Author's Note: Thank you for the lovely reviews:) This chapter begins in the human Doctor's POV. I hope you enjoy it. Remember that reviews are greatly appreciated:)
A sudden buzzing noise reverberated throughout the small living room, causing the dozing man to jolt upward.
Slowly he was aroused from his slumber, dazed and confused to begin with.
His bleary vision began to settle as he peered cautiously about the room, recognizing the peaceful face of his wife who slept beside him.
What? Huh? What are we doing in here?
The human Doctor shifted his gaze downward, noting the fact that his weary limbs were sprawled across the comfy sofa, with Rose nestling in the crook of his arm, her hand dreamily pressed to her stomach.
"Oh, right." He spoke aloud, finally beginning to recall the events of the night.
Replaying his recent memories in his Time Lord mind, the man in the pinstriped suit attempted to sort out his jumbled musings.
We were outside, gazing at the stars. Talking…and we went back inside because it was getting late. Then we talked for hours and hours…and somehow we both fell asleep in here.
His dark eyes shifted back down to his wife, and his heart twisted slightly at the way she was silently stroking her belly.
"Oh, Rose…" The Doctor's husky whisper was cut off by another startling sound that originated from a nearby coffee table.
Again? This can't be good…
Relinquishing his phone, the man hastily moved it to his ear.
He was only vaguely aware that the young blond had begun to stir, since his attention was fixated on the trembling voice at the end of the line.
"I-I'm s-sorry, sir, but we didn't know who else to contact." A familiar voice stuttered.
"This had better be important. It's three o' clock in the morning, mind you. Out with it, then." The Doctor quipped, his tone of voice similar to a certain fiery Donna Noble.
"I-It's r-really very bad, sir, the situation, I mean. You see, our scans detect that the walls of reality are opening again."
"What do you mean?" The human Doctor raised an eyebrow, before starting to pace nervously about the room.
"Doctor, wha—" Rose whimpered, her heavy eyelids opening.
"Shhhhh." Intent on continuing the telephone conversation, the man calmly lifted a finger to his lips. As a result, his wife's forehead scrunched up slightly. "It's Torchwood," the Doctor informed her, his fingers still clasping the phone to his ear.
"I said, 'what do you mean?'" He annunciated each constant sound very purposefully.
"T-there's no time to explain, I'm sorry, but we need you to get over here right away, sir," the other man's voice was very shaky.
"It would be rather good to know exactly what I'm getting myself into. And blimey, if you call me 'sir,' one more time, I swear—" Suddenly aware of the sternness in Rose's eyes, the Doctor piped down.
"Sorry, sir—I mean, Dr. Smith, but this is a code yellow. And I'm afraid that this line may no longer be secure, so I must hang up, now."
He felt his heart pound rhythmically in his chest, its tempo increasing by the second.
"But—" The human Doctor started, but halted as soon as a small click rumbled from the other end of the line.
"What's happened?" Rose inquired; already keen enough to realize that the situation was very serious.
"They want me to get over there as soon as possible." His tone was laced with an odd mixture of weariness and fear.
"But, why? At this time of morning, what could they possibly need you there for?" Her voice was groggy and the circles beneath her eyes were heavily apparent.
"To be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure, but they've issued a code yellow, and that's obviously a very bad sign." Purposely concealing a small amount of knowledge on that topic from his wife, the Doctor decided that it would be best not to inform Rose about the possibility of the walls of reality opening again, unless he was completely certain of the fact.
"I that case, I think you'd better get to Torchwood." She eyed him somewhat warily.
A bit of sadness was evident in her expression, and she stroked her abdomen methodically.
That was an obvious indication if there ever was one.
Rose needed him. And he didn't want to leave her.
"I can't just abandon you like that, Rose; your well-being far outweighs whatever problems Torchwood has landed its way into." Even then, the man was conflicted, unsure as to which issue was truly his top priority.
If the walls of reality genuinely were reopening, then, as the only man in this universe with the knowledge of the Time Lords, he was the sole person equipped for dealing with that prospect.
"I'm fine, Doctor." The sorrow in her eyes contradicted that statement. "You'd best not delay any longer. If they want you over there this bad, then they must have a bloody good reason for it."
"Well, I suppose you're right. I'd better get to Torchwood, or else they might resort to desperate measures to ensure my arrival."
"Wouldn't want that, now would we? You know what they're capable of. So, off you go, then." She tried to maintain a smile, though in truth she was battling the urge to come along, despite the fact that she was in no state to do so.
"Alright. I'll hopefully be able to sort out whatever they need me to. But, you take care of yourself, yeah? Get some rest, and then by the time you wake up I'll be back, already. You'll hardly even realize I've been gone."
Unless this situation is as bad as I fear it could be.
This inner thought taunted his mind, reminding him of the reality of what could be occurring at that very instant.
He could tell by the way Rose was staring at him that she was not oblivious to his concerns.
The Doctor's wife was perceptive, but after knowing him for so long she was willing to trust him completely, even if it meant she had to wait for a better time to learn of the answers she desired.
After giving his wife a quick goodbye kiss, the man in the pinstriped suit made his way out of the room, having only a vague idea of what he was getting himself into.
His single human heart drummed rapidly in his chest.
There was one line of that recent phone conversation that he couldn't seem to brush off. It pulsated through his mind unrelentingly, until he could no longer deny the truth and the terror it ensued.
'The walls of reality are opening again.'
Little did he know that this was only the least of his troubles.
"Dr. Smith, thank you for coming. I apologize for the terrible timing, but as they say, 'desperate times call for desperate measures.'"A paranoid looking new-recruit fingered his clipboard nervously, before ushering for the man in the pinstriped suit to proceed down the corridor.
The human Doctor had half-expected Torchwood's underground London location to be completely disorientated, but instead, the workers who occupied the night shift seemed relatively unfazed.
"I sincerely hope you have a good reason for calling me here this early in the morning, especially considering the fact that not a single person in this area besides you exhibits any signs of paranoia over a situation as serious as this." Shooting him a look, the Doctor mounted the tension between them.
The man did not respond.
For the next few minutes the two men continued through a series of secret hallways and areas of the complex that only a select group of people were even aware of.
Neither of them spoke a word.
"So, tell me, Mr.—" The Doctor hastily read the man's nametag. "Greene, is it? Why is it that in an organization as covert as Torchwood the threat of potential universe collapse doesn't seem to bother anyone?"
Looking down at the ground sheepishly, the other man spoke very quietly.
"Given the lack of knowledge we currently have on this subject, we thought it best to keep that information well- guarded until we are completely certain as to what exactly we are dealing with."
"What do you mean, 'lack of knowledge?' I know for a fact that Torchwood has dealt with this sort of thing before. Big, metal men suddenly disappearing. The stars going out."
A glint of fear flashed in the young man's eyes.
The Doctor was beginning to put the pieces together.
"Oh, I see, that's not the real problem, am I right? There's something else, something you haven't told me that even the mighty Torchwood can't seem to wrap their minds around. That's why you need me, isn't it? There's something you lot don't understand, and it's got nothing to do with the end of the universe."
As the two entered a tiny metallic room, the young Mr. Greene shuffled about nervously.
Along the walls were numerous flickering screens, all of various sizes, flashing from one image to another.
But in the very center of the chamber, an alarming image stood out above the others.
A digital map of Norway shone brightly, a large red dot hovering over a very familiar location.
"But, that's—"
"Dårlig Ulv-Stranden. More commonly known as Bad Wolf Bay."
"Yes, I know that, but why are you monitoring it?" The human Doctor furrowed his brow.
"As you well know, four years ago, precisely, our scans here at Torchwood detected a breach in the fabric of this universe at that location, which had been previously noted two years prior to that. We've been consistently monitoring it ever since, and there appeared to be no unusual readings until about a day ago."
Squinting at the tiny blurbs of letters and numbers scrawled across the screen, the man in the pinstriped suit attempted to make sense of it all.
But that means—no, that can't be right. Those readings must be off. The walls of reality were sealed, and even if the TARDIS somehow managed to land in this universe again, the readings would have been stronger. These are too weak, as if only a single person was brought here, but how can that be possible?
"A day ago, you said?"
"Yes, as soon as we detected the peculiarities, some of our top operatives in that region investigated the area."
"Did you find anything, a little blue box, perhaps?"
The young man appeared to be confused.
"What? No, no, nothing of that sort. But we did find something extremely odd. In fact, that's why we called you here. There's someone we need to show you."
A venomous figure slithered through the foggy, dreamlike haze that consumed the woman's mind, wreaking havoc upon her unconscious form.
' We haven't finished with you, yet, Melody Pond. We're coming for you. And your child.'
'But, you can't, please; I beg of you…I've already done what you wanted.'
'Oh, I'm not so sure about that. Did you really think that you could hide the truth forever? Breaking out of Stormcage Containment Facility numerous times a day, was obvious enough.'
'I don't know what you're talking about.'
'I think you do. We've calculated that within the past five years alone, you've escaped over one thousand times. All those late night excursions and you thought we couldn't see. Oh, but you were so wrong. So very, very wrong.'
'What do you mean?'
'Poor little Melody Pond. The girl without a home. Who fell in love with the man she was destined to murder. But that was always part of the plan. And now you've created the ultimate weapon we've always wanted. And there's absolutely nothing you can possibly do to stop us. No precious Doctor to save you, now.'
The woman with the eye patch cackled wickedly, her scathing eyes shattering the broken remnants of River's soul.
Lurching upwards, the curly haired woman was forcefully aroused, her brow drenched with tiny beads of sweat.
Her green-tinged eyes identified an unfamiliar room with bleak, white walls.
"I-it was just a dream. Only a dream."
It was then that her drowsy mind became embittered by a sudden wave of uncertainty.
"Where is she? Where have you taken her? What is this place?" River Song was completely aware of the fact that he daughter was nowhere in sight.
Struggling to move, she combatted the tubes and straps that snaked around her fatigued body.
A shot of pain ravaged her limbs, and she fell back hard upon the cold metal surface of the table.
Her heart pounded in her ears as she feared that the woman of her nightmares had finally captured her after all.
Doctor, she inwardly screamed for the man that her soul longed for more than anything.
But her efforts were utterly useless.
River Song was alone. So terribly alone, just as she had been so many times as a child.
Hot tears poured down her cheeks uncontrollably.
Through the bleary shaped that shrouded her vision a figure finally emerged.
"Hey, hey, calm down, it's alright. You're safe here."
Trying to break free, once again, River Song watched as the man's eyes widened.
"Please, don't try to struggle. You'll only worsen your injuries."
"W-what is this place? What have you done with my daughter?" She berated the stranger with questions.
"This is Torchwood London. You're safe here, I assure you. And your daughter is in the next room over. When we found you two on that Norwegian beach, you were unconscious and your baby was screaming. She's alright, though, miraculously she didn't appear to have any injuries."
It's probably her Time Lord physique. It's even stronger than mine.
"Thank God," River breathed, only slightly relieved. "Can I see her?" She inquired, still doubtful of the man's claims.
"Eventually. But, first I have to ask you a few—"
A loud buzzing sound resounded from the man's communicator.
"What is it?" He barked, obviously a bit irritated.
Another man's voice hummed something low and incomprehensible to River.
"Alright. She's awake. You can bring him in."
For an instant, River's heart was filled with an impossible hope.
It was quickly shattered when she heard an unfamiliar voice approaching the door.
"I still don't understand what you want me to see, Mr. Greene." The odd man sounded weary.
"Sir, this is the woman we found on Bad Wolf Bay…"
"Woman? Really? Who could—" As soon as the spiky haired man entered River's line of vision, he stopped abruptly, his body suddenly paralyzed. "No, it can't be…"
River's body trembled.
I-I've seen him before, but where? Why does he seem eerily familiar?
Scanning the man's handsome features, she tried to mentally place him.
Her mind scrambled through a series of shattered memories until she was at last able to match his face.
Visualizing a certain tattered diary page, River Song recalled the day she had stumbled upon an old photograph of this exact man, and eagerly sketched his face on a white sheet filled with other faces.
This wasn't just any man, this was the Doctor. A younger version, no doubt.
But not her Doctor.
The intensity of his warm eyes brought her attention back to his star-struck face.
Those dark pools of brown registered a fragment of recognition, but there was hardly any love in them. Only shock. And sorrow.
Perhaps that was what hurt the most.
"Doctor?" River asked meekly, her chest aching.
He didn't answer. He just stared, unblinking.
"Yes, this is Dr. John Smith, head physician at Torchwood London." The young man beside the Doctor attempted to provide an explanation.
John Smith. That's one of his aliases.
"Dr. Smith, sir, are you alright?"
No response.
"Sir, what is it, what's wrong?"
The Doctor's bottom lip twitched slightly.
"N-nothing. I-it's just, well, I've seen this woman before. A long, long time ago."
Note: So, I'm sure the next chapter will be even better, now that I've finished setting it up. Eventually, the 11th Doctor will come into play, but you'll have to stay tuned for that. Feel free to go to my profile if you would like to read more of my stories. Please take this time to leave a review.
Have a blessed day!