Seeing the Light 3/3 (A Rose Gen Ficathon Story)
Story: Seeing the Light
Author:
wendymr
Rated: PG13
Summary: It's all about moving on; maybe she’d have preferred a different ending, but she’s always believed in facing up to challenges and changes rather than trying to live in denial.
Written for the Rose Gen Ficathon for
vegasunicorn25 - requests listed with chapter 1. With many thanks to
dark_aegis and
nnwest for BR services.
Chapter 1: First Contact
Chapter 2: Encounter
Chapter 3: Friend or Foe?
“Oh, Jack.” She sounds so sad, and she is. That it’s come to this. That he’d do this to her.
That she was right to wonder if she could completely trust him.
And to think she’d actually been feeling ashamed of herself for having doubts about him. For having come armed, just in case. That she was giving herself a hard time for not just asking Jack straight out if he was telling her the truth about his interest in the lights.
In the little light available from the moon, she thinks she sees him flinch a little. But then his face hardens again. “The gun. Hand it over.”
She stands her ground. “No.”
He’s blocking her path, so much bigger than she is, stronger, probably faster - he always used to be, and he’s clearly not let himself go in the meantime.
“Rose. I’m warning you.”
She meets his gaze, the blue eyes like flint. “What you gonna do to me, Jack? You gonna kill me?”
It takes him a couple of seconds, but he looks away. “What do you think, Rose?” No emotion in that voice, but there’s tension in every line of his body.
“No,” she says, and there’s certainty in every atom of her. He won’t do that. No matter how desperate he is, how badly he wants whatever it is he’s trying to achieve, he won’t hurt her. That’s something she knows. Even if he’s not the Jack he once was, she still knows there’s a limit to how much he’d betray her.
He’s silent for what seems like ages. The irony is that he’s not even looking at her now. He might be blocking her path, but he couldn’t stop her getting away. She could have him on the ground, overpowered, in seconds because he wouldn’t see her making the first move.
But there’s a greater goal at stake here. Yes, she could escape. But showing Jack that she trusts him despite what he’s just done is more important.
Finally, his shoulders slump and he turns back to her. “No. Of course not.” He sighs. “Damnit, you really think I could ever hurt you?”
“Just told you I don’t,” she points out. “I know you, Jack. I don’t know what you’re up to here, or why you think I’m going to stop you, but I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.” His voice is gruff. “It’s been a long time, Rose. I’m not the same person you knew then. Besides, you know what I was when you met me.”
“I know what you were when we were together,” she reminds him. “And I know that’s the real you. Whatever you’ve been doing in the last few years, I know you didn’t have a choice, or you didn’t think you did. Besides, you told me you never hurt anyone.”
“And you believe me?” His face is a twisted mask. “You’re too trusting, Rose. Always was.”
She has to laugh at that. “You should tell my dad that. It’d make his week.” Because one thing she’s not is trusting. Not any more. Oh, she’s not the first to rush to judgement, to assume that any stranger has a nasty agenda, but she’s not the Rose Tyler who’d set a Dalek free. Not any more. Nor, probably, is she the Rose Tyler who’d run into a timeship with an alien - at least, not without a lot more information than she had back then.
No regrets, true, but she’s learned a lot of lessons.
“Okay, Jack, start talking.” She gestures to his wristcomp, and then to the lights in the sky. “Who are they? And what’s your agenda here?”
Again, he doesn’t answer immediately. Then he nods. “They are Zorkans. Their ship’s anchored just a few metres above here - cloaked, of course. The lights are their communication pattern. I translated the message they were sending a few days ago.”
Damn. “So, last night, when I met you, you already knew what it was all about? Who they are and what they’re doing?”
“Yeah.” He blows out a breath. “I was supposed to be sending a message back to them. Then I detected your scanner’s signal. Couldn’t risk you intercepting my message, so I had to neutralise you.”
Oh, Jack. “So what do they want?” This can’t be good. Not if he was prepared to hurt someone to finish what he started. Not if he was ready to turn on a friend - a lover - tonight.
“Actually, they really are just making contact.”
“Really?” But he’s not lying. Not now. “So why the cloak and dagger? Why am I a threat?”
“Because I was conning them, all right?” He’s wearing the same belligerent look he had when he confessed to being a conman before. Not proud of what he is, but not going to admit it.
“You were conning the Zorkans? How?”
“They wanted to contact Earth’s leaders. Establish a dialogue. See if they could set up friendly relations. You know the sort of thing. Well, I caught their transmission - saw the lights a few days ago, but too late to get the full message. So the next night I came down there, caught the whole thing, ran it all through my wristcomp and realised what they’re looking for. I couldn’t signal back to them then, so that’s why I was here last night.”
“And you were going to signal back saying what?”
“I’d pretend to be an official representative of Earth. It’s not like anyone else in this time-period has the technology to understand the transmission anyway. I was gonna tell them that we want to talk and we’re happy to enter into negotiations. And that we’d be sending a diplomatic liaison to meet them and travel with them to their home planet. Someone authorised to conduct talks.”
Ah. Now it’s making sense. “And that liaison officer would be you?”
“Yeah. Except I’m not authorised to talk with anyone.”
She nods. “It was your way off Earth, wasn’t it? Do Zorkans have time-travel?”
He stuffs his hands in his jacket pockets. “No, but they have contact with races who do. One way or another, I was going to get back to the fifty-first century. Maybe even go back to the Time Agency - this is another universe, after all. Paper records don’t matter as much there. They rely on DNA and other things to confirm identity.”
“And what if there’s already a Jack Harkness in this universe?”
“Yeah, that’s a risk I’m gonna have to take.” He shrugs. “I’m kinda thinking there isn’t. Because if there was - I know myself, Rose. I’d’ve worked out by now that there’s another me appeared out of nowhere, and I’d’ve been to see what it’s all about.”
Right. That’s probably true. But it’s far from the only flaw in his plan. “And what about the Zorkans? What do you think they were gonna do when they worked out you weren’t the ambassador they’d been told you were? Shake your hand an’ say have a nice trip?”
He looks irritated. “You know I can look after myself.”
Yeah. “And what about last night? This morning?”
Clearly uncomfortable, he says, “Rose... don’t think that didn’t mean anything, because - ”
That’s not what she’s talking about. Though it’s nice to know it did mean something to him. “I meant my offer to help you. What my dad’s doing to get you ID. A job.”
He doesn’t answer immediately, though she’s already pretty sure what his answer is going to be. He isn’t from this century. He’s not used to being trapped in a single time, either, much more than she’s not. If she’s still got wanderlust, how much worse must his be?
This century’s primitive compared to where he’s from. Of course he wants to get back. Of course, especially considering what he’s been through the last few years, he hates being in this time. Given a choice between what she’s offering and the chance of getting back to his own time, it’s no surprise that he’ll take the latter. Even if it does mean betraying her.
“You could have just told me the truth,” she says softly. “Don’t you think I’d’ve understood?”
“Yeah,” he says, his voice equally soft. “You would have. You always did understand what I did far more than the Doctor.”
“Yeah.” She walks up to him, reaches up to place her hands on either side of his face, pulling him down to her, and kisses him. Then she steps back and points to the lights in the sky.
“Don’t miss your chance, Jack. Send your signal. And good luck.”
And she turns and walks away, out of the Distillery, back to the subway and home.
***
Two hours later, just about when she’s concluded that she read him wrong, there’s a knock at her door. It’s Jack.
“What about your message?” she asks him, not bothering with a greeting.
“Sent it.” He looks weary.
“Yeah? They coming back for you, then?”
“Nah.” He leans against the wall next to her door. “Told them that Torchwood would be making contact on behalf of the Earth.”
She wasn’t wrong about him. A weight lifts from her chest.
And she smiles. “Knew you wouldn’t let me down.”
“I didn’t.” His mouth twists. “For at least ten minutes after you left, I was still going to send my original message.”
“That’s more than enough time to send it,” she points out. “But you didn’t.”
“Yeah.” He pulls a face. “You know why?”
“Because your heart wasn’t in it. You’re not a conman, Jack. You were just desperate.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t make excuses for me, Rose. It’s not as if I didn’t have other options, even before you came along. Anyway,” he adds, “you’re why I didn’t. Because you trusted me.”
She nods. “You know I do. Always will.”
He snorts. “You shouldn’t. I’m the least trustworthy guy you know.” Shaking his head, he adds, “But when you told me I could do it if I wanted, I just couldn’t.”
That’s what she’d been hoping. Still, he might have done it. Taken the risk that he wouldn’t get killed and seized his chance of getting away from the twenty-first century.
And, whatever he says, he’s not that bad. What he was planning wouldn’t have hurt the Earth or anyone on the planet. The only person he was putting at risk is himself. The only people he would have been deceiving are the Zorkans, and it’s not as if they couldn’t have tried again.
“I’m glad,” she tells him. “This time needs you, Jack.” And, not that she’ll burden him by telling him so, she wants him around, too. Even if he’s going to stay somewhere on this continent once he accepts the job offer she knows is coming his way, they can stay in touch. Email and phones are wonderful things.
He straightens, pulling himself away from the wall. “I’m not sure it does, but anyway...” He nods. “You’ll have to tell your superiors at Torchwood what’s going on with the ship. This is the message the Zorkans are sending. I translated it for you.” He hands her a piece of paper, written over in his familiar slashing handwriting. “The address and phone number of the hotel I’m staying at’s on the back. Get in touch when you have a return message and I’ll send it. Or, if you prefer, I can modify your scanner properly so you can send it and translate anything else they send.”
Her scanner... “What did you do to it, then?”
“Not much. Yeah, it recorded the message, but I made sure it wouldn’t translate.”
“You’re a tosser, you know that, Jack Harkness?”
“Oh, yeah.” He doesn’t return her smile. “Don’t you forget that, Rose Tyler.”
He stuffs his hand in his jacket pocket, then holds something else out to her. “You’ll want this back.”
It’s a key. Her key. And now she sees what he’s saying.
This is goodbye. Apart from where he helps her - or her bosses - communicate with the Zorkans, he’s not intending to see her again.
“Stupid bastard,” she tells him. “Get your arse in here.”
“Rose.” He rolls his eyes at her. “I threatened you. And lied to you.”
“And I brought a gun with me tonight. Who d’you think it was intended for?”
His mouth twitches. “You’d never’ve used it on me.”
“Course I wouldn’t.”
He shakes his head. “God, you’re just like the Doctor. He did that too once, the fool. Walked into a room with a gun, then handed it to the person he was trying to threaten.”
She shrugs, unsurprised. “Never did like guns, the Doctor. Once told me not having one gave him the moral advantage.”
“Lot of use a moral advantage is when you’re dead,” Jack says dryly. And she can’t help but agree, at least a little.
“So.” She raises her eyebrows. “You staying or going?”
He grins wickedly, the trademark Harkness humour returning at long last. “You had your chance to be rid of me, I guess.”
“Yeah, and you saw how that went.”
“Yeah.” He kicks the door shut behind him. “You can assume I’m staying.”
***
Torchwood’s director is ecstatic about the message, once assured that it’s genuine. It takes a few days while intense discussions are conducted with the major world leaders and the UN, but finally a response is negotiated and Rose and Jack - now temporarily installed in the Toronto Torchwood as a special advisor, and soon to be offered permanent employment - are authorised to transmit the reply.
Messages are sent back and forth at regular intervals over the next few weeks, and finally Rose actually gets to meet a Zorkan. Her translation device now reads their language, and she’s authorised, on behalf of the UN, to invite the Zorkan ambassador to a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
She actually gets to attend that meeting, too, as one of the two humans who can communicate with the Zorkans. Jack’s not there; she’s the one with the Torchwood track record, after all, the senior employee. He sees her off at the airport with a kiss and a see you in hell, and she knows he’ll be there when she comes back.
He’s got his full Torchwood credentials now, too, after several weeks of interviews and psychological testing and the usual routine. There’s been a lot of excitement over him, too. Although only a very select few are allowed to know that he’s actually from the future, those few have wanted to meet him for themselves, to hear some of the things he can tell them about aliens and about technology - though he’s very circumspect, anxious not to cause too many upsets to the timeline - and to experience meeting someone who’s pretty much becoming a Torchwood celebrity. He hated that, of course, but once it’s over and things settle down it’s better. The job’s just the kind of thing to interest him, and, of course, he’s destined for great things. At the very least, leadership of his own investigative team. Possibly a future Director.
He’s created quite a stir in the office, as well, because he flirts outrageously with everyone, male and female, attached and unattached. She gives him glances of mock disapproval from time to time, but it doesn’t really bother her. It was always amusing watching Jack in action, after all. And, besides, he may be hers for now, but she has no illusions about him. He won’t stay faithful indefinitely. Some day, probably soon, he’ll move on to the next conquest. Or conquests. That doesn’t matter either, not really. They’ll always be friends, and nothing can change that.
It’s funny, meeting aliens again after so long - even in all her time at Torchwood, she hasn’t met any actual live aliens. Just alien debris and relics and the occasional sign that there might be alien presence somewhere. Strange to remind herself that chatting to aliens was once an everyday occurrence for her. She didn’t need a translation device then, though.
The meetings go well; initial suspicion on the part of the US president is overcome, the Canadian premier is prevented from being too over-enthusiastic and Harriet Jones from introducing herself with every speech she makes. By the end of the three days scheduled for the talks, a skeleton diplomatic agreement is worked out and signed by both sides. Tentative plans are made for visits, though of course at present only the Zorkans can travel. However, there’s some talk of sharing technology, enabling human space research into intergalactic travel to move beyond hypothetical to possible.
And, Rose hears when she returns to work, there’ll be a promotion and a pay-rise waiting for her when her secondment’s over and she returns to the UK. That’s in less than a month now. Her ticket’s already booked.
Two tickets, actually - she’s not going back alone. That’s unexpected, but definitely something to make her happy.
Though the head of the Toronto office also makes her an offer: they want her to stay. She’s tempted, but Britain really is her home, despite the wanderlust that won’t go away. Her family’s there, and Mickey, and she’ll never leave them.
Once, she would have, but no matter the incentive, no matter how much she loved the Doctor, that’s something she’d have come to regret. He knew that, too. That’s why he wanted this for her and, much as she misses him, now when she thinks of him she thanks him for what he did to get it for her. Even if his first attempt to send her here didn’t work.
She’ll always travel. But she’ll always, always go home.
END
x-posted to
available_very
Author:
wendymr
Rated: PG13
Summary: It's all about moving on; maybe she’d have preferred a different ending, but she’s always believed in facing up to challenges and changes rather than trying to live in denial.
Written for the Rose Gen Ficathon for
vegasunicorn25 - requests listed with chapter 1. With many thanks to
dark_aegis and
nnwest for BR services.
Chapter 1: First Contact
Chapter 2: Encounter
Chapter 3: Friend or Foe?
“Oh, Jack.” She sounds so sad, and she is. That it’s come to this. That he’d do this to her.
That she was right to wonder if she could completely trust him.
And to think she’d actually been feeling ashamed of herself for having doubts about him. For having come armed, just in case. That she was giving herself a hard time for not just asking Jack straight out if he was telling her the truth about his interest in the lights.
In the little light available from the moon, she thinks she sees him flinch a little. But then his face hardens again. “The gun. Hand it over.”
She stands her ground. “No.”
He’s blocking her path, so much bigger than she is, stronger, probably faster - he always used to be, and he’s clearly not let himself go in the meantime.
“Rose. I’m warning you.”
She meets his gaze, the blue eyes like flint. “What you gonna do to me, Jack? You gonna kill me?”
It takes him a couple of seconds, but he looks away. “What do you think, Rose?” No emotion in that voice, but there’s tension in every line of his body.
“No,” she says, and there’s certainty in every atom of her. He won’t do that. No matter how desperate he is, how badly he wants whatever it is he’s trying to achieve, he won’t hurt her. That’s something she knows. Even if he’s not the Jack he once was, she still knows there’s a limit to how much he’d betray her.
He’s silent for what seems like ages. The irony is that he’s not even looking at her now. He might be blocking her path, but he couldn’t stop her getting away. She could have him on the ground, overpowered, in seconds because he wouldn’t see her making the first move.
But there’s a greater goal at stake here. Yes, she could escape. But showing Jack that she trusts him despite what he’s just done is more important.
Finally, his shoulders slump and he turns back to her. “No. Of course not.” He sighs. “Damnit, you really think I could ever hurt you?”
“Just told you I don’t,” she points out. “I know you, Jack. I don’t know what you’re up to here, or why you think I’m going to stop you, but I trust you.”
“You shouldn’t.” His voice is gruff. “It’s been a long time, Rose. I’m not the same person you knew then. Besides, you know what I was when you met me.”
“I know what you were when we were together,” she reminds him. “And I know that’s the real you. Whatever you’ve been doing in the last few years, I know you didn’t have a choice, or you didn’t think you did. Besides, you told me you never hurt anyone.”
“And you believe me?” His face is a twisted mask. “You’re too trusting, Rose. Always was.”
She has to laugh at that. “You should tell my dad that. It’d make his week.” Because one thing she’s not is trusting. Not any more. Oh, she’s not the first to rush to judgement, to assume that any stranger has a nasty agenda, but she’s not the Rose Tyler who’d set a Dalek free. Not any more. Nor, probably, is she the Rose Tyler who’d run into a timeship with an alien - at least, not without a lot more information than she had back then.
No regrets, true, but she’s learned a lot of lessons.
“Okay, Jack, start talking.” She gestures to his wristcomp, and then to the lights in the sky. “Who are they? And what’s your agenda here?”
Again, he doesn’t answer immediately. Then he nods. “They are Zorkans. Their ship’s anchored just a few metres above here - cloaked, of course. The lights are their communication pattern. I translated the message they were sending a few days ago.”
Damn. “So, last night, when I met you, you already knew what it was all about? Who they are and what they’re doing?”
“Yeah.” He blows out a breath. “I was supposed to be sending a message back to them. Then I detected your scanner’s signal. Couldn’t risk you intercepting my message, so I had to neutralise you.”
Oh, Jack. “So what do they want?” This can’t be good. Not if he was prepared to hurt someone to finish what he started. Not if he was ready to turn on a friend - a lover - tonight.
“Actually, they really are just making contact.”
“Really?” But he’s not lying. Not now. “So why the cloak and dagger? Why am I a threat?”
“Because I was conning them, all right?” He’s wearing the same belligerent look he had when he confessed to being a conman before. Not proud of what he is, but not going to admit it.
“You were conning the Zorkans? How?”
“They wanted to contact Earth’s leaders. Establish a dialogue. See if they could set up friendly relations. You know the sort of thing. Well, I caught their transmission - saw the lights a few days ago, but too late to get the full message. So the next night I came down there, caught the whole thing, ran it all through my wristcomp and realised what they’re looking for. I couldn’t signal back to them then, so that’s why I was here last night.”
“And you were going to signal back saying what?”
“I’d pretend to be an official representative of Earth. It’s not like anyone else in this time-period has the technology to understand the transmission anyway. I was gonna tell them that we want to talk and we’re happy to enter into negotiations. And that we’d be sending a diplomatic liaison to meet them and travel with them to their home planet. Someone authorised to conduct talks.”
Ah. Now it’s making sense. “And that liaison officer would be you?”
“Yeah. Except I’m not authorised to talk with anyone.”
She nods. “It was your way off Earth, wasn’t it? Do Zorkans have time-travel?”
He stuffs his hands in his jacket pockets. “No, but they have contact with races who do. One way or another, I was going to get back to the fifty-first century. Maybe even go back to the Time Agency - this is another universe, after all. Paper records don’t matter as much there. They rely on DNA and other things to confirm identity.”
“And what if there’s already a Jack Harkness in this universe?”
“Yeah, that’s a risk I’m gonna have to take.” He shrugs. “I’m kinda thinking there isn’t. Because if there was - I know myself, Rose. I’d’ve worked out by now that there’s another me appeared out of nowhere, and I’d’ve been to see what it’s all about.”
Right. That’s probably true. But it’s far from the only flaw in his plan. “And what about the Zorkans? What do you think they were gonna do when they worked out you weren’t the ambassador they’d been told you were? Shake your hand an’ say have a nice trip?”
He looks irritated. “You know I can look after myself.”
Yeah. “And what about last night? This morning?”
Clearly uncomfortable, he says, “Rose... don’t think that didn’t mean anything, because - ”
That’s not what she’s talking about. Though it’s nice to know it did mean something to him. “I meant my offer to help you. What my dad’s doing to get you ID. A job.”
He doesn’t answer immediately, though she’s already pretty sure what his answer is going to be. He isn’t from this century. He’s not used to being trapped in a single time, either, much more than she’s not. If she’s still got wanderlust, how much worse must his be?
This century’s primitive compared to where he’s from. Of course he wants to get back. Of course, especially considering what he’s been through the last few years, he hates being in this time. Given a choice between what she’s offering and the chance of getting back to his own time, it’s no surprise that he’ll take the latter. Even if it does mean betraying her.
“You could have just told me the truth,” she says softly. “Don’t you think I’d’ve understood?”
“Yeah,” he says, his voice equally soft. “You would have. You always did understand what I did far more than the Doctor.”
“Yeah.” She walks up to him, reaches up to place her hands on either side of his face, pulling him down to her, and kisses him. Then she steps back and points to the lights in the sky.
“Don’t miss your chance, Jack. Send your signal. And good luck.”
And she turns and walks away, out of the Distillery, back to the subway and home.
***
Two hours later, just about when she’s concluded that she read him wrong, there’s a knock at her door. It’s Jack.
“What about your message?” she asks him, not bothering with a greeting.
“Sent it.” He looks weary.
“Yeah? They coming back for you, then?”
“Nah.” He leans against the wall next to her door. “Told them that Torchwood would be making contact on behalf of the Earth.”
She wasn’t wrong about him. A weight lifts from her chest.
And she smiles. “Knew you wouldn’t let me down.”
“I didn’t.” His mouth twists. “For at least ten minutes after you left, I was still going to send my original message.”
“That’s more than enough time to send it,” she points out. “But you didn’t.”
“Yeah.” He pulls a face. “You know why?”
“Because your heart wasn’t in it. You’re not a conman, Jack. You were just desperate.”
He shakes his head. “Don’t make excuses for me, Rose. It’s not as if I didn’t have other options, even before you came along. Anyway,” he adds, “you’re why I didn’t. Because you trusted me.”
She nods. “You know I do. Always will.”
He snorts. “You shouldn’t. I’m the least trustworthy guy you know.” Shaking his head, he adds, “But when you told me I could do it if I wanted, I just couldn’t.”
That’s what she’d been hoping. Still, he might have done it. Taken the risk that he wouldn’t get killed and seized his chance of getting away from the twenty-first century.
And, whatever he says, he’s not that bad. What he was planning wouldn’t have hurt the Earth or anyone on the planet. The only person he was putting at risk is himself. The only people he would have been deceiving are the Zorkans, and it’s not as if they couldn’t have tried again.
“I’m glad,” she tells him. “This time needs you, Jack.” And, not that she’ll burden him by telling him so, she wants him around, too. Even if he’s going to stay somewhere on this continent once he accepts the job offer she knows is coming his way, they can stay in touch. Email and phones are wonderful things.
He straightens, pulling himself away from the wall. “I’m not sure it does, but anyway...” He nods. “You’ll have to tell your superiors at Torchwood what’s going on with the ship. This is the message the Zorkans are sending. I translated it for you.” He hands her a piece of paper, written over in his familiar slashing handwriting. “The address and phone number of the hotel I’m staying at’s on the back. Get in touch when you have a return message and I’ll send it. Or, if you prefer, I can modify your scanner properly so you can send it and translate anything else they send.”
Her scanner... “What did you do to it, then?”
“Not much. Yeah, it recorded the message, but I made sure it wouldn’t translate.”
“You’re a tosser, you know that, Jack Harkness?”
“Oh, yeah.” He doesn’t return her smile. “Don’t you forget that, Rose Tyler.”
He stuffs his hand in his jacket pocket, then holds something else out to her. “You’ll want this back.”
It’s a key. Her key. And now she sees what he’s saying.
This is goodbye. Apart from where he helps her - or her bosses - communicate with the Zorkans, he’s not intending to see her again.
“Stupid bastard,” she tells him. “Get your arse in here.”
“Rose.” He rolls his eyes at her. “I threatened you. And lied to you.”
“And I brought a gun with me tonight. Who d’you think it was intended for?”
His mouth twitches. “You’d never’ve used it on me.”
“Course I wouldn’t.”
He shakes his head. “God, you’re just like the Doctor. He did that too once, the fool. Walked into a room with a gun, then handed it to the person he was trying to threaten.”
She shrugs, unsurprised. “Never did like guns, the Doctor. Once told me not having one gave him the moral advantage.”
“Lot of use a moral advantage is when you’re dead,” Jack says dryly. And she can’t help but agree, at least a little.
“So.” She raises her eyebrows. “You staying or going?”
He grins wickedly, the trademark Harkness humour returning at long last. “You had your chance to be rid of me, I guess.”
“Yeah, and you saw how that went.”
“Yeah.” He kicks the door shut behind him. “You can assume I’m staying.”
***
Torchwood’s director is ecstatic about the message, once assured that it’s genuine. It takes a few days while intense discussions are conducted with the major world leaders and the UN, but finally a response is negotiated and Rose and Jack - now temporarily installed in the Toronto Torchwood as a special advisor, and soon to be offered permanent employment - are authorised to transmit the reply.
Messages are sent back and forth at regular intervals over the next few weeks, and finally Rose actually gets to meet a Zorkan. Her translation device now reads their language, and she’s authorised, on behalf of the UN, to invite the Zorkan ambassador to a meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
She actually gets to attend that meeting, too, as one of the two humans who can communicate with the Zorkans. Jack’s not there; she’s the one with the Torchwood track record, after all, the senior employee. He sees her off at the airport with a kiss and a see you in hell, and she knows he’ll be there when she comes back.
He’s got his full Torchwood credentials now, too, after several weeks of interviews and psychological testing and the usual routine. There’s been a lot of excitement over him, too. Although only a very select few are allowed to know that he’s actually from the future, those few have wanted to meet him for themselves, to hear some of the things he can tell them about aliens and about technology - though he’s very circumspect, anxious not to cause too many upsets to the timeline - and to experience meeting someone who’s pretty much becoming a Torchwood celebrity. He hated that, of course, but once it’s over and things settle down it’s better. The job’s just the kind of thing to interest him, and, of course, he’s destined for great things. At the very least, leadership of his own investigative team. Possibly a future Director.
He’s created quite a stir in the office, as well, because he flirts outrageously with everyone, male and female, attached and unattached. She gives him glances of mock disapproval from time to time, but it doesn’t really bother her. It was always amusing watching Jack in action, after all. And, besides, he may be hers for now, but she has no illusions about him. He won’t stay faithful indefinitely. Some day, probably soon, he’ll move on to the next conquest. Or conquests. That doesn’t matter either, not really. They’ll always be friends, and nothing can change that.
It’s funny, meeting aliens again after so long - even in all her time at Torchwood, she hasn’t met any actual live aliens. Just alien debris and relics and the occasional sign that there might be alien presence somewhere. Strange to remind herself that chatting to aliens was once an everyday occurrence for her. She didn’t need a translation device then, though.
The meetings go well; initial suspicion on the part of the US president is overcome, the Canadian premier is prevented from being too over-enthusiastic and Harriet Jones from introducing herself with every speech she makes. By the end of the three days scheduled for the talks, a skeleton diplomatic agreement is worked out and signed by both sides. Tentative plans are made for visits, though of course at present only the Zorkans can travel. However, there’s some talk of sharing technology, enabling human space research into intergalactic travel to move beyond hypothetical to possible.
And, Rose hears when she returns to work, there’ll be a promotion and a pay-rise waiting for her when her secondment’s over and she returns to the UK. That’s in less than a month now. Her ticket’s already booked.
Two tickets, actually - she’s not going back alone. That’s unexpected, but definitely something to make her happy.
Though the head of the Toronto office also makes her an offer: they want her to stay. She’s tempted, but Britain really is her home, despite the wanderlust that won’t go away. Her family’s there, and Mickey, and she’ll never leave them.
Once, she would have, but no matter the incentive, no matter how much she loved the Doctor, that’s something she’d have come to regret. He knew that, too. That’s why he wanted this for her and, much as she misses him, now when she thinks of him she thanks him for what he did to get it for her. Even if his first attempt to send her here didn’t work.
She’ll always travel. But she’ll always, always go home.
END
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