Thank you too my reviewers, your love makes me happy. Please also note that as this story is after Journey's End, there is no Mickey as he stayed in the Original Universe. Sorry to disappoint but these stories are as close to cannon as they can get as far as character development goes. With some exceptions. And 10/Martha for me, did never, will never and should never ever happen. Cheers. xxoo
Chapter 4
Before anyone even noticed they'd entered, Rose took his hand and pulled him gently into the pantry, quietly shutting the door. He stared dejectedly at her.
"I'm sorry Doctor, I know this hurts, but she wants to meet you." Rose sighed wearily as she paced in the small space in front of him. "She's wanted to meet you ever since she found me, knew things that she couldn't possibly... I didn't know what to do, she seems harmless enough but I..." He cut her ramblings short with a finger to her lips.
"You knew about my Donna?" She looked away, intent on studying a tin of peas on the shelf behind him. He ducked his head slightly, her eyes finally landing back on his.
"Yes." She whispered. "But not until after I'd already met her here. It's how I knew what to say to your Donna, how I gained her trust. She's my friend; she helped me when no one else could." Rose shrugged and he pulled her into a warm embrace pressing a kiss to her cheek. He grinned and inclined his head towards the door.
"Shall we?" He waggled his eye brows excitedly.
"You mean you're not mad?" Her eyebrows shot up to meet her hair line.
"No Rose I'm not, I could never be mad at you." He smiled cupping her cheek and gently running his thumb across her face. "I'm glad she found you, just as my Donna found me." He chuckled looking just above her head as he mused. "Must just be a thing with Donna's, they just know." He gave her a serious look before they burst out laughing, both thinking back to a time when they'd done a similar thing in another storage cupboard almost a life time ago. He grabbed her hand as he barged open the door almost knocking Jackie to the floor.
"What the...never mind I don't wanna know!" Jackie screeched as she moved past them to grab more biscuits.
"Mum!" Rose exclaimed blushing a very charming shade of crimson. "It's not like that, you know this." She seethed turning away from the Doctor who earned a slap on the arm for the smirk currently plastered on his face.
"Shut up." She threatened unconvincingly. All the commotion had attracted the attention of the other companions in the room. Rose's companions to be exact and how curious that they had found her he thought; perhaps she was his substitute in this world? No, not substitute, but an equal nearly perhaps. He smiled proudly to himself at the thought.
Rose handed him a mug of tea and began the introductions.
"Everybody, this is the Doctor," She smiled at him, "Doctor, this is everybody."
"Hello." He grinned and waved. Jake was the first to step forward and shook his hand vigorously.
"Nice to see you back here in one piece Doctor." He grinned.
"Jakey boy, keeping busy?" He laughed
"You know me, if there's somethin' to be overthrown, brought down or just generally gutted for the greater good I'm there."
"Good to know." The Doctor grinned as Martha approached him.
"Martha Jones." He exclaimed and reached out to take her hand, instead finding himself dragged into an embrace.
"Thank you." She whispered before stepping away to help Jackie make another pot of tea. "For everything." He nodded and smiled kindly at her, his attention however was snapped to the undecidedly suspicious ginger woman making her approach. She eyed him up and down then seemed to consider something for a few moments. He raised an eyebrow in questioning.
"He ain't half skinny Rose." She half turned to yell after her friend who had been talking to Jake across the room.
"That's what I said." Jackie added handing him a plate of biscuits.
"Leave him alone you two." Rose warned as she dashed back to his side, taking the plate from his hand and placing it down on the counter.
"No it's fine, really." He laughed not taking his eyes off his former friend, and to some extent, his saviour.
"Hello Donna Noble, I'm the Doctor." He held his hand out and she took it, almost staring into him, like she was sizing him up, then appearing to have found what she was looking for she shook his hand properly.
"I know who you are Spaceman, Rose's told me a lot about you, nice to finally put the name to a face. As skinny as it may be." She grinned and he couldn't help but return it.
"I'm glad you approve then as the case may be." He took a sip of his tea, careful not to burn himself on the hot liquid.
"So are you gonna marry our Rose or what?" That was Donna he thought, as hot tea was expelled through his nostrils and out across the floor, straight to the point.
"I...I...well I suppose...ummmm...she..." He was saved from formulating an answer by the woman in question.
"I thought I told you to behave." She scolded Donna as she handed the Doctor a serviette.
"Well excuse me, you waited all this time..." Donna began only to be cut off by the scowling and embarrassed face of her friend.
"Fine." Donna conceded refilling her tea cup while the Doctor recovered and Rose resumed her conversation with Jake.
"So how did you find Rose?" He half squeaked into his tea.
"Was tempin' at Torchwood bout four years back when we met, wasn't gonna take the job after all that Lumic rubbish went on, but something just clicked when we bumped into each other in the lobby, almost like déjà vu or somethin'." She took a mouthful of biscuit and chewed it thoughtfully. "But any ways 3 months later I was workin' for her full time, then three months after that we started at UCL, and we've pretty much been together ever since." She shrugged happily.
"Proudest day of my life Doctor, when my Rose and this one here stood up and accepted their degrees, oh you should have been there." Jackie patted him on the shoulder as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. The Doctor looked across at Rose, a small smile playing on his lips.
"She went..." He began.
"She was brilliant Doctor, is brilliant." Jackie preened, "Never thought she had it in her, but that's what you do love, you make them better." He turned to grin at Jackie. "How either of you can understand all those numbers or such though is completely beyond me."
"Hmmm numbers?" He queried Donna absently. "What exactly did you study?"
"Postgraduate Diploma of Physics me," Donna grinned smugly, "And Miss over there got a Masters in Advanced High Energy, Theoretical and Astrophysics."
"String theory?" He was flabbergasted.
"She did yea, I did what I had to so I could help her, to be honest she taught me more than those stuffy professors," Donna cringed then giggled. "Tell you what though; they didn't half like it when she kept tellin' em' they were wrong." Jackie joined in laughing too.
"Yea, if it wasn't for Pete they would have chucked her out." Jackie smiled proudly. "My little girl upsettin' the establishment. Wonder where she got that eh Doctor."
"Where indeed." He frowned musing silently to himself.
"They're quite a team Doctor." Jackie nodded towards the group in front of them. "Martha's a Doctor too ya know. They worked so hard to find you." She smiled sadly up at him. "Never thought they'd see her again let alone actually meet you."
"Could you have let her go Jackie?" He replied quietly.
"I don't think either of us could." She spoke honestly. "Which is why I'll love you every day of whatever time I have left because you're both here where you belong." He slipped an arm around the woman who was almost in tears.
"You're a brilliant woman Jackie." He smiled fondly.
"Oh stop it you." She slapped him gently on the arm as she turned her blush away. "Now off you go, lunch'll be here soon." The Doctor grinned then took a glance around him and out the kitchen windows.
"Jackie where is here exactly?" He queried scratching the back of his neck, "This house looks familiar..."
"Oh," Jackie smirked. "We're in Wiltshire, Pete sold the other place just after Norway, thought we could all use a fresh start."
"Wiltshire...Wiltshire..." He startled for a moment. "This is Ashcombe House." He balked at her.
"And what if it is Doctor," She poked him in the chest. "Besides, Madge don't exist here, so no material girl to miss her large, secluded, country estate." She turned as a knock came from the service entry.
"Give me a hand with this love will you." Jackie pushed four pizza boxes into his arms before thanking and paying the boy at the door. "This place serves its purpose though Doctor, only two hours to the city, but far enough away from Torchwood." She grimaced at the name.
"But I thought they all," He began confused. "Pete, Rose, Jake..."
"Torchwood it seems, can be corrupted in any universe Doctor." Jackie sighed. "Even with Pete and Rose at the head, they couldn't trust anyone." Rose had overheard and came and took the Doctors hand.
"And that's why we destroyed it." Rose said seriously. "Once Pete knew I'd found you he blew them all sky high. Torchwood 1, 2 & 3. We couldn't risk anyone tryin' to steal any more technology, especially not the dimension cannon."
"So that's what Pete meant." The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief as the man himself walked into the kitchen carrying Tony.
"My thanks to you." Pete nodded and began an attempt to search his pockets for something. He passed Tony absently to the Doctor and was surprised when the child went willingly into the potentially strange mans grasp. Tony stared at him for a moment.
"Hello Tony, I'm the Doctor." He said seriously at the small boy who cocked his head to one side in thought.
"Dotta." Pete, Jackie and Rose stood gaping as the child began giggling and proceeded to play with the Doctor unruly hair.
"Oh my little man's first word!" Jackie squealed happily, taking Tony from the Doctor. "I've gotta go grab the camera. Oh you've grown up so much."
Pete watched his wife walk off before remembering he had found what he was searching for and handed two small objects to the Doctor.
"This is a small thank you, for everything, my family, the universe, all the universes really. It was Rose's idea when we realised Torchwood would have to be completely destroyed. Jacks and I would have carried it on in Rose's absence, but since your both here now, it's yours if you want it." Pete smiled.
The Doctor turned the small business card over while passing a key to a speechless Rose.
"You did it." She whispered to Pete. The Doctor's grin got bigger, if it was at all possible.
"TARDIS Incorporated, Universal Relations." He ran his fingers gently over the embossed logo of the small blue box which was once his home. "By order of The Shadow Proclamation."
"When you're searching for a higher authority, there isn't one." Rose laughed as she read off the bottom of the card. "How did you manage that?"
"Had a little off world help," Pete smiled. "I've spoken with the Shadow Proclamation personally; they knew we were sending you through dimensions, thought the darkness were our fault, but when I told them why they agreed to help me, sure enough once you found him, they destroyed everything, not a trace of Torchwood, just a bad memory." He nodded towards the card, "You were right Doctor, there are some older and wiser things in this universe. And it seems they're all on your side."
"Who?" He asked curiously, Pete shrugged.
"Well the Proclamation for one, said they knew all about the Time Lords and were ecstatic to find we actually knew the very last, and someone else called the...um...boo...bow...face ..."
"Boe?" The Doctor and Rose asked together.
"Yea that's him." Pete nodded and shrugged. "Strange bloke, if he is a bloke, told em' you were to be trusted without question, was almost like he knew you'd be here." Pete was thoughtful for a moment. "These turned up on the door step just as Jackie called me last night. I'd never even sent a proof to the printers."
"Well," Rose shrugged, "Stranger things have happened." The Doctor nodded, then remembered what he'd handed to Rose.
"What's the key for?" He asked following Pete and Rose towards the kitchen table before snatching the slice Donna was about to grab. She eyed him and he stuffed the piece into his mouth with a smirk.
"Let's call it your new base of operations." Pete grinned at the both of them. "I assumed you no more want to live here with us than Rose did." The Doctor said nothing but took a long glance at Jackie alternating between fussing over Tony and snogging her husband.
"You're my hero Pete, did you know that?" The Doctor whispered across the table before earning an elbow in the ribs from the woman next to him.
"What?" He was having a hard time feigning ignorance.
"She's my Mum, be nice." Rose teased and Pete chuckled.
"There's room for all of you actually, I know most of your homes and things were destroyed in the attack on Torchwood," He spoke to the rest of the table, giving the Doctor a knowing glance, "But it's all taken care of."
"What do you mean?" Martha asked, the first time she had made a sound since introducing herself to the Doctor. Not quite as self assured as his Martha, but that would come in time he mused.
"Pete's bought us all a new house!" Jake laughed, not realising just how serious the look on the other man's face was.
"Nope," He continued eating his pizza, "I used the insurance money from Torchwood to buy a complex, should be enough room for you all to have an apartment of your own plus enough downstairs to become, oh I don't know, anything really." The whole table were silent save for Jackie snorting to herself and wiping food off her sons face.
"Privately funded of course." Pete added glancing up at the Doctor again. "Anything you need."
"That's very generous of you Pete." The Doctor murmured a little unsure.
"Don't thank me mate." Pete laughed as Jackie placed a familiar pink box covered in doughnuts on the table.
"Who?" He frowned; it was then that he noticed the infinitesimally small logo on the box in front of them.
Bad Wolf Corporation
"No." The Doctor was on his feet in a flash stopping only at the feel of a familiar hand on his arm.
"Relax Doctor." Rose smiled up at him. "In this universe, those words are safe."
"But...Bad.." He glanced warily between the box and her.
"Sit down you plum." Jackie laughed handing him a fluffy sugar coated treat. "They didn't have a Krispy Kreme in this universe Doctor, madam here decided she didn't want to live off Pete and I." The Doctor did as the woman said and sat staring at Rose.
"Thought I might as well make something decent of it, so much negativity surroundin' Bad Wolf, what could be better than associatin' it with somethin' that makes everyone happy?" Rose laughed; she saw his shoulders relax as he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Makes enough that I don't have to worry about much, helped fund the work on the cannon too." She shrugged.
"I've also put what was left over from the insurance into a trust for the both of you. It wasn't much after I made sure the rest of the staff where taken care of but it should keep you out of trouble." Pete added. "The rest of you will find a rather significant redundancy package at your disposal."
Within seconds Donna was on her PDA and uttered only two words before falling off her chair unconscious. "I'm rich."
