Disclaimer: I don't own them. If I did, 9 would never wear a shirt.
A/N- This is about five years old, and was posted over on A Teaspoon and An Open Mind.
AU: Alt!Nine/Alt!Rose. Spoilers for Series One, with a couple throwaway references to Series 2.
Authors note: This was inspired by two stories:
Most likely kill you in the morning, by hotelmontana
And
Wolf Moon by ThroughanAmberFocus
Both are wonderful stories, and I hope I haven't infringed on them.
Two nods to my best mate Anne here. She'll get them, if no one else does.
And extra cookies to those that catch the Whedon references.
Chapter 1
I want you safe.
My Doctor.
But that's what I see, all the time. Doesn't it drive you mad?
I think you need a Doctor.
Everything goes blinding white for an eternity.
Then it all goes black.
Rose wakes up on the grated floor of the TARDIS. With a slight groan, she pushes herself into a seated position, blowing hair out of her eyes. Looking around expectantly, she realizes that she's alone.
"Doctor?"
Standing, she makes her way over to the console. They're in the vortex, she can see that on the com. So he has to be around somewhere.
But why did he leave me on the floor? He's SO gonna get it when I find him.
She looks in the kitchen. Checks the library. Then the study. It takes hours, but she finally has to accept the conclusion she's come to.
She's alone.
The Doctor wakes up on Satellite 5. He quickly decides that sitting up was a bad idea, what with the Time Lord sized headache he's got. Shaking his head, he searches for Rose. Not seeing her, he stands and starts to make his way back to the TARDIS. He's got a bad feeling in his gut, and he wants to find his companion and leave as soon as possible.
He expects to see her on the jump seat, a bit hurt that she'd leave him alone unconscious on the Gamestation. She may not have been able to lift him, but she could have kept him company.
She's not on the jump seat. After a quick scan, he finds she's not aboard at all.
With his hearts pounding, he makes his way back to the control room on the satellite. He's about to head to the elevator when he realizes why everything feels wrong. There's no smell of ozone, no piles of ash. There's no set up for a delta wave. The Gamestation is abandoned, yes, but it looks as if it's been that way for years.
"This can't be good."
Chapter 2
After a long cry, some screaming, and then a lengthy shower, Rose makes her way to the library. There's only one person she can think of that can fix this, and he left her aboard his timeship alone. She can't decide if she wants to hug him or not before she brains him.
"Start with the basics, Rose. You're on the TARDIS, in the vortex, and you can't fly her. There's got to be something in here that'll help. And now you're talking to yourself, that's not good. Best figure out something fast, sooner the better."
Walking around to a long table, she's surprised to see a large stack of books. Studying the covers one at a time, she laughs half heartedly.
"I know you're just trying to help, but I can't read these. You don't translate this language, yeah? Not doing much good having 'em if I can't read what they say."
Flipping open the first page, she snorts quietly at the swirling text. Her slight humor drops, however, when the writing starts to look like something she almost, maybe, impossibly knows. She stops breathing when she realizes that it's turned into something she CAN read.
It's not until 5 minutes later that she realizes that she forgot to start again.
"Oh, bollocks."
It doesn't take long for someone with a brain as big as his to figure out what must have happened. Somehow, instead of forcing regeneration, the power of the vortex shifted him into an alternate reality. What he doesn't understand is why his ship is still working. Or why it happened in the first place.
Or how he's going to get back.
Chapter 3
It takes six months for Rose to read everything in the library. Well, at least the important books- the ones on TARDIS operation, medicine, culture, and law. She absolutely doesn't spend any of the precious time reading romance novels from across the universe, and therefore knows nothing about fictional threesomes in the Athros quadrant. Really.
After finishing the medical texts, she starts experimenting in the infirmary. While she's figured out the reparatory bypass system, double heartbeat, and lack of need for sleep, she still doesn't know much else about her changed biology. Two weeks of testing concludes what she had expected in the first place.
Rose Tyler. Last of the Time Ladies.
"Double bugger on a stick."
He tells himself he's not hiding in the vortex. That he's trying to make sure his ship won't shut down as soon as he hits planetside. That there are repairs that need doing after the assault on the Dalek fleet.
He knows he's lying.
He's afraid of what he's going to find on earth. Because he doesn't know what's worse- a London without Rose, or one with a Rose that never met him.
He thinks either one might break him.
Chapter 4
It's been eight months since the Gamestation, since the Daleks, since Bad Wolf, and she thinks she's finally ready. First things first, though. A lateral move is easier for a first attempt, and she DOES want to check the Gamestation one more time.
Arriving 5 minutes after she left with only a small miscalculation has her setting the ship down a bit harder than expected. Once she accepts that the bruise on her backside is going to be the size of a small planet, she makes the trip to the doors. With a deep breath, she flings them open. At first, it seems that nothing has changed. Then she realizes her mistake.
One thing most certainly has changed.
There wasn't anyone standing in the doorway when she defeated the Daleks. There was now. With big blue eyes, larger than life.
Rose lets herself grin, relief almost barreling through her. "Look what the cat dragged in. Need a lift, Captain?"
He shakes his head as he walks away from the mansion.
"Pete Tyler lives, and Rose is a dog. A small. Yappy. Dog. I'm never going to let her live this one down."
He carefully doesn't think about how he may never get to tell her.
Chapter 5
It really was better with two.
Not the same without the Doctor, mind, but at least she had a copilot. Together, they manage to get back to London, her time. Eight months after she left has it at Christmas Eve. Spending Christmas with her mum and Mickey and Jack before going back to the TARDIS, same old life.
She tries not to think of other Christmas's. In fancy dress. In Cardiff.
She tries to think of how to tell her mum she's not human now.
She doesn't have to. She never thought she'd be so happy for an alien invasion.
"You stand as this worlds champion?"
"You bet I do."
"Who are you?"
"I'm the Doctor. And I was having chips. You don't want to get between this girl and her chips."
Ricky isn't as big an idiot, much to his disappointment. He's actually a bit clever. After they've dealt with the cybermen, he invites him on board. He tries to tell himself it's not out of desperation for a bit of the old life.
He hates that voice that tells him he's lying. Because he knows it's right.
Chapter 6
Rose wants to throw a tantrum. A big, kicking the ground and howling kind of tantrum. Because she knew this, damn it. She knew the Articles, the Accords, the Proclamations. She knew every agreement ever made in space and time. She did the studying, the research. Just for occasions like this. But no. The Sycorax just want to play dirty and not listen.
It takes her big Time Lord brain, Jack's ability to hotwire almost anything, a ball of string and the Prime Ministers watch to get the ship to take itself out of the solar system and threaten to blow up if it comes within a galaxy of earth. Rose manages to make sure the command will transfer to all the other ships in their fleet it comes into contact with.
But she really wanted it to end peacefully with the Accords of Montesvert.
Then she thinks on the Shadow Proclamation and remembers swinging across a pit of Nestene goo, and her anger and frustration turn to a wry grin.
"Someone's got to be the Doctor. Guess that makes you the damsel in distress, Jack."
It's the quiet time in between running that he wonders. He fills his days with adventure and cleverness, because when the quiet comes, he can't help but speculate.
Did she live?
Did she get off the Gamestation?
How would she get home without a TARDIS?
He had done the one thing he tried not to. He had left her. He hadn't kept her safe.
The not knowing ate at him.
Chapter 7
It takes three years of phone box travel and one special trip to prove her right.
They're on a moon in the Minerva cluster in the 65th century to join in the yearly festival of light. Jack says the food's amazing, and attending is supposed to bring luck. Rose figures they can use all the luck they can get. Three years and not a word of the Doctor except in whispers of years long gone. None of a manic grin and big ears.
With the grace of a Time Lady (Last of the Time Lords, whispers her mind), she lands them a mile from the center of town. Flying comes now with ease, and a sense of peace.
Exiting the ship, they come upon a small group of children, giggling excitedly. Rose and Jack smile back at the exclamations, notice a few of the village women approaching.
A tall woman with lovely brown skin and black quills for hair takes Roses hand. "Welcome back, Doctor, you have most assuredly been missed."
Rose blinks in surprise. "How did you know who I was?"
"We've seen you through too many changes to not recognize you, Doctor. Didn't know you could become a woman, though."
Rose and Jack exchange glances. She realizes that it was a mistake as soon as he starts to snicker. Luckily, the villagers seem happy to watch the two travelers clutch at each other as they cry with laughter.
Finally, Rose sobers enough to nod back at the group.
"Fantastic!"
It's been two months and he's no closer to getting back to his universe. Doesn't even have an inkling. Being here in the first place should be impossible, and though there's little he's seen that actually WAS impossible, he can think of plenty that would be better than this.
He takes on companions every once and a while. Never for more than a couple of trips. They're all slow and clumsy compared to his last two. That thought makes him stop for a minute.
No matter what, at least Rose won't be alone. She'll have the captain to help her.
He tells himself that he's happy for her. And that the feeling in his hearts isn't jealousy.
Chapter 8
It's ten years before they realize that Jack's not aging. A battery of tests proves nothing conclusively. They take it as a gift, a small bit of luck for a change, and move on.
Rose breaks down and builds her own sonic screwdriver. It's got even more settings, and the soft buzzing noise soothes her almost as much as the hum of her ship.
Jack spends most of the time he's not running for his life with the Doctor trying to shag his way across the universe. Rose rolls her eyes, but grins and lets him at it.
Jack, her mum, and Mickey are the only people now that call her Rose. She's taken the mantle of the Doctor proudly, but would be the first to admit she wants to give it back. Not because it chafes. Because it would mean that she's found him, and that everything is all right again. She wonders when the Doctor became her life, her existence.
She realizes that it was at 'run'.
Jack starts to inventory all the piles of machinery and parts floating around the ship.
Rose starts to think about parallel universes.
He's come to a decision.
As decisions go, it's not all that important to the grand scheme. Not earth shattering or anything. Most assuredly not going to cause the heat death of the universe.
He doesn't like cats.
He nods decisively to himself. They're all… feline. And they shed. They claw up the furniture, and most of them would rather climb things than have a good cuddle.
He looks down at the sleeping kitten on his lap. He really has no idea how he gets himself into these things. He'd been minding his own business when he heard the pathetic little thing crying. It was alone and terrified, and sat shivering on a sidewalk. When he crouched down next to it, it licked its nose and meowed at him and he thought that one treacherous thought.
It's all pink and yellow.
So now he has a cat. On the TARDIS. He can almost hear Romana laughing at him in his head.
He's also firmly decided that once he gets back to his proper universe, the first thing he's going to do is snog Rose senseless. Seems the thing to do.
Chapter 9
It takes another 50 years to get the circuits right. Last thing they needed was to jump universes and blow both up.
In that time they also find that Jack can't die. When he wakes up from what should have been his death, Rose almost hugs him to his next death before slapping him about the head and shoulders repeatedly for scaring her. He offers to show her just how alive he really is. As always, she declines with a crack about having to boil him for 45 minutes first.
They take one more trip to London before they start the journey. There's no assurance that what they propose is going to work, and they have no idea which universe the Doctor might be in. Rose spends hours agonizing over the fact that she may never see her mum again. But in the end, the decision is simple. She's his, and always has been. He'll always be her choice.
That day they begin the next adventure. They hope that the TARDIS will be able to locate his signature and make the jump to the correct world. But both admit that it could take a very long time.
Good thing they both have loads of it.
One morning he wakes up in the jumpseat, and something's different. He can sense it, a storm approaching.
The Cat jumps up to greet him, long and rangy at age six months. Still doesn't have a name, though. The Doctor kind of hopes to let Rose name it.
"Something's coming, Cat. What do you think it is?"
The Cat knocks his head against the Doctors nose in greeting. The Doctor sighs, picks him up, and starts towards the kitchen.
"Yeah, I don't know either."
Chapter 10
They're running again. As per usual.
The TARDIS assures them that the object of their hunt is in this reality. But how he keeps moving around, disappearing right before they get there, she's silent on. They figure he must have found a time ship somehow. Maybe something like the Chula ship that Jack had.
Rose digs into her coat pocket, pulls out a percussion grenade to toss behind them. She refuses to explain to Jack how she got the pockets bigger on the inside. Some Time Lord science should remain a secret. Besides, she's afraid to think what HE'D carry in his pockets.
Legging it back to the TARDIS, they make it inside just as the bomb goes off. Stomping over to the console, Rose glares at Jack.
"Just couldn't keep yourself to yourself, could 'ya?"
"Now, it was all just a misunderstanding! It's not like that on OUR version of Orion 3."
"You grabbed the crowned empresses bum. Twice."
"Like I said, misunderstanding. Back home, the empress and I are quite close. There was this one time…"
He shuts up on the realization that Rose has stuck her fingers in her ears and is chanting "I'm not listening" in a sing song voice. He moves to the jumpseat, crosses his arms, and starts a good sulk.
He's confused and chained up and gagged, and that's not a good combination. Especially when they keep refusing to listen to what he has to say. Can't get himself out of this if he can't talk.
"Send out the recording again. We want the Doctor here, NOW, or all the hostages are going to be executed. We know the Doctor, that'll be bait enough. And then we get our revenge."
See, that's the problem right here. He can't let them know that he IS the Doctor with a gag in his mouth. Well, he's tried, but they don't seem to understand his complex series of head moves. To be honest, they more just don't care.
Add to that the fact that he hasn't even MET these aliens before, and he's not sure what they're avenging. It's all a bit irritating.
"Oi, looks like someone wants to talk to us. Well, ME, but what kind of team would we be if I left you alone to cause trouble?"
Chapter 11
One black marble throneroom. Check. One large group of bipedal, speckled, armed guards. Check. One increasingly cranky Doctor.
Check.
As his clever mind spun circles, figuring out possibilities and running through equations, a large explosion came from somewhere outside. The guards all stood to attention, weapons drawn.
This was more like it, he thought. Diversion. Something he could use to….
The ornate door to the entrance was blown straight off its moorings. As the debris settled, two figures strode through. The leader stopped a few feet in, surveying the guards before cocking out a hip and smiling.
"I'm the Doctor. Heard you lot were askin' 'bout me."
The Doctors jaw dropped even more around his gag. He had time for only one thought before hell broke loose.
This is what going mad feels like.
Taking in the blond hair, the dark jeans, pink vest, and black leather coat, the Ruler began cackling. His guards shifted around a bit, uncertainly.
"You were a fool to answer our call, Doctor. Now it will mean your doom!"
The Doctor rolled her eyes. "Oh my God. Could you maybe twirl a moustache or somethin' for me? Because that just wasn't cliché enough, what you think, Jack?"
Her companion sauntered up next to her. "I don't know, think there'll be sharks with lasers on their heads or something?"
"That was Austin Powers, not Bond, Jack. Thought we were going all Bond villain this time."
"Sorry, forgot the plan." He cantered over to the first guard. "Hi there, I'm Captain Jack Harkness, and you are…?"
"Jack, there's a time and a place."
The ruler let out a bellow of rage. "Guards, seize them! At last, we shall have our revenge!"
Sighing, the Doctor shifted a bit. "Yeah, see, problem is, we ain't done anything you need to avenge, yeah? You've just brainwashed this lot into thinking it was us that let loose that biovirus on your homeworld. 'Cept, fact is, you were the one went and let it out of containment. So really, you're the one's gonna be all hacked to bits by your own guards in a few minutes. Might as well have some dignity 'fore you go, and stop kidnapping folk."
The guards glanced at each other, confused. Then they looked up at their high and mighty leader. With mouth agape and eyes wide, he began stammering. "No, she's lying, it wasn't me!"
As the guards turned and advanced, he turned imploring eyes on the Doctor. "You have to help me! I did it for the best! It wasn't my fault!"
The Doctor turned cold eyes on him. "No second chances. I'm that sort of a woman. You brought this on your own, and it's not up to me to overrule your planet's laws. Well, actually, guess it is. But I ain't going to. You killed your entire world on a whim, and I got to stand behind your peoples judgement. You want a higher authority, there ain't one. It ends here."
She turned her eyes resolutely to the floor as his wails grew, and finally ceased altogether. Only then did she turn to the guards.
"It's finished. Leave this world in peace. We'll see to getting your victims back home. But get out o' here before you make me angry. You wouldn't like it when I get angry, I'll tell you that right now. Now, shift."
The guards tripped over themselves getting out the rubble that used to be doors. Jack went straight to Rose and hugged her close. She closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
"You went Hulk there for a minute. You know that, right?"
Rose poked him in the belly, prompting a snicker of laughter and a pout.
"Shut it, you. Let's get these people back home."
They started releasing people, working from opposite ends. It wasn't until they almost met in the middle that Jack heard her gasp. Looking at her sharply, he saw her hand pressed to her mouth and tears brimming in her eyes. That one word, though. The one word that made it out of her mouth. The one she used almost every day, but not in that tone. That's what made him drop the ropes he was untying and sit down harshly.
"Doctor?"
Chapter 12
Wide brown eyes met steel blue ones. With infinite gentleness, Rose reached out the hand not covering her mouth and released the gag. Coughing a bit and spitting out cotton fibers, the Doctor gazed up at her. Both Doctors opened and closed their mouths a few times, not knowing what to say. Finally, it was up to Jack to break the silence.
"Guess this is the place."
Rose turned her head to stare at Jack. Then, she felt the slight tugging at the corner of her mouth. Staring Jack in the eyes, she tried to repress the snigger. As always, she failed. Snorting with laughter, the two met each other in a bone-crushing hug, Jack picking her up to spin her around a few times as they guffawed. Finally, Rose sputtered out a sentence.
"Only took 80 bloody years."
That sent them into more gales of laughter, a bit manic at the end. It was only the wry voice they both missed that brought them back to ground.
"Mind untying me so I can join in? Or is it more entertaining to leave me all tied up?"
"Oh, I can see the use in having you tied up, Doctor. Now if only I can convince Rose here…"
Rose was already back on her knees loosening the ropes. As soon as he was free, the Doctor tugged her straight into his lap for a hug. She pressed her face into his neck as she allowed the tears to fall. Jack gave them the moment, releasing the last few prisoners as they sought solace in each other. Finally, Rose pulled back.
After staring at each other for what seemed like years, the Doctor finally asked the important question.
"What do you mean, 80 years?"
Chapter 13
In the end, they decided to wait on explanations. The three got the prisoners freed, found out where they'd come from, and started sorting them out. It was decided that the Doctor should land his TARDIS in Rose's TARDIS's console room and they'd take everyone back in her ship. There could have been an argument about it, but Rose, broaching no argument, stated flatly that her ship was the only one with multi-dimensional shifting capabilities, and that he could bring his ship or risk it being left behind. There wasn't much choice after that.
They got the prisoners back safe and sound. One thing he hated to admit, Rose was a better driver. Or maybe it was that she let both he and Jack help her when needed. No acting like she knew exactly what she was doing when she didn't.
He refused to look at that thought in more detail.
It was only after they dropped off the last passenger that he admitted he has someone aboard that needed to wander. Who knew Rose could coo that way over a cat.
Jack picked up on the mood and made himself scarce. One thing the Time Agent knew was when he was not needed. Also, he'd found a nice collection in the TARDIS library he could peruse without aid for hours.
The Doctor stood next to his TARDIS, unsure of himself for the first time in lifetimes. Literally. Rose sat on the jumpseat, the Cat in her lap, cooing like a child. The Cat, for his part, seemed to notice no change in location and was purring himself into kitty heaven. He was almost a whole year old. That thought made the Doctor remember things recently said.
"In that room, you said it had taken you 80 years. What did you mean?"
Rose nuzzled her face into the Cat's neck for a minute, then returned to petting him, sitting up more. "We've been looking for you for 80 some odd years. Since the Gamestation, really. Sixty years on earth, then twenty in this universe. Took me almost a year to do the reading I needed to fly my TARDIS. Then a lot longer before Jack and I were ready to try searching alternates."
"That's not possible."
"One thing I've learned in my years of being the Doctor. Impossible is a word I really don't like."
The statement too closely mirrored what he'd been thinking not too long ago. He struggled with it.
"But you're human. Swift, fleeting. You can't have traveled that long."
"You really aren't as clever as you make yourself out to be." With that she rose, meandering towards him.
"Oi," was all he managed to get out before she was before him.
She took both his hands in hers. They both shuddered at the contact, and he was reminded of his promise to himself to snog her senseless once he made it back home. Wasn't it home, though, in the TARDIS, hers or his, with her?
She brought his hands up slowly, laying a kiss on each, before placing them on either side of her chest, just above the neckline of her shirt. He creased his brow in confusion before he caught on.
Two hearts. One on either side. Just like his.
She was looking straight ahead, unfocused. "I know what it's like, now. Last of the Time Lords. Alone. Wanting nothing but someone that you love, that understands. I've had Jack, which helped, but he doesn't get it. He can't. What we were, what we are."
She looks up into his eyes, finally. "I don't know why this happened, this disjunction. But it means we're the same, together. I have to believe that there was a reason for it. The TARDIS, Bad Wolf, us… Something did this. And now we have-"
He cuts her off with a kiss. Because what else can he do?
When they break, it's because of the sense of wonder, not lack of air. They stare at each other, measuring. Their gaze is stopped only by the yowling at their heals.
"You have a cat," she's smirking.
"Was your fault," he's abashed.
"What's his name?"
"Doesn't have one. Thought you should name him.":
"I'm partial to Hope. It's what's got me by."
"Hope's a girls name."
"Oh, now. I think hope is universal."
That's the last of the speaking that happened that night. The rest is for another day.