Okay, so this was an old idea I had way back after they first introduced River Song and I've spent the past long time tweaking it. My friend and I had a little squealing match over the show and I let her read this chapter and she decided it's ready, so here it is. I hope you enjoy it ~ Tygger
Doctor Who
Roses and Rivers
Chapter 1
The Doctor sat in the consol room in his new body, thinking about who he was verses who he is. Still not ginger…
"Now, be honest…" His completely serious face seemed to confuse the beautiful blond girl, "How do I look?"
He could see her resisting the urge to roll her eyes, "Um, different?"
"Good different or bad different?" He quizzed, desperate for her opinion.
"Just different…" She shrugged.
Alright, he'd settle for that for now, but he had to ask, "Am I… ginger?"
"No," she said, waving her hand by the top of her head, "You're just sort of brown."
"Aw!" He complained, "I wanted to be ginger! I've never been ginger!"
… But he'd loved being that man almost as much as he'd loved her… he was her doctor. He was rude and funny and sexy and could rattle on for hours. Now they were both gone and he didn't know who he was now, all he knew was he missed her. He missed her so much that both of his hearts hurt like they'd been ripped into a thousand pieces and set on fire. They'd felt like that since he'd left her on that beach. The adventurers and other companions had dulled the pain for a while, but it always came back to that day, that beach, him leaving. The first time was torture, the second time had killed him. He hoped… really hoped, that the other him was making her happy.
The Doctor jerked awake as the Tardis was filled by a loud buzzing noise. He was about to snap at Rory and Amy for the noise when he remembered they were still off on their honeymoon. He glanced around the ship, trying to find the source only to see a small rectangular object lighting up and vibrating on the metal grate floor of the consol room underneath the Tardis controls. He bent down to pick it up to find that it was a cell phone, a dusty cell phone that had probably been laying under the consol for months, for so long that he had no clue who it belonged to. Why would someone call it now? The phone continued buzzing as he picked it up and glanced at the call display. His hearts skipped a beat, there was a picture of him, the old him, and Rose with their arms around each other. They looked so happy, he remember taking that picture, they'd been heading back to see her mother, Jackie the fruitcake, Rose had picked up a pile of things for her at an alien flea market. She must have dropped her "super phone" in all the excitement. That had been the day that they'd met the "ghosts" the day he'd lost her… forever. He glanced at the caller ID, it said Torchwood in large, bold, rainbow letters. Slowly, hesitating, he pressed the talk button and brought the phone up to his ear. His voice failed him for a moment, but he finally managed to croak into the phone in his scratchy new voice, "Hello?"
"Hello?" Jack's voice rang out on the other end of the line, "Who is this?"
"Jack, it's the Doctor," His voice shook, "I've changed again, but it's me."
"Oh, good, Doctor," Jack sighed, "I need you to come to the Hub, we have a small problem that I believe you can help with… or contribute to."
"When?" He leaned back against the consol, realizing that he was floating in the vortex.
Jack paused, "January 7th, 2013."
"I'll be right there." The doctor told him, snapping the phone shut, he rose with a new sense of purpose. He smiled sadly to himself, glancing down at his feet as he punched in the destination, "Dust off your converse… it's time to save the universe."
He threw the final leaver and sent his beloved ship hurdling through time towards Cardiff, 2013. He landed the ship and scrambled for his tweed coat, wondering what adventures lay outside the door. The Tardis doors swung open into the Torchwood hub, which the Doctor found to be strangely empty. He could hear faint voices coming from the back room, but there was something in the main part of the hub that held him there. Despite the room being seemingly empty, he could hear heartbeats, four of them, other than his own, two strong and steady and two soft and fluttery, like that of a dreaming child. Then he noticed the sofa, sitting in the corner, by a TV and small coffee table piled with pizza boxes, on the sofa, covered by a blanket, he could see the form of a woman, her head hidden behind a pillow, breathing softly as if asleep. Slowly he approached her, trying to catch a glimpse of her face through the pillow and long mane of curled blond hair. He could see that the woman was wearing a dark blue cocktail dress, like she'd been to a party, and he could see black heels on her feet as they stuck out from under the blanket. Quietly he knelt next to her and brushed her hair back from her pretty face… and then he knew why Jack had called him there, because of that woman, lying on the couch, pretty and perfect. He knew her, her face, her smile, her laugh; he'd spent months, no, years memorizing every line on her face wishing that they'd be together forever, that it was possible. He stroked her pale, icy cold cheek with his thumb as he tucked the blanket around her shoulders and whispered her name softly, "Rose."
"She came through the rift an hour before I called you." Jack said from behind, startling him, "Nice face by the way."
"Thanks," The Doctor nodded, "Why is she here?"
"It's not just her," Jack shook his head, "She came through with a bunch of other people, including her parents, she's one of the two who ended up passed out."
"Who's the other one?" He asked, slightly surprised, "Show me."
"Over here," The girl in question was young; maybe three years of age, with lots of curly, dark, just-sort-of-brown hair and a sweet, round, pleasant face. Jack shook his head, "Jackie say's she's Rose's and yours… well, the other you, that is."
"Is he here, too?" The Doctor's head snapped up.
"No," Jack shrugged, "Jackie says he died, when River was a new born, heart failure she said."
"What did you just call her?" He asked, staring at the child who looked way to familiar for her own good.
"Jackie?" Jack asked.
The Doctor rolled his eyes, "No, the kid."
"Oh, River," Jack nodded, "Jackie told me her name was River Song Tyler. Pretty name, Rosie always did have good taste in things like that."
The Doctor didn't reply, he just stared at his daughter and whispered, "River Song."
"I know that look," Jack shook his head, "That's a look that's the same on everyone. What's the problem?"
"No problem," The Doctor said quickly, "It's just… I know her. River. She's all grown up, but I know her."
"The question is, why are they all knocked out," A familiar voice rang out as Jackie Tyler came down the steps, "But the rest of us are fine."
"The rest of you?" The Doctor frowned, "How many came through?"
"Seventeen." Jackie told him, "That includes Rose, River and the other kids."
"Other kids?" He inquired.
"We had to bring through as many people as we could find," Jackie explained, "What, on account of the aliens killing everyone. Torchwood 1 has a bit of an after-school/full-time daycare for the kids of the people who worked there. All three of my kids go there. But anyways, we just grabbed as many people as we could and ran for the dimension cannon. Most everyone was dead already, but we found a handful."
"Three kids?" The Doctor wrinkled up his noise.
Jackie paused for a long moment and frowned, "Sorry, who are you?"
"Oh, of course, you don't recognize me!" The Doctor realized, "It's me, Jackie, The Doctor!"
"Doctor?" Jackie was a little shocked, "You changed again!"
"I had too." He told her, "Got some nasty radiation poisoning."
"Well you would, wouldn't you?" She sneered.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The Doctor glared at her.
"Mum?" The voice was weak and soft. They all turned towards the couch where Rose was starting to sit up with her head in one hand, the other arm leaning on the pillow, keeping her up.
"Rose!" Jackie rushed to her side. It took everything the Doctor had not to fallow the blond woman to the girl's side. Instead he stayed with River, taking the moment to crouch down beside her and examine her. She seemed like a perfectly normal kid, there was no reason for her to be unconscious, but then her father had died of heart problems. The River he knew seemed to have no problems with faintness, not that he knew her that well yet, but then, the River he knew wasn't doing any inter dimensional travel.
"I'm fine, Mum." Rose told the fussy older blond.
"You are not fine!" Jackie snapped, "You look like you're going to be sick."
"I'm okay, my head just hurts," She raised her head and froze, "That's the Tardis!"
"Yes it is, Sweetheart," Jackie soothed her daughter, holding her down by her arm as she tried to get to her feet, "Now I know you're excited…"
"Oh!" The Doctor tensed up as Rose went down on her knees, her heels lacking any support for her already wobbly legs. Jack rushed to her side as she leaned forward, leaning on the pizza box cover coffee table, "He's here though? He's here. Where's River?"
"She's over here." The Doctor nodded to her.
"Thank god." Rose sighed, then she took a second look at the Doctor's wardrobe, "Nice bow-tie."
"Thanks, Rosie," He grinned, "Bow-ties are cool."
"Yeah," She smiled, then she stopped and looked at the Tardis, then back him and at the Tardis one more time, "Doctor?"
"Hello!" He beamed
She stared at him for a moment, "You've changed again."
"Hm, yes," He nodded, "Like I told your mum, radiation poisoning, nasty way to go."
She was silent for a moment before she pulled off her heels, pulled herself to her feet and stumbled towards him. Standing, he caught her as she flung herself into his arms. He'd been worried that she would be freaked out by the change the way she'd been last time, but his concerns were brushed aside as she held him. Resting her head on his shoulder the way she always used to, she whispered in his ear, "Doctor, if you ever leave me again, I'll kill you."
"Okay," He whispered back, "That seems fair."
Then she tensed, "River, what's wrong with River?"
"She's fine," He told her, leaning down and smoothing the hair off her forehead, "She's just passed out, though mind you, I don't know why."
"Well, I passed out, too," Rose pointed out, "What about everyone else."
"They're fine," Jack chose this moment to cut in, "It was just the two of you."
"Has River ever had any problems with her heart?" The Doctor asked.
"No," Jackie offered, "One's always been smaller, but they both work just fine."
"Both?" The Doctor frowned, "But she's human."
"Mostly," Rose agreed, "But her father was half and half."
"That shouldn't have been enough to give her a second heart." The Doctor's frown deepened, "Rose, how have you been feeling recently?"
"Fine," She shook her head, "I've been fine."
"That's not true," Jackie scolded, "She's been getting rather sick recently. Headaches and chest pains and she haven't been sleeping so well."
"That hasn't happened for three months," Rose complained, "And the lack of sleep's not really a problem, I hardly ever feel that tired anymore."
The Doctor pulled his stethoscope out of his coat, "Rose, could I…?"
"Sure," she shrugged, sitting down on the edge of the stairs.
Rubbing the end on his palm for a moment to warm it up, he pressed it against the part of her chest exposed by the dress. At first all he heard was one steady beat, but as he listened more closely he heard something else. Moving the stethoscope to the other side of her chest he heard the exact same sound. Sighing, he sat back on his heels and stuffed the stethoscope back into his cope. Staring her strait in the eye, his face demanded no less then absolute honesty, "Rosie… how long have you had two hearts?"
Don Don Don! Tada! Chapter 1, I was really excited about this story getting started and I hope you've all liked it. If you did like it, please let me know by reviewing. I hope to have more up soon, I seem to be on a roll right now but Murphy's Law says it wont last long. Cross your fingers ~ Tygger
PS. If there are any spelling mistakes, please tell me, I was extremely fed up with my spell checker when I wrote this because it randomly decided it didn't like the letters T and H when they were put together, weather they were in the middle of a word or not.
PPS. This is officially the longest Author's Note I've ever written!