A/N: Thirty-two chapters in total, and I have written all of them. Most of the chapters from now until the end are meant to be pretty emotional, especially the whole Doctor-Doctor confrontation thing. Like a typical writer, I had a look at the scene I'd written then thought 'Hmm, it's okay...but how can I make it better?' which is why two more chapters mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. I think I'm pushing the boundaries of the Doctor's emotions a bit here.

And the series three Doctor is not as heartbroken as this. Well, he is, but he's very good at keeping it bottled up inside. I swear he almost cried twice last episode O.o

Chapter 25 – Rubber Walls Are Bouncy

The Doctor awoke half in and half out of the bed with the cover wrapped tightly around him, covered in cold sweat and gasping for breath. He had just had a nightmare and it was terrifying to recall. He had watched helpless and trapped as his doppelganger had hurt Rose and Rory right infront of his eyes, laughing with joy.

Of course, he wanted to believe it had been his doppelganger – but it could have been either of them. No. He'd never hurt Rose or Rory. Never in a million lifetimes. Well, thirteen, really.

Maybe his doppelganger already had hurt them?

He paled dramatically to white, launching out of bed and bolting over to the door. He needed badly to check Rose and Rory, just to see…

The door was held shut fast, and wasn't opening. Was it…locked? Something was pinned to the door, a note, to which he took and instantly recognised the scribbled writing as Jackie's.

Hello Doctor,

I know what you're thinking, and it is what it looks like. I've locked you in. I have the key and you don't have your Sonic Screwdriver, so don't even try to get out. I'm sorry I had to do this, but it's the only way to save you. Knock on my wall and whisper if you need anything.

Love Jackie xxx

He blinked, re-reading the note again as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. No. This was practically torture. She couldn't stop him from seeing Rose. She just couldn't.

He dropped the note onto the floor, leaping over to Jackie's wall and whacking his fist hard on it.

"Wake up!" he hissed, continually beating the plaster wall with his fist. "Jackie!"

"Doctor! Pipe down! The whole bloomin' street can 'ear ya!" came a sleepy reply from Jackie's side of the wall, but the Doctor was furious.

"Well good! Maybe they'll know you've put me in isolation!" he half said, half whispered back.

"It's for ya own good, Doctor," she said gently. "Hush, Rory's sleepin'."

He seemed to quieten a little, though still had an angry edge to his voice.

"You can't do this to me Jackie!"

"I just have Doctor. Now, unless ya want Rory to wake up and start cryin' I suggest you go back to bed. G'night, Doctor."

He sighed heavily, looking up to the closed door and cursing under his breath. Give him some rubber wallpaper and a chew toy and he was a diagnosed mental patient. He leant back against the wall, staring to the sky and whispering a Gallifreyan prayer to Rassilon – just for reassurance.

Suddenly he heard voice from outside his door, and he instantly went silent. It was Rose and himself.

"Did you sleep okay last night?" he heard himself ask Rose, and at once something burned with fury inside.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better."

The Doctor sighed with relief. She was okay.

"Good," his self said. "D'you want me to ask Jackie if we can stay another night?"

"Wow, I didn't know you cared that much," she laughed. His laugh. Oh, this was sickening.

"Just love you to death, that's all."

"Aww, I love you."

"I love you too." And the sound of footsteps softly walking away shortly followed.

And then it struck him.

The possibility that once presented with a choice between him and his doppelganger, who would Rose actually choose?

By the sounds of it this guy had made an impact, and Rose seemed to be totally oblivious to the switch. If the Doctor just came waltzing in one day and declared that he was the real Doctor…would she even consider him?

He blinked back tears. Since when could a human woman cause him this much emotional torture? He sank to the floor dejectedly, wondering why the entire world seemed to be against him this morning.

Slowly he turned, lightly knocking on Jackie's bedroom wall again, only to be answered with a lengthy groan.

"What?" she asked, sounding less than awake and slightly annoyed.

"I need the loo," he said smally.

"I'm not fallin' for that one," she answered, and then the light snoring started up again and the Doctor lapsed into silence.

All his meals so far today had come through the cat flap in the door, so it really was quite surprising when the door unlocked at 6:00pm and Jackie was stood there, a full tray of dinner in hand. She checked him over, he was fully dressed in the clothes he had worn when arrived – Jackie having washed them for him – and was sitting on the bed, arms folded lightly.

"You're in luck, they went out tonight," she said, sitting on the bed next to him and putting down the tray. She watched him as he turned over away from her on the bed, staring at the far wall. "I'm really sorry Doctor, I know this must be killin' ya, but it's the best thing to do."

He grunted as a form of reply, but didn't turn back around. Jackie continued to watch him – he didn't give anything away.

"Look at me, Doctor," she said gently tentively touching his shoulder. He shrugged it off, curling further in on himself. "Don't be like this."

She reached out to him again, but this time he let Jackie turn him over, though his head was still staring at the far wall. She cupped his chin and turned his face gently towards her, seeing tears in his eyes.

"I lost her," he whispered, and Jackie instantly regretted locking him in here all day. He'd had time to think about everything. "I lost her and now she loves him and I'm no one."

"Aww sweetheart, you 'aven't lost 'er," she drew him into a motherly hug. "We've just gotta wait for our time, okay?"

"I've been…waiting for…for two weeks now…" he gasped between breaths for the tears running quickly and constantly down his face.

"It'll be soon Doctor, don't give it up. They've been arguin' all day, they're really beginnin' to 'ate each other."

"She said…she…she loved him this…morn-morning and…"

"Believe me, I think if things don't straighten out soon one of them is gonna completely shut the other out. Don't give it up. Not now. She asked me whether she should leave 'im this afternoon."

He didn't say anything in reply. He doubted her so much right now, and she couldn't really make him see sense. He really loved her daughter – it was plain to see.

Only once before had she had to hold a crying Doctor, and that was at the death of his baby girl. It took a lot to make him cry – in nine hundred years of space and time travel he must have seen some terrible sights, and now her daughter, her human daughter was turning the waterworks on of one of the most hardened men in the Universe.

He was just crying into her quietly now, glad of the consoling hug. Jackie glanced down at the tray she had brought in, making a snap decision as she reached out to it.

"Here, drink'll make ya feel better," she offered, holding up the glass of milk to his lips and tipping it up. He gulped it down obediently until it was completely drained, too tired and weak to care that Jackie was treating him like a toddler as she caringly wiped his mouth. She smiled gently at him, an action that he tried to return, but failed dismally.

Only she knew as he slowly began to slump against her was that she had put a dissolving sleeping tablet into it, the dosage strong enough to take down an elephant in a given length of time. She knew since being an alien he'd need a stronger dosage then any average human.

Soon he was totally asleep, so she kindly eased him down onto the bed, fluffing the pillows and making sure he looked totally comfortable before getting up off of the bed. He just needed some sleep. He hadn't slept properly since he'd arrived, and by the sounds of things he hadn't the previous week either. He needed a lot of rest since his ordeal and he just wasn't getting it.

Jackie got to her feet, taking one last look at the Doctor before she disappeared to track down Rory.

Rory Alexia Sigma-Tyler was growing extremely fast.

He was only just over two months old and already he was starting to look extremely toddler-ish, a nice blondy-browny hair colour growing thick on his head and halfway down his ears. He'd been trying to learn how to walk on his own by using the sides of tables and settees – resulting in a lot of falling over and crying.

But he was also tremendously good at hiding.

It took Jackie five minutes to find him – eventually she discovered him sitting in a food cupboard eating the Coco Pops with jam smeared all over his face, giggling inanely at her with innocent eyes.

"Oh sweetie, what we gonna do with you and ya daddy, eh?" she asked with a smile, whizzing him off to the bathroom in order to remove the jam from his face. God only knew where he had got the jam from – she didn't even think she had any.

But even as she washed him, Jackie noticed something was wrong. He kept looking over to the door, saying the word 'daddy' over and over again. He knew the Doctor was here. He knew his dad was somewhere nearby.

Jackie dried him carefully with the towel, taking note of him and he started making uninterpretable noises in his throat – looking almost as though he was about to cry. Eventually he did start to cry, and Jackie hugged him tight and tried to soothe the child as best she could. But he just continued to cry not matter how hard she tried. There was only one thing she could do.

She had to take him to his dad.

A/N: Like I said before, so much to choose from, but I think this is one we all wanna hear...:

Chapter 26 – When The Boys Get The Girls

"Mummy, meet daddy," Rory suddenly said, still sitting on the bed – but now he was grinning.