TITLE: I Woke Up Today, And You're On The Other Side
AUTHOR: Hudine Wolfspirit
RATING: PG for now.
PARING: Rose/Ten
DISTRIBUTION: Anyone that wants it
SPOILERS: New Doctor Who, everything up until and including season 3
SUMMERY: It was a normal day for Rose in her new job... well as normal as anything is in Torchwood, but soon, things are turned upside down all over again as she meets an alien that shouldn't exist. Can he help her get home to her Doctor? Ten/Rose, OC/Martha cliché reunion-fic with Bad Wolf, but with my own twist and the Doctor's past.
GENRE: Action/adventure, Romance.
DISCLAIMER: Without prejudice. The names of all characters contained behind the cut and Doctor Who are the property of the BBC. No infringements of these copyrights are intended, and are used here without permission. I am in no way affiliated with the BBC or the Doctor Who production team. To learn more about Doctor Who visit To Hudine at yahoo . co . uk and ICQ 59461891 or yahoo IM: Hudine
WARNINGS: Anyone so much as mentions the word "loom" and I'll probably ignore you, this doesn't follow book canon (although I did borrow the name "Lungbarrow"). It's my take on things based on other stuff said more recently that if you want to get into a debate about feel free to e-mail or IM me, I like a good Who discussion.
NOTES:
Big thanks to my wonderful beta Immi :D

Song for Ten, by Murray Gold
(Album Version)

"Well I woke up today,
And the world was a restless place
It could have been that way, for me..
And I wandered around,
And I thought of your face
That Christmas looking back, at me,
whoa whoa whoa,
I wish today was just like every other day.
Cause today has been the best day,
Everything I ever dreamed...

And I started to walk,
Pretty soon I will run,
And I'll come running back to you.
'Cause I followed my star,
And that's what you are,
I had a merry time with you.
whoa whoa whoa whoa
I wish today could be like every other day,
Cause today has been the best day..
Everything I ever dreamed.

So have a good life,
Do it for me, make me so proud,
Like you want me to be.
Wherever you are, I'm thinking of you,
Oceans apart,
I want you to know,
la la la laaaaa,
la la la laaaaa,
la la la laaaaa,
yeah,

Well I woke up today,
And your on the other side,
Our time will never come again,
But if you can still dream,
Close your eyes and you'll see,
That you can see me now and then.
whoa whoa whoa whoa,
I wish today was just like every other day,
Cause today has been the best day,
Everything I ever dreamed,
I wish today was just like every other day,
Cause today has been the best day
Everything I ever dreamed...

I wish today was just like every other day
Cause today has been the best day,
Everything I ever dreamed
I wish today was just like every other day,
Cause today has been the best day,
Everything I ever dreamed..."

Chapter 1

It was a normal day for Rose Tyler in her new life. Well, as normal as anything can be living in a parallel universe; working for a formerly evil organisation that polices extra terrestrial activity in the British Isles, and sometimes, because of prior arrangement, the Republic of Ireland. She rather likes the missions she's required for in the Belfast office, and loves to get going into the Republic of Ireland across the border from there. The Irish (or Northern Irish, or "British from Northern Ireland" as some prefer to be called) know how to have fun, and they do things differently to the rest of the world sometimes - though she won't even pretend to understand the politics or take sides on the conflict that goes on there.

But unfortunately this was one of those days when she was stuck in the London office, with just paper work on that joker from the Angoriana solar system who tried to sell exploding doorknobs to the public. He passed for human as long as he hid his extra leg, and the eye on the back of his head. He was harmless enough - just a dodgy con artist (which made her smile as she was reminded of another conman she met back in World War Two): he was given a warning, merchandise confiscated and sent on his way... as usual. This one was always showing up with something new, but she did get a rather nice sonic screwdriver off him not that long ago for a crate of HobNob biscuits. You'd be surprised how many encounters were silly little things like that (and it was surprising how well she could blag her way through intergalactic law from what she picked up on the job and from with the Doctor), but occasionally there was a real threat, someone trying to invade or take advantage with malice, and it was then that she was in her element. She was always of the first ones on the front line.

Rose walked into the building at Canary Warf, it was much the same as the one in her world; white and sterile mixed with chrome, and some light beech-wood furnishings with a few potted plants here and there (the usual green leafy ones that seem to appear in offices all over the galaxy). Going through the security scanners at the front door as she walked in, she clipped on her badge and greeted the guard at the door with a smile and a wave, who returned the gesture. She walked up to the front desk to sign in, and the girl at the desk came over to her,

"Morning Miss Tyler, I have a message for you from George Johnston from Special Division, he says to meet him in Section 6 as soon as you come in."

"Thanks Marie, this had better not be about another exploding doorknob; I've seen enough of those to last a lifetime," Rose remarked and made her way to the lifts. She waited for a free one, swiped her key card in the slot and pressed the button labelled 'Sub 6'. A light on the panel flashed green and the doors closed and moved downwards.

Special Division was the department she worked in. It dealt directly with aliens or humans with illegal alien tech, and Section 6 was the holding and interrogation cells they brought the more dangerous law-breakers to. She got out of the lift to see George waiting for her at the entrance to the holding area. He was a very tall man of almost seven feet, his frame was lanky and rather skinny, his shirts and trousers never seemed to quite reach the bottom of his arms or legs, he had huge feet that he needed to order special outsized shoes for, had a long neck and was often slumped over to fit into places. But despite this, he was oddly handsome with his light blond hair, gorgeous blue eyes, and skin dotted with freckles. He was always trying to get Rose to go out with him to begin with, but Rose just couldn't bring herself to move onto that final step even now. Even so, the two fell into an easy friendship over the six years.

Six years, thought Rose with a pang, six years since she'd told the Doctor how she felt about him on that beach in Norway. At first she had been devastated and went through the motions, but gradually she'd started to ease into this new life and now… well now, she rather enjoyed her job, her new friends, and her little brother who loved to listen to the stories she would tell him about her adventures with the Doctor. She was even able to look back fondly at their time together, and after all she could still dream, and if she closed her eyes she could see him now and then.

"This better not be Rast again, I swear. One more of his stupid things that don't work and I'll stick it up his--"

"No, he's gone. Tracked him leaving myself," George interrupted quickly.

"Good, 'cause I'm not in the mood to deal with that joker right now."

"Oh come on Rose, he only does it to get caught; 'cause he likes you."

"Not going to happen, and I wouldn't mind it so much if he did my paperwork for me too."

George had to smile, "That's what I like about you Rose: no matter how different the aliens are, you treat them so normally. Most of the people that work here just don't get that connection; it's why you are our best agent. I have to admit, if one of the ETs looked at me like Rast looks at you I'd probably go running... they still freak me out sometimes."

Rose smiled and gave a small giggle, "I'm still not going to go out with you George, but keep up the flattery as much as you like. It's nice for a girl to be reminded she's appreciated now and then." She looked at him with her tongue between her teeth, then sobering up she stated, "And how many times do I have to tell people they may not be from this planet but they are all people too. Imagine if you were on a strange planet and you were the one that was different? Besides, my best friend's an alien."

"Really? I didn't know Ricky was an alien... Would explain a thing or two though..."

Rose let out a full-on laugh as she was reminded of her first Doctor and how he'd used to wind up Mickey, "You know what I mean."

"Oh yes this mysterious Doctor that you talk of that I'm not supposed to know about," George teased, as Rose had told him about the Doctor. He was one of the few that knew her story and how she was from another Earth. She'd told him after she'd known him a good four years and even then it took wearing her down with questions, and he'd had to prove that he could be trusted, but he solemnly swore then not to tell anyone, and especially not Torchwood.

"So why am I here then?"

"Well we found this guy on our alien tech storage floor. We've never seen his species before; he looks human but isn't, he claims to be a tourist just got a little lost - as if - but get this: he was on the floor and there're no records of him entering the building! Not even on CCTV! It's as if he just appeared here. So this is right up your street this sort of thing, and I know you love a mystery."

"Transmat?"

"Checked. There's nothing wrong with the anti-transmat field over the building or on that floor."

"Probably something that we've not seen that our shields don't work for. We'll have to consult R&D on that."

"Here's the inventory of what we found on him," George commented and gestured to a rather large pile of objects in the hidden room beside the holding cell as they walked in.

Rose was in awe at the sheer number of things, "He carries all that with him?"

"Yeah and get this - it was all in his pockets!"

Rose picked up a round object that looked sort of like a crystal ball; only amber in colour and that was around the size of an average watermelon, "This was in his pocket?"

"Yeah, and God knows how he got it in there cause they weren't exactly bulging."

Rose looked through the rest of the stuff: a ball of string, a yo-yo, a Rubik's cube, a laser wrench, parcel tape, several small bags, a leather wallet, a nasal spray, coins belonging to different planets, regions of planets and what looked like a sixpence. There were also tools like the ones the Doctor used on the TARDIS when on the rare occasion the sonic screwdriver couldn't do the job, as well as other assorted junk she couldn't go into naming right now. Also, amongst the coins was one with a seal on it with a pattern that she recognised; it was all over the TARDIS, and on the other side was writing that was made from shapes like most Gallifreyan letters. "Doctor..." Rose murmured under her breath.

She looked to the one-way glass and for the first time seen the man she was supposed to interrogate. He looked a bit like the Doctor she knew last, tall wiry frame, brown unruly hair that was perhaps a bit longer than her Doctor's, freckles, small amount of stubble, and his eyes were the most intense blue like her first doctor; they seemed to be able to look through the one-way glass and were gazing intently at her as if inspecting her like she was him. Instead of a pin-striped suit he wore a pair of distressed red camouflage combat jeans, a matching military fatigue type jacket with more Gallifreyan symbols on the shoulders and on one of the front pockets, a white t-shirt, as well as scuffed up orange combat boots. She wanted to believe it was him, but it wasn't, she could just tell. It was the aura that radiated off him, familiar but not. She always could feel the Doctor even when he regenerated. He may have looked different but that feeling was still the same.

"Rose," George was now waving his hand in front of her, "Earth calling Rose."

Rose snapped out of her trance-like state and broke eye contact with the man in the room. "Huh? Sorry I think I was a universe away there," she joked but knew she wasn't far from the truth.

"I said good luck with him - we can't even get his name. I'm gonna go type up that report from your alien friend yesterday. Will only be down the hall a bit, gonna use one of those offices so I'm not far away in case the alarm sounds."

"Okay, thanks, George," Rose replied and watched as he left. Taking a deep breath, she strode over to the entrance of the holding cell, checked her panic button, then walked in and sat down at the other side of the table.

"You don't belong here," he stated simply looking at Rose.

"Dunno what you're talking about," Rose replied, folding her arms and looking at him.

"I think you do," he insisted. "I can sense it, the way time flows around you, you have golden strands of the Time Vortex inside you, but not this time vortex... it's parallel... But how? And your soul… Your soul is merged..." his eyes widened and he looked her up and down, "Doctor... he's alive... the Doctor you're mated to him... Well that explains one part... Now why have you got--"

"Hang on, what about the Doctor? What do you want, who are you? And what do you mean "mated"?"

The man grinned at her in a way that looked oddly familiar. "That's who you thought I was at first, isn't it? And I bet he didn't tell you. Rassilon, this is good fun, he's in so much trouble! But at least it will only be with you this time! Don't worry, it couldn't have happened unless both parties wanted it to, but I can't believe you don't remember getting married, the whole soul sharing and all."

"Soul sharing? Married?? What are you on about? I'm not married!"

"Oh yes you are, according to Time Lord law, and law in a lot of places, you are," he chuckled, "Oh you've gone and done it now, Doctor. Bet he didn't expect that to happen, but why in Time and Space would he transfer energy unless it has something to do with...?" He stopped rambling and looked at her, really looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Bad Wolf... you're the Bad Wolf."

That did catch her attention amongst all of the information and questions flowing through her head. "Huh? What's Bad Wolf?" Rose tried to brush it off, a little unsettled.

"I think you do know, but it's only a legend of my people..."

"Which would be?"

"Time Lord, weren't you listening?"

"The Time Lords are all gone, the Doctor said he was the last."

"Ironic that, but no, obviously not since I'm here." He looked into her eyes, "I thought I was the last. I got pulled into this universe and unable to cross back, my TARDIS doesn't work properly, and I've been looking for a way back because this place just doesn't feel right, it makes me nervous. First time I found a crack I couldn't get to it, then there was a massive rift and I got mixed up in events, and I didn't dare cross over then. I couldn't go back, or else risk collapsing both realities or worse. Then I found this anomaly… something of my universe, so I came, and instead of a crack or rift… I found you."

"Sorry to disappoint you then," Rose said, still trying to take everything in.

"Not disappointed at all, just the opposite in fact - you are the Bad Wolf after all. So my wolf-y friend, since you have the Time Vortex in you from our universe, you should be able to help, and that's without mentioning your connection to the Doctor – that should pinpoint the right reality. I mean I can do it now I know he's alive, but you! You have a piece of his soul residing in you just as he has a part of yours and the two will look for each other with the right stimulation. It's just brilliant!" He was jumping about like an over-excited child now, with a light in his eyes that was oddly like that of the Doctor's.

"What are you on about, I don't have part of his soul... do I? And even so what do you know about Bad Wolf, I've not got it anymore."

"The Bad Wolf is an old legend, never thought it was true until we met. It's about a young human woman, this human falls for a lonely stranger and the stranger falls in love with her. The stranger had been in a War, a War to end all wars, and was left alone in the universe, emotionally scarred and guilt-ridden from being the sole survivor and he wants to die. Then he meets the young lady and she shows him life is worth living again, while he shows her things she never before dreamed of. They travel together going and seeing things until the stranger finds out the War he thought was over wasn't over after all, and to protect her he sends her away back home where he believes she will be safe. However the lady isn't happy about this; she wants to be with her man; to save him from certain death, but to do so she has to ask for help from the glowing light who takes her and the Bad Wolf is born. The Bad Wolf arrives at the battlefield glowing in swirling golden light like the most beautiful angel, she can now see everything that ever was, will or could be; and takes the words Bad Wolf and scatters them throughout time and space as a message for herself, she scatters the enemy into dust with a wave of her hand, but the light is too much for her, the lonely stranger draws the light into himself with a kiss merging their souls, and puts the light back where it belongs, but still some of the light remains renewing and extending life for an age. The stranger, who was unprepared, dies in the process, but his life is renewed and is healed feeling freer than before and they continue to fight the evils: warriors of the light."

"Oh my..."

'I Looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me.'

"Sound familiar then? I'm guessing you're the young woman, and the Doctor is the lonely stranger, and the War was the Time War."

"You've got to be winding me up, did George or Mickey put you up to this? I bet you're not even alien. Who are you?"

"I'll take that outburst as a "yes", and I am really not human. I am pure Gallifreyan unlike some people I could mention, and I'm a Time Lord; passed all my exams with top marks, and I worked in a highly important job before and during the War." He held out his wrists to Rose. "Don't believe me? Feel my heartbeat."

Rose tentatively reached forward, found his double pulse and stifled a gasp. It was true. He was a Time Lord. The Doctor was wrong about being the last. After all wouldn't be the first time he was wrong: he'd thought the same about the Daleks... and there was that time in Disney World. "Okay, so fine you have two hearts, but you still didn't answer my question about who you are."

"Oh. Sorry. I am a little rude this time around. My name is Thalonraxianplatonlationbarrina, of the oldest and greatest house of Lungbarrow, and you are?"

"Bit of a mouthful that. My name is Rose, Rose Tyler."

"Most Gallifreyan names are. Pleased to meet you Rose Tyler. Call me Thalon for short, my brother always did, so I'm used to it. 'Sides you should hear his name, be all day saying it, no wonder he calls himself "the Doctor" all the time, I would with a name like that, I think our father was trying to inflict a cruel and unusual new type of punishment on him, his mother just wanted to call him John. Then with each regeneration and century you add another syllable--"

"You're the Doctor's brother?" She asked snapping out of the stunned realisation.

"Yeah, same father, different mothers. I was father's obligation child; he went on to have him later. In our society everyone is paired with someone to have a child with, depending on the population stability. We don't have the same drive as humans since we live so long, so it's decided to keep the population going that way. The families pair off people like a sort of arranged marriage that only lasts for a certain amount of time then they are free to either re-marry permanently or go their own way. All the pairings are more or less political to improve their family standings in society. It's all done artificially anyway; not that we can't do things naturally, takes the fun out of things some people say, but it's how it's done. It's actually quite rare for a child to be born outside an arrangement, even more so through natural means, and my family is one of the oldest and most influential of them all, even if we are considered oddballs; father being the head of the family even more so, so guess that's where the eccentric names comes from. Both of us have had to do it and have an obligatory child."

'I was a dad once.'

"Well considering your ability to ramble I can believe it, you look similar, too, though might be by accident since the Doctor said he can't control what he looks like or he'd be ginger, and well..." She trailed off looking downwards since she didn't want to sound stupid.

"Feel like him?" At Rose's incline of her head he added, "You must be one of the percentage of humans with telepathic ability, not surprising really since you are the Bad Wolf. What we call telepathic signature, some people call aura on your world: that comes from our soul, our energy, the life force that makes us... well, us. That never changes no matter how many times our body may change. It's how we recognise each other. Of course, since we are related, ours are similar. That, deep down, is how you know I'm telling you the truth."

"The Doctor always said he could feel it if there was more of his people, that they are all connected, how come he didn't feel you?"

"He wouldn't without the Matrix. The Matrix was a system that stored the knowledge of all Time Lords and boosted our abilities so we were connected through all of Time and space, but only the Lord or Lady President had access to be able to see into the Matrix and look for specific memories or knowledge. Without it we would need to be within range of each other, but the silence is deafening, more terrifying than the worst nightmare, he probably never thought of it in his distress. It's like being in a strange place that is threatening in some way and the lights go off and you cannot see a thing. Then you come into this new parallel universe that is even more frightening because all your senses are on edge, things feel different, then the silence or darkness becomes more and more terrifying, what you would do for something familiar, then you feel it. A friend, a family member, a source of comfort, would you believe it after all this time? Or bring it down to your imagination because you wanted it so much?"

"Yeah, I guess so when you put it that way," Rose answered. It seemed to make sense and explained so much about her Doctor; especially the first one she met. "Kind of scary to find that there's a legend about me too. I mean the Doctor I'd expect it of. There's loads about him, the Daleks called him 'the Oncoming Storm', but me… Well that's scary. I was no-one before the Doctor: just a normal shop girl, with no A levels and going nowhere."

"That's all part of the legend too," Thalon smiled. "More than a legend, it's a nursery story, it's a movie, and it's an ultimate love story we tell our children. Kind of like… "Snow White" or "Cinderella". We all grew up hearing it, and told our children the same story, and it seems it's as old as Time itself. It was his favourite as a time tot, used to read it to him over and over before he went to bed," he chuckled and even Rose had to crack a smile at the cute image, "Who knew he'd grow up to be my personal headache? Broke almost every rule in the book and even had some written because he found a loophole, or one that had been overlooked in the writing process. Heck, he stole that TARDIS from the repair bay! It was due to be decommissioned, and I, like the dutiful big brother, always bailed him out of trouble."

This time Rose broke out into an all-out laugh. "Why does none of that surprise me?" Since the time she looked into the heart of the TARDIS she'd been able to understand things she said to her, and one day when the Doctor was trying to fix the chameleon circuit: which he had been trying to do for the past 900 years according to him and the TARDIS, she told her that she gets a really good laugh at him and told her some of the stuff he's tried over the years. Then she told her a secret that was just between them, something she swore never to tell him, that had Rose laughing for three weeks after; apparently nothing was wrong with the circuit, she'd just been deliberately staying as a Police Box. She did it at first cause he was a little full of himself, then because she found it funny; which she still does since he's not figured it out yet, and also she likes being a police box. She finds it rather amusing when people come in for the first time and see the size difference then run out, looking around her outsides to check. They had become good friends because the TARDIS felt that anyone who was willing to die for him was worth her respect and they had seen into each other, after all. After Sarah Jane, the TARDIS assured her she'd not go without her even if he wanted to, she was rather determined to play matchmaker.

"Yeah, that particular TARDIS was being decommissioned because it was too wilful. Never did a thing it was told--"

"That's horrible," Rose interrupted.

"They aren't supposed to be so sentient, but it always seemed to suit my brother fine. Think she was glad to escape. Of course that was before Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar managed to pass the TARDIS Rights Act stopping that; claiming a TARDIS is a living thing and should have the rights of any other sentient being. That was in more recent years, before the War. They used to be treated a similar to cattle..."

"Good 'cause it's a horrible thing to do, a TARDIS isn't a peace of meat."

"The ethics behind it were always debated, for years in fact, the Doctor was pro-saving them. But I'm rambling again aren't I?" At Rose's nod he stopped then looked at her more seriously, "You've got to help me get out of here and get the parts I need for the TARDIS. Then we can get home, you can see him again and I'll feel a lot more at ease."

Rose thought about it for a bit but knew her mind was already made up. She knew she'd never see her family, Mickey, Jake, or any of the friends she met here again, but the Doctor was everything to her. She needed to see him again. "What do you need?"

Chapter 2

Martha laughed as she got off the metal grate of the TARDIS control room floor, then helped the Doctor get up. "So real proper holiday?"

"Yup, sun, sea and sand in the Caribbean for a bit."

"You said that when you took us to Universal Studios in Florida a hundred years before it was built."

The Doctor reached back and scratched his neck, "Well least it was only 'gators in swamp land."

"Sure, thirty-feet-long alien 'gators with lasers."

"Yeah well, what fun would things be without an alien invasion?"

"Then there was the time we went to that paradise planet the one week in every forty years it's booked by a race of cannibals and anyone else is fair game for food."

"I'm starting to get the distinct feeling you don't trust me Martha Jones," the Doctor remarked, folding his arms.

"Oh I trust you fine, it's your ability to fly this thing I have doubts about," she laughed.

"Don't listen to her, old girl," he replied, stroking the TARDIS, "She doesn't mean to call you a "thing". She's from a time period beyond the understanding of living machines." He looked back up at Martha, who rolled her eyes at him and he opened the door, "Come on, it'll be fine, I promise." They walked out and the Doctor closed the door after Martha. "It's just the, um, rainforest part of the Caribbean."

Martha shook her head and followed him further away from where the TARDIS seemed to be hidden behind some trees. "Sure it is."

"But this can be relaxing, look around you! We're probably one of the few people to ever set foot in here! No one has seen this before. An unspoilt paradise, and get a whiff of that unpolluted air - completely unlike London, and --"

"Excuse me sir? Could you and the lady get back on the path now? Walking in areas that are undesignated can wreck the delicate ecosystem."

They turned around to see a tour guide and a crowd of people taking pictures of them, and Martha wished she could get one of the look on the Doctor's face at that moment. She burst out laughing,

"Sure thing, Doctor." Martha spluttered. She took a deep breath and got hold of herself. "It's only the Eden Project after all."

"Well it's not that ba---"

"Don't you dare, don't even think it. As soon as you say something like that, a fleet of Daleks will come storming in here with your luck."

"Just don't ask him to take you to Heathrow airport," an older woman with an Australian accent who was staring at them remarked, looking at the Doctor like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She was accompanied by an old man and woman; the man looking at them knowingly, a tall ginger haired man who was now sniggering, a blond woman in her forties who was grinning from ear to ear, and a woman with long black hair also in her forties who had a early-teenage boy with her.

The Doctor looked flabbergasted and was staring mouth open and closing like a goldfish until the woman with the black hair took a picture of him, the flash seemingly snapping him out of it. "What is this, "pick-on-the-Doctor day"?"

"Shouldn't have come on UNIT Reunion day then," she said and took his arm, the blond took the other and they started to drag him along. "That's one for the album, and the newsletter later. Come on everyone will love to see what the TARDIS dragged in."

"Oh come on Sarah Jane, do I have to?"

"Yes. No getting out of it this time Doctor," the other woman replied.

"Oh hello, Jo! Rassilon, it's been forever. How are you?"

"Divorced with my husband, living with my two children in the Powell Estate in London. Keep managing to miss you somehow."

"Jackie's fine, so's Rose," he said rather sadly. "They got stuck in a parallel dimension. Jackie... she's happy she's with the Pete of that world. It's a long story."

"I knew Rose since she was little and Jackie was the first to welcome me when I arrived; it was single mothers stick together. Her and my daughter Shireen were best mates."

"Yeah, small universe," the Doctor replied and quickly changed the subject, as it still hurt to think of Rose. "So, Turlough, what are you doing here on Earth in this time period?"

"Dunno. Just woke up here one day, found Tegan, been staying with her ever since." He squeezed Tegan's hand and the Doctor got a big goofy grin.

"Thought you two didn't like each other," he teased. Then sobered, "And I thought you weren't talking to me, Tegan?"

"Got over it." Tegan smiled.

"So who are these people?" Martha asked, half-amused.

"These are my friends, most of whom of travelled with me at one point, and UNIT were the people that I worked for back when I was stuck on Earth for a while, helped them occasionally since then. This lady here on my left, is one of my best friends Sarah Jane Smith, and on my right, is Jo Grant - she was my assistant when I worked for UNIT, she got stuck with me because her uncle was trying to find somewhere to put her. Over here is Tegan Jovanka, she travelled with me for a while along with Vislor Turlough. I don't know what are you lot are doing at a UNIT reunion."

"We've done work for them after we left you." Turlough supplied.

"Okay, I suppose that makes sense. So, anyway, over here is Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and his wife Doris. The Brigadier has been a very good friend to me over the years; he used to run UNIT when I worked for them."

"I do again, temporarily," the Brigadier added, trying to ignore the disapproving look from his wife. "After the incident at Downing Street they were short of people to do the job."

"Well good for you," the Doctor grinned, stopping as Doris glared at him, "...Or not."

"Oh come on Doris, I'm only doing paperwork now anyway, being UNIT commander isn't what it used to be, and they were short, they even pulled Benton out of retirement."

"Good old Benton. Is he here?"

"Yes, he's around somewhere. We're supposed to be meeting at the new function room in about ten minutes," one of the others replied.

"You know, even now there's only been a handful of humans that have ever gone into the TARDIS for the first time and not said "it's bigger on the inside", and Lieutenant John Benton is one of them. I asked him if he was going to say it at the time but he replied "Isn't it obvious?", and he's as loyal as they come, even let me escape once, no, forget that, sorry, wasn't supposed to tell you that... anyway, I don't know who the other one is."

"He's Major Benton now. Oh, I nearly forgot. Luke, come here," Sarah gestured for the boy to come over who did and she placed her other arm around his shoulders, "Doctor, I'd like you to meet my adopted son Luke. Luke, this is my very good friend the Doctor."

"Hello Luke!" the Doctor grinned from ear to ear now, "See you could get to tell those grandkids things after all. I'd shake your hand, Luke, only your mother and my other friend here seem intent on dragging me to one of those reunions I've always avoided. So how'd you end up with Sarah?"

"I was grown in a factory. Cloned from the scans of every visitor, they wanted to improve the formula of the Bubble Shock! so it would appeal to everyone, so they could take over the whole population of the planet. Sarah Jane stopped them and I had nowhere to go, so she took me in."

"Really?" The Doctor asked, looking even more pleased at Sarah. "Well that's just brilliant, see Sarah you're getting along great."

"Thank you, and Luke remember you're not supposed to tell people that. The Doctor's fine, but anyone can hear here. Be careful, it'd be bad enough explaining you've no navel if you needed a check-up. And you're growing so fast it's unbelievable."

"A check-up what?" Luke asked, confused.

The Doctor laughed, "Luke, my friend, you have a lot to learn, can't be good for you growing up in a factory. I like this kid already, by the way, Sarah."

"That's why I brought him along, he needs to get out and experience new things... On this world and in this time," she added as an afterthought giving the Doctor a knowing look.

"Yeah, well even so, there could be a problem with the accelerated growth of the cloning process. We should bring him to the TARDIS and check everything is okay --"

"Or it could be the fact he's a teenage boy and starting a growth spout," Sarah interrupted. "You go in there and you'll run off. He'll be fine till the end of the function anyway."

"Oh come on Sarah, would I do a thing like that?"

"Yes." All his former companions said simultaneously, then burst out laughing.

"Great, this is going to be what it's like all day, isn't it?"

"Pretty much." Jo quipped.

"But you can take it like a man!" Tegan added, still giggling a little.

"I had a nightmare like this once," the Doctor said as they got out of the rainforest dome and into the common area. "Only I think I was naked and there was dancing monkeys involved somehow."

"That was last week when I found you on that planet after you were captured," Martha reminded him getting into the spirit of things.

"All I need is for Jack to hear that," he muttered as everyone started laughing.

"Hear what?" A masculine American voice asked from somewhere off to the side of him.

"What is this? This is your life?" The Doctor asked bemused.

"About me finding him as naked as the day he was born, in a prison with dancing monkeys," Martha said to Jack, ignoring the Doctor, as a way of a greeting, then smiled and hugged him briefly. She had met him back when they had gone to Cardiff and Jack had travelled with them for a short while before going back to Torchwood.

"Sounds like fun, wish I'd have been there."

"So do I," the Doctor replied. "If you were there it would have been you, because you're the one that ends up naked somehow no matter where we go. Even that time me, you and Rose went to Disney World. I'm kind've glad I've regenerated since then, least that gets me out of the lifetime ban if they can't recognise me."

"It wasn't me that got us banned," Jack laughed.

"Then who?" Martha asked laughing.

"I still maintain that Donald Duck was trying to take over the world, I heard him conspiring with Goofy. Turned out I was wrong, but a Time Lord, no matter how brilliant, is allowed to be wrong every now and then."

"I had to ask. That explains why you wanted to go to Universal instead."

"Speaking of regeneration, you've done it again, Doctor," the Brigadier remarked.

"Yeah, twice."

"You certainly seem to be going through them," Jo added.

"Oh don't worry about me, at the end of time it will be me, Jack and the cockroaches."

"I'll remember to bring my bug spray," Jack laughed, trying to cover how disturbed he was that the Doctor was probably right about him. "Come on, we're all set up just over here."