Chapter Text
Some things were difficult.
Staying in one place when your whole body was aching for movement. Growing a TARDIS on a planet that only had one stupid sun. Working long days at Torchwood when your husband was going through one of his phases of restlessness and desperation.
Nevertheless, when the shrill sound of her earpod’s emergency alarm ripped her from sleep, Rose Tyler was wide awake in an instant. After all those years of working for Torchwood her instincts were as sharp as could be, and she’d already pressed the button to take the call when she was still trying to disentangle her limbs from a grumbling half-Time Lord.
“Yeah?”
“Ma’am. Really sorry to wake you at this godforsaken hour.”
She looked at the clock on the bedside table. It was a quarter to four.
The voice continued, and Rose realized it must be Roger Samson, head of security. “There’s been a breach at one of the underground laboratories. The intruder—human, it seems—has been taken, but we need your special expertise to determine whether he’s a threat.”
“My… expertise?” Rose had learned a lot of things in the past few years, quantum physics and the handling of massive firearms not being the least of which, but she was sure there were quite a few people more qualified than her when it came to interrogating late-night intruders. Some might even already be at the base. There was a mumbled discussion at the other end of the line.
She looked at the Doctor who had curled around her part of the covers and was breathing softly once more. Then Roger spoke again.
“The intruder claims to be temporally displaced.”
* * *
“I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
Of course they would ring her. After her work on the Dimension Cannon and the first few experiments, Sarah Harrison, lead researcher on cross-dimensional transit, had taken her aside.
“You know, most people here think you’re far too familiar with this stuff. I know they say you’re Pete Tyler’s long-lost daughter, but…” She’d trailed off.
Rose had looked a bit taken aback, and Sarah had added: “Don’t worry. Let them talk. I’m not trying to pry, really, though if you do want to talk about it… it’s not every day you get to talk to someone from a different world.” Sarah had smiled. “Just wanted to let you know what’s going on round here. And that I’ll have your back, ‘cause you do some really good work.”
They’d become close friends after that, even if Rose kept mum about her travels. It was not something she wanted to go into, for her own sanity’s sake—her life was here now, after all, in one specific time and place, and there was nothing she could do about that—and to protect the Doctors, both Time Lord and not.
A few weeks later, though, all of the heads of departments had been briefed regarding Rose’s off-world status and her experience with time travel. Not that everyone had believed that last bit of information, of course, but it had made things a little easier, especially when they arrived with another off-worlder three years ago. One that, this time, they couldn’t possibly claim was related.
Rose looked at the Doctor as she got up and dressed. He sighed in his sleep and she pressed a kiss on his temple and left him a note on her pillow in case he woke up while she was gone.
Am at work, there’s been an emergency.
Love you always.
xxx
On her way to the Torchwood Towers, she went over what little information they had given her.
It definitely seemed odd.
* * *
“Jack!”
It came out completely involuntarily and earned her confused looks not only from the armed guards standing at his side, but also from Jack himself. Jack was seated on the chair behind the table, his hands and feet cuffed. They were holding him in the specially sealed interrogation room: behind the partition were two more guards and Roger Samson stayed close behind her, just in case.
Jack’s uncomprehending look made Rose’s smile falter.
“Jack?” She sat down on the chair opposite him. Blue dress shirt, red braces—he looked much like the last time she’d seen him, although he seemed a bit out of it. God, how she’d missed him sometimes, his fantastic stories and the way he could make her laugh. She’d never thought she’d see him again.
“We’ve given him something to calm him down. He was upset and seemed a bit, umm, inebriated.” Roger looked at her closely. “Do you know him?”
“Jack?” she ventured again, and this time he smiled in an eerily familiar way.
“It’s not Jack,” he said. “It’s Zack. Zachary MacGrath of the Boeshane Peninsula. And who are you?” he added with a grin that she knew all too well, even though whatever they had given him made it turn out rather lopsided.
“It’s me, Rose. Don’t you remember? Jack, how did you end up here?”
“Zack,” he repeated. “Although, lovely woman like you… You could call me anything you like.” He winked.
Rose just stared at him, and suddenly she felt like she was back in a different time and place, all those years ago, on the back of a Chula warship that could turn invisible at the press of a button, and it was tethered to Big Ben and there was champagne —
She felt dizzy.
“He tried flirting with me, too.” Roger sighed. “Ms Tyler, what’s going on? Do you know this man?”
Then it clicked. This was Jack and then again, it wasn’t. This was the Jack from this universe.
Apparently, his name was Zack. And he was meeting her for the first time.
* * *
“Alright, Zack, let’s start from the beginning.”
Zack. It would take some time to get used to this.
Rose had asked the guards to uncuff him, which had made him pout with mock disappointment: “Awww, I kind of liked the handcuffs.” She was sure she could see him exchange a meaningful glance with one of the guards, too, who blushed and quickly turned away.
Rose had insisted they leave her alone with him and while the guards were happy to oblige, Roger Samson had wanted to stay with her. Rose understood that he had a hard time accepting her easy familiarity with the stranger, especially keeping in mind that she didn’t even seem to know his proper name. But this was important to her. She knew how to handle this. She knew Jack, after all.
“No, Roger, listen. I can vouch for him. And I wanna talk to him in a normal way, not like he’s a criminal.”
Finally, Roger had given in.
Now here she was, and there was this bloke who looked just like Jack, and she wanted to know what was going on. Thankfully, he seemed happy about her intervention and was eager to talk.
“Alright. I’ve told them all this, but here we go. Last night was my birthday,” he said. “My brother Gray, he’s a Time Agent. Goes by a different name of course. He wanted to take me to this, uh, club in London in the 31st century to celebrate. 31st birthday, 31st century, you know.”
Rose nodded as she remembered her universe’s Jack’s involvement with the Time Agency as well. And she had an idea just what sort of club he was talking about. Not that she needed any more details.
Zack continued. “You’re not supposed to do these things, I guess, but Gray borrowed his partner’s travel device to take me along. We wanted to go directly to the club to avoid messing with the timestream as much as possible. Just some anonymous patrons. I have no idea how I ended up here.” He shrugged.
“What happened to your device?”
“I don’t know. I have no idea how that thing even works. The guys over there confiscated it.” Zack made a vague gesture towards the partition. “We just wanted to go to London.”
“Well, you managed to get to London alright.” Rose grinned. “This is the 21st century, though, so you’re a few years early. And you’ve stumbled into some very high-security labs… which apparently get turned into a club at some point.”
“Not just any old club —“ Zack started to explain with an enthusiam Rose knew all too well. She waved him off.
“But you’re not a Time Agent, then? Your brother is?”
Zack nodded.
“Who are you, then? What do you do for a living?”
“Me?” He flashed her a winning smile. “I’m an insurance salesman. Feeling a threat of alien attack? I’m your man.”
* * *
In the end Rose had managed to convince Roger Samson that despite Zack’s sudden appearance in Torchwood’s underground labs, he did not pose any immediate threat to the institute’s security. She’d also gotten hold of the vortex manipulator, safely sealed away in a see-through plastic bag, on the grounds that all of Zack’s possessions needed to be returned to him. Best not to have Torchwood’s scientists tinker with it just yet. She would take it home and get the Doctor to look at it. And she would take Zack with her as well, now that he’d gotten the green light from the institute’s medical officers. They had a guest room and he needed somewhere to stay, if only until this whole mix-up was sorted out. It would also be good to keep him under observation, just in case.
“Five hours in the 21st century and I already have a beautiful woman taking me home.” Zack smiled. “After all I’ve heard, I thought you guys were a lot more conservative than that.”
Rose looked at him, and all she could do was shake her head and laugh.
Some things never changed.