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Chapter Text

The first time Rose knew she was in trouble was when Clive took sick that morning, along with half the touchwood staff thanks to dodgy food at the office party last night. So she didn’t have a partner for today’s jump. She knew she was in even more trouble when sparks came out of her  dimension cannon and her coms cut out on the other side of the void.

While trying her best to get through to Jake and Mickey who were supposed to be running control, the blond looked around herself to assess her situation. It looked like she was in a city from sometime in the Middle Ages, so this parallel was running behind Pete’s World by a lot. She was probably still in London but it was hard to tell without asking someone. There was no one around so she kept trying the coms, “Control? Control come in? Micky? Jake? Can you hear me?” All she could hear though was static.

“Who are you talking to?” a voice came from behind her and she jumped in surprise, and whirled around to see a man in a weird white and black uniform.

“Um… myself?” 

No response. 

“I was practicing lines for a play I’m in?”

“Want to try again?” He asked.

“No not really,” Rose responded, “Am I going to be carted off for being a witch now?”

“Why by Rassilon would I do that?”

“Because I’m dressed funny, talking to myself, in the middle of medieval London, and you look like you’re some sort of member of the clergy?”

“I’m not. Also not going to take you anywhere for being a witch, last I checked those don’t exist,” he replied somewhat sarcastically.

“Oh good. I really don’t fancy being burned at the stake,” Rose replied.

“I am, however, going to arrest you and take you back to Gallifrey for breaking the laws of time.”

“Wait… what? Gallifrey? Does it exist here?”

“Of course it does. What kind of question is that?” He talked into a communication device while Rose internally debated running away but ultimately decided she better not. Maybe they can help. This was the first parallel she’s come across with Time Lords in her travels after all. “This is Operator Narvin. Control you won’t believe what I found at the breach we detected.”

“Just don’t tell me the Doctor did something stupid again?” A long, suffering sounding voice came from the communication device.

“Not technically…” Rose replied. “But I have been looking for him if that helps.”

“No it doesn’t. Have you any idea how much more paperwork that’s going to be? Then I get the lecture from Grandfather about not being like my Dad and maybe I should leave the CIA. Then uncle Braxaitel will want to grill me for information again… Wait, who's that?”

“That would be our anomaly,” Narvin answered dryly, “You can tell your family it doesn’t count because she’s clearly crossed the void to get here using a shorted out crude device on her wrist. So she’s probably not looking for the one in this universe. I’ve got hold of her. So just recall us already, Zaiden.” He grabbed hold of Rose by the arm. “Never mind Zaiden, his whole house has been in an uproar after the Doctor ran away instead of being Lord President. Again. And just last week.”

“The Doctor ran away instead of taking office… why am I not in the least bit surprised?” Rose asked rhetorically as they got pulled through the time vortex and into what looked like an interrogation room of some sort.

“So now would you like to try again on who you were talking to?” Narvin asked and gestured for Rose to take a seat.

“That is something of a long story…”

“I’ve got time,” Narvin answered.

So Rose told him everything starting from the word run and ending with how all of creation seemed to be collapsing. Which was why she was jumping from parallel to parallel looking for the Doctor. Also leaving Narvin kind of wishing he never asked.

“There are some glaring inconsistencies in your story though,” Narvin stated. “You’re obviously a time lady, and one who is in some way related to me. I can feel that much from your telepathic signature without even glancing at the scans. Yet you’re soaked in void particles, and have a somewhat strange artron signature leading me to believe you really did come from another universe. Doing something as stupid as looking into the heart of a TARDIS could turn a genetically predisposed human, Time Lord. Those are rare but do exist. It wouldn’t however explain how you’re related to me, or that your scans also show that genetically you are half human and half gallifreyan.”

“Wait I’m what?!” Rose was shocked.

“You really didn’t know, did you?” Narvin observed wincing. “You’re also a very powerful empath. Good job these rooms are shielded. That hit me with almost enough force to break my own shielding.” He looked at her somewhat sympathetically. He couldn’t help it. Every instinct he had was telling him to protect her from the moment they met. Her Gallifreyan parent had to be very closely related to him even if from an alternative universe.

“Sorry. It’s just I’m having trouble believing it.”

“I know. Your emotions are coming off of you in waves and your thoughts are slipping. You’re really young with no training at all. Although a twenty year old kid your age should have more practice. You also instinctively trust me. I doubt you would have told me so much otherwise. Look I’ll see what I can do to help you get out of the legal mess you’re in. Technically the first time you time traveled in this universe is when we brought you here and just coming to this reality isn’t actually illegal by time lord law. Unless of course you exist here already and try to stay, which you don’t appear to. We’re doing an in-depth analysis of your genetics right now as well as other scans. You’re going to have to stay here for now though.”

X-x-x-X

Narvin was sitting looking over the results of the scans unbelievingly. He blinked. Rubbed his eyes. Blinked again. Nope it still had the same results.

“So I hear congratulations are in order!” A tall, thin man with a square jawline, ice blue eyes and curly blond hair said as he sat in the chair opposite Narvin.

“Go jump off a cliff and into a dharma pit Zaiden.”

“I seriously think my grandfather thought of throwing me into one when the same thing happened to my father. Just saying you’re not the first person to suddenly and very unexpectedly become a parent via an alternative universe.”

“Great. I finally have something in common with the Doctor. My life is complete,” Narvin snarked.

“I was granted sanctuary here because I was a child and I came from a reality that had an unwinnable war going on. Along with quite a few other kids from that universe. She may be fully grown but she’s still a kid under our laws. The precedent exists.”

“I can’t just fix her device and send her home. She’s in serious need of instruction. She’s a natural born Time Lady without a clue how to use her abilities. Letting her go would be every bit as bad as sending her to the vaporisation chamber. But the scans of other realities show she’s right. Things are collapsing and even threaten us here. She really needs to find her Doctor and find out what is going on.”

Zaiden picked up a data pad from the desk. “Well it looks like because of the time dilation between universes there’s plenty of time to put her through the academy and teach her all the dirty tricks we learn in CIA training. At least three hundred years. Though, how the alternate version managed to not teach her the mental abilities she needs to protect herself I got no idea.”

“I think I was human at the time,” Narvin replied exasperated. “Why I would be using a chameleon arch I have no idea, but her genetic markers are consistent with that. I don’t think her gallifreyan genetics were present until she had the high exposure to huon energy, unraveling the masked genes. Also her TNA and artron signature is consistent with someone who exists because of a paradox. She may be wholly unique in this causal nexus if not this part of the omniverse.”

“Sounds exactly like the sort of thing all the houses would be scrambling to add to their genetics if you don’t want to act in loco parentis.”

Narvin sighed. “No, I'll do it.”

“Great, here’s all the paperwork you need to file already filled out and ready to be sent. Just need you to sign off on it,” Zaiden said cheerfully, handing over another data pad.

“I’m not even going to guess how you got this and so quickly,” Narvin sighed and put his thumb print on it and sent the file. Looks like he just became a father to a twenty year old girl who is used to being treated as an adult. She thought she was human until recently and was an adult by human standards from what little he knew. If nothing else his immediate future should be interesting if nothing else.

X-x-x-X

“How could you possibly be an alternate version of my father?” Rose asked still taking in the information Narvin had just told her. “My dad was human. He died when I was a baby but I’ve met him. The Doctor took me back to see him. He was human! If he wasn't, the Doctor should have noticed at least.”

“He might have and not said anything. You never can tell with him, or any member of his family really. Mostly a good sort for Prydonians but always keep their cards close to their chest and always scheming. Also I was apparently human at the time.“

“Yea you explained about the chameleon thing. I’m just really having trouble believing all of this. I’ve met lots of alternative versions of Pete Tyler and they were all human too. Oh my god is the alternative version my mum is with now also secretly a Time Lord? There’s no sign of them ever existing in that universe.”

“Might not be. Could be human and always has been. Alternative universes can be funny like that. Does he carry something like a fob watch or a locket that he’s very attached to but won’t open?”

“No Pete hasn’t. Dad had an old fob watch though. Mum gave it to me as a kid. It doesn’t open or even work. Apparently he took it everywhere but didn’t have it the day he died. Mum said it’s the only time he didn’t because she told him not to bring it. Made him forget the wedding present and he had to go back for it. He was hit by a car getting out of the car with the wedding present and died. It’s funny though, that watch always made me feel like he was watching over me and if I really listened I could hear him talk. Mostly gave me advice. Sounds crazy I know.”

“No it doesn’t sound crazy to me at all. The watch, do you have it on you?”

“No. It’s back in my mum’s old flat in our original universe.”

“Pity, I could have gotten a lot of answers from that watch. Also you could hear him talk to you, because he was talking to you. That’s the disembodied soul of your father’s time lord self. Just an echo now really since his body is dead. He’s stored inside the watch and trapped there with nowhere else to go. Since we’re bio-matched even if a different regeneration all I’d have to do is open it and he’d become part of me just like he was a previous regeneration.  Have a lot of questions about that time war you mentioned. That voice is also why you trust me, he feels like me doesn’t he?”

Rose didn’t answer because it was true, and she knew he knew it was true. She let out a sigh. “So what happens to me now?”

“I’ve already filed the paperwork to legally adopt you. By Gallifreyan standards you’re still a minor. A young one at that. You may be physically grown but you still have a lot of growing to do mentally. It’s a delicate stage of a young time lady’s life. There’s a hearing coming up soon on my application for adoption, but that’s more of a formality really. 

“Once I get you officially adopted I’ll get you in remedial classes to learn everything you need to know to catch up with others your age, like how to speak Gallifreyan without a translation matrix doing it for you like it is right now. Also you’re going to have to learn how to read and write in our language, also learn mental shielding. It’s a good job you have been living with humans in a way because they’re telepathy is so low on the scale it doesn’t register in all but a few individuals so you would typically need to be touching to get bombarded mentally. Then once we get all that done I’ll have you enrolled in the Patrexian Time Lord Academy—“

“But I can’t do all that! That would take something like a hundred years or something.” Rose interrupted.

“One hundred and twenty and a farther thirty at the university at the capitol after.”

“But I need to find the Doctor, all of reality is collapsing! I can’t wait another one hundred and fifty years!”

“Actually you have somewhere in the region of three hundred years because of the time dilation between this universe and the one you came here from. You’ll arrive back there and only a week will have passed.”

“But I.. I…” she trailed off her heart aching for her Doctor as she remembered Bad Wolf Bay along with a lot of her time with the Doctor.

Narvin groaned, “Just great! You’re in love with him!” Narvin exclaimed with his hand gesticulating wildly in agitation. “Oh don’t look at me like that, you’re projecting. I didn’t just deliberately look. I honestly could have done without some of the images of the two of you together, thanks very much. Look once you are the age of majority at a hundred you can do whatever you want with the Doctor. Or anyone else for that matter. 

“I’m going to be beating the boys off with a stick as it is. Your genetics are very unique and in an attractive way for gene shopping members of the houses who will all want you added to their bloodlines. You may be half human but you’re also a natural time lady, meaning any children you have will be easier to turn into time lords. They love having that sort of thing mixed in. Especially the really old houses who have been having trouble in that regard. I’m certainly not agreeing to put you through an arranged political marriage. My family are commoners and we don’t believe in doing that sort of thing. They will however try and seduce you and get their way that way. So it’s probably a good thing you have a bond with an alternate version of the Doctor who isn’t in this universe…”

There was a coughing noise behind them and they whirled to see a man had entered the room with them. “Sorry to interrupt your existential crisis Narvin.”

Narvin groaned. He hadn’t seen the man standing there since the project that got him involved in the CIA in the first place. “What do you want Braxiatel?”

“Well you probably should have read the paperwork my nephew gave you. I’m here as legal counsel for the hearing and act as a sponsor for your guardianship of your daughter. As you said a moment ago you aren’t from the houses, meaning you also don’t have much money or political clout right now.”

“See what I mean? They’re keen to get your genetic code. Seems like Lungbarrow managed to sneak in an attempt first.”

“I would do no such thing, I’d never presume to leverage a marriage agreement with a member of my house. Actually I’m here because my aunt wants to keep an eye on her given the situation that seems to be going on out there in the multiverse. As Lady President she can’t just do so herself without a proxy. Besides, us half humans should stick together. Haven dealt with the bigotry my whole life I know a lot about how things are going to be.”

“The whole ‘superior time lord biology’ and ‘stupid ape’ , stuff isn’t just the Doctor then,” Rose half remarked half asked.

“I’m afraid as a species we have been somewhat insular and rarely even leave our planet yet alone mix with other species. Until recently it was illegal for a non gallifreyan or Time Lord to even be on this planet. Not without a lot of paperwork and a long complicated process to apply for a VISA anyway. Made deliberately so difficult most people will give up applying,” Narvin answered succinctly.

“Also I don’t know about your universe’s Doctor, but here he’s half human himself. So if you see my alternate brother again please feel free to call him a stupid ape as well for being a hypocritical prat. I’m sure things aren’t that different there,” Braxiatel added and pulled a bracelet out of his pocket. “You’ll need to put this on.”

“What is it?” Rose asked suspiciously.

“A telepathic dampener. It’s so you don’t get overwhelmed once you leave this shielded room,” Narvin explained.

“What if I don’t put it on?”

Before Narvin could say anything Braxiatel opened the door and gestured out the door. “Take a step outside and find out.”

Also before Narvin could stop her Rose did step outside. Rose was suddenly assaulted with telepathic voices all around her as well as feelings coming off of other people. She couldn’t make out any in particular there were too many and it was overwhelming. She collapsed to her knees and held her head in pain.

“That was unnecessary and a cruel thing to do Braxiatel,” Narvin yelled and kneeled in front of Rose.

“She was going to fight us on it, this was the most expedient way to get her to do it,” Brax replied.

Narvin just glared in reply then reached out to Rose and put his hands on her temples. “Rose listen to me. It’s ok just listen to my voice and feel my mind and concentrate on me. Don’t listen to the others, just me. Let them fade into the background. That’s it, you can do it. You’re doing great on your own but I’m just going to help boost your shielding. Good that’s it. Now I’m going to let go and help you get the dampener on, ok?”

Rose nodded and Narvin let go and helped get the dampener on her wrist, and Rose gave a relieved sigh. She could concentrate on what was going on around her again. “That was rather unpleasant.”

“Unpleasant? I’ll show him unpleasant!” Narvin replied and sucker punched Braxiatel knocking him off his feet. “She isn’t just a child who knows she should wear her dampener but is stubborn and takes it off thinking they can handle it. She had no idea how to make shields or that she should in the first place.”

“Yes, but now you have formed a parental bond. It will make your case stronger,” he replied, getting up and dusting himself off. “Come along now, or we’re going to be late.”

And before Rose really knew what was happening she was brought before a court where Time Lords asked a lot of questions. Braxiatel basically told her what to answer and not answer, made dramatic speeches about law and precedent. Next thing she knew she was apparently being cleared of any charges and was officially adopted by Narvin.

Chapter Text

Rose had to admit after her experience without something blocking off her telepathic ability she couldn’t go home. So she had to at least stay long enough to learn how to shield. She really couldn’t go home for now anyway because Narvin, her ‘dad’ had confiscated her dimension cannon. 

First time she went ‘home’ with him it was to his ‘flat’ in the citadel lower residential area in what was actually the Gallifreyan equivalent of the Powell Estate. Narvin apparently had the same place as he had when he was just a low level engineer and just out of the academy, he just never moved. In this case though ‘flat’ was more like a door in the wall along a long corridor of doors all tightly spaced together. His door led into a much bigger place that was fully customisable. All he had to do was tell the flat what he wanted and it would rearrange things to suit him. 

“This place is like a TARDIS. Are they all like this?”

“Same basic principles, yes. Just doesn’t go anywhere in time or space. There are old historic parts of the citadel and other parts of Gallifrey where things are still smaller on the inside though,” Narvin replied. 

“You can set up your own living space by touching this panel here and thinking about what you want. I’ve given you access to add to the place and remove or edit anything you’ve added. You can also somewhat edit the shared living areas. You can have one room you can keep completely private for now, up to you if it’s a bedroom or study or whatever. The important thing is I can’t get in there without using emergency overrides. Also just like a TARDIS the flat has its own level of sentience and is quite opinionated about what constitutes an emergency,” he added.

“Are they all opinionated?” Rose asked out of curiosity but she was used to the Doctor’s TARDIS and she didn’t think any sentient life could be quite as opinionated as her. And she loved her for it, for better or worse. So hopefully she will get along fine with this flat.

“They all have their own personalities. The biggest trouble makers tend to be out here in the poorer neighbourhoods though.” He grinned at her. “And I love it. It’s one of the reasons I’ve never moved. Tell anyone I said that though and I will deny it vehemently. Better at least make yourself somewhere to sleep though, you must be exhausted after Braxiatel’s ‘throw them in the lake and see if they learn to swim,’ teaching methods earlier.” Narvin shook his head. “He’s supposed to be one of the best telepathic instructors in the Prydonian academy. If that’s what they do to their children it’s not a bit of wonder that chapter is a bit messed up as a whole. Anyway, it's a big day tomorrow. You need to get some rest, at least make yourself comfortable. Probably shouldn’t go exploring on your own for a while though, you might get lost.”

“Why what’s happening tomorrow?” Rose couldn’t help asking.

“You get to meet my mother. She’s completely over the moon to have a grandchild, so sorry if she’s a bit much. Honestly she’d have shown up right away but talked her into at least waiting until then.”

A slightly overwhelmed Rose sat down on a sofa in what seemed to be a combined Kitchen/living room/hub for getting to the rest of the house. She looked around her. There were things that had been taken apart and put together in ways that it obviously wasn’t the state it was in originally. Bottles of some sort of juice she couldn’t read the labels on but had some sort of fruit on it where stacked beside her. Also tools scattered around. “What’s this?” Rose asked as she picked up a sealed bag with pictures of meat on it.

“That’s one of my latest inventions, seems to be going well too. It is pet food for horsecats. They’re a species native to the Gallifreyan Bad Lands. They’ve become popular pets recently. Almost as popular as normal cats and Flubbles. Managed to get in the market early. It basically has everything they need for food and nutrition all in one.”

“Let me guess this is a health drink?” Rose asked, pointing to one of the juice containers.

“Yep. It’s called Vitex. Not doing so well on that one.”

He picked up another object and it started whizzing around the room as he switched it on. “I’ve only started that one. It’s basically going to be a pet robot. It already has a number of holo games, quizzes, learning games, and other fun ways to play. Hope to have it finished by Otherstide. Would make a great children’s present.”

Rose laughed and shook her head smiling as Narvin picked up different ‘inventions’ and demonstrated and explained what they are. “Ok I can actually believe my Dad was an alternate version of you now. You’re acting just like Pete. Even my Dad when I met him was a bit of a Dell Boy. Pete in the reality I came here from even got rich selling a health drink named vitex.”

“The money selling them is nice but really I just like making things. It helps me unwind and think. I like my job at the Celestial Interventions Agency, we get to have more fun, but if I wasn’t working there inventing things would be my ideal job. We belong to Patrex. The chapter of The Other. We’re known to be artists. We even have an artificial moon where everything is perfectly set up to be aesthetically pleasing. I hate it. Art for me isn’t all that perfection, I like the flaws in things sometimes. Seeing the imperfections and how to use them. Art is making something for the sake of making something that didn’t exist before. The Other was known for being a jovial mad inventor, and a free thinker. He’d be ashamed of how stagnant we’ve become as a chapter. I had to get away, so that’s how I ended up where I am now.”

“You know. You and the Doctor have a lot more in common than you’d think. He’s always inventing things.”

“His house, Lungbarrow, is ancient. It also used to be a Patrexian house and not a Prydonian one. Him and any of his line I’ve met have a bit of that streak of the other in them. His youngest son Zaiden is my partner in the CIA these days. Wait until you meet him. He takes after his father in what his family would call ‘all the wrong ways.’ When I was a green raw recruit and just finished training, all loaded with fresh BS and propaganda, I met the Doctor for the first time. Was on my very first mission. I learned more from him in that half hour than in all the years of training before then. I think it was probably the whole point of me getting sent there in the first place.

“I’m not as much of a rebel or liberal as he is though. I might think we’ve become stagnant as a society but some traditions are worth observing. I will admit I was probably every bit as bigoted as  the other time lords until I was paired up with Zaiden. He’s half human like his father. Guess Zaiden’s mother was as well. He came here as a child refugee with other children from another reality.” Narvin caught the pet robot he had let loose earlier. “Can you pass me the spanner?”

Rose looked and couldn’t find one. So Narvin showed her what tools were what. He also explained different parts of the robot and how they worked as he went along and they spent much of the night that way.

-x-x-x-x-

Rose woke up the next morning in her new bedroom which actually looked a lot like the one she had in the TARDIS. She picked up the prototype robot pet they had been working on last night and switched it on. “Jimbo, run the alphabet game.” The robot could be named anything. So she named it that after what her first doctor called the spider robots back on platform one.

“Very well Rose. Alphabet game initiated,” Jimbo replied. A hollo-image of a circle was projected along with the letter ‘a’ added in for effect. Narvin had programmed it to show the English translation for her benefit on the easy settings. It will get harder as the game progresses, and eventually only show the English letter for a few moments, then not at all, then mix around the Gallifreyan letters, etc. She picked up a stylus and used it to trace over the gallifreyan letter of the alphabet. When that was done it moved on to the next letter and the next. Some didn’t have an English equivalent but she went over those as well.

It was easy enough to learn anything on Gallifrey she had found. The information can be transferred directly to the brain. The problem is retaining the knowledge takes practice and revision by doing things like this. She had received a basic download of the gallifreyan language last night, including reading and writing. Narvin had then given her the robot and told her to practice. Could kill two birds with one stone that way, she gets to practice and test the games at the same time.

She decided she actually liked him. She can see Pete in him in so many ways big and small. Rose didn’t know what to make of everything yet, but she had decided if she was going to get stuck on Gallifrey things could have been a lot worse. 

Narvin for his part had actually been making a concerted effort to get to know her, and teach her stuff as well. Has been making more of an effort to do so in the day she’s known him than Pete has in the entire two years she’s been stuck in Pete’s world. Not that her and Pete didn’t get along. They were on friendly terms but she doubted they would ever be more than step father and step daughter to each other. Narvin however, she could see her actually thinking of as her father some day already.

Getting bored of rehearsing her knowledge of the alphabet but knowing she’ll have to get back to it later to practice writing in the circular script she paused the game and went next to story mode. There were a number of Gallifreyan myths, legends, fairy tales, and educational stories loaded up in Jimbo already and he was capable of downloading more from the archives via the equivalent of the internet. Only problem was it was age restricted. So she was somewhat limited. Still plenty to look at.

Rose selected a text on basic facts about Gallifreyan society and started to read.

The founders, Rassilon, Omega, and The Other who had his name erased from history as best he could by Rassilon. The Patrex chapter kept his legend alive though out of spite more or less. It’s why there are still traditional things like the holiday ‘Otherstide’ or ‘Feast of Freedom’ .

Gallifreyan society is split up into chapters. There are six of them. You are born into your chapter and transferring to another is rare. The chapters all have their own Time Lord Academies that children start at the age of eight. Some children stay there like a boarding school and others commute too and from school. Depends a lot on family situations and traditions. Patrex for example tends to have more commuters, whereas Prydon almost exclusively boards their students. 

The six chapters are Prydonian, Arcalian, Patrexan, Cerulean, Dromeian, and Scendles. Each chapter started by a founding member of Time Lord Society. Although Rassilon (Prydonian), Omega (Arcalian) and The Other (Patrexan) are the main ones, there are three other lesser favoured founders; Lazuline (Cerulean), Apeiron (Dromeian), and Pandak (Scendles). Each chapter is known for different traits although not everyone fits in.

The Prydonians are the most political chapter, because of this they tend to be leaders and decision makers, and may even be fairly political in their personal lives. With a Prydonian, everything is done for a reason. Even if the reason may not be immediately evident to someone who isn’t said Prydonian. They’re the type of person who would back up their argument with a multiple page long paper with lots of citations. They’re also very good at talking themselves out of a situation, or creating a diversion. They’re the Chapter most often thought of when someone thinks of Gallifrey, as they are the most public facing Chapter. 

Most of the politicians on Gallifrey are Prydonian, especially the presidents.

Even though they are cunning, they can sometimes be impulsive and driven by their values, speaking over others or not wanting to compromise. Many Prydonians love power, and some have been corrupted by it. They can be both extroverted or introverted; introverted Prydonians are good at making the spotlight follow them, even though they may not enjoy being caught under it.

Arcal is the second most political Chapter. Although Arcalians tend to be not particularly public about their political power. They prefer to be in the background, making their opinions known and debating, but will not be very public about their opinions unless it is something they consider to be highly important.  Members of the Arcalian Chapter are very inquisitive and curious, making them good scientists. They keep Gallifrey moving forward, always coming up with new ideas. There’s a joke that an Arcalian will blow something up because they want to know how it works, whereas a Patrexean will blow it up for the aesthetic. Arcalians tend to know quite a lot of information, and will talk your ear off if they decide you’re a safe person to infodump on. They are also very logical. Although it may not seem like it at first glance, they do tend to have reasons for their actions. TARDISes are very likely to have personalities matching the Arcalian Chapter.

Arcalians can also be opportunistic, siding with the most politically advantageous side, and because of their close relationships with people in power, they can gain power by proxy. They can sometimes seem rude when they are very absorbed in their work, or when someone is blabbing about something that makes no sense to them. They can also forget basic needs in pursuit of their projects, foregoing food, water, and sleep.

Patrexeans are the most artistic Chapter of Gallifrey, and tend to approach anything they are very interested in as a form of art, including science and history. They are highly imaginative and inventive, and can have quite a flair for the dramatic. They’re one of the most hands-on Chapters, both when venturing outside of the Citadel to find out something as well as sometimes being more physically affectionate than the rest of the chapters. Members of the Patrexean Chapter often have some sort of precognitive ability, and can have more niche spiritual beliefs than the average Gallifreyan. Many Patrexeans are explorers, and see the beauty in something that may remain unnoticed because it’s been around for so long.

Patrexeans can sometimes be seen as childish, especially when their interests are in more abstract art or concepts, or when they start dozing off in the middle of a meeting. The other Chapters keep them more grounded, and help them actually stay focused on the projects that they are so excited about. Patrexes are the third chapter in the Upper Triad, and one of the three chapters that you would commonly see out and about in the Citadel.

Ceruleans are the Chapter that is the most connected to nature. They will actually go outside - not just to investigate things, but because they love nature and caring for animals and plants. 

They are also one of the most social chapters, and need a strong community in order to be mentally healthy. Many gardeners, activists and farmers are from the Cerulean chapter. They are very focused on the environment. They are also frequently caregivers for growing TARDISes, and often appreciate artificial intelligence more than the average Gallifreyan. Many TARDISes also have Cerulean personality traits. Like the Arcalians, they can become very obsessed with their work, although their main motivation is helping people, which makes them different from Arcalians who want to learn everything for its own sake.

Because they are so focused on taking care of others, Ceruleans may forget to take care of themselves. If they neglect themselves for too long, they can become bitter and combative, accusing others of not caring for them. A Cerulean really should never be alone because of this, as it isn’t a healthy way to live. The other Chapters help stabilise them and remind them to take care of themselves. Ceruleans, like Patrexeans, are not particularly political, except for when it comes to laws about environmental protection.

Along with Patrexeans, Dromeians are a more religious chapter. Although their interest in religion is very academic and of recording the history thereof. They are interested in many academic subjects, and are logical like Arcalians, making them clear-minded and confident in their decisions.

Dromeians are primarily observers, and like to see all sides of an issue and keep the peace. They love organising and archiving. When they get absorbed in their interests, they can be very isolated from the rest of the world, but they still are very friendly people if they are discussing a common interest. They are one of the Chapters that is most skilled at being a teacher, librarian, or religious leader.

Because they make such an effort to be unbiased, they can fail to stand up for issues that need a champion, making them one of the less political chapters. A Dromeian’s fatal flaw tends to be isolating themselves too much in academia and ignoring the world. The other Chapters can help ground them in the current time and place by engaging with them about their interests and not making them constantly be the mediator.

Finally the Scendelesean Chapter is not well known to most outside of Gallifrey and is often even ignored by those on Gallifrey, but they are as important to the society as the other chapters are. This chapter is the most stable, and they are very self-disciplined. They are typically good at mathematics, or at least enjoy it, and caring for others.

They are also one of the most individualistic chapters and can persist in something even to the point where it is harmful to them. Like the Cerulean and Dromeian chapters, one of the worst problems for a Scendelesean can come when they are ignored, or expected to take on too much of an emotional burden without proper appreciation.

There was a knock on the bedroom door pulling Rose out of her reading. “Yea?”

“My mother should be here soon,” Narvin called through the door.

“I’ll be out in a moment then. Was just practicing writing and reading up on the founders and the different chapters of Gallifrey.”

“All right see you soon then,” Narvin replied and walked away.

“Jimbo, initiate standby mode,” Rose ordered the robot and got up to get ready for the day.

-x-x-x-x-

Freshly cleaned and dressed Rose met Narvin out in the main room where he was trying and failing badly at cooking eggs. 

“I could have sworn I used to be able to do this last time around,” he grumbled at her.

Rose took one look at the black baked on mess that was probably welded to the pan, managed to find another one and started over with making scrambled eggs. “Don’t cook much, I take it.”

“I normally make do with something provided from the food replicator, but it just doesn’t taste as good,” he confessed. “In my original incarnation though I will have you know I was a decent cook. Could handle eggs at least.”

“How many times have you regenerated or is that a rude question to ask?”

“It is generally considered a rude question to ask but I don’t mind really. I’ve only ever regenerated once.” He shuddered. “Not something I’d want to repeat any time soon.”

“What’s it like?” Rose asked curiously. “I’ve seen it happen once. Didn’t have a clue what was going on, or what to do to help when the Doctor collapsed after. The whole process looks terrifying though.”

“We are all afraid of regeneration,” Narvin confessed. “Even the most stoic time lord is afraid. They may not show it outwardly but they are afraid. Some can control the process better than others, even decide what they want to look like. Those are in the minority. We all have a degree of subconscious control but we really can turn out quite randomly. Even switch genders. A lot of it depends on what you are thinking about when it happens. I have to confess at the time I regenerated all I could concentrate on was the massive bit of shrapnel stuck in my chest and how close it was to my heart. I did not exactly have a backup at the time.”

“Didn’t have a backup? Don’t time lords have two?”

“You don’t. Not yet anyway. While different to humans we are not that different, just more adapted to hot, arid, conditions and telepathy. Most of the physiological differences happen after the first regeneration. Second heart included. In a lot of ways, although we are fully grown and even considered an adult legally speaking after the age of one hundred, a Time Lord is considered a juvenile until after their first regeneration no matter what age that happens at. Just because we have not received all the changes yet. 

“Anyway, back to the subject of how it feels. The answer is like you have this fizzing sensation in your extremities, then it burns and feels like you are on fire with something wanting to just explode out of you. You can feel it as your muscular skeletal structure shifts, stretching and shrinking, and you grow extra organs. Then your whole nervous system burns away at some point during the middle before it regrows itself and is on fire again. Then it stops and you’re in a totally new body that you haven’t learned instinctively how to control yet. Can end up with your mind all scrambled and being very uncoordinated for a while after. I ended up tripping over my own feet when I tried walking for the first time.“

“That… sounds horrific,” Rose answered as she dished the eggs up into two plates.

“It is, and one of the reasons we have such a love-hate relationship with regeneration. It feels like dying. Sure who you were before is still there, tucked into a compartmentalised part of your mind, but you are different. The big stuff is the same but all the little things are different and you have to adjust to stuff like: things tasting different, having a different centre of gravity, new personality quirks, the shape of your mouth; just like I said, little things.”

They chatted a bit about less important stuff. Just getting to know each other better. Not long after they tidied away after breakfast there was a chiming noise and Narvin answered the door. An older woman came in, her hair had turned completely grey and was styled into short curls, her eyes were the same honey brown colour as Rose’s and she had a similarly shaped face. If it wasn’t for minor differences like the shape of the nose and lips she’d think she was looking at an older version of herself. 

“Oh look at you! You’re beautiful!” The woman exclaimed and hugged Rose excitedly.

“Mother, try not to scare the girl,” Narvin interrupted. “She’s never learned to shield herself and is relying on a telepathic damper and the rudimentary shields I helped her erect yesterday. Your touch might overwhelm her.”

“I’m sorry dear. I was just excited to meet you. I’m an old woman now. He’s a Time Lord and I’m just a simple gallifreyan. I never thought he’d settle down in my lifetime, and still might not. So I’m excited to have a granddaughter.”

“It’s ok,” Rose responded smiling. In truth the skin contact did overwhelm her a little but the feelings of love, excitement and joy coming off of the woman were too soothing and genuine to make her feel bad about it. She was starting to understand why the Doctor and most time lords she has seen so far have so much of their skin covered all the time.

“Narvinectralonum, why haven’t you worked with her on shielding yet?” His mother scolded.

“I’ve been working on building trust first. We only met yesterday. I did show her some medication exercises to practice to help her centre herself. And yes mother the same ones the shobogans use that you taught me as a child,” he stated defensively.

“Shobogans?” Rose asked, hoping to stop an argument. It didn’t work.

“Haven’t you given her any education on Gallifrey yet?” Narvin’s mother asked her son. “The poor girl needs to know these things.”

“Yes mother, I got her a download on languages, basic structure of our society and history,” Narvin replied in a tone that was saying how much he wanted to roll his eyes right now. “I should have guessed it wouldn’t contain knowledge of the shobogan or the outsiders.”

“You may be a Time Lord now and a proud member of the Patrex Chapter but don’t forget your roots as a chapter-less commoner.”

“I was six years old when the Patrex chapter accepted my application to join my father's chapter,” Narvin argued back. “That was because they tested me and it showed I would become a time lord wherever I went to the academy or not. I really did not get a choice on that even if I could have made one at six. Also, in case you have not noticed I still live in Low Town.”

“Barely,” she shot back, then turned around and said calmly and cheerfully to Rose, “Sorry dear. We can get a little heated at times. It’s just I’d hate you to have a negative attitude towards us from lack of knowledge and that nonsense they teach in the chapters yet alone the academy. The Shobogan are the native species of this planet. The time lords evolved from us much later, and most non time lords started to call themselves gallifreyan. They’d tell you we are criminals at worst or hippies at best. We like to keep the old ways for the most part, from before Pythia or Rassilon and his so-called ‘age of reason’ . It is why we are chapter-less we believe people are complicated individuals who don’t fit into neat little boxes like the chapters do.”

The conversation was interrupted by another chime at the door. Curious Narvin answered the door and Zaiden came in. “Do you ever answer your communicator?”

“I’m not on duty for another seven days. I’m supposed to be on paternity leave to help get Rose settled,” Narvin argued back at his partner.

“That damnable rift in that small island on Earth opened again and a lot slipped through this time. It’s all hands,” Zaiden argued back. “I don’t have to remind you that Earth is one of the large anchor points of the web of time. If the whole planet where to slip through—“

“Then we are all in trouble. Yes I get it but…”

“Is that Zaiden I sense there?” Narvin’s mother interrupted. “You've regenerated again.”

“Elder Shallasapanish,” Zaiden replied and gave some complicated gesture that was a combination of a salute and a bow.

“It’s just Shalla to you and you know it.” She turned to Rose. “That young scamp has run around low town and outsider camps since childhood. Just like his father did before he left. It sounds like an emergency Narvin, you better go. I’ll stay with Rose. Not that you’re not old enough to look after yourself dear, just that you’re still finding your feet.”

Narvin looked to Rose who made a shooing gesture, “It sounds really important, you should go I’ll be fine.”

Narvin reluctantly left Rose with his mother hoping that said mother doesn’t turn completely hippy while he’s gone.

Chapter Text

Rose was having a great time with her new grandmother. They spent most of the day with her telling Rose old stories and legends. Even taught some old traditional songs. 

Shalla was apparently some sort of leader among the Shobogan of the shantytown around the base of the great dome that covered the citadel known as Low Town. It was why Narvin was one of the few time lords who could actually live here without being harassed. Shalla fell in love with a Gallifreyan engineer from the Patrex chapter who was Narvin’s father. They had met while he was assigned to do routine maintenance on some of the structures holding up the citadel. It was one of the few things the Time Lords actually cared to keep maintained within the vicinity of low town. ‘Couldn’t have the city fall down with the Timey’s over inflated head’s inside it after all’ , the old woman had said. If it wasn’t for the section of Low Town under there the Shobogan would find that one of the funniest things that could ever happen to them if it did.

For the most part Low Town policed itself. It did technically fall into the purview of the Chancellory Guard but they never came down here. The young Time Lord currently in charge, Andred, was nice enough and actually cared, but was stretched thin. Since he married a human named Leela who had an attitude a lot like that of the Shobogan, Shalla along with other Elders have been making the others give him much less of a hard time. Leela apparently also used to travel with the Doctor which is how she ended up on Gallifrey in the first place. Rose would love to meet her someday.

Right now they were practicing meditation so she could centre herself. The bracelet was off but the flat had some shielding on so she wouldn’t be overwhelmed. The idea was to just let the telepathic connection all gallifreyans have flow through her but not get swept away like the first time. Their whole species were connected to each other, and all were bonded in a minuscule way. The connection between individuals deepen depending on feelings of friendship, familial ties, and love, and how often they practiced using that bond between them. Rose couldn’t pick out any individuals yet. She only had before because Narvin apparently went into her mind directly and strengthened and solidified the natural paternal bond between them.

In order to learn shielding properly she needs someone to try and get into her mind but that’s not what her and her grandmother were doing. Right now she was learning how to just take in the telepathic, part tapestry, part song that is Gallifrey and just listen. Be one with it all but at the same time be an individual component of it.

Her biggest problem is she couldn’t let it fade into the background without her telepathic dampener. Something that was apparently a common problem for children who are either highly empathic, or telepathic, or even both. Her grandmother had remarked that Rose was one of the most empathic people she had ever met. 

“That’s enough for now, better put your bracelet back on,” Shalla said.

Rose found it hard to shove the voices back but managed and put on the bracelet. Everyone faded to barely there background noise instantly.

“You did great darling. You must be a natural. You’ll get this in no time.”

“Still can’t shield though.” 

“You will learn. You already are learning. By doing this you are exercising the ‘muscles’ for lack of a better word that you need to use. Before you know it you will be able to shield and dodge like a pro. Works much better than those stuffy timey’s way of teaching. They’re techniques are so dry and emotionless. They try to block out and deny the song instead of being part of it like we’re supposed to be. No, the trick is to learn to use it. Besides, their way would never work for you, you’re too empathetic and should stay that way no matter how much they try and drum that out.”

“It reminds me of the song of the TARDIS somehow,” Rose stated. “She used to sing to me all the time. I couldn’t really understand what she was saying until after the whole bad wolf incident. I think she was shielding me and helping me along. I didn’t start to have trouble until I got stuck in the parallel world.”

“Interesting. That’s a rare talent you have. Most Time Lords can’t hear them at all. Some can pick up on the moods of the capsules from what I hear. Narvin can somewhat communicate with them but he says it’s ‘fuzzy and disjointed’ . As for actually understanding what they’re saying, that’s something unique. The same intelligence is built into most things here, so you could probably talk to this flat. It would also explain how your doctor didn’t pick up on the changes if his TARDIS was shielding you for whatever reason.”

Rose decided to try and get a welcoming but faint hum from the flat. “Can’t make him out, just intent and that this one is definitely male.”

“Your bracelet is probably blocking him out. You can try without it later but right now how about I show you around. You’ll have a much easier time here in Low Town if people know you’re my granddaughter.”

A little fed up of being cooped up and also a little curious Rose agreed. She found that the flat was only on the outskirts of Low Town in one of the ‘nicer’ parts. Shalla took Rose into a lot of the more dilapidated parts as well. She’d recount stories of herself playing in places as a girl, or where Narvin did shifts at a bar as a surly teenager after he came home from the academy for the day, and lots of little things here and there along the way. She met lots of people and was quite happy to talk to them and listen to their troubles or triumphs. Everyone she met and talked with seemed to agree with Shalla, sometimes reluctantly, that for a time lord Rose wasn’t so bad. 

The poverty was obvious everywhere. Yet she had seen far, far, worse. Everyone had their basic needs taken care of, food, clothing, housing, etc, but barely. Things run on a credit system, people are allocated a certain number of credits a month as a universal basic income, then they work to get more than the basics and add to their credit account. Everyone had something like a Star Trek replicator that would make what they wanted from block transfer equations and they were charged credits automatically from their account to use it. Narvin for example makes his credits as a wage for his work in Celestial Intervention Agency and on the side from his inventions. Once finished he submits a patent to the system and then he gets a cut of the credits from every time someone buys one at the replicators. 

From what she heard things were far worse years ago. It was actually the Doctor and his at the time friend, the Master, that set things up. They lead a revolution to make things better for them. That’s how they got the UBI and housing that was ‘bigger on the inside’ so there weren't fights over space anymore. Before then it was very common to find Shobogan starving, unable to make the credits to feed themselves or their families. The UBI system wasn’t perfect by any means but it worked to help the most vulnerable members of society. Also apparently one of the things the Doctor did before running away the last time they made him Lord President was to increase the amount of UBI. So right now he was well loved by the ordinary people of Gallifrey. It is apparently why they let him get away with breaking the laws of time so much. The Time Lords are afraid of the uprising the people would have if they did anything to stop him permanently. There were more everyday people than there were time lords after all.

-x-x-x-x-

Meanwhile in Cardiff sometime in the 1800s… or was it the 1900s… or 24000s… everything was so mixed up it’s really hard to tell…

“I hate travelling by time ring,” Narvin said to Zaiden as he stretched out and popped some joints.

“Take it up with Coordinator Vansell. He’s the one that ordered no capsules around these sorts of anomalies,” Zaiden replied, somewhat complaining himself as he stretched just like Narvin.

“Narvin, Zaiden, how nice that you both decided to finally join us,” came from the communicators around their wrists.

“Speak of the devil,” Zaiden mocked, making sure the mics were muted and only Narvin could hear him.

“Sorry Coordinator Vansell sir, I wasn’t supposed to be on duty and had my coms turned off,” Narvin apologised, unmuting his mic.

“The whole area’s unstable and slipping in and out of several different realities at once. We’ve had to bring in some capsules to try and stabilise the rift, but there seems to be something causing this that we can’t shut down from here. Everyone not helping to stabilise the rift must go and shut it down. I’ve lost communication with the others and will probably lose communications with the two of you as well. So your orders are to shut down the cause of this anomaly at all costs.”

“Yes sir, orders received we’re on our way now,” Zaiden replied.

They made their way along the street that had an odd mixture of architecture and infrastructure from different time periods. They found two of their colleagues on the ground passed out and by the swirling energy occasionally coming off of them had just regenerated.

“That seems ominous,” Zaiden remarked as he bent down to check on them, noting they were in healing commas. He used the emergency recall on their time rings so they could get help back on Gallifrey.

“These two are badly injured and unconscious,” Narvin remarked, finding two others with bleeding head wounds and large claw-like scratches on them both. Knowing they won’t get any answers out of them and they needed medical attention Narvin used the emergency recall on their time rings as well.

They moved along farther only to find a white furred humanoid beast-like creature with horns and large claws. Luckily for them it was dead. There were two people standing arguing with each other. One classically handsome and wearing a World War Two uniform jacket, and the other had floppy hair, a well pronounced chin and in a tweed jacket.

“Did you have to kill it Jack?” The floppy haired one asked exasperated.

“It was going to kill me Doctor!“ Jack argued back.

“You would have gotten better, it was just scared,” the Doctor stated as if the man getting better from death was the most normal thing anyone ever said.

Narvin and Zaiden groaned.

The arguing pair turned around and noticed them for the first time. 

“Hello, I’m Captain Jack Harkness,” the one in the uniform introduced.

“Jack!” The Doctor exclaimed.

“I was just saying hello,” Jack argued back.

“You’re never just saying hello. Besides, one of those two apparently is one of my kids. Sorry can’t tell which one of my kids with everything going on right now,” the Doctor stated.

“Gee thanks dad,” Zaiden replied, “Great to see you too.”

“What are you doing here anyway and why are you with Narvin of all time lords?” The Doctor asked, confused.

“We’re here probably for the same reason you are,” Narvin interrupted. “In case you have not noticed, several realities are running together. My time senses are so mixed up right now I cannot even tell when we are yet alone which universe we are in. So I would be surprised if even you could miss it.”

“Wait… the other Time Lords are supposed to be dead…” Jack blurted.

“Not in their universe,” the Doctor replied glaring at Jack who should know better than to just say something like that. “They are CIA, the Celestial Interventions Agency, not the American criminal gang.”

“Federal agency,” Jack corrected.

“Same difference,” the Doctor shot back sarcastically. “Also what is one of my kids doing in the CIA?”

“Mostly annoying grandfather because he disapproves of them even more than you do. Besides how else am I supposed to get to leave the planet and have fun. Without stealing a TARDIS from the repair bay ring and going on a liveslong joyride that is.”

“Borrowed, I borrowed a TARDIS.”

“Wait, he stole the TARDIS?“ Jack asked.

“BORROWED, I ‘borrowed’ the TARDIS,” the Doctor corrected yet again.

“Oh please Dad. Borrowing implies the intention to eventually give back. What makes you think the TARDIS would ever give you back?”

“Now you sound like her,” The Doctor retorted without explanation before saying, “Come along then, we better stop her before she destroys a large chunk of the omniverse.”

“Her?” Narvin asked as he ran a few steps to catch up.

The Doctor didn’t answer, just used his sonic screwdriver to open a door into a building then turned abruptly towards Zaiden and pulled him into a hug. “Been great to see you again Zaiden, even if you’re not my Zaiden. Love you kid.” He then let go as abruptly as he started, turned and walked into the building shouting, “Geronimo!” 

Zaiden was left gaping and worried. 

Narvin just asked, “What? What did he say that’s got you in such a stupor?”

“He’s going to die in there,” Zaiden replied succinctly.

“Not if I have anything to say about it!” Jack exclaimed and ran in after him.

“Don’t think he has a choice in that,” Narvin added. “It feels like the end of the line for his timeline, now that I concentrate on it.” He put a comforting arm on his partner’s shoulder and squeezed for a moment before going in behind the Doctor and Jack.

Zaiden managed to pull himself back together and ran in as well and ended up in some sort of underground base. He looked around and saw a man and woman bound together sitting on two chairs back to back.

“Great to see you finally joined us Jack,” the woman said sarcastically.

“Gwen, Ianto, you two had a bondage party without me? I’m hurt,” Jack joked before untying them both.

“I mean we wanted to wait but that woman insisted we start right away,” Ianto retorted. 

“We tried to stop her but she’s crazy,” Gwen informed them. “She’s also locked herself in your office.”

The Doctor ran his sonic screwdriver over the door but it didn’t work. “River Song! What do you think you’re doing?!”

“What needs to be done. You can't get through the door, it's deadlock sealed,” River replied. They could see her through a glass window and hear each other perfectly as she fiddled about with a device she had set up on Jack’s office desk.

“What you’re doing could collapse several different universes! Do you really want to kill that many people! There’s a good reason why our universe was sealed!” The Doctor yelled back.

“My whole life Doctor! My whole life is going to be rewritten! You don’t even meet my parents in the new timeline! So I have to stop it from changing!”

“And in the process you’re stopping my chance at happiness!” the Doctor shot back. “I get to keep Rose Tyler. I see that much. Do you ever think I would forgive you if you killed her?“

“You won’t even remember,” River replied coolly. She opened the door and came out. “Besides, I don’t need to kill her. All I need to do is get rid of him.” She pointed a gun at Narvin.

The Doctor was confused. “What’s Narvin got to do with it? Baby Narvin even. He’s not long in the CIA in his timeline, yet alone the pain in my neck he will be. Well to be fair, more of a pain in my brother’s neck than mine, but still.”

“Oh don’t play coy Doctor. I know you found his watch in her things recently and found out the truth about Rose Tyler’s paternity. You’ve been carrying him around ever since because he helps with the emptiness in your head.”

“Yea ok. I got to admit Pete being Narvin is something I really wasn’t expecting. What does that have to do with this Narvin? He’s not even from the same causal nexus,” the Doctor tried to reason.

“I’m pretty sure I’ve never even met you,” Narvin replied calmly.

“No you haven’t and you won’t. It’s what you will do. There’s no way you could let your daughter go and never see her again. You leave Gallifrey and go with her to our universe. That makes the Doctor here in his past actually really look at Rose’s changes and he doesn’t leave her with a short lived human version of himself. That’s the convergence. So if I get rid of you things will go back on track.”

Suddenly there was a sort of whooshing wind and noise as things changed around them. Jack, Ianto, and Gwen disappeared but the Doctor, River, and Narvin were left where they were. They looked around in shock as the universe corrected itself and Zaiden walked out of the office holding the device River had been using now deactivated. “What? I thought that was why you had her monologuing, so no one would notice me slip in and deactivate this thing.”

“Everything is back to normal, all agents, what is your situation,” the voice of Vansell came over their communicators.

“Didn’t expect the Doctor and River was it? To get stuck on this side of things,” Zaiden added.

“Who are you?” River asked, confused.

“Zaidendestinwild of the House of Lungbarrow, Time Lord of the Prydonian Chapter. Better known as Zaiden, or ‘hey you’ . Also his youngest son, in my timeline anyway,” he replied and gestured at the Doctor. “Since you both are on this side of things and won’t just fade out of existence anymore because of that, how about you put down the gun? We’ll pretend to get stunned and you both run away.”

“We’re anomalies, aren’t you supposed to take us back to Gallifrey for trial?” The Doctor asked.

“Where’s the fun in that?” Zaiden asked, “So come on, what do you say? Put the gun down and we just forget about this?”

“You know I can see it, you’re just like him,” River said, “Also sorry but I have to do this.”

River was about to fire the gun but Zaiden simultaneously threw the device he was holding at his father who caught it automatically and tackled River to the ground as Narvin ducked. The gun went off and River went still. Narvin ran up to the pair, kicked the gun that had fallen to the ground out of the way and examined them.

“She’s dead. Shot herself threw the jaw, in through the brainstem and out the back of her head,” Narvin said then checked over Zaiden who got hit in the chest thanks to the angle he had tackled her from.

“Sorry I could… *cough* n’t save her *cough* dad,” Zaiden managed while coughing up blood.

“You tried,” The Doctor said as he ran over to them and set down the device. 

“You saved my life though,” Narvin remarked as he dug around in his pockets and pulled out a round flat device with lights on it and put it on Zaiden’s chest then watched the readout for a moment. “It’s no good. You’re going to have to regenerate.” 

“C-c-c-an’t, be-b-een t-t-ry-ing.”

“We need to remove the bullet. It’s probably coated in something nasty knowing River,” the Doctor replied and dug around in his pockets and found a medkit with a scalpel and forceps in it. He ripped the clothes Zaiden had been wearing and dug in the wound pulling the bullet out. Zaiden started bleeding profusely and the Doctor pressed his hand on the wound. “I’m not loosing you again! Watching you die once is quite enough for me. Narvin, get back!”

Narvin did so as he watched the Doctor pour some of his own lindos into the wound. The swirling golden particles moved into him and Zaiden started to glow as his regeneration kicked in. The Doctor jumped up and ducked behind a table turned on its side in what was now an old basement. The regeneration was explosive and uncontrollable. Energy blasted everywhere as Narvin overturned another table and ducked behind it.

When the glow died off Zaiden jumped up, “I thought, I was a goner there.”

“You’re not supposed to take the ‘I’m your partner and I’d take a bullet for you’ bit so literally,” Narvin snarked but was relieved.

Zaiden was now a lot smaller and his clothes were too big. He was now around five foot seven, middle aged but still looked thin yet athletic. He had dark brown hair with a few grey streaks, and a short beard with a couple white patches in it and blue eyes. He doubled over and let out a swirl of golden energy. “Hate it when that happens.”

“Narvin, Zaiden, report,” Vansell ordered over the coms.

“Threat has been neutralised, we have the device that caused the problem and the person who used it is dead. Zaiden got wounded and had to regenerate,” Narvin reported.

“Is the area secured,” Vansell asked.

“Yes the area is secure,” Narvin replied then muted the mic in his coms. Zaiden’s seemed to be on the fritz after regenerating so violently. “Doctor, your TARDIS seems to have made it here with you. Never mind how I know that right now, I just can somewhat communicate with her. Go quickly before Coordinator Vansell gets here.”

“You’re letting me go?” The Doctor asked surprised. His version of Narvin would never do that.

“I’m not doing it for you,” Narvin snapped back giving him the side eye.

The Doctor pulled a fob watch out of his pocket and threw it over to Narvin who caught it. “Don’t need what’s left of your counterpart to stave off the emptiness anymore. Maybe he can help you avoid some of the pitfalls of my universe. Thank you Narvin.” With that the Doctor disappeared off up a rickety old staircase.

“I just hope he doesn’t make me regret it. He can stay away from my daughter until she’s at least four hundred and twenty,” he muttered. Knowing he only had moments left until Vansell arrived he opened the fob watch and sounded in golden light as he absorbed what was left of his counterpart from Rose’s universe. The horror of the time war that Narvin went through nearly made him wish he hadn’t.

Chapter Text

Narvin was having trouble with his other self trying to call Vansell some rather unflattering names when the coordinator arrived. He did manage to wrestle him down enough to act as if nothing happened and luckily his other self settled back down enough for him to act normally. It didn’t stop him from bugging Vansell’s TARDIS while he was in there and convincing her nothing was wrong when he did. He also talked to her when he was supposed to be doing something else there. What he found out worried him. 

Once he got back to Gallifrey, Narvin wondered what to do. He wished Romana was here and in office, she’d be able to handle it. She was one of the few people Narvin from the other reality actually trusted. 

Well he guessed he should probably seek out the one person still here and working in the political background even if he couldn’t entirely trust him. So Narvin found Irving Braxiatel and told him everything. About his alternate brother, the fob watch, integrating the other Narvin into himself, then his memories about the time war and everything that led to it.

“So why are you telling me all of this?” Brax asked.

“Because you’re the only one I know in this timeline that could actually do something about it. My counterpart only trusts you marginally more than I do. Which isn’t a lot, but notes you’re good at getting things done when they’re in your interest. Your brother was the one who had to end it all. All the matrix projections showed that by the time the others and I escaped from the war. I don’t think you want the destruction of Gallifrey any more than I do, and I especially don’t think you’d want him to be the one to do it. Right now there’s an unsanctioned plot within the CIA to take out the Daleks, and even if it was sanctioned I wouldn’t recommend it. That is how the war started in the first place.” Narvin handed over a data crystal to Braxiatel. “All the proof you need is of the plot. If you want to verify what I said about the time war I’d suggest you track down the alternate version of the Doctor and ask him about it. I’m also going to regret this, but if he’s being his usual evasive, obstinate self, tell him about my daughter being here in this universe. Just trust me he’d cooperate then. Now if you don’t mind I need to go home and make sure my mother hasn’t turned her into a complete hippy yet.”

Narvin left as a somewhat startled and informational overloaded Braxiatel watched on. “Well, it looks like I have some work to do.”

-x-x-x-x-

Narvin found Rose in the bar his mother owned in Low Town. He couldn’t help himself with Pete’s memories of his little girl who was only six months old flowing through his mind, he hugged her tightly upon seeing her. He did congratulate himself on not tearing up in front of everyone though.

“What was that about?“ Rose asked half laughing.

“What would you say if I told you, you’re grounded for the next 50 years and need to write out, ‘I shall not go back in my own timeline and save my father and inadvertently cause a rip in the fabric of spacetime’, ten thousand times?” Narvin asked.

Rose's face dropped and she looked shocked and confused. “Wait? What?”

“Of course that was all the Doctor’s fault. He should have known better than to take you there.”

“How’d you know all that?”

“It’s a long story that I can’t tell you here. The short story is, I got hold of your father’s watch and have all his memories now.”

“You what?”

“Does Jackie still insist on using cabbage in shepherds pie, even though cabbage has no business being in a shepherds pie?”

“Uh… yes?” Rose was still visibly confused.

“Keeps insisting that’s how her mother and her grandmother before her made it. Her mother insists that it’s cauliflower not cabbage she uses. Oh and what about Bev? Her husband still working at the market?”

“Ok, ok, I believe you. There is no way you could have known about how my mum keeps mixing up cabbages and cauliflowers otherwise. That’s just way too random a fact to have found out any other way,” Rose insisted, trying not to laugh.

“So enjoyed the tour my mother gave you?” Narvin asked a little awkwardly. He wasn’t sure what to say now. He had no idea how to be a parent. Pete’s memories weren't much help in that matter either since that role in her life ended when she was a baby. He has a whole new and sudden appreciation for Jackie Tyler who managed to do it on her own. She wasn’t what he would look for in a mate that was all his human self, but he did appreciate how well she did with Rose.

“It’s been quite eye opening. It’s so alive down here. The people, although they only have one life and very little, they spend every moment of their life living it. For example they treat relationships so differently here. In 21st century Earth we’re raised to think the be all and end all is monogamy. Here polyamory is the most common or at least serial monogamy.”

“We live a very long time, even the Shobogan do compared to humans. That’s a very long time to spend with one person. It’s extremely rare for someone to stay with the same person their whole lives. Especially with Time Lords. It’s ironic that time lords have so much more life to live yet don’t spend so much time living it. I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed once you go to the academy. Things up there are far more sterile and impersonal. My counterpart, your father, spent his life protecting these people. Everyone thought he was loyal to the office and to the Time Lord society, but really these are the people he fought in the last great time war for. They kept him grounded.”

“How did he end up as Pete Tyler though?”

“A hair brained scheme Braxiatel came up with after we figured out where The Master disappeared off to. I had made a deal with the Master you see, I got him to do something for me and I’d give him a chameleon arch in exchange. The Master disappeared after. Brax figured out that he must have made himself another species like human to escape the war and the time lock, so we could do the same. Not just him, myself and Romana, but as many as we could safely remove. Managed to fake the deaths of a lot of the more sane time lords, and emptied out Low Town. Spread everyone throughout time and space. Just waiting for the trigger to change back, and if it never comes better than the life we’d been living before. We all knew the war was lost by that point and if it went on the whole universe would cease to exist. So we were desperate. We were working on evacuating the outskirts of Arcadia when Rassilon caught on to what we were up to. Braxiatel and myself escaped. Romana died trying to buy us time. She actually tried to kill Rassilon and take out the war council with him. That kept him pretty distracted I’ll give her that.”

“I’m surprised he cleared out this place. Wouldn’t someone notice all these people missing?”

“Honestly with how the war was going? The only person up there that might have noticed would have been the Doctor. I assumed Braxiatel told him something because he didn’t come looking.“ 

“Are there many people around my time in London that are actually refugees hiding from the war?” Rose couldn’t help asking.

“The Powell estate is full of them. A lot of the snootiest rich Time Lords were put there. I thought it would be character building for them to struggle financially for a while. And no your mother isn’t one of them. I can say there’s a lot of former politicians and even a few Lord or Lady Presidents. There’s actually quite a few settlements all over Earth in that time period. Was actually the easiest place to stash people. UNIT has a lot of good will towards the Time Lords despite everything the Master put them through. They’re actually quite grateful for the Time Lords dumping the Doctor in their laps and stranding him there for a while.”

“I can’t help wondering who all I know from the estate that’s actually Time Lords. Been there from the 80s yea? How about Bev?”

“Human, but her husband isn’t.”

“Really? You’re not having me on?”

“No he really is a time lord.”

“How about Howard from the markets?”

“Was once Lord President.”

“Oh my God. Mum actually dated him once. The Doctor ended up in his Pyjamas and dressing gown after he regenerated. Howard kept oranges in his pockets. The Doctor saved the planet from invasion from the Sycorax by using one of them.”

Narvin laughed. “Now that, that is something I’d love to have seen.”

-x-x-x-x-

The Doctor had to admit the fact Gallifrey still existed here was something of a relief. His head had been so empty for so long. He was at a loss for what to do next though. He was expecting and fully prepared to fight River and then fade out of existence. The fact he was still around somewhat stumped him. He refused to think about River being dead because of all the complicated feelings involved. Including being angry at himself for being relieved she’s no longer his responsibility.

The TARDIS console beeped and the Doctor took to the distraction eagerly. There was a message on his console screen and he frowned. He couldn’t help wondering if this was actually meant for this universe’s Doctor and he got it by mistake. Deciding to risk it because if it wasn’t meant for him it would be funny to surprise the sender by existing. He inputted the coordinates and navigated the TARDIS where he was directed and stepped outside.

“So I presume we used the same code in your universe. Otherwise you showing up here is quite the coincidence.”

He was actually surprised how emotional and relieved he was to hear that cool dry tone talking to him. “Well I actually thought you were trying to get hold of the Doctor from this universe. I could have had fun surprising you with my existence. As per usual though Brax, you’re scarcely well informed considering I just got here.”

“Yes well I had a young CIA agent come to me in the guise of telling me your son had a really rough regeneration and is in isolation. He actually told me a really strange story.”

“Narvin. Unexpected. I suppose without Romana he wouldn’t have anywhere else to turn,” the Doctor replied. “The Narvin in the fob watch was surprisingly loyal to her for a paranoid chameleon who trusts no one. Keep your eye on him. He pretends to be straight laced but has a rebellious streak in him the size of a small moon. Will absolutely always do something if he thinks it’s the right thing to do.”

“Already was since before he even joined the CIA but noted. Zaiden is fine by the way. Just has some post regeneration delirium. He won’t stop singing folk songs from Earth. When I checked on him it was ‘Oh Danny Boy’ .”

“So is there a reason we’re meeting here on this dead planetoid out in the farthest reaches of the galaxy? Or can I just go now. Yes I exist, hello, goodbye.” The Doctor started to walk back towards his TARDIS knowing it would annoy his brother.

“I came to ask you about The Last Great Time War, Thete,” Brax called out after him.

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks. He whirled around angry. “ What do you want to know? The Daleks attacked. Things got ugly and fast. The Time Lords in charge where so callous and uncaring they thought nothing of committing mass genocide just for a slight advantage. By the end it was hard to tell the difference between us and the Daleks. We used every weapon in the Omega Arsenal. I was the only one desperate and dumb enough to use the very last of them. It was use it or the whole universe would have been lost. So I did it. I killed them all. And do you know what the worst thing about it is? ”

 Brax didn’t answer and just stood there motionless.

“The worst thing is I don’t actually remember any of it! I stole the last weapon. The moment. Last thing I remember is walking all the way from there across the dry lands and to the shed I used to hide in as a child. After that nothing! I don’t even know how I survived!” The Doctor flopped on the dusty ground of the planetoid sitting cross legged and drained. “I just woke up in my TARDIS after regenerating. No idea how I got there. They all died and I survived and I don’t even remember their final moments.”

Braxiatel patted his brother awkwardly on the shoulder. He was terrible at this sort of thing. “You’ve been holding onto that for a long time haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Feel any better?”

“Actually yes… I wasn't expecting that. Why don’t you hate me?”

“Because you’re my little brother and I could never hate you no matter how much I pretend otherwise. Tell anyone and I’ll deny it.” Brax sat down beside his brother despite the dirt and started skipping pebbles. “Now first, it sounded like you really had no other choice. Second, if you don’t remember it, how do you know for sure that Gallifrey was destroyed?”

“It wasn’t there anymore. My head was empty and I couldn't feel anyone.”

“Well you wouldn’t. Not unless you were nearby.”

The Doctor looked at him surprised. “What?”

“Well I know the matrix has been around a long time. Far longer than both of our lifetimes put together. It just seems to have escaped your memory the basic fact we are all taught as children. The only reason we feel each other no matter where we are is because we’re all connected to the matrix automatically from birth. It enhances our innate low level hive mind like qualities and other telepathic connections. No matrix, no long range communication. Also you found what remains of Narvin, why do you think there weren't others out there?”

“It’s strange how the obvious just slips my mind,” the Doctor muttered.

“Maybe you just weren’t supposed to know yet.” Brax smirked. “Or maybe you’re just an idiot with the brains of a clobber mouse. It’s so hard to tell.”

“Oi!“ The Doctor huffed out, playfully shoving his brother like they were children again. Brax actually laughed and shoved back letting go of his cool aloof persona for a moment. The Doctor sobered up and added, “The planet is still not there and I was on the other side of a Time Lock.”

“You used one of the most powerful weapons the ancient time lords ever made, so powerful that even they didn’t know what it could do. Do you seriously think it couldn’t have done something like shift the entire planet into another dimension? It has a conscience after all. Do you even know what it does?”

“Well not much other than it’s supposed to suspend a single moment in time which is why it’s called ‘the moment’ .”

Braxiatel slammed his face in his cupped hands and sighed in exasperation. “Seriously Thete, I often wonder how you ever even managed to live past your childhood yet alone live this long.”

“Good luck and an older brother who looked out for me?” The Doctor half asked and half joked.

Sighing some more Brax looked up again. “The moment is a powerful entity from the beginning of time folded into an eleven dimensional space that exists all across creation. When used it incarnates itself into our realm. An actual person who for the most part actually has no idea who they really are and probably doesn’t even have access to that true power but for a few moments. A few moments is all it takes for an all powerful being like that though to do quite a lot, and always creates themselves. Quite literally. Sets up events for themselves to be born and meet the user of the interface. It also tangles the two together and connects them on the soul deep level. They become like a counterbalance to each other. True soul mates.”

“Now that sounds like a silly legend,” the Doctor scoffed.

“I’m not so sure about that. There are legends all over the place of it by many names. The golden goddess, the moment, the shobogan in their ancient legends call it the bad wolf—“

“Wait? The what?!”

“Bad Wolf?“ Brax asked, surprised.

The Doctor had flashbacks to a single moment when the most important person to him in all of creation had that kind of power. Rose Tyler, surrounded in golden light. 

‘I am the Bad Wolf, I create myself…’

‘…the time war ends…’

“Rose Tyler. You were a busy goddess that day,” the Doctor muttered.

“Narvin’s new daughter? What’s she got to….. oh… that would explain a lot about her scans.”

“Wait… Narvin’s new what?”

“Daughter. She came here from another universe looking for you. Our universe runs extremely quickly compared to the multiversal collapse event. So it’s safe to keep her here for a few hundred years in order to get her through the academy and to learn some other stuff. Narvin took legal responsibility since on Gallifrey she’s still a minor. She’s already a natural time lord. It would be irresponsible of us to let her go without knowing exactly what all that means.”

“That’s why River wanted to kill Narvin… I’ve got to see Rose.” The Doctor jumped up to his feet.

Brax jumped up after him and caught his arm. “Oh no. You are an anomaly. You get caught on Gallifrey at best you will be locked up in Shada, at worst vaporised. She’s also only twenty years old. At least wait until she’s legal.”

“Not like that. Anything like that was long before I knew she was a Time Lord. She was of legal age for a human,” the Doctor replied embarrassed.

“Yes we’ll be as it may you are soul mates. So I have no doubt you can’t go a hundred years knowing where she is without talking to her. Just don’t get caught. Especially by Narvin. He’s gotten protective from what I hear. He could probably get more creative than what the Time Lords would do to you.”

“In my universe he was the Coordinator of the CIA so I don’t doubt it.”

Chapter Text

Rose was actually enjoying how fast and how much knowledge she could assimilate now. It had only been a week since she arrived. She was currently using her pet robot Jimbo to do homework from her correspondence courses to catch up with other people her age. If she kept on track she’d be able to enter the academy inside a couple years. Rose was apparently unusually gifted at assimilating the knowledge downloaded into her brain which helped things immensely.

She was also making a lot of progress on her mental shielding, but not so much the emotional. Rose could hold a basic mental shield up to keep others out but it took very little to take it down again when someone tries to break it. 

As for her empathic shielding she couldn’t bring up a shield to stop feeling others emotions, or even transmitting her own. It’s something she had been doing her entire life without knowing. She didn’t like the sensation of being cut off from those senses that she hadn’t even noticed before until they were pointed out to her. It was apparently something very common with people who were strong empaths, some never managed to master shielding for it. Rose had been taken to see some experts on the subject and they all agreed the most she will ever be able to do is stop herself transferring her emotions to others, or the opposite and strongly push them onto other people. 

Her grandmother told her those stuffy old Time Lords don’t know what they were talking about. No one needs to or should completely close themselves off emotionally like that and what they do is unhealthy. All she has to do is keep doing the exercises she showed her when she first got there and she will soon learn how to not get overwhelmed without needing to block off other people. As things stand now she won’t be let into the academy without a shielding device for her safety and the safety of others because she can quite accidentally overwhelm others with empathic blasts when she is very emotional.

Rose was sitting in what she’d taken to calling the living room in the flat when Narvin came back from his shift at the CIA and fell back into a chair sighing. It had been his first official day back from leave. It was utter chaos thanks to Braxiatel handing the information Narvin had given him to Lady President Flavia. Thankfully no one suspected him of being the source of the leaked information as people took sides. Then the chancellery guard got involved and started questioning people. He’d bet Andred was loving the chance to do so, and Narvin was loving just how well he had set up Torvald in the process as Andred led him away for questioning. It was strange but he and himself from the watch had fully melded together now. It felt like he was in some strange time loop doing something over again most days.

“How was your first day back?” Rose asked.

“Chaotic good. Managed to get rid of some people that would have instigated the war with the Daleks. As well as some that did some rather nasty stuff in the other universe and were doing the same thing here. Also possibly saved Andred’s life. How about you? School work going ok?”

Knowing better than to ask more, Rose answered, “Yes, just doing some of the advanced math. I swear I wasn’t this good at school or learning things back at home when I was at school.”

“I doubt that. You are very smart Rose.”

“No really. I was working in a shop when the Doctor found me. I had left school at sixteen and ran off with a boy who was the lead singer in a band down at the pub.”

“That sounds more like being a stubborn teen with daddy issues to me. Sorry about those.”

“Wasn’t your fault. Anyway all that did was leave me with a lot of bruises, a few broken ribs, and in a lot of debt. Jimmy just took off one day and I was actually relieved. Thinking back on it I think the Doctor might have gone back and done something to Jimmy because I have fuzzy memories of being with him longer than that but he still ultimately still left me in debt. Just a little less beat up for it since he went away earlier.”

“That’s the trick to changing things. The same ultimate results just change some of the details. CIA training 101,” Narvin replied, making note to go beat up this boyfriend himself sometime. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”

“It wasn’t all bad. I learned to play guitar and that I can sing pretty decently when I want to. There’s a part of me that misses the days I got to sing and play with the band. Don’t miss the rest though.” She searched for something to say to change the topic. “I’ve been having some strange dreams lately.”

“Really? Are they unusually vivid and have a feeling of reality about them? It could be a precognitive dream.”

Rose snorted. “Not likely. They were extremely real and vivid, but just utter nonsense really. One of them, Jimmy turned out to be an alien werewolf and infected me and I became one myself. Spent a hundred years wandering the Earth on my own before meeting the Doctor, only an earlier version than the one I traveled with, and going away with him. Actually I think it would be kind of cool to be able to turn into a giant wolf.”

“Must be hell when you have a bad fur day though,” Narvin joked.

“The Doctor even had semi-sentient roombas in the TARDIS that would clean up the hair when it was time to blow my coat out and they acted like cats,” Rose added laughing at the thought of her Doctor in leather instead dealing with all that fur and how domestic it would be.

“What’s a Roomba?” Narvin asked a little confused.

“An invention from earth that came along, long after your time as Pete. Basically they’re robot vacuum cleaners. Although they actually brush the floor more than actually vacuum. They got these sensors on them that says when they’re near a wall and turn. They’re notorious for getting stuck in corners and pets playing with them.”

“Sounds interesting. We have cleaning robots that are much more advanced on Gallifrey already but sounds like something we could make together to help with your engineering courses,” Narvin proposed.

“Sure, why not,” Rose responded. She was often surprised by how much she actually liked helping Narvin tinker with things. He always made it fun and explained what each component was and what they did. It had quickly become their thing to do together since the first night she arrived on Gallifrey.

“Any other crazy dreams?”

“Had one where I met the Doctor when I was a little kid after an alien ‘stole’ friends of mine and made them disappear. Kept running into him and aliens. Made good friends with some of them. I actually stayed in school in that one. I became well off after a man left the planet with his alien daughter, who was one of my best friends, and her dad left me and our other two friends a lot of money. Bought mum a nice house in Ealing. Which also out of happenstance was a few doors down from where one of the Doctor’s old companions lived. The very first humans the Doctor took with him worked at Cambridge and one of them was my personal advisor. The White and Black guardians kept showing up. They were causing a lot of the events that kept happening in my life. Oh and I had this kick ass sword that stayed on my wrist as a bracelet and no one could take off. Any time I wanted to summon it, it just appeared in my hand. It also downloaded how to use it into my brain and could cut through anything.”

“A Star Knight blade?” Narvin asked.

“Those are real?”

“Yes but rumoured to have all been destroyed a long time ago. Or are locked in the Omega Arsenal. Depends who you believe.”

“Are the guardians real?”

“Yes. Never had any dealings with them personally but I know the Doctor and Romana have. The really crazy thing is those things could have all happened in another universe. It’s actually probable that you’re picking up on echoes of those lives if it’s as vivid and real as you say.”

“But you were definitely one hundred percent human in those.”

“The omniverse is a strange and expansive place. Literally anything could happen. Including there being a real Pete Tyler who was an ordinary human man and had a daughter named Rose.”

“Tell you what. I’d love to get my hands on one of those Star Knight blades. It was actually really useful.”

“No. Don’t even think about it. The last thing I need is you fighting eternals and me having to explain to the high council exactly how you managed to get hold of one in the first place,” Narvin replied, shaking his head, but could see his daughter managing to do just that somehow.

Rose laughed. “I’ve not been in that much trouble since I got here.”

“Yes because those chancellery guards beat themselves up and you just happened to be there,” Narvin said sarcastically.

“They started it. They were picking on some of the Shobogans my age. I was hanging out with them just like gran told me to. We just happened to be in that part of the citadel and we didn’t do anything.”

“You are just lucky Braxiatel is your sponsor meaning he takes financial responsibility for you while I take parental responsibility. He actually has enough money to make the charges go away. Not that Andred would take the bribe but he believed your version of events anyway. Him and Leela were also quite impressed. You managed to do so much damage to the guards and it took six of them to bring you in. Where did you learn to fight like that anyway? I saw the video, some of those moves were Gallifreyan styles.”

“I took self defence classes after everything that happened with Jimmy. Helped get my confidence back. I learned those moves from the sensei. He was a strange guy with floppy hair and a very  prominent chin.”

Narvin groaned into his cupped hands and rubbed his face.

“What?”

“That was the Doctor. Of course he’d go back on your timeline and do something like that. I’m going to shoot him with my stazor next time I see him.”

“Dad!”

“What? I’ll make sure it’s on stun so it will only sting a lot.”

They then both realised she’d called him Dad for the first time. They looked at each other and Rose said to fill the science, “You told me my doctor is here in this universe. I didn’t know he had regenerated.”

“Neither did I. Don’t know what yours looks like. When you go back it will most probably be to the one you left.”

“I thought you saw him and me inside my mind…”

“I blocked it out. I do not need to see that.”

“What happens to the Doctor from my universe that is here?”

“I don’t know. I guess that’s up to him. He’s an anomaly that was supposed to fade out of existence because that timeline he is from no longer happened.”

Rose half smiled. “Typical of the Doctor to not do what he’s supposed to.”

“Laws of time and the universe be damned,” Narvin added, “If anyone asks you’re grounded for the next three weeks for attacking the guards and you’re not allowed anywhere without me or your grandmother. In reality you’re not grounded and if anyone sees you without Mother or myself you snuck away. I know what those particular guards are like. They’ve been causing trouble for Shobogan for years and had it coming.”

“Thanks for not grounding me. It seems crazy to me that you can do that. The others my age though, they’re all fully grown but act a lot more childish than a human their age would.”

“Because you’re expected to start acting like an adult by that age on Earth, where here we don’t have the same amount of adult responsibilities heaped on until later. Part of the reason we extend childhood so long is because we don’t need our children to grow up the same way as on Earth. Even in human culture where you’re from the age you’re expected to act like an adult has risen from what it was a hundred years earlier. That tends to happen in most species as they start to live longer and need less resource gathering. Secondly the Gallifreyan brain doesn’t stop maturing until much later than physical growth. By around age seventy most have matured brains, and by one hundred you’re considered to have enough life experience to make your own decisions completely on your own and be declared an adult. Really here you spend much, much, longer as a teenager more than as a child if we’re going on human equivalency.” 

“Does it seem strange to you that you suddenly know so much about Earth culture in the 1980s?”

“Not really. I already downloaded a module on Earth history and culture during your era long before I opened the watch,” Narvin replied somewhat embarrassed.

“Really?”

“I wanted to get to know you so I wanted to know more about where you came from,” Narvin replied.

“You know that’s actually really sweet.”

“Yes well…” Narvin searched for a new topic. “Braxiatel sent me a bunch of stuff to give you about your financial information. You have your own credit account held in trust. You have a set amount of spending money every year and he will pay for any and all education separate from that. He’s also sent me the money spent to create your rooms in the flat. Most of that stuff is free and from a large catalog of free furniture and adding rooms is free but some of the stuff has patents on it.”

“You never said and I never thought about it. I hope I didn’t cost you too much money.”

“Even if Braxiatel didn’t pay for it, it’s the least I can do to make you comfortable. Besides, it wasn’t that much. You should see the amount of credits he’s given you yearly for ‘essentials’ and ‘fun money’ . It's three times what I make right now in a year, and despite where I live I’m not exactly struggling by any means.”

“I thought you’d have finished with physical paper by this stage on Gallifrey,” Rose remarked as Narvin handed her a stack of data pads, memory crystals, and some actual physical books.

“Some important stuff is backed up on paper. It’s harder to hack a book to change what it says than something stored digitally. Anyway, better put those away then we will work on your shielding.”

Rose groaned knowing she had a headache in her future but did as Narvin asked and put the pile of stuff in her room.

-x-x-x-x-

Much later after she was finished for the night, had a hot steamy shower to help the predicted headache and changed into the softest pyjamas she’s ever known; Rose flopped down on her bed tired. 

She had a breakthrough and managed to erect a mental shield Narvin couldn’t get through no matter how hard he tried. Now she just had to learn how to keep it up without thinking  about it. She now didn’t need to wear the dampener bracelet either.

So they began doing some more work on Jimbo together and he showed her some of the basics of programming. Problem was he would send a mild mental attack at her at completely random times without warning. This was the next stage of training to make sure she doesn’t drop the shield no matter what.

Rose accidentally knocked over the books in the pile of stuff from Braxiatel. She has just left them on the bed and forgot they were there. Reaching down and picking up one of the books a leather wallet with paper in it fell out along with a note. Rose read the note and smiled. It was from the Doctor explaining how to send a message through psychic paper and a postscript added by Braxiatel saying if Narvin catches her with the paper he knows nothing about it.

Rose picked up the psychic paper, it had the words ‘Bad Wolf’ written across it. Smiling more she thought about the Doctor’s psychic paper and the question ‘Doctor?’

Her paper changed to say ‘Rose.’

‘I’ve missed you so much,’ Rose sent back.

‘I’ve missed you too Rose Tyler.’

‘Wish I could actually talk to you without the paper so I could see or hear you properly.’

‘Best we can do for now. I can talk you through how to set up a communication device later.’

Rose yawned and had to concede she needed to sleep. She must have communicated that through the paper by accident because the paper now said, ‘Go to sleep Rose, we can talk later. Sweet dreams.’ So she decided not to fight it, got under the covers and went to sleep.

Chapter Text

It had taken Narvin a couple months to figure out that Rose had made a program hidden inside Jimbo to contact the Doctor. Instead of scolding Rose or trying to punish her he just added a hidden subroutine to record and to let him listen in remotely. To his surprise all the Doctor really did was help Rose with homework and they talked about their days. So he stopped listening all the time, just listening every so often. 

He’d submitted the patent for making a new Jimbo for people to purchase for Otherstide. As well as replicating a few of the floating football sized spherical floating robots with a small head with eyes on top himself. He then gave them to different vendors he knew in markets all over the planet to use as a demo. To his great surprise the robot was a huge hit and practically every kid wanted one. He even made about two hundred more of them after seeing their success and gave them to his mother to hand out as Otherstide presents to the most impoverished children in Low Town.

It was only on Otherstide he remembered about the hidden communication program to contact the Doctor. It also was apparently not hidden well enough because one child found it, then told all his friends, who in turn told all their friends. As a result The Doctor (both the alternate and this universe’s) ended up getting calls for ages from curious children all over Gallifrey. This universe’s soon managed to figure out how to stop the calls from his end. Surprisingly the alternative Doctor initially shut his side down as well after being overwhelmed with calls. Though he actually was quite happy to talk to little kids at random times during the day once the hype died down and most kids had forgotten about it; so he enabled his side again. Rose found the whole thing funny and couldn’t stop laughing when she found out about it. Other than that their first Otherstide together went well. 

Narvin thought he was going to be in trouble at work for the incident. Instead he got promoted for finding a way to bug every household with a child in it because Coordinator Vansell had found the hidden subroutine he had added to record and listen in on Rose and the Doctor. He probably would have been punished if the general population found out about that as well but he had hidden it better than the Doctor and Rose had hidden theirs. The CIA was complicated like that.

Rose continued to get in trouble for beating up corrupt guards who liked to pick on Shobogan. Andred continued to keep getting her right out of it again. He caught on early that the guards were the ones who started it. So Andred introduced Rose to Leela. This was both a good thing and a bad thing for Narvin. He still carried his counterpart’s deep and complicated feelings for Leela, but Andred was alive and well and Narvin for his part intended to keep him that way. Also Rose got much better at self defence and a number of other skills Leela taught her. The two were fast friends. Narvin thought it could have been worse because she never picked a fight with someone but she ended it if someone picked one with her.

Two years had passed and Rose had caught up more than enough to be induced into the Time Lord Academy. She had been accepted into the Patrex academy and today was her induction ceremony. 

Narvin was rushing around his bedroom trying to find and get into his official Patrex robes to attend and accidentally tripped over one of the semi sentient roombas he had built with Rose. He looked to see which one and groaned, “Darkel what are you doing in here anyway? Go on, out you go,” he shooed the roomba out of his room. 

He had named that one Darkel because it always seemed to be plotting something against the other roombas. Thinking more about it he looked under his bed. “You too Romana, no use hiding from Darkel under my bed. That never works. Where’s Leela? She’s normally close by protecting you…” after thinking for a moment he looked in the bottom of his closet and took the knife off of the roomba hiding in there. It always managed to get one from somewhere. He suspected the real Leela was giving them to it. “Oh no, I don’t have time to fix Darkel today and neither has Rose. Go on out you both go as well.”

After he had finally finished getting dressed he left his bedroom. While walking past the art studio he had put in for art projects Rose would be expected to do, he noticed another roomba with a shiv, this time sitting just above the door waiting to pounce on intruders. It always guarded the art. “Really Irving, I thought I’d gotten rid of that thing. It’s not even a proper knife, just sharpened metal. Who’s dumb idea was it to make them able to go up the walls and across the ceilings anyway?”

“That would be yours Dad,” Rose replied, trying not to laugh. “He’s just trying to keep Lucifer out after he set fire to the studio last week. It was also your idea to give them the ability to incinerate the dust they collect.”

“Yes but not to spit out literal fire Rose. I didn’t do that.”

“Neither did I. I don’t know how he keeps doing it. Anyway Irving you can stop defending the art collection. If you could call it that. I put Lucifer away in his fireproof box so he can’t set fire to something while we’re out.”

“Sometimes I wonder where you went wrong programming the AI for them. They were supposed to act like cats.”

“They do act like cats,” Rose defended. “Just cats with knives and a flame thrower is all.” Rose tugged at the high necked collar of her novice robes. “You know sometimes I wonder what the ancient time lords were smoking when they came up with the dress code. We look ridiculous dressed like this.”

“I honestly sometimes wonder if it was a prank by The Other and how much ginger the rest of the founders had consumed to go along with it,” Narvin joked, he hated wearing the official heliotrope robes of his chapter. Mostly because of the shoulder pads that extend up behind the head in a circle, it was heavy and uncomfortable. At least novices didn’t have to wear that part yet in their official uniform. Also the skull caps were sweaty and that’s saying something since Gallifreyans rarely sweat. “Don’t worry Rose, most of the uncomfortable parts you don’t have to wear every day and when you get home you can wear whatever you want.”

“Not much different than having to wear a school uniform I suppose. Neither of mine were too bad. Had a friend who went to the grammar school, rather than the high school, and you should have seen how badly the colours clashed on their uniform.”

“I’ve got you in with the novices in the back your age. For them the one look into the untempered schism didn’t work and needed more exposure. You may have already looked into time and became a time lord but it’s tradition for everyone to look into the schism at least once. Also since you’ve looked into time before at least you got little chance of going mad from it.”

“That happens?”

“Very rarely. There’s only been four cases I’m aware of within the past five hundred years. It’s much more common for children to get scared by something they see and run. That’s why it’s traditional for someone to stand behind them and hold on to their shoulders so they can’t get too far. I heard one time the usher behind the children wasn’t paying much attention during a Prydonian ceremony and a kid got loose. Poor kid was so scared he ran all the way down the valley before they caught him.”

“You’re not being very reassuring, you know that right?”

Narvin put an arm around his daughter’s shoulder trying not to laugh and Rose glared back at him. “It’s going to be ok, Rose. Yes all that happens but it’s much more common to be inspired, become more knowledgeable, or just stand there bored hoping the whole thing could be over with already.”

“What about you? What did you do?”

“I was fascinated and had to be dragged away. Come on, we better get to the transmat station before we’re late.”

-x-x-x-x-

Rose stood with some people her age in the back row of students. While the eight year olds before the start of the ceremony were very chatty, the ones her age wouldn’t talk to her.  Before they had to take their places Narvin told her not to worry about it. The others here her age are just jealous because she became a time lord through exposure to the time vortex. They are yet to become time lords even though they have had multiple exposures to the untempered schism. This was their last chance. If nothing happens within the next year after this they will be removed from the academy.

There was a lot of waffle about the Time Lord’s race and legacy, how great they are, and some stuff about the founders. Rose honestly tuned most of it out. The only time her ears perked up was when they introduced the secret known only to the Patrexan chapter but every Patrexan must know and keep in their hearts. The name of their chapter Patrex is the real name of The Other. They changed their name in order to preserve his against Rassilon who murdered him. The other is said to come back some day, reincarnated to be alive when Gallifrey needs him most. That part sounded like utter nonsense to her but she’d admit stranger things have happened.

After the speeches they started to take people individually. The student was made to swear an oath to keep the core principles of the founders and uphold the laws of time, then taken to look into the schism. Finally it was Rose’s turn she said the words required of her then was led over to look in. Rose could see everything that was, everything that is, and everything that will be. A familiar song reached out to her and she took it in.

Rose was lost looking through time and space and even across universes when she heard her name being called faintly from somewhere nearby. Then another familiar voice that she had only heard over a speaker before was louder and clearer. 

“She’s a little lost but we’ll get her back again Narvin, don’t worry,” it said.

The other concerned voice replied, “She’s glowing. No one has ever done that before while looking into the schism.”

“Rose! Follow my voice, come back to us,” the clearer voice said again. “Don’t make me have to kiss you again, we’ve got a much bigger audience and I’m out of regenerations.”

“Doctor?”

“That’s right Rose, it’s me. I’m here. You’ve gone a little bad wolfy on us for a moment. Even gave a speech about how you’re the Bad Wolf and I’m under your protection anomaly or not before turning a lectern into dust.”

“I don’t remember doing that…” Rose looked up at the Doctor, her eyes still glowing. “You’ve lived many lives. You only remember one of those past lives but there have been many. You are born, you live your lives, die but are reincarnated again. Always when Gallifrey needs you most… Your name. It’s more than a secret… it’s—”

“Rumpelstiltskin, yes you caught me Rose.”

“What is she talking about?” That other voice asked

“She’s talking nonsense, don't worry about it Narvin. Rose, it's time to let go now. You’re scaring the time lords. Trust me that’s not a great position to be in.”

“The time war ends,” Rose said before the glow disappeared and she passed out.

Chapter Text

Rose awoke in her room. She can’t really remember much about how she got there. She had been bored at the induction ceremony… Then there was singing… She had seen so much and yet so little… Then the Doctor… The Doctor was on Gallifrey! Rose sat up abruptly only for the arm of someone she hadn’t realised was there to grab hold of her.

“It’s ok dear, just lie back down.”

“But Gran, the Doctor—“

“Is just fine.”

“He snuck into a Patrexan ceremony as a Prydonian and an anomaly, how could he be fine?”

Her grandmother snorted. “That one is always fine. Reminds me of a cat I once had. Always getting into trouble and always managing to land on his feet.” She picked a cup up off of the nightstand. “Here drink this. Made from some of the natural grasses around the drylands. It will help clear your mind and the headache.”

“And tastes like mud,” the voice of the Doctor interrupted testily as he walked inside the room.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just annoyed that the cardinals of the Patrex chapter figured out that he’s the reincarnation of their founder,” her grandmother said casually.

“Like you haven’t got your own secrets you don’t want the time lords knowing,” the Doctor argued back.

“Sure. Mine mostly involve that illegal ginger distillery in the basement of my bar though,” she replied calmly, “Go on Miss Bad Wolf, drink up.”

Rose did and made a face at the taste but decided to drink it down in one gulp. “You’re taking this all very calmly.”

“I’m too old to be in a fuss or panic about anything. Besides that’s not going to change the facts is it?” She looked at the Doctor pacing around. “Sit down before you wear a hole in the carpet. They’re Patrexans. They’re not going to tell your secret. Their chapter has dedicated themselves to keeping the secrets of Patrex ever since they changed the name of the chapter. They’re not going to suddenly stop doing so now. If they were going to, do you think they would have let you bring Rose back here?”

The Doctor slumped into another chair that appeared out of nowhere beside Rose’s bed. “You’re probably right. It’s just not something I’m used to anyone knowing. It just makes me feel all itchy and exposed.”

“Sorry I kind of outed you,” Rose apologised.

“Remember that part then?” The Doctor asked.

“Just before I fainted I remember seeing it all. Does this mean they have to start calling the chapter Rumplestiltskin?”

The Doctor actually laughed a little. “I should probably remind them of that if they try to make demands of me. Just because I was once their founder doesn’t mean I am now. I am the Doctor now. That was the past of a life I barely remember living and only did in the metaphysical sense. It wasn’t even in this universe. Let them chase after the other doctor. Besides they’re also a little afraid of you going all Bad Wolf on them. Hear that Shalla? Your granddaughter is one of your legends. What do you think of that?”

“I think she needs a shower. Sorry dear but you did sweat a lot from going all glowy.”

“Where’s Dad? How long was I out?” Rose asked.

“You’ve been unconscious for six hours. You’re Dad had to go with the Patrex Cardinals. I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” Shalla told her granddaughter.

“It still seems weird to me hearing you call Narvin Dad,” the Doctor added.

“Seems natural to me,” Rose responded, “it’s strange really because I never thought in a million years that I would find a dad, but I did. Mum’s current Pete is okay but he never really tried to get to know me or anything. Narvin actually tried from day one to get to know me. Maybe it’s because he’s a time lord making the bond stronger than when I met my bio dad who was human at the time. Thanks to you he actually remembers that too.”

“All species that rear their young have that connection unless something goes wrong. It is particularly strong in gallifreyans with us being a telepathic species with natural connections to each other. Also culturally we value the lives of children very highly no matter who they are. Children are rarer here because we’re such a long lived species. Add in that you’ve been craving proper connection to your father your whole life because of your hidden gallifreyan genes… well it’s not that surprising really. Even if it seems a little strange to me, just because he’s Narvin,” the Doctor lectured.

“Between working with your son and especially with Rose coming along he’s become a better person,” Shalla added, “he’s closer to the boy I raised than the Time Lord he was expected to be. I for one am glad to see it.”

The moment was broken by the sound of someone yelling in surprise and pain with the accompaniment of a large thud with the sound of the sprinklers going off. Everyone including a wobbly Rose went out to the living room. Rose wasn’t especially concerned because the flat was emitting the mental equivalent of laughter. If it was anyone hostile he would have told her.

Narvin was standing just beside the closed door that leads outside the flat, and trying not to laugh. On the ground not too far ahead of him Irving Braxiatel lay in a heap on the floor. His robes and hair were singed and he was soaking wet.

Rose looked around and found the culprit. She picked up a roomba hiding under a side table and glared. “Bad Lucifer! What did I say about attacking random people that come in unless told otherwise?”

The roomba buzzed and chirped somehow managing to sound contrite. 

“Who let you out of your box anyway?” Rose went on. “You mister are going right back in there to think about what you’ve done.”

“Oh it was supposed to be in that box thing? I thought it just had gotten stuck in there like a typical roomba,” the Doctor said, trying and failing not to laugh at his brother.

“There’s nothing typical about those things,” Narvin added in a long suffering tone of exasperation, “Made them with Rose as an engineering project to teach her more about robotics and programming AIs. Sold a few of them but we keep getting the defective ones or the ones with attitude problems returned to us. Rose insists they’re just misunderstood and we can’t just shut them down.”

“They may be robots but they’re semi-sentient robots, doing that would be killing them,” Rose argued back.

Narvin signed, “See what I mean? I can’t argue with that.”

“You were petting one of them just yesterday Dad so stop trying to pretend like it’s all my idea.”

In the meanwhile Brax managed to pick himself up and tried to look dignified, failed miserably, signed and flopped down on the couch. It had been a long day ever since Narvin showed up at his doorstep five hours earlier. “You should at least have a sign telling people to beware of the roombas—“ he jumped up and moved a cushion to find another roomba with a knife that had been poking into him.

Narvin grabbed the roomba up off of the couch, “Try not to kill anyone Leela. Great, now I sound like Andred.” Narvin grabbed the knife and took it from the roomba. “Anyway I thought I got rid of that this morning.”

“Are there any more homicidal vacuum cleaners in here I need to watch out for?” Braxiatel asked indignantly.

“Well Irving has a shiv but he only gets stabby if you try to steal or damage anything it thinks of as art….. or use the toaster,” Narvin started then at the look Braxiatel was getting he hastily added, “The Doctor named it not me!”

“I thought it was funny when Rose told me about it on one of our com calls,” he defended.

Braxiatel just sighed, and checked the sofa carefully this time before sitting down again, “Is there a particularly inept one that gets lost on a regular basis and does the opposite of cleaning? If there is I suggest naming it Thete.”

“Now boys, stop arguing,” Shalla interrupted.

“Yes mam,” The Doctor and Braxiatel answered straight away in unison.

“Honestly the pair of you are acting like children all over again. My mother used to tell me a lot of stories about the pair of you when you were boys. Always used to find the pair of you in her barn. Start talking about how the barn technically belongs to you since your father actually owned that particular dry lands farm and I’ll have to smack the both of you.”

“Yes mam,” they replied in unison again.

“Now if everything is alright now and you don’t need me I have a bar to get back to. I left Jeck in charge and need to check he hasn’t blown up the still in the basement while I’m away.”

“We should be fine Mother,” Narvin replied, slightly amazed at how quickly she shut down the Doctor and Braxiatel.

“Ok I’ll be off now. Rose dear you take it easy,” she said before tactfully leaving them to talk and she won’t hear anything if asked questions later.

“So on the scale of one to run, how much trouble are we in?” Rose asked as soon as her grandmother was gone. 

“Remember that time you told me about having a dream about being a star knight?” Narvin asked.

“Yes?” Rose asked, confused.

“I honestly think you’d have caused less of an uproar if you’d actually managed to find one of those blades from somewhere. But we’re not so badly off that we need to jump dimensions to get away yet,” Narvin replied.

“We?” 

“You don’t honestly believe I’d let you go alone do you?”

“But what about your career, and Gran?”

“Your grandmother would be the first one to tell me to go and you know it. As for the CIA these days the only reason I stick around are some of my counterparts' memories. Atonement for being a blind and bigoted idiot until it was almost too late in some ways and way too late in others. Things are already on a better path as is. Besides, there's still work to be done in your universe. Got some time lords to wake up. Even help maintain what’s left of the web of time. The Doctor’s basically been running around putting out fires ever since the end of the time war.”

“The web of time is being held together with chewing gum and sellotape over there. Putting out fires is an overstatement,” the Doctor added as he picked up and examined one of the many haphazard projects Narvin had left laying around. 

“What about my dimension cannon? Do you even still have it?” Rose asked.

“Sure. Fixed it ages ago. Also been upgrading here and there. It now charges itself within a couple minutes instead of half an hour, has actual shielding, teleport, vortex manipulation, the basics really,” Narvin replied shrugging, “By the time you’re done here I expect you’d be able to make your own and leave any time you want to. You’ve got a talent for making things.”

“No I don’t,” Rose protested.

“Yes you do. Besides you could do anything you put your mind to,” Narvin countered with a note of pride.

Seizing his chance Braxiatel quickly interrupted, “Be all that as it may, Rose, you are still enrolled in the academy and have nothing to fear. They’re afraid of you though. Been spending too much time sneaking into Low Town as children and heard too many legends about the Bad Wolf. They were hesitant to let you in but your father got hold of me and I basically told them if they didn’t take you the Prydonian academy will. As a Cardinal of the Prydonian Academy it’s well within my purview to do so. Alas they didn’t want to lose you to Prydon so wised up and decided you can go but you have to commute to and from the academy. From what I gather you were planning on doing that anyway. It’s a pity really we could use someone as talented as you are. It’s probably for the best. Less bigots in Patrex,”

“What about the Doctor?” Rose asked.

“They’re utterly convinced he’s the reincarnation of The Other. Had to do some damage control and is now not so sure if the Doctor from this universe is as well. They at least are going to keep quiet about it.”

Narvin made a noise that sounded like a strangled laugh and everyone looked at him. “Sorry. It’s just that it’s only just occurred to me I’ve met all three of the main founders. Rassilon is an insane megalomaniac who was hell bent on universal inhalation. Omega is also insane and is thankfully stuck in the antimatter universe. And the Doctor is the Other…”

“Also insane, but to be fair he never was in the first place. Not in this life or the other,” Braxiatel added.

“I’ll have you know I am completely sane,” the Doctor huffed and pulled out his psychic paper, “see says so right here.”

“I think you broke the psychic paper,” Rose remarked at the wavy lines all over the paper.

The Doctor turned the paper around and looked at it. “Huh… yet another lie too big. It also does that if I say I’m a responsible adult.”

“We’ll be as it may. After some creative hacking skills with the Matrix and the fact you look like a kid in that regeneration I’ve managed to get you registered under the refugee scheme for minors. You’re apparently your own child from another universe that doesn’t exist here. I’m your legal guardian and you are being substituted from Prydon to Patrex. You start in the same class as Rose. Try and actually pass the first time around this time,” Braxiatel told his brother.

“A minor! I’m at least one-thousand-two-hundred years old!”

Brax raised an eyebrow. “Well you’re the one that just admitted even psychic paper won’t call you a responsible adult. Besides, it's better than being vaporised as an anomaly. We also won’t make you look into the schism again.”

“Why? What did he do the first time?” Narvin asked.

“He was the kid that escaped and got all the way across the valley before they caught him,”Braxiatel answered.

“Ugg! Fine Brax, but just so you know I won’t make this easy for you,” the Doctor grumbled.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.”

Chapter Text

It was the first day of the semester for the Patrexan Time Lord Academy and Rose was waiting for the Doctor.

“Brax is going to regret the day he signed me up to the academy under the name Theta Sigma,” The Doctor grumbled as he met Rose outside the transmat station a moment later. His TARDIS was hidden in Narvin’s Mother’s bar cellar for now and he was living in the TARDIS. This wasn’t the closest station to the bar which was located much farther into Low Town than Narvin’s flat. It was however the closest one to where Rose was living with Narvin.

“Let me guess, old name you hate?” Rose asked.

“Same one I had the first time. Didn’t rate a proper name as far as father was concerned in the forms so I was given a numerical designation. Not that I actually ever liked the name I was given at birth, but still. Brax is just trying to poke fun at me and no doubt fully expects me to get him back for it.”

“Still a rather cruel thing to do.”

“Braxiatel and I have a very odd way of showing affection for each other. Besides I can change it at any time. I’ll get it changed to Thete later. Can’t exactly use Doctor here anyway.” The Doctor took Rose’s hand and they walked into the station which was a room full of transmaterialisation platforms marked inbound and outbound. Queuing up they eventually got to one of the outbound and inputted the transmat station at the Patrex Academy and moments later was walking out of one of the outbound stations.

The campus of the Patrexan Time Lord academy was aesthetically pleasing and pristine without even a petal out of place within the flower beds. Every surface seemed to have some sort of artful design.

“I see what Dad meant about this place being ostentatious,” Rose remarked as they walked out of the transmat station and through an inside atrium to the main building.

“You think this is over the top, you should see their moon,” The Doctor remarked.

“Oh I have. Dad took me there to meet cousins of his from his father’s side of the family. It’s pretty much the same but on a grander scale.”

“In that case, remind me to take you to The Braxiatel Collection sometime. You can meet our friend Benny, you’ll like her. Not that Braxiatel has met her yet. All in his future so not a word in front of him. He’s only just begun collecting stuff to preserve, he’s not quite got a private museum and university to put it all in yet.”

The two of them had already been given a class designation before arriving so they found the right line and queued to get their schedules and new school year welcome packs. They got to the front of the line and the Doctor took the lead. “Hi I’m Thete but I think my uncle put the wrong name on the forms. He’s going a little senile in his old age, needs to regenerate soon bless him. He knows I’m named after my father but he accidentally put my father’s old school designation instead of his old nickname. So it says Theta Sigma rather than Thete.”

The woman behind the desk looked up at him. “You feel too old to be at the academy.”

The Doctor gave a dramatic sigh and shrugged in an overly dramatic way. “I know right? I get that all the time. I’m a reincarnated soul who remembers some of his past lives. Also as a natural Time Lord who had to regenerate before I ended up in this universe. Makes my telepathic signature feel older. Then on top of that it’s so similar to my father’s I get mixed up with The Doctor all the time. Perfect storm of events really.”

“You definitely have the famed Lungbarrow flare for the dramatics, that’s for sure. It’s actually good to see a Lungbarrow back in their original chapter though.“ She fiddled around with a data pad looking through lists of people and pulled up a file. “Here we are, Theta Sigma. You want it changed to ‘Thete’ you said?”

“Yes, that's my preference.”

“Ok made the entry to change your name to ‘Thete’ . Just need you to place your thumb here and then I can give you what all you need for the new school year.” After the Doctor did so he was handed a couple data pads from a pile, and a bunch of data crystals. “Here‘s your two data pads for your work. Break them and you need to replace them yourself. You only get two every year. The crystals are all preloaded with your data downloads for this semester as well as schedules for any extracurriculars you can sign up for, cafeteria menus, campus maps, etcetera. We suggest you upload the data to your brain as soon as possible. Should you have any scheduling problems you can go to the student office to sort it out. Any questions? No. Good. Next!”

Rose tried not to laugh at just how abruptly the Doctor got ejected from the front of the line and stepped up. “Rose Tyler.”

“One word or two?”

“Two.”

The woman looked through the list and brought up her information. “Oh you’re Narvin’s daughter?”

“Yes?”

“We are actually second cousins. I heard you were starting today. Good work on catching up so quickly. Here’s everything you need, just need you to put your thumb print here.”

“Okay,” Rose replied and did so.

Looking around to see who’s watching, the lady sneaked in an extra data pad to the pile and said sweetly, “You come see me if there are any problems.”

“Uh.. thanks,” Rose said, getting whiplash from the difference in her demeanour and stepping away.

“No problem, bye,” she called out after her.

Rose and the Doctor moved along and sat on a seat in the atrium. “So I got an extra data pad.”

“Typical. Always with nepotism no matter which chapter you’re in,” The Doctor griped as they downloaded the crystals and brought up their class schedules on one of the data pads they were given to compare.

“Looks like we have a lot of the same classes,” Rose observed.

“It’s very suspicious that Brax would schedule us together so much. He even avoided most of my least favourite topics in the elective classes. He’s up to something.”

“Maybe he is running a betting pool on how long it will take before you get bored sitting still and run away,” Rose replied, “Make things a little more comfortable so you hold on long enough for him to win.”

The Doctor looked stunned at Rose for a moment. “You know, that sounds exactly like something Braxiatel would do.”

“So when do we run away? Before or after the start of the year's speech?” Rose asked, giving him that tongue touched smile.

“You Rose Tyler, are a bad influence. Definitely before. I’m sure Patrex speeches waffle on just as long as Prydon ones.”

They did end up attending the speech though and it was every bit as long and boring as the Doctor predicted.

-x-x-x-x-

Their first ever class was Fourth Dimensional Art, taught by an instructor named Wynlissgurrllinarth or Wynliss for short. He looked and dressed somewhat like a hipster with a small goatee and moustache, neatly styled black spiked hair with electric blue highlights, and the attitude to match. Pretty much anything goes so long as you’re creating art. 

They all took places at an easel with a crystal on a small pedestal beside it. Rose managed to get one next to the Doctor and they chatted about what he knew of the subject. The information was downloaded into their brains already, the point of the classes was only to rehearse the information and any extra nuggets of knowledge the instructor might add. At least this one they get to do something practical.

Instructor Wynliss stood up at the front and addressed the class as soon as everyone got settled, “Welcome to yet another year. I see we have two new faces here this morning. Rose Tyler and Thete. Two refugees from another universe. Make sure to make them feel welcome.” He clapped his hands, rubbed them together and grinned. “Alright, today we are going to make fourth dimensional paintings. First we set up the backdrop by holding the crystal and picture a scene you vividly remember. Later we will be transferring objects in and out of the canvas.”

“There’s something about this that’s niggling at the back of my mind but I just can’t place it,” the Doctor told Rose.

“Actually now you mentioned it I’ve got the same niggling feeling,” Rose replied.

Shrugging they both tried picturing something to place as a backdrop but what came out wasn’t what they were expecting. Rose’s was of Gallifrey. It was surrounded by Dalek ships firing on the planet below, and at equal distances around the planet there were thirteen of the Doctor’s Blue Police Box TARDISes. No one noticed the strange glow in Rose’s eyes when the backdrop appeared. She looked over to the Doctor who was stumbling back in shock as he turned pale staring at his backdrop. “D…Thete? What’s wrong?” Rose asked as she helped him steady himself. Everyone was looking.

The instructor came over to see what the commotion was about and looked at it in rapped attention before asking, “Is that Arcadia?”

“Yes. It’s the fall of Arcadia in my universe. I was there. That was the day it happened. The day they all died. No more. Gallifrey Falls.”

“Both good titles to go with for the piece.” Instructor Wynliss clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You’re safe now. I’m sorry. I have a lot of family in Arcadia myself. Sometimes when translating backdrops the subconscious brings to the surface traumatic memories and translates them instead of what the conscious mind was trying to place there. This I am sure was a very traumatic experience.”

He moved to Rose’s canvas. “This one is very interesting. It looks like a perfect rendition of Gallifrey… from memory… that is impressive. Who is attacking and are those The Doctor’s TARDIS spaced around the planet?”

“It looks like it. Looks like one for every regeneration. Honestly I have no idea where this came from. I’m from the same reality as Thete originally but; I had never even been to Gallifrey, or seen it in a picture before it was destroyed by the Daleks.”

“Quite interesting then. Do you have a title for this one?”

“Gallifrey Stands,” Rose said without thinking.

“Those are quite eerie to see,” a student said looking at the pictures once the instructor left. “In another universe this actually happened.”

“It won’t repeat itself here,” Rose replied confidently. “A lot of the events that lead to the Last Great Time War have already been averted here.” She turned to the student. “Hi I’m Rose, this is Thete.”

“Androdothallzedador, or just plain old Androdoth. The others are trying to pretend you don’t exist because of the whole part human thing. I think they’re being stupid.” Androdoth explained. She was tall for a woman, also quite muscular. Her hair was dyed a colour between purple and pink. Having unnatural hair colour dyes seemed to be in fashion with a full three quarters of the students in their class wearing them.

Another female student walked towards the Doctor. She was small and slender with curves in what would be classically considered all the right places. Her hair was in an electric pink colour and flowed all the way down to her waist. She also had a seal on her uniform depicting that she was from one of the Patrexan Great Houses. She trailed a finger over the House Lungbarrow seal on the Doctor’s uniform and said, “I don’t know. This one is from Lungbarrow so I could overlook his flaws. I’m Mortris. What do you say handsome? Come hang out with us and forget the Low Town gutter trash.”

The Doctor stepped back disgusted. “I say I’d rather date a pigbear than a spoiled princess from one of the great houses. Besides, I'm in a closed relationship with Rose already and she’s the real thing when it comes to beautiful princesses, beautiful both inside and out.”

“So you’re already with a pigbear then,” Mortris replied meanly.

“You say that like it’s supposed to be an insult, Pigbears are cute, although I’m more of a wolf.” Rose replied nonchalantly just letting the insults roll off her. She had dealt with plenty of Mortris’ type in her life. The estate was full of them.

The rest of the class laughed and Mortris turned bright red and tried to slap Rose only to miss as she ducked out of the way. She continued to try and physically assault her but Rose was never where her hands or feet once she was desperate enough was supposed to be to connect with her. This display made the class laugh harder. Especially when Rose made a show of how she wasn’t even trying and picked up a data pad to check her schedule.

“Oh look, we have Quantum Robotics next. We get to make our own robots. That sounds like fun.”

“So long as they don’t become somewhat homicidal like the roombas,” the Doctor casually replied.

“They’re just protective, not homicidal.”

“I had one of those things, it set fire to everything and had to send it back,” a male student called out.

“That’s just Lucifer. He’s a bit of a pyromaniac but give him a quart of oil and some sawdust and he calms right down,” Rose replied dodging yet another attack like it was nothing to her.

“I’m Fadrellepsillionetctra of House Jadedreamers, but you can call me Fadrell. Also I think people who think like Mortris are stupid for thinking anyone lesser than them. I’m ashamed to be her brother,” the ex-owner of Lucifer replied walking up to them. He was tall and willowy, with short artfully styled hair dyed to match his heliotrope coloured uniform but had a scruffy black beard he was unsuccessfully trying to grow on his jawline, and ice blue eyes. “Mortris just stop already you’re just embarrassing yourself. Just because Rose’s grandfather was disinherited by our house for failing to change into a time lord doesn’t mean you have to be a womprat to anyone from his line.”

Mortris was huffing and puffing from exertion. “Maybe but he bred with Low Town trash.”

That was it for Rose. She grabbed an arm as it was swung at her and pulled it up behind her back causing Mortris to whimper in pain. “I’m not a pigbear I am a wolf. I am The Bad Wolf and I once turned an army of Daleks into dust with a wave of my hand. You can say what you want about me, but don’t insult my grandmother.”

“Rose dear, your eyes are going a little ‘bad wolfy’ you better let go before you scare someone important. She’s not worth it,” the Doctor interrupted.

Rose sighed and let go. The girl rubbed at her shoulder and left to join a gaggle of her friends. “Sorry Thete she just managed to get under my skin. How come the instructor didn’t do anything? Back at school we’d both be in detention right now.”

“This is the Time Lord academy. They prefer to let students sort it out amongst themselves. All character building,” the Doctor replied.

“Seriously I’m sorry about my sister,” Fadrell apologised, “She listens to our mother too much. Your grandfather might have been disinherited but his line has bread true. The head of our house has been trying to get your father to join our house ever since you arrived. With him being a natural and yourself. Good genetics. Also Mortris is jealous it took her ten years to become a time lord. Hence why we’re in the same class.”

The rest of the day was peaceful and without drama. Rose and the Doctor spent much of their free time during the day talking with Fadrell and Androdoth until it was time to go home.

Chapter Text

“I don’t like it,” Narvin said as he paced around his office.

“I really don’t think there is much you can do about the situation,” Zaiden replied casually as he sat at his desk with his feet up on the table. Narvin had been promoted all the way up to sub-coordinator but still shared an office with him.

“I’m being serious Zaiden,” Narvin argued.

“So am I. I suppose they could make an artful hat rack,” Zaiden suggested.

They both stared at the crystal based life form that they’d brought in for questioning. Instead of being in an interrogation room it had somehow walked through the walls and followed Narvin to his office. As soon as it did so it seemed to just go dormant. Their species was known for going into periods of dormancy much like people sleep. Only they do so for a thousand years at a time and are notoriously hard to wake up once they do. Whole colonies of the species have in the past been wiped out by other species quite innocently setting up mining operations for computer crystals, not knowing the crystals they were mining were actually sapient and just sleeping.

“It’s not funny. They have important information I need about a plot Darkel is up to.”

“Why are you always trying to find out what she’s doing anyway? You're like a dog with a bone.”

“Because in another universe she was responsible for a civil war breaking out as well as a nasty virus we called dogma. It turned time lords into literal zombies as soon as they regenerated. She’s every bit as darkly ambitious and capable of doing the same here. We had made so much progress in making alliances with other species that we let them actually visit Gallifrey as tourists, as well as let some study in the university portion of the academy. I’m sorry to say I or my counterpart I should say was unwittingly part of it. I was too insular and full of time lord importance to see it. If I hadn’t helped, maybe she would still have managed everything she did, but I don’t want history repeating if I can help it. We need other species around us, Zaiden. They remind us how important life really is and that other species are important too. They burst our bubble of hubris which is something we desperately need as a species. If we had not gone back to not allowing other species to join us we would have had more allies during the war. We wouldn’t have gone so insane, and we wouldn’t have become as bad as the Daleks.”

“That’s quite a lot of information… Does anyone else know?”

“Thete, your alternate father, knows a lot but not the finer details. Rose knows a lot of it too, and I have had to ally myself with your Uncle Braxiatel. You’re the only other person around here I trust with the information.”

“Not that I would complain because I agree with you, but you know you sound a lot like my father right now with the whole we need other species speech. He used to say and lobby for exactly the same thing before he ran away with Susan so she couldn’t be used as a seer.”

Narvin made an annoyed huffing noise and rubbed his face. “It’s annoying but I am getting more and more like him and understand him more every day. They wanted to do what to his granddaughter?”

“She has the gift of seeing. One of the seers died their final death and passed into the matrix when Susan was around fifty. They needed a gifted child to replace them and Susan was selected. My idiot brother even signed off on it. As you know the training they receive in order to be able to see all paths, all the time, breaks their sanity. None of the sensible members of our family wanted that for her. So Dad stole a TARDIS and ran away with her. It’s also why she’s never been back, even though she’s too old for the training now since her brain is fully developed.”

“Isn’t this some sort of family secret?” Narvin asked curiously.

“Yes and no. You know how good at hacking Uncle Braxiatel is. So there’s no trace of the records of her being selected. There are still people outside the family who remember though. Besides you are family. Even Uncle Braxiatel agrees,” At Narvin’s shocked and somewhat horrified look Zaiden added, “You can deny it all you want but you’ve been unofficially adopted. Besides, it's only a matter of time before it’s official that you’re related to us. Rose and Thete are really close.”

“That’s it, I’m just going to die now. I’ve always prided myself on being a commoner. Even told my fathers ex-house quite explicitly where they could stuff their offer of rejoining them, and their even more up there in that hierarchy nonsense than Lungbarrow.”

-x-x-x-x-

It’s been three months since starting the academy. Pretty much everyone, even those in the know, call the alternate Doctor, Thete.

In those three months he’s managed to: Make all the decorative fountains spray and fill with magenta fruit soda. Had the drudges (a kind of artificial life form that worked as servants and done all the drudge work, hence the name) go on strike. One time the atrium had mysteriously sprouted up a lot of banana trees overnight. A number of statues inexplicably started being able to move but all they did was dance the Macarena and sing the song off key to match. His robotics project escaped and is yet to be caught, but you can tell it has been somewhere because it would rearrange the furniture in ways you would not notice unless you were paying attention. Everyone’s digital and electronic ID’s switched on the computer system with someone else’s and took a long time to sort out. Also a lot of lesser things that would be considered minor mischief. 

Thete lay in the long red grass on mount lung with Rose at sunrise. As the silver leafed trees took on the red hued light from Gallifrey’s second sun coming up over the horizon. The trees looked like they were on fire and it was a sight he never thought he’d ever see again.

“It really is beautiful in this part of Gallifrey. It’s so lush compared to the dry desert conditions around the citadel. You grew up around here?”

“I spent my time as a kid between here and the citadel,” Thete replied, “spent as much time as I could running around up here. There’s an outsider town near here. I’d go there and play with the other small children my age. Then Brax would have to come find me and I almost always would get him involved in whatever game we were playing. That would result in our father having to come get us. He’d tut about how we were normally covered from head to toe in dirt by then and would punish us. Was worth every second of father’s punishments. Our sisters are a good bit younger that myself and Braxiatel. We were both in the academy by the time they came along, and in the Prydonian academy almost all kids are boarded. So we only ever got to see them during holidays. They were much better behaved than myself and Braxiatel as a result. I love my sisters but I’ve never been as close to them as Brax. I’ll have to introduce you to them though at some point. Also ask how much Braxiatel’s betting pool has gotten up to.”

Rose laughed at the last sentence. “You’re so sure they’re all placing bets on how long you’ll last sitting still.”

“I know they are. Also my counterpart is close to losing. He keeps sending me messages about things going on somewhere in the galaxy to try and tempt me.”

That made Rose laugh again. “Not tempted?”

“Not unless you come with me,” he stated honestly.

“Tempting offer, but with the transduction barrier keeping people on a linear timeline with Gallifrey; we can’t just go for a few years and be back in five minutes,” Rose replied, “We could go anyway. Just run away together.” She lay down beside the Doctor and looked into his eyes as he looked back at her. “It really hasn’t occurred to you has it?”

“I actually want you to get a good education. You're very smart Rose and I think you’re finally starting to believe it. You're top of our class. I'm even having problems keeping up with you and I’ve done most of these classes before albeit a long time ago. Besides I’m pretty sure Narvin would track down the TARDIS and come get you back again if we ran away.”

“Yea. I could actually see him doing that. He’d succeed in doing it even when the rest of the CIA failed to do so. Not that I think they’re actually looking.”

“You never can tell what they’re up to. Normally dragging me in as a scapegoat.”

They just lay in the grass in silence after for a while before Thete noticed something, “What are you doing Rose?”

“Just taking in the song of Gallifrey and being one with it. It’s a meditation technique the Shobogan uses. I do it out of habit when I'm relaxed these days.”

“How can you manage to take in all that noise and hear me yet alone speak?”

“Practice. It’s really not that difficult once you get used to it. You’ve never tried it? I mean you spent a lot of time around Shobogan.”

“We’re taught not to or we will get lost as children.”

“Yea no doubt why you all went crazy in our universe. I don’t think Gallifreyans are supposed to be so isolated. I mean think about it logically for a moment. We would never have developed a hive of interwoven connections to each other through evolution if we couldn’t handle it. Just that the matrix makes it stronger so kids need to ease into it because that’s not part of nature but we can adjust. It’s scary at first, I get that. Especially after the stunt Braxiatel pulled the first time I met him-“

“Wait what did Braxiatel do?” Thete interrupted.

“When I first arrived in this universe I had no concept of mental shielding. I was taken from Earth to a shielded interrogation room. Zaiden apparently did the adoption paperwork for Dad when he adopted me, and he, being rather flustered from the sudden revelation that I was his daughter from another universe, just signed off on it without reading through.”

“Well that was stupid. He’s my son and even I wouldn’t trust him with a legal document like that. He’d probably change my name to Huge Janus or something.”

Rose smiled at that before continuing, “Well he put Dad as my legal parent but Braxiatel as my financial sponsor as well as legal counsel for the charges I had against me for illegal time travel. So I was in a shielded room and had no idea how to make my own mental shields and those rooms are pretty close to the matrix cloisters. Braxiatel came along, tried to give me a shielding bracelet. Me being naturally suspicious of this person I didn’t know, I asked what would happen if I didn’t put it on. He just opened the door and asked me to step outside and find out—“

“I’M GONNA KILL HIM! I hope he isn’t too attached to that regeneration because he will soon be saying hello to his next one!”

“Calm down Doctor,” Rose replied jumping up after him and grabbing his arm. While she was at it she pushed calmness at him with her empathic abilities for good measure. She apparently overdid it because Thete dropped back down on the grass. “Oops… too much?”

“Braxiatel should be grateful you’re such a strong empath, it just saved one of his lives,” he replied, reaching up and pulling her down with him again.

“It’s weird. I’ve apparently been able to do that my entire life but never knew until I got here.”

“I’ve known since I met you. Never really said anything because humans can’t typically learn to control it. That and I was enjoying being able to feel someone who wasn’t me again. I never realised just how powerful an empath you were until that moment with the Dalek in van Staten’s bunker. Probably should have been a clue that you're more than human. There were actually quite a few little things here and there, especially after the bad wolf incident that I dismissed.”

“Really like what?”

“It’s hard to say really. Just little things here and there. Biggest one was how well I managed to mentally connect to you through a small crack in the universe.”

“You know you never did finish that sentence,” Rose added.

“I suppose I haven’t. Even though I’m sure you feel it from me and probably always have. You grew up human and humans need to be told…”

“Doctor, rambling,” Rose interrupted, laughing and sitting up a bit. This version of him still talked a lot but tended to ramble a lot less than his last regeneration.

“Quite right too….. and I suppose if it’s the last chance I get to say it, Rose Tyler I love you.”

She kissed him gently and let him past her mental barriers a bit with him reciprocating instinctively. He deepened the kiss and their connection some more but pulled away before things could get more heated.

“You never go past kissing and light mental hugging,” Rose complained.

“Because you’re still a minor,” he replied for the umpteenth time, they’ve had this particular argument before more than once.

“Technically so are you legally speaking.”

“Which is why I’m going even that far. Look Rose I love you. You love me. We’re both highly attracted to each other physically and mentally. I want to be with you that way very desperately. There is no way either of us could manage to not bond with each other if we go farther. I know three hundred years seems like a long time but eventually you will have to leave me behind as you go back and do something to help the collapse event that you know I can’t tell you more about. My tenth self will be there when you do. You’ll have him to be with. I’m not supposed to exist anyway.”

“But you do, and you’re here,” Rose replied, cupping his face. “If you went back there would you cease to exist?”

“Probably not. Not anymore at least.” He sat up. “I’m pretty sure you did something to me when you went full bad wolf on us at the ceremony. I’ve just been too afraid to get it checked out but I think I’ve got a full life cycle again. I can feel it. I’ve got so much more energy.”

“Come with me.”

“What?”

“I’m asking you to come back with me, and don’t argue about established events if what you said is true then that doesn’t matter. Besides, a lot has changed. Narvin wasn’t there last time. Zaiden has been talking about coming along too, although Dad and Brax both have been trying to talk him out of it because it’s likely a one way trip thanks to the time dilation being too high.”

“But what about the other me?” Thete asked deciding it would probably be better not to tell her what happened in his original timeline with the metacrisis.

“Polyamory is the norm around here, which explains a lot about the mixed signals you used to keep giving me.”

“Yes well that does work better when everyone is quite literally sharing feelings with each other so there’s less guess work. I knew you could feel how I feel about you. I never stopped to think that you didn’t know you were feeling it. I’m not good with sharing and I never get along with myself.”

“But could you? If it came down to it?”

“I’d do anything for you Rose Tyler. Including sharing you with myself. Not sure about him wanting to share with me though.”

“I doubt I could leave him out in the cold. So he can put up or shut up. The ball is in his court if he wants it. Come with me Thete.”

“Does it also travel in time?” He asked cheekily.

“Oh definitely, there will be time travel involved.”

“Well then. If the TARDIS was here I’d happily run in there and run away to another universe with you.” 

-x-x-x-x-x-

“So do you want to place another bet?” Braxiatel asked as he looked at the man in the most ridiculous multi coloured outfit with frizzy blond hair over the holo screen.

“I thought he’d have run away by now. I don’t think I could stand being in any time lord academy yet alone the Patrex academy. I’ve even been sending him information I know I’d jump up to go look at. No more bets, I’m out. I just got to know what the deal is,” the Doctor half asked, half complained.

“He’s just found something worth sitting still for is all,” Braxiatel answered.

“On Gallifrey?” The Doctor scoffed.

“He’s been through a lot. Including losing Gallifrey. So he’s probably taking in that it’s here, safe, and not overrun with Daleks. More than that though he’s found someone to stay still for.”

“Oh no…. He hasn’t gone through a sappy poetry writing phase again has he?”

“Not that I’m aware of. In the other universe he used the moment. His soulmate Rose is here and going to the Patrexan academy…”

“…And knowing me following her around like a love sick puppy.”

“Quite happily so, yes.”

“I really should have known not to join your betting pool. There’s no way you’d have started it if you didn’t know something we didn’t.”

“Yes, well so far I’ve made a lot of credits and our father has to go to a meeting of the high council dressed as a flutter wing. Aunt Flavia is now just trying to find the perfect excuse to call him before the council.”

Chapter Text

Narvin opened his shared office door after hearing someone knock. He raised his brows as he took in the sight before him. Only many years of CIA training about how to keep a neutral expression stopped him from bursting out in laughter. “Ulysses, please come on in. I’m afraid your grandson isn’t here at the moment but he should be back soon if you want to wait and take a seat.”

He walked in trying to look as dignified as possible, but failing miserably. “Actually I was looking for you…. Why is there an amethystian sleeping in your office and being used as a coat rack?”

“Why are you dressed up as a flutterwing?” Narvin countered.

They both looked at each other a moment before Ulysses moved on, “I am here as head of my line, in the most ancient and noble house of Lungbarrow, to talk to you as the head of your own line. I wish to state interest in officially joining your daughter to my ‘grandson’ and have our lines join.” 

Ulysses took a deep breath, and relaxed his posture before adding, “Now I have got the ritual words out of the way I’ll be blunt. Those two are inseparable and obviously soulmates to anyone who cares to look. I may have made questionable decisions in the past regarding my son. He still refuses to believe me when I tell him I just forgot to put his name in when filling in the rest of the forms for his academy paperwork and that’s how he got a numeric designation. One thing I refuse to do is to try and separate him from his soulmate. Since he’s officially my grandson to hide the fact he’s an anomaly, he’s also technically also a minor. It’s only a matter of time before they accidentally go too far and form a marriage bond with each other. It would be better if they’re officially promised to each other before that happens.”

Narvin groaned and flopped down at his desk rubbing his face. “I really am going to be officially related to Thete… and Braxiatel… and Zaiden…”

“Should I send Braxiatel to negotiate the finer details? Also if I do please give him as hard a time as possible with the process. He needs it after his latest stunt.”

“Fine. So long as Rose is happy to go along with it. I won’t force her to do something she doesn’t want to do.”

“Great. Well I’m afraid I can’t stick around any longer. I have a meeting with the high council to get to,” Ulysses replied before leaving the office and leaving Narvin with a feeling of surreality.  

-x-x-x-x-x-

Narvin made it home at the end of his shift. Rose should have been home from the academy hours ago. That was one advantage of his kid being in her twenties and growing up in an environment where she would have been considered an adult a long time ago (to them), he didn’t need to worry so much about taking care of her since she was more than capable of looking after herself. Didn’t mean he didn’t check in on her after work and make sure she’s doing ok and doesn’t need anything. Or do small things for her without even needing to be asked. He always made sure to spend time with her each day just the two of them as well. She’s hardly ever given him any real trouble either. He did have to be seen to punish her for stuff a few times but really he encouraged her free thinking even if it did get her into trouble sometimes.

He found Rose in the workshop doing what looked like beefing up the armour on Lucifer. “What are you doing with Luce?”

“We’re having a robot wars thing going on in class tomorrow. We’re allowed to modify pre built robots, not just make our own. So since Lucifer is by far the most destructive Roomba we have I figured why not let him loose and have fun. We’re going to make Fadrell regret the day he sent you back, right Luce?”

The robot cleaner let out a chirp of agreement out of one of its speakers.

“Where’s Thete? Working on making his own?”

“Depends on if he can talk Leela into letting him borrow K9 or not. Dad, can I join the robotics club? I know I have some terms about not staying on campus, but I’ve only had a couple bad wolf incidents since starting the academy. I did actually ask if I was allowed to join any of the extra curricular activities. Cardinal Pannish teaches our robotics class as well as runs the club. I asked him if I was allowed to go and he said I could so long as you agree.”

“You’ve really taken to the subject haven’t you?”

“It’s not something I thought I’d like but I find it fun and quite fascinating.”

“Sure, I’ll sign the forms and send them in the morning.”

“Thanks dad!” Rose jumped up and gave him a quick hug before getting back to fiddling with Lucifer’s armour.

“So about Thete…” Narvin started awkwardly.

“What about him?” Rose asked curiously.

“Well it’s quite obvious the two of you are together…and… well…” Narvin started to stutter. He could have sworn he had always been articulate before and in many situations.

“Dad, if this is some sort of safe sex talk you don’t need to worry, he’s refusing to go that far until I’m a hundred years old,” she told him rolling her eyes. “Also already know about all that. Legal adult on Earth remember?”

Narvin actually turned red with embarrassment. “No! No…. That’s much more than I’ve ever needed to know about your sex life thanks. It’s just… I had a rather surreal visit from Ulysses in my office this morning. I was kind of expecting it but it was no less surreal.”

“Why?”

“He was dressed up as a flutterwing. I wasn’t expecting that part. He had this bright multi coloured outfit on, a hat with antenna, his face painted and any time he moved his arms it flapped wings that were sewn on from his arms to his legs in the shape of flutterwing wings. I had to check the security footage later just to make sure I didn’t imagine the whole thing!”

Rose burst out laughing as soon as he mentioned the flutterwing outfit and it took her a while to calm down enough to talk. “He lost a bet with Braxiatel and has to go in front of the high council wearing that.”

That actually made Narvin laugh and the pair of them laughed for a while. When they calmed down enough Narvin continued, “He was asking about having you promised to Thete in an arranged marriage. I told him only if you agree to it. Anyone else I’d tell them to go for a long walk of a short cliff. Have in fact already done so a couple of times, but you and Thete are pretty much going that direction anyway. Would also be a lot less scandalous if you’re already promised if the pair of you go to far…uh…showing mental affection to each other and accidentally marriage bond. That’s a very real concern when there is real and deep feelings involved. It’s instinctive and could just happen before you know it, but I would never promise you to someone without your permission.”

“The two of us recently agreed on where things are headed and discussed the future somewhat. Thete was going to ask his father to go to you about it. I really don’t care about traditions much, even human ones I grew up with, but he does even if he wouldn’t admit it. Also he has his family here to go through with the whole Gallifreyan traditional things for and that’s something he hasn’t had for a very long time, even before the war. From what I gather the only member of his family he had any regular contact with after he left Gallifrey was his brother. I don’t think I’d want to go through the whole human wedding thing but I would for my mum’s sake if she was here. So yes I’m okay with it. Also thanks for asking Dad, it means a lot to me that you didn’t just assume.”

“So why didn’t you warn me if you knew Thete was going to ask his family about it?” Narvin was more curious than exasperated because like he said he had been expecting it.

“Because we only agreed on it last night. Ulysses apparently acts fast.”

All the serious talk done Rose showed Narvin all the ways she had planned to make Lucifer more deadly and for his part he actually gave suggestions of his own on ways to improve her ideas. By the time they were done Lucifer had a much more deadly flame thrower, retractable spikes on his armour which he could electrify at will, flame proof, conductive, black cat-like fur, cat ears, cat eyes on his front that he could actually use to see in addition to his previous sensors, a cat tail that could cut a chunk out of armour, a muzzle with a mouth up front that could actually take a bite out of things, and added devil horns. Lucifer didn’t resemble a roomba much anymore other than the round flat shape. What took the most time was Narvin teaching her how to take Lucifer’s memory banks and personality routines and put them into a new program to upgrade his AI to be able to use all his new upgrades. He also had battle bot routines added, but bizarrely enough his main function was still set to be a cleaner. It had been a fun night both for father and daughter, and it really wasn’t until the next day it occurred to them they may have made a monster robot in their excitement.

-x-x-x-x-

The time came for quantum robotics class. Everyone brought in their entireties in bigger on the inside boxes and left the boxes by the makeshift arena setup in the middle of the class.

Thete looked at Rose’s box which had chunks missing out of the reinforced metal it was made from and his stomach dropped. “That’s Lucifer in there isn’t it?”

“Yep,” Rose replied simply, popping the ‘p’ .

“Please tell me you brought a lot of sawdust to catch that thing once you let it loose,” Fadrell stated. He’s had a few run-ins with the crazy roomba since he sent him back to Rose and Narvin for being defective.

“A few bags full. Dad even made a run to a lumber mill on Earth to get some maple tree saw dust. It’s is his favourite. It’s Thete’s fault for spilling that maple syrup he cleaned up. He’s been crazy for maple flavour ever since. Got no idea how he tastes the difference but he does.” Rose turns to look at Thete. “So did you talk Leela into letting you borrow your ‘dad’s’ old robot dog?”

“Leela was ok with it but K9 didn’t want to participate. He was of the opinion that he’d get his casing scratched up and he didn’t want that even if I replaced it later. So I ended up making another K9 unit from scratch. I already had most of the parts. I even got help from one of the Doctor’s great, great, great, great, grandchildren, Klilian, he’s four and was fascinated. I’m going to give him K9 mark five when we’re done with him for class. He seems lonely and like he needs a friend.” He looked at Fadrell and their other friend Androdoth. “What about you two, manage to get something made in time, or modified in time?”

“I managed to get an entry made,” Androdoth replied.

Fadrell however just shook his head. “Afraid I’ve failed the assignment to make or repurpose a robot within a day. I’m terrible at this class. I’m probably going to fail out. Robotics just isn’t my thing.”

“It’s ok to not be good at something. I’m terrible at painting while you’re brilliant at it. We all have our strengths and weaknesses,” Rose replied kindly.

“Last me was brilliant at sculpting. I’m terrible at it now, my hands are just too big,” Thete added.

“I often forget you’ve regenerated. The whole process sounds painful and confusing. Not something I’m looking forward to,” Androdoth replied, shuddering.

“One thing you rarely get told about regeneration. What skills and talents you learn in your first life will often stick with you, but things you learn after regeneration although the knowledge will stick with you the skill of doing it doesn’t as often. So learn as many skills in your first life as you can. My great great grandfather used to tell me that,” Thete added randomly.

“Alright everyone who managed to do the assignment please make sure your projects are in boxes beside the arena,” Cardinal Pannish called out disrupting the talk between groups of students, “Also make sure you have registered your robot properly with the scoring system.”

Everyone gathered around the arena as the stranglers finished registering their robots. Pannish continued, “We are going to release them all at once and they will battle until unable to do so anymore. So if there are any beloved pets or companions you haven’t backed up the AIs of and are afraid of losing permanently please withdraw them from the competition. We won’t be held responsible for any damage created. You will still get seventy percent credit but will lose some for failing to backup your AI so you can replace the whole robot body if necessary. That seventy percent is generous considering backing up your files is one of the most basic things you learn as time tots.” There was a small chuckle amongst the students and two red faced girls from Mortris clique withdrew their entries. “At least you showed up with an entry unlike some here,” Pannish added, looking at the five students including Fadrell who hadn’t with a look that promised extra work for them to make up the marks they just lost.

“Ok after the count of five we are going to release all of the bots at once,” the Cardinal said excitedly. 

“Five!”

“Four!”

“Three!”

“Two!”

“One!”

“Release the bots!”

Everyone participating removed their bots from the boxes and let go of them inside the arena. What followed was pure pandemonium and made Pannish kind of glad he had the foresight to put a shield around the arena. 

Some bots like Lucifer took to their instructions to do battle with gusto, while others ducked and dodged trying to hide. There was a sore board that showed how many points each bot scored and Lucifer was quickly on top. He spat fire everywhere, literally chewed chunks out of any bot that got too close while he spiked and electrocuted them, and used his tail to deadly effect to slice through shields and armour. K9 was coming in second but was nowhere near Lucifer even though K9 kept shooting bots with his laser. After only ten minutes the match was over and Lucifer sat proudly on top of a pile of scrap he’d gathered up from broken robots with only a chunk missing from his ear to mark any real damage to his casing. 

“Rose, remind me to never get on your bad side,” Thete said a little bit and a bag of maple sawdust layer as he gathered up bits of K9 mark five. She held Lucifer in her lap who was making purring noises as she petted him. “Looks like I’ll have to make yet another K9 unit to give to Klilian. Good job I backed him up.”

“I’ll help you rebuild K9 tonight,” Rose promised.

Chapter Text

Braxiatel looked really uncomfortable as he sat at the table along with Narvin, Rose and Thete. It was traditional for there to be a celebration on the night the engagement contract starts negotiations as well as the day it is formalised and the happy couple are engaged. Those two can be the same day but often within the houses could be months or even years apart. Following Ulysses instructions to make things difficult for Braxiatel, Narvin insisted that this was to take place at his mother’s bar in Low Town. 

Irving Braxiatel looked very out of place indeed in a bar full of mostly Shobogan dressed in his formal Cardinal robes. Narvin being a commoner with no house affiliation as well as a member of the CIA who are supposed to give all that up upon joining, looked slightly less out of place in his CIA uniform. Thete and Rose only ranked as Novices so wore their usual heliotrope academy uniforms.

“So as you can see everything here is pretty standard,” Braxiatel said as Narvin read through the contract.

“It says here you gift an unspecified amount of land from the Lungbarrow estate to my family. I want that to be specific,” Narvin started.

“I’m sure that can be arranged,” Braxiatel answered, not skipping a beat.

“I mean very specific as in I know exactly what lands I want your family to give mine,” Narvin replied.

“Really? What did you have in mind?”

“I want you to give back the farm my grandmother worked, my mother grew up on, and I still have many relatives today still living and working there. We worked that farm for many generations and had to sell it to your family after my great grandfather fell on hard times. We want it back.”

Braxiatel noted there was now a tense atmosphere and the room had fallen silent. It was well known his own great grandfather cheated them on the deal and practically stole it. Many of those relatives who worked that farm came here after work to unwind and were even in the room. “Done, but only if you agree to leave the barn brother and I used to play in, standing. I’m feeling sentimental.”

“That’s a deal then,” Narvin replied to cheerful uproar from all his cousins in the bar. Even his mother looked pleased. “You’ll need to take out the provisions about the two of them being required to produce children. That’s not fair on either of them because you know they won’t be staying here in this universe.”

“What about donating to the looms to produce at a later time after they leave. There will be no attachment for them to leave behind.”

“No.”

“Their genetics match together so wonderfully though,” Braxiatel complained. “If you’re worried about who will look after them and raise them I will do so myself.”

“No,” Thete objected this time. “I do trust you enough to raise them Braxiatel. Even to manage to let your human side shine through your stuck up vainer sometimes and show affection towards them. I just don’t want to be left wondering if myself and Rose have kids running around this universe somewhere.”

Braxiatel let out a long suffering sigh. “Fine. Such a waste though. I am however leaving in provisions in case there are any whoopsie children produced. Would hardly be the first time something like that happened.”

“The way you put that you’d think I had a lot of them. Only kid I have that wasn’t planned on was Zaiden and that’s hardly my fault,” Thete huffed, dropping all pretence. His TARDIS is in the cellar of this bar. He suspected most of Low Town knows who he really is by now. Good thing the Time Lords would never listen to the Shobogan even if they were inclined to tell them. There was no love lost between the two groups.

“How many children do you have anyway?” Rose asked curiously, also dropping pretences.

“Four biological, Everian my oldest son, my second son and Susan’s father Androllison who you’ll probably never meet because of unreconcilable differences, my daughter Jellath who is sitting at the bar over there trying stupid pickup lines on your cousin Jeck, and Zaiden you already know. In the other universe I had one other biological child, Jenny. She was rapidly grown from some cells taken from my hand while on a misadventure with Donna and Martha. She died. I’ll tell you the whole story later. I also had a daughter I had adopted named Miranda in that universe. She also died. I officially adopted one of my past companions, Ace, because she may have been human but was a natural time lord which is a rare occurrence but does happen. Happened to my mother after all. Ace still alive and probably blowing stuff up somewhere.”

“Ok so both parties should be wearing clothing covering all but the hands and head at all times when in each other’s presence,” Narvin told Braxiatel, ignoring Thete and Rose’s conversation. 

“Dad!”

“What? It’s pretty standard. When you turn forty you’ll be allowed to have your arms uncovered to the elbow, and sixty you can have your legs uncovered to your knees. No touching the ankles. I was even going to forgo the requirements for chaperones until age ninety because I know the two of you would just dodge them all the time anyway,” Narvin replied, “Then at age one hundred you get married and can do whatever you want.”

“I’m half human,” Rose protested.

“Yes you are, what about it?” Narvin asked.

Braxiatel answered for her, “I think she means that Gallifrey is hot. It can be something of a mixed bag which genes you inherit from which species. For example I’m not as heat adapted as Thete or even Zaiden. I’m guessing you have issues with being too hot?”

“All the time. I have to drink a lot of water living here just from how much I sweat. Then the academy uniform I have to wear is so damned heavy and multi-layered. Some days I feel like I might pass out from heat exhaustion,” Rose further clarified.

“Why have you never said anything?” Narvin asked, confused.

“It never occurred to me that I should, just like it never occurred to you that you should ask.”

“Fine we can make accommodations for that, but you still have to have your chest and from your waist down to your knees covered. I’ll also talk with some of the administrators at the academy and see if we can get special accommodations to make your uniform out of a lighter material or something.”

“Ok then,” Braxiatel continued, “What about the ritual slaughter of a nerox?”

“What’s a nerox? Rose couldn’t help asking.

“A type of domestic farm animal that’s like a cross between a cow and a sheep. It’s big like a cow and can be milked like one, but is woolly like a sheep and needs to be sheared regularly. It’s like a bison only slightly bigger and more woolly, can be milked and with no horns. They’re only really found around the polar regions of Gallifrey,” Thete explained, “The Citadel and dry lands are near the equator and since you spend most your time here not surprising you’ve not heard of one.”

“Ritual slaughter?” Rose further asked.

“There are loads of cultures on earth that do the same thing with the equivalent most prevalent farm animal to the region. It’s then cooked and eaten by the guests at the wedding. Pretty much the same concept,” Narvin answered then added without skipping a beat, “So long as your family provides the nerox I’ll be fine killing it.”

“Poor nerox,” Rose added.

“It will be killed and eaten by someone anyway, does it really matter who does the killing?” Narvin asked exasperated. 

“I mean if it was me or the nerox I’d slaughter, dress, and cook that thing myself. It just seems odd to do it in front of people for show,” Rose protested.

“Fine,” Narvin sighed, “skip the nerox slaughter. We can just have one served at the feast.” He probably should have noted the mischievous glint Braxiatel had then when noting that on the contract but it wouldn’t be until it was way too late he’d think to check the wording on that part. 

“I take it you two want the marriage to have no end date?” Braxiatel asked.

“No end date,” Thete confirmed and added as Rose looked over at him, “It’s customary for an arranged marriage to be a political thing and about exchanging genetics among the houses. The two parties don’t have to stay with each other for more than customarily a hundred years or so. I’ve been in two of them, had my eldest sons in the first one with Patience. That lasted about fifty years. We got along ok but she was very much in love with someone else. So we loomed our kids and split amicably letting her out of the marriage as soon as I could. We’re still friends. She’s married to the woman she loves now and is happy. Spoke to her a couple times since I got back, she really wants to meet you sometime. My second wife Ohila, I fell in love with I have to confess but the feeling wasn’t mutual. She made my time married to her quite miserable at times until I got the message she wasn’t interested in being more than friends and I got over it and just became her friend. Our daughter was the only good thing to come from that mess. We split after the hundred year contract and I’ve not seen her since. Not because she’s avoiding me or anything. It’s because she joined the Sisterhood of Karn.”

“Keep telling yourself that Thete,” Braxiatel interrupted trying not to laugh. “He was a terrible love sick puppy for a couple decades, wrote a lot of really bad sappy poetry, spent a couple days drunk in one of the bars around here every so often, and I had to come drag him out and sober him up.”

“Damned Koschie, never could keep his mouth shut and would go tell on me. Like I said I got over it. I’m ok. I’m the king of ok about it,” Thete grumbled.

Rose took his hand and sent him feelings of love, comfort and understanding, and she could feel him send his love and gratefulness back to her. That was one thing about her gift now she had discovered it, she never got jealous anymore. She used to get jealous so easily but now she was so sure of his feelings towards her she really didn’t feel the need.

“I’ll keep all the exit clauses just in case you ever come to your senses and ditch my brother,” Braxiatel joked.

“Never gonna happen,” Rose replied.

“But you’d look so good in those robes the sisterhood wears,” Thete added trying to bring some levity to the situation.

“I promised you forever, remember?”

“Yes, that is one thing that’s always stayed with me. I’m glad I have the chance to let it happen.”

“Now they’re both getting sappy. The sooner we get this negotiated Narvin the better,” Braxiatel remarked and the two of them just kept negotiating. Some clauses sounded obvious, others bizarre, but eventually they seemed to get it all ironed out.

Narvin and Braxiatel produced a couple of bracelets and gave them to Rose and Thete. Rose looked at the one she was given, it was intricate with bands of various shades of gold with links put together in swirling patterns that spelled out words of love, devotion and engagement, the centre piece had her name and a red gem shaped like a rose. Thete’s was the same only with his new official name on it and a TARDIS blue gem. 

Rose was going to put her’s on but Thete stopped her saying, “You give me that one, and I give you this one. It’s normally worn over the top of your sleeve but can be worn under,” He explained as he put the one he was holding on her arm over her sleeve, and as soon as the clasp was done it automatically fitted itself comfortably to her arm. “There’s pendent to wear once we actually get married as well.”

Rose did the same with the one she had been given by her father and put it on Thete’s arm. “So that’s it? Anything else we need to do?”

“Only thing left to do is enjoy the party,” The Doctor’s daughter Jellath interrupted, handing Rose a glass of the illegal hootch her grandmother. made in the cellar. Jellath was about six foot tall, slender but well toned, black hair and green eyes. She was dressed somewhat like a cross between Indiana Jones and a steampunk space pirate. “Welcome to the family.”

Chapter Text

Rose grinned smugly at Thete after she managed to rematerialise his TARDIS. “See told you it’s supposed to be that button.” 

‘Seriously I spend so much time correcting Thief's bad flying,’ the TARDIS told the two occupants who could hear her.

Narvin had to admit he could understand her a lot better than other TARDIS who he had conversations with over the years. He was never sure if it was because of Rose’s connection with her or just because she’s the oldest capsule he’s met. 

He’d rather have used his own TARDIS for this piloting lesson but Rose had missed the old girl and begged to use her instead. Thete said he’d be happy to teach her. Until Narvin reminded him that between the three of them he was the only one that actually had a licence; even if Thete was going by his real identity. Also he didn’t actually trust Thete not to get distracted for a few decades if he let them go off on their own anyway.

“She just made fun of me didn’t she?” Thete asked.

“Why do you say that?” Rose asked back.

“Because you and him are trying not to laugh and I can feel her laughing at me.”

“Don’t worry she still loves you,” Rose assured him, letting herself laugh a bit.

“The real test is, is she where we’re supposed to be?” Thete challenged.

‘We are exactly where you need to be wolf,’ the TARDIS replied amused at something.

“Of course we are! Barcelona the planet not the city,” Rose replied excitedly as she opened the doors and all three walked out. They were not in any Barcelona yet alone the city or the planet.

They were in a room with two people beside a chessboard one all in white the other all in black. This universe’s Doctor was there in his fifth form along with a young man in a school uniform with ginger hair. A crystal was placed on the chessboard.

 “Not this again,” Thete groaned as he took in the surroundings.

The people in black and white kept looking between themselves, the crystal and Rose. Eventually the black one said, “Oh shi—“

“Bad Wolf, it is great to see you,” the one in white interrupted quickly.

Rose was confused. “What’s going on?”

“NOTHING!!” The pair said at the same time, then one of them hid the crystal in his pocket guiltily.

“They’re playing one of their games of chess again. That’s the White and the Black guardians. Black is in yet another plot to try and kill me. This time by manipulating my companion Turlough into killing me in order to get enlightenment. I won but they’re still trying to tempt both of us,” Thete explained. “Why they’re reacting the way they are to you Rose, that part is weird.”

“The guardians? The ones that balance order and chaos and are always at odds?”

“That’s the ones,” Thete confirmed.

“So they have been playing with you and your companions' lives?” Rose asked.

“Yes,” Thete confirmed yet again.

Rose got mad and stormed up to the pair, her eyes swirling with golden energy. “I get that you both are trying to balance good and evil, order and chaos, and all that, but you’re playing with people’s lives!”

“We weren’t…” White stammered.

“He wasn’t actually in any real danger,” Black defended.

“Really? Didn’t seem that way to me,” The Doctor spoke up for the first time, gathering his composure after the sudden interruption.

Black rolled his eyes. “You’re protected. We can’t actually do anything to harm you.”

“Yes but he’s not supposed to know that,” White argued, then added defeatedly, “Gold is going to be so mad if she’s seeing this through Bad Wolf.”

“Look really even if one of them did take the crystal all it will actually do is download every song ever recorded by Rick Astley to their brains,” Black defended.

“Wait… you were going to ‘Rick roll’ us?” The Doctor asked indignantly.

“What’s a ‘Rick roll’ ?” Turlough asked, confused.

“Only one of the best internet memes I’ve ever come up with,” Black defended.

“After your time on Earth Turlough,” the Doctor answered, ignoring the black guardian.

“We’re just going to go and er.. clean this mess up… Don’t worry they won’t remember anything other than what they’re supposed to. I know the Doctor is too young to know about the three of you yet…” White stammered apologetically and in a flash they were gone.

“That is one of the strangest encounters I’ve ever had,” Narvin said, shaking himself out of a stupor.

“You and me both,” Thete added shaking his head.

Of course they mysteriously forgot all about the encounter as soon as they were in the TARDIS and in the vortex again.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Lumendia wrote this section 

In the true and proper N-Space (not that most of the Doctor's counterparts understood that and that was a mess that was still being untangled and every step made Rose loathe Rassilon anew).

Rose couldn't stop giggling. It wasn't that she was trying to spy or anything like that, but every so often she got a cosmic 'poke' from the timelines of one of her counterparts. It was just a little nudge that screamed 'pay attention to me' and one of them was doing it a lot lately. So she'd peeked. It was part of her job as the Gold Guardian of the Universe after all. Even if the term universe was far too simple and small for the vast mess of different timelines and realities she shared custody of with the rest of the Guardians. At least today the poke was more amusing than worrying. Another laugh escaped her and Rose leaned against the bronze console, struggling for air as the scenes played out in her head.

Across the console room, the Doctor was watching her with both hints of amusement and confusion. He fiddled with his bow tie and that only made Rose laugh harder. His poor counterpart. Her part Gallifreyan counterpart was really putting him through some chaos. Rose wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep herself from bursting out laughing the next time she saw Black and White. Maybe she should be irritated with them, but the whole thing was just too funny and they hadn't hurt any version of the Doctor so she might let this incident slide. At least after giving them both stern looks and watching them jitter like children.

"Rose, darling? Are you alright?" the Doctor asked.

"Sorry," she gasped. "Sorry. Just remembered something rather funny. A sideways memory if you wish."

"One of your counterparts?" the Doctor clarified.

"That and Black and White being naughty." She wiped her eyes and tried to get herself under control. "Have you ever been Rick-rolled, Doctor?"

"No, not for the lack of trying on the parts of some people."

"Ah, that'll disappoint the Black Guardian."

"Why? What's he got to do with it?"

"Apparently he invented it. One of his chaos, but not evil schemes." Rose smiled fondly and giggled to herself again. "He liked it so much that he put it into place in every reality where the song exists."

"And that made you laugh?"

"Well... it was all about the context." Rose gave her husband a tongue touched smile. "Guess you had to be there."

End of Lumendia’s section 

-x-x-x-x-x-

Rose did get to Barcelona on the second try, which they all thought was the first. Narvin had a hard time saying no as his daughter held a Barcelonian noseless puppy and they both stared at him with puppy eyes.

“No, we’re not taking the puppy home.”

“But dad…”

“They only live about a decade and it will grow to the size of a small horse,” Narvin protested. “Besides, Lucifer will torment the poor animal. We already had to make a whole new room to keep him in, we’d have to make a huge one for the dog as well. They limit how many rooms flats can have and we’re running low as is. Also who’s gonna look after it when I’m at work and you’re at the academy. Yes I know it’s cute and fluffy but no.”

They ended up taking the dog home. Her name was Dotty, and Narvin made a bigger fuss of and spoiled that dog more than anyone. He could often be seen walking through low town or the dry lands in his down time followed by a giant noseless dog that was black with a few white dots on its face and back. He even got a bigger bed because she insisted on sleeping in his.

-x-x-x-x-x-

The next time Narvin took Rose out to teach her more about flying the TARDIS they still used Thete’s by her insistence. Thete sat on a seat watching the pair with a Barcelonian puppy that was already the size of a Labrador on his lap. Dotty like most large dogs thinks she’s the perfect size to be a lap dog. Zaiden was with them sitting beside his father and half a dog across his lap as well. They actually spent a lot of time together these days.

“Thete when’s the last time you calibrated the temporal stabilisers?” Narvin asked as he pointed out what different things did to Rose.

“Um… I think it might have been two.. three.. no four regenerations ago,” Thete replied somewhat sheepishly, “I’ve been meaning to do that for a while now.”

“Ok looks like I’ll be teaching you some capsule maintenance as well then Rose,” Narvin replied and showed her how to do so while the Doctor watched, absently petting the large puppy on his lap.

Eventually they where off and landed. “Another good and smooth landing, I swear I remember ending up on the floor a lot when travelling with you,” Rose said teasing Thete.

“Yes well you just fixed the dimensional stabilisers,” he retorted.

“You should hear the stories Susan tells about their early miss-adventures in the TARDIS,” Zaiden added. “For example the first humans he ever took with him were her school teachers who followed her into the TARDIS and Dad panicked. He basically kidnapped them. Not to mention some of the trouble she ended up in. It’s something of a miracle she ever made it to adulthood.”

‘There’s also nothing wrong with the chameleon circuit. I just stayed that way to spite him because he was showing off. I quite like it now. He still hasn’t figured it out even though I have changed small things about my exterior over the years,’ the TARDIS confided in Rose. Luckily the Doctor just thought she was laughing at what Zaiden said.

“Now let’s see where we are,” Thete said abruptly extracted himself from under Dotty and opened the doors walking out.

They appeared to be in Versailles but it looked off somehow. “Versailles?” Narvin asked, looking around. Zaiden tapped Narvin and pointed to the building behind them. Or more like what was above the entrance. “I knew Braxiatel was full of himself but that’s just ridiculous,” he added as he looked at the giant two story banner of Brax’s face.

“He never was good with supple,” Thete agreed.

“Welcome to the Braxiatel collection,” Zaiden said grinning, “Oh this is well into his future so not a word to him back home.”

“I thought I heard the TARDIS,” a woman said as she came up from behind them.

“Benny!” The Doctor exclaimed. “It’s great to see you.” 

“Which number are you then,” she asked Thete.

“Eleven, although it’s more complicated than that. I’m not really from this universe. I just go by Thete these days. It’s so as to not cause confusion between me and The Doctor from this universe. From what I’ve gathered our timeline only really diverged majorly from sometime during number eight. You know the fop in the frock coat.”

“Hey I liked the fop in the frock coat,” Benny teased.

“I know you did. I’m being rude again! this is Rose Tyler my fiancé!” Thete exclaimed quickly, wrapping an arm around her waist.

“An ex of yours I take it?” Narvin asked.

“Oh don’t worry that was over a very long time ago and all it ever was, was two friends scratching an itch occasionally. I just have fun getting him flustered sometimes. Nice to meet you Rose, I’m Bernice Summerfield, you can call me Benny. Going to introduce me to the others?”

“This is Rose’s father Narvin, and my youngest son Zaiden,” Thete finished introducing.

“Let go, you slobbering monster!” A robotic voice exclaimed from behind them. They all turned around to see Dotty had a football sized metal ball in it’s mouth. 

“Joseph!” Benny exclaimed and tried to remove her porter robot from the giant puppy, who immediately thought she was playing and tried tugging back.

“Dotty, leave it!” Narvin shouted firmly and she let go of the poor robot she had mistaken for one of her favourite things in the whole universe, a ball. He took the poor slightly scratched robot from Benny and looked it over. “This is one of my Jimbo units.”

“I don’t know anything about that. He was originally one of ‘the people’ pretending to be a robot porter back at Dellah University. Was my personal porter robot. He died but Brax supposedly rebuilt him with the same personality and some of his memories,” Benny remarked.

Narvin frowned, plugged a device from his pocket into the indignant porter robot and looked over the readings. “Hey Rose, come look at this.”

“That AI is way too advanced to be a simple porter robot even if Braxiatel did repurpose a Jimbo unit. It’s such beautiful and intricate coding. Way too much for Braxiatel to manage. He’s good at hacking and matrix coding but he’s rubbish at AIs,” Rose replied as she admired the coding.

“This is what a truly sentient AI looks like. This robot still is one of ‘the people’ ,” Narvin stated then frowned, “I need to talk to God about plagiarism. Seriously making one of ‘the people’ look like a common Gallifreyan toy? What is he up to?”

“God? The People?” Rose asked, confused.

“The People got rid of all their old religions and made themselves their own God. He’s basically a very intelligent and sophisticated AI that is almost completely omnipotent. The people themselves are all quite an interesting bunch. They’re made up of a range of organic and non organic life forms all designed and built by God. The people could be a collection of organic life forms you could find traveling in a spaceship, the main difference is that the ship itself is also one of the people. They live in a place called the world sphere,” Narvin replied. “In you and Thete’s universe from what I remember from my counterpart we had a treaty of sorts to avoid a war between us. It basically consisted of us pretending to ignore each other because war was in no one’s best interests. They all retreated to the world sphere when the time war started in full and hadn’t been seen since.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about. I am not one of ‘the people’ . Now if you could unhand me so I can go about my duties,” Joseph argued.

“Just a second, I should be able to reconnect to the world sphere,” Narvin answered, ignoring the robot. “There we go. Now God, you and I need to have a chat about plagiarism.”

A different voice than usual came out of the round robot. “Ah, Narvinectralonum. It is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise. You do realise copying a common Gallifreyan toy could be seen as a breach of our treaty?”

“Do you realise the treaty hasn’t happened yet in your timeline?”

“Yes I am quite aware of that. Doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

“All data indicates that you wouldn’t want war anymore than I do,” God replied, “what do you want?”

“A favour. Open ended. To be collected at a later date, in exchange for not informing the time lords in the future of this breach.”

“Granted. Now if you excuse me I need to sever poor J-Kibb’s connection again and let him become just Joseph. Before you say it, J-Kibb is part of a special interest group that deliberately severed their connections to the world sphere. They forgot who they truly are in order to see if they can eventually find their way back to me.”

“That does sound very much like something one of ‘the people’ would do,” Narvin agreed. “So erase his memory back until he was just rescued from being a chew toy for my dog then?”

“That would be best,” God agreed. “Goodbye Narvinectralonum.”

The robot went limp and Narvin quickly put everything he’d used on Joseph away grinning. “I just managed to score an open ended favour from God.”

“You know he probably manipulated the whole situation? He  probably actually wants you to do something for him and make it seem like it was your own idea of a favour.” Thete half asked half stated.

“Oh very likely. As usual we’ll just do what we always do. Pretend it was all our own idea whichever way around so long as it’s of mutual benefit,” Narvin replied.

The robot sphere woke up suddenly, “Please unhand me. It’s bad enough I was in the jaws of that beast.”

Narvin released the floating sphere immediately. “Sorry. Was just checking for damage. Just a few scratches but a little buffing and a coat of paint and you should be as good as new.”

“You should probably get on with your duties Joseph,” Benny added, not showing any visible reaction to what happened.

“Yes I shall,” Joseph replied in a huff and floated away to go do whatever it was he had been doing before.

“I’m going to need to find a new way to record my diary entries,” Benny lamented, “Braxiatel breaking in and listening to them is a given. It’s just in his nature, he can’t help himself. But God listening in and probably projecting it to the whole world sphere is another thing altogether.”

“Shall we go find Uncle Braxiatel to see what he’s up to that he shouldn’t be?” Zaiden asked, speaking up for the first time since Benny had arrived.

“Quite a lot by the looks of things,” Narvin remarked as they started walking through the collection and he eyed all the objects that should have been lost to time or even changing timelines. Zaiden even pointed out a few of them as they walked. 

“You know your way around here rather well,” Benny remarked this time looking at Zaiden oddly. “You seem very familiar to me for some reason.”

“I was born here. You know no one was sure if The Doctor or Braxiatel was my father until I was old enough to have proper scans run. Not that it ever mattered to Braxiatel he’s always treated his brother’s kids like his own anyway. My version and the one from this universe. Grew up running around playing with my older half brother in these buildings. That was until the Time War reached us. Uncle Braxiatel rounded me and a whole bunch of other children up and sent us to this universe. Mostly Gallifreyan. My brother died holding off the Daleks before we were launched across the void. He was supposed to come as our protector even though he was only in his late teens. I was only six at the time. I still have plenty good memories of this place though.”

Thete only then for the first time noticed some things about his son. Thought over it and everything he knew about him and groaned. “I just figured out who your mother is.”

Zaiden laughed, “Took you long enough.”

“Never seen the two of you together before. Now you’re both together and I can compare your artron and mental signatures. She’s not even done cooking yet. I’m completely Gallifreyan in your universe, aren’t I?”

“Yep,” Zaiden replied, sounding very much like his father’s tenth self. 

“Brax already has it figured out hasn’t he?” Thete asked.

“From the moment he first met her on Dellah,” Zaiden confirmed.

“He’s so going to be smug that I’ve only just figured that one out. Damned multiple universes and how much diversity there can be between them. I swear I would have figured it out if I wasn’t expecting myself to also be half human in your universe.”

“You're half human?” Benny asked, confused.

“So is Braxiatel,” Thete tattled.

“That….. that… actually explains a whole lot about the both of you,” Benny replied, still taking in that information.

“What are you two on about anyway,” Rose interrupted.

“Well you know how Benny put it, two friends scratching an itch occasionally…”

Benny stopped dead in her tracks looking between Thete and Zaiden. “No…. Really…. Oh Goddess…”

“There’s only one person in the whole universe I know of that the particular mix up between myself or Braxiatel being the father could happen to.”

“You’re my son in another universe,” Benny said to Zaiden in shock. “Your half brother…”

“Peter was eleven years older than me but still always had time to play with me. He was the best big brother.”

“Well for what it’s worth I have acquired Twenty years of parenting knowledge at this point, via my child from another universe showing up,” Narvin added. “Need any tips on sideways parenthood, I'm your man.”

“You know, I like Zaiden a lot. Was kind of hoping he was ours; but would have known that already by looking at him if he was,” Rose lamented only half joking.

“Don’t worry you’re still my favourite future step-mother,” Zaiden joked and pulled Rose into a half hug.

“Oh no….” Narvin said shocked as something just occurred to him.

“Just hit you, huh Granddad?” Zaiden replied to his best friend.

“Just kill me now,” Narvin snarked.

Braxiatel walked out of his office and saw the stunned bunch of Time Lords with an equally stunned Benny, and Zaiden and Rose trying not to laugh. He raised an eyebrow and looked over at them. “Am I interrupting something?”

“Just the existential crisis they’re having,” Rose informed him, “It just occurred to Dad that he’s technically going to be Zaiden’s grandfather even though he’s about a hundred years younger than him. Oh and Thete just figured out who Zaiden’s mother is and Benny along with him. I like Benny by the way. She can’t be half bad if she managed to produce Zaiden somewhere in another universe.”

“Seriously Thete I thought you would have figured that out a long time ago,” Braxiatel replied sighing. He looked over at one of his artefacts on display in the corridor. “NO!! LET THAT GO AT ONCE YOU GIANT MONSTER!”

Dotty had decided one of his priceless artefacts that just so happens to resemble a bone shaped squeaky toy, was one and had it in her mouth. It even squeaked like one.

“I’d almost forgotten you had that monster sized dog. This has to be early in your timeline because it’s a puppy, or it’s one of the clones as a puppy,” Brax complained as he tried to get it from the dog. Dotty thought this was a great game as she dodged him and took off running to play chase. 

It took Braxiatel three hours to get it back because Narvin was having too much fun letting her get away with it. Even giant puppies have their limits though. After those three hours she fell soundly asleep on top of another artefact that just happened to look like a giant dog bed. All and all it was an eventful visit to the collection.

Chapter Text

Rose was taking a turn being a tender behind the bar at her Grandmother’s place. It was the Gallifreyan equivalent to the weekend so they didn’t have to go to the academy. Fadrell, who was one of her best friends as well as second cousin, sat at the bar with a data pad studying for a test.

“I just can’t get this equation right,” Fadrell sighed in frustration.

“It’s only algebra,” Rose said nonchalantly.

“Letters have no place in an equation,” he quipped back then sighed again, “People think I’m stupid because I can’t grasp this simple concept of math.”

“Maybe you just need another approach. Don’t think of them as letters, think of them as physical objects.” Rose placed three soda cans in front of him and a glass of ginger beer. “Ok so these soda cans are represented as the letter ‘S’ for soda; there are three of them so that is ‘3S’ . Here’s a glass of Ginger Beer so let’s represent that with the letter ‘G’ . There’s only one of them so that’s ‘1G’ . The equation starts as ‘1G 3S’ for one ginger beer and three soda cans.” Rose removes two cans of soda and adds a glass of ginger beer. “Ok, I took away two cans of soda and added a glass of ginger beer. That would be ‘-2S +1G’ . Can a can of soda suddenly become a ginger beer?”

“No of course not,” Fadrell replied.

“Exactly so you only do the math individually with each letter because each letter is a different type of object like a soda can and a glass of ginger beer. I took away two cans so that’s represented as ‘-2S’ , as for the ginger beer I added one more in front of you so that’s, ‘+1G’ . Altogether that’s one can of soda and two ginger beers so is represented as ‘1S 2G’ . The equation would be ‘3S 1G -2S +1G = 1S 2G’ . That any better?”

“No,” Fadrell replied.

“Forget the math lesson, math is boring,” Thete interrupted, seemingly coming out of nowhere. He wrapped his arms around Rose and gave her a quick kiss before handing her something he pulled out of his pocket. “Happy forty fifth birthday love.”

“What already?” Rose asked embarrassed she had lost track of when her birthday was.

“Actually tomorrow, but I only have now to give you your present. I’m required to attend a boring weekend long house meeting. I’ve been trying to get out of it but can’t. They threatened to drag me there if they had to. Hiding in Low Town will only work so long before they work out all they need to do is tell them Elder Shalla said I had to go as well. Besides, your cousin Jeck might drag me there himself.”

Rose suppressed a laugh at the thought of her tall, buff and extremely harmless cousin dragging him anywhere. Jeck’s job was to look tough but was actually as far from it as they come. “So what did you do to annoy Gran and Jeck?”

“Tried to make the ginger still process a little more sonic,” Thete responded.

Rose shook her head while Fadrell burst out laughing before saying, “What is it with you and making sonic devices for everything?”

“Not everything,” Thete replied, but got a look from both Fadrell and Rose so hastily added, “It’s true! I still haven’t managed to make one for wood.”

“Come on Thete I’ll walk with you to the transmat station. I’ve spent enough time hiding down here from my math tutor,” Fadrell said as he shoved his data pad into his pocket and got up. “It’s actually quite handy to be able to walk through here without Shobogan harassment. Means my family is reluctant to come here looking. Mind you the locals don’t like me going anywhere but this bar, the brothel down the street or the transport station.”

“Don’t they know you’re too young to get into the brothel?” Thete asked a little surprised.

“Oh they’ll let me in. So long as I turn around and walk back out again. Went there by accident the first time I tried to find this place by myself. Everyone seemed to think it was funny.”

Thete gave Rose another quick kiss before following their friend out the door. 

Rose was left shaking her head and got on with what she’s doing. She tended the bar and was doing a good job of it if you asked her for the next couple hours until her father and Zaiden came barrelling into the bar; full formal CIA uniforms on. There was something different about her father’s uniform she couldn’t quite place.

“Rose, we need your help,” Narvin said urgently, grabbing onto her hand. 

“I’m the only one here to tend the bar,” Rose argued.

“Zaiden you’re on bar duty, and remember you break anything my mother will have your head.”

“Wait what?” Zaiden replied in shock.

“There’s no time Zaiden, we need to get Rose to the courtroom now. Can’t wait for Jeck to wake up from his night shift and get here, and Mother is in an elder’s meeting today.”

Zaiden sighed and joined them behind the bar and gently pushed at Rose in a go on gesture. “Fine, just go.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Rose asked as her father dragged her out of the bar and to the transmat station. 

“The Doctor needs your help. He’s been put on a farce of a trail by a faction within the high council. They promised to give a dying anomalous Doctor from yet another universe, the Doctor’s remaining regenerations. He’s some sort of metacrisis or something. He’s acting as prosecutor in order to get this universe’s Doctor’s remaining regenerations. Calling himself the Valeyard. Once Lady President Flavia learned of this plot she sent myself and Zaiden to stop him. We have reason to believe the Valeyard will listen to you.”

“Really why would he listen to me? Thete never does and we’re soulmates.”

“Every Doctor has that connection to you to various degrees. Thete’s is just the strongest because he was the one who used The Moment. Also Thete is wrapped around your little finger, so I got no idea what you’re talking about,” Narvin finished explaining as they reached the courtroom.

Narvin stopped just outside and took a deep calming breath. “It’s showtime. Stay behind me.” He drew on all the experience his counterpart from the other universe in these matters, in a way becoming him, opening the doors dramatically and loudly proclaiming, “By order of The Lady President Flavia and the Supreme High Council of the Time Lords, this trail is over, null and void.”

“What are you talking about this was ordered by the council,” The Judge said as she stood up from her seat in her white robes, “Who are you anyway?”

“Sorry your honour,” Narvin replied, “I am Narvinectralonum, newly appointed Coordinator of the CIA.”

“What happened to Lord Vansell?” She asked, confused.

“Early retirement after his involvement in this farce sanctioned by only two rogue elements within the High Council. They have since been voted out by the majority and this plan of theirs is to be stopped and the Earth put back where it belongs. It is an important anchor for the web of time after all.”

“Yes, well they’re no longer here anyway. The Doctor chased the Valeyard into the matrix,” the Judge replied. She looked at the screen at the back of the courtroom. “Where did the Master go? He was there in the matrix proving the evidence the matrix had been tampered with.”

“Oh no doubt he’ll show up again later. He always does. We spoiled whatever plan he had this time,” Narvin said nonchalantly. “I am using the permission granted to me by the high council as Coordinator of the CIA to send in an agent to apprehend the Valeyard.”

Rose had her hands in her pockets of her favourite blue leather jacket. She had been tending the bar, so was severely underdressed. She forgot all about the present Thete had gave her. She absently pulled it out of her pocket while her father argued legalese with the judge. First was a memory crystal, second was what looked like a key. Curious she used the crystal and she was flooded with some of Thete’s memories. She now had his memory of how this event played out in his universe. Also the full memory of everything that happened during the Dalek crucible, the thirty seven planets, all about the metacrisis and Bad Wolf Bay.

“That asshole. I’m gonna have words with Thete,” she grumbled as she started to look at the key more closely.

“Does everyone have a secret copy of the key of Rassilon I don’t know about?” A man in the witness box asked indignantly as he looked at the key in Rose’s hands. 

“Frankly, yes,” Narvin answered. “How to enter the matrix is one of the worst kept secrets on Gallifrey. That’s what happens when you keep technology antiquated out of tradition. My forty-five year old daughter can hack in even without that key. You can stop playing dumb, everyone has known for generations your position as keeper of the matrix is purely ceremonial.”

“Why would you want to send your daughter of all people in?” The Judge asked.

“If he’ll listen to anyone he’d listen to me,” Rose answered confidently. “I’m going in.”

“Just remember things are only as real as you let them be in there,” Narvin called as his daughter left and headed towards the nearest gate.

“Don’t worry Dad if I have to I will gonna go all Neo on the Doctor’s self deprecating ego. Probably won’t though,” she replied as she reached the gate just outside and used the key Thete gave her.

-x-x-x-x-x-

It took Rose a little while wading through things but eventually she found the Doctor where Thete remembered he would be. She looked around the familiar beach knowing this had to be ‘the Valeyard’s’ construct as she took in the copy of Bad Wolf Bay. Rose walked over to where the Doctor was being pulled under the sand by hands reaching up and another man was trying to help pull him out. Glitz she remembered his name was from Thete’s memories.

“Seriously Doctor, I know you have deep seated issues resulting in your own self hatred but trying to kill yourself is a bit much isn’t it? That goes for both of you.” She reached down and the hands just disappeared as she helped Six get up.

“What are you doing here?” Six asked as he started brushing himself off.

“Rose…” an achingly familiar voice said from behind them.

She saw the familiar sight of her doctor in a blue pinstriped suit and smiled that tongue-touched smile he knows he loves then said, “There you are Doctor.” Rose briefly turned to Six and answered, “I came here to talk to him.”

“Him? He’s crazy Rose, you should stay away. He won’t be done until one of us kills the other,” Six called back as Rose started to approach the other doctor.

Rose just turned briefly to him again with a raised eyebrow before saying, “Seriously Doctor, there you go with all the self hatred again. Sigmund Freud would have a field day with you. Before no doubt declaring it’s all because you’re in love with your own mother, because seriously Freud is a weirdo like that.”

“Definitely not if we’re talking about your mother,” The other Doctor grumbled.

“Oi, you loved my mum and you know it,” Rose chastised him playfully as she stood right in front of him. Rose reached out and put her hands on his chest and felt a double heartbeat. So not the metacrisis after all then. Interesting. “At least we can touch this time around. Technically still a projection though. Why are you pretending to be your metacrisis?”

“I had my reasons that I don’t quite remember right now,” he answered.

“And trying to kill an alternate version of yourself?”

“I’m dying. I can’t regenerate. I should have one left but I can’t.”

“Why not?” Rose asked softly.

“Contracted some sort of disease. It’s not contagious. Not anymore, but I’ve been badly damaged and unable to regenerate because of the disease. My song is ending, that’s what the ood said.”

“And you want to steal his so you can?” She just pulled him into a tight hug. “Oh Doctor. It’s quite the mess you’ve gotten yourself into, but you know you can’t do it right?”

The Doctor slumped defeated. “I know. I just wanted to…”

“So you decided to go along with some crazy scheme the Master cooked up. You never intended to actually take his regenerations did you?”

“He’s supposed to kill me,” Ten confessed.

“And making him hate himself for doing it. Oh Doctor. Will I ever get it through that thick skull of yours that you’re worthy of love and worth loving?”

“Probably not. Rose, you always manage to set me straight though.”

“Damn right I do. Also don’t you dare go on a rampaging angry rant about all the bad stuff you’ve done because I’ll go on an even angrier one about all the good things you’ve done and believe me that’s a much longer list. I’ve had to do it seven times already just in the past decade. So you finished this stupid vendetta against yourself now?”

“Yea. I’ve only got a couple weeks at most left to live anyway. May as well go back there and throw myself on the mercy of the court.”

“Wait… it’s over just like that?” Six asked bemused.

“It’s amazing what just stopping to talk to yourself can accomplish isn’t it?” Rose quipped as she took Ten’s hand and started walking along with him.

“I think I’m actually starting to get why Thete has been happy to stay here on Gallifrey,” Six muttered before walking along after them and calling out, “Come along Glitz it’s time we got out of here.”

They walked along and out of the matrix, back through the gate they had entered. Ten looked quite different on this side of the gate though and Rose looked him over, “You can get rid of the shimmer now. Everyone knows who you really are.”

“R…r…rose?” Ten stammered out shocked but did as he was told, becoming the familiar man in brown pinstripes.

“What? You thought I was something your subconscious cooked up didn’t you?” Rose asked, amusement shining in her eyes.

“Actually… yes,” Ten answered, flabbergasted.

“Then how would I know who she is?” Six asked exasperated and rolled his eyes at the shocked look he got in return, “You totally missed that part didn’t you?” Melanie Bush was standing near his TARDIS, Glitz standing beside him and he could see Narvin headed their way. “Well no harm done I suppose. All you really did was near bore me to tears in that farce of a trail and edit some matrix files. Rose, next time you’re talking to Thete tell him he hasn’t been giving Braxiatel anywhere near a hard enough time recently. Come on Glitz, Mell, let’s get out of here before Narvin gets here,” Six said as he unlocked the door to his TARDIS and they were away within moments.

“Always in such a rush to run away,” Narvin commented as he reached where Ten and Rose were standing. He looked Ten over. “You have about ten minutes before Andred gets here if you wish to make a run for it. He told me he hurt his foot in a training exercise and most of his guards are lost in the wilderness somewhere on Mount Lung with Leela on the same training exercise. So it may take a while longer before he gets here.”

“Wait… you’re letting me go?” Ten asked, shocked.

“Not doing it for you,” he grumbled back.

Rose just rolled her eyes. “Couldn’t actually admit you care what happens to him. You have a lot more friends on Gallifrey than you realise, Doctor.”

“That’s just not how it works Rose. I’m supposed to try and be intimidating until after your hundredth birthday. At least he’s not the one in leather with the big ears. If he were I’d have to punch him first for being a damned idiot.”

“Dad!” Rose exclaimed exasperatedly.

“Dad?” Ten asked in a mixture of shock, horror and confusion. 

“I remember you taking her to ‘be with her dad as he dies’ , quite frankly that was much more your fault than hers. You probably didn’t even explain what would happen if she did what she did. Also really, you took a girl to see her father die and did not expect her to try that?”

“Pete? How…. That wasn’t even this universe…”

“It’s a long story. One I’ll explain along the way,” Thete said as we literally appears out of nowhere grabbing one of Ten’s arms then stopped in shock. “Well that’s unexpected. I thought you were Handy.”

“I wasn’t sure of this Gallifrey’s level of neuroticism about hybrids, it was a big no no in my universe and I had to explain away being half human,” he argued back.

“Why would the Time Lords be neurotic about that?” Narvin asked, confused.

“All because of some stupid matrix prophecy, Rassilon got in his head was going to be true,” Ten explained.

“Oh well if Rassilon is involved that would explain everything. The stupid despotic idiot. They should have left him locked up in the tower,” Narvin ranted.

“Is it me or does Narvin have a lot of future knowledge he shouldn’t have?” Ten asked Thete.

“He both is and isn’t our version of Narvin who went through the war,” Thete answered, “Come on we really should be going now and I’ll explain everything when we get out of here. Brax can only buy us a few more minutes before my teleport will stop working and the surveillance in this area comes back up.”

Chapter Text

Rose finally made it back to the bar after having to answer a whole bunch of questions in front of the high council with her father since ‘the valeyard’ ‘escaped’ . She was the only witness besides Narvin thanks to surveillance issues starting sometime shortly after the Sixth Doctor left in his TARDIS. Zaiden was still behind the bar looking a little less lost than when they left him. His older sister Jellath was making a huge fuss over Ten holding a medical scanner as he sat at a table near the bar.

Narvin sat down at the table while Rose took a chair between Ten and Thete. Narvin looked to Jellath who was an actual proper medical doctor and asked, “So what’s the verdict? Your Great Aunt Flavia wants to know if it’s true that he’s dying.”

“Only way to prevent that is regeneration at this point. The only problem with that is the disease he’s contracted and what would happen if he does. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Jellath replied frustrated.

“Really?” Narvin asked as he picked up a  nearby data pad with a read out on it and his blood ran cold. “I’ve not seen this in a long time. Good job you somehow managed to stop it from being contagious before you got here.”

“I was suicidal, not stupid,” Ten replied sardonically.

“How the hell did you manage to contract the Dogma virus?” Narvin asked.

Thete winced. He hadn’t been on Gallifrey during that particular piece of Dalek engineering but had heard plenty about it from people who where. “Did you manage to piss off the Daleks worse than usual?”

“No. Just got in the way of Rassilon trying to rip apart the entire universe,” Ten replied, now sounding nonchalant.

“He still wanted to do that?” Narvin asked, shocked and disgusted.

“Implanted impulses and a way to track the Master down after he leaves the time lock. It seems every bad thing and act of madness my old friend Koschie ever went through was all Rassilon’s doing. He saved me, but not before I got hit with one of Rassilon’s favourite weapons in my timeline. That’s how I got infected,” Ten replied, telling his story of events.

“You can’t take any samples of that virus,” Narvin said to Jellath urgently.

“But—“

“But nothing. I am really sorry Doctor, but you know what’s at stake if that virus got out, or replicated.”

“Yea I really don’t think the zombie apocalypse is a great look on Gallifrey anyway,” Ten joked.

Narvin shuddered as he remembered hunkering down in the ruins of the Prydonian Time Lord Academy. “It wasn’t,” he replied.

“There’s got to be a cure, you said you’ve seen this before,” Jellath asked.

“The only one I know of that exists in this universe is the sacred flame,” Narvin replied.

“So we get him to Karn?” Jellath half asked and half answered.

“No. No way. Not after the last time your mother helped me regenerate,” Ten argued with his daughter.

“She what?” Zaiden asked from the bar.

“Long story Zaiden,” Thete replied. “Was just before I joined in the war.”

“He seems awfully familiar, do we know him?” Ten asked Thete.

“Gee, thanks a lot Dad, love you too,” Zaiden quipped back.

“Never had that unexpected arrival from another universe show up in your timeline then?”

“Uh.. no. Sorry,” Ten stammered.

Thete mock whispered to Rose, “I’d tell him Zaiden’s also half Benny but that might do him in right here and now.”

“Wait… what?” Ten asked even more shocked.

“Leave him alone,” Rose chastised Thete. 

“Anyway the likelihood of them actually helping me is only marginally more likely than the Gold Guardian herself showing up and intervening,” Ten replied changing the subject.

“We could try and make Rose go all big bad wolf and see if she could help,” Zaiden suggested.

“I would if I could. You know I can’t control it. Bad Wolf only ever comes out when I’m angry,” Rose protested. 

“Or looking into the untempered schism, but let’s not do that again,” Narvin added.

Ten was looking somewhat confused between the two before Rose said, “My induction into the Patrex Time Lord Academy was interesting to say the least. I went all bad wolf and did a bunch of stuff I don’t quite remember. Most dramatically I apparently turned a podium into dust. The Time Lords are a little bit afraid of me now. It’s not so bad right at the moment since I haven’t done anything lately.”

“Except turn our dog into a fixed point in time when she died of old age last week. Another reason you don’t want to use Bad Wolf. You’ll end up like Dotty and unable to die. Ever.”

“You made a dog version of Jack?” Ten asked somewhat amused.

“I didn’t mean it either time. I also renewed Thete’s life cycle by accident during my induction ceremony. He was on his last regeneration and now his scans says he’s got twenty four of them, because apparently I can’t just renew his regenerations I have to double them in the process.”

“Yes well you know what they say, go big or go home,” Thete joked.

“I don’t even remember much about it…. I sometimes have fuzzy memories of asking well… me… yet not me… she was dressed in gold and we were in this place I can’t quite remember and I asked for permission and she granted it because she finds us amusing or something. Anyway it doesn’t matter and probably never even happened.”

Ten let out an involuntary groan and Rose put an arm around him. Getting a closer look at her wrist he saw the bracelet for the first time. “You’re promised.”

“Yea to him,” Rose replied, pointing at Thete, “His presence is explained by him supposedly being the Doctor’s son from another universe and has been officially adopted by himself. Braxiatel is his official guardian and he’s in the same class as me in the Patrexan Academy.”

Ten laughed he couldn’t help it. It hurt to laugh but it was worth it for Rose’s bright smiling reaction. “I hope you have at least been causing Braxiatel lots of trouble.”

“He gets called into meetings about my behaviour weekly. Used to be more often but I think the instructors and administrators have more or less given up and just have a weekly meeting with him now as a formality. On the bright side with him being a Cardinal for the Prydonian Chapter and having to spend so much time with Cardinals of the Patrex Chapter, relations between the two Chapters are at an all time high.”

“Typical Braxiatel. Life gives him lemons. He doesn't only make lemonade, he makes the top brand of lemonade that everyone wants to drink.”

“I’m actually surprised because I’m actually enjoying being at the academy this time around. Patrex is quite different in a lot of ways than Prydon in their teaching methods. A lot less rigid and regimented, lots of more room for free thought and expression for a time lord learning institution. They can be quite stuck in their ways about what constitutes art for example but will let you get on with it if it’s what you consider art. Narvin insists it was a lot more regimental when he went there but there’s been a change in leadership since then.”

“It was. They let you and Rose get on with whatever, just like you said. When I was there it was all boring lectures about what art should be and how you must follow this style because of tradition,” Narvin agreed. He sighed. “It’s actually a little disconcerting how much I start to agree with you and even see the sense in Romana’s revolutionary political views as I get older. Especially after the war. So much could have been avoided if we stopped being so insular. I was an idiot as a young man, an even bigger one in the other universe, and Lord help me but I actually trust some people now. Even if they don’t understand why I talk more like a human thanks to Pete’s influence. Frankly though I refuse to swear by Rassilon or Omega. I’ve met them both and definitely don’t think they’re anyone to be revered.”

“Not the Other?” Ten asked teasing.

“I definitely in no way revere you, so no.”

Ten looked uncomfortable looking around the bar. It was empty except for them. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh the cat is out of the bag with everyone here, so no point denying it,” Thete told him.

Ten tried to hide a wince of pain but couldn’t. Jellath came over and said, “You need to lay down. I can at least give you something for the pain.”

“I’m fine,” he protested.

“You’re about as far from fine as possible,” Jellath corrected, then gave him an injection quickly before he could notice or protest. “That should help with the pain at least.”

“That was sneaky,” he winged as he rubbed the injection sight then a few moments later slumped over in his seat out cold.

“Now that he’s unconscious, we should take him to Karn,” Jellath said.

“Why’d you knock him out?” Rose asked.

“You of all people know my Dad. He’s just as pig headed and stubborn as the one from this universe or even Thete. It really is a lot quicker this way.”

“Yea okay I can see that,” Rose conceded.

Thete got up and managed to pick up Ten, “Okay, next stop Karn.”

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Ten awoke from to find himself in a very familiar position. He was beside an alter in a barn wasteland and surrounded by women in robes. “Not this again. Please tell me you at least have knitting for me to do this time.”

“It’s good to see you again too, Doctor. It’s been a real family reunion. Our daughter never comes here to visit me enough,” Ohila replied, ignoring Ten’s snarky tone.

“Will you be able to help him?” Rose asked. She had been introduced to Ohila and some of the others while Ten slept. She seemed pleased to hear about her and Thete’s engagement and genuinely happy a version of the Doctor somewhere found his soulmate.

“We can’t, the flame has told us—“

“Oh here we go with the whole mystical flame business again. Well if you can’t help then I guess I’ll get going then,” Ten interrupted, got up, took two steps forward then fell flat on his face as his legs gave out.

“As I was saying. We cannot help but the Golden Wolf can.”

“Golden Wolf?” Narvin asked a little worried he knew where this was going. He was always afraid for his daughter when it happened.

“Yes, the Bad Wolf is just a reflection or a facet of the true power of that of the golden one. There can only be one true Gold of course but it doesn’t mean she cannot borrow a fraction of the power her true self holds for a few moments with the help of the flame. Curing a simple virus and kick starting a regenerative cycle is child’s play to her,” Ohila answered.

“But I can’t control the Bad Wolf.”

“The sacred flame will guide you.”

Before Rose really knew what was happening golden tendrils engulfed Rose coming from below the altar. “I’m sorry but you won’t remember this Doctor.” She said in that ethereal voice of the bad wolf.

“Rose, please don’t make me forget.”

“Timelines to be preserved for now. Maybe someday you will remember but you can’t for now. Although I will leave you with some hints here and there to help against the silence.”

“Will I ever see you again?”

“I’m sorry that is unknown,” Rose replied before she reached out a hand and touched the Doctor. Ten started to glow and Bad Wolf removed her hand and said, ‘Fish fingers and custard,’ before Ten disappeared without a trace. The energy left her, went back into the altar and Rose collapsed.

“Is she okey? Where did the Doctor go?” Narvin asked as he ran up to check on his daughter. Her skin was warm to the touch but not as bad as last time after looking into the schism.

Thete picked her up and started carrying her towards his TARDIS. He gave a wan smile before answering, “Fish fingers and custard.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Narvin asked confusedly as he followed after Thete and the two entered the TARDIS to wait for Rose to wake up.

Chapter Text

Rose awoke in her old room in Thete’s TARDIS. It looked a lot like her room in the flat. The old girl had been keeping up with things, remodelling and adding bits and pieces as Rose did to her room at home over the years. The one finishing touch was the wardrobe that was not in her room but in this one. It had a false back which was actually a door leading into Thete’s room. 

The only reason she maintains her own room here is for her Dad’s peace of mind. It’s not as if her and Thete where having sex. Thete was sticking to his guns on waiting until she turns one hundred. They did cuddle and fall asleep together sometimes though. 

At times she finds it hard to believe they had been together for twenty years now. Those years has helped a lot with the two of them getting to properly know each other and for him to treat her as an equal. Having family around him had helped a lot with that. It also seemingly healed him in ways he forgot he was broken. They had long talks where Thete would tell her stories he never told anyone before. Things about his travels, things he blames himself for, stuff about growing up on Gallifrey, about his family, the war, and a whole host of other things.

She saw Thete sitting in a chair eating fish fingers dipped in custard. Her Dad was nowhere to be seen. “Feeling nostalgic again?”

Thete looked up glad to see her awake. “Why do you say that?”

“Because you only eat fish fingers and custard when you’re thinking of your past,” Rose replied, sitting up and stretching. She actually felt good this time and more refreshed and bursting with energy. Bad Wolf normally left her exhausted for days which made things a little strange. She got up and sat down beside Thete and grabbed one of the fish fingers, dipped it in custard and ate it. Curiously she could taste the flavours more and even analyse each ingredient by individual taste.

“I miss Amy sometimes,” he admitted. “My counterpart is off to start that cycle and live that life. Just reminds me of everything. I’d much rather have the life I do now. It’s just without Gallifrey always in the back of your mind you tend to get more attached to those around you when you’re within the first few hours of a regenerative cycle. As well as more easily shaped by them. I first met Amy as a little girl, and had just regenerated. It’s why I have always gotten along well with children this time around.”

“I don’t know you’ve always been good with kids,” Rose observed, “I’ve seen you with children plenty of times before.” Rose noticed some dust motes floating in an artificial beam of sunlight across the room at her fake window. Strangely, she could see things much clearer, more detailed than before and from much farther away. “Better than me anyway. Had no patience for them.”

“You were just a kid yourself really, so hardly surprising,” Thete replied, looking at Rose curiously, she was acting strangely.

“Hard to believe I’m actually older than my Mum now. Not by much but still…” Rose trailed off and started scratching her back. The label on her shirt was digging into her. All the while she could still taste individual ingredients of what she was eating, see the dust motes, smell the traces of his tenth self on Thete, and a hundred other things. Things she never even noticed before like the strange way time flows within the TARDIS, her song was clearer than it ever was as she sang comfort to her. She could feel Karn and the way it moved through the universe, orbiting the same suns as Gallifrey.  She knew they were still on Karn that way and that Karn wasn’t actually a planet but an artificial construct with something living in the heart of the planet that was comforting and familiar.

“Rose? What’s wrong?…..Rose?” 

He called out to her and she heard him but was so distracted by all her senses old and new she couldn’t really concentrate on replying to him. Her mouth just opened and shut the words refusing to come out of her mouth. 

Thete reached over to take her hand and froze as he grabbed her wrist. “Rose you keep managing to do the impossible. It’s ok just concentrate on me for now. Try and concentrate on me and only me, ignore everything else.”

“I….. c..c…can’t…” She stammered before a wisp of golden energy came out of her mouth and she fainted.

“Crap,” Thete swore, stood up and picked Rose up and ran out of the room towards the Zero Room and called out, “Narvin! Get tannins now!”

Narvin who had only left briefly to send a report to Lady President Flavia came running as he saw Thete taking his daughter into the zero room. They hadn’t expected her to wake up yet, so he took a few moments to do his job, trusting Thete to watch over her. “Tannins?”

“She’s having a neural implosion,” Thete explained from inside the zero room. Rose seemed to be unconscious but floating peacefully within the zero room.

“Neural implosion? How can she be having one of those? She’d have to regenerate to be overwhelmed with all her senses at once like that—”

“Bad Wolf seems to have made her regenerate!” Thete interrupted.

“But she hasn’t changed, she looks the same!” Narvin argued out of shock and worry.

“I know! But she has! She’s got two hearts now,” Thete shouted, also full of panic and worry. He was just glad healing comas were mostly instinctive. Also they had covered the classes in the academy about things like them as well as total control of the body. All skills she would need as a full Time Lord. It wasn’t because they were complete control freaks they learned all of that, they learned it in order to not get overwhelmed and gradually adjust after regeneration. 

“Right. Get tannins,” Narvin said and took off towards the kitchen. Some wisps of golden energy came off of Rose as Narvin got back holding a mug of tea and a med kit. “Not sure if that’s a good or bad sign. Could be both. Maybe we should go get your daughter, she's an actual doctor.”

Thete smacked himself on the forehead. “I’m an idiot. I’m so used to regenerating either alone or with shell shocked humans around me with no idea what to do. I’ll run and get her.”

Narvin was left with Rose and holding a mug of tea under her nose, not sure what else to do. He had looked for the tannins injection in the med kit but there wasn’t any. If he could wake her enough to get her to drink it would be better than just breathing in the fumes so to speak. He was contemplating how to wake her briefly when Thete ran back in with his daughter Jellath in toe. 

Jellath immediately took out her handheld medical scanner and started scanning Rose. “Neural implosion. The shielding of the zero room is helping. Some tannins and rest will help. She’s definitely regenerated. She’s showing up on the scanners as full time lord and everything that entails but she’s still got a full regenerative cycle. Why are you holding tea?”

“No tannins in the medkit,” Narvin replied.

“Why does that not surprise me?” Jellath sighed.

“I used it when I regenerated into this body. Had no time to be sitting around blowing golden smoke rings,” Thete defended.

“And no doubt forgot to synthesise a new needle full of tannins after,” she admonished.

“It was a busy day. Crash landed, engines phasing, twelve years late, thirty minutes to save the Earth,” Thete defended yet again.

“And it didn’t occur to you to go to the med bay and synthesise a new one instead of making tea?” She asked Narvin.

“I was in a panic,” Narvin defended.

Jellath rolled her eyes. “You’re both useless in a medical emergency,” she said as she got her own needle of tannins from her own medkit and injected Rose with it. “She’s peacefully sleeping in a healing coma. Just let her be until she wakes on her own.”

-x-x-x-x-x-

The second time Rose awoke her senses were no longer assaulting her. She could feel the heightened senses but to a lesser degree unless she specifically concentrated on it. She could smell roses and she was floating until she noticed she was floating and promptly fell to the ground.

“Rose, are you ok?” Narvin asked his daughter, going over to check her carefully.

Their dog had somehow made it into the TARDIS before they had left for Karn and she walked over to sniff Rose throughly to make sure as well before licking with her giant tongue. Bad Wolf had done a number on Dotty. She looked different after her resurrection. Before she looked more like a giant black lab mix with a few white spots, no nose, and the size of a small horse or pony. Now she looked more wolf-like but the same pattern on her fur, an actual dog nose instead of slit like nostrils, and was about the size of a draught horse. She was a universal constant, a fixed point, a fact, and felt weird to her now sharpened time senses but mostly all Rose could do was laugh as she tried to fend off the giant dog as she licked her thoroughly.

“I’m fine! But I’m probably going to need a bath to get the dog slobber off!” She exclaimed. Dotty hearing her least favourite word in that sentence backed off and sat down looking at her with a pitiful expression. “Not you Dotty.”

Rose got up and before anyone could say anything she was rushing about like she was on a sugar rush. She made it to the console room where Thete was talking with Jellath. 

“You’re up! We were just going to head back to Gallifrey,” Thete explained as Narvin and Dotty just arrived, chasing after Rose.

“That’s boring though. I know, let's use the randomiser!” Rose exclaimed before doing so and sending the TARDIS into the vortex. There may have been three Time Lords in the room but by the time they realised what she was doing it was too late. Figuring they could just head back once they landed they just ran to the console and helped pilot the TARDIS.

Once they landed Rose looked over the readings on the scanner. “Cardiff, Earth, Twenty Thirteen! Ooo looks like the rift has been active recently. Come on let’s go explore!” Rose shouted as she ran outside followed by Dotty and before anyone could do or say anything she was on the dog’s back and riding off like she was an actual horse and not a horse sized dog.

The three left over Time Lords were left gaping for a moment before Jellath broke the silence, “I think I may have overdone it a bit on the tannins.”

“Just a bit. Now I think I get how anyone who’s been with me after regeneration must feel,” Thete replied.

“We better go get her before she damages the timeline too much by riding around Cardiff on a giant dog,” Narvin stated.

“Their Welsh. They may just shrug it off as strange before getting back to their business and talk about the weird thing they saw later, only for their friends to ask what drugs they had been taking,” Thete said to that and got a strange look from Narvin. “Trust me I’ve spent a lot of time around humans. They tend to find weird ways to explain away the unexplainable, and they see a lot of the unexplainable in Cardiff.”

They left the TARDIS and looked around to see which way. There was a man gaping at them. The blond haired man spoke up in a shocked voice, “Doctor?”

Thete for his part paid little attention and just replied back, “Not now Rory. I need to catch Rose. She's in post regenerative delirium. You haven’t seen a blond in a TARDIS blue leather jacket have you? She’s riding a giant dog.”

“She went that way,” Rory replied, pointing off towards the bay.

“Thanks Rory,” he started to say as the three time lords went in that direction only for Thete to stop dead in his tracks and let the others go off without him. He walked backwards a few steps and said, “Hello Rory. It’s been a while… We really need to stop meeting like this. You’re not an Auton are you?”

“I don’t think so?” Rory replied in more of a question than a statement. “Last time I saw you was in New York. That was a hundred and twenty years ago for me. I watched my wife grow old and die while I stayed the same. I left a grave marker by hers with my name on it to complete the loop. Not sure why. Instinctively I knew I had to. The day she died I died in a way anyway. I have just been wondering about the Earth since. I was in Cardiff in the future and then there was this problem where lots of time periods merged together and I found myself here, in the past, once everything snapped back together. I don’t think I’m in the right universe anymore because there’s a lot of differences. No me. No Amy. Neither of us have been born here. How do you even know me?!” Rory was visibly upset and ranting by the end.

“Not from here either. Although I have been living in this universe for around twenty years now. Sounds like you got caught up in the event River caused. I’m so sorry Rory,” Thete replied.

“River? She’s here?” He saw the expression the Doctor got at that and slumped. “I guess not then.”

“Dead. It was an accident. She got caught up in a struggle after holding a gun on someone and accidentally shot herself. I’m really sorry Rory.”

“I mourned her a long time ago. She felt like she was mine, yet at the same time she didn’t. I miss my friend Mels but not my daughter. She stopped visiting after we got stuck in New York.” Rory looked into the Doctor’s eyes, an itching sensation at the back of his mind only intensifying as he did so, and asked, “Do you know why I’m not ageing?”

“I have a good idea but I’d have to run some tests first. Rory, how much do you remember of the two thousand years as an Auton? A real answer, not what you kept telling Amy.”

“All of it. Oh God I’m not an Auton am I?”

“No. No. I was only joking before about that. You’re not made of plastic Rory. Although being one for a while is just a part of the explanation on why.” Thete observed.

Narvin could be seen walking back dripping wet, muddy and dragging a very wet and muddy dog on a lead and Rose covered in mud and also dripping wet pouting on the dogs back. They walked past and into the TARDIS without a word, Jellath coming along the rear pushing the dog from behind. 

“We’re going to the swimming pool to wash Dotty off along with Rose and ourselves,“ Jellath explained on the way past.

“Do I want to know?” Rory asked, confused.

“Probably not. Well you see the thing is... All the messing with your timeline triggered the hidden DNA inside you and gave you an extra helix just like any natural time lord would. Same thing happened to Rose.” 

“Wait what?” Rory asked, shocked.

Thete threw an arm over Rory’s shoulder and escorted him into the TARDIS. “Well my working theory is that at least one of your parents is a time lord.”

“Don’t be silly. My parents were human. You’ve met my Dad.”

“Could have been your mother. Yes Brian did seem rather human but you can never tell with a chameleon arch.”

“A what?”

“Chameleon arch. It’s a device that overwrites a time lord’s DNA and makes them appear human. Or any species they want really. The time lord part is hidden away inside a biodata module and they wander around clueless with a whole life and backstory thinking they are that person. It would explain how the silence made a time lord out of River too. I just need to ask someone a question to see if my theory is correct.”

They arrived at the swimming pool which was now filled with hot soapy bath water. Rose was swimming around in a bathing suit she seemed to have been talked into wearing while Narvin wore swimming trunks and tried to rub shampoo into his giant not quite Barcelonian dog. Jellath was nowhere to be seen. Thete assumed his daughter retreated to her own room to clean up.

“Hey Narvin, by chance was one of your places for hiding wayward time lords named Leadworth in England?” Thete asked from the side of the pool.

“Leadworth? Yes. Although there are more Shobogan there than time lords. A lot of my relatives were placed there,” Narvin answered without really looking away from what he was doing. Dotty for her part looked at Thete and Rory dolefully wanting rescued from this torture. She had just got herself the perfect amount of smelly and muddy with her swim in the bay and her hard work was being undone.

“Hello Rory,” Rose called out from where she stopped at the edge of the pool.

“Rose? What are you doing here?” Rory looked at Thete. “You mentioned a Rose. Her and the dog went past way too quickly for me to notice…”

“Wait… you two know each other?” Thete asked confused.

“Sure we do. He’s my cousin. Him and my Aunt Tessa were the only relatives I had on Dad’s side.”

Narvin looked up. “Rory? Last time I saw you, you were just a baby. Only a couple months older than Rose.” Rory for his part was looking perplexed at the turn of events. Narvin went on and stated, “I’m your Uncle Pete… Sort of anyway. I’m really Narvinectralonum, a Time Lord of the Patrex Chapter. Everyone calls me Narvin. But once in another life I didn’t live but very much remember I was hiding from the last great time war as a human man named Peter Alan Tyler. Brother of another hiding Time Lady known as the human woman Tessa Tyler who married Brian Williams.”

The Doctor was if anything even more perplexed. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“Sure I do. You even know her. Although she likes to pretend she doesn’t know where she came from exactly. Has been teasing you forever about marrying you. Has a broken old TARDIS that looks like a bus—“

“Iris!? Iris Wildthyme Is your sister?!”

“She’s a lot older than me. Our parents had her young while they were a lot older when they had me. Really though, would you want to admit you're related to Iris if it was you?”

“Mum still drives a bus… Mels stole it once and drove it through the botanical gardens,” Rory babbled. He was still taking things in. He wouldn’t believe any of it if it wasn’t for the fact he’s not ageing and if the Doctor is around seemingly anything is possible.

Thete said befuddled, “I thought Iris was from house Wildthyme, she uses it as a last name.”

“And your brother uses Braxiatel as a last name when somewhere with that naming convention. Doesn’t mean anything really other than his full name is Irvingbraxiatel and he just adds a space in there. Although in Iris' case she was actually married to someone in house Wildthyme for a while. Think about it though, she acts just like my mother only Iris managed to steal an old TARDIS much like you did, left, and never really looked back. So why is Rory here? He shouldn’t exist in this universe.”

“Caught up in the event that brought me here. He’s been wandering around for a long while before then, wondering why he isn’t ageing. Natural Time Lord. Seems you’re part of a line that’s good at producing them.”

“He’s going to have to go to the academy,” Narvin stated.

“Academy? What academy? Natural Time Lord? I don’t even know what most of this means. How can you be Uncle Pete anyway? He died when Rose and I where just babies!” Rory managed to work himself up to a full on panic. Not like him really, because Rory was always the calm steady one that took things in stride but it was exceptional circumstances. Before Rory could get worked up anymore though, Rose had managed to get out of the pool unnoticed, snuck up behind him and Thete and pushed them both into the swimming pool.

“Rose! This is my favourite jacket!” Thete exclaimed. “Now it’s going to smell like wet dog.”

“You both needed to cool off,” Rose replied and jumped into the pool.

Thete grabbed her around the waist and playfully ducked her under the water. She struggled a moment before managing to pull him under as well. The pair play fought with each other for a moment before surfacing for air, neither really out of breath. Rose had been learning to use her respiratory bypass now she has one. 

It didn’t take Rory long to notice the spark between the pair and asked, “How long has that been going on?”

“Since she was nineteen I think,” Narvin replied as he finished getting a particularly stubborn bit of mud out of Dotty’s coat.

“I know you said River is dead… keeping it in the family a bit though?” Rory asked and Narvin snorted, stifling a laugh.

“Look I know River was your daughter but if Rose was still with me I never even would have entertained River’s obsession. I met Rose first. We got separated. Then something happened in the timeline and we no longer got separated. We’re here in this universe because River couldn’t accept it. She tried to kill Narvin to set it back to right. I’m going to be completely honest with you about something and that is that I never loved River Song. She was a responsibility that was thrust upon me by the silence meddling. She was a lot more mentally unstable than even you knew and I placated her. Really it was like I was carrying around a live grenade with no pin in it and if I let go it would go off and potentially blow up the universe.”

“Yea I guessed you were playing along. I think she did too. Really though it’s just weird to see you with someone is all.”

“She’s my Amy,” Thete explained and Rory got it. “She’s the one I’d wait two thousand years outside a box for.”

“We’ll explain more when we get back to Gallifrey,” Narvin said and put his hands up to ward off the soapy water that got shook off by a large dog. One thing was for sure things would be interesting when they got back.

Chapter Text

Rory was sitting on the sofa in the living room of his new home, Narvin’s flat. Rory may be one hundred and fortyish years old (he no longer remembers quite how old he is) but he hasn’t been through the academy. So to make things easier they lied about his age to make him twenty. Twenties are the oldest decade of age they will add in special circumstance cases to the academy. Officially anyway. Narvin is his official guardian as Rory’s uncle since his mother’s whereabouts is currently unknown. So Rory is now where Rose was when she first arrived here, catching up on work and learning to use his mental abilities.

Rose had been as open as a book when she arrived and needed to be taught how to shield. Still couldn’t shield empathically and had to wear a device that would stop her projecting her emotions randomly at other people but could if she actually wanted to. She was an expert at Telepathic shielding though, she could not only block people out but hide away specific memories or thoughts while people searched her mind for them like they were never there. She could reflect mental attacks, but also duck, dodge and hide mentally as well.

Rory was having the opposite problem to Rose. His mental abilities were completely blocked. He had them and they were by all indications quite strong, it’s just he can’t use them. It’s like there’s a faucet that is opened and closed to let telepathy go through in and out at the desired amount but Rory’s faucet had seized shut and been welded for good measure. He had gone to specialists but nothing they tried worked. He still had a headache from the last attempt three days ago. 

His grandmother kept fussing about her new grandchild, delighted to have another one. She had been making him drink all sorts of strange herbal remedies. Sometimes Rory thought those were helping because he thought he could ‘hear’ something in his head accompanied by an itching sensation in his brain right behind his eyes in the middle of the forehead. He’d felt that sensation a few times before like when he met up with ‘Thete’ a few weeks ago. Or been in the TARDIS. He had the worst pain and itching right there in his life the time the TARDIS communicated telepathically with him when House had taken over. Rose and Narvin both kept asking the TARDIS questions about how she got through that time and how she translated for him but the answer was too complex for them to understand.

He looked up as Thete entered the flat and headed straight for him. “I know just the person who will be able to help. Turns out he’s back on Gallifrey at the moment.”

“I still have a headache from the last person you thought could help me,” Rory retorted.

“Yes but this guy is the real deal. If he can’t help you no one can. I’ve known him since I was a boy. I think we might even be distantly related. Anyway the point is K’anpo is the best I’ve known in any of my lives at the mental arts. Even better than Rassilon and that’s saying something.”

“Doctor… sorry Thete… why change your name to Thete anyway?”

“Needed to be distinguished as a different person than the Doctor from this universe. Thete is an old nickname. Now come on Rory. There’s only so long that Rose can cover for my absence at the academy.”

Rory huffed out a sigh knowing this was probably not a good idea and got up. At least he stopped calling him Pond because that probably would hurt too much right now. Being around him brought up a lot of memories of Amy as is. He followed Thete out of the flat and to the transmat station, out through a fancy and rather large house that reminded him somewhat of a manor house he had been to on a school trip once, and into the grounds outside filled with lush red grass and all sorts of exotic looking plants. Eventually they made their way to a place that was like an open paddock at the foot of a mountain with a very large silver leafed tree that had to be really old in the middle. 

They approached the tree but before they got there Thete stopped them and took his shoes off. “Shoes off Rory. Have to show respect to the Menti Celesti when approaching the sacred tree.”

“The what?” Rory asked as he started taking his shoes off.

“Menti Celesti. Basically the ancient gods of Gallifrey. No one worships them anymore, not after we figured out they’re just from another alien race named the eternals; but some like K’anpo still follow the teachings and old ways of the religion without the worship. Bit like your grandmother they think we’ve lost a lot with ‘the age of reason’ when the founders overthrew the Pythia. K’anpo is a monk of sorts from the order of that old religion.”

“If no one actually worships them anymore, even their religious order; why are we taking our shoes off?”

“K’anpo is just a little odd like that. He made me fast for three days and nights once as a kid to show respect to the gods. Really though it’s more of a habitual ritual the order has than actual worship. Socks too. Just leave them here they should be fine. If something does happen to them, go to the house and say your my friend, you were with K’anpo and your shoes are missing. They’ll replace them. Also I swear I did not program K-9 mark six to eat shoes. That was all Rose. Now come along P— Rory.”

Rory sighed and walked in his bare feet towards the giant tree. At least it was by far not the oddest thing Thete had ever made him do. He still hasn’t gotten a straight answer on why he had to confront the Cybermen dressed as a Roman. As they got closer he could see an old man sitting under the tree with Tibetan Monk type robes on. He appeared to be meditating.

Thete approached the man, put his hands together in front of his chin and bowed. “Namaste.”

Rory quickly did the same and K’anpo laughed a little. “Oh don’t worry about that. That’s a Buddhist greeting, not a Gallifreyan one. I spent quite some time living as a Buddhist monk on Earth. By the fact you have no shoes on I see Thete has been up to mischief again and telling you stories of how important it is to do as he does respecting the old ways.”

“You always told me to do so,” Thete huffed.

“You just always needed to learn your manners that’s why,” K’anpo retorted. “So who is this then?”

“I’m Rory. The Doc— Thete kept insisting I come with him to see you.”

“And you came? Just like that. I have a feeling he’s led you on quite the journey indeed before now. No doubt getting you into trouble along the way.”

“I traveled with him for a time in another universe. It was more my late wife’s thing. I just kind of tagged along.”

“You were never just a tagalong Rory,” Thete protested.

“Yes I was. You always got my name wrong, it’s Williams not Pond. You forgot I was there at times looking out for Amy. Always what Amy wanted to do. You’re only really hanging out with me because I remind you of Amy.”

“Of course I know your name is Williams. It was just a joke. I do that a lot. Of course I didn’t forget about you being there, it’s just you were always more capable of looking after yourself. As for doing what Amy wanted, we both did that. You know what she was like. It’s just you were always the loyal, patient one I could depend on and I’m sorry if I took that for granted. Also I’m not hanging out with you because of Amy. You are my friend. Actually if anything you always reminded me of Rose because you always notice the small things.” The Doctor shut his mouth and looked at K’anpo incredulously. “You have a truth field set up in this area haven’t you?”

“Braxiatel thought it would be a good idea to clear the air between the two of you,” K’anpo confirmed.

“Damned Brax and his meddling,” Thete muttered.

“Wait. A, what field?” Rory asked, confused.

“A truth field. Means you can’t lie,” Thete answered fidgeting.

“Really?” Rory asked sceptically.

Thete pulled a pen out of his pocket and held it up. “This is a little ‘Jim Carrey’esk’ but what colour is this pen?”

“Blue,” Rory stated, a little confused.

“You’ve seen the movie Liar Liar haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Ok do what he tried to do in the movie and say this pen is red,” Thete instructed. 

“This is stupid,” Rory complained.

“I know, but it’s a good way to demonstrate a truth field. Come on Rory, just humour me.”

Rory sighed and started out boredly, “the pen is blue….” Rory trailed off. A little more animated this time he said, “The pen is blue…. Wait that’s not what I was going to say… the pen is b-b-b-blue!” Rory was actually getting annoyed now. “The pen is r-r-r-r-r—ROYAL BLUE!!!”

“Just like the movie. We can’t lie,” Thete stated while K’anpo watched amused.

“So you meant what you said?” Rory asked.

“Can’t lie, so yes,” Thete replied looking uncomfortable, he hated truth fields.

“I was only told that you would come visit with a friend who has a problem you think I might be able to help with,” K’anpo redirected the conversation, taking pity on Thete.

“Ah yes. Has Elder Shalla come to visit by any chance since you’ve been back?” Thete asked.

“No. I only got back yesterday. No doubt she’ll show up with some home stilled moonshine eventually. I heard you found your soul mate and she’s actually Shalla’s granddaughter. The two of you are promised now. I hope I live long enough to see the wedding.”

“Of course you will. Plenty of life left in you yet,” Thete protested.

“I’m approaching the end of my last life. I feel it coming, but it’s ok. The wheel must turn even for a Time Lord. I think you know more about that than most old friend.”

“Yes… well… this is Rory, he’s Shalla’s newest grandson. Iris from another universe is his mother,” Thete redirected uncomfortably. “Rory this is K’anpo Rimpoche of the House of Lungbarrow.”

“I haven’t been part of the House of Lungbarrow for a very long time. Long before you or your older brother was born. Your father would have been just a boy when I was officially disowned from the house and my branch of the family within,” K’anpo replied and smiled. “Sneaky use of the truth field. You have been trying to get that information out of me since you were a boy.”

“I was right then, we are related. You mask your telepathic signature so well it’s always been hard to tell,” Thete replied triumphantly.

“You run along back to the academy and spend time with your intended. I’m sure we can talk later. I need to help your friend now and this could be a bit personal for an audience,” K’anpo replied, shooing Thete off like he was still an errant child.

Thete wasn’t going to complain, he just turned to Rory and said, “I hope he can help. He’s right there could be telepathic slippage and you let some things out that you wouldn’t want me knowing.” Then he left.

Once the two were alone K’anpo gestured for Rory to sit with him cross legged under the tree. “So what appears to be the problem and what is the actual problem. Those can be two different things although not always unrelated.”

“I can’t use any telepathic abilities,” Rory said.

“But you’re using a TARDIS translation matrix right now to speak to me since you have yet to learn Gallifreyan. Also the truth field is working fine on you. All of which uses telepathy,” K’anpo stated plainly.

“Yes, well things like that seem to work, and direct downloads of information into my brain seems to work fine as well. It’s me that has problems with sending and receiving.”

“Ah but again if you had problems with sending and receiving how could a TARDIS possibly know you need translation without getting instruction from you to do so. Or the truth field compel you to only speak the truth. Or how would the download crystals know to send the information to you. It seems to me the telepathic pathways of your brain are working just fine.”

“Then how come I can’t use telepathy with other people?” Rory asked exasperated.

“Now that seems to be the heart of your issue. What appears to you to be happening when you try?”

“I don’t know. I get an itching sensation any time someone tries to initiate contact. It’s like I hit a brick wall and it hurts as well as itches when I try.”

“Reach out to me telepathically now,” K’anpo instructed.

“I can’t!” Rory yelled, getting up and throwing his hands in the air.

“Well of course you can’t if you keep telling yourself you can’t do it. A wise man once told me, ‘Do or do not, there is no try.’ ”

“Yoda? Really?” Rory asked incredulously.

“If the shoe fits. Which it seems to me it does right now.”

Rory flopped down to the ground and sat down again. “So you’re telling me the only reason I can’t is because I’ve been telling myself I can’t do it?”

“The mind can be a funny thing that way. I’m guessing you tend to keep your thoughts to yourself often. Opening up can be a very scary concept to such a person. Now connect to me. I will never tell anyone anything you don’t want me to.”

“Do, or do not. There is no try,” Rory muttered to himself and this time he managed to send a telepathic message of the scene where Master Yoda lifted the X-Wing out of the swamp. Problem was it was so strong K’anpo was nearly knocked off his feet, telepathically speaking.

‘Ah. See there you are. Very good although I should have been expecting the amount of force that came with it.’ K’anpo sent back telepathically. When Rory started to get the itching sensation K’anpo somehow grasped hold of it. ‘Hello. What have we here? Very curious indeed. Why would Rassilon want to place telepathic compulsions on you?’

“What?” Rory asked both telepathically as well as out loud unused to mental communication yet.

‘It seems you have been placed under the mental compulsion to think you can’t use telepathy. See here?‘ K’anpo managed to mentally show him the compulsion. ‘Here’s another one to make you want to have children at some point. Also this one is making you want to be with your late wife, while this one stops you trying to make sure your child isn’t abducted.’ Rory remembered all the events of demon's run, his daughter River Song and everything that went along with her. ‘Ah it seems Rassilon desired this outcome for some reason.’

‘Why? Why me? Why Amy? Does this mean I didn’t really love my late wife?’

‘You felt it, so it was real. As for the rest you would have to ask Rassilon and I do not recommend that. My best guess would be he wanted to kill the Doctor at a certain point in his timeline and lay a trap he couldn’t get out of. Rassilon is sick and twisted with no problems using others as his playthings. He used you against him. If he can use friends against each other the better for Rassilon’s amusement.’

‘What now?’

‘The compulsions are all gone now I have exposed them to you. The rest is up to you. I do recommend you keep coming to see me to help you learn your telepathic abilities while you straighten things out.’

‘Yea ok.’

Rory was left with a lot to unpack and get through so he did as asked and went to K’anpo daily after that to learn.

Chapter Text

Rory did well under K’anpo’s tutelage. It wasn’t long before he had perfected the mental arts he needed but he still went to see the old Time Lord regularly. He listened to his stories absorbing them like a sponge. It had been four years and Rory could recite a lot of the old tales of Gallifrey and knew quite a bit about the teachings of the old religion. He even learned the art of transmigration making objects appear in front of him that had been elsewhere. Any Time Lord could do it, it’s just one of those things that is frowned on and seen as a misuse of the Rassilon Imprimatur and could corrupt their biodata.

Rory came back from such a visit and flopped down on the sofa beside Rose who was fixing one of the roombas, he couldn’t tell which one. “Lucifer, Lela or Irving?”

“Lela. She killed Darkel again. Why are you barefoot?” Rose asked, confused.

“K-9 mark 6 ate my shoes again when I left them at the chapter house on the way to visit K’anpo,” Rory explained.

“I have apologised for that bit of reprogramming haven’t I?” Rose asked guiltily, “He was supposed to only do that to Thete and Brax. How is the old man?”

“Still doing well and as spry for his age as ever. He had me climbing halfway up Mount Lung to catch, tag, and release wild flubbles. We got chased up a tree by a dharma. They look like wolves but those things can climb trees as well apparently. I learned some mental projection on the fly. K’anpo thought it would be a great time for me to learn to mentally project a copy of myself in order to distract the dharma.”

“Did it work?”

“Surprisingly well actually,” Rory admitted. “So where's Thete?”

Rose rolled her eyes. “Off in a bit of a huff. He was asking for the millionth time how I couldn’t have said I knew you. Can’t wrap his head around that I genuinely didn’t know it was you he was talking about. Amy is a very common name and I never knew what her last name was, she was just the friend of my cousin’s who I occasionally met when I was staying with him maybe twice a year. You stayed with us in London more often since Mum can’t drive. He also kept calling you Rory Pond and I knew you as Williams. He also never mentioned the name of the town you lived in. He never shared any memories that included you visually with mental connections. Well until we met you again anyway. How the heck did he manage to convince you to dress up as a Roman to go rescue Amy?” Rose asked, laughing a little.

“I have no idea. He was always good at talking me into things. Still is. Had me help him with his last stunt at the academy. He needed someone to help him carry in and cage all those clobber mice to release in the assembly hall during the end of year speech.”

Dotty padded in, squeezed herself down on the sofa and put her head on Rory’s lap and fell asleep. Rory just absently petted her as Rose looked over to where she had been sitting moments ago. She had only gotten up for a few seconds to grab a tool. “You always have had a way with animals. It’s just increased now your mental ability is unblocked.”

“It’s just a matter of considering what the animal would find most soothing and projecting it at them along with feelings of safety and well-being. Doesn’t work as well on predators which is how we ended up up a tree earlier.”

“I’d imagine it would be hard to feel safety and well-being to project at an angry dharma no matter what exercises K’anpo teaches you. Now I just need to find another chair because she looks like she’s there to stay.”

Rory laughed a little then stopped. “Sorry it’s just I could just imagine your mum’s reaction to finding a giant dog on her sofa. Aunt Jackie thought your cat shed a lot.”

“Oh she was just making up excuses because the cat didn’t like her much. Yet she was always all over you.”

“It’s just because Aunt Jackie kept accidentally foiling her plans for world domination, and you trapped her there. She thought I could help her,” Rory replied nonchalantly.

“You know I’d laugh when you made that joke when we were kids but actually the Doctor and I found that cat ruling over a group of human colonists. I recognised her as my cat so we left her back at the Powell Estate.”

“Yea well I wasn’t joking, Puffin actually told me that but I thought I was dreaming. Now I’m not so sure about that part.” Rory looked around in silence for a moment as Rose moved her tools and the roomba over to an armchair and the other side of the coffee table before suddenly blurting out, “I’m glad you’re not dead.”

“So am I… any reason you might think I would be?”

“I thought you died during the whole Cyberman thing centred around Canary Wharf, as well as your mum. You were both listed as dead. I went with mum to check up but no one had seen either of you since before all that happened. We went to the flat but it was empty, everything in it was just gone. Checked with your relatives on your mum’s side and Mo said your boyfriend asked if he could handle everything since she was in the Peak District and your Gran can barely walk. All she had was a few boxes of items she told him she wanted and your Gran the same. I tried to find Mickey but no one had seen him in quite a while. Your mum kept saying to people he’d gotten a job in France, but really it seemed as if he just vanished. Then one of your neighbours told me that no, that thing with Mickey had been over for ages. Your latest boyfriend was a doctor of some sort with brown eyes and spiky hair, kind of tall and thin as a rail. No one knew what his name was and we hit a dead end. I’m guessing that was another regeneration of The Doctor.”

Rose sent calming waves at Rory as well as sisterly affection. Rory was the closest thing by blood she had to a brother once. Despite the distance between where they both lived they were close. Always talking on the phone and he came to stay with them one weekend a month except for when she went to his place during the summer holidays for a week as well as one other weekend a year. Her mum and his thought it was important they kept in touch and grew up knowing each other. Then she’d run off with Jimmy Stone and they had lost contact. “I’m sorry Rory. It must have been terrible for you.”

“It was,” he answered straight, then asked to change the subject, “That year you went missing?”

“The Doctor. Twelve months, not twelve hours.”

“He likes to do things in twelves. He was twelve years late when he told Amy he’d only be five minutes.”

“Now that doesn’t surprise me,” Rose remarked. “We’ve even had unofficial and official flying lessons for TARDIS but he still hasn’t gotten any better.”

“It’s been a while now, do you still miss your mum?” Rory asked suddenly.

“Of course I do. I probably always will because I won’t be on that side of the void long before going back to the original universe. I know she’s happy though. What’s this about? This about Amy?”

“I’m still mixed up on how I feel. I don’t mourn or miss her as much since the compulsions was released and I feel bad about that.”

“You shouldn’t. That compulsion that was put on you was stopping you from properly mourning both your late wife and your daughter. It’s just part of the natural part of loss. Also don’t you dare blame yourself either. I already have a full time job stopping Thete from blaming himself for everything.”

“Anyway I better get washed up and ready for the induction ceremony. I can’t believe I’m starting The Time Lord Academy next term.”

“I’d go sit in the family section but the Time Lords are all too afraid to let me near the untempered schism. At least Dad’s gonna be there. So things might not be as eventful as mine, but it’s the one time, even now as Coordinator of the CIA, that Dad has to wear his full ceremonial Patrex robes. He hates them. Says it’s the one of the great things about being in the CIA, the CIA are supposed to leave house and chapter ties behind in order to serve Gallifrey as a whole which is why they always wear black and white. He prefers his uniform.”

“And K’anpo says he’s going to go meditate in the valley in case I manage to pull a ‘Thete’ and run away dodging all the chaperones. I think he was mostly having a dig at your faience at the time though since he was hanging around. You know, I’ve never seen him so happy. He always had this lonely and broken aura to him; he put up a façade of happiness to hide. He hasn’t got that now. He’s genuinely happy here and you’re the biggest part of that. I can also tell how happy you are with him. I thought I had that once. Maybe I did. I can only hope to find that again one day. Either way I’m happy for the both of you and glad to see you both so happy,” Rory said as he extricated himself from under the giant sleeping dog and then left to get ready.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Things where thankfully not as dramatic for Rory’s ceremony. Both Narvin and Thete showed up to watch. The fact Thete came surprised him especially since he’s not actually family but apparently being promised to his cousin counted towards getting into the family section.

Rory stood with the older initiates at the back who mostly ignored him. There were long boring speeches and the revelation about their chapter being named after The Other, which seemed strange because Rory could have sworn the Cardinals and teaching staff present were side eyeing Thete as the Head Cardinal of the Academy said that part. He stood in line to take the oath then go look into the untempered schism and waited wondering what the huge fuss was about.

Soon enough it was Rory’s turn. He took his oath and was guided to look into the schism. At first Rory was awed as he saw stars being born and eventually dying, galaxies forming and ending. The natural life cycle of the universe.

Then suddenly things changed as he heard music, a wolf howling and the sound of someone screaming. He saw ancient Time Lords as they held down a woman he knew was Rose yet not Rose at the same time, her name was Lekinaveria. He didn’t see any more of that but there was now a man named Patrex who argued with Rassilon about something, Rory couldn’t hear what they were saying but somehow knew the names. It had something to do with the woman he saw earlier. Rassilon tried to kill the other man, The Other, Rory realised. Patrex promised he may have won this time but he will be reborn and he will fight Rassilon at every turn when he is. Rory didn’t see exactly how the other died but he knew he did. He was reborn, quite a few times and fought what Rassilon did at every turn before he died. Then The Other was born yet again and Rory saw flashes of his life and regenerations before there was a war to end all wars against the Daleks. Rassilon was planning to do something devastating to end the whole universe and Rory saw the Other steal a box from a vault, but no it wasn’t The Other… The Doctor…. This was his friend ending the time war.

Before Rory could see anymore he was pulled away from the schism by the usher. He was confused and was led away in a befuddled state, trying to take in everything he saw.

Rory would later corner Thete and ask about what he seen. Thete got very uncomfortable but admitted all about him being The Other and that’s why Rassilon hates him so much. He apologised to Rory for getting him mixed up in his mess and hurt so badly. Rory admitted that although yes it had hurt to lose his daughter and watch his wife die of old age while he stayed the same, he couldn’t imagine his life going any other way and for the most part he had been happy. Also told him to stop blaming himself for everything Rassilon did, that was on Rassilon not Thete.

Chapter Text

“What is Supernatural?“ Narvin asked as he walked out of his TARDIS along with Zaiden and saw the signs everywhere.

“An early twenty-first century TV show that’s been rebooted a lot of times throughout human history. I like the fifty-first century version best. This appears to be an early fan convention from the Twenty-First century. Probably during one of the later seasons. First time around it lasted for fifteen seasons,” Zaiden replied.

“Fifteen seasons? How the hell did it last fifteen seasons?” Narvin asked somewhat befuddled.

“Well you see the rumour goes that one of the series stars, Misha Collins who plays the angel Castiel, made a pact with the black guardian. The black guardian guaranteed Misha a that he’d be a success and be on the show, so long as he causes as much chaos as he can once a year. So Misha came up with this thing that was half scavenger hunt and half art project called GISH where he gets people to do any number of weird to wonderful things out of a list of crazy ideas he comes up with. They’re all in teams and have a week to complete as much of the list as possible and they get points scored on each item. Winning team gets a week’s holiday with Misha at some destination or other. I guess he did so well at the chaos the show lasted fifteen seasons and they couldn’t kill off his character, every time they did Cas would just come back again.”

“Ok, ok. Sorry I asked,” Narvin grumbled before Zaiden could get into the list of crazy things and continued, “So why is Peter Summerfield at a fan convention in the early twenty first century? And how did he get here?”

“Probably stole mum’s time ring. You can thank Brax for her having one of those by the way. As for why a fan convention, he loves this show. I used to watch it with him as a small kid who probably shouldn’t have been watching with him at all at the time. I was five. We both absconded to one of these conventions with Mum’s time ring once. She wasn’t happy when she came with Uncle Brax to get me again. It’s how I know so much about it. I still watch the show sometimes to remember my big brother. It’s going to be weird seeing him again and him not knowing who I am.”

“Yes well Peter has the data crystal we need, and these are the time space coordinates he gave us.”

Narvin started to walk towards the convention but Zaiden stopped him. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“In there to find Peter,” Narvin stated.

“Not dressed like that you’re not. A half human, half dog boy at a convention like this no one will bat an eye. If anything, compliment him on his cosplay outfit. CIA uniforms however will draw attention. Come on let’s get changed,” Zaiden said and dragged his friend back into the TARDIS.

“You just want to get dressed up in cosplay,” Narvin grumbled as they reached the wardrobe room in record time and Zaiden shoved a suit and tan coloured trench coat at him. 

“Yea you caught me, but come on it’ll be fun,” Zaiden said as he found a plaid shirt and put it away again because it was too big.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Narvin was contemplating his life choices as he examined the cardboard cutout of Castiel and compared their outfits. They matched perfectly and his TARDIS was laughing at him. Zaiden was a little disappointed that the only thing he could find that fit was a pair of jeans and a ‘Pearl Jam’ band t-shirt but was having fun anyway, as they headed towards the convention with psychic paper in hand to get in. Narvin was a little worried about it because his TARDIS was especially amused by what Zaiden was wearing.

“Rob! What are you doing out here? Everyone is looking for you! You’re supposed to be on stage with Matt and Rich in ten minutes!” A short stocky woman with black hair insisted and grabbed hold of Zaiden.

“What? I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m not Rob,” Zaiden insisted as a few nearby people laughed at the commotion.

“Yea very funny Rob. You’ve improved with the fake English accent,” she said back.

“It’s not a fake accent… I always sound like this…” Zaiden’s eyes landed on the convention banner with pictures of all the guests on it and internally swore. Sure enough he looked a lot like the guy who played God/Chuck. “Wait you think I’m Rob Benedict who played Chuck?”

More people were watching and some were getting video of the scene on their phones. The lady just rolled her eyes and started to pull at his arm. Narvin laughed at the helpless look he had and called out as he was dragged away, “I’ll just go get a good seat to watch the next panel. See you there Zaiden!”

One of the bystanders beside him laughed and said to Narvin, “You’re friend really does look like Rob, he’s even dressed like him. Had me fooled at first too. Poor Stephanie, she's never going to be allowed to forget this one.”

“Come to these often then?” Narvin asked curiously.

“Hi, I'm Scout. Yea, I come to most of these and sell comics about Rob’s character along with Richard’s one Gabriel. This is your first con?”

“I’m Narvin,” he introduced as he shook her hand, “That obvious then?”

“Only to people who have been to as many of these as I have,” Scout replied.

“Well it’s nice to meet you Scout. I’m going to find somewhere to watch this from because it’s going to be good,” Narvin stated as waved goodbye and used his psychic paper to get into the venue. He found a free seat in the area marked general admittance and waited. 

The band came on stage and started playing music. Someone introduced the three actors from off stage, Rob Benedict, Richard Speight Jr, and Matt Cohan. The three ran in from backstage and started singing ‘three is the magic number’ and ran around the stage as they did so. They finished the song off by Matt getting up on a stool for some reason while the other two held it and jumped off doing the splits in midair before landing on his feet. By everyone’s reaction this was a very normal way for the panel to start.

“Welcome, welcome, welcome,” Rob said to everyone, sounding quite normal.

“Are you ok Robbie?” Richard asked. “You sounded a little English at the start of that song there.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Rob replied. 

“Wait! Stop! That’s not me!” Rob could also be heard yelling from the sound system although Rob on stage wasn’t talking.

“Wow Rob, your ventriloquism has gotten really good. I didn’t see your lips move at all there,” Matt remarked.

“Thanks, I’ve been working on it for ages,” Rob replied.

“No, that's not ventriloquism, it’s me! Rob! The real Rob!” Rob could be heard yelling and came out from backstage and faced the other Rob. They looked exactly like each other only except for a few different grey patches here and there.

“Wait, how could there be two Robs?” Rich asked, confused.

“I have no idea! This is just crazy Rich. I’m the real Rob! I was just late because I got stuck in the restroom, the door jammed shut!” The new Rob exclaimed.

“No he’s the imposter! Come on, ask me anything, I'll prove it!” The other Rob argued.

“Ok Robbie. Can you repeat the last lines word for word Chuck said in season five?” Matt asked.

“I have no idea! That was years ago!” The new Rob yelled in frustration, throwing his hands in the air.

The first one however started to recite the lines, “Endings are hard. Any chapped-ass monkey with a keyboard can poop out a beginning, but endings are impossible. You try to tie up every loose end, but you never can. The fans are always gonna bitch. There's always gonna be holes. And since it's the ending, it's all supposed to add up to something. I'm telling you, they're a raging pain in the ass. 

“This is the last Dean and Bobby will see of each other for a very long time. And, for the record, at this point next week, Bobby will be hunting a rugaru outside of Dayton. But not Dean. Dean didn't want Cas to save him. Every part of him, every fibre he's got, wants to die, or find a way to bring Sam back. But he isn't gonna do either. Because he made a promise. 

“So, what's it all add up to? It's hard to say. But me, I'd say this was a test... for Sam and Dean. And I think they did all right. Up against good, evil, angels, devils, destiny, and God himself, they made their own choice. They chose family. And, well... isn't that kinda the whole point? No doubt -- endings are hard. But then again... nothing ever really ends, does it?”

There was uproarious applause and the first Rob took a bow and even the other three on stage clapped at his performance. Richard lifted his hand making a stop gesture after a few moments and once the crowd died down said to the first Rob, “Ok you’re not Robbie.” He picked up an object from the stand in front of the stage where Rob normally sang from. “Robbie can’t even remember the words of his own songs half the time so needs this iPad to keep him from mixing them up.”

“I did have a stroke a few years ago, Rich. It’s not my fault if I get a bit mixed up sometimes,” the actual Rob (the second one) complained, as he took the iPad from Rich.

“It’s the iPad of shame,” Rich joked as Rob put it back where he got it.

“So who are you?” real Rob asked the fake Rob.

“Who knows. Maybe I’m actually Chuck and I got thrown into this reality like in the episode ‘The French Mistake’,” He replied magnanimously, “Or maybe I’m a eight hundred and thirty six year old alien from the planet Gallifrey. A Time Lord by the name of Zaidendestinwild, charged to watch over time and never interfere… unless it’s a Tuesday or Friday of course. Coming from a long line of time lords who interfere, my father, the Doctor, being the most famous among them…..” he dropped the ‘Rob voice’ and started in his English sounding accent again, “Or maybe I’m actually named Zaiden and I’m from England. Hi everyone. I just came here with my friend Narvin who I made dress up as Castiel. We were coming here to meet up with someone, when one of the staff mistakenly thought I was Rob and dragged me back here. It’s even a total coincidence we’re dressed the same today.”

“You got to admit it’s a scary resemblance between the two of you. When Stephanie brought you backstage I actually thought you were Rob at first. Until the actual Rob showed up with Richard,” Matt said.

“I honestly thought I was in an episode of the twilight zone, or having another stroke for a moment,” Rob added.

“I was wondering if someone spiked my coffee,” Richard continued, “I know you said you could manage a passable impression of Robbie but that was spot on with the accent and mannerisms. I’m guessing you got those lines spot on too by the reaction of everyone. That wasn’t even practiced beforehand. We just came up with a basic outline of all that and made the rest up as we went along.”

“My father taught me that if you just act like you're supposed to be somewhere most people won’t even question it. If they do, then you play the part as best you can and try not to trip yourself up or back yourself into a corner. Then if all else fails take the most unexpected course of action because no one will have planned for it. This definitely qualifies as unexpected,” Zaiden explained.

“Definitely unexpected. Before you go tell us about yourself, and why you like supernatural.” Rob asked.

“I sound English but I’m not originally from England. I’m a refugee and came from a place where a war was going on. Both my parents were off fighting in the war, but I had an older brother. My brother took care of me. Then when it came to escaping he was presumably killed because a very different type of monster was after me and the other kids that were in the transport to get out and to safety. He held them off against overwhelming odds while we escaped. I was six years old and he was only seventeen. So I like Supernatural because it’s a story about two brothers who although haven't got as big an age gap between them have the same sort of dynamic I had with my brother. I watch Sam and Dean and it reminds me of my big brother who I owe everything to. It’s a way to feel closer to him.”

“Big round of applause for Zaiden and his Robbie impression,” Richard announced. 

Zaiden stepped off the stage and walked through the audience until he found Narvin. He took a seat beside him and laughed before asking, “So how much trouble am I in?”

“Well it’s a Saturday so we’re supposed to be upholding the laws of time, but luckily for you we left on a Tuesday so I guess I don’t have to sanction you for telling everyone who you really are,” Narvin answered. “Although this is no doubt already on the internet and UNIT is aware of who you are now.”

“I’m not afraid of UNIT, they won’t harm me.”

“No but they might try and get you to work for them when you’re here.”

“They probably should. All joking aside about doppelgängers and people that have a twin everywhere, there’s something up with Richard Speight Jr.”

“What do you mean? Who would want to take a C list actor and replace them?”

“I don’t know but look at him with your other senses than just your eyes,” Zaiden insisted.

Narvin did so and frowned. “I see what you mean. Why would an eternal be posing as a low level actor?”

“I’m not quite sure. If he is an eternal to begin with.”

“With timelines as long and unending as those? Also quite a lot of metaphysical power behind him.”

“I’ve never met one before so I don’t know but something is off,” Zaiden stated. “I think we should confront him.”

Narvin rolled his eyes. “You’re as bad as your father. Can’t leave well enough alone.”

“Come on, you can’t tell me you’re not at least curious.”

“Sure I’m curious, but what’s the Earth saying about curiosity and cats?” Narvin asked. “You want to investigate, go ahead I’ll find Peter and get the information on the free time movement. Just don’t call me for help when he sticks you into your own metaphysical universe to help get you out again.”

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

It took a while because Peter was wearing a shimmer so no one would notice something was off about him, but Narvin did track him down before saying something about Brax finding someone else to pass his future knowledge on for him. Zaiden had gone to investigate the Richard situation so Narvin figured he’d give him a little while before excruciating his old friend from whatever trouble he’s got himself in.

Narvin looked around the vendor room figuring it’s as good a way as any to pass the time. He found Scout selling her comics ‘God and Gabe’ as well as something called the ‘Swaingels’ . He went over and picked one up. “My son Rory has a project he needs to do on comic books and graphic novels. Needs examples of different types of independent comics.”

“Wish I could have had a project like that at school,” she replied, “where’s your friend?”

“Still pretending to be Rob for some sort of gag. If you see him running around out here that’s actually Rob not Zaiden. They swapped places to see how long it would take his friends to notice.”

“So what sort of school has projects on comic books? He is at some art school?”

“Sort of. The school both my kids go to heavily concentrate on both the arts and science. They’re encouraged to find both an artsy subject they like and a science one. Rory is actually my nephew but I’ve been raising him instead of my sister who has no business ever trying to raise a kid. So he’s my son now. He chose comics and graphic novels, and that sort of thing. Has even been writing his own about an immortal centurion called ‘ The Last Centurion ’. As science he’s into biology, more specifically veterinary biology. Has quite the collection of pets, and so long as the spiders stay on the other side of the house and locked in that room, I'm fine with that. My daughter Rose is a few years ahead, she’s into engineering, mostly robotics and a number of topics within the physics umbrella. She however can’t draw very well unless it’s in an engineering diagram. She does music instead.”

-x-x-x-x-x-

Meanwhile backstage with Zaiden….

Zaiden had fun pretending to be Rob as they fooled all his friends backstage but the word got out soon enough and everyone came to suspect something. Eventually though he got Rich alone and confronted him, “So what happened to the real Richard Speight Jr?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know I may look human but I’m not. My species has extra senses and one of those is the ability to see and recognise people by that unique energy everyone has that we’ll call a soul for lack of a better word. You’re not human either. You have way too much energy to be a human.”

Richard let out a breath then suddenly his stance shifted and he clicked his fingers. Zaiden was now very suddenly tied up to a support pillar in the middle of the empty green room. “You know, I was doing the ‘whole act as Richard and keep my head down’ thing so darn well. Bloody Time Lords. Always have to stick your noses in where you’re not wanted. What are you CIA?”

“I’m not from around here, how could I be part of the Central Intelligence Agency?” Zaiden argued back.

“No, I'm talking about the Gallifreyan CIA, the Celestial Interventions Agency,” he replied, rolling his eyes. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Zaiden claimed as he tried to get loose from the ropes. “I’m just a passing Time Lord who got curious why an eternal is pretending to be a not very well known actor.”

“Pffft… Eternal? They’re a real boring bunch. I’m not one of them. Besides, the Gold Guardian wiped most of them out in N-Space.”

“If you’re not an eternal then what are….. oh…. that’s unexpected,” Zaiden said as he thought it over. “How did you get here from another metaphysical universe Gabriel?”

“You’re quick. I’ll give you that one. As for how I got here? Never underestimate what punishment my brother’s think is funny for getting in their way. They didn’t kill me at the end of season thirteen. Oh no. They thought it would be way more funny to trap me in a universe where I play Gabriel on TV. As for Richard I got no idea but knowing Michael and Lucifer he’s probably dead. I replaced him just as they shot the first scene of Tall Tales in season two. At least I’m a better actor than Sam and Dean when they had it done to them. Problem is, unlike them I’m stuck here. My Grace has been coming back slowly, and hanging with the pagans means I know how to help that along and recharge my batteries by coming to these things. Still don’t have enough to jump to another metaphysical universe though. Not sure I have even at full power. Should have known better than to get involved with the Winchesters,” Gabriel ranted.

“If you untie me I might actually be able to help you with that,” Zaiden spoke up.

“How?” Gabriel asked skeptically. 

“While not from another metaphysical universe, I am from another universe. Like I said, I'm a refugee. I came here as a boy but I still have the device that brought me here. It’s in storage linked to my pockets. I can just hand it over, it’s not like I haven’t made about a dozen others at this point. Maybe you can use it along with your Grace somehow to get home.”

“Fine, but one wrong move and you’ll be calling your friend to request pickup from the moon,” Gabriel said, clicked his fingers and Zaiden was untied again.

True to his word Zaiden reached into his pocket and pulled out a device that looked a lot like Rose’s dimension cannon but wasn’t. “It takes roughly a half hour to charge between jumps. It’s pretty crude but I assume you’re immune or at least resistant to void energy,” he said as he handed it over. “If you need any help, come see me.”

“You know, you’re a lot like your father. I’ve deliberately been keeping out of his path because of the trouble that tends to follow him, and the other one is mostly on Gallifrey so not needed to avoid him. You though, you still genuinely want to help me even though I just tied you up.”

“Everyone keeps telling me that. That’s the second time today I’ve been compared to him. Narvin told me I was too much like him when I said I wanted to investigate what is going on here. Really though I just want to help where I can. I’m just better at keeping out of trouble. I just got tied up. Dad would have uncovered a full scale invasion as well as ending up tied to a pillar.”

Gabriel snorted in laughter. “You know kid, I could actually see that happening.”

Chapter Text

Rose’s one hundredth birthday happened a few weeks ago. It was a huge celebration and she got overwhelmed with gifts from everyone. There had been a huge party setup in her grandmother’s bar in Low Town and it got rather rowdy. The Chancellery guard might have liked to respond for once to a call from Low Town but their captain, Andred, was in there celebrating along with his wife Lela. They got rather drunk along with a few members of the chancellery guard that came with them.

Her Dad got drunk enough to start singing old gallifreyan folk songs and get everyone to join in. Him and Zaiden both where actually surprisingly good singers, and both could actually play a number of instruments people kept challenging them to play that came from seemingly nowhere. Rose suspected they actually came from Thete’s TARDIS and he kept bring them out for people to give to them. 

She met her Aunty Iris for the first time (well as Iris and not the human version of her aunt she knew back home) because she was never one to miss a party. It kind of shocked Rory to see how different the time lord version was to the human version of his mother but he did see some similarities here and there.

Then all the wedding gifts came in and was just glad most of it could be shoved into storage in Thete’s TARDIS. Rose really has no idea why she might need a hundred and six muffin mould trays for example. Or a book on Angorian Insects their mating habits and anatomy, she gave that one to Rory who had surprised himself with how fascinated he was with that stuff. Then there was the two hundred and twenty seven trombones, that one really stumped her because she can’t even play the trombone nor know anyone (except apparently Zaiden) who could.

There had been a bunch of rituals she had to partake in from both Time Lord and Shobogan culture. Which involved a lot of progressively stranger things. First there was this bathing ritual thing all the females of her family did together. Followed by a traditional tea. Then they try to see into the future of the happy couple to predict how many children they will have, and a bunch of stuff that seemed like they could possibly be culturally normal or significant. 

It’s when her relatives led by her cousin Jeck took her to the farm to sheer the gallifreyan equivalent of a sheep, bison, cow thing called a nerox, she thought something is a little off. She managed it though and the massive beast was actually surprisingly friendly. Then they got her to trim its hooves, and paint them like she was painting it’s nails. She washed it with some of the nice smelling shampoo she uses on Dotty, and finished off with tying a bow around its neck. It was when her grandmother found them and wanted to know what they where doing with a nerox she knew she had been played and her cousins fell over laughing. Apparently pranking your friends and relatives who are about to get married is a thing in Shobogan culture. She spent the rest of that day relaxing in the old barn, watching as her cousins bring in bales of hay by hand after they got done mucking out the farm animals. All chores were made more like the equivalent of scrubbing a floor with a toothbrush, that both her grandmother and great aunt made them do.

The Time Lord pre wedding stuff was all actually really boring and over in an hour, it was all about quite reflection. There was a party after, a separate one for both the bride and groom. Not a lot happened at hers but apparently Rory jumped out of a giant cake at Thete’s. All Rory would tell Rose about it was, it was revenge.

Now today is the day. The day she will be getting married to her Doctor, or Thete as he went by these days. Rose was nervous and kept fidgeting with the cuffs of the sleeves of the elaborate gown she wore. It wasn’t really like a traditional Earth wedding dress but it had a few similarities here and there. Biggest differences was the colour which was in her chapter colours, no train or vail, and was long sleeved. It was decorated in overly stylised Gallifreyan script with words of duty, honour, and commitment on it. Nothing about love or sentiments like that, most Time Lord marriages being politically motivated. Her own may be for love but even then it wasn’t completely without political advantage for house Lungbarrow. Now her father is coordinator of the CIA, unlike the one doing the grunt work back when they first met.

“It’s not too late to change your mind. We could get your old dimension cannon and run away,” Narvin joked with his daughter as he entered the rooms they were using in the Lungbarrow house. He supposed they were actually hers now that she will be marrying into one of the main families of the house and as such got her own personal quarters there.

Rose laughed. “Not a chance. Besides Thete would only come after us and what about poor Rory? We can’t just abandon him here. Not an only child anymore, you officially adopted him remember?”

“Rory would be alright. Besides you know Thete would just drag him along with him when he chases after us. Those two are always getting into trouble together.”

“True,” Rose replied laughing. She sobered after a moment, “I wish my mum could be here.”

“As awkward as it would be for me, if it was possible for me to go grab her and bring her here I’d do it. The time dilation makes it impossible though.”

“I know Dad.” Rose took a deep breath to steady her nerves and put her arm through Narvin’s. “Well it’s time then.”

“It’s time,” Narvin intoned, also took a deep breath and they started walking together.

They walked together outside the house and into the gardens until they reached a beautifully laid out pathway. It was twisty and turny, but if you were to look at it from far enough above you would see it spelled out a Gallifreyan word there was no real translation for. The word was requested instead of the normal political matchmaker one. This was more traditional and a throwback to when time lords married for love on Gallifrey. The word meant timeless commitment and two souls being joined forevermore, now, and always has been and a few more tenses we don’t have names for.

Rose let go of her father. She was supposed to walk this alone to reach the altar for lack of a better word. Thete had an identical one to walk as well. They’re to walk the path and meet each other at their ends in quiet contemplation, to represent the journey they have taken in order to meet each other. They had to manage this in lock step with each other to represent how they were always just two halves of a whole waiting to be put back together. 

Thete was waiting on his path, dressed in a traditional robe with the same lettering as Rose’s dress. It had the seal of his house and was in the heliotrope colour of the chapter he now officially belonged to. Thete had been nervous as he wondered if she would change her mind and not show up. It was a rather illogical thought since he has been in a loving and committed relationship with Rose now for nearly eighty years. They had their ups and downs in that time but always came through the downs stronger for having endured them. It was actually the most healthy relationship he’s ever been in. Part of him hopes the other Doctor acts the complete idiot and rejects what is offered when they get back to their prime universe so he can keep her to himself. The other part would hunt him down and slap some sense into him for hurting Rose. When Rose showed up and stood at her end of the path all doubts fell away as his breath was stolen for a moment at how beautiful she was.

The two reached out to each other mentally to coordinate and started down the path. They matched each other step for step as they made their way along and met in the middle. As they met Thete took Rose’s hand and whispered to Rose, “Run.” And they did as they ran hand in hand along another pathway in lockstep until they went through an archway and arrived at an altar where people were gathered. It was beneath the big tree and K’anpo stood behind the altar. 

They waited a few moments for people who had been watching them walk the path joined the others by the tree. It was a rather large number of people and neither Thete or Rose knew even half of them. They didn’t care though because they only had eyes for each other.

They were brought out of their trance as K’anpo spoke up, “Lords and Ladies, and everything and everyone in between.” There was a small laugh from those gathered at the last part. “We are all gathered here today to officially join Rose Tyler of the Patrex Chapter and Thete of the House Lungbarrow, Family Ulysses, of the Patrex Chapter together in matrimony. I say officially, for it is obvious to all who have eyes to see that these two have already been joined at the soul deep level. Two soulmates, two halves of a whole, uniting and becoming one.

“Lord Narvinectralonum of the Patrex Chapter as representative of the paternal line of Rose Tyler of the Patrex Chapter, do you accept the terms laid out in the marriage contract and give this Lady to her Lord?”

“I accept and gladly give,” Narvin answered with the ritual words.

“Rory Williams of the Patrex Chapter as the fill-in representative of the maternal line of Rose Tyler of the Patrex Chapter, do you accept the terms laid out in the marriage contract and give this Lady to her Lord?”

“I accept and gladly give,” Rory echoed the words he once said before in a very different and arguably coerced wedding of the Doctor’s.  

“Ulysses of House Lungbarrow, Family Ulysses of the Prydonian Chapter as the fill in representative of the paternal line of Thete of the House Lungbarrow, Family Ulysses, of the Patrex Chapter, do you accept the terms laid out in the marriage contract and give this Lord to his Lady?”

“I accept and gladly give,” the alternate counterpart of the Doctor’s father replied.

“Penelope of House Lungbarrow, Family Ulysses of the Prydonian Chapter as the fill in representative of the maternal line of Thete of the House Lungbarrow, Family Ulysses, of the Patrex Chapter, do you accept the terms laid out in the marriage contract and give this Lord to his Lady?”

“I accept and gladly give,” The Doctor’s mother’s counterpart replied not just ritually but genuinely.

“This Ribbon represents time,” K’anpo said as he approached from behind the altar holding out a golden ribbon, “the golden colour represents eternity.” He tied it over their joined hands that they had joined the whole time. “tying the ribbon around each other’s hand represents your joining forever for you have agreed to a marriage without end. You both have agreed to have a permanent marriage bond between you. I must ask our neutral third party who has skimmed your minds to make sure this has been in no way coerced. Lady Romanadvoratrelundar of House Heartshaven of the Prydonian Chapter, you have agreed to be the neutral third party?”

“Yes,” Romana answered. She wasn’t long back from E Space when she was asked to do so. She was the only legally neutral third party Thete and Narvin would trust to keep Thete’s secret. Rose agreed easily enough; if her father trusts her that’s good enough for her. Rose knows her father doesn’t trust many people after all.

“Did you find any signs of coercion?”

“None. They are both happy and very much in love, and it’s a beautiful thing I’m honoured to have witnessed.”

“Then you may form the beginnings of your bond which shall only grow deeper over time,” K’anpo  stated shortly before the happy couple reached each other’s temples with their unclasped hands. They reached into each other’s minds as far as was considered decent to do so in public, and formed a permanent open connection to each other. They will make it much deeper later in private because it requires physical intimacy to do so. When they let go of each other’s temples K’anpo held their joined hands and raised them for all to see and declared, “I now pronounce these two joined under the most ancient laws of Gallifrey.”

There was a cheer from the audience as they finished the ceremony and the newly married couple stepped away from the altar to join the people who had gathered for the event.

-x-x-x-x-

After the ceremony they all gathered for a feast. There were tables setup in the gardens beside the great house. All sorts of delicacies were laid out on the tables. It wasn’t a sit down meal like in western human culture from Rose’s time, but more a buffet where people go and take what they want then sit wherever they want to at one of the many tables laid out to accommodate guests. There was no arranged seating for people. It was so no feathers are ruffled when you show one guest you don’t think they’re as important or more important than another by where you seat them. It used to be a huge problem with how much ego the average time lord has.

They just got done with speeches, and were about to go get food when there was a huge commotion. Wondering what was going on Thete and Rose ran over to the centre of it all. There was a nerox happily munching on a table cloth instead of the assortment of grasses laid out at the huge table in front of it. Brax was laughing at the sight as Narvin was yelling and asking what a nerox was doing here. 

Narvin tried to move it to who knows where because it wasn’t as if there was a handy paddock nearby to corral the huge animal in, but the nerox wouldn’t budge when he pulled at the halter. “What is a nerox doing here Braxiatel?! Stop laughing and answer me! It’s not like it could have just wandered in! There’s even a table laid out for it! And why is it’s hooves painted in nail varnish and it’s wearing a bow?!”

“Well you requested it be here,” Braxiatel answered slyly.

“I did no such thing!” Narvin argued back.

“Sure you did. Back when we negotiated the contract. Rose was uncomfortable with the ritual slaughter of a nerox so you said, ‘skip the nerox slaughter. We can just have one served at the feast.’ so here’s the unslaughterd nerox being served at the feast.”

“I didn’t mean that quite so literally!” Narvin insisted as he looked over that clause in the contract and sure enough that’s exactly what it said.

“You said not to slaughter the animal, what other way was I supposed to take it? That’s the problem with English, so many interpretations of the same words. You said that part in English after all. You used to slip into speaking in English when trying to placate your daughter back then,” Braxiatel responded.

Rose in the meantime walked over to the nerox and started scratching the side of its head. Narvin noticed and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Nero loves being scratched here, don’t you big fella,” Rose replied nonchalantly.

“Nero?”

“That’s his name. We’re friends. Jeck introduced me to him a couple days ago.”

“You’re not keeping him as a pet or if you are, your new husband can house him,” Narvin replied immediately. 

“Of course I don’t want to keep him. He’s built for a colder climate. It’s way too hot for him around the citadel.”

“Actually you already own him. He’s part of your bridal gifts from our family,” Braxiatel explained, then hastily added at the dark look Narvin was giving him, “Don’t worry he’s just visiting. I’ve already arranged for Nero to live out the rest of his days on a farm sanctuary around his native habitat up towards the polar region of Gallifrey.” 

Seeing everything was ok Thete checked in with Rose before heading to find something to eat. Rory intercepted him along the way and asked, “What happened that whole ‘whispering your name’ part that happened last time?”

“Very different circumstances. I only did that to complete a time loop and I didn’t even give her my real name. It was just a code word I devised a long time ago that I pretend is my name. Also this time I don’t need to whisper, have a telepathic bond so I can tell her that way. Not that she doesn’t know it already. It’s not exactly a huge secret what my birth name is on Gallifrey. It’s just that not many people outside of Gallifrey knew it before the war and no one afterwards. Anyway I had to whisper, no offence but wasn’t going to let her inside my head. Not even with only the light friendly telepathic connection I’d harass you with from time to time to send a plan or whatever. You know the sort people here use amongst their friends.”

They talked for a while before he left again and spent the rest of the night with Rose and mingling with the guests. All and all it was a good time and nothing much happened other than every table cloth in the vicinity of Nero got eaten, and a few people almost got trampled by a single minded nerox determined to seek out those tablecloths.

Chapter Text

Thete and Rose managed to get away for a while. They where to seal a small rift on a resort planet that boasted some of the best beaches, water parks, theme parks, restaurants and even a huge open market. At Rose’s age it wasn’t uncommon for students of certain areas of study to be sent to do what was considered the drudge work as practice. They had been here before back in their own universe. The Doctor was all big ears and leather then. It confused Thete because he remembers being here with her but a lot of the details are fuzzy.

They split up temporarily, Rose to find the spot that was causing the problems, while Thete went to get them chips in a nearby chip shop. Rose was busy checking the handheld scanner. There had been a large spike around here twenty minutes ago. She really wasn’t looking where she was going and walked into a tall slim man who was himself very bewildered. 

“Rose! You were carried off by that rift I detected as well?” The man asked in a thick northern accent.

Rose looked up and gaped stupidly for a moment at her first Doctor. “Doctor?” Rose pulled him into a huge hug.

“Hey! You get your hands off my….” Thete yelled as he came out of the chip shop but trailed off when he noticed who she has currently hugging. “Oh great, it’s big ears. At least now I know why I can’t remember much about our first time here.”

“Oi, who are you calling big ears?” Nine replied, insulted and let go of Rose. “You have a bit of a chin yourself.”

“Oh here we go again. Can you ever get along when you meet yourself Doctor?” Rose asked, rolling her eyes.

It was only then that Nine took in all the differences between the Rose in front of him and the one he had seen only twenty minutes ago. He felt it then, Rose had a telepathic signature. A distinctly time lord one. Also one that was unmistakably tied to the floppy haired idiot that was no doubt some future or alternate version of himself. The echoes of that bond hit him as well in a warm welcoming way that wrapped him up in the telepathic equivalent of a hug. Tears came to his eyes when he felt the song of Gallifrey also hit the back of his mind.

“Overwhelming at first isn’t it?” Thete asked sympathetically. “I know it was for me when I first got here. And I’d been alone in my head with nothing but the TARDIS and later the disembodied spirit of Narvin for company for much longer.”

“Narvin?” Nine asked incredulously. “Coordinator Narvin? Of the CIA?”

“Oh come on my Dad isn’t that bad,” Rose defended.

“You didn’t know him before you came along,” Thete grumbled.

“Yes he’s told me all about how he used to be a complete jerk with his head up his arse,” Rose added.

“You made him better. It’s what you do, Rose. Find lonely and run down old time lords and make them better. Even Braxiatel is less of an arse than I remember.”

“Your father? Narvin is your father? How? I met your father, he seemed human to me,” Nine spoke up for the first time, finally able to speak.

“Well he was at the time. Also unfortunately didn’t have his watch on him either. He was using a chameleon arch. No my mum isn’t also secretly a time lord, she’s very much human. Our next door neighbour you got in an argument with about how to properly fix the leaking pipe under the kitchen sink is though. That was actually your eldest son Everian. Who as far as I know still thinks he’s a plumber back in our home universe.”

“Well that explains a lot. He didn’t even blink an eye at me using the sonic screwdriver on it, and just argued the sonic resonance was just going to make the leak worse. Wait, I forgot about that until now… perception filter?” Nine asked after getting done with his small rant.

“All of them are hiding from Rassilon so they have very strong ones on them that specifically hide them from Time Lords. Or so Dad says,” Rose confirmed. “Probably a good thing he moved away not long after. They’re all programmed to start noticing their biodata modules if they meet you at the right point in your timeline. Before you ask, he found Dad’s watch among my things and brought it here with him. This universe’s Narvin opened it and got his memories. Says it still feels odd sometimes because of how much they integrated into each other. Wakes up some mornings feeling like he’s in the wrong body for a while because he had regenerated out of the one he has now.”

“How did you get here? Are you even from the same universe as my Rose?” Nine asked disbelievingly, still trying to wrap his head around it.

“Close enough since I don’t remember any of this but a fuzzy memory of going to this planet with Rose, and a feeling that I’ve forgotten something,” Thete confirmed. 

“And you're married to Rose?”

“Father approached her father and got Brax to negotiate the contract and everything,” Thete confirmed and added, “K’anpo even performed the ceremony. And you don’t need to get jealous, Rose always loved you best.”

“Wait father actually agreed to do that?” Nine asked somewhere between incredulity and confusion.

Rose and Thete actually laughed before Rose calmed down enough to say, “Yes and he also learned never to make a bet with Braxiatel.”

“Why? What did he do?” Nine asked, confused. In response Rose just pulled one of her academy data pads from her pocket, brought up the security footage of both Ulysses formal request to her father, then his address to the high council dressed as a flutterwing before handing it over. Nine laughed so hard he almost dropped the data pad. He actually wiped tears from his eyes as he handed the data pad back, took a breath and said, “Fantastic! That is the thing I never knew I needed to see. How Narvin kept so straight faced through the whole thing I’ll never know. What was he stupid enough to bet with Braxiatel over anyway?”

“I got enrolled in the Patrexan academy along with Rose. Our whole family was taking bets on how long before I run away again and Brax was running the betting pool,” Thete replied smirking.

“He was the only one to say you wouldn’t,” Nine stated rather than asked.

“Pretty much. Well, other than Zaiden. He said it was a sucker’s bet and refused to participate,” Thete confirmed.

“I always knew that kid was the smart one,” Nine replied grinning.

“As much fun as this has been, big ears needs to get back on the other side of that rift before we can seal it,” Thete interrupted.

“He doesn’t have to go right away does he?” Rose complained.

“Rose, you know how much time dilation there is between this universe and most others. If he doesn’t go now he will be gone too long and past you would be stranded.”

“And leave a huge universe shattering paradox, yes I know… it’s just…” Rose turned to Nine. “I never did get to say thank you Doctor. For being you. For taking my hand that day in the basement of Hendricks. For showing me all you have and will do. For being the man I first fell in love with. Don’t get me wrong, I still do love you no matter what form you may take. It’s just I never did get to properly say goodbye.” Rose smiled impishly and said, “I think I need a Doctor,” before pulling him down into a searing kiss. When they broke apart Rose stepped back and held out the device she had been given to seal the rift with and said, “Goodbye Doctor,” before pressing a sequence of buttons sending him back across the rift and sealed it behind him.

Thete put his arms around his wife and pulled her into a hug kissing the top of her head. “I’m sorry he couldn’t stay longer.”

Rose smiled. “He’s still right here,” she replied and poked him in the chest between his hearts. “I get that now. I thought I accepted and understood it before I came to this universe but I realise I didn’t. Not really. I always still had that little tiny part of me that couldn’t understand how you can be the same. I know more about the process of regeneration and soul energy now. I know fully without the slightest bit of doubt you and him are the same man. I just guess the human part of me, that part that’s still that nineteen year old shop girl you met oh so long ago now, still needed to say those things though.”

“Well I’m glad you had the chance to do so,” Thete told her smiling. 

Rose reached into the chip packet Thete had been holding and forgotten all about, pulled out a chip and ate it. “That whole metacrisis thing you showed me your memories of briefly must have been disorienting though. Same soul in two different bodies at the same time, as in simultaneously. I’d probably trip over my own feet even trying to move. You weren’t lying when you said you’re literally the exact same person even if some of Donna got mixed in there.”

“Was completely worth it until we realised you weren’t exactly human. Was far too late then. We made the best of it in that parallel world but eventually that body died of old age. That won’t happen now. Not even the metacrisis will, if we can help it. If it does and past me tries to be a complete idiot and leave you in Pete’s world I’ll smack some sense into him… then Narvin will probably do something like throw him into a black hole.”

Rose snorted in laughter. “I doubt Dad would go that far.”

“No really. He has a specific one picked out and everything, he took me for a close up look at it before our wedding. Said if I hurt you I can go say hello to Omega for him. I thought he could be scary as head of the CIA but that’s got nothing on him being your father.”

Chapter Text

Rose graduated from the Patrexan Academy top of her class while Thete scraped through with the lowest possible passing score, again. Just like last time no one could prove he did it deliberately but everyone knew he did. He had proved on multiple occasions to thoroughly know the course material and be extremely smart and inventive after all. 

They both attended the university in the citadel to complete farther degrees. Rose got doctorates in Quantium Robotics, Multiversal Transdimentional Theory, and Temporal Physics. Thete got a doctorate in Transtemporal Tiddlywinks because it was the most ridiculous thing he could find on the curriculum and he had a reputation to keep up after all. Rory graduated later also top of his class and went on to get an actual medical doctorate for treating both Time Lords and Gallifreyans, veterinary and xenobiology. 

Both Rose and Rory had no problems passing their tests in both time capsule piloting and maintenance while Thete only passed the maintenance exam, which was an improvement on the last time. He grumbled every chance he could get that it wasn’t his fault the capsule they were using for the test that belonged to the testing facility, decided to land on the bottom of a river in twenty first century Earth and take the shape of an old sunken car. That wouldn’t have been so bad if it wasn’t for the YouTubers using sonar to find underwater cars. They dived down on ‘the wreck’ , rigged it up and pulled the capsule out of the river. The whole time all the students and examiner were stuck inside the capsule and unable to move because they couldn’t have ‘the car’ just disappear on very active live stream.

All three of them ended up being recruited for the CIA as soon as they left schooling behind them. Although in Thete’s case it was reluctantly but he ultimately joined to watch out for Rose, and definitely not because he actually enjoyed doing what he’s always done only legally. Thete had always had a special talent for knowing and finding tipping points in timelines and how to change things for the better without doing major damage to the over all web of time. He was also surprised to find Narvin was all for letting him do what he does and make the universe that little bit of a better place. He wasn’t sure why that surprised him because over the past one hundred and fifty years he’s really gotten to know the man a lot better than he used to although he suspected Rose had a lot of influence on making him a better person.

Rose learned a lot from Thete, this universe’s Doctor, and even Zaiden who had inherited his father’s talents on identifying those moments in time and how to change things. It didn’t come as naturally to her as it did them ironically. Bad Wolf kept letting her see too much of the timelines as well as multiversal implications. She was much better at making big changes to time lines instead of small ones. 

Things were helped along a lot now that Romana was Lord President and also had no problems letting them get on with it. 

-x-x-x-x-

Narvin looked at the three agents in front of him wondering how they got themselves into this mess. Then again it was Thete, Rose and Rory. “The three of you were supposed to go in, change things so peace was ultimately reached a decade earlier and not get noticed.”

“Well to be fair the Durmino Empire is at peace now and it’s a decade earlier than before,” Thete replied. “Mission accomplished.” 

“Yes but without getting noticed. Rory becoming the first Star Knight in a thousand years and using their traditions and beliefs to make them sign a peace treaty is hardly being supple,” Narvin argued back.

Rory shuffled awkwardly and scratched at where the golden bracelet was around his wrist. “I wasn’t trying or even planning on becoming a Star Knight. I was just walking through some ruins, tripped, and when I reached out to grab something to stop me from falling it happened to be a Star Knight blade.”

“I’m kind of jealous because I often have weird dreams where I’m a Star Knight, but after they started building the statues the reality seems a little too flashy for me,” Rose added.

“You had to tell him about the statues,” Rory grumbled, as Narvin fell back in his chair with his face in his hands and groaned.

“Romana is going to have so much fun telling all of this to the council, I think I might just disappear so they can’t ask me questions about it,” Narvin muttered.

“Really though at this point the only explanation they need is our names and they might get it,” Rose added.

“I’m really starting to remember why we never formally acknowledged the Doctor as a CIA agent. You thought you had it bad as ‘our errand boy’ , trust me we have it worse on our end with the paperwork,” Narvin snarked.

“I just can’t bring myself to feel sorry for that,” Thete snarked right back.

“You know the one thing that really astounds me though? Zaiden and myself spent the last two hundred and fifty years trying to take down Darkel and the ‘Free Time’ movement and Rose managed to do it in a week using a meme and a made up song. It spread through six galaxies within just a couple days.”

“Actually that was all the Black Guardian’s doing. He just handed me a crystal with the meme and song on it and told me to upload it to the galacticnet. He was in the mood for spreading some chaotic good and who am I to argue?”

“The Black Guardian just showed up out of nowhere and gave you something with no strings attached?” Narvin asked suspicions.

“Both Black and White show up out of nowhere sometimes. Apparently for some unknown reason I can see them if they’re in the same vicinity wherever they want me to or not. They’ve never really done anything other than stutter about something or other to do with Gold or Bad Wolf and leave. I’ve honestly stopped questioning it at this point. Black giving me that crystal is the first time he deliberately sought me out or took any direct action in the universe around me that I know of.”

“Why have you never mentioned this?” Narvin asked his daughter, pinching his forehead, he could feel a headache coming on.

“I’m mentioning it now. Besides you know probably better than most people that the walls have ears sometimes even when you try your best to make them blind and death. There are time lords that would love nothing better than to lock me up, experiment on me, then cut me into little bitty pieces to see how I tick. Wasn’t going to give them another reason.”

“We should start preparing to leave. Rose have you got that TARDIS battery working so it can cross universes without issue?” Narvin asked.

“We haven’t tested it yet but it should be working. Dad this is rather sudden, why now?”

“Because between you and Rory there’s plenty of reasons for the council to decide to try and take control of the both of you and they won’t be so nice about it. Romana can only do so much to help and even she isn’t above using people for her own ends. It would be best if we just disappear. You’ve been trained up as well as we can train you and the three of you have learned to work great as a team. Also I am not having either of my kids taken and dissected under my watch. Quietly say goodbye to whoever you need and start gathering equipment, materials, and anything else we might need now we can use Thete’s TARDIS.”

-x-x-x-x-x-

They spent the next three weeks getting ready. During that time there were a number of tearful or stoic but always quiet goodbyes. Zaiden steadfastly refused to say goodbye and was determined to go with them.

“If you go you will never see your family or friends again, at least not as they are now,” Thete argued as he sat in his TARDIS refusing to leave. 

“You are my family,” he argued right back. “Ok so I’ll probably miss Uncle Brax a little but the others barely tolerate me at best. The Doctor of this universe abandoned me when he ran away with Susan, not that I blame him because Susan had to leave. I’ll remind you though that I am the same age as she is and was just a kid when he left. We aren’t close. He wasn’t my original father either as much as he did try before he left. Truth is you’ve spent longer being my father than he ever did just by actually being there for me for the past two hundred and fifty years. We have a stronger paternal bond even if formed as adults than what I have with him too. Besides I’ve been keeping Narvin out of trouble ever since we met in CIA training. Someone’s going to need to keep him from having so much fun he can’t get out of it again.”

The emotional moment was interrupted as the TARDIS doors opened by themselves only for Rose and Narvin to come riding in on a giant dog. Rose was messing with her data pad while Narvin had his staser out and was returning fire from where he sat. 

Rory soon followed holding out his star knight blade and knocking staser fire back with it as if it were a lightsaber and called out, “Lucifer stop playing with the Chancellery Guard and get in here!” and was soon followed by what used to be a roomba. It still is for the most part but was now looked more cat-like and was armed to the teeth… literally… it really had jaws on the front with sharp jagged teeth that had a lot of bite pressure. Also it could spit fire and the tail can cut through just about anything.

The doors closed and Narvin slid off Dotty’s back and ran to the console attached Rose’s dimension cannon to a port that had been previously installed for this instance. “Well don’t just stand there, help me get us out of here before they get that door open. She’s a stubborn old girl that will hold them off for as long as she can but best not test our luck.”

That snapped the others out of a daze and they started the dematerialisation sequence.

“They’re trying to put a temporal lasso on us,” Rory called out from where he worked on the console near the monitor.

“On it!” Zaiden yelled and moved to a different part of the console and started messing with control buttons there. “Extrapolator shielding up, that should work for now. We need to lose their tail one way or another though because I’m not sure how long it will last.”

“Dimension cannon is now fully integrated, using recall function. Hang on everyone here we go!” Thete exclaimed as the TARDIS briefly went into what felt like free fall and the power cut off.

“Battery initiated!” Rose called out as the power resumed as if nothing happened. “At least it works.”

“We did it! We’re actually in another universe without Time Lords and the TARDIS is working normally,” Zaiden cheered. 

“So why where the Chancellery guard after you?” Thete asked.

Narvin grinned and pulled a bag full of computer crystals out of a pocket that looked as if it shouldn’t have fit in there. “I stole a copy of the matrix. I also deleted Rassilon from it as I left so he can’t keep working from the inside to manipulate everything.”

“How? Copying all of that data must have taken…” Thete trailed off gaping at the bag of computer crystals. 

“I started soon after I first integrated myself with my counterpart from your universe. I have about twenty more bags just like this one. It wasn’t until I finished and deleted Rassilon the alarm was raised. We had to move pretty quickly after that. Andred gave us as much of a head start as he could. He understands what I was doing. Still wasn’t quite fast enough and as you saw we ended up in a firefight. Had to at least make a good show of it.”

In the meantime Rose had set the coordinates for the Tyler Mansion and started the rematerialisation sequence. 

“Please no one tell Jackie about who I was… She has her new husband and I don’t actually have feelings like that for her… no good could come of her knowing.”

Rose was about to crack a joke as she opened the TARDIS door only for her to get a sharp headache as memories she didn’t know she had been suppressing unblocked and flooded her mind. The Doctor, seeing the memories through their bond, froze slack jawed while Rose exclaimed, upset, “How could I have forgotten about them for a moment yet alone the entire time I was on Gallifrey!”

“Forget who?” Narvin asked as he walked past a stunned Doctor and followed Rose out the TARDIS door.

He soon got his answer as two identical looking boys of around four years old with uncontrollable brown hair and brown eyes, came running towards them. “MUM!”

Chapter Text

“Wait… mum?” Narvin asked out loud, a little shocked.

“Ok where is he then?” Jackie was heard and soon came around the corner after the twins. “Is that him?”

Narvin got visibly flustered. “No! No… my name is Narvinectralonum of the Patrexan chapter of the Time Lords,” he said, introducing himself more formally knowing it would confuse Jackie for a moment. “He’s in there and I think still in shock,” Narvin gestured to inside the TARDIS and telepathically asked Rose ‘I’m a grandfather?’

‘Sorry I didn’t tell you Dad,’ Rose sent back as she hugged the two close, ‘I didn’t remember. How could I have forgotten?’

‘Braxiatel is so lucky he’s a universe away right now or I’d do more than just sucker punch him.’

‘What’s he got to do with me not remembering?’

‘Remember your first day on Gallifrey? You didn’t know how to shield yourself properly and you felt threatened. So you instinctively buried your link to them. Then Braxiatel had to be so god damn heavy handed in trying to teach you why you needed the shielding bracelet. You’re mind got flooded and you were being drowned in the sea of telepathy that’s natural on Gallifrey. You retreated in on yourself to curl up defensively and shoved them down so deep in order to protect them you forgot they were there and walled it off. Then you opened the TARDIS door and the connection sprang back into life and your memory along with it,’ Narvin explained, ‘It’s not an uncommon occurrence but normally the presence of who you’re hiding makes it only last a little while.’

‘Brax had to find a way to get the last laugh on me even if he doesn’t know it,’ Thete interrupted, he heard the conversation from his marriage bond to Rose. ‘So in the original timeline I left them with the other me…’

‘Well I never exactly got a chance to tell you from what you showed me. You’re not mad I lied on the beach?’

‘To be honest I kind of suspected you had. I’m very good at brushing away things that make me uncomfortable… being a father again… before spending so much time on Gallifrey with my family would have terrified me into burying it deep like you did. Especially after what happened with Jenny. That would have made things worse.’

“Hello Aunt Jackie,” Rory said out loud as he left the TARDIS, “Never mind them, those three are all having what feels like a somewhat heated telepathic argument.”

“I get the impression Uncle Brax is probably very lucky he’s on the other side of the void,” Zaiden added as he walked out behind him. 

“Rory? What are you doing here? And who is he?” Jackie asked, confused.

“Hi, I’m Zaiden. I'm one of those two’s big brothers. Different mother before you ask,” Zaiden explained, pointing at the twins, grinning while trying not to laugh, as he turned around and called into the TARDIS, “Come on Dad, you can’t hide in there all day!”

“What do you mean they’re talking telepathically or whatever? Doctor, get out here,” Jackie responded, “you were quick this time Rose. You’ve only been gone an hour. Torchwood has been scrambling to try and get through to you ever since.”

Meanwhile as Jackie started their interrogation, one of the twins let go of his mother and started rubbing his temple. Zaiden strode up to him, kneeled down to be at eye level and introduced himself, “Hi I’m your big brother Zaiden. You got a headache?”

“Stuffed too full,” the young boy replied quite articulately for a boy his age.

“It’s ok, Dad, your Mum and Narvin have just spent too much time around adult telepaths recently and have forgotten to tone things down for young unprotected minds. Here let me help.” Zaiden reached out and touched the boy’s temples. “That better?”

The boy nodded but Jackie whirled on him. “What are you doing to my grandson!?”

“Nothing bad! I promise I was just helping him build a barrier in his mind to relieve the headache the others are giving him. Our species has natural telepathy and attachments to each other. At his age that would be strongest to his mother, then father, then other close relatives like myself. I can tell this one and probably his brother are going to be strong telepaths. It’s just making them extra sensitive to the psychic backlash from the bonds snapping into place and the shocked telepathic conversations going on. We may not be able to hear it unless they want us to but we still know there is one going on especially since they’re doing the telepathic equivalent of shouting at each other.”

Rose blushed and did the same to the other twin to help ease things and said, “I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have been shouting. Feel better now?” The boy she was holding close to her just nodded. “Mum leave Zaiden alone. I’d trust him with my life and know he’d never harm a kid, especially not his brothers.”

Thete finally stepped out of the TARDIS and shuffled awkwardly. He also got down on his knees eye level with the boy who was starting to let go of his mother as the identical one moved away from Zaiden towards him out of curiosity. “I’m really sorry about that. I shouldn’t have been so loud. Hi, I’m your Dad. I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you before now.” He also looked up at Zaiden briefly. “but I promise I will always try my best to be here for you from now on because I’m your Dad.”

“You know, with all the fuss you forgot to tell us their names,” Narvin pointed out, looking over at his grandchildren.

“This one is Alister Rory Tyler,” Rose introduced the twin who had now let go of her and was going towards his father, “yes Rory I named one of my kids after you. The other one that’s trying to pull the sonic screwdriver out of his father’s pocket is John Alan Tyler. They’re actually named after the two high ranking UNIT officers who stopped the American government from taking me while I was pregnant to a lab and trying to run illegal experiments on us. That’s a thing you need to watch out for.”

“Brigadier Alister Gordon Leftbridge-Stewart, and good old Sargent John Benton. Although I suppose they’re ranked different here. Good to know the two of them have integrity in this universe as well,” Thete replied and took the sonic away from John, “Sorry can’t let you play with that unsupervised you could get hurt.”

“The pair of them just went and took that mini fridge apart. Last thing we need is for one of them to have yet another way to dissemble stuff,” Jackie muttered.

“I thought I told the both of you to not take anything apart in the kitchen,” Rose scolded.

“But it wasn’t in the kitchen mum,” Alister complained.

“We moved it into the living room first,” John explained.

Thete laughed, he couldn’t help it, and Rose really struggled to keep her expression stern as she said, “Just because it wasn’t in the kitchen at the time doesn’t mean you can take it apart.”

“You only said to not take anything apart in the kitchen,” Alister complained some more.

“Yea mum, it wasn’t in the kitchen, so since you weren’t clear on that part we shouldn’t be punished,” John finished logically. They were very articulate for their age which was fairly normal for Gallifreyan children but always somewhat jarring for humans to see. Their Uncle Toney was the same age as them but was only starting to be able to read the alphabet and had far less vocabulary.

“It still gets me how two toddlers managed to get a mini fridge moved that far by themselves. Rose was always strong for her age but I doubt she could have moved a whole mini fridge at their age even with Rory helping her. And don’t bother saying you wouldn’t Rory. The pair of you were always up to something.”

“Gallifreyan’s are stronger than humans, muscle fibre is packed more densely. They must have inherited that,” Narvin supplied, trying and failing not to laugh at the situation.

“Great yet another way they stick out. We have a hard time keeping the press from noticing as is,” Jackie complained.

“Mum! Will you stop acting like there’s something wrong with them! You’re always on about it. Even with me or Rory growing up.”

“It’s not like either of you acted normal either. Rose, you used to always say strange things and predict things before they happen, quite often. Rory too.”

Narvin had enough and stood squarely in front of Jackie Tyler and glowered. “Jacks, cut it out already. Yes you had a hard time raising Rose by yourself and you did your best. I also know you’re only scared because you don’t understand and don’t know what to do but you are going to stop taking that out on Rose, Rory and the children right now.”

“Oh and where do you get off telling me what to do?”

“It was a party, I was there to pick up a friend but they weren’t there. You approached me because I stuck out and I explained about my friend and you said ‘you can pick me up if you want,’ ” Narvin stated and Jackie went pale. “You were so drunk I decided I’d better get you out of there and take you home. You threw up in the car, then later all over me. I spent most the night holding your hair as you threw up in the toilet…”

Jackie took a step back. “How’d you know that? I never told anyone about that part. Even Pete in this world met his Jackie differently.”

“Because in a very real and complicated way I am him,” Narvin continued, “this Universe’s Pete and yours have almost completely different histories and family because the Pete from your universe wasn’t really human. There was a war. The last great time war. In order to escape we made ourselves human and hid away our real identities inside what looked like a watch. You know the one. He carried it everywhere. The day he died he forgot the wedding present because of the argument you had to leave the watch behind. He had to go back and get the present.”

“What are you talking about! You’re mad,” Jackie insisted.

“The day you told me about being pregnant with Rose I was so shocked at the announcement I tripped over Bev’s vacuum cleaner that I had been fixing for her. Ended up in A and E to get stitches on the gash it left on my forehead just above the right eyebrow. The triage nurse was a surly older woman with no bedside manner and you told her to go stick her head in a bedpan.”

“Well she implied I was a whore because of where I lived,” Jackie huffed. “How? You’re dead Pete. How is this possible?”

“I was. Only part of me was still alive in that daft old watch. The Doctor found it in Rose’s things after a while. When he ended up in my universe he gave it to me and I used it to gain all his memories. I wanted to know what he knew about the time war so we could avoid it in our universe. Pete’s just another past regeneration to me now. Just a leftover echo of a life once lived. This was not long after Rose ended up in my universe and I found out I had a daughter.”

“How would you know?” Jackie asked.

Narvin pointed to his head. “I just know, every instinct I had told me as soon as we met when she came across the void and her dimension cannon shorted out. You said it’s only been an hour, for her it’s been over two hundred and fifty years. Rose was different because she was never entirely human and that must have brought their own challenges on top of your economic situation. You did your best but all your nervous harping on at her any time she did something you perceived as different took its toll. I’ve been that girl’s father since we met and it took me a good fifty years to get her to come out of her shell and just be Rose Tyler and to stop hiding her intelligence, quick wit and genius at engineering. She graduated top of her class in the Time Lord academy and has three doctorates.”

“So are Alister and John three quarters time whatever then?” Was all a deflated Jackie asked, trying to distract herself because she knew what he said about her making Rose hide who she was, was true.

“No, they're still half Human, half Gallifreyan. Mr ‘I’m so superior biologically to you stupid apes’ turns out is half stupid ape himself,” Rose answered.

“What really?” Jackie asked.

“Yes. Turns out the stupid ape stuff was all about self projection,” Rose answered.

“What happened to you anyway Doctor? You went and changed again,” Jackie asked.

Thete was now holding up one of the twins on his shoulders, while the other laughed and avoided his grasp as he tried to catch him. He stopped and looked over at Jackie. “Radiation. It was rather slow and painful. Zero out of ten, wouldn’t recommend it. Not happened to the Doctor you’re looking for yet, maybe never will.”

“Wait, what you mean the Doctor we’re looking for? Aren’t you the Doctor?”

“I am. Although I’ve not gone by that name for a long time now. It’s complicated, but basically there was a divergence in my timeline where time got rewritten and—“

“It’s always complicated with you, that’s all the explanation I need before my head explodes,” Jackie interrupted, “Best get in the house and contact Pete to let him know you’re back Rose.”

“I’ll help the boys put the fridge back together,” Narvin said as he got hold of the other giggling twin and hoisted him up onto his shoulders and they headed inside.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Narvin spent an awkward few hours explaining everything about who he was and what he was when Pete made it back home after Jackie called to say Rose was home and had the Doctor with her. Also interjecting here and there about the events that went on in his universe when Rose informally debriefed Pete on everything. He had told Jackie he was happy for her and Pete, but the three of them were entirely too awkward around each other. 

Right now he was helping Thete make sure all the connections along the hard power lines of the TARDIS were connected to the battery Rose had designed. The battery was a marvel of engineering in his opinion and self charging using energy she initially supplied from Bad Wolf keeping it self sustaining. Probably a good thing she regenerated that time because without the changes that comes after a time lord’s first regeneration it would have been next to impossible to do so. It had only been connected up to the most vital systems to keep the TARDIS alive and navigational before because they didn’t know how well it would work until tested. Well they were on this side of the void now and Rose had made the TARDIS go to Pete’s mansion an hour after she had left.

One twin was beside him handing over things like tools when he asked for them, while the other was on the other side of the console with Thete doing the same for his father. They were fascinated by everything being done and absorbing information like a sponge as they explained what they were doing, why, and what the various things are. 

Rose walked out from the corridor leading to the interior of the TARDIS holding a spiracle metal object. “I knew I had this in here somewhere.”

Narvin looked up and smiled when he saw what she was holding. “Jimbo!”

“Had to fix up a few things because Dotty keeps mistaking him for a ball, but it’s the original one we worked on when I first arrived on Gallifrey…. Well okay, the fifth one, but I still maintain that it was your fault that three out of the four ones before that blew up.”

“Three? More like two. There was that one that--”

“Totally your fault Dad, you didn’t explain the flux capacitor to me properly,” Rose interrupted as she moved over to where he was working and pointed at something. “See this John? This is a flux capacitor. It’s got many uses but chief among them is to handle fluctuating energy and convert it to a stable stream of energy that doesn’t fluctuate. Without one the energy could surge and blow up everything. You’re Granddad keeps forgetting to explain those.”

“Mum, I was pretending to be Alister, you just gave us away,” John complained.

“You’re getting better at hiding your telepathic signatures but you’re both going to have to work harder on it than that to fool me. You should work on shielding more first though that’s the most important thing.”

“They had me fooled. I thought this was John,” Thete replied honestly and the twins giggled.

“I knew this one was John,” Narvin added, “I was just playing along.”

“No you didn’t,” John insisted.

Narvin looked his grandson in the eyes. “Yes I did. You have slightly more freckles on your face than your brother and your eyes are ever so slightly closer together. My job back on Gallifrey heavily relied on observation.”

Zaiden interrupted as he walked into the TARDIS, “I finished looking at the control end of the dimension cannon in Torchwood. We should be able to set it up that we will only end up in universes where the Doctor exists easily enough. That should narrow it down a lot. Don’t know why you couldn’t go look for yourself Rose, you cobbled the whole thing together in the first place.”

“I was busy talking my Mum down from the huge fuss she got into about me not being entirely human. I had to leave after a while because I was just making it worse. Rory is still with her.”

“She did better than me, I am completely unashamed to admit that I ran away and hid in here along with Thete not long after she started and brought the kids with me. They didn’t need to hear any of that,” Narvin admitted.

“She really does mean well. Jackie always scares me more than any alien I’ve ever met because when push comes to shove I know she’d do anything to protect her daughter,” Thete defended. “In my original timeline she went up against Daleks to protect her. She’s just scared.”

Zaiden decided to change the subject before anything could get heated in front of the twins by ruffling Alister’s already messy hair and asking, “So are you two going to get Gallifreyan names as well as your human ones? Even your mother has one although not really different from her original. In gallifreyan her name is Arkytior which is a type of rose that grows around Mount Lung back on Gallifrey. Even I have a human name. My mother was human and until I arrived in your granddad’s universe I used my human name.”

“You do?” Thete asked confused. “You only ever told us your name is Zaidendestinwild or Zaiden for short.”

“That’s the name my original father told me to use when I got across the void, so I did. That’s the name he gave me. Never told anyone my human name. Which is actually Aidan Jason Summerfield, that’s the name my mother gave me. It’s why I changed it to Zaiden so in a way I’d have something like my name from both my parents.”

“I’m not one to argue over names and not telling them to people. I’ve changed my name in a meaningful way twice after all,” Thete replied, “Thank you for trusting me with your other name.” He then looked at Alister as he sat on the floor beside him. “Names have power, the power you and others give them. It’s all about the meaning of that name to you and what meaning others subscribe to it from your deeds. I chose Doctor because I wanted to help people and be a healer. I’d heal timelines when they go wrong and try to make them better whenever I can. I’m now Thete, not because I’ve given up on trying to be a doctor but because I had to be a distinguishably different person from the Doctor in the other universe to keep myself out of legal trouble with the Time Lords. I’ve just grown to like it and think if anything I’m not the same person I was back then, for the better. All thanks to your mother. As for Gallifreyan names I think we should leave that up to them if they want one.”

“We don’t have to register them with the matrix so they don’t need one so you’re probably right. The two of you have a think about it and let us know ok.” Rose told her children. “Anyway I’ve got something for you, it’s a robot named Jimbo. He’s made to be a companion for kids like you and help you learn. Your Granddad gave him to me when I first came to Gallifrey and now I’m giving him to the two of you.”

Chapter Text

Rory, along with Rose and Narvin got up from where they had fallen, stretched and cracked some joints as they arrived in the first universe they’ve tried since updating the dimension cannon. Rory couldn’t help complaining, “Why couldn’t we wait until we got the TARDIS to work with it? Travel without a capsule…”

“You think that’s bad? You should have tried it back before I added all the shielding. Anyway we should have about half an hour before the cannon recharges. We should see if we can find the Doct--“

Rose was cut off mid sentence by the sound of the TARDIS materialising. A familiar skinny man with fly away hair ran out of the TARDIS and ran into a nearby house shouting something garbled.

“Well mission accomplished on that part at least,” Narvin added somewhat sarcastically.

‘You’re in the wrong universe, but close. In this one that idiot thief of mine went and left you with the other one in that universe. Currently his head has been scrambled by that annoying fugitive from the guardians,’ the TARDIS said in all their heads. Apparently Rory had gotten the gene that allows him to hear the TARDIS as well now his telepathy is unlocked.

‘Thanks old girl,’ Rose replied.

‘Now you better get in there and stop him from doing something really stupid,’ the TARDIS added.

“Oh great,” Rose responded out loud and ran in after the Doctor where she could hear an exclamation of ‘skinny man!’ and someone else shouting ‘He’s not here!’ As well as ‘You can’t see him!’

“Of course I can bloody well see him! He’s trying to hide behind you!” Donna shouted as Rose arrived in the room. “And her… you kept showing up… but no… you didn’t..” Donna added pointing at Rose.

The Doctor turned around and gaped for a moment. “Rose…”

“Yea you two can have whatever reunion later, she’s in overload. Why isn’t the biodata module helping?!” Narvin interrupted and pushed his way in.

“Narvin?” The Doctor asked with incredulity. “What are you doing here?”

“Avoiding my mother,” Rose answered and Narvin glared at her, “What? You know it’s true.”

“Well, can’t blame him on that part…” The Doctor quipped, then looked over and with even more incredulity than before asked, “Rory? What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t he supposed to be the one before he met me?” Rory asked Rose.

“SHUT UP AND TELL ME WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE!!!!” Donna yelled.

“We need to help you before your mind burns,” Narvin answered succinctly.

“No! No! I’m not letting anyone wipe my memory again!” Donna said as she started to remember.

The Doctor started to say, “I’m sorry Donna you know I have to… humans can’t—“

“What are you talking about? No one is wiping anyone’s memories,” Narvin interrupted.

“But the metacrisis is going to kill her! Burn her mind!” The Doctor argued and started towards Donna.

“Rose! Rory! Hold him back!” Narvin shouted and they both did so.

“No you don’t understand!” The Doctor yelled.

“ No! You are the one that doesn’t understand! ” Narvin yelled back and gave him a glare that would put the Doctor’s oncoming storm moments to shame, “So stay back and shut up!” Narvin turned back to Donna. “Sorry about him. You know what he’s like. Complete genius but sometimes fails to see what’s right in front of him. So Donna? Do you mind if I call you Donna? Anyway you were adopted as a little girl weren’t you?”

“What’s that got to do with anything?” Donna asked, holding her pounding head.

“Everything. That locket, where did you get it?” Narvin asked back

Donna held up a locket that she always wore without fail. “What? This? I’ve always had it. There’s nothing even in it. I was told I was found with it on with no clue where I got it or where I came from.”

“Now you know that’s not true. Admittedly getting mixed up with him there.” Narvin pointed at The Doctor. “didn’t help any but you’ve always known Donna. You just didn’t believe it. Which is admittedly by design so the sort of scenario happening right now doesn’t happen.”

“What?” The Doctor asked wide eyed as he saw the locket for the first time.

“There’s a reason the two of you always got along like siblings,” Rose spoke up, catching on.

“What?” Donna asked this time, the exact same way as the Doctor did a moment ago.

“Read what it says on the locket,” Narvin added.

Donna stared at the circular inscription on the back of the locket in disbelief and read it out loud “Donnavatectrallaner of house Lungbarrow, Family Ulysses, member of the Prydonian Order of the Time Lords.”

“What?” The Doctor asked again in shock.

“You got along with her and she reminded you so much of your sister because she is your sister,” Rose answered as Donna opened the locket and was engulfed in bright golden light.

As the light faded Donna shot up and moved in on the Doctor. “YOU! YOU WERE GOING TO JUST LEAVE ME LIKE THAT AND WIPE MY MEMORIES!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t know! If I knew who you were I wouldn’t have had to do what I did!” He argued back, and moved his hands out in a warding off gesture.

“You crazy spaceman!” Donna shot back, annoyed.

“You last checked not only are you the same species as me but have the same parents too. So I’m not a spaceman,” The Doctor argued back in the manner of all older brothers the universe over.

“You were always, for as far back as I remember, a crazy spaceman. Doesn’t matter what species either of us are. Or that you’re my annoying older brother.” She then pulled the Doctor into a hug and as soon as she let go turned on Narvin, angry expression back in place. “Speaking of older annoying brothers, where is he Narvin?”

“Who?” Narvin asked, confused for a moment.

“Braxiatel! Who else? The Lord bloody President!?”

“Ah yes… Braxiatel……….” Narvin trailed off and then abruptly changed topic, “So have you met my daughter Rose? And this is her cousin, my nephew and adopted son, Rory. He’s a Star Knight.”

“Yes I’ve met Rose, but not Rory. Hello. Now stop trying to change the topic Narvinectralonum! Where is Brax hiding?!”

“Ah yes…. Well you see the problem is I don’t actually know,” Narvin replied sheepishly.

“You, him, and Romana came up with this crazy scheme to get us out of the time lock. How can you not know?!” Donna yelled back, annoyance clear on her face.

“We split everyone into cells so if one group gets compromised Rassilon wouldn’t find all of us,” Narvin explained, gesturing wildly. “We did leave clues so we could find each other again afterwards. But I’d check KS-159 first and work from there… This universe doesn’t seem to be all that different from the one we’re looking for after all.”

“The Braxiatel Collection? That’s rather obvious though isn’t it?” Donna asked sceptically.

“Yes well… it’s that or track down Bernice Summerfield. I wouldn’t at all be surprised if he’s either with her or left a clue with her. Or find Ace, she’s running one of our cells and probably has different clues. Both are people that will most likely highly encourage your plans of fratricide since he was responsible for your regenerating into a kid, and he no doubt did something to annoy the other too. I assume that's what you're mad about…"

"Actually I ran into Ace recently. I was a little confused why she is now fully human. I guess you and Braxiatel are responsible for that," the Doctor spoke up.

"She's not going to be for long. Meeting you after the Time War is one of the triggers for the biodata modules from the Chameleon Arch. She'll be remembering and eventually the perception filter will stop working and she'll be compelled to open it," Narvin explained. "I wonder why Donna's didn't work?"

Donna suddenly remembered the humans in the room and spoke up, "Can you four leave for a bit? I really should explain things here," Donna interrupted.

"Yea sure we'll just be outside if you need us," the Doctor replied and they all shuffled out of the house. 

When they got outside the Doctor started looking at Rory weirdly as he shuffled awkwardly for a moment before speaking up, "What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

"You're Rose's cousin?" he asked dumbly.

"Yes?" Rory answered confused.

"Why did you never tell me?" the Doctor asked.

"You never asked?" Rory asked right back. "I mean it's hardly a huge secret or something. Even Amy, if you asked, would have told you Rose Tyler is my cousin. You were at my wedding reception, some of Aunt Jackie's side of the family was there. You even danced with Jackie’s mother. Heck River could have told you that too, it's not as if she never met her as Mels when we were kids."

"Narvin is your father?" He asked Rose this time.

"Yup. The same with your version of Rose that you left with the metacrisis. We’re from a different causal nexus trying to find you before the crucible,” she replied and he winced.

“She’d be half human as well. Maybe she will live a human lifespan,” The Doctor tried to justify to himself.

“No, she's a Time Lord. Has been since Bad Wolf,” Narvin told him succinctly.

“But how could I not have noticed?” The Doctor asked desperately.

“Because you never looked. Not properly.” Rose pointed to her forehead. “Up here. You cut off those senses. It’s damage from the Time War, most likely.”

“Yes well we were all a bit damaged by the end of the time war. It was even starting to affect the Shobogan,” Narvin replied. “That’s the problem with a hive mind when the hive goes mad. Turning people into humans and getting away from all that was a kindness to most. At least you have your youngest sister. She’s always been the smart one out of the four of you. You can help each other heal. I don’t know where your other sister is, she was with Brax.”

“The thing is, I don’t know who I am anymore,” The Doctor complained. “I used to know then things changed and I found out about the secret of regeneration and I’m supposed to be some timeless child they experimented on and stole the secret of regeneration from. I even met another me I don’t remember being and was in my TARDIS! She was a fugitive from the Time Lords….”

“Wow. Someone’s done a number on you, haven’t they?” Rose asked.

“She felt like she was me, Rose. I can check those senses sometimes… just admittedly I have been in the habit of shutting them out since the Time War.”

“Patrex,” Rory spoke up suddenly and the Doctor whipped his head around to look at him like a deer caught in the headlights. “She was no doubt Patrex, The Other, just as you were. But you’re also neither because you’re reincarnated, not regenerated from the original.”

“You’ve reincarnated many times, not just this time. Always foiling Rassilon’s plans,” Rose replied. “I am… or was… the so-called timeless child. Or a reincarnation of them just like you are of the Other. She was experimented on until they found a way to replicate her way of regenerating, at least in the universe I spent time on Gallifrey in. Some universes they straight out used her power and didn’t just find a way to mimic the process. I saw some of it when I looked into the untempered schism, and Rory saw the rest when it was his turn.” She wrapped an arm round the Doctor and said, “As for who you are now, you are the Doctor. Just the Doctor. None of that backstory matters. Just be a Doctor.”

“You always know the right thing to say. I’m hopeless without you Rose.”

“Well at least you got Donna back. She’ll keep your head on straight,” Rose replied.

“How do you even know about the crucible and the Metacrisis anyway? That shouldn’t have happened for you yet?”

The disembodied voice of Thete came from the communicator on her wrist, ‘Rose, you ok? I haven’t heard from you on this end. Do you receive me? Zaiden and Mickey are chomping at the bit to see what’s going on.’

“Wait? I know that voice….” The Doctor spoke up.

“Control this is Rose, sorry we haven’t checked in. Had a bit of a situation crop up we had to deal with,” Rose replied into her communicator.

‘Situation? Rose are you alright?! Do you need backup?’

“Calm down Thete, it’s just you. Well this universe’s you anyway. Tell Zaiden and Mickey to stand down.”

“Zaiden? What’s Zaiden doing there?” The Doctor asked.

‘Yea, love you too Dad!’ Zaiden could be heard shouting sarcastically from the background over the open coms.

Rose chuckled a little and said, “We’re heading back soon as we recharge. Just helping him out of an identity crisis.” And shut the transmission off.

“What is my Eleventh self doing there? He should know better than to interfere with his own timeline like this.”

“He isn’t. His timeline got rewritten. He’s an anomaly. Shouldn’t even exist but he does. Really all he’s talking about is stuff that happened in his original timeline after the convergence which pretty much happened when I ended up in a universe with a Gallifrey still in it and Dad there came to investigate. Which is how he’s still in his second body,” Rose explained.

“Well you never know, Narvin could have regenerated after being Pete back into that body,” The Doctor said.

“The odds of that are pretty much unheard of… Although I’m pretty sure Brax has managed it more than once, come to think of it,” Narvin added.

“Probably another reason why I should go find him then, because I’m not number ten. I’m fourteen. I somehow regenerated, into, well… me again,” the Doctor confessed.

“Well I guess that explains how you know who I am then,” Rory said to break the tension.

“Of course I know you, you’re Rory the Roman!” The Doctor exclaimed.

“The Last Centurion!” Rory added, laughing a little. “I actually made a comic book series about that and my experiences during that time as one of my final projects at the academy. It actually got published and became a hit series back on that Gallifrey. Patrex Academy requires you to take one art subject and a science one the entire way through.”

“Good for you Rory. Patrex Academy sounds like more fun than the Prydonian one. All they did was make us learn a load of boring facts and how to do politics. Everything was about politics in Prydon, especially when it isn’t,” the Doctor said as he paced about nervously looking at the Noble household.

“She’ll not be long yelling for you if she needs you. Donna needs time with her human family to explain things, and there’s no way that could be an easy conversation,” Rose told him and stopped him from pacing. She had slipped away sometime when her father started talking and just came back. She surreptitiously slipped something into his pocket as she pulled him into a hug. “Well, I’m sure Donna will keep you right. It’s time we were going. Got a huge part of the multiverse to save and all that.”

“Don’t go Rose,” the Doctor begged.

“I can’t stay. You know that. My Dad’s watch is in with my things in my room in the TARDIS, his disembodied soul is still stuck in there. You should probably do something about that. Ask Donna, she’s good at ideas on these things. Oh and should you ever get the chance to see your version of me again, try the first pickup line you ever used on me and it absolutely one hundred percent needs saying.”

Before he could say or do anything she had let go and they were gone. The Doctor had no idea how long he was just standing there starting off at nothing before Donna walked up behind him.

“Oi, Spaceman! You just gonna stand there all night? You need to come meet your niece and brother-in-law.”

The Doctor reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two crystals. One contained vortex energy and the other was a memory crystal. 

“What’s that?” Donna asked, taking a closer look.

The Doctor used the memory crystal and grinned. “Instructions on how to correct a really stupid mistake I made, and a battery.” He tossed the energy crystal in the air and caught it then put it back in his pocket before wrapping an arm around Donna’s shoulders. “So I have a niece then? About time. Never thought you would ever settle down.”

“Oh shut up. Now you sound like our mother,” Donna replied playfully as they walked towards the house.

-x-x-x-x-

Both Two-Thousand Years Or Two Minutes later…..

Rose cried as the TARDIS disappeared. When it fully disappeared she held her face in her hands as the metacrisis Doctor tried to awkwardly comfort her. Suddenly the sound of the TARDIS could be heard again and she looked up and they both looked in shock as the TARDIS remateralised.

The TARDIS door opened, the Fourteenth Doctor poked his head out and said, “By the way, did I mention it also travels in time?”