Chapter One
"What do you mean I should back off?" Rose shouted while Jackie sat at the kitchen table and sighed.
"You can't go on treating him like this!" Jackie said in reference to the clone of the Doctor and Rose growled, pacing back and forth. It had been two years since the Doctor had left her on the beach of Bad Wolf Bay with his clone and told her that it was her job to look after him, to heal him, but that wasn't why she risked tearing two universes apart. She did admit that hearing the Doctor finally telling her that he loved her nearly stopped her heart, but it was the wrong Doctor. Jackie watched her pacing then placed her face in her hands and sighed, trying hard not to cry. She had watched her daughter change from a loving, caring woman into a cold hearted stranger and neither Pete nor Jackie could sway her from how she treated the man she knew only wanted to love her and live out the rest of his life with her. "I thought you loved the Doctor."
"THAT isn't the Doctor!" Rose shouted while slamming her hands onto the kitchen table and the lid of the sugar bowl rattled then toppled onto the table, spilling sugar onto the placemat in front of her.
"No, he isn't, but that doesn't give you the right to treat him like dirt," Jackie said when the kitchen door suddenly swung back and forth and they looked at it. "You don't think…."
Rose walked to the door when she swung the door open and saw someone running around the corner.
"Damn," she said as she let go of the door then ran down the hallway and growled. She thought she had locked him in his room, but he always seemed to get out. She had the household staff search his room and the staff swore to her that the room was clean. She even strip searched him, but found nothing and the only thought that occurred to her was he had swallowed the key and she growled, running faster down the hallway. Hearing someone running up the stairs, she stood at the bottom of the stairs when she heard the sound of a door slam and gently punched the top of the railing.
"Rose?" Pete asked while she turned around and saw him standing in the front doorway. Walking closer, she brushed the hair out of her eyes as she tried to calm down and placed her hands firmly on her hips.
"Did you see him?" she asked.
"Did I see who?"
"Did you see the Doctor?" she asked with a sarcastic tone to her voice.
"Yeah, he nearly crashed into me when I come in from getting the mail," he said and her eyes went wide and she balled her hands into fists.
"So he didn't leave the house."
"No, but he did seem excited when I gave him that parcel from Torchwood."
"What parcel?"
"The one with his identification and back story," Pete said and her eyes went wide. Being the head of Torchwood, Pete was able to obtain certain documents, but he said that it would take months before they would be ready and she walked to him, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"I thought you said it would take months before they were ready."
"Yeah, but he asked me to put a rush on them. He said something about not feeling complete without them. Why, is there a problem?"
"Oh no, he just ran upstairs like he was on fire and….NO!" she said as she flung her hands into the air and growled. A fierce rage filled her as she ran for the stairs then ran up the stairs and Pete followed close behind her. She ran down the hallway when she came to a bedroom and kicked the door open. The doors of the wardrobe were open while piles of clothes and pairs of shoes and boots were tossed across the room and the drawers of the dresser were lying on the floor. She ran to the window when she looked down and barely saw someone with brown hair running around the corner. A rope ladder reaching down to the ground was connected to the window as she turned to look at Pete and Pete was stunned to see the pure rage in her eyes. "He's making a break for it!"
"Rose, calm down," Pete said when she ran to the night table and picked up the receiver, pressing the button.
"Henderson, this is Miss Tyler, we have a Code Red!" she said as Pete walked to her and sat on the bed.
"Do you really want to do this to him?" Pete asked while Rose held up a finger and he sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.
"Do you have a lock on him? What? What do you mean you can't find him? He's got to be on the grounds! I want the area searched and no one gets in or out! Yes, my father authorizes lethal force if necessary!"
"I do not!" Pete shouted as she placed the receiver down and he stood up, walking to her. "Rose, what have you done?"
"Dad, leave it! I know what I'm doing!" she shouted and Pete sighed.
"I thought you loved him."
"No, I loved the Doctor and THAT isn't him!" she shouted then stormed out of the room and Pete walked to the window, looking out at the grounds.
"Good luck," Pete sighed then turned and left the room, closing the door behind him.
(Six years later)
Inverness, Scotland
The soft sounds of footsteps moved across the grass while Connie McCrimmon walked up the path and headed for one of the habitats. Ever since she could remember she had been around injured or domesticated wild animals and she used to tease her dad about being the Scottish Steve Irwin. There was not an animal or bird that they hadn't taken care of then released and the reserve had recently been granted more money for expansion. She walked faster as her blonde hair bounced on her shoulders and she reached into her pocket, taking out a rubber band and pulled her hair into a ponytail. Walking to the fence, she watched her husband feeding a pair of infant Roe deer. A farmer had accidentally shot their mother a few months ago then called the reserve and it took three tries to capture them. Leaning on top post of the fence, she smiled as he gently stroked the soft fur of one of the infant Roe deer and she thought back to the first time she met him. Six years ago her father had posted a job for a caretaker in the local paper and, to their surprise, he was the only one that came and asked about the job. She wasn't sure what attracted her to him, but she loved her husband and laughed when the infant Roe deer gently bumped into him and knock him onto his bottom.
"Fuck," James McCrimmon said when he got up and dusted the straw off the bottom of his tight jeans. He was also wearing brown work boots, a Spiderman t-shirt under a denim jacket and his dark brown hair stuck out from under the Celtic baseball cap on his head.
"He got the better of you?" Connie asked as he looked at her then smiled and she shivered at the sight of his dimples.
"Aye," James said when he walked toward the fence and leaned on the top post, kissing her lips. He then felt something vibrating in his pocket when he reached into the pocket and took out his cell phone. Connie noticed the look in his eyes when he softly smiled then looked at her, placing the cell phone back in his pocket.
"Can I borrow your car? Mine's in the shop?" he asked as she laughed and rolled her eyes.
"I dinnae understand why you just dinnae get rid of that hunk of junk."
"It's a good car!" he said, bugging his chocolate brown eyes at her. She grabbed hold of the bill of the baseball cap as she wiggled the baseball cap back and forth and he wiped the brown hair out of his eyes.
"Aye, good for scrap is what it is!" she teased then handed him the keys to her car and he smiled, nodding his head. She watched him run off while his tight bottom moving under the tight jeans he was wearing then sighed, softly smiled and shook her head.
The car stopped in front of the iron gates when the security guard walked out of the guard station and walked to the car. The window came down as James removed his sunglasses and handed the security guard the white, plastic card. The security guard looked at the white, plastic card then at James when he nodded and walked back to the guard station. James waited a few minutes when the security guard walked back to the car and handed the white, plastic card to James.
"Is Clunker in the shop again?" the security guard asked in reference to James' car and James laughed, nodding his head. James watched as the security guard headed back to the guard station and the car moved by the iron gates after the guard opened them.
"Doctor?" Amy shouted while she walked inside the TARDIS and Rory followed close behind her. The Doctor had dropped them off at one of the pleasure planets he had been to over the centuries and Amy's skin was glowing from a crystal dust facial and body scrubbing. Rory slid his arms around his wife as she giggled and he kissed he nape of her neck. "We should go to these places like that more often."
"Yeah," Rory said softly as he went back to kissing her neck when they heard a loud yelp and smoke billowed up from under the console. "Doctor, are you alright?"
"Yes," the Doctor said as he walked up the ramp and gently sucked on two of the fingers of his left hand.
"Let me have a look, Sweetie," River said while she walked toward him, but he only shook his head and tucked his hand under her arm.
"No, I'm fine. Really, I am. So there's no need to fuss over it," he said then looked at Amy and frowned, titling his head to one side. "Pond, you're skin is glowing."
"Yeah, I had one of those crystal dust scrubs," she said while the Doctor walked to her, took out his sonic screwdriver and scanned her. "Hey, what are you doing?"
"Just hold still for a second," he said then looked at the small screen and smiled. "Ah, that's good."
"What are you on about?"
"Well, when I saw you glowing like that, I thought you were radioactive. Some of those crystal dust treatments use radioactive material, you know. They can cause dreadful mutations. You could end up with an extra head or something. Anyway, you don't have to worry. You're clean."
"That's good to know," Rory said as the Doctor placed the sonic screwdriver back in his pocket and walked to the console. He pushed some buttons while looking at the screens when the time rotor started moving up and down and the sounds of the TARDIS' engines filled the room. "Hey, what's going on?"
"I don't know," the Doctor said when they felt the TARDIS moving and he looked at the ceiling then patted the console. "Come on, Old Girl, what are you doing?"
"We're moving," River said and he gave her a slightly stunned look.
"Yeah, I noticed that," he said then walked around the console and looked at the screens. "The question is why are we moving? Where are we going?"
"That's two questions," Rory said and Amy gently nudged him in the ribs. The TARDIS hummed around them as the Doctor tried to find out where they were going when the TARDIS lurched forward and started to gain speed.
"Right, move over, you're doing something wrong," River said as she nudged the Doctor out of the way and he blinked his eyes a few times and River looked at the screens, frowning. "We're going too fast."
"You think?" Amy asked when the TARDIS lurched forward again and she held onto Rory, who slid onto the floor and they held onto each other. A few minutes later the TARDIS slowly down then landed with a loud thud and Rory helped Amy to her feet. "So, do you have any idea where we are?"
"There's only one way to find out," the Doctor said with a grin as he walked to the door then waved for them to move away from the doors. Rory and Amy walked to River and the Doctor turned and looked at the doors. He knew he could hold his breath if there wasn't any air outside the doors when he took a deep breath then opened the doors and walked outside. Blinking his eyes a few times, his mouth fell open as he looked at the zeppelins floating overhead and felt his hearts slamming in his chest. "No, it can't be!"