So I have an overall plot, up to a point, after that I'll figure it out. :) Excitedness, this is my first fanfic. Yay.

Chapter 2

Mysteries

The Doctor looked over the tall "stranger." He had immediately recognized him as his last regeneration, but this man looked older than the Doctor had ever seen him.

Maybe it's just the fact that our TARDIS' came together. He hadn't missed the slight differences in his TARDIS, the slightly greener tone to the walls, small additions to the console, some of the familiar gadgets missing to be replaced by equally familiar but different ones. It's not like this hasn't happened before. He thought, remembering the time his fifth self had appeared on his TARDIS, but that time he had remembered it. This time he had no previous knowledge. He should remember appearing on a future TARDIS, it wouldn't have been that far in the past. His memory wasn't that bad.

Of course there was another possibility, but the Doctor tried as hard as he could to pretend it wasn't an option. His thoughts were interrupted by Rory.

"Um Doctor?" Rory stepped forward, "Who is that, and how did they get on-"

"My space ship, yes I know," The Doctor cut him off. He couldn't let Amy and Rory know this was his past self. He didn't know why, he just felt that he shouldn't. Most of the times he had that feeling it ended up being right. "Hello, what's your name?" He walked forward, not extending his hand in case something bad happened. He didn't remember this so this was new, and it was fragile. If it turned out it was that not-to-be-mentioned possibility then it would possible be even more fragile and he didn't want to risk ripping a hole in the universe.

His tenth self responded quickly, "Hello, I'm the Doctor-" the eleventh Doctor shook his head the tiniest bit, hoping his tenth self would catch on, "I'm the Doctor for the Indigo Fleet of, well, have you been to the Andromeda galaxy? Because, if you haven't then you wouldn't know what I'm talking about. Well, you can just call me Doctor Smith, or John… because that's my name." He died off, scratching the back his neck awkwardly. The Doctor allowed himself a small, sad smile at the rambling. "So, what're your names?"

The Doctor frowned, he was going to use that name, now he couldn't. He should have expected the newcomer to use that name, after all they were the same. Now he would have to think of a new name.

"I'm Amy, this is Rory and that's the-"

"They're the Ponds," the Doctor cut in, "Amy, and Rory, and I'm… Craig." The name of the human he had shared a flat with a year before popped into his head. "Funnily enough, I'm a doctor too. Rory here is my patient." He started to whisper, "Not right in the head, poor chap."

"Hey!" Rory protested, "That's not-"

Just then a familiar voice came floating down the hallway behind them.

"Doctor?" Her sleepy voice made his hearts beat harder, he felt like they would burst out of his chest at any moment, "Who're you talking to?"

'John Smith' glanced at the Doctor and then proceeded to reply, "Rose, you'd better come here. We have some… visitors."

"Visitors?" She said. She walked past Amy and Rory, staring at them, until she reached 'John's' side. "Who're you?"

The Doctor forced a smile, "These are the Ponds, Amy and Rory, and I'm Doctor Craig." He glanced back at the Ponds, hoping they would get the message to use the fake name.

"And this is Rose," 'John Smith' said, "Rose Smith."

At that Rose glanced up and exchanged a glance with John.

"Well then," The Doctor clapped his hands together, trying to ignore the beauti- the newcomer. "Let's find out what the hell happened."

The Doctor watched Doctor Craig lead the way into the console room. He was sure it was a fake name, he hadn't missed the tiny warning Craig had given him. The Doctor let the idea pop into his head for a second before he shoved in the back of his mind with other thoughts he wanted to ignore. He would love to have contact with the other universe, but then again, the last time the parallel worlds had had contact was when all the universes were being ripped apart.

No, let's pretend that possibility didn't exist. He wanted it too much, and it was too dangerous. He let the Ponds walk ahead, pausing a moment so he could speak to Rose without being overheard.

"What's going on Doctor?" Rose whispered as the Doctor draped an arm around her shoulder.

"Well, as far as I know, we've sort of… collided… with another ship," The Doctor said, trying to find the right words.

"But I didn't feel anything." Rose said, confused.

"I know," the Doctor started walking again, leading Rose, "Which means they have some technology which allows them to do this. We haven't just hit another ship Rose. The ships have melded together. Which is why you need to call me John Smith."

"Because they might be an enemy?" Rose asked.

"Because they might not like finding out a Time Lord is on their with them," Unless this was a trap. He didn't mention the last bit, he knew Rose wouldn't like it but he still wanted to protect her from danger, even if it was imaginary. He hoped. He quickly went through all the enemies he had ever made in his long life, "Because I can only think of a few species that could ever have the technology to accomplish this."

"And you don't want them to know who you are because they might…" She let the words hang in the air, not daring say the word.

"Yes," They had arrived in the Console room.

Doctor Craig was moving quickly around the console, pressing buttons, pulling levers, and even typing on an old typewriter.

The Doctor went to join him, realizing he was scanning the TARDIS, or possibly even TARDIS', if that hopefully non-existent possibility was reality. Craig seemed to be having trouble finding one of the controls, the Doctor wasn't surprised, all the controls he was familiar with had either been replaced or moved slightly. He walked to the opposite side of the console and slid his hand underneath, searching for the button that he knew would solve Craig's problem.

Instead of a button he felt a very unfamiliar bump with what seemed to be small spikes dotted around it.

He ducked down and took a good look at it. It was round, about half the size of his hand, a mixture of a dark brown with streaks of red and some black with white spots. There seemed to be two types of spikes, shorter, fatter, black and white ones and longer, skinnier, brown and red ones. It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the instruments.

"Craig, is this yours?" The Doctor asked.

Craig crouched next to him, "No, is it yours?"

"No." The Doctor looked at it closely. "Rose, can you get my," he glanced at Craig and his friends, "a screwdriver from my room?" He had left it in his brown coat when they had gone to bed earlier.

"Be right back," Rose turned and walked into the depths of the TARDIS.

"Amy, Rory," Craig glanced at them, seeming to see an opportunity, "Can you go and get my other jacket from the kitchen? It has some tools I could use."

"You need the both of us to get it?" Amy said suspicious. "Couldn't Rory go by himself."

"Well if two ships have melded together it might be better if you two went together, in case you get lost."

"That girl, Rose, she-"

"Amy," Craig looked up and gave her look that accompanied his next comment perfectly. "I have more better things to do than argue with you about who gets my tools from the kitchen."

"Fine," Amy rolled her eyes, "Come on then Rory. I'll make sure you don't get lost."

Craig returned his attention to the strange device, seeming not to notice the Doctor looking at him.

"Interesting friend you have there," the Doctor said.

"I'm the Doctor," Craig turned to look at him, surprising the Doctor. Then his heart seemed to fall all the way to his feet. The last possibility explaining .their circumstance was true

"And so am I," He said.

"The Doctor, or…" 'Craig' let his words die off.

"I'm the meta-crisis Doctor." He informed his original.

"Oh," It seemed as if the others worst fears had been realized. The same worst fears he, the meta-crisis Doctor, had he suspected, they were in fact the same person, even if he was more human than the one calling himself Craig,"And you were in the parallel universe?"

The Doctor nodded.

"But…" The other looked away and then pulled a long cylindrical object out of his pocket.

"Is that the sonic screwdriver?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes," He grinned, "New model."

"Any new features?" The Doctor was interested.

"Better scanning ability," The other Doctor held it up to the circular object and turned on the screwdriver. The tip lit up green and a comfortingly familiar noise accompanied it. "Like this. Hmm, again very not good."

The Doctor was about to ask what was when Rose walked in. "Here it is," she walked up and handed him his sonic screwdriver.

Instead of asking the question he leaned forward and scanned it with his screwdriver.

"Ah," As he looked at the readouts he suddenly understood why his original self was so worried.

Cliffhanger :-), well as good as I could make it. Sorta just happened. Well anyways. I like this story so shouldn't take long to update.