Disclaimer:Doctor Who belongs to the BBC, not me. I'm just playing.

Notes: Many thanks to my lovely Brit-picking beta, Belphoebe. She's making sure my language is in line, but I warned her I wasn't learning a whole new set of spelling and punctuation rules, for my own sanity's sake. So all those Z's are my fault, not hers!

The Tide of Times

Chapter 1

For the third time, Rose Tyler circulated the outer edges of the ballroom – trying to appear casual, but the guards posted at the doors were starting to look at her funny.

Understandable, since it was their faces she had been unobtrusively (she hoped) searching, looking for a woman named Ace, whose photograph Mickey had shown her. But so far Rose had had no luck, and she was ready to give it up.

The guards were mostly male, of course, but it was the way they stood at the doors, in their respectable suits and discreet earpieces, nodding politely to guests, that had surprised Rose. But this was a reception for the hoi-polloi, and pseudo-military garb and barking orders would have been out of place, she realized now – only it was different from what she had anticipated, based on her past experience with the host of this affair: Henry Van Statten.

Or rather, her past experience with his other self, the version of Van Statten in her own universe. This one was new to her.

Her mission for Mickey notwithstanding, Van Statten was Rose's true target, an assignment from Torchwood that had brought her – along with her father – to this expo of cutting-edge technology and to this side event hosted by Van Statten, who was, here as in Rose's universe, a leading businessman in the field.

When Rose had first come to work for Torchwood, about three years ago now, her superiors had thoroughly questioned her on her experiences with the Doctor, to assess all possible alien threats. In the course of telling them about her history with the Daleks, Van Statten's name had caused them to snap to attention. Their own Van Statten was a thorn in Torchwood's side, a constant competitor for alien salvage, for one. He had also been on the wrong side of the Cybermen conflict, perfectly happy to publicize Cybus Industries as a client of Geocomtex until it became impolitic to do so. With the death of John Lumic and the eventual defeat of his Cybermen, Van Statten was in the process of rehabilitating his company's image, and touting for new big-name clients.

That was where Torchwood came in. Rose and Pete Tyler were not in Salt Lake City to investigate Van Statten: They were here to negotiate with him. Rose was chosen because of her personal knowledge of some version of the man; Pete because the society of wealthy business was his element – and Van Statten would be far more likely to accept Pete as a deal-maker than he would a twenty-something, low-level employee of the British government.

Mickey had been less than happy with the company Rose would be keeping. "The Preachers knew Van Statten was collaborating with Cybus. That's why we got one of our own in. I remembered you talking about him once – sometimes I did pay attention to you and him prattling on about all your adventures. When I heard Van Statten was here too, I knew we should look into him. So Ace got in, and sure enough, Van Statten's up to no good."

But Ace – "one of our own" who had met Mickey and Jake in Paris and had joined the fight against the Cybermen – had gone silent. For a time, she had sent them reports of her observations or suspicions, gathered at her job on Van Statten's security force on the same Utah base Rose had once visited. Then, nothing, no word.

"As long as you're going, see if you can find her?" Mickey asked.

He had shown Rose a photo of a woman in her mid-thirties, with brown hair, a broad face and a sweet smile that made her look younger than her years. "Don't let that fool you," Jake laughed. "She's tough."

This evening, Rose had searched the rare female guards' faces – and their name badges for the surname "McShane." But whatever had become of Ace, it did not involve getting out of the underground desert base to a fancy ballroom in Salt Lake City. No travel on her job.

Rose paused in her search for Ace to scan the room for her dad – and spotted him, finally in Van Statten's orbit, after much socializing with hangers-on.

Time for the real business to begin.

She was halfway across the room when she collided with someone, narrowly avoiding spilling her drink on herself, sloshing most of it on the floor – and some on the stranger's shoes.

"Sorry, so sorry!" Rose exclaimed, grabbing a napkin off a table to offer the middle-aged man.

"No, it was my fault, wasn't looking where I was going …" The man didn't sound contrite, merely preoccupied and annoyed. He snatched the proffered napkin out of her hand before he had even looked at Rose's face, and bent down to wipe his shoes, straightened, dropping the napkin on the table, and said with indifferent manners, "Thank you—"

As he looked at Rose for the first time, that second word came out slightly startled, and his annoyance had vanished, replaced by … something Rose couldn't quite pin down. Intense. Not hostile, but far from friendly.

But his next words, as he recovered composure, were pleasant enough. "I was looking for someone and wasn't watching where I was going. Sorry about your drink, but at least Henry Van Statten is paying for it. Would you like another?"

Rose grinned. "With Van Statten picking up the tab?" The man responded with his own smile, a small, condescending one that stopped Rose short, chilling her natural friendliness. "Thanks," she said, "but I was looking for someone too, and…"

"Really? Whom?"

She shouldn't have said that. She wasn't officially looking for anyone. "My dad," she answered. It was true right at this very moment anyway. She pointed over in Pete's direction. "There he is, with Van Statten himself."

The man craned his neck over the crowd, and murmured, "Pete Tyler. I didn't know he was here."

"You know him?"

"Well, in England, who doesn't? 'Trust me on this' – isn't that how it goes?"

They shared an awkward chuckle. Rose could not pinpoint what was provoking a sudden uneasiness, but it could well have been the man's laugh, which seemed not quite real – not faked, but the shadow of what a laugh could be.

But almost as soon as she felt unnerved, she laughed at herself, shook it off, and went on the offensive. A smile that private deserved a little prying.

"So, who were you looking for when you ploughed into me? Maybe I can help."

"I doubt it," he said. Rose was disappointed to see him unperturbed. "I was hoping to see a colleague of mine. She must have decided to stay at home. I think your father is waiting for you." He nodded in Pete's direction, and walked off.

Rose couldn't resist making a face at his back before putting her professional demeanor back on and joining her father.

Van Statten, with an anxious assistant hovering in the background and a blonde hanging onto his arm and his every word, was the same man, Rose could tell right away.

"She's with you?" he said, looking Rose over but speaking to Pete as if she were no more comprehending than a pet. "Nice."

The woman on his arm shifted, grasping that arm subtly tighter with an almost imperceptible lip curl at Rose.

Pete said, "She's my daughter."

This did not seem to mollify the blonde, and Rose made no attempt to hide her amusement. Yeah right, she thought, like you've got such a prize.

Oblivious or indifferent to his date, Van Statten kept up the leer for a few calculated seconds. Just as Pete opened his mouth to restart the conversation, Van Statten refocused on him as if Rose had never arrived.

"So," he said, "one of Lumic's most public yes-men. How'd you get out of his pocket unscathed?"

"I didn't."

"Oh yeah – I heard about your wife's birthday party," Van Statten said, with no trace of compassion. "Your first wife, that is. But that's not what I meant. I meant unscathed in the public eye. And in the eyes of the law."

"He was never in Lumic's pocket," Rose declared.

"And you got a new wife," Van Statten said. "With a feisty little step-daughter. Not too bad."

Rose went on: "He was only in with Lumic to bring him down. Which he did. He's a hero. Can you say as much?"

"A hero! Is she your PR rep, Tyler? She's good at it."

"She may oversell my role a bit. It was hard not to dirty your hands when Lumic was involved."

"Especially when you were bought out by him." Van Statten was enjoying himself too much to be gracious about that opening for confession Pete had given him. "That's the difference" – at last Van Statten spoke to Rose directly – "between me and your father. I was never under Lumic's thumb. I've always been in charge of my own destiny."

Rose scoffed, forgetting her role, but Pete was there to put it back on track: "Still, you must have lost some business opportunities when Cybus Industries came crashing down around us, eh? We're left to pick up the pieces, make sure that life goes on, that people get the services they expect."

"I'm getting by just fine. I've got plenty of projects that have nothing to do with Cybus Industries."

"It's a shame, though, when you get things underway, projects established…"

"And your client gets himself killed trying to take over the world."

"Exactly. Better to do business with more stable entities."

"Like government contracts?"

"Or related agencies," Pete noted.

Van Statten had the same clenched-teeth smile. "Do you know of any shopping around?"

"We might," Rose answered.

"So you two are the ambassadors. Torchwood, right?" He was so sure of it he didn't wait for confirmation. "Can't say I'm surprised – but you're not the only ones who have approached me. Tell you what – what are your plans for the weekend? You ever been to the Utah desert? It's not much to see, but maybe you English might like a break from the rain and gloom. My lead scientist is English – she likes it there. Well, she likes the state-of-the-art laboratory I set up for her on the base."

Rose guessed such an invitation had never been extended to the blonde, who glowered as Rose said, "Heard there are all kinds of interesting things to see there."

"You have no idea. So why don't you and your dad come along and find out?"

It was settled. Van Statten snapped his fingers at the assistant who had been hovering in the background, and he came scurrying over. "Pete and Rose Tyler – they're going to be visiting the base for a few days. Make the arrangements." Van Statten took his disgruntled date and moved on to other guests. It was clear the Tylers' time with him tonight was done.

The logistics were easily worked out. They would be leaving in the morning on Van Statten's personal zeppelin. And with their mission, if not accomplished, at least put in motion, Rose was now itching to leave, out of the posh ballroom filled with people trying to impress each other, back to the hotel room to pack.

"You go on," Pete said. "I'll stay here a while longer, for appearance's sake."

On her way out, Rose made one more sweep, on the lookout for Mickey's friend. She was not surprised to come up empty-handed again, but she was unsettled to see, off by himself, the man who had bumped into her earlier, now watching her. Her eyes met his, and he realized he had been caught. But he was unabashed, and even raised his glass to her, with his faint echo of a smile.

The best course was to ignore him, Rose decided. She turned away and left him to enjoy his drink alone.