A/N: Still don't own anything, even tried the black market and nothing- arghhhhhh! Oh well, onwards we go.
The Doctor groaned as he sat up, his hand brushing against the dried blood on his forehead. His head was thumping like wildfire and he cursed in every language he knew. He shook his head, not quite remembering why he was laying unconscious on the floor of the TARDIS. As his mind cleared and information flooded back to him he glanced up in horror at the console only to feel his hearts lift with delight as he saw everything was still lit up and in working order. It was then he realised the knocking in his head was actually knocking on the TARDIS door, knocking and voices calling out to him. He scrambled to his feet, his head swimming as he momentarily forgot how to walk. He stumbled across to the door a flung it open, gazing into faces he thought he would never see again. He saw their lips move and smiles reach their faces but his mind wouldn't co-operate and blackness swum over him once again.
It was the cool material on his forehead that brought him round. The room was dark as he opened his eyes and he squinted to make out his surroundings. Panic struck him as he realised he was no longer in the TARDIS and his hand went immediately to his pocket only to find himself without his long coat or suit jacket. He sat up in the soft bed and took the damp wash cloth from his forehead.
"Where in the name of…? Oh God!" he groaned as the days events swirled unbelievably in his mind, "I've gone utterly crackers."
"You were already crackers sweetheart," came a voice in the darkness.
"Son of a…"
"Language," said the voice, a voice he recognised, a voice he loved dearly and had longed to hear again. A voice that usually accompanied pain but this time just a shift in weight on the bed and a soft hand on his brow.
"Take your time," she said, "You've had a bit of a shock. We all have. I can't believe this worked. Why don't you lay back down for a second?"
The Doctor obliged wordlessly, grateful for the comforting fingers in his hair, "I'm dreaming."
"You're not, you're here. We found you."
"Jackie?"
"Its me Doctor," said Jackie, her voice choked with sobs, "Its me. We've been searching for so long for you."
"How?"
"Hush, no questions now ok, just rest. You got a nasty bump on your head when you landed and I'll need to fetch Mickey to explain what happened in more detail."
The Doctor gripped the hand currently resting on his forehead, confusion filling his mind and no rational explanation giving him any reprieve, "I don't understand…where's…Where's Rose? Why isn't Rose here?"
"She's working, she's away. She doesn't even know you're here but rest now for me Doctor and we'll explain everything soon," said Jackie, the tears coursing down her cheeks, "She will be so happy to see you."
The door crept open and the Doctor had to shield his eyes from the light filtering from the hallway. A tall, dark figure entered the room and it took a moment for the Doctor to recognise him but when he did he was off the bed in an instant, his dizziness forgotten. He enveloped Mickey in a bear hug, almost lifting him off the floor.
"I don't know how you did it but thank you," he said releasing the boy.
"We've been sending that transmission out for five years," said Mickey, "That message repeated over and over but we managed to tune it to our universe through our DNA so only you would get it. We thought it wouldn't work but when I heard those engines I knew it was you, the others run so much more smoothly these days."
"The others?" said the Doctor, "Your DNA? What on Earth is going on here? How can you…? I jumped through the void into an alternate universe with shields I've never seen before and you…Mickey, please sit me down somewhere and tell me what on Earth is happening to me."
Mickey gave him a small smile before sitting down in a chair beside the bed while the Doctor resumed his place next to Jackie.
"Where to begin," said Mickey, "I suppose we best start with the day a new item came under the control of Torchwood, six years ago. No-one knew what it was, it looked just like a pillar but it was giving off this electro-magnetic field. Rose and I were working for Torchwood by then, I was in weapons and she was in the alien identification and management department. We'd already become a base for several of our neighbouring planets and we met more aliens everyday. It was only when Rose was showing some ambassador round the building that she even came across the pillar. I swear she nearly fainted, the key, your key that she wore around her neck began to glow and she…"
"Are you saying that thing you found was a TARDIS?" said the Doctor, "but that's impossible."
"A lot of this story sounds impossible," said Mickey with a knowing laugh, "We're pretty much the impossible universe. Anyway, this thing was a TARDIS and Rose opened it. We found a body, one man, no one else. The TARDIS seemed dead inside too but the second Rose touched the console it sprang into life and started to send out some transmission but we couldn't translate it. Rose could. She'd lost all ability with alien languages when she came here but suddenly she was translating it."
Mickey paused and the Doctor gave him a desperate look to continue. When Mickey remained silent the Doctor watched as a single tear rolled down the boys cheek. He felt Jackie's hand stiffen on his arm and a cold fear washed over him.
"What happened?" he said, "What happened to Rose?"
"She was so unhappy," said Jackie, "Angela, mine and Pete's daughter had been born and I guess Rose just felt pushed out of everyone's lives. She'd lost you, how she mourned for you Doctor and she, I guess, felt she was losing us. I think she made her decision long before the fleet arrived."
"You've really lost me now. What fleet? What did that TARDIS transmit?"
"A distress call," said Mickey, "It was an SOS from the TARDIS to its home planet. Rose translated it, she knew what it said and she knew what the reply said also."
"Reply? But Gallifrey…it can't…there was only ever…"
"One Gallifrey," finished Mickey, "So we all thought, so Rose thought. The Time Lords, the ones who could pass from dimension to dimension, the only Time Lords but you weren't the only ones and these weren't survivors from the Time War. The planet was there, the people were there and they were coming to us, coming to the TARDIS we'd found. I know you want to rail off at me about how much this can't be true but it is, you have to believe me."
The Doctor got to his feet and paced the room, his hands running frantically through his hair as he tried to process the information presented to him, "They came here?"
"Almost an entire fleet. The Presidential Escort. They landed and Rose greeted them at Torchwood's request. That was the beginning of the end. Rose and the President spoke at such great lengths, Gallifrey sought to bring us into a planetary alliance that they oversaw, an alliance that brought peace to the universe. We joined and Rose was made Torchwood ambassador but before the President could return we were struck by an alien invasion. The time line of this universe plays out differently to yours and the Slitheen attacked London only six years ago but of course, Rose knew what was happening and the crisis was averted even before it properly hit the news. Of course President Mora saw this."
"President Mora?"
"He was the President of Gallifrey at the time," said Mickey, "Do you know him?"
"I've never even heard of him," said the Doctor, "How…I'm going to put a sentence together properly soon. You said the beginning of the end, what happened to Rose?"
"The Time Lords saw her handle the situation, heard all her predictions and they were fascinated. She was locked away with Mora for hours after that, he was a kind old man and Rose took to him instantly, they became firm friends. Rose was granted access to the history banks of Gallifrey and she began her search."
"For me?" said the Doctor, "She thought as there was another Gallifrey there'd be another me."
Jackie shook her head mournfully, "She loves you still, she wanted to find you but she got her heart broken yet again. You didn't exist. No Time Lord bearing the name of the Doctor had ever existed. You'd have thought that would have been the end of it, that she would step down even as ambassador if she couldn't find you but she didn't. Mora offered her more than an ambassador's position on Gallifrey, he promised her if she would use what she knew to aid them in maintain the alliances that he would give her a TARDIS and her freedom within the stars. She agreed but she wanted to protect us, she knew working for the Time Lords would be dangerous so she became the one thing she believed the universe should not be without. Rose Tyler became known as The Doctor."
The Doctor felt an incredulous huff of laughter escaped his lips but no mirth reached his eyes as he sunk back down onto the bed, "But they never allowed humans on Gallifrey, it was the law. But Rose, she became…became me as such, what happened then?"
"She went to Gallifrey and Mora died, thirteenth life over but he protected Rose and she stayed on to serve the next President. She averted several major battles with her knowledge, the Time Lords allowing her to meddle the way they never let you. After one occasion she received the gift that stole her away from us totally," said Jackie tears welling in her eyes, she wiped them away roughly with the back of her hand, choking down the sobs in her throat, "She had the TARDIS, she learnt to fly it, called it the Valiant, that took her away but she often came home, still human, still Rose inside. The Time Lords gave her the gift of longevity, no regeneration or any of their voodoo but she will live on, she'll reach five hundred at least before time catches her and now we barely see her. Time is hers to spare and she forgets that we on Earth only have limited time. We miss her and we're afraid for her."
The Doctor slipped his arms around the now crying woman, pulling her against his chest as he too felt the tears on his cheeks. He knew how manipulative the Time Lords could be and he knew what Rose would face if she was working for them. She would never complain, would help the universe but he could only imagine the places they would send her instead of their own people, his Rose facing the nightmares of the universe with only a borrowed title and a disjointed history. He heard Jackie quieting, assuming the tears were to be expected as Mickey made no move to her and the door did not open to reveal a concerned Pete or Angela, as Jackie had called her daughter.
"We sent for you to help us," said Mickey, "After she went away and they gave her that life. If they knew, we'd be in trouble. This universe exists because its borders cannot be breached, it survives out of time with every other dimension. We are surrounded on every edge by black holes, it is a miracle that we fell through that first time or that we could get through to follow the Cybermen, its so dangerous and the Time Lords prevent anyone from passing to other dimensions."
"So how did you manage to bring me here?" said the Doctor, "No offence but humans must still be very early on in there space development even with Torchwood, that program you sent me, it wasn't something from Earth."
"It was Time Lord," said Mickey, with a sly grin, "Stolen Time Lord. Rose has a companion, a young Gallifreyan in only her second regeneration, Sumira she calls herself. She is Rose's only confidante on Gallifrey, her true identity is hidden and the others only know her as the Doctor. Rose told Sumira about you, about how she loves you and misses you. When Rose visited a year after she'd left, she brought Sumira and she and I talked. She is a scientist, so intelligent even for her own kind but her personality is not of the Time Lords' taste and she cannot progress far. Whether in an act of defiance to the planet or just to help Rose she helped me develop the program you saw, pull you through the void and avoid the black holes. Rose needs you Doctor and we don't care whether you take her back to your universe and we never see her again, we just want her away from the danger she's in with the Time Lords."
The Doctor looked down at his feet, scuffing his plimsolls against the rug on the floor. He tried to process the information he'd been given, his head was swimming round so fast that he thought it might explode. Not only was he here, so close to Rose and all he wanted in the universe but his people lived, his people were involved in the universe rather than just overseeing it. Rose was living the life he knew she loved and yet looking into the two faces he knew loved her as much as he did and seeing the pain he knew he had to help.
"I suppose we'd best let her know I'm here then," he said getting to his feet, "Ten pounds says she faints."
Mickey laughed, "She probably will. I'll contact Sumira, get her to authorise our landing on Gallifrey, don't want them all freaking out when the TARDIS materialises looking exactly like the Valiant."
"I don't think the TARDIS will be able to make it, she doesn't draw any power from this universe," said the Doctor, "Can't we just send for Rose, I…I don't know if I want to go back to Gallifrey, a Gallifrey that's not my Gallifrey."
Jackie stood beside the Doctor and lay a hand on his shoulder, "She was called home. They have a meeting of the Senate and she will probably have a new mission, we won't be able to call her away."
"The shields that pulled you through the void will convert power for the TARDIS," said Mickey, "Special Offer so to speak. Aren't you the least bit curious about what its like?"
"Utterly," said the Doctor, black holes, TARDIS' and Time Lords all buzzing round in his head like some mad fairy tale, he hadn't felt this confused since he watched The Matrix. He felt a smile creep to his lips, a smile he hadn't smiled in nearly ten years, "I'll go but please say someone is coming with me."
"I will," said Mickey, "Jackie and Pete don't leave Earth because of Angela but I can come. I'll call Sumira, get her to sort everything her end and I'll let Torchwood know that I've had a transmission for assistance from Rose, they'll let me go then."
"I'm going to see her aren't I?" said the Doctor, "I'm going to see Rose again."
Jackie smiled and guided him to the door, "Best give it a couple of hours before you leave though. Don't want the shock hitting you while you're piloting that old thing out there."
The Doctor wanted to throw her some witty retort about not insulting his ship but instead he grinned widely and scooped her into a hug.
"Jackie Tyler I have missed you."