Rose Tyler came home from a long day at Torchwood, hoping to find comfort in her husband's arms. She walked inside and saw her baby, David, and her brother Tony, fast asleep on the couch, in a tangle of pillows and blankets, the product of a destroyed fort. She searched for her love, but he was nowhere to be found. "Mum, where's John?" she questioned, her voice reverberating through the walls of the almost empty flat. "He went out sweetie. Said he needed to clear his head." Rose heard her respond from the other room. She knew right where he would go, and walked out the door.
When Rose got trapped in the parallel universe the first time, the process of adding a Rose Tyler into existence was a relatively easy one because Pete worked at Torchwood and pulled some strings. When the Doctor arrived, things weren't as simple. He couldn't just be called "the Doctor" so they decided on the name "John Smith" as he used that alias many times before and was quite comfortable with it. Rose, of course, would always call him Doctor, but did name him as John when speaking about him.
Rose arrived at the TARDIS at the entrance of the little patch of trees in the park, and not where they had originally left it, a few yards in. She found this peculiar but also thought that it might have finished growing and that the Doctor moved it when he came here. She went to unlock the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Doctor? Why has the TARDIS moved? And why won't my key work? Let me in, mum said you went out, and this is the only place that you'd go. Doctor?" She asked, receiving no answer.
Inside, the Master and John Smith were panicking, trying to figure out what to do about the situation in front of them. "Well, she can't just waltz in here and see me talking to a strange man inside the TARDIS and think it's normal. I'll bet that she's already suspicious that the TARDIS isn't where we last left it." John explained. "Well, it's my TARDIS and I doubt that she would notice something that insignificant." The Master replied. "She's not some stupid human, Master. She's brilliant. She would probably even notice the difference if it was just me standing here by myself in the console room." John sighed. "Wait. The TARDIS let me in with my key, why didn't it let her in?" "She likes you, apparently. Maybe she thought you were the Doctor." the Master replied. "Why? Were you searching for him?" John asked. The Master looked at him with sad eyes, and John understood. He was about to speak when he was cut off by the sound of Rose's voice. "Doctor, I can hear you in there. Just open the door. Please?" John looked at the Master, and they silently made a decision to let her in.
"There you are. I've missed you." Rose said while embracing her husband. "Are you doing alright? Any better?" Her eyes then shifted to the figure behind him. "Doctor…who's that?" She motioned toward the Master. "Rose…sit down. There's something I need to tell you." John led her toward the stairs. Wait, the last time I checked on the TARDIS, the stairs were on the other side…and the inside was more…brown. I mean, I know she can be full of surprises, but I wouldn't think that she would change that much and-"
"This isn't our TARDIS." John cut her off.
"What do you mean 'isn't our TARDIS?' It's the only TARDIS in existence in this universe. How could it not be ours?" Her voice rose.
"Just…sit." Rose complied and sat on the stairs, eyes full of questions looking up at her Doctor. "This is the Master's TARDIS, and this-" he gestured to the other man, "-is the Master." Rose was about to unleash all of her questions when John stopped her. "He's a time lord. Like me…or, well, the Doctor. They used to be friends back on Gallifrey. I can remember running across those red fields under that burnt orange sky…always running. The twin suns illuminated the whole planet…and when the sunlight would fall on his face at the perfect time…" He looked to the Master, who looked back with such intensity in his glassy eyes. John continued. "When we graduated from the Academy, I wanted to see the universe, to explore the stars, to just get a taste of everything that was out there. I-"
"He ran away from me." The Master interrupted. "He left me alone on that beautiful planet. With no one to ease the pain that was growing stronger every day. So, needless to say, we were not great friends after that, were we, Doctor?"
"We became enemies, yes. But then the Time War came, and I was the last one left. But the Master…always with his surprises. He escaped the War and was hiding on Earth, as a human. But he had grown vengeful and evil and I tried to do everything to stop him. The plan was to have him in the TARDIS with me, to travel the universe together, as the last time lords. But, he thought of it as imprisonment, and when he was shot by his wife, he refused to regenerate. I had to burn his body. That was the only way to ensure he could never come back."
"And yet, here I am." The Master spoke up, with much more softness than the last time he said it to the Doctor at the wasteland. "But you only have half of the story, Doctor. Aren't you wondering how I got back, how I'm alive?" the Master questioned. "How I sacrificed my life so you could continue to travel the stars with your silly little companions and so I could get my revenge on the Time Lords for making me insane?"
"What is he talking about Doctor?" Rose's voice startled both of them as they forgot she was in the room. "I'm not sure. Explain yourself, Master." John replied.
"Hmmm…maybe later. I have not eaten anything in quite a while, so I'm going to go out and scavenge for some food. I suggest you follow me out the door, since this is my TARDIS." The Master said, cheekily.
Rose and John reluctantly followed the Master out the door.
