The Truth in Time

2. Nightmares

It was only a few days after they buried John that Janie started having Nightmares. She woke up screaming and crying, Rose rushing in afraid of something terrible. The scare often sent Janie into a seizure after Rose calmed her down.

It scared Rose, the more seizures the further she was from ever recovering and the closer the dreaded day came when she wouldn't wake up.

The thing that made it tolerable was afterwards Janie would curl around her mum's arm convincing Rose to hold her throughout the night, giving a certain security to them both.

One night was particularly bad for the young girl.
A dream of big black wild mustangs followed by different monsters and things that scared her. Rose had heard her mumbling and tossing in her bed on the monitor so she sat outside the door to Janie's room determined to be there for her daughter if and when she needed her.
It didn't take long for the little girl to wake up screaming, tears running down her little face. Rose burst in and picked her up, holding her as close as possible, soothing her.
She sat down on the tiny bed with Janie held against her chest and began quietly humming an old hymn to calm her. Her loud sobs soon turned to quiet whimpers. Rose started to tell the story that always sent little Janie back to sleep.

"Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in the city. She was meek, mild, and oh so pretty." Rose taped Janie's nose playfully, causing a quite giggle to arise from the young girl.

"She was always happy, except at bed. See, this little girl was terribly afraid of a few things and at night they would haunt her dreams and force her to stay awake. She wanted to sleep but was always too scared." Janie nodded and curled further into Rose.

"One night a magical man in a magical blue box flew in through her window, he smiled and said; 'Dear little girl I know that you fear when the NightMares are here. Let me tell you a secret, that when you face your fear they will fear too much to come near.' The little girl nodded and said a quiet 'Thank you' and with that he was gone. The next morning the little girl got up and ran to her mummy, saying; 'Please mummy, please take me to see the horseys. I want to be brave so I am not afraid.' Her mum nodded and took her to ride the horses. When she went to bed that night she closed her eyes and the NightMares were no longer there, for she had faced her fear."

A smile floated to Rose's face, seeing Janie yawn and start to drift to sleep on her. It quickly became obvious that Rose would not be sleeping in her own bed tonight.

It was shortly before dawn that Rose fell asleep. Not much later Jackie, who had gotten in the habit of checking on both of her girls, wandered to Janie's room.
A small smile gathered on her face seeing Janie playing quietly on the end of the bed, while Rose slept heavily next to her.
Quickly and quietly, Jackie took Janie in her arms and carried her out of the room and down the stairs.

Janie looked up at her grandmother and spoke as best she could, "Gana, I 'ana go 'ee the horses."

Jackie raised an eyebrow and nodded slowly. "I don't see why we can't go to the stables today. It's been awhile since I've gone."

Janie gave a small smile and settled into her high chair once they reached the table.

It didn't take long for Tony to be brought to the kitchen as well and both children to be fed. Jackie, being the 'fun' parent/grandparent brought out Candy Land and set it up for the children to play with her. A few minutes into the game, Rose walked in with mussed hair and sleep still presently in control of her body.
She sat down next to Janie and laid her head on the table, mumbling a good morning.

"Have a good rest dear?" Jackie asked, slightly amused, only to receive an affirmative groan, as affirmative as a groan could be that is. She set a cup of very black coffee down in front of Rose a little loudly and sat back down to play with the children.

Rose lifted her head and grimaced at the sight and smell, "Where's the tea?"

Jackie shook her head and grinned. "You never learn do you? You need caffeine so drink the coffee and don't whine. No cream or sugar either that just dulls the effect."

Before Rose could ineffectively curse out Jackie there was a knock on the garden door and Jake Pink, Rose's assistant, stepped in.

This tall, slightly built man of African descent had short brunette hair and hazel eyes. He was always dressed in a dull grey suit with a bright colored shirt and dull tie.
She honestly didn't understand why he didn't wear something more relaxing. After all the only uniforms required at Torchwood were for soldiers and grunt, he was high up in the company, the lead's right hand. But eh... who was she to judge.
His accent reminded her of her first Doctor, the man from the north, which apparently 'many planets have a north'. But, Jake wasn't nearly as gruff and he was usually in a bright mood.

"Mornin' Miss Tyler, Mrs. Tyler, children. I have one Chi Tea Latte extra foam, two warm hot chocolates with mint sticks, and for you Mrs. Tyler an Espresso Macchiato with a shot of Pumpkin Spice just like you like it."

Before he could set them on the table, Rose grabbed hers with a large smile. "Lifesaver you are, Jake, mum was gonna make me drink black again."

He laughed a bit at Jackie's frown and picked up the mug that Jackie had set out for Rose. "We can't let that go to waste, can we?"

"Thank you Jake, maybe you can teach my daughter some manners. Anyways, enough with the formalities, please stop calling me 'Mrs. Tyler', makes me feel old it does. Call me by my name, Jackie, yeah?"

Jake nodded reluctantly and sat down. Rose cleared her throat from the giggles and directed her attention to Jake, "What's on this morning?"

"Not much of company importance, a few teams are scouting elderly calls, but that's it. Got a call this morn' though."

He took a sip of the coffee and pulled out his phone. "Here's a photo of the results. The machine is getting a response from that shard, looks like some temporal displacement of sorts. Not sure what it's meaning though."

Rose nodded and looked at the picture briefly. "Well, unless something happens there's not much I can do or care about. Thank you for letting me know."

After a few more minutes everyone had finished their drinks, the kids getting antsy to do things.

"Rose dear, that daughter of yours is being a bit brave, just like you. Says she wants to go to the stables."

Rose smiled and got up. "Don't see why we can't do that, it'll be nice to get some air. Let me go get in something proper and we can go."

It wasn't long before Janie was on Rose's hip and Tony was running about in the dirt getting very dusty. Jackie was walking slowly with Rose and Jake was following Tony in what seemed like his every footstep, keeping the child busy.
As they came closer to the stables they heard the whinnying of the horses and Janie curled tight against Rose with a whimper, but that disappeared quickly when Tony mounted a pony with the help of Jake and Jackie fed one an apple.
Janie became very interested in the apples and eventually found herself brave enough to feed a horse. By the end of the day she was laughing and petting them, still anxious to ride but certainly not fearful any longer.
The crickets seemingly bidding them farewell and good luck with chirps of four.

Rose had certainly succeeded in her storytelling mission and both mothers knew it.