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(no subject)

Who: Rose & Jack
Where: Outside the mansion
When: Shortly after Rose's arrival
Rating: PG/PG-13, maybe?
Summary: Jack goes to welcome Rose to the Mansion.
the Story:

Jack all but ran from his room down to the doors of the Mansion. Rose was here. He knew he shouldn't be so happy about that, especially since he still had no idea how to leave. He just couldn't help it though. After the Doctor had told him she was trapped on an Alternate Earth, Jack had thought he'd never see her again.

He pushed open the doors, before stepping outside and looking round for her.

"Rose?" He called, hoping she could hear him.

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"Yeah..." He sighed, trying to work out a way to explain it to her. "You remember Satellite Five, right?"

"Not really, I just didn't think you'd speak to her so soon," He flashed her a quick grin. "What did she say about me? Apart from the saving the Earth thing."

"Really, you weren't missing out. That year... it wasn't fun."

There was a nod in confirmation, "Yeah the battle...I...after we left..." Her voice trailed off as the moment started to flash in her head briefly, the Doctor regenerating right before her eyes. That face. She had been so reluctant to accept it, at first. Jack’s fate had been left in the air since then. She should’ve asked then, but was somewhat fearful of a response that she wouldn’t like. Now, however, it was different. Shaking the thought away Rose focused on her friend. "What exactly happened then? You found a way around the Daleks, did you end up taking some of them down?" But the whole 100 years was still a bit unsettling. How was that even possible?

"Well..." She started to explain the little that she had heard with a finger to her chin. "She really didn’t say much, I mentioned you perchance and she just said that you helped out. Said I should ask you more about it."

"Oh...I see." A frown started to form, leading her to only guess as to what exactly had taken place, whatever it had been, wasn’t good.

Jack shook his head. "No... they killed me, Rose," He paused, trying to find a way to phrase it so it wouldn't sound like it was her fault. It wasn't, he'd never blamed her. "You... do you remember what happened? When you took the Time Vortex into yourself?"

"I didn't really do a lot... there wasn't a lot I could do,"

He frowned at the look on her face, and rested his hands on her arms. "Look, don't worry about it. It never happened."

So he died? And yet here he was as if nothing had happened and he hadn’t really aged all that much. She tried to recall that day again. There really wasn’t much that came to mind, and she had never really bothered to press the Doctor about it after they had gotten back. Everything had just moved forward so quickly.

The expression on her face got graver as she looked away from Jack and down at the ground, holding his hand. What had she done? "There was a bright light and singing...then I woke up still in the TARDIS and the Doctor was alive. It was so confusing..." She admitted a bit sadly, "Then he changed...I...what did I do, Jack? I thought whatever had happened had defeated the fleet and the emperor. You can’t die, then?" Her attention returned back to him with shaky eyes. Was he mad at her for it?

"Oh..." Was all that she could say, not about to ask about it further, at least for the moment.

Even if it never happened, the fact remained that they had remembered it, at least that's what she had gathered from Martha. "But you remember it, yeah?"

Jack cringed as he noted her expression. "Rose... it wasn't your fault," He gave her hand a gentle squeeze, hoping she wasn’t going to blame herself for it. “You did beat them. And I’m glad you did. Really. Just… don’t blame yourself,”

“I remember it,” He confirmed. “And if you’d like, I can tell you about it. Or at least I can tell you what I do know.

But she couldn’t help but feel guilty about it. She had been so determined to go back and fix things. Help. But the exact how of it was elusive. Would she ever remember? "...I’m so sorry, Jack." Her voice was low, finding some comfort in his gesture and squeezing back. Wiping away a stray tear, she tried to focus on the present. At least he was alive. That’s what mattered. Alive, Forever. She wondered if the Doctor was upset by it. Attempting to swallow down the guilt, she perked up a bit. "You’re alive, that’s what counts. Now how about the grand tour, Captain?"

She looked straight ahead at the doors and walked still holding tightly onto his hand. "Go right ahead, got lots of time." Not like she was going anywhere presently. And she didn’t think she’d rather be anywhere else for the moment.

Jack didn't look convinced by her sudden cheeriness, but he decided to let it slide for now. “Sure. I haven’t really been here long, but Martha’s already shown me round I shouldn’t be too bad a guide.”

“Alright,” Jack agreed, he stayed quiet until they were in the foyer, trying to decide where to start. “You remember I told you we had a Torchwood in Cardiff?”

Rose looked around the foyer as soon as they entered. It seemed a bit too homey. Strange place. Did anyone charge a fee to stay here? She’d have to ask later, right now there were more pressing matters to attend to. Like catching up.

"Yeah, right under our feet." She acknowledged, rocking on her heels to look back at him. Or rather their feet, though how could anyone run a Torchwood from underground? But of course Jack wasn’t just anyone. So it shouldn’t have surprised her as much, however it didn’t stop her from being curious. "Was your team involved?"

Jack looked surprised for a moment, before shaking his head. "No... I mean... well, no," he paused, trying to remember where he'd been going with his explanation.

"The Rift there.... that's the reason I decided to run that branch. I knew that if I waited there long enough, he'd come back to refuel his TARDIS. And he did... eventually," Jack glanced away before speaking again.

"He was already taking off when I managed to get to the TARDIS. The Rift had been active, so it didn't take long... I jumped onto the shell, and the TARDIS tried to shake me off. She was out of control, and we ended up at the end of the universe," he cut himself off there, looking back at Rose to see how well she was following.

She heard his explanation, finding it clever in a way. Very clever. It must’ve been some wait though. Her thoughts were soon interrupted as she caught his next bit of words and tried to imagine the whole situation, him clinging to the TARDIS as it ripped through the vortex.

"...At the end of the universe?" Her expression was both a mix of surprise and wonder. There was such a place? And she hadn’t seen it yet. "Really? He must’ve been surprised to see you."

"The end of the universe..." Jack confirmed. "It shouldn't even be possible to get there."

Jack laughed a little, but it was empty and tinged with bitterness. "I think he was more upset than surprised to be honest."

Realizing they were still in the foyer, he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and started walking again. "Do you want to continue this in the kitchen? We could sit down there, and get a drink."

"Lots of things shouldn’t be possible." She stated as a matter of fact, though just because they shouldn’t be didn’t mean that it didn’t happen. Still the end of the universe, it must’ve been some place. "Just like getting to parallel Earth." She said a bit sadly averting her gaze to the fireplace. The TARDIS and her way of getting to some places for whatever reasons was a mystery.

She picked up on his tone easily. Upset? Why would...unless he knew. Unless he had known even as they were leaving the game station. And he hadn’t even told her. He...So then was he mad at her for it? Did he hate Jack? She felt guilty all over again, "I’m sorry..."

She attempted to give him a small smile, "Sure that’d be lovely." And she started to follow, contemplating what to have. "They don’t charge here do they?"

Jack inwardly kicked himself as she said that. "I'm sorry, Rose..."

He shook his head as she apologized. "It wasn't your fault," he told her gently.

He laughed slightly at her question; he honestly hadn't even considered that before. "Not so far as I know."

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