Real Snow

The Doctor knew almost immediately that there was something wrong with Caroline. He didn't know what it was, or why, but he knew there was something. She had been fine for the first few of their adventures after leaving Donna, if a bit uncertain because suddenly she was the only one, but she'd seemed to be growing more comfortable.

However, before he'd realized it, she'd shifted. And it bothered him that he didn't know why, because then he couldn't help her. He'd asked, once, but Caroline had refused to tell him, saying it wasn't something he should worry about, she was alright.

But he knew she wasn't, and it distracted him. Well, Caroline normally distracted him, but now more than normal. He couldn't stop worrying that she may want to leave him.

He knew she should, and she did as well. They both knew it would be better in the long run. But neither of them had actually wanted to do it, or at least that's what he'd thought.

But maybe he was wrong.

Maybe Caroline was preparing to leave him.

And he'd have to listen.

For now, however, she hadn't said anything and he didn't want to jinx anything by asking.

They stepped out of the TARDIS together, her arm wrapped around his. They did that more often now, unless they were running somewhere, and then he would take her hand and she would laugh and they'd be off. But for simple trips, for the first few moments when they stepped out of the TARDIS, he liked to wrap her arm in his.

Before, he'd barely realized how often he actually touched her. Originally, it had just been to remind her that he was there, that someone was listening. But then he'd started to take her hand because he wanted to, he wanted to know she was close by. And it had taken him until Rose, until he'd seen the woman's expression whenever she looked at them, for him to actually realize it.

Rose's expressions hadn't stopped him. It just made him certain about his actions.

Caroline looked up at the falling snow, smiling. "Real snow."

The Doctor laughed. He was very glad Caroline tended to wear some kind of long sweater. Even if it wasn't that thick, it seemed to give her some warmth against the cold, and that was enough.

Together, they walked into the Victorian market, and Caroline stepped a bit closer to the Doctor to avoid the crowd. He knew she didn't mind, especially when she had someone with her. He managed to spot a boy standing by a stall. "You there, boy. What day is this?"

"Christmas Eve, sir."

"What year?"

The boy frowned. "You thick or something?"

Caroline giggled as the Doctor pouted. "Oi. Just answer the question."

"Year of our Lord 1851, sir."

"Right." The Doctor nodded. "Nice year. Bit dull."

"Doctor!" the shout made both of them turn, frowning as they searched for one, who was shouting or, two, what current alien threat there was. "Doctor!"

"Who," he frowned, "me?"

Swapping to holding Caroline's hand, they ran in the direction the shouts had been coming from, finally skidding to a stop in an alley that had a woman backing away from a bolted door. "Doctor!"

The Doctor hurried up to the woman. "Don't worry, don't worry. Stand back. What have we got here?" the doors moved and whatever was pushing into it snarled. "Ooo. Okay, I've got it. Whatever's behind that door, I think you should get out of here."

But the woman wasn't listening "Doctor!"

"No, no. I'm standing right here. Hello."

She frowned. "Don't be stupid. Who are you?"

"That's Caroline," he pointed at her, "and I'm the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"Just the Doctor."

The woman shook her head. "Well, there can't be two of you." As she spoke, another man, dressed in the clothing of the day, ran up on Caroline's side. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Right then. Don't worry," the man stepped forwards. "Stand back. What have we got here then?"

"Hold on, hold on. Who are you?"

"I'm the Doctor." The two time travelers' eyes widened. "Simply, the Doctor. The one, the only, and the best. Rosita, give me the sonic screwdriver." The woman handed him something.

Caroline shook her head. "The what?"

"Now, quickly, get back to the TARDIS."

"Back to the what?"

The other Doctor turned to Caroline and the Doctor, the two so shocked they'd let go of each other's hands. "If you could stand back, sir, ma'am. This is a job for a Time Lord."

"Job for a what lord?"

The doors in front of them burst open and a large, bear-like creature with a robotic face ran out.

"Oh, that's different," the Doctor shrugged, at the same time the other Doctor said, "oh, that's new."

And then they both pointed their sonics at the creature, shouting in unison, "allons-y!" The two men looked at each other and Caroline stared open mouthed. She knew it was entirely possible that the Doctor could run into a past or future version of himself, though she had a feeling the TARDIS would likely have some built-in mechanism to stop that from happening. But it was possible, entirely possible, that the Doctor would encounter a future version of himself, given the fact he didn't seem to recognize the man.

But this man also didn't recognize him, so Caroline was almost certain that this wasn't any version of the Doctor. That, of course, brought up the question of who this man was.

"I've been hunting this beast for a good fortnight," the other Doctor said. "Now, step back, sir." He didn't have to worry about Caroline since she was already standing against the far wall.

Of course, that did become a problem when the beast leapt against the opposite wall. The Doctor grabbed Caroline's shoulder to pull her back behind him again. "Some sort of primitive conversion," he said, "like they took the brain of a cat or a dog."

"Well, talking's all very well," the other Doctor said. "Rosita?"

"I'm ready." Rosita handed him a large coil of rope.

The other Doctor uncurled it to reveal a lasso. "Now, watch and learn." He threw it up and managed to catch the beast in one try. "Excellent. Now then, let's pull this timorous beastie down to earth." He tugged on the rope but, instead of pulling the creature down to him, he was pulled up after the creature when it began to climb.

"Or not," Caroline said.

"I might be in a little bit of trouble," the other Doctor called down.

The Doctor shook his head. "Nothing changes. I've got you." But when the Doctor grabbed the rope, the creature just pulled him off the ground as well.

"You idiots!" Rosita shouted after them.

"You expected them to be anything but?" Caroline asked quietly. Even if this other man wasn't the Doctor exactly, he had enough of his mannerisms that being an idiot, especially in circumstances like this, should have been expected. After all, Caroline could admit that the Doctor was an idiot, even if she did think he was a brilliant man…some of the time. She turned around, listening to the two men bicker. "Cut the rope." The creature would get away, of course, but she'd rather keep either man from getting too injured.

The only problem was that she couldn't find anything to cut with.

Rosita nodded and ran down an alleyway, the two of them following the sounds of the two men. She grabbed an ax as they went and managed to reach the top floor of the warehouse just as the beast moved to leap out the window, letting Rosita cut the rope and keep the two men from following.

The women turned to look at them, and the first thing the two men did was laugh.

|C-S|

They were still laughing when the group walked down the stairs back outside. "Well, I'm glad you think it's so funny," Rosita said, huffing. "You're mad. Both of you. You could've got killed!"

"But evidently we did not," the other Doctor said, stepping forward to stand beside Rosita, the Doctor moving beside Caroline. "Oh, I should introduce Rosita. My faithful companion. Always telling me off."

The Doctor grinned. "Well, they do, don't they. Rosita. Good name." He turned to Caroline. "This is Caroline, isn't she lovely?"

Rosita nodded at Caroline before turning to the other Doctor. "Now I'll have to go and dismantle the traps. All that for nothing. And we've only got twenty minutes till the funeral, don't forget." She started to walk away. "Then back to the TARDIS, right?"

The Doctor frowned. "Funeral?"

"Oh, long story. Not my own, not yet." The man rubbed his back. "Oh, I'm not as young as I was."

The Doctor shrugged. "Well, not as young as you were when you were me."

The other Doctor frowned. "When I was who?"

"You really don't recognize me?"

"Not at all."

"But you're the Doctor," the Doctor said carefully. "The next Doctor. Or the next but one. A future Doctor anyway." He held up a hand. "No, no, don't tell me how it happened. Although…I hope I don't just trip over a brick. That'd be embarrassing. Then again, painless. Worse ways to go."

Caroline shrugged. "Depends on the brick."

The other Doctor shook his head. "You're gabbling, sir. Now may I ask, who are you, exactly?"

"No, I'm…er…I'm just…Smith. John Smith. But I've, we've, heard all about you, Doctor. Bit of a legend, if I do say so myself."

"Modesty forbids me to agree with you, sir. But yes. Yes, I am."

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "A legend with certain memories missing." Given the Doctor's reactions, he really believed that this man was a future version of himself. But…he acted like this current Doctor. He even had the same phrase! The Doctor had explained regeneration a bit more after she'd actually seen him do it, and he'd made it clear that while his appearance and personality would change, he'd still be the same man at heart - or hearts. There was no chance that this man before them, especially one in some unidentifiable point in his future, would have the exact same catchphrase.

It just made no sense.

The other Doctor frowned at her. "How do you know that?"

The Doctor shrugged. "You've forgotten me."

The man sighed. "Great swathes of my life have been stolen away. When I turn my mind to the past, there's nothing."

"Going how far back?"

"Since the Cybermen. Masters of that hellish wall-scuttler and old enemies of mine, now at work in London town. You won't believe this, Mr. Smth, Miss…"

"Attwater."

He nodded. "Miss Attwater, but they are creatures from another world."

The Doctor widened his eyes in a method that made Caroline wonder how it was possible he could lie and face down alien threats so easily; his acting could be atrocious. "Really. Wow."

"It's said they fell onto London, out of the sky in a blaze of light. And they found me." He frowned, voice getting quieter. "Something was taken. And something was lost." He looked up at the Doctor. "What was I like, in the past?"

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't think I should say. Sorry. Got to be careful with memory loss. One wrong word…"

"It's strange, though." The other Doctor studied them carefully. "I talk of Cybermen from the stars and you don't blink, Mr. Smith and Miss Attwater."

The Doctor chuckled. "Ah, don't blink. Remember that?" the man said nothing. "Whatever you do, don't blink? The blinking and the statues? Sally and the angels? No?"

The other Doctor just stared at him. "You're a very odd man."

"Hmm, I still am. Something's wrong here."

Suddenly, the other Doctor turned. "Oh, the funeral! The funeral's at two o'clock." He spun back around to them. "It's been a pleasure, Mr. Smith, Miss Attwater. Don't breathe a word of it."

The Doctor pouted, leaning forward. "Oh, but can't we come with you?"

"It's far too dangerous. Rest assured, I shall keep this city safe." The man turned around for a moment before looking back. "Oh, and…er, merry Christmas, Mr. Smith, Miss Attwater."

The Doctor nodded. "Merry Christmas, Doctor." Once the man was a bit of the way away, the Doctor turned to look at Caroline. "Thoughts?"

"He's not you."

"What makes you say that?"

"He acts too much like you." The Doctor pouted. "You said regeneration changes you. If that man is a future version of you, then shouldn't he be different than how you currently act? The two of you should be separate entities with some similarities, of course, but not as much as the two of you share. And…you hugged him. Did he have two hearts?" that had been what had convinced him about Jenny, so long ago.

The Doctor shook his head.

"Then he's not you."

"But who is he?"

Caroline smiled. "I do believe that's something the Doctor will figure out."

The Doctor grinned and held out his hand for Caroline. Then, together, they followed the other Doctor through the alleys of London. Thankfully, he didn't get that far, just standing a bit away from where one ended, watching a funeral procession with Rosita beside him.

"The late Reverend Fairchild, leaving his place of residence for the last time. God rest his soul." He turned to Rosita. "Now, with the house empty, I shall effect an entrance at the rear while you go back to the TARDIS. This is hardly work for a woman."

Rosita scoffed. "Oh, don't mind me saving your life. That's work for a woman, isn't it?"

"The Doctor's companion does what the Doctor says. Off you go."

Rosita walked off in a huff. The Doctor gripped Caroline's hand tighter, as though daring her to try and walk away, and she stood on her toes for a moment to be closer to his height. "Definitely not you."

He grinned as they watched the other Doctor walk carefully towards the back door of the house. The time travelers simply went the other way, using his sonic to get inside. And then the Doctor opened the other door before the man actually managed to get it open. "Hello."

The other Doctor frowned. "How did you get in?"

Caroline pointed behind them. "Front door."

"I'm good at doors." The Doctor frowned at the thing in the other man's hand. "Er, do you mind my asking, is that your sonic screwdriver?"

"Yes. I'd be lost without it." He held up what was obviously a regular screwdriver.

The Doctor's eyes widened. "But that's a screwdriver. How's it sonic?"

"Well…er…it makes a noise." He hit it against the doorframe. "That's sonic, isn't it? Now, since we're acting like common burglars, I suggest we get out of plain view." The Doctor just stepped back to let the other man walk inside, and go straight to what they quickly realized was a library.

"This investigation of yours, what's it about?" the Doctor didn't sound that casual as he asked, but the other Doctor didn't notice.

"It started with a murder."

"Oh, good," he grinned before pausing. "I mean bad."

"Who was it?"

"Mr. Jackson Lake, a teacher of mathematics from Sussex. He came to London three weeks ago and died a terrible death."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Cybermen?"

"It's hard to say. His body was never found. But then it started. More secret murders, then abductions. Children, stolen away in silence."

He glanced around at the room. "So whose house is this?"

"The latest murder. The Reverend Aubrey Fairchild, found with burns to his forehead, like some advanced form of electrocution."

"But who was he? Was he important?"

The other Doctor narrowed his eyes at them. "You ask a lot of questions."

The Doctor shrugged. "We're your companions."

The man allowed himself a quick chuckle. "The Reverend was a pillar of the community, a member of many parish boards. A keen advocate of children's charities."

"Children again. But why would the Cybermen want him dead? And what's his connection to the first death, this Jackson Lake?"

The other Doctor straightened slightly. "It's funny. I seem to be telling you everything, as though you engendered some sort of trust." He frowned. "You seem familiar, Mr. Smith. I know your face. But how?"

The Doctor did seem to have a face that made people want to talk. It was the thing that had opened Caroline up to him so easily, made her, for once, actually want to talk and make her observations and questions heard. Normally, she'd just be quiet, even if she had a burning question. But with the Doctor, she didn't worry about any of that, she just asked her question, made her comment, because the Doctor was almost always careful not to tell her that an idea was stupid.

Though she did know that wasn't what this other Doctor was talking about. It was obvious that this man believed himself to be the real Doctor, even if he wasn't, and since the only alien he ever really mentioned was the Cybermen, it was possible they had something to do with it.

The question just remained who he actually was.

The Doctor studied the other man carefully, glancing at something on his jacket. "I wonder. I can't help noticing you're wearing a fob watch."

"Is that important?"

"Legend has it that the memories of a Time Lord can be contained within a watch." He held out a hand. "Do you mind?" the man actually gave him the watch. "It's said that if it's opened…" but when the Doctor did so most of the gears fell to the ground. "Oh. Maybe not."

The other Doctor shrugged. "It was more for decoration."

"Yeah." The Doctor swallowed. "Anyway, alien infiltration."

"Yes." The trio separated, searching the room, though Caroline did try to stay as far away from the other Doctor as she could. He kept giving her odd looks and she was just waiting for the moment he tried to tell her that this wasn't the place for a woman. Though she was glad he hadn't chosen to comment on the fact she was a woman wearing pants. "Just look for anything different. Possibly metal. Anything that doesn't seem to belong. Perhaps a mechanical device that could fit no earthly engine." As quietly as the Doctor could, he used his sonic to scan the room, though it wasn't that quiet. "It could seem to be organic, but unlike any organism of the natural world. Shush!" he held up a hand, stopping. "What's that noise?"

The Doctor hid the sonic behind his back. "Oh, it's just me, whistling." He did a mediocre attempt at whistling to sound like the sonic. "I wonder what's in here, though." He walked to the desk that the sonic had appeared to focus on, opening it. "Ah," he withdrew two metal cylinders. "Different and metal, you were right. They're infostamps." He paused. "I mean, at a guess. If I were you, I'd say they worked something like this."

He pressed one end of one of them and images were projected onto the wall in front of them. "See? Compressed information. Tons of it." He frowned, watching the images. Caroline could identify a few of them, enough to know it was history. "That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day. This is like a disc, a Cyberdisc." He frowned, beginning to mumble to himself, Caroline moving to stand next to him in order to hear. She much preferred to have all of the information. "But why would the Cybermen need something so simple? They've got to be wireless. Unless…they're in the wrong century. They haven't got much power. They need plain old basic infostamps to update themselves."

Caroline glanced to the side, where the other Doctor had been standing, only now the man looked quite a bit paler and was sitting in a chair, looking weak. "Are you all right?"

The man waved her off. "I'm fine."

The Doctor moved to crouch in front of him, Caroline standing behind him. "No, what is it? What's wrong?"

"I've seen one of these before," the other Doctor gingerly took one of the infostamps. "I was holding this device the night I lost my mind. The night I regenerated." He frowned, touching his head like it was paining him. "The Cybermen, they made me change. My mind, my face, my whole self. And you were there." He looked up at the Doctor in surprise. "Who are you?"

"A friend. I swear."

"Then I beg you, John. Help me."

The Doctor grinned. "Ah. Two words I can't refuse." He stood quickly. "But it's not a conversation for a dead man's house. It'll make more sense if we go back to the TARDIS…your TARDIS. Hold on. I just need to do a little final check. Won't take a tick." Caroline stayed with the other Doctor as the Doctor began opening doors throughout the room. "There's one more thing I cannot figure. If this room's got infostamps, then maybe, just maybe, it's got something got something that needs infostamping." He opened a door to reveal a large metal robot with the same face as the creature before, a Cyberman no doubt. "Okay." He closed the door again, turning around. "I think we should run."

He ran forwards, grabbing Caroline's hand and the other Doctor's arm as the Cyberman burst through the door. "Run, Doctor!" the other Doctor was stumbling slightly and the Doctor had to keep shoving him. "Now, Doctor!"

"Delete!" the Cyberman shouted, in a way that reminded Caroline of the Dalek's call of 'exterminate'. "The Doctor will be deleted!"

They reached the front door only for a second Cyberman to appear. "Delete!" Behind them, the first broke through another door.

"Stairs!" the Doctor pulled them both back and up the stairs. "Can't lead them outside!" Letting go of Caroline, he grabbed something at random, only to open an umbrella, but he just threw that away and grabbed a sword from the wall.

"Delete!"

"I'm a dab hand with a cutlass," the Doctor flourished the weapon. "You don't want to come near me when I've got one of these. This is your last warning." The Cybermen kept walking forward. "No? Okay, this is really your last warning!" they didn't listen. "Okay, I give up." The Doctor started backing up towards where Caroline and the other Doctor were standing, safely out of the way on an upper landing.

"Delete!"

"Listen to me properly!" the Cybermen struck at him, but he blocked them. "Whatever you're doing stuck in 1851, I can help! I mean it! I'm the only person in the world who can help you! Listen to me!"

"Delete!"

The Doctor grimaced. "I'm the Doctor. You need me. Check your memory banks. My name's the Doctor. Leave this man alone! The Doctor is me!" he managed to kick the front Cyberman in the chest and push both of them down the stairs, though the aliens quickly righted themselves.

"Delete!"

"The Doctor, remember? I'm the Doctor! You need me alive. You need the Doctor, and that's me!" his back was to the landing and the Cybermen were still advancing, nearly about to hit him, when there was a brilliant beam of light. The time travelers turned in shock as the Cybermen's heads exploded, seeing the other Doctor standing there still holding an infostamp. "Infostamp with a Cyclo-Steinham core. You ripped open the core and broke the safety." He grinned. "Zap! Only the Doctor would think of that."

The other Doctor looked down at the infostamp in shock. "I did that. Last time."

"Come here," the Doctor touched the man's shoulders, steadying him. "You'll be okay."

The other Doctor frowned at him. "You told them you were the Doctor. Why did you do that?"

"Oh, I was just protecting you."

He stepped back, shaking his head. "You're trying to take away the only thing I've got, like they did." Then he frowned, his voice falling quieter. "They stole something, something so precious, but I can't remember." He paused. "What happened to me? What did they do?"

The Doctor grinned. "We'll find out. Together."

|C-S|

It was night by the time the other Doctor was able to lead them to where Rosita was waiting. As they'd walked the Doctor had asked Caroline if she was cold at all, they had been out in the air for a long time, but she only shook her head. For some reason, she didn't really feel that cold, even if she was just wearing a rather thin sweater over a tank top. Though, she supposed, the adrenaline was probably keeping her from actually noticing anything was wrong.

The Doctor had still offered to give her his coat.

He'd also explained, very quietly so to keep the other Doctor from hearing him, what had happened one of the last times he'd faced down the Cybermen. It had been when he had lost Rose, so she already knew some of the story, but this time he told her a bit more, or at least as much as he could, about how they had been created then, and what their fate had been.

The moment Rosita spotted the other Doctor she ran forwards to hug him. "Doctor! I thought you were dead!"

The man stepped back, straightening. "Now then, Rosita. A little decorum."

"You've been gone for so long." She turned to the Doctor and Caroline. "He's always going this, leaving me behind. Going frantic."

"What about the TARDIS?"

Rosita grinned. "Oh, she's ready. Come on." She took the other Doctor's arm and lead him away. Caroline and the Doctor, in much the same fashion, linked arms to follow.

It looked like the man and his companion had set up base in a stables, though it didn't look that neat, with unopened suitcases and clothes scattered about.

"You were right though, Rosita," the other Doctor said when they entered. "The Reverend Fairchild's death was the work of the Cybermen."

The Doctor looked around the space. "So, you live here?"

"A temporary base, until we rout the enemy. The TARDIS is magnificent, but it's hardly a home." He stepped into one of the stalls and began to wash his face.

The Doctor glanced at Caroline. That most certainly didn't sound like any Doctor she knew. "And where's the TARDIS now?"

"In the yard."

"Er…what's all this luggage?"

"Evidence. The property of Jackson Lake, the first man to be murdered." The other Doctor turned. "Oh, but my new friend is a fighter, Rosita, much like myself. He faced the Cybermen with a cutlass. I'm not ashamed to say, he was braver than I. He was quite brilliant." As the man spoke, the Doctor stepped to the side and quickly began to scan the luggage, though he wasn't that quiet. "Are you whistling again?"

The Doctor started. "Yes. Yes, I am, yeah. Yeah." He glanced at Rosita, who'd noticed the sound, and held up a finger in a 'shh' gesture before lifting a suitcase from the pile.

"That's another man's property!"

He shrugged. "Well, a dead man's." He opened it and Caroline moved to stand next to him, not wanting to stand too far out in the open. "How did you two meet, then?"

"He saved my life," Rosita smiled. "Late one night, by the Osterman's Wharf, this creature came out of the shadows. A man made of metal. I thought I was going to die. And then, there he was. The Doctor."

He nodded. "Caroline just kept running into me. Like destiny." He grinned at her. "She's been helping me ever since."

Rosita nodded. "Can you help him?" her voice was quieter now, like she was trying to keep the other Doctor from hearing, but it was obvious he could. "He has such terrible dreams. Wakes at night in such a state of terror."

The other Doctor walked up to them all. "Come now, Rosita. With all the things a Time Lord has seen, everything he's lost, he may surely have bad dreams."

"Yeah." The Doctor looked back into the luggage. "Oh, now. Look." He pulled out an infostamp, holding it up for everyone to see. "Jackson Lake had an infostamp."

The other Doctor frowned. "But how? Is that significant?"

"Doctor," the Doctor straightened, "the answer to all this is in your TARDIS. Can we see it?"

The man grinned. "Mr. Smith, Miss Attwater, it would be my honour." He turned and led them to the courtyard outside the stable, pausing for a moment to take in the wonder, before standing beside Rosita.

A/N: Welcome to the second part of the Crossed Stars. As a refresher, Caroline Attwater is a quiet observant human the Doctor took on as a companion after her assistance with Adipose Industries (her previous place of employment). I picture her looking like Felicity Jones.