The Doctor was well aware of the fact that he's in a parallel reality, he didn't need some scatterbrained nutcase to spell it out. Still the matter at hand is that James has the knowledge to tell that this world is not the original, also he instantly recognized him. Is this good? Bad? ...The Doctor still weighing that.

Although so far he's cast away Rose, not on purpose, mind. Dropped into an altered version of Earth. And discovered that Jackie can still procreate.

The Doctor shivered.

"What's that look for?" Jackie demanded.

The Doctor ignored her and tried once more to get to the mansion. Maybe Rose's new -altered- home holds some clues as to how everyone can still remember him despite the timeline reset. But again, James rounded on him, asking how he's here. He himself hasn't the tiniest inkling about what's really going on to even begin to answer that, and discussing it with these domestic apes isn't going to change that.

"I know. It's his fault those aliens are reapin' Rose," Jackie accused.

James sighed, "They're not aliens, Jackie." Then he directed the conversation to the Doctor. "The Reaper are soldiers of time."

"Reapers?" The Doctor asked.

"Reaper," James articulated. "Plural and singular. They've been deployed here to fix time. But I can't-" he paused, seemingly repressing his irritation. "I've lost the ability to observe timestreams, can't tell what they're after."

"They're after Rose," Jackie supplied.

"I know!" James grumbled. "But I'm unable to understand why."

"See timestreams?" The Doctor questioned. "Who are you then?"

James smirked, "who was I is the proper question. I'm human now."

"Rose!" Tony shouted.

They all switched their attention to the car pulling into the driveway. Rose was inside. Finally he can see her and straighten this out. Tony kept pace with Jackie's speedwalk, and James could only limp, so the Doctor was the first one there when Rose got out.

And wasn't she just the picture of surprise upon seeing him. Rose went bug eyed, stumbled away, and the back of her head collided against the car doorway before she dropped onto the drivers seat. Not the emotional reunion he was expecting.

Rose rubbed her injury, biting her lip as she stared up at him. "James?"

That's insulting. In what way was he like that blue hobbling popsicle stick? The Doctor readjusted his stance to put some distance between them so he could take this in with what cool indifference he had left. Rose is genuinely shocked. Not bursting with joy, but near panic. How long has it been? Rose is... old. Not elderly, but aged. About ten years, he'd say. Little wrinkles here and there, round cheeks gone. Wisdom in those brown eyes which once brimmed with questions.

"Rose," James breathed heavily, leaning against the door to rest.

"James." Rose stated, now with more certainty. "What's-?"

"No," James threw his palm up. "I'm not sure what's going on. Try not to tell him too much about the future, because -somehow- he is most definitely the Doctor." James tapped his forehead as if that answered everything.

She searched his eyes then stared at the Doctor. "How are you even here?"

"Million dollar question, that." The Doctor finally admitted.

"You're kidding," she pressed her lips together, but still spluttered into laughter. "It's always got to be an accident with you-"

"Rose," James interrupted.

"He's not going to get back if we have to tape our lips. He probably doesn't even know where this is," she told him. Then she threaded her hand through her hair. "Did you come in the TARDIS?"

"He did!" Tony exclaimed. "I saw it. It's just like you said Rose! And the Doctor said he's going to take me on adventures, so you have to wait your turn."

"Really?" Rose's twinkling eyes went from Tony to the Doctor.

"I know where this is," the Doctor said, suddenly cold. "Parallel world. One, I might add, your sticky fingers created."

"Me?" Rose checked with James, who also appeared clueless.

"Pete Alan Tyler," he told her.

And like that a shadow of tension fell over everyone in the immediate area. At the name they either froze, or instantly found the ground very interesting. Even Tony, who was bubbling with excitement, couldn't act unaffected when he heard.

"Ah," the Doctor forcibly smiled, trying to stay optimistic at what he caused. "I aimed for the end of his timeline, suppose I didn't miss then?"

Rose opted to be the first to speak although her voice was devoid of any emotion. "His funeral was-" Rose paused. "Yeah. You made it to the right time... Why would you...?"

"Was lookin' for you," the Doctor answered. "Left you in 1987. Came back, and you were gone."

James loudly reentered the conversation, "You came from 1987?"

Rose scrambled out of the car. "No! You need to go back!"

The Doctor pulled his head back. "Told you. I already did. Went to the wedding even. Pete and Jackie couldn't remember you. Like you never existed."

"But that's," James sounded flabbergasted. "Impossible. That means you came from a divergence in the causal nexus."

"James," Rose's voice quavered, "what's going on? That was chaos, I remember. He shouldn't be here."

"Whether Pete lived or died is a defining point of this universe and the main one. And more importantly, it's where this parallel reality branched off from. So the only way you can be here, with a working TARDIS, is if... is if you belong here in this parallel universe. A parallel Doctor."

Rose and James gaped at him.

How in the universe did this human interpret the situation before the Doctor? He felt insulted, walking into this, and coming out the problem for others to solve. He was already confused, still is to some degree, and now his last failsafe -his knowledge- has just been thrown by someone who couldn't possibly be wiser, but is. That's not the way this works. That's never the way this works.

"Where did you pick this one up?" the Doctor nearly growled as he glared down into James' eyes, hoping to see him cower. Yet he held firm, glaring right back.

Rose floundered for words, motioning her hands between them. "He was- we met in our travels on the, um, the TARDIS."

"Despite parallels this is your future somehow? Where'm I then?"

Rose reeled her hands in defensively, fiddling with her fingers close to her chest. Still sounding unsure in her explanation. "Well, you're here. But in your future... we stayed... on Earth."

Her nervous actions brought a valuable detail to his attention. He seized her left wrist, then swung her hand in for inspection. A wedding ring. James wore one matching.

This is it then. She left the Doctor to settle down. He might've known.

"Is this what traversing the stars was for you? Finding a mate? What species is he?"

Rose rolled her eyes, dropping her shoulders as if giving up. "Doctor, he's..."

James finally piped in, beaming. "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

The Doctor crossed his arms. "Doctor who?"

Rose bit her lip, first in anticipation, but now to hold back a laugh.

The Doctor turned to her. "Walked right into that, didn't I?" Then he looked James over, still steaming, but trying to veil it. "Is this a joke? Same title as me?"

"Doctor." Rose ran a hand across her cheek and just dived in. "He is you."

The Doctor falling for his own cliche... I couldn't resist.

I find it amusing that Pringles says potato crisps instead of chips. I suppose cookie isn't as interchangeable though, cause that's the way the biscuit crumbles.

JessiePie6: Sweet! Tony will have his own way of popping up here and there. Kids do that. A lot. Thank you for the review!

Rylee87: Curiosity, that's good. Considering things are going to unravel fast soon, that's going to be... something to hold onto. I'm happy to hear you're enjoying Tony, thank you for reviewing!

LovelyAmberLight: Timey-Wimeyness, love the description. Thank you! :)

fashionablenerd: That's wonderful! I do hope you enjoy the rest of this as well.