Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, they all belong to the BBC
The story is told form the Twelfth Doctor's point of view
Reviews Welcome!
A Doctor's Heaven
The Doctor closed his eyes and listened. He listened to the hum of the TARDIS, listened to the quiet sniffling of the occupant of the chair beside his bed, and he listened to his steady breath; but his breath wasn't so steady anymore. The Doctor listened as his breathing get lighter, and he counted the time between each breath as longer than the last. He felt someone holding his hand, and their grip was tight; possessive even, as if the body connected to the hand would never let go of him or give up on him. And as his senses dulled, and his breathing slowed; the Doctor's last memory was of a gentle kiss on his forehead and a sorrow ridden voice whispering, "Goodbye Sweetie."
The Doctor jerked awake, and sat up. He looked around his environment. He was back in his room, laying in the bed. 'Strange. I remember the voice, and then everything went white. But why and how am I here?' the Doctor thought. He got out of his bed, and looked down. He was completely dressed; he was just missing his coat, but spotted it on the chair next to his bed. 'Wasn't someone sitting in the chair a few minutes ago?' He looked around, but there was no evidence of anyone other than himself had ever even been in the room. He walked to the door and went into the corridor.
The corridor was empty was well. So the Doctor set off to find the console room. As he neared the blue lit room, he noticed something was off: but it was that funny kind of off when you know something is different but you can't tell what. He walked up to the monitor, but it wasn't working. He tried various levers and buttons on the TARDIS console, but nothing happened. No lights flashed, no parts whirred. That's when it hit him; the TARDIS was silent. No beeps, whirs, or noise of any kind. The only noise he heard from his beloved ship was the gentle hum in his mind from their telepathic connection.
"What's wrong with ya old girl? What's going on," The Doctor asked the TARDIS, his Scottish accented voice re-echoing off the walls. But the only answer he received was a gentle hum in his mind as the TARDIS whispered, 'Go outside." The Doctor weighed the options; he didn't know where he was, when he was, or why he was here. But in the end, his curiosity won out; he walked to the door, and stepped outside.
The Doctor was stunned by his surroundings. His TARDIS stood in a field in of red grass, under a bright orange sky lit up with two suns. In the distance he could see mountains capped with snow, and the tip of something shining far away. He stood in a clearing in a forest made of trees with silver leaves. If he didn't know where he was, he would have thought some of the trees were on fire, but he knew the light from the suns were hitting the silver leaves just perfectly.
"Gallifrey," he breathed.
"Oi! Wha'cu standin' around gawking for? You're actin' like you've never been here before," an indignant voice chirped.
"I haven't, not in a long time. It's been an age," the Doctor replied, still looking at everything around him: drinking in the scenery with as much ferocity as a drowning man gasps for breath. 'Wait,' he thought, 'I know that voice! How can he be here?!'
He turned around, fast enough to almost lose his balance. Around his TARDIS stood four other TARDIS's arched in a semi-circle: and all of them looked police boxes. They were HIS TARDIS's, from the past: and each TARDIS had a group of people around them. And as the Doctor looked closer he realized he recognized each and every single face, some of them were even his own.
The far left TARDIS only had two people standing outside. It was his Eighth self along with Grace Holloway; it had been so long since he had seen Grace. And she looked so happy: but how was she here? Grace didn't come traveling with him, he never saw her after that first adventure. They both waved at him when they saw him staring.
His eyes moved to the next TARDIS, where his Ninth self, Rose, and Captain Jack. Oh, it had been so long since he had seen Rose, and she looked beyond happy. She and his Ninth self were holding hands, and unless he was mistaken, he could see a glimmer of a diamond on her left hand, but there was no ring on the leather-clad Doctor's hand. His Ninth self stood there with a smug look on his face, him being the one that called him out on standing there gawking at the sky.
The third TARDIS had a bigger group of people outside it. But that what wasn't what worried the Doctor, it was the fact that Rose and Captain Jack were here as well. 'They can't be here and there,' the Doctor thought, "they'll cause a paradox!' But before he could open his to voice his concern, a voice with a cockney accent piped up, "Oi! Spaceman, leave it be. We'll explain later." A voice with an English accent responded back, "Donna don." But before the voice could finish, the cockney voice was back, cutting the english one off, "I'll do what I like Spaceman!"
And then the whole picture hit the Doctor, he could see everybody that was there! There was his tenth self next to Rose, arms around each others waist: and this time he could see rings on both their ring fingers. Martha and Mickey were there, holding hands, with a look of pure joy a mirror image to the one on his Tenth self and Rose's face. Donna was standing to the right of Rose, looking at him with a big smirk on her face, like she knew something he didn't, which she probably did as she was very clever. She stood arm in arm with Jack, who looked like he had finally found peace.
"Hey Raggedy Man, we're here too," said an angry Scottish voice. And standing around the last TARDIS was his Eleventh self, holding hands with River Song. Amy and Rory were there too, along with Clara, his impossible girl. River looked beautiful, and she and the Doctor both looked happy and at peace. The others surrounding Eleven's TARDIS looked at him; Clara smiled at him, her eyes filled with joy. Amy teared up, so happy to see him, her best friend: and Rory looked at him with a father-like proud look on his face.
"Well, which number are you then," the Ninth Doctor asked, always quick to cut to the chase.
"I'm the Twelfth, and would you mind telling me where we are? I know this is Gallifrey but how can we all be here?" asked the Doctor.
"Don't you understand yet mate? You died, this is heaven," responded his Eleventh self.
"But how can you all be here? This could cause a paradox big enough to destroy everything," asked Twelve.
Ten answered "You have to remember, we're all dead, and the afterlife is forever. We can't cause a paradox because you can't destroy the afterlife. Well, and we all travel on different timelines now, so the Rose I travel with is a different Rose than big-ears"
"Oi! Don't dis the ears Sandshoes!" snapped the Ninth Doctor
"They're not sandshoes!" retorted Ten.
"Oh really cause they sure look like sandshoes to me!" shot back Nine
"Why do you always have to" started Ten
"DOCTOR!" yelled Ten's Rose.
"What?!" they both responded in unison.
"You were explaining to him about the paradoxes." Rose answered
"Ah! Yes. Sorry! You remember the day you got stuck in the church hiding from the reapers? When Rose touched babyRose it caused a paradox and brought the Reapers into the church? If the Roses here were to brush past each other and bump hands or arms it would be completely fine! No paradoxes. No Reapers. No death."
"In a way they're different people," added Eleven, "They're both still Rose, but Nine's Rose has the memories of their travels. and ended when he regererated, she never saw Ten And it's the same for Ten's Rose, they end when Ten regenerated into me, but she does have the memories of her travels with Nine as well."
"So you're saying Ten's Rose has memories from later in the original timeline and Nine's Rose has memories from earlier in the timelines?" asked Twelve.
"Yep! And it's not just for Rose, it's the same for Jack too." responded Ten.
"So it's like they pulled you from the world at the exact moment the regeneration started.. Same feelings, same thoughts, same person you traveled with." concluded Twelve. "But what determines who you have here? You all have different amounts of people. I was alone when I got here."
"That's the best part," said Eight, "You get to choose. Just concentrate hard, think about who you want to spend forever with, who you love the most. Then they just appear next to you, and they stay with you forever. They can't die, can't be taken from you, and they will be with you forever."
Twelve closed his eyes and thought hard. Who did he want to spend his forever with? River came to his mind first; after all she was his wife. He definitely wanted River there. And Clara, his impossible girl, one of his best friends. He wanted her there too.
He opened his eyes, looked around eagerly for them, but did not see them. He shot Eight a confused look, but before he could open his mouth to voice his concerns, he heard a sound behind him. It was a click, followed by a creaking noise; he turned around to see the door to his TARDIS open. Out of the door came River, followed by Clara. The Doctor ran to River, and hugged her tight. She hugged him back, and whispered a loving, "Hello, Sweetie," in his ear. He let River go, and gave a quick hug to Clara as well. He turned back around to face the other TARDIS's.
"What do I do now?"
"Now you travel," his Ninth self replied, "We get to travel the Universe forever. We travel, have adventures, and meet new people and old friends from all over the universe. All our old friends on other planets are here as well. The Brigadier, I've met Strax, Jenny, and Vastra, and all the others."
"And the best part is all the evil in the Universe, all the pain and suffering, it's just gone. Everyone is happy, and everyone is just together, forever!" Ten added brightly.
"And now it's time to get back to it!" Eight added, "I'm taking Grace to Woman Wept. Goodbye, number Twelve." And with that, the Doctor's Eighth self and Grace waved goodbye, stepped into their TARDIS, and dematerialized to have their next adventure.
"We're leaving too," Ten added, gesturing to Nine. "We're off to meet our Fouth self and Sarah Jane, it's their anniversary." They waved goodbye, and each group stepped into their TARDIS's and were off to see Sarah Jane and number Four.
"Do we see each other often," Twelve asked?
"Yes! We do quite often." Eleven exclaimed, "I ran into our First self, Susan, Ian, and Barbara yesterday. It was Ian and Barbara's third wedding anniversary. They're expecting a baby as well."
"Good for them!" exclaimed Twelve.
"Were going to go. I still haven't taken Amy to Vegas. And then River wants to go to Space Florida," Eleven said. "Finally, Raggedy Man!" exclaimed Amy, still sounding as Scottish as ever. "You've been promising me for weeks." "Alright Amy!" exclaimed the bow-tie clad Doctor, "let's go." Amy grabbed Rory's hand and all but pulled him excitedly into the TARDIS.
The door closed and opened back up as Rory stuck his head back out the door. "Oi, Doctor," Rory said, "Take good care of River. I still have a sword and I know how to use it." A pale hand reached out the door, latched on to Rory's shirt collar, and Rory disappeared back into the TARDIS with a muffled exclamation of surprise.
Eleven's River waved flirtatiously, as was her specialty; liked arms with Clara, who waved goodbye. And together they followed the Ponds into their TARDIS. Eleven saluted his successor, and followed his wife and friends back into his TARDIS. The groaning of the TARDIS filled the air, and vanished into the Time Vortex.
The Twelfth Doctor turned around to face River and Clara. He pulled them both into a hug, and placed a kiss on River's forehead. "So," the Doctor said, "All of space, all of time, for ALL of time. Where do you want to start?"
"Anywhere you'd like, Sweetie." River said.
And grabbing both their hands, he pulled them into the TARDIS. All of them ready to have adventures for the rest of eternity. All of them as happy as they could possibly ever be.
Fin