Author's Note:

As promised, more happens in this chapter. Action and humor will be returning in the next chapter & also a few more heart-to-hearts so stay tuned! Happy reading!

Rip Hunter used to enjoy being confused; it had foreshadowed learning something new and exciting. When the young captain was searching for a way to save his wife and child he feared the unknown because it meant danger lay ahead. Rip could not afford to die before saving his family, he wouldn't. But now that he had accepted his family's fate, Sara had no clue as to how Rip would handle one of the intruders looking just like him.

Sara decided to give him as much warning as she could, just in case "Entering the bridge, Captain."

As the group turned the corner, each was stared down by Jax and Dr. Martin. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Sara realized that meant that older man was correct in saying the Waverider suffered minimal damage.

Sara marched the three intruders to Rip's study, but Rip had already seen his look-alike through the security cameras. He was prepared, though Rory most certainly was not.

Though Rory did not pause to appreciate the magnificence of the timeship, anyone could see that The Doctor was having a field day. At some point Amy fell back to walk side by side with her husband, a fact Rory would soon thank her for.

"Hello everyone, I am Captain Rip Hunter. What exactly were you doing when you hit our ship?"

With his back turned admiring the bridge, The Doctor hadn't noticed yet. "Going to give me a DWI?" He turned and stopped in his tracks.

"Not if you can give me some answers." Rip joked back, "Why does your companion look like me?"

"Yeah raggedy-man, how come there are two Rory's? …Not that I'm complaining." said Amy with a fierce gleam in her eyes.

Sara tried to hide her laughter in the corner.

The Doctor, finally breaking free of the shock, said "It seems we- my companions and I- fell through this hole in time and space we were visiting and hit your ship on the way out. Which is either an incredible coincidence or fate… because we've now united the Rory's and Rip's from parallel universes.

Sara could have cut the silence in that room with one of her (many, many) knives.

"So… for lack of a better term, you're my doppelganger?" Said the captain slowly.

"Seems so" said the young nurse, equally slow. "So, you're the captain of a space ship?"

Rip simply stared at Rory.

"No, it's a timeship. But not Time Lord, this ship was made by very advanced humans to travel in the temporal zone. Correct?"

"Right-e-oh Doc" said Sara with a smirk. This guy was smart. Ray was going to have a field day...

"I'm a Time Master. I've never heard of the Time Lords. My team and I travel through time correcting errors in the ideal timeline caused mostly by other time travelers."

"Ideal timeline?" asked Amy.

"The one where there are the least casualties and cruelty throughout history. It's not perfect, some things have to happen for us to learn to prevent them, but it's the closest we can get to perfect," said Rip, piquing The Doctor's curiosity.

"I'm a nurse," said Rory suddenly. "And, I suppose, a time traveller. My wife Amy and I travel through time solving problems with this man, The Doctor."

"Amy, she is your wife? And she travels through time with you?" Rip said, his voice taking on an odd tone. Sara lowered her head.

The Doctor and Rory looked around, trying to figure out what was going unsaid. "Yes, why?"

"My wife trained alongside me to be a Time Master, however fraternization is strictly forbidden and when our superiors found out she left the program so I could continue. She and my son were taken from me almost a year ago, and there was- is nothing I can do." Rip said sadly, if this was going to work they needed complete transparency. Sara left the four time travellers alone. "I'm just glad you did not lose your family."

The Doctor looked up from the floor, then met eyes with Amy. "We lost our baby daughter. She was taken from us and turned into a weapon. Now she is back, thanks to The Doctor, but we could not save her either." said Amy slowly. Rory wiped unshed tears from his eyes, and Rip did the same.

"It's humbling, isn't it?" said The Doctor calmly, "To know that we can't save everyone, we can't even save those we love." Amy turned to The Doctor with watery eyes and reached out for his hand.

"I'm just glad you have each other, just as I have my team." Said Rip. He walked over to Rory and grabbed his shoulder, "Don't waste any time that you have with your family. And don't dwell on the time you didn't get. I recently accepted what happened to my family, and suggest you do the same. I'm assuming your daughter is alive…?"

Amy laughed through her tears, "She's married to that idiot!", causing The Doctor to blush and look at Rory.

After a few moments of soft quiet, the group all came to the same question; "Doctor," said Amy, how do we get home?"

"I… I don't know Amy."