Arrival - part 1

Obviously, I don't own Doctor Who or anything in the Doctor Who universe, but I appreciate the inspiration that I've gotten over the years from the various writers – original and modern.

This story picks up at the end of the "Journey's End" episode and pretty much took on a life of its own – I wrote over 90 pages in less than 2 weeks on top of studying for my engineering degree. The complete story is novel length, so there will be plenty of chapters. Currently, I'm working on another couple of novels that follow this one.

Reviews are welcome, invited, and appreciated.

The tide is out on an isolated beach. Large basaltic rocks dot the sand in no discernable pattern but become more frequent as a bluff is approached. The day is hazy, quiet except for the sound of the water as it laps against the sand.

A large blue box sits on the beach. It is made of wood and has a light on the top. One of the panels that make up the box is a set of doors, with a smaller door inset into it on one side. There is a sign on the door. Above the door there is a lighted panel that says 'Police Public Call Box'.

It obviously does not belong there.

Standing on the beach are five people, three women and two men. One woman has dark red hair; the other two are blond and obviously related, with one being young while the other is older. The men are identical to each other, having unruly brown hair with sideburns and a slim build, but one is dressed in brown while the other is in blue. It is the only way to tell them apart.

The young blond woman is standing between the two men as they face each other. She wants to know what he meant to say the last time she stood on that beach – on the worst day of her life.

She is looking at the man in the brown suit, waiting for an answer.

He swallows. "I said 'Rose Tyler'…"

"Yeah and how was that sentence going to end?"

He knows what she wants him to say, but he also needs her to stay with his other self. He looks at her, his brown eyes sad, knowing that he is causing her pain when he doesn't respond the way she wants him to and regretting it. "Does it need saying?" he says as he slightly shakes his head.

She stares at him, disbelieving, then turns to the other man, the one in the blue suit. "And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?"

Understanding what his original wants, he places his hand gently on her arm, placing his lips near her ear. "I love you," he whispers.

This is what she has wanted to hear him say for years, what she has longed for, she thinks as she grabs his lapels and kisses him soundly, forgetting for a moment that there are two Doctors.

The original walks away from them, his hands characteristically in his pockets and not looking back as he enters the Tardis, leading Donna back to the ship. He can't bear to watch. He wanted to be the one to tell her. 'It's for the best,' he thinks as he swallows the lump in his throat, 'she can be happy with him.' His hearts are breaking, but it's for the best. He regrets that he has never told her how he feels. He knows that he should have told her long ago; now he'll never have the chance. Even with Donna present, he has never felt as lonely as he does right now.

As Donna enters the Tardis she looks back at them sadly and then closes the door. She knows what the Doctor is feeling right now, with all of his regrets and longing, as a result of becoming the Doctor-Donna.

Rose looks toward the Tardis as she hears it leave, and even takes a few steps toward it. The Doctor left with her takes her hand as they look at each other soberly.

With the Tardis gone, Jackie gets on the phone to let her husband, Pete, know where they need to be picked up at. As Rose and the Doctor walk over to her, Jackie tells Pete that there are three to be picked up at Bad Wolf Bay and extracts an approximate time. She then gives the phone to Rose so she can explain what is needed for the Doctor.

While Rose is on the phone with her father, Jackie steps aside and asks the Doctor three questions, "Can you explain to me why there are two of you in simple terms? I don't need a complete technical explanation. I just want to understand.

"Exactly how old are you? You never have told me that. ...And neither has Rose. I know you're older than her, but how much? You looked to be 40 or 45 when we first met. You look younger now, but if you can change like you do, how many times has that happened? And how old are you really?

"And what are your intentions toward my daughter? I know you've said that it's not a sexual relationship, but... "

Considering his response, he turns away a moment, walking a few paces as he puts his hands in his pockets, so much like his other self; he then looks back at her owlishly. As he considers how to answer her, he walks back to her a bit at a time. Taking his hands out of his pockets as he scratches his head, he looks up at the sky and then at Rose, muttering, "Oh, how do I do this!"

Finally settling on an answer that Jackie may understand, he says, "I'll answer how old I am first. I am 903 years old if you are counting from the day I was born on Gallifrey. As far as this regeneration is concerned, only a few years, and less than a day for this body. I don't really think about it. Among Timelords, age does not have any real meaning in the same way that it does for humans. As for how many times I've regenerated - I've regenerated nine times. This is the tenth ...me."

Warming to his explanations, he continues, "As for a non-technical explanation of what happened and how I came to exist, I lost my hand during the fight with the Sycorax... You did know that I lost my hand in that swordfight and grew a new one?" He looks at Jackie and sees her nod. "Well, Captain Jack retrieved it, and I took it back once I found out. …Well, the Master took it; …then I took it back when I took back my Tardis. When Rose caught up with me," he smiles as he remembers his reaction, "I ran to meet her. I couldn't quite believe that she was there. We didn't notice the Dalek until it was too late. He shot me. I was dying – which means that I started to regenerate. I used enough of the energy to heal myself and, instead of completing the regeneration; I sent the extra energy to my spare hand. There wasn't enough physiological information for the regeneration to continue at that time, so the energy patterned this body after Donna's when she touched the hand, making me part human in form. I've got all of my original's memories and feelings. What is different is that I have only one heart. I can't regenerate, while my original can. I will live my life and eventually die of old age, barring an accident. The nearest comparison I can think of would be identical twins or clones, except our memories are identical as well up to the time I started to regenerate."

He starts to pace a bit as he considers the last question. Looking sidelong at Jackie, he replies, as he gradually turns again to face her. "As for Rose ...I love her. ...However, she is also a very dear friend. I will not risk that friendship… Ever… Right now, she is confused. She loves me, but she also loves my original. - And, yes, she loves me - well, my original - in that way. - I've got to give her time to sort that out. If that means that she can only be my friend, then so be it. I want her to be happy. I believe that is why I was left here – to give Rose a chance for the joy she deserves.

"I don't have to be afraid to tell her I love her, knowing that I will outlive her by at least hundreds of years. He is. He is afraid of the pain of losing the love of his life to the normal process of aging and eventually dying.

"In the past, I've left my companions while they were still young and vibrant. I've wanted to remember them at their best instead of watching them wither and die.

"Rose, however, is different and has been for a while. I was prepared to spend the rest of her life with her. She had made her choice when she came back for me not once, but twice. I finally realized just how much she cared for me. I knew then just how deep her love is. It's only grown stronger while we were parted. I didn't get the chance, then, to tell her how I felt. I've regretted that I didn't tell her when I had the chance when I sent her that projection. I'm glad that I finally told her how I feel. My other self, well..."

Joining the Doctor and Jackie as he is finishing his explanation, Rose says as she gives the phone back to her mother, "Here's your phone, Mum. We'll be met at the airport in Bergen."

"I told dad that you are going to need identification," she continues as she turns her attention to the Doctor. "I told him that you sometimes go by the name 'John Smith' when he asked your name. He said that his government contacts will be able to arrange papers." Quietly, she adds, "He thinks I don't know about his UNIT contacts, but they're the only ones that can arrange things that quickly."

They are all start speaking quietly about the day's events as they wait for their ride to reach them. When Rose goes off on her own to sit on a rock a few minutes into the conversation, Jackie starts to follow. Noticing Rose's mood, the Doctor holds Jackie back, telling her as he places a hand on her arm, "Please, let her think…. She's confused and needs to sort things out."

Exasperated, Jackie replies, "I know she's confused! I'm still confused, too, what with there being two of you and all. And I don't care how well you explain it; it's still going to take some getting used to!"

Resignedly, he sighs and says, "I know. She needs time to sort it all out, that's all. We can go over in a bit." Glancing at Rose from time to time, he continues his conversation with her mother.

Sitting on the rock with her arms wrapped around her knees with her chin on them, Rose tries to think her way through what has happened, ...to understand why.

'He's gone again,' Rose thinks. After she has fought so long and hard to return to him, finding herself back in the parallel universe again is unsettling to say the least. Not only that, he has left her with his duplicate. She is not sure how that can be, but is willing to accept their explanation for now as they seem to be exact copies of each other. They look the same, sound the same, even think the same, but this one is not her Doctor, the one that left with Donna is.

She does not fully understand what happened when he regenerated – and she truly wants to understand. Oh, she knows that he sent the regeneration energy that he did not need into his 'spare' hand, she saw it happen. It's what happened with the hand that she is having trouble with. Donna called it a 'two-way biological metacrisis' while they were on the Dalek Crucible, the end result being two identical Doctors, one with only one heart, but everything else the same as the original. It's confusing her. She loves both men the same – they are the same man after all – but they are separate now too. She can't love one without loving the other and that makes her feel that she is betraying the one that left – the one she fell in love with.

She knows, in her heart, that both men are the Doctor, she can feel it. They both speak the same way, they look the same, they have the same memories, and they have the same mannerisms. She also knows that somehow Donna has become a copy of the Doctor, but that she is still physically human. She suspects that that should not have happened. She knows that merging with the time vortex in the Tardis nearly killed her when she couldn't release the energies involved and that having a Timelord consciousness contained within a human brain may have similar repercussions. This would mean that the Doctor, her Doctor, will soon be alone again.

She is so involved in her own thoughts that she does not notice when a car arrives later to pick them up. She is lost in her own world; upset that her original Doctor has gone back to their home universe. However, she feels as if she is betraying the original if she allows herself to love the doppelganger that has been left with her. She has tears in her eyes, for the sorrow she feels at her Doctor's upcoming loss. She wishes that, somehow, she could have been split in two also. Then she wouldn't feel so guilty.

"I'll get her," the Doctor quietly tells Jackie. "I don't think she has even noticed the car. You go ahead and get in." He takes her arm, guiding her to the car and then starting toward Rose.

"Rose," he says as he approaches her, touching her arm to get her attention. "Rose, the car is here. We've got to go."

She doesn't respond, still lost in her own thoughts. Noticing her preoccupation and her tears, the Doctor pulls out a handkerchief and gently wipes the tears from her eyes. It gives him an excuse to touch her face to contact her mind, "Rose… Rose, we must go."

She looks at him, seeing the world for the first time in a while. "Why?"

The question is so loaded with multiple meanings that the Doctor doesn't reply to it at first; instead he concentrates on getting her to getting into the car so that they can leave. "You were so deep in your own thoughts… We can talk about it later. We need to get into the car. They're waiting for us and your mother is worried about you." He guides her to the car, helping her into it before he gets in the other side. As he sits on the other side, the Doctor notices that Rose is still preoccupied with what is bothering her. Turning to him, she puts her head on his shoulder, quietly crying. He holds her close, thankful that she trusts him as much as she does. Through touch, he senses that she is distressed as well as exhausted and makes a telepathic suggestion to her to sleep. She slowly relaxes into sleep with her head on his shoulder.

Jackie turns to look back at them once they are underway and sees Rose sleeping. "Good," she says, "she needs the sleep." The Doctor looks at Jackie in curiosity. He is still holding Rose close and lovingly. He is content as he has not been since he lost her. Seeing that she has his attention, she continues to explain. "She's been at work for the past three days, not even coming home to sleep. She came home only a few times in the weeks before that. I worry about her when she does that. She gets so absorbed in her work that she doesn't eat or sleep right." By the end of Jackie's comments, the Doctor is not sure whether it's an explanation or a complaint. As an afterthought, Jackie adds, "She was working on getting something working on the dimension cannon so she could to get to you so you could help with the darkness. The stars were going out."

"She got it working," he quietly replies.

Picking back up on the complaint, she adds, "I know! And then, instead of coming home to get some sleep, she went to help you! I almost didn't find out in time. Mickey told me that she was jumping from dimension to dimension. At first to do something with Donna, I think her name is.

"I wish I knew what was going through her head. We could have sent others to help. She didn't have to risk herself. But she's never been happy here. I don't think she meant to come back!"

The Doctor chooses not to comment on her complaint, but instead tries to side track her, saying, "She'll sleep until we get into Bergen. Why don't you rest as well, it's been a long day and it's not over yet." He leans back in the seat of the car and closes his eyes, taking his own advice.

They are passing through a residential section of a city when the Doctor opens his eyes again. The houses are colorful and well kept, nestled in valleys that make their way in towards the fjord. Gradually, they approach the main route to the airport, skirting it as they approach the military access.

Waking Rose, the Doctor asks, "Feel better?"

"A little."

As the car stops, the driver turns to them. "We've got a couple of hours until your transport arrives," he says. "Why don't you get something to eat while you're waiting? There's a decent restaurant in the airport, or there are a couple of very good cafés in the area. Your choice of course."

"Where would you recommend?" the Doctor asks.

"The café right across the street. They have good food and good prices."

"Rose, Jackie? I'll let you decide."

Looking at Rose, Jackie asks, "Across the street?"

Shrugging indifferently, Rose nods, "Alright."

As they enter the café and sit down, the driver says in accented English, "I was told to make sure you're comfortable and to help you any way I can." As they look at the menu, he adds, "I can translate if you need help."

Seeing that the menu is in Norwegian, Jackie says, "I just want something simple… Say – a soup and a sandwich?" Looking at their driver, she says, "Just tell them that I want soup and a sandwich."

"Very good," the driver responds. Turning to the waitress, he gives her Jackie's order. As the waitress turns to Rose and the Doctor, the driver asks, "Would you like some help ordering?"

"Rose?" the Doctor asks after he gives his order to the waitress. She looks up from the menu and proceeds to order, not realizing that she is reading and speaking Norwegian to do so. The Doctor makes a mental note to ask her about it later. Jackie doesn't comment as she knows that Rose has been working with engineers and scientists from other countries and assumes that she has merely picked up some of the language. She hasn't noticed everything that the Doctor just has.

Once they are en route back to London, Jake comes out of the control room and greets them.

"Hi, Jake," says Rose as she sees him. "I suppose they want to debrief us?"

Smiling as he replies, they start down the corridor, "You guessed it. They figured, why wait? Especially since they know it worked. The stars are back… This way please." He continues to make small talk as they continue. "The zeppelin was already on its way here, so Mr. Tyler decided you'd all be more comfortable on it instead of on a UNIT transport. UNIT decided to take advantage also, meeting us here. So, if you'll come this way we'll get started. There's a conference room just ahead."

As they enter the conference room, they see a table having three chairs on each side and one on each end. They see three UNIT officers sitting at the table along the far side. There are refreshments as well on a small side table. A red-headed woman, not in uniform, is sitting on one end. There is recording media in evidence only because they will need it for future reference. Jake sits down at the other end of the table.

The commanding officer introduces himself and his associates, "I am Colonel Stewart; beside me are Lieutenant Brown and Captain Patterson. I believe you know Jake and Dr. Andrews." Rose nods.

"Are you, by any chance, related to Brigadier Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart?" the Doctor asks as he reaches across to shake his hand, noticing the resemblance between the two men.

"My father's uncle. You know him?"

"Yes… but I didn't look like this. I'm the Doctor, by the way. Hello Jake. Good to meet you Dr. Andrews. …Psychologist?" When Dr. Andrews nods, the Doctor adds, "What would you like to know?" He indicates to the ladies that they should have a seat, helping them to sit.

The colonel starts speaking as he turns to Jackie. "We'll start with you, Mrs. Tyler, as we suspect that you were less involved than your daughter and the Doctor." Turning to the other two, he adds, "You two will need longer. If you would like to rest until we are ready for you, you are welcome to use the lounge." He indicates a door to the next room.

The Doctor replies as he sits down in the center chair between Rose and her mother, "We'll wait."

"Very well," replies Stewart, nodding. Taking a breath, he asks, "Mrs. Tyler, can you tell us your involvement in today's events?"

"I only went so I could find my daughter," Jackie says. "I went with Mickey. We killed a couple of Daleks when we got there – they look like big pepper pots. I think they might be robots of some sort, but the Doctor says that there are aliens inside of them. Then I met Sarah Jane Smith. We surrendered to the Daleks when we saw them take the Tardis. They would have killed us straight off if we hadn't. My daughter was on board their ship and I wanted to get to where my daughter was, so we surrendered.

"They took us to a laboratory on their ship along with some other people. Mickey and Sarah Jane got away and hid while I helped someone…they used the distraction. I couldn't blame them. The Daleks started their test just as my link to the dimension cannon finished recharging. I used it to join them. The people just turned into dust and vanished. It was awful.

"Then, Captain Jack ...I think that's what they called him, found us there, where we were hiding. Sarah Jane had something called a… a warp star, I think… on a chain. He wired it into the ship. Then he called the Daleks, to give them a choice… They weren't happy about what Jack did, though!

"So, then the Daleks transported us to where the Doctor was. After that, it got a bit confusing, what with there being two Doctors and all.

"I'm still confused about that and I had him explain it to me while we were waiting. That's all really. We were prisoners. Then everything started to happen at once."

"Thank you, Mrs. Tyler. If you wish, you can relax in the lounge while we interview your daughter and the Doctor," Stewart responds. "Would you like anything to eat? Or would you like to get some sleep? It'll be the wee hours of the morning when we get to London. You are welcome to go home as soon as we arrive. We'll contact you if we have any further questions."

"That would be nice."

"Jake, could you escort Mrs. Tyler to the lounge and make her comfortable for the trip?" Jake nods. "Thank you. We'll wait for you to get back before we start."

When Jake returns a few minutes later, the colonel turns back to the others, continuing, "Now Doctor, Miss Tyler, please tell us, in your own words, what happened. Take as much time as you need. We have access to the Torchwood records, so you won't need to go into the engineering and science behind the event. The entire world is thankful that the stars are back.

"Miss Tyler…"

Shaking her head in frustration, Rose says as she looks at them again, "Please… just call me Rose."

"Very well then, Rose… Your logs are remarkably complete, as if you wanted a record for everyone if something happened."

"I wasn't planning to come back. I was planning to stay with the Doctor…."

The Doctor nods to himself, steepling his hands in front of his face, confirming what he has been putting together about Rose's actions. Turning toward Rose, he reaches to take her hand. Once he has her attention, he says quietly to her as he gently squeezes it, "I've complicated matters, haven't I?" She closes her eyes in response, but does not reply.

Turning back to the Colonel, the Doctor continues, "Oh well, back to the question of what happened." Turning back to Rose, he says, "Rose, your part in all of this started before mine. Do you want to start? Or do you want your logs to speak for you? What happened before you got back to me?"

"Okay, I'll start." She nods as she goes on to explain the basics of her work with the dimension cannon. How at first she could only send an image into her original dimension. As the breakdown continued, she was able to transcend the space between dimensions. This is when everything started happening too fast to include in her logs. The new portion of the report starts as she describes some of what she did to correct Donna's time line as she realized that she was important to correcting the situation along with the Doctor. She gives a concise, clinical description of the events, careful to avoid mention of certain things, allowing them to assume what they wish to, while giving them the bare minimum of information about correcting Donna's timeline, as she feels that they do not need to know all of the details. Eventually she reaches the point where she was able to fully transport into her original dimension, finally catching up with the Doctor.

As the interview continues, the Doctor starts to realize just how much Rose has been the driving force behind getting to him and just how much she has grown. He realizes that she has acted as he would have, faced with the same situation. He also realizes that she is not telling them everything, not mentioning 'Bad Wolf' appearing all over the Tardis and every sign on the planet where he and Donna were or the fact that she did not use her name in the alternate reality or that she had to have jumped from dimension to dimension to find him, as well as other small details that while downplayed here, played an important part in the decisions she made and the success of what she did. She also does not mention anything about jumping between times in Donna's alternate reality or in her own, original reality.

The Doctor's portion of the report starts here, picking up with the receipt of the warning. Careful not to mention 'Bad Wolf' or other things that she obviously feels that they have no need to know, he explains that he had reached the Earth to check on the information he had received in her warning. Taking her cue, he also gives a very clinical description of the events he was part of.

They report what happened as fully as they can of the later events, often giving differing points of view of what happened based on the portion of the events they were involved in. Questions are asked and answered. The entire process takes the rest of the trip back to London as well as several hours once they get to London. They are asked to stay at UNIT headquarters until later in the morning in case there are additional urgent questions. They consent when they find that Jackie was sent home as soon as they arrived in London.

They are shown to quarters where they can rest while the interview is reviewed. There are a couple of bunks in the room, a table, some chairs, and a sofa; all military issue. There is a bathroom attached. They notice that there is surveillance in the room as they open the door.

As they enter the room Rose sits on the sofa. She is exhausted. Everything is starting to catch up to her. She is holding it together, but just barely. She has been running on adrenalin for days. What she was hoping for, for the future, has not happened and she is having trouble getting past the fact that the Doctor, her original Doctor, has left her back in the parallel world with his duplicate. While she can accept that they are one and the same, she regrets not being with the original, having planned to stay with him. She understands what he is trying to do, but she feels like she is betraying her original Doctor if she admits that her feelings are the same for both. Tears well in her eyes, a combination of her fatigue and confusion, as she considers the events of the past few days.

The Doctor takes a blanket off of a bunk. Coming over to Rose, he lifts her feet onto the sofa and tucks her in with the blanket and then sits, facing her, on the edge of the sofa beside her. She looks at him in confusion as he smoothes her brow. He says, "Rose, you need to get some sleep if you can. I know you would rather be on the Tardis with him, but neither of us has that option… at least until we can grow one." Smiling, he pulls a piece of Tardis that the original Doctor gave him out of his pocket and shows it to her, hiding it from the surveillance cameras in the room.

"He gave you a piece?" she asks quietly as she looks at him in disbelief.

"For us…" he says with a smile. "He said that this universe needs us. We just have to speed up the growth cycle." Putting the piece back in his pocket, he places his other hand on her cheek, tenderly caressing it with a finger. She continues to look at him, realizing that he is trying to help her to accept the situation.

"I'll use one of the bunks and get some rest myself, but you need to get some rest too. We can talk later, out from under prying eyes." He continues to quietly comfort her, mentally suggesting that she sleep until they are needed again.

Once she is asleep, he follows his own advice and gets some rest as well.

Later that morning there is a knock at the door. The Doctor gets up and answers it, "Hello Jake."

Entering, Jake says, "I know it's only been a couple of hours, but they've got a few more questions for the both of you." Seeing Rose asleep on the sofa, he adds, "I'm glad she's been able to get some sleep, she's been driving herself harder than anyone else. She could probably use a couple of weeks off after what she's been through.

"I wish I didn't have to wake her up."

"You won't have to, I'll wake her," the Doctor says as he bends to touch her brow. "Rose," he says, as he gently shakes her, projecting a wakeup call into her mind, "Rose, we've got to get up. They have some more questions for us."

"I only just…" She looks around, confused a bit as she wakes.

Seeing her confusion, the Doctor adds, "You needed the sleep."

"There's coffee and doughnuts in the conference room," Jake tells them. "I'll wait here while you freshen up. I'm supposed to escort you there to make sure you don't get lost."

After freshening up, they return to the conference room and are invited to sit down. Colonel Stewart asks them if they would like something to eat or drink. They accept, sitting down once they have coffee.

Colonel Stewart states, "Your report was remarkably complete. We only have a couple of additional questions for you. Our first question is: How can there be two of you, Doctor? I'm assuming your Tardis is with your original."

The Doctor answers as he nods, "My original shunted the extra regeneration energy into his spare hand. There was…"

"Spare hand?"

"That's another long story and it is not relevant to the present. Suffice it to say, the extra regeneration energy used my spare hand to create me. I doubt that you would understand any more than that.

"Next question?" he says, indicating that he is not going to answer anything else concerning the issue.

"You have referenced a 'Time War' in reference to the Daleks…."

Nodding, he replies, becoming angry about the Daleks as he continues, "The Last Great Time War. We – my people – fought the Daleks for the survival of reality. My home was destroyed, but we took the Daleks with us. At least we thought we did. They seem to find ways to come back… They always seem to find a way back."

Regaining control, he continues, "I've had several encounters with them since the war. Most of those encounters have also involved Rose."

Dismissing them, Colonel Stewart says, "That's all for now then. We'll contact you at Torchwood if there are any other questions. Thank you for your information.

"Doctor, I have the documents requested by Torchwood for you. There is also an allowance for you to get yourself established.

"Jake will take both of you back to Torchwood or to the Tyler estate. It's your choice.

"Thank you, again, both of you. If we have any further questions, we will contact you."

Getting up from the table, they leave with Jake, picking up the papers as they go.

"So," Jake says conversationally, "where do you want to go?"

Without thinking about it, Rose answers, "Torchwood. I can pick up my car there."

Jake winces as he hears this and asks, "Are you sure? Your mum's waiting for you."

Noticing the look on Jake's face, she adds, "She's always waiting for me. She's not happy about me not coming home most of the past week and I really don't want to go straight home right now or to deal with her… especially when I told her not to come."

Jake continues to look at her in frustration, replying, "But…"

"Look, I'll give her a call. You'll be off the hook." Looking at the Doctor as she starts leaving, she asks, "Doctor?" They leave UNIT headquarters with Jake.

The Doctor shakes his head as he follows her, wondering what is going on between Rose and her mother.