Ending of the Hours (Book Four of the Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Dimensions Apart

"Something's happened here," Jake commented as they gathered at the barriers by the streets.

"Judging from what's happened in our world," Grant replied, checking the dimension hopper. "This is the beginning of 2016."

"The Adipose Industries incident?"

"That's the one."

"So are they around here?"

Grant opened his mouth to reply when a ginger ran up to them. "Listen," she told them hurriedly, and both turned to her. "There's this woman that's going to come along. A tall blonde woman called Sylvia. Tell her that bin there, all right?" Grant checked to see where she was pointing. "It'll all make sense. That bin there."

She walked off, and Grant and Jake looked at each other. "OK," Jake said slowly. "Who was that?"

"I don't know," Grant admitted. "I don't know every single f - "

"Donna! Let's move it!"

Grant froze, hearing that Australian voice, one he'd only heard once before, on the worst day of his wife's life. He turned quickly to see the redhead, Donna, run off to join someone with blonde hair, disappearing around a corner. "Jessie!" he shouted, and Jake's eyes widened as they started after them.

But there was a tug in their guts, and that world disappeared under their feet, and they were back in the parallel Torchwood SHIELD. "What happened?" Jake demanded.

"It pulled you back, sir," one of the technicians replied, a little flustered as they checked the dimension cannon they'd built. "It's not up to full capacity."

"That was the right universe!" Grant snapped, pulling off the black jacket he'd been wearing. "Concentrate the dimension cannon on that universe."

"Yes, Director," the technician replied with a sharp salute.

Jake sighed as they walked down the hall. "What do we tell the girls?" he asked.

"The truth," Grant replied as they knocked on the door to the conference room.

"Come in!" came two identical calls from inside.

Grant opened the door, and smiled when he saw the young brown-haired boy playing on the floor with a few blocks. His mother was crouching on the floor next to him, his redheaded aunt working at lightning speed on a laptop. Both of them straightened when they saw who walked in. "Did it work?" Skye Ward asked nervously.

"It worked," Grant replied, giving her a kiss before crouching down to nudge one block in his son's, Alex's, direction. "It worked really well," he admitted.

"How well?" Saleen Harper asked.

"We found the right universe."

"Did you find them?" Saleen asked eagerly.

"Not exactly," Jake sighed, closing the door and sitting down at the table. "The year there is 2016. We found the Adipose incident. They're a full four years behind us."

"But did you find them?" Skye pressed.

"We found their companion," Grant replied. "A woman named Donna. Red hair, late thirties, maybe?" Saleen nodded and began typing away on her computer. "We heard Jessie call her name, and we tried to get to her, but the cannon pulled us back before we could do anything else."

"We were close," Jake replied. "Just not close enough."

"Here she is," Saleen told them, turning the laptop around. "Donna Noble, daughter of Sylvia Noble, father deceased. Her Granddad is Wilfred Mott. He's quite an astronomer. Works with a telescope nearly every evening."

"And you found all that from one search?" Grant asked, impressed.

Saleen shrugged. "I did it all the time back in the other universe."

"But if the cannon's not going to be accurate every single time, why don't we try a few other techniques?" Skye suggested.

"What do you have in mind?" Grant asked, narrowing his eyes.

"None of us using the cannon at first," Skye assured him with a smile.

"So what are you going to do?"

"I think it's time to see just how far our computer skills can go," Skye replied with a smile.

***

So this is REALLY different than the Agents of SHIELD we've seen from the actual show. Grant, HYDRA? Well, that rained on that parade. To be clear, in this story, Grant had no connection to HYDRA whatsoever and died saving Skye's life in the normal world. He took over as director of Torchwood in the parallel world after the Doctor and first Jessie arrived there, and his parallel Skye (his wife) was killed. Saleen stayed behind with him as well, and together, the two of them and Jake Simmonds (guy with Mickey) combined SHIELD and Torchwood together to form Torchwood SHIELD, and they brought the normal world Skye back with them to the parallel world.

Also, to be clear, it was 2014 when "Doomsday" happened in the parallel world. Because they say 2016 is four years behind them, it's 2020 here, which would mean Skye has been there for six years, and hers and Grant's son, Alex, would be close to six years old. And yes, the two of them did get married. I couldn't help it. I love the two of them together.

So, there's the story behind the parallel world. We'll be seeing more into the parallel world and all of their attempts to get back to the normal universe. Out of curiosity, who would you like to see guide Donna through "Turn Left?" Saleen? Skye? Grant? All three of them? Two of them? Comment below, even though I have an idea of who I'm going to use. But if you give me a valid reason behind your choice(s), I might just change my mind. ;)

"The Fires of Pompeii" is coming soon!