Clara had gone to bed several hours ago, and when he had run out of things on the Tardis console to fiddle with, the Doctor turned his attention elsewhere; namely trying to invent a better way to toast toast. No matter what, one side was inevitably darker than the other, much to his annoyance. It was the same scenario pretty much everywhere in the universe. So now he had dragged a portable worktable to the control room and heaped upon it a hodge-podge of dismantled toasters, spare parts, and tools and set to work. He had put on some light music, and between it, his humming, and the regular beeps and hums of the Tardis, the ambiance was quite soothing. Just as he was delicately trying to solder two tiny wires together, the large, swing-arm mounted monitor lit up and an alert signal went haywire. Jumping, he nearly dropped his invention, ruining the wires in the process.
"Ah!" he yelped, disappointed and irritated, "What or who could possibly be?-!"
He stalked to the console and tapped in some commands, glaring at the monitor. Swiftly, his irritation turned to startled curiosity. He had received a transmission, but from an origin and signal type he had never before seen. It seemed to be encoded, slightly scrambled, and weak. Immediately springing into action, he dashed back and forth around the console, desperately trying to capture and open this mysterious little message before it faded into the ether. After a minute of terror that he might lose it, he managed to save it and bring it up on the monitor.
"Ok you delicious little thing, you...who, or what, sent you my way?" he grinned as he punched in the last commands to show him what was inside. The message sprung to life in front of him, and despite the slightly fuzzy picture, instantly he recognized the beings looking back. His hearts froze, shock paralyzing his limbs.
Rose and his other self. Right there. On his screen.
Too stunned to even drop into a chair, his hands shaking, he reached to play the message.
"-it would work right? You said maybe." Rose's voice echoed off the walls and pierced straight through his soul.
She was looking at the other him, who was fiddling with a bizarre looking control-box; there were multiple buttons and wires sticking out everywhere. They were sitting on a sofa in what appeared to be a cozy apartment. They both looked very similar to the last time he had seen them, though he could already see the few years they had been apart beginning to show. He ignored the stab of irrational panic in his chest.
"Yes, maybe, hopefully, but it's a long shot," his clone replied, "A very, very, very, very, VERY long shot. AND we'll never know if-oh! It's working! It's recording! Go!"
"Oh!" Rose spun around to face the camera, then paused, suddenly looking shy and uncertain, "...Hello, Doctor."
"Hello Rose..." he smiled to himself.
She continued, brighter now, "We thought it was high time we make some sort of attempt to say hello...and how are you...and all that," she laughed slightly, "We, ok, mostly him, but I helped, built this amplifier in the hope that we could send you a message."
The other him waved at the camera, "Hello, sort-of-me. Problem is we have no idea if it's going to work or will ever reach you, and there's no way to send a reply back to us. It's theoretical at best. Ooh but it's brilliant! You'd love it! I ended up having to use some odd things to try and boost the signal to the right frequency to make it through the dimensional barrier-would you believe I needed a rusty egg beater and some twine coated in beeswax? Of course with all the alien junk Torchwood has lying around it made it...blimey I'm rambling aren't I?" he ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly.
Rose gave a long suffering smile and patted his arm, "John, dear, it's ok. So, Doctor, how are you doing? Well, we hope. Having adventures, saving people...staying out of too much danger. But that's not going to happen anytime soon, is it?"
The Doctor laughed, "Oh you know me don't you?"
John (apparently he had gone with his favorite alias) chimed in, his voice grave "And we hope you're not alone. Please don't be. We both know what happens."
"Oh right, us!" Rose said, "Well," she held up her left hand, dispalying the thin band of finely woven gold on her ring finger, "this, first of all. I asked him, just as he was asking me, and well, it was sweet. And awkward. And perfect."
John mimicked her gesture, "That's right! I'm-we're?-no longer a bachelor. Well, I'm not counting that one time that...nevermind," he cleared his throat, "Anyway, lovely wedding. Great party afterwards. Banana daquiris all around! But I behaved. Mostly. And honoring Time Lord tradition, she now knows my true name."
Rose smiled at him and shook her head, "I'm honored, but I see why you don't use it."
The Doctor softly chuckled to himself, "Good job, you two love-birds."
Rose suddenly bit her lip and looked terribly sad,"I have a confession. To be honest...things weren't so good at first. Neither of us were quite sure how to feel or act around each other for a bit. With everything that had happened, with everything in front of us, even though we both knew how we really felt," she looked at John, remembering, "...it was hard. Really hard."
The Doctor felt his hearts sink. He had hoped that things would pick up smoothly, but of course they were bound to have to figure some things out. Now he felt a twinge of anger at his past self and his own tendancy towards self-assured arrogance.
John folded his hands and looked down, "I confess that a lot of it was my own fault, really. Kind of went through an identity crisis for a spell. I was confused; not sure what I was or wanted. I could be a real rotter sometimes. Took me some time to shake it off and come to my senses. But I came round, and apologized, and we've made it work. By the way," he jerked his thumb in Rose's direction, "This one has a slap just as potent as her mum. Aaaand I probably deserved it."
Rose folded her arms and nodded sagely, and the Doctor snorted with laughter.
"Oh!" John suddenly and excieteldy, practically jumping up, "Guess what?! The Tardis coral you gave me? I found an equation and growth-enhncement solution to speed up it's maturity process! Bless Torchwood and all the things they've saved! According to my calculations, it should be ready enough for travel in about a decade!"
Rose clapped her hands happily, "Look out, this universe! We're gonna have some fun!"
The Doctor clapped his own hands, "Oh, brilliant job! I had hoped you would figure something out."
Rose gestured around them with a wave of her arm, "And as for the more silly, normal things; we have a lovely flat, on the outskirts of the city, so we have some ground, and the neighbors are good people. We do a good bit of traveling. After everything, neither of us could stand not to have adventures now and then until our Tardis is ready. Obviously,we both work at this world's Torchwood, though in different ends of the complex. We do find ways to meet up at lunch sometimes..." she gave John a sideways, coy smile, to which he raised his eyebrow. The Doctor knew exactly what they meant, and chuckled to himself.
Clearing his throat, John added "We also wanted to say thank you. For, well, everything. You were going to keep me with you, originally, remember? Keep me locked up until you were sure I wasn't going to go on some sort of violent rampage. But then," he looked at Rose, "You realized that there was, if I may, a better qualified doctor around," Rose leaned her head on him and grinned shyly, "And don't worry. I'm keeping my word to take care of her with all my being. You take care of yourself and whomever I'm quite certain is probably standing there right now asking you who we are."
Rose chimed in, "It's ok, Doctor. You can tell them. Tell them how we met. 'I saved her from murderous alien shop dummies.' There's an opener. Tell them about all our adventures, and how we came to be in two separate dimensions but still connected. It's a fantastic, brilliant story."
There came then a soft, chattering voice from off-screen. Rose beamed and reached down, scooping up a small, wriggly form in her arms. John grinned ear to ear and gently ruffled their hair.
The Doctor grinned wildly himself, and before they said anything he already knew.
Rose giggled and turned the child to face the camera. She was a beautiful, energetic little cherub, with an unruly mop of burnt-honey colored hair and bright, dancing hazel eyes. She stared at the lens with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity.
"Yes, to answer your question..." Rose laughed through happy tears beginning to well in her eyes, "She's ours. She's the other reason we had to ring you. To let you know...we have a family."
"Her name is Lillyana. Lillyana Celestine," John said proudly, "Literally, 'flower of the heavens', or stars, depending on your translation. We thought it fitting. She's 18 months old now, and loves to talk. A lot. Definitely mine."
The Doctor glanced at the information stamp for the messsage, and found it had been sent a hair over 6 months ago. "...Happy birthday, Lillyana." he uttered to the air.
Lillyana pointed at the camera then, "Mummy, daddy, who have you been talking to?" in a childish but quite clear voice.
They became more serious at that, and Rose said to her, "Sweetheart, you remember us telling you about the Doctor, right?"
The girl's eyes lit up and she nodded, "Uh-huh! Is that who you're sending this video to? Can I say hello? Oh... Daddy said it might not work. Something about dimen..di-men-shun-al mis-a-line-ment," she sounded out the syllables while fiddling with her shoelace, "Also something about the ionic core burning out? Right?"
Rose buried her face in one hand, and with a snort said "Good lord my daughter will be smarter than me by the time she's 10," she looked up again, "Yes. Go right ahead, love. Say hello. Say anything you'd like."
The girl glanced at her father, who said "It's alright. Go on. And I DID manage to stabilize that core. ...For now."
Lillyana focused her attention on the camera lens, took a breath, and broke into a grin so radiant the Doctor's hearts skipped a beat, "Hullo Doctor! Daddy already said so, but I'm Lillyana! Him and Mummy told me ALL about you. How you saved them, and planets, and lots and lots of people tons of times. It's really quite impressive..." she look at her lap, then back up, sadness touching her features in an expression far beyond her years, "I wish I could meet you. But...all I can do is hope that this will reach you. Thank you for everything. For saving my mummy and daddy, and everyone else too. I hope that you're happy and will find lots of new friends and fun things to see!" she jumped off the couch and approached the camera, touching the large lens with her tiny hand, "I love you", she whispered, "'Cause you're kinda my daddy, too."
His hand trembling slightly, the Doctor reached forward and touched his screen, covering her hand with his, his hearts aching so badly it physically hurt. She was right, after all.
Bounding back to the couch, the child wriggled herself comftorably between her parents and threw the camera a sly wink, as if to say 'it's our secret'. Rose began to speak again, but for a momemt the picture flickered, and the Doctor leaped in terror to adjust the settings,
"No!" he cried, "No no no no no no! Not yet! Don't! You! DARE!" he snarled at the control panel.
It came back, but fainter. He then realized John was also fighting with the control box, grumbling and trying to carefully adjust knobs and wires, "I'm afraid it's getting weaker," he announced, "Not sure how much longer I can keep it going. Unfortunetly..." he looked at his girls, "Think we have to wrap it up. There's nothing else I can do. With that, I'll make my goodbyes short and sweet," he looked back at the camera, "So long now, Doctor! You do your part there, and I'll do mine here. Take care of yourself! And if and when next time you regenerate, let's hope for ginger eh? Au revoir!"
Rose's shoulders slumped and Lillyana's eyes moistened. Rose took a breath and turned back to the camera, pulling her daugther close, "Well...guess this is it yeah? Third time I've said goodbye to you. Third time's the charm?" she gave a short, heart-hearted chuckle, "But it's okay. Because for one, I'm not alone. Well, I wasn't then either but...oh you know what I mean. Secondly, something I learned...it's never really, completely goodbye with you is it, Doctor? So instead I'll say this; thank you. I'll always remember and keep you in my one-and-only heart."
She blew him a kiss. Lillyana waved enthusiastically, with a wistful smile. John joined her in a tamer wave.
And then they were gone. The piture wobbled, fizzled with static, and blinked out.
The Doctor stood there for a long time, staring at the now blank screen, lost in his thoughts. He had no idea how long he had been standing there when Clara's voice and footsteps approached.
"Mornin' Doctor. Been up all night again?" she asked cheerfully as she entered the console room, then as she spotted his pile of unfinished work added, "Busy I see."
When he didn't answer, when he just stood there absolutely still, she cocked her head and asked, "Hello?" she noticed he was staring at the static-fuzzed screen, the soft buzzing noise it made loud in the silence, "Doctor? What are you looking at?"
She approached him and with slight hesitation, touched his arm, "Are you okay?"
At that he started, snapping out of his fog, and turned around, "Oh! Clara! Good morning! Well, I think it's morning...depends on where we are..."
She stared at him, curiosity and concern in her voice, "What was that? Were you talking to someone?"
He met her gaze, his eyes betraying nothing while he thought. It would be so easy, to tell her about his unexpected call, about Rose and shop dummies, about Slitheen and werewolves, about danger and love and adventure and heartbreak and goodbyes. To unburden himself a little to someone, to not carry so much weight on his hearts. So simple...
He smiled and tapped her forehead with his index finger, "No. Silly Clara. Now, who wants to have breakfast in 1700's Paris? I know I do! Better get dressed. Can't have you going around in your pajamas, you know."
~End~