Amorphous

by Kyizi (LJ | comment)
New Who, Torchwood | PG-13 | hints of various pairings, but nothing explicit | 23,530 words

Separated by dimensions, Rose and the Doctor find themselves on the trail of a strange alien signal. Along with Ianto, Mickey and her Torchwood allies, Rose finds herself in Cardiff, not realising that, in the same time and place, in another dimension, the Doctor, Jack and Gwen are following their own leads. But there's something in the darkness watching and waiting...and time is running out.

Disclaimer: Doctor Who, Torchwood and all related items do not belong to me. Only the Story and its related original ideas and characters are mine. No copyright infringement intended.

Spoilers: There are definite spoilers running through this from season two of the new Doctor Who in the form of quote headers, but just to be safe, I’d say there’s a chance that something from any of the new Who episodes up to the end of season three could work its way in. There are also spoilers up to and including the start of season two of Torchwood; let's say up to episode three or so, just to be safe, although it’s nothing specific.

Beta: *points to the wonderful Roquentine* I *heart* her. Take a bow, honey, you deserve the applause! Seriously, thank you so very, very much for trawling through this and sticking it out despite my lack of productivity at the beginning...and in the middle... ;) You are so very awesome!

Notes: Wow, okay, so I almost didn’t make it through this one! Seriously, you have no idea how close I came to not making any of the deadlines. A HUGE thanks to all the mods for being so awesome about that, you guys rocks! And massive thanks to loriel_eris, lakadaisy and D for being awesome about listening to me whine about word count, deadlines and many other issues! Also *sporks RL for getting in the way so much*

I hope you enjoy!

Art by Afterism (LJ | comment), Alicia (LJ | notes | comment) and PhantomMisdo (LJ | comment)

---

Amorphous

Amorphous: without a definite shape or form

---

Somewhere, in the darkened silence, it waits; imagines it can hear the racing heartbeats and silenced screams it longs for. There is no light, no sound, no smell, or wind, or weather. There is nothing to count the passing of time. But still it waits and wants and needs.

Gently, like the breaking of a twig underfoot, it stretches out, snatches and claws, but cannot reach. There is an urgency, a hunger that starves and drives it further and faster, pushes it towards the edges of the eternal cage. But not so eternal, not really. It knows, as sure as it hungers, that there is something close by; an untouchable energy that cannot be seen, nor heard, nor felt, surrounds it, just out of reach.

And still it waits.

---

...followed the voice... across the water... kept on driving hundreds and hundreds of miles. Because he's calling.

Sometimes, when she wakes up, she still think he's there. Just outside the door, pacing and telling her to hurry up. Almost as if he's just waiting for her to get with the programme. She imagines what it would be like; to wake up one morning and see him leaning over her with that stupid, smug smile of his and a twinkle in his eyes. He'd say something stupid like, "Come on then, sleepy head, time to go. Adventures wait for no man. And no woman either, so get moving, lazy."

And she'd follow him outside in her nightie until he had to remind her to change. It's the one thing she knows beyond all else; she'd follow him anywhere if he called her. Anywhere and any time. Only she can't. Because he's gone and she's stuck here. And she doesn't think she would've minded that before she met him, because she's got a family and money and a whole world to explore. But one world is nothing compared to all of time and space, and every thing and everybody she has here is nothing compared to him.

Sometimes she thinks she could stay in bed all day, all week, all year...forever and just not care. Because he's all she never knew she wanted and she can't have him. She never will again.

In her dreams she sees him, as sure as she ever did when he was standing right in front of her with his cheeky grin and an outstretched hand. It'd be easier if she could know it was a dream and be satisfied, but it always changes into something more, as if she's there but not, as if she's watching him from above, an eagle eye into adventures that never took place.

She sees him, more often than not, in the first incarnation she met, with those big ears and the breath of fresh air that seemed to follow him around, the one that smelled of adventure and excitement. She sees him tinkering with the TARDIS, sees him get himself into more trouble than he should really be able to handle, but always does, and sometimes she doesn't see him at all. Sometimes it's a feeling; a thrill of excitement, or a whisper of anger and fear that's quickly shuttered down and locked away. She feels as if she's seeing him again for the first time, as if she's understanding now what she never could before. She didn't love him then, but knew she could. Knew at that first moment when his fingers wrapped around hers that it was completely, totally, utterly what could happen if she stayed, but it wasn't until she lost him, really lost who he was and saw a stranger looking back at her that she knew. And when his fingers wrapped around hers again, she knew then; completely, totally, utterly that it didn't matter that he was different, because he was hers and she knew she was always his.

It's when she dreams of him as she last saw him, imagines him with a new companion and new adventures and so utterly without her, that she wants to get out of bed. Because that's when she knows he misses her, too.

---

There's a gentle, contented humming coming from the central control and the lights shift a little making him smile. He reaches out and runs his hand across the panel in front of him, almost as if he's petting a purring cat.

"You trying to seduce her again, Doctor? Because you know she's only got eyes for me."

"Nah, she's got better taste than that."

Chuckling, Jack jogs down the few stairs to lean against the controls beside him, hip almost grazing the Doctor's head. He's grinning cheekily and, despite the shiver that Jack's very existence still gives him, the Doctor can't help but grin back. He shakes his head and stands, flicking a few switches and adjusting the screen.

"So, what's going on?"

Jack frowns, a smile playing at his lips. "Since you're the one parked in my place of work, surely I should be the one asking you that."

"Jack, I've been here for four days and you've spent most of that time here. And not out there." He looks at Jack, eyebrows raised. "Where you said you now belonged."

"I do, things are just a little..." Jack circles his hands, as if searching for the right word. "Tense."

"Ah, you're hiding."

"Not hiding," Jack says, affronted, but with a smile. "They're just a little...upset."

The Doctor nods. "Hiding."

"I'm not-"

"Hiding."

Jack sighs. "Yeah, I'm hiding." The Doctor grins and Jack glares, but doesn't mean it, his smile getting wider by the second. "Seems they didn't take kindly to my not-being-there act as well as you and Rose did."

"So naturally disappearing again will go down well," the Doctor says, rummaging under the controls again. He frowns and pulls out a wire. "And we didn't take it well so much as...didn't dwell on it. I knew you were fine."

"Such a comfort."

"Haven't we been through this?"

"You didn't say sorry," Jack says with a smirk and an eyebrow wiggle and the Doctor's eyebrows jump up.

Smiling the Doctor waves the wire at him. "Captain, behave."

"So, where are we going?"

"Don't you have a small branch of an evil government agency to run?"

"Not evil, not small," Jack waggles his eyebrows. "And they seem to be doing just fine without me."

"Ah, you're feeling neglected."

"Seems to be a running theme."

"And now you're pouting."

"I do not pout!" Jack says, pouting. "I...damn it, I should be allowed to pout. They're fine without me. Tosh and Owen are acting angry, Ianto's upset that I disappeared on him and..."

"And Gwen's getting married," the Doctor finishes. "Yes, I believe I've heard this, oh, a million times before."

"I just...want to go on an adventure. Like before."

The Doctor looks away. "It won't be like before."

"Can't be the fabulous three without the three of us, can we?" Jack sighs when the Doctor just continues to fiddle with the controls. "So let's just be the fantastic two."

"Fantastic," the Doctor says, grinning madly as he looks out from the panel under the controls. "Now, there's a word I haven't used in a while. I think I could handle a bit of fantastic."

Jack waggles his eyebrows. "You can handle my fantastic any time."

"Hah!" The Doctor stands up, using his sonic screwdriver to seal the panel again. "I'll bet you say that to all the boys and girls."

"Only the ones who-"

"Now, what's that?"

"What's what?" Frowning, Jack lets the Doctor move him aside, fiddling with some controls until a strange pattern emerges on the view screen. It jumps around like a voice pattern on Tosh's recognition scanner and he steps closer as the Doctor brings it into focus.

Suddenly the lights dim and they both look up, feeling the same shiver down their spines. The TARDIS makes a strange, echoing whine, as if it's in pain, and they look at each other, suddenly overcome with a feeling of dread.

Glancing back at the screen, the Doctor shakes off his discomfort and tries not to let the flickering lights get to him. He knows enough about the TARDIS to know she's scared and, for him, that's enough to know that whatever this is, it isn't good.

---

Here you are. Living a life day after day. The one adventure I can never have.

Rose growls and rubs her hands over her face, staring once more at the screen in front of her. The words and pictures should make sense to her in a way that they just don't to anyone else, but it's not that simple. It's like her brain's on overload and nothing's connecting together. She's sure she's seen this text before, but she always had the TARDIS to translate, always had the Doctor to fall back on and never really thought that maybe she should learn things for herself.

Good one, Rose, she thinks with a sigh and continues to stare uncomprehendingly.

"Miss Tyler?"

She flinches and turns to face him. "Ianto, right?" she asks and the man nods, still vaguely skittish around her. Not that she can really blame him. She's heard enough through the grapevine to know that he lost his fiancée during the initial Cybermen attacks and she understands that, understands how he's feeling, even if he doesn't know she does. "Call me, Rose, all right?"

He looks slightly lost for a second, then offers her a smile. "I don't think so. Not just yet, anyway."

"Fair enough," she says with a grin. "I can't ask for much more. What've you got for me?"

"Tea and sandwiches."

She laughs, a sound that's foreign not only to her, but to the people around her who stop and turn to look at her. "Ianto, you don't have to be my personal slave," she whispers loudly, ignoring everyone.

"I'm aware of that, yes. But I like to be useful and, if it's all right with you, I'd rather fetch you something when you've eaten nothing for the last eight hours, than clean Brian's car. Which was the alternative suggestion."

Rose frowns and makes a mental note to order Brian to do something really disgusting in the near future. She's never really thought much about what Ianto does for them, just has this sneaking suspicion that the place would fall about around their ears if he wasn't there. She knows he put in a request to be reassigned after his fiancée died, but had been informed that it wasn't going to happen. The higher-ups seemed to think he was a risk. Whether it was a risk to them or to Ianto, Rose has never quite worked out. Never really bothered to, actually. She buries herself in her work and tries to ensure that she's too exhausted to do anything other than sleep when she gets home, because sleep brings her closer to her Doctor and further away from the life she's inhabiting, rather than living.

She shakes her head, noting that Ianto has observed her momentary lapse and wonders how good his eye for detail really is. "Come 'ere," she says finally, indicating her desk and reaching out to pull another chair over.

"Only if you eat," he says, his voice a thickly accented whisper.

She grins at his impertinence (she may be younger than him, but she is his boss) and nods, accepting the plate. He smiles back at her and she thinks that it might be the first time she's ever seen him look anything but serious. He has a nice smile.

"See if you can shed light on this for me." She tilts her screen in his direction and tries not to moan when she starts to eat. It really has been since breakfast since she had anything and she's sure her colleagues would understand (perhaps), but making a noise that should be restricted to the bedroom over a sandwich is likely not a good idea for her working environment. Especially since she's still to get a read on a lot of the people she works with. She's an outsider, ordered in from the top, and they know nothing about her except that she has a suspicious amount of knowledge about aliens and their technology.

"Looks to be in code," Ianto says and she instantly gives him her full attention.

"Yeah, but I can't figure out where I've seen it before."

"You've seen this before?"

"I think so." She smiles. "A long time ago."

"On your travels," he says with a conspiratorial look and she wonders, not for the first time, if he hasn't already figured her out; the silent man in the background who seems to know everything.

"Yeah, on my travels."

"Brian and Laura have placed it from Traxor," he says, shrugging.

"You don't think so?" she asks, very curious to see if she's right and maybe Ianto is being wasted in his current role.

"No. And neither do you."

"Oh, I don't, do I? You're very presumptuous, Ianto Jones." Rose tries to temper her smile, but only catches her tongue when it's already tucked in front of her teeth. She hasn't felt this free to be herself with anyone in this universe except Mickey – no, Ricky – and she's feeling a little heady with it.

Ianto doesn't seem to mind, though. He smiles. "I do apologise, Miss Tyler."

Rose laughs again, quieter this time and only the new guy, what's-his-name Parker, turns to look at her curiously. She stares at him until he shifts in his seat and turns back to his screen.

"So, Mister Jones, where do you think it's from?"

"I haven't the foggiest, but you have a fair idea, I'd bet."

Rose winks at him. "A fair idea." She turns back to her screen and calls up her translation program, the one M-Ricky had sent her last week. "I'm having trouble with this, though. Can't do programming to save myself. You?"

"No, sorry."

Rose nods. "Oh, well, it was a nice thought."

"But I know someone on the fifth level who could sort you out in a jiffy."

"In a jiffy, eh?" Rose stands up, taking her tea with her. "Then lead the way."

Ianto smiles at her and leads the way to the stairs, knowing that Rose prefers to walk rather than take the lift. She's feeling a little thrown off balance, because this isn't her world and she's not meant to fit in here, isn't meant to make friends or banter with the people she works with. But maybe she's been making things more difficult than they're supposed to be, because she knows the Doctor's never coming back. Knows that he can't come back for her. Wishes he could.

"Miss Tyler?"

"Yes, Mister Jones?" she returns, smiling when he turns and gives her a look.

"You're going to call me that until I call you, Rose, aren't you."

"Yes, I am, Mister Jones."

"Fair enough, Miss Tyler," he says, "but do you have to do it with that tone?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Mister Jones." She's smiling, damnit, and she's just...not supposed to be. But she actually is. And Ianto's laughing and she thinks that, maybe, they can help each other.

They reach the fifth floor and Rose is, once again, put off by the lack of natural light and wonders if Torchwood thought they were being cool making this place underground; like Mickey had invited them round one weekend and they'd watched a few too many episodes of Stargate. It's large and barren and cold. But then maybe that's better, because she can't see herself making a home here. Sometimes she'd like to transfer out of London herself.

They walk through the room, turning heads with every step. Each person looks at her as if it's been an age since they last saw another living soul outside of this room. She thinks they must not get out much, either that or her reputation has preceded her. She feels a little guilty at the knowledge that she'd rather think it's the former.

"Here we are," Ianto says softly and she snaps her attention to the man in front of them. He jumps to his feet, looking at her wide-eyed. He's a fair bit taller than her and built a little like Jack, much to her surprise. Wide rimmed, blue glasses frame his eyes and he has a large, over-friendly smile aimed at her, almost as if he's terrified of her, or whatever she's there for.

"Miss Tyler, this is Andrew Wallis. He's a senior analyst and translation programmer for foreign signals."

"Nice to meet you," Rose says, grinning and feeling a bit like a fool. She's never really cared much for formal introductions.

"Y-yes, you, too, Miss Tyler."

"So, Ianto here tells me you're a bit of a computer whiz."

"I understand the basics," he says, instantly relaxing. Rose grins at him, as the barriers come down; he's clearly familiar with more than the basics. It seems as if talking about something he's comfortable with lets the man feel more at ease.

"Excellent," she says. "Because I have a program here that I need you to fix. You know the signal we've been lookin' at this week?" she asks and he nods. "Well, I think I can figure it out if you can get me a place to start." She hands him the pen drive from around her neck and watches as he eagerly drops to his chair and begins to lose himself in the lines of code that mean absolutely nothing to her.

There's something about this script, this message, that's important. She has no idea what it is, or what it means to her, but she knows it's important.

Ianto leans over Andrew's chair and Rose smiles, doing the same over the man's other shoulder and watching him fiddle with the lines of code and executing translations until she's finally looking at something she knows. It's there, on the tip of her tongue and she still can't figure it out.

"Mera....noten....al..." She mutters under her breath a litany of sounds that mean nothing to her, a memory resurfacing, or perhaps an awakening of something inside her that she didn't know was there.

Andrew's watching her eagerly, his eyes almost puppy-like, as if he's desperate to finally be there when something happens, instead of being stuck here in a grey room with lines of code, but Rose has no answers for him. Ianto watches her curiously; she can see his face in the reflection on the screen before her and she finds that she really wants to give him answers she doesn't have. It's a feeling she hasn't had since she arrived in this reality and it makes her want to decipher the message all the more.

The words continue to change before her, turning into phrases and sounds she doesn't think she's ever heard before, but somehow seems to know inherently. The words whisper in her ear and she almost has it, can almost touch it, but the meaning continues to elude her. Still, she has a sense of something...

"Miss Tyler?" Ianto says softly and she turns to him, the word 'herra' falling from her lips. Rose frowns, more at herself than at him, and he wonders if even she knows what she's saying. "Do you know what it is?"

"No," Rose whispers, shaking her head. "But I..."

"Yes?"

"Whatever it is, Ianto? It's not good." She frowns and tries to shake off her feeling of foreboding. "Not good at all."

---

"I don't understand," Gwen says, frowning at the Doctor again, and Jack lets out a frustrated breath. The Doctor doesn't help by just staring at her, grinning and rocking back on his trainers, as if he hasn't got a care in the world. Which Jack knows isn't true; there's a lot that Jack wishes he'd never seen before and the look in the Doctor's eyes when the TARDIS had reacted to that signal is definitely somewhere near the top of the list. When it's enough to put fear like that into a surely sentient time machine and a 900-year-old alien, it's enough to scare the living hell out of the rest of the universe.

"He's an alien."

"And it's bigger on the inside," the Doctor says, still grinning.

"Well, I can see that," Gwen says and the tone of her voice and the look on the Doctor's face is enough to make Jack chuckle.

"Look," he says, trying to get some cooperation. And fast. "All you need to know is that this is the Doctor, he's my friend and he's found something that we need to investigate."

"Why just me and you and what is his police box doing parked underneath the Hub?"

"Because you can't tell the others he's here and he needs to park near the rift." Sometimes Jack wishes she wasn't so inquisitive.

"Wait...he's your Doctor?" she asks, looking at the man in a different light. "Your 'right kind of doctor', Doctor?"

"The very one," Jack says softly, smiling at the Doctor's confused look.

"Oh, right, well why didn't you just say so then?" Gwen nods, holds out her hand and smiles. "Gwen Cooper."

"The Doctor," he says bemusedly, looking at Jack. "I like her."

"Yeah, we share the same mental deficiency then, 'cause I kinda like her myself."

"Oi!" Gwen says, trying to hide a grin. "I'm standin' right here!"

"And looking fabulous." Jack says with a wink and both Gwen and the Doctor roll their eyes.

"Right, so what are we lookin' at?" she asks, pointing at the strange signal on the screen. She frowns, shivers and visibly shakes off the feeling.

"It's not pleasant, is it?" the Doctor asks, his voice low.

"What is it?"

"The signal?" he asks and she nods. "Haven't the foggiest. But the feeling? The dread sinking into your bones, sending fear down your spine? That I have a name for; Herra," he says, his voice a whisper and both Jack and Gwen shudder. "It literally means fear and death and dread and nightmares beyond your worst imaginings. It creeps into the very soul of a living creature and burrows deeper and deeper until all you want to do is die, but it doesn't let you. It is a living hell and it can't be touched or seen or heard and it can't be fought."

Gwen gulps, clutching onto the hand Jack slips into hers, but her eyes don't leave the Doctor's penetrating gaze.

"What do we do?" Jack asks, his voice quiet, but determined.

"We find it. And we stop it before it takes hold. Or there's nothing we can do."

---

She's not mine. She's the child of a dead man.

The air is crisp and warm and Rose can almost say it makes her smile, like it used to in her dimension. There's something dull and grey about the world she now lives in, almost as if she's living on an Earth that's lost its 'glossy sheen'. The world around her feels like it's perpetually shrouded in a dim November morning, but not today.

She wonders if something happened whilst she slept, something that could have made the world that little bit brighter. She smiles, remember how close the Doctor had seemed in her dreams, as if she could reach out and touch him and he'd be real and there and always and forever in her life. She doesn't know how Sarah Jane went on without him, isn't really sure the woman did move on; still investigating things that don't seem quite right. Much like Rose herself; stuck in an alternate dimension, daughter of Great Britain's President and working for a secret Government agency whose sole purpose is to investigate everything that's slightly out of this world.

She knows she should be happy to be alive, be happy to be living at all, because it could have turned out so differently. She has a life here, one that seems so glamorous by comparison, but isn't really. The press had lapped up the 'kidnapped at birth' story, had relished in talking about her parents' pain in hiding the 'secret' they'd harboured for twenty years and Rose was left smiling falsely in the background. She wishes Pete hadn't felt the need to run for President, wishes her mother had just gone along with pretending Rose was a distant relative and hadn't felt the need to come up with an elaborate plan. Pete had smiled and gone along and she couldn't really do anything else but smile and pretend to be happy. Not after everything her mother had gone through for her. Even if she did have her husband back. And, yes, Rose supposes she has a father, now.

She doesn't call him 'Dad'. She tried, a lot. At first, she relished saying it, felt as if it was her right, because she'd finally got her dad back and he was real and in front of her and everything was perfect. Only it wasn't. And then Michael was born. With his perfect smile and his dad's eyes and Rose finally started to see that Pete flinched when she called him 'Dad', finally started to see the words her mum must have made him promise never to say to her, 'I'm not your dad. You're not my daughter.'

It had hurt at first, felt like a rejection and she'd wanted to be a child again, so that she could throw a tantrum and get away with it. Instead she just smiles, pretends everything's okay and tries not to notice the sadness in her mother's eyes when her time at home continues to diminish. She tries not to think how her mother will react when Rose finally signs the lease on her new flat. She definitely won't tell that Pete's the one who found it for her.

Shaking her head of her mundane thoughts, Rose tries to smile at the morning ahead of her. Days have become less of a chore to her now that she has Ianto. It seems strange to think that less than a week ago she felt as if she was living in a nightmare and now she has something to look forward to; she has someone to talk to.

She pushes the button at the lights, trying to keep from pushing her way through the vast crowd of people that suddenly gather in front of her. There are times she wants to just get out of London, wishes she could live somewhere away from the vague hint of familiarity that's here, because she can't just nip out to her favourite pub and find her friends, because they don't know her here; she's not real.

"Watch it!"

She glares at the man who rammed into her and crosses the road, trying to make sense of the strange sensation running up her spine; something almost familiar to her, but she can't place it, can't put it into words.

Not really knowing what she's doing, Rose turns off from her normal route to work. She finds herself on side street after side street until she's almost jogging. She's not sure how far she's gone or even where she is, but then she hears it; that soft, familiar pulsing whine that has her breaking into a run.

There's a sharp tang of death in the air; faint and perhaps subtle to those around her, but she knows it's there. She thinks sometimes, that her life was so much easier before she met the Doctor. It would be so much simpler to just turn around, go to work and pretend that her life isn't about to change, but she can feel it, she can hear it and she knows she hasn't smiled like this in a long time.

She careers around the corner and stops, leaning against the wall, panting and clutching her side. She stares uncomprehendingly at the alley in front of her, stares and wills the tears away from her eyes, because this isn't right. She heard it and she felt it and she just knows he was here.

But the empty alley tells her differently.

---

"I thought..." Gwen trails off, stepping out of the TARDIS with wide eyes. "You really weren't joking," she says, talking more to herself than to her companions. She smiles as they exit behind her.

"What are we doing here?" Jack asks in confusion, taking in the dingy alley.

The Doctor frowns. "I have no idea." Looking more than a little perplexed, the Doctor walks to the end of the street and takes a deep breath.

"Are we in London then?" Gwen asks, grinning and running ahead a little, looking to see if she can spot the London Eye from where they are.

"Yes." The Doctor takes in a breath and lets it out slowly, almost as if he's testing the air for something.

Gwen continues to walk down the alley, taking in the sights and smells and sounds around her. "I've never really been to London," she says, almost excitedly. "I mean I've been to London, but I've never really experienced it properly. What's it like, then?"

"It's...London," Jack says, shrugging.

"Well, thank you, Jack, that's very helpful."

"We're not supposed to be here," the Doctor mutters.

"Why do you think the TARDIS brought us here?" Jack asks, still unable to shake the feeling he's had since they first saw the signal.

"I don't know."

"Wait, the TARDIS is alive?" Gwen asks, looking vaguely horrified at the prospect of having been transported through time and space whilst residing in the stomach of a living creature that resembles a police box.

"Not exactly," the Doctor says, "it's complicated." He shakes his head. "Right, nothing to see here. Let's go."

Jack ushers Gwen ahead of him and into the TARDIS, but, as the Doctor goes to follow him, he gets a strange feeling, almost as if he's supposed to be looking for something. Someone. He reaches out and gently brushes his fingers against the wall, before shaking his head and jogging back to the TARDIS and leaving the empty London alley behind him.

---

You just don't get it, do you? ... those ordinary people - they're the key.

She isn't sure how late she got into work, doesn't really care what she must have looked like, navigating her way mindlessly through the sterile corridors. She sits at her desk, knowing they all watched her come in and knowing they're all wondering what's wrong with her and why she isn't in some loony bin somewhere; so many of them believed the bad press that her nineteen year long 'kidnapping' had traumatised her so much she should be institutionalised. Rose knows it was a story created by a journalist who was angry that Rose wouldn't tell her anything, wouldn't give her a story or even so much as her favourite colour. The others were called off by Pete, told to leave her alone and she was happy to fade into the background, become almost ghostlike and forgotten all over again.

She startles when a mug suddenly appears in front of her on the table and manages a small smile for Ianto as he slides onto her desk, sitting next to her right shoulder. He nudges her and her smile widens a little as she elbows him back. They continue until she's grinning up at him. She shakes her head and takes a long sip of her coffee, happy to sit in the silence until Ianto speaks.

"So," he says eventually. "Should I ask?"

"Bad morning."

"No shit."

Rose chokes on her coffee and tries to finish coughing before her laughter takes over; she's almost successful, as Ianto pats her back. "I think that's the first time I've heard you swear, Ianto Jones."

"I swear all the time, Rose."

She looks up at him in shock and his small smile and the sparkle in his eyes lifts her spirits even more. "You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"

She likes the way her name sounds rolling off his tongue.

---

"Does this thing actually work?" Gwen asks, taking in the scene as she exits the TARDIS for the second time. "Because we're right back where we started."

"No, we're not," the Doctor says grinning at her. "We were about ten feet south and a good deal higher up."

Her lips twitch into a smile. "We do have a lift, you know. Takes us right up to that spot right there," she says, pointing to the slab where Torchwood's invisible lift is.

"Ah," the Doctor says, wagging his finger at her tellingly, "but I would have had to walk past your curious team-mates and I get the feeling they might not be happy knowing I've been living in your basement for the last four days."

"You realise they have a camera right up there, right?" Gwen grins at him. "And I think they might notice a police box that wasn't there before. Especially if they see us exit."

"And won't that keep them occupied for a few days..." The Doctor wags his eyebrows and Gwen's mouth drops open.

"That's cruel."

"Then why are you smiling, Gwen Cooper?"

"Well, I didn't say it wasn't funny."

"If you don't mind me interrupting," Jack says and they both turn to face him. They're standing close together and the Doctor grins, realising that's what's put Jack out of sorts.

Throwing his arm around Gwen's shoulder, he nods at Jack. "Well then, Captain, shall we?", and steers Gwen in the opposite direction, both of them chuckling as Jack races to catch up.

---

We had something a long time ago, but... not anymore.

"So, how's things?"

She smiles, almost awkwardly, glancing briefly at the blonde woman clutching at Mickey's hand. She winces a little, knowing she has to stop thinking of him as Mickey now. Things have changed, but there will always be something unerringly familiar about him; the way he can look into her eyes and she feels like she's home and nothing has changed. He was her lifeline for the first six months here and he knows it; it's the reason why he pulled away from her. He finally reached the stage where he knew she had to stand alone and he wasn't willing to be her safe bet anymore. She was finally ready to let him go; finally ready to admit that she already had, because leaving him behind in this dimension that first time had hurt, but it was nothing to losing the Doctor. And that just wasn't fair on him.

"Good," she finally says, her shoulders relaxing as he smiles. "We miss havin' you about, but me mum's happy to have some food left in the kitchen at the end of the night!"

"Oi! Like you didn't eat most of it yourself!"

They grin at each other and it's almost like old times, but for the blonde staring daggers at her and Ianto sitting by her side. "So, I've got this...thing...I need help with," Rose says, telling herself she's not trying to be too possessive of her ex, but the discreet cough from Ianto tells her she's being transparent.

She turns to glance at her new friend, turning away almost immediately when she spots the subtle twitch of his mouth that tells her he's trying not to laugh. She clears her throat and shakes her head, smiling almost apologetically at the woman across from her. Rose can't even remember her name, but she thinks this one might be quite serious, because the last three times she saw Mickey – Ricky – the same woman was at his side and she hasn't seen him often in the last eight months.

"Sorry," she says, "look, can we talk to Mi-Ricky for a minute? We won't keep him long. Promise."

The woman looks at her like Rose's promise means absolutely nothing, but a glance at both her and Ianto together seems to make the decision. The woman nods and squeezes Mickey's hand before standing.

"I'll put dinner on. It shouldn't take more than fifteen minutes," she says before leaving.

"I'm on a timer," Rose says, smirking, and Ianto chuckles.

"So, how's things really?" Mickey asks.

"We got a signal," she replies, immediately getting down to business. "Something I thought I'd seen before, but I don't think I have. Something weird about it, though. Whatever it is, it's not good. It's familiar and it's...well, it's alien. We've got someone tracking the origin, but it's all over the place."

"Cardiff," Mickey says, smirking at them smugly.

"What?"

"The signal you're tracking, it's coming from the rift." He glances toward the kitchen to make sure they're not being watched, before crossing the room and opening a desk drawer. Both Ianto and Rose jump as a section of the wall slides away and Mickey turns to them, grinning. "Just like Batman."

Rose laughs and they follow Mickey inside. The room is cupboard-sized and dark, as the wall slides shut behind them. There's a glow coming from a crack in the floor and a moment later, Rose has to blink as Mickey pulls the floorboards up. There's a small ladder descending into the light and Mickey's smiling at her.

"This was Ricky's place. The real Rick..." he trails off and glances at Ianto. "How much does he know?"

"Nothing yet," Rose says, smiling at Ianto. "Not for definite, but I think he's figured a few things out. We'll talk tonight, yeah?"

Ianto's frowning, but he nods and smiles a little. He seems pleased that she's going to trust him with her big secret and, even though it's only been three weeks since they first really became friends (three frustrating weeks of tracking a signal Rose wishes she'd never heard of), they both know that they really are friends.

They follow Mickey into a small basement filled with devices covered in blinking lights and emitting strange humming and beeping. Rose grins, knowing that having this kind of secret hideaway has always been Mickey's dream. She just wishes he hadn't had to become someone else to get it. He seems happy, though; happier than she ever made him.

"Jake sent me an encrypted message from Japan the other day -- he's doing fine, says hi -- he couldn't figure out why it seemed to be coming from us. He had to block it, make sure the Japanese didn't start thinking it was some act of war or something. Asked me to look into it." Mickey crosses the room, changing a few wires here and there and flicking the occasional switch.

The room fills with a pulsing sound that seems almost familiar and when the signal slowly makes its way out of the hum, Rose shivers. She feels Ianto's hand slip into hers and give it a quick squeeze, before letting go. She smiles at him gratefully, before turning back to Mickey.

"See, this thing's not exactly hiding. It's there for everyone to find, but the closer you are to the point of origin, the harder it is to track." Mickey fiddles with one of the knobs by his speakers and the sound intensifies and clears up. He walks to the laptop in the corner and boots it up, turning to lean against the desk as he continues. "Got in touch with one of my contacts in Germany and she confirmed that it was hard to track at first, but she managed to trace it to the UK after some fiddling about. See, Jake knew right away, because he's far enough away that whatever's interfering with our tracking systems isn't working. I had to do some improvising, traced it to Cardiff and I think it's pretty safe to assume it's got something to do with that rift of the Doctor's."

Rose inhales sharply at the mention of his name. It's the first time anyone has said his name in her presence since she had to say goodbye. "I think you're right," she says, smiling. Her voice tells him that it's okay, that she's okay. She's surprised to discover that she almost is. "Listen, Mickey-"

"You're really going to have to stop calling me that. You know I had to tell Claire that you say that because you think I've got huge Mickey Mouse ears."

"No wonder she hates me!" Rose cries, picking up a pen from the table next to her and throwing it at him.

Mickey laughs, ducking out of the way. "She hates you, because you're the ex," he clarifies. "And because whenever I came back injured from missions you always came to visit. Thinks she thinks it's your fault."

"Well tell her it's not!"

He continues to chuckle. "What, and tell her that I'm really from a parallel universe, that I worked for Torchwood in this one and that my name really is Mickey? I don't think so."

They both glance at Ianto, suddenly remembering that they're not alone and that he doesn't know anything about this yet. But there's no reaction, just the impassive mask that Rose is no longer used to. His lips twitch into a smile briefly, letting her know they'll talk later and something in her chest unwinds, almost as if the fact that the secret she's been hiding has weighed so heavily for so long that she didn't realise it was until she didn't have to hold it anymore.

"Come with us," Rose says, turning back to Mickey. No, Ricky, she thinks, realising for the first time that he really isn't her Mickey anymore. "Come to Cardiff with us."

Mickey's quiet for a while, frowning at her. "When?" he finally asks.

"Soon as I can get it authorised."

"How big a team are you taking?"

"Standard protocol is five now," she says, rolling her eyes. "I figure if I try to fight for just the three of us then relent to five, they'll be more likely to let you come along."

"I'll think about it," he says slowly and she smiles.

"That's good enough for me."

---

"Why this point?" Jack says, frowning. "I mean, of all the places in the rift, this isn't exactly a hot point."

"I'm not sure..." The Doctor is fiddling with some device he'd pulled from his pocket and, for once, Jack isn't sure what it is. It's nothing like his sonic screwdriver, or, indeed, any of the devices Jack remembers ever using, but it is producing an audible resonance of the signal.

The sound surrounds them, low and haunting, and it's no surprise that Gwen's hand makes its way into Jack's; he was a few seconds from making a grab at hers. They keep close together, walking down the dark street at a slow, but steady, pace. There's nothing about, not even the noise from the nearby city streets, to break the signal's grasp on them.

The Doctor turns to look at them, reassuring himself that he hasn't lost them and continues forward, adjusting the tuner and making the sound clearer. He can feel it in his bones, can feel every single second of his age, of his past, weighing him down more and more with each step he takes.

There's a darkness, more complete even than the Pit and he wants to claw at it, wants to make it leave him. There's something lurking behind the shadows, watching and waiting, reaching and trying to claim them.

The Doctor stops walking, takes a step back and slowly inhales. "We need to go."

Jack and Gwen exchange a glance, but the look on the Doctor's face is enough to turn their blood cold.

"We need to go now."

---

The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind.

"So," Ianto finally says, swirling his wine around in his glass. His feet are kicked up on the table and Rose doesn't think she's ever seen him this relaxed.

The couch is comfy and still has that 'too new to sit on' feel to it, but Ianto seems relaxed and she thinks he fits here, amongst her things and her new life. Her new apartment is slowly becoming home, but Ianto has been helping with flowers and pictures here and there, and remembering how he ended up lying halfway up the hallway stairwell underneath her new mattress is likely to keep her amused for a long time to come.

She sighs and curls her feet under her, turning side on to look directly at him. "I'm not sure where to start, really."

"Well, I often find the beginning is a good place."

"Funny," she says, mock glaring at him, and he smiles, taking a sip of wine and adding to the pale red stain on his lips.

"You're from a parallel universe, then."

"Yeah, yeah, I am."

He nods slowly, as if digesting it properly now that it's been confirmed from her own mouth. "Explains a lot."

"Oi! Cheeky!" She smacks his arm as he laughs, his head gently leaning back on the couch, as he sinks further into it.

"Come on then," he says, turning his head to look at her. "Tell me everything."

So she does.

She tells him about her whole life; about her mum, about losing her dad, about Mickey and their ill-fated first kiss, she tells him about Jimmy and about Shireen and her friends, she tells him about leaving high school early, about living with her mother in their small flat, about losing Mickey's Gran and about everything she remembers from a life that seems like a strange dream until, finally, she tells him about that fateful day at work. She tells him about that smile and the twinkle in his eyes as his hand had first wrapped around hers, as if it belonged there, to her. She tells him of her adventures and the people she met, about her Captain and their TARDIS and the whole of time and space at their feet. Mostly, she tells him about her Doctor, tells him of their adventures and their laughter, tells of loving him like no one else, about losing him the first time to another face and the second time when she had to say goodbye.

Throughout it all, Ianto simply listens to her. Words she never thought to speak aloud again fall from her lips and secrets that she ached to share with only her Doctor come pouring out of her and still he listens. By the time she's finished, her head is on his shoulder and the dampness on his shirt is a testimony to her life's loss. He holds her tightly and she feels more comforted than she remembers feeling in a long time. The tightness in her heart is gone and she feels so exhausted she can barely keep her eyes open.

She still aches for the life she lost, but her pain seems less then before and the last words she remembers saying as Ianto puts her to bed just don't seem enough.

"Thank you."

---

"Are you sure this is okay?" Gwen asks, looking rather uncomfortable in the room.

"Positive. Got more rooms than I know what to do with."

"And he means that literally," Jack says with a grin.

"There's a new one out by the kitchen," the Doctor says, frowning. "Has a weird statue in the centre and a bottomless pit to one side. Well, I assume it's bottomless; still haven't heard that penny hit anything."

"He's serious," Gwen says, her head turning to one side and Jack nods. "I'm not sure if I'm comforted or frightened by the fact that he doesn't know everything."

"I know everything I need to." The Doctor smiles. "Everything you need to, as well, I'd imagine."

There's been an unsettled edge to their conversation ever since they got back to the TARDIS and Gwen isn't sure what to do or say, or even if she should say anything at all. They hadn't mentioned the presence they'd all felt, hadn't spoken of what it might be, or how they might get rid of it. But it was clear to her that both men wanted to ignore it for the moment. And if a 900-year-old alien who can navigate his way through the universe and time itself doesn't want to face it at the moment, Gwen knows she couldn't face it. So, instead, she'll play along.

She smiles at the Doctor and pulls out her phone to text Rhys. They might not be doing anything about it right now, but Gwen isn't letting either man out of her sight until she knows for sure that the world isn't about to be eaten by some terrifying nightmare.

"Right," the Doctor claps his hands together. "Haven't entertained in a while, might be a bit rusty. Food anyone? We'll eat out."

Putting away her phone, Gwen nods. "Sounds perfect," she says, smiling, and slips her hand into the crook of the Doctor's offered arm. They walk into the hallway and she swears she can actually hear Jack's pout.

"What about me?"

"All right, come on," the Doctor says and Gwen can't stop laughing when Jack slips his hand into the Doctor's other offered arm.

She leans her head against his arm for a moment, frowning when they pass the open door of another room. A few moments tell her that the room looks like it's occupied; clothes strewn across the floor and makeup on the dresser. She opens her mouth to ask, but the way the Doctor quickens his step, almost imperceptibly, stops her.

The man's a mystery to her, but when Jack looks at him she sees a universe of possibility reflected in his eyes; that's enough for her. Jack might have left her, but, walking out into the crisp evening with them, she thinks she might just understand why.

---

She's got you! Those two haven't! ...All these different worlds, not one of them gets it right.

"It's all right, Pete, I've got 'im." She half smiles at the man she wishes were really her father and turns to look at the child in her arms. "We're all right, eh, Mikey?"

"I wish you wouldn't call him that," Pete says, wincing, but Rose ignores him.

She walks into the living room and sits on the rocking chair by the fire, setting her brother on her lap. He's playing with the necklace Ianto bought for her and is intrigued by the idea of getting it in his mouth. She chuckles and tugs it from him, knowing that he's likely to go straight for it again.

She's never really been the kind of person who likes babies, but she feels comfortable with this one. She wonders if it's the familial connection, or if she's just got more of a natural maternal instinct than expected.

"My Rose, look at you."

She smiles and looks up as her mother enters the room. Jackie smiles and leans in to hug her, baby and all, and settles into the chair next to them. Michael's asleep in moments and when Pete comes to take him to bed, Rose is more than a little reluctant to let him go. She kisses him good night and almost feels as if this is the last time she'll see him and, after a few more hours of catching up with her mother, if she holds on tight for long enough that Jackie asks what's wrong, it's because the feeling hasn't left her.

She shakes her head, reassures her mother that she's fine, and walks out as Ianto drives up from the front gates. She turns back to look at them one more time; her mother and the image of the father she lost all those years ago, framed by their perfect house and their beautiful son inside dreaming. Her breath hitches as she waves goodbye and gets into the car.

She feels like she's leaving forever and, when Ianto silently pulls her hand into his, she squeezes tightly and doesn't let go until the house is no longer in view.

---

"So..." The Doctor clears his throat. "Is this normal?"

"I wouldn't know; it's been a long time since I saw them together."

The Doctor nods, but doesn't pursue the matter further. He's never really been comfortable talking about feelings and this really isn't a place he means to start. Jack's staring at Gwen and her fiancé and the Doctor feels rather uncomfortable with the whole scene. They'd almost made it back to the TARDIS when they'd heard the man shouting for her. Things would've have been a lot easier if Gwen had gone with Jack's initial suggestion; run.

"Sorry about that," Gwen says returning to them, her smile terribly fake against the set of her jaw.

"Everything sorted?" Jack asks and she nods.

"It's fine. I explained that the Doctor was another colleague from work and he's fine with it."

"Ah, so that's what all the shouting was about; his being fine?" the Doctor asks, already wishing he'd kept his mouth shut before she glared at him. "So, back to the TARDIS. You two can catch up on some sleep and I'll stop off at Traxor for-"

"Wait," Gwen says, cocking her head to the side and holding up her hands. There's a small smile at her lips and her eyes are wide. "You're taking us to another planet and you want me to stay asleep inside the...spaceship?"

"Yes."

"Eh, no."

"No?" the Doctor asks, confused.

"You heard me. No." She lets out an incredulous laugh. "If you think you're teasing me with an alien planet and then leaving me inside you've another think coming. I want to see it, too, and I am armed and ready to defend myself if I need to, so you've nothing to worry about there and no reason to fight me on this. All right?"

The Doctor grins. "Oh, I really like this one!"

"Hands off," Jack says, grinning and throwing an arm around her. "I found her first."

"Oh, how I would've loved this in High School," Gwen says with a laugh. "Being fought over by two hot men, I would've been well popular for that one!"

"Well, I do have a time machine..."

"Yes, if only he knew how to use it," Jack says with a grin.

"Oi!"

Jack sets off at a run, dragging Gwen with him and the Doctor chuckles, shaking his head and following. He hasn't felt this free in a long time and he takes a moment to savour it, knowing all too well it won't last.

The nightmare is lurking in the darkness and it won't be long before it's here.

---

I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye.

Rose would like to think that she was special. That she, above all else meant more to the Doctor than any other companion he's ever had, or ever will have. But she just can't. She knows that Mickey can't have been the first companion that was there more out of convenience than anything else, but, overall, she thinks that he loves everyone he travels with, in his own way. She'd wanted to hate Sarah Jane, had wanted to hate the thought that anyone else might be special to her Doctor. But she knows the truth. He loves them all, but maybe she hopes that she burrowed her way into his heart a little differently, that maybe he loved her in a way that wasn't the same as the others, because she knows it wasn't more. She can deal with different.

Shaking her head, she lets images of the Doctor drift further into the recesses of her mind and, instead, turns to her companions. Ianto is concentrating on the road before them, muttering incomprehensibly under his breath at the other drivers around him. He's a strange one, she thinks, someone it had taken a while to truly work out, but she really finds that she wants to know everything about him and more. Glancing into the seat behind her, she can't help but grin at the heated discussion going on there; Mickey and Andrew debating the merits of Space Wars, this dimension's attempt at Star Wars. Mickey, naturally, thinks it's a travesty, has spent the last hour explaining why Obi Wan Kenobi should have died and why it was a lie that he was Luke Skywalker's father, whilst Andrew counteracts with pieces of mythology for the films that outrage him further and further.

She glances at Mhairi and smiles, rolling her eyes at the boys' antics, but the fey-like redhead merely manages a nervous grimace. Sighing, she turns back in her seat and stares out the window on her side, letting the scenery drift by. Sensing she's being watched, Rose turns to find Ianto glancing at her every few minutes. He looks almost worried and it's a nice feeling, so she grins at him and feels slightly more content.

As planned, she had hand chosen her team, using her place in the hierarchy of Torchwood (and perhaps even the words "President's daughter") to get her way. Despite the fact that Mickey wasn't a member of Torchwood anymore, it had been Ianto who had been the hardest to get authorised. She had argued for him every step of the way. Losing Lisa had left him a little unhinged in the beginning; he had tried to save her, tried to keep her alive in secret and being caught out had almost cost him everything. Much in the way that he had listened to her, they had spent similar evenings talking about everything and nothing. He had told her about his childhood, about his parents and about losing his sister, about how he'd been wild in high school (and wasn't that hard to picture!) and how finding Lisa had changed him. She knew about all the heartache and pain of losing her two days before they were due to marry; she knew everything right down to the flower arrangements for his wedding and she wished she could heal him. Ianto meant the world to her and she needed him with her.

For the rest of the team, Mickey was a given; he's all she had left of her old life now that her mum has made such a complete shift into accepting this world and he'd spent the last few years working on just this kind of problem. How he'd explained his absence to Claire (the girl who had pulled him out of Torchwood and given him the kind of love he used to dream of from her) she didn't even want to guess at. Despite their last visit, Claire still dislikes her immensely and Rose doesn't have much love for the woman in return.

Andrew hadn't really been necessary with Mickey along, but Rose had seen the longing in his eyes. She's known from the moment that she met him that he wants more from his life than sitting in a darkened room fifty feet underground staring at code all day. So she'd offered and he'd tried not to fall over himself whilst accepting.

Mhairi, however, she'd thought to give the opportunity to come out of her shell. The woman looks so slight that a strong wind might knock her over and she makes Rose feel like a giant in every direction. She's a nervous wisp of a woman who speaks so rarely that it's almost through rumour that she's said to have a soft Southern Irish brogue.

"Are we there yet?" Mickey suddenly pipes up from behind her and she angles her head so that she can see the glint in his eyes as he leans his chin on the side of her seat.

"You tryin' to be annoying?" Rose asks and he waggles his eyebrows at her.

"Is it working?"

"We've another hour or so," Ianto pipes up, flicking on the indicator as he navigates the large roundabout they're on. "Shouldn't have been this long, but for those bloody roadworks."

"Ooh," Rose says cheekily, "he's thinkin' about swearing again. I can tell."

"I swear."

"Out loud?" Rose asks and, when he opens his mouth to answer, cuts him off. "In English?"

Ianto raises an eyebrow in mock superiority and glances briefly at her, saying, "Just because you don't understand what I'm saying, Miss Tyler..." Mickey snorts and she hits him, but doesn't take her eyes off Ianto, who's still concentrating on the road. "...doesn't make it any less so."

"Oh, but it does, Mister Jones." His almost unheard growl makes her grin; she's winning the name game so far. "The whole point of swearing is to make your point and there's no point if no one understands what you're saying."

"So," Andrew says suddenly, almost as if he can smell an argument coming and wants to avoid even a friendly one. It makes her wonder what his life is like outside of, and was like before, Torchwood. "Why Cardiff again?"

"The rift." Rose says, smiling almost sadly. "There's a rift in space and time that runs through the centre of Cardiff. The signal we've been detecting's coming from inside, not space."

"So...the signal's coming from Earth?" Andrew asks.

"Not necessarily," Rose says and leaves it at that. The rest of the journey is spent in relative silence, only the occasional snip of the Space Wars debate being reiterated. There's something coming and, even if they don't have her past experience with the sensation, they can all feel the same sense of foreboding thick in the air around them.

Whatever it is, they can only hope they're prepared.

---

She smiles and inhales the fresh air, a gentle hint of flowers and hay that stops just short of smelling like Earth is wrapped in an almost spicy flavour. She knows she's grinning madly and that the Doctor and Jack are both staring at her indulgently, but she finds she doesn't really care.

She's on an alien planet.

An alien planet. Halfway across the galaxy. On an alien planet. Gwen Cooper is on an alien planet.

She lets out a small squeal and turns to face the two men and, yes, they're both smiling at her as indulgently as expected and she walks up to them. Turning and standing between then, she smiles up at them and slips her hands into the crooks of their arms.

"Show off your alien planet then, boys," she says and follows their lead.

She settles into the rhythm between them so easily that she feels as if she could fit here; right between them in the midst of their adventures, and feels her heart ache a little at the knowledge that it's not her place. She'd asked Jack about that room, asked about its owner and he'd told her. Rose. The woman's name was Rose. Jack had introduced her to the woman's memory and ever since Gwen had felt her presence. She was there in the Doctor's kitchen; sitting on the counter with a cuppa in one hand and a chocolate biscuit in the other, grinning at them; she was in the control room, bantering as the Doctor and Jack pretended to fix the TARDIS; and she was here, right between them in Gwen's place, with her hands in theirs and a grin just as wide. But Gwen doesn't mind, not really, because she's not here to stay and Rose is and always will be. She wonders if Jack would have come back to her at all if Rose hadn't been lost. She finds she doesn't really want to know the answer.

"Ah, Traxor City Market," the Doctor says suddenly, breaking Gwen out of her thoughts. "Best place in the world if you want absolutely anything."

"Anything?" Gwen asks.

"Anything," he says again, grinning and leading them through the stalls and, after a few minutes, Gwen's willing to believe he's right.

"So, where are we headed?" Jack asks, leaning closer, his breath on her ear as they press in on either side amongst the crowd.

The Doctor smiles grimly and Gwen feels a shiver run down her spine.

"Got to see a man about a dog."

---

Human Race - for such an intelligent lot, you aren't half susceptible.

"Welcome to Torchwood."

"Is that a Pteradon?" Andrew asks as he and Mickey gape at the ceiling in awe.

"It's a bit...small," Ianto says quietly, looking around, and Rose nods in agreement. Whilst their Torchwood has clinical corridors that worm labyrinth-like under the streets of London, it does have an incredible central chamber; a large, open, cavernous shaft that spans their headquarters from top to bottom and it makes this one look like a pit dug in the sand by small child. "I like it," he continues and she grins, nodding.

Torchwood, Cardiff, has a haphazard and yet homely feel to it. It's open and quite barren in many ways, but is filled with little knickknacks and items in jars that look like they could come alive at any moment. It's essentially the size of one cell in Torchwood, London, and it's...almost loved.

Rose grins and wanders up the stairs to the central platform, smiling at the woman tapping furiously at the keyboard in front of her. "Rift activity," she says sharply to the sarcastic man who had greeted them on arrival. "Toshiko Sato," she says, turning and slipping into the introduction as if she hadn't been talking business in her previous sentence. "This is Owen, the woman in the office behind you is Gwen, she'll be out in a minute, that's Suzie and Cerri over there and the man you met out front was Max."

"I'm-"

"Sorry, sorry!" The woman who has just been introduced to her as Gwen comes running out of her office and stops quickly in front of them. "Sorry, just finishing up a call. You know how it is. Have you met everyone yet?"

"We've got the names." Rose smiled, something about the woman putting her instantly at ease. "I'm Rose Tyler. This is Ianto, Ricky, Andrew and Mhairi."

"Well, anything we can do to help," Gwen says and Owen steps forward.

"And why, exactly, is that again? Remind me why we're helping them."

Gwen keeps her face in a tight smile as she glances at Owen, saying, "Because they're from Torchwood, they're our colleagues and they're here to stop something that's coming from the rift. Unless you'd like to add it to the number of things we're currently handling when we know nothing about what it is or where it's coming from, then you can button it."

"Whatever." Owen rolls his eyes and walks away from them.

Rose glances at Ianto and raises her eyebrows, as if to say 'thank God he's not with us', before turning back to Gwen. "So, we're really sorry to get in your way and everything-"

"Oh, don't mind Owen. We try to ignore him most of the time, too," Gwen says smiling in a friendly way that tells Rose otherwise. Despite his faults, Gwen obviously holds Owen in great esteem and her opinion, whilst not voiced, sets Rose slightly more at ease with the thought of possibly having to work with him. After all, they haven't brought a medic with them.

"It's fine," Rose says, grinning back. "Think yourself lucky you don't have Ricky to put up with."

"Oi!"

Rose grins at her friend and turns to Gwen again. "Right, so do you mind if we steal your coffee machine and one of your computers and get straight to work?"

"Max will get you coffee, I'll ask him on the way out, and Tosh'll show you the works. I'm sorry I don't have time to give you a tour, but I suspect you're more interested in getting started and we've a bit of a weevil situation going on at the moment. Owen, are you ready yet?" Gwen finishes, shouting over her shoulder. "Sorry," she says again and Rose smiles. "Tosh, keep us updated, Max will be up top if you need help. I'm sorry to run out on you, but Tosh knows where everything is and we can talk when I get back."

Rose watches as four of the members of Torchwood, Cardiff, grab their things and rush out the door. Tosh watches, almost wistfully for a moment before turning back to face them. She smiles nervously and Rose realises that they're all staring at her.

"So, is there somewhere we can work that's out of your way, Tosh?"

"Oh, you won't be in my way. I've got my own station." She smiles and leads them a few feet to her right and indicates the computer system. "I've set you up to detect the signal, still can't believe it took me so long to notice it, it was embedded inside the natural energy of the rift, which is so strong in Cardiff that it was hard to distinguish, but I've managed to tune in now that we know it's there. I'll be right over here if you need anything and-" She taps her ear suddenly. "Just a second, Gwen. I've got to-"

"We're fine," Rose says, waving her off. The sound of her chattering in the background is intriguing and Rose has to try not to get engrossed in whatever exciting alien activity they're currently dealing with. She misses that; misses running alongside the Doctor in the midst of an adventure filled with aliens and more twists and turns than a rollercoaster.

"Do you mind if I...?"

Rose shakes her head and moves to allow Andrew to sit in front of the system they're borrowing. It's a long while, and a few cups of coffee (courtesy of the very quiet Max) later, when they actually have something to work with. It's a message; repeated over and over are a series of words and numbers that strike a chord inside Rose. She knows she's never seen or heard them before, but they're familiar to her, they smell of home and danger in one breath and she doesn't know what to make of it. But one thing is for sure; she can't take her whole team with her.

She turns her head to look at Ianto, knowing that the man is watching her, and nods. Somehow, without words being spoken, he knows what she's saying; whatever she's doing, whatever happens, she'll take him with her. She's known him properly for about two months now, but feels more content and safe and at home with him than anyone else in this universe, even the ones she brought with her.

As Andrew tunes in the signal, the same eerie noise fills the room around them and they share a collective shudder. Rose takes a deep breath and slips her hand into Ianto's. Whatever it is, it feels closer now, feels as if it's looking over their shoulders and grinning menacingly, watching them and waiting...just waiting for the right moment to strike.

---

"That's a dog," Gwen says, a frown framing her wide eyes.

"Gwen Cooper, Jack Harkness, meet Jimmy, the dog faced boy."

The dog glares. "Very funny, Doctor."

"I try." The Doctor grins.

"Come here and say that again in biting range."

"Yeah, I'd rather not."

"Jack," Gwen says, tugging his arm, but not looking away from the scene in front of her. "The dog is talking."

"Gee, this one's smart," the dog says, rolling its eyes and Gwen's widen even further. "When'd you pick her up?"

"Twenty-first century."

"Ah, that explains it." Jimmy the dog nods. "Here, take a seat, sweet cakes, and have a coffee. You'll feel better."

"Right," Gwen says, taking a deep breath. "The dog's offering me coffee."

"Yes," Jack says smiling and leading her to a chair. "I think you should have some."

She nods and allows Jack to settle her into the chair to the left of the pug-faced dog and she grins nervously at it, trying to pretend that everything's normal. She deals with aliens on a daily basis, a talking dog shouldn't strike her as odd. But somehow it does.

"So, Doctor, what's up?"

The Doctor turns, hands in pockets, and glances from Jack to Gwen before turning back to Jimmy the dog. "Herra," he hisses and the dog lets out a high-pitched whine that has Gwen covering her ears.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you crazy?" Jimmy says with a growl. "You know better than that."

"Something's coming. It's hiding behind a Traxorian cage, letting out a signal - a calling card - and I want to know what it is and how to stop it."

"So," Jimmy says and his ears droop, as his eyes close. "It's getting stronger."

"Tell me what it is," the Doctor demands and the look in his eyes startles Gwen; she couldn't have pictured he'd ever hurt a fly before this. Now she'd believe he could do anything. There's something in his eyes and, if Jack hadn't filled her in on who he was - last of the Time Lords - what he'd been through, she might not understand it, knows she never really will, but she thinks she can understand the why of it at least. He'll not see another race destroyed, not if he can help it and there's something about that that makes her feel safe.

"Something not even you could comprehend," Jimmy says in a low voice that sends shivers down Gwen's spine. She feels Jack's hand tighten around hers briefly and flashes him a small smile.

"Oh, you'd be surprised what I can comprehend," the Doctor replies, stepping closer to the dog and placing his hands on the table, crouching almost to eye level with the creature. "I existed long before your kind left the hands of men. I was fighting for the survival of my entire race before yours even understood the concept. Now tell me what it is."

"You might be old, Doctor, but this? This is eternal. And you cannot stop it."

"Watch me."

---

Give anyone a chance to take control and you submit. Sometimes I think you like it. Easy life.

The first time Rose wakes up screaming, she shrugs it off and blames it on the cheese toastie and bottle of coke right before bed. Mickey doesn't look too sure and Ianto's gaze is almost screaming 'liar, liar, pants on fire'. But she fakes a smile and squeezes his hand quickly and he doesn't bring it up once the whole day.

The second time, she can't stop shaking, isn't sure she's not running a fever until Ianto pulls her into his arms and Mickey starts rubbing her hands, whispering 'cold as ice'. She can't quite put it into words, but she knows they want an explanation, knows they want her to tell them she's just having bad dreams and that it'll all blow over. But she can't tell them that and they wouldn't believe it anyway.

By the time it becomes a daily routine, Rose feels stretched and ill, as if her skin has been pulled taut over too much bone and muscle. She knows she's pale, knows she's lost some weight, and she can see Gwen and the others all looking at her worriedly. Without Ianto and Mickey on either side like guard dogs, she's pretty sure that Torchwood Cardiff would send her straight to the nearest A&E.

"Got something!"

Rose shakes her head and jumps at Andrew's voice. It's rather normal to hear that level of excitement from him now that he's no longer cooped up in his grey room underneath the streets of London, but in the silence preceding it and the echo following, Rose feels her nerves shake. She fakes another smile and steps up to him and Mhairi, trying to reassure the worry on their faces. Mhairi and Andrew have taken to spending their time together, Mickey joining them occasionally, and Rose isn't sure if the small woman has ever spoken a word to either of them, but she's less nervous and just as worried about Rose as the rest of her team.

It's almost enough to make Rose wish she could take them all with her.

"What's it say?" she asks, making sure not to let the inflection of her words betray the worry they mask. She's calm and collected. Well, she figures if she keeps telling herself that, it might be true.

"It's Traxorian."

"Huh," Ianto says, looking confused and bewildered. "Laura and Brian were right after all."

"Not really," Rose responds with a grin, shaking her head. "Not about the original signal. It's just pot luck they were right about this. Look, it's not even similar."

Ianto leans over her shoulder, his hand coming to rest on the small of her back in an almost protective manner that makes her heart catch. She's missed having friends, likes having people to love and care about again. She flashes him a small smile that she knows he sees in his peripheral vision and points to the screen. She takes the group through the phrasing, shows them the sounds and the words, almost as if the TARDIS were in her head guiding each moment. Even though her dreams are plaguing her, she feels as if there's something inside her getting even stronger, as if the TARDIS has reached into her head and unblocked a link Rose hadn't realised she'd ever had, let alone lost. She feels closer to the Doctor than she remembers feeling in a long time and that's enough for her, because the pain's still there, but it's changed. It isn't quite the same, because she remembers him and wants to be with him but doesn't feel like her life is over any more.

Even though it could be very quickly.

"So basically," Mickey says, raising an eyebrow. "It's the warning label."

"Like 'made in Taiwan, do not wash higher than forty degrees'?" Andrew asks, frowning, and the others chuckle.

"Somethin' like that." Rose smiles at him and takes a breath. "It says, 'Do not open, do not enter, evil marks the first, last and in between. Beware. Be warned. Eternal darkness. Herra."

When she says her last word, the air around them seems to shimmer. Mhairi gasps and Andrew jumps to his feet as they all pull weapons, turning, circling, searching, listening... There's nothing there, but Rose can almost feel the laughter coming from the dark settling into her bones.

"What is it?"

Rose is only slightly startled by the fact that Mhairi has finally spoken to her. She wishes her answer could be different.

"I don't know for sure," she whispers. "But I think it's done waiting."

---

"What was that?" Gwen turns in a full circle, her arms straight and holding her gun steady at shoulder height. Her eyes are wide as she turns to look at Jack and the Doctor. Neither have weapons, but they both look as spooked as she does and that doesn't help her lack of calm.

"It's loosening."

"What is?" Jack asks, as the Doctor takes off at a run.

They follow him down a series of corridors, twisting and turning inside the TARDIS until Gwen's sure every corridor looks the same as the one before. She's been wondering how big it is and now she's not sure she could possibly comprehend the answer, but thinking about it is better than thinking about the horrible sensation creeping its way into her bones.

"Jack! What's going on?"

"I have no idea."

"Oh, well, that makes me feel so much better!"

She's completely out of breath by the time the Doctor disappears into a room on the left and her momentum almost takes her right past it, but Jack's arm snakes out of the room and pulls her to a sudden stop. She rubs at her arm as he finally releases it and looks around the room he's pulled her into.

It feels like standing in outer space, that overwhelming sensation of insignificance creeping over her skin and sucking the breath from her lungs. She feels dizzy with the thought and can't seem to breathe properly. If it wasn't for Jack's strong grip on her waist, she's sure she'd be lost forever.

"There."

She turns to look for the Doctor, finds him moments later to her far left, pointing into the specks of light, as if he's managed to see something that she couldn't imagine she'd ever be able to distinguish herself.

"I see it," Jack says, his voice low and strange. She's never heard anything like this from him before and she's seen him go through a lot in their time together. He's like a solid, immovable object in time to her, as if she could look into the future and he'd be the one constant throughout time and space, but hearing him like this makes her wonder if maybe she's wrong.

"What?" she asks. "What is it? What can you see?"

"There's something breaking through reality," the Doctor answers, pulling out what looks like a pen with a blue light on the end. He fiddles with it a little and points it into the distance, and the blue light flashes for a moment. Nothing happens at first and Gwen's about to ask what he's doing when there's a rumble.

A sudden whining alarm sounds behind them and she swivels, is almost startled to see the doorway leading back into the TARDIS. It looks odd, set amongst the blackness of space, but she's grateful to be following the Doctor back through it. Jack's behind her as they set off in a run. Two turns and they're back in the control centre.

"What? How-"

"Don't ask, it's her way of helping," Jack supplies and rushes to the Doctor's side.

Gwen still finds it odd to think of the TARDIS as a sentient creature, but she knows the truth of it now. She'll help when she can.

"So what the hell was that all about?"

"Jimmy was right, it's breaking loose." The Doctor's hands are flying over buttons and levers and Jack seems to know how to fit right in next to him.

Feeling like a spare part, Gwen hangs back. "But he said the cage was meant to be eternal, it's meant to keep that thing inside it. Why is it failing now?"

"Everything ages, Gwen Cooper." The Doctor stops, looks right at her and suddenly she knows he's old and tired behind those bright eyes and that cheery attitude. "Everything."

She nods. "So the cage is getting worn. How do we fix it?"

The Doctor smiles grimly. "Fast."

---

We only got here by accident. We-- we fell through a crack in time. When we leave... I've got to close it. We can't ever return.

She wakes up trying to stop herself from screaming. Her hands clasp at her throat and her mind is quick to come to the conclusion that she's alone. No...not so alone. She turns to look at Ianto, slumped in the bed beside her, her ever faithful companion in this place.

Her breath calming, she finds herself watching him, leaning over him in his slumber, and tracing the contours of his face with her fingertips. She doesn't let herself touch him like this when he's awake, can't let herself get that close to anyone again. Somehow, he's managed to become everything to her anyway.

She wonders, sometimes, what it would be like if he were sleeping next to her, not as a friend concerned for her wellbeing, but as so much more...as everything she wants him to be. She wonders what it would be like to walk away from this life she's built; to turn her back on Torchwood and aliens and everything that goes with it. She'd pack up her things and slip her hand into his and they could go off and have their own kind of adventure, one that has nothing to do with the universe beyond an everyday life on Earth and everything to do with them. Because she knows there would be a 'them'. She's spent enough time wondering what it would be like to brush her lips against his, to let herself sink into just being with him and ignoring the little voice in her head that tells her so constantly that this world wasn't made for her and she doesn't fit in it, no matter how much she'd like to fall into his arms and just let herself keep falling.

On nights like this, she wonders if he'd catch her.

She pulls away and he twitches in his sleep, reaches into the space she had occupied. She feels her eyes filling with tears as she picks up her pillow and places it in his arms, lets him hold it the way she longs to be held herself. But she can't allow herself that pleasure. She knows now. Knows that she must do this alone.

She pulls up the quilt cover and slips out of bed, making sure not to let in enough cold air to awaken her friend. She's on 24-hour watch now and she knows that slipping past Ianto will only be the first step. It's lucky she's learned a few things.

She slips out of her pyjamas and into her jeans, pulling her hoodie over her head. It's no coincidence that she's dressed herself in the same outfit she was wearing when she got locked into this world. It only seems right that it be the last thing she wears here.

She picks up her backpack, putting in everything she'll need and, in a fit of sentimentality, she puts in the two framed pictures she has; one of her with her mother, brother and Pete and the other of her and Ianto, taken by Mickey before they left London. She wishes she had one of her Doctor. Maybe even one of her Captain. But for them she'll have to make do with her fading memories.

She takes one last look at Ianto, curled up in the centre of her bed, holding onto her pillow instead of her. She wishes she could say goodbye, wishes she could explain why she has to go alone, but she knows he wouldn't understand. This is her burden to bear. It's her fault this creature is breaking free and only she can stop it. She has to or everything will end.

Blinking back tears, she creeps to the window, unlocking it and lifting it slowly upwards. It doesn't make a sound and she lets out a breath of relief, slipping through it and taking a quick look down. She wishes she hadn't. The top floor hadn't been her idea, in fact she thinks the bottom would have been best, but the only two free rooms had been on the top floor and they'd had to make do.

Knowing the cooling room will soon wake Ianto, she pulls herself out onto the ledge, pushing down gently to shut the window as best she can. It doesn't go far and she can't waste time on it, she'll just have to be quick. She reaches for the pipe and takes a deep breath, hoping that it'll take her weight, because it really doesn't look all that safe. She takes hold with both hands and reaches out her foot, testing it with some of her weight and lets out a scream when something grabs her ankle. Just like her dream.

"For Christ's sake, Rose!"

His voice startles her and she looks down at him wide-eyed. His grip on her ankle is almost bruising and she takes a few breaths to steady her breathing.

"Let me go, Ianto."

"Are you out of your bloody mind?" he asks incredulously.

"Let me go."

"Don't be so stupid." And with strength she didn't even know he possessed, and is actually rather impressed with, he knocks her off balance and catches her, pulling her back into the room.

She's momentarily shaken and flustered. She shakes her head and takes a deep breath, turning on him, struggling to get down on her own two feet. "Let me go!"

"Be quiet."

His voice is quiet and steady and it has a hint of danger that she's never heard from him before. It startles her so much that she does what he tells her. He drops her onto a chair in the corner of the room and places his hands on either side of her, grasping onto the chair arms until his knuckles are white.

"Now you're going to tell me what the hell you think you were doing."

She glares at him and sits up straight. "Leaving, and you can't stop me."

"I believe I just did. Now, what the hell are you playing at?"

"I have to do this alone, Ianto," she says, her voice hard at first. She takes a breath and pleads with him. "You have to let me go. I can stop it."

"Then I'll help you."

"You can't," she says, placing her hands on his arms and looking right into his eyes. "You can't help. It's after me."

"Oh, you stupid idiot!" he cries, standing up suddenly, his hands clenched. "It's you it wants, so naturally the best idea is to offer yourself as a main course!"

"Hey! I know what I'm doing," she cries, standing up and poking his chest. "I've been out there, you haven't! It's after me and if you think I'm just going to sit about and wait for it to find me and then destroy the rest of the universe you've another think coming."

"Listen to me, you silly girl," he says, grasping her hips and almost lifting her up to his eyelevel. She braces her arms on his chest and finds herself held in place by the anger in his eyes. "If it is you that it wants then it stands to reason that getting hold of you is the only way it can escape and destroy everything else. If it doesn't get to you, then we might have a chance and you running out in the middle of the night shouting, 'here evil beastie, come and get me' is possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard. It is not getting you, do you understand me? It can't have you."

She glares, fighting off the part of her that wants to just burrow into his arms and hide and ignoring the part of her that's smarting from the fact that he's right. "And how are you going to stop it?"

"Simple," he says, letting her go suddenly. "I'm coming with you."

---

"Where are we?" Gwen asks and the Doctor looks at her, nodding when he sees that she already has her gun drawn.

"This looks familiar," Jack says, frowning. "We're in Cardiff?"

The Doctor nods. "Miles from the rift. We need to get back to that alley."

"Then why not take the TARDIS?" Gwen asks, finishing her sweep and, happy there's no threat, putting her gun away.

"Because that's what it wants."

"I don't understand."

"This way," Jack says, jogging down the street and they follow him, the Doctor matching her stride.

"The TARDIS is more than just a machine, it's more than just a sentient object," the Doctor explains. "It has the ability to navigate time, space, dimensions and so much more. When there were more of her, when the Time Lords thrived, we could and did do just about anything we wanted, but we always had to make sure that the fabric of the universe remained untouched and untainted. This creature, this evil, is trapped inside that fabric, sewn into the very existence of every living creature and everything in between. If it escapes, the tapestry unravels, chaos and evil will take over and there won't be anything we can do about it."

"So what does it want?"

The Doctor stops running, realising that they've lost Jack. He frowns and turns to Gwen. "The heart of the TARDIS. It needs to use it to break free. It needs something that has the power of different times and places; that's what it needs and that's the one thing that it can't have. I won't let it."

Gwen smiles and reaches out to squeeze his arm. "We won't let it."

"It'll be dangerous. You can still go back to the hub, still go back to your fiancé for a quiet night in. Have a glass of wine in front of the fire. Get some sleep."

"If you think I'll be getting any sleep until I know this thing's been stopped, you've a lot to learn about me yet, Doctor."

"Somehow I thought that might be your answer."

"Then it was a bit of a silly question then, wasn't it?"

The Doctor shrugs and smiles, rocking back on his feet. "Well, even Time Lords ask silly questions from time to time, keeps things interesting."

There's a revving sound and suddenly they're surrounded by bright light. Jumping back from the road, they both shield their eyes and blink into the car.

"Well, that was unnecessary," Gwen says, raising her eyebrows at Jack.

He grins boyishly at her from behind the driver's seat and winks. "What? A guy's gotta have a little fun." He inclines his head. "Come on, get in. We've a big, bad evil to stop."

---

The one thing that makes this planet so alive. People. Ordinary, stupid, brilliant people.

"This is a really bad idea."

"This was your idea!" Rose cries, smacking the back of his head and overtaking him.

"Well, it was a lot better than yours."

She glares, but doesn't turn to look at him, instead she continues through the sewers in silence. She knows that he's right, knows deep down that she might not (probably, definitely would not) have managed to beat it, but she would have made sure that she wasn't taken. She isn't sure she'll manage to do anything about that with Ianto there to stop her; she's ready to make the sacrifice, if she has to, but he might not be.

There's a rumble ahead of them, faint and unidentifiable, and they stop walking to listen. Ianto moves to stand beside her, holding his torch in one hand, the other settling gently on the small of her back.

"What's that?" he asks and she shakes her head.

"I don't know, but it's getting closer."

They start walking again, more cautiously than before, and can feel the ground beginning to tremble beneath them. Ianto's free hand reaches for his gun at the same time as Rose pulls out hers. Something tells her they'll be useless, but she feels a lot safer for it.

"So... any idea what we're looking for?" Ianto asks. "I mean, we've been tracking it for over a month now and since we arrived in Cardiff we've successfully managed to track it to...well, Cardiff."

Rose lets out a laugh, smiling at him. "I dunno. Kinda thought it'd come to me."

Ianto lets out a breath that's not quite a growl and closes his eyes for a moment. "Once again allow me to tell you that that was the stupidest plan I have ever heard of. If this thing is after you for your connection to that time machine of your Doctor's, then the last thing we need is for it to actually get hold of you."

"It's the only way."

"Stupid," he says again. Then, changing track before she can start an argument, asks, "Why does it need that link, do you suppose?"

"I think it's trapped. Somewhere between worlds. I think it's stuck in between dimensions, out of time and space."

Ianto nods. "So if it could get its hands on a machine that can navigate that void-"

"-it might be able to get free."

"This...thing, this link inside of you, it can do that?"

Rose glances at him and shakes her head. "I have no idea, but it can sense me, I think. Sense me in the same way that it could probably sense the TARDIS and that's what it needs, so I'm what it needs."

"If that power is still inside you, do you think you can use that to your advantage?"

Rose frowns. "I...never really thought about it. I suppose it's just...there and I got used to it. I couldn't use it much before, but lately...lately I can...do things."

"Like translate ancient alien text you've never seen before?"

"Yeah," Rose says with a wry smile. "Like that."

"Well then," Ianto says, stopping to look at her closely, "maybe what you need to do is-" and then he disappears.

---

"Why, exactly, are we in the sewers?" Gwen asks, shaking her shoe in disgust and not really keen to find out what exactly it is that's stuck to the bottom of it.

"Because the resonance is higher down here," the Doctor says, holding up the same device he had used the last time. "I think it's that way."

Following him down the left fork, Gwen glances back at Jack, receiving a wink and a smile for her troubles. Feeling somehow better for it, she takes a deep breath and keeps walking, holding her torch to the top of her gun with her left hand. There's something strange, almost as if they're not alone down here, but it doesn't feel like the same watchful gaze that's been haunting her nightmares of late.

"Does anyone else have a weird feeling?"

"Yeah," Jack answers immediately. "It's almost like..." he sniffs the air and frowns, as the Doctor and Gwen look at him strangely. "It's familiar. That smell, it's-"

"We're in a sewer, Jack."

"Not that smell," he says, moving to the side and reaching out to the wall. "It's..." he frowns and turns to look at them. "I don't understand."

"Well, I'm not surprised, you talking nonsense," the Doctor says, shaking his head. When Jack just looks at him, he rolls his eyes. "Okay, what can you smell?"

"Ianto."

Gwen looks at him dubiously. "You can smell Ianto? In the sewer?"

"Don't look at me like that, I know what I know and that smell is Ianto."

The Doctor looks amused and Gwen rolls her eyes again. "Let me call the hub and see-"

"No, I don't mean he's here, it's..." Jack shakes his head. "It doesn't matter, we need to keep looking."

"Okay." Gwen nods and reaches out to squeeze his hand, not saying anything when his gaze lingers on the space beside him for a little longer. When he's ready, they start walking again, guns at the ready and the Doctor and his strange device in the lead. "What is it we're looking for again?"

"We'll know it when we find it," the Doctor says, frowning and shaking the device until he's satisfied that it's working again.

"Well, that's all good and well," Gwen says with a slight huff in her voice. "But personally, I'd rather know before we find it, because knowing our track record we'll find it by falling into-"

"Falling into what?" the Doctor asks, but when he turns around there's no one to answer him.

---

The TARDIS draws its power off the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine.

Her voice echoes off the sewers in a frantic panic, his voice reeling around her and through her until she feels like she's going insane. She tries to catch her breath, logically knows that she's close to hyperventilating , but can't seem to stop herself.

She knew this was a bad idea, knew that it couldn't end well and she should have tried harder to make sure he stayed behind. He's the one thing in this damn alternate universe that actually means everything to her and she lost him; she walked him into a trap and she lost him.

"Calm down, Rose, calm down," she mutters, blinking her vision clear of the tears. She swipes at her eyes and sniffs loudly, taking one deep, calming breath and letting it out slowly. "Okay, okay, okay, you can do this. Back to the original plan. If you find it you'll find Ianto...right...okay."

Nodding once, as if to solidify the thought that she's okay, she pulls out her gun and torch again. She continues down the same path, ignoring the strange tingling sensation at the back of her neck. It doesn't feel evil, doesn't feel like there's anything to worry about, but she knows she's not alone. This place is creeping her out, she can sense things she knows aren't there, she can tell there's something different about it, something almost familiar.

There's a strange humming and the ground is still trembling under her feet. Rose continues slowly through the corridors and the feeling that she's being watched has changed. She knows it's there, waiting for her, laughing at her. It's playing with her and she knows it, but at least she does know it. She allows herself to take a little bit of confidence in that, although it doesn't offer much.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," she sings softly, almost wishing she hadn't when her voice continues to echo eerily around her. There's a dripping sound to her left and she almost yelps when a small rodent runs over her foot.

Sewers, she thinks in disgust, creepy evil things always have to choose sewers, or basements.

She rolls her shoulder back, trying to keep the tension at a controllable level and continues walking forward. The sounds dull around her and the feeling of being watched by unwelcome eyes returns. She can feel it, creeping down her back, stalking her and waiting for her to make the wrong move. But she won't. She won't turn back and she won't let it take her, not if she can help it. But first, she has to help Ianto.

The sewer bends and she follows the path, stopping unsurely at another fork. She stares at it, trying to get a sense of which one to go down. Ianto had taken hold of the equipment they were using to trace the signal so that she couldn't run off without him. It had seemed like such a sensible plan to him, she's sure, but at the moment she wishes he were here so she could throttle him.

"Come on, what way?" she mutters and, as if in answer, she senses it. That strange feeling she felt that day in the alley. Hope fills her and she lets it guide her, lets her gut feeling take over and follows it down the left fork.

---

The Doctor frowns, turning around to see if he can place the strange sensation filling him. It's something he's felt before, a sense of almost finding something he's lost; like having a word he can't remember on the tip of his tongue; he knows exactly what it is, but it won't quite take shape, won't form into what he knows.

He shakes it off and continues down the left fork, the machine in his hands telling him that he's getting closer, so much closer to this creature. He can feel it, the dread sinking into both his hearts and is pretty sure that, at this stage, he could get there without any help. Tucking the device inside his coat, he continues cautiously forward, trying to shake the feeling that he isn't alone. Oh, he knows that the creature, whatever it is, is watching him, but that's not the feeling he can't shake off, it's the other one, so familiar and close and yet unexplainable to him.

He takes a deep breath and rounds another corner, stopping to look carefully around him when it opens up into a large chamber. Above him, the ceiling suddenly disappears upwards and he can't quite define how large the room is with only the dull light of his torch.

He steps cautiously forward, freezing when the whisper of something drifts past his ear. It seems familiar, almost as if he knows the voice carrying it, a child's rhyme, a game. He shakes it off and walks further into the chamber. He knows there's something here, but it hasn't quite reached this world, almost as if it's lying in wait for something, waiting for him to just nip out and bring the TARDIS right here, like a meal delivery.

"Not gonna happen," he mutters, frowning. He senses no urgency in the air, senses nothing clawing at him. It's lying patiently in wait; sitting watching him with a smug air. The Doctor's frown deepens, there's something he hasn't thought of, something that the creature is bargaining on and he's missed it. The words he heard moments before echo around him again, faintly, taunting him.

"Come out, come out wherever you are."

They repeat over and over, a mere whisper in the air, but he knows he's being taunted, knows there's something he's missed and it's really beginning to make him angry.

"What are you after?" he growls softly, wandering around the room, his torch aimed at the ceiling. "Come on, what have I missed? Okay, you won't tell me, I'll figure it out for myself. If I was the ultimate evil and I needed the heart of the last TARDIS what would I do? There's only one, there's nothing to link to it but me-" He stops. Frowns. "Nothing to link to it but me," he repeats softly. "Nothing but me and..." His eyes widen at the realisation that this being is not just stuck out of time and space. It's stuck inside the very fabric of every universe there is. Suddenly everything makes sense; the words, the feeling and the TARDIS. His TARDIS trying to warn him. "No link to the TARDIS but me and Rose," he whispers and takes off back out of the sewers at a run.

---

Rose Tyler. Defender of the Earth.

She takes a deep breath, feels it shiver right the way through to her lungs. There's something in the darkness; she can feel it around her, watching and waiting for her to slip up, to walk right into its trap. She isn't entirely convinced she hasn't already done that, but there's no going back now.

She takes a look around the cavern, trying to hide the slight panic that came over her moments ago; that feeling as if something safe and strong and solid had been with her and then fled. She feels as if home ran right past her and never looked back. So she draws herself in and closes around that space that's been getting bigger ever since she got trapped here. Ianto filled most of it, but he's been taken from her, too, and that's a mistake she's going to make this thing pay for.

The chamber is large and empty, dark in all the right places if you're an evil creature hell bent on destruction. She knows it will happen here, the final stand, knows that the territory has already been chosen and it's just one more thing that she has no control over. She left Mickey and Andrew and Mhairi behind by choice, would have done the same to protect Ianto if she could have. She'll let it happen, will let everything come as it wants, but Rose isn't about to sit back and lose all over again.

A sudden chill down her spine has her swinging in arcs, her torch beam searching furiously into the endless shadows. A haunted, echoing laugh seems to want to torment her, taunt and tease her until she works herself into a panic. But she won't.

"You don't scare me," she says, no waver in her voice. She truly doesn't feel scared, not for herself, because she's already lost so much. But angry, she's certainly that. "You think you can just hide out there and laugh at me and I'll try to run? You think that if you scare me I'll make the chase more fun for you? Well, sorry, but that's not gonna happen."

There's a ripple in the air, as if something's tearing at it, clawing at her form behind an invisible curtain. She holds up her gun, knowing that it won't do any good against this phantom-like creature, but that's not really how she intends to use it.

She just has to hope that this thing won't work that out before she has her chance to end this.

---

"Come on, come on, come on!" He thumps one hand against the console, lets the other continue to flip switches and pull levers. He's never pushed her this hard before, never felt anything that really made him feel as if the worlds, as if the universe itself, were coming to an end. It's not just Rose, although the thought that this thing is going after her is enough to make his blood boil, but the knowledge that's been sinking into his bones; the knowledge that he has to stop this now, or it will destroy everything.

There's a beep and a strange light begins to flicker off to his left. He hurries over, tapping furiously at the keys in front of him and praying that this will work. He wasn't lying to Rose when he said he couldn't ever go back; not without tearing everything irreparably apart, but his 900 plus years of life have left him with the understanding that there are certain degrees of messing things up and this is nothing compared to what that thing will do if it gets out of its apparently endless cage.

Calculations finish, he closes his eyes briefly before looking upward into the green light. "Come on," he says softly, stroking a hand across the suddenly silent console. There's nothing more he can do but hope he'll make it through. "You can do it." He takes a deep breath and flips the final switch.

Nothing happens.

Frowning, he reaches forward to flip the switch back into place and then forward again. And again. He glances at the console, checks that everything is in place and the smacks himself on the head for being an idiot.

He kicks the panelling under the main controls and then crouches down to pull it aside. He reaches into the very heart of his TARDIS and, very carefully, brings his hand out. In the centre it lies; small, glowing with a pulse like a heartbeat. He can feel her now, sitting in his palm, as if he's touching eternity. He can feel his one constant companion filling him in a way that reminds him of kissing Rose, of almost losing everything, of rebirth and self discovery.

Filled with a surge of hope and a sense of grim determination, he stands and uses his free hand to open a small panel. He places it inside and closes the hatch. Then flips the final switch again.

The TARDIS jerks to one side then shudders, as if she's hit something solid. For a moment there's no movement and he begins to wonder if there's something else he's missed, something he hasn't thought of and suddenly it hits him.

He's not meant to be here, not meant to purposefully cause a tear he can't control. He feels the birth and death of time tearing through him, ripping into his head and his hearts. To a Time Lord, eternity isn't endless and whether it moves in circles or parallel lines, start to finish is never a simple path. He feels it reach inside him, feels every moment of every lifetime sink inside his hearts until he feels he can't breathe. Dimensions filter through in moments, lives take form and wither and pass until he can see and feel and hear everything and, inside it all, he reaches for her. He can see her shimmering in and out of his trajectory as if she's part of the TARDIS herself and he knows that, in some ways, she is. That's why this thing is after her in the first place. And once again he feels as if her life would have been so much better if he'd never taken hold of her hand. But he can't bring himself to regret a single moment. Instead he has to let her guide his path as he once did hers.

---

There's one tiny little gap in the Universe left, just about to close.

She shivers, takes a step back...and another and another, until she's backed up against a solid wall of steel. She has no idea where she is now; hidden under the streets of Cardiff, sure, but no idea where and no idea how to get out. But even if she did, she knows she can't run from this; it's her burden to bear.

It surrounds her now, she can feel it closing in slowly, taunting her with the inevitability of her capture. She wonders if it realises, wonders if it knows that she won't let it take her, wonders if it knows she won't let this thing inside her destroy the universe, by anyone's doing, even her own.

Taking a deep breath, she prepares herself, takes a moment to think about her mum and her brother, about Pete and Mickey (in her last moments she won't think of him as he is now, but how he was and what he once meant to her) and about Ianto. He stood by her, her only companion in this world and she failed him.

She doesn't let herself think about her Doctor.

Her fingers twitch on the trigger and she raises it, feeling the instant change in the atmosphere. The feeling of dread and fear surrounding her begins to move, restlessly, almost in excitement. She doesn't understand why, because surely it understands now, surely it can see what she intends.

A breeze picks up, begins to spin and whip around her in a frenzy, the fear closes in and shoots away from her, moving in an unrecognisable pattern that confuses her almost to the point of panic. She doesn't understand. The light from the torch she hadn't even realised she'd dropped begins to flicker, sending the chamber into a shadowed frenzy. She can feel something nipping at her skin. A smell, like burnt rubber overcomes her senses until she starts to cough. And a sound, an almost eerie whine begins to siren around her in a faint whisper. It tugs at her heart, as if she were listening to a loud, bass drum beating under a furious concerto. And it all continues to escalate. The light flashes and the smell makes her eyes water, but suddenly all she can focus on, all she can feel, is the sound.

It's familiar, so familiar that her heart almost breaks again, because surely she's dreaming, surely this isn't real. There's a flicker in the flashing light, a movement in the air that isn't wind, but almost a tear; a rip in time and space. She can't see through it, doesn't know where it leads, but she can feel it inside.

He's coming.

This time, he's really coming.

She smiles.

And suddenly she's staring into the barrel of her own gun.

---

The TARDIS jerks abruptly to a halt, throwing him head over feet and almost face first into the door. If he wasn't so worried about what he'd just done, about what he might be walking into, he'd have been grateful for once not to have a companion to witness the event.

Not stopping to think that he might not have landed in the right place, he pulls open the door and enters the darkened chamber, closing the door right behind him. The room is utterly silent and so still it's unnatural. There are no rodents scuttering away in the corner, no smell, or sight, or sound that lets him know where he might be.

And that's how he knows he's exactly where he's meant to be.

"Come on then," he says, his voice harsh in the stillness. His eyes narrow and he turns slowly in a circle, an almost-smile playing at his lips. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he whispers, his voice lilting musically as he echoes Rose's whisper from another world. This world. And he knows now that it was her. Knows without a doubt that she's here. Knows without a doubt that she's...

He turns sharply, his eyes widening for a split second, before filling with fury. Jaw tight, he takes a deep breath and doesn't react any further to Rose or the gun pointed at her head from the shadows around her.

"You've been in your cage for a long time," he says, his voice almost a growl. "So I'll give you a chance to let her go. Because that was your second mistake."

Laughter echoes around him and his eyes narrow further.

"That was your third," he continues. "Because I'm angry and you don't want to laugh at me when I'm angry. Because that'll make me really angry. Now let her go."

The air whips around Rose for a moment, then stills. The Doctor continues to look directly at her, her defiant jaw tipped to upwards and her eyes set, but he once again addresses the shadows from which she's almost hidden.

"I'm going to assume that cage has rusted your hearing. Or maybe you're getting on a bit. I said let her go."

There's another gust of wind; a challenge.

And the gun at Rose's head is cocked.

"Oh, now that was mistake number four. Right there." His voice is steady, but satisfied as he reaches into his pocket and holds up his TARDIS key. "This is what you really want. Isn't it?"

There's movement now. An eager sort of fluttering in the shadows around her. He doesn't move his gaze, his eyes as intent on hers now as they were the minute he first turned around.

"Come on then," he says, waving the key back and forth tauntingly. Rose's eyes follow the movement, she hasn't spoken and he has to assume that ability has been taken from her, because she's not the quiet type. And that just makes him more angry.

"Come and get it," he says, grinning madly now. "Take it."

And it does.

The shadows surround him, flicker and slash at his skin and focus on his hand, spinning and spinning until a ball, almost like a tiny black hole, has formed around his clasped fingers. Rose drops to the floor, the gun next to her, and the noise she makes tells him that all attention is exactly where he wants it. An exclamation echoes through the sewers to his left and he assumes that Jack and Gwen are right where he left them.

He grins and leans forward, his lips mere inches from the blackness tearing at his fingers. "You forgot to ask what mistake number one was," he says, "because, really, that was the biggest one of all."

He spins around, launching the key, and with it the creature, into the rip behind the TARDIS. He turns to face a confused-looking Rose and nods as he all but throws himself on top of her.

"Duck."

There's an explosion of light that he can see behind his eyelids and a noise that leaves his ears ringing. Shaking his head, he pulls back and blinks, turning to look at the faint ripple that's left.

"Amazing what you can do with a bit of anti-matter and a little bit of TARDIS."

"Anti-matter?"

He turns to face her, grinning. "Sounded good, didn't it?" He wiggles his eyebrows at her as a wide grin breaks out on her face.

"Yeah," she says softly, her voice catching in her throat. "Does a bit." And then she's in his arms.

He wonders if maybe he should hold her at arms length, just in case he has to lose her again. But she's there in his arms and he figures the universe owes him this much.

So he holds on tight.

---

And I suppose... if it's one last chance to say it...

The noise echoes around her, tumbles into the breath she's sure she can still hear rattling through her throat, and yet she can't stop smiling. Ianto is standing in the far corner, watching them all with a wary eye; he doesn't seem to trust Jack and, well, seeing two Gwens in one place is understandably weird. But mostly she figures he's just watching her and trying to be subtle about it. It's a nice feeling, even if she senses a distance between them that hadn't been there before.

They're in an alley not far from Torchwood, Cardiff, and the cavalry had arrived expectedly late, surrounding the TARDIS door when they'd all exited. Everything had been silent and tense for about two minutes before Mickey had let out a whooping laugh and moved forward to greet the Doctor with such exuberance that even the Doctor was a little confused.

She'd left him to the explanation and had, instead, let her mind drift to her current predicament. She'd greeted Jack with tears of joy and a hug she thought might have crushed ribs – although she still isn't sure whose – and she hadn't wanted to let go of Ianto from the minute he walked into the chamber, his gun aimed at Jack's head from behind.

It had been a bit of an unexpected scene, she hadn't really wanted to take her eyes off the Doctor, but with Gwen – Jack's version – pleading with Ianto and Jack smirking and flirting with him, her friend had been understandably confused. Even after she'd managed to convince Ianto to lower his weapon, to explain who Jack was and who her Doctor was, things had been a little tense. Ianto's eyes had gone blank to her, something that had hurt, more so for the fact that it had taken her completely by surprise. She's used to being able to read him now, he's a part of her, and, even though he'd stood by her side in the TARDIS and even though he's watching over her now, she feels like he isn't really there.

All in all, it hadn't been the reunion she'd been expecting. She hadn't really expected to ever get a reunion with any of them. The words ringing through her head were, once again, 'you're not meant to be here'. Only this time they held a different meaning. And for once she was glad to ignore it.

Her Doctor had saved her again. He was with her and he was real. That was all that really mattered.

She watches the two Gwens continue to question each other warily, as Jack looks on, far too amused for the liking of either one. Rose smiles as he says something, smirking and wiggling his eyebrows and it's easy to tell from their reactions (one with an eye roll and a smirk, the other wide eyes and a litany of unpleasantness) which Gwen belongs to this world.

Rose senses the Doctor moving closer to her and takes a deep breath as the universe seems to right itself. "So, what was it?" she asks softly, still watching the scene in front of her, not letting herself turn to him and throw herself into his arms again.

"Terror," he says, tucking his hands into his pockets and resisting the urge to reach out to her. "It was every fear, every nightmare that any being has ever had. It was built up of energy from throughout the ages and it grew until the cage it was held in couldn't stretch any further. The Traxorians are a particularly fearful race, very jumpy, scared of their own shadows. It fed on their world like a banquet for so long that they could barely stand getting up in the morning. Eventually some of them decided enough was enough and they took a stand, caught it, boxed it in and trapped it in the ether between dimensions, where if couldn't harm anyone."

"But we tore through it, didn't we?" Her brow furrows as she takes in the realisation that it was their fault. "When the TARDIS first came through and then when Mickey and the others came back to help us, we were weakening the cage, weren't we."

He nods and lets out a breath. Not really thinking about it, he takes his hand out of his pocket and slips it into hers, not entirely prepared for the surge of belonging the act sends through him. She's right where he belongs, he thinks, but glancing at her new companion, watching silently from the corner, he's not so sure she thinks the same anymore.

"So," he says, finally turning to face her for the first time since they exited the TARDIS. It's not just a word he's said; it's a question and she knows it. He's just not convinced he's ready to hear the answer. Maybe it was easier when she hadn't had the choice to leave him. It usually was. Maybe he should let her walk away and lead a full life here with her new friends. But he's still got that selfish streak and the question's there all the same.

She smiles at him, but as she opens her mouth to reply, Tosh is gibbering about weevils and Gwen (the one that belongs here) is warily saying her goodbyes and bundling her team off on the hunt. It doesn't take much to convince Andrew and Mhairi to head back to the hub with Tosh and Max. And then it's just her standing there with Mickey, because when he hugs her and holds on tight, everything else fades away and she's back in that first moment she ever kissed him, because he still smells the same, no matter what name he goes by now.

"You take care, yeah?" he whispers and she nods, unable to stop her tears.

"You too, yeah? Get married and have a bunch of kids and make sure you visit me mum. And you tell that brother of mine that I love him and I'll miss him."

"Count on it."

And then he's walking away from her. She almost wishes he could stay, let her be the one to leave, but she figures it's his turn and he's done with watching her walk out of his life. She can't say she blames him. He's right and he'll always be her Mickey.

"So," Jack says and she turns to him, swiping at her cheeks. Jack wags his eyebrows and leers at her in that familiar way that has her laughing in seconds. "You ready?"

She knows her smile falters when his does. She glances at Ianto and feels like her heart might just be breaking all over again. She can't do this, can't choose.

Gwen clears her throat and Rose jumps. It's strange to be faced with a woman she spoke to that morning about her upcoming wedding and yet know that the person in front of her had never met her ten minutes ago. She figures she should be used to strange by now.

"I'm just going to go hide in the TARDIS, yeah?" she says and Rose laughs. Gwen turns to look at Ianto and waves, smiling when the man straightens his back and looks like he'd rather aim his gun at her than exchange pleasantries. "Weird," she mutters and nods farewell to Rose. She squeezes Jack's arm as she passes him and the look he sends her makes Rose wonder just how much of Jack's life she's missed.

She'd seen in his amused expression down in the sewers, with Ianto pointing a gun at his head, that there must be a Ianto in Jack's life as well, one that means a great deal to him. She knows how to read Jack, for the most part, and she's missed that. And then there's Gwen, someone who seems to have slotted in perfectly by his side. She feels a twinge at the thought that he might not look at her like that ever again, might never fit by his side. Not if she stays.

She turns to Ianto, smiling and beckoning him to join them.

"He can't come with us, Rose," the Doctor says softly and, although she already knew that he would say those words, she shakes her head, eyes filling with tears.

"No, 'course he can come."

"Rose," Jack says and she's still shaking her head at them both. "Ianto exists in our universe. Very much so."

"You really do know me then," Ianto's voice cuts through their conversation. "I can see it in your eyes."

Jack grins saucily and nods. "Yes, Ianto. I know you."

"Oi! Hands off." Rose chokes on her words, even though they're meant to lighten the mood. Jack leans forward and pulls her into a tight hug, almost doesn't let go. She's almost drowning in his arms when he pulls back and kisses her soundly on the forehead.

"I can't make this decision for you, Rose. But you should know that I love you." He then winks at her, smiling that smile, and saunters back to the TARDIS. He turns back and looks at her sadly just before he leaves her.