Dominic Henley wasn’t attractive in the conventional sense. He had dark, slightly curly hair that was the only match for the Doctor’s she’d seen when it came to ruffability. His face was long with high cheekbones that accentuated his dark blue eyes as well as his full lips. He was tall and slender, and there was an energy to him that begged release. Still, as a doctor he had a great bedside manner, and his calm inspired confidence and trust. He could think on his feet but so far hadn’t tended to rush decisions. He was dressed casually in dark jeans and a loose oxford.
Dominic broke into a wide smile when he saw her get out of the car. Rose tensed a little. The last thing she wanted was for him to be interested in her on more than a professional basis. Friendship might be in it, because she liked him. But that was it. She thought of Dave, whom she had offered the job as a photographer for the Heritage Trust Fund.
“Hello, Jake,” she said as she joined the two men on the pavement. “Dominic.”
Jake kept a straight face while Dominic smiled at her. He was obviously delighted to see her. Rose heaved an inward sigh.
“How was your journey?” Jake asked.
“Good,” Rose said, “now, shall we?” She pulled the elastic from her hair and gathered it into a proper ponytail to keep the locks that had kept coming loose in check.
They found the container with the dangerous radiation fast enough, stirring up a group of junkies who had managed to open it, wondering what it was and if they could sell it off to satisfy their addiction. The two who had forced the container open had already suffered burns and first symptoms of poisoning. Dominic proved himself as he treated the two and got them into a good enough shape that they could be taken to a regular hospital without raising any questions. He worked quickly and efficiently, sometimes muttering to himself as he thought out loud, but all in all he was just like Mickey had said. Calm and quick.
“What was that?” he asked again, out loud, as he watched the injured junkies being bundled into an ambulance and their friends being escorted outside by the police Jake had called. Mickey tightened his grip around one of the the black boxes they had brought. It now contained the damaged container and the rest of the radioactive material. Jake was busy cordoning off the perimeter for decontamination. Rose thought briefly that they needed more personnel, and fast, to deal with situations like this. Glasgow really wasn’t just a field office any more.
“Let’s go back to the office and I’ll explain everything to you,” Rose said.
Dominic looked at her, taking a deep breath. “How are you?”
Rose smiled. “Fine, thank you.” She gestured at the SUV’s door for him to get in. Mickey loaded the black box into the boot before thumping the back of the door to let Rose know that she could leave. She had slipped behind the steering wheel.
“What about them?” Dominic asked.
“They’re taking care of things.”
“Ah.”
As she drove she felt him looking at her.
“What?” she asked, laughing nervously as they were standing at a traffic light.
“Who are you?” he asked.
Rose smiled at him. “’s a long story.”
Chapter 10
Dominic took his time answering her. They were getting close to Muirbank, where Torchwood had established its field office in an abandoned Priory. The adjacent St Anthony’s church, was used as a concert hall, and there was a nice restaurant called Tony’s attached to it — it was named after the church rather than the owner, but everyone referred to him as Tony anyway. In their time in Glasgow, the field team had become his best patrons. The buildings of the actual Priory had been empty for more than a century. There had been plans to demolish it, but thanks to the Heritage Trust Fund it had been saved; its location on the River Clyde, and proximity to the widest rift opening, made it perfect for Torchwood’s purposes. They had rented it from the church when they had first gotten to Glasgow, but meanwhile Torchwood had started negotiations to buy the entire complex. It certainly helped that Rose had decided to move the Heritage Trust Fund to Glasgow.
Having been built in the 16th century, the walls were thick and solid, and there was a warren of underground vaults beneath it. It had a very nice garden, plenty of outbuildings fit for their various needs, and the whole complex was closed off from the public eye by high walls. Of course it was the perfect location for a foundation that had taken up the preservation and research of historical buildings in Scotland.
When Rose was injured there had been no way to establish a field infirmary quickly enough, so she was taken to the Old Royal Infirmary. They had managed to arrange a secure private ward for her, with only Doctor Henley and a few hand-picked nurses allowed in to care for her. They would have to change that, of course. Dominic would get his very own infirmary. Rose wondered if he was aware of what he was in for.
“Are you brushing me off?” he asked eventually.
“No, I’m just telling you that the story is long and complicated.”
“I have this strange idea that you don’t do simple,” Dominic said.
Rose laughed. He was definitely the right man for the job. “Let’s get the business part of the way. Then I’ll answer your questions over dinner.”
“As long as I can have a night to sleep on the business part.”
Rose shot him a quick glance. He was really good. When they were evaluating people for jobs there were some who seemed promising enough but were unaware that they were about to be made an offer. Usually, they would be sent back to their own lives without being any the wiser. Dominic, however, was not one of them. He had sussed them out, although he still had only the vaguest of ideas of what he was in for. Dominic looked straight ahead, paying attention to where they were going.
“You can even have two nights,” Rose said, stopping the car. She got out to open the gate, then steered the big car into the courtyard of the Priory. She led him to her small office in one of the ground-floor rooms. It was a lovely office, and she was glad that she’d be able to keep it. She already had plans for some small improvements, but nothing could beat a vaulted office with wonderful old flagstones. It was bit cool, but that could be fixed easily.
Rose gestured for Dominic to sit in the folding chair across from her makeshift desk — a board on a pair of trestles. He frowned a little at her less than professional office.
“We’re just settling in,” Rose explained, hoping he wouldn’t be deterred by the spartan furnishings.
“Ah.”
“What do you know about Torchwood?” Rose asked without further ado.
Dominic blanched slightly at first, but then he recovered his composure. “What do you want me to say? You are Torchwood, aren’t you?”
“Yes, we are. And while we like to keep a low profile, there’s nothing sinister about us,” Rose said.
“So Vitex is a cover?” he asked.
It was Rose’s turn to stiffen slightly.
“You’re not the social butterfly you pretend to be. It’s a cover. You work for Torchwood. Dealing with... aliens,” Dominic said. He was very good.
“Yes.”
“But why?”
“Why do I do this job? Why does Torchwood exist?” Rose asked.
Dominic nodded.
“Torchwood deals with artifacts and aliens that come to Earth. Glasgow sits on a rift in time and space that lets through people and things from other planets or the past and the future,” Rose explained. “We’re here to monitor the rift and try to keep interaction between aliens and humans to a minimum.”
She couldn’t tell if Dominic believed her story, his face was impassive.
“I’m from a parallel universe. I travelled with a man called the Doctor and saw times and worlds beyond your wildest dreams. Eventually, I got stranded here and Pete Tyler, this universe’s version of my father, offered me a job with Torchwood. He’s been running the institute since after Lumic unleashed the Cybermen,” Rose explained. It was the simple version, but it would ha
ve to do for the moment. It was surprising how easily the words had come.
“Does that explain your powers of self-healing? I noticed that your recovery was very swift after... whatever it was that you’d been up to that night,” Dominic asked.
“It has to do with it, yeah.”
“Could you make the scars disappear?”
Rose shifted a little in her chair. “I could, yeah. But I won’t. It’s... personal.”
Dominic nodded. “Why am I here?”
“Well, we really like your work, and we think you’ve got what we need to run our medical team. We’re establishing a permanent branch of Torchwood here, and we need staff,” Rose said.
Dominic remained impassive, but he asked her to describe the job to him, which she did. Just when each of his questions had been answered, his beeper went off and he called the Old Royal Infirmary. They needed him there for an emergency, so dinner at Tony’s was cancelled. Rose gave him her card and told him to ring her on Monday once he had made his decision.
“We’d love to have you working with us,” Rose said as she saw him out to the taxi that was already waiting outside the Priory.
“Yeah, thanks,” Dominic said, climbing into the car.
If only it were that easy to tell Dave about what she did for a living, Rose thought, wrapping her arms around herself as she stepped through the gate again. He deserved to know — at least he needed to know more about the Doctor and how she had ended up in this universe. She wondered if Dave was ready to hear about it yet; he still seemed so fragile over losing his wife.
-:-
Rose slept in on Sunday and started the day with a long bath and a bit of pampering. She hadn’t really done that since before the accident, and so she spent what was left of the morning applying a moisturising mask to her face. She scrubbed her skin pink and got out her razor to take care of her prickly legs. The feel of the body lotion was all the more luxurious on her smooth skin. With a bit of twisting and turning she managed to look at her scars, running her fingers gingerly over them. Touching them didn’t hurt, but she wanted to commit their landscape to her memory. Not that she’d ever forget how she’d gotten them. The disappointment and hollowness she felt were worse than the pain. Actually, the pain hadn’t been too bad while Dave was sitting with her. She’d been in shock, her body protecting her from everything so she could assess her injuries and get her bearings. In theory.
Dave had stolen into her thoughts again, and Rose dropped her fingers away from the scars. Would he be repulsed by them? The rest of her skin was smooth and soft, unblemished except the moles that dotted it as if she’d had a little accident with chocolate coating.
She made herself another cup of tea and settled down on her sofa with the copy of Homes and Gardens she had picked up at Waverley Station the day before. Although she had some ideas of what to do with her house, it still couldn’t hurt to go hunting for ideas a little. The last thing she wanted was perfectly decorated house that didn’t feel like a home.
Halfway through the magazine, her mobile rang with the tune she’d assigned to the number on her business card. Rose sighed. The number on the display was a mobile number she didn’t recognise. For a moment she was tempted to ignore the call, but then she tapped the accept-button after all. “Tyler?”
“Hello, this is Lucy. Morris.”
It took Rose a while to remember who Lucy was. She had totally forgotten about the girl while she’d been down in London. “Hey, how are you?”
“I’m okay, I suppose,” Lucy said. Her voice sounded small, like someone who’d call for advice but did not know how to ask for it.
Rose closed the magazine and pulled the blanket tighter around her, balancing her nearly empty mug on her knee. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
Lucy hesitated. “I’ve been wondering about the aliens. Are they all right? Are they at home?”
“Yes, they’re fine, and I suppose they’re on their way home by now. That’s sweet of you to ask,” Rose replied. And a bit odd, too, but she didn’t mention that.
“That’s good for them.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Being stranded so far away from home must be terrible,” Lucy said so softly Rose almost didn’t even catch her words.
“Yeah, it is,” Rose replied thoughtfully.
“It’s good that they have Torchwood to turn to.”
“Lucy, what is this about? Do you need help?” Rose asked gently. She didn’t want to scare her away. The questions she’d asked and the things she’d said had been more than a little odd.
Lucy didn’t reply for such a long time that Rose was afraid she’d lost her, but then Lucy said, “I... I’m a bit confused at the moment. About home. What or where it is.”
You’ve found the right person to talk to, Rose thought. “Are you sure you want to discuss this over the phone?”
“I know you’re a busy woman,” Lucy hurried to say. “Sorry for bothering you.”
“No, it’s not that, Lucy. Listen, love, what I meant it’s not something you discuss over the phone. Would you like to meet up?” Rose wondered, why was she asking. She’d meant to spend the day holed up in her house, making plans and napping, and now she practically threw herself at the girl.
“You’d do that?” Lucy’s voice brightened at the offer. Anything to help a teenager, Rose thought.
“I wouldn’t offer, would I? Let’s meet at the Camelot. Do you know where that is?”
“I’ll find it, thank you so much!” Lucy said exuberantly.
The Camelot was a coffee shop not far from her house, and Francesca, the owner, knew her well enough to leave her alone when she was there, usually offering her a seat on the sofa in front of the fireplace. Rose dried her hair, put on some very basic make-up and donned jeans and a comfortable jumper before grabbing her keys and handbag and walking to the café.
Francesca greeted her with a huge cappuccino and a piece of caramel short bread, which she set before her on the low table in front of the fireplace. It had grown warm enough not need a fire anymore, so the grate had been replaced with a sculpture by a local artist. Lucy arrived shortly after, her face glowing. She was fidgeting nervously, brushing her long hair back as she sat on the edge of the sofa. This young woman was very different from the girl she had met in the park a week ago.
“Hello, Lucy.”
“You’re really here,” Lucy blurted.
Rose chuckled. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
Lucy’s face darkened.
“You’ve been let down a couple of times,” Rose said.
Lucy shrugged. “Not... like that.”
“But?”
“I’m confused,” Lucy said, shaking her head so that her hair fell around her like a curtain.
“About your family?” Rose asked.
Lucy nodded. “I’ve got two families.”
“That can be confusing, yeah,” Rose said.
“You know what I mean?”
Rose shrugged, picking up her cup to take a sip. Francesca arrived to take Lucy’s order. Of course she knew. Mum only after Dad’s death. The Doctor. Mum and Pete and Tony. In different universes, mind you. But she couldn’t tell Lucy any of that. “It’s not easy, and you’re torn between them because you love them both but you need to choose, yeah?” Making her choose at that tender age wasn’t fair.
Lucy nodded, smiling at her.
“They say home is where the heart is. I don’t suppose that you’ve always known about your other family, yeah?”
Lucy nodded, but she didn’t volunteer anything else.
“How long have you known about the other family?”
“Two weeks.”
Rose bit back a smile. “So you’ve only just met.” Lucy was making herself choose, at far too early a stage. She was still in the honeymoon stage with them; the thought caused a strong sense of déjà vu, and then she remembered that she’d offered Dave the same words.
“Yes.”
“Well, w
hy don’t you give each other a bit more time? To properly get to know each other, to find out what your lives are like. I take it that your new family’s life is entirely different?” Rose asked. She wanted to know what had happened, who this second family was and what their story was, but she didn’t want to come across as too nosey. Also, she didn’t want to indulge the teenager and wax lyrical about these new family members lest she put them on a pedestal. The disappointment could be crushing if they didn’t turn out to be as amazing as she’d hoped they’d be. Which had probably already happened, but Rose didn’t want to compound the problem.
Lucy seemed a bit disappointed at that piece of advice. Rose had never been someone to tell people what they wanted to hear, and she certainly wouldn’t do it to a teenager. She picked up her piece of caramel shortbread and bit into it to give Lucy some time to process what she had told her.
Bigger on the inside: Space, Time Travel, Alien Criminals (A Space Time Travel Mystery Book 1) Page 10
