DISCLAIMER: These characters, save for Colin do not belong to me. They belong to the BBC and thier respecitve creators. I'm merely borrowing them for a bit and I am getting no financial gain from this story.
DOUBLE BUBBLE, DOCTOR TROUBLE
"Would somebody please tell me what is going on?" the Doctor asked staring at his companions, Rory and Amy. They were standing in front of him, and blocking his view of the two people who stood behind. A dark-haired girl that he had met via web-came years before, and River Song, the woman with the mysterious past who knew his name. "Well?" the Doctor asked again. "Tell me,"
The dark-haired woman stepped forward.
"Gwen don't," River hissed.
"We've been recruited," Gwen answered, ignoring River completely.
"Recruited?" asked the Doctor. "Recruited by who?"
Gwen shook her head. "We can't tell you."
"Not by Jack,"
"Jack?" asked Rory.
"Long story," the Doctor answered as he turned back to Gwen. "You're one of Jack's girls."
"I am," Gwen agreed. "Or rather I was until the 456 came back... we could have used you then."
The Doctor looked away guiltily. "I am sorry for that. I don't know why I wasn't contacted."
"It doesn't matter now," Gwen continued. "What matters is what we have to face."
"But that's just what I don't understand," the Doctor insisted. One minute he had been sneaking into Area 51, the United States most unsecret secret facility when all of a sudden River and Gwen showed up and got them out of harms way. "What are we facing?"
"Something that we've faced before," River answered. "And that's all you're going to get."
"River, you're going to have to tell me."
"I don't have to tell you anything," she argued. "Spoilers."
"Damn your spoilers River, something is wrong here and I want to know what it is."
"You're going to have to trust us this time," River stated.
"This time?" asked the Doctor looked between River and Gwen. The one thing that he really did hate about travelling through time is the fact that he met people out of order. River was by far the most complicated case of wibbily-wobbly, timey-whimey mess that he had ever come across. And as he looked at Gwen he realized that there was something different about her too. Somehow, since he had last sort of met her, Gwen had gone travelling in time and she was scarred by the experience. "You're telling me that all this has happened before and the last time I didn't trust you?"
River sighed. "Spoilers."
"No," the Doctor argued. "I don't care about spoilers."
"You should," River assured. "Because the spoilers are what ruined you the last time."
"Doctor," Amy began quietly as she stepped towards her friend. "You're going to have to let yourself get captured."
"Captured? Me?"
Amy nodded. "Now listen. This is how it's going to happen..." Amy began to explain the whole plan to the Doctor while River and Gwen silently exited the TARDIS. Unbeknownst to those inside, they had a different plan, one that work in tandem with the other to assure the topmost success. When Amy was finished explaining the plan to the Doctor, she stepped forward one more step towards him. "You're going to have to do this," she began. "And you can't ask why."
The Doctor looked at Amy. There was something in her eyes that he couldn't quite read and he realized that she knew something that he didn't. That was a rare case for the Doctor and while he wanted to know what Amy knew, he also knew that if River and time-travelling Gwen Cooper were involved then things had to go in a very specific direction for success to happen.
"My life in your hands," he stated quietly. "Amelia Pond."
Amy nodded. "That's right," she agreed though she still wasn't used to being called by that name. It was like there were two different parts to her whole being. There was Amelia, the little girl who met the Doctor when she was seven and then grew up with her parents. There was also Amy, the scarred girl who grew up in a big old house alone. Two different time-lines, two sets of memories. Sometimes it drove her mad. "Now look into my eyes and tell me that you're going to do as your told."
The Doctor smiled. "You see these eyes," he began pointing to his own features. "These are old eyes and there's one thing that I can tell you, monsters are real."
"I know," Amy stated. "I've seen them with you."
"You've seen some without me be the looks of things," the Doctor hedged.
Amy shuddered. "You have no idea. And hopefully you won't if you just do as your told."
"Alright Amelia Pond," the Doctor assured. "I will do as I'm told."
..
River and Gwen travelled back through time. They landed in the fifteen-hundreds. On a spot that would one day become very important to the entire world. It in the middle of nowhere, with a small forest out back. They were met by a farmhand who went by the name of Colin and he was the same lad who had met the two girls once before.
"Alright there Colin?" Gwen asked as they walked forward.
"The friend you brought me is resting now," he replied. "Though I don't know who he is."
"He's the Doctor," River answered.
"Yes but Doctor who?" Colin asked. "I don't understand."
"And you're not meant to," Gwen assured. "You just need to do your part."
"I do what you ask and this land will belong to me?"
River nodded. "You'll rise one step in the world."
Colin smiled. "And what shall I call this place?"
"You're a smart lad Colin," River stated. "I'm sure that you'll figure something out."
..
The time cops had come, just at the same time that the Doctor, Rory and Amy had shown up. The world was falling apart and the woods were burning. River knew exactly what she had to do but she didn't know if she could do it. The two Doctors were facing off against one another. One was the real deal, the Time Lord who had lived over nine-hundred years and saved the world at least twice that amount. The other was a clone, created at Area 51 by some brilliant yet misguided scientist. River knew that she had to shoot one of them, but she didn't know which to shoot.
Double, bubble...Doctor trouble, she thought to herself as she kept them both in the line of her gun.
"Shoot him River," one of the Doctors ordered. "Come on."
"I don't know which him to shoot," she called back. "Who's real and who isn't?"
"I am," they both stated at the same time.
"This is ridiculous," Gwen moaned. "And we don't have time for it."
"No," Amy agreed. "But I don't want to risk killing the wrong Doctor."
"You can't kill the wrong Doctor," one of the Doctors called out. "We're the same being."
"You're not," River countered. "If he was the same as the human - timelord hybrid that you had created then I'd agree with you, but one of you was created by a human scientist hundreds of years from now. One of you is a Time-Lord the other is not."
"I'm the Doctor," they both stated at the same time.
"River," Amy ordered as she walked up to her friend, the only one in the group who had a gun. "Do something."
"If I hit the wrong one," River began.
"I'll regenerate," one of the Doctors called out.
"No you won't," the other argued. "If you're not really a time lord then you'll die."
"And if you're hit you'll die, because you're the imposter."
The other Doctor shook his head. "I'll regenerate," he paused and turned to River. "Come on sweetie," he stated in a quiet voice as he held the other Doctor in a vicious lock. "Shoot us both. See which one survives."
"That's the real one," Amy whispered. "The Doctor would be willing to take the chance,"
River nodded and shot her gun at both men and both fell to the ground.
"River!" Amy cried out in horror. The time cops placed some cuffs on her for killing the Doctor.
"It's alright," River assured. "He'll be alright."
"River," Rory whispered as he walked over to her. "Why did you do it?"
River smiled. "Don't ask questions Rory dear, and tell the Doctor that I'll see him around."
Rory watched as River was taken away by the time cops.
"Look," Gwen called out, pointing towards Amy. She was crying over the cold, dead body of the Doctor, when the other Doctor suddenly sat up.
"Oy, I've got a headache."
"Doctor?" Amy asked as she whirled around. "You're alive? But I thought,"
"River shot us both," the Doctor stated aloud. "Killed the best man she ever knew..."
"She said that once before didn't she?" asked Amy.
The Doctor nodded. "I didn't know what she meant then, but I do now."
"How did she know that she wouldn't kill you both?"
The Doctor smiled. "The gun she had was meant to kill clones only. No matter what you do, Time-Lord DNA is funny and will react a a certain electromagnetic bullet. River knew that and took her chances. The other Doctor is dead, and I—"
"—what about you?" asked Amy eagerly as she and the Doctor got to their feet.
"I'll just have indigestion for a week or so," the Doctor assured.
"Excuse me," Gwen interrupted. "I'm glad that you're alright Doctor but could we get back to the present day? I want to make sure that Rhys and Anwen are alright."
The Doctor nodded and snapped his fingers. The TARDIS materialized out of nowhere and opened it's doors. "Alright," he called out. "Next stop the future."
"Oi!" called out a voice as the Doctor was about to get into his TARDIS, he stopped and saw Colin, who had been hiding throughout the battle come running towards him. "Where are you going."
"Home," the Doctor stated as he looked around. "Suppose this place is all yours."
Colin nodded. "Suppose it is."
"What are you going to call it?"
Colin shrugged. "I don't know. I was going to call it Forest Hill before the woods were torched..." Colin paused and the Doctor did a double take at the fifteen-hundreds man. "That has a ring to it, don't you think?"
"Torchwood?" asked the Doctor, a part of him laughing at how things worked out. "I like it."
With that said, the Doctor entered the TARDIS and the little blue box disappeared ready to explore all of time and space.
END
Author's Note: This little story sprung out of me watching the trailer for new-who series six about a half dozen times. With a start I realized that the voice saying "We've been recuited" sounded like Gwen Cooper from Torchwood and I realized that there was a great potential for a crossover and a backdoor pilot for the fourth season of Torchwood. I know that not a lot is explained here, but because my imagination rather failed me at this point, I figured that it would be better to live the big bad problem as ambiguous as possible. What isn't all that ambiguous is how River gets sent to jail... I put two and two together with the spoilers that are running around the net and voila, an explanation. :D
If you enjoyed (or even if you didn't) please review!