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The Doctor missed the moment the light went out behind Donna’s eyes. She had pointed him in the direction of his lost love and he’d set off, duster billowing behind him, looking every bit the romantic hero. She snorted to herself, ‘a regular Patrick Swayze’ she thought. Donna couldn't be angry with him, she’d always known where she stood with the Doctor and she’d had no romanticised notions of healing all his hurts, but she couldn't help being angry at her. She’d kept her heart hidden, sticking to her promise faithfully. It wasn't the Doctor’s fault she’d fallen for him, it wasn't hers either really she justified, ‘Dazzling’ she’d called him to her Gramps and it was the truth. He’d shown her sights she’d never have been able to imagine, helped her realise her own worth, shown her she could be ‘brilliant’ but never with any intention other than being her friend. Donna loved him deeply, wholly, with everything she had, and no, she didn't believe in all that ‘if you love them let them go’ hallmark nonsense, she was pissed off, but it wasn't like she had a choice. So, ever the pragmatist, she took a deep breath, straightened her shoulders and followed after the Doctor, determined to maintain her charade right up to the point she got dropped off and she could hide in her old room, back at her Gramps’ house.
Turns out, it much harder to pretend you’re not in love with someone if they’re about to die. She had heard the Doctor shouting something at Rose, who stood doing a particularly annoying ‘deer in the headlights’ impression, as some upturned wheelie bin on steroids shot a blue light at the Doctor and he collapsed on the tarmac. The flirty American from the ‘outer space Facebook’ group popped into existence and shot the ‘Dalek’ before instructing her and Rose to help him move the Doctor into the TARDIS. Donna wasn't ashamed to admit to feeling fairly unforgiving to Rose in the next few minutes, if you've got a ruddy great gun hanging off your shoulder you should know how to use it, and where do you get off telling an injured man he can’t die! She was certain if her heart wasn't breaking in her chest she’d have managed at least one good slap!
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The Doctor was elated! Rose, the girl who saved him, back in his universe, all blue and yellow, bright smile and wide eyes. He set off at a tear, mind racing with all the possibilities, and that’s where it all started to turn sour. How? How had she made it across universes? Why was she carrying a gun? Didn't she see that Dalek? “Rose! Look out” he shouted just in enough time to stop her and put him in the firing line instead. He caught a glimpse of her blonde hair as he fell to the ground and only barely noticed Jack appear to deal with the Dalek that had killed him. ‘Again!’ his mind called out and as he was helped to the TARDIS (who was none too pleased at this turn of events and told him so in very descriptive ways, multi dimensional awareness proved an excellent source of colourful terminology). While doing his best to put a brave face on his thoughts turned to Donna. He’d forgotten about her in the rush of emotion at being reunited with Rose and guilt coursed through him. Yet another companion he’d hidden the true extent of his alienness from in some vague attempt at normality. As Rose pleaded with this him not to change he chanced a look at Donna and felt truly foolish, if anyone could have accepted his true nature it was her, his best mate. Her fear and grief were etched on her face, along with something else he couldn't place yet, but from what he could sense she wasn't feeling those things just for herself. The build up of regenerative energy heightened his perception and he could tell that, for all her own turmoil, she still thought of him and how he was going to deal with losing another chance to be happy. He got a twinge of anger and resignation as well but couldn't unpick why right now. As he started to burn his mind suddenly cleared, he wasn't ready to go, he wanted a chance to explain, apologise, introduce two of the most important people in this him’s life to each other properly.
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Donna wanted to leave them alone, this trio obviously had history and she knew enough about it to pull back. ‘Let them have a chance’ she thought, ‘not likely to get much of one later’ if past exploits were anything to go by. She was thwarted in her efforts as the Doctor hugged her and made introductions. She was too shocked and scared not to fall back on bravado when ‘Jack’ as the flirt was called was reluctant to hug her. Her usual self would never have allowed such a show of neediness. Jack for his part didn’t seem cold, more wary, like Donna could be dangerous, ‘maybe the Doctor warned him about my slapping hand’ she tried to console herself. Rose’s attempt to greet her as a stranger was confusing, but yet another thing to push aside as they were abruptly tossed around by the TARDIS’ unexpected movement. She hadn’t had chance to tell the Doctor about the return of her memories from the parallel universe but she felt sure if she could remember then Rose would too? ‘Timey wimey’ she said to herself in a voice that was eerily like the Doctor’s, ‘oh god’ she thought, ‘even sound like ‘im in my own bleedin’ head!’
Donna tried to keep up with the Doctor’s rambling and definitely sensed the drop in mood as he tried to prepare them for whatever was outside the now vulnerable ship. It was as if she were underwater though and her reactions seemed delayed. The wave of nausea that overtook her as the sound of that heartbeat returned nearly forced her to her knees. She stilled on her way out of the TARDIS hoping to find some equilibrium before facing her death. ‘And towards our distant rest’ the fatalistic line from Owen’s poem fluttered through her mind as she watched the others step through the doors of the TARDIS into the crucible. She shook her head, trying to regain control of her limbs as the heartbeat rose to a crescendo, dulling her other senses. As she turned to where she felt the source of the noise was she distantly heard the Doctor calling for her before the doors slammed shut and the ‘old girl’ once again trembled in unexpected flight.
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Jack had never been so confused, he knew his time sense was not as developed as the Doctor’s but surely even he could see the convergence around Donna Noble. He gained a slight understanding of what he thought the Doctor must feel when he looked at Jack. Although, Donna didn’t feel ‘wrong’ to Jack, it was more like she was separate, distant, meant to be apart from the rest of the world and it unnerved him greatly. The Doctor obviously couldn’t (or more likely wouldn’t) see it and so he held his tongue. He hadn’t meant to offend the feisty redhead by staying away from her but he had previous with unknown temporal phenomena and honestly he didn’t want to push his luck. When the TARDIS disappeared from the crucible he sensed a flare in the timelines and Donna’s separation took on a more literal meaning.
Another source of confusion was Rose’s sudden return, he was fairly sure the Doctor had said travel between the parallel universes was impossible, and very bad news. Despite that here she stood, large as life, smiling and flirting, acting as if she’d never left, and the Doctor seemed happy about it. He had to admit he was a little miffed about that one. He’d had no choice in his fate but the Doctor didn’t seem to have any problem treating Jack as if he’d offended the universe on purpose. Maybe Martha was right, blonde may well be his Achilles heel. He was so very happy to see her again but he again sensed something was off, where Donna was out of sync Rose was a completely different wavelength and he couldn’t help wondering just what she had done to get herself here. Speaking of Martha, saddened that he was that she had ended up trapped with the rest of them he was desperately grateful that they hadn’t been able to activate that Ostehägen Key, his team were still down there he hoped, they had to be.
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His hearts were breaking, the TARDIS was lost, Donna with her, and the universe was once again at the mercy of bloody Daleks! He pleaded mentally with anything that might be listening for help, mercy, forgiveness, anything that might save his friends from this fate. It seemed all the lives that he had touched his as this man were here, willing to become soldiers, weapons, murderers, just to help him. ‘Enough of the pity party Spaceman’ his mind drew on Donna’s formidable personality to pull him from his desolation, ‘what are you going to do?’ it asked. He looked to Rose who, it seemed, was still under the impression he would somehow get them all out of this alive. The brief flash of anger he had sensed earlier sparked in his mind but was gone again before he could trace it. What was it about her return that had put him on edge so? There were so many questions about how she had managed it and he had a sinking feeling that he wasn’t going to like the answers. He pushed these thoughts aside as he listened to Davros describe how he endangered everyone he loved, destroyed anything precious to him, deserved all he got. He was losing the strength to summon up his usual rapid fire arguments, unable to shake the truth he felt in the damning words when the sweetest sound he’d ever heard graced his ears.
They were back! At least he hoped it was they, the TARDIS materialised at the back of the room they were being held in and he held his breath waiting to see if his incomparable ginger was with her. As the door opened he nearly passed out, he was sure he was finally going mad, the stress, fear, anger, partial regeneration, whatever it may be had driven to lose his mind. He could swear he was sensing another time lord! Time slowed around him as he was suddenly assaulted by a barrage of memories and emotions. Most were familiar until the memories of this regenerations first few hours, killer Christmas trees, sword fighting in someone else’s pyjamas, then there was a divergence. There were also completely unfamiliar memories, a childhood spent on earth, a loving family, a difficult adolescence, disappointing adulthood all accompanied by emotions. Anger, frustration,pride, fear, pain, loss, wonder, cynicism, resignation, disappointment, joy all from another’s point of view. Donna’s point of view. “Donna” he cried out reflexively, where was she, was she OK? What the BLOODY HELL was going on? The Doctor was numb under the onslaught and could barely process events as he watched himself(?) run towards Davros carrying what looked very much like a gun.
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Donna’s head was spinning, her stomach lurching and the heartbeat wouldn’t STOP! She allowed herself to cry as she crawled towards the console, calling out mental apologies to the TARDIS for not knowing how to help her save them. She felt the heat singe her skin, almost welcomed the promised end to her torment, she had failed her friends, her love, her home. She was furious that she was going to have to watch as the TARDIS tore herself apart, unable to offer any help to the being who had welcomed her in, and provided the Doctor with his last connection to home. She reached out to the now bubbling jar holding the Doctor’s ‘handy’ spare hand, (and even now she could spare a small smile for the madman’s ridiculousness in the face of near death). The jar practically exploded as she touched it and she fell back on her haunches as a bright light spread across the grating where the severed appendage now lay. Donna watched in awe as the hand appeared to grow, taking the form of a man, no not a man, the man, the Doctor! ‘What!’ she mentally screamed, ‘What the hell?’ “Spaceman” she called out to the (not that she was looking mind) very naked ‘Doctor double’. He didn’t seem to hear her as he jumped up and hit a blue button on the console that appeared to halt the TARDIS’ trauma.
Donna would have mentioned the nakedness, postured about skinny alien Time Lords being like worms and generally made more of a fuss (she had every right in the circumstances, thank you very much) but she was silenced as her mind was swept up in a frantic procession of images, ideas, emotions, memories and an overwhelming sense of too much. “Oi Space double!” she shouted before grabbing the (still naked!) second Doctor and kissing him hard. He staggered and tried to pull back until he heard a faint voice in his head pleading with him to ‘take it back’ ‘too much’ ‘it’s your’s use it’. He figured out what was happening and held onto Donna’s head, placing his fingers on her temples to try and speed things along. The golden light which had birthed him returned and swirled around the areas they touched, as it faded Donna’s eyes glowed briefly before she collapsed to the grating, heaving for breath and shaking all over. The Doctor’s double convulsed on his feet, banged his hand to his chest a couple of times and coughed out a small golden cloud before staggering back to the console and supporting himself by sitting on it’s edge.
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‘Donna?’ he projected the thought without realising it. ‘Donna, are you OK? Look at me please? Donna?’ She finally lifted her head to look at him. ‘You’re. Still. Naked!’ she roared at him, except, there was no noise, she’d thought that at him! And he’d heard her! ‘Well isn’t that wizard!’ and this time neither of them were sure who said it. ‘Go and get dressed, please, then we’ll deal with whatever this is, OK? I’m going blind looking at all that pasty flesh!’ ‘Oi! Watch it Earthgirl!’ he shot back at her even as he was leaving to find something to wear. He was stunned, he had not expected that, Donna Noble, ‘his best mate, no, sister? mother? NO, ooh, this is gonna be weird’ he winced as he thought about how to describe what Donna was to this him. He winced again as he thought of the other him, how the bloody hell was he going to explain this one!
As he headed back to the console room he kept up a steady stream of mental chatter with Donna, trying to figure out a way to fix the Daleks and rescue their friends (family?). He was also trying to isolate Donna’s memories from his own? His brother’s? father’s? Yep still too weird, and not universe threatening so not essential right now. As he sifted through the various thoughts, images and emotions he was almost floored when he recognised her memories of the library, how devastated she’d been to discover her children weren’t real. He ignored the relief he’d felt when she hadn’t been able to find her ‘husband’ just like he ignored the guilt he’d felt at his ‘everything’ comment. Whatever he decided to call other him, the were gonna have words about letting his gob run free with hurtful rubbish like that! Seriously, where did he get off, taking out his anger about River on her! As he remembered that moment though he remembered how Donna had felt and this time he couldn’t ignore the guilt when he saw how she’d believed him, accepted his scorn as expected, justified even! Seeing exactly how poorly Donna still thought of herself seemed to open the floodgates on more memories, ones he knew he hadn’t experienced with her, no this was the parallel universe! He shook as he watched her experience, unable to believe the nightmare he was witnessing. ‘Oi Time twin! Not the time or the place, stop nosyin' and help me!’ Donna sounded frustrated but underneath that he could sense her fear, fear of dying, of rejection, of being seen for what she thought he was, a failure. ‘Donna’ he aimed for caring and gentle in his tone but she was already retreating, somehow she’d worked out how to shield her thoughts from him! ‘Oh Donna, you really are brilliant you know!’ he sent to her. He got the mental equivalent of a snort before she replied ‘yeah well, I could only get so far with this thing on the images you showed me so c’mon DoppleDoctor, get your skates on!’
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Rose grinned from ear to ear, there was another Doctor here to save them! She heard Sarah Jane and the others various gasps of relief and disbelief but focused herself solely on the second Doctor. He even had a gun, ooh she was gonna give him some stick for that. Her grin slipped though as she caught the ‘future Doctor's eye and was faced with the full Oncoming Storm, he was not happy, and seemed especially angry with her? ‘Well’ she reasoned ‘spaceship full of Daleks, end of the universe, he’s every right to be angry, maybe we had a row about coming back to help, he was always going on about crossing his own timeline, I wonder what I’ll do to convince him?’ and with that thought a salacious grin spread back across her face. She turned to look at the first Doctor and, although his face was a picture of confusion, she tried for a flirty tone, “what am I gonna do with two of you eh?” She was unimpressed when he scrunched his face as if disgusted. “Oh don’t pout, I know who my Doctor is” she smiled at him and looked up through her lashes. His face returned to its confused frowning and she sighed. “Yeah, universe to save first, I know the drill”.
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The Doctor felt like he was drowning, his bypass had kicked in about the same time his double had emerged from the TARDIS. The determined calm of the thoughts suddenly assailing his mind had literally taken his breath away. He knew what he was seeing was the truth but it shattered so, so many of his dreams he couldn’t bear it. Rose’s attempt at flirting now made his stomach churn for all the wrong reasons. He bit down on the words fighting to loose from his mouth and tried to focus on what was going on in front of him. He saw his ‘brother’ (not son, definitely not son) collapse after being shot and finally took a desperately needed breath only to hold it again near instantly as Donna ran towards the weapon lying on the floor. She managed to get off one shot, hitting Davros squarely in the chest, before being thrown to the back of the room by synchronously returned fire. His was not the only voice to scream her name as she fell. Apparently one shot was all she’d needed though, Davros attempted to erect another force field around his brother but found himself powerless. The subsequent attempts of the Dalek guards to engage their weapons, the force field or even move, also failed. His hearts were in his mouth as he desperately scanned the back of the room for any sign that Donna had survived but he couldn’t see her, not even a glimpse of her body to prove what he felt had to be true. Donna Noble, his best friend, ally, sister? (No, no, NO and he wasn’t ready to analyse that reaction, thank you very much) the woman who had apparently already died once to save him had died again. Sacrificed herself to keep him alive long enough to fix this hopeless mess.
His brother had got to his feet and was using their telepathic bond to pass on as much information as he could about the weapon they had fashioned from Davros’ DNA to inhibit the functions of any Dalek weaponry he had created from his own cells. The Doctor spared a brief moment to marvel at the ingenuity before receiving yet another wave of images showing how Donna had affected the hand, releasing the regeneration energy, their minds and bodies briefly one before he separated and became this other version of himself. The Doctor yet again wilfully ignored the foreign emotion he felt as he saw Donna kissing his brother and completing the transfer of the remaining Time Lord energy, along with a little human instinct, given the evidence shown. ‘Brilliant’ he thought and a wide smile graced his relaxing features at about the same time the countdown for the reality bomb stopped. His brother, ‘we’re going to have to get him a name, can’t just call him DoppleDoctor forever now can we?’ he thought with a snort, was standing at the magnetron, fiddling with switches and dials, giving rapid fire explanations of how he and Donna had come up with their plan and what was left to do in order to return things too their natural state. ‘Wow, I don’t sound like that when I explain things do I?’ he asked himself, ‘no wonder Donna gets so frustrated, it really is annoying!’ Thoughts drawn back to Donna, his face dropped and he raced towards the control panels desperately seeking her body, hoping irrationally that she was just having a rest against a wall somewhere.
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Jack’s thoughts were racing, having made his way back to his friends he had been floored by the appearance of a second Doctor. Two Doctor’s! His biology dictated a lot of his behaviour but he was pretty sure there were a couple people here who’d agree with the potential this situation held, once they’d dealt with their Dalek problem obviously. He scanned the room, grabbing a weapon and heading back towards the Daleks and Davros, anticipating the return of the Supreme Dalek and hoping for a chance to wreak a little vengeance. Mickey joined him and he saw Rose, Martha, Sarah Jane and Jackie taking advantage of their enemies weakness and having a ball with it.He straightened with a jolt however when he realised who was missing from this picture. Where was Donna? He still felt that strange unease she instilled in him when they met but she didn’t appear to be with either group in the room. He’d seen her get shot but in the rush to secure themselves he’d forgotten to check on her, assuming the Doctor’s would handle it. “Hey Doc’s!” he shouted at the identical Time Lords across the room. “Where’s Red?” He was met with two very different looks, one, oh too familiar, fraught with guilt, fear and pain, that threatened to break his unceasing heart. The other, in complete contrast was beaming, prideful and maybe even a little smug, this one, too, was familiar, and the contrast reminded him of the masks worn for the Greek muses Melpomene and Thalia. This stray thought forced a small smile to his lips but he quickly hid it as ‘Melpomene’s’ mask slipped further into grief. “OK, what are we not getting here ‘cos it looks to me like someone definitely missed a memo?’ The two Time Lord’s looked at each other then and after what looked like a very amusing face pulling contest both turned back to him, this time with matching grins.
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Donna was dancing, ‘wait, why am I dancing?’ she shook her head in an attempt to clear it but all she achieved was more fuzziness. She was warm, a little light headed ‘have I been drinking?’ she wondered. She could hear music and felt pleasantly relaxed so gave in to the feeling and carried on swaying to the gentle rhythm. Distantly she could hear conversations, jubilant shouting and gentle reassurances, all suffused with a sense of belonging she had waited for most of her adult life. The peace was broken by harsh, mechanical voices threatening the peace, her friends, the universe. She renewed her efforts to clear her head and fought her way back to where she felt she was needed. Consciousness crept up on her like cold air wraps around you when you’re still, she didn’t really recognise it until she moved and suddenly she was wide awake! She pushed herself up towards the control panel in front of her and reaching out with the confidence her years at unfamiliar desks had imbued in her worked on a way to rid the universe of these Daleks for good.
Her initial thought was to destroy them, take revenge for all those on her home world who wouldn’t live to see their own sky again but she paused. A faint whisper in the back of her mind urged her to find another way, ‘they don’t need more death my friend, do as you have always done, show compassion for those who have none, find the truth at the heart of their hatred’. Donna wasn’t sure why but she trusted the whisper, found it familiar even though she was sure she had never heard it before. Working with speed and grace she fell back on her instincts to find a solution, and almost as suddenly as she had stood the Daleks had gone, disappeared to even she wasn’t sure where, alive but unable to threaten the universes ever again. With a smile of satisfaction Donna closed her eyes and promptly collapsed again, her landing softer than she had anticipated as she felt herself start to dance once more.
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She’d had enough, the Doctor’s, who apparently weren’t present and future but present and previous hand(?), were ushering everyone into the TARDIS, rambling away, trying to explain how they’d lassoed the Earth in a giant rope of rift energy to tow her home after the crucible had lost power without the planet engine to fuel it. They had barely spared her a glance in the hubbub and to top it all off present Doctor had carried Donna with him and then down to the med-bay, pausing only to pull faces and ‘Handy’ before disappearing. Well no more! She smoothed out her hair, let out another button at her collar and stalked her way to ‘Handy’s’ side.
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Donna looked peaceful on the med-bay bed but it didn’t make him feel any better. Peaceful wasn’t right, even in her most contemplative moments Donna’s face was so expressive, rarely still and always honest. Peaceful was wrong, it only served to reinforce the silence that enveloped them in the med-bay. After the brief rush of medical equipment descending to scan her, (down to the atomic level if that’s what it took!), there was silence, he even went so far to lean his face over her mouth to feel the soft push and pull of air to make sure she was breathing. He took her limp hand in his trembling ones and stood staring at her while the equipment did it’s work. His gaze lost focus as he let the events of the last 10 minutes replay in his mind’s eye, trying desperately to understand all that his brother had shown him and hoping this wasn’t Caan’s prophecy made reality.
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‘Handy’ as he was being called, and that better not stick, need to choose a name and pronto, stood at the console directing the ‘Children of Time’ into piloting them and the Earth home. Letting his gaze fall on each in turn his hearts swelled with pride, tinged with relief they were all still here, before settling on Jack. He remembered the Doctor’s initial reaction to the immortal and cringed. For some reason, although he could still see how damaged Jack’s timeline was, he felt none of the discomfort that the Doctor did. Another fluke of his human influenced heritage he supposed. As he studied the man Jack raised his face from the controls he’d been assigned and returned the gaze, a brief flash of something sparked between them before they both broke off to concentrate on repositioning Earth in her orbit. Getting the tilt right was a little tricky but after a little subtle nudging from the TARDIS everything was back where it should be.
Sarah Jane was the first to bring it up, no one else really felt they had the courage. Martha was the only companion to have met Donna before today (parallel universes aside, and from what he could glean from her memories Rose hadn’t exactly been ‘friendly’). “What happened to Donna? Will she be OK? A Dalek blast is usually deadly but she seemed reasonably well at the controls of their machine earlier, that’s a good sign isn’t it Doctor?” He grinned widely at Sarah Jane’s refusal to call him by the nickname a few of the others had been using. “I think she’ll be fine Sarah Jane” he answered brightly, “The Old Girl’s running a few scans and the Doctor’s with her, a bit of a kip and a good cuppa and she’ll be right as rain”. His smile was genuine but his worry showed in his eyes. His brother was shielding his thoughts and the TARDIS was being her usual cryptic self, however, neither seemed to be in distress so he tried to take comfort from that. “Well, I hope so, she saved the universes from those monstrosities, I hope I have the chance to thank her before I go” Sarah Jane's reply warmed his hearts but it also reminded him of their next task. “I’m sure she’d like that too, Sarah Jane, just don’t be upset if she doesn’t accept it too gracefully, never been good with compliments has our Donna” he stated before moving back to the console. His movements were light and sporadic, much like his brother’s, as he explained to his temporary crew just how to pilot them down to a suitable drop off point on Earth.
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The Doctor felt a nudge in his mind, the Old Girl was trying to get him to go to the console room to see off his friends. Although reluctant to leave Donna he knew his companions would be worried if he didn’t make an effort to say goodbye. Asking the TARDIS to let him know if anything changed with Donna’s condition he made his way back to the console room. His oldest companion had made his task easier by shifting herself around so he exited onto the corridor just outside his destination, sending his thanks with a gentle pat on the coral strut nearest to him and placing a friendly smile on his face he entered the room. He immediately picked up on his brother’s worry and sent as much of an explanation as he could through their link. He also acknowledged their shared concern over what Donna’s memories showed them, silently agreeing to see off their earthbound friends before delving into that topic they consoled each other over the inevitable uncomfortable conversation in their future.
“Doctor!” he was greeted by several voices at once, “how is she?” was asked by six voices, nearly but not quite smothering the “what took you so long?” uttered by the remaining one. He chose to ignore that for now and smiled warmly at his friends, so brave, so strong, so Human. He was once again overwhelmed by the strength of emotion he felt towards these wonderful people and let out a sigh at having to say goodbye again so soon. “She’ll be OK, just tired, she’s lucky really, a Dalek blast should have killed her, there must have been some residual energy from her encounter with my brother that protected her, a bit like a Faraday cage, but not a cage, or metal or conductive so no, not a Faraday cage, forget that, more like a” “Doctor!” this time all seven voices were in unison, his brother merely smiled and shook his head. “It’s OK, we get it, Donna’s going to be OK, that’s the important bit” Martha tried to stop his babbling explanation. “Do you want me to look her over before I go, you know, being an actual Human Doctor ‘n all?” He pouted briefly before his smile returned, “thanks Martha but me and the Old Girl have it covered, she’s monitoring while I say goodbye, Donna’s not going to be happy she missed it though, oh,” he paused, looking over at his brother “mm, we might be in for a slap once she’s up and about again you know”. They both absently raised a hand to stroke their right cheek and the ensemble couldn’t help but laugh at the sight the pair made.
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Jack hung back from the goodbye’s, he hugged Jackie and Rose briefly and had to work harder than he’d expected to ignore how uncomfortable he was being in physical contact with her. He let Martha and Sarah Jane hug them and the Doctor’s and make their way out, joined by Mickey surprisingly, who explained his reasons for wanting to return without anyone arguing otherwise. Jack had seen how he’d been looking at Martha and had an idea where those two might end up in the near future. A flirtatious smirk graced his features as he motioned to them that he’d catch up. Sarah Jane left first, heading off to check on her son, and Martha and Mickey were waiting a little way off, chatting comfortably with each other despite only meeting a few hours earlier. “Doc’s” Jack tried to force some solemnity into his voice. Rose glanced up at him before showing her mum to the kitchen as she’d declared her need for a cuppa quite loudly. Jack acknowledged the distraction gratefully and returned his attention to the Time Lords in front of him. “Before you start, I’m not angling to stay, save that for another time eh?” he winked at the second Doctor “no” his serious tone returned, “I may not be a Time Lord but I have enough time sense leftover from the vortex to know something is really out of whack here. Donna was giving off some serious vibes earlier and Rose feels wrong. What is going on? And again, before you try the old babble and grin routine, I know it’s not OK, OK?”
The Time Lords looked like they were sharing facial expressions so they could get them all across. The first Doctor’s eyes were stormy, brow furrowed in worry and anger and mouth drawn in a tight line. The second’s mouth was down-turned, eyes watery as if a tear could escape any moment, he looked devastated. The first Doctor lead their reply, “We don’t know Jack, the TARDIS is doing her best to help Donna, medically there’s nothing wrong with her, we just don’t know how the meta-crisis has affected her neurology” His double continued “I shared some of her memories for a while there, from what we can gather Rose used the dimension cannon from the parallel Torchwood to get here, spent quite a while at it too” Jack hissed as the technology was mentioned. He knew enough to know that was bad news on it’s own. “Seems she and Donna ran into each other there due to a run in with the Trickster’s Brigade we had, blimey, yesterday, it was only yesterday, anyway, Donna ended up having to die wearing pieces of a TARDIS Torchwood and Rose had butchered to put things back in order” Jack’s eyebrows reached for his hairline at this news and he knew he was getting the clip notes, but he wondered just how bad things had got for her to justify murdering a TARDIS to change them. Then he remembered how he’d come to be in his current state and realised Rose had previous with ignoring the meaning of sentience in alien beings. “Yeah” the first Doctor acknowledged his reaction, “So we know something’s obviously going on, we just haven’t figured it out yet, we may well be popping in on you at Torchwood sooner rather than later to see if you’ve got anything in that archive of yours that might help, but for now Jack, we’ve got to get Jackie and Rose home “ both Doctor’s studiously ignored his look of surprise at that “so we’d better get going, we promise to let you know whatever happens, thanks Jack” Jack sighed, he had so many more questions now but he knew he’d be getting no answers yet so he hugged them both, flicked them a cheeky salute and turned to catch up with his (hopefully) new recruits.
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Rose was getting impatient, what was taking them so long, she had to get her mum home before she could really settle back in, thoughts of how they’d manage as a trio flitting through her mind. ‘Oh, nearly forgot Donna, I wonder what she’s gonna do? That could be awkward. Mind, if she’s ‘Handy’s’ sister she’ll probably wanna stay, or maybe we can drop him off with her at home, if he’s part Human he might fancy staying on Earth for a bit, we can always visit for the holidays’ she was distracted by thoughts of how she and the Doctor could celebrate once they had some privacy when both Doctor’s appeared in the kitchen. “There you are” she said, focusing on the first Doctor, ‘blimey’ she thought, ‘good job they’re wearing different clothes, they really are identical!’ “they all gone then? We gonna drop mum off now?” She knew her mum would miss her but now she was back there was no way she was staying in Pete’s world any longer. Ten long years she’d been working on that dimension cannon, fair enough, she’d not done much of the actual work but they were working on it because of her and now they had saved the universes they’d be grateful for her determination to see it through. She looked back up at the two Doctors and was confused, ‘why aren’t they smiling? I’m back, we can travel together again, they can’t still be worried about Donna, they said she’s gonna be fine’, “What’s up?” she asked and nearly fell to the floor when the full force of two oncoming storm faces were directed at her.
~~~~~~~~~~~
‘She really doesn’t see it’ he thought, ‘what happened to her? 10 years they said she’d been gone, she doesn’t look a day older than when we left her, that’s not just the Old Girls mojo’. The Doctor was aghast, how could the bright young girl who’d travelled with him become this oblivious liability, jumping dimensions without a care, tearing holes in the fabric of reality and damning who knew how many on her way? Her blaze attitude as they entered the kitchen hadn’t helped ease his troubled mind either. At least she’d recognised his anger when they’d both turned their stormy gaze on her. He’d been absurdly reassured by seeing that look mirrored on another version of his face, ‘suitably chilling’ he’d thought.
“Yeah, about that Rose” his tone was steely calm, “we need to have a little chat first” she sank further into the chair she dropped onto as they glared at her. “Just what did you think you were doing, using that cannon after I explicitly told you it was dangerous, about the damage it would cause?” He tried to keep his voice level, knowing that starting a shouting match would likely get them nowhere fast. Rose looked to the second Doctor with pleading eyes, on receiving nothing but a cold stare she looked to her mother, Jackie had stayed quiet, holding her mug of tea in both hands and feeling scared for her daughter who was likely about to get the wake up call she desperately needed. “Don’t look at me love, me and your dad told you that thing was dangerous, we begged you to let it go, focus on creating yourself a real life, but you were so bloody minded, years you’ve been back and forth places, looking for his Lordship, you should be married with a family of your own by now” Jackie’s last sentence drew two sharp gasps and a dual head turn from the Time Lords, “How long has she been using the cannon Jackie?” The second Doctor asked as he could feel his brother’s mind going into overdrive calculating the potential consequences of prolonged cross dimensional travel. “Oh ages” Jackie sighed, and the evidence of her worry and fear obvious in her face and posture, “started almost as soon as you’d said goodbye on that beach, took a few years to get it working again, then about four years ago they managed to find somewhere, took her a couple of months to recover after every trip but she’s been doing it regular as clockwork ever since then.” “Recover?” the first Doctor asked “Yeah well, after each trip she’d be tired, like exhausted, slept for a solid week the first time, sometimes she’d get injured, sometimes sick, we begged her to stop Doctor, we knew it was dangerous for the world but it was killing her too! Guess at least we don’t have to worry ‘bout that any more eh? S’pose she’ll be staying with you now won’t she?” Jackie’s voice broke as she finished her explanation, and her shoulders sagged as it seemed she’d only just thought of the possibility Rose wasn’t coming home.
~~~~~~~~~~~
He couldn’t believe his ears, ‘four years, FOUR YEARS! Rassilon’s sake girl, what were you thinking!’ He was shaken from his shock by a loud scream in his mind, at first he thought it was his brother, he could understand after all, Rose’s callous disregard for the safety of the multi-verse was infuriating, terrifying and devastating, but he quickly realised that the scream was definitely feminine in origin and not actually just in his mind, his ears were catching up and he could tell instantly that Donna was the source. He and his brother turned and ran for the med-bay, nearly across the console room and through the door before Rose had uttered a surprised “who’s that?” He bit down on his instinct to slap some sense into the girl, ‘who the bloody hell do you think it is?’ he thought as he and the Doctor ran to either side of Donna’s bed, both registering the fading golden light surrounding her. She had stopped screaming and looked for all the world as if nothing had changed. He reached out to brush a stray lock of hair from her forehead and promptly pulled back as if burned. He barely had time to utter a confused “What?” before he too screamed and collapsed to the floor.
He was burning, his limbs felt as if he was being pulled apart and squashed together at the same time, too much and not enough. He sensed someone else nearby and forced himself to turn to where he felt they were. Suddenly he was still, calm, his body felt relaxed, all the pain and pressure had disappeared. He focused on the other person and realised it was Donna, brave, beautiful Donna. She held out her hands to him and he took them in his own, they shared a small smile and he was at once aware of what was happening, he hadn’t experienced this in either of his bodies, they were still regenerating and Donna had needed to establish a connection to guide their shared Human biology through the process. His Time Lord DNA was dominating her, changing her, forcing her cells to mutate, evolve, become the same as his. ‘Oh my BRILLIANT Donna, look at you! Figuring it all out on your own, using every volt of that Human spark to change instead of dying! I Bloody Love You!’ He felt rather than saw the responding smirk and heard a faint ‘Alright Time Twin, keep your draws on!’ in his mind. They focused on channelling the regenerative energy to where it was needed, the process made so much more stable than his previous experiences by virtue of their connection, balancing out the power and ferocity between them.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Doctor couldn’t keep up, really, was it too much to ask to have a little time to deal with Rose before Donna died, he had hoped she would somehow survive, stay with him and help him heal again. He’d realised as he was contemplating how to manage Rose how quickly Donna had fitted into his life, far fewer of the usual inter species mix up’s, no need to hide the less Human aspects of his personality, no expectations of anything but company on their shared travels. She’d even made friends with the Old Girl, he was pretty certain they had a deal about the biscuits, he never seemed to find the hob-nobs unless Donna was having a few too. Now she was dying, (again!), and it was his fault. He drew a deep breath and reached for her hand, his brother touched her face with the same gentle concern he felt and then screamed in almost identical fashion to Donna. As he collapsed the Doctor tried to reach across Donna to grab his arm, try to make him fall forwards rather than backwards. He missed but he did briefly brush against Donna who was lying still on the bed. The accompanying rush of their joined minds in his made him stagger back, eyes wide with wonder. A smile spread across his face as he looked at the pair. He ignored Rose’s shout for him to tell her what was going on and Jackie’s cries for him to help them. They didn’t need his help, Donna truly was brilliant and he was going to use this example to remind her of it for as long as it took for her to believe him.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Standing in the Torchwood labs of Pete’s world Rose watched as all the work she’d pushed for over the last ten years was destroyed. She cried unselfconsciously where she was being restrained by two security guards, desperate for anything to survive. The Doctor may be angry at the moment but she knew he’d forgive her eventually and she wanted to be able to get back to him when that happened. Her mum and Pete (she still didn’t feel right calling him dad) were only too happy to help, pulling out file after file to be vaporised. The Doctor (one of them) had said shredding wasn’t enough and had promptly found a setting on his screwdriver that left less than dust as evidence the files had ever existed. Somewhere in the last half hour they’d changed into matching outfits and she couldn’t tell them apart now, she didn’t know why but they must have a reason. She knew it didn’t bode well for her to mix them up so she’d called them both Doctor since they’d changed, wary of upsetting her Doctor any further. The final blow came when her jumper, along with all the others, was attached to the dimension cannon and moved into the TARDIS, she could just make out through her tears the golden light that snaked out of the panel she had forced open all that time ago and surrounded the machine. The light grew steadily brighter until she had to look away, when she turned back the machine was gone, not even scrap metal left to show where it had once been.
The Doctor’s returned to the lab, Rose’s heart was in her mouth as she watched them hug Jackie and shake Pete’s hand in turn. She held her breath as they turned to face her. “Doctor, Please Doctor, I’m sorry, really, sorry, I only wanted to see you again, be with you, I love you, Please” She wasn’t even sure what she was asking for at that moment, she just knew this was her chance to change his mind, get him to take her with them, she was sure she’d even be able to cope with Donna staying on the TARDIS with them if it meant she could stay. She tried to work out which one was her Doctor and look just at him but she found she just couldn’t tell. They were both trying, and succeeding, to keep their faces neutral, no hint of their emotions, of the love she’d once seen in his eyes. Her heart finally broke as the crushing realisation hit her. He was leaving her here, he didn’t love her any more, if he ever had, she was staying here, on one planet, with one sky, alone. She dropped her head, stopped struggling against her captors, the fight completely drained from her. That was when she heard it, “Goodbye Rose Tyler”. No explanation, no reason, no emotion, just a cold, impersonal farewell, as if she were a stranger. All her remaining strength left her and her captors were now her support, the only thing stopping her from collapsing to the floor. She didn’t even raise her head to look as the familiar sound of the TARDIS de-materialising came and went.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Doctor caught the moment the light returned to Donna’s eyes, he’d been taking his turn to sit with her while his brother (still got to think of a name for him!) was taking some time to chat with the Old Girl and finish some repairs from her trauma in the crucible. He smiled broadly at her as she roused herself, looking very much like a bear emerging from hibernation, ‘ooh, best not tell her that one, definitely slap worthy’ he chuckled to himself, ‘she’s awake’ he sent to his brother and, as expected he heard rapid footsteps approaching the med-bay. He’d made it before Donna had even managed to sit up, carrying a mug of tea, miraculously unspilled, and a packet of hob-nobs. ‘Not him too Old Girl, that’s just not cricket’ he pouted at his ship. The pout didn’t last long however as the smell of tea seemed to act as a beacon to a drowsy Donna who quickly pulled herself upright, beamed at them both and snatched both mug and biscuits from his brother’s outstretched hands. “Oi! Watch it Earthgirl, you’ll spill!” “Shut it Time twin, I’m blimmin' gaspin’ over here!” The smile on her face and laughter in her voice softened her harsh words and all three smiled as she gulped half the hot brew down, barely stopping to dunk a biscuit in the remaining half before gulping that down too. Suitably refreshed she leant towards the Doctor, grabbed him by the lapels of his jacket and pulled him into a very vigorous kiss. He returned it enthusiastically ‘Oh, I could definitely get used to this!’ he thought excitedly. He was disappointed when she released him and turned towards his twin, he felt a pang of jealousy when he thought she might do the same to him and was exceptionally relieved when instead she began speaking. “So, you picked a name yet? I mean a name, not a title, plenty of time to work that one out, although I do kind of like the Guardian, you know what with protecting me, watching over the Doctor, waiting for your chance to help save all of reality ‘n all that, seems fitting, but like I said, plenty of time to choose, in the meantime though we need something to call you? Any thoughts, what about Beathan, that means life, or David, that’s beloved, or Alasdair, that’s defender of mankind, ooh, that’s good or Cameron, that’s crooked nose”
“Donna!” “Oi!” two very exasperated voices cried out, “OK, OK, I get it, I need a name, and I have to say I like Alasdair too, but first things first, how are you feeling? The Old Girl’s been keeping an eye on your vitals, nothing out of the ordinary there, well for us anyway, but this is a big deal Donna, you’ve changed species, become a whole new you, take a breath, think for a minute, are you OK?” The Guardian (he’d try it out for a while, it wasn’t half bad as a suggestion in fairness, a damn sight better than ‘Handy’ in any case). “Me? Yeah, I’m good, can’t decide between The Organiser or The Temp, can’t say I’m too keen on either but at least I’ve got something people can use in the meantime” Donna winked at the Time lords on either side of her, the one she knew was the Doctor had a faraway look in his eyes and a goofy smile on his lips, the newly christened (if only temporarily) Guardian was more serious so she tried to reassure him. “Honestly, I’m fine, probably in for a bit of a roller coaster emotionally somewhere in the near future but for now, I’m good, let’s not borrow trouble eh?” she barely paused for breath before blustering on. “Now, delicious as that cuppa was I’ve still got a powerful thirst on so, let’s head to the kitchen, you can show off your mug balancing skills again and I’ll rustle us up some dinner yeah? This regeneration lark is hard work, I feel like could eat old boots just for something to chew, so, before you have to sacrifice a beloved trainer to the cause let’s get a shift on”. The Doctor and Guardian groaned as they realised Donna’s talent for rapid fire chatter now matched theirs, life on the TARDIS was about to get a lot noisier! Donna was halfway across the console room by the time they’d gathered themselves enough to follow her. They could hear her, presumably talking to the TARDIS, “You know we can totally fix that chameleon circuit of yours love yeah? Let you choose something a bit more glamorous? More befitting your true beauty. Those skinny boys in suits won’t know what's hit ‘em, the universe has been waiting for us!”
The TARDIS trilled brightly in response. “I know my friend, I know what they will call you also, a name most befitting your true beauty, you are The Gift”.