Summary: Drawn by the wildly fluctuating emotions of Rose Tyler and the flare of one of his bodies as one of him formed a lifebond with some unknown female, the Beauty of the Bunch sets his TARDIS down next to his Ninth's and a much younger TARDIS just in time to see one of himself entering the other version of his TARDIS. Only his TARDIS tells him that him has personality and body mixed up...
Chins, Ears and Hair
"Want some help with that? How'd you mix up personality with an earlier, from what my TARDIS tells me, body?" He smiled at his elder form. "I've screwed myself up a few times, but never quite like that. Never have I mixed up a personality with the wrong body for it."
"Ah. Eight. Yeah, I can see why you'd be drawn in. And Rose just might need you, my empathy isn't anywhere near as strong now as it was when I was you."
"You lifebonded to her. I felt the flare."
"Yeah. Look, I'm gonna use Nine's TARDIS to see if I can't get this body updated. I can't use Rose's baby, Beauty isn't old enough to have a med bay that advanced. And I didn't arrive the way I should have...it was...weird. Not bad, just very strange, come on, you can give yourself a hand or two and I'll tell you how I got here...for one thing, I'm not dead."
"What? This is the afterlife universe...of course you're dead."
"No, started be, but something else happened. Let me clue you in on our Tenth...unstable, us...in that body. I don't get him at all and neither does Nine. Oh, I'm Eleven, by the way."
Eight and Eleven worked quietly to identify the correct body and then Eleven held still and let his younger self do what was needed to update himself. Eight wasn't happy, not with Tenth and not with the emergence of a rather vicious metacrisis that had really bad timing. Eleven was indeed still very much mortal, very much alive and very much effectively the First Doctor for this universe and that meant, of course that sooner or later he'd have another turn. He sighed as the explanation continued...and Rose entered it. By the time the First that was Eleven finished, the fires had begun to ripple over the body of the former clone and he stepped away, allowing the Tenth's form to burn away and the Eleventh's to take it's place, finally returning his elder's balance.
"You'll need the wardrobe room...your frame is much larger than Ten's was. Do you remember where she had it?"
"Yeah, yeah I remember. Beauty is only fifty years old but she's got all my bowties and fezes."
"Bow-ties." Eight deadpanned. "Fezes...Eye give me strength." He muttered, adjusting his cravat as the older him disappeared down the corridor. "What could I possibly be thinking?"
Nine had Rose in his arms and was already helping her ground, dumping the excess emotions. This TARDIS couldn't help her dump like his could but she hadn't been flitting, literally all over creation this time, either. It didn't take him nearly so long to stabilize her physically. Her emotions, though...that was another story...she'd wrapped herself around his torso and waist and was refusing to let go.
Not that he wanted her to, he didn't have to give her back to that git in his Tenth body this time and that meant he could take his time. He never wanted to hear that much pain and longing when Rose called his usename again. He never wanted to see her launch herself at him with that much obvious desperation again, either...flinging herself at a Doctor that she was sure of, that she knew loved her and would catch her if she fell. That's what Ten had done to her, ultimately...and that was what was unforgivable, in Nine's book.
Beauty let him know that Eight had arrived and was working on Eleven's 'housing' problem, she let him know when Eleven was in his proper body via a forced, partial regeneration and let him know when Tenth was 'on the line' having felt Eleven bond days ago and told Nine that Eleven had been refusing his calls. Nine didn't ask permission, he simply moved her to the medbay, told her he was about to sedate her because she needed the rest and he'd only be a few feet away until she woke...and then he knocked her out.
He wanted to be able to scream at Ten in peace.
The Tenth Doctor stared at the blank viewscreen, stunned. The Afterlife Universe and the one where Rose was, was the same...that was the first shock. The second was that Eleven had somehow been pulled out of their old training universe at the moment of regeneration instead of during fade out and had been force-deposited in his old clone...his brain dead clone whose body had begun regeneration without a mind present...thus Eleven's suspicion of what, exactly, had yanked him over like that.
It made sense, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that the human version of himself had been an abusive bastard where Rose was concerned and now Eleven, Nine and Eight were there trying to stabilize Rose mentally as well as emotionally and this news broke his hearts. He hadn't spoken to Eight yet, Eleven hadn't been accepting his calls, but Nine?
He let go of a shuddering breath as he replayed in his mind the dire promises Ninth had made against his person, if anyone caught him, Tenth, anywhere near Rose. He had, Ninth said, done enough damage and he was to leave her be. Nine was with her while Eight got Eleven sorted so that he looked like Eleven instead of like Tenth, which was needed, given that Tenth's form was giving Rose night terrors.
Ten bowed his head, shoulders drooping as the first tears fell. He wept for Rose's pain, this time, What had the clone done to her? What the hell had he done?
Nine looked up from his book as Eleven entered the library, now looking like he should and with Eight right behind him. He nodded at the body which held the most powerful empathic gifts. "I sedated her when Tenth called...chewed on him some."
"Explained things did you?"
"Yes, quite clearly." He answered firmly. "In a "don't call us, we'll call you' sort of way."
Eleven snorted. "Good." He agreed, shaking his head as he seated himself, leaving one of the more comfortable seats for Eighth. Eighth was already doing an assessment on the sleeping Rose.
"Yeah, she's going to need help to get past this. My poor little one." Eight murmured.
Nine just looked at Eleven. "Pack your TARDIS in mine and put mine in Eight's. No need for us to use all three right now and I want Rose pampered for a bit." He told Eleven.
"Makes sense." He nodded and got up to go do that. For now, it was going to be 'The Three Doctors and Rose'. "It's a damned good thing we're immune from paradox in this universe...at least, the self-inflicted ones."
"True." Eight agreed.
"Do you realize, she makes not one damned bit of distinction between any our bodies? Not a damned bit. Ask Third when you catch him up. He's met her so he's probably on his way in. She rescued him while trying to rescue herself." And Ninth explained. When he was finished, Eight just shook his head.
"Ten's fucked up."
"Yeah. Seriously fucked up."
**TBC**
