A Blue Box on Bad Wolf Bay
Warnings: Cursing, because Capaldi's love for it must be shown in this fanfic, and a bloody terrific beginning. Hardy har har.
Summary: After a rough regeneration, the new twelfth doctor steps out of the TARDIS to only find himself on Bad Wolf Bay. How will the meta-crisis doctor greet him?
A/N: All of you are itching for the next chapter of "The Once and Future Princess" but a brilliant idea popped into my head as I ate my cereal this morning. I just had to.
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey…
Clara didn't know what had happened, but as the bright, golden light subsided, she forced her eyes to open. She felt fine but her hand stung like fire. Her vision wasn't fooling her, and she gasped. Her hand was sitting in a puddle of blood, a big piece of glass stuck right through it. A few tears escaped her eyes but her heartbeat slowed down when she realized it was resting atop the TARDIS floor. The floor was warm, which was unusual for the cold, metal control room.
"Doctor!" she cried, forcing herself to stand up. She kept her arm elevated, though this wasn't helping the pain nor the situation. She turned around to where she last saw the Doctor, who had started to regenerate. He would've been fine if they weren't midflight. She would've been fine if the console room hadn't been set on fire and torn apart; glass was everywhere, random cables and computer chips strewn across the floor. They've had a rough landing, that's for sure, but the Doctor was concerned with other things.
"Doctor?" Clara approached him, her voice soft and desperate. The pain started spreading throughout her whole hand, even to her fingertips. She trudged forward. It was hard to move with unbearable pain.
The Doctor took no notice of her, no sympathy or attention. He was completely concerned with his face. He squeezed his cheeks, ran his hands through his hair, examining his teeth, but he did not enjoy this carnation, yet, that is. Once he saw Clara behind his reflection in the mirror, he groaned, reluctantly turning around. He didn't take notice in her injury but he did take concern.
"Don't you fucking dare call me 'old man' Clara."
She expected him to say something about her hand, disbelief filling her body. "What?"
"I'm old!" cried the Doctor, undoing his bowtie. "Look at me!"
Clara held out her hand, her breathing heavily. "Well look at me!"
The Doctor furrowed his eyebrows, stroking his chin. "You look fine."
Now Clara wailed as the glass cut further into her hand. "I am not fine! Can you see my hand? There is a big, sharp piece of glass in my hand!"
"And what am I supposed to do?"
"OH FOR GODS SAKE!" cried Clara. "There must be some medical supplies in the TARDIS!"
"You have legs, Clara. Look for them yourself."
"But…!"
"I'm just kidding!" the Doctor laughed, pulling the glass out of her hand. She almost fainted from the pain. If it wasn't for the regeneration energy the Doctor was passing through to her, she wouldn't have been on her feet. "Bloody hell, Clara."
At this point Clara was just breathless. This 12th Doctor played with her emotions, and she didn't know whether to be mad or grateful. He had much more regeneration energy due his premature regeneration, which could take care of any further injuries.
The Doctor ran towards the door, jumping over a fallen piece of metal. "Now come on Clara, let's go see where the hell we landed."
Clara stayed behind, even though they had landed on a beach. Seagulls squawked and salty sea air filled the TARDIS. She was curious to where they had landed, but her first priority was her hand.
The Doctor, however, was eager to see where he had landed. No doubt he had landed in an alternate universe; the TARDIS was broken inside, having a little fit. It whined and squeaked noticeably even from the outside. He took a moment to breathe in the fresh air, and when he opened his eyes, a tall, lanky man was seen running towards him. He looked behind him and back at the man, so it was clear to him he was running towards him. As he got closer, he began to look more and more familiar.
"Doctor!" cried the man, his tie undone around his neck, his suit covered in sand. "Oh, so glad you're here! And very lucky, in fact!"
"What?" shrieked the Doctor. Out of all of the alternate universes he managed to get into this one again? It most certainly lucky. Too lucky.
"Do me a big favor!" it was a sense of nostalgia that hit him first; he was face to face with his tenth carnation, that jumpy nature and good hair. "And still not ginger, may I comment." The tenth Doctor clicked his tongue. "I'm disappointed."
Secondly, it was the fact that he still bloody shaved. "Oi! I'm bloody disappointed as well! Look at you Doctor! You aren't even wearing a wedding ring!"
The metacrisis Doctor just laughed. "Well you've gotten cocky!" he redid the Doctor's bowtie. "No questions, but I'm going to tell you two things; you are human, and you are my father."
"Oh bullocks!"
The TARDIS door creaked behind him and the metacrisis Doctor clapped his hands, exclaiming, "Brilliant! And you're my sister!"
Clara raised an eyebrow, placing her newly repaired hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "That's your tenth." She whispered.
"No dillydallying!" the tenth turned around, starting to do his tie. "I need you to pretend to be my father, it's not too much to ask. I mean, you look perfect for the role!"
"Well you're fucking mad!" said the Doctor, gritting his teeth.
The tenth turned around, smiling. "Father, come on, no need for language like that. I might get a promotion out of this bring-your-boss-to-dinner thing."
Without hesitating, the Doctor stomped through the sand, following after the tenth. "Am I really that old?"
As if the Doctor's mood couldn't get any worse, Clara replied behind him, "Well to be honest, you're developing some white hair."
"Shut up!"
The threesome climbed the big flight of stairs to a white, straight-out-of-a-book beach home with a porch right out front. Five other people were seating at the heavily-adorned dining table surrounded by lit torches. A blonde woman whose hair was done up in a bun became aware of the three's arrival first, grinning widely and saying, "Oh, look who showed up!"
The tenth grinned as well, greeting her with a kiss. "How are you, love?"
"Very well, and you?"
"Well, perfectly fine now that my father and my sister arrived." The tenth reached forward to grab the Doctor's arm, turning to his boss, a stern old man in a black suit. "This is my father, Mr. Nuschwitts."
Mr. Nuschwitts put on a smile, reaching over to shake the Doctor's hand over his glass of wine. "Nice to meet you. Your name?"
"Uh erm, John." The Doctor stammered, sputtering out the first name that came to mind. "Nice to meet the big man my son works for."
Mr. Nuschwitts chuckled heartedly, taking a sip of his wine. "I would like to comment on the wine. It's amazing. Alec told me it was your choice."
"Oh, it was indeed!" the Doctor agreed. He looked over at the tenth, who gave him an inconspicuous thumbs up. "I just have to serve the greatest wine whenever we have dinner together." As he repeated that sentence in his mind as he took a seat, the more it sounded dumber.
"How are you?" the blonde woman greeted Clara. The two shook hands. "Oh, when was the last time I saw you?"
Clara gave her a fake smile. She was very good at falling into the tenth's improv plan. "Oh, seemed too long ago to recall! Over dinner, I think it was. Or was it over a cup of coffee?"
"Either or." The woman replied, beaming. She started writing something on her napkin without taking her eyes off of Clara.
Clara looked down, saying, "I love the new tablecloth." And reading the napkin, Rose.
She took the pen that Rose handed her under the table and wrote: Clara.
"Oh thank you," said Rose, "but I do think it's rather noisy."
"I don't, mind you." An older woman beside Rose said. She was most likely her mother. "Rose gets too fussed up about tablecloths! She took a full three hours in the shop!"
On the other side of the table, the Doctor learned of the tenth's new name. Alec Hardy. It was a normal name, but he felt a little relieved he hadn't taken in John Smith.
"John Hardy!" exclaimed Mr. Nuschwitts. "This is just wonderful! Out of all the entrees you picked salmon! My favorite!"
The Doctor smirked behind his napkin, putting it down to say, "What a lucky choice!"
Things are too damn lucky here. He thought to himself, poking at the salmon with his fork.
"My father, the people pleaser." Alec patted the Doctor on the back. "Mother often said she married you just for your charm."
"Did she?" said the Doctor, sounding neither surprised nor grim.
"Yes, but after she passed you charm still goes unscathed."
"Your wife died?" asked Mr. Nuschwitts. "Oh John, accept my sympathy."
The Doctor nodded, putting on a saddened expression. "Well, I like to think of it as she's gone up to heaven early and is waiting for me to join her."
The three men talked of the woman who never was, Mary Hardy, whilst Rose introduced Clara to her 2-year old daughter, Samantha. They shared memories they never had and everything was going smoothly. The family that never was seemed real in Mr. Nushwitt's eyes. Pete Tyler was even convinced himself for a short moment.
It wasn't until Alec expressed his interest in the investigation branch of law enforcement when the Doctor finally broke character.
"You worked for UNIT?"
Mr. Nuschwitts and everyone else at the table were startled as the Doctor, or as he was called John Hardy, stood up and banged both fists onto the table. "You had a real, stationary job? You're a family man and now you're living your life with great taste of ocean front realty?"
'Alec' stood up as well, his eyes wide. "Certainly that isn't wrong, father?"
"No!" the Doctor exclaimed, realizing he may have blown his clone's chances for a job right then and there. "You're the man I wish I was, all along! I haven't stopped to think about it! I'm so proud of you!" he added the last sentence and hastily followed it up with a big hug. Alec seemed surprised yet maintained his character. The Doctor had once again cut a friend and repaired the situation just as quickly.
Mr. Nuschwitts smiled, and Alec let out a big breath, feeling relieved.
Once they have reached desert, Rose began to feel tired of her persona. "Sorry that my husband picked you and your father out of the beach out of the blue Clara."
Clara looked over at Rose, raising an eyebrow. "Well, we just crash landed. You know, in the….TARDIS?"
Clara was unsure if Rose knew about the Doctor, but then Rose glanced over her shoulder and her eyes grew wide. "Oh, the TARDIS!" she looked over at the Doctor, smirking. "Which carnation is he?"
"The twelfth."
"Oh my, his fashion sense has taken a hit."
"Tell me about it."
When dinner ended Alec pulled Clara and the Doctor aside as the family and the boss walked inside. The first thing he did once they shut the door behind him was pull the two into a big hug.
"For fucks sake!" yelled the Doctor, his voice muffled as he spoke into Alec's shoulder. "Haven't we had enough hugging already?"
"Words can't describe how grateful I am you went along with this, Doctor." Alec grinned. "And you, what's your name?"
"Clara," said Clara, giving him a smile. She had to admit, he was good-looking.
"Clara! Well, I hope you have a safe travel back into your universe!" Alec gave the Doctor a wink. "And I reckon you know what happens next?"
Clara expected something to happen next, but the Doctor only returned the wink. "You bet your ass I do."
Alec smiled, then waved as the Doctor led Clara down the stairs. The two walked along the sandy beach, the Doctor turning around to wave at Alec once again before they stepped into the TARDIS.
Clara smiled when she saw the new control room, completely repaired. She set herself on a comfy couch while the Doctor worked with buttons and levers, preparing the TARDIS to travel between dimensions. It was nearly impossible but he knew what to do, as Alec had whispered instructions whilst capturing him in a hug.
A few lights turned on and a few others turned off as Clara asked, "What does happen next?"
The Doctor looked over at Clara, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"What the tenth—or Alec, whatever...what he said just as we left. He said you knew what happened next. But what, and to whom?"
"He was talking about his own future, and he better look forward to it, at the same time, fear it." The Doctor gave Clara a look. "Happy marriage, things like that, then Rose dies soon after." It was a bruise on his back that still hurt when touched, Rose. He mustn't think about it. "Then he becomes DI for that lovely town Broadchurch, shortly after that a murder of a boy shakes his world. He's dangerously sick and stuff like that, he solves the case and that town is never the same, yada yada."
Clara raised her eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be a little more concerned? I mean, if you were your tenth right now, you would be sobbing all over the floor."
"Well in another alternate universe our entire lives are just television shows and you and I are just actors!" explains the Doctor. "I've wasted all my tears watching him on the telly back before Gallifrey went to hell. It was a bloody good drama, Broadchurch."
Clara tried to make sense of what he just said as the Doctor flipped a few more switches. "And we are set! Thank you Alec Hardy!"
