Chapter Thirty-One: Our World

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Setting the phone back into its cradle, I groan. I'm certain I have never spent so long talking to someone so boring. My feet kick up on the desk but I realise too late, scrambling to grab the picture frame knocked from the edge. It slips through my finger. I curse under my breath, carefully picking it up. Only a few cracks run across the image, separating Mickey's grinning face from mine. A stronger word comes to mind.

"Long morning?"

Sending a playful glare towards Jake, I set the frame back down on the desk. "'Long' doesn't begin to cover it. The latest Home Secretary is quite possibly the least interesting politician I've ever met. Even all of his scandals are boring. Please, give me something good to think about."

He shrugs, fidgeting with the ring now circling his finger. It is still new. "Well, Mac's thinking of getting us a dog," he begins, a small smile playing on his lips.

I do my best to engage, reciprocating his soft tone. "That's sweet. You two should really come for dinner again, my flat's been far to empty lately. Seems like we never have the time to just hang out."

His humour fades. It's easier for him to read me than I thought. "Worrying about Mickey?"

I don't bother to look at the picture again. "Knowing him, I have a good reason to worry. We can't even call him though. Thought those discs would do us some good."

"It has," he assures me, a little impatient. "Come on, don't you go putting yourself down over that. It's a brilliant bit of tech. Five years ago, you were convinced it couldn't be real. Now Mickey's back home — his real home."

A pang of jealousy hits me. If I didn't have so many responsibilities, I'd be right there with him. "Not for the right reasons," I mutter. "You know, apparently it's all my fault."

"What is?"

I sigh wearily, seating myself on the edge of the desk. This job has been weighing on me more and more. It never gets any easier. "Those factories. Every single Cyberman in the world vanishes and suddenly everyone thinks I'm to blame. Five years in and I'm getting calls from all over telling me to fix it — as if that's not what I've been trying to do. I mean, what happened to all the praise after last year? I was a 'global hero'! Our new President's got the press breathing down her neck and she keeps looking to me to solve it. Feels like I did one good thing and now I'm stuck being everyone's go-to nag."

A quiet laugh catches my attention. Seeing my frown, he shakes his head, still smiling. "That's what happens when you agree to lead the one good defence this place has got against the weird and the wacky."

"Is that what we're calling it now? Oh, and don't let UNIT hear you say that. Kate still hasn't completely forgiven me."

A rattling sound can be heard in our pause. I try to ignore it at first but it grows louder and louder. The room starts to shake.

Catching my jar of sporks before they can topple off the desk, Jake leads the way out of the office. It's not just us, it's the entire building. The sirens begin to wail. "What the hell?"

I manage to stop a technician rushing by. Panicked, she points to the other end of the open plan floor, to a dead-end corridor filled with monitors and cables. "The sensors are picking up massive energy readings. It's happening again."

This is not like the other times, though. Brief tremors and spikes have been occurring for the past few months but this is worse. Much worse.

"Jake, get the team together. Order an evacuation." He nods. Running back to my office, I grab the phone. The shaking has stopped by now but the chaos continues as employees race for the stairs. Finally, the ringing stops. "It's happening."

"You ready?" Pete asks. We both stand in the doorway of the corridor, waiting for Jake's team to return.

Removing my little finger from the corner of my mouth, I subconsciously wipe it off on my blazer. Immediately, my hands busy themselves with the tangled hair now only reaching my shoulders. The wall remains blank. I don't think I can bear to wait much longer. "I don't know," I admit after some time. It feels good to say.

A lot can change in five years. I don't know what the Doctor will look like or if Rose is still with him. I don't know what he'll think of me. So much is different now. I'm not as young as I was and the difficulties I've faced have probably made that more obvious.

Nodding, as if confirming some sort of suspicion, he pats me on the back. "I'll get the security team ready. Good luck."

It isn't long before I hear a familiar whoosh as two people re-materialise. All I can focus on is the man now standing in the cortidor. He has the same pinstriped suit, the same red Converse, the same spiky hair. The same face.

It's like a part of myself has also returned. The rest breaks a little more at the sight of him, just as he was the day I left.

The Doctor doesn't see me. He stares at Jake, dumbfounded into speechlessness. "Parallel Earth, Parallel Torchwood," the man explains. "Except we found out what the Institute was doing and the People's Republic took control."

"You'll never guess who they put in charge," I say, stepping gingerly into the room. A sudden heaviness overtakes my chest and throat.

He freezes. Again, I find myself doubting, but then he turns and meets my gaze. We just stare at each other for a moment. Neither of us know what to say. I half expect some witty remark or a chastising when his lips part. "Hello."

"Hello."

My smile is uncontrollable. It takes over despite my attempts to stay calm and professional. I don't even know which one of us goes in first but suddenly we're holding each other tightly, laughter overtaking sighs of relief.

My face buries into the crook of his neck. I inhale deeply, taking in his familiar scent and the warmth of his hold. Home.

I have to force myself to pull away but his hands quickly find my face, his brown eyes taking in every detail. "I— I, uh—" He can't find the words. "Oh, look at you!"

Not what I was hoping for. My grin falters slightly, my cheeks aching. "I know," I chuckle, "I'm not as young as I was. And you haven't aged a day. How do you do it?"

"Don't be ridiculous, you look brilliant! You've changed you hair." The last comment is delivered with less enthusiasm and a bit of surprise but then he hugs me again. I didn't expect him to even notice it. After a second, he steps back and fixes me with a pointed look. "What did you say before? Who's in charge?"

"Me. Well, with a council to back me up. Wasn't exactly my idea," I answer with a shrug. "The Janus Coin didn't work but I realised that its energy is related to interdimensional travel. It showed up when we first crashed into London. With Torchwood's help, I used it to make myself a way back home. These discs? I developed them." The one now hanging from a chain around my neck gleams under the flickering lights, the central blob of yellow gel shielded by a glass case that catches each blink on its polished surface.

Already, he seems unfocused, angry. That look in his eyes is not something I could ever forget and it fills me with unease, pushing me back a few steps. "I've got to get back," he says, sharply turning back to Jake. "Rose is in danger, and her mother."

Another weight is lifted at this realisation. Rose is still with him. She's still alive.

"That'd be Jackie. My wife in a parallel universe." We look to the door as Pete enters, flanked by armed guards. He regards the Doctor with a look of scorn. Over the years, I have come to recognise it as a front, a way to hide all of his grief and regret. "And as for you, Doctor, at least this time I know who you are."

He huffs impatiently. "Right, yes, fine, hooray! But we've got to get back, right now."

"No, you're not in charge here. This is our world, not yours. And you're going to listen for once."

"Oh, come on, Pete," I scoff. "We both know I outrank you. I've been here a while but this isn't my world, even more than the last one wasn't."

The Doctor wanders over to the far wall. Dismissing the guards, I follow after him with Pete close behind. We watch, confused, as he presses an ear against the wall as if listening for something on the other side. "Doctor," I sigh, leaning beside him so that his eyes have to meet mine, "we need your help. The Cybermen are up to something and we can't stop them on our own. Please."

Pete prepares to speak but I shake my head, already aware of a hint of hostility in his eyes. He rolls them and tries again, "When you left this world, you warned us there'd be more Cybermen. So we sealed them inside the factories."

"Except people argued," Jake continues, "said they were living, we should help them."

"There wasn't much else we could do. Couldn't trust them to be out around civilians but we couldn't kill them either." His focus remains fixed on me as I try to explain. I had always hoped that he would agree, that we had truly made the right choice. But he says nothing. Crossing his arms, he stands with his back against the wall, so close that our elbows touch.

"And the debate went on, but all that time the Cybermen made plans, infiltrated this version of Torchwood, mapped themselves onto your world and then vanished."

He nods slowly, processing. "When was this?"

"Three years ago."

My reply is quiet but I know that he hears it. He looks to me, a stunted utterance waiting on his lips that he can't quite seem to find the words for. The only thing he can do is walk away, beginning to pace the length of the dead-ended corridor. Pete and Jake follow again but I stay put. This isn't what I had imagined. It was meant to be better, it was meant to be happier.

I can see his hands fidgeting behind his back, twisting at the hem of his suit, desperate for something to do as his mind races. It's a nervous tick, a way to help him think. He can never keep still. I remember it all too well. "It's taken them three years to cross the Void but we can pop to and fro in a second? Must be the sheer mass of five million Cybermen crossing all at once."

I try to ignore the implications of some kind of loophole allowing my invention to work. I've always known that it is true but it was a win I so desperately needed at the time. I still do. A quiet laugh escapes me, "Mickey knew you'd say that."

"Yeah. Where is that Mickey-boy?"

Pete meets my gaze with a knowing smirk that I can't help but mirror. "He went ahead first. Any chance to go and find Miss Rose Tyler."

I work up the courage to follow now, soon falling into step with Jake. "She's your daughter," the Doctor says. "You do know that? Did Inara and Mickey explain?"

"She's not mine. She's the child of a dead man." He leads us to a large window overlooking the city below. Zeppelins hum through the sky and traffic rushes, people going about their day with no clue of what is to come. "Look at it. A world at peace. We're calling this the Golden Age."

The Doctor looks at it with the same suspicion I remember from all those years ago. He called it a 'gingerbread house', full of temptations. Now I know that he was right. "Who's the President now?" he asks after a pause.

"A woman called Harriet Jones."

Scoffing, he glances back to me. "I'd keep an eye on her."

"Oh, I have been."

"But it's a lie." The amusement fades from my expression at Pete's words again and I cast my gaze to the yellowish tinge in the sky. "Temperatures have risen by two degrees in the past six months, the icecaps are melting. They're saying all of this is going to be flooded. That's not just global warming, is it?"

"No."

I swallow the lump starting to form in my throat. Part of me had hoped he wouldn't find out about that. I remember exactly why when our eyes meet in the window's reflection because there is that look on his face, a kind of worry I can't deal with right now. I had secretly known that this was something I had done, that the discs could be causing it. I just couldn't prove it. Maybe I didn't want to, though. Maybe I just wanted to go back to my friends. That thought still eats away at me, the guilt festering inside. "It's the breach."

He huffs but doesn't turn to me, instead focusing on Pete as he turns back. "I've been trying to tell you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. Then the Daleks break down the walls with the Sphere."

Whatever colour my face still holds drains quickly at the mention of that name. "Hang on. The Daleks are back? B-But—"

"Then the Cybermen travelled across, then you lot. Those discs! Every time you jump from one reality to another, you rip a hole in the universe. This planet is starting to boil! Keep going and both worlds will fall into the Void."

"But you can stop it?" Pete enquires. He tries to mask his hope with a hint of sarcasm but it is so clear. He feels guilty too. "The famous Doctor. You can seal the breach?"

His stern glare seems a little more apologetic now. "Leaving five million Cybermen stranded on my Earth."

"That's your problem. I'm protecting this world and this world only."

I scowl at him. "Lucky you're not Head of the Institute, then, isn't it? Because that's exactly why Harriet wanted me. You can't prioritise this world simply because it's your home, we have to make informed decisions."

"And you did that when you messed with that bloody coin? It's your fault that this planet's dying. All that work to save your own home and for what? We're both as selfish as each other so don't lecture me."

The Doctor lets out a scornful chuckle. "Pete Tyler. I knew you when you were dead. Now here you are, fighting the fight... alone." He steps closer, his voice lowering. "There is a chance, back on my world, Jackie Tyler might still be alive."

He remains stone-faced. "My wife died."

"Her husband died. Good match."

"There's more important things at stake. Doctor, help us."

Raising an eyebrow, he glances sceptically between us. "What? Close the breach? Stop the Cybermen? Defeat the Daleks? Do you believe I can do that?"

The doubt in his tone somehow brings me some amusement. Smiling, I rest a hand on his shoulder. "Doctor, in the few months that I knew you, you saved countless people. Remember Jamie? A-and the schoolkids, Cardiff, those New Humans? The werewolf? You saved the entire planet from the Sycorax. You saved—" My breath catches at that but I try again, knowing that all of the resentment and regret I had felt are long gone by now. It still hurts a little but I can't admit it to him. Not yet. "You saved Reinette."

His gaze softens, completely fixed on my face. I don't know what he sees but it doesn't scare him. If anything, it's a promise of my trust in him. "Maybe that's all I need." A stupid grin takes over, one I can't believe I have back in my life. "Off we go, then!"

A/n:

We're back!!!

And, yes, Jake is married. My boy deserves happiness.


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