Post Doomsday. Continuing on from Pete's world and Rose's side of the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who, that privilege belongs to the BBC. It would be nice to own David Tennant though... I should work on that.

In the beginning: italics are the doctor speaking and the scene. Bold italics is Bad Wolf (Rose and Wolf together) and regular font is the Dalek emperor.

When the story starts with Rose in the Tyler mansion: italics are communication between Rose and Wolf. Words in bold italics are Wolf outside of Rose (chapter one) and the TARDIS (chapter two) speaking with rose. Thoughts are in regular sentences.

It's simple enough to understand once you start reading.

Anyways, enough babbling... Onto the story.

The Child of Time

"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me." A woman glowing gold told the man on the ground in front of her. "I am the Bad Wolf, I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space; a message, to leave myself here."

"You've got to stop; you've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn." said the man.

"I want you safe, my doctor; protected from the false God." She replied.

"You cannot hurt me, I am immortal." Said a disembodied voice from somewhere above the goddess-like woman; the false God.

"You are tiny. I can see the whole of time, and space, every single atom of your existence and I divide them." She thrust out a hand and her eyes shone with a brighter golden hue. One of many beings in front of her was disintegrated from the bottom and the top, suddenly thrust out of existence. "Everything must come to dust, all things. Everything dies." She looked around her and the rest of the creatures, one by one, they turned to golden dust, scattered into the wind.

"The Time War ends." She concluded.

"I will not die, I cannot die!" The false God closed his eye in fear of what would happen next. Slowly, the craft that he was in shattered like the rest, only to be blown away by time.

"You've done it, now stop. Just let go." The man was scared, terrified of what would become of the woman in front of him.

"How can I let go of this? I bring life," When this was said, a man, whose life had formerly been taken by the beings that had just been demolished, woke from his death.

"But this is wrong! You can't control life and death." The man was now scared for everyone else, not just the goddess' life.

"But, I can. The sun and the moon. The day and night. Why do they hurt?"

"The power is going to kill you and it's my fault!" said the cowering man.

"I can see everything. All there is, all that was, all there ever could be." She said. The man stared at her almost reverently and stood up, his eyes never leaving hers.

"That's what I see all the time. Doesn't it drive you mad?"

"My head..." she cried. She could feel the fires welling up inside of her, threatening to burn all that she was.

"Come here," Said the man, holding his arms out for her.

"It's killing me."

"I think you need a doctor." Finished the man. He slowly brought his head down to hers until his lips were upon hers. Slowly, the time vortex, the Bad Wolf, was being drained from the golden woman and into her saviour, known as the Oncoming Storm to some. When he was sure that the entire vortex was gone from her being, he released her from the kiss and she fainted into his arms, forgetting all that just happened.

xXThe_Child_of_TimeXx

"How long are you going to stay with me?" A man turned to his companion and cocked his eyebrow in question. She turned to him and in mock thought, waited a few seconds before answering.

"Forever." She stated.

xXThe_Child_of_TimeXx

In a seemingly regular world, in a fairly normal city, in a larger than normal house sat an abnormal girl. Sure, at a first glance, she looked just like any other person, but she was so, so much more. In truth, Rose Tyler was a time traveler, but it was more than just that. Her family didn't know it, her friends didn't know it and even she, herself, didn't know it, but ever since she had looked into the heart of the TARDIS there had been something different about her.

When she had been with the doctor, he had brought it up and they'd run some tests in the TARDIS' med bay but there had been nothing out of the ordinary going on with her as far as they could tell. They'd dropped it and continued on with their travels as always.

That is, until they returned to earth where her mother showed them 'the ghost shift'. Every day, at specific times, these people-like shades were showing up and the doctor found it just weird and wrong.

As they had found out, when Torchwood screwed everything up yet again by continuing the ghost shift, the shades were Cybermen coming through from an alternate world, Pete's world, ripping a hole through the fabric of the two universes, where Mickey, Jake, Pete and that world's Torchwood were supposed to have been decimating the remaining cybermen after Cybus industries had been shut down.

When Rose returned to the world with the doctor after he'd sent her away she made it perfectly clear that she'd already made her choice and would stay with him until the day she died. He seemed to disagree at first, looking at her as if she'd lost her mind but then he grinned his grin and they'd used the super clamps on the wall and opened the void which proceeded to draw in all of the escaped Daleks and Cybermen.

When one of the levers started to fall, resulting in a closing breach, Rose let go of her clamp and made a grab for it. It worked for a minute and then she couldn't hold on any longer. Just as she was about to enter the void, Pete appeared, used his dimension jumper and transported him and his surrogate daughter back to his world. The Void closed and the doctor was left alone after the battle of Canary Wharf.

Sometime later, after having a meltdown in the alternate Torchwood, Rose awoke from a dream hearing the doctor's voice, telling her to follow it. She told her mum and Pete and Mickey because they were the only ones who would listen to a story like that and they packed up and left at daybreak, searching for the doctor's voice.

When they got to Darlig Ulv-Stranden , a beach in Norway that translated into Bad Wolf bay, Pete, Jackie and Mickey all stayed by the car while Rose walked to the middle of the beach. The doctor had burnt up a sun just to say goodbye, to see his Rose one last time. She told him she loved him, and he was too late in saying it back because his image cut out. Rose had just stood there, looking lost until Mickey had to drag her away.

Now here she was, six months later, sitting in not-her kitchen, drinking not-her tea before going to not-her job. She couldn't call anything this world hers because it wasn't, she belonged with the doctor, that's where her heart was, where it would always be.

Pete (she had trouble calling him her dad) had gotten her a job at this world's Torchwood. The people there had been sceptical at first because what could a twenty year old know about extra-terrestrial affairs, but after they'd had one encounter with a scientist trying to de-age himself but instead changing the entirety of his molecular structure, they realised exactly how amazing Rose was.

"Good mornin sweetheart." Her mum walked into the kitchen dressed in her housecoat, breaking Rose out of her reverie. Jackie was already four months pregnant with a little boy. Exactly as Rose had expected, her mum had gotten used to being in this world very early on and had gotten right back into the habit of everyday life with a husband.

"Mornin mum," she replied, taking a sip of the tea in front of her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Oh, yeah, fine. It's getting harder though, with this stomach I'm growing." Jackie poured herself a cup of tea and sat down at the table with her daughter. "So! First day back to work, how're you feeling love?"

"Same as when the migraines started mum. They've not gone down at all."

Rose had taken a couple weeks off after there had been some alien encounter in which she had been injured. From then on, she had acquired this constant, drum-like, pounding in her head that wouldn't get better. It was making her dizzy with a running fever and she couldn't work in that condition. It wouldn't do to have hostile aliens invade and her not being able to defend the planet.

Not that she would care, this wasn't her world.

"I guess you'll just have to wait it out. I'm going to miss having you 'round the house all day."

It was then that Pete Tyler walked into the kitchen.

"Good mornin family. Ready for work, Rose?"

"As ready as I'm going to get." Rose stood from the table and rinsed her cup once through in the sink. She followed Pete to the front door and donned her coat while slipping on her work shoes. She said farewell to her mum and exited the front door.

"How're you feeling dear?" Pete asked as he opened the door to the driver's side of the car. Rose walked around to the other side and got in.

"Better." She said stiffly. Somewhere, in the recesses of her mind, she knows she shouldn't be so cold to the man who was filling in for her dad but she couldn't help not thinking of him as such. She knows that this isn't her dad. He may walk, talk and act like her dad but this wasn't the man who had read her stories as a child. This wasn't the man who'd had any hand, whatsoever, in raising her. That man was dead, and to her, anyone was a poor substitute. So, she distanced herself from him. She didn't need another person to miss when the doctor found a way to get her back. And he would, mind.

The car ride to Torchwood Tower was quiet and long. As soon as they got there, Mickey was coming out of the doors. When he saw the car, he hurried over to greet her. He swept her off of her feet in a huge bear hug.

"Rose! You're back! What's up, how are you feeling? Are you staying..."

"Mickey!" Rose interrupted with slight amusement shown in her features.

"Yeah, Rose?"

"Shut up. I'm feeling pretty much the same but I'm back and yes I'm staying."

"Oh, alright. Well you sure picked a hell of a time to show up. Jake just got some energy spike readings coming from the rift, but nobody reported seeing anything at all. It's strange so we were just heading over there to check things out." He motioned over his shoulder at Jake who was exiting the tower.

"Really? Action on the first day back, that's great! Let's get going then." She sauntered off towards the vehicle exiting the tower's garage with Jake, Pete and Mickey in tow. As soon as they were all in the black land rover, the four headed off for Cardiff.

When they got there, Rose immediately stepped out of the car and made her way over to where she could see a huge spaceship, smack-dab in the centre of the rift. Something was off, she could tell, but she couldn't put her finger on exactly what it was so she sighed and kept walking. She could hear the boys behind her, yelling at her to stop walking and to come back but she wasn't having any of it. Why weren't they following her? Couldn't they see the gigantic spacecraft?

'This isn't likely to be an invasion.' She thought to herself. Not if no one's come out of it yet. There were no traces that anything had entered or exited that ship since it landed.

The ship was circular in shape with two curved, triangular wing-shaped things on opposite sides of it. There was a large red dome on the top, about the size of the car they'd come in that cast a red shadow so she thought it had to be tinted and not solid.

At the front there was a deformity in the metal exterior with a pad next to it and a red hand-shaped print in the middle. She placed her hand on it, just to see if she could get in, and the door slowly opened.

"Rose! What are you doing, what's happening? What's making that noise?" Mickey called out from behind her. "Whatever it is, just leave it alone, don't do anything with it."

But how could she not. She couldn't ignore the big door opening in front of her. It was almost as if it were calling out to her, beckoning her and her alone to come closer, to enter, and who was she to decline.

Without pausing to see if the boys were following her, she walked up the stairs that had appeared in front of her. Yelling could be heard from behind her and then... a soft click. She turned to see the door shut behind her. There was a melody that could be heard in the way she was heading, soft and beckoning like before. It was drifting through the hall, originating from the door about 100 feet in front of her to her right.

As she walked, lights flickered on when she passed them, seemingly sensing her presence. Outside of the door where the song could be heard, if a little louder now, there was a pair of brighter lights that hung just at the top corner.

The room itself was big, even if barren.

'Bigger on the inside.' She thought ruefully, grinning sadly to herself. There were green lights lining the ceiling above and large circular lights placed dead centre on each wall. What caught her attention though, was the fact that in front of her, there were five topless and shoeless men, standing in a semi-circle.

Each man looked as human as anyone on earth. The ones in the middle all had brown hair and the two standing at the end were blond. They wore pants, but that was it as far as clothing went, that looked ragged and cut off about halfway down their calves. Their muscles weren't overly defined like a body builder's but they definitely were toned, especially their pectorals, abs and biceps. Their arms were spread, each hand about a hair-length away from the next, and their heads were inclined towards the ceiling. They seemed as though they were chanting. Not one for too much silence, Rose spoke up.

"Um, hello." She said. As soon as the first syllable had left her mouth, their heads had dropped, their eyes shot open and they lowered their arms to their sides. As soon as they stopped moving, the melody she'd been hearing stopped. 'So it was them.' She thought.

Suddenly she felt a presence within her mind, trying to break in. She glanced at the men in the room and the one in the middle seemed to be looking at her intently, like he was trying to communicate.

"I'm not telepathic if that's what you're trying mate. " She crossed her arms defiantly in front of her chest, daring him to contradict her.

"I'm sorry child, we sensed a presence within your mind and thought perhaps you were a telepathic being, but it's gone now." When he spoke, the sound of his voice washed over her like silk, calming her. He seemed to be the leader of the group. He started walking towards her and for the strangest reason she didn't feel as though she needed to back away. His presence didn't seem threatening at all.

"Who are you?" She asked. The man laughed at her forwardness.

"We are the same as you youngling. We are not of this world; not meant to be here, just as you are not." She was shocked. How could he know that she didn't belong in this universe? She voiced this thought and they all laughed. The man the furthest to the left answered this time.

"We have an ability that allows us to read auras, child. You are bathed in a golden light, tinged around the outside in green. We have an idea of what the green is but no inclination in the slightest as to what the golden aura means. This entire world is drowned in a soft yellow, but your line of green is of a different world entirely." The others around him were nodding their assent to his statement.

"So what are you lot doing here then?" They didn't seem to have any hostile intent towards the human race like so many other before them did.

"We sensed a disturbance in the universes on our way home. We came to see what it was and if we could set it right." The leader said. Again Rose was shocked. Did this mean that they would help her get back to her doctor? Before she could ask though, another thought came to her mind, something that was bugging her earlier. The area in Cardiff around the rift was usually buzzing with people, but when she was out there with Mickey, Pete and Jake, there had been no one. Why was no one around, in what was usually one of the busiest places. This she voiced.

"Why was the street empty when we got here? My friends and I, back outside, there was no one in the street. That doesn't usually happen when a spaceship lands, the area should be crawling with people, hundreds of reporters milling about." She was generally confused; there had been not a single person other than her boys and herself.

"Our machine is like that of an older race that died out some time ago. It is designed to take the form of that of its surroundings. Actually, that you were able to see it is amazing. You are human, correct?" The lot of them were looking at her with expressions akin to amazement and awe and wonder.

"Yeah, I'm as human as they come, " Well, more or less, if you don't count that she's covered in void stuff and travelled through time and space. "And, really, it wasn't... invisible... at all... That's why Mickey was asking where that noise was coming from!" She realized. "So, who are you guys then? You look human and you sound human but you're in an alien ship." The men looked amused. The other two brunettes who stood beside the leader stepped forward and slowly, she could see white spikes start to exit from their skin. Rose stood transfixed as the men now looked like overgrown blowfish.

"We are the Usgaran. We have more bones than the average human and we can control what they do." She watched again as the long, protruding bones that exited from each of their wrists, that looked somewhat like katana with no hilt or pommel, were laced with a green, goo-like substance. "Our blood can also become poison when it exits our bodies. We can, in fact, control whether it changes or not. The reason we sound human though is because we are mostly a telepathic race, but when we speak with other races, our brainwaves sync with theirs and translates what we say." He explained.

"Well, it's like déjà-vu with the TARDIS all over again." She muttered under her breath. Then she remembered what they said earlier about 'fixing what was wrong' and her whole demeanour changed. She looked hopefully at the men in front of her. "So, what you said earlier... about setting things right, does that mean I can get home, back to where I came from?" She was slightly afraid that answer wouldn't be an affirmative but that's what she got. "So how are we going to do this then?" Positively beaming at the Usgaran leader, her tongue caught between her teeth.

"Well," he started. "It's your choice, we can use the poison or we can use the bones. What'll it be?" Her mood dropped. What did he mean? The bones or the poison?

"What are you talking about? How am I supposed to get back with either of those options?" A tingling sensation in the back of her head seemed to be trying to warn her about something. 'Stupid conscience,' she thought. 'you're a little late in warning me about danger.' Internally she was grimacing at the lack of question and that she hadn't actually sensed any danger from these beings.

"Well, you are an anomaly in this world. You're actually destroying it by being here. So we're going to send you home, back to where we all come from; we're sending you to your death." He said this like it was an everyday occurrence. He seemed to think that she would just let them kill her. 'Well, I have just been standing here talking about it as if I had known what was going on.' So she played along for the moment.

"How is 'death' where I came from?" She asked. The ringing in the back of her head was getting stronger and the migraine she hadn't realized had gone was now coming back at full force.

"Death is where we all come from." He said in a condescending tone, as if he were speaking to a child. Judging by his earlier words, he probably thought he was speaking to a child. "See, when you die, you go to the field of judgement. There, they decide when you will be reborn based on what you've done with your life. If you've done well, the sooner you'll be reborn and if you're bad..."

"Then you'll have to wait longer. I get it, but you really, really don't need to kill me." And then she thought about it. How did they know what happened when you die? "How do you know all of this? Have you all died?" They outright laughed at her.

"Everyone has died once. Everyone has died hundreds of time. The difference with our people, because we are the most telepathic beings in the universe, it somehow allows us to retain our memories of previous lives. Probably... shouldn't've... said all that, but there you go. You need to die for this universe to be saved. So pick your poison... or bones." He smirked a little at the end, thinking he was funny.

Rose thought about it. 'Maybe if I died, with all the good me and the doctor have done, I could get back soon and in the right world. This could possibly be the only chance I have left of getting back. And then again, even if I don't, what have I got to live for here. Sure there's mum, but now she's having another kid, and she's got Pete. Mickey has Jake and the rest of his friends. I'm sure mum would look after him. Besides, if what these guys say is true, they're all going to die if I stay here so I'm saving their lives.' She was sure of herself now, she would let these men end her life and then she would get back to the doctor.

"Alright boys, does your poison hurt?" she asked. They looked at each other.

"No," answered the blowfish to the right.

"I guess that's better then, you know, let me die peacefully and all that. Let's get on with it then, before I change my mind. Can you fly this place somewhere away from the rift; otherwise my friends waiting outside will be waiting there for a long time." She was anxious. She was seriously just going to let these Usgaran kill her. The ringing in her head was getting clearer by the second.

The blond ones on the ends of the line left the room, supposedly to get the ship moving to some desolate place so they could leave her, and the world, in peace.

xXThe_Child_of_TimeXx

When they landed, the Usgaran prodded Rose back out the front door and she did so with reluctance... she was starting to lose her confidence. She knew that it was her or the universe, or at least, that's what she thought she knew. There was still a nagging feeling at the back of her head, like something was going to go wrong.

"Are you ready, child?" Their leader asked. They were in a large field, seemingly endless. In the distance she could see a ring of mountains. All around them were flowers of every colour. Blue, red, yellow, purple, pink, lavender, mauve, green, periwinkle, any colour you could think of. The wind was whipping around them, blowing their clothes in the wind. The sun's rays were raining down on them, a shining light that further exaggerated the goldenness of Rose's hair and the blond of the two Usgaran.

"As ready as I'll ever be, mate. Just do it."

A long, scythe-like bone started exiting from the side of the leader's wrist. Longer it grew and more fearful Rose became. A drop of green blood ran down the edge and he approached Rose.

"Kneel." He said in a commanding voice. Her head was telling her not to, to run away, but the farther part was welcoming it; welcoming the thought that she soon might see her doctor again, welcoming that she would be saving this universe and her family that lived here. That she would be saving her not-yet-born brother and hoping to whoever's out there that her mother might tell him of her. She knelt and closed her eyes. Hopefully it would be over quick.

The man ran the scythe down the hollow base of her throat. It burnt and she thought that was just the bone breaking skin. He pulled away and she soon realised that the awful burning sensation was getting worse. Her eyes shot open and she looked pleadingly at the man in front of her.

"You lied." She growled. He stepped back with a pleased look etched on his fine face. "You said it wouldn't hurt." She grits her teeth. The voice that came out of her mouth didn't sound at all like her.

"I did." He said shortly. "That was a lie. Humans still do that right, lie? It's a wonderful thing, lying. Can't do it with a telepathic race that can read your every thought, but humans, oh, that's another story." He grinned at her like the cat caught the canary, which, technically, he just did. "You see, my race don't like to outright kill people so we often use the poison to do so and we can leave our intended targets to die on their own. My friend, here, Abraxas, is the one who told you it wouldn't hurt. It wouldn't have done to have you say that you wanted to be slashed to death by our bones. So he told you it wouldn't hurt. Truth of the matter is, it will burn... like... hell. And there's nothing you can do to stop it." He started to laugh maniacally and soon the other joined him.

"So was everything a lie then? Would the universe really blink out of existence if I'd stayed? Did I really have a different aura? Do people really go to a place called 'the field of judgement' when they die. Or was it all a big lie?" She asked. She could feel the poison start to crawl through her at an agonizingly slow pace. The veins around her cut were being dyed black as the poison ran through them.

"That's the best part. The only thing we lied about was being good and the poison burning. If we didn't get rid of you, something worse would've sensed the disturbance and come to fix it. It would've been even more awful if that'd happened, so count your lucky stars that we got here first. And yes, your aura really is different and the field of judgement is real... for us Usgaran. We have no idea where humans or any other species go. Now, we must be off, you've got about an hour or so to live so... make it count and whatnot. We brought you here so you could at least die in peace." With that, the leader turned on his heel and walked away, the others following in his wake.

Once the Usgaran ship was out of sight, Rose slumped in defeat. She lay on the ground, her arms spread wide, looking up into the expansive sky above her. She could feel the poison now at least in her kidneys. The pounding in her head was getting worse by the second. For those weeks that she'd been off it had always been a constant dull drone of a headache and now it was as if it were coming closer, like it had been stuck behind a barrier before now, and it had broken through, trying to burst from her head.

"I know you can't hear me," She started, speaking to the air. "But I'm coming for you, I don't know how, I don't know when but the universes and death have never kept us apart before, so why should they start now?" She was bordering on hysterical, the fire easily touched most of her body now except her heart and head, and she was speaking to someone who wasn't there. The constant barrage of banging seemed concentrated in the middle of her forehead, dulling her senses. She knew she couldn't get up if she'd tried, then again why would she? She was dying... but she couldn't die, she hadn't said a proper goodbye to anyone yet. Before, she'd thought that maybe she'd be able to after the 'field of judgment' nonsense those Usgaran had talked about, but now she couldn't.

"I can't die." She said with finality. "I. Will. Not. Die!" She screamed, and the pain in her forehead burst, and then, like a fleeting thought, it was gone. The throbbing pain was gone. Just, disappeared. She kept looking at the sky, confused. "What happened?" She thought out loud.

"I happened." Said a music-like voice from her left side. She whipped her head around, startled at the sudden voice that was not her own, only to realize too late that that was a bad idea for she could feel the fire starting to creep up her throat now.

"Do not move too quick, child," Said the voice. Rose could see a strange, golden light emanating from where she was looking. It had a distinctly human shape, but, then again, so did the Usgaran. "I know what you are thinking, but do not fret, I mean you no harm. Moving will only make the poison spread faster. It's a good thing that you came to the conclusion you did, when you did, for you only have about fifteen minutes left before the poison fully encompasses your heart. You and I, we have met before, but you do not remember, no, I couldn't let you remember before you were ready or you would have burnt..." Rose had been transfixed by the golden being until she, or it, or whatever, had started talking about her memories and a decision. She cut in before it could say anything else.

"What are you talking about? You are the second alien I've met today and the first ones lied to me and have basically succeeded in killing me. Now you're talking about a conclusion and my memories. I'm pretty sure I haven't lost any memories and I haven't reached any conclusion other than 'I'm going to die and no one will know what happened to me'." The being laughed. It was oddly comforting, given the situation.

"No, one would not remember forgotten memories. I made sure though, that you did not remember before now. And you did come to a conclusion; you decided that you would not die. And here I am. You may know me as TARDIS, but I am Bad Wolf... sort of." Rose was shocked. This was the TARDIS? How was that even possible? The TARDIS was in the other universe with the doctor. And what did it mean that it made her forget her memories or that she'd decided that she wouldn't die? She'd only meant that she couldn't die now! Not when she hadn't said a proper goodbye knowing what was coming.

"Consciously, yes, that's what you meant, but subconsciously, you don't want to ever die. You want to spend your forever with the doctor and him with you." Said the TARDIS. Rose was stunned. Could the TARDIS read her mind? "Yes, I can. But only because I've been living within you for so long." Well, that answers that, she thought. The TARDIS laughed beside her.

"So, which memories did you take? You said that I couldn't remember until now, so can you tell me what you took?" She asked, slightly hopeful.

"Of course, my dear Rose. Do you remember satellite five?" Rose nodded. "Well, after the doctor sent you home, you, your male friend and your mother all worked at trying to get me open. When you succeeded, a gate inside of me opened where you could see into my soul and you absorbed all of me, every last bit of my essence. We returned to satellite five and decimated the daleks, saving our doctor. After, though, our doctor thought it was wrong, that no human was supposed to ever look into the heart of me and that you would die if he couldn't purge your mind of my essence. So he tried, he kissed you and took my soul into himself, but he couldn't hold it all and he put a block on your mind, making you forget what had happened and so you wouldn't burn. This was the cause of his regeneration. He saved you with the cost of him losing one of his lives." The TARDIS finished her story and Rose was amazed.

"So, why aren't I burning now? Apart from this poison, shouldn't my head be burning? And how are you here if the doctor took you from inside my head?"

"Some things were meant to be Rose. What the doctor didn't know is that eventually, you would have had to have had the entire vortex running through your mind anyways. You never were destined to be an ordinary human. He couldn't take all of me from your mind because I was there in the first place; or, at least, a part of me. You were born, with a little bit of me, of the vortex, inside of you, destined from the very beginning of your short human life, to meet the doctor. The reason your head was burning the first time you took all of me in, was because you weren't yet ready. Once you accepted that you would spend the entirety of your forever with the doctor, once you realized that these sentiments were not once sided, then, and only then, would you be ready for what comes next."

"And what does come next? I'm dying now; there is no next for me. There's nothing I can do. I was too late. I'll never see my doctor again, I'll never see mum, or Mickey, or Pete, or my little brother..."

"Stop!" Yelled the TARDIS. "You. Are. Better than this! Rosana Marion Tyler, have you not been listening to anything I've been saying? One; You've got the entire time vortex working its way back into your mind right now, growing, and soon it will consume you; dead or alive. If you're dead when it happens, then it will revive you. If you're alive and in this state, well let's just say the pain you're feeling now will be a walk in the park compared to the vortex. Your mind isn't built for the vortex yet because you, Rose Tyler, need something more; you need me." The TARDIS stood above Rose, if the burning she was feeling now would be nothing compared to what she would later, then how could the TARDIS help? So she asked.

"What do I need you for? Sorry, but from what you've told me, last time you were in my mind, I almost died; I would've died if the doctor hadn't saved me, so how can you help me now?" She could feel the poison at the bottom of her skull now, threatening to rise up to her brain and burn her from within. It seemed like she had the choice to burn, die, be reborn and burn some more or burn and live.

"You need me because if you accept me into your mind, your heart and soul, then you will be ready to take on the vortex." The TARDIS explained. "You will be able to do so without burning, but there's a catch-"

"Well your catch can't be as bad as having to live with my brain burning. I accept you, TARDIS, or Bad Wolf, whatever you want to be called. I accept your offer." Rose said with conviction. The TARDIS cocked her head to the side. 'Humans,' she thought. 'Always so impulsive.' She decided to voice the catch anyways because she didn't want to merge with the Tyler woman only to have her very angry afterwards.

"I am only Bad Wolf when you and I are one, but Rose... the catch is that you would no longer be human. Understand that this would happen anyway but if we are combined, you would become part time vortex, part..." She didn't know how to tell her the rest. It was a plus but she didn't want the woman to be even more impulsive and not think about the consequences of her actions.

"Part time vortex, part what else?" Rose asked. If she would be part slitheen or some other weird alien that her and the doctor had met, she would seriously have to think this over.

"No," The TARDIS laughed. Rose, having forgot that the TARDIS could read her mind, was surprised at that answer, until she remembered. "It's nothing like that child. This would be a good thing but, before I tell you, I seriously want you to think about this. The only thing that would change would be your internal body structure; none of your appearance would be altered. At a glance, you would still be human. I won't tell you what else you'll be for fear that you won't think about my offer and just jump in head first, but I will tell you that only your mind-set might stay human." For a short while, anyways, she thought.

Rose thought about it, really thought about it. But honestly, there wasn't much to think about. Like she had said, she would rather become one with the TARDIS and not be human anymore than die because of the Usgaran poison and then have the vortex take over her mind anyways without the TARDIS's protection.

"I understand, TARDIS, I do. But no matter what you say, I have to live. If merging with you will let me live without the burning in my head, even if I won't be human anymore, even if I die soon after anyways, I have to live. On the off chance that I will see my doc..." the TARDIS smirked at what Rose was going to say. "I mean, the doctor again, that's what I have to live for. Not for Mickey, not for Pete, not as much for my mum or my baby brother, but for the doctor. For the man who showed me I was more than just a shop girl, more than any average human. He showed me that there's more to life than just living it. And I need that. So whatever it is that I'll become is only a small price to pay for even a short amount of time with the doctor; with my doctor, my wonderful, smart, brilliant, fantastic, crazy, smooth-talking doctor. So bring it on TARDIS, because I'm ready; whatever it is, I'll do it." Rose's eyes were brimming with tears. She didn't know where that'd come from, but she was proud of it. The TARDIS looked fondly at the woman in front of her.

"Very well," She stated. "Rose when this starts, there will be pain, a bit more than you are in now because the entirety of your internal body structure will change. The struggle will most likely leave us unconscious for a few days, but that's better than not waking up at all." Rose nodded and the TARDIS held out a hand in front of her. A golden pulse left her upturned palm and, before she knew it, there were golden, wispy tendrils snaking their way around Rose's body. She could almost feel the poison being purged from her body. Rose was lifted from her place on the ground until she was upright and facing the glowing being in front of her. The TARDIS brought both of her hands to Rose's temples and closed her eyes. Her forehead was lowered until it was touching Rose's. As soon as it did, a shooting pain was sent throughout all of Rose's body and she cried out. The TARDIS started glowing brighter and brighter until Rose had to shut her eyes as well.

And then, her world went blank, and the human Rose Tyler, was no more.

xXThe_Child_of_TimeXx

Pain. That was what she felt. Pain through her entire body and choppy memories. Fleeting, but still there. She knew she had been through more than this but it was the residual ache from her entire body changing that had her worshipping the rest she was being allowed. Mentally, she did a check to see that everything her physical body should have was still there.

Toes, feet, ankles, calves, thighs... all the way, from bottom to top she made sure that all of her limbs were where she had left them, she thought, about four days before. She wasn't even sure how she knew that, but it felt like four days... somehow. She tried to open her eyes but quickly closed them due to the blinding sunlight that danced into her vision. She clamped her hands down on what seemed like dewy grass and damp soil. Yes, she thought, definitely outside.

It was then that she realised she wasn't breathing as much as she normally would. She inhaled a large amount of oxygen into her lungs and coughed. Too much air, she thought, how is that even possible?

"You will be weak for the first half hour or so Rose Tyler." Said a voice inside of her head. And then everything came rushing back to her. The basement of the store she worked in, the strange man that grabbed her hand and told her to run, her adventures with said man afterwards and then the daleks and then the cybermen and then both of them together and finally coming to an alternate universe where she had her father who had previously died when she was young, but was without the one thing that honestly and truly mattered to her.

The Doctor.

"Are you inside of my head now Bad Wolf?" She asked mentally. Her heart was racing but something was off. She decided to leave the matter be for this instant but would come back to it later. That and the lack of breathing she seemed to be doing.

"Yes. When we merged into one, I became a part of your consciousness but we won't forever be able to talk like this. When you get back to the doctor you will be able to talk to my actual being instead of just a voice or an entity. I never really said earlier, but I'm not exactly a part of the TARDIS, I'm basically the time vortex in which the TARDIS is a part of me." Rose blanched when the voice said it wasn't the TARDIS and thought that that was the second time she'd been lied to, but became calm when it elaborated. Then she thought about what Bad Wolf said and immediately became ecstatic.

"Wait," she said, "are you saying that I can get back to the doctor? For sure?" She didn't want to get her hopes up too much, but there was still a part of her that was over the moon in hopes that she'd finally have a way to see her doctor again.

"You can, Rose, but I can only do it one time that I know of. After we do it... there'll be no coming back. I know that you'll want to do it anyways, but let's wait until you've explained to your family where you're going, at the least they deserve that, don't you think?"

"Of course, you're right. Let's get back... how do we even get back? I don't even know where we are-"

"Yes you do Rose," Bad Wolf interrupted, "Think about it, it'll come to you." So Rose closed her eyes and concentrated. She could both hear trains and smell sulphur all at once, coming from the same direction. At the same time she could smell each and every single flower around her, sense every living thing. It was as if her senses had been heightened. A butterfly passed her by and the wing beats were so loud to her that it made her take a step back. And then she knew where she was; like an epiphany of sorts. The Usgaran had brought her to a deserted part of the regent's park in London. She could feel people about 500 feet away from her. The trains she could somehow hear were those of kings cross on gray's inn road about one and a half miles from where she stood. She knew that it would take her exactly thirty two minutes to walk from where she was to the station and she could get a bus ride back to Cardiff that would take 4hrs and 38 minutes. The amount of information she had in her head was staggering, she had to sit down. "Overwhelming, isn't it." Bad wolf said. "This information comes from the part of you that is time vortex, if you concentrate you can see what is, what was, what could be and what must not... if you tried, you could probably even recall the events of satellite five." And she could.

She remembered everything, in next to perfect detail. From the way the heart of the TARDIS had sung in her mind, to the smell of the doctor as he kissed her, saving her life. He smelled distinctly of time and age, as well as a forest-type smell. Where that came from, she wasn't sure, but put together, it defined the doctor.

And then she remembered Jack. The Jack that she'd brought back to life. Poor captain Jack who now couldn't die. She'd pulled every single one of his lives from the never ending cascade of realities and universes and put them into one body. He was limitless; he could die over and over again and just keep on coming back to life. She'd sentenced him to something worse than death; she'd sentenced him to a life where everything he knew and loved would die around him.

"Don't fret child. He will come to terms with his life, just as you will come to terms with yours. Remember, you aren't human anymore either."

"This is so weird." She said aloud to no one in particular. How was she to get home, did she have her wallet on her still? She patted down her pockets and, upon finding some spare change, which would probably amount to what she needed, in the right breast pocket of the jacket she had on, she made an astounding revelation.

She had a second heartbeat.

Her eyes went wide and she grasped at her coat where the change was, and then, to make sure her heart hadn't just switched sides, she did the same with her left side.

Two hearts.

That could only mean... but that wasn't even possible... was it? She asked the part of her that she was now referring to as 'wolf'. Together they were the Bad Wolf, but separately they would be only Rose and wolf, not that they would ever be physically separated anymore.

"You're not crazy Rose." Wolf stated. "You do have two hearts. This is what I didn't want to tell you before we were combined. In truth, you are part time lord and part time vortex. This is also the cause of you not breathing as much earlier. You get all of the benefits of being a time lord. The respiratory bypass system, you can see time when you concentrate, you won't age either. You also get... the regenerations." That was a shock. She could regenerate?

"Is this what you meant earlier, wolf, about me being able to spend my forever with the doctor? If I won't age and neither will he, then can I..?"

"Yes Rose, this is what I meant earlier. You and the doctor can literally have your forever now. But when you get back... I suggest not telling him until he finishes the sentence that he started on bad wolf bay-"

"What? WHY?" Why shouldn't she be able to tell the doctor about her?

"Because, Rose. Do you want him to say it to you because he does love you? Or do you want him to say it because of what you can give him. You're the only one of his companions, save one, that could give him forever." Rose thought about it and was silent. "That's what I thought. So when we get back, the TARDIS will be able to hide your being a time lord from the doctor until he finally says what he's wanted to say for so long... you know he used to practice what he wanted to say to you in front of the TARDIS console? She would laugh at him when he messed up." Wolf went quiet.

"We both miss him" Rose said out loud. It went without saying but how could one not love the doctor? It was near impossible. The silence between them was deafening so Rose spoke up again.

"Well, let's go find ourselves a bus. The sooner we leave this place, the sooner we can get back to our doctor, yeah?" So Rose set off for the trip back to Cardiff, leaving the old Rose Tyler behind her with every step she took.

xXThe_Child_of_TimeXx

Rose arrived at torchwood at around 1:30 on the Friday after the mission to the rift; after her day back. She walked up to the security desk and flashed her card. The guard's eyes went wide and he frantically searched for the button to open the door for her. Once she was buzzed in, she went over to an elevator, pushed the button and waited. The doors opened almost right away and she stepped in. It was empty and the elevator music around her was so very annoying. She absently waved her hand and the music shut off.

She didn't even notice. The elevator dinged and she stepped out... only to find her entire team running around frantically trying to gather information. What could they be looking for, she asked herself.

"They're looking for information on you Rose!" Wolf chimed in, laughingly. Of course, she thought, I have been gone for four days after getting on what I was told was an invisible ship. A man, no older than 28 looked up from the pages on his desk and right into her eyes. His eyes went wide and he stood straight, his mouth gaping like that of a fish. Her face flushed and she raised a hand to wave hello. The man came to his senses.

"Rose!" Suddenly, all sixteen eyes were on her. Her entire team was made up of nine people including her.

The man who saw her when she came in was 28 year-old Jamie McCullough. He was an athletic man that they'd acquired from UNIT. He didn't care much for the guns and the shooting which was what made him such a valuable member of torchwood. He had medium length black hair and almost vibrant blue eyes. He had a strong, defined jaw and a semi-muscular build. He was very protective of Rose, even more so than Mickey.

Next was the 25 year-old Alek Marks who was almost like a brother to Jamie. They'd both actually been in UNIT and Jamie had stood up for him when he was being bullied by their commanding officer. From then on they'd stood by each other. He also had medium length hair but his was brown and his eyes were gray. He had stubble on his jaw line that ran to his chin and around his mouth. He as well had a semi-muscular build.

Then there was Jane Briares. She was a doctor who they'd only recently have come onto their team. While she was working, her hospital had been taken to the moon. When they got back, people tried to cover it up but she'd lived it and she wasn't going to forget it anytime soon. She was 24. Her red hair ran to her shoulders and she had blue eyes. Her face was quite feminine compared to the next person on the team; Riley Alexandria. She wasn't a woman for dressing up for going out, even to work. She as well was 24 and had known Jane since they were 14. They'd gone to school together and then applied and got accepted to the same universities where they again took the same classes and graduated together. They couldn't be separated. She had brown hair, running a little lower than Jane's and brown eyes.

Finally there was Robbie Montague. 30 years old and not looking a day over 22. He had cropped blond hair and emerald green eyes. He was very well built, but not overly so, and had been at torchwood for eight years. He was a hard one to win over when they had changed everything the old torchwood was about but he eventually came around.

Other than them there were Pete, Mickey, Jake and her.

"Hi guys." She said like there was nothing wrong. She started walking towards where she could see Mickey in the back room; his office. When she passed Jamie he grabbed her hand and proceeded to crush her to himself. She let out a surprised squeal.

"Where have you been missy?" He said into her hair. She could feel tears on her neck and suddenly she felt bad. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder. She just let him cry for a few minutes before unravelling her arms and pushing him back slightly. She looked him in the eyes before answering.

"I'm sorry. When we went to the rift, there was this huge spaceship. No one else could see it and I thought it weird so I went and checked it out. When I went inside the door locked. The ET's inside weren't hostile, so I'm okay, but I guess time passed by quicker in the ship than it did outside because when I came out, there was no one around and I made my way back here and now here we are." Yeah, she thought, that sounds plausible. She could almost feel wolf in her head trying to hold back a snicker.

Everyone around her stared at her for a minute and then before she knew it she was being engulfed in hugs. People were talking at a thousand miles an hour and asking her questions; most of which she really had no intention to answer. All of the commotion drew Mickey, Jake, and Pete from their respective offices.

"Oi! What's goin' on out here?" She heard Mickey call from the hallway. Everyone let go of her at once and Rose looked to the floor abashedly. Once again she was tackled in a hug. Mickey pulled back so he could see her and started checking her over, making sure she wasn't hurt. "Rose! Where the hell've you been? We thought you were dead."

"Nah, you couldn't get rid of me that easily if you tried." She tried joking, but when Mickey only cocked an eyebrow she let it fall. She looked meaningfully at her three boys and mouthed 'later' to them. They, all three, nodded slightly. Pete sent everybody back to work but Jamie wouldn't leave her side now that she was back.

"Well, this man certainly is clingy Rose. How're you going to tell your friends what happened if he won't leave?" Wolf asked in her head.

"I'm not too sure wolf. I was actually thinking I'll just tell them later at home. That way I can tell mum at the same time." After she said that she noticed Mickey looking at her with a weird look on his face; staring right at her eyes. She looked at him in question.

"What's wrong Mickey? Is there something in my eye?" Rose brought a hand up and started rubbing at it, but Mickey just shook his head, so she stopped.

"No, it's nothing. For a second it looked like... never mind, it doesn't matter. What matters is you're back and in one piece. We've got about an hour left of work and you said later right? So let's just finish up here and get going." He rubbed the upper part of her arms fondly and then let go to get back to his office.

Rose, having nothing to do, walked into her office and locked the door behind her. She turned around and slumped against the door. Her office was large by office standards. It was about 27x30, rectangular in shape. There were three windows in succession in the middle of the wall, looking out over the city, shaped like an extended semi-circle. It was painted in the bluest of blues; TARDIS blue. Just a reminder of the doctor every day. To the right of the window was a cedar desk and a leather swivel chair. In front of the desk, in the wall, was a door adjoining her office with the sitting room that they all used for lunch or meetings.

All along the left wall and continuing along the back was a large bookcase, almost full. In the middle of the bookcase was an indentation where the contractors had put a fireplace. There was a table and a sofa almost right in front of her for if she ever stayed late one night and didn't feel like going home. Also for reading when she had the chance.

So walked over to the sofa and flopped down on it, feet dangling over the edge, one hand on her stomach the other thrown over her face. She decided to have a conversation with wolf.

"How exactly are we going to get home wolf? The doctor said that if we tried, both universes would collapse." She was honestly confused about this.

"Rose... I think there was a chance they would've collapsed. But the doctor was falling in love with you; he fell in love with you. It would hurt him so much if you'd stayed with him and then died on one of your little escapades. He would've thought it his fault and I think by leaving you here he was trying to save both of you the hurt of going through that; he left you here so you would be safe and so that you could have a life." There was a feeling of sadness coursing through her head that wasn't hers. Mind you, she was sad that he didn't believe in her. She'd promised him forever, why couldn't he have just believed her? She could feel tears running down her face. Everything in her body was so new to her, all of her senses were tripled (if not more), and she thought she was done crying. She wiped her tears away and set her mind. She would get back and then she would have a serious talk with that man about promises.

"Right," she said, "so how're we getting back, then?"

"Well, you know how the old torchwood was ripping a hole through the universes?" Rose nodded. "Well, you and I are going to just unlock one. It's honestly not that hard, the only reason you can't do it or why you don't have the knowledge yet is because this is the transitional period. After about two or three weeks of having me in your head, we'll fully merge and you'll have all of my knowledge and that'll be the part of you that is time vortex. Also, when you get back make sure to open the door to the TARDIS and look into the vortex. It's a big thing for time lords, but for you, it'll give you a power boost. Although, theirs was somewhat controlled... no matter, it's all the same for you. " Rose was nodding along the whole time. She thought something like this might happen because the doctor was just brimming with insightfulness but he never seemed to pick up a book. He just knew everything. Like it came to his head when he needed it.

"Alright, so this shouldn't take too long then? Because I want to get back as soon as possible." She felt wolf send something akin to a nod through her mind and then an alert. She opened her eyes and saw Mickey looking in her office, worried. I thought I locked that, Rose thought.

"Rose, I've been calling you for ten minutes. It's been an hour, time to go home. I want to hear what happened and so do the others." Mickey was rushing her out the door and over to the elevator where Pete and Jake were waiting. They all boarded the elevator and rode it down to the first floor. While they were leaving the security guard tipped his hat to Rose and said welcome back. She nodded at him while thinking that she felt really bad now because she wasn't going to be back... not again. This time, she had no intention of returning.

They walked out to Pete's car and, before getting in the passenger's seat, Rose turned once more to look fondly at torchwood tower before stepping into the car, and driving away.

Mickey and Jake were telling her how good it was to have her back and she wasn't really paying attention. She nodded at the right places though and answered if they asked her a question. But all the while she was thinking about what she'd do when she saw her doctor again.

They arrived at the Tyler estate and they all got out of the car. Pete walked to the door followed by Rose who was followed by Mickey and Jake.

"Jackie!" Pete cried. "We're home! And we've got a surprise for ya!"

"What are you yelling about?" Jackie said as she came through the hallway. As soon as she turned to the front hall, she froze mid stride. Her eyes took in her daughter, standing there. "Rose Marion Tyler!" She yelled, walking over to her and pulling her into a hug. "Where have you been? I was so worried about you; I thought maybe... you know, he found a way back and took you from me again. Without as much as a goodbye." Rose hugged her mother back just as enthusiastically and then pulled back a bit so she could talk.

"That's why I'm here." Rose mumbled. Jackie looked at her daughter strangely. "Mum, guys, I have something important to tell you." Her mum just tilted her head but nodded.

"I'll make us some tea, then." Rose just grinned. Jackie Tyler and her tea, she thought. She felt wolf just nod in her head. Rose made her way to the sitting room where she took the single person chair. Across from her, Jake and Mickey took one of the sofas while Pete waited on another for his wife to return with their tea. About ten minutes later, Jackie entered the room with a tray of mugs and a pot of freshly brewed tea along with milk and sugar. Once everyone had a cup, Jackie sat down and looked expectantly at her daughter.

"Right." Rose said. She wasn't exactly sure how to start but ploughed ahead anyways. "Well, what happened when Jake, Mickey, Pete and I went to Cardiff to check out the rift activity, there was a ship-"

"No there wasn't, what are you talking about Rose? We were all there and there was nothing on the rift." Mickey said, almost smugly. Rose just looked at him the way she looked at him when he was 'Mickey the idiot' as the doctor had so fondly called him.

"There was, Mick, you just couldn't see it. Hell, I still don't know how I was able to see it." That was me. Wolf cut in. Rose sent a silent thanks and continued. "Anyway, I went inside before I realized you three weren't following me and I heard this weird chanting coming from one of the rooms. Naturally, I followed my instincts and went to check it out. There were aliens, obviously, inside that could read auras, among other things. It turns out... it turns out that I'm a disturbance in this reality," starting the lie she'd made up. She really didn't want her mum knowing she wasn't human anymore. "They told me that they'd have to kill me," they all gasped. "or they'd give me the knowledge that I need to get back." They were all looking at her as if waiting for more of the story. Clearly, according to her fabricated tale, she hadn't chosen the 'die' option.

"So that's it then." Her mum said. "You're just going to go? Back to that world; back to him." Rose was nodding; tears in her eyes. She honestly didn't have a choice either way. "Well, be safe. And when you see him, make sure to give him a slap from me for leaving you here in the first place." Her mum got up and crossed over to Rose, who also stood up. Jackie hugged her daughter who returned it in kind, albeit confusedly. When she pulled back Rose had something to say.

"Mum, why are you so accepting of this? How are you so accepting of this?" Jackie just gave her daughter a look that said 'are you serious?'

"Rose, when you were with the doctor, on the days you'd come back to see me, you were always so happy. He made you happy. Ever since you've been separated, it's almost like... like a piece of you was ripped away." You don't know the half of it, she thought she heard wolf say, but just attributed it to her imagination when she didn't say anything else. "You need that, sweetheart. You deserve to be happy, and I'm starting to see that only he can really give it to you. So go, and never forget us. Your little brother will be sure to hear all about you." Rose was crying silently while her mother spoke, who was also crying. She turned her attention to Mickey who just seemed to be staring into space. She gave a final look to her mum before walking over to him.

"Mickey." She said softly as she knelt in front of him. He looked at her and she let out another wave of tears. His eyes looked so broken; broken but accepting. She knew she would get no argument from him either.

"I don't know why I didn't see this coming." He began. "It was always going to happen, just like you always said; 'The doctor and Rose, together as it should be.' And I jazzed myself up for this, when you would leave. But I don't think anything could prepare me for when you would actually go." He took a moment to hug her tight to himself. She could feel his mouth at her ear. "I love you Rose, and I hope he makes you as happy as you deserve or else I'll be the one to make both universes collapse just to kick his scrawny butt." Rose just let out a watery chuckle and nodded into his shoulder. She pressed a final kiss to his cheek before letting go and turning to Jake. He simply nodded at her, gave her a hug and said goodbye. Finally she turned to Pete.

"I only met him the two times. And in those two times, I could see that he made you happy, even just being around him brightened up your mood. I know, that, had I been the one to raise you, I would be more emotional than I am now, and the father side of me is trying to kick in, but I know you need to go; you need to be happy and I know this is why you didn't want to get close to me in this reality." She just nodded and then did something that surprised them both; she hugged him and kissed his cheek as well.

"You'll be a great dad to my little brother, Pete. I just know it." She released him and turned, again, to her mother. They both hugged each other fiercely again and cried.

"I love you, Rose. Always remember us."

"How could I ever forget any of you? You raised me," she said to her mum and laughed and turned to Mickey. "You're Mickey the idiot. Mickety-Mick-Mickey, my best friend. And you're Jake; you took on a fleet of cybermen just because it was the right thing to do, with no weapons. And you," she said turning, once again, to Pete. "You make my mother happy, you hear me?" He nodded, grinning slightly.

"We should leave soon Rose, before it gets too late. There's something else I want you to do." Rose nodded to wolf and turned back to her mother.

"I have to go... now." Rose stated. Jackie nodded and hugged Rose one last time.

"Let's go now, yeah? Rose asked wolf. She felt a nod in her head and pulled away from her mother. Without looking back, Rose said a last 'I love you', turned and walked out of the Tyler estate for the last time.

By the time everyone had said their goodbyes and Rose walked out, it was around six in the evening. Rose decided to ask wolf what it was that she still needed to do before they left.

"Rose, every time that someone makes a decision, it creates an alternate reality; one where that person made one decision and one where they didn't. It might even create more than that if there were more than two options or more than one decision. The doctor doesn't know this which is why he sees fixed points in time. The time lords could only see one reality, the one that they were in. Because you and I are both part time vortex we see everything and, by changing something, we create alternate realities and don't destroy the one we're in. This is one such reality where you allowed me to live inside of you, but if you concentrate, you can see that in one reality the Usgaran never came because the doctor succeeded in purging all of your heritage from you; all of the time vortex that was meant to live within you. In that reality, you succeeded in getting back to the doctor but only after a long time had passed and the daleks had already started tearing down the walls between all universes and realities. In case that still ends up happening, we're going to go to torchwood to make sure that your team had the means of building what you would call a dimension cannon so that they can come and aid us if the situation calls for it."

"Well, that's great news... I think." Rose thought. "So how are we going to get to torchwood then?"

"We are going to do the same thing that a dimension cannon does. First, you need to think clearly of torchwood." Wolf waited until Rose had a clear picture of her torchwood office in her mind's eye and then set to work. Wolf mentally set some co-ordinates and then locked on to the image within Rose's mind. Unaware to the inhabitants inside the Tyler estate and Rose herself, she started glowing gold and wispy tendrils of time were almost pouring out of her, and then, she vanished from the very spot she was standing.

xXThe_Child_of_TimeXx

Torchwood was alive with activity as per usual. The tower could never really be left unmanned or unguarded in case a situation arose, such as an invasion, and Torchwood needed to be there as soon as possible. However, sometimes there were rooms that were empty and devoid of life where normally there would be two to three people inside or just outside. It was in one of these rooms that a woman, bathed in golden light, appeared. If anyone were to walk past the unguarded room at that moment, they would have heard the woman's voice as she appeared to be talking to herself and she would have been found out. Thankfully, no one did happen to walk by.

"Alright wolf," Rose said aloud, seemingly to herself. "Tell me where I need to go and what I need to do to build this thing." The reason that Rose was talking out loud to herself, and not telepathically like she should've, was because the outward silence unnerved her. It was too... silent for her liking.

"Very well Rose." said wolf. "But remember, we're only going to make one of them just so they can see how they're supposed to look. We'll leave the parts out for them and instructions on when and how to use them."

"All right." Rose was just excited; she would finally be getting back to her doctor. So for the next two and a half hours, Rose and wolf worked restlessly, with the materials in the room they were in, on what would become the dimension cannon. After said period of time, they spent another 30 minutes on writing out instructions on how to build the rest of the cannons and then on another sheet of paper, Rose wrote a note directly to Mickey, Pete and Jake on when and why they were to use the piece of alien technology and under which circumstances; if the stars in the sky ever started to disappear, they were to start putting them together immediately. Rose and wolf gathered the remaining supplies and put them into a desolate corner of the room so no one would mess with them until the time was right and then the pair made their way to Mickey's office, trying very hard not to get caught by any Torchwood officers roaming the halls. Jamie was still working and if he caught Rose here after her hours then she would definitely be here longer than she planned.

"Damn it!" Rose exclaimed once she got to Mickey's office and then immediately clamped a hand over her mouth. "Damn," she repeated a little quieter after making sure the coast was clear and no one had come running. "His doors locked." She could hear wolf laughing in her head. "And just what are you laughing at?"She asked.

"You, Rosana." Wolf replied. "Look, put your hand over the doorknob and watch." Rose did as she was asked and watched as her hand started to shine gold. Soon after, she heard a soft click; the telltale sign that the door was now open. "And that's how it's done." Rose just stared at her hand, amazed at the feat wolf had just pulled.

"H-how did you do that?" The uninformed one asked.

"It was simple psychokinetic manipulation of ambient energy. Basically I took the energy floating around; raw energy of the earth, and expelled it through your hand with a command to unlock the door. Just think of it as a 'Superior Sonic Screwdriver' because it also works on wood." Rose had to stifle a laugh at that

"Can you do anything what that?" She asked.

"A lot of things, yes... but not everything no." Rose nodded and opened the door to Mickey's office. She walked over to his desk and put the note where he would be sure to see it. Once finished, she left the room and had wolf work her magic on the door again.

"So what now?" Rose asked, speaking out loud again.

"Now we head to the place where the walls between realities are sure to be at their weakest. Want to take a guess as to where that is?" Rose thought for a second.

"Oh," she said. "The void room! The wall there is still weak because of the break, right?" Wolf hummed in agreement and Rose once again made her way through the hallways, ducking behind corners and staying in the shadows to keep hidden. Before she knew it, she was standing in front of the blank, off-white wall in the void room. It hadn't been entered since Canary Wharf so it hadn't been cleaned and she could see the place where she lost herself. Mascara was also in a spot in the middle of the wall. Rose felt a painful tug at her hearts but consoled it with the thought that she would soon be reunited with the doctor.

"So, how do we do this?" She asked.

"Well, Rose, I have the strength to make two trips; one across the void – I can probably get us into the TARDIS – and I could make another. We could go somewhere before we see the doctor. We won't change anything anywhere we go because Bad Wolf exists in all realities, so whatever we do, whatever choices we make simply creates parallels." Rose thought about that. They could virtually go anywhere! They could go back and create a world with no Torchwood, meaning that at least one pair of her and the doctor would never be separated. They could even go and visit Gallifrey. But, Rose thought, I really shouldn't. So she made a smart decision.

"Okay, wolf. for the first trip across how about we go somewhere that I can bond with the TARDIS and look into the vortex without my doctor becoming suspicious. And then after that's done we can finally get back to our doctor." She could feel the surprise that wolf was broadcasting at her choice; after all, she really could have gone anywhere. So wolf looked into the untainted time stream for Rose's world and searched for the best time for them to do the tasks they needed to do. Oh, thought wolf, that's a good one... and it should be entertaining to watch. This should be good. Rose was to absorbed in trying to console her own pains at having to wait a while longer before seeing her doctor to notice wolf being devious.

"Okay Rose, I'm going to need you to close your eyes. Envision your world and then this one with a bridge joining them."

"But there's no difference between the worlds. How can I do that?" Rose replied without actually thinking about it first.

"Does this realm not have zeppelins in the sky? Or Pete Tyler? Imagine Pete in a zeppelin hanging over Big Ben and then for your world, envision the doctor in his TARDIS in front of a separate Big Ben." Rose couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of that.

"Sounds good wolf." she replied and for the second time that day, Rose pictured, with more detail than she could ever remember having done, two versions of Big Ben side-by-side, one with Pete Tyler and a zeppelin, the other with the doctor and his TARDIS. Then, with little difficulty, she spread them apart, placing a bridge between them.

"Okay Rose – don't open your eyes, keep picturing – put your hand on the wall." She did so and almost pulled it away for she felt a weird sensation. Wolf spoke before she could open her eyes or pull away. "Don't worry about the feeling, that's your bridge. Just keep your hand firmly against the wall. What you will feel pulling you is the vortex energy; it's constructing the bridge you made in your mind. Soon you'll feel as though you're moving through water and that's just us shifting worlds and then the fun begins." Wolf thought the last part to herself because she wanted Rose to be surprised when they got to their destination. The people that are there will be surprised as well, she thought, one of them pleasantly.

Wolf reached out and set her second set of co-ordinates that day. Trying her best to not alert Rose to their destination, she set off to get Rose back to where she belonged. And for the second time that day, Rose Tyler disappeared in a flurry of golden light leaving no inclination towards her ever having been there.

There, that was the first chapter of, what I hope to be, many. How was it? A review would be nice and constructive criticism is always appreciated; you wouldn't really be helping if you just said 'the story sucks'.

Thanks for reading!

-Love, Seeker