Summary: The Doctor, in all his many parts, realizes that despite all of his selves slowly transitioning into First Bodies now, none of him are willing to give up Rose. Her status skyrockets when she adds twelve husbands to the one she already has. Eleven finally heals the breech between himself and Rose...and not long afterward, the caves realize she's also quite firmly in charge.

Life and Living

It took a lot of explaining and examples provided by the Doctors, but the priestess and the people finally understood that they were not brothers, instead, they were several aspects of the exact same man and with one of his selves mated to Rose, they all were. It might have taken longer if Twelve hadn't been fatally injured by a wooly rhino, but he had and before long a new Doctor appeared out of the glowfire and he was himself healed. Two for the price of one...

Thirteen stood blinking in confusion at his prior selves, then at the now healed previous version and complained. "Unlimited regenerations? Okay, now...that's just weird."

"New universe and it answers to Rose...she refuses to lose any of us, ever again...so we can each be a me first and then after the new me is being me, the old ones are each a him and together we are an 'us'." Second reminded him. "Does take a bit to wrap even our minds around it, but it makes sense. New rules, too. see. And Fourteenth us has the twin of the TARDIS that came here first, split our timeline in half, one to go to Amy and the other came here to Rose. But the one that went to Amy has the option to...well...blend with the same self here, when he passes."

"Where's Seven?" Eight suddenly asked, looking around curiously.

"Rose ambushed him." Second grinned. Said something about curing lessons. And skin."

"Ew. It's not that kind of lesson, mes." Twelve told then. "Hide scraping and working to make usable leather. Very messy, with a fresh hide. It gets in your hair and dries there and under your fingernails and if you forget or aren't paying attention you can give yourself bloody smears on your face when you wipe sweat away." He ticked off the points he was making on his fingers. "And some of me did go with her on a bison hunt this morning so there's going to be hides that have to be cured. Lots of blood vessels and fatty fat that has to be scraped off...it can spray or sometimes squirt you when you do that and then the inner membrane of the hide has to be peeled away...and since the hide is still raw, it's fragile and tears easily at that point so you have to be both patient and gentle until you start adding the rotting, putrefied brain tissue from the bison that used to wear the hide that you're working on and massaging it into the hide to start it curing, to toughen the..." He paused at the grossed out expressions on the younger hims' faces. "Well...you'll get used to it."

"Yuck." Four told him distinctly.

Thirteen raised one silvery eyebrow and started laughing. "Looks like I told Clara the truth, then...I told her I wasn't her boyfriend. I'm married to Rose Tyler in a stone aged era of her own design. Using primitive methods to make leather. And hunting with her, apparently. She never did give more than a nod and a wink at impossibilities."

"True...and the strangest bit of all is that while it is utterly domestic, we don't mind." Sixth grinned. His leathers were just as colorful as his signature outfit had been, but it was different and in decent taste. This was because Rose had done all the embroidery on it and the designs sewn onto it with beads and dyed sinew were intended to make him look good.

The colors in the sinews and with which she had dyed the base leather, were TARDIS treated to make them both bright and long lasting, but not so long lasting that it would be counted as strange. He was considered a powerful magic user, after all: Having stronger dyes on his clothing made sense to these people. She'd also taken her families leathers and had the nearest TARDIS to her physically 'fix' the pockets. Doctors without pockets that were bigger inside than they should be seemed strange to her and that in turn made her uncomfortable. It was for the same reason she got spare Sonic Screwdrivers from Ten and Twelve and gave them to First and Second.

It was natural for them to ask the older selves what they were. They didn't give them back, but they did study the settings lists the two older bodies gave them, after showing each of the 'babies' how to set them. Neither of the older forms were at all surprised when the next time they pulled out their own, they were a lot more advanced. This only made sense, of course the babies would have tinkered with their new toys...

"Best part of it is, if one of me gets into trouble, we're part of a community that is supportive of it's members. We're expected to do the same of course, but we're the Doctor. We'd do that anyway. We each have specific areas where each personalities best skills are allowed to develop fully. Second, Eight, Five and myself are Child-Minders. Seven, Twelve and Four are craftsmen, First, Third, and you are Teachers. Nine is one of the community Storytellers...that's an actual calling, here. Ten and Eleven are hunters, mostly because Rose is a hunter and they won't willingly let her out of their sight."

"Especially Ten. You remember that business with the Heart of the TARDIS?" Twelve muttered. "Ten was just a wee bit shocked when he found himself here after I got distracted."

"Yeah. About that...I was going to chew on you pretty hard about that, but all things considered, I can't really say that I'm at all sorry." Ten told him, his Northern accent a bit thick, as he joined himselves. He was damp and in fresh leathers having taken the time to bathe and change. "It was a good hunt. It will provide food for many families this winter." He had no problem with meat hunting...or butchering, for that matter.

"I've meant to ask," Second spoke. "Do we have the TARDISes join shields over the winter quarters starting this year? We found a massive cave that is stable and can hold all of the People. I told the Elders that I would discuss the possibility of a powerful protective magic, but it if turned out to be possible, we could only do it once in a while and over only one cave. The very worst winters would be the ones shielded. Have you seen the old girl's predictions for this upcoming winter?"

"Yeah. That had all of us worried, but if we put all of them into the Dome and have the TARDISes bring up their ground shields until Spring...real spring, as in, the snow is gone and all the late season 'surprise' storms are over, that will do." Five nodded. "Early, extra cold, lots of wet, heavy snow, short and the winds are going to be utterly vicious, is my old girl's description of the coming winter. I want those conditions outside her shields. Otherwise, I'm moving Rose into the TARDIS where she'll be safe and getting the ship to remove the front door...you lot will just have to play stack the TARDIS with mine."

"Short means an early spring, but I think we should encourage the TARDISes to make sure there's enough snow to ensure a healthy water table later, but to send the surplus to drier areas further south that actually need the moisture so we can avoid floods at thaw. Droughts and floods are both something I'd really prefer to avoid and messed up migrations isn't something we want to have to deal with later on." Four added.

"Good idea, Four."

Seventh entered the Blood Spring, this was a specific hot-spring used to clean off any animal blood from hunts, butchering or cleaning hides from yourself or your clothes. It had a constant circulation that kept the water fresh. He grimaced at the feel of drying bison blood and fatty bits on his skin and in his hair. Processing hides wasn't his 'skill' but it was something that everyone was required to learn, along with flint knapping...which was a lot harder than it looked, and the manufacture of spears, arrows and bows. Everyone had to learn to hunt, set traps for food and fur bearing animals and to do the same for fish. These were all survival skills that had to be known for safety...and that everyone, even everyone of himself, had to prove they knew.

Everyone had to know how to weave nets, for community fish harvesting of the larger species, salmon and sturgeon amongst others. You had to know how to go from literally armed with nothing but a spear and a stone knife, naked and hungry to well fed, nicely clothed and fully equipped, on your own without aide. That was one of the rules of the community.

Some of himselves had already passed the Testing...but only the older ones. The last to pass had been Eight and he'd been exhausted when he'd gotten back after the ordeal. His leathers were dyed a blend of several nice shades of green in a camouflage pattern, that had raised the eyebrows of the people and had them grinning. One glance told them these were hunting leathers intended for the forest.

The grinning was because of the Sharing Rule...if you learned a new thing during your Testing Ordeal, you were expected to make sure at least twenty people were taught the new thing so that eventually the new skill or knowledge would pass through the People for the benefit of all. Other discoveries you could keep to yourself and use to your benefit and the benefit of your family or cave, but Ordeal Finds were for the People as a whole. Which was why he'd done it, of course. Only that particular pattern were the People's though. They'd have to trade for the dye formula and if the Doctors or Rose used the dyes in a different pattern later, nobody could use it without permission. That was the rule.

The fact that two days later Rose was using it to essentially tie-dye her leathers in patterns of tiger-stripes and ocelot spots bore this out. The fact she had everyone working on doing the same to hides intended for hunting leathers and footwear, some for themselves and others just hides for trading, just meant that the Doctor Clan was busy for while.

Jack had found himself claiming five women and two like minded men from the Mulberry Ridge cave, Most people called him Hark instead of Harkness and when she learned of it, Rose wondered aloud just why and how that word had become a warning word on old Earth...while staring at them in question, from face to face before finally looking up into Eleven's expressive face. She still wasn't really comfortable with him, not after their shared history, but as long as one of his other personalities was nearby, she was relaxed. That was the real reason Ten was never far from her when Eleven was nearby. Twelve was there when Ten wasn't and it didn't take long for Thirteen to pick up on the byplay as Eleven moved a bit of blonde hair from her face and tucked it behind her right ear.

"Tempting to blame it on Jack, I know. But no...that wasn't it." He sighed at her flinch.

He still didn't know how to make Rose understood that he wasn't ever going to hurt her in this body again. It had never occurred to him to apologize. There was a rule about apologies between him and Rose. Sorries were always accepted and the matter that made one needful forgiven and forgotten as soon as the word was said. Eleven had forgotten that he hadn't yet. So, Rose thought he wasn't sorry at all...and it terrified her because she didn't understand why he was doing these things to her. She didn't know why he was pretending he wasn't angry at her or why he was punishing her. And all she could really do was wait for the penny to fall.

Because nobody could hurt you like someone you loved.

Being a later personality, Thirteen knew what was going and understood exactly why Rose was so skittish. It was unfortunate that Eleven had such poor judgement where Rose was concerned, but she had finally learned that if she let him, he'd hurt her badly and without ever meaning to do anything of the sort.

All of him understood that. Even Eleven understood why she was jittery around him, quite obviously waiting for the next painful blow to her emotions from that him's hand...and just as obviously hurting more from the ones already delivered despite loving him so dearly.

The Thirteenth walked up to her and started the old game. "So...how do I look?"

"Um...distinguished..." She apparently wasn't playing anymore. "Good hair, strong profile, a little wrinkly but not bad, really. Nothing that will even slow me down, trust me on that. But maybe a bit too stiff and proper...I'll have to fix that. Stiff and proper Doctors are...kinda...weird."

He almost groaned, he could just imagine what she meant by that. Especially when the rest of his selves were grinning at him in such a way. All of them...and deliberately blocking any information that could be useful. Instead, though...stiff and proper? Him? Well, he could start eroding that impression away right now.

He grabbed Eleven by the upper arm an hauled him off out of Rose's earshot, though not beyond the hearing of the rest of their selves.

"Apologize to her for hurting her...every day that passes that you don't, she's just more convinced you're deliberately going to do it again...and are just planning how to do it to best effect, you moron." He hissed. "Start with France on a Spaceship...way to make Rose Tyler feel herself to be expendable, you idiot. Twelve tried to reassure her, that self apologized, that self and the rest of us after that are fine and she trusts us. She trusts Eight because of the empathy he has...but from Seven down, she wonders and holds herself somewhat away. Five has gone a long way toward calming her fears concerning that body as has Four but Sixth's mouth and Seven's behavior? They don't get the closeness you once had because you damaged Rose and didn't heal the injury. Why the hell do you think she still sticks to Ten like they were glued at the hip? She knows she can give him everything she has and he won't hurt her." He shoved that younger self away so hard Eleven nearly fell...but there was no protest as he recovered his balance, spinning to frantically meet Twelve's eyes.

The sober nod in response of that sought after confirmation left Eleven with only one option. And in an action that was utterly normal for that personality, he didn't even think about what he was doing, he simply picked her up and carried her off...tears streaming down his face as he apologized. Because nobody could hurt you like someone you loved...unless it was the hurts of someone you loved who was hurting because you hurt them.

He had to fix this and he had to fix it now.

He'd left it too long already, decades had passed since the initial wound to Rose's soul and this personality was the only Doctor that could. He had done the harm, he had shattered his Rose...this him. This him had made her run away from him instead of to him. And that single fact, that truth broke his hearts.

The others of the Doctor's selves let him scoop her into his arms and carry her off, though...that was the only reason she wasn't fighting him. The need for balance so he didn't drop her made her cling and tears of healing and cleansing from them both did the rest. He just took her to their hearthcave, though. It was a good sized cave in the back of the Dome Cave, big enough for Rose and her Doctors but the rest didn't interrupt them. Eleven needed to do this and needed privacy for it.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't realize I'd never told you that. I thought I had." He folded himself over and around her...and wept into her hair. "No wonder you've been so afraid of me...of what I'd do to you. You thought I was angry with you, didn't you?"

Rose didn't reply, she just nodded slightly and felt him pull her in tighter.

"I'm not, I wasn't. Never was. Never intended to hurt...to harm you. I'm so, so sorry." This time it wasn't half as much guilt as it was the kind of pain you get when you've hurt a loved one...especially an innocent. This Doctor was in no danger of repeating the error. The memory of how this revelation felt would guard him from such a thing in the future.

Outside the Dome Cave, watching over the People coming from their territorial caves and bringing all they owned with them to the Dome, where the worst winter would not touch them, the rest of the personalities of the Doctor spoke quietly, while the Eldest explained the problems Eleven had brought on that him...and the kind of emotional damage that had been done to their shared wife in the process.

Twelves looked over at Ten. "I'm getting the memories of what I'm doing in the cave now...we'll be fine, us and Rose. I forgot to tell her I was sorry, in that body. She's been waiting decades to see what else that us had in mind to use to hurt her because she thought he meant to. She loves us so much and it's terrified her."

"Still gonna kick pretty boy's ass." Ten told himself bluntly.

"And we'll let you as long as you don't come after us older ones."

"Deal."

Rose was not amused four days later when Eleven and Ten came in together, Ten's knuckles were scraped raw and he was smirking. Eleven was black and blue from forehead to gut.

"Doctors..."

"He had it comin'."

"I deserved it, Rose. Let it go."

"Doctors..."

She scowled at the rest. "Did the rest of you..."

"He did have it coming." First told her gruffly.

"True, I did." Thirteen confirmed.

She put them to work on the worst jobs in the Dome for the next two weeks. Latrine duty wasn't fun but it was a walk in the park next to working the fresh hides into leather and making soap, both of which were a misery with his enhanced physical senses, especially smell, taste and sight, since the fumes kept him stopped up, able to taste nothing but soap and his eyes encrusted when they weren't watering from the mixing of the fat and warm water that made lye soap...and it made her point.

"No self harm. We clear? If you really feel you need to be punished to the point you want to be miserable, let me know. I'll take care of you. I always take care of you."

"Yes, Rose." Eyes and noses red and streaming from the two days of soap manufacture and the rank fumes that were a by-product of the process, had made sure they were half-blind and their sinuses were screaming. Ten and Eleven were highly unlikely to wish to repeat it.

The rest of the People watched this in silence, though several of the women were smirking. Husband training was the same all over, even at the upper levels of rank.

~TBC~