Rose Tyler's New Life

Chapter 1

Eight years had passed Rose by, eight years without the Doctor and each day had been a painful reminder of what might have been but never was. Rose was coming to a long overdue decision that nothing was going to get better if she stayed. She had been giving it serious thought lately, her mind wandering back to the sea. Why was she suddenly being drawn to the seaside? What had brought that on again? She didn't know why she stayed at home. For her mum, her brother? Certainly not out of choice.

She could have had her own place in the city but she preferred not to be entirely alone in a noisy place, she still wasn't ready for that yet but moping around making everyone else miserable day after day wasn't the answer either. So she got home from work one night and after playing with her brother made a startling declaration to her slightly awed mother "I've made a decision - about moving." She even surprised herself.

Why had she suddenly come to such a decision? Was it because she had been thinking about the sea again? Why was she drawn to the sea? Did it remind her of Bad Wolf Bay? Did she think she was going to see him standing on the beach? Whatever it was, she felt she was being drawn into something and she wasn't sure just what it was. It couldn't be any worse than her life already was, surely? Then at least she would have some space without constantly being reminded that her now home had once been graced by the presence of the Doctor all those years ago, the one she had to live in that reminded her so much of him, the one she'd had the dreams in that led her to the beach in Norway to face the worse day of her life since arriving and having to say goodbye, the worse day of her life prior to that being in the other universe when she was torn away from the man she loved.

When her step-dad came home Rose started to make plans.

"I realise I need to make a fresh start, away from here, from Torchwood. Somewhere remote, perhaps by the sea," Rose said.

Both looked at her, surprised by her sudden declaration.

Her mother spoke first "Then where would you go, what will you do sweetheart?"

Her step-dad looked at her thoughtfully and then spoke up after the initial shock that his step-daughter was finally taking some plans to move on. He thought for a while, wondering just how serious she was. "If you haven't decided anything for definite, I have an idea, one that will give you something to make plans for and keep you employed so you can remain independent."

"I've got somewhere in mind actually. Do you remember that holiday we had a few years back, in Dorset? The place that had those golden cliffs and those gorgeous fish and chips?" Rose replied. "I've been thinking about it a lot lately, it seems to be drawing me there somehow, like I may even find some peace there. I can't remember the name of though but I remember I liked it."

Rose told them more about how she had been taken with that certain little seaside town in Dorset they had visited. They sat down to dinner then Pete continued to explain his plan. He'd been toying with the idea of branching out, Torchwood already had several offices in different locations, the remotest being in the northern parts of Scotland but they were all secret locations, always code named and always in disguise, hiding their true nature. Some of them Pete was very pleased with because the public had never even batted an eyelid when they came across them.

"It would be good to have another operation and I think I know the town you are talking about on the Dorset coast and it's been in the news recently, some poor child was murdered there and the media was all over it. It's all over now but it would be the perfect place to open a new branch of Torchwood because no-one would ever suspect and since a lot of people and businesses left during that time, there should be plenty of places we could set up and for you to move into," he said, his face lighting up. He continued. "The town was called Broadchurch. I'll get Jake to do some research on it, see what properties are for sale so we can invent a cover for the operation. Rose, if you like, you can be in charge. You can do some of your work for Torchwood at the same time and Jake can come down and help you for a while. Nothing too stressful, maybe a little shop, maybe even antiques or something. We could buy a shop with a flat above it."