The Bits In Between

Chapter One: Don't Dream Too Big

By Lumendea

AN: This story will hold the introspections and missing scenes of the Guardians of the Universe Series. These have been rattling around in my head for a while so I'm finally writing them out and organizing them. There were a lot of ideas that just didn't have a place in the episode based story. Hope you enjoy. There will be multiples of some characters.

Consider this my Christmas special to all of you. This takes place after Daughter of the World in Child of Earth.

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Jacqueline Andrea Suzette Tyler née Prentice was a realistic and practical woman. Her parents had raised her to be. Her father Simon had been a factory worker. Nothing fancy, but it paid the bills and her mum helped look after other kids for a little extra money on the side. They'd worked for years until their bodies started to give out. As a little girl her father had cautioned her against dreaming too big, not wanting her heart to be broken too cruelly by the world. He'd dreamed once of going to university and being a doctor, but had lacked the connections to make it happen. That life isn't for us, he'd told her over and over until she understood.

Peter Tyler had been her rebellion against that idea. Pete wasn't realistic at all. His eyes gleamed with hopes, plans and dreams regardless of anything anyone said to him. Her father hadn't been impressed with him, but her pregnancy had sealed the matter for her mother. At the time she'd been half convinced that they'd never work out, but had been grateful he wanted to help support their child. At least he was a good sort and she hoped they'd have stayed together despite the baby. Then he'd been hit by the driver and his dreams had died right along with the few she'd begun to allow herself.

So Jackie had done what she'd been raised to do. She focused on what they needed and tried to keep an eye on Rose around her various jobs. There'd been blokes of course. Some that the practical part of her suggested might make a good step-father for Rose, but mostly they were just there to keep the loneliness at bay. There were occasional fantasies like winning the lottery or finding someone she could love again, but she never hung her hopes on them. Her mum died when Rose was only seven from lung cancer and Jackie banned her father from smoking cigars around Rose.

As time went on being a single mum became harder and harder. Her father had been concerned about Rose, worried that she was too wild for her own good. She was a curious and brave child, always doing what she shouldn't and unwilling to have anyone tell her otherwise. Jackie knew she should have been firmer, but there was too much of Pete in her eyes after she had a little adventure. Then Dad had died and Jackie was left completely alone in raising Rose except for cousin Mo and she wasn't any help at all. Thank God for Bev, she'd needed a good mate.

There'd been the men of course. Some of them she regretted, but she was getting older and was a single mum. She wasn't going to do any better, but she never let them touch Rose. Not ever. Patrick had looked a little too long at her fifteen year old daughter and gotten the boot despite how much help he gave her financially. Things had been harder for awhile after that, but she knew her first job.

In all those years Rose never stopped being curious. When one of her blokes came to fix the dryer when she was nine Rose lingered in the doorway to watch the various parts be exposed. She enjoyed watching bits of education programs whenever Jackie or her hair clients didn't insist on their shows and always saw a little too much of what was going on around the estate. Jackie didn't mind having a clever girl, but wished it was more focused. Then when Rose was eleven there was the series of disappearances. It was her little girl who led all the others out, a real hero and she'd done her best to protect Rose in the aftermath.

But it changed something in Rose. The general curiosity that she'd always had became focused on science. She wanted to understand how it all worked and Jackie quickly was at a loss about Rose's books and homework. Her daughter took on more babysitting jobs, always giving her half of what she earned to help out, and poured the rest into books. Not makeup or clothes like other girls, but used textbooks and the occasional art supplies. Jackie was proud of course. She'd raised a responsible girl who didn't ask for anything expensive and the little bit extra Rose gave her made everything a little easier. She even made a point of saving up some of the money to get Rose a nice set of oil paints which she only regretted a little when they stank up the whole estate.

Then Rose won that contest to see the Mona Lisa. It had turned into another weird day and that Museum man Harding had tried to buy Rose's painting. Jackie had agreed, but Rose had refused and glared at him until he left. She'd been less happy with Rose then and they'd had a tiff over it, but in the end Jackie gave in. As stubborn as she was, a part of her already knew that Rose would be much worse and for some reason that painting mattered. She'd allowed herself to hope that it might led to something: more awards with money or maybe some sort of special school. Rose only ever entered one other piece which did win first prize and got 500 quid which replaced the microwave and their winter coats. Jackie knew she'd only done it for her.

Rose took on a real part time job, this time with computers. She helped a few people around the estate, but Jackie was always quick to point out they should pay her at least a little. It hadn't made her popular, but her parties always helped soothe the ruffled feathers. She wasn't sorry, Rose was proving that she could actually move up in the world and not just by marriage.

Horath Academy hadn't been a dream come true exactly, but it had been the sort of hope that flickered across her mind on rare occasions. She was worried about letting Rose go, but all that talk about Cambridge or some other really good school was suddenly looking possible. Rose spent a summer in a special art program, but came home quiet and tired. Looking back she should have asked more questions, but she'd been working and had honestly given up trying to understand half the things her daughter now knew and chattered on about.

It went sideways in the end with a fire at the school making the place close. Part of her was grateful to have Rose home. It had been too quiet without her and Mike had been a terrible mistake to make during that period. At least Rose never knew about that trip to the hospital after Bev found her. Rose was home and working on her exams, still shooting for Cambridge and Jackie held her tongue.

She'd had to bite back warnings to Rose about getting her hopes up. They may talk about accepting students with good marks to places like Cambridge, but that didn't mean they'd really take an estate girl. Then the letter came and her Rose was accepted for a special concurrent program. They'd wanted her that badly, her girl. Her father's words hadn't been necessary, but they still echoed in her mind.

What she'd always known and what her father had told her just didn't seem to apply to her Rose. There was too much of Pete in her. She was clever, bright and charismatic with everyone she met just adoring her. It was hard seeing Pete so much in Rose. He was dead and buried before Rose could even remember and yet Rose was more him than her. Sometimes that hurt, sometimes it felt like a rejection or being haunted, but she never let Rose know that. She might not have been the best mum in the world, but she made sure Rose knew that she loved her.

In truth it was a surprise when Rose was accepted to Cambridge even if a tiny part of her resented it a little. What was a real shock was the money that Wallace had left Rose, Sharon and Shireen. His will said he'd been impressed by them, but she'd wondered if they'd been something else that she'd missed. There always was with Rose, this odd sense that she only knew half of the story.

Then Rose went off to university after buying her a bloody house in London. There were solicitors and a monthly allowance for everything she needed. Her daughter moved out to a flat of her own and Jackie invited old Battle Axe Rita-Anne to live with her to escape the quiet. She was proud, but sad at the same time. She thought she could at least help by keeping an eye on Rose's accounts and making sure that the solicitors were honest, but that just added to the questions.

It didn't add up. She knew money thank you very much. For years she'd been barely making it by while raising Rose on her own and there was extra money. Large deposits of a few thousand pounds every once and while that she couldn't explain. There were so many theories that rang through her head when she couldn't find out where the money came from. Rose was at Cambridge and didn't seem to be working part time anymore. Her daughter bought her a house and there was an allowance for money. She didn't need the part time job at Gita's but it let her feel like she was still useful. Not even forty yet and already being cared for by her baby girl.

Still she hated her suspicions about where Rose was getting the money. Even she to her shame had considered prostitution once. She knew others at the estate who'd done it to put food on the table or keep their flat. It'd been really cold that winter and Rose had been wearing her coat inside and eating nothing but beans on toast for two weeks. Thankfully Dad had given them his cigar money before it went that far, but she'd thought about it.

Rose's success sometimes made her feel like an utter failure. She didn't see herself anywhere in the story, not really. Rose's drive came from Pete and her interest in science came from somewhere else. Her independence thanks to the money came from some man that Jackie had only spoken with once and had doubts about. Jackie worried about the secrets. What kind of mother would she have been if she didn't? She wondered if there was bloke that Rose was ashamed to have her meet. Some posh fit lad from an estate and heir to a title that had snatched up her little girl. What if Rose actually believed he'd make someone like her a lady and was keeping some distance between them?

Then Rose's accent changed. It wasn't slow or gradual. Rose visited with a cockney accent and then came back with a strange blend of RP and cockney that made her sound like one of those upper middle class kids she sometimes heard at the shopping centers. Even that part of herself that she could see in Rose was gone. Gita laughed it off, saying that Rose was just absorbing the accent at Cambridge, but it still stung. Rose's style changed from her more casual jeans and t-shirts to jeans with fitted blouses or vests. It was subtle and she felt like she was the only one seeing any of it. Thankfully the t-shirts did still appear from time to time.

Aliens had been the last thing she'd ever considered. It didn't fit her realistic world view. She lived in the early 21st century London, not some bad science fiction show, but it explained everything. All the changes, the money, the confidence and why she looked up at the stars like she did. It explained everything and she felt more stupid than ever. Somehow in all of those years she'd managed to miss the most important thing to ever happen to her daughter. What sort of mother was she?

Then children had started chanting those terrifying words and everything had gone crazy. UNIT had all but locked her up with Rose's friends and no one had any word for her. Just as quickly she'd been returned home, warned that men would be keeping an eye on the place and Rose had come home a few hours later. Jackie hadn't even known she was there while watching the Prime Minister's speech.

Rose had smiled at the message. She'd looked beautiful, her brown eyes almost glowing with flecks of gold catching the light and small injuries highlighting the battle won. Jackie had never been much for adventure stories, but she figured her daughter was a hero straight out of one then. The Prime Minister talked about dismissing children because of where they came from and acknowledged that a debt was owed to one of the children that some would have handed over. Pride surged in her chest. Maybe she hadn't helped Rose become this person, but at least she'd never told her the words of her father had told her.