Title: AU: Part One Pairing: Rose/ Duplicate, Donna/Duplicate
Series: Dr Who, series 4
Rating: 15 Type: Fanfiction, Angst
Summary: After the decision to stay on the alternate Earth, Rose and the Duplicate Doctor are 'living the dream' of a happy, human life. Or at least, that's the idea… until some familiar faces turn up to shake them up a bit!
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dr Who characters or anything from the universe of Dr Who. I am just taking the characters and playing with them a while – promising to restore them whole and unblemished! Thanks to Russell T for creating these toys for me to enjoy. Please don't take any of my playing as having any bearing on the actual franchise. Enjoy.
"I'm going to bed."
It was a statement, not an invitation. Rose meant she didn't want to be disturbed. She'd been working all day at the Torchwood institute, tracking an errant cyber communication to its source… it had taken nine hours, but she had finally located the last cell of cybermen and would be heading the clean-up in the morning. Perhaps then, this alternate universe could finally be safe.
She snorted to herself… even after three years she still considered this an alternate universe. It didn't seem to matter that she now lived here… or, more honestly, had been trapped here by the Doctor.
The first time it had been unexpected and tragic. She had been ripped from the Doctors side and there was no chance they could be together again. It had left her devastated and determined to find a way back to the true universe…
The second time, however… had been utterly her choice. She had a chance to return with him to their universe or stay here, in the alternate.
Rose could remember it to the second, as she stood on the sands of Bad Wolf Bay; she couldn't believe the Doctor was going to leave her… not again… But there he stood; telling her there was no other way… with Donna right by his side.
And so she had forced the moment – because she knew he loved her, even if he wouldn't say it, even if he couldn't...
And the Doctor didn't say it. But he did…
He'd said that he loved her and she kissed him… It was the Doctor but not the Doctor… the other one... the duplicate. There was only one reason behind kissing the duplicate; it had been to hurt. And it had hurt him; the real Doctor.
He had left… The Doctor and Donna… in the TARDIS.
Rose was abandoned on Bad Wolf bay thinking of the choice she made… and realising in that instant that she had made the wrong decision.
So now she lived with that. Perhaps it had served her right.
Rose looked back to the man who had watched her leave their living room and saw him smile, sadly at her.
"Ok," the duplicate Doctor sighed; he had given up trying to spend time with her weeks ago, "I'll have breakfast ready for you in the morning."
She didn't reply; she didn't have the energy or the inclination.
The door shut with a crisp click and Rose stood in silence for a moment as her heart sank through the floor.
She had spent the best part of three years regretting her choice to stay in this universe… stranded without the TARDIS to whisk them away, Rose and the duplicate Doctor were quickly thrust into a new world, with new roles and new relationships.
Everyone expected them to stay together, so they had.
Everyone expected them to move out of the Tyler mansion, so they did.
They had begun working for Torchwood and soon got so caught up their new lives that they hardly saw each other.
Months ago, she had chosen to separate their bedrooms… it made more sense. It wasn't as if they had ever truly done anything after the first few weeks of trying, anyway…
The duplicate Doctor was a consultant in Torchwood, where as she was a field-agent. They kept different hours… it suited her at the time. It made sense… but it was also a punishment…
Before the real Doctor and Donna had left they had given the duplicate a chunk of TARDIS to grow his own. That ship had not survived.
The duplicate said that it was because of the incompatible energy from the other universe, but Rose knew him better than that. Torchwood had been asking too many questions about organic weapons technology… they wanted it for themselves.
She knew the duplicate had destroyed the TARDIS chunk rather than gift any military force with the ultimate weapon.
What he hadn't realised was that he had also destroyed any chance of happiness between them. Because he wasn't enough anymore… and any time she saw him she wished he was the other…
Then she remembered Martha and Donna and how she had been replaced so easily…
And that hurt.
And it always came back to her choice.
She chose to stay in this universe… There was no one else to blame for her predicament than herself.
And that above all things hurt the most.
The Doctors duplicate woke early that morning.
He moved as though on autopilot; into the kitchen and about the space to make breakfast.
Most days felt like auto-pilot if he was honest. He felt like a copy… the duplicate…
After the thrill of telling Rose of his love for her, they were plunged into the expected 'relationship' that followed. They got a house of their own and well-paid jobs... they tried, Gods knew he had tried, to make each other happy… they had tried to take the relationship as if their parting had never occurred.
There was just one problem; they were, neither of them, the people they had been when they had been in love those few years ago.
Rose had hardened; so focused on getting back to 'her Doctor' that everything else took a side-line… her hopes and dreams had grown so high that a simple copy could not fulfil them.
As for the Doctor - and his duplicate - They had the experience of getting over her and meeting new companions; of meeting Donna.
So, perhaps… he had been carried away in the moment. Perhaps he didn't think things through enough.
And all he'd done since was think… about the decisions that had led him here; unappreciated and unwanted.
The toast popped up as Rose entered the room in her usual combats that marked another lengthy separation for them.
So he did what he had become accustomed to; he plastered a smile upon his face and held out a glass of orange.
She crossed the room, threading her hair into a plait before snatching up the fresh orange he had squeezed and reached for the now buttered bread.
"Are you off again?" The Doctor asked, trying to keep his tone light.
"Yeah," she sighed, taking an overly large bite of toast and then talking round it, "We think we've destroyed the final cyber-depot in Mauritius. So we're flying out to confirm and lock it down."
"Right now?"
She didn't look at him, "Sooner the better."
He found himself nodding. What was the point in arguing? It hadn't helped before.
"You?" She asked, lifting the orange out of his hand.
For a moment, he felt as though she actually cared, as she stopped her rushing about the room to look into his eyes. And his mind stalled.
"Well…" he thought of something happening to tell her about…"Mandy has gone off on maternity leave, so that leaves me training her replacement…"
"Mandy is..?"
"My assistant," he answered quickly. "She's been working with me over the last year, liaising with Earths closest neighbouring star systems. Well, she got married… we were invited to the wedding, but your team had found a cyber-cell in China…"
Something in her eyes faded, "Oh."
He deflated… "And they're expecting. So we hired a temp who should help me over the next few months…I have that meeting with the Dreen to establish, you see." Rose was nodding, but she had no idea what his job was or who was in his, now small, life.
Not that he didn't talk about it; she just didn't listen.
"Full day in the office, then?" She asked, hardly keeping the sneer out of her tone.
"Yeah," he found himself sighing.
She finished eating the toast and gulped at her tea. "Well, enjoy that," she said. And she was gone.
It wasn't a new feeling that overtook him as he moved about the kitchen and cleared the plates. There was nothing to be said and no goodbyes.
He had no idea how long he would be alone this time.
Donna Noble straightened her jacket and took a breath, "You're here now, so don't screw it up," she willed herself.
The Golden Age of Britain was upon her and she had yet to secure a full time job… but this was different… this place was in the city, it was established, it was posh… she had to have a chance.
Blowing several breaths, she entered the large, glass building.
The receptionist was so efficient, that people could have confused her ability with snobbishness… but Donna, being a temp, was familiar with the multi-tasking role and simply smiled and waited patiently for the next official to meet her in their own time.
"Donna Noble?" A straight-laced man asked in a pin-striped suit.
"That's me," she answered, immediately offering a hand and plastering on her most warming smile, "Mr Smith?"
The hand was accepted and shook with enthusiasm, "I'm not Mr Smith," the man laughed in self-depreciating tone, "Just been asked to introduce you to the office until he's ready for you."
Donna nodded, "Of course… shall we?"
It turned out her tour guide was called Duncan and he was happy to show her around the large, bright and open-planned office; all the water holes and where to get free coffees … the break-out areas and spaces to recover from particularly stressful moments.
This office seemed like heaven! The pay was great and she had a real chance of progressing to full time work if they liked her and the consultant approved.
Turned out she had been a last-minute request as the company had hired a temp who had not arrived this morning and was not returning any calls.
If she played her cards right… nothing could go wrong…
Finally, she could be a professional; someone accredited, someone of importance, somewhere that mattered. She'd already gathered she was in the famous Torchwood institute. And she would be in a place that mattered.
How good could life get?
"So… Duncan," she breathed after a third cup of tea, "Everything sounds great… except, I haven't met the consultant I'm actually working under yet…"
Duncan sipped his coffee and smiled, "That's where I'm taking you next…"
He led her past the open-plan section of the office and into a walled and suitably crisp looking space containing a great, pine desk and state-of-the-art computer.
Donna contained her excitement as she was introduced to her new working area and ushered through to the boss's office.
"Mr Smith," Duncan asked, entering the executive suite with Donna in his wake. "This is your new PA…" Duncan smiled, ushering her forward, "Donna, please meet John Smith…"
He was a man of average height, skinny and sporting the maddest hair she had seen in a long while… but when his chocolate rich eyes met hers they gained a spark she had never seen before…
And he smiled, "Donna Noble," he greeted, rounding the desk and taking up her hand in a firm and strong grip, "I can't tell you how happy I am to see you…"
And Donna couldn't help but smile in return.