Author's Note: I own nothing, etc. I wrote this a long time ago and thought I might as well publish it. I may rewrite later.
Rose watched the Doctor sleep.
It had been only a few weeks since the events with the Daleks that had brought her to the other universe, and she wanted to spend every minute with him. It took some getting used to, him being human and all, but she was fully convinced that he was exactly the same Doctor that she had known and loved. The only difference was that he had one heart, but it still belonged to Rose.
She'd missed him terribly, but now everything could be perfect. Smiling at his sleeping form, she got out of bed to start making breakfast. Rose had always been a light sleeper, and she wanted to surprise the Doctor this morning with his favourite banana flapjacks.
Rummaging around in the kitchen, Rose found a decent-sized pan to cook with and started mixing the batter in a bowl. She added extra bananas- bananas were good.
Suddenly, Rose heard a sound. It was a quite loud sound, considering it had clearly come from outside but she could still hear it from her kitchen. It had sounded like a large pop, like an explosion but at a lower frequency. Curious, she put on her robe and went out to see what she had heard.
Stepping out onto the street, Rose gasped. There was a small but concentrated cloud of smoke in the middle of the car park across the road. Standing in exactly the middle of that cloud was a woman, coughing and cursing under her breath, Rose could tell. But the thing that struck Rose was that this woman was not dressed in normal London clothing. In fact, she was wearing an outfit Rose had only ever seen anything similar to in the twenty-fifth century. Rose instantly knew she was looking at another time-traveler.
She crossed the road to the woman, still wheezing.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Oh no, dear, I'm fine," the woman waved her away, "Those vortex manipulators aren't programmed to handle multiple universes, though, and I can see why now! Wow! I'm just-"
"Vortex manipulator!" Rose was excited to meet a fellow time traveler, no matter who it was. "From a parallel universe!" She understood from what she had learned from the Doctor how incredibly lucky it was for this woman to have gotten through in one piece at all, let alone alive! "That must've been quite the trip! You oughtta rest! Here, come inside!"
The woman gave Rose a curious look, clearly surprised that someone understood what she was talking about. Finally, she nodded.
"You're right. Maybe for just a little while." She obviously had nothing better to do, she was clearly trapped for the time being in a parallel world. And it was clear she was curious about Rose. She nodded and extended her hand, "Professor River Song, pleased to meet you."
"Rose Tyler." Rose smiled and shook the hand. She couldn't help but notice the flicker of recognition in River Song's eyes, though she clearly tried to hide it. Something told her it wouldn't be just another ordinary breakfast.
Breakfast was almost ready and the whole house now smelled like bananas. River had been resting on the couch, much to Rose's insistence, and hadn't talked much. Rose knew firsthand how much interdimensional travel could take out of a person.
Now River walked into the kitchen, though.
"Is the Doctor with you?" she asked.
Rose almost dropped the pan she was holding, "Whot?"
River smiled knowingly. Rose was slightly irritated. She should have expected another time traveler would know the Doctor. It's not like there were an awful lot of people with TARDISes and vortex manipulators. Who was this person?
"Brilliant! I thought I smelled banan-" The Doctor's voice from behind Rose cut off as he noticed the kitchen's other occupants, "You!" Rose turned around from the stove to see the Doctor staring at River in disbelief, "But- but I saw you-" he cut himself off again.
"Saw me what? Who are you?" Rose was glad to hear she wasn't the only one confused. But why didn't River recognise the Doctor? She had implied that she knew him.
"Nothing," He finished quickly, then he also seemed puzzled, "But of course I'm the-"
"Doctor! River! Anyone care to tell me what's goin' on?" Rose cut in.
"I don't… We met in the Library…" He began.
"We did?" River seemed just as lost as Rose.
"Oh, here we go again… I guess you wouldn't have. I met her in the Library. Timelines are weird like that. Timey Wimey. Anyway. Hello River, I'm the Doctor. River, this is Rose. Rose, this is River, my… uh…"
"You're the Doctor?" River interrupted so the Doctor didn't have to finish his sentence, which would have probably ended awkwardly. River didn't seem to believe him.
"Of course I'm the Doctor!"
"You're not my Doctor." She crossed her arms.
"Great then! Well! I'm starved. Let's eat!" Rose cut in. This was awkward.
It wasn't long until River and Rose were getting along just great. River had accepted the fact that the Doctor was indeed the Doctor, and Rose had in turn warmed up to River. The Doctor was acting a bit odd toward River. Rose didn't understand it, but she knew he'd explain when he had the chance.
Rose was laughing, "So you know the Doctor in his next regeneration?"
River nodded, "Oh yes. He runs around like he's nine years old. Wears a bow tie."
Rose found this hilarious.
"Hey," The Doctor chimed in, "Bow ties are cool."
This set River off laughing now.
"Spoilers, River," he didn't seem to be enjoying this quite as much as Rose.
Rose ignored him, "Yeah, well this one likes big coats. Some sort of complex or something."
He rolled his eyes.
"My Doctor only gets like that when he's drunk."
"And how often is that?"
"Any time he's with me!"
The girls laughed.
"And the TARDIS?" Rose asked.
"Still his baby."
"Pass the flapjacks," the Doctor was trying hard to ignore what they said.
"Oh, Doctor. Banana?" River passed him the plate. "What about apples? Do you like those?"
"Apples are rubbish. Pears too. I hate pears." He heaped another three flapjacks onto his plate.
"Oh, Rose! Does he snore?" The table fell awkwardly silent. How would River know that? The Doctor looked away uncomfortably and Rose shot him a look. Who was this woman? To him?
"Oh, um. We're usually too busy for there to be snoring," Rose blushed.
River laughed again, "Same!" Rose raised an eyebrow in the Doctor's direction.
"So, um. River! It's great to see you again, really, but maybe we should figure out a way for you to get back to your own universe…" Rose was going to kill the Doctor, but at least his suggestion wasn't outrageous.
"I'd rather not," she laughed, "Not much to do in a prison cell."
Both of Rose's eyebrows were raised now.
"Oh, I see…" River took a deep breath and pressed a button on her wrist, disappearing from the breakfast table with a loud pop, leaving as fast as she had arrived.
"What," Rose stared back where River had just been. She thought the vortex manipulator wouldn't work again, but she must have been wrong. She hoped River got back to her universe all right, "Who the hell was that?"
Rose crossed her arms. The Doctor had an awful lot of explaining to do.