj@tw.gov.uk and I'll tell you if I've seen her before.”
“Just a second,” Rose said. She slipped her phone into her pocket and tried to look at where she'd remembered the screen being, back when Sarah Jane had shown her the computer. “Mr. Smith? I'm a friend of Sarah Jane's and I need you.”
With a great whoosh of sound, Mr. Smith emerged from the wall.
“Ms. Rose Tyler! How might I be of service?”
“I'd like you to send that picture to-”
“I beg your pardon, but to what picture are you referring?”
“The one of Holly Cole that you pulled off the internet just a few hours ago,” Rose said.
“I have no record of that activity,” Mr. Smith informed her.
“But you recognized me,” Rose said.
“Sarah Jane introduced us,” Mr. Smith said.
“But the whole reason that she did that was because I wanted your help to find Holly Cole. That's not on file? It isn't saved?”
“I have no record of such a request,” Mr. Smith said, pleasantly.
“All right. Would you be willing to let me take a look at your... circuitry?” Rose asked. This was something that she couldn't have even attempted to do the last time that she'd travelled with the Doctor, but she'd learned a lot in the past few years, especially after she'd gotten to know Tosh. If there was a chance that she might be able to see what was wrong, however small, she needed to try.
“Permission granted,” Mr. Smith said. A panel opened up in the front of the machine and Rose got down on the floor to take a look. Everything physical seemed to be in working order – nothing looked damaged or twisted about oddly.
“Can you call up your records?” she asked, brushing back her hair. “Everything that you've been asked to do in the last twenty-four hours, even the routine work?”
“Of course,” Mr. Smith said.
Rose scanned the list that popped up on screen, looking for anything strange or... ah! A central core dump, authorized by some odd set of characters that were unfamiliar to her.
“At eight-fifteen, you did a core dump – what does that mean?” Rose asked.
“My system purged unnecessary data,” Mr. Smith said, after a brief pause.
“And who set that up?” she asked.
“I have no record of that,” Mr. Smith said. There was a further moment of silence and then, “Which I find... troubling. Is there something wrong with me?”
“I think when we uploaded Holly's picture, an executable came with it,” Rose said, wishing that she could go back and kick herself. “A virus that deleted the data... and who knows what else... do you perform regular back-ups?”
“I do.”
“I would suggest that you restore to the one that you did before you were introduced to me,” Rose said. “I'll go and get Sarah Jane, so that she can introduce us again.”
“That does seem like the most prudent course of action,” Mr. Smith said, then his screen darkened. Rose headed down the stairs, pulling her mobile back out of her pocket.
“All right, whatever you do, I would not recommend searching for this Holly Cole's information – whoever she is, she knows computers and she's created a ride-along that purges data,” Rose said, all in one breath. “Jack? Are you still there?”
“With you,” he said. “And... any Time Agent would be capable of that, unfortunately. I'm sorry that I can't help you narrow the field down more.”
“You gave me two names – that's something,” Rose said.
“I hope that it's enough.”
“So do I. Thanks for your help, Jack,” Rose said. “I'll call you later.”
“Anytime – you don't need a reason,” Jack said. “Give my love to the Doctor.”
“I'll give him a kiss,” Rose offered impulsively.
“Mmm, make sure to slip in some tongue,” Jack said. Rose laughed and after a bit more teasing, they ended the call. She leaned up against the wall – she could hear Sarah Jane and Luke in the other room and she needed to go tell them about Mr. Smith and the virus but, for just this moment, she wanted to stop and take a few breaths.
Two potential names and a whole host of possibilities that Jack didn't remember well enough. And her public information came with a hidden sting. Holly was a lot more complicated than she pretended to be. Rose was much less innocent now than she'd been when she met Jack, and considerably less naïve. The slow, sparing way that Holly had tried to give out information rang very clearly as game-playing and Rose was not fond of people who played around with lives.
What could she do about it?
She could continue to refuse to listen to Holly, though that carried its own risks. If Holly hadn't said anything, would everyone have died on the Titanic? What was happening right now because she'd sent Holly away?
Was the Doctor in danger?
Rose let out a frustrated breath at even having that thought. Of course, the Doctor was in danger. The Doctor was in danger every bloody moment of his life. It was hardly reason to curl up in a corner and moan.
Eight years.
The first few months, before she'd said good-bye to the Doctor, had been almost easy, really. She'd felt empty inside, after she'd cried herself out at the wall. There'd been no pain, just this hollow place behind her ribs. She'd got up each day without any problems; she'd let herself be introduced around Torchwood and had worked on every project that they'd offered. She'd had late night dinners with Mickey, where neither of them had said a word. But she'd survived.
Then she'd started hearing the Doctor's voice in her head and everything inside her woke up again. She'd packed her bags – how stupidly young and hopeful she'd been – and they'd followed the Doctor's voice to Norway. And he'd told her good-bye.
It was after that that the hard part came, because for six months after Bad Wolf Bay, she'd been a walking wound. It was during that time that she met Mark and became friends with him. And it was just friends, at first. She hadn't been capable of anything more. Her heart belonged to the Doctor, irrevocably, as though she'd actually physically handed it to him in a locked chest, like in that... that pirate movie.
She'd liked those movies – Johnny Depp made for a great pirate. They didn't exist in the parallel world. Johnny Depp hadn't ever gone into acting. He was a painter, instead, and not a very successful one.
Funny how things worked out.
She'd been a mess back then, until Tosh came to her and told her about an idea – I think I can make something that could check up on other universe. Maybe we could even cross over. But I need something to anchor it. That's my problem. Considering all the rumours... I was hoping that you could help me.
Her TARDIS key had hung around her neck every day since she'd fallen through into Pete's world, even though she'd known by then that there was no hope of it heating up and telling her that the Doctor was on his way. And the TARDIS... that was pure temporal power.
That key had ended up being the heart of what they'd called the 'dimensional cannon'. Tosh had successfully rigged it to measure timelines and, two years into the project, they'd had a glimmer of hope. There was something coming in a year or two, something that was affecting timelines all over the place.
She'd got her expectations up. There had been training and researching and long nights spent thinking of what she'd say when she saw the Doctor. Her life had been full, again, if not as warm as it had been during the years with the Doctor.
And then the window had just... disappeared one day. The cannon stopped measuring alternate timelines and the machine just went cold. Nothing that Tosh, Mickey, or anyone else could do made a damn bit of difference.
The funding for the project got pulled and Pete had handed her back her key.
That night, she'd gone out and found her friend Mark – Mickey's knowledge of the Doctor had been too much of a sore spot for him to be a comfort to her. She'd wanted to be near someone who had no idea where she was from or what she'd lost.
She'd gone out and got drunk as all hell and shagged Mark rotten and then been sick in his bed.
Not the best start to a relationship. Until that night, she hadn't ever really realized that Mark liked her that way – sure, she saw his eyes roaming her way a time or two, but that was just him being a bloke, she'd thought. But the morning after, he'd told her in soft, hopeful words just how much her coming to him and trusting him meant.
She hadn't the heart to break his, not at the start.
He never asked about the key she wore around her neck or the way she turned her head too quickly when tall and thin men with dark hair came around the corner or how some part of her was always, always listening for the sound that meant she would get to go home.
Eight years and she'd never quite managed to work the Doctor out of her system.
Had Sarah Jane finally managed it? Was that what this house and the kid meant?
Was this what moving on looked like?
She took in a deep, shuddery breath and rubbed her fingertips across her bracelet. She'd only had it for a few days and touching it for reassurance had already become a habit. But, still, it served as good reminder – she didn't need to be Sarah Jane, because she'd found her way home.
Which was good, because she'd been rather a spectacular failure at being Sarah Jane.
She went in and told Sarah Jane what had happened with Mr. Smith and the reintroduction to the computer a few minutes later went well enough. Luke volunteered the idea of installing more safeguards into the system so that Mr. Smith would be able to hold the information about Holly Cole, but Rose reassured him that he didn't need to – she and the Doctor would look into it. If they couldn't find anything, though, they might ask for his help.
And, over the course of the conversation, she'd managed to get the bare bones of how Luke had become Sarah Jane's son from the two of them – Luke was rather wildly enthusiastic about telling her, once he'd got permission from Sarah Jane.
“But I am human, Mum says, even though I'm very young,” he said, again. “Not any particular human, though. We had issues about that recently. I am a great deal smarter than almost anyone else on the planet, though Mum tells me that I shouldn't go around saying that. And Clyde told me once that saying that makes me sound like a conceited berk, only Mum said that he shouldn't say that, either. She threatened to wash out his mouth for it, but wouldn't explain why.”
Rose grinned over at Sarah Jane, who was half-covering her mouth, in either amusement or embarrassment. They were all arranged in comfortable places around the attic, Mr. Smith stowed away, just talking. It was nice – it was relaxing, even.
Maybe that was why, when she heard the sound of the TARDIS returning, Rose didn't stiffen at the sound the way that Sarah Jane did.
“Oh, you go ahead,” Rose said. “I'll be down in a minute.”
Sarah Jane paused, studying Rose's face carefully, then she let out a soft breath.
“You really weren't ever worried, were you?” she asked. “You never doubted that he'd come back, not for a moment.”
“You should go talk to him,” Rose said. “Introduce Luke. Maybe give him a chance to talk to you, too.”
“Yes, I rather think that would be a good idea,” Sarah Jane said, holding out her hand to Luke – the two of them headed downstairs, leaving Rose alone.
She looked around for a bit, some of her notions about Sarah Jane's lifestyle having been turned on their heads by Luke's stories of aliens and battles here on Earth. Life went on – she'd first had to learn that back when the Doctor had taken her home a year late.
It was true for the Doctor, too. Harriet Jones had been right about one thing, at least, and that was that the Doctor couldn't always be here when the world was in trouble. But what Harriet hadn't known was that the world also had Jack and it had Sarah Jane here to fight for it.
The Doctor didn't have to stand alone, these days. And how many other Sarah Janes and Marthas were out in the world, doing good things because the Doctor had inspired greatness in them?
Rose pressed her fingers down on the bracelet that the Doctor had given her, took a steadying breath, and headed down the stairs.
He'd want to tell her about his latest adventure.
Continue on to part six.
Series Title: part of the Realignment universe
Author:
butterflySummary: Some reunions are just meant to be.
Pairing: Doctor/Rose
Rating: PG-13.
Warning: AU after Doctor Who 3x13 - "Last of the Time Lords". Spoilers for Torchwood 2x01 - "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" and The Sarah Jane Adventures 1x10 - "The Lost Boy".
Part One; Part Two; Part Three; Part Four
"Hey, darling, just got your message. What's the trouble?”
Hearing Jack's voice on the line was the most welcome sound Rose could imagine. She quietly excused herself from dinner with Sarah Jane and Luke, going over into the front hall, sitting down on the stairs leading up to the attic.
“Did you ever know a blonde Time Agent who went by the name 'Holly Cole'?” Rose asked, once they'd exchanged pleasantries.
“We went by all kinds of names,” Jack said, sounding cautious. “I knew more than one blonde. Have... have they been sniffing around? Do they know about the Doctor? I mean, do they know that he's more than myth?”
“This one does,” Rose said, tucking the phone in the corner of her shoulder and climbing the stairs that led to Sarah Jane's alien computer. “She knew about the Doctor and she claimed to know me.”
“A woman?” Jack asked, soundingly slightly startled.
“Who were you expecting?” Rose asked. She paused, summoning up a picture of Jack in her head. She could imagine the way his face might look right now, lips parted from the surprise and eyes thoughtfully narrowed. She wondered what his office in Cardiff looked like -- she and the Doctor really had to get out there to see it.
“When I got home from travelling with the Doctor... there was a Time Agent here to visit me. Something of an old friend, enemy and lover all at once,” Jack said. “He didn't say anything about the Doctor, but you can never be too careful. He's going by the name John Harper right now, so if you run into him, be wary. He's slightly short for a man, well-built, though on the slim side. Great abs. Light brown hair, but it's been blond in the past. Blue eyes and cheekbones sharp enough to cut ice. Pouty lips.”
“Lover, you said?” Rose asked, amused. That particular list was probably long enough to make anyone blink twice. “Holly had delicate features and big, blue eyes. Pale hair. She was very determined to get me to listen to her and she was very upset when I refused to keep playing her game.”
“That description could fit over a dozen agents,” Jack said.
“She said that she knew you... quite well,” Rose added.
“Doesn't narrow it down much,” Jack said, with a chuckle. Then his voice lowered slightly, sounding more serious. “There are a couple of specific names that come to mind – Juniper Cupid and Quesen Brunit are both blonde and blue-eyed, with delicate features. As far as I'm aware, they're both still in good standing with the agency. It could be one of them.”
“Would you say that either of them is trustworthy?” Rose asked. “Holly really wanted me to believe that I could trust her.”
“Not on your life,” Jack said. “Or, more to the point, not on the Doctor's. Juniper was primarily sent out to help with rebellions – very familiar with a wide variety of weaponry. Quesen focused more on research. They're both dangerous, Rose, and the Time Agency has no reason to be fond of the Doctor, if they do believe that he exists now.”
“I suppose that they might almost consider him a competitor,” Rose said, absently, opening the door to Sarah Jane's attic and going over to the wall where Mr. Smith lived. “I'm going to pull up that file on Holly and send it to you through the computer here. You'll be able to take a look at her picture and tell me if you know her.”
“Where are you, anyway?” Jack asked. “And where's the Doctor?”
“His high and mighty Time Lordness didn't think I was up to an adventure,” Rose said, not able to completely swallow her annoyance. “I'm staying in at a friend's house, just this once.”
“Hey, don't be so hard on him,” Jack said. “Losing you... he took it hard.”
“I know that,” Rose said. “But that doesn't mean that he gets to order me about.”
“Of course not,” Jack said. “I'm just trying to remind you that he's probably going to continue to be particularly careful for a while.”
Rose bit back the sharp reply that hovered on the tip of her tongue.
“He's not the only one who worries,” she said, instead. “I don't like the thought of him out there alone.”
“He's more than proven that he can take care of himself,” Jack said. Rose's free hand curled into a loose fist – like the Doctor seemed to do at times, Jack was perhaps forgetting that Rose had been alone for eight years. She's survived and she'd thrived and she'd shown that she didn't need anyone. She'd worked alone, more often than not, and after she'd broken things off with Mark, she'd lived alone, too.
“Are we talking about the same Doctor?” Rose asked, lightly. “He's brilliant, of course, he is, but he generally needs a bit of help to solve things. He can't do it all by himself.”
“He did survive without you, Rose,” Jack said.
“He's not as strong as you think he is,” Rose said, the maelstrom in the Doctor's head coming to mind – she had only a dim memory of what she'd experienced in there, but enough to show her that the Doctor was much more brittle than Jack seemed to think. “Believe me, Jack. I know.”
“Funny, he said the opposite about you,” Jack said. “Rose, what's going on over there? Why aren't you with the Doctor, really?”
Rose touched her stomach reflexively, where a small pain lingered.
“I got a little bit hurt at Christmas,” she said, reluctantly.
“The Titanic replica?”
“The same,” Rose said.
“Rose... how badly... don't be brave or stoic or whatever they taught you to be over in your Torchwood... just tell me... how bad was it?”
Rose breathed in sharply, then decided to go ahead and lay her cards out – if she couldn't tell Jack, then the Doctor really was the only person she could be honest with and she's not going to live that way. She needed Jack to know.
“A couple of inches in any direction and I might have died before the Doctor reached me,” she admitted.
“Fuck me.” It was barely a whisper of sound.
“I'm fine now,” she said, despite knowing that the reassurance was going to change nothing. “There's no need for worry, Jack. The danger's past.”
“Was it a spear or a gun or... not that it matters. Rose, could you please try not to die?”
“It wasn't intentional,” she snapped, already half-regretting her honesty. “I was trying to stop a stupid bloody spaceship from crashing into London. Honestly, you and the Doctor... it's like you think I go out looking for trouble.”
Her breath caught in her throat as she had the sudden memory of her mother making that same accusation of the Doctor... oh, so many years ago, during their only Christmas all together. “Trouble's just the bits in between,” the Doctor had said, blithe and full of cheer – he'd been so very brand-new, with quirks that she'd only just started to realize existed.
“You tend to wander off a lot, as I recall,” Jack said. “That's how I met you. You would have died if I hadn't been there.”
“I was following Jaime,” Rose said, trying to keep her voice level. “Following something suspicious. I never 'wander off', Jack. There's always a reason.”
“Maybe that's exactly what worries him,” Jack said. “He knows that if you're gone, you're chasing something. And that's usually dangerous.”
What am I supposed to do, sit quietly in the TARDIS and never do anything useful? Rose didn't ask.
“I don't know why we're talking about the Doctor,” Rose said. “I called to ask you about Holly, not to get my head examined. I've had plenty of that already, Jack.”
“You aren't the only one-” Jack cut himself off and then started again. “You're right. Send Holly's picture to harknessj@tw.gov.uk and I'll tell you if I've seen her before.”
“Just a second,” Rose said. She slipped her phone into her pocket and tried to look at where she'd remembered the screen being, back when Sarah Jane had shown her the computer. “Mr. Smith? I'm a friend of Sarah Jane's and I need you.”
With a great whoosh of sound, Mr. Smith emerged from the wall.
“Ms. Rose Tyler! How might I be of service?”
“I'd like you to send that picture to-”
“I beg your pardon, but to what picture are you referring?”
“The one of Holly Cole that you pulled off the internet just a few hours ago,” Rose said.
“I have no record of that activity,” Mr. Smith informed her.
“But you recognized me,” Rose said.
“Sarah Jane introduced us,” Mr. Smith said.
“But the whole reason that she did that was because I wanted your help to find Holly Cole. That's not on file? It isn't saved?”
“I have no record of such a request,” Mr. Smith said, pleasantly.
“All right. Would you be willing to let me take a look at your... circuitry?” Rose asked. This was something that she couldn't have even attempted to do the last time that she'd travelled with the Doctor, but she'd learned a lot in the past few years, especially after she'd gotten to know Tosh. If there was a chance that she might be able to see what was wrong, however small, she needed to try.
“Permission granted,” Mr. Smith said. A panel opened up in the front of the machine and Rose got down on the floor to take a look. Everything physical seemed to be in working order – nothing looked damaged or twisted about oddly.
“Can you call up your records?” she asked, brushing back her hair. “Everything that you've been asked to do in the last twenty-four hours, even the routine work?”
“Of course,” Mr. Smith said.
Rose scanned the list that popped up on screen, looking for anything strange or... ah! A central core dump, authorized by some odd set of characters that were unfamiliar to her.
“At eight-fifteen, you did a core dump – what does that mean?” Rose asked.
“My system purged unnecessary data,” Mr. Smith said, after a brief pause.
“And who set that up?” she asked.
“I have no record of that,” Mr. Smith said. There was a further moment of silence and then, “Which I find... troubling. Is there something wrong with me?”
“I think when we uploaded Holly's picture, an executable came with it,” Rose said, wishing that she could go back and kick herself. “A virus that deleted the data... and who knows what else... do you perform regular back-ups?”
“I do.”
“I would suggest that you restore to the one that you did before you were introduced to me,” Rose said. “I'll go and get Sarah Jane, so that she can introduce us again.”
“That does seem like the most prudent course of action,” Mr. Smith said, then his screen darkened. Rose headed down the stairs, pulling her mobile back out of her pocket.
“All right, whatever you do, I would not recommend searching for this Holly Cole's information – whoever she is, she knows computers and she's created a ride-along that purges data,” Rose said, all in one breath. “Jack? Are you still there?”
“With you,” he said. “And... any Time Agent would be capable of that, unfortunately. I'm sorry that I can't help you narrow the field down more.”
“You gave me two names – that's something,” Rose said.
“I hope that it's enough.”
“So do I. Thanks for your help, Jack,” Rose said. “I'll call you later.”
“Anytime – you don't need a reason,” Jack said. “Give my love to the Doctor.”
“I'll give him a kiss,” Rose offered impulsively.
“Mmm, make sure to slip in some tongue,” Jack said. Rose laughed and after a bit more teasing, they ended the call. She leaned up against the wall – she could hear Sarah Jane and Luke in the other room and she needed to go tell them about Mr. Smith and the virus but, for just this moment, she wanted to stop and take a few breaths.
Two potential names and a whole host of possibilities that Jack didn't remember well enough. And her public information came with a hidden sting. Holly was a lot more complicated than she pretended to be. Rose was much less innocent now than she'd been when she met Jack, and considerably less naïve. The slow, sparing way that Holly had tried to give out information rang very clearly as game-playing and Rose was not fond of people who played around with lives.
What could she do about it?
She could continue to refuse to listen to Holly, though that carried its own risks. If Holly hadn't said anything, would everyone have died on the Titanic? What was happening right now because she'd sent Holly away?
Was the Doctor in danger?
Rose let out a frustrated breath at even having that thought. Of course, the Doctor was in danger. The Doctor was in danger every bloody moment of his life. It was hardly reason to curl up in a corner and moan.
Eight years.
The first few months, before she'd said good-bye to the Doctor, had been almost easy, really. She'd felt empty inside, after she'd cried herself out at the wall. There'd been no pain, just this hollow place behind her ribs. She'd got up each day without any problems; she'd let herself be introduced around Torchwood and had worked on every project that they'd offered. She'd had late night dinners with Mickey, where neither of them had said a word. But she'd survived.
Then she'd started hearing the Doctor's voice in her head and everything inside her woke up again. She'd packed her bags – how stupidly young and hopeful she'd been – and they'd followed the Doctor's voice to Norway. And he'd told her good-bye.
It was after that that the hard part came, because for six months after Bad Wolf Bay, she'd been a walking wound. It was during that time that she met Mark and became friends with him. And it was just friends, at first. She hadn't been capable of anything more. Her heart belonged to the Doctor, irrevocably, as though she'd actually physically handed it to him in a locked chest, like in that... that pirate movie.
She'd liked those movies – Johnny Depp made for a great pirate. They didn't exist in the parallel world. Johnny Depp hadn't ever gone into acting. He was a painter, instead, and not a very successful one.
Funny how things worked out.
She'd been a mess back then, until Tosh came to her and told her about an idea – I think I can make something that could check up on other universe. Maybe we could even cross over. But I need something to anchor it. That's my problem. Considering all the rumours... I was hoping that you could help me.
Her TARDIS key had hung around her neck every day since she'd fallen through into Pete's world, even though she'd known by then that there was no hope of it heating up and telling her that the Doctor was on his way. And the TARDIS... that was pure temporal power.
That key had ended up being the heart of what they'd called the 'dimensional cannon'. Tosh had successfully rigged it to measure timelines and, two years into the project, they'd had a glimmer of hope. There was something coming in a year or two, something that was affecting timelines all over the place.
She'd got her expectations up. There had been training and researching and long nights spent thinking of what she'd say when she saw the Doctor. Her life had been full, again, if not as warm as it had been during the years with the Doctor.
And then the window had just... disappeared one day. The cannon stopped measuring alternate timelines and the machine just went cold. Nothing that Tosh, Mickey, or anyone else could do made a damn bit of difference.
The funding for the project got pulled and Pete had handed her back her key.
That night, she'd gone out and found her friend Mark – Mickey's knowledge of the Doctor had been too much of a sore spot for him to be a comfort to her. She'd wanted to be near someone who had no idea where she was from or what she'd lost.
She'd gone out and got drunk as all hell and shagged Mark rotten and then been sick in his bed.
Not the best start to a relationship. Until that night, she hadn't ever really realized that Mark liked her that way – sure, she saw his eyes roaming her way a time or two, but that was just him being a bloke, she'd thought. But the morning after, he'd told her in soft, hopeful words just how much her coming to him and trusting him meant.
She hadn't the heart to break his, not at the start.
He never asked about the key she wore around her neck or the way she turned her head too quickly when tall and thin men with dark hair came around the corner or how some part of her was always, always listening for the sound that meant she would get to go home.
Eight years and she'd never quite managed to work the Doctor out of her system.
Had Sarah Jane finally managed it? Was that what this house and the kid meant?
Was this what moving on looked like?
She took in a deep, shuddery breath and rubbed her fingertips across her bracelet. She'd only had it for a few days and touching it for reassurance had already become a habit. But, still, it served as good reminder – she didn't need to be Sarah Jane, because she'd found her way home.
Which was good, because she'd been rather a spectacular failure at being Sarah Jane.
She went in and told Sarah Jane what had happened with Mr. Smith and the reintroduction to the computer a few minutes later went well enough. Luke volunteered the idea of installing more safeguards into the system so that Mr. Smith would be able to hold the information about Holly Cole, but Rose reassured him that he didn't need to – she and the Doctor would look into it. If they couldn't find anything, though, they might ask for his help.
And, over the course of the conversation, she'd managed to get the bare bones of how Luke had become Sarah Jane's son from the two of them – Luke was rather wildly enthusiastic about telling her, once he'd got permission from Sarah Jane.
“But I am human, Mum says, even though I'm very young,” he said, again. “Not any particular human, though. We had issues about that recently. I am a great deal smarter than almost anyone else on the planet, though Mum tells me that I shouldn't go around saying that. And Clyde told me once that saying that makes me sound like a conceited berk, only Mum said that he shouldn't say that, either. She threatened to wash out his mouth for it, but wouldn't explain why.”
Rose grinned over at Sarah Jane, who was half-covering her mouth, in either amusement or embarrassment. They were all arranged in comfortable places around the attic, Mr. Smith stowed away, just talking. It was nice – it was relaxing, even.
Maybe that was why, when she heard the sound of the TARDIS returning, Rose didn't stiffen at the sound the way that Sarah Jane did.
“Oh, you go ahead,” Rose said. “I'll be down in a minute.”
Sarah Jane paused, studying Rose's face carefully, then she let out a soft breath.
“You really weren't ever worried, were you?” she asked. “You never doubted that he'd come back, not for a moment.”
“You should go talk to him,” Rose said. “Introduce Luke. Maybe give him a chance to talk to you, too.”
“Yes, I rather think that would be a good idea,” Sarah Jane said, holding out her hand to Luke – the two of them headed downstairs, leaving Rose alone.
She looked around for a bit, some of her notions about Sarah Jane's lifestyle having been turned on their heads by Luke's stories of aliens and battles here on Earth. Life went on – she'd first had to learn that back when the Doctor had taken her home a year late.
It was true for the Doctor, too. Harriet Jones had been right about one thing, at least, and that was that the Doctor couldn't always be here when the world was in trouble. But what Harriet hadn't known was that the world also had Jack and it had Sarah Jane here to fight for it.
The Doctor didn't have to stand alone, these days. And how many other Sarah Janes and Marthas were out in the world, doing good things because the Doctor had inspired greatness in them?
Rose pressed her fingers down on the bracelet that the Doctor had given her, took a steadying breath, and headed down the stairs.
He'd want to tell her about his latest adventure.
Continue on to part six.