Chapter Text
It had been three days since the new-older Doctor had saved the older-younger Doctor’s life but Donna still hadn’t let the latter out of bed and he was starting to get restless.
“Donna,” the Doctor whined, “How much longer do I have to stay in bed? I haven’t had a fever for almost two days now and I’m just about fully recovered.”
“Maybe in a day or two,” Donna responded, “I just want to make sure you don’t relapse.”
“How am I supposed to relapse from an illness that was caused by residual regeneration energy?” the Doctor asked, “My body won’t produce anymore of that energy unless I sustain another fatal injury. Which I don’t plan on doing any time soon.”
“I don’t know,” Donna said, “But you nearly died! I want to make sure you give yourself enough time to rest and recuperate after that.”
“Donna, if I spent a week lying around after every near-death experience I’ve had, I would have never left Gallifrey.”
“I do recall hearing you tell UNIT’s medical staff that the regeneration process leaves your body severely weakened. And I just don’t want you to do too much before you’re ready and end up with an actual illness.”
“I’ve already regained most of my strength,” the Doctor whined, “I don’t need to lie around for a few more days.”
“I’m not convinced,” Donna said, “And I do recall your little habit of lying about your health.”
The Doctor sighed, “How about we go to the TARDIS and ask her to run a full medical scan,” he suggested, “I won’t be able to hide anything from the TARDIS.”
“Okay,” Donna said, “I know she won’t lie to me. But if I don’t like the results of the medical scan you’re going straight back to bed until I am satisfied.”
The TARDIS was extremely relieved when the Doctor and Donna entered the console room. She had been aware that her Doctor’s life had been saved by the new Doctor, the new one had explained things to her before he left, but to get that first-hand confirmation that her long-time travel companion was going to be alright finally put her at ease. She also felt a touch guilty that she hadn’t been able to help the Doctor find a cure for his illness and she almost immediately apologised to him.
“It’s alright, Old Girl. My illness was also affecting you to an extent.” He responded. The TARDIS hadn’t gotten nearly as sick as he had, which might have had something to do with how little time they had spent together during the course of his illness, but by the time they had landed in Sylvia’s back garden he could tell the TARDIS had been starting to feel a little under the weather herself. “But I need to thank you for calling the new Doctor to help me.”
The TARDIS chirped an affectionate, “Anything for my thief.” In the Doctor’s mind causing him to smile.
“Donna’s not convinced that I’ve fully recovered,” The Doctor said aloud, “So could you run a full medical scan?”
The TARDIS chirped in affirmation and did what the Doctor asked.
“Is there a way you could confirm if what the Doctor is telling me is true or not?” Donna asked, “Spaceman like to lie to me about his health.”
The lighting in the console room flashed green in affirmation.
“My body temperature is fifteen point three degrees,” the Doctor said, “So normal.” The lights in the room flashed green letting Donna know that the Doctor was telling the truth. “There’s no more residual regeneration energy lingering in my body. Blood oxygen saturation and breathing rate are normal. My left and right heartrates are normal, therefore my hearts-rate is also normal.” The lights in the room flashed green five times.
The Doctor paused at the next vital the TARDIS provided, “Is that really what I weigh now?” He asked mentally. The TARDIS in turn let him know that while he had lost a bit of weight during the course of his illness and recovery, it had been less than five kilograms. “That’s…significantly less than I weighed the last time I had this face…and there’s been no change in my height, I’m still six-foot-one.”
“Everything alright?” Donna asked.
“Yeah,” the Doctor said, “I just…weigh quite a bit less than I did the last time I had this face. And it has nothing to do with my illness.”
“I could have told you you’ve lost weight since the last time you had that body,” Donna said, “Why d’you think I was so worried about you? Even mum’s noticed. Why d’you think she keeps asking what your favourite foods and desserts are?”
The Doctor nodded. He then winced a bit as the TARDIS started ranting at him about the eight just about fully healed bone fractures in his left arm, four to each his ulna and radius. And she demanded to know how on Gallifrey he had managed to break his left arm that many times while deathly ill.
“I didn’t break my arm four times!” He exclaimed back, “The other Doctor did! Okay since we’re technically the same person, I technically did break my arm four times. But it was how he managed to get the residual regeneration energy that was possibly going to kill me to burn itself off! It was looking for an injury to heal, so the other Doctor gave it four injuries to heal. Those injuries saved my life!”
The TARDIS immediately stopped ranting at the Doctor and apologised. What the new Doctor had said to her before he flew off finally made sense. Causing four significant physical injuries was a reasonably unethical way to save someone’s life. She then informed him that, despite the now extremely mild injuries to his left arm, he was more-or-less back to full health. She just advised him to take it easy for a few days, just to be safe.
“The TARDIS is giving me a clean bill of health,” the Doctor said as the lights flashed green, “So I don’t have to spend another two days in bed.”
Donna sighed, “Alright fine,” she said, “But I want you to take it easy for a few more days, you hear me? If you start feeling even the slightest bit tired, I want you to stop whatever you’re doing and rest for a while. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes Donna.”
“So where are we going to go today?” Ruby asked the Doctor as they strolled to the console room.
“I have to stop in current-day Chiswick for a bit.”
“For what?” Ruby asked.
“Remember back when we faced the Maestro, I told you that defeating the Toymaker ripped me in half?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that other half has a life of his own now and is temporarily living in Chiswick,” the Doctor explained, “But the last time I saw him he was deathly ill and I had to do something unethical and break several of the rules we normally adhere to in order to save his life. I’m going to go and apologise for what I had to do.”
“Could I meet this other half of you?” Ruby asked, “I hafta admit, I’m a little curious.”
“I don’t see why not.” The Doctor said, “But you can’t talk about what we’ve been up to. It’s technically his future and unless we want things to get really messy, he can’t know anything about it.”
“Okay.”
Sylvia Noble had just sat down to enjoy her afternoon tea when she heard the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS landing in her back garden. Wondering if perhaps the Doctor had decided to join her for tea she rushed to her backdoor. However, the Doctor who stepped out of the TARDIS was not the one she had been expecting.
“Sylvia!” the Doctor greeted enthusiastically, “Sylvia Noble it is so wonderful to see you again.”
“Likewise Doctor,” Sylvia responded, “Is there something I can do for you?”
“I was just popping in to talk to my other half,” the Doctor said as he looked around, “I wanted to apologise for what I had to do to him the last time I saw him. Has he gone out for the day? His TARDIS isn’t here.”
“Oh sweetie,” Sylvia said, “That was almost three months ago. They’re back living in London now. But you and your friend are welcome to join me for tea. I have that cake you always seemed to like.”
“Eh why not,” the Doctor said, “Come on Ruby.”
“Feel free to come back any time,” Sylvia said as the Doctor and Ruby prepared to depart, “You’re always welcome here.”
“Thank you,” the Doctor said, “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“It was lovely to meet you,” Ruby said.
“You as well, take care now!”
“So she’s the mother of one of your former companions?” Ruby asked once they were back in the TARDIS.
“Yup,” the Doctor responded, “Sylvia Noble, mother of Donna Noble, the woman who helped me save the world and even the entire universe many times over. Alright let’s try this again,” He said as he punched a few coordinates into the navigational computer, “Twenty-three Bachelor Road.”
The Doctor huffed a bit in annoyance “You should have known they weren’t living in Chiswick anymore.” He said mentally to the TARDIS, “You know exactly where your twin is, so why did you let me go to Chiswick?”
The TARDIS didn’t respond which only annoyed the Doctor further, but she agreed to take the Doctor to Bachelor Road this time.
Rose was working on her homework at the kitchen table when she heard the noise the TARDIS made coming from the back garden. Knowing that the Doctor was currently grounded, it meant only one thing.
“Doctor!” She called, “You have a visitor!”
“I know, I know!” the Doctor called as he rushed into the kitchen and out into the back garden.
“I thought I told him he was grounded!” Donna exclaimed as she burst into the kitchen about a minute later. She had heard the TARDIS while she was pulling up to the house. “Where the hell does he think he’s going?”
“That wasn’t his TARDIS,” Rose said, “He just ran out to the back garden.”
Donna glanced out the back kitchen window and saw that there were two blue police boxes in her back garden and sighed, “Might as well put some tea on,” she said, “But if he flies off with him, I’ll extend his punishment another month!”
The new-older Doctor was pleased to see the older-younger Doctor standing on the back patio when he and Ruby stepped out of the TARDIS. He was looking significantly healthier than he had been the last few times he had seen him. Whatever Donna and her family were doing for him was clearly working wonders. However, he was less than pleased to see that the younger Doctor’s forearm was in a bright hot-pink cast. There was no way it was the same injury from that fateful night was it? No, all eight fractures from that night should have healed almost completely that night. And if Sylvia hadn’t been pulling his leg about that night being almost three months ago then it definitely shouldn’t have been that, even a human would have recovered from a broken arm in almost three months. Then he realised the cast was on the younger Doctor’s right arm, not his left. Okay, it wasn't the same injury.
“Is he your “other half?”” Ruby asked quietly.
“Yep.”
“When you said you had been ripped in half, I assumed your other half would have looked exactly like you,” Ruby said.
“Yeah,” the Doctor said, “You see, he was supposed to turn into me but we split into two separate Time Lords instead. I’ll explain more later it’s really complicated.” He turned to his younger self, “Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes. You’re looking well.” He pulled the other Doctor into a tight hug, “It’s good to see you back on your feet again.”
“All thanks to you,” the older-younger Doctor responded as he returned the hug, “Seriously, thank you for saving my life.”
“I couldn’t just let you die,” The new-older Doctor responded, “It was the least I could do. What happened to your arm? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Donna’s daughter Rose and I took a trip to Quebec’s Carnival de Quebec a few weeks ago,” the older-younger Doctor answered, “And I broke my wrist and hand ice skating. Donna wouldn’t let me heal it the normal way so I’m letting it heal the human way.”
“How did that happen? We’re good at ice skating.”
“I know. The TARDIS knew we weren’t supposed to be in Quebec so she hid my skates from me and I had to use terribly-dull poorly-fitting rentals.”
“Ah that explains it,” the new-older Doctor said, “Rental skates are always terrible. How is the Carnival de Quebec? I’ve always wanted to go.”
“Oh it’s brilliant!” the younger Doctor responded, “You really have to go sometime.” He then spotted Ruby, “And who might you be?”
“Oh, I’m Ruby Sunday.”
“It’s nice to meet you Ruby Sunday,” the younger Doctor responded, “I’m the Doctor. Well, the “younger” Doctor.”
“Wait,” Ruby said as she turned to her Doctor, “He’s younger than you?”
“Yes,” the new-older Doctor responded, “He’s our fourteenth incarnation, and I’m the fifteenth. He’s my past-self so technically that makes him younger than me. Long story shot, Time Lords can change their appearance when fatally wounded or sickened to heal themselves and what we end up looking like afterwards is sort of a lottery. Sometimes we look younger than our previous self and sometimes we look older. A few of our younger selves looked even older than he does.”
“Oi! I don’t look that old!”
“What’s going on out here?” Donna demanded as she also walked into her back garden, “And why are you lot standing out in the cold when you could be in the nice warm house enjoying a cuppa.”
“Donna Noble!” the older Doctor greeted happily as he hugged her, “It is magnificent to see you again! We were just in the area and thought we’d stop by to check up on my younger self. He was pretty sick the last time I saw him and I wanted to make sure he was doing better.”
“Alright,” Donna said, “As long as the two of you don’t fly off god knows where. He’s grounded for another month.”
“Ruby, go with Donna,” the new-older Doctor said, “There are a few things I want to discuss with my other-self for a bit. We’ll come join you when we’re done.”
“You had better,” Donna said, “And I don’t want you two standing out in the cold. He just over a bad bout of the flu less than a week ago. I don’t want him getting sick again.”
“Does it matter which TARDIS?”
“It’s gonna have to be yours. Donna has my key, I’m grounded until my wrist heals.”
“I’m gonna take a guess and say, she wasn’t happy about your trip to Canada?”
“Not at all.” The younger Doctor said as he followed the older one into his TARDIS.
“Was it human influenza?”
“Yup.”
The older Doctor winced, “Human influenza’s always rough on Time Lords…”
“Tell me about it,” the younger Doctor said, “Rose got sick two days after me and recovered the day before I did. Donna and Shaun didn’t get it at all.” He paused, “So what did you want to talk about?”
“First of all, I want to apologise for having to use telepathy on you while you were unconscious,” the older Doctor said, “I know the rules but it was the only way I could save your life.”
“We’re technically the same person,” the younger Doctor said, “The normal rules of telepathy don’t technically apply to us. Well, at least they didn’t at the time. You already knew almost everything that had happened to me up until that point in my life so there was nothing I would have felt the need to hide from you.”
“That’s what I had figured,” the older Doctor said, “But I still felt the need to apologise for it. More to put myself at ease. I’m also sorry for having to break your arm four times. It didn’t bother you too much did it?”
“Not really. It was just a little sore and kinda stiff for a few days. Nothing I couldn’t handle. It’s like I told Donna, it saved my life, I wouldn’t have cared if you had amputated my arm.”
“I wouldn’t have gone that far. Knowing Donna, she wouldn’t have let me.”
“No, she wouldn’t have.”
Did anything from that night reach you?” the older Doctor asked, “You were pretty deep into what would have been an unsuccessful healing coma but I wanted to know if you heard or felt anything.”
“Hardly anything reached me and it was terrifying,” the younger Doctor responded, “I caught occasional bits and pieces of conversations I couldn’t comprehend. A few times I heard you speaking to me in Gallifreyan but wasn’t able to process what you were saying. But other than that, there was nothing. It’s why I assumed…I was beyond the point of no return.” He paused, “I…didn’t think I was ever going to wake up from that.”
“Given how sick you were that night…you probably wouldn’t have,” the older Doctor said gently, “If Donna hadn’t called me, you probably wouldn’t have survived the night. Your temperature had peaked at forty and your hearts were on the verge of burning out. I just…wish I had realised you wouldn’t have been able to expel the residual regeneration energy the first time I had checked up on you, just a few hours after you had collapsed. I would have helped you burn it off right then and there and you never would have reached the point of nearly dying.”
“We were still well within fifteen hours of bi-generating and it had been less than a day since I had regenerated the first time,” the younger Doctor said, “The residual regeneration energy in my body was perfectly normal at that point in the process.” He paused, “It’s just weird though. I still haven’t been able to figure out why I wasn’t able to expel that energy. Even the TARDIS didn’t have any answers.”
“I think I’ve figured it out.” The older Doctor said, “More than just our bodies split that day. The bi-generation ripped our soul in half.”
“It…ripped our soul in half? So, we each have half our soul?”
“Yes. And the reason why you got so sick is because you were unlucky enough to retain all the lingering regeneration energy following the bi-generation and that energy assumed the splitting of our soul was a serious injury. Since the soul doesn’t physically manifest itself in the body there was nothing for all that energy to heal so it stayed in your body, accumulating to the point where it nearly killed you.” He paused, “My TARDIS was the first to point the splitting of our soul out to me, and I’m sure yours realised it too.”
“She suspected something,” the younger Doctor said, “But she seemed almost hesitant to tell me what it was. She just kept telling me, it wasn’t important.”
“She probably didn’t want you to start worrying about it.”
“So what does the splitting of our soul mean for us? What would that mean if one of us were to die? Would the other die too? Would either of us be able to regenerate?”
“I have no idea. There’s nothing in any of the books we own about a situation like this. You know as well as I do that nothing like this has ever happened before. But at least for the time being, it doesn’t seem to be affecting either of us too negatively. I don’t want you to worry about it. Figuring this whole situation out will be my job, you just keep living your life. I’ll let you know if I find anything out.”
“Sounds good,” the younger Doctor said as his phone buzzed, “Donna wants to make sure we haven’t run off somewhere.”
“Right, you’re grounded, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. And unfortunately, the TARDIS is on her side. She listens to Donna almost better than she listens to me.”
“Wait,” the older Doctor said, “Is that why you took us to Chiswick first?” he asked his TARDIS, “Because you knew Donna wouldn’t be home when were first planning on coming to visit and you didn’t want her to get angry with me?”
The TARDIS chirped an emphatic yes in both Doctors’ minds.
“Why didn’t you just tell me that?”
The TARDIS responded with a sort of “we thought it would be funny” type of response which made the older Doctor sigh in annoyance and the younger one laugh.
“Nice to see she never gets tired of messing with us. I guess some things never change.” The younger Doctor said with a laugh, “So how did Sylvia take to you dropping by unannounced?”
“She invited us in for tea and told us we were welcome to stop by anytime. She then wanted to know what we’ve been up to and kept us for almost an hour.”
“I suppose it’s better than her hating us.” The younger Doctor said, “Did she have that cake we really like?”
“She did.”
“Ugh lucky,” the younger Doctor whined, “Donna won’t ever buy it for me because she’s worried I’ll eat the whole thing in one sitting and make myself ill.” He then paused and looked at his phone, “Speaking of Donna, she’s demanding you stay for dinner. She’s not taking no for an answer.”
“I didn’t think she would,” the older Doctor said, “Are you doing better?”
The younger Doctor sighed, “Not really…I’m still having a hard time,” he admitted quietly. It didn’t feel right to lie to his future-self, “I feel like I’ll take a step forward only to take two steps backwards the following day. Some days I’ll be able to eat three full meals no problem and the next day I’ll be in such a state I can’t eat anything without vomiting it back up. Or I’ll sleep through the night for a few days then either spend the following several nights either lying awake stuck in my own head or I’ll wake everyone else up screaming in my sleep. It gets so frustrating.”
The older Doctor sighed as he gently embraced the younger one, “I know,” he said gently, “But just how like time isn’t linear, recovery isn’t linear. You’re going to have good days and bad days and some days that are so bad it feels like you’re starting over from zero. And it’s okay if you take steps backwards from time to time. It won’t invalidate any of the progress you’ve already made. You have an amazing support system with Donna and her family. There’s no right or wrong way to recover from centuries of trauma. You’re doing just fine and if it makes you feel a little better, you’re looking a lot better.”
The younger Doctor nodded, “Thank you.” He muttered into the older Doctor’s chest and his phone buzzed again, “We should probably head back in the house before Donna sends UNIT after us.”
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” the older Doctor said as he pulled a permanent marker out of his pocket, “Would you mind if I signed your cast?”
“Go ahead,” the younger one said as he held his right arm out.
“I like the pink,” the older Doctor said as he signed his name in circular Gallifreyan, “It’s very cute.”
“It was Rose’s idea. I had a dark blue one at first, but I kinda threw up on it while I was sick last week. So Martha had to make a house call to change it and Rose told me to get a pink one.”
“Martha?” the older Doctor asked, “As in Martha Jones?”
“She’s Martha Jones-Smith now, but yeah.”
“How’s Martha doing?”
“She’s doing well. She’s back with UNIT as their chief medical specialist. She treated me after I collapsed following the battle against the Toymaker and she’s treating my broken wrist. She agreed to be our primary care physician if we ever need it.”
“Did you…ever apologise to her for how we treated her?”
“I have.”
“Good.”
“It’s about time you two come in,” Donna half-scolded once the two Doctors walked into the kitchen, “I was about to come and get you two.” She said holding up her key, “And don’t even start with the “your key wouldn’t work on the new TARDIS” nonsense, the new one’s a carbon copy of the old one. My key would work with your TARDIS.”
“I’m sorry Donna,” the older Doctor said, “We lost track of time.”
“How the bloody hell do two Time Lords lose track of time!?” Donna demanded as Ruby and Rose giggled.
“Well…weird sort of time-stream…temporal…stuff usually happens when more than one version of us meet up in the same time-line,” the younger one responded, “It messes with our sense of time a bit.”
“Okay Spaceman.” Donna said while rolling her eyes. Clearly not believing a single word that had come out of the younger Doctor’s mouth, “I wish I had known you would have been popping in for tea, I would have gotten home earlier and made a proper spread.”
“Donna, whatever you make for us is fine,” the older Doctor said, “We did pop in unannounced. We’d be fine with soup and sandwiches.”
“Good,” Donna said, “Because soup and sandwiches is what you’re gonna get.” She then turned to the younger Doctor, “Since you were supposed to start dinner tonight and didn’t, you’re going to clean up after dinner. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Donna.”
“Oh, they were lovely,” Ruby said once her and the Doctor were back in orbit. They had spent nearly three hours just sitting around drinking tea or wine while the Doctors told stories from their past. Including the story of how they had met Donna the first time, and how they had both managed to inadvertently investigated the same company at the same time without even realising it.
“Yeah, Donna’s a wonderful person,” the Doctor said.
“So, have all your incarnations or whatever always been really good looking?” Ruby asked, “He’s total DILF material.”
“DILF?” the Doctor asked.
“Dad I’d like to F-” Ruby started.
“Okay, I get it.” The Doctor interrupted, “And you know I never really thought about it. Perhaps I have.”
“Could we visit them again sometime?” Ruby asked, “I enjoyed that.”
“Donna’s already threatened to hunt me down and find me if I don’t pop in every so often,” The Doctor said, “And trust me, she knows how to find me. She’s got a TARDIS on her side AND she works for UNIT. There’s nowhere I’d be able to hide from her.”
“If I didn’t know better I would say you were scared of her,” Ruby said.
“I am scared of her,” the Doctor said, “Donna’s terrifying when she wants to be. She’s one of the few people who have managed to put me in my place and one of the only people my tenth incarnation would take orders from.” He paused, “But she’s exactly the type of person he needs right now. If anyone can help the younger Doctor work through his issues, it’s Donna. I’m glad he seems to be doing alright. I’ve been a little worried about him.”
“He seems like he’s in really good hands.” Ruby said.
“You’re not wrong,” the Doctor said, “Donna’s gonna take good care of him. So where would you like to go tomorrow? Or should I just let the TARDIS decide?”
“I’m down for whatever.”
Kate Lethbridge-Stewart was looking over the data from a recent string of strange supernatural events when the sound of a TARDIS startled her away from her work and several papers blew onto the floor. She was going to need to set some hard ground rules for both the Doctors. She was getting annoyed with them just showing up out of the blue.
“How many times do I need to tell you to give me some warning when you’re going to drop by?” Kate asked.
“Sorry,” the Doctor responded as he rolled an office chair out of his TARDIS and into her office, “I just thought I would return the chair I borrowed after the battle against the Toymaker. It wouldn’t fit in Donna’s car or Shaun’s taxi so I thought I would just bring over myself.”
“That was six months ago,” Kate said.
“Oh,” the Doctor responded, “Has it really been six months?”
“Yes,” Kate responded.
“I guess I must have lost track of the time then,” The Doctor said with a laugh, “Well I just dropped in to drop this off. I’ll get out of your hair now.” He then stepped back into his TARDIS, “Don’t let Donna know I was here, I don’t want her to ground me again.”
Kate sighed as she tried to figure out just how a Time Lord could lose track of time while the dematerialising TARDIS blew several more papers off her desk and onto the floor. It was high time she made her new office a “No TARDIS Zone,” she had the technology to do that.
“Donna,” She called into her phone, “Could you come to my office for a bit? We have to set some ground rules for the Doctor.”
“He showed up announced again, didn’t he?” Donna asked, “I’m sorry Kate. I’ll confiscate his TARDIS key when I get home.”
“Oh there’s no need to go that far,” Kate said as she collected the papers that had fallen to the floor, “Just let him know that from now on, he needs to call me before he shows up. Unless I call him first.”
“You know he’s going to forget that the minute I tell him right?” Donna said, “It’s gonna go in one ear and out the other and he’s going to continue to be a pain in the arse.”
“I know,” Kate said, “But I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way.”