Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Duplicate Doctor or Donna. If I did, you would have seen that series on BBC One or BBC America depending on your location. Question is, how do I get David Tennant and Catherine Tate to be on both shows? It's only fifteen episode a year, so even with two, that's only thirty, but real question, do both shows have Christmas specials? That was silly, but let it offset some sadness in this chapter. Thanks for the reads and reviews, happy reading and let me know what you think.

It had been hours since they contacted the parallel world and Gwen was still fixated on one thing.

"So what?," Adeola asked Gwen.

"Rhys Williams!," she spat. "I'm married to Rhys Williams! And I'm having a baby!"

"It's an alternate reality," said John. "Try not to dwell on it."

John was looking over the Doctor's shoulder as they tried to use some confiscated Torchwood technology to provide a communications uplink to the other Doctor's universe. Some attempts had been more successful than others. The most recent had left Gwen in a bit of a state.

"Yeah, but Rhys?"

"I thought he looked cute," said Jack, looking at readings on another screen.

"Didn't you say once he got killed by Cybermen?," asked Adeola. "Maybe you would have married him if he hadn't died here."

"Rhys?," she squeaked.

"This bloody thing!," shouted the Doctor as he banged his fist on the alien console. "Don't you have a multi phasic inverter coil?"

"We don't," said John. "We'll have to make do."

The Doctor groaned loudly and took away the sonic screwdriver from the console. "It's hopeless. Not enough power for visual communication. I miss my TARDIS."

"We all miss your TARDIS," muttered John. He only missed the TARDIS because it was the best route to his daughter, but the Doctor was linked to it. John missed Donna's smile more, he missed Josh and Ella feeling safe.

"Could you get more?," asked Jack.

"You want to burn out the sun?," asked John, happily snapped away from his thoughts. He paused. "Not enough power for visual communication, but suppose we could get anything through? Suppose we just text?"

"Text?," asked the Doctor.

"Text what?," asked Adeola.

"The Doctor has blinders when it comes to Rose Tyler. If she finds him before we do he won't believe she's turned," said John.

"He had the sense not to marry her," said Gwen, relieved to be talking about someone else's personal life again.

"No, he just sees her as this innocent," said John. "He won't be able to face the truth."

"So, we need to text the Doctor that Rose Tyler is a psychotic bint and not to be trusted," said Gwen.

"I don't think we can power that many characters," said the Doctor. "The simpler, the better."

It struck John what message might convey the proper intent.

"Bad Wolf is coming," he said. He looked at the Doctor. "Could you power Bad Wolf is coming?"

"Devonshire might lose power for a few hours," said the Doctor. "Do you think they'll mind?"

John looked at the other members of Torchwood who just shrugged. John looked back at the Doctor. "I don't even know what's in Devonshire."

"Nor I. Hagamoslo!"

"What?," asked John.

"It's Spanish for 'Let's do it.'" The Doctor did some work on the console with the sonic screwdriver and then hit a button. "There we are. One message to an alternate dimension on the way."

John nodded. "I hope the Doctor gets it in time."

Then the lights went out.

"Oh," said the Doctor. "Sorry, on the bright side, I suppose Devonshire's still got power."

Georgiana and Lydia had been gone two days. Josh looked at Ella. Their secret couldn't hold any longer.

"We have to tell them," he said decisively.

Ella shook her head. "But Daddy will be mad, he said not to touch anything."

"It's the only chance, though." Josh sighed. "You've seen how Mum is."

"We'll be grounded forever!"

"Maybe, but if it helps get Georgiana back I think we have to try."

Ella nodded soberly.

Josh led the way downstairs, Ella behind her slightly older brother. The first adult they encountered was the Doctor as he worked on something at the kitchen table and even they knew that was using the term loosely.

"Do you really think he can help?," Ella whispered. "He's so silly."

"John seems to thinks so," said Josh. "Besides, maybe he won't be as cross as a real grown-up."

Josh walked over to the Doctor. Ella followed.

"Hello, Doctor," said Josh.

"Hello, Joshua! How are you? And Ella! How are things?"

"Alright," said Josh.

The Doctor nodded. "And your mum?"

"She's sad," said Ella.

"Of course she is," said the Doctor. "You're not to worry. John and I will sort this out."

"Yeah, I had a question," said Josh. "You don't have a TARDIS, right?"

"No," said the Doctor.

"And Mayantha told us that you can't build a TARDIS, you have to grow one. Right?"

"No," said the Doctor, curious where this was headed.

"But suppose you had the coral bits-"

"But I don't."

"Just suppose you did, could you make one?"

"Supposing I did have the 'coral bits' I would still have to grow one. There are ways to speed that process up, but as I don't have any bits at all, this is all purely speculative."

Josh looked at Ella. She nodded and he looked back at the Doctor.

"We need to show you something."

The Doctor watched in amazement as Joshua opened the door to the cupboard in his room. It was TARDIS coral, expanding to the ceiling and across, with pieces of school uniforms and sports kits hanging off the branches.

"Oh, you, beauty!," exclaimed the Doctor. He looked at Josh. "Joshua, this may seem impertinent and I am extremely grateful, but why is there TARDIS coral in your cupboard?"

Josh looked at Ella anxiously, then back at the Doctor.

"See, Mayantha showed us her TARDIS last time she visited-"

"Showed you?," asked the Doctor.

"She left the door unlocked."

"Ah."

"We went inside, just to peek and we saw the coral and it, well..."

"It was talking to us," said Ella.

"Talking to you?," asked the Doctor.

"It wanted us to take it and then this piece fell off, so I picked it up and we had to sneak out before John found us in there or we'd have been grounded and I was already in trouble for hiding notes from my teacher, so we took it and I planted it in a pot in my room. I gave it water and sun- well, until it got too big to sit in the window- and Miracle Gro-"

"Miracle Gro?," asked the Doctor.

"Yeah, I followed all the instructions on the bottle. I've been getting it with my pocket money."

The Doctor looked at the shelf. "You have an ultraviolet light in there."

"Oh, Lisette's boyfriend had this garden he has in one of the rooms in his flat and I asked how he grows things inside and he said he would give me one as long as I didn't tell Mum."

"What was he growing in there?," asked the Doctor. "Never mind. Obvious."

"What's obvious?," asked Ella.

"So, can you use it?," asked Josh.

The Doctor looked at it. "Earth born TARDIS coral, cultivated by a human, I just don't understand how-" He took a breath. "Of course! Your mum!"

"My mum?," asked Josh.

"Donna Noble with the great, big mind! She's passed it on to you two! Ella, you can remember seeing the Silence. Josh, you must have enough latent psychic talent to hear the TARDIS coral and to provide stimulation for it! See, Mayantha's cutting was from my TARDIS, this is a piece of my TARDIS! She spoke to you because she knew this would happen!"

"Your ship's a girl?," asked Josh.

Donna was startled to hear the sound of a wall breaking in Josh's room. She sprinted down the hallway, finding Josh and Ella standing by as the Doctor punched into the wall with a sledgehammer.

"What the hell are you doing?," she shouted.

"Tearing down the wall, I need to get the coral out of the cupboard," he said as if that sentence made sense.

Donna looked and indeed there was some sort of coral-like tree-ish sort of thing in Josh's cupboard. She looked at her son.

"What's that?," asked Donna.

"It's coral."

"Where did you get it?"

"Mayantha's TARDIS."

"You stole from Mayantha?"

"The coral said to!"

"What sort of excuse is that?," exclaimed Donna.

"My sort," said the Doctor, preparing for another blow of the hammer. "The only really impossible thing about this whole scenario is that those two aren't actually genetic relatives of mine!"

With that, he banged the hammer into the wall again.

"Stop it!," said Donna.

The Doctor dropped the hammer and looked at Donna. "Just so you know, my plan is to increase the growth rate on this TARDIS coral to make an actual TARDIS to use it to travel across the Void between realities in order to retrieve both our daughters, but in order to do that, I need to first get it out of this cupboard!"

Donna stood, considering.

"Well, give me a minute, I'll get the ax out of the garage."

It had been days since Georgiana had been gone. Too many days for Donna's liking. John and the Doctor had thrown themselves into the task of using the energy trail surrounding Josh to plot a possible course to the other universe. The Oracle and Mayantha had taken up the task of growing another TARDIS. Donna had put aside all thoughts of business, the idea of making money just seemed too petty right now. How could she think of anything but Georgiana? Was she safe? Was she being looked after properly?

In a quiet moment, the Oracle assured Donna that Lydia might appear timid, but she was certain that some greatness laid within, just waiting to be awoken. John seemed to take this whole Pride and Prejudice business as a sign that the girls were safe for certain. Donna wasn't so sure. He tried to assure her that the Doctor and Donna must have them and there would be no place safer.

Another her, holding her baby, singing to her, rocking her as she cried. Taken care of alongside the Doctor and Donna's other children, treated as their own. It was a little reassuring. Donna couldn't possibly have asked for more than for Georgiana to be safe and cared for and loved, but it seemed like a hollow victory because what she wanted more than anything was to be reunited with her baby.

So, here she was, in the middle of the night while the rest of the house slept she had gone into Georgiana's nursery as she had done every night. Sometimes she cried, sometimes tears wouldn't come, as if she had run out and she just sat there. She sat in the rocking chair, holding Georgiana's favorite blanket and favorite bear, trying to conjure up some memory of her, to pretend it was real and it was happening until she was finally forced to remember that her arms were empty.

She wanted her baby.

"I know what you're feeling."

Donna looked up startled, the Doctor was in the doorway.

"The emptiness of it..." he said. "The whole universe just suddenly seems shallow."

"You went after your girl, though, I can't even do that."

"It took me twenty years."

"Twenty years?" The thought of that shook Donna.

"I searched the far reaches of the universe, moving through space and time with one singular purpose. I did what you're doing. I took a toy from her nursery, I kept it with me, to remind me, not that I needed reminding,

Donna didn't answer. She didn't need to. She was suddenly struck by the way this man she had taken for an idiot had nailed it.

"I need to tell you something because John won't," he said.

"What do you mean he won't?"

"He's too worried about you getting hurt," he said. "Truth is, so am I, but you need to know because I don't want you to suffer the way I did."

"What?"

"My wife and daughter are very close to finishing the TARDIS. John and I have a course plotted. The thing is we may not be able to come back. It could be a one way ticket."

"So," Donna began trying to work it out aloud, "you all could go and find the girls, but not be able to bring them home? I might never see Georgiana again? Or John?"

"You need to know that. I know you have other children to think of."

"I can't just leave them," said Donna. "Ethan's no father. My mum, she just doesn't have the patience for them."

"Right," said the Doctor.

"Could I bring them?," asked Donna. "Would it be safe?"

"They would be safer at home," said the Doctor.

"I can't go on like this," said Donna. "I can't be separated from my children like this. I can't have them growing up without a father."

The Doctor furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

Donna stiffened. "Never mind."

"No, if John goes with me, Georgiana doesn't grow up without a father, but Josh and Ella have been without a father most of their lives, so..." His jaw dropped. "You!"

Donna rolled her eyes. "Me, what?"

He leaned in and whispered, "You're having more Time Babies! I can't believe I didn't notice the smell before! You humans! Your breeding habits are amazing!"

"Okay, shut up now."

"Right. Shutting up." The Doctor paused. "You haven't told John."

"I didn't know how," Donna said sheepishly. "We weren't going to have any more, just because of the risk, I was on the pill. That three percent failure rate must be a load of bollocks. Besides, with Georgiana gone..."

"I know," said the Doctor.

"I've raised children on my own, I don't like it," said Donna. "As for Time Babies or whatever, I don't think I'll be able to protect them on my own. I couldn't stop them from taking Georgiana. I couldn't bear it again."

The Doctor nodded.

"So, spaceman," said Donna, "get me and my family to the other universe safely and we'll worry about getting back after we find our girls."

The Doctor looked at Donna. "John won't like it."

"Then let's not tell him yet."

The Doctor held out his hand. "Agreed."

Donna shook hands with the Doctor on what might have been the riskiest proposition she had ever made, but if it made her family whole it would be worth it.