A Life Unexpected (7/15) and (8/15)
Apr. 8th, 2008 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
amberfocusChapter Seven: Invisible
Ian and Rose exited the airship at the Snowdonia docking port. They were met on the roof by a man and woman dressed in well-fitting suits. “I’m Owen Harper, this is my partner Gwen Cooper, the rest of the team is already on site,” the man said in a businesslike manner. Rose and Ian introduced themselves and then Owen said, “This way please.”
They followed him to a black SUV, kitted out with all kinds of fancy computer gear and tracking electronics. Gwen turned around in her seat and looked hard at Rose. “How do I know you?” Gwen asked her.
Rose studied the woman’s face. It was hauntingly familiar. “From another life, I think,” Rose said. The woman did not even look at her oddly. The resemblance between this woman and Gwyneth, a woman she’d met in the past with the Doctor, was so strong they could be the same woman. So strong, that Rose wondered if they indeed were the same woman, for there was something in the woman’s eyes...
“Are you Gwyneth?” Rose asked suddenly.
Gwen’s eyes widened and suddenly Rose knew. Gwyneth had not died that night in Cardiff so long ago. She had slipped through the rift and into this life when she’d destroyed the Gelth. “Are you that Rose?” she asked.
Rose nodded. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Rose said.
“Not in this world,” Gwen replied. "Or that one, either."
“What’s that all about, then?” Owen asked Gwen, eyeing Rose in the rearview mirror.
“Nothing that you’d understand,” Gwen said. Owen looked at her grimly before turning his eyes back to the road. Rose recognized the dynamic between them, that they were lovers and that Gwen held the power in this relationship, a circumstance Owen was not used to.
To break the tension Ian made small talk with Owen and a more relaxed atmosphere fell over the vehicle. As they passed onto the A470 trunk road Rose looked up at a hill overlooking it. She gave a sharp intake of breath as she saw Dolwyddelan Castle. It had been partially restored on her home planet, she’d visited it once with the Doctor, but here it was complete and full of splendor.
“Yes, she’s lovely isn’t she?” Gwen remarked. “The pride of Snowdonia.”
It was not much further before they pulled into the countryside. Rose saw another vehicle, a twin of the one she was riding in, pulled up to the edge of the open moor. As they got out three people came striding up to them.
The woman in front looked very familiar though Rose knew she had never seen her before in her life. She had long black hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a very strong jaw line. She was stunningly beautiful and she radiated sensuality.
“Hi,” the woman said brashly giving Rose and Ian the once over in a way that felt doubly familiar to Rose. The woman smiled broadly. “I’m Captain Jack Harkness.” Rose’s mouth fell open in shock. She had found many things on this parallel earth to be different in small ways, but this…Captain Jack as a woman? She realized her mouth was hanging open and shut it abruptly.
Jack continued on introducing Toshiko Sato, a lovely Japanese woman who did all their computer tech and Ianto Jones, who did a little bit of everything. Like Rose he was a JOAT. She smiled broadly at him, recognizing a kindred spirit.
“We’re set up over here,” Jack said. She turned and they followed her to a blind looking into the nearby marsh, the moor to their backs. “It’s supposed to land right in the middle of the muck, so we’re just out of sight here.” Jack looked at her watch. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”
That was an understatement, for no sooner had they obscured themselves behind the blind than they felt a near-searing heat, the pressure of air being displaced, and heard a sonic boom that caused everyone to cover their ears.
Rose saw the water splash up and evaporate on contact with whatever it was. “I was right,” Ian said in a low voice. “It does come through the atmosphere invisible.”
“Invisible to radar, too,” said Tosh. “I didn’t pick up anything at all. But it’s clearly there.” The outline of an egg-shaped craft the size of their two SUV’s put together, appeared in red and even from this distance they could feel the heat still coming off of it. As it cooled it became visible, a black metallic ship of some sort.
“It’s the same,” said Ian excitedly. “It looks exactly the same.”
They watched it for a half an hour and finally a small opening appeared at one end of the craft, a metal walkway extruding itself to the edge of the marsh. They could hear something walking across it, but could see nothing.
“Just what we needed,” muttered Captain Jack, “Invisible aliens in Wales. Well, there’s nothing else for it,” and Jack rose.
“Jack, wait, you can’t just--.” Gwen began.
“I can,” said Jack, “And I’m going to.” And with that she strode towards the ship. “Hi,” Jack said loudly, “I’m Captain Jack Harkness. Welcome to planet Earth. If you’d come with me please, we can check your passports and make sure all is in order for the duration of your stay.”
Rose was trying hard not to giggle. That was so Captain Jack. Looked like her captain and this one weren’t too far apart after all. “She’s really good at the B.S.,” said Tosh.
“We’ll just need to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t try to sleep with one of them,” Owen said. “You know what happened the last time.”
This time Rose did burst out in giggles. She quickly stifled them. Definitely not that different from her Captain Jack.
They'd ended up in Cardiff anyway. “They’re called Omnish pa’ Taul,” Captain Jack explained later the next evening in the meeting room at Torchwood 3. It was seldom used, as they all tended to gather round Gwen or Tosh’s workstations most of the time, but with two extra people there wasn’t room for that kind of informality.
“Basic bi-peds, they’re a harmless species, as long as you don’t threaten them with physical harm. Then they emit a scent that makes a dead skunk seem like a walk in a rose garden. It’s toxic with prolonged exposure, but we’re in no danger from this pair,” Jack said.
“What are they doing here?” Gwen asked.
“Looking for two of their kids. Seems there was this scavenger hunt and they had to get a square foot of New Zealand sod. When they didn’t check in at the last drop point, Mom and Dad came looking.”
“Mum and Dad?” said Rose.
“Well, not really,” said Owen Harper, putting on his doctor’s hat. “They reproduce asexually.”
“Much to my dismay,” murmured Jack and Rose had to again stifle a giggle. Jack gave her a wicked grin.
“So one of the children is a copy of Mum and one a copy of Dad. And originally Mum and Dad were one entity,” Owen continued, talking over Jack.
“My question is, how do you search a planet for invisible alien children?” Ian asked.
“Easy enough,” said Toshiko. “The parents can track their own family members since they are essentially tracking themselves.”
“I’ve got orders from Torchwood 1. Rose and Ian will be escorting them to New Zealand to retrieve their lost children and then back to their ship. Torchwood’s agreed not to confiscate the ship that just landed in exchange for full species disclosure and theory on their stealth capabilities,” Jack said.
“I’ve always wanted to see New Zealand,” Rose said.
“I’ll be tagging along with them,” Jack said, giving them all a wicked grin. “Ianto’s in charge while I’m gone. Don’t give him a hard time,” she said, her gaze focusing firmly on Owen.
“It’s not my fault he ended up in that force field for a week,” Owen said, unable to keep a straight face. “How was I supposed to know it was a restraint system?”
“Because I told you it was?” Tosh said.
“And I told you it was?” Gwen chimed in.
“And I told you it was?” said Ianto in his smooth voice. “And honestly, it wouldn’t have even been that bad if it hadn’t suspended me upside down the entire time.” They broke into laughter.
Rose sighed, recognizing a feeling that was almost happy. The playful banter between the Cardiff team reminded her of a much happier time in her life. It would be good to keep a hold on that feeling. Ian smiled at her, reflecting the same thought on his own face. Having people to rely on, people to watch her back, well, she could get used to that again.
“Well,” said Rose, “If I’m going to be stuck in a Zeppelin for a week, I really need to make a trip up to see Mum and Dad first.”
“And I need to visit my Gran,” said Ian.
“Oh, it won’t take that long at all,” Jack said breezily. “The Omnish pa’ Taul will fly us there in their ship.”
“Fancy that,” said Rose. “Me in an invisible space ship. Different from dancing on top of one outside Big Ben during the Blitz.”
Jack gave her a startled look. “How’d you know…?”
Rose winked at her. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Chapter Eight: Visions
Gwen Cooper had cajoled Jack into bringing her along on the flight to New Zealand, ostensibly because Gwen wanted to fly in an invisible space ship, but really because she didn’t want to be left at headquarters with Owen at the moment. They’d been fighting badly and she thought she might need to sever the relationship. But her real reason for coming was to speak with Rose.
She didn’t approach Rose until the alien children had been reunited with their parents and the Torchwood team was on their way back by airship, for the space craft had vibrated at a frequency that made every person not Omnish pa’ Taul horribly sick. It was highly doubtful their technology would be useful for humans. Rose enabled a privacy bubble so the two of them could talk without fear of being overheard.
“You fell through time and space,” Gwen began.
“Look who’s talking,” Rose said. “How did you end up here, Gwyneth? The house exploded, the Doctor said you died. That you were dead the moment you opened the rift.”
“I was gone the moment I opened the rift. A reflection of me lingered to destroy the dark ones who had deceived me, to protect that Earth from their evil. Something reached through time and space and encompassed me and brought me forward to this place and this time that is so foreign from my own.”
Gwen’s eyes darkened as she sank into the memory. “It was beautiful, what brought me. There was golden light and singing and something warm and right. It told me I would see you again but I never believed it. It told me so many things, Rose. And then it left me alone, so alone. I woke up in Cardiff, inside Torchwood.”
She sighed. “Captain Jack and Owen Harper found me. I’d been thrown from the rift. I was unconscious for days, in the dreams of light and singing. I’ve been here five years, Rose.”
“Just like me,” Rose breathed.
“They gave me this identity and they have looked after me in so many ways, and educated me for this world, and yet Owen cannot understand how adrift I sometimes feel in this place. This is not my home world, not my home time, not my home. He loves me, I know this; it is not something that can be hidden from me. But he does not understand me and he never will. It isn’t in him.” Gwen seemed so sad.
“Do you love him?” Rose asked.
“I don’t know. I sometimes think I do. But I have seen great love and this is not it, Rose. I have seen great love and this is only an echo. Such a lonely, distant echo. I don’t know if it can be enough, what there is between him and me. I think if I had not seen what could be, it might have been enough. But these visions, the futures that I see, always interfere and when I know there is more it is so hard to settle for less.”
“I’m sorry, so sorry, Gwyneth,” Rose said, her face full of gentle sympathy. “Life has not been kind to you.”
“Oh, but it has, Rose. It gave me a second chance not letting me die that day. And I have chosen to live this life as fully as I can, but I wish I hadn’t seen that love, that love that burns brighter than the sun, that love that is so strong and so everlasting. It hurts to look upon it and not have such a thing.”
“You may, you still may, some day Gwen.”
“No, Rose. I know that I will not. Not in this time. Not in this place.”
“It would have been easier for you if you did not see.”
“Yes, it would have, but there is no changing what is in my own life.” Gwen’s tone was matter-of-fact. “And I will go on no matter what I see.
“I wish it could be different. There’s so much I wish could be different,” Rose told her.
Gwen nodded, her eyes losing focus. “You came here with the man who could change his face, the man who would have done anything to save you, to keep you ever with him. He longs for you each day he is without you. Decades pass, centuries, and still his hearts cry out his need of you, his loss, his pain. Oh, Rose, his pain… it echoes throughout time and space. I feel it all through history, in every dimension, every universe. It calls to me. He needs you, Rose, he needs--.”
“Stop!” Rose cried desperately, her face covered in tears, her quiet sobs enough to shatter even the hardest heart though she was sitting with one of the softest. She had not cried since that day on the beach when she had said good-bye, had thought she’d lost that ability. And Gwen’s words tore it all out of her again.
Gwen came back to herself. “I’m sorry, Rose. I can’t control the visions.” She reached out and clasped Rose’s hand. “He loves you all through time.” At her words, Rose felt another wave of emotion overcome her, and then Gwen pulled Rose into her arms and stroked her hair. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It won’t always be like this. I see love, the greatest love, for you.”
Rose gulped and pulled away. “Love?”
Gwen nodded, pushing Rose’s hair back from her face, before her eyes went far away again, then suddenly came back and looked forward to where Ian McCullen sat. “I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but it’s in him. It’s in Ian. He’s bringing love back to you.”
“No,” said Rose, rejecting that. “No. There is no way. I will not love another man.”
Gwen shook her head, her eyes unfocused. “No. It isn’t that. There is something, something about him. He isn’t right and yet he is right. You will feel his love and yet you will not…you will not…be his love. He will…” Gwen shook her head hard again. “There’s light, green light, so much, so strong, woven with golden light and singing. He is something, he is something…beyond everything. I can’t, I can’t see it. It’s so close and yet so very far away.”
Tears fell from Gwen’s eyes. “And he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what he is, Rose! No one told him what he is.” Her voice was anguished now, rising higher, louder. “It’s been hidden. It’s been hidden. How could she never tell him? Oh, Rose he has to be told. It’s all in him, the future, the past, the light, the dark, the hope. It’s all in him.”
Gwen screamed in sudden agony as a terrible pain shot through her head and she collapsed, unconscious at Rose’s feet, blood tingeing her lips and eyes as she shook in seizure.
Rose leapt to her feet, cancelling the privacy bubble and yelling for Jack and Ian to come quickly. The airship was forced to land by Torchwood 4, temporarily located still in New Zealand, with the closest medical facilities. Ian carried Gwen inside the doors and as the last one of them went inside there was a horrible disorienting feeling that washed over them all.
A brilliant purple light tunnel shot out from behind Ian, knocking him off his feet and expanding, increasing, growing to gargantuan proportions, swallowing the entire building of Torchwood 4. A horrific wrenching sensation made Rose feel like she was going to vomit. She closed her eyes and bent over holding her stomach.
When she opened them again as the sensation eased and looked out the window she saw the hospital where Martha Jones worked. The block across the street from it had been pushed to either side. Torchwood 4 had just taken up residence in London as if it had always belonged right there.
Ch. 9: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/33529.html
Ian and Rose exited the airship at the Snowdonia docking port. They were met on the roof by a man and woman dressed in well-fitting suits. “I’m Owen Harper, this is my partner Gwen Cooper, the rest of the team is already on site,” the man said in a businesslike manner. Rose and Ian introduced themselves and then Owen said, “This way please.”
They followed him to a black SUV, kitted out with all kinds of fancy computer gear and tracking electronics. Gwen turned around in her seat and looked hard at Rose. “How do I know you?” Gwen asked her.
Rose studied the woman’s face. It was hauntingly familiar. “From another life, I think,” Rose said. The woman did not even look at her oddly. The resemblance between this woman and Gwyneth, a woman she’d met in the past with the Doctor, was so strong they could be the same woman. So strong, that Rose wondered if they indeed were the same woman, for there was something in the woman’s eyes...
“Are you Gwyneth?” Rose asked suddenly.
Gwen’s eyes widened and suddenly Rose knew. Gwyneth had not died that night in Cardiff so long ago. She had slipped through the rift and into this life when she’d destroyed the Gelth. “Are you that Rose?” she asked.
Rose nodded. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Rose said.
“Not in this world,” Gwen replied. "Or that one, either."
“What’s that all about, then?” Owen asked Gwen, eyeing Rose in the rearview mirror.
“Nothing that you’d understand,” Gwen said. Owen looked at her grimly before turning his eyes back to the road. Rose recognized the dynamic between them, that they were lovers and that Gwen held the power in this relationship, a circumstance Owen was not used to.
To break the tension Ian made small talk with Owen and a more relaxed atmosphere fell over the vehicle. As they passed onto the A470 trunk road Rose looked up at a hill overlooking it. She gave a sharp intake of breath as she saw Dolwyddelan Castle. It had been partially restored on her home planet, she’d visited it once with the Doctor, but here it was complete and full of splendor.
“Yes, she’s lovely isn’t she?” Gwen remarked. “The pride of Snowdonia.”
It was not much further before they pulled into the countryside. Rose saw another vehicle, a twin of the one she was riding in, pulled up to the edge of the open moor. As they got out three people came striding up to them.
The woman in front looked very familiar though Rose knew she had never seen her before in her life. She had long black hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a very strong jaw line. She was stunningly beautiful and she radiated sensuality.
“Hi,” the woman said brashly giving Rose and Ian the once over in a way that felt doubly familiar to Rose. The woman smiled broadly. “I’m Captain Jack Harkness.” Rose’s mouth fell open in shock. She had found many things on this parallel earth to be different in small ways, but this…Captain Jack as a woman? She realized her mouth was hanging open and shut it abruptly.
Jack continued on introducing Toshiko Sato, a lovely Japanese woman who did all their computer tech and Ianto Jones, who did a little bit of everything. Like Rose he was a JOAT. She smiled broadly at him, recognizing a kindred spirit.
“We’re set up over here,” Jack said. She turned and they followed her to a blind looking into the nearby marsh, the moor to their backs. “It’s supposed to land right in the middle of the muck, so we’re just out of sight here.” Jack looked at her watch. “It shouldn’t be much longer.”
That was an understatement, for no sooner had they obscured themselves behind the blind than they felt a near-searing heat, the pressure of air being displaced, and heard a sonic boom that caused everyone to cover their ears.
Rose saw the water splash up and evaporate on contact with whatever it was. “I was right,” Ian said in a low voice. “It does come through the atmosphere invisible.”
“Invisible to radar, too,” said Tosh. “I didn’t pick up anything at all. But it’s clearly there.” The outline of an egg-shaped craft the size of their two SUV’s put together, appeared in red and even from this distance they could feel the heat still coming off of it. As it cooled it became visible, a black metallic ship of some sort.
“It’s the same,” said Ian excitedly. “It looks exactly the same.”
They watched it for a half an hour and finally a small opening appeared at one end of the craft, a metal walkway extruding itself to the edge of the marsh. They could hear something walking across it, but could see nothing.
“Just what we needed,” muttered Captain Jack, “Invisible aliens in Wales. Well, there’s nothing else for it,” and Jack rose.
“Jack, wait, you can’t just--.” Gwen began.
“I can,” said Jack, “And I’m going to.” And with that she strode towards the ship. “Hi,” Jack said loudly, “I’m Captain Jack Harkness. Welcome to planet Earth. If you’d come with me please, we can check your passports and make sure all is in order for the duration of your stay.”
Rose was trying hard not to giggle. That was so Captain Jack. Looked like her captain and this one weren’t too far apart after all. “She’s really good at the B.S.,” said Tosh.
“We’ll just need to keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t try to sleep with one of them,” Owen said. “You know what happened the last time.”
This time Rose did burst out in giggles. She quickly stifled them. Definitely not that different from her Captain Jack.
They'd ended up in Cardiff anyway. “They’re called Omnish pa’ Taul,” Captain Jack explained later the next evening in the meeting room at Torchwood 3. It was seldom used, as they all tended to gather round Gwen or Tosh’s workstations most of the time, but with two extra people there wasn’t room for that kind of informality.
“Basic bi-peds, they’re a harmless species, as long as you don’t threaten them with physical harm. Then they emit a scent that makes a dead skunk seem like a walk in a rose garden. It’s toxic with prolonged exposure, but we’re in no danger from this pair,” Jack said.
“What are they doing here?” Gwen asked.
“Looking for two of their kids. Seems there was this scavenger hunt and they had to get a square foot of New Zealand sod. When they didn’t check in at the last drop point, Mom and Dad came looking.”
“Mum and Dad?” said Rose.
“Well, not really,” said Owen Harper, putting on his doctor’s hat. “They reproduce asexually.”
“Much to my dismay,” murmured Jack and Rose had to again stifle a giggle. Jack gave her a wicked grin.
“So one of the children is a copy of Mum and one a copy of Dad. And originally Mum and Dad were one entity,” Owen continued, talking over Jack.
“My question is, how do you search a planet for invisible alien children?” Ian asked.
“Easy enough,” said Toshiko. “The parents can track their own family members since they are essentially tracking themselves.”
“I’ve got orders from Torchwood 1. Rose and Ian will be escorting them to New Zealand to retrieve their lost children and then back to their ship. Torchwood’s agreed not to confiscate the ship that just landed in exchange for full species disclosure and theory on their stealth capabilities,” Jack said.
“I’ve always wanted to see New Zealand,” Rose said.
“I’ll be tagging along with them,” Jack said, giving them all a wicked grin. “Ianto’s in charge while I’m gone. Don’t give him a hard time,” she said, her gaze focusing firmly on Owen.
“It’s not my fault he ended up in that force field for a week,” Owen said, unable to keep a straight face. “How was I supposed to know it was a restraint system?”
“Because I told you it was?” Tosh said.
“And I told you it was?” Gwen chimed in.
“And I told you it was?” said Ianto in his smooth voice. “And honestly, it wouldn’t have even been that bad if it hadn’t suspended me upside down the entire time.” They broke into laughter.
Rose sighed, recognizing a feeling that was almost happy. The playful banter between the Cardiff team reminded her of a much happier time in her life. It would be good to keep a hold on that feeling. Ian smiled at her, reflecting the same thought on his own face. Having people to rely on, people to watch her back, well, she could get used to that again.
“Well,” said Rose, “If I’m going to be stuck in a Zeppelin for a week, I really need to make a trip up to see Mum and Dad first.”
“And I need to visit my Gran,” said Ian.
“Oh, it won’t take that long at all,” Jack said breezily. “The Omnish pa’ Taul will fly us there in their ship.”
“Fancy that,” said Rose. “Me in an invisible space ship. Different from dancing on top of one outside Big Ben during the Blitz.”
Jack gave her a startled look. “How’d you know…?”
Rose winked at her. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Chapter Eight: Visions
Gwen Cooper had cajoled Jack into bringing her along on the flight to New Zealand, ostensibly because Gwen wanted to fly in an invisible space ship, but really because she didn’t want to be left at headquarters with Owen at the moment. They’d been fighting badly and she thought she might need to sever the relationship. But her real reason for coming was to speak with Rose.
She didn’t approach Rose until the alien children had been reunited with their parents and the Torchwood team was on their way back by airship, for the space craft had vibrated at a frequency that made every person not Omnish pa’ Taul horribly sick. It was highly doubtful their technology would be useful for humans. Rose enabled a privacy bubble so the two of them could talk without fear of being overheard.
“You fell through time and space,” Gwen began.
“Look who’s talking,” Rose said. “How did you end up here, Gwyneth? The house exploded, the Doctor said you died. That you were dead the moment you opened the rift.”
“I was gone the moment I opened the rift. A reflection of me lingered to destroy the dark ones who had deceived me, to protect that Earth from their evil. Something reached through time and space and encompassed me and brought me forward to this place and this time that is so foreign from my own.”
Gwen’s eyes darkened as she sank into the memory. “It was beautiful, what brought me. There was golden light and singing and something warm and right. It told me I would see you again but I never believed it. It told me so many things, Rose. And then it left me alone, so alone. I woke up in Cardiff, inside Torchwood.”
She sighed. “Captain Jack and Owen Harper found me. I’d been thrown from the rift. I was unconscious for days, in the dreams of light and singing. I’ve been here five years, Rose.”
“Just like me,” Rose breathed.
“They gave me this identity and they have looked after me in so many ways, and educated me for this world, and yet Owen cannot understand how adrift I sometimes feel in this place. This is not my home world, not my home time, not my home. He loves me, I know this; it is not something that can be hidden from me. But he does not understand me and he never will. It isn’t in him.” Gwen seemed so sad.
“Do you love him?” Rose asked.
“I don’t know. I sometimes think I do. But I have seen great love and this is not it, Rose. I have seen great love and this is only an echo. Such a lonely, distant echo. I don’t know if it can be enough, what there is between him and me. I think if I had not seen what could be, it might have been enough. But these visions, the futures that I see, always interfere and when I know there is more it is so hard to settle for less.”
“I’m sorry, so sorry, Gwyneth,” Rose said, her face full of gentle sympathy. “Life has not been kind to you.”
“Oh, but it has, Rose. It gave me a second chance not letting me die that day. And I have chosen to live this life as fully as I can, but I wish I hadn’t seen that love, that love that burns brighter than the sun, that love that is so strong and so everlasting. It hurts to look upon it and not have such a thing.”
“You may, you still may, some day Gwen.”
“No, Rose. I know that I will not. Not in this time. Not in this place.”
“It would have been easier for you if you did not see.”
“Yes, it would have, but there is no changing what is in my own life.” Gwen’s tone was matter-of-fact. “And I will go on no matter what I see.
“I wish it could be different. There’s so much I wish could be different,” Rose told her.
Gwen nodded, her eyes losing focus. “You came here with the man who could change his face, the man who would have done anything to save you, to keep you ever with him. He longs for you each day he is without you. Decades pass, centuries, and still his hearts cry out his need of you, his loss, his pain. Oh, Rose, his pain… it echoes throughout time and space. I feel it all through history, in every dimension, every universe. It calls to me. He needs you, Rose, he needs--.”
“Stop!” Rose cried desperately, her face covered in tears, her quiet sobs enough to shatter even the hardest heart though she was sitting with one of the softest. She had not cried since that day on the beach when she had said good-bye, had thought she’d lost that ability. And Gwen’s words tore it all out of her again.
Gwen came back to herself. “I’m sorry, Rose. I can’t control the visions.” She reached out and clasped Rose’s hand. “He loves you all through time.” At her words, Rose felt another wave of emotion overcome her, and then Gwen pulled Rose into her arms and stroked her hair. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It won’t always be like this. I see love, the greatest love, for you.”
Rose gulped and pulled away. “Love?”
Gwen nodded, pushing Rose’s hair back from her face, before her eyes went far away again, then suddenly came back and looked forward to where Ian McCullen sat. “I don’t know how, I don’t know why, but it’s in him. It’s in Ian. He’s bringing love back to you.”
“No,” said Rose, rejecting that. “No. There is no way. I will not love another man.”
Gwen shook her head, her eyes unfocused. “No. It isn’t that. There is something, something about him. He isn’t right and yet he is right. You will feel his love and yet you will not…you will not…be his love. He will…” Gwen shook her head hard again. “There’s light, green light, so much, so strong, woven with golden light and singing. He is something, he is something…beyond everything. I can’t, I can’t see it. It’s so close and yet so very far away.”
Tears fell from Gwen’s eyes. “And he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know what he is, Rose! No one told him what he is.” Her voice was anguished now, rising higher, louder. “It’s been hidden. It’s been hidden. How could she never tell him? Oh, Rose he has to be told. It’s all in him, the future, the past, the light, the dark, the hope. It’s all in him.”
Gwen screamed in sudden agony as a terrible pain shot through her head and she collapsed, unconscious at Rose’s feet, blood tingeing her lips and eyes as she shook in seizure.
Rose leapt to her feet, cancelling the privacy bubble and yelling for Jack and Ian to come quickly. The airship was forced to land by Torchwood 4, temporarily located still in New Zealand, with the closest medical facilities. Ian carried Gwen inside the doors and as the last one of them went inside there was a horrible disorienting feeling that washed over them all.
A brilliant purple light tunnel shot out from behind Ian, knocking him off his feet and expanding, increasing, growing to gargantuan proportions, swallowing the entire building of Torchwood 4. A horrific wrenching sensation made Rose feel like she was going to vomit. She closed her eyes and bent over holding her stomach.
When she opened them again as the sensation eased and looked out the window she saw the hospital where Martha Jones worked. The block across the street from it had been pushed to either side. Torchwood 4 had just taken up residence in London as if it had always belonged right there.
Ch. 9: http://amberfocus.livejournal.com/33529.html
