Chapter Fourteen

At last, after walking through corridors that all looked the same, Donna finally found a flight of steps leading down. She went down them slowly, still keeping her eyes open for any guards. At the bottom of the steps, she saw a landing with a door off to the right and in front of her, another flight of steps going down. She chose to keep going, and at the bottom of those steps, she found another landing with a door and more steps. She kept going down and down, noticing that the further she went, the more the air began to reek of mold and rotten urine. She noticed too that the plastered walls were giving way to bare, concrete ones, and she began to wonder where she was going.

As she descended, she started to wonder whether she was headed towards the dungeons. Her suspicions were confirmed when she reached the last step and stepped out into a dark, dank, musty passageway. Torches hung from the ceiling, lighting the way. On either side of the narrow passageway, Donna could see the iron bars of cells. The mold and urine smell was overpowering, and she put her hand over her nose and mouth in an attempt to keep herself from vomiting. Ahead of her, dark grey vermin that looked like a mole with a bat's head darted in and out of the cells. Donna couldn't help but wonder if it was more of that man's experimental tinkering that had somehow gotten free and bred in the dungeons.

She inched forward, cautiously, keeping her eyes peeled for any undesirables just in case she needed to sprint back up the steps again.

She hesitated a moment and then took her hand away from her mouth.

"Doctor? Martha?" she said, in a loud whisper.

She put her hand over her mouth and moved forward again. She moved a few feet, took her hand away, and called again. After receiving no response, she repeated the gesture again.

The third time she did it, she heard someone moving inside the cell on her left hand side. Cautiously, she reached up and took a torch from its holder. She walked in front of the bars and held the torch up in front of her.

"Doctor? Martha?" she said.

She spied a man coming towards the bars. He was filthy and bore signs of abuse on his body. His long, red hair hung limply around his angular face.

"There is no Doctor or Martha here," the man said, "I am the only one down here at present."

"Who are you then?" Donna asked.

"My name is Haban; I am the leader of the Valporian resistance."

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Slowly, the Doctor began to recognize planets and stars that he had seen just after leaving Valpora, and he knew that it wouldn't be long now until their alone time was ended. He had enjoyed being here with her. All by themselves, with no other distractions, the Doctor had passed the time by filling her in on some of the adventures he had in the past year, and Rose filled him in on what she had been doing. It helped relieved their boredom as well as soothe the butterflies in their stomachs. The Doctor knew that Rose was terrified although, to her credit, she was trying not to let it show. She had let him do most of the talking and although he tried to be cheerful and even joke around while telling her his adventures, he could tell at times that her mind was a million miles away from him, lost in the possibilities of what might happen to her. But, amazingly, she somehow managed to hear him at the same time since she frequently interrupted with questions. It amazed him that she could do that without any effort. It proved to him once again that she was no ordinary human girl.

He held off telling her they were nearing Valpora for as long as he could. He didn't want her to start worrying ahead of time and ruin their peaceful reunion. When the planet came in sight, then he would let her know. For now, he was doing his best to joke around and tease her, trying to keep the tension to a minimum and bring her some joy that she could hold on to when the situation became bleak. He had told Rose that he would hang on to her, no matter what, but in the back of his mind, he knew that if they had agreed to let him go get Rose, they must have a plan to separate him from her once he was back in their clutches. If that happened, his one trump card was Donna. If she hadn't been caught yet, then she could be the one that would end up rescuing all of them.

When she had found him and helped him defeat Miss Foster and the Adipose, he had been grateful for her help and happy to see her. But, when she asked to travel with him, he had been a bit skeptical. When they had first worked together, she hadn't done much of anything except screech at him and call him a Martian. He had decided to take her along on a trial basis, although he didn't call it that to her face. But, to his surprise and delight, she quickly proved she was not only smart as a whip, but a fierce and capable fighter. The Doctor was especially grateful when they went to Pompeii, and she helped him defeat the Pyrovile. He had given her the TARDIS key after that, a symbolic gesture he used to let his companions know that he considered them worthy enough to travel with him on a full time basis.

After that, Donna worked even harder to prove herself to him, and the Doctor quickly came to rely on her just as he had relied on Martha and Rose. All three women were more than capable of handling themselves and there was no doubt in the Doctor's mind that his red-haired companion was still at large somewhere in the castle, causing the guards headaches and laughing at their inability to find her. If anyone could rescue them, it would be his clever, brave Donna Noble. Josiah had made a huge mistake bringing them all to his planet. In all of the two universes, he had manage to capture the four people that could bring him down and end his patron's royal rule, and the Doctor was determined to do both things before he left.

Twenty minutes later, the tractor beam passed a moon, and the Doctor spied Valpora. He pointed it out to Rose and helped her to her feet. He stood behind her, wrapping her arms around her protectively while they watched the planet grow larger and larger in front of them.

"I'm here, Rose, don't worry."

Rose squeezed his hand in reply.

It took another fifteen minutes before they finally hit the atmosphere of Valpora. The Doctor glanced down at Rose and noticed she was looking around at her surroundings with curiosity rather than fear. She looked down and noticed they were going towards an enormous castle.

"Is that it?"

"Yup."

He held her against his body, as the beam drew them closer. He could finally see the tractor beam, Josiah, and Lady Rose who were standing beside it. Behind them stood several armed guards.

"I see the welcoming party has come out to greet us," he said to Rose, "don't see my TARDIS though; they must have moved it somewhere."

"Is that Josiah and…my twin?"

"Yup."

Rose had a thought.

"Won't my meeting her create a paradox or something?" she said, giving him a worried look.

"No, because she's not really you. She's just another version of you. It's the same thing as Mickey meeting Ricky. And, it's what I kept trying to tell you when you insisted that this world's Pete was exactly like your dad. Nothing will happen to you if you touch her. Well, nothing that will implode the universe, anyway."

They neared the balcony, and Rose finally got a clear view of her double. Both women locked eyes with each other while Josiah slowed the beam down and shortened it. The Doctor looked from one to another. Despite his fears of what might happen to Rose, this little meeting and Rose's reaction to it fascinated him. He guessed that Mickey had much the same reaction when he first met Ricky. Rose was staring at her double with a mixture of disbelief and awe, but the Lady Rose returned it with the same haughty, snotty look she had given him and Martha. He could guess what was going through her mind. He figured she was already dismissing Rose as an inferior copy of herself. In fact, he could tell from the way her nose went up in the air that his inference was probably correct.

Their feet touched the stone surface of the balcony, and the Doctor held on to Rose tightly, as Josiah switched off the tractor beam. The two sets of people stood there, quietly sizing up each other. He was amused by Josiah's reaction. He kept looking from Rose to her double and back again, in what he figured was a visual comparison between the two. He tightened his hold when Josiah walked up to them.

"So, this is the legendary Rose Tyler," he said, "the woman who managed to capture the heart of a Time Lord."

He gave her a mock bow. Rose rolled her eyes and glanced up at the Doctor.

"So, are you going to impregnate me now, or do we get to lie down first?" Rose spat at him.

Josiah beamed.

"Oh, so you did tell her my plans," he said to the Doctor, "excellent, saves me the trouble. You will get a comfy cage, my dear, right beside the Doctor's companion, Martha. He, on the other hand, will be going back to his little lab table."

"Oh no, he will not."

Josiah glared at him, but the Doctor met his gaze, unflinchingly.

"I will be caged with her. If she's going to undergo this insane experiment, I want to be with her, both for support and to assist her should there be any complications with her pregnancy. And, for that matter, I want Martha in the same cage with us. She has medical training, and I want her to be able to help me, if I need it."

He smirked.

"Now, if…Donna is around, then I want her with me too."

He paused and studied his eyes.

"Donna has been caught, or am I wrong about that?" he said.

He let out a gleeful laugh when Josiah remained silent.

"Oh, Josie-boy, you're losing your touch. You mean to tell me you can capture Martha and me, but you can't capture Donna. And she's not even that imposing…well, unless you count her mouth, but other than that, she's not super-strong or abnormally agile, but ooooh, is she clever!"

"That's right, Time Lord, go ahead and gloat."

"Thanks, don't mind if I do. Anyway, as I was saying, you and your miserable little motley mob of mutants can't rustle up a rambunctious, resourceful little red-head. How sad for you. Guess you should have combined species with actual intelligence when you decided to create your hybrid army. Maybe this will teach you a lesson about pulling random aliens down from the sky, so you can play with them. Not only did one of your lab rats escape, but she has shown she's more than capable of navigating your maze."

"And so," Lady Rose cut in, "here you are, the great and mighty Time Lord pinning all your hopes on a little human girl."

The Doctor looked at Rose.

"See, Rose, I was right. She's not you because, unlike you, this woman is dumber than a box of rocks."

"Watch it!" Lady Rose growled, pulling back her fist.

Rose quickly brought her fist up.

"Do it and die!" she snarled at her.

Both women stared at one another with murder in their eyes. The Doctor and Josiah watched in silent fascination. Lady Rose neared closer to her double. She looked her up and down and snorted disdainfully.

"You may look exactly like me, but I can see that you lack the breeding and sophistication that I naturally possess."

The Doctor bit his lip and shook with silent laughter when Rose boomed out a, "HA!"

"Oh, sister," Rose said, "you may think you're the bee's knees, but underneath that fancy frock, you are just a chavvy little twat."

Lady Rose's mouth fell open while the Doctor sniggered.

"I'm a what?"

Rose smirked.

"A…chavvy…little…twat. See, I'm not afraid of you. I've faced far worse than you and lived to tell the tale. And I'm telling you right now. You lay a hand on the Doctor; you will live to regret it. No one…hurts the Doctor and gets away with it. You want proof; ask the Daleks I turned into space dust."

She leaned forward.

"And if I were you, I'd do just what the Doctor wants, because if you don't…things will get very nasty, very quickly. Trust me."

Lady Rose glanced up at the Doctor who was giving her a smug look. She looked back at Rose who was mirroring it. She snorted.

"Fine, you two want to be together, so be it. But, if I were you, I would watch your tongue because I'm not as big a pushover as you imagine."

"Neither…am…I." Rose said, emphasizing each word.

Lady Rose rolled her eyes. She turned to Josiah.

"Take them away; put them in a cage together. Do what he wants; just get these idiots out of my sight before I rip their hearts from their chests. I'm going to lie down."

"Nice of you to welcome us home, Queenie!" the Doctor yelled out, as she hurried away, "you could have baked some biscuits for us though, we're both hungry after our galactic road trip."

The Doctor looked at Rose, pride bursting out of his hearts, when he noticed her flipping her off. Rose looked up at him and smiled back. The Doctor glanced over at Josiah who was eyeing them both.

"Well, are we gonna go inside or are we all just gonna stand here and hurl some more insults at each other?"

Josiah didn't reply. He looked back at the guards and nodded. The guards came forward, surrounded the Doctor and Rose, and led them away towards the lab.