Title: The biggest family on Earth
Summary: An alternate Journey's End, where the doctor admits his feelings to Rose, Donna's fine, and Jack finds someone he really loves. Told from mainly the Doctor's POV.
Rating: T
Pairings: Ten/Rose, some Jack/Donna
Disclaimer: I don't own doctor who, the BBC does. And I certainly don't own the BBC.
This story was originally written by Lupinus Maximus, and I've adopted it. I've made changes here and there, but otherwise it's basically the same. As Lupinus Maximus only wrote the first seven chapters, and only gave me the start of the eighth, these chapters are now all mine. So if you want to complain about anything, it's my fault. ;)
Previously: But as the door swung shut behind them, a golden-white light, so bright that it blinded them instantly, enveloped them. The Doctor flailed blindly towards the console, a severe headache already pounding on his temples. He could hear Jenny's cries behind him, and Jack's exclamations, before they both passed out from the intense headaches caused by the light. He felt for the TARDIS in his mind, but she too was hurting. It was only a matter of minutes before the Doctor passed out too.
She opened her eyes slowly, expecting to see the white walls ceiling of her bedroom. But the ceiling wasn't white, it was gold. She sat up suddenly as her sleep-addled brain realised this. The walls were golden too. There was nothing here, it was as though she was stuck in limbo somewhere. And then she remembered.
()()
Rose looked around frantically, assessing her situation. The Doctor, Jack and Jenny were no where to be seen. There was only Donna here with her. And she was still unconscious. There was a golden haze surrounding them, a bit like the Doctor's regeneration energy. But Rose didn't bother to ponder over that now. She needed to see if Donna was okay.
Donna woke up to see Rose keeling beside her, desperately trying to wake her up. She sat up with a bang.
"Where are we?" She demanded. She couldn't see the Doctor, or Jenny or Jack anywhere.
"No idea." Rose replied. Her answer was calm enough, but her eyes were filled with worry betraying her.
Then something moved out of the mist behind them. A tall body, slowly coming into focus, pacing towards them. Rose and Donna scrambled to their feet, prepared to run, even if there was no where to go. But as they gazed at the figure, they could see that there was not only one figure, but nine. The girls stood frozen as the nine figures walked towards them. But as the first figure came into view, Rose recognised him immediately.
She would never forget that battered leather jacket, the radar ears, the piercing blue eyes.
"Doctor?" she breathed. Donna glanced at her as though she had gone insane, but she ignored her. The Doctor grinned at her.
"Hello Rose. Who's your friend?"
"Donna Noble." Donna answered for herself. "Rose, who is he?"
"He's the Doctor. The Doctor I knew first. Before he regenerated into our Doctor." She explained still staring at the Doctor. Then the other eight figures stepped into view. Rose and Donna stared at the mismatched bunch. One of them coughed slightly, and the Doctor turned to them as though he'd forgotten them.
"Oh yeah. These are... well they're my past incarnations." Rose gaped at him, and Donna burst out laughing.
"Are you saying that our space-man used to look like that?" She gasped, pointing at the one with the crazy scarf, who raised his eyebrows at her.
"Yes." The Doctor replied. Rose just stared around at the gathering of Doctors, eventually managing to regain her speech.
"But Doctor, why are we here?"
"Ah. Well... it's a long story. Do you remember what happened just before we came here?" The Doctor had a grave look on his face, and both Rose and Donna immediately strained their memories to remember. It was Donna who got there first.
"Oh My God! We were shot by daleks! What's this place then, heaven?" She asked, looking around expectantly. Rose just stood there, shocked. She had died. She had left the Doctor, her Doctor. And she had promised him forever.
"No. This is the realm of the Timelords. All past regenerations can be found here." The young man in the cricket outfit told Donna.
"...Of any Timelord. But as you have only met the Doctor, you can only meet us. You're humans right now. You shouldn't be here." Added in the one with the long scarf.
"Then why are we here?" Rose asked, confused. How could they not be meant to be here, but be here all the same?
"Because your time isn't over yet." The old man with long white hair, stated mysteriously.
"What d'ya mean by that?" Donna questioned quickly.
"Remember, on the crucible, Jenny said that the time lines were converging on you both. That's because your lives aren't ending here. It's not certain whether you should have been shot by those daleks or not, but you're both definitely not meant to die here and now." The Doctor replied.
"You mean we'll get sent back?" Rose asked, her face lighting up at the thought of returning to the Doctor, her Doctor again. But the ninth Doctor just nodded gravely.
"You'll be sent back, but there is a downside. You'll gain a Timelord's capacity to regenerate."
"Technically, you should only gain one regeneration, but due to the excess regeneration energy that was poured into this realm, I'm guessing you will each have gained five regenerations." The Doctor told them.
"Excess energy...?"
"Yes. A few minutes after the heart of the TARDIS was opened, the immortal, our future self and his daughter entered the TARDIS. The circumstances caused them to collapse. Jenny collapsed onto the jar which held the regeneration energy. That energy was released into the air. Most of it was absorbed into this realm, but some lingered. When you get back, you will find that the Doctor and Jenny have gained three regenerations each."
"It would have been two, as there are three people in the TARDIS, but Mr. Immortal Harkness has no need of the energy, and so he can't absorb it." The Doctor added, grinning lightly. Rose and Donna just gasped.
"Jack's immortal? How? Since when?" Rose questioned, staring at him, gobsmacked. She knew that there must be a reason he survived the dalek ray before, but it hadn't even crossed her mind that he could be immortal. The Doctor looked a bit guilty.
"Since the game station. You should be able to remember now Rose, remember what happened, when you returned then." He told her softly. Rose immediately looked back through her mind for the memories that she had never been able to access.
()()()()()()()()()()
The vortex, pouring through her mind...
The Doctor cowering down before her as she stepped out of the TARDIS. His scared question...
'What've you done?'
'I looked into the TARDIS. And the TARDIS looked into me' A simple answer...
A dalek ray, stopped by a single hand...
'I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself' The Doctor's intense stare...
'You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space - every single atom of your existence, and I divide them.' The death of the daleks... turning into dust...
'Rose, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go.' The Doctor, pleading with her, but it's too much for her to let go...
'How can I let go of this? I bring life...' She watches in her mind as Jack is returned to life, gasping for air as he wakes...
'The power's gonna kill you and it's my fault.' The Doctor's anguished cry as he takes the burden of death upon his own shoulders again...
'I can see everything. All that is... all that was... all that ever could be.' The existence of a Timelord.
'That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?' Still pleading with her, trying to make her let go... and she realises...
'... it's killing me...' And he steps towards her, and takes her hands in his own.
'I think you need a Doctor.' He looking straight at her, and then he's kissing her, oh so gently, pulling the time vortex out of her... and she collapses into his arms.
()()()()()()()()()()
Rose stared at the Doctor, her first Doctor. He had kissed her... admittedly, to save her life, but still. And he had left Jack behind. She vaguely recalled that he had never lied about that, he'd said that Jack was rebuilding the Earth, but she'd been too busy with the new Doctor to think about it.
"Why did you leave him?" She demanded, turning to face him. He looked down at the floor again, almost guiltily.
"When you brought Jack back, you brought him back forever. He's a fixed point in time now, never changing. And I'm a Timelord. And to a Timelord, a human that is a fixed point in time is wrong. It's this feeling I get, in my guts. It gets better if I'm closer to him for a long period of time, but he was new then. And so was I. It was too much."
"Oh." She stared at him for a moment.
"How come your talking about our Doctor as though he's in your past?" Donna butted in. The Doctor grinned at her.
"As he gets older, we get all his memories. Not the feelings though, just the memories. It's like having a constant film playing in your head. And it's less confusing." He explained carefully. The girls nodded.
"So, what now? How do we get back?"
"Easy. Close your eyes and step forward. Think of it in your mind as though you're about to step off the edge of a cliff."
"Easier said than done, Big Ears." Donna muttered, before they both did as he said.
It felt like they were falling, an unknown force pulling them downwards. To Rose, it felt like the force that had pulled her towards the void, that fateful day. To Donna, it just felt like she was falling to her doom. Even though they both trusted the Doctor more than most people, it's still hard to feel safe when you've got the feelings you're being pulled downwards at a hundred miles per hour.
()()()()()()()()()()
"Doctor? Doctor!" The Doctor opened his eyes slowly. The blinding light had disappeared, but the TARDIS was still glowing, and his eyes were still aching from the light. Jack was knelt beside him, worried. He glanced around carelessly to see Jenny lying face down on the grating, glass surrounding her, cuts on her body. He sat up instantly, ignoring his headache and hastened to her side. Turning her over, the Doctor examined her quickly. Then he breathed a sigh of relief.
"She's fine. She just fell on the jar with my hand in." He told Jack as he looked up at him. Jack grinned slightly, but only for a moment before his expression turned troubled again. The Doctor faltered slightly, as he put his arms under Jenny and lifted her. His head pounded again as he staggered to his feet. He glanced at Jack again, and paused.
"What is it Jack?" He asked, sounding worn out now. Jack blinked at the Doctor's sudden mood swing, and answered.
"The... their bodies. They've gone." He informed him, his voice breaking slightly. The Doctor stared at him, eyes widening.
"What?" Jack just stared back at him, motioning with his arm where Rose and Donna's bodies had been before. "How?" Jack just shook his head.
The Doctor lowered Jenny onto the captain's chair, and pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket. He raced past Jack to where Rose and Donna had been lying before, scanning the air. But there was nothing. No traces, just thin air. They were gone. Vanished. Kaput. The Doctor turned around slowly, sighing heavily. He shook his head at Jack's unasked question, stowing the sonic screwdriver back in his jacket, and turned back to Jenny. He was about to lift her and carry her to the medical room, when she opened her eyes.
"Dad?" she murmured, gasping slightly at the pain. Or at least that's what he thought. Until Jack suddenly exclaimed something unintelligible behind him. Looking down at Jenny properly, he realised that she was staring at something over his shoulder. He spun around, to see two figures surrounded by golden light that was slowly fading. And when he realised who they were, the pounding in his head increased ten-fold, and he collapsed.
()()()()()()()()()()
Donna and Rose opened their eyes to see the familiar sight of the TARDIS console. Jack was knelt in the corner, just staring at them, Jenny was lying on the captain's chair, bleeding slightly. And then the Doctor, who had been facing Jenny, turned to face them. And promptly collapsed.
"Heart of steel, that one." Donna commented, as Rose hurried over to him. She felt his pulse, but he seemed fine. Then she tried shaking him to wake him, up but he continued to sleep. Then something clicked in her mind. She turned to Jack, who was still staring between her and Donna, for once at a loss for words.
"Jack, go make a cup of tea, will you? Doctor needs his Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin."
"Tea?" Jack looked at her like she was crazy. Which she probably was, but, yeah.
"Yeah. Tea will heal his synapses and wake him up.
"Okay..." Jack raced out of the console room towards the kitchen, and Rose and Donna turned to Jenny, who was gazing worriedly at her Father, who was slumped on the floor in front of her.
"Jenny, we need to take you to the med bay to heal you." She told the younger girl gently. Jenny nodded, and Donna helped her to her feet. Rose went ahead of them to get stuff ready. It may have been a long time since she had been in there, but she'd had to heal plenty of cuts herself before: she knew her way around the med bay better than most.
With the Doctor high tech, futuristic equipment, it barely took five minutes to heal the cuts on Jenny's body. But it was obvious that the girl needed to rest.
"It's alright Jenny. We're here now, you can rest." Rose told her gently, as she lowered the bed down so Jenny could sleep comfortably.
"But Dad..."
"He'll be fine now. You've helped him a lot Jenny." Rose replied, trying to reassure the younger girl.
"But I haven't done anything. I couldn't even comfort him. I didn't know how!" Jenny was getting slightly anxious now, and confused. The strong girl who had saved them from the daleks was gone, leaving a terrified teenager behind.
"You've helped him just by being here. Something left for him to live for." Rose answered calmly.
"To be honest," Donna started, turning to Rose slightly, "I don't even want to think about what he'd be like if she hadn't been here. He was bad enough when he lost you to that parallel world, he almost killed himself. Unintentionally of course, but... yeah." Donna stopped as Rose looked slightly scared as well. She knew she wouldn't be able to deal with two anxious people.
"But will he be okay?" Jenny tried once more.
"Yes." Rose said firmly, as though trying to make herself believe it as well."He's just sleeping. He's done this before, when he regenerated. I'll spill a cup of tea over him, and he'll wake up right as rain." She told her, making an effort to smile slightly. Jenny laughed lightly and relaxed.
"You've been so strong Jenny. But now you need to rest, just like him." Donna told her gently. Jenny looked like she was about to protest, but Donna forestalled her. "And don't give me any of that rot about Timelords not needing sleep. You're emotionally worn out. And that's a different matter altogether."
It was only a matter of minutes before Jenny was asleep, and the two girls could sneak back into the console room.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
The scene from TpoW isn't the full scene, it's just the main parts.
I hope you enjoyed that chapter!