Universal Constants

post 'doomsday'; Rose, Sarah Jane, Doctor/Rose and Doctor/SJS inferred.

Spoilers for: 'Doomsday', 'School Reunion', 'Age of Steel.'

As always, enjoy, read, and review.

Rose Tyler could not get those words out of her head.

There's no reason for it, she told herself firmly.

She had a dad now, didn't she? And her parents were together. Even Mickey was around, just like he used to be. He'd even promised to try and get her a job in this universe's version of Torchwood.

Rose had looked at her one-time boyfriend doubtfully. The Doctor had said, off-handedly as he often said such things, that Torchwood had been set up by Queen Victoria to guard the then British Empire against alien might. Including his.

Privately, Rose thought this was a piece of colossal cheek on the long-dead queen's part. However, since Victoria was safely buried at Frogmore beside her beloved Albert, Rose doubted she'd ever get to tell her so.

Unless, somehow, she hooked up with the Doctor again.

Which was impossible. He'd said so.

He's done the impossible before, she told herself, but as the days went by and then the weeks, the reminder became increasingly half-hearted.

Rose Tyler was beginning, after a fashion, to accept her fate- new universe, new dad, new family…

…but still some small rebellious part of herself longed for the old.

And the words spoken by Sarah Jane Smith that day in the TARDIS reverberated endlessly in her mind. Find me.

So one morning Rose woke up and decided to do precisely that. She typed in the name 'Sarah Jane Smith' into her mobile, and hit the 'OK' button.

The result made her blink. Then stare. Then blink again.

According to her old Samsung D500, Sarah Jane Smith was head of the Cardiff branch of Torchwood.

It's a parallel universe after all, Rose reminded herself. The same, but different.

A shudder rippled down her spine. What could have happened to this universe's Sarah Jane to make her join an organisation such as Torchwood? It was not something Rose could imagine her Sarah Jane doing.

In a flash of curiosity and bravado- and desperate loneliness- she decided to find out.

So one day Rose insisted that Mickey get her to the Cardiff branch. He'd protested, but agreed. Mickey had never said 'no' to her when it really mattered. Rose found a moment to wonder how he'd managed, but only a moment.

Rose gulped as she finally found herself in the subterranean warren of rooms that formed Cardiff's Torchwood. So different from the London version she remembered. Almost furtive.

The place was a hive of subdued but disorganised activity. More informal too, Rose noted, than the Canary Wharf Torchwood. It took her several moments to spot the leather clad form of Sarah Jane Smith, talking busily to a young woman of Asian origin, her hands moving with the flowing cadences of her voice.

Rose swallowed her nerves and marched firmly up to Sarah Jane, her TARDIS key prominent about her neck.

The Asian girl's voice trailed off as she spotted Rose. In response, Sarah Jane turned.

Rose shifted as she met the older woman's calm gaze.

"Uh. Hi," she managed at last, hoping- needing- to see a flash of recognition in the blue eyes facing hers.

"Who are you?" Sarah Jane demanded.

Rose blinked back the sudden tears of disappointment. "I-um-I was told you're looking for new staff," she blurted out at last, idiotically. Mickey was trying to pull strings with the London crowd, not this lot.

Sarah Jane's perfectly groomed brows rose slightly. "I see. And what-" her eyes swept over Rose- "makes you think you're qualified?"

Rose straightened slightly, her firm jaw going up another notch. "I've travelled through time and space," she began defiantly. "I've seen things you wouldn't believe-"

Sarah Jane gave her a gentle, tolerant smile. "I'm sure you have, or think you have, but that's hardly what-"

"Daleks!" Rose interrupted firmly, hurriedly. "Cybermen. Sonic screwdrivers. Paralell universes! The Last Human Being- she called herself Cassandra! Werewolves. A Time Lord-"

"What did you say?" Sarah demanded, almost as if she couldn't believe her ears.

"I travelled with a Time Lord. The last Time Lord in my universe-" Rose's voice faltered a little, but she forced herself on, forced herself to look this almost hostile version of Sarah Jane Smith in the eye. "Once or twice he called himself John Smith."

"I once knew a man who sometimes went by that name," Sarah said softly. "In another universe and a lifetime ago, or so it seems-"

"Did he leave you or did you leave him?" Rose asked in equal softness.

"I left him," Sarah responded almost mechanically, her eyes not seeing Rose at all. She looked suddenly old, a lifetime of regret settling on her face, and showing in the slump of her shoulders. "I told him I was tired of being cold, and tired and hypnotised- and all I wanted was a bath- and why am I telling you all this?"

"I had to leave him too," Rose told her simply. Then, oddly, she found herself saying to this Sarah Jane what her Sarah Jane- the one she'd met at the school- had told her: "I don't regret it. There are some things worth getting your heart broken for."

For the first time Sarah Jane smiled at her. Properly.

Rose felt a surge of sudden relief and joy. Perhaps, after all…

"Well, if you've seen all that, then there's no question of your suitability for Torchwood," Sarah told her briskly, the emotion of a moment ago gone already, except for the glistening of her eyes. "If you want the job, that is-"

"I want it," Rose interjected. "But- can I ask you something?" She made an effort to speak clearly, to sound like a girl who'd seen the universe, and not some little kid from a run-down estate.

Sarah Jane nodded her permission.

"Why are you here? Why Torchwood?"

Sarah shrugged a little. "Why do you think? I was hoping to find him again. To say sorry for leaving him. To ask him if he wanted me to come back. Like you say, there are some things worth getting your heart broken for.."

"Again," Rose added.

Sarah nodded gently. "Yes. Again."

-end.