Drops Of Jupiter

I-Am-The-Docor

Rose Tyler sat on the edge of a bench at Dalrig Ulv Stranden, waiting for the familiar whir of the TARDIS as it landed. The last time she was here The Doctor, the true Doctor that is, had left her with his look alike, his clone, his genetic equal. The misfortune that had come to her since that day was insurmountable, and even as she sat here knowing that she could never see The Doctor again she couldn't help but hope for some light in her alternate and sad world.

She had thought the world was going to end when the Dalek had moved the planets in order to destroy the universe, but The Doctor, her Doctor as always prevailed against the enemies that constantly plagued Earth and every solar system known and unknown to man. But though she lived, she had been stuck with a substitute, a reflection of flesh and bones that was so like her Doctor that he almost filled her void. Almost. She felt his hand on her shoulder as soon as the thought passed through her head. She turned and smiled at the familiar face, still shocked each time she saw him. Still alone when she saw the emptiness behind his eyes. He loved her, as much as the real Doctor ever did, he was in a way programmed to do so, but the fire that drove the passion wasn't there. The soul was missing.

"Rose…" the clone knelt beside her and held her hands under his chin.

"You're out there you know, out there exploring worlds and seeing aliens and probably discovering new life. You… He's out there…"

"Rose, I am right here."

"You are right here, he is out there." Rose sulked, as she did, and nervously bit her lip. "I love him."

"And you love me. We are one in the same Rose Tyler, as he is I am, only I will fade as humans do, I will grow old with you, die when you die, feel what you feel. I love you as he does, without the ache of knowing I have to watch you die."

"You're not him! You're just a piece of him made whole, stretched thin over bones that are NOTHING to me!" Rose stood, shoving him aside and ran off down the beach sand flipping up behind her as she left to who knows where.

Where turned out to be nowhere, when she reached there that is. Another beach with some more rocks, and a lot of silence surrounding her. She fell, for what choice did she have when she spent all her energy to get to nowhere, where she so longed to be. She felt as if she had done enough crying, been angry enough at The Doctor and at the world, and yet still she was more. Tears streaked her mascara down her face, reddened her eyes, and in their own way made her more beautiful than ever. With trembling lips she whispered to the sky, to no one: 'Where are you?'

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The Doctor sat on the edge of the TARDIS control panel staring at the door into space. Nothingness. He'd only just left Rose months before, for the second time to top it off, at Bad Wolf Bay. What a miserable wretch he must be to her, leaving her with nothing but a piece when he knew she wanted the whole shebang. He was brilliant, but some times even he knew he was a complete idiot. But, he reasoned, this is how things had to be. He had no choice but to continue on, the last Timelord, the savior of the universe, and allow Rose to live her life with out him. No matter how much it hurt him.

He recalled briefly the pleading for him to stay, the faltering smile, and the look on her face as he walked away, as he saw it through the eyes of his other self as the connection between the two was finally severed. He remembered how she had so heroically found her way back to him, though perhaps not for him, but for the good of the human race. He remembered, that is, until the often irritating, but undeniably amiable Donna Noble broke his thoughts.

"Impossible." He said.

He had erased her memory of him, left her to her own life free of the thoughts of him that Rose were plagued with. Hell, she was doomed to spontaneous combustion if she remembered him. And yet he heard her, and turned to face her.

"Didn't think you could get rid of me that easily did you? You can't erase a Noble mind so easily, you know!"

The Doctors mouth hung open in a most unattractive way, and despite is greatest efforts to be baffled, he was excited. Immediately he grinned in that way only he can. The grin that made you know how crazy and brilliant he truly could be.

"Donna Noble!" He proclaimed dumbly as he turned, causing the face on the screen in front of him to roll her eyes.

"Oi, who else do you know whose so stubbornly annoying!"

"Can't think of a soul! But how, how did you do this?" The Doctor kept his grin and gripped the sides of the monitor.

"I'm brilliant. Some day I will be able to put it into layman's terms for you, but today you have to retrieve me!"

"Right then. Off to Earth I go."

With a flip of some switches, the turn of a dial, and a large crashing sound he was on his way.

It was mere seconds before Donna and Doctor reunited, both mystified by the events that had taken place in the past few months. The Doctor almost didn't want to let her go, but reluctantly did as curiosity took a hold of him and he gripped Donna to check for signs of combustion. He was being ridiculous, and he knew it.

"What are you doing?" Donna looked panicky.

"Checking you." The Doctor replied as he pulled out his screwdriver and began to scan her for damage. "Clean. Marvelous."

"I told you ,ou couldn't get rid of me so easily."

"How did you do this Donna, I have to know, and I have to know now. If I can't… If something happens and I don't know how you did this, I can't save you."

"We are the Doctor/Donna, remember. I have a piece of you inside of me, of the TARDIS, how could I ever forget a part of myself? I figure, that's how this happened. My memories, they, they were really fuzzy at first, and then as a few weeks passed I started to remember things. First it was my wedding, then the Dalek, and slowly I just recalled everything that happened when I was with you. Meeting Martha, that was BRILLIANT!"

The Doctor couldn't help but chuckle at her enthusiasm, and question internally the truth and fact in what she was saying. It was possible, that the part of him that was her, the part of the TARDIS that had loved her and that she loved, kept her from really forgetting He had never considered that he wasn't genius enough to keep her from remembering, he thought he had it covered with the whole spontaneous combustion thing. Was he dreaming? Was he in yet another alternate universe?

"I know that face." Donna said " Stop doubting me Doctor. This is strange and unexplainable to me too, y'know?" The Doctor grinned at her again, resisting another embrace.

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Donna stared at the Doctor like she would look at a long lost friend or family member. She loved him, unlike she'd love anyone other than her Gramps and her mum. She'd devoted months of her life to traveling with him, and months more to contacting him. Martha had a good part in the contact bit, without that phone of hers, Donna would be plagued with these memories forever.

"How are you,, Doctor?" She asked him sympathetically. For only a brief moment did she forget the loss he was surely feeling for Rose.

She felt bad ruining their reunion, but this was a conversation they were doomed to have at some point, and some point soon. She had been wondering how The Doctor's old companion was doing, and maybe now was not the appropriate time to ask, but he was important to her. She remembered because of him, even if he did it unknowingly, and even behind his mad grin she could see the sadness he felt.

"Donna…"

"Don't lie to me Doctor, I can see right through it. You've, not heard anything then?"

He didn't need to say anything, the solemn look on his face said everything there was to be said. Donna felt guilty for reminding him of his pain, and proceeded to tell him how she had tracked down Martha.

"When I had remembered who she was, I began to make connections to people in government. I started with people who had interviewed her on telly of course, then worked my way up. Eventually, someone passed my name along to her, because of course I knew top secret information and would blurt it to the world if I didn't see her. She was surprisingly happy to see me, and I related my story to her as I did to you. She let me have her phone, but I had to promise that you would bring it back to her yourself. We know you will. Eventually." Donna giggled nervously.