A/N: If you don't like the plot or characters in this story, then don't read. AU.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Doctor Who, that privilege belongs to the BBC.
WORD COUNT: 3, 615
Chapter 2:
The Doctor's and their Heart.
The Eleventh Doctor awoke, to see Heart draped around him modestly, her legs tangled with his, her head resting on his chest and her arm thrown around his waist while his chin rested on the crown of her head, his arm wrapped loosely around her hips.
He couldn't help but think that this felt right. His wife in his arms, safe from the Time War, alive.
For the first time in a long time, he was happy.
Heart stirred, her stomach grumbling and he looked down as she lifted her head up, wiping the sleep out of her eyes to gaze at her Theta, smiling as she did so. "Good morning." She whispered, leaning up and the Doctor lowered his head and they kissed gently.
The Doctor grinned, before breaking the kiss to bring her closer so he was eye level with her and his fingertips grazed her cheek lovingly, Heart's eyes fluttering closed in happiness. "Good morning, love." He whispered gently and her eyes opened, her lips stretching in a beautiful smile at the use of his endearment. "Breakfast?" He offered, listening to her stomach grumble again and she nodded.
It wasn't long before both the Doctor and Heart dressed and he took her hand and lead her expertly around the TARDIS.
Heart had slipped on a frilly white tank top, the layers going down the front of her chest, tan skinny jeans that wrapped around her lower half snugly and she slipped on a pair of black flats. "Is this appropriate?" She asked, looking up at the Doctor confused. While she had seen all of his timeline and the changing fashions and the lady companions he brought along on his travels, she was still a tiny bit uncertain.
The Doctor turned, dressed in his tweed jacket and his checkered bow tie, his entire body pivoting as his hands rested in the air beside his body as he assessed her and the corner of his mouth lifted in a cheeky grin. "Beautiful." He said and she twirled, giggling before taking his hand and they started back on their quest to find the kitchen.
It was sudden.
The TARDIS shook and veered left and right violently, throwing both Heart and the Doctor around the hall.
"Theta! What's happening?!" Heart panicked, having never experienced anything like this.
"I don't know! We have to get the control room!" The Doctor said, grabbing Heart's hand and they stumbled their way to the control room. The Doctor ran around the panels and started pressing buttons to try and stabilize her while Heart fell into the console and grabbed onto the screen, reading the Gallifeyan symbols with ease and her eyes widened.
"Theta!" She yelled, her hearts beating erratically and his head snapped up, his eyes meeting her wild ones. "It's a time fissure!"
What she didn't expect was his eyes to roll and an annoyed mewl to fall from his lips. "Not again!"
"Again!? AGAIN?! You mean to tell me that this has happened before?" Heart asked, still gripping the console, looking at her husband from across the console.
"Once! I saved Gallifrey from it's alternative fate. I met two of my previous incarnations!" The Doctor threw a lever down and the TARDIS groaned mournfully, as if she were in agony.
" I remember! Wrong lever! Theta, that's hurting her!" Heart yelled over the noise and assessed the console and grabbed a switch and pushed it up as well as a few of the small switches on the pad and pressed the green button and the TARDIS shuddered in relief, still maneuvering aggressively.
"How did you do that?!" The Doctor asked, while gripping the console, he made his way toward his wife.
"Unlike you, I passed my flight exam!" She said, grinning.
"You what? I didn't even know you took that exam!" The Doctor said, incredulous and a bit put out.
"We were in the same class, albeit different TARDIS's. I was in the blue cylinder."
The Doctor gasped as the hazy memory revealed itself of the metallic blue cylinder bypassing him and upstaging him in every test. He pointed an accusatory finger at his wife. "It was you! You made me fail!"
"I did no such thing. You didn't study! You were too busy chasing after Fandi, my best friend. I would know because you were always speaking to her." Heart said, grinning triumphantly.
"Hold on! Fandi. . Oi! I was asking her questions about you, what flowers you liked, what was your favourite meal and what music you liked. I was asking her so I could court you! You were too busy chasing after Galack!" The Doctor accused.
"Galack?! Galack?! That pompous rich boy? No, no, no, no! I was trying to get you to notice me, that's why I always hung around him, to get you to step up and court me!" Heart revealed and for one minute, the Doctor forgot all about the impending doom they were facing and looked at her with a devilish grin.
"You wanted me to court you?" He asked, his light eyes shining with new knowledge and smugness.
"Of course I did. I liked you as much as you liked me." Heart said, the corners of her lips curling in a small grin in reaction to his smile.
"Interesting." The Doctor said, leaning down to share a kiss with his smitten wife, before the TARDIS, who had been watching in extreme agony, decided it was time for them to realize their surroundings and she jerked back, making the two Gallifreyan's fall into the railing behind them as recognition flooded their features.
"Right!" They both said and ran back to the console to try and stop what was inevitable.
They had to try.
The golden vortex opened in a flash of light in the corner of the TARDIS and she landed heavily somewhere.
"Theta! It's happened. When I was in your timeline, I must have ripped through it. Oh, Theta. Forgive me!" Heart put a hand to her mouth as she sniffled, her vision blurry from the tears and the Doctor didn't think twice before pulling his wife in a gentle hug, his hand running through her short hair.
"It's alright, Heart. It wasn't your intention. I would never blame you for coming back. I forgive you." The Doctor whispered and rocked her from side to side to soothe her.
The TARDIS started to calm and stop jerking around, since the vortex disappeared and quietened down and the Doctor kissed Heart's head before gently stepping out of embrace. "The monitor is down. I just want to see if she's alright." The Doctor's voice conveyed his worry as he stroked the console of the TARDIS.
"I'm going to go check where we landed, no telling where we are with the monitor down. I'll be right back."
"Heart! Be careful, please. I don't want to lose you again." The Doctor said, looking at Heart seriously, who nodded.
"I promise, Theta." With that, Heart walked outside the doors of the TARDIS to step onto soft green grass, not seeing any extraterrestrial lifeforms, not sensing any, the buildings were man-made (somewhat), and she looked around the secluded park and her violet eyes scanned everywhere, until she came across opposite her, was a different TARDIS, an older looking type of the TARDIS that the Doctor traveled in, but it was war-beaten, almost as if she was preparing for another battle anytime soon.
Heart entertained the comic notion of looking back at the TARDIS she had just emerged from and the ominous twin staring at her, and she shook her head, thinking of the human tendency that they would surmise to 'deja vu' as the humans liked to call it.
The door to the older TARDIS opened and Heart tensed, on alert when the tenth Doctor emerged, looking disheveled and relieved and worried. "Ah, Earth, 2016 to be precise. Ah, the new year!" He licked his finger and put his finger up in the air, making Heart crook her dark brow as he smiled. "Second of January, 12:05 A.M, to be precise. Not a parallel world, thank the Gods, the air isn't plasticy." He spoke to himself loudly, probably thinking his companion could hear him. "Molte bene!" He roared, happily, before he turned and his eyes waved over most of the park until he caught sight of the future TARDIS and the woman before it.
Ten squinted and leaned forward to get a better look at her before his eyes widened and in shock, he stumbled over his feet and fell back against his TARDIS. "No. . . it can't be. . . you died!" Ten yelled hoarsely as Heart's own two heart's broke and she ran to him as he slid to the grassy floor, pulling him into her chest, trying to soothe him as he hyperventilated, pulling at his hair in frustration.
"Theta, shh, it's alright. I know this is a lot to take in. Maybe too much at the current moment, so just try and take deep breaths. It's a human custom as I've learnt, to inhale deeply and exhaling, exercising the lungs and focusing on that calming effect i should bring." Heart spoke, running her fingers through his wild hair as he took her advice and started to take deep breaths, the situation still too raw for him to fully comprehend what was going on.
"Gallifrey burnt! You burnt, our children burnt!" Ten groaned, gripping onto Heart's upper arms as his fingernails dug into her flesh.
"History changes, you know that. You spend your days running through the Time Vortex, something is bound to happen, you know that. Something happens in your future, Theta, something wonderful and terrible. It brings me back." Heart whispers, stroking his head as she pulled his face from her chest to her own face, looking into his deep brown eyes. "I'm right here, Theta. I'm right here."
Ten pulled away from her and stood on shaky legs, using his TARDIS for support, looking at her wildly and she took a step back, not knowing how he would react, though his untamed eyes gave him that unpredictable quality. "How can you be here, or that TARDIS, I can't pass through my own time-stream without a large tear in the fabric of reality! You're from my future, you just said so. All of history would be unraveling in the world now. Why isn't it?" He asked, grabbing her arms, fearing what she would say.
"It's tied to me. As long as I am alive, the tear in your timeline is stable. You can visit your past selves without the Universe tearing." Heart said, tears in her eyes, scared of his reaction.
"If you're gone, then my timeline will be restored. I can't have knowledge of my own future. It's too risky if I know." Ten cruelly spoke, looking at his wife as if she consciously and knowingly wanted to rip his time-stream in half.
"S-so, you're saying that I should sacrifice myself, so you can keep yourself sheltered from your own future? Just when I come back? Two thousand years without you and I should give you up instantly, give up my entire life that I could have with you, so you don't face your past selves?" Heart asked, tears unbidden in her eyes.
"You don't know what might happen!" Ten roared, now frustrated, he expected her to understand. After all, she was Heart, everything about her screamed selflessness, she'd always protect those she loved, no matter the cost. So, why was she not upholding her own laws? "I thought you of all people would understand the predicament we are in!"
Heart suddenly stood straight, her eyes cold and emotionless, so unlike her last self. Her regeneration had given her more backbone, she could feel the primitive urge to fight for what she loved. And in the name she chose, she vowed to protect and fight for her loved ones, which is what she would do. "I understand perfectly, but I would think you of all people, would understand that it's not exactly easy to give up what you just found after so many years of waiting. Hoping and praying that one day I would see you again and you want me to go?"
"You need to. What is happening now. . is unnatural. It must be rectified."
"I'm not going anywhere." Heart said, looking right into his eyes which widened in shock.
"B-but you have to!" Ten floundered, looking into her violet eyes.
"No, while you know the vow I took for myself, one particular part is to sacrifice whatever needed for the ones I love, but what you fail to remember is that I also vowed to fight those who set out to break the hearts of those I love. And you are breaking your own hearts by doing this. So I cannot, I will not leave you." Heart stood her ground and took his hand, feeling Ten shudder at the forgotten touch of his wife.
"Heart," Ten whispered, tears in his eyes, "I had forgotten just how wonderful you were."
"Are. It's present tense now." Heart touched his cheek just as the door to his TARDIS opened and out popped: young Rose Tyler. Heart could instantly tell that this was the jealous Rose Tyler, the one that used Mickey Smith quite often.
Heart didn't like Rose, not much anyway, but she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
Ten assessed Heart's fleeting disapproving look and one dark, shapely brow lifted in skepticism. 'Heart dislikes Rose,' it was easy to come to the conclusion. His dark eyes then turned to Rose who was staring at Heart's hand that was still on his cheek.
"Who's she, then? Another Sarah-Jane Smith?" Rose pursed her lips and crossed her arms, expecting an answer from the Doctor as if he were a child.
"Oh, Sarah-Jane! I love Sarah-Jane. One of your best companions, among others." Heart quipped, turning her violet eyes to Rose. 'This regeneration is quick to anger and very protective of Theta. I should work on that.'
"Oh? And are you one of his cast-offs?" Rose quipped back rudely, but for all her work, it only made the corners of Heart's full lips turn upward, which only irked nineteen-year-old blonde.
"Rose!" Ten snapped, not taking the rude insults from the much younger girl.
"No, it's alright, Doctor. There's no need for anger." Heart quickly pacified him, her hand dropping from his cheek to his chest and Rose's eyes jealously followed. "No, I'm not one of his cast-offs. I'm a woman he hasn't seen in a very long time."
"Long time, eh? Then why haven't I heard about you?" Rose flipped her hair, pursing her lips while crossing her arms, challenging Heart with her eyes.
"Maybe because you haven't earned all of the Doctor's trust. He is a man of many secrets. I'm the only person fortunate enough to know all of them." Heart responded calmly.
"I know lots of things about the Doctor! I've been on adventures with him!" Rose's voice got louder as she got more indignant, but Ten's eyes never left his wife.
"There's no need to raise your voice, you're acting like a child, not exactly improving my thoughts of you." Heart sighed.
"I don't care what you think of me." Rose replied instantly.
"Again, a childish reply spouted of a seemingly adult mouth. Or, an adult of this world and time anyway." Heart shrugged, looking up at the Doctor before turning back to Rose.
The young blonde scoffed, as if the elder woman had no affect on her emotions, when Heart could tell, the blood was rushing to the human's cheeks, that suggested embarrassment, the crinkle around the corners of her eyes suggested a degree of anger, elevated breathing patterns and rapid heartbeat suggests frustration. "Who are you?" Rose grounded out, teeth clenched together.
"My name is Heart."
"Heart? Heart what?" Rose questioned.
"Just Heart."
"What, like how the Doctor's name is just Doctor?"
"Yep. My name is just Heart."
"You copied the Doctor then. What's your real name?" Rose refused to believe it.
"My name is Heart. I didn't copy the Doctor, it's sort of a traditional thing." Heart ran her fingers through her raven hair, pulling the choppy strands back from her face.
"So what, you're an old companion?" Rose asked, having the best comeback if Heart followed the prompt but the two thousand year old Time Lady just cocked her head to the side, confused.
"No, I'm his wife." Heart answered, Ten took her hand while Rose straightened instantly, all her hopes crashing in an instant.
"H-his wife? You didn't tell me you had a wife." Rose accused, staring at the Doctor as if he had betrayed her trust.
Ten looked down. "Neither did I. I thought she died, along with Gallifrey and the Time Lords, but since we went through a time fissure, which is a tear in the fabric of reality, most dangerous and highly unlikely unless provoked, two opposite points of my time stream have glued themselves together. Heart is from the future, as is that TARDIS and my future-self." Ten explained, looking at Rose in sympathy, they had just come from school with the Krillitane and while he was certainly close to developing feelings for Rose, partially due to his last version of himself having an influence; the sudden appearance of his wife just brought all of that love and joy that he tried to recreate with this tenth regeneration and now, he finally had it.
"Heart! I fixed the TARDIS, she's resting now so it'll be a while before we're able to go, but I believe that it won't be-" Eleven stepped out of the TARDIS, looking up to see his tenth self and the young Rose Tyler and it seemed that Rose was having one of her jealous spouts from the way she stared at the Time Lady with such envy. Ten, Heart and Rose all turned to see the Eleven walking up to them, "am I disturbing something?" Heart's face melted into a beautiful smile and Ten's eyes widened.
"No! It can't be!" Ten looked at Eleven. "How many regenerations has it been?"
"I'm the eleventh regeneration, so we're quite clear on that front. Hello, Doctor." Eleven bowed his head slightly in respect, to which Ten reciprocated, a cheeky grin on his face.
"Doctor," he addressed Eleven, "how in the world did we manage to regenerate and have such a big chin, what, the big ears weren't enough?"
"Oi!" Eleven quickly touched his chin, defending his handsome good looks. "It makes me chiseled, thank you very much. And you're one to talk. You're a matchstick your so skinny, you turn to the side and you're invisible!" Ten looked so offended and the identical affront facial features on their two different faces made Heart giggle.
"Oh, Doctor's. What will I do with you?" Heart crossed her arms, a sweet smile on her face that took them all back to Gallifrey while Rose just stood there awkwardly, not sure what to do.
It was then that Ten just remembered and stood next to Rose. "Uh, Rose, meet the Doctor of the future, my eleventh regeneration."
Eleven nodded to the nineteen-year-old; two thousand years of living and he had wizened up much more than Ten. He didn't really see the appeal of Rose anymore, he only felt guilt for what he had done to her, his hearts belonged to Heart. "Rose, nice to see you again."
"Again? I've never met you before! Doctor, what's going on?" Rose turned to Ten.
"Oh, Rose, you haven't been with me long enough to know what's going on? Remember my last self? You know, leather jacket? Big ears?" As Rose nodded cautiously, Ten pointed to Eleven, who put an arm around Heart's waist, looking down at her as she craned her head to look up as they spoke. "There's the man I turn into."
Rose nodded, even though her mind was still racing with all the information that had just been delivered to her.
Heart looked at both Doctors and looked around. "Shall we explore the year 2016, or are we going to sit here staring at each other?" She asked, smiling gently, before she took both incarnations of her husband's hands and Ten offered his hand to Rose, who shook her head, using a forced smile as he frowned.
"I might go exploring me-self, check out 2016." She smiled.
Ten nodded, and looked at her sternly, "call me if you get lost."
As Rose nodded, the three Gallifreyan's headed off for their own journey.
The two Doctor's and their Heart.