SUMMARY: Rose stayed on Pete's World long enough to get the Clone married off to someone else. And for all that time, she'd grown the TARDIS until it was big enough to fly. In her travels with the Cannon, she'd come across another Doctor that duty in Pete's World had prevented her from staying with...First Flight was to a funny little version of himself locked in a Chameleon Arch.
The TARDIS and John Doolittle
She'd lived with this rather strange version of her Doctor for two years, he'd courted her after the human fashion and had wished to wed her within a year, normal enough for the era they were living in.
"What are you?" Rose wanted to know after inviting him into her TARDIS. "In your most ancient heart, what is the name of your species? Who are you?"
The answers were set. A Gallfreyan, Time Lords, 'I am the Doctor'. These were not hard to remember...usually.
Until the Doctor knew himself, she couldn't say 'yes', no matter how much she wanted to. Her younger TARDIS had confirmed Rose's suspicion that this man was indeed a version of the Doctor as soon has she'd been brought within range of the man. It appeared he'd forgotten who he was...and had become a very strange human instead.
But now...now Rose's TARDIS had 'called' a younger version of the confused Doctor's TARDIS to herself and Rose was able to have the younger him check out the forgetful elder one in the house full of animals. She was not from this dimension after all and filled the 'local' Doctor in on her past when he saw her smile at his reaction to what he would be doing in his later body.
"I simply didn't want a part human 'copy' of you. That's not what I signed up for." She finished, smiling a little at the gaping Second. She glanced, "Will you be able to set yourself to rights then?"
"Oh yes, of course. Could take a few days . Which...?"
"I was with Nine and stayed for Ten." She explained the rest of it including how she'd been left, finishing with, "Sorry, but I'm not some kind of inter-universal baby sitter for part Time Lords." She told him in disgust. "The clone was human enough for us to just put him on mood altering medications and calm his temper down that way. Then we made sure he met that universe's version of Sarah Jane Smith..." She grinned when the Second Doctor startled. "He was courting her when I left. He had his own crystal, and had no idea that the full-blood's TARDIS had given me my own. Still got a bit of her in me, yes? And a bit of the Vortex as well. Needed a TARDIS of my own, grown with those in mind: She keeps me stable."
"Yes, you wouldn't have our inborn ability to manipulate and stabilize the vortex you carry, so yes, you would need someone able to do that. The clone...probably..."
"No. couldn't help and got angry at me when he realized what was going to happen if I didn't have someone around that could. That's when I told him that Sexy had given me a crystal too, one she'd grown special, just for me." She looked around herself smiling. "I suppose you've noticed the lack of a console?"
"Can't fly her yourself, can you?"
"Nope. one of the things that Sexy kept in mind when she grew the crystal she grew from. Her coral's a bit different too, some of it isn't support or superstructure...some of it is just coral. Oceanic. Pretty...once in the rest of her, there's aquariums in the walls, salt and fresh, all sorts of fish because they're beautiful and calming. Told her that the fish must always remain, no matter how many times she redecorates."
"Interesting."
"And because I started out human, Sexy made sure that my Beauty here didn't mind my quirks, makes sense yeah? I met your elder self when one of my dogs sprained a foot and needed a vet. After all, I only lived with two versions of you for nearly three years, then the clone for another five. I'm hardly likely to miss the signs. And I couldn't just leave you like that. Who knows what kind of critter could show up?"
"Well, I found my watch, put him in your zero room and removed the perception filter from the watch. He probably already opened it." Both of them grinned at the chiming agreement from the young TARDIS. "He's lost his version of my TARDIS. She's gone, old age, see? Nothing bad but age. That's why he used the arch, with the last of her strength. She was already dying though and would have in any case, so she protected him first."
"I'll see if Beauty is willing to bond to that you then." Rose grimaced. "There just something rather...vile...about a Doctor without a TARDIS. So...do think that your older self would willing to..." She paused as his head lifted and he looked at himself, standing behind her, turning to look. "Ah, I've seen pictures of this you, well...sort of. Which body? My Doctor this you was Eight."
"This me also, and yes, I would quite willing. That's very generous of you, lass."
"Yeah, well, I've been looking after Doctors since I was nineteen my you was Nine. Bit late to stop now, I've run across my him a few times but after the stunt he pulled...no. I went looking for another...sometimes I think he hurt me to push me away. So, I avoided his 12th form and he continued to his 13th...the vortex itself reset his cycle, from what his current companion said once she understood who she was talking to and opened up." She paused for a few moments as the two versions of this universe's Doctor let that sink in, then shook it off and ran her hand over a screen. "Beauty has lots of these interfaces all over place and an image of how she translates herself as appearing if she looked like us. She did it that way because I'm not a Time Lord, as your younger self is no doubt forwarding to you if he hasn't already. I have no desire to repeat myself so you might as well get it from yourself. Anyway, the point is, my mental health in the absence of anyone on board but my pets, meant I had need of a face or at least, an image of a face to talk to. I'd rather have had a hand to hold, but...well, you're here now and that's what matters."
"Grew her yourself."
"Yes."
"She's three hundred years old already."
"Really? My, how time flies." She grinned at him in pure mischief.
This new, younger than her Doctor but older than his otherself's version was urged to bond to the new, younger TARDIS as his younger still self left to return to his elderly Time Machine. He knew and understood why the older self had Arched himself now, just for a few human years, until Rose came for him. Remarkable, that girl. Literally one of a kind and she clearly adored him. He would not be left adrift through his life TARDISless.
It took him days to move all his animal friends in...apparently he was still going to use John Doolittle as his alias...and then to fully merge with and bond to this younger, truly named TARDIS...she was beautiful and she was kind. She adjusted her 'normal' systems to include him while balancing her special modifications that her parent TARDIS had grown into her for Rose to include him...she needed to because if one needed physical adjusting or repair, he'd be the one to do that.
Each of her bonded ones balanced precisely against the other, though she did with the new version of her Parent's Doctor some things she needed herself but couldn't do with Rose. She got the mental link she needed for one thing, then gave him Rose's full history. He needed that, actually, to read the girl's timelines properly. He would be nervous and his temperament would be unpredictable if he couldn't do that, it was just how his species was, part of him from the smallest cell outward. But she was unconcerned, Rose expected him to do this and would have been upset if he couldn't...and Beauty passed this on as well.
Eighth nodded once the bond was fully formed and merged with every cell, mental and physical, he'd never had so strong a bond with a ship. This one welcomed him because her first bonded, the girl she'd been grown for, needed him on a level he'd never seen in anyone before.
As his youngerself had explained to Rose, Daleks, The Silence, Weeping Angels and Cybermen didn't exist here and since that younger version of himself had reported all this to the Council...Rose and her unique TARDIS had to be known of, after all, this him knew that certain of the more clinically, minded Time Lords had been sent out when it was appropriate to ensure they were not developed or didn't evolve...or in the case of the Angels, were run out of this Universe altogether.
Beauty grew a special, modified console where she had not had one before, intended from the start to be operated by a single pilot. There was a seat and three banks of controls within easy reach. They were the hands-on kind he preferred, but he need not dance about around a console intended to be used by six people. The knobs and switches were also beautifully rendered, delicate scroll-work in high Gallifreyan covered them. The readouts and screens had two lines of script, one in each language, Gallifreyan and English...the intent was clear as a second, single pilot's station was grown...minus most of the controls that there was clearly room for. He was too teach Rose to fly her. He smiled indulgently, and silently agreed, the English lines disappeared from his station and appeared on Rose's instead.
"I will teach her, but not just now. Just now, I need to get to know her." He replied, winking at the nearby Rose, and then sent the ship into the vortex to drift. "And I want to wander about a bit and get to know you as well, lovely one." She held out her and when he took it, she threaded her fingers through his and they fit like a hand in a custom made glove.
"Well, let's take you on walkabout, shall we? First stop, wardrobe room though I don't know why she hasn't already shown you that. And then...the gardens, I think."
"Ah, well, she supplied the smaller one in my quarters herself. But yes, I'd like to know where it is, at least."
A bit later he gaped at a huge banana grove that ringed another garden, grinning hugely at Rose as she used a machete to cut a plant down that had a fully mature stalk of ripe ones on it. "I love bananas!" He gushed happily.
"Yes, I know." She smiled, wondering if he still wished to court her. So many unanswered questions...but, they had Time.
**tbc**