Chapter Text
Rogue closed his eyes as death came for him.
He had waited for so long. He didn’t know exactly how long. Time didn’t flow right here and the closer the world got to slipping into the pit the more convoluted time seemed to become.
It could have been minutes since he had recorded that final message. Could have been years. That final plea. That gut wrenching confession.
He’d never know if the Doctor saw it.
It was funny. Rogue wasn’t afraid of many things. Oh, he had been scared many times, in his line of work it was natural. Fear kept you alive. But there were only a small number of things that he was truly afraid of.
Art’s death. That had caused genuine fear. True, deep fear.
Yet his own death never seemed to matter. He wasn’t a religious man. He had encountered faiths from all over, human and otherwise. Ancient and modern. But he had never clicked with a single one of them.
He didn’t believe in life after death. He didn’t believe there was some golden city where Art waited for him with open arms. Which is why he had been so afraid of losing Art. And why he didn’t fear dying now.
No, it wasn’t dying he was afraid of. Nothingness would be blissful.
It was never seeing him again that made his chest ache.
That magnificent, mystical man. The Doctor. His Doctor.
He hadn’t found him.
Rogue had waited for so long. The hope had kept him alive. Kept him running when the Chuldur caught up, kept him scrounging for the tiniest morsel of disgusting, barely edible greenery the planet had to offer. The hope that the Doctor would find him.
“Well, I enjoyed the dancing.”
And he was falling. All around him the planet was torn apart as everything was pulled down. The Chuldur. The hills. The bizarre fauna that had kept him alive up until now.
Him.
He kept his eyes closed as he fell. Welcoming an end that felt well overdue.
He hit solid ground with a grunt. His bones rattled as he crashed into smooth metal flooring, crumpled over himself like a discarded rag. He regretted opening his eyes upon landing, a blinding brightness seared his eyeballs and he flung his face against his arm as he remained huddled on the cool ground.
There was a humming in the air. Faint, mechanical. It was such a jarring shift from the silent darkness he had found himself wandering since he fell into his own trap.
“There you go,” a voice said from above him, the most beautiful voice. “I found you. Hold on, I need to yank the TARDIS out before we get pulled in.”
The ground beneath him shook and juddered and Rogue was sure he would have vomited if his stomach wasn’t empty. Once everything leveled out again he heard footsteps moving towards him.
A hand came to his shoulder. Strong and grounding. His body had become so emaciated, so weak, it was a wonder he didn’t crumble at the touch.
“Doctor” it had been so long since he had heard his own voice that he barely registered it as his own. Had he always sounded so strained? His throat was dry, he felt as if he had drank desert sand in search for an oasis.
“Rogue.”
“Am I dead?”
“Depends on your definition. But in the conventional sense, no. You are very much alive.”
The Doctor’s playful tone soon dropped as his hand fell away from Rogue’s back. Rogue wondered how easily the Time Lord could feel his bones beneath his ragged clothes. He was still wearing what the Doctor had last seen him in back on Earth in 1813. Or what was left of it.
He must have been quite the state. Stained with blood and dirt, his elbows and knees having worn through the tired fabric.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken so long. I was...”
Rogue wondered what the Doctor must look like now. He wondered what face he was making to compliment the wretched tone of his voice. It broke Rogue’s heart to hear him sound like that. But he also, deep down, wanted to force him to finish his sentence.
He was...what?
Preoccupied? Distracted? He had better things to do?
How much time did Rogue spend suffering? Starving? Hoping? When the Doctor was hopping around in his shed doing god knows what with that woman?
That woman...
Where was she? He hadn’t heard her voice once since being pulled into the TARDIS. He dared raise his head, squinting in the brightness of the control room. His head pounded.
What he saw devastated him.
There was no woman. Ruby Sunday, the woman he had given up his freedom for, was nowhere to be seen. Instead stood his reason for his one selfless act. The man Rogue had fallen for so intensely, like a teenager with his first crush. Rogue had given up his life because he didn’t want this beautiful man he had just met to lose someone else. Because he knew this incredible man could never make the decision that had to be made.
It had been a stupid decision. But he knew, looking up at him once more, he’d do it again. Because that was a new fear. Seeing this man hurting.
“Doctor...”
His arms barely held his weight as he tried to push himself to his feet. The Doctor caught him and guided him to sit beside a jukebox. Of course, not a chair in sight but at least there was music.
“Steady. You’re dehydrated. You’ve been living off Canorian flora for a while, though edible it doesn’t offer enough nutrients necessary for the human body to function. Likely why you’ve lost so much weight.”
Rogue thought his ears were ringing at first. Turns out the Doctor was using his ridiculous sonic device to scan him. As his hand moved in front of his face, Rogue caught sight of the ring he had given the Doctor during their attempted at “cosplay”. He wouldn’t ask for it back, seeing it there made his heart stir.
“Screwdriver” Rogue laughed but it came out as more of a cough. It hurt.
“Oi. No bullying the sonic.”
After a couple of seconds the only buzzing was inside Rogue’s skull.
“Your condition isn’t life threatening, thankfully. I got to you just in time. You’re going to be okay, we just need to get you properly fed and hydrated. Then we need to get you out of those clothes.”
“I’m flattered, Doc. But I think I could use a rest first.”
“Cheeky,” the Doctor rolled his eyes but his smile couldn’t be contained, his teeth were nearly as bright as the TARDIS interior. “I meant we need to get you into something clean. There’s a bathroom on the TARDIS. I haven’t found it yet but I’m sure it’ll turn up soon.”
“That explains the smell.”
“That’s all you, honey.”
When Rogue looked up again his eyes had adjusted enough to properly take the Doctor in. He’d changed since they had last met. The wig was gone, revealing a closely shaved pattern of dark waves. He wore a white shirt under a grey waist coat, lower down a pleated grey skirt that came to his knees, revealing legs wrapped in red tights and ending in...
“What the hell are you wearing?”
“What? Didn’t think you’d have a problem with skirts.”
“Not the skirt. What are those things on your feet?”
“Babes,” the Doctor pouted, balancing Rogue against his side when he had caught his breath, guiding him across one of the long walkways and towards a circular door. “Not everyone knows how to make crocs work.”
“It seems we’re yet to meet someone who can.”
“Cheek.”
“They’re bright yellow.”
“Because I am the embodiment of sunshine. Now shush, we’re getting you fed, cleaned up, then rested.”
As Rogue limped along beside the man he had waited for for who knows how long, he let his breathing soften. They made their way deeper into the Doctor’s impossible ship and Rogue spoke again.
“Doc?”
“Hm?”
“Thank you. For finding me. I was starting to worry you’d given up...or decided I wasn’t worth the search.”
The Doctor didn’t respond. His face took on an expression similar to when he had thought Ruby had died, that terrifying expression. He led Rogue forward and they sunk into an uneasy silence.
#
Rogue had mustered the energy to at least wash himself after the Doctor had fed him. Well, he says “fed”. They were more like tubes of milkshake. It was thick and tasted like over-ripe bananas. The Doctor said they were formulated especially to help someone dealing with malnutrition receive the correct amount of nutrients without risking shock, he had made him drink four. They worked wonders so he decided not to question his credentials this time. He had the strength to stand up without feeling faint.
After washing off a lifetime of grime and tackling an overgrown beard, he took himself back to the room the Doctor had offered him. A fresh set of pajamas laid out on the bed. It surprised Rogue to learn that the TARDIS not only apparently had several bedrooms, but some were as hauntingly pristine as a hotel room that may or may not have had a murder in it at least once.
He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept in a proper bed. After being used to the pile of sheets on top of a thin mattress he had on his ship, this bed felt like a cloud. He was asleep in seconds, the exhaustion that came after survival pulling him down.
He woke up bleary but well rested. He must have been out for hours. He was alone, the Doctor had left Rogue alone since showing him to the bathroom. Rogue pushed himself off the bed, tripping on a pair of slippers left beside the bed before pushing his feet into them and padding out of the room.
This ship was insane. Rogue had never seen anything like it and didn’t think he could ever make sense of it. He had thought his ship had been impressive but this thing had a three-storey library (Which the Doctor had led him through in search for a bathroom) and apparently a swimming pool (that the Doctor informed him he is yet to locate as it is no longer in the library).
“Art would have loved this.”
The thought was bittersweet. The thought of Art excitedly charging around the control panel, firing off half a million questions made his chest ache. He could picture the Doctor answering them all too, just as enthusiastically. They’d have gotten along, he was sure.
He forced his legs to move.
###
“You really need to provide a map.”
Rogue finally emerged into the TARDIS control room, finding the Doctor hunched over the center panel. Rogue was sure he had heard the man arguing with the ship before he noticed him. Art used to do that too.
“I tried it once but it took roughly six hundred years just to map out roughly 50% of the layout and then it all changed again anyway. It’s more fun to play it by ear.”
The Doctor raised his head. He had changed his clothes. The skirt had now been replaced by a loose fitting pair of navy trousers, a tight fitting grey shirt that hugged his torso in a way that caused war to break out in Rogue’s blood, and an orange-brown faux leather that came to his ankles.
Was he never not stylish?
“Six hundred years? How old are you exactly?”
“Oh there’s a question,” the Doctor grimaced. “I’m not quite sure anymore. Stopped counting. My timeline is complicated and...well...a little inconsistent. Last time I counted I think it was somewhere in the two thousands but who knows?”
“Two thousand? You look good for your age.”
“I have a great skin care routine.”
Rogue coughed a laugh as he continued forward, using the railing to keep himself steady. He was considerably stronger than he had been before he slept but there were still some jitters.
“You’re supposed to be resting.”
“Is that Doctor’s orders?” Rogue teased.
The TARDIS was so clean, Rogue felt like he’d stain something just by looking at it.
“Funny joke. Bold to make fun of someone’s name, Mr. Dungeons and Dragons.”
Rogue shrugged as he got to the Doctor’s side. He hadn’t much liked the name at first, thought it made him sound a bit pompous. But it grew on him. It felt right now.
“I didn’t choose it.”
The Doctor nodded, there was something knowing in his eyes as he turned to face the bounty hunter.
“The person you lost?”
Rogue hesitated before nodding.
The Doctor let the subject drop almost immediately. Loss was as sensitive a subject for him as it was for Rogue. He remembered what the Time Lord had said, he had lost everyone. They were alike in that. Lonely. Lost. Then they found each other.
They’d talk about it eventually, maybe. Not yet.
“Those pajamas fit then,” the Doctor gestured towards him. “I had to guess your size. Luckily the wardrobe has three floors.”
“How many floors does this thing have?”
“Excuse me, thing?” the Doctor gasped in offense, stroking the console as he leaned in to whisper to it. “Don’t listen to the mean human, girl, he’s delirious.”
He then turned back to Rogue, shooting him a playful glare which he soon replaced with a smile.
“Not sure. Haven’t counted them all yet.”
Rogue let it drop. Any more questions about the TARDIS layout and he feared he’d be falling into a conversation that his aching head wasn’t prepared for.
“Where are we going?”
“Earth. 2026. Just until you recover better, I know a place. It’s safe--well, I say safe--as safe as 2026 can be...which now that I think about it--“
“Wait,” Rogue interrupted, really not in the mood for a history lesson even if he was about to be inserted in the history. “2026? My ship was stranded in 1813. Someone could have discovered it within that time. The cloaking device is good but I’m not sure it can hold up for over two hundred years.”
Art had perfected the cloaking device himself. At least perfected it to the capabilities of what they had on hand. But even he wasn’t guaranteed to be able to make something last that long.
“Not to worry, babes,” the Doctor assured. “Your ship is safe in orbit, no one can touch it. She’s waiting for you to return.”
“Waiting for me, huh? Then why aren’t we going to her now?”
“Because you need to recover first. Can’t have you shooting back off into space, fighting bad guys or whatever it is you do.”
“Sure” Rogue sighed. The Doctor wasn’t as good a liar as he thought he was. He was staring at the console, making a point not to look at Rogue. Rogue wasn’t going to argue, not yet anyway.
I’ve worn that expression enough times to recognize it, Doc.
###
“You’ve changed your clothes!”
The red headed woman whose house the Doctor had brought Rogue to was quite the force of nature. She had the Doctor by the shoulders before he had even opened his mouth.
“I didn’t even know you were capable. I’m pretty sure you didn’t know how when you had the other faces. And believe me those suits were rank after an hour of running.”
“Oi,” a man appeared behind her. He was skinny with brown hair that was spiked high enough to add an inch or two to his height. Attractive, but in a different way to the Doctor. He looked familiar too, somehow. “I’ll have you know I have doubles. I wash them.”
“Let them believe that, hun” the Doctor winked, pulling the duo into a hug. Rogue felt like he was interfering somehow. He didn’t know these people, he had just been dragged along, but the Doctor had insisted he knew a place he could rest. Rogue wasn’t sure he was comfortable asking these strangers for help. Even if he wasn’t the one asking.
He also wondered how much resting could be done around people with this much energy. Though, they did match the Doctor’s own, he supposed.
Rogue had changed out of the pajamas before leaving. Browsing the Doctor’s ridiculously massive selection of clothing he had settled on something the Doctor had assured him was era appropriate. He decided on black jeans, a grey hooded jacket, and a shirt with cartoon cat on it.
He wasn’t sure it suited him but it’d work for now.
“And who,” the woman’s eyes immediately locked onto Rogue and he felt suddenly that he wasn’t out of danger after all. “is this?”
“Donna,” the strangely familiar man scolded. “Behave. But seriously,” he turned back to the Doctor. “Who is this?”
“Oh, yes. Getting ditzy in my old age. Donna, me, this is Rogue,” the Doctor gestured with a flourish. “Rogue. This is Donna, one of my dearest friends.”
Donna looked quite proud, puffing out her chest and giving him a little wave.
“And this is...well...me.”
“I take it he’s aware of the-“ the other Doctor said. It then dawned on Rogue why he looked familiar, his face was one of the ones the Doctor had showed him on his ship when they met. Actually, he’s pretty sure this one turned up twice.
“He knows about the regeneration but I may have skipped over bigeneration.”
“Is that like bisexuality?” Rogue quipped, hoping he could hide his confusion with humour. Something else Art had always been better at.
“Oh I like this one” the woman--Donna--said, poking Rogue’s shoulder as he stood stiffly on her door step. “He’s adorable.”
“It’s a long story,” the Doctor said. Rogue’s Doctor. The Doctor Rogue knew. The black Doctor, not the white Doctor. This was confusing. “Toy Maker, weird game logic, fairy-tales becoming real. Blah blah blah, not important. What’s important is-“
“Wait,” Donna interrupted, raising both of her hands as she looked between the Doctor and Rogue. “Rogue. As in the hot Bridgerton assassin with the sad puppy eyes?”
Rogue wasn’t sure which part of that to take exception to.
“I’m actually a bounty hunter” is what he decided to settle on. “Assassins are different.”
“Hold on,” the Doctor breathed. “Donna. Why do you know about Rogue?”
“Do you really think Rose and I didn’t force Ruby to spill everything the moment she stepped into UNIT? We needed the tea.”
“The tea was very hot, apparently” the other Doctor joined.
Rogue was wondering how far Bath was from here, and if he was able to run to his ship in his current condition.
“This is that Rogue?” Donna grinned.
“Yes, this is that Rogue.”
“That Rogue is standing right here.” Rogue pointed out.
“You found him?” another new face appeared behind Donna and the other Doctor.
A tall, mixed-race teenage girl pushed her way between them. She stared at him with wide eyes before busting out into a grin identical to Donna’s. She didn’t need to be introduced as her daughter for him to figure that one out.
“Oh my god, I need to text Ruby. She’ll cry.”
“You have Ruby’s number?” the Doctor asked. Rogue was trying to keep up with the increasing cast of quirky characters he was being introduced to. At least he knew Ruby.
“Obviously, we work together. Also, she’s like a really cool big sister. She introduced me to her old band and their singer is like the trans elder I’ve needed in my life.”
“Elder?” the other Doctor jumped in. “She’s like twenty something.”
“Exactly,” Rose rolled her eyes in that way that only a teenager can truly master. “Elder.”
“What does that make me then!?” Donna scoffed.
“I don’t know. Ancient?”
“Move your backside, young lady, before I kick it” Donna joked, turning her daughter around and marching her inside.
“Nice to meet you, Rogue. I’m glad you didn’t die!” and with that the mother and daughter had gone. Rogue was now left with the two Doctors.
“So,” the other Doctor was clearly trying not to stare at Rogue, he was doing a terrible job, it made Rogue feel naked which he wasn’t enjoying in this context. “You found him.”
“Ruby shared everything, then.” Rogue’s Doctor shook his head, fighting a smile.
“Only the interesting parts” the other Doctor shrugged. “What brings you here?”
“Oh, yes. That was the important thing. Rogue needs a place to rest, just until he’s recovered enough to go back to his ship.”
“So you brought him here?”
“Where else?”
“Well, we have the room but-hang on. Why don’t you just keep him on the TARDIS? Yours can’t be that different from mine. I’ve found at least seven bedrooms.”
“I thought Earth air would be healthier.”
“In 2026 London?”
“Shut up.”
The other Doctor laughed. He gestured for the two to come into the house. Rogue was trying to process the fact that these two men were technically the same person as Rose charged passed them, a backpack slung over her shoulder.
“Okay so Rogue can use the spare room,” Donna stated when the other Doctor returned with her. Rogue wasn’t sure if she had fantastic hearing or if she had been actively eavesdropping. “But there’s also something you should know.”
“Yes. You may have turned up at a really bad time. Or a really good time depending on how you look at it” the other Doctor had an excited bounce in his voice.
“What’s going on? Rose got her first boyfriend? Girlfriend? Partner? Because the talk is not my specialty. I tried it once and it just ended in crying and screaming. Mostly from me.”
“Nah, Shaun dealt with that when she was thirteen” Donna waved her hand dismissively. “I was going to but she barricaded the door.”
Rogue was starting to like Donna.
“We have a bigger problem,” the other Doctor continued. “UNIT are looking into it but now that you’re here we may as well put our brains...brain? Brains...still not used to this. May as well put them to use.”
“Of course,” Rogue’s Doctor leaned forward, his eyes lit up with curiosity. “What have we got?”
The other Doctor paused. After everything, Rogue was sure the two had seen it must have been a big one. The other Doctor was clearly trying to figure out how to say this.
“Would you believe zombies?”
The Doctor--Rogue’s Doctor--blinked. He rose his pointer finger in the direction of the two, his mouth opening like he was about to say something but it soon closed again. The cogs were turning in his brilliant head.
He looked at Rogue as if the bounty hunter would be able to make any sense of this.
Rogue was still trying to make sense of the era. Why were the people on the screen in Donna’s living room arguing about inheritance after apparently finding out their mother had faked her own death? And now one of them was punching someone in a bar.
“Zombies” the Doctor eventually said, slowly.
“Zombies” confirmed the other Doctor.
“As in...zombies? Night of the Living Dead zombies?”
“More like the Last of Us.”
“So less reanimated dead and more advanced natural infec-wait, you play video games now?”
“We’ve been watching the show,” Donna jumped in, slapping her Doctor against his chest. “Someone has developed a bit of a thing for Pedro Pascal.”
“I’ve discovered a lot about myself since that last regeneration.” Donna’s Doctor shrugged, turning red.
“Tell me about it, honey” Rogue’s Doctor laughed before shaking his head and slapping his hands together. “No. Focus, we need to get back to the point. Zombies.”
“Can we pause for a moment?” Rogue questioned, he could feel his headache getting worse. So much for resting, not that he was looking to do much anyway. “I’m behind. Who’s Pedro Pascal?”
“I have much to teach you” the Doctor winked.
“He’s an actor,” Donna’s Doctor explained. “Plays a lot of dilfs.”
“Um, hit the breaks, excuse me,” Rogue’s Doctor wheezed. “Where did you learn the word ‘dilf’?”
“I have a teenage niece.”
“Gagged, I am gagged. Anyway, zombiieess.” the Doctor punched the air in front of him as he sung the word.
Rogue was too worried about the answer to ask what a dilf was.
“It’ll probably be best if UNIT explains it. It’s apparently nothing much to worry about but we both know that actually means...”
“...that we have a lot to worry about.”
Both Doctors high-fived. Rogue’s Doctor clapped his hands as the two turned towards the front door.
“Rogue, you stay here with Donna. We’ll be back before you know it.”
“Uh, no” Rogue followed behind. “I’m not that fragile, Doc. I’ve survived a lot, I can handle being a little tired. I’m coming with.”
“And no way in hell are you leaving me play nurse, space boys. I’m coming, I get paid for every hour I’m in the building so try to draw it out a little, would you?”
The two Doctors shared a look that told Rogue that there was no use arguing with this fiery woman. He liked her even more. He flashed the two Doctors a raised eyebrow as he followed Donna out the door.
“You heard the lady, let’s go.”
“You’re getting into step fast” his Doctor noted.
“I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in my time, Doc, but never zombies. I refuse to miss this.”
Donna’s Doctor’s lip twitched into a smile, looking towards Rogue’s Doctor as he chewed on his lower lip.
“Doc?”
“Shut up.”
“You really should rest, though” his Doctor attempted to argue.
Rogue followed Donna, ignoring him and leaving him to complain about human stubbornness.
“We should stop picking up attractive outlaws with American accents before it becomes a habit.” Donna’s Doctor muttered to Rogue’s Doctor.
Rogue decided not to ask about that.
###
“Ruby! They’re here!” Rose came charging at them, spinning backwards and waving her hands as a familiar blonde head popped up from behind a desk. They both moved with a speed that felt like it should be impossible in heels. He was glad they weren’t hunters.
Rogue didn’t really know what to expect of UNIT from the Doctor’s descriptions. Remarkably, it was both exactly what he was expecting and nothing like he was expecting.
It was very metallic, built up with technology he had not expected from this era. Maybe people from the 21st century weren’t as primitive as he had imagined. It reminded him of the TARDIS. It was blindingly clean.
It reminded him slightly of the Tret’Fiam newspaper office. He had gone undercover as a journalist in his late teens, when his job involved more intelligence and less dexterity.
I’m thinking in Dungeons and Dragons stats again, he rolled his eyes at himself. Damn you, Art.
There were desks laid out on each side of the room, with screens folded out from the metal surfaces. The space between them was close enough to not force everyone to shout at each other while also allowing plenty of space for wheelchair users to comfortably maneuver.
A robot gave them a polite nod as they entered. The Doctor said it was called the Vlinx. It was very polite.
At the front of the room there was a series of screens showing footage of what looked to be prison cells. Inside these cells stood people. Nearly dead vacant eyes stared directly at the cameras, and they swayed softly from side to side. They didn’t look like much of a threat, but Rogue had long ago learned not to underestimate the mundane.
“Well that looks promising” Rogue’s Doctor announced, wrapping his arms excitedly around Ruby as the tiny woman flung herself at him. Her legs kicked the air as he spun her in a circle.
“Oh my god, oh my god” Ruby exclaimed, dropping away from the Doctor’s arms. Rogue was poised to flee if she attempted to hug him. Thankfully, she managed to regain control of herself.
She was crying.
“He found you.”
Rogue could only present a tight smile.
Another woman turned away from the screens and marched towards the group.
“God help us, they’re both here.”
She was a handsome woman who carried herself with the poise of a military leader. This was a person who demanded respect just with her presence, but Rogue wasn’t one to easily respect military. Bounty hunters and soldiers bumped heads a lot more frequently than one may think.
She was one of the first people to turn around since the TARDIS materialized. He supposed the novelty had likely warn off here. Despite being a human facility, it vibrated with the hum of alien tech.
The Doctors had argued over which TARDIS to bring, eventually settling on Rogue’s Doctor’s ship. Donna had decided. Apparently the coffee machine on her Doctor’s TARDIS was broken.
“Always a delight, Kate” his Doctor grinned, saluting. It was playful, Rogue recognized the sarcasm in the posture. He couldn’t imagine the Doctor saluting a superior officer, he doubted there was anyone more superior.
“We brought back-up” the other Doctor explained as Donna marched to the back of the room, announcing that she was making a cup of tea and if anyone wanted one they knew where the teabags were.
He liked Donna a lot.
“Did you need to bring the TARDIS?” the woman--Kate--questioned. “It’s a driveable distance.”
“I’m all about showmanship, me” Rogue’s Doctor beamed.
“I wish you would stop bringing unauthorized civilians in here” Kate’s tone was exasperated but she hugged the Doctor anyway before turning her attention to Rogue.
“Anyone I bring is authorized” his Doctor stated, pointing finger guns. She pushed his hands to his sides and looked as if her headache was as bad as Rogue’s.
Rogue was trying to pretend that Ruby and Rose weren’t staring at him. He wasn’t used to being looked at this much, especially by bouncing teenagers.
“I wish my father had argued more against that clause” Kate huffed before holding her hand to Rogue to shake. “Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, Chief Scientific Officer and Commander-in-Chief of UNIT.”
“She’s my boss” Rogue’s Doctor said, leaning over Kate’s shoulder.
“You don’t have a boss” Kate retorted.
“Well...Donna” the other Doctor hummed.
“Good point.”
Rogue shook Kate’s hand, sharing his own name. He didn’t tell her his profession, wasn’t sure how well received it would be.
“Rogue.” Kate looked incredulous. “Well, no worse than Doctor.”
“Oi” both Doctors exclaimed at once.
Kate suddenly paused as she began to walk back towards the screens, catching sight of Rose and Ruby before turning back to Rogue.
“Wait. Rogue. As in that Rogue? The ‘Find me’ Rogue?”
“Did you tell everyone about that?” Rogue asked Ruby, feeling incredibly self-conscious knowing that the tale of his tragic self-sacrifice had been spread around to strangers.
“I’m sorry! I’m a sucker of a dramatic love story.” Ruby was still crying, her head tilted upwards as Rose dabbed at her eyes with a tissue to keep her eyeliner from running.
Both the Doctor and Rogue reacted to the word ‘love’. The Doctor by laughing. Rogue by choking.
“Sorry, too soon for labels?” Ruby was soon removed from the scene by Rose and the other Doctor before she continued to shove her foot into her mouth. Rogue at least appreciated the escape from that particular conversation.
He had used that word. Love. When he had sent the message he believed to be his final words to the Doctor. He had told him he loved him. And it hadn’t been false, he felt it still. But the Doctor hadn’t acknowledged that since their reunion, he hadn’t mentioned it once. Maybe he hadn’t seen it. Maybe he was avoiding the subject.
The word just carried a different weight with the Doctor actually in front of him.
“I didn’t realize Rogue was actually your name” Kate explained as Rogue and his Doctor joined her at the screen. She stood with her hands firmly on her hips, she knew her business.
“I suppose it counts as a pseudonym” Rogue shrugged.
“Oh no, I meant that I thought Ruby was being dramatic. A heart pounding, short lived romance with a dashing rogue? It’s all very Shakespeare.”
“I’ll take dashing as a compliment.”
“You should. It suits.” the Doctor winked.
Kate rolled her eyes.
“Flirt on your own time, Doctor. We have a problem to deal with and since you’re here you can help.”
“Always, Kate.”
Kate pointed at the screen and the three of them were shown a larger shot of one of the people in the cells. A girl, couldn’t be more than fifteen. Rogue’s mouth went dry, she was so young. Her arms hung at her side and her head was tilted at an angle as she stared coldly into the camera. Rogue couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable, like she was staring right at him.
“Oh...sweetheart” the Doctor breathed.
“Rebecca Griffiths. Fourteen years old. She was the first, at least the first that we found. She was out shopping with a friend in Cardiff when she suddenly attacked a random passerby. According to witnesses, there were no signs of abnormal behaviour leading up to the attack.”
She pressed a button on a remote and a series of photos appeared beside the footage from the cell. A grotesque collection of wounds littered a man’s arms, shoulders, and even his throat. Nails had torn strips from his arms and teeth had taken chunks.
“The victim. Thirty year old Simon Wheeler, he was on his way back to work after a lunch break when Rebecca attacked him. I’d show you the pictures of his face but I’ve just eaten.”
“She killed him?” Rogue asked, getting ahead of himself.
Kate shook her head.
“No. He lived, but whether that’s a positive it still up for debate. He attacked a nurse an hour after arriving at the hospital. Both he and the nurse are now in cells like Rebecca.”
“Okay, I’m normal now” came Ruby’s voice from behind them, Rogue turned as she covered her eyes with a hand, stretching her other arm up to cover Rose’s too. “Yikes, I hate these pictures.”
“Sorry” Kate pressed another button and the pictures were gone, the footage of Rebecca’s cell once again taking up the majority of the screen.
“Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask.” Ruby’s hand fell to her side. “How’s Belinda? Kate’s asked her to join UNIT but she turned the offer down.”
Rogue didn’t miss the way the Doctor’s smile dropped for a fraction of a second. Something swam in his eyes before he drowned it.
“She’s doing well. She’s happy, as far as I know. Little Poppy’s doing great. I don’t think you’d be able to get her away from nursing.”
“No.” Kate joined. “She said she didn’t want the life this all brings, we’re respecting that decision.”
“When did this start?” the Doctor asked, rapidly redirecting the subject, as his other self stood beside him. This was a sensitive topic, Rogue made a mental note of the name ‘Belinda’.
Rogue watched the two Doctors. He was trying to see if there were any similarities between them. He supposed their stances were similar, they pressed their hands to their faces in similar gestures as they thought. There were so many more differences.
But the wariness in their eyes. That was the same.
“About a week ago,” the other Doctor told Rogue’s Doctor, earning a glance from Kate who had been under the impression that she was in charge here. “There’ve been thirteen cases so far. Not everyone attacked has changed.”
“Any deaths?”
“None that we are aware of yet” Kate continued.
Donna had returned with an inexcusably large cup of tea. She slipped into a seat, forcing the woman who had been sitting there to move.
“And they’ve just been like this since being brought in?” Rogue’s Doctor was crouching now, balancing uncomfortably on the balls of his feet as he pressed his hands against his lips.
“His thinking face” Ruby told Rogue when she caught his expression. He hadn’t noticed when she had gotten so close to him. He took a step away.
“They calm down when they’re separated” Kate explained. “They only lash out if they can see other people. Which is why they’re in separate cells.”
“You said something about The Last of Us” Rogue’s Doctor said to the other one.
“Aha, that’s the interesting thing,” the other Doctor glided forward, snatching the remote from Kate’s hand and spinning to snap his fingers in the group’s direction. “All of them have traces of a yet unknown substance in their blood. Definitely not of Earth but nothing I recognize.”
He pressed a button and a new series of images appeared. Blood samples, medical notes. All samples showing traces of greenish spores tinging the red.
“Well that’s new” Rogue’s Doctor breathed.
“Exactly! Something we haven’t seen before.”
“I love things we haven’t seen before” Rogue’s Doctor jumped to his feet, slapping the other Doctor on the shoulder as he took a closer look at the photographs.
“That’s not the only weird thing” Rose told them, lifting herself on the desk her mother was sat at, crossing her legs in front of her. “Show them the other thing.”
Kate snatched the remote once more, pushing the other Doctor away from the screen as she attempted to take control once more.
“Weird thing?” the other Doctor was confused, it seemed that there were things even he was left out of.
“More weird than a zombie infestation?” Rogue asked. Was he starting to regret not staying behind to sleep?
No. He wasn’t. This was thrilling. And the way his Doctor’s eyes lit up when confronted with something new was exhilarating.
“This started this morning,” Kate stepped between the two Doctors. With the press of a button the screen was once again split into multiple shots, showing each imprisoned zombie staring at the cameras as they had been before.
“Okay?” the other Doctor said as Rogue’s Doctor said “Sooo?”
“Wait for it.”
And within a few seconds the people in the cells began to speak.
Their voices were wrong. He didn’t have to know any of these people to know that. They all spoke in the same voice, it was low and rattled like gravel being grinded by a wheel. It was inhuman and made Rogue’s headache throb.
And they all said the same thing. A single word.
“Doctor.”
“Doctor.”
“Doctor.”
“Well” began the other Doctor, staring at the screen, his face paled.
“That’s promising” finished Rogue’s Doctor.
Rogue had no idea what he had gotten himself into.