"So, DI Hardy only told me briefly why you wanted to see me. May I call you Rose?"
"Yeah. I was there when he called you and I do need help but I'm not sure even you will have any answers for me. I was taken to hospital after collapsing during a break at a meeting I was attending and when I woke up, I saw white walls and it was freezing cold, I wasn't even aware at first someone else was there. So, when I realised someone else was there who was in the same state as I was, I said a few things."
"Such as?" Paul wanted to know. "I was told it was something to do with you thinking you were waiting for your name to be called? What made you think it wouldn't?"
Rose turned towards Alec.
"You can trust him Rose."
"I told him I wouldn't be called because I don't belong here."
"When you say here?" Paul questioned her. "Very little is known about your past Rose, it was all kept under wraps. I looked you up, since it seemed rather important you wanted to see me but I have to ask, why are you here in Broadchurch? There are higher ranking church officials you could go to."
"After we realised we'd just been left in a recovery room on our own and got moved, well I did, he went home," Rose smiled. "He came to see me and invited me to stay for a few days but it bothered him and he said I needed help."
"You do need help," Alec agreed, drinking his tea.
"I tried to bluff to him that I was just coming round when I said I don't belong here and my name wouldn't be called but he didn't believe me."
"Well I can't say I blame him," Paul had to agree. "You seem to have a few secrets if you feel you don't belong but what to? Do you mean your position as Vitex heiress, being Pete Tyler's stepdaughter? Surely he's accepted you if he adopted you?"
"She does not mean socially, do you Rose?" Alec tried to hurry the meeting along, since his last encounter with Paul hadn't been so pleasant.
"No. My background is kept secret because I literally do not belong here, in this universe," Rose replied, hoping she wouldn't regret it.
How was she going to cover this? She hadn't really intended telling him that part. Alec looked at her, raising his eyebrows and Rose wishing he wouldn't do that.
"You started now Rose, you may as well tell him the rest," he tried to encourage her, since it was too late to back out. "This goes no further," he warned Paul.
Paul nodded his agreement. "Has this something to do with those Cybermen all that time ago?"
"Yeah, sort of. They escaped and invaded my world, a parallel universe to this one. A friend and I got caught up in another version of Torchwood who had somehow drawn them in through something stupid, a group from this Torchwood managed to follow them but didn't want to let them back. So the only thing to do was trap them between the two worlds."
Alec thought she was good at this, why hadn't she told him this version instead of the truth?
"Go on," Paul encouraged her. "So this group, they brought you here?"
Rose saw a way out. She'd never really had to explain it before, there had been no reason. She thought she should leave out the fact she'd been here before out of it, for the vicar's sanity.
"Yeah, the people on my world were being rounded up, to be converted and there was a battle going on. There was me, my mum and two friends, we got caught up in it when Pete himself was trying to stop them. One of my friends, well he was a bit on the clever side and came up with the idea using what Torchwood had used to draw them here. There we all were, at the top of Torchwood tower, Pete didn't want me and my mum getting caught up in it so he put these devices on us and brought us here."
Now Alec was beginning to wonder if that was really true, it seemed more believable than what she had told him. If that were true though, why had she told him the other version? It seemed more likely this was a cover version Pete Tyler and her friends had come up with to get her out of certain situations.
"So, you got trapped here, you and your mother?" Paul asked her. Rose nodded, she had no other choice if she wanted his help. "So what about your friends?"
Rose felt like saying she was getting to that but she had to substitute Mickey for herself at helping the Doctor seal the gap. Now she would be in trouble for making up such a story and would have to call Pete to tell him. Why hadn't he and Jake come up with something?
"Once they made a plan, the idea was me and my mum would go back once it was safe but Mickey, one of my friends, he got here to tell us it was safe but before we had chance, the gap closed too quickly and the devices stopped working. I lost my other friend."
"Was he someone special to you?" Paul asked, looking at Rose then at Alec. Rose glanced across at Alec, who took her hand. "So now, you're trapped here and you feel you don't belong? What troubles you about not having your name called when the time comes then?"
"Rose seems to think if her name is not called, she will be left, like being trapped between the two worlds," Alec replied for her, Rose tightening the grip on his hand.
Paul sat back in his chair, this was getting above his head, all this talk of parallel worlds and gaps between them, he never studied anything like this in college. As far as he was concerned there was Earth, Heaven and Hell, not other worlds and whatever else. He wondered if she'd come to the right person?
"Rose, this would sound totally insane to anyone else. I take it you believe her DI Hardy?"
"Yes, I do, those metal menaces went somewhere otherwise why did they escape and not try their luck coming back? This is what Torchwood does, apparently, they explore the unexplained and if the Cybermen suddenly vanished, it stands to reason they would go after them to make sure they were gone. Rose and her mother and friends were not to know what would happen."
"Yes, I get that," Paul agreed, trying to make some sense of it but what did she actually want from him? "You want some assurance that when the time does come and you are really waiting to be called, you will hear your name?" he asked blindly.
"Well yeah, that's part of it but my name won't be called, will it? Pete never had a daughter called Rose Tyler so why would my name be listed?" Rose wanted to know, wondering why she was even here.
"People change their names all the time Rose," Paul reminded her, hoping she'd go for it.
"Yeah but they were born with a name even if they changed it," Rose tried to argue.
Alec could already see the vicar was not going to win this one, goodness knows how many times he himself had tried to tell her. Paul was looking at him.
"I've tried to tell her that," Alec admitted. "It seems to make no difference."
Paul thought he might have known.
"What does your mother and your friend who stayed here with you think about it?"
"Mickey just sort of laughed it off but I can't tell my mother, she's still mad at me I came here instead of going home so she could fuss over me. Besides, it's complicated and I'm not going into it with her."
From what Alec had heard about this Jackie Tyler, he himself wouldn't like to be the one to explain it to her.
"Then I see your problem Rose but how can you be so sure? Okay, you coming here was unexpected and I take it things were covered up?"
"Yeah, that's what Torchwood does and Pete had taken it over after the old regime let the Cybermen take over and use them to escape. Those members who weren't 'Deleted' who remained had plenty of questions to answer, trust me," Rose replied.
Pete had told her how somehow, Jake had managed to find a backup after the Cybermen had wrecked the place and they'd got those who had escaped rounded up to find out who was responsible.
"Rose, there is no easy answer to this," Paul concluded, thinking she'd be better talking to a therapist but she'd probably already seen one when she got left here.
"I told Alec this was a mistake," Rose replied, not wanting to be rude.
Alec shook his head. He should not have encouraged her to come here after all.
"All I can suggest is that you are here now, that has to count for something? Like I said Rose, people change their names all the time, maybe it goes on your name at the time?" Paul suggested. "It's not like there is a written rulebook," he tried to joke, hoping it would make her accept his explanation.
"He's right Rose, who is to say how it works? You assume, well people in general assume someone up there or wherever had a big book of names but when you think about it, how can they keep up if someone changes theirs several times like if a woman remarries or someone famous adopts a stage name as a legal one?"
"Yes and it would be one big book," Paul told her with a smile.
She knew they were just trying to reassure her, maybe there was no actual answer.
"I've wasted enough of your time," Rose declared, getting up careful.
Alec was up first to help her.
"She's still recovering from surgery," he tried to explain to Paul.
"You're not?" Paul asked him. "I wish I could have been of more help Rose but maybe that's why we are told we should have faith?"
"He's right Rose, if we knew everything, we may as well give up," Alec agreed, not knowing what he'd said as Rose looked at him.
Paul shook hands with Alec as they left.
"I will think about what you told me Rose but try not to worry too much over it."
"He's right Rose, your mother is unaware of it, your friend does not seem to bother. You will have to wait like the rest of us."
Rose thought if that had come from the vicar, she'd have got mad at him. Alec drove them back towards the caravan but Rose wanted to get some fresh air so he drove to the east pier and got a ticket for an hour's parking, deciding he'd go back to the station tomorrow and get a parking permit.
He wasn't sure she should be walking right to the end and stopped her halfway, where he'd met his friend a few months ago and Miller after Danny's funeral. He wasn't sure facing the boats in the harbour was a good idea though.
"Still don't like water?" Rose smiled as she put her arm in his and leaned on his shoulder.
"No. Why did you look at me like that when we were leaving the church? Did I say something?"
"Yeah, the friend I lost, he told me that once."
"Rose, things are bound to remind you of him, especially if I am the one to remind you."
"Don't say that Alec. Yeah, you look a bit like him, I already said that. I made that whole thing up, what I just told the vicar. I wish I'd never gone now."
"You were very good at it Rose, you could not have told him the real story. Maybe he is right and you should have a little faith eh? I know you did not get the answer you were looking for, I'm sorry."
"Well we tried, thanks Alec. So, what are we gonna do the rest of the week?"
"Where you have little walking to do?" he asked her.
By Thursday, Rose was looking forward to meeting Alec's daughter, even if she did bring a load of friends with her but that night, things changed between them. It had started innocently enough as they'd continued to share a bed, the first few nights just kissing and Alec trying to not let Rose's side hurt by him doing all the moving, though Rose had protested he shouldn't really be moving either so something was about to give.
Rose was gasping as they touched, Alec not knowing how much longer he could wait until Rose felt she could move enough on her own without her screaming out in pain instead of screaming his name she wanted more.
"Alec, it's okay, just let me stay on top, yeah?" she told him as she felt more than usual from him.
"I don't want to hurt you Rose."
"I know, the pain's not as bad."
"I do not want to cause it to start again love," he tried to tell her as another urge came over him, wondering how Rose herself was managing.
She obviously wasn't as she tried to move again.
"Alec, I promise not to blame you if I do something stupid that makes the pain worse."
"Then I will try not to make you do anything stupid, need some help taking off your underwear?"
The next morning, both of them feeling better for having their first time together, Alec was wondering if it had been Rose's real first time but she would tell him if she wanted to. They had breakfast and made their way to the letting agency to see if there was anything suitable coming up for them to rent.
As they looked in the window, Rose was questioning why they didn't just keep the caravan for now.
"The site will be opening in a few weeks," Alec reminded her.
"Well, you're in the police, won't it be worth their while to let ya stay?" Rose wondered. "We could always ask?"
"Maybe it will be better if I get the personnel officer to ask if I can stay?" he replied, seeing nothing on the boards so far apart from the white cottage on the side of Harbour Cliff and there was no way he was climbing up there every night, even though he was now fit again.
He supposed Rose would find it 'charming' and insist they took it. He saw her looking at the details.
"Rose, please don't say it would be fun to live there eh?"
Rose turned to smile at him.
"Yeah, it looks nice but all those steps? At least my mum wouldn't want to visit."
"You mean she would visit you in a caravan?" he asked, raising his eyebrows that was now sending Rose crazy.
"If I said no, will ya stay there?"
"Rose, let's agree when we have to move we will find something we both like, yes?"
"Yeah, okay then. I haven't seen much so far, have you?"
Alec shook his head, taking his specs off. They decided to drive down to the next town so Rose could get Tony a present and for Alec to get something for Daisy but having no idea what to get and relying on his new girlfriend, since they had established a few things last night.
"So, about meeting Daisy?" Rose asked.
"I will remind her not to bring her entire class with her tomorrow, though she has already been warned. Just be yourself eh love?" he replied as they sat in a caf just off the main shopping area. "Have you got everything you need?"
"Yeah, we should head back and maybe call in the sales office, see about keeping the caravan."
"We can do that when we get back from our trip Rose or leave it to officer who is dealing with it, I will call on Monday. You could live anywhere you want Rose, why a caravan in Broadchurch eh?"
"I just want to go back to normal Alec, I've had enough of being in the press. I can get my stepfather to let me work anywhere remotely, my assistant can stay where she is. Maybe I'll have a change of career though?"
"What exactly do you do anyway? You never actually said Rose."
"I can't tell ya here. I'm gonna speak to my stepfather when I get back, see what he thinks. Hey, maybe if you get any spooky cases when you're back at work, you can pass them to me?"
"Then I will be glad to do so. We should get back then, we have an early start tomorrow."
"So, are ya gonna admit to Daisy then that I'm your girlfriend?" Rose teased him when they got back to the car.
"Why wouldn't I? She's old enough to understand and she knows her mother has a boyfriend. I wish now I had never covered for Tess, Daisy probably knew before I did."
"Yeah, teenagers know a lot more than their parents think they do, trust me," Rose smiled. "My mum didn't think I knew all the blokes she used to bring home weren't my uncles."
"That was different Rose, sorry. I was just protecting Daisy, unlike her mother. You do not want to know the finer details."
"We both have pasts Alec, mine just happens to be in another universe and it never bothered me until I woke up in that hospital."
"I still cannot understand why it bothers you so much Rose. What exactly scares you so much that you will be left to wander around eh?"
Rose wished she could tell him but he would never understand she had been to another planet and been confronted by an entity claiming to be the devil.
"Alec, when I was back home and with the Doctor, we used to travel around and I swear to you, I can't tell you about where we went until you've cleared it with Pete. Then maybe you'll understand?" she asked hopefully, wishing he would drop it.
"Yes I know who he was Rose and your travels were not conventional. I also get you can't just tell anyone about them. It does not give me any answers though as to why you think you don't belong here. Is it because you have been to so many worlds?" he asked as they neared the turnoff for Broadchurch.
"Partly," she had to admit.
"I know it must have been difficult Rose, thinking you were going to be pulled into that gap but you were saved, that means you were not meant to go there."
Rose wanted to disagree and say no, it was her mother nagging Pete to get her back. If she thought about it, Pete wouldn't have known what was going to happen and he'd never said anything about it, just as he'd been about to materialize, he'd seen her heading towards him and had caught her.
"Well I think it's what I said earlier Rose, we are not meant to know everything but maybe you are looking at it from the wrong angle?" he continued as he reached the mini roundabout by the harbour.
Rose wondered how many there could be.
"How should I be looking at it?" Rose replied as they crossed the bridge where the river met the sea.
"Maybe like Torchwood welcomes newcomers, the same could be said of crossing over to the other side?"
Rose was stunned as he turned into the caravan park and he noticed the look on her face as he pulled in beside the caravan.
"You know I'm right Rose."
Before he could stop her, she was out of the car and heading back the way they had just come, Alec hurriedly locking the car doors and going after her as she reached the corner of the driveway.
"Rose, talk to me," he asked as he caught up and tried to get her to stop.
"I need some air Alec, just leave me be."
"I can't just leave you, come back to the caravan or at least let me take you to get a drink and we can discuss this?"
"Fine, get a drink then," she replied as she reached the entrance.
Rose thought that should satisfy him and it didn't mean she had to talk to him. The tables by the catering stalls were all taken so he led her around the corner to the wall where the footbridge was, handing her coffee to her.
"You're not going to throw that at me?" he asked warily, seeing how mad she looked. "Admit it, you never thought of that, did you?"
"I didn t know what to think when I woke up Alec. I told ya to leave it."
"How can I possibly leave it when it troubles you Rose?" he asked, taking a sip of his tea. "You had best get used to it Rose, unless you want to go home without me tomorrow? You can drop me in Sandbrook if you want? Why don't I give you some space tonight and take the other double room?"
"What?" Rose asked as she came out of her daze.
"You are obviously mad with me," he replied.
"No I'm not. Why didn t I look at it that way?"
"Rose, I did say you were looking at it the wrong way love. So, what do you think? Are you going to try to put it behind you?"
After meeting Daisy the next day minus all her friends, they decided to stay overnight to meet her for an evening meal where surprisingly, Tess turned up.
"So we finally get to meet?" Tess asked Rose as they got a table for four in what Rose laughingly called the posh chicken place, Alec having said Tess wouldn't be seen dead in the other one.
"Yeah, thanks for looking after Alec when he was discharged," Rose replied, seeing Daisy found it amusing her mother was facing her dad's new girlfriend.
"What did he expect me to do?" Tess replied. "It wasn't like Ellie Miller was going to take him home. Are you recovered now?" she asked Rose.
"My side still hurts a bit, I'll have to stay off work a bit longer but I'm thinking of relocating to Broadchurch. I won't go back to work until we find a place to rent though, I'm not sure it would be legal to work from a caravan," Rose smiled, Alec having told her what Tess thought of his old place, let alone a caravan.
"Well I'm sure you'll find something more like what you're accustomed to," Tess replied, Rose thinking Alec was right his ex was a bit of a snob.
"It doesn't matter to me where we live, seeing where I grew up," Rose told her, trying not to get catty but not by too much.
"Dad, can I still come down?" Daisy wanted to know.
Alec thought she was only asking him that to annoy her mother.
"Sure, you and Rose can make the arrangements, if that's okay with you love?" he turned to her.
"Yeah, any time but don't think it's got loads of things to do there, my friend was a bit disappointed when he came to bring my car down."
After a quick breakfast the next morning, they made their way up to London and were greeted by Tony, who had beaten his mother out when told Rose's car had just pulled into the driveway. Rose introduced them all to Alec and they waited around for lunch to be served.
"So, are ya leaving again?" her mother asked after force-feeding poor Alec.
"I just came to get some more stuff mum but there's not a lot of room. I'll just get enough for a few weeks, then we can come back."
"Can I come and see you?" Tony asked hopefully.
"When we find somewhere else to live," Alec replied for her.
Rose knew she had to start letting him make the decisions, if their relationship was going to work.
"Well Alec, you wanted to talk?" Pete asked him as Tony was wanting to sit on Rose but being told she was still poorly.
While Pete and Alec went to Pete's study, still a place Rose hated to go after what the Doctor had seen in there all that time ago, her mother had a few questions of her own to ask Rose once Tony was playing with something in the family room.
"Why are ya having Pete tell Alec everything?" she wanted to know.
"I can't lie to him Mum, I can't keep covering things up. I know I made a mistake when I woke up but if it had been anyone other than Alec, I'd have got someone to wipe their memories, trust me. He saved me, just like the Doctor used to."
"In what way?" her mother asked.
"From thinking I don't belong here," was all she was going to admit.
"Don't be daft Rose, of course ya belong here, so do me and Mickey now," her mother replied.
"Well when I woke up in hospital, trust me, I didn't think I did. Talking to Alec these last few days has helped me more than he'll ever know. I just hope when he's talked to dad, he won't demand someone takes him home."
Alec was now pacing the small study, making Pete smile.
"You took that better than I imagined," Pete admitted, the image of Rose and the Doctor still on the screen as the Doctor was grinning the first Jackie had called her yappy little dog Rose. "Rose will tell you the rest now. She never said exactly what hers and the Doctor's relationship was, I don't think they knew themselves."
"Then I will let her tell me. This has made no difference how I feel about her Mr Tyler. I should go find her and let her know she could be stuck with me."
Pete had to smile as he patted Alec on the back while opening the door.
"I'm glad you understand why it all had to remain a secret Alec. If anyone got hold of the knowledge Rose, Jackie and Mickey have, well I don't need to tell you of the consequences."
"I know she can never tell them to anyone else, I'm just glad she can tell me."
"Good man," Pete replied as Alec was leaving.
He found Rose and took her out into the garden.
"So ya not going back without me?" Rose asked as they sat by the fountain.
"No, you do not get rid of me that easily Rose. So, about you having time off the recover eh? Sure you want to do that in Broadchurch?"
"Where else would I go? You mean take a holiday somewhere?"
"Well yes. Your stepfather promised you could go anywhere you wanted, did he not?"
"Mmm, I suppose a nice ten night relaxing cruise is out of the question?" she teased him, going for a kiss.
"Are you being serious?" he replied.
"Well these days, unless ya hang over the railings ya can hardly tell you're on one. Think about it, waking up in a different port every morning."
"Rose, I hope you are not compensating for waking up on a new planet every morning?"
"What? Nah, I'm over that, I'm grounded on good old planet Earth, well this Earth anyway and whatcha said, I'm sorry I got upset, you were right. This is where I am now, I have to accept that and trust when it is time, they'll be welcoming me as Torchwood would welcome any visitors to this world."
"Good, I am glad you have finally seen you do belong here Rose."
He got up and stood in front of her, offering his hands to help her up. Then he went to put his arms around her waist, making Rose put hers around his neck.
"So about this cruise eh? You know how I feel about water? Would you guarantee you will take my mind off it?"
"Yeah, I can do that, you'll hardly know you're on a ship, I promise. I want ya to know some of what it's like waking up somewhere different every morning Alec, whatcha think?"
"Well, I could be persuaded love," he smiled, going for a kiss. "On one condition."
"Oh, what's that then?" Rose smiled back.
"That when we do wake up in a different port every morning you will not look out and ask where you are?"
"Alec, I know where I am now, I'm here, on this world, with you. I love you."
The End!