Author's Notes:

With a rather interesting season four looming in the distance, I felt compelled to start getting the actual reunion story in this world out, which is why it's being posted as a WIP, something I never do and am really, really nervous about. But I think it's fun, and I hope everyone reading it thinks so too. :) As always, prior knowledge of the sonnets stories is a good idea (found through my profile). Rating on the story is currently set at all ages, however this may go up in the future. Huge, huge thanks to galadriella1 for her smashing beta job and britpicking on the fic, and to paiger1218 for her eyes on this fic as well. Thanks for reading!

Another note: This story diverges from S4 canon after 'The Unicorn and the Wasp'. It'll become plainly clear why... ;)

Mysterious Ways

Prologue:

"If you walk away, walk away,

walk away, walk away

I will follow."

- I Will Follow, U2

The little girl sits down smack in the middle of the path with no care for the rotting pieces of corn getting on her pink skirt. "Rose, stop, please!" Gemma cries, smashing her fists on the ground.

Rose stops and turns to face her sister, staring down at the girl with sudden tears dripping down her face. It isn't the best location (they're in the middle of a corn maze somewhere in Southeastern Massachusetts, and the weather's just a bit cold and the corn doesn't exactly smell the greatest) for a breakdown, but she's used to dealing with things as they come along by now. "What is it, Gem?" she asks, crouching down in front of her.

"I'm tired," she whimpers. "I wanna go home."

Rose freezes. This is so not what she had expected to hear. Her mind whips through the possibilities, not sure what she should do. "Are-are you sure?" she asks. She still has the gate key and the key to their old mansion, so it'd be possible to get back there…she thinks. But she would then want to come back to her home universe, and that is the hitch. She isn't sure that trip can be done twice.

Gemma looks up at Rose, tears glistening like ice shards in her eyes. "No. I want Mum and Dad back. But they can't come back, can they?"

"No, love, they can't," Rose says, pulling her into a hug. "No one can come back from the dead; it's against the rules of nature." A tiny little voice that pops up in her head occasionally butts in with a thought, saying that in rare and special occasions, sometimes they do come back, but it takes a strong person to deal with the harsh consequences of coming back. Someday she'll figure out where that voice is coming from, that voice that calls out to her from somewhere in the universe, but there are more important things to worry about today.

"I'm tired," Gemma sighs, snuggling into Rose. "Travelling's fun and all, but I miss having my own bed. I miss having a house that's all ours and not have to share a loo with whatever stranger's got the room down the hall."

"All right." And while Rose knows she'd love to keep travelling and not stop until she's found just what she wants – it's not just about her anymore. That was part of being an adult, she supposed, doing what you had to do to make others happy even if it doesn't make you so. "We'll stop."

And so they stop.