The Doctor and the Hatter were standing around the console as the flew through the Time Vortex, both laughing together about the last adventure they had been on that had involved the Hatter being forced to marry, while the Doctor was forced to act like a women for most of the time. Lipstick and heels included.
"You know, Doctor, I never realised how feminine you really are," the Hatter remarked, trying to stop herself from laughing, "Reminded me again where you learnt to walk in those heels?"
"Very funny, Hatter," the Doctor rolled his eyes, poking his head around the console, "Oh, and thanks for the help when that man tried to…"
"I believe the team is 'feel you up,'" the Hatter cut in before she broke down into another giggling fit, "Cheer up, Doctor, at least you didn't end up marring a man who wouldn't know a joke if it hit him. I gave up trying to explain to him why people thought that chickens and roads were funny".
"They don't," the Doctor pointed out.
"Yeah, but he didn't need to know that," she shrugged, she went to flicker a switch on the console when the TARDIS gave a jolt, sending both Time Lords flying but not before the Hatter hit a button.
After everything had calmed down, the Doctor picked himself up and looked around the room, but the Hatter was nowhere in sight. The only thing left behind of her was a black and purple hat.
"Hatter!" the Doctor shouted, running over to the spot she disappeared from before running off down the hallway, desperately searching for her.
… Meanwhile …..
The Hatter shouted as she landed hard on something, blinking she opened her eyes to find a pair of very familiar blue eyes very close to her own bright green ones.
"Who are you and how in the name of sanity did you get in here?" the owner of the blue eyes demanded, standing up and crossing her arms across her chest as she did. She was tall, about 5'11 with long blond hair that went to the middle of her back, and pale skin. She was dressed in a pair of blue jeans, bright orange ruffled blouse, matching orange converse, a orange hat, and a blue jean jacket, "Well?"
The Hatter shook her head and slowly stood, holding her hands up to show she meant no harm. The last thing she need was to get into a fight, "I'm you".
"What?" the other women frowned, shaking her head, "You're not me. I'm me!"
"Yes, but I'm your future self," the Hatter said, she glanced around the room and smiled, it looked almost exactly how she had left it so long ago with the dark oak panelling, steam punk like fixtures on the console while on the other side of the room was a huge bookcase, and standing beside the console was two women and a man.
The man had dark brown hair and eyes, Michael, the Hatter remembered fondly, back in the very early days of their travels together. Beside him was a much shorter woman with strawberry blonde hair and light blue eyes, Katie, the Hatter thought with a small smile. She only looked like she was twenty five years old. And beside Katie was another women, about nineteen years old, long black hair tied back with a red ribbon and with dark blue eyes, April Jones.
The Hatter froze as she stared at her, she looked slightly younger than what she did when she died but her eyes looked the same and that was one of the worst things about seeing each other. The lost girl off the street who become like a daughter her.
"Hey," the blue eyed Hatter clicked her fingers in front of the Hatter's face, bringing her attention back to her, "Who are you?" but before the Hatter could answer, the other women began talking again, "Oh, I know, my parents sent you, didn't they?'
"No," the Hatter shook her head, going to say something else but she was cut off.
"Hmm, you're obviously a Time Lady," the other women continued, "If they didn't send you then….the High Council!"
"No, I'm…"
"No, they would have dragged me out of the Time Vortex," she continued, looking thoughtful, "It couldn't be the Doctor, he would have showed his blonde head and not sent someone else unless you…"
The Hatter sighed and grabbed the other women's shoulders, shacking them slightly, "Would you shut up and listen to me. Goodness, I forgot how much I could ramble on".
"Let go of me!" the other women snapped, shrugging the Hatter's off her and taking a step back, behind her, her three companions quickly moved forward.
"Are you alright?" Katie asked, giving the red haired Hatter a half scared, half curious look.
"Hatter, what's going on?" Michael frowned, looking confused at his Hatter, "You said she was a Time Lady, what's wrong with that?"
"Yeah, but the other one said that she was the Hatter," April shook her head, eyeing both Hatter's.
"I also forgot how many questions these three could ask," the red haired Hatter remarked, making everyone else frown at her.
"Alright, let's say that you are my future self," the past Hatter said, eyes narrowed, "What are you doing here and how did you get here in the first place?"
"Well…" the Hatter sighed, "The Doctor and I were driving the TARDIS, his TARDIS, by the way, when I accidently hit the wrong button. Next thing I know I'm waking up here".
"It makes sense," Michael commented after a moment, both Hatter's looked at him, "Sorry, Hatter, but you do have a way of getting into trouble".
Both Hatters shook their head before turning back to each other, "What regeneration are you?" the past Hatter asked.
"This would be my eighth," the red head replied, making the blonde blink.
"Eighth," she repeated, "This is only my third".
"I wouldn't worry about it too much," the Ninth Hatter waved it off, "The Doctor in my time is in his Ninth".
"Ten Doctors," the Fourth Hatter shivered, "And here I was thinking that five Doctor's was bad enough".
"Trust me, one Doctor's enough," the Ninth Hatter shook her head.
"Hang on," Katie frowned, stepping in between them both, "One minute you're ready to kill each other…" both Hatter's shook their heads at her choice of words, sharing a smile, "The next you best friends. Some answer would be nice".
"She's me," the Fourth Hatter explained, "She's my future me, anyway".
"But I thought you said that if two of you were to meet it could cause a paradox," April said, "Shouldn't the two of you be working on stopping that".
"Oh, good point," the Ninth Hatter nodded, "I really should be working on getting back. I bet the Doctor's going mad, he's so over protective".
"Tell me about it," the Fourth nodded, rolling her eyes, "Last time I saw him he wouldn't let me walk ten feet away from him. He wasn't that concerned with his other companion's safety".
"I remember that," the Ninth smiled, "I…well, you gave him an earful".
The Fourth went to say something, but April cleared her throat, "Oh, right, we better get you home," both Hatters ran over to the console with the humans, still slightly confused, trailing behind them, "Okay, let's work out why there isn't a paradox".
"Maybe it has something to do with what we were doing before I turned up," the Ninth Hatter suggested.
"No," the Fourth shook her head, reading something on the scanner, "It says here that we've merged with another TARDIS, but that's impossible unless…"
"Unless our old experiment really did work," the Ninth Hatter finished, looking delighted at the news as she skipped happily around to the scanner to see for herself, "Yep, we've defiantly merged with the Doctor's TARDIS. When I fall I must have turned the shields off, I really should talk to the Doctor about that, buttons like that should have some sort of casing on it for safety".
"Right, so what experiment is this?" Katie asked.
"And please, tell me it doesn't end the same way that your last experiment did," Michael added, the Ninth Hatter looked at the Fourth.
"Soundwaves and a chicken," the Fourth coughed, embarrassed.
"You can still small roasted chicken when you walk into the kitchen," April tried not to smile, but failed horribly.
"Oh, I remember that," the Ninth nodded, "I couldn't eat anything to do with chicken until I regeneration, still have trouble looking at a piece of raw chicken".
"Anyway," the Fourth shook her head, getting back to the point, "As you know the Doctor's TARDIS is a Type 40 while my darling," she patted the top of the console, making the TARDIS hum softly into both Time Lady's minds, "Thank you, dear, is a type 80, the best of the best. I stole it when it was only a prototype and it's still known as the best TARDIS ever to be made".
"I think they understand how good our TARDIS is," the Ninth Hatter cut in, giving the three humans a small smile, she could remember going on back in her Fourth body about how much better her TARDIS was to other Time Lords, "Back in the old days, when we first started travelling I…we made quite a few improvements to things and one of them happened to be prolonging the time that two of the same people could interact with each other, so long as they were inside this room. Of course, it's only safe to use it for less than twenty-four hours, any longer than that and not just the Time Vortex that goes 'boom.'"
"How does that work?" Michael questioned before holding his hand up when they went to answer, "Don't bother, I doubt we'll understand it even if you do dumb it down".
"You always were one of the clever ones," the ninth Hatter smiled at him.
"What do you do then to send you back to your own time stream?" Katie asked them.
"The TARDIS has already set everything up," the fourth Hatter shrugged, putting her hands inside her jean pockets, swinging back and forth slightly, "All that needs to be done now is for the Hatter to press this button".
She moved off to the side to stand beside her companions while the ninth Hatter moved forward before looking at them, "I can't say that I was expecting this to happen but it was fun," she smiled, looking at Michael, "You take care of yourself, Mr Andrew".
Michael smiled at the use of his last name, giving her a lazy salute, "Whatever you say, Hat".
"Hatter," both Time Lady's groaned at the nickname, making the human's laugh.
"Don't be cheeky, Michael," the ninth Hatter pointed her finger at Michael before turning to Katie, "Miss Harrison, don't take to many embarrassing photos of me, please. Not before I've woken up at least".
"Can't promise anything," Katie smirked.
"Oh, I know," the Hatter shook her head before sighing, turning to April, "Miss Jones, I hope you realise what you've got yourself into".
"I think after the last adventure with the Cybermen, I have a pretty good idea," April smiled.
"Trust me, that's only the beginning," the ninth smiled back, "Take care of yourself and please don't wonder off, it'll make my fourth self's life a lot easier".
"I'll try," April nodded, smiling.
"Alright, you three out," the fourth Hatter said after a moment, pointing down a hallway that lead throughout the TARDIS, "We've got something's to talk about here. Time Lady's only".
"Hatter," the three human's whined.
"Have the three of you suddenly gown two hearts and a respiratory bypass system?" the fourth Hatter raised her eyebrows at them as the ninth Hatter watched in slight amusement, "No, I don't believe you have, now off you go before I refuse to take you anywhere for a week".
"You wouldn't do that," Michael pointed out, "You can't handle watching a movie let alone staying in one place".
"That's not true!" she argued.
"Sorry, but it is," the ninth Hatter cut in, smiling, "But don't worry you'll get better once you get to me, sadly, the same can't be said for the Doctor".
"Fine, gang up on me," the fourth Hatter grumbled before giving her companions stern looks, "I thought I told you three to shift".
"Fine, fine, but we want a proper exploration," Katie warned, grabbing Michael and Aprils sleeves, dragging them down the hallway and closing the door behind them.
"Too bad they won't remember this ever happening," the ninth Hatter sighed sadly.
"I thought that might happen," the fourth nodded, crossing her arms and leaning against the side of the console, "So, you're travelling with the Doctor?"
"You know I can't tell you why," The Ninth sighed, "Even if you won't remember there's still a chance that parts of it might seep through," the Fourth nodded in understanding, "You know, part of me wishes I could stay".
"Why, are things really that bad in the future?" the Fourth Hatter joked.
"Again, I can't say," the ninth Hatter sighed, shaking her head sadly, "The Doctor's going through a tough time at the moment. He recently lost his companion, Rose Tyler".
"Lost…?" she trailed off, waiting for an answer.
"She's not dead if that's what you're thinking, but I don't suppose it's much of a comfort for him," the Ninth Hatter quickly said, "She was in love with him…"
"And what about him?" the Fourth cut her off.
"I don't know," she shrugged, "You know what he's like with his feelings".
"He never changes," the Fourth Hatter rolled her eyes before holding out her hand for the Hatter to shack, "Give him my love".
"I would say the same to you about your Doctor but you won't remember this," the Ninth Hatter said, shaking hands before stepping back and facing the console, "Well, here goes".
"Good luck," the fourth smiled a little sadly as the ninth pressed the button, the TARDIS gave a sharp jolt as she disappeared, taking the memories of her visit with her.
…...
The Hatter had hardly landed before she was scoped up into the Doctor's arms, "Wow, Doctor, calm down".
"What happened?" the Doctor demanded, hugging her tightly, his face in her hair, "Are you alright? I've been looking for you everywhere!"
"Deep breathes, Doctor," the Hatter smiled, pulling back slightly so she could see his worried face, "I'm fine, not a scratch on me".
"I'll be the judge of that," he muttered, "What happened?"
"Well, let's just say that I met some people that I never thought I'd see again," the Hatter smiled before she began retelling the Doctor everything.
...Back in the Fourth Hatter's TARDIS ….
"What on Earth was that?" April exclaimed, picking herself up from the console floor, "Hatter, what's going on?"
"I'm not sure," the Hatter frowned, looking at the scanner, "It appears that we've missed the last twenty minutes somehow. That's not supposed to happen".
"How do you lose twenty minutes and not remember it?" Michael shook his head, looking over the Hatter's shoulder, "It's impossible".
"No it isn't," the Hatter shook her head, "Unlikely perhaps…unless…no".
"What?" Katie asked, "What's wrong?"
The Hatter went to reply but she closed her mouth, "No, sorry, I'm just being silly. Why don't you three go and make some lunch, hmm? Won't be a moment".
Her three companions grumbled under their breath but did as they were told, leaving the Hatter alone. She waited until she was sure they had left before bursting out laughing at the memory of her future self-came back to her before turning away from the console and following after her companions.
Edited: 1/042015
I'm not sure why I wrote this in the first place but I was watching 'Time Crash' for the hundredth time when it suddenly popped into my head, plus it also gave me the chances to show what the old Hatter was like and her companions. As you might have guessed this was before they met Martha but after they met Donna. I hope you liked it, tell me what you thought, please review :)