"Well, we'll have to do something about that then, won't we, Rose Tyler," the Doctor laughed. "Sorry you had difficulties getting through to me though. I mean if I'd had any idea at all he would get ill?"
"Yeah, I know Doctor," Rose assured him. "How could ya have known? I mean you spent even less time with him, like he was just created then left. It wasn't like ya had time to do a physical on him."
"Rose, he would have got a check-up anyway," Pete reminded her as the lift stopped. "Why don't you go with Jake while the Doctor talks to Sammi and Owen?"
"Why can't I go?" Rose objected.
"You may get upset at the medical terms," Pete insisted.
Jake had whispered to Pete that John had been moved back into the main unit for more specialist care and so everything was available but they were expecting he'd be moved to the Tardis as soon as it was powered up and lighting was set up.
"Are they gonna take him to the Tardis?" Rose asked as she let Jake lead her away.
"As soon as I find out what's already been done," the Doctor promised her. "I won't let him go without you, okay?"
Rose nodded and Jake led her across the corridor and past where John's bed had been.
"What's going on Jake? What aren't ya all tellin' me?" she wanted to know as he went to make another drink.
"Rose, you'll get to know," he promised. "They just don't wanna scare ya. There'll be words ya don't understand, probably about his breathing and stuff. They're taking good care of him. The Doctor will have a better idea what he can do to help."
"I hope so Jake, I'm scared enough as it is right now. What would I have done if the Doctor hadn't still had that phone?" she asked him.
"Well he did and lucky you remembered, we could have taken too long to locate him. We just have to wait now."
Owen was the one to talk to the Doctor, having discussed it with Sammi before Pete had arrived with whom they'd hoped was with him.
"Good to finally meet you," Owen looked up from his desk as they entered, the Doctor seeing his twin on a bed with various tubes attached to him.
"Yeah," the Doctor replied as standard. "Well? Is it the air like Rose mentioned? If so, I should get him in the Tardis, with enough power I can recreate the other Earth's atmosphere in the lab and then take him back."
Owen shook his head.
"Sorry Doctor, it's not as simple as that, it's more than that now. Yes, it was breathing difficulties but there's something else, something more complicated with him being half Human and half Timelord."
The Doctor listened as Owen explained, letting Sammi explain what they'd been trying just before the Doctor had been contacted. He scratched his head whilst shaking it, Pete recalling Rose telling him that's what the Timelord used to do.
"I should still get him to the Tardis," the Doctor insisted. "He's my responsibility now. I can't thank you enough though for what you all tried to do for him."
He shook Owen's hand then Sammi's.
"We'll prepare him then. There's no chance of bringing the Tardis down here?" Owen asked hopefully.
Pete answered for him.
"Sorry Owen, all the power's up there, we can't get it all down here so easily. We had thought Rose would be going to get him before John got too ill."
"I understand Pete," the Doctor assured him. "I didn't want you to send her but we managed it between us. I should go see her."
"What can you do to help John?" Pete asked him.
"I have a full lab with equipment from my home planet Pete, I'm sure I can come up with something," the Doctor put on his best smile. "I have all kinds of things you've never even heard of Owen but you have to understand, I can't let all you doctors in. Sammi is it?" he turned to her, making her nervous as she'd heard all about him.
"Yes, err, Doctor?" she replied shyly.
"You're with me and Rose when John's taken up to the Tardis. When I've seen Rose, we'll go back and prepare for him. All of you, not a word to her that he's so bad, got it?" he looked at them all in turn. "I know I can already trust you Pete, along with Jake," he added hastily in case Pete had him thrown out.
"If she asks any questions?" Owen wanted to know.
"We tell her being in the Tardis will help him but there are no guarantees. She'll have to be prepared for the worst at some point," the Doctor admitted. "We'll have to try to keep her hopes up as long as we can, there's no reason not to think once he's in the ship, she herself will sense he's in trouble and help him."
"Your ship's sentient?" Sammi was a bit surprised.
"You have a problem with that?" the Doctor tried to be serious.
Sammi shook her head and went off to prepare to have John taken to the cannon room. Pete followed the Doctor out and stopped him before he went to see Rose.
"There's not a lot of hope, is there Doctor?" Pete asked him.
"Honestly Pete?" the Doctor replied as he leaned on the wall. "We have to hope the Tardis can help him. She did help to create him. I know very little about it, Donna was a bit vague and then she started burning up so I had to take her memories of it all away."
"That was a shame, Rose told me some of it. She said that John wasn't entirely happy about being left here though," Pete told him.
"I had no choice Pete and I owed Rose, for what I did at Bad Wolf Bay. I should have told her I loved her, even though I couldn't get to her. John was never meant to have been some sort of compensation for that, he was me, when Rose and I first met and he was better off with her than he was with me."
"You should go tell her that before you leave Doctor," Pete told him. "She's in there with Jake, she'll take you back to the cannon room when you're ready."
"Thanks Pete. I never thought I'd be here again," the Doctor managed a real smile. "I never agreed with any version of Torchwood you know, after seeing the original one being created."
"Yes, Rose tells her young brother about the werewolf chasing all of you," Pete laughed. "I won't tell you what Jackie thinks of it. Mind you, it's slightly better than her telling him about the slimy green Slitheen exploding on Mickey's kitchen wall after Jackie described it to her. She still blames that on you."
The Doctor patted Pete on the shoulder and went to face Rose. What could he say to her about his twin she was supposed to live her life with in this world? He knew deep down it would take all the knowledge he'd gained over all his regenerations to cure who was now called John, something had gone very wrong with his creation and unlike everything else, there were no guidebooks to refer to.
He decided that before John arrived in the Tardis, he would go to the library and search again for anything that might give him a clue and once he got power to the main computer, if he was going to fail and Rose was going to lose John, he had to somehow make it up to her.
Rose jumped up when the Doctor entered and she ran to him.
"Rose, I need you to come and help me," he told her, looking at Jake at the same time as if to say he just wanted to keep her occupied.
"So, is there some good news then?" she wanted to know.
"Oh of course there is!" the Doctor replied cheerfully. "Once I get power in the Tardis but I need to do a few things first. I decided to let your friend Sammi help, that Owen seems a bit too smug for my liking."
That got him a giggle from Rose.
"I'll hand her over to you then Doctor," Jake told him.
"Yeah, thanks Jake," Rose agreed, giving him a hug.
"See ya both up there, I'm off to make sure the larger lift is kept free until it's needed, I'll have to shut it off," he replied.
"So, what's your job around here then?" the Doctor wanted to know when Jake had gone.
"I gave up to look after John," Rose told him. "I was so happy, when ya were there, in front of me on that street. Then when another one of ya appeared, I wanted to stay with you but I accepted John, I knew he'd stay with me and not keep going off. He wasn't right though, right from the start, it was so unfair."
"I know Rose, I'm so sorry," the Doctor told her, holding his arms out to her.
They hugged for a few minutes, Rose with tears in her eyes.
"Come on, let's see if the Tardis is powered up, then you and I have some work to do," he told her.
He just hoped she wouldn't realise he was only trying to keep her mind off how ill his twin actually was but since when could he ever fool her?
"Show me the way back?" he then grinned.
"Are you telling me ya can't find the Tardis?" Rose managed to smile.
"Fair's fair Rose, she is somewhat powered down," he defended himself as they reached the lifts, him noticing the one with the larger doors had no lights lit above it. "Looks like Jake kept his word," he pointed it out to Rose.
"Yeah, no doubt someone will be complaining," Rose replied. "I wouldn't mind but the other lifts aren't exactly small."
"Never mind that, I'm sure Jake can deal with it," the Doctor told her as one lift arrived with a 'Ping'. "I'll send for John as soon as everything's ready, I promise. You can go down and get him, if you want?"
"Yeah, I should be with him," Rose agreed as she pushed the right button on the panel.
People were buzzing everywhere in the cannon room. Jake had posted guards on the entrance, ID's were being checked against a list of those who had been involved laying the cables so no-one new had joined them and they were the ones now installing the lighting inside the Tardis.
Jake had considered ret-conning everyone when the task was complete but Pete had objected when Jake had joined him.
"We have to trust them Jake," Pete had told him. "If we keep a control on those here, if anything gets out, we can track anyone down. How was Rose when you left her?"
"A bit on edge but who can blame her? The Doctor will calm her down," Jake replied. "When the electricians have done, we'll start with the lab teams, get them on stand-by. Owen can organise the medical staff."
"The Doctor only wants Sammi to help him for now," Pete smiled. "He doesn't trust Owen, for some reason?"
"Maybe he's had dealings with Owen's counterpart?" Jake grinned. "Rose mentioned something about seeing the inside of the other Torchwood in Cardiff but there were only two of them. She swore one looked like someone from Victorian times."
"Yes, probably," Pete seemed amused. "Your guards do know to let Rose in?"
They both laughed at the thought of Rose and the Doctor being refused entry.
"The Doctor will just get his psychic paper out," Pete then told Jake as he looked towards the double doors that were open and thought someone had just got out of the lift.
Jake went off to see and greeted them, telling his men to stand down.
"How are ya holding up Rose?" he first greeted Rose with another hug. "Doctor, we're almost ready for you."
"Good, we've no time to lose." Then he thought about Rose. "When I say no time to lose, I mean the sooner we get started the better."
Rose knew what he meant.
"Ya don't have to hide the truth from me Doctor, I know he's bad," she told him as she led the way through all the thick cables that disappeared into the Tardis.
It reminded the Doctor of when he'd met Professor Yana, who had been none other than The Master, who had been trapped at the end of the universe and look how that had ended? This time was different, this time he had to save a part of himself, for Rose.
He found the electricians waiting for him and led them to the main lab where he wanted John and the lights were soon working. Then he told them where he wanted power and went back to the console room, showing more technicians where to hook up a large power cable so he could get the main computer working.
"How are ya gonna get John in here?" Rose decided to ask.
"Rose, don't worry about that eh? Why don't you call and see how he's doing?" the Doctor suggested.
Rose had to agree but knew he was trying to stop her from worrying. It wasn't working though.
"Rose, they can carry him," he then told her. "From outside to the lab."
"Oh. I never thought of that," Rose felt a bit foolish. "Sorry."
"You're exhausted Rose, you could do with some proper rest," he advised her.
"Are ya in league with Sammi?" she tried to laugh.
"You should maybe listen to her," he grinned, getting something on the screen.
He thought maybe he should first look up if there had been any previous Meta-Crisis Timelord variants in existence. He found nothing when he entered the search and skimmed through all the results at great speeds, making Rose feel dizzy as he did so.
"Maybe there's a book?" Rose suggested as he leaned back on the console.
"I don't know where to even start looking," he had to admit.
"Why not ask the Tardis?" she then asked innocently. "Is she powered up yet?"
The Doctor suddenly stood straight, grabbed hold of Rose's shoulders and held her tight. Then he kissed her forehead.
"You were always too clever for me, Rose Tyler. Well come on then, Allons-y!"
He caught hold of one of the electricians and told him to follow them with a double lamp and soon there was enough lighting in the library to be able to sort through the dusty shelves.
"Come on old girl, there must be some reference?" he was asking the Tardis a while later as they both searched the shelves, not that Rose understood some of the titles.
Then he heard Rose giggling to herself and holding out some sort of manual.
"Very amusing Rose," he told her as she handed him a Dalek maintenance manual with illustrations.
"Got bored did ya?" she laughed.
He let it go, even though they were supposed to be being serious. It was probably a good while since she'd had something to laugh about.
"So, what else has been going on around here then?" he asked her.
"No idea, I've been concentrating on John. What about Donna? John said she wouldn't be able to keep a Timelord brain."
"No, I had to take her memories away," he replied, sure he'd told her once. "She's fine, she's with her family."
"Yeah, her granddad's really nice, not sure about her mum though," Rose pulled a face.
"Yes, well," he agreed, moving a pile of books. "This is getting us nowhere. The best thing is to get him up here and try and recreate an atmosphere from the other universe."
"How ya gonna do that?" Rose wanted to know.
"I should get him down to the zero gravity room," he replied calmly.
"The what? You never mentioned that before and John told me about the swimming pool."
"Not now eh?" the Doctor insisted as they left. "If we get him down there though? Well maybe not then? No, there's something else I can try."
Rose knew she wouldn't get anything else out of him. She watched him as he dashed about in the lab, getting everything ready for John's arrival and she felt lost. There was nothing she could do but leave it up to him and Sammi's medical knowledge.
"Okay Rose, call your friend then go get him," the Doctor finally announced.
"Are ya ready to bring him up?" Rose asked her friend when she answered on the first ring.
"He's ready, I have a team on standby," Sammi replied.
"They'll have to carry him because of all the cables," Rose warned her.
"Got it, don't worry Rose. Why don't you stay there?" Sammi suggested.
"No, I want to be with him," Rose insisted. "I'm on my way."
The Doctor waited until she'd gone then went to find Pete, whom he knew wouldn't leave until John arrived.
"How's it going Doctor?" Pete wanted to know.
"Been looking busy for Rose's sake," he admitted. "Maybe if the Tardis was fully powered, by the right kind of energy, he might stand a better chance. I should check on that power cell."
"It's being taken care of," Pete assured him. "So did everything power down except that when you got here?"
"Yeah, same as last time. That's partly why I never came to find Rose. I wanted to get to her but every time I started trying to figure a way, something happened. You know me," the Doctor grinned. "Something happened Pete, that's why I was hiding in that nebula. If I hadn't been, you might have found me earlier."
"Listen Doctor, don't blame yourself. We were still fine-tuning the cannon anyway," Pete told him. "We were trying to get some communications through to the other universe, for when we started sending people through. Then we could keep in contact with them."
"I never wanted Rose to come and find me again," the Doctor insisted. "I thought she and my twin would be happy."
"They would have been. This isn't your fault Doctor," Pete tried to convince him.
He heard voices outside and saw Jake getting people out of the way. The wheels from the stretcher John had been transferred onto had been folded and two strong orderlies had a firm grip on it. Rose had her place by his side, Sammi was holding onto the equipment and they made their way inside the Tardis, following the Doctor.
"You can both go now," Sammi told the other two men when John had been placed on the couch the Doctor had prepared. "Doctor, how can I assist you?"
He started by running his sonic screwdriver across his twin, to see if it would pick up anything unusual.
"That's an interesting device," Sammi smiled. "What are you looking for?"
"Any signs of anything at a microbiological level, if anything from this world has caused any contamination," he replied.
Rose was trying to keep up.
"Ya mean it could be a bug?" she caught on, the Doctor raising his eyebrows.
"We thought it was his breathing," Sammi reminded him.
"Yes, I'm not saying it isn't," he agreed. "Just wanted to cover all bases but you said there was something else. Aren't you going to tell Rose?"
"What?" Rose turned to her friend. "Have ya all been keepin' something from me? Is he worse that ya said?"
"Rose you know he was getting worse," Sammi admitted. "The Doctor could be right, it could be some bug we don't even know about that got into his system."
"John was in the Tardis when he was created so how could that have happened?" Rose wanted to know.
"Something could have happened to my hand while Jack had it," the Doctor suggested, trying to recall if anything had happened while he'd had it. "The Master. He stole the Tardis, took it and turned it into a paradox machine. Anything could have happened."
It was Sammi's turn to try and keep up, she'd only heard Rose and John talking.
"John told me about it," Rose admitted. "I hope he's gone for good this time?"
"He also can regenerate?" Sammi asked.
"Not now," the Doctor reminded her. "Rose, think. Did John mention any time when the jar was out of our sight?"
"No, I don't think so, sorry. What difference does it even make?"
He went up to her and put his arm around her shoulder.
"It's okay Rose. Why don't you call your mum eh? Does she even know I'm here?" he asked her.
"Dad will have told her. She'll be looking after Tony, she won't come here until she has to, she'd only just gone back," Rose told him.
He didn't expect anything less from Jackie Tyler.
Pete had called Jackie as soon as Rose had gone off with the Doctor.
"Well I can hardly believe it," Jackie had told him. "Well I hope he can fix whatever's wrong with John or Rose will be heartbroken."
"I know that Jackie, we have to trust him. Rose won't leave John, not now. We have to be prepared for the worst though, Rose will need our support," Pete replied.
The Doctor was testing all the samples Sammi had sent for that they'd taken from John at various stages, Sammi praying they had missed something that he would find. Rose felt helpless, just sitting holding John's clammy hand but no-one wanted to disturb her.
The Doctor was looking through a large microscope, showing a sample to Sammi, Rose unable to hear what they were saying.
"I wish you two wouldn't whisper," Rose finally had enough.
"Sorry. You wouldn't understand, we were just trying to spare you," Sammi apologised.
"I know, it's just hard to sit here and not be able to do anything," Rose admitted.
"You're with him, that's important," the Doctor assured her. "He would want that when he wakes up."
"Stop pretending he's just gonna wake up like that," Rose began to lose it, making Sammi go to her.
"Don't give up Rose," she patted her shoulder. "There's far superior equipment here to what we have."
The Doctor was glad she thought so as he went for the next slide. That made him stop as he stared at it, Sammi noticing.
"Found something interesting?" she asked him.
The Doctor took the slide out and went over to one of the benches, Rose looking at both of them.
"You're not giving up are ya?" she asked the Doctor.
"You know me, Rose Tyler. When did I ever give up?" he asked her back. "Ideally, I should get him back to our universe as soon as possible but I don't know how long that power cell's going to take."
"It was twenty four hours last time," Rose reminded him.
Then she knew he was stalling for time. She got up and ran up to him, Sammi sensing there was going to be trouble.
"Ya can't help him, can ya?" Rose confronted him, raising her arms to him, the Doctor blocking her.
