Chapter One

The Doctor opened his eyes groggily. Oh, his head hurt. He raised his hand, only to feel someone in his way. Someone had their hand their hand on his forehead. As soon as he made contact, the said hand snatched away.

"Doctor?" The voice was tentative. Almost scared. Wait a minute… He knew that voice.

"Rose?" he whispered. The Doctor sat up and stared into the eyes of his companion as his vision became clear. She seemed different. Older. Her eyes weren't the young, curious ones he knew. This girl's eyes were old and sad. And her hair was different. A more, yellow blonde. It was shorter too. Even if just slightly.

But she looked like Rose. Painfully like Rose. But, it couldn't be. This wasn't Rose Tyler. This couldn't be Rose Tyler. Not his Rose…

"Who are you?!" he asked. The Rose-look-alike shot up straight, hurt flashing across her face. A hand came out of nowhere and clutched onto her shoulder. The Doctor glared at the stranger. Who was he?! "And who the Hell are you? Where's Rose?!"

"I'm Rose," the doppelganger answered, the hurt very pronounced in her voice. "Don't you know me?"

"Rose, I think we should leave…" the other man started. The Doctor looked right at the girl. She looked so worried. So sad. He had hurt her. Guilt flooded through him. But he had to know…

"Where's my Rose?" The Doctor asked again, gentler this time. The other man looked around.

"Actually, that's a very good question. He obviously knows you, so that means he's already met you, but then, where are you?" he said, getting up and turning on the spot. 'Rose' was still looking at The Doctor, her eyes searching his face as though she couldn't believe it was him.

Feeling a little uncomfortable, The Doctor got up. As soon as pressure was applied to his leg however, it gave way. Rose swept in out of nowhere and caught him.

"You don't change much, do you?" she said, trying a light tone of voice. The Doctor gave her a smile and let her guide him to the captain's chair. This had to be Rose. The feel of her hand in his and the support she gave him. This was definitely the same girl. But why did she look so different?

"HEY!" The Doctor shouted. The man leapt back from the controls of his ship. Rose whipped around to look at him. "Get away from my ship!"

"Calm down! I know what I'm doing!" the man defended. The Doctor laughed.

"I doubt it, that's a very advanced piece of technology, Pretty Boy. The TARDIS is the greatest ship in the Universe; do you really think a little human like you knows how she works?"

"Pretty boy?!" the man exclaimed. "Why is it always-? First River now-"

"Who's River?" Rose asked. The man's face dropped. His mouth gaped for a few seconds.

"She's… no one," he said, showing great discomfort. Rose looked away and gave a small smile.

"Right, of course," she said, trying to hide the offence in her voice. She looked up, a very forced smile. "The latest in the long line, yeah?"

"I never said that," the man snapped. The two of them were silent for a long time. The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. Who the Hell was this guy anyway? He was obviously an idiot. Even worse than Ricky.

"C'mere, Rose," The Doctor said, holding out his arms. Rose looked at him for a moment, as if she was lost. Then, she let him pull her into a hug. This was without a doubt Rose. It had to be. The Doctor held onto her tightly. Only Rose could send that shock of electricity through him when they touched.

The man behind them at the console suddenly had a very irritated face on him. Despite himself, The Doctor felt pleased.

"Right!" the man exclaimed, making Rose shoot out of The Doctor's grasp and up to the other man's side. "The TARDIS has suffered some severe damage to her direction circuits. Like they were changed too quickly…"

"Maybe he made a mistake?"

"No, I think something changed them for him," the man mused darkly. He turned to The Doctor. "Do mind if I just-?"

The Doctor frowned and shook his head. "I don't think so. No one touches my ship!"

"Fine then! God, I'm-" he stopped. Rose suddenly gave the man a wary look. "I'm very hard-done by." The Doctor knew that wasn't what he was going to say.

"Maybe, I'll let you look around, maybe-" The Doctor was going to do no such thing. "If you tell me who you are. And tell me where you've put my friend."

"I already said I don't know where she is! And me?!" the man pointed to himself. The Doctor looked at him fully. He was wearing a blue suit and red canvas shoes. His hair was wild and brown and he had big chestnut eyes, which were now opened incredulously. "Me? Oh, I'm no one."

"No one isn't a name," The Doctor countered.

"Smith, John Smith" the man said quickly. The Doctor raised his eyebrows. You have got to be kidding me…

Rose dropped her face into her hands, smirking. 'John Smith' glared at her. But it wasn't a real glare, more a playful one.

"Thinks she's funny, but I am so not amused," John said, a smile tugging at his lips. Rose started laughing. It was an awkward laugh. Uncertain and careful. But still a laugh. The Doctor felt something grip in his stomach. There was no way it was jealously though. No way…

"Look, who are you people? What happened? And where's Rose?!" The Doctor pressed, ignoring Rose's laughter.

"I'm Rose," Rose said. She had turned back to face him and her face had changed drastically. All emotion had been cleared. She suddenly looked very business-like. "Look, do you know where you are?"

"I assume, Earth. It's always Earth," The Doctor replied, giving Rose a grin. She only smiled once before letting her face fall back into its hard set. She glanced over to John. He gave her a curt nod.

"You're not on Earth," he said. The Doctor looked at him. John looked away as though thinking. "Well, not really. Well, sort of. Well, you're on Parallel Earth."

The Doctor blinked; "Parallel Earth?" He turned back to Rose. "So, you're not my Rose, but a parallel Rose."

"No, I'm the same Rose," Rose replied. She looked as if she was about to continue, but with another glance at John, she remained silent. The Doctor felt unease creep up and envelope him.

"What's going on?" His voice was deep and demanding.

"You're trapped on Parallel Earth, about two or three years ahead in the future," John explained. He was looking at the TARDIS console, but more so looking through it. The man was completely consumed in his own thoughts, leaving Rose, (or Parallel Rose), looking rather lost.

"But I can't be on Parallel Earth!" The Doctor exclaimed. Parallel? All the things he knew and saw, wouldn't mean anything or may not even have happened here. And Rose… She had to be back in his Universe, regardless of what this Rose said. His Rose was in the other Universe, and therefore he needed to be too. "It's impossible to just hop from one world to another! You just can't do it!"

John rolled his eyes.

"Its dimensional relapse," he sighed in a bored way. The Doctor thought for a moment.

"For a dimensional relapse, the walls of the universes would have to have been weakened or torn away completely! And that's impossible!" The Doctor replied. He ran the idea in his head fifty-two times and there was no way it was possible.

"Yeah, well… Recently a little, um, pocket of time was created," John explained, gaining a more enthusiastic tone. "It sort of created a whole bunch of dimensional, snags and errors. Time and Space got caught up as things from the certain times and spaces got picked up and placed inside the pocket. The things were all connected to their times and spaces and when they were pulled together Time and Space were sort of dragged along too. That caused a whole bunch of wires getting crossed. The problem's over now, but I'm guessing as the dimensions were closing, this one and the other may have, sort of, I dunno, snapped-" he clapped his hands together for effect. "-together. Like an elastic band being pulled back and released. And on the impact of this dimensional relapse, I'm guessing you kind of, slipped through. Probably because of the damages the TARDIS gained from the direction exchange."

The Doctor stared at John blankly.

"Looks like you finally found yourself a boyfriend with some brains, Rose," The Doctor smirked at his Parallel companion. Rose did not return the smile and turned to walk around the console.

"When you say, direction change-?"

"Transmat," John replied, his face slowly turning into recognition. "No… Oh, no, no, no, no, no!" John suddenly seemed to leap into life and started running around the TARDIS. The Doctor protested angrily, but his leg kept him down, and John ignored him anyway.

"D-John what is it?" Rose asked, her eyes darting to The Doctor for the smallest second. The Doctor felt uneasy once more.

The man dragged Rose over to the other side of the console, and pointed at the monitor. Whispering to her rapidly, his face becoming more and more desperate. Rose's face fell slack. The Doctor swallowed. What was so important about a transmat?

"Excuse me, Doctor," John said looking up. "What was your last destination? And who were you with?" The Doctor snorted.

"You want me to divulge information about my travelling to a random stranger?" The Doctor smirked and looked at Rose again. "I take my last comment back, Rose. He's just as thick as Rickey-"

"Mickey", both Rose and John chimed at once. Rose stepped forwards. "Doctor, please. It's really important you tell us." The Doctor looked at Rose closely. She was so different.

"Raxacoricofallapatorius, with Rose Tyler and Captain Jack Harkness," The Doctor replied sullenly. Rose smiled. The Doctor couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed. She was smiling at him like she was smiling at a child who had done something he was told. He looked away. "Look, if you don't mind. I'd like to get to my infirmary. Not sure if you noticed, but my leg needs attention!" The Doctor stood up, only for his leg to give way and send him to the floor.

Rose was at his side in an instant. She looked to John. The strange man rolled his eyes.

"I'd forgotten how stubborn-" he stopped talking and looked at Rose, then groaned. "Oh alright, bring him to the infirmary. If it shuts him up." The Doctor glared at John response.

"C'mon," Rose helped The Doctor to his feet and guided him towards the TARDIS corridor.

"Oi! And you! John whatever!" John looked up from the console at The Doctor. The Doctor lowered his voice, to an almost growl-like pitch.

"Don't touch my ship."

John stepped away from the console, his dark eyes strange and distant beneath his glasses. The Doctor let Rose guide him to the infirmary.

Who was that man? There was no way he could know how to work the TARDIS. No one but Time Lords knew how to fly, or even communicate fully with a TARDIS. Unless… The Doctor shook the ridiculous notion from his mind. There was no way John was a Time Lord. He'd know. And John was human. Human as could be.

I hope you like it! :)