Chapter Text
10.5POV
"I hate going to these parties," Rose muttered as we stepped out of the TARDIS and into her old bedroom at the Tyler manor. "They're so stiff and boring."
"Well we could always skip it, take the TARDIS for a bit of a joy ride. Maybe pop up to New New York and see a show on New Broadway," I whispered as I adjusted Mackenzie's sleeping form in my arms.
"Believe me, I would much rather do that! But my mum would have a fit if we skipped out on this party," Rose said.
"Oh, yes. We wouldn't want an angry Jackie now would we? I suppose we'll take a rain check on the show in New New York then?" I asked as we made our way to Tony's room to drop Mackenzie off with the babysitter.
"Of course, Doctor. Always." Rose smiled and leaned up and gave me a peck on the lips as she opened the door to Tony's room.
"She should stay asleep, won't be any trouble at all," I told the babysitter as I laid Mackenzie on the bed next to Tony and brought the covers up to their chins. "I'm sorry, what was your name?"
"I'm Gracie, sir," she said.
"No, no. Don't call me sir. Call me John," I said, sticking my hand out for her to shake.
"And I'm Rose. Thank you so much for watching Mackenzie," Rose said, also holding her hand out to be shaken. "We'll just be downstairs if anything happens."
"Of course. Enjoy the party," Gracie said. Rose took my hand and we made our way downstairs.
"Hi, Mum, Dad," Rose said, giving both of her parents a hug once we reached the bottom of the grand staircase of the Tyler mansion.
"Pete, Jackie," I greeted, shaking Pete's hand and giving Jackie a hug.
"You lot are late. What kept you?" Jackie asked, giving each of us a light smack to the tops of our heads.
"Ow, Mum. No need to hit us," Rose said playfully, rubbing her head.
"TARDIS was acting up a bit—took us to the sixth moon of Guavit first," I explained.
"Well what's the point of a time machine if you still end up late to things, Doctor?" Jackie asked.
"It's not an exact science. Just got the time coordinates a bit off, that's all," I said.
"Well don' do it again," Jackie said with a smile.
"Go on, then. Get in there," Pete said, clapping me on the shoulder.
"Talk to ya later, yeah?" Rose said as we turned to join the people milling around.
"'Course, sweetheart," Jackie said.
"So, Doctor, should we get started on our required schmoozing?" Rose asked, linking her arm through mine as we entered the crowd of partygoers.
"Yes, let's get it over with," I said, plucking two glasses of champagne off the tray of a nearby server and giving one to Rose. "The sooner we can sneak away."
"Why, thank you, Doctor," she said with a wide grin and a kiss as she accepted the glass from me.
Two hours later, I was struggling to keep from screaming out of boredom, and one look at Rose told me she was feeling the same way.
"…And then she decided to go on the cruse without me! I simply couldn't believe…" As we listened to the slightly heavyset woman drone on about her life, I thought about what to do for Mackenzie's birthday. She was getting so big…going to turn four next month…
"Doctor," Rose hissed suddenly, bringing my mind back to the present. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear wha—" my question broke off mid word as I heard what she was talking about—the unmistakable sound of the TARDIS's engines.
"Not good. Very, very not good. Sorry, gotta go. Come on, Rose. Allons-y!" I grabbed her hand and we turned and ran out of the room, passing a very bewildered Jackie on our way.
"And just where are you two going?" she yelled after us.
"Sorry, Mum! Emergency!" Rose shouted back over her shoulder.
"Be careful!" we heard her yell as we burst out of the house and into the front garden. And there in front of us was the TARDIS, just finishing it's materialization.
"Doctor, wha's going on?" Rose asked as we stared at the duplicate TARDIS in front of us.
"I'm not sure, love. But whatever it is, it shouldn't be happening." The doors of the TARDIS opened and a cloud of black smoke billowed out and was followed by three coughing people, two men (neither of which looked like me) and a woman.
"Where are we, Doctor?" the woman asked as she looked around. "What happened to the TARDIS?"
"We've fallen out of the Time Vortex," the man in the tweed jacket and bow tie answered. "Now, last time this happened, we ended up in a parallel… dimension…" the man who appeared to be my latest regeneration trailed off as he spotted Rose and me. "And it seems that it's happened again."
"Doctor?" the other man asked. The Doctor ignored him and walked toward us, stopping a few feet away.
RPOV
I watched my Doctor and the strange, new Doctor stand and look at each other for a moment before my Doctor spoke.
"What number are you, then?" he asked.
"I'm number eleven," he said, and then completely switched gears. "Rose Tyler!" he exclaimed, stepping forward and giving me a hug.
"'Ello, Doctor," I said, awkwardly hugging him back.
"How long has it been since I left you here?" he asked, still hugging me.
"Five years. You can let go of her now, you know," my Doctor said.
"Oh, yes. Sorry about that," the new Doctor said, releasing me quickly and taking a step back.
"Oi! Would you please tell us what's goin' on, Doctor?" the redheaded woman that arrived with the new Doctor came up and stood next to him with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Right, sorry. I'm the Doctor and this is Rose," my Doctor said, sticking his hand out toward the two strangers to be shaken.
"Hold on, you can't be the Doctor. He's the Doctor," said the other man who came out of the TARDIS, ignoring my Doctor's outstretched hand.
"I'm his doppelgänger, his duplicate, his clone, take your pick. I don't look like him, 'course. I look like his previous regeneration," my Doctor explained, taking his hand back and stuffing them in his pockets.
"He's a Ganger, then, Doctor?" the woman asked.
"Ganger? Wha's a Ganger?" I asked.
"Gangers are made of living, fully programmable matter. They can take the shape of anything alive, a clone of sorts," the new Doctor told me, then turned to speak to his companions. "But this Doctor, he's completely unique—created in a biological meta-crisis."
"What's a biological meta-crisis?" the woman asked.
"Long story short: when I looked like him I got my hand cut off and I grew an other one. The old hand was laying around the TARDIS and later when I got shot by a Dalek and stared to regenerate I siphoned off the excess regeneration energy into the hand and when one Donna Noble touched the container that my hand was in and BAM! There he was a Time Lord-human hybrid grown from a hand," this new Doctor said very quickly and all in one breath.
"Okay… not the weirdest thing that we've come across with you, Doctor," the man said.
"So if you're both the Doctor, what can we call you to avoid confusion?" the woman asked my Doctor.
"You can call me John, that's what I go by around here—Doctor John Wolfe. Now what do we call you?" he asked her.
"Oh, I'm Amy and this is my husband Rory," she said.
"A husband and wife, Doctor? What happened to your rule about no domestics in the TARDIS?" I asked.
"Yes, well that was different," the new Doctor said, not elaborating.
"Speaking of my mum, she's gunna be furious with us," I said, turning to my Doctor.
"Yes, right, let's get inside then. I don't want to be on the receiving end of another of your mother's slaps," my Doctor said with an exaggerated shudder. We turned and started walking back up to the house, but we stopped when we noticed that the Doctor and his companions weren't following us.
"Aren't you coming?" I asked after we turned to face them. "Or are you lot going to stay out here all night?"
"Well of course we're coming!" the Doctor said. "Come along, Ponds!"
We walked up to the house with the new Doctor and his companions trailing slightly behind my Doctor and me. When we got to the front door my Doctor opened it as we filed in, trying to be inconspicuous as we made our way to the stairs.
"The Doctor and Rose Wolfe!" My mum's voice stopped us dead in our tracks, and we turned slowly on the spot.
"Hi, Mum," I said as innocently as I could.
"What was that about? People have been coming up to me asking if you two have had a mental break! And who is this lot?" she asked us.
"We heard the TARDIS and as far as we knew, ours was still up in Rose's old room. It warranted a good look-see," my Doctor said.
"And what did you find, exactly?" my mum asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"The Doctor—the other Doctor I mean—he's here," I said.
"Well where is he, then? I only see the one."
The Doctor in tweed stepped forward. "Hello, Jackie! Long time, no see."