Author's Note: Next chapter. I hope to have this one wrapped up in the next few weeks. Also hope to get some more updates posted for my other (languishing) fics here soon...

I do not own Doctor Who or any of its characters.

Thank you to everyone who is reading/following/favoriting/reviewing this. It is always appreciated.

Chapter Fourteen

"…I'm already beginning to feel…changes…."

Those words continued to echo in Jamie's brain as persistently and rhythmically as the pounding of his heart in his chest and his feet against the pavement.

A part of him was still trying to process the idea that he had just been interacting with two versions of the Doctor at the same time. Granted, he wasn't exactly sure what would happen when they finally found the version he had known first. One idea that he had had was that one might disappear and the other one would help him return to the life he had before this whole mess began. Another was that it would be like his dream and they would temporarily merge into one person. At the very least, he expected that would think and act as one given that they were both the Doctor.

What Jamie had not expected was the moment when he watched the Doctor bicker with himself. Even though the piper knew that they were the same man at an intrinsic level, they interacted with each other as if they were two completely different people. In fact, it was almost as if they couldn't stand one another.

'But why?' he asked himself. 'Why would the Doctor nae get along wit' himself? They think and feel the same things, don' they?'

The piper shook his head. By now, he understood what Peri had tried to tell him before about the Doctor never forgetting his friends. Her Doctor was every bit as caring and affectionate toward him as his own Doctor had been. It certainly proved that there was some consistency between each incarnation of the Doctor and that made their thinly disguised animosity toward each other even more confusing.

Jamie shook his head and marginally increased his speed as he saw the truck disappear. After Chessene had take out the Sontarans, the three of them had watched in amazement as Shockeye walked out of the hacienda with the Doctor's younger self. The Doctor had explained to him and Peri the basics of what Dastari had done to his previous incarnation as they followed Shockeye and a genetically altered Doctor down the road leading away from the hacienda. The piper was concerned, of course, but the full implications of what was happening hadn't sunk in.

This immediately changed as he watched this hybrid-Doctor, a man he had known, trusted and regarded as his best friend for years, stand by and do nothing while Shockeye callously murdered the driver of the truck that was currently puttering down the road. The idea that the Doctor had turned into a monster who smiled and approved of such actions turned Jamie's stomach.

And this feeling only grew worse when this current Doctor put a hand to his head and noted that he was feeling the effects of Dastari's experiments as well.

Jamie looked over to see Peri panting to keep up with him. Although she looked to be in good shape, Jamie was mindful of the fact that she probably hadn't had years of experience running toward and away from beasties and villains the way he had. The piper wanted to quicken his pace, but decided to keep an eye on Peri instead in case Chessene caught up with them.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had sprinted a short distance ahead of them. At one point, he slowed down and glanced back at them.

"Come on," he said, waving his hand. "It's just up ahead."

The Scot took in a big gulp of air and gave Peri a gentle push to encourage to keep going. He wondered what would happen when they found the familiar, silver-haired Doctor who by now was hardly distinguishable from an Androgum. He saw how brutish and cruel Shockeye was toward anyone who he hadn't allied himself with. Would his Doctor act in a similar way? Would he be content to simply watch as Shockeye tried to murder them?

Or would he be the one who would attack them with lethal intent?

Jamie grimaced. He knew that he could not allow anyone to hurt the Doctor he had sworn to watch over all those years ago, even if he was no longer himself. However, he also could not let Peri or this later Doctor come to any harm either.

In the piper's mind there was only one thing to do. He would have to be the one to confront his Doctor first. Jamie was confident that the Doctor would not hurt him, despite what Dastari had done. Their friendship was built on two souls finding security, camaraderie and completion. There would always be a part of the Doctor that remembered that.

And if there wasn't, if everything that had made him the Doctor had vanished from his former incarnation and would soon fade away in the current one, Jamie vowed that he would find a way to release him from his torment.

Even if that meant sacrificing himself in the process.

As Peri entered Seville alongside Jamie and the Doctor, she let out a giant gust of air which sounded a lot like a sigh.

Seville was beautiful with ornate buildings and an old-world charm. However, it was also an even bigger city than she had expected. They had lost sight of the truck a couple minutes ago, and it occurred to her that it could have been driven in almost any direction down the city streets.

"Och, look we'll ne'er find them here, Doctor," Jamie sighed.

"It's too big," Peri agreed as she tried to catch her breath after all that running. She was about to suggest that maybe they find a police officer and come up with some story in order to get some help with the search.

"Look," the Doctor said, pointing.

He walked over to a truck that was parked not far off from one of the main thoroughfares. Peri and Jamie followed him, and it didn't take long for all of them to recognize it as the same one Shockeye and the Androgum Doctor had stolen. She watched as the Doctor placed his hands onto the front of the car. Probably to see if it was still warm, she figured.

"They can't be more than a minute ahead of us," the Doctor declared. "This way, I think."

Peri glanced to either side of her. This appeared to be an intersection with streets that branched off to more than one part of the city. As she looked around, she couldn't help but think that there were several areas that were equally viable places to search.

"How do you know?" she asked as she and Jamie fell in step behind him.

"Peri," the Doctor said, turning back toward her for a second. "It is me we're following."

Peri rolled her eyes, but said nothing. At least, not out loud.

'And that's another thing, Doctor…what is this with there being two of you at once?' she thought to herself. 'How is that even possible?'

Peri sighed and looked over at Jamie. She could tell from the expression on his face that he was trying to understand what exactly the Doctor had meant by that last statement too. Having traveled with the Doctor for months now, she thought she had become inured to all the weirdness that seemed to typify roaming around in time and space, especially with someone as brilliant, yet eccentric as the Doctor.

And yet, nothing she had experienced before had prepared her for the moment when she realized that the blond, curly-haired Doctor she currently knew was the same as the little, grey-haired man she had seen in that wheelchair in the hacienda. True, she had seen the Doctor regenerate from one form to another, and thus, was fully aware that he could look different. She just had not expected the differences to be so radical in some cases.

Nor had she expected a moment when she would see more than one Doctor at the same time.

Peri sighed again as she lengthened her stride in order to keep up with the Doctor and Jamie. There were occasions when having one Doctor around almost seemed like too much. She wasn't sure if she wanted to imagine what it would be like to deal with two of them at the same time.

'I thought the Doctor said that two of the same object can't occupy the same space and that if it ever happened it would cause some kind of "temporal-space-paradox collapse". Or something like that. So why don't things like that apply to him?'

The three of them turned another corner. Peri wanted to ask the Doctor if he knew where he was going, but did not want to risk getting another answer as obtuse as the one he had given her earlier about following himself.

"I still don' understand it," Jamie suddenly said.

"What?" the Doctor replied, clearly only half-listening.

"Well, that ye and the Doctor…" Jamie said. The Doctor turned to him with a pained look on his face which caused the piper to immediately amend his statement. "Well my Doctor are the same person."

The Doctor stopped and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Ever since he had regenerated, Peri had noticed more than once that this version of the Doctor always seemed slightly uncomfortable with the questions of who he was or if he was really the Doctor. A more suspicious mind might think that he was hiding his true identity, but having seen him change into this form, Peri knew that he definitely was the Doctor. As odd as that seemed at times.

Instead, Peri sometimes suspected that this Doctor did indeed suffer from a sort of "identity crisis" after he regenerated, despite his insistence to the contrary. He tried to dismiss or hide it as best he could, but every once in a while, Peri could tell that he was still struggling with it. She guessed that it might have something to do with the hardships he had endured while changing into this form, not that she liked to think too much about that.

"Of course we're the same," the Doctor insisted. "But…different. You only have to see how my sartorial taste has improved for instance."

'Not if that suit is any evidence,' Peri thought. At that moment, she wondered if making snide remarks about his other selves was a quirk unique to this Doctor or if she simply missed that trait in the version she met before this one.

"But how can two of you be together at the same point in space and time?" Peri finally said, asking the question that she was sure that Jamie was trying to find the words for himself.

"When you travel around as much as I do," the Doctor said. "It's almost inevitable that you'll run into yourself at some point. Now, come on."

The Doctor strolled away while Jamie glanced over at her with a mix of exasperation and incredulity that she was sure was mirrored on her own face. Sometimes, she wondered if she was the only one who had to deal with those times when the Doctor seemed to delight in saying things that didn't make sense. However, the look in Jamie's eyes told her that he was an old hand at dealing with that sort of frustration and that his Doctor probably was prone to that behavior too. She decided to let the subject go, resigned to the idea that she wasn't going to get a straight answer from him any time soon.

They continued to jaunt down the side streets and alleyways of Seville. Peri was certain that they were getting plenty of attention from the locals and pondered what they must think of a their little group which included a Highlander in a kilt and another man with yellow pants and a vest that made the tacky Hawaiian shirts she had seen on tourists look tame by comparison. The Doctor continued to dart about, his longer strides making it so she occasionally had to sprint for a few seconds to keep up with him.

Suddenly, he frantically motioned for her and Jamie to duck into niche in the alleyway there were in. As she rushed over toward the place he indicated, she caught a glimpse of Chessene's flowing, silver dress.

'Great, didn't take them long to catch up with us,' she thought. 'Now what are we going to do?'

Peri got her answer after only a few seconds of waiting when she watched the Doctor creep out of their hiding place and follow Chessene and Dastari at a safe distance. Eventually, he guided them to a corner where he could watch their adversaries confer with each other before separating. While the Doctor watched, Peri noticed that Jamie kept a hand on the Doctor's arm. It was something she had seen the piper do more than once ever since they had arrived back on Earth, and it appeared as if neither man was consciously aware of it.

"They're checking the restaurants," the Doctor said ruefully. "Something I should have thought of. Come on, let's find them before Chessene does."

The Doctor led them down another street where a row of restaurants and bars greeted them.

"Let's each take one," the Doctor said. "We'll meet back here if we don't find anything. If either of you do see Shockeye or my other self, make sure to not approach them directly. Androgums are exceedingly dangerous when hungry. Just take note of where they are and what they're doing and then come get the rest of us."

Jamie nodded before taking off toward a pair of restaurants on the far right with the Doctor heading for the ones in the middle. Peri shrugged her shoulders and walked toward the ones on the left. She wasn't exactly looking forward to quizzing the wait staff about a pair of violent, ravenous aliens in top hats and tail coats, but then again it could be worse.

At least in these restaurants, she wouldn't be considered a main course.

Almost two hours later, Peri had just about given up.

The three of them had searched dozens of restaurants and had turned up no leads at all. They had moved on to sections of Seville adjacent to the area they had started in, but their progress continued to be hindered by the need to dodge Chessene and Dastari whenever one of them showed up.

'You'd think a pair of warty, old guys with red eyebrows and huge appetites would be kind of hard to miss,' Peri mused. 'And yet nobody seems to have seen them. Well, nobody who speaks English anyway. And maybe they're just used to weirdoes among the tourists.'

Peri walked out of the latest target of her search and brushed her sleeves roughly. Unfortunately, she had also received multiple invitations to be given a "personal and intimate" tour of Seville by more than one patron at these establishments and was rapidly losing her patience.

Her only respite from this stream of propositions came when she spotted a pair of female tourists showing a very friendly interest in Jamie and his kilt in particular. The piper happily played along at first until one of them whispered something into the Highlander's ear which caused his face to turn bright red. Peri covered her mouth to stifle her laughter and decided that she might have to intervene. Fortunately, the Doctor arrived shortly thereafter and was able to defuse the potentially awkward situation.

After splitting up for a little while again, Peri caught up with Jamie and the Doctor as they walked back toward their latest arranged meeting place.

"No luck?" the Doctor asked her.

"No," she said wearily. "Just a bunch of tourists eating paella and chips."

The Doctor seemed distracted as he surveyed the area around him, presumably looking for the next route to try. However, instead of looking for more restaurants, the Doctor soon seemed far too interested in a small cat that had emerged from the alley next to them.

"Well," the Doctor said, licking his lips. "They say that there's more than one way to cook a cat."

Peri watched in bewilderment as he crouched down and tried to coax the cat toward him. There was a glazed look in the Doctor's eyes that was more than a little unnerving. It reminded her of those moments not long after he regenerated when he seemed to lose track of who he was and what was going on around him. Hesitant, but still wanting to help, Peri squatted down beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Doctor, what are you doing?" she asked him.

The Doctor continued to ramble on about the preparation of small mammals for eating for a moment more until Peri's persistent questioning finally seemed to snap him out of his trance. He abruptly stood up and walked away from both her and Jamie.

"I'm turning into an Androgum," he said, placing a hand to his forehead.

Both Peri and Jamie rushed over to him. She could see the confusion and traces of fear in his eyes and imagined that Jamie could see them too. Having spent months watching him grapple with stabilizing his current persona, Peri was sure that it would be terrifying for him to feel his sense of self slowly slip away as his past incarnation succumbed to the genetic tampering Dastari inflicted on him.

In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she felt her own surge of fear over the possibility that she was going to lose him again.

"You can't!" she insisted, grabbing his arms.

"Ye're nae an Androgum, ye're a Time Lord," Jamie argued just as vehemently. "Pull yerself together, Doctor."

The Doctor repeated Jamie's words before breaking away from them and rushing over to dunk his head under a small fountain. That seemed to bring him back to his senses, but he still seemed shaken by the whole experience.

Peri placed her hand onto the Doctor's back and started to rub small circles with Jamie grabbing hold of his shoulder. The two of them looked at each other, and Peri could tell that she and the piper were both thinking the same thing. Even though it would be faster to keep splitting up to search the restaurants, neither of them felt comfortable with leaving the Doctor's side right now. Fortunately, the Doctor did not appear to be eager to put up any objections.

"Ye better now?" Jamie asked solicitously.

"Yes…yes, I'm all right," the Doctor said. "For the moment."

The Doctor walked down another street with Jamie and Peri making sure to stay close to him. She wasn't entirely sure how much they could help him, but it did seem as if their presence was helping him hold back the effects from Dastari's operation.

Peri just hoped that it wouldn't get any worse.

Several minutes later, the three of them were standing outside yet another restaurant. Only this time, Jamie noticed a glint of recognition in Peri's eyes.

"Well, isn't that where Oscar works?" she asked.

"Aye, I think that was the name," Jamie agreed. "Mind ye, there seems to be more places to eat in this town than ye'd find fleas on a dog."

It was meant as a casual remark to lighten the mood, but Jamie was immediately alarmed by the Doctor's sudden interest in finding such a creature. Thankfully, he quickly shook it off and headed toward the restaurant.

They had just stepped inside and waved over one of the waiters when a scream emanated from the dining area. The Doctor ran past the waiter with Peri following close behind and Jamie pausing only long enough to offer a hurried apology for bursting into the place. Once inside they found Oscar slumped against a wall, bleeding. The Doctor knelt down to examine his wound while Peri put a hand on his arm. Jamie watched the scene in front of him in shock until he happened to look off to the side and found his Doctor resting against the table, apparently unconscious.

The piper swallowed hard and moved over to stand next to him. He hadn't forgotten about any of the warnings Peri's Doctor had given him about how violent his previous self might be with all that Androgum nature influencing his behavior. But Jamie quickly found that he could not stay away, not while his Doctor was in such a vulnerable state.

Jamie bent down and placed his hands on the Doctor's shoulders, a gesture he had done countless times before to make himself or the Doctor feel more secure. It almost looked as if he was enjoying a nap after an eventful day, his face relaxed, free of any tension.

"Doctor?" Jamie whispered. "Doctor, it's me. Ye still know who I am, don' ye?"

There was no response from the motionless form, and Jamie tightened his grip on his shoulders.

"Ye're goin' to be all right," he murmured. "I swear ye will. Me and Peri and…and yer other self. We'll help ye get better. Jes, jes tell me what I can do and I'll do it. Please, Doctor."

The Doctor still did not stir. Jamie felt a lump start to form in his throat. He looked down at the sleeping face again and suddenly noticed a slight change in its appearance. Some of the warts had begun to fade with the red eyebrows seeming much duller now.

'He's changin',' he thought joyfully. 'He's changin' back to himself.'

Jamie rushed over and grabbed Peri's Doctor's shoulder, anxious to get confirmation on what he so desperately wanted to believe.

"Doctor," he said. "Jes look at the Doctor. His face…."

The Doctor went over and studied his younger self. Both he and Jamie watched as the transformation continued until it was complete and the silver-haired Doctor looked like his old self again. Jamie let out a sigh of relief and was about to approach him again, but Peri's Doctor stopped him by holding out his hand.

Then, Peri's Doctor slowly sat his Doctor up and leaned in as his previous incarnation opened up his eyes, eyes that were groggy and disoriented.

"Can you walk?" Peri's Doctor asked.

"Walk?" Jamie heard his Doctor reply. "Of course I can walk."

That exchange led to a chaotic scuffle where Peri's Doctor dragged his Doctor out of the chair and out of the restaurant, the two of them yelling and arguing every step of the way. Jamie promptly followed them. As he stepped outside, he saw his Doctor wrench his arm away from Peri's Doctor's grip.

"Let go of me!" his Doctor bellowed.

"This way!" Peri's Doctor said, pointing at one of the alleyways that had just come from.

"No!" his Doctor growled. "This way."

"Now look," Peri's Doctor shot back. "You got me into this mess!"

Jamie looked on helplessly. He hated watching these two versions of his closest friend yell at each other like this, but he wasn't sure what he should do to get them to stop. He found himself considering the fact that, while he still felt an irrefutable loyalty to the Doctor he had known first, Jamie couldn't deny that he had also formed an attachment to this newer Doctor as well. A part of him felt like he would somehow be betraying one of them if he took a side, and that was something the piper simply could not bring himself to do to either of them.

Thus, he was extremely grateful when Peri stepped in and put an end to their bickering.

"Will you two please stop squabbling?" she snapped, tears over what had happened to Oscar making her voice unsteady. "We'll go this way."

Both Doctors gave her a look of concern and each other a look of contempt before silently complying with her suggestion. There were still some snorts and huffs between the Doctors, but it looked to Jamie as if they were calling a truce for the moment.

"No. You'll come this way."

The relief Jamie had felt vanished as he turned to see Chessene standing nearby, holding what looked like a small gun and pointing it at them. Jamie quickly fell back on old habits by raising his hands high with his Doctor doing the same.

Chessene continued to smile as she guided them to walk in front of her with Dastari taking the lead. Peri's Doctor gave his younger self a look of disdain before walking out in front. Jamie watched his Doctor hurry up to walk alongside his other self which left the piper to accompany Peri. Jamie hoped that the reason his Doctor seemed to want to keep step with his later incarnation was so they could work out a plan to get them out of this. After all, if someone had asked him before this all started if having two Doctors around while in the midst of a crisis would be a good thing, the piper would have said yes without the slightest hesitation.

However, having now seen the reality of such a situation, Jamie wondered if maybe it would not be such a good thing after all.