Gwen stared at the Doctor as she said, "If you don't know how to do it, then why think that you can?"
"Just because I haven't figured the specifics out yet, doesn't mean that I won't," he countered.
"And when were you planning on figuring it out?'
"Honestly I thought I would by now, but apparently it's going to take a little longer," he said as he pulled a piece of chalk from one of his coat pockets and drew and on the floor where he had found the weak point of the rift.
"So now what?" Gwen asked.
"Now… now I try to…" but he broke off as he began to poke about the room. "What's this then?" He asked as he caught sight of the hand in the glass jar.
"Other than it was Jack's, I'm not all tat sure. I know it was important to him though," she said.
The Doctor picked it up to examine it closely. But as his hand touched the glass, it began to flash lights and bubble furiously. "Interesting," he said as he grabbed a hold of it and carried it over to a workbench.
He set it down and pulled out his sonic screwdriver once again and began to scan it. "Well that makes no sense," he muttered as he stepped back. He thought a second and then held up his right hand in front of him while scanning it with his screwdriver with his left.
"Where'd he get that, and what was he doing?" the Doctor asked himself as he began to pace while he thought.
"Jack wanted to find me, right?" he asked Gwen.
"It seemed to be the thing that he wanted most," she answered.
"So then it makes sense that he would come up with a way to detect me. But where did the hand come from?' he continued to address himself.
"You know what it is then?" Gwen asked. It was something that she had wondered ever since the first day that she had wandered into Torchwood pretending to deliver a pizza.
"The device itself is simple really. It uses the DNA from the sample and alerts whenever it detects a match. But Jack seemed to modify just enough for it to be able to pick up the magnetic signature that the DNA emits rather than the specific DNA strand."
"Why?" she asked as if she knew what he was talking about.
"Because he must have realized that I change from time to time but my magnetic signature stays the same."
"Wait, you're saying that this thing is meant to find you?" she asked.
"Yup."
"Then that hand…"
"It's mine. But it's this hand," he said as he waved his right hand. "And I have no idea how he could have gotten my hand while it's still attached… Unless…" he paused for a second before causing Gwen to jump as he exclaimed, "Of course! It was chopped off right after my last regeneration during the fight with the Sycorax! I was still regenerating so it was able to grow back. Clever Jack!" he said with a smile.
"That's your hand…" Gwen asked again, still trying to get her mind to wrap around it.
"Yes. And thanks to Jack, and hopefully you, I now have a way to get to 1869."
Gwen looked at him for a moment before saying, "Yeah, you lost me again."
"All I have to do is modify…" he began to ramble as he worked on the jar with his screwdriver. Gwen listened to the techno-babble that he spouted off as his hands flew, but none of it was really making any sense to her. She watched as he opened the jar and removed the hand… his hand, she told herself… He then tinkered with the things that connected it and the various components of the device. Finally, she realized that he was talking about what her part in his plan was.
"Now," he was saying. "All I need is some of your DNA to input to this and it will scan for you."
"Wait, I thought you were looking for you. Why do you have to find me? I'm right here."
"Because you are also in 1869, whether you believe it or not. Still not sure how, but you are there with my past life. I have modified this to scan temporally and once I get your temporal coordinates, I can use the information to enter into your system here to begin to manipulate the rift to bring us there."
"Us?! What do you mean us?" she demanded.
"I might need your help. When I was there before, the only one who could manipulate the rift was you. It just seems like it would be best if you come along." He noticed her worried look and then quickly added. "I'll have my other self bring you back here as soon as we meet up with him."
"But, I don't even know what is going on. I have no idea why you think that I am in 1869. I don't know anything about manipulating the rift. And I certainly don't like the idea of just leaping through the rift and hoping to come out in the right place and time. I've seen this thing opened before and I did not like what came out."
"That's not going to happen this time Gwen. I promise. We're going to step through and take a minute to find me and then I'll bring you right back. It's no big deal."
She eyed him skeptically. "Please Gwen. This is important. Jack and Rose need our help."
She softened as soon as he said that. Really, that was all he needed to say in the first place. If there was someone in need and she was their hope, then she would step up and take the risk. She could do it them… do it for Jack.
"Alright, let's do this then," she said.
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It was just a few minutes later that she watched over the Doctor's shoulder while he inputted the computations into the Torchwood system and prepared to active the rift. "Now Gwen, when I press this button we need to get over there to the X as fast a possible, alright?' he said.
Gwen nodded in response.
"Ok, here goes," he said as he hit the button that he was talking about. But as he was about to run, he realized that nothing happened.
"Hmm," he said as he returned to the computer screen. "That should have worked," he muttered. He stared at the screen for some time as he let his mind race though all the possible reasons for the failure. Finally he pulled himself out of his thoughts and looked at Gwen.
She felt a bit uncomfortable as he stared at her for a moment as if he was measuring her. "What?" she finally asked.
"Gwen," he said. "I need to ask you to go and stand on the X right now."
"Why?" she asked apprehensively.
"I have a theory that I need to test."
She didn't like the sound of that, but she nodded and slowly walked over to where the chalk X was still on the floor. She carefully stepped onto it as if it would burn her, and then turned around to face the Doctor, looking hesitantly at him.
"Good," he said to her. "Now, close your eyes. I need you to empty all thought," he told her.
"How do I do that?" she asked.
"Just… just concentrate on your breathing. Think about that and nothing else," he told her as she looked at him for a moment questioningly and then closed her eyes. He watched as she took several deep breaths. He could see that she was actually accomplishing what he had asked as the worry lines in her face began to ease and relax and eventually fade away.
He smiled to himself as he thought that this time, it was going to work. He turned back to the computer and inputted the numbers once again. This time, something seemed to be happening before he had even hit the button. He glanced up at Gwen and noticed that a faint bluish light was beginning to surround her.
He nodded once to himself as he reached down and hit the button, activating the rift. He turned and began to run to Gwen. Her eyes flew open as the floor beneath her began to vibrate and the blue light that was now surrounding her became piercing.
"Doctor?" she called to him.
"Gwen, grab my hand!" he called as he raced up to her, extending his hand. She reached out and pulled him right up next to her just as the world seemed to dissolve around them.
One second she was looking at the Torchwood lab, then next all she knew was color and light as it felt as if she was falling. She nearly panicked, but she could feel the Doctor's hand gripping her's and she knew that at least she wasn't alone.
Then, as suddenly as everything had vanished, it all came into being once again. It felt as if she had been dropped right into wherever she currently was. It was very dim and cold. It reminded her of the creepy basement that her grandparents used to have.
She was about to ask what just happened when there was a chilling scream while a blue light appeared out of thin air, just above her head and swiftly rushed to the cement ceiling overhead and passed through it.
"What?…" she breathed.
"Gelth," the Doctor said in a voice that Gwen didn't like the sound of. "It was us… we cracked the bridge…" he said.
"What?" she asked him.
"The Gelth have been trying to use the rift to cross into this world for sometime, but it wasn't until shortly before Rose and I arrived here that they seemed to be able to do so. I think that our crossing the rift weakened it enough to allow them through."
"So that thing then was…?"
"A gaseous being from another world that wants to possess the dead and take over this one. And we are the trigger that sets everything in motion."
"Ah… of course…"
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"Sneed and company offer their most sincerest apologies sir in this most trying hour," Mr. Sneed said.
"Grandmama had a good ending Mr. Sneed, but she was so full of life. I can't believe she's gone."
"Not gone Mr. Redpath sir, just… sleeping."
"May I have a moment?"
"Yes of course. I should be in the next, ah, room… should you require anything."
The young man nodded as Mr. Sneed left the room. He was quickly overcome with grief as he closed his eyes and leaned heavily against the casket of his dead grandmother.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes just in time to witness the impossible; his dead grandmother was looking at him and had reached up and grabbed him by the throat. He tried to call out, but his air was cut off from him. All he managed to do was thrash some and knock something over.
It was enough to get Mr. Sneed's attention though and he entered the room quickly. "Oh no…" He said calmly as he made his way over to where his client was struggling with his once dead grandmother. He pulled the boy from her grip and began to wrestle her back into her casket. "Gwyneth!" He called out as he tried to close her into the box. "Get down here now! We've got another one!"
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A floor below, the Doctor and Gwen heard his cry. "That'd be the woman that we came across," the Doctor muttered. "At least, I think so anyway."
"Now what?" Gwen asked him.
"Well, we can't interfere in the events that have already happened. But of course it seems that we are helping to make them happen, so I'm not sure. But Rose and I should be turning up here in an hour or so, so I guess we'll just have to wait until then."
"What? Down here?" she asked. "What is this place anyway?" she asked as she began to glance around the darkened room.
"Ah… trust me, you don't want to know," the Doctor said as he moved them out of the arch that they had been standing under and towards the door. "I think that we'll be fine if we wait here." He said as he brought them just outside of the room that they were in.
"How do you expect to talk to yourself if you don't want to interfere with what's going on?" she asked.
"Haven't figured that out yet. The whole regeneration process makes specific memories a bit hard to track down. I'm trying to remember a time when I might have been separate from everyone else that I won't be missed for a few moments."
"A few moments?" Gwen said. "Isn't it going to take a little longer than that to bring me back to my time and then rescue Rose and Jack?"
"Yes, but you're forgetting, it's a time machine. I only need a moment to explain things and then we can leave and he can come back right after we left; and poof… no messing things up here and I get to where I need to be."
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Gwen and the Doctor listened as they heard Rose screaming for help above them. The Doctor was tense with wanting to rush up there himself, but he stayed put. "Shouldn't we do something?" Gwen asked.
"No," he said through gritted teeth.
They listened as what sounded like a door was kicked in and a brief bit of scuffling before another piercing scream sounded.
"I think I know when I need to find me," the Doctor said after a few moments of silence.
"What do I need to do?" she asked.
"You're coming up with me and you are not to be seen by anyone or touch anything, got that?" he told her sternly.
She nodded her head. "Yes, Doctor."
"Good, now stay close," he said as he began to quietly climb up the steps.
As they approached the heavy wooden door at the top, they could distantly make out two voices. One was incredibly odd for the Doctor to be hearing since it was his own voice, but not the one that he was currently used to. "Wow, I really did have a Northern sound," he muttered to himself. The other voice he knew at once to be Charles Dickens.
He held them near the door as he listened to an old conversation.
"Doctor," Gwen whispered. "What is it?"
"It's me and Charles Dickens having a conversation. I should be leaving any minute now," he answered.
"Charles Dickens!" she whispered excitedly.
"Sorry, we're not going to be seeing him this time around," he said with a smile.
He suddenly tensed as he said, "Alright, here we go."
They heard as footsteps walked past the door. Quickly and quietly, the Doctor pushed the door open and walked into the hallway, dragging Gwen close behind him. He glanced around and saw the retreating backside of his former self walking away from them.
Doctor ten was about to call to him when suddenly he stopped, mid-step. He seemed ridged and anxious in the split second before he spun around, sonic screwdriver in hand.
"Who are you?" he demanded as his eyes fell on Doctor Ten. Nine could tell that there was someone behind this man who stood in front of him, but she was mostly hidden behind. Nine stared at Ten as various thoughts rushed through his head. Then, the feeling that had forced him to turn around intensified as he heard a soft voice in his head answer, "You know who I am."
"No…" Nine gasped. "You're all dead," he said.
Ten nodded, "Yes, they are. We're all that is left. And that only makes one," he answered.
Nine looked at him for another moment before he relaxed and said, "Which one then?"
"Ten," he answered.
"And who's with you?" Nine asked as he tried to peer around Ten.
Gwen stepped out just enough for him to see her face. "What's she doing here? With you?" he demanded.
"This isn't the Gwyneth you know. It's a long story that I'll fill you in on as we go, but I need your help and the faster we leave this timeline, the faster you can return to it so that nothing is changed. What is happening here is very important and we can't risk altering it, even a little."
"Then why are you here?"
"Like I said, I need your help and I had to risk it. It's Rose, she's in trouble," Ten said seriously.
Nine almost laughed as he said, "Yeah, what else is new?"
Ten sighed before saying, "Look, you know that I wouldn't be here if it wasn't important. Let's just get to the TARDIS and we can talk once we leave this timeline."
Nine nodded, "Alright then. Yours or mine?"
"Has to be yours. I don't have mine."
"You don't?! Then how…?" he began but Ten cut him off again.
"Not now. I tell you after we leave."
Nine nodded once again and turned and led them out of the house and down a side street where his big blue police box of a spaceship stood. Quickly he pulled out his key and opened it, allowing Ten and Gwen to enter ahead of him. He went in last, securing the door behind him.
As he turned back around, he saw Ten at the controls, preparing to send the TARDIS into the time vortex.
"Oui! What do you think you're doing?" he called as he quickly walked up to Ten.
"Relax, I'm you, remember? I think I'm just as qualified to fly this thing as you. Maybe even more so since I have a few years on you," Ten replied as engines began to whirr as the ship entered the time vortex.
"Alright, now can you explain what is going on and what was so important to risk a paradox?" Nine said as he leaned up against one of the support columns in the control room, arms crossed over his chest.
Ten took a breath and said, "It's the Master."
Nine immediately dropped his pose of apparent uncaring as he stood strait and looked Ten right in the eye. "That can't be," he breathed. "I…we killed him. He was sucked into the Eye. There's no way he could have lived, let alone escaped."
Ten nodded, "That's what I said, but apparently we underestimated him… again."
"And Rose is caught up with him?" he asked, beginning to become nervous.
"It's a bit more complicated then you might realize. And since I am going to need your full help on this, I have to tell you everything, which means…"
"Which means that I'll have to wipe my memory of all of this afterward to prevent contaminating the timeline. Yes, I know."
"This is going to be and interesting conversation with you two always finishing each other's sentences," Gwen said.
They both looked as her as Doctor Nine said, "And Gwyneth? Why is she here? And dressed like that?"
"That's one thing that I don't think is all that important to all of this so it would be best if we just brought her back to where I got her and left her story out for now."
Gwen looked like she was about to protest when Ten turned to her and said, "Gwen, I know that you would be a big help in this, but you need to be at Torchwood. With just opening the rift again, there is no telling what new things might pop up in Cardiff."
Gwen looked at him and nodded. "Alright. I guess you're right," she answered. "But you better show up at my door the second you have them, got it?" she said.
"You bet," he said with a grin.
He then turned around and pulled a few levers and pushed some buttons before they felt and heard the TARDIS rematerializing. "Home again, home again," Ten said as he walked over to the door and opened it for Gwen.
She looked out and saw that they were inside Torchwood Cardiff, practically right where she had left. At the threshold of the door, she could still see the chalk X. "Take care now Doctor, and bring them home."
"I will," he said simply as he allowed the door to close. He heard as the ship began to once again dematerialize and he turned around to see Nine at the controls now.
"Alright, where to begin?" Ten said.
"How about the beginning," Nine answered as he turned around to face his future self.
"That would be at your ending…"
