![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
Inertia - Part 4
Part 4
"Right. We can get there faster in the TARDIS," the other him said, vanishing out the door.
If the Doctor knew himself, and he thought he did, the quick reaction was most likely an effort to distract everyone from the fact that he had just screwed up. But in any case, he was pretty sure he'd just been given an invitation onto another TARDIS.
"Oh, this should be interesting." He held out his hand and Rose grabbed it, grinning.
"Interesting doesn't even begin to describe it."
They were followed by an ever-growing group which now included Jake. Jake had appeared from somewhere, or maybe he had been in the room the whole time. He hadn't exactly been Jake-focused for the last few minutes.
The Doctor's suspicions increased as he saw not only the exterior but the interior of the TARDIS that belonged to the alternate him. It was looking more and more like he had fractured across realities, and the TARDIS with him.
Once inside, Rose dropped his hand.
"Jack! Oh my god!" Rose flung her arms around Jack.
"Wondered when you'd get around to me," he said, patting her back.
"When did this happen?" she asked, pulling out of the hug.
"Just recently. The Doctor decided he couldn't live without me and who could blame him?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You know me too well. Every day, pining away for you," he said as he started slowly walking around the console - the exact same console down to the tiniest detail. Well, he currently had a post-it on the monitor, but other than that...
The human herd was in the middle of introductions and discussion about the sphere, but the Doctor ignored them.
He wasn't sure what it meant to have himself spread over dimensions, or if it had to mean anything. He'd probably never know how many of him there were, either. Could have just been the two of them or one for every conceivable reality. Who knew exactly what had happened at the end of the war? One thing he was fairly certain of was that his reality was the one he had spent time in before the war. Meeting Sarah Jane again had confirmed that.
"It's the same, isn't it?" the other him said, looking down at the controls.
"Yes," he answered. Of course he had also worked it out. He was him.
"What's the same?" Rose asked, moving between the two of them. "The TARDIS? Well, yeah. Parallel world and all."
He and his other self looked at each other.
"Right?" she asked.
The Doctor sucked in his breath. "Oh, it's a bit more complicated and probably a story for another time."
An odd thought popped into his head as Rose looked back and forth between the two of them. Back when he regenerated, she had told him she wanted him to change back. But that was just because of the shock, right? She was long past accepting that he was, well, him no matter what he looked like, wasn't she? And him him. Not the other him. Yes, long past that.
Although he thought he had a pretty good idea of what could have happened if he hadn't found the sphere...
Right then.
The Doctor grabbed her waist and moved her to his other side, deciding that the monitor she had stood next to needed his attention. Yes, the landing coordinates being displayed were very important. Very. That was his story and he was sticking to it.
"Don't mean to be breaking up your little threesome over there..." Jack said.
"Oi! Leave me out of it!" the other Doctor protested.
"...but anyone have a plan?"
"Don't suppose we can talk to them," Rose said.
"And when was the last time you talked to a slug?" the other him asked.
Jake spoke up. "Can't we just throw salt on them?"
"Close. And by 'close,' I mean not really. At all," the Doctor said, shaking his head.
The other him crossed his arms and looked at the Doctor. "What do you think? A bit of Trifoljate?"
"Got enough environmental suits?"
"No."
"Chasine?"
The other him shook his head. "Don't have any."
"Ooh, I'm not sure I want to know what you did with the litre of Chasine that was in Storage Two."
"Right. Got it. Gram Oil. Toxic only to Urillites, plants on Chylsius Six and Cane Toads."
"Of course! I should have thought of that! Well, I did, apparently." The Doctor grinned.
In no time canisters of a Gram Oil solution were thrown together and distributed to the group.
"Just spray everything," the Doctor instructed as they exited the TARDIS. They'd landed at the edge of a small village, open grassy fields before them. He scanned the horizon. "Grey, moving ground in that direction," he said, pointing.
Martha passed him. "This is gonna be disgusting, isn't it?"
"Put it this way. I'm not cleaning it up."
"Need a better qualifier there, Doc."
Rose glanced behind her at the other Doctor as they all trudged up the grassy slope towards the slugs. "Guess this explains why you landed near my house."
"Yup."
"Plasma signature. That's it."
"Right," the other Doctor said.
Rose appeared disappointed, and the Doctor wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "Expecting something else?" he asked her.
She hesitated. "No. It's stupid."
Was she hoping the meeting had been some kind of fate? Or destiny? He really didn't see how it mattered. But he left contemplating the confusing aspects of Rose Tyler's mind for another time as they approached the edge of the swarm.
The Urillites blanketed the ground, covering an area about the size of a football field. Behind the swarm was a wide path of bare dirt, plants and grass stripped away. The Doctor had seen them wipe out whole planets before. They wouldn't stop eating until everything was gone. White vans were parked nearby, and a few people got out and ran towards them.
"Torchwood surveillance team," Mickey commented to the group. "How'd these things get here?" he asked, once the Torchwood people joined them.
"Meteorite." the other Doctor replied. "Part of their life cycle. It crashes into a planet, releases microscopic baby slugs, slugs grow up, chow down, have a big slug orgy and then send off meteors to other planets to start again. The whole process can take a thousand years."
"It wouldn't by any chance be an orange meteorite? That hums?" Rose asked.
"Bingo," he said, and one of the Torchwood people flipped open his mobile phone and ran off.
"There's one." Martha sprayed a slug that had strayed from the swarm.
Everyone watched as the slug stopped moving. "Okay, I thought they'd do something nasty, like dissolve," Jack said.
The Doctor shook his head. "Not really slugs and not salt, remember?"
The group spread out around the slugs, spraying as they went. Soon he, Mickey and Jake were in the middle of the slugs, making sure the ones on the inside were sprayed as well.
"Behind you, boss!" Mickey yelled, a smirk on his face.
The Doctor whipped around. "Gotcha!" he shouted as he sprayed the slowly charging slug. "Thanks! Almost got my shoe dirty there."
"Hey, I've got your back," Mickey said, still smirking.
"Think I played a video game of this once," Jake called to them, spraying a patch near his feet.
"Could you actually die in the game?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah, if you let them suck your face off."
The Doctor snorted. "Gotta love science fiction."
The Doctor headed towards an unsprayed patch, stepping in between the slugs. Mickey and Jake followed, but weren't as successful in keeping their shoes slug-free.
"God, that's disgusting!" Mickey said after having stepped on yet another slug.
"Never mind the shoes, boys." The Doctor glanced at their feet. "All right, no. That is disgusting. No ignoring that. But you can clean them off when we're done."
"I'm burning mine," Jake muttered.
The spraying continued until the entire area was covered with Gram Oil. Satisfied that they'd gotten them all, they made their way to where the others were gathering, Jake and Mickey rubbing their shoes against the grass. The Doctor tossed his canister to one of the Torchwood people. "In case any show up again," he told them.
More canisters were quickly dumped at the Torchwood people's feet as the group began to follow the other Doctor back to the TARDIS.
Jack slapped one of the Torchwood people on the back. "Looks like you're gonna need a shovel," Jack said before joining the group, leaving behind the queasy-looking man.
The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and she smiled up at him. He gave her a small one in return.
"What?" she asked.
He nodded in the direction of the other him. "Give me a minute with him, all right?"
"Oh, yeah. Sure. Absolutely." She let go of his hand and began herding people to a grassy area near the TARDIS.
*
Rose kept her eyes on the two Doctors, both with arms crossed and deep in conversation. They were talking about who knew what, and Rose half-expected to see some sort of Time Lord secret handshake any minute. It was odd, to say the least, seeing the two of them together. Mind-blowingly odd.
"So I guess I'd better pack my bags," Martha said.
Wait, what? That had gotten Rose's attention. Jack and Mickey were giving Martha sympathetic nods. "You're leaving?" she asked.
"Oh, please, Rose." Mickey crossed his arms over his chest. "Anyone else on that TARDIS won't exist."
"It's not that bad," Rose protested.
"Ha!" Jack retorted. "You know, the first time I stepped on the TARDIS these two were in the middle of playing dancing duo. I mean, literally. Glenn Miller and everything."
Mickey jumped in. "Try having to hold a button for thirty minutes while they're in the middle of a trip down memory lane!"
"Get out! Although thirty minutes is nothing compared to being left on a planet for a month while they went off and had fun."
"A month? That's cold. But how about being compared to a pet horse? That's a real boost for the ego right there," Mickey smirked.
"I can trump it all." Jack grabbed Mickey's shoulder. "Left on a game station. For good."
"Oh man. That's not right."
They were laughing now, Jake and Martha chuckling as Mickey and Jack continued with yet more stories. At least they were laughing, though it sounded pretty harsh to Rose in hindsight.
Rose glanced at Martha. There was nothing she would like better than to pick up where she and the Doctor left off - just the two of them running around the universe. But now there was not only Jack, but Martha to consider. And she was just what Rose had hoped for - someone to keep the Doctor from being lonely.
"All right," Rose said, interrupting their discussion. "Why don't you guys head up to the house? Jake and Mickey know where it is."
"See?" Jack said, smirking. "Getting rid of us again."
Rose gave him a playful shove as he started walking towards the road with the others. "Tell mum we'll be there in a bit."
The two Doctors were still talking. Rose slowly approached them, wondering if she should give them more time. After all, it was kinda like discovering a twin, right? And two actual Time Lords, when they both thought they were the last, had to be pretty amazing. She felt nosy and tried to hear what they were talking about, but they stopped talking when she came within earshot.
She stopped walking. "I can come back." She pointed over her shoulder.
"Nah," her Doctor said, smiling at her. "We were just talking about cricket."
Well, that was obvious code for 'secret Time Lord stuff.' She closed the distance between herself and them, looking back and forth between the two. Yep, mind-blowing.
She grinned at them both and the Doctor, her Doctor was starting to look a bit on the nervous side. Supposed she deserved that - she didn't have the best record when it came to parallel versions of people.
"Right then. I'll be off," the other one announced. Rose mentally filled in, 'Unless, I don't know, you could come with me.'
No, that Doctor was to her left. Okay, maybe he was right to be nervous.
She looked at the other one whose eyes were sadder than she ever remembered her Doctor's. She wanted to tell this one that he'd cut himself off, and that he should find someone or someones. But with her Doctor standing right there, and their conversation on the beach flooding back in her mind, the words caught in her throat.
Instead she surprised him by giving him a hug. "Don't be alone," she whispered. She felt him tense. Rose cleared her throat. "Thank you. For everything," she said, no longer in a whisper.
He cautiously patted her on the back. "I'll send you the bill, Rose Tyler."
Rose laughed and let go, only to have her Doctor grab her hand.
The other Doctor glanced at their hands and shook his head. "Suppose I should say something profound right now," he said as he opened the TARDIS door.
"If you must," her Doctor replied.
He paused for a moment. "Right. Got nothing. Bye, then!" he said brightly, waving to them before closing the door behind him.
*
"Well, that was surreal," the Doctor said after the sound of the TARDIS faded away. "I mean, it's not often you watch the TARDIS take off without you. And of course running into me is always interesting. Sometimes downright annoying. Did I ever tell you about the time..."
The next words were knocked out of him as Rose threw her arms around him, laughing. "I just can't believe that you're here!"
"Me either." A broad smile broke out over his face as he hugged her tight. "So, don't suppose you're up for knocking around time and space in some parallel universe."
She stepped back gave him a serious look. "I don't know. You get the toaster fixed yet?"
He winced. "Ooh, sorry. It still might be on the twitchy side."
"Describe twitchy." Rose grinned at him to which he grinned back.
"Flaming projectiles?"
"That's twitchy."
"Just a bit."
"Keeps things interesting though, yeah?"
"Oh yeah." He bumped her with his shoulder. God, he had missed this. "Say, where is everyone?" he asked.
"Headed to the house. It's just a little over a mile. Come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of a road.
"So you're still living with Jackie and company then? Oh, that reminds me! What did Jackie end up having? Boy or a girl?"
"A boy. Peter Allen Tyler, Jr."
"Good for them," he said as they walked along the road, hand in hand.
He had the nagging feeling that he needed to tell her what he'd found out. Well, he absolutely needed to tell her, but was having a hard time deciding when the best time would be. The sooner the better, obviously, but this was all so nice. And then it wouldn't be.
"So this thing you have, it can go between worlds without destroying them?"
He took the sphere out of his pocket and held it up, Rose peering at it. "Yup. Same technology as the void ship, only I know how to use it properly." She reached for the sphere. "AH!" He pocketed it again and gave the hand he was holding a shake. "No touching! Just our luck and you'd push the one thing that would make us wind up in some world where cats rule. And of course we'd lose the sphere in some dramatic way, which would result in an overly-long search where I'd finally have to battle to the death for it."
Rose was laughing now, which just egged him on. "But by then you would have rallied the dog underground movement which would interrupt the battle to the death. Cats overthrown and dogs so grateful that we're given back the sphere. And quite frankly, that sounds like too much work."
Rose dissolved into a fit of giggles, which he would have enjoyed had he not been pretty sure he was stalling.
"Okay, what's with the blue suit? Did you wreck the brown one?" she asked, pushing open his coat with her free hand.
The Doctor looked down. It had become such a part of him he barely gave it notice any more. He'd abandoned his brown pinstripe shortly after Torchwood and adopted a blue one. It was something he needed to do, something he could do when surrounded by everything he couldn't - blue was one of the traditional colours of mourning. He looked at the reason for the suit. "Oh, just wanted a change."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Sorry, but no. I just don't like it."
"Me either. You could say it doesn't suit me." He grinned at her.
"Can't believe you said that," she groaned. "Can you change back?"
"Ooh, maybe I'll try something completely new."
"Well, only if I get some sort of approval rights because you obviously need a lot of help." Rose gestured at the suit.
"Sounds good." He squeezed her hand and she smiled up at him. Yes, he'd definitely need something new.
The conversation had stopped and he almost started in with something, but Rose spoke first.
"So Martha seems nice," Rose said, staring at the road.
The Doctor glanced at her and smirked. Where before her jealousy would often confuse him, now he felt the tiniest bit gratified. Although he quickly pushed that aside, trying to figure out how to respond. He needed her to see that Martha was no threat to her, but also to know that Martha was staying on the TARDIS. On that he would not budge. He just needed the right words.
He opened his mouth, but Rose was quicker. "She's sticking around, yeah?"
His mouth snapped shut. Was that a question or a statement? "Well..."
"I think she should stay."
"Right! Brilliant! Of course she's staying! She's quite handy when it comes to dismantling weapons systems, you know. And she's working on her medical degree, so useful for handing out aspirin. Although she does have a serious character flaw involving tea," he said with a conspiratorial air. "And cats," he continued. "Don't think that wasn't hard to overlook."
"Doctor, I'm starting to think you need therapy about the cat thing."
"What, so I can have Freud tell me it all relates to my mother? No ta." He was stalling again and they were nearing the house they had walked to so long ago, the night of the other Jackie's birthday party. He had to tell her before they got there. And then he'd just have to keep telling himself that she'd wanted to be with him long before knowing that her choice was pretty much taken away.
He'd asked her once how long she was going to stay with him, a question he'd pretty much regretted the second it left his mouth. He swore time had stopped as he waited for her to respond, afraid of what she would say...or wouldn't say. But she answered with one word. Just one.
"Yeah?"
She'd said 'forever' before this. She'd said she loved him before this. Before she knew a thing, she had said all that.
"In finding a way to this world, I also discovered something. Something about you."
She shifted her feet. "Not sure I like the sound of this. What's this about?"
"Bad Wolf."
*
"Bad Wolf," Rose repeated, her mind racing. What did that have to do with anything?
"When you came back to the game station, when you became the Bad Wolf, the TARDIS did something."
Rose was getting uncomfortable. "Well, yeah. Time Vortex running through my head and all."
The Doctor glanced up for a moment before looking back at her - his darkened expression cut into her. "It changed you."
"What do you mean?" Rose was trying not to panic, but she couldn't help but remember hearing what the Doctor had said when the time vortex had been in her head, about how it would kill her. Was she sick? Was that it? Was she dying?
"You remember how the TARDIS changed Blon back into an egg, right? The TARDIS has powers beyond anything in the universe. The impossible doesn't exist for her."
"What are you saying? Doctor, just tell me."
He sighed heavily, his eyes now betraying a sadness. "You're not human any more."
Rose stared at him. The words he was saying weren't making sense. But he said Blon... "Oh god! Am I going to turn into a Raxa... a Slitheen?!" she asked in horror.
"No!" he said, grabbing both her hands. "Gallifreyan, not Slitheen."
"Gallifreyan?"
"I suppose never mentioned the name of my planet, then. Well, there you go."
An instant numbness surrounded her mind. Even her body felt disconnected. "So I'm..." she trailed off.
"Yeah."
"I think I need to..." she pulled a hand away and motioned over her shoulder. She had a vague awareness of the Doctor sitting her down on the grass on the side of the road.
The TARDIS changed her. Didn't even ask. Or did she? Rose tried to remember, but it was all still a bit hazy. She remembered everything that happened after she got back to the game station and came out of the TARDIS, but right after Mickey got the panel open? It was...blurry. She remembered the desperate need to save the Doctor in any way she could. Everything was focused on him. And then she remembered feeling safe. That everything was going to be okay.
Had she said yes to this?
It didn't seem real. Rose stared at her hand, examining her fingers. "I don't feel different," she finally said, glancing at the Doctor.
"No, you won't. Right now you just have a third strand of DNA. It's dormant at the moment. Nothing will happen until you..." Worry was evident in his eyes. "Until you die. That's when it will kick in. Everything will change. Your body, even your brain will change. Every cell rewritten."
Rose had seen it happen to him, but that was to him. Weird stuff happened to aliens. But the thought of being in a whole new body, of never seeing the hand in front of her again was chilling. This wasn't something that might happen, this was something that would happen. Her mouth was getting dry and she swallowed against it, which only made her think of new teeth.
The Doctor now had his arm around her. When had that happened?
Rose played with her hands which were stretched out in front of her. She cleared her throat. "Does it hurt?"
"Sometimes it's worse than others."
It wasn't really an answer, but she'd watched him go through it, which was answer enough. Then she remembered something else, her forehead creasing as she continued to stare at her hands. "Two heads? Or no head at all?"
The Doctor softly chuckled as he grabbed her tighter. "Oh, you just never know when a joke is going to come back to bite you on the ass. No, you'll look human."
"Can you choose what you'll look like?"
"Not really. The people around you and circumstances under which it happens can influence what you become, depending on how strong the connection. Never really figured out why that is, though."
Rose looked at the Doctor and it all fell into place. His newest body - he was this way now because of her. Younger, full of energy to match or surpass her own, and good looks that would make her sit up and take notice. Hell, he even had her accent. And whenever she finally did change, she'd probably be influenced by him.
At that moment she decided it was worth it. Worth the disturbing new bodies, because it meant he'd never be alone again. She could handle it, would handle it for the simple fact that she loved him.
Too late she realized she had been tearing up. The Doctor looked at her with alarm and quickly pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he said. "This is all my fault. All of it."
Wait, what? He blamed himself? Oh, that was good. Like he needed more guilt in his life. "Don't seem to remember seeing you hooking a chain to the TARDIS. You were off having fun with the Daleks, if I recall. Nope," she said, shaking her head. "I'm sure you weren't there." She stood up.
He scrambled to his feet after her, shoving his hands in his pockets, the sadness still in his eyes.
"You weren't," she insisted.
The Doctor took a deep breath. "Oh, but I kinda wanted you to stick around." he said at last.
"So?
"The TARDIS figured that out. She knows me. And so when you..." He trailed off, clearing his throat and looking at the ground.
That thought sunk in. A sickening feeling came over Rose. Maybe that's why he came to get her - he felt guilty. Not because cared about her. And now she'd be a burden to him, tagging along forever.
Afraid to ask, but needing to know, she pulled on his arm to free his hand from his pocket, lacing her fingers through his. "Tell me the truth. The honest truth. Would you have come to get me even you hadn't found this out?"
His expression softened. "Oh, yes."
"Then that's all that matters."
*
It both had and hadn't gone how he expected it.
She'd focused on the regeneration, which, in his opinion, was just a minor aspect of it all. But maybe that was because he had done it so many times. There were a lot more questions she should have asked though, because unlike what she had said, there was more that mattered.
She still held onto his hand, but she hadn't said a word since they'd started walking again, and he left her to her thoughts. It was probably better if she went at her own pace, and he wasn't planning on going anywhere. Although... He made a mental note to make an emergency program for her in case anything ever happened to him, giving her the basics and telling her where in the libraries she could find more information.
Now walking on the long driveway to the house, he felt her free hand touch his arm.
"Thank you," Rose said.
"Sorry?"
"Thanks for coming back for me," she said, staring ahead.
He had a feeling he knew where in her thought process she was. It might have finally hit her that in the not too distant future she would have been completely alone.
"Well, you know, you left some shoes behind. Thought you might want them back."
He kicked himself after the words came out. Leave it to his mouth to come up with something glib at a time like this.
But to his relief, Rose blinked away from her thoughts and gave him a small laugh. "Oh yeah. You know me and shoes."
"I do, as a matter of fact. Every day I'd say to myself, 'Rose Tyler is probably missing her shoes.'"
The corners of her lips tugged upwards. "Incredible. It's like you read my mind."
"And so damn the impossible, I knew you needed those shoes!" he said, dramatically waving a hand.
"That's what I like about you. The 'impossible' approach."
"Well, what's life without some challenges? And shoes?"
"Okay, stop with the shoes," Rose said, snickering.
"Ooh, speaking of challenges, I suppose Jackie will be at the house."
Rose gave him a wicked grin and then nudged him. "You are so on your own. Hope you're ready for a snog."
"What did I ever do to deserve that from her? I think I liked it better when she was slapping me. In fact, I know it. Now for that I think I might need therapy."
"Hmm. Wonder what Freud would say to that?"
"I really don't think I want to know."
The door to the house was flung open and the Doctor had a 'No! Bad Jackie!' all ready, but fortunately Jackie just gave him a hug. Maybe the presence of Pete tempered her. They were shuttled inside the house, Jackie babbling on, and soon the Doctor was standing nearly in the same spot where he had told Rose that she couldn't stay in this world, even if she wanted to. Of course, technically she could have. And it wasn't that he had been worried about her never going back to the Powell Estate either - screw the Powell Estate. It was his world he hadn't wanted her to leave.
The Doctor watched as Jackie, still talking about something, pulled Rose towards a side room, shutting the door behind them. Pete shrugged at him and motioned him towards the lounge, where he could hear familiar voices. Four heads turned and greetings were called out as he entered the room where Martha, Jack, Mickey and Jake were sitting, drinks of what looked like soda or water in hand. He didn't much feel like sitting, though, and so began to wander around the room.
The posh surroundings were much more like what he thought Rose deserved. And the stable home as well...
She wanted to be with him.
She did. It wasn't just wishful thinking. His mind flickered back to Torchwood and her determined words.
Smiling, he leaned against the wall and watched Jack tell some outlandish - and most likely false - story, but it was making the others laugh. Even Martha was laughing, which was really good to see. Over in the corner Pete was shaking a rattle at his son, half paying attention to the others. The Doctor scratched at the back of his head and headed towards the kitchen.
Frankly, he was still stunned the thing with Pete and Jackie had worked, but apparently all Tylers had alternate version blind spots. Having nearly been on the receiving end of an alternate replacement himself, the Doctor almost regretted suggesting the idea of the two of them to Pete in the first place. But they were a different circumstance. No one would be showing up again for them.
He opened a cupboard, wrinkled his nose and closed the door.
Rose was certainly taking her time. Never used to take this long to say goodbye to Jackie before, although if she had decided to tell Jackie, well, everything, they might be there a while. And he might need to run.
The Doctor pulled open the fridge and frowned, shutting it again.
Maybe he should go start packing up her stuff. Just shove it all in a bag. That way if Jackie did come after him, Rose would have her stuff since he would be sphere-ing them the hell out of there. It was a plan...
He opened the freezer door. "Ooh, ice cream." He yanked off the lid and attacked.
*
Inside Pete's study, the sound of the clock ticked away. Rose's mum had set her down on the sofa. "So I guess you'll be off then," she said, taking a seat next to Rose. "'Course you won't be able to use the phone from over there. Not that you ever used it anyway."
Rose sighed. "We can come back to visit now."
"Yeah, I know. Ten seconds. Where have I heard that before? And you'll still be out there, running about into danger."
She almost told her mum about the...thing. The "thing" seemed like a pretty good word for it at the moment - she was starting to think she imagined the whole conversation with the Doctor. It was just too bizarre.
But something popped into her mind - something she hadn't thought about since it happened. Her mum had made some sort of comment, back when they were both on the TARDIS, about her wandering around on some far-off planet, but also about her not being human any more. Rose thought it had been just her mum's way of telling her that she'd gotten too distant, that she didn't call enough, but had she actually sensed something? Well, that was a conversation for another time.
"I'll be okay, I promise," Rose offered at last.
Her mum shook her head, sadness reflected in her eyes. "Always had a feeling I'd lose you. Even after we came to this world, I still had this nagging feeling, you know? And then when I got your message about the Doctor..." She trailed off.
Rose pushed a piece of hair out of her mum's face. "That wasn't right. I shouldn't have just run off again."
"But that's what you're doing now, Rose," she insisted.
"Mum, look at me. This isn't me running away from you. This is me living my life. And I don't have to worry about you any more because you're not alone. You've got dad and the baby now."
"But you're still going."
"Your life is here. Mine's out there," Rose said earnestly.
She looked unconvinced.
"But no matter where I am or no matter if it's a thousand years from now, you are still my mum," Rose said as she felt the words catching in her throat. "You will always be my mum," she said softly. "Nothing will ever change the fact that Jackie Tyler, who I love, is my mum."
"Oh, sweetheart." She pulled Rose into a hug, putting a hand on her hair.
Rose had an idea. "And now for a little 'having your cake and eating it too.'" Pulling away, she put her hands on her mum's shoulders. "I'm making plans. Definite plans. I'm coming back here every three months."
"Three months?? What happened to ten seconds?"
"Come on, mum. You've got your own life to live. Okay, two months?"
"A week."
"Six weeks?" Rose countered.
"Two."
"Four?"
"Well," her mum sighed. "I suppose one month is better than three."
"Right. I promise that I'll be back every month or less."
"I'll believe that when I see it."
"Really. You'll see."
"And you're staying for at least three days. And if he doesn't like that, the Doctor can bugger-off, he can."
Rose coughed. "Right, then!" She had no idea how that was all going to work. She couldn't picture the Doctor just handing over the world-hopping thing to her nor could she picture him and her mum spending three days in a row together.
But somehow she'd make it happen, no matter what.
"I'd better go pack now," Rose said, standing.
Her mum stood up as well and sighed.
"Really," Rose said, hugging her again. "A month."
Her mum let go of her. "You've got some clothes in the laundry. I'll go get them for you," she said as she left the room.
Rose went over to the desk in the study and searched through the top drawer, pushing aside pens and empty folders. She frowned and closed it, opening the second drawer. Underneath more office supplies, she found what she was looking for. She grabbed the blank notebook and headed up to her room.
She spent the next thirty minutes packing, with her mum flitting in and out of her room, as well as the Doctor poking around in her stuff, talking her ear off and generally hovering. He filled her in on Martha, on some sort of legend, which had the writing from the black hole planet, and on random adventures she had missed out on. Most of the stories started out as, "Oh! And then..." making him sound like a kid just back from a carnival.
His energy was infectious and by the time she was done packing, she was dying to get back to the TARDIS. She obviously wasn't the only one, as the Doctor snatched up her bag as soon as it was closed and practically pushed her out the door.
When her mum announced that she wouldn't be going back to Torchwood to see them off, Rose couldn't help but feel a little hurt. But maybe it was easier to watch Rose drive away rather than vanish in front of her eyes. Rose couldn't really blame her for that.
Yes, she would absolutely be back in under a month and every month after. Rose doubted her mum would ever see her life as a good thing, but she'd make good on this promise. She clutched the notebook.
As goodbyes were said and hugs given, Pete handed over keys to an SUV to Mickey. Rose climbed into the back seat, the Doctor flopping down next to her, the others filling up the rest of the car. She turned and waved out the back window as Mickey started the engine and put it into gear.
Once the house was out of sight, Rose opened up the notebook and wrote the names and dates of three birthdays on the inside cover. A bump in the road jostled her as she then wrote today's date on the first page and underlined it. Below it she wrote:
She glanced at the Doctor who was watching her write. "It's so I don't forget what was going on."
He hmm-ed at her.
"And also so I don't forget the date. Because we're coming back here every four weeks. Or less."
"We have to visit once a month?!"
Five sets of eyes were all now on the Doctor, including Mickey's, watching in the rear mirror. Rose tried to suppress a smile. She really should not be so amused at how much her mum messed with his head. She'd break the news about the three days rule later.
She cleared her throat, glancing at the people ahead of her. "Um, time machine?" she said in a low voice.
"Right, well, of course! Naturally that," he said quickly, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Just testing you all," he said to the others. "Eyes up front. Nothing to see here," he waved at them.
Rose bit her lip and continued writing.
The Doctor stared at the inside of the lift doors. They were so close to getting back to the TARDIS, and getting Rose back to the right universe, but the only route was by way of the slowest lift in the galaxy. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see lit numbers changing. And then there was the noise, which he had pretty much decided was a primitive form of torture and should be banned.
"I'm going to go mad," he announced to the group.
No one spoke.
"I'm not kidding. Really," he insisted, tapping his fingers against the wall.
"I think it's kinda nice," Martha said.
Everyone looked at her.
"Or not," she muttered.
Rose sighed. "I really don't remember the lift taking this long before."
The Doctor slapped his hand up against the panel which didn't help much. He could still hear it.
"Maybe if you hum something else," Jack suggested.
The number on the panel flicked to forty.
"That's it." The Doctor shoved his hand into his suit, extracted the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the speaker in the panel that was insulting his ears with an orchestral version of "Dude Looks Like a Lady." The speaker hissed and then gave a satisfying pop, followed by silence. Wonderful silence.
Rose patted his arm. "Better?"
"Very much, thanks," he said with a smile.
The doors finally opened on level fifty and the Doctor led the group towards the large room at the end of the corridor. Rose matched his steps, her arm looped through his. Barring the horrible music, he was pretty much had a constant grin now. Just a few hours ago he'd been without her, and about a week earlier, had no hope of ever seeing her again. Now here she was, like the most natural thing in the world - almost as if she'd never been gone.
Almost.
"So," he said to Rose. "Here's an important thing. We need to figure out where to go first. Ooh! Beatles concert?"
Rose smirked. "Yeah, like that'll ever happen."
"What?" he asked.
"We have yet to make it to a concert."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Rose Tyler," he said, giving her his best innocent look.
"How about Bannet Nine?" she asked.
"Brilliant! Tea! Hold on. How'd you know about Bannet Nine?"
"I spent the last couple of days trying to get there with the same success as the concerts."
"Hmm. Maybe some cosmic force doesn't want us to go to Bannet Nine. Should we risk it?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Rose answered with a mischievous grin. "Absolutely."
The group made their way to the corner of the room and the Doctor turned to Mickey and Jake. "Well, boys, as always, it's been fun. Maybe see you in a month your time. Might give you a call to help me fend off Jackie."
As Rose was letting go of his arm, most likely to give Mickey a goodbye hug, Mickey spoke up.
"Yeah, was wondering if I could come along. You know, on the TARDIS." His eyes flicked towards Martha. "Not much to do 'round here with the Cybermen gone and all. Aside from space slugs once every millennium," he said, looking back at the Doctor.
Oh, Mickey. Martha? Really? She was certainly attractive, but Mickey didn't know her. Didn't know she'd probably not be ready for something...
"Yeah, me too, if it's all right," Jake quickly added, looking at Mickey.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. This was quickly turning into EastEnders.
"Oh, I am so sticking around now." Jack, Rose's bag over his shoulder, was grinning in the general direction of the woman and two men.
Bloody. Hell. His TARDIS was not a love shack for the dimensionally dispossessed. He was about to tell them as much, probably in far ruder terms, when Rose squeezed on his arm and turned to face her wide smile.
"Could be fun, yeah? The more the merrier?" Rose asked, threading her arm back through his and starting to do that thing with her eyes where...
Son of a bitch.
He half growled, half sighed at the human herd in front of him. Apparently his mantra of 'don't get too attached' had less and less meaning these days.
"Heard you liked travelling with an entourage," Mickey offered.
Martha shoved her hands in her pockets. "And from the looks of it, you've got yourself a small army now, Doc."
He could do worse, that was true. And it would be handy for a while to have two, well, probably three teams, so to speak. None of whom he would have to babysit...
"Okay, fine." The Doctor waved a finger at them. "But the second I hear crying about 'why doesn't he/she/they like me in that way?' I am leaving you all on some moon. Except Rose, of course. Although..." He wrinkled his nose. "Come to think of it, if she said that then I'd have to leave her on the moon too." He patted her hand. "So don't say that, all right?"
Rose stared at him. "What the hell are you going on about?"
"Tell you later." He retrieved the sphere from his pocket. "Off we go then! Everyone link up. Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, the lion and...the dog, apparently. Mickey, you're the dog."
"Hey!"
The Doctor grinned at Rose. "Ooh, I've missed tormenting Mickey."
She tried to suppress a grin of her own, failing miserably. "So rude."
"Right. Everyone set?" A chorus of "Yes!"es echoed from his supposed army, and Rose leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Fantastic," she sighed.
All things considered, it really was. "Couldn't have said it better myself," he said, still with the smile that probably wouldn't leave him for days. He pressed down on the sphere. And five billion years in their future, deep within a planet then known as New Earth, a line of strange writing was changing shape.
-The End-
"Right. We can get there faster in the TARDIS," the other him said, vanishing out the door.
If the Doctor knew himself, and he thought he did, the quick reaction was most likely an effort to distract everyone from the fact that he had just screwed up. But in any case, he was pretty sure he'd just been given an invitation onto another TARDIS.
"Oh, this should be interesting." He held out his hand and Rose grabbed it, grinning.
"Interesting doesn't even begin to describe it."
They were followed by an ever-growing group which now included Jake. Jake had appeared from somewhere, or maybe he had been in the room the whole time. He hadn't exactly been Jake-focused for the last few minutes.
The Doctor's suspicions increased as he saw not only the exterior but the interior of the TARDIS that belonged to the alternate him. It was looking more and more like he had fractured across realities, and the TARDIS with him.
Once inside, Rose dropped his hand.
"Jack! Oh my god!" Rose flung her arms around Jack.
"Wondered when you'd get around to me," he said, patting her back.
"When did this happen?" she asked, pulling out of the hug.
"Just recently. The Doctor decided he couldn't live without me and who could blame him?"
The Doctor rolled his eyes. "You know me too well. Every day, pining away for you," he said as he started slowly walking around the console - the exact same console down to the tiniest detail. Well, he currently had a post-it on the monitor, but other than that...
The human herd was in the middle of introductions and discussion about the sphere, but the Doctor ignored them.
He wasn't sure what it meant to have himself spread over dimensions, or if it had to mean anything. He'd probably never know how many of him there were, either. Could have just been the two of them or one for every conceivable reality. Who knew exactly what had happened at the end of the war? One thing he was fairly certain of was that his reality was the one he had spent time in before the war. Meeting Sarah Jane again had confirmed that.
"It's the same, isn't it?" the other him said, looking down at the controls.
"Yes," he answered. Of course he had also worked it out. He was him.
"What's the same?" Rose asked, moving between the two of them. "The TARDIS? Well, yeah. Parallel world and all."
He and his other self looked at each other.
"Right?" she asked.
The Doctor sucked in his breath. "Oh, it's a bit more complicated and probably a story for another time."
An odd thought popped into his head as Rose looked back and forth between the two of them. Back when he regenerated, she had told him she wanted him to change back. But that was just because of the shock, right? She was long past accepting that he was, well, him no matter what he looked like, wasn't she? And him him. Not the other him. Yes, long past that.
Although he thought he had a pretty good idea of what could have happened if he hadn't found the sphere...
Right then.
The Doctor grabbed her waist and moved her to his other side, deciding that the monitor she had stood next to needed his attention. Yes, the landing coordinates being displayed were very important. Very. That was his story and he was sticking to it.
"Don't mean to be breaking up your little threesome over there..." Jack said.
"Oi! Leave me out of it!" the other Doctor protested.
"...but anyone have a plan?"
"Don't suppose we can talk to them," Rose said.
"And when was the last time you talked to a slug?" the other him asked.
Jake spoke up. "Can't we just throw salt on them?"
"Close. And by 'close,' I mean not really. At all," the Doctor said, shaking his head.
The other him crossed his arms and looked at the Doctor. "What do you think? A bit of Trifoljate?"
"Got enough environmental suits?"
"No."
"Chasine?"
The other him shook his head. "Don't have any."
"Ooh, I'm not sure I want to know what you did with the litre of Chasine that was in Storage Two."
"Right. Got it. Gram Oil. Toxic only to Urillites, plants on Chylsius Six and Cane Toads."
"Of course! I should have thought of that! Well, I did, apparently." The Doctor grinned.
In no time canisters of a Gram Oil solution were thrown together and distributed to the group.
"Just spray everything," the Doctor instructed as they exited the TARDIS. They'd landed at the edge of a small village, open grassy fields before them. He scanned the horizon. "Grey, moving ground in that direction," he said, pointing.
Martha passed him. "This is gonna be disgusting, isn't it?"
"Put it this way. I'm not cleaning it up."
"Need a better qualifier there, Doc."
Rose glanced behind her at the other Doctor as they all trudged up the grassy slope towards the slugs. "Guess this explains why you landed near my house."
"Yup."
"Plasma signature. That's it."
"Right," the other Doctor said.
Rose appeared disappointed, and the Doctor wasn't quite sure what to make of it. "Expecting something else?" he asked her.
She hesitated. "No. It's stupid."
Was she hoping the meeting had been some kind of fate? Or destiny? He really didn't see how it mattered. But he left contemplating the confusing aspects of Rose Tyler's mind for another time as they approached the edge of the swarm.
The Urillites blanketed the ground, covering an area about the size of a football field. Behind the swarm was a wide path of bare dirt, plants and grass stripped away. The Doctor had seen them wipe out whole planets before. They wouldn't stop eating until everything was gone. White vans were parked nearby, and a few people got out and ran towards them.
"Torchwood surveillance team," Mickey commented to the group. "How'd these things get here?" he asked, once the Torchwood people joined them.
"Meteorite." the other Doctor replied. "Part of their life cycle. It crashes into a planet, releases microscopic baby slugs, slugs grow up, chow down, have a big slug orgy and then send off meteors to other planets to start again. The whole process can take a thousand years."
"It wouldn't by any chance be an orange meteorite? That hums?" Rose asked.
"Bingo," he said, and one of the Torchwood people flipped open his mobile phone and ran off.
"There's one." Martha sprayed a slug that had strayed from the swarm.
Everyone watched as the slug stopped moving. "Okay, I thought they'd do something nasty, like dissolve," Jack said.
The Doctor shook his head. "Not really slugs and not salt, remember?"
The group spread out around the slugs, spraying as they went. Soon he, Mickey and Jake were in the middle of the slugs, making sure the ones on the inside were sprayed as well.
"Behind you, boss!" Mickey yelled, a smirk on his face.
The Doctor whipped around. "Gotcha!" he shouted as he sprayed the slowly charging slug. "Thanks! Almost got my shoe dirty there."
"Hey, I've got your back," Mickey said, still smirking.
"Think I played a video game of this once," Jake called to them, spraying a patch near his feet.
"Could you actually die in the game?" Mickey asked.
"Yeah, if you let them suck your face off."
The Doctor snorted. "Gotta love science fiction."
The Doctor headed towards an unsprayed patch, stepping in between the slugs. Mickey and Jake followed, but weren't as successful in keeping their shoes slug-free.
"God, that's disgusting!" Mickey said after having stepped on yet another slug.
"Never mind the shoes, boys." The Doctor glanced at their feet. "All right, no. That is disgusting. No ignoring that. But you can clean them off when we're done."
"I'm burning mine," Jake muttered.
The spraying continued until the entire area was covered with Gram Oil. Satisfied that they'd gotten them all, they made their way to where the others were gathering, Jake and Mickey rubbing their shoes against the grass. The Doctor tossed his canister to one of the Torchwood people. "In case any show up again," he told them.
More canisters were quickly dumped at the Torchwood people's feet as the group began to follow the other Doctor back to the TARDIS.
Jack slapped one of the Torchwood people on the back. "Looks like you're gonna need a shovel," Jack said before joining the group, leaving behind the queasy-looking man.
The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand and she smiled up at him. He gave her a small one in return.
"What?" she asked.
He nodded in the direction of the other him. "Give me a minute with him, all right?"
"Oh, yeah. Sure. Absolutely." She let go of his hand and began herding people to a grassy area near the TARDIS.
*
Rose kept her eyes on the two Doctors, both with arms crossed and deep in conversation. They were talking about who knew what, and Rose half-expected to see some sort of Time Lord secret handshake any minute. It was odd, to say the least, seeing the two of them together. Mind-blowingly odd.
"So I guess I'd better pack my bags," Martha said.
Wait, what? That had gotten Rose's attention. Jack and Mickey were giving Martha sympathetic nods. "You're leaving?" she asked.
"Oh, please, Rose." Mickey crossed his arms over his chest. "Anyone else on that TARDIS won't exist."
"It's not that bad," Rose protested.
"Ha!" Jack retorted. "You know, the first time I stepped on the TARDIS these two were in the middle of playing dancing duo. I mean, literally. Glenn Miller and everything."
Mickey jumped in. "Try having to hold a button for thirty minutes while they're in the middle of a trip down memory lane!"
"Get out! Although thirty minutes is nothing compared to being left on a planet for a month while they went off and had fun."
"A month? That's cold. But how about being compared to a pet horse? That's a real boost for the ego right there," Mickey smirked.
"I can trump it all." Jack grabbed Mickey's shoulder. "Left on a game station. For good."
"Oh man. That's not right."
They were laughing now, Jake and Martha chuckling as Mickey and Jack continued with yet more stories. At least they were laughing, though it sounded pretty harsh to Rose in hindsight.
Rose glanced at Martha. There was nothing she would like better than to pick up where she and the Doctor left off - just the two of them running around the universe. But now there was not only Jack, but Martha to consider. And she was just what Rose had hoped for - someone to keep the Doctor from being lonely.
"All right," Rose said, interrupting their discussion. "Why don't you guys head up to the house? Jake and Mickey know where it is."
"See?" Jack said, smirking. "Getting rid of us again."
Rose gave him a playful shove as he started walking towards the road with the others. "Tell mum we'll be there in a bit."
The two Doctors were still talking. Rose slowly approached them, wondering if she should give them more time. After all, it was kinda like discovering a twin, right? And two actual Time Lords, when they both thought they were the last, had to be pretty amazing. She felt nosy and tried to hear what they were talking about, but they stopped talking when she came within earshot.
She stopped walking. "I can come back." She pointed over her shoulder.
"Nah," her Doctor said, smiling at her. "We were just talking about cricket."
Well, that was obvious code for 'secret Time Lord stuff.' She closed the distance between herself and them, looking back and forth between the two. Yep, mind-blowing.
She grinned at them both and the Doctor, her Doctor was starting to look a bit on the nervous side. Supposed she deserved that - she didn't have the best record when it came to parallel versions of people.
"Right then. I'll be off," the other one announced. Rose mentally filled in, 'Unless, I don't know, you could come with me.'
No, that Doctor was to her left. Okay, maybe he was right to be nervous.
She looked at the other one whose eyes were sadder than she ever remembered her Doctor's. She wanted to tell this one that he'd cut himself off, and that he should find someone or someones. But with her Doctor standing right there, and their conversation on the beach flooding back in her mind, the words caught in her throat.
Instead she surprised him by giving him a hug. "Don't be alone," she whispered. She felt him tense. Rose cleared her throat. "Thank you. For everything," she said, no longer in a whisper.
He cautiously patted her on the back. "I'll send you the bill, Rose Tyler."
Rose laughed and let go, only to have her Doctor grab her hand.
The other Doctor glanced at their hands and shook his head. "Suppose I should say something profound right now," he said as he opened the TARDIS door.
"If you must," her Doctor replied.
He paused for a moment. "Right. Got nothing. Bye, then!" he said brightly, waving to them before closing the door behind him.
*
"Well, that was surreal," the Doctor said after the sound of the TARDIS faded away. "I mean, it's not often you watch the TARDIS take off without you. And of course running into me is always interesting. Sometimes downright annoying. Did I ever tell you about the time..."
The next words were knocked out of him as Rose threw her arms around him, laughing. "I just can't believe that you're here!"
"Me either." A broad smile broke out over his face as he hugged her tight. "So, don't suppose you're up for knocking around time and space in some parallel universe."
She stepped back gave him a serious look. "I don't know. You get the toaster fixed yet?"
He winced. "Ooh, sorry. It still might be on the twitchy side."
"Describe twitchy." Rose grinned at him to which he grinned back.
"Flaming projectiles?"
"That's twitchy."
"Just a bit."
"Keeps things interesting though, yeah?"
"Oh yeah." He bumped her with his shoulder. God, he had missed this. "Say, where is everyone?" he asked.
"Headed to the house. It's just a little over a mile. Come on." She grabbed his hand and pulled him in the direction of a road.
"So you're still living with Jackie and company then? Oh, that reminds me! What did Jackie end up having? Boy or a girl?"
"A boy. Peter Allen Tyler, Jr."
"Good for them," he said as they walked along the road, hand in hand.
He had the nagging feeling that he needed to tell her what he'd found out. Well, he absolutely needed to tell her, but was having a hard time deciding when the best time would be. The sooner the better, obviously, but this was all so nice. And then it wouldn't be.
"So this thing you have, it can go between worlds without destroying them?"
He took the sphere out of his pocket and held it up, Rose peering at it. "Yup. Same technology as the void ship, only I know how to use it properly." She reached for the sphere. "AH!" He pocketed it again and gave the hand he was holding a shake. "No touching! Just our luck and you'd push the one thing that would make us wind up in some world where cats rule. And of course we'd lose the sphere in some dramatic way, which would result in an overly-long search where I'd finally have to battle to the death for it."
Rose was laughing now, which just egged him on. "But by then you would have rallied the dog underground movement which would interrupt the battle to the death. Cats overthrown and dogs so grateful that we're given back the sphere. And quite frankly, that sounds like too much work."
Rose dissolved into a fit of giggles, which he would have enjoyed had he not been pretty sure he was stalling.
"Okay, what's with the blue suit? Did you wreck the brown one?" she asked, pushing open his coat with her free hand.
The Doctor looked down. It had become such a part of him he barely gave it notice any more. He'd abandoned his brown pinstripe shortly after Torchwood and adopted a blue one. It was something he needed to do, something he could do when surrounded by everything he couldn't - blue was one of the traditional colours of mourning. He looked at the reason for the suit. "Oh, just wanted a change."
She wrinkled her nose at him. "Sorry, but no. I just don't like it."
"Me either. You could say it doesn't suit me." He grinned at her.
"Can't believe you said that," she groaned. "Can you change back?"
"Ooh, maybe I'll try something completely new."
"Well, only if I get some sort of approval rights because you obviously need a lot of help." Rose gestured at the suit.
"Sounds good." He squeezed her hand and she smiled up at him. Yes, he'd definitely need something new.
The conversation had stopped and he almost started in with something, but Rose spoke first.
"So Martha seems nice," Rose said, staring at the road.
The Doctor glanced at her and smirked. Where before her jealousy would often confuse him, now he felt the tiniest bit gratified. Although he quickly pushed that aside, trying to figure out how to respond. He needed her to see that Martha was no threat to her, but also to know that Martha was staying on the TARDIS. On that he would not budge. He just needed the right words.
He opened his mouth, but Rose was quicker. "She's sticking around, yeah?"
His mouth snapped shut. Was that a question or a statement? "Well..."
"I think she should stay."
"Right! Brilliant! Of course she's staying! She's quite handy when it comes to dismantling weapons systems, you know. And she's working on her medical degree, so useful for handing out aspirin. Although she does have a serious character flaw involving tea," he said with a conspiratorial air. "And cats," he continued. "Don't think that wasn't hard to overlook."
"Doctor, I'm starting to think you need therapy about the cat thing."
"What, so I can have Freud tell me it all relates to my mother? No ta." He was stalling again and they were nearing the house they had walked to so long ago, the night of the other Jackie's birthday party. He had to tell her before they got there. And then he'd just have to keep telling himself that she'd wanted to be with him long before knowing that her choice was pretty much taken away.
He'd asked her once how long she was going to stay with him, a question he'd pretty much regretted the second it left his mouth. He swore time had stopped as he waited for her to respond, afraid of what she would say...or wouldn't say. But she answered with one word. Just one.
- Forever.
"Yeah?"
She'd said 'forever' before this. She'd said she loved him before this. Before she knew a thing, she had said all that.
"In finding a way to this world, I also discovered something. Something about you."
She shifted her feet. "Not sure I like the sound of this. What's this about?"
"Bad Wolf."
*
"Bad Wolf," Rose repeated, her mind racing. What did that have to do with anything?
"When you came back to the game station, when you became the Bad Wolf, the TARDIS did something."
Rose was getting uncomfortable. "Well, yeah. Time Vortex running through my head and all."
The Doctor glanced up for a moment before looking back at her - his darkened expression cut into her. "It changed you."
"What do you mean?" Rose was trying not to panic, but she couldn't help but remember hearing what the Doctor had said when the time vortex had been in her head, about how it would kill her. Was she sick? Was that it? Was she dying?
"You remember how the TARDIS changed Blon back into an egg, right? The TARDIS has powers beyond anything in the universe. The impossible doesn't exist for her."
"What are you saying? Doctor, just tell me."
He sighed heavily, his eyes now betraying a sadness. "You're not human any more."
Rose stared at him. The words he was saying weren't making sense. But he said Blon... "Oh god! Am I going to turn into a Raxa... a Slitheen?!" she asked in horror.
"No!" he said, grabbing both her hands. "Gallifreyan, not Slitheen."
"Gallifreyan?"
"I suppose never mentioned the name of my planet, then. Well, there you go."
An instant numbness surrounded her mind. Even her body felt disconnected. "So I'm..." she trailed off.
"Yeah."
"I think I need to..." she pulled a hand away and motioned over her shoulder. She had a vague awareness of the Doctor sitting her down on the grass on the side of the road.
The TARDIS changed her. Didn't even ask. Or did she? Rose tried to remember, but it was all still a bit hazy. She remembered everything that happened after she got back to the game station and came out of the TARDIS, but right after Mickey got the panel open? It was...blurry. She remembered the desperate need to save the Doctor in any way she could. Everything was focused on him. And then she remembered feeling safe. That everything was going to be okay.
Had she said yes to this?
It didn't seem real. Rose stared at her hand, examining her fingers. "I don't feel different," she finally said, glancing at the Doctor.
"No, you won't. Right now you just have a third strand of DNA. It's dormant at the moment. Nothing will happen until you..." Worry was evident in his eyes. "Until you die. That's when it will kick in. Everything will change. Your body, even your brain will change. Every cell rewritten."
Rose had seen it happen to him, but that was to him. Weird stuff happened to aliens. But the thought of being in a whole new body, of never seeing the hand in front of her again was chilling. This wasn't something that might happen, this was something that would happen. Her mouth was getting dry and she swallowed against it, which only made her think of new teeth.
The Doctor now had his arm around her. When had that happened?
Rose played with her hands which were stretched out in front of her. She cleared her throat. "Does it hurt?"
"Sometimes it's worse than others."
It wasn't really an answer, but she'd watched him go through it, which was answer enough. Then she remembered something else, her forehead creasing as she continued to stare at her hands. "Two heads? Or no head at all?"
The Doctor softly chuckled as he grabbed her tighter. "Oh, you just never know when a joke is going to come back to bite you on the ass. No, you'll look human."
"Can you choose what you'll look like?"
"Not really. The people around you and circumstances under which it happens can influence what you become, depending on how strong the connection. Never really figured out why that is, though."
Rose looked at the Doctor and it all fell into place. His newest body - he was this way now because of her. Younger, full of energy to match or surpass her own, and good looks that would make her sit up and take notice. Hell, he even had her accent. And whenever she finally did change, she'd probably be influenced by him.
At that moment she decided it was worth it. Worth the disturbing new bodies, because it meant he'd never be alone again. She could handle it, would handle it for the simple fact that she loved him.
Too late she realized she had been tearing up. The Doctor looked at her with alarm and quickly pulled her into a hug.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he said. "This is all my fault. All of it."
Wait, what? He blamed himself? Oh, that was good. Like he needed more guilt in his life. "Don't seem to remember seeing you hooking a chain to the TARDIS. You were off having fun with the Daleks, if I recall. Nope," she said, shaking her head. "I'm sure you weren't there." She stood up.
He scrambled to his feet after her, shoving his hands in his pockets, the sadness still in his eyes.
"You weren't," she insisted.
The Doctor took a deep breath. "Oh, but I kinda wanted you to stick around." he said at last.
"So?
"The TARDIS figured that out. She knows me. And so when you..." He trailed off, clearing his throat and looking at the ground.
That thought sunk in. A sickening feeling came over Rose. Maybe that's why he came to get her - he felt guilty. Not because cared about her. And now she'd be a burden to him, tagging along forever.
Afraid to ask, but needing to know, she pulled on his arm to free his hand from his pocket, lacing her fingers through his. "Tell me the truth. The honest truth. Would you have come to get me even you hadn't found this out?"
His expression softened. "Oh, yes."
"Then that's all that matters."
*
It both had and hadn't gone how he expected it.
She'd focused on the regeneration, which, in his opinion, was just a minor aspect of it all. But maybe that was because he had done it so many times. There were a lot more questions she should have asked though, because unlike what she had said, there was more that mattered.
She still held onto his hand, but she hadn't said a word since they'd started walking again, and he left her to her thoughts. It was probably better if she went at her own pace, and he wasn't planning on going anywhere. Although... He made a mental note to make an emergency program for her in case anything ever happened to him, giving her the basics and telling her where in the libraries she could find more information.
Now walking on the long driveway to the house, he felt her free hand touch his arm.
"Thank you," Rose said.
"Sorry?"
"Thanks for coming back for me," she said, staring ahead.
He had a feeling he knew where in her thought process she was. It might have finally hit her that in the not too distant future she would have been completely alone.
"Well, you know, you left some shoes behind. Thought you might want them back."
He kicked himself after the words came out. Leave it to his mouth to come up with something glib at a time like this.
But to his relief, Rose blinked away from her thoughts and gave him a small laugh. "Oh yeah. You know me and shoes."
"I do, as a matter of fact. Every day I'd say to myself, 'Rose Tyler is probably missing her shoes.'"
The corners of her lips tugged upwards. "Incredible. It's like you read my mind."
"And so damn the impossible, I knew you needed those shoes!" he said, dramatically waving a hand.
"That's what I like about you. The 'impossible' approach."
"Well, what's life without some challenges? And shoes?"
"Okay, stop with the shoes," Rose said, snickering.
"Ooh, speaking of challenges, I suppose Jackie will be at the house."
Rose gave him a wicked grin and then nudged him. "You are so on your own. Hope you're ready for a snog."
"What did I ever do to deserve that from her? I think I liked it better when she was slapping me. In fact, I know it. Now for that I think I might need therapy."
"Hmm. Wonder what Freud would say to that?"
"I really don't think I want to know."
The door to the house was flung open and the Doctor had a 'No! Bad Jackie!' all ready, but fortunately Jackie just gave him a hug. Maybe the presence of Pete tempered her. They were shuttled inside the house, Jackie babbling on, and soon the Doctor was standing nearly in the same spot where he had told Rose that she couldn't stay in this world, even if she wanted to. Of course, technically she could have. And it wasn't that he had been worried about her never going back to the Powell Estate either - screw the Powell Estate. It was his world he hadn't wanted her to leave.
The Doctor watched as Jackie, still talking about something, pulled Rose towards a side room, shutting the door behind them. Pete shrugged at him and motioned him towards the lounge, where he could hear familiar voices. Four heads turned and greetings were called out as he entered the room where Martha, Jack, Mickey and Jake were sitting, drinks of what looked like soda or water in hand. He didn't much feel like sitting, though, and so began to wander around the room.
The posh surroundings were much more like what he thought Rose deserved. And the stable home as well...
She wanted to be with him.
She did. It wasn't just wishful thinking. His mind flickered back to Torchwood and her determined words.
- I made my choice a long time ago. I'm never going to leave you.
Smiling, he leaned against the wall and watched Jack tell some outlandish - and most likely false - story, but it was making the others laugh. Even Martha was laughing, which was really good to see. Over in the corner Pete was shaking a rattle at his son, half paying attention to the others. The Doctor scratched at the back of his head and headed towards the kitchen.
Frankly, he was still stunned the thing with Pete and Jackie had worked, but apparently all Tylers had alternate version blind spots. Having nearly been on the receiving end of an alternate replacement himself, the Doctor almost regretted suggesting the idea of the two of them to Pete in the first place. But they were a different circumstance. No one would be showing up again for them.
He opened a cupboard, wrinkled his nose and closed the door.
Rose was certainly taking her time. Never used to take this long to say goodbye to Jackie before, although if she had decided to tell Jackie, well, everything, they might be there a while. And he might need to run.
The Doctor pulled open the fridge and frowned, shutting it again.
Maybe he should go start packing up her stuff. Just shove it all in a bag. That way if Jackie did come after him, Rose would have her stuff since he would be sphere-ing them the hell out of there. It was a plan...
He opened the freezer door. "Ooh, ice cream." He yanked off the lid and attacked.
*
Inside Pete's study, the sound of the clock ticked away. Rose's mum had set her down on the sofa. "So I guess you'll be off then," she said, taking a seat next to Rose. "'Course you won't be able to use the phone from over there. Not that you ever used it anyway."
Rose sighed. "We can come back to visit now."
"Yeah, I know. Ten seconds. Where have I heard that before? And you'll still be out there, running about into danger."
She almost told her mum about the...thing. The "thing" seemed like a pretty good word for it at the moment - she was starting to think she imagined the whole conversation with the Doctor. It was just too bizarre.
But something popped into her mind - something she hadn't thought about since it happened. Her mum had made some sort of comment, back when they were both on the TARDIS, about her wandering around on some far-off planet, but also about her not being human any more. Rose thought it had been just her mum's way of telling her that she'd gotten too distant, that she didn't call enough, but had she actually sensed something? Well, that was a conversation for another time.
"I'll be okay, I promise," Rose offered at last.
Her mum shook her head, sadness reflected in her eyes. "Always had a feeling I'd lose you. Even after we came to this world, I still had this nagging feeling, you know? And then when I got your message about the Doctor..." She trailed off.
Rose pushed a piece of hair out of her mum's face. "That wasn't right. I shouldn't have just run off again."
"But that's what you're doing now, Rose," she insisted.
"Mum, look at me. This isn't me running away from you. This is me living my life. And I don't have to worry about you any more because you're not alone. You've got dad and the baby now."
"But you're still going."
"Your life is here. Mine's out there," Rose said earnestly.
She looked unconvinced.
"But no matter where I am or no matter if it's a thousand years from now, you are still my mum," Rose said as she felt the words catching in her throat. "You will always be my mum," she said softly. "Nothing will ever change the fact that Jackie Tyler, who I love, is my mum."
"Oh, sweetheart." She pulled Rose into a hug, putting a hand on her hair.
Rose had an idea. "And now for a little 'having your cake and eating it too.'" Pulling away, she put her hands on her mum's shoulders. "I'm making plans. Definite plans. I'm coming back here every three months."
"Three months?? What happened to ten seconds?"
"Come on, mum. You've got your own life to live. Okay, two months?"
"A week."
"Six weeks?" Rose countered.
"Two."
"Four?"
"Well," her mum sighed. "I suppose one month is better than three."
"Right. I promise that I'll be back every month or less."
"I'll believe that when I see it."
"Really. You'll see."
"And you're staying for at least three days. And if he doesn't like that, the Doctor can bugger-off, he can."
Rose coughed. "Right, then!" She had no idea how that was all going to work. She couldn't picture the Doctor just handing over the world-hopping thing to her nor could she picture him and her mum spending three days in a row together.
But somehow she'd make it happen, no matter what.
"I'd better go pack now," Rose said, standing.
Her mum stood up as well and sighed.
"Really," Rose said, hugging her again. "A month."
Her mum let go of her. "You've got some clothes in the laundry. I'll go get them for you," she said as she left the room.
Rose went over to the desk in the study and searched through the top drawer, pushing aside pens and empty folders. She frowned and closed it, opening the second drawer. Underneath more office supplies, she found what she was looking for. She grabbed the blank notebook and headed up to her room.
She spent the next thirty minutes packing, with her mum flitting in and out of her room, as well as the Doctor poking around in her stuff, talking her ear off and generally hovering. He filled her in on Martha, on some sort of legend, which had the writing from the black hole planet, and on random adventures she had missed out on. Most of the stories started out as, "Oh! And then..." making him sound like a kid just back from a carnival.
His energy was infectious and by the time she was done packing, she was dying to get back to the TARDIS. She obviously wasn't the only one, as the Doctor snatched up her bag as soon as it was closed and practically pushed her out the door.
When her mum announced that she wouldn't be going back to Torchwood to see them off, Rose couldn't help but feel a little hurt. But maybe it was easier to watch Rose drive away rather than vanish in front of her eyes. Rose couldn't really blame her for that.
Yes, she would absolutely be back in under a month and every month after. Rose doubted her mum would ever see her life as a good thing, but she'd make good on this promise. She clutched the notebook.
As goodbyes were said and hugs given, Pete handed over keys to an SUV to Mickey. Rose climbed into the back seat, the Doctor flopping down next to her, the others filling up the rest of the car. She turned and waved out the back window as Mickey started the engine and put it into gear.
Once the house was out of sight, Rose opened up the notebook and wrote the names and dates of three birthdays on the inside cover. A bump in the road jostled her as she then wrote today's date on the first page and underlined it. Below it she wrote:
- Peter Jr. - 2 months. Coos. Smiles. Is starting to lift his head.
Pete - Still taking time off work to be with mum and the baby. Is thinking of taking up golf again. Called him 'Pete' today and he didn't seem to mind.
She glanced at the Doctor who was watching her write. "It's so I don't forget what was going on."
He hmm-ed at her.
"And also so I don't forget the date. Because we're coming back here every four weeks. Or less."
"We have to visit once a month?!"
Five sets of eyes were all now on the Doctor, including Mickey's, watching in the rear mirror. Rose tried to suppress a smile. She really should not be so amused at how much her mum messed with his head. She'd break the news about the three days rule later.
She cleared her throat, glancing at the people ahead of her. "Um, time machine?" she said in a low voice.
"Right, well, of course! Naturally that," he said quickly, rubbing a hand through his hair. "Just testing you all," he said to the others. "Eyes up front. Nothing to see here," he waved at them.
Rose bit her lip and continued writing.
- Mum - Has been asked to be on a charity committee. God help them all. Is already looking at schools for Petey. Poor kid.
- Haven't told her about the thing yet.
The Doctor stared at the inside of the lift doors. They were so close to getting back to the TARDIS, and getting Rose back to the right universe, but the only route was by way of the slowest lift in the galaxy. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see lit numbers changing. And then there was the noise, which he had pretty much decided was a primitive form of torture and should be banned.
"I'm going to go mad," he announced to the group.
No one spoke.
"I'm not kidding. Really," he insisted, tapping his fingers against the wall.
"I think it's kinda nice," Martha said.
Everyone looked at her.
"Or not," she muttered.
Rose sighed. "I really don't remember the lift taking this long before."
The Doctor slapped his hand up against the panel which didn't help much. He could still hear it.
"Maybe if you hum something else," Jack suggested.
The number on the panel flicked to forty.
"That's it." The Doctor shoved his hand into his suit, extracted the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the speaker in the panel that was insulting his ears with an orchestral version of "Dude Looks Like a Lady." The speaker hissed and then gave a satisfying pop, followed by silence. Wonderful silence.
Rose patted his arm. "Better?"
"Very much, thanks," he said with a smile.
The doors finally opened on level fifty and the Doctor led the group towards the large room at the end of the corridor. Rose matched his steps, her arm looped through his. Barring the horrible music, he was pretty much had a constant grin now. Just a few hours ago he'd been without her, and about a week earlier, had no hope of ever seeing her again. Now here she was, like the most natural thing in the world - almost as if she'd never been gone.
Almost.
"So," he said to Rose. "Here's an important thing. We need to figure out where to go first. Ooh! Beatles concert?"
Rose smirked. "Yeah, like that'll ever happen."
"What?" he asked.
"We have yet to make it to a concert."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Rose Tyler," he said, giving her his best innocent look.
"How about Bannet Nine?" she asked.
"Brilliant! Tea! Hold on. How'd you know about Bannet Nine?"
"I spent the last couple of days trying to get there with the same success as the concerts."
"Hmm. Maybe some cosmic force doesn't want us to go to Bannet Nine. Should we risk it?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.
Rose answered with a mischievous grin. "Absolutely."
The group made their way to the corner of the room and the Doctor turned to Mickey and Jake. "Well, boys, as always, it's been fun. Maybe see you in a month your time. Might give you a call to help me fend off Jackie."
As Rose was letting go of his arm, most likely to give Mickey a goodbye hug, Mickey spoke up.
"Yeah, was wondering if I could come along. You know, on the TARDIS." His eyes flicked towards Martha. "Not much to do 'round here with the Cybermen gone and all. Aside from space slugs once every millennium," he said, looking back at the Doctor.
Oh, Mickey. Martha? Really? She was certainly attractive, but Mickey didn't know her. Didn't know she'd probably not be ready for something...
"Yeah, me too, if it's all right," Jake quickly added, looking at Mickey.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. This was quickly turning into EastEnders.
"Oh, I am so sticking around now." Jack, Rose's bag over his shoulder, was grinning in the general direction of the woman and two men.
Bloody. Hell. His TARDIS was not a love shack for the dimensionally dispossessed. He was about to tell them as much, probably in far ruder terms, when Rose squeezed on his arm and turned to face her wide smile.
"Could be fun, yeah? The more the merrier?" Rose asked, threading her arm back through his and starting to do that thing with her eyes where...
Son of a bitch.
He half growled, half sighed at the human herd in front of him. Apparently his mantra of 'don't get too attached' had less and less meaning these days.
"Heard you liked travelling with an entourage," Mickey offered.
Martha shoved her hands in her pockets. "And from the looks of it, you've got yourself a small army now, Doc."
He could do worse, that was true. And it would be handy for a while to have two, well, probably three teams, so to speak. None of whom he would have to babysit...
"Okay, fine." The Doctor waved a finger at them. "But the second I hear crying about 'why doesn't he/she/they like me in that way?' I am leaving you all on some moon. Except Rose, of course. Although..." He wrinkled his nose. "Come to think of it, if she said that then I'd have to leave her on the moon too." He patted her hand. "So don't say that, all right?"
Rose stared at him. "What the hell are you going on about?"
"Tell you later." He retrieved the sphere from his pocket. "Off we go then! Everyone link up. Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, the lion and...the dog, apparently. Mickey, you're the dog."
"Hey!"
The Doctor grinned at Rose. "Ooh, I've missed tormenting Mickey."
She tried to suppress a grin of her own, failing miserably. "So rude."
"Right. Everyone set?" A chorus of "Yes!"es echoed from his supposed army, and Rose leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Fantastic," she sighed.
All things considered, it really was. "Couldn't have said it better myself," he said, still with the smile that probably wouldn't leave him for days. He pressed down on the sphere. And five billion years in their future, deep within a planet then known as New Earth, a line of strange writing was changing shape.
-The End-