~9~
The Doctor caught Rose's eye and smiled at her, and for a moment this was just another one of their adventures, and her life (well, future life) wasn't on the line.
She grinned back at him, but he could see she was a little scared as well. He took her hand, and to his relief her nervousness seemed to vanish as she held his back.
He could feel the eyes of his future selves on him but ignored them. Rose wasn't going anywhere for the moment, thank you very much. He smirked at the thought, and Rose raised her eyebrows inquisitively, but he just shook his head, still smiling.
"Well then," said Ten's voice behind them, "like you said, Rose. Time to meet your future."
There was a pause, and then he added. "Don't worry, she's brilliant."
"Of course she will be," said the Doctor. He didn't say it to compete with the other man, but because he knew it would mean more coming with him. After all, he was the one she knew.
Rose wasn't sure what to say, so she just smiled, and then opened the TARDIS door, stepping out with her Doctor.
Nine looked around, dropping Rose's hand as he stepped further into the room.
"We're in the field," he said, seeing the green hills through the glass walls. "We were so close the whole time."
"That's the beauty of a time pocket," Eleven said. "You could sit in your enemy's living room and they'd have their tea and biscuits right next to you – just a second out of sync..."
"Where's Rose?" Ten asked, and the Doctor turned to see a worried expression on the man's face.
"Right here," said Rose, before realising that it wasn't her he was asking about, and feeling rather stupid. "Sorry…" she trailed off, feeling her cheeks blush a little.
"Don't worry," said Ten, "two of anything's bound to get confusing. You've got to come up with different names… Like Pete's world! Remember Pete's world?"
"Uh…" Rose replied, blushing a little.
The Doctor didn't quite understand why she would be blushing, and found himself staring between her and Ten for a few seconds.
"Oh, right! Sorry, hasn't happened yet. Wrong Rose," his next form said quickly. "And speaking of the right Rose…"
The pin-striped man walked over to what looked like a long black column, which The Doctor recognised as a stasis chamber, and pointed his sonic screwdriver at it. The outline of a door came into focus, and the column popped open. To the disappointment of everyone, it was empty.
Rose stepped forward, recognising the small interior.
"You were right," she said, "that's what she put me inside before."
The Doctor felt a surge of protectiveness, and took Rose's hand again, frowning at the chamber.
Ten ran a hand through his hair, clearly frustrated.
He walked over to the Doctor and Rose and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Do you remember anything else?" he asked her, voice a little strained. "Anything at all?"
Rose bit her lip. "I'm sorry," she said, shaking her head. "I remember her… taking me… but before you beamed me out it's all too fuzzy."
She frowned, before looking up at her Doctor with a small smile.
"By the way," she said, "very Spock."
"Rose, we're trying to save your future self," he replied, trying for stern and instead sounding a little helpless. It reminded Rose of the time he told her he was trying to resonate concrete. He smiled down at her again, and for some reason a flash of memory came into his head
"Your wish is my command," he said, wondering if she knew he meant it completely.
He blinked, and was relieved to see she was still looking at him as well.
Ten dropped his hands from her when Rose looked up at the man she knew instead, and the Doctor couldn't help but roll his eyes at the return of the pouty face. He quickly regretted it when he remembered the other man's situation, and squeezed his companion's hand once again, before dropping it and walking over to the centre of the room.
"Right," he said, clapping his hands together, "what have we got? I'll tell you. Me. And I'm very, very clever. Genius, as it happens. And there's three of me. So we're gonna find Rose Tyler, and we're gonna find her right now. That alright with you lot?"
The other two men nodded, and then all three of them seemed to take off, running around the room and looking for any clue with almost overwhelming energy and focus.
Rose was a little taken back by the flurry of activity for a second, but then decided that she better join in.
She walked over to a rather out of place looking drinks tray, and picked up a glass of… something. Whatever it was, she realised after smelling it, it was alcoholic.
"Do you really think this is the best time for a drink?" The Doctor said, raising his eyebrows. "Honestly, humans…"
"Just wait a bit before you start insulting my species, yeah? I reckon the other me can't be too far away."
"What makes you say that?" asked Eleven, walking over to her.
"It's warm in here," Rose replied.
The three men looked at her blankly.
"Well, unless there's some kinda super ice in the future, this drink can't have been here too long," she said, tilting it so they could all see the almost whole ice cubes still floating in it.
The Doctor ran over to her and kissed her on the head.
"Rose Tyler, you're a genius!" he said, and she beamed up at him in a way that meant he just had to beam back.
~10~
The Doctor swallowed a little at hearing the familiar words in that voice – the same one's he'd said before sending her away. Right before she became the Bad Wolf, the very thing that had brought them all here.
That was the first time he'd kissed her. The only time he'd kissed her really, because you should really only count the times a flap of skin hadn't possessed her… He frowned to himself. Now was not that time to think about kissing Rose Tyler. Now was the time to be saving Rose Tyler.
He walked over to the younger version of her, looking down at the drink she was holding, and grinned at her, not able to help himself from finishing the smile with a wink. He couldn't help a very slightly smug smile at the blush it earned from her, and the small frown from his younger, Northern self. Served him right.
The Doctor spun on his heels, eyes looking over the field around them.
"So," he began, "they're definitely not out there, we'd be able to see them from here… And they can't have gotten to the village without those ice cubes melting. So where are they?"
He had the sudden urge to rip open everything in the room, and then took a deep breath, tugging on his ear lobe. He needed to be calm.
'Calm,' he thought to himself, 'Calm, calm, calm.'
"Oh hello," he heard his older self say, "what are you?"
Ten turned around and walked over to where Eleven was kneeling.
"Looks like a second teleport router," he said, frowning.
As if on cue, a crackling noise filled the room, and a well dressed young woman blinked into existence in front of them.
She frowned. "Well that's a dreadful shame," she said, "I'd hoped you wouldn't be here yet."
The two men jumped to their feet but Nine was already there, holding the girl by the collar of her shirt.
"Where is she?" he growled. "What have you done with her?"
"I don't see what you're moaning about," the young woman replied coolly, "you've got your version of her back. Completely uninteresting that one… such a disappointment."
"Gee, thanks," muttered Rose.
"Right now you're in the hands of the most unstable person in the room – do you really want to test me?" Nine said with a mocking smile.
"Doctor…" Rose said, and the man put Aurelia back on the ground, but snatched away the button in her hand.
"No teleporting," he warned her.
"Where's Rose?" Ten said, running over to stand next to himself.
Aurelia rolled her eyes. "Honestly, boys, you're insatiable. As I said, I had hoped you wouldn't have arrived yet... I just popped back to get some equipment – now if you'd be so kind to give me that back I can be on my way."
The Doctor felt a sick feeling in his stomach, and his hearts pounded as images of what this woman might have done rushed through his head. If she had hurt her...
He saw Nine look over at him, and the man quickly held out a hand in front of him, apparently recognising the emotions.
The Doctor was about to push his younger self-aside, to go and get some answers no matter what it took, when Eleven walked breezily past both of them.
"Aurelia, I presume," he said.
"That's right," she replied, looking him up and down. "I'd like to say charmed but I'm afraid your friends haven't been very pleasant."
"Yes, terribly sorry about that," Eleven said, "but the thing is you have someone it's rather important we get back."
Aurelia's face had a very bored expression. "But it's not as if you've ever done anything with her… As far as I can tell I'm the first person to even scan her, let alone conduct any further analyses."
The sick feeling in the Doctor's stomach shifted and grew, and he felt the dark expression on his face turn into a deeper scowl.
"Give her back to me," he said.
"Not now darling, I'm talking to your friend," the woman said, looking a little amused.
He growled.
"Excellent," said Eleven, ignoring him. "You see the thing is that Rose Tyler has a very important future. An extremely important one. One that I will do absolutely everything in my power to maintain," he moved closer to her.
"Do you understand me?"
"And what might that future be?" Aurelia asked curiously, trying her very best not to seem intimidated.
The Doctor looked over at Nine, whose face had the same wary curiosity as his own. What did this version of them know about Rose's future? What was going to happen to her?
Eleven smiled for a second, and it seemed genuine.
"Nothing I would have believed," he said.
Ten looked at Rose, who was biting her lip, staring at the future Doctor intently.
"What happens?" she asked him.
He didn't reply.
"Look," said Aurelia after a second, "I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement… I'll finish my research, and then I'll send her back to you. For a small charge, of course."
The Doctor strode forward, pushing aside Nine's arm and stepping in front of Eleven.
"We're not bargaining!" he spat at her, and she stumbled back very slightly. "You are giving her back to me, and I am going to let you live – do you understand me?" he struggled not to yell; pulling out his sonic and holding it like a weapon.
"Temper," she whispered.
"Oh yes," he whispered back.
He felt Eleven gently start to move him aside and pushed the man away, not looking at him.
She was his Rose, and he was going to save her.
"Tell me where she is," he said, holding the sonic to her neck.
"What are you going to do with that?"
"You have five seconds."
"Honestly…"
"Five."
"Look, can't we just…"
"Four."
"Can one of you do something about him?" her voice was still reasonably calm, but there was a nervous edge to it.
"Three."
"I haven't done any real damage!"
"You better hope not," said Nine.
"Two."
"Okay, fine!" she said, pushing him away. "I'll show her to you. But that's all! I'm not… promising anything. We can talk later."
"I told you we're not bargaining," spat the Doctor, holding up the sonic again.
Smoothing down her jacket she walked over and picked up her drink, taking a sip.
"Still cold," she said, sounding thoughtful. She looked back up at the Doctor. "I know you're bluffing," she said.
"Well, I'm not exactly a weapons man," Ten said sticking his hands in his pockets.
Rose seemed a little surprised by his sudden shift in demeanour.
"Not that I ever need them, really. I like to give people a warning first."
Aurelia gave him an odd look, and it was clear she was worried.
"I suppose it's only fair to show you the goods before you buy them," she gave a light, polite-sounding laugh.
Rose looked as if she might throw up.
"What have you done to me?"
Aurelia rolled her eyes again. "Pass me that," she motioned to the object Nine had taken from her, "and I'll take us there."
"And you expect me to trust you?" Nine asked, raising his eyebrows.
"It's the only way you're going to get to her." She stirred her drink with her finger, sucking off the liquid with a thoughtful expression. "I mean it's not like I care what happens to her, really," she wiped her finger on her jacket. "We can just stay here and wait for her to starve. Or you can trust me. Your choice."
"Take us there," Eleven said calmly, pulling something they couldn't quite see out of his jacket. "Or I'll shoot you."
Rose, Ten and Nine all looked at him with expressions somewhere between surprise and mild alarm.
"I don't like guns," said Ten.
"Times change."
"Not that much."
There was a brief moment of silence before Aurelia spoke again.
"Alright," she said, looking down at the hidden object in Eleven's hand, "I may as well give you the co-ordinates – you won't be able to access her without my genetic code anyway. Enter 5-8-0-9-H, then home."
Nine gave her a slightly calculating look, and then entered the code.
The sound of crackling returned, and then the room was empty.
Thanks so much to everyone who has followed the story so far, and thank you for your feedback :) x
