After a few years of sitting on this story, hesitant to publish it, I've decided to add yet another WIP to my long list of published fics.
I've decided that, rather than do just the episodes, I'm also going to include BBC novels. Using this list (eyespider. org. uk/drwho /ce/list. html) (Remove spaces) I have a timeline all set and planned, as well as a lot more 9th Doctor content because he did not get enough screen time.
Chloe's face claim is Juliette Angelo, but with grey eyes instead of blue.
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who
Her first reaction to the harsh light was to groan and roll away, which led to her falling off the bed only to be caught by thin, but strong arms.
"Easy there," a male's voice warned, her ears ringing a bit. "You had a bit of a nasty fall when you came in here Clo. What's the last thing you remember?"
She felt her throat let out a gurgle as she forced her eyes open, blinking away the spots and squinting at the two(?) faces in front of her. What was the last thing she remembered? "She doesn't look too good. We should take her to a hospital, where she can get proper treatment." A female's voice protested.
"There… was a-a crash," she began, her voice a little rough. "A dump truck, it… it slammed into me… my head, it hurts." Hands gently began to comb through her hair, stopping as she hissed, and from her limited vision, she could see a hand pull back to reveal-
"You have glass in your skull," he stated, slowly. "I need you not to panic and answer me this question very seriously: Do you know who I am?"
Blinking, she squinted more, feeling her nose scrunch up as she did so. Slowly, his face filtered into view, making her pale as she looked around the room, feeling the panic rise as she took in everything. "Doctor," the dark-skinned woman said, stepping forward from a few beds away. "She's panicking."
"This shouldn't be real," she finally answered. "None of this can be real! I-I'm dead, I have to be. I'm dead, oh god, the car crash killed me." Hands gently guided her until she was facing the man again, who was looking at her with soulful brown eyes.
"This is it for you, isn't it? The beginning of our story?" he seemed to breathe. "Who do you think I am, right now?"
"The Tenth Doctor," she replied, a touch more quietly. "And the woman is Martha Jones, your companion. I… am I dead? Please…" She dropped off and hesitated. Did she really want to know if she was dead?
"Yes," he answered, letting go of her face and grabbing tweezers and what looked like an IV drip. She risked a glance towards her left arm where, yep, a connection was already in. "At least in your original dimension you are. It took impeccable timing to get your body out of the crash just after your heart stopped but before your neck broke. I never got why you humans put those airbags behind and beside your heads."
"I don't design cars," she bit back the rest of her sentence, tensing a bit as he picked up a tray and sat on the bed before pulling her head onto his lap.
"Stay still, and try not to move too much," he instructed. For a few minutes, there was an awkward air as he moved her curls away while the medicine was still setting in, but once the pain died away, she felt a distant tugging and the sound of glass hitting the plastic tub.
"So… you're the woman he was in the hospital with," Jones began, uneasily. "Only… younger?"
"Time travel," the Doctor answered. "Along with a pinch of circular paradox. Chloe told me when we first met that we saved her; didn't realize how until…" he dropped off and from the corner of her eye, she saw him staring at her wistfully.
"How did we meet?" She whispered.
"Oh, I dropped Rose off to visit with her mother and you came running up like Daleks were after you. You had tickets to some concert she had wanted to go to before she ran off with Jimmy Stone; never went for obvious reasons. Apparently, once you heard the rotor you ran as fast as you could."
"Time machine…" she mumbled. "Why did I have tickets… why was I near Powell?"
"You're going to go live there once you're fully healed," she couldn't stop her knee-jerk jolt at those words. "Careful!"
"Wait, so future her met you and said to, what, bring her to Powell to be some estate girl?" Jones scoffed, causing Chloe's hand to clench. Her left palm burned like she had scraped it.
"Watch your words," she snapped back. "You're not earnin' any girl scout points, honey." There was a laugh that sounded a bit like a cough above her and when she looked, she swore there was amusement in his eyes. "I'm still not convinced this isn't a dream or the afterlife yet," she told him.
"Quite right," he sounded a bit rueful when he said this. "You're going to get the shock of your life once you realize this is real."
Once she was all properly healed, Chloe was handed off to a different Doctor, though she was sure them meeting as a bit more than a random shot in the dark. This new Doctor, 11, was a bit more easy-going when it came to her wandering around the TARDIS while he did… whatever he had done to set up a flat at Powell for her to live in.
"Right, so, one last send-off?" he offered her, grinning back at her as she perked up at the thought.
"If I go now I might not want to come back here," she warned him, getting a sad but knowing nod in return. She watched from her borrowed chair as he walked around the console before she sighed. "Doctor, can I ask you something?"
"I believe you just did Chloe," he replied, making her roll her eyes.
"Not like that you dummy," she muttered, flushing a bit at his grin. "When will I see you again? Do I ever actually travel with you or…?" Or am I Sarah Jane and this is my Aberdeen?
"I think," he said, flicking the last lever as they landed with a jolt. "You will definitely see me again." He plucked a keychain with some silly green stress ball hanging off of it from the console and ushered her outside, where she could see the apartments just beyond the park they landed in. "Powell Estate, March 24th, 1998," he said, grinning at her awed face. "Shall we go to your flat?"
"My flat," she echoed, not really connecting the dots yet. "Wait, 1998?! March of 1998? Doctor, I haven't been born yet-,"
"About that," he cut off, grabbing her hand, making her jolt slightly at his cold touch before walking with him. "You don't exist, not technically. Chloe Nightingale was never born in this world, you just popped into existence today, all 23 and ready to defend the world." She couldn't stop her grin at his tone.
"But I'd be in my 30s by 2005," she countered a bit hesitantly. "There has to be something you're not telling me…?"
He didn't answer, instead leading her up three levels, and she couldn't help but feel like it felt familiar. As they stopped in front of the door, the one to her left opened and out stepped a curly-haired blonde that had the redhead's heart freeze. "Rose, I'm leaving to go to the shop!" Jackie Tyler called before spotting her new neighbor. "Are you the ones who just moved in then?" She asked a bit too sweetly, and she had to remind herself, 1998, not as progressive as 2021.
"I just moved it," Chloe corrected. "Matt wanted to see the new place before he moved," she was well aware that her American accent stood out, but gave the woman a pleasant smile anyways. She always loved Jackie in the show, and she'd be damned if they weren't friends. "Chloe Nightingale,"
"Jackie Tyler," they shook hands and another blonde looked out the door.
"Mum you left-," 12-year-old Rose Tyler began before spotting Chloe and the tweed-wearing Doctor as well. "Hello."
"Hello," she echoed, grinning a bit more. "Well, it's nice to meet you both. We should, ah…" she motioned towards the apartment and the Tylers nodded, the elder going down the stairs while the younger closed the door. "If I wasn't so shocked I'd slap you for putting me right beside those two," she muttered to him, still grinning. After all, who could say they met Rose Tyler, Bad Wolf, and the Defender of the Earth?
As they entered the apartment, she blinked at the seeming openness of it. There was no wall separating the kitchen and living area, and as she peered into the two bedrooms, she saw the one to the left more to her tastes. In fact, all of it was to her tastes but it felt… impersonal. Like someone knew her and tried to copy her perfect house but failed somehow, she just… couldn't figure out what it was just yet.
"It's…" unsettling, she finished in her head, but the Doctor just beamed like she said amazing and led her to the baby blue couch, his eyes holding a different emotion than his face. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.
"You aren't human anymore," she blinked rapidly and held her breath. "I couldn't take your body from the car, so a construct was used instead. Your consciousness, feelings, and memories, they're all real, but physically, your body isn't. You don't technically need sleep or breathe, and you won't age. You won't age until your mind merges and your body finishes it's the transition from human to…" he trailed off and gave her a pointed look. "You've yet to take a breath."
She exhaled and her eyes widened. "So what does this mean? How am I supposed to not get noticed if I don't age?"
"Normally I'd say perception filter, but that would give you away to younger me instantly! Good genetics is the only way to go, but don't worry," he grinned at her and she felt something akin to a bubbly dread. "I'll be coming back for a visit or two."
"The way you just said that does not reassure me," she told him, getting a laugh as he stood and moved towards the kitchen area.
The next morning, there was a rapid knocking on her door, causing her to sit up from where she had been laying down on the bed, having not slept. Throwing a shawl over her shoulders, she shuffled down the hall and opened the door, blinking as she saw the thirteenth Doctor in front of her before the Time Lady pulled her into a tight hug.
"You're so young!" The blonde exclaimed, leaning back to look at her face before tugging on Chloe's red, curly hair. "I always liked your hair when it was curly."
"Um..." she blinked, still unsure what to do with the alien before stepping away, rubbing her neck. "I'd offer you tea but I don't trust myself in making it." she joked and, thankfully, the other woman smiled as well, stepping through the threshold and closing the door behind her.
"That's alright," she replied. "Besides, you've just got here. I imagine you had a rough time sleepin' then?" She blinked before nodding, letting her guide her into the living room where they sat on the couch.
"But yesterday, you said I didn't need to sleep," she said, tilting her head. The Doctor sighed and... patted her head?
"Technically, you don't, but sleep is always good, 'specially after a long or stressful day. Helps relax your muscles." she explained, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a wooden box. "I've been holding onto this for so long because I've never met a version of you who didn't have it yet. It's a music box with frequencies that help release enough melatonin for your body to properly sleep."
Gently taking the box, she could tell it felt old, but there was this agelessness about it... "Is this... Gallifreyan?" she hesitantly asked.
"When Clara was..." the Doctor answered, making Chloe grimace before glancing back down at the music box. Should she really have something like this? "Oh, don't look like that, please? It's just a simple sleep box. Very common."
"But still, it's from Gallifrey. You should have it," she argued, moving to hand the box back, but the Doctor shook her head, making sure Chloe kept the box in her hands.
"When I first saw this here, I thought you had to be someone important enough to me to risk crossin' my own timestream for. Besides, I only need roughly 4 hours every two weeks, and the TARDIS emits the same frequencies when someone's trying to sleep. She's clever like that." the redhead found herself grinning alongside the Time Lady, and as she ran her fingers over the box, she let out a soft noise.
"Do these visits happen often then?" she asked, unsure of how to feel. On one hand: holy shit, the Doctor apparently makes personal house calls to just talk with her? But on the other: what if Rose somehow made the connection before she properly met the Doctor?
"Well, I couldn't give you a perception filter, so I have to make sure no one is gonna try and harm you or take notice to you too much." the said alien shrugged. "Expect me... once a week? Depending on the number, of course. Rubbish driver, my 11th self."
"Maybe if you hadn't whacked the TARDIS with a mallet," Chloe heard herself teasing.
"Oi!" The Doctor cried in mock-hurt and the two shared a look before bursting out into laughter.
About four months later, Jackie Tyler came to her one day with an odd request.
"I have to leave town next week, and our sitter can't come," she said, which, at first, Chloe sympathized with her, but as she continued, the redhead realized what was about to happen and mentally groaned. "You're a nice girl. Won't you please watch Rose while I'm gone?"
Oh, hell, there really wasn't any way Chloe could say no, was there? Jackie was the biggest gossip on Powell. If she said no, her already shaky reputation could easily go down the drain with a single phone call, and then all that attention on her and the Doctor? She couldn't risk it. So, she put on her best face and grinned. "Of course, Mrs. Tyler." She saw the blonde hesitate and tensed, waiting for the dreaded question.
"What bout those men who come and go every week?" she asked.
"I'm a specialized therapist," she answered, reciting the story she had been given. "The three men and woman you've seen are my only four clients, but that's because I'm specialized in a sense that the government branch they used to work for hired me specifically so that they can receive therapy without being a threat to government secrets." She saw the blonde blink before her words sank in.
"Well, I hope they're doing well then," she said. "Rose won't interrupt their sessions, will she?" Thinking back, Chloe could see who's week it was going to be and almost sobbed in relief.
"No, Peter usually has a quick session. I'll most likely bump his visit to when she's at school."
"His name was what?"
Chloe rolled her eyes at the twelfth Doctor's bemusement as she all but shoved the teacup into his hands before turning to make her coffee. "No, your cover name is going to have to be Peter Capaldi. If all of you were called John Smith, Jackie would've gotten suspicious and raised the red flags, but different, definitely individual names? She accepted them at face value and wished you well, in fact."
Turning back, she didn't like the contemplative look on his face. "Peter Capaldi," he mused. "How about a test run on that real quick?"
"For some reason, I feel like that 'test run' is going to be quite a long time," she replied in a dry tone, getting an equally dry look.
Two years passed since Chloe came into the world, and she had the joy of being Rose Tyler's official sitter while her mother had to go out of town a few times. While it was fun, and the two bonded more than the redhead had initially thought they would, it still set her nerves on end every time there was a knock on the door, unsure of which Doctor would try to convince her to join them on their next adventure.
One night, her nervousness was proven when a very blind 12 walked in, a confused Bill following a second later. "Oh, no, please come in, yes, just go ahead and make yourself at home," she found herself sassing, closing the door behind them with a huff.
"Don't mind if I do," the Doctor quipped back, sitting down on the couch, sonic glasses still firmly in place as his companion looked around a bit awkwardly. "Bill, meet Chloe."
"She's the one…" Bill trailed off, and she looked at her in confusion.
"I'm the one who?" she asked and realized she probably wasn't going to get an answer. "Eh, it doesn't matter, I guess. Tea? Fair warning, the water pipes need replacing and I don't want to risk y'all getting sick." Bill shrugged while the Doctor 'looked' around as she quickly did her best to boil the bottled water. "So why are you here? Come to convince me to join you again?"
"Wait, he's asked you twice?" Bill asked as she walked in, carefully balancing a tray. "And you said no?"
"Oh, Bill, sweet, sweet Bill, the Doctor has asked more than twice. I'm just doing my best to maintain timelines and say yes to the right version," she added, more towards him than anything. Handing them both the cups, she took her mug of coffee and rubbed her eyes.
"You haven't been sleeping," the Doctor announced half a second after she did it. "Why?"
"I don't need to Doctor," she reminded, perhaps a bit too gently at his scowl, making her sigh. "I… see the accident, every time I try to sleep."
"Accident?" Bill asked, making the redhead turn a tired smile towards her. "What do you mean by you don't need sleep?"
"There was a thought, sent out between seconds, that echoed through dimensions. 'I don't want to die'. There had been a car accident, and the driver was killed five seconds after impact. Between seconds four and five, the Doctor rescued me and put me in a construct. Eating, drinking, sleeping, all that stuff, I don't technically need to do it. Don't really have the organs to do it, but I do it anyways."
"For normalcy," Bill murmured without asking why.
"I can see why you chose her," Chloe remarked, taking another sip of her coffee. "Why are you here?" She asked again.
"Bill, I forgot Chloe's gift in the TARDIS, can you go get it for me?" She raised an eyebrow at this (since when did the Doctor give gifts?) but didn't protest as the woman left, leaving the Doctor to lock her door with a sonic a few seconds after it shut.
"That's rude Doctor," she chided. "This is why you'll never be ginger."
"Perhaps," a rare smile on his face, relaxed, and her heart melted a little at the sight, even as he took the sonic glasses off to reveal his blind eyes.
"God, do you purposefully make your regenerations handsome on purpose?" She found herself asking, moving to sit beside him on the couch. "Cause I swear, you know what you're doing."
"Ha, no," he replied, but his tone was still off.
"Doctor, you know I don't mind visits, but why are you here? Shouldn't you be guarding… her?" At her question, he shrugged and she let out a noise.
"In a few seconds," he said, "you'll be getting a visitor. And I'm sorry, for what's going to be said over the next few weeks."
Oh, she thought as there was a type of furious pounding at the door. "Doomsday?" she asked, but at the shake of his head, she frowned. "Huh… ok." Getting up, she slowly walked towards the door, opening it up to reveal 9, who was getting ready to knock again. "Hello, who are you? Can I help you?"
"Cut the crap," he snarled, making her blink. The TARDIS was translating swear words? "How long have you been here then? A month, two? Long enough to manipulate Jackie Tyler, no doubt."
"I'm sorry?" Her eyebrows knitted together, and behind him, she could see Rose running up the way, looking out of breath. "Who are you?"
"Doctor, stop," Rose wheezed. "Mum told her what I explained!"
"But that doesn't explain how she doesn't age, Rose! All non-sonic scans say she's alien!" She couldn't hide her small wince at that, mentally cursing the TARDIS for making the sonic wonky around her. "You know why. Tell me." She heard the Tyler flat's door begin to open and lunged forward, dragging both in and closing the door. A second later, from the peephole, she saw young Rose step out and look around curiously. Holding her breath, she waited for the girl to go back inside before turning towards the Time Lord with furious grey eyes.
"What the hell were you thinking, bringing her here! You're a right idiot for not realizing it's summer and school isn't in session!" She snarled, jabbing a finger into 9's chest.
"You know who I am?" Rose whispered.
"Of course I bloody know who you are! My job is to guard you and make sure nothing happens to you," she grumbled, pushing past the two and going into the living room, glaring at 12, who had pulled out a braille book. "Is this when I explain things?" she said, getting a short nod in return.
"Who sent you here?" 9 asked as she motioned for them to sit. Only Rose did, and it made her sigh.
"You did. Or, rather, your next two regenerations did," she told him, noting the shock in his eyes. "About two years ago, a thought blared out across all dimensions between two seconds."
"I don't want to die," 9 quoted. "I was at the signal area, it was completely dead space. Not even a dying star."
"The thought came from the Alpha Universe," she told him, and he, in turn, paled severely.
"Alpha Universe?" Rose asked, and 12's lips twitched a bit.
"The Universe that started it all, the original dimension. Our world is just a thought, an idea the people within it play with, creating stories from it," 9 explained before noticing something with his future self. "Hang on, that book won't be published for some more centuries."
"Very astute," 12 replied, and she saw the recognition on Rose's face.
"Mr. Peter?" the 19-year-old asked, to which 12 smirked a bit.
"Oh, don't start," Chloe grumbled. "I regret even telling you your actor's name. Then you had to go and start using it. How was I supposed to know you'd… you'd imprint on it like a duckling."
"You… you're the one who sent the message. You're from the Alpha Universe," 9 breathed, making her grimace, but nod. "But why don't you age?"
"Chloe did die," 12 butted in. "A second after the message was blared, her body expired, and a second after that, her mind. It was tricky, pulling her mind from between seconds, but in the end, we were able to save her."
Before 9 could make the connection, Chloe picked the story back up, sitting down beside 12. "I'm basically a construct. All of this is mostly for show. I do know sometime in the near future I get an actual body for myself," she did her best to ignore Rose's fearful look, knowing that the Gelth was still fresh for her. "But that's most likely years, if not decades away. Until then, I'm perfectly content for staying here and experiencing things from afar."
"You told me when I was growing up that you loved travellin'," Rose said, hazel eyes narrowing.
Rosie, please don't do this, she mentally begged, knowing she very well couldn't say no to 9. He was her Doctor, the one she fell in love with and the one she started on. "Things change," she said, trying to think of when she said this.
"But you said it a month from now," Damnit, Chloe swore, seeing 12's triumphant expression as 9 eyed her carefully. "What caused you to change your answer?" Picking up her now cold cup of coffee, she pointedly looked away as she took a drink, folding her legs under her in attempts to look smaller. "Please?" She made the mistake of looking up and seeing Rose's puppy dog eyes.
Letting out a strangled noise, she flushed. "There's one version of the Doctor I'll never be able to say 'no' to if he were to ask me to travel with him, even if it was for one trip… Sometime between now and then… I'll most likely go and travel with y-him for a while." she almost said 'you guys', and wouldn't that had been the biggest clue ever?
"One version?" The 19-year-old echoed. "There's more than one Doctor?" she started to turn towards 9, but Chloe's laugh made her stop.
"Oh, you'll know eventually Rosie," she hummed, eyes flickering towards the leather-clad man before looking away, doing her best not to bite her lip. "Do you two need anything else? Poor Bill is probably stuck outside cause someone tripped the deadlock," she once again scowled towards 12, who simply shrugged, and reached for his sonic glasses, slipping them on just as the two left, leaving Bill to come in a second later.
"Who was that then?" she asked as she held out a decently wrapped gift.
"Just a few friends," Chloe hummed, taking it with a smile, still not moving away from 12.
If you see something wrong, have a question, or just want to let me know what you think, please, leave a comment!
