A/N: Thank you guys so much for the great feedback on my first chapter! I am definitely going to try to be consistent with my updates. Just letting you know now though, It may be a period of up to 5 days between posts because of schoolwork. Anyway, here's the second chapter. Enjoy!
Chapter 2: The Complicated Stuff
The Doctor woke up to a pounding pain in his head. He groaned and gingerly touched a spot right above his right ear, where the pain was most prominent. He flinched at the skull-splitting pain that racked through his head. "Uuuh," he moaned.
"Doctor? Are you awake?" came a familiar Scottish voice.
The Doctor smiled and sat up, trying his best to ignore the throb of protest from his bruise. "Good morning, Pond. Glad to see you made it," he said brightly. "You too, Rory. Now, want to tell me where we are?"
"London, Earth, 2012," replied a new voice. The Doctor stayed very still, then, and his smile took on a slightly sad quality.
"Hello, Rose," he said quietly, and he turned his head slightly until the young woman was in his view. As he had suspected, she was just as beautiful as ever. She had to be 25 years old now… Yes, that was correct. It had been 4 years since he had last seen her. Her windswept blonde hair was cropped to just below her shoulders. Her large, black-rimmed eyes were staring at him intently, taking in every detail of this new body. The silence between them dragged out, and the Doctor shifted uncomfortably. "You look…healthy," he blurted.
"Healthy?" Rose gave a small laugh and sniffed. She angled her head down slightly and brushed her hand lightly against her cheek. Although she tried to hide it, the Doctor could see the glint of tears in her eyes. He realized that she wasn't crying for him. She was crying for his last body. She was crying for his death.
He hated it when she cried.
"So, how are you two doing? You and…" The Doctor trailed off awkwardly, his eyes flicking to Amy and Rory, who stood, confused, just a few feet away from Rose.
"John," Rose finished in a quivering voice. She looked up again and tried her best to suck up her tears. "John Smith. Yeah, it's been good. We've been married for 3 years now."
"Oh, really? That's…good. Yes, yes, good for you. Congratulations." There was that silence again, and the Doctor cleared his throat. "I suppose I should like to see him," he said. Rose just nodded and offered him a teary smile. The Doctor shoveled the mountain of blankets from him and got unsteadily to his feet.
"Doctor," said Amy in a concerned voice, taking a step towards him.
"I'm fine," he assured him, though his head was pounding and he was swaying slightly from side to side. He looked at Rose. It was true that he was a new Doctor, a different Doctor, but his affection for Rose had never lessened. His mind traveled briefly to River Song. He loved Rose, but he loved River just as much. Oh, this was bloody difficult. And he hadn't even seen John yet.
"He's down the hall, in his study," Rose said, finally regaining control over herself. "Trying to build another sonic screwdriver." A giggle escaped her lips. Her big, beautiful lips. The Doctor shook his head. Think of River, think of River, think of River. "Hello, sweetie," he muttered.
"What was that?" said Rose.
"Erm, nothing. A sonic screwdriver, you said? How's that going?"
"Not very well. He says that human resources are so limited," Rose said with a smile.
The Doctor gave a light laugh. "Yes, quite."
"Another sonic screwdriver? Wait, Doctor, what's going on? What are you talking about?" Rory asked.
The Doctor turned his head to his other companions. It wasn't fair to them, he thought. After his regeneration, he had tried so hard to bury the past. He had spoken so little of it, even to River, and she was his wife! How was he going to explain it to them now? "John Smith is this sort of a past…me…duplicate. Erm, it's complicated. You didn't explain it to them yet?" he asked, turning back to Rose.
"We thought it would be easier with you," said Rose.
"Oh, we'll see how well that turns out," he said. "Right, then! Off to see the wizard!" He started down the hallway, towards the workroom
"Doctor? I still don't understand – Where are you going?" Amy said, following him with Rose and Rory close behind.
"I'm going to go talk to myself," said the Doctor, nearing an open door which was emitting a faint blue light from inside.
He stepped through the doorway to see a man leaning over a work desk on the far side of the room. He looked around. The layout was simple enough, and resembled one of the many rooms in the TARDIS. Counters and tables lined the walls of the square room, and there was a large island stationed at the center. An assortment of little bits and bobs were piled on every visible surface of the room. They ranged from medical books and tools to charts and paperwork, to computers and other pieces of machinery.
"Hello, there," he said. The man turned around, and it was as if the Doctor was staring at an old picture of himself. John hadn't changed a bit, aside from a few new age marks. But besides that, it was the same man in every way. Same wild hair, same pale face with wide eyes, and the same tall, thin figure.
"Oh! You're awake," John said cheerfully. He got up and started towards the Doctor, taking long, confident strides until he was standing right in front of him. "How was your sleep?" he asked.
"Fine, thank you. The ocean of blankets worked; I didn't once get cold," he said.
"Good, good," said John. He began to scrutinize the Doctor, looking him up and down, taking in all the little details. It was a bit easier now that he was standing before him. "It's alright. Could've been worse, I'll admit. Hair's not bad, though you're still not ginger. I like the bow tie, though," he said.
"Yes, it is cool, isn't it?" said the Doctor, fiddling with his burnt bow tie. "And you haven't changed a bit, handsome thing."
"Ah, well–"
"John?" Rose stepped forward. "I'd hate to interrupt you flirting with yourself, but we have work to do. And you still haven't explained things to Amy and Rory!"
"Thank you," said Amy to Rose.
"Ah, yes. The complicated stuff," said the Doctor, rotating slowly to face his companions. John did the same, and they both stared at Amy, Rory, and Rose for a while.
Amy shifted her weight uneasily. The two men in front of her were very different. One was tall, the other average sized. One had a slightly hook-shaped nose; the other's was low and broad. One had a slim chin while the other's was large and defined, and one wore a pinstripe suit with a necktie where the other was still wearing his scorched clothes and bow tie. However, despite all of their differences, there was an air of sameness about them. Their bright, inquisitive eyes peered at the small group the same way. They stood with the same air of confidence and authority. And, as John had just revealed, they both had a knack for delivering half-truths.
"Well, Doctor, where shall we start?" John asked, turning towards the Doctor.
"I'm not quite sure," the Doctor replied absently. He took a step forward. "I've never properly explained the regeneration process, have I?" he asked Amy and Rory.
"Well, we know that you're old, and that you've had different…forms, sort of," Rory replied, eyes still blinking in confusion.
"It's quite simple, really," John said. "I… we… the Doctor never actually dies. He can, but there's another option. See, whenever we're – he's, sorry, whenever he's dying, he can regenerate."
"Every atom in my body starts anew," the Doctor continued. "First I heal, then I, strictly speaking, die. However, the atoms still exist. They get reborn into another shape and I end up with a new body, a new personality, and the new Doctor goes on."
"Of course, it doesn't always go smoothly," John added. "If you get a bit too excited post-regeneration, you could have some mild hearts pains. And there's always the possibility that the whole process doesn't run its full course immediately and you have to remain dormant while process completes."
"Is that what you meant when we first met?" Amy asked the Doctor. "You said, 'I'm still cooking.' Did that mean…?"
"Yes, I had just finished regenerating," said the Doctor. "The TARDIS crashing gave me a bit of a scare, and so I had some chest pains for a bit."
"But wait," said Rory, stepping forward. "That still doesn't explain him." He jabbed his thumb in John's direction.
"Yes, it does, because he has a name, and it used to be 'the Doctor,'" said John, irritated.
That got their attention. Rory and Amy froze and turned their head slowly to face John. "What?" said Amy.
"Before this," the Doctor made a vague gesture to his body, "I was in a body that looked like that." He gestured toward John and he gave a little wave. "At one point, I lost my hand during a sword fight with the Chief Sycorax – you remember me telling you about the Sycorax?" Amy nodded, and the Doctor continued. "Anyway, an old friend of mine, Jack Hartness, he found my hand and brought it on board the TARDIS.
"After that, I continued my adventures as the Doctor until I was shot through the chest by a Dalek," he said. "I started to regenerate, but aborted once I was done healing and transferred the residual energy into my hand."
"Later, the hand was merged with some human DNA, and I grew out of it," John concluded. "A Time-Lord brain with a human heart. The Doctor dropped me off with Rose in this dimension, and we've been living together ever since." At this, John caught Rose's gaze and they stared at each other adoringly. The Doctor cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"So, basically, John is the clone of one of my past regenerations," he said.
"Well, you could've just said that," Rose said, breaking her gaze with John. "We would've saved a lot more time. Because, if I'm correct, that is something that we don't exactly have a lot of." She looked pointedly at John.
"Yes! Correct. Doctor," John turned to the Doctor, his expression suddenly serious. "We have a problem. When the Pitastrangalorathoris ship passed through the dimensions, it widened the crack. Our two universes are merging, and we don't have much time left before the whole of space and time collapse on each other."
"Yes, I figured as much," said the Doctor.
"Right. So we need to find the TARDIS, fix her up, send the Pitastrangalorithorises back to our dimension, and close the crack. Simple enough," said Rose.
"Not exactly," said the Doctor.
Rose froze, and turned her head slowly to face him. "What do you mean 'not exactly?'" she asked.
"Well… Right before the TARDIS crashed, I set her up to automatically repair herself. She won't be able to function for at least five days," he said.
"Five days? We don't have five hours!" John sputtered.
"How exactly are we going to close the gap without the TARDIS?" Rose asked. She looked expectantly at the Doctor.
"Well, I don't know what you all are looking at me for. How should I know?" he asked.
"What do you mean 'how should I know?!' You always know!" Rose said, her voice rising in panic.
"Sorry to disappoint, but I don't. Amy?" The Doctor turned to the red-haired girl, who was still staring at John with a stunned expression.
"Erm…what?" Amy said, shaking her head.
"What do you propose we do?"
"Um…"
"Think, Amy. We have no TARDIS, and no means of closing the gap between out dimensions. And other than that, we also need to find the Pitastrangalorithorises and send them back to our dimension. The same Pitastrangalorithorises, mind you, that are out for our blood," said the Doctor encouragingly.
"Um, let the Pitastranga-somethings come to us?"
"Let the Pitastrangalorithorises come to us!" The Doctor said with a smile. "Very good, Pond!"
"I'm sorry, but how would it help to go straight to the creatures that want to kill us?" Rory asked.
"Don't let them kill us," said John. "If we could just get aboard the ship, along with the TARDIS, then we'd be able to steer the ship through the gap and close it from the other side."
"And then they'd be able to teleport us back to our Earth before closing the crack," Rose finished, a smile creeping its way onto her features.
"Exactly!" The Doctor was beaming. "Oh, this is fun!"
"Right… Just one question, though," said Rory. "The Pitastranga-somethings came through the crack way out in the Sylandrome System. There's an entire galaxy between us and them. How can we get a signal strong enough to tell them that we're here?"
"Torchwood," Rose said immediately.
The Doctor turned to face her. "Excuse me?" he said.
Rose rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, since you last saw us... well, John and I have sort of made a name for ourselves. After all of the times we've helped save the world from aliens and robots and whatnot, we got noticed."
"How so?" asked the Doctor.
"We're what you might call freelance world-savers," said John. "Whenever an organization like Torchwood or UNIT needs our help, they hire us for a certain amount of time, we do the job, get paid, and fall off their radar until further notice."
"So you've worked for Torchwood," said the Doctor in a flat tone.
"It's nothing like you would think," said Rose quickly. "Like whenever a hostile alien species comes to Earth, we try to find a peaceful solution. If that doesn't work, we scare them away. That's all."
The Doctor gave Rose a look.
"But that doesn't matter right now, anyway," John interjected. "What Rose was getting at was, Torchwood has collected a bunch of things from the aliens we encountered. That includes Ultra-Sonic Interspatial Radios. If we could just get to one of them, we might be able to signal the Pitastrangalorithorises from Earth."
"Fine. We'll talk about this later, though," said the Doctor to Rose.
"Wait, Doctor, I don't understand. Where are we going?" asked Amy as they headed out the front door.
"Canary Wharf," said John.