A/N: Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait for this one. I have no valid excuse apart from being back at work and having so much to catch up on. Far too much to catch up on really. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Kari and the Doctor had been sitting in silence since her announcement. To Kari's surprise he hadn't actually asked her what was going to happen, all the Doctor had done was sit down beside her and wrapped an arm around her. He wasn't asking questions, trying to find out any information, he had just nodded at her and accepted it.
They stayed like that until the door quietly opened and Mickey stepped inside. The Doctor did not look happy, he was on his own. No Rose. "We told you to keep an eye on her." He shouted.
All Mickey could do was roll his eyes. "She's all right."
However, the Doctor had a different opinion, especially after the way she acted seeing the poster of her dad, knowing that he was alive. "She goes wandering off. Parallel world, it's like a gingerbread house. All those temptations calling out."
Now it was Mickey's turn to get angry. "Oh, so it's just Rose, then? Nothing out there to tempt me?"
The Doctor had had enough and quickly got up from where he had been sitting with Kari. She stayed put, knowing what was going to happen next. "Well, I don't know, I can't worry about everything. If I could just get this thing to…" He kicked it, causing Kari to flinch a little at the sound. She knew that had hurt him, but it was his own fault.
"Did that help?" Mickey asked, receiving a reply of yes. "Did that hurt?" He then asked, noticing that the Doctor was now hobbling a little.
"Yes. Ow." He told him, sitting back down with Kari as he rubbed his foot. "We're not meant to be here. The TARDIS draws its power from the universe, but it's the wrong universe. It's like diesel in a petrol engine." Kari gave the Doctor a quick kiss on the cheek before getting up and wandering around the console. She knew what was coming next, she knew what she had to look for.
Mickey took her spot and sat down next to the Doctor. "But I've seen it in comics. People go hopping from one alternative world to another. It's easy."
The Doctor shook his head at him a little, keeping an eye on Kari as she wandered. "Not in the real world. It used to be easy. When the Time Lords kept their eye on everything, you could hop between realities, home in time for tea. Then they died, and took it all with them. The walls of reality closed, the worlds were sealed. Everything became that bit less kind."
"Then how did we get here?" Kari had to admit, Mickey was good. He was always asking the right questions, even if he did scare easily at times.
"I don't know. Accident? Should've been impossible, now we're trapped." The Doctor said, before noticing that Kari had disappeared. He had watched her wander around the console, but then she just seemed to vanish. "Kari?" He called in a slight panic, getting up and looking around for her. He dashed over to the other side of the console to find her pulling up one of the metal grates. "What are you…" He stopped, noticing a green, glowing crystal in her hand.
Kari couldn't help but smile at him. "Oh, we are never trapped, my dear, dear Doctor. We are never, ever trapped."
The Doctor rushed over to where she was now standing, holding onto the crystal with such care. "That's all we need. We've got power! Mickey, we've got power! Ha! It's alive!" There was so much joy and excitement in his voice as he gazed at what Kari was holding.
"What is it?" Mickey asked, coming over to join them, to see what all the fuss was over.
"It's nothing. It's tiny. One of those insignificant little power cells that no one ever bothers about, and it's clinging onto life, with one little ounce of reality tucked away inside." Kari told him, smiling to herself. She loved it when the Doctor got all excited, especially over small, insignificant little things.
"Enough to get us home?" There was some hope in Mickey's voice now as well.
Kari shook her head at him. "Not yet. We need to charge it up." She told him, before remembering what he was going to say next and jumping in quickly. "Can't lash it up to the National Grid, Mickey. That is the wrong sort of energy. What we need is something from our universe." The smile on her face just grew bigger as she watched a golden mist appear around her hands, making the green crystal glow even brighter. If the Daleks could use her as energy to power up their ship, she could use it to power up the TARDIS.
"Kari, what did you do?" The Doctor asked her, before carefully taking it out of her hands and looking at it.
"Gave it a power boost, I am bursting with the power of the time vortex after all. It's on a recharging cycle." She told him while he inspected it. "We have about 24 hours until it is fully charged." The Doctor looked at her and gave her such a huge smile, she couldn't help but grin like an idiot back at him.
"So that gives us twenty four hours on a parallel world?" Mickey asked, a hint of excitement in his voice.
The Doctor glanced at Kari, still smiling away. "Shore leave. As long as we keep our heads down. Easy. No problem. Let's go and tell Rose."
The three of them cheerfully left the TADRIS and walked along the riverbank, hoping to find Rose along the way. As went, Kari gave the Doctor a little nudge. "You seem pretty happy. Any reason for that?" She asked him quietly, not wanting Mickey to hear too much. He seemed like he was too busy in his own little world thinking any.
He gazed at her, still smiling. "Well, I've got you here. You found this little beauty, which means we are not going to be trapped in a parallel universe after all." The Doctor replied. All she could do was roll her eyes at him as they carried on their walk. They eventually found Rose sitting on a bench, her phone in her hand. "There you are. You all right? No applause. Kari fixed it. Twenty four hours, then we're flying back to reality." He said, stopping when he noticed the look on her face. "What is it?" Something was wrong, he knew it was, and Kari instantly went and sat beside her friend.
"My phone connected. There's this… Cybus Network. It finds your phone. It gave me Internet access." Rose explained, looking between Kari and the Doctor.
Kari knew exactly what she was talking about. "Rose, I'm so sorry. We told you, this isn't your world, things are going to be different here. Just because they are Pete and Jackie Tyler, it doesn't make them your parents." It was hard for Kari to see Rose upset like she was, all she wanted to do was make it better, but she knew that it wasn't possible.
The Doctor just frowned and looked at the two women. "What do you mean?"
Rose let out a sigh. "There's no Rose Tyler. I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie. He still married mum but they never had kids." She explained.
"Give me that phone." The Doctor said, going to snatch it from her. But Rose quickly pulled it away from him.
She hadn't finished explaining, not yet. There was more that she needed to tell them. "They're rich. They've got a house and cars, and everything they want. But they haven't got me." Rose told them, before getting up from the bench, Kari was quick to stand with her. "I've got to see him."
"Rose, no, you can't." Kari said, ready to battle her friend on this. She knew the mess that was going to happen, she knew what was going to become of her mother.
All Rose could do was look at her and protest. "I just want to see him."
"No, Rose, and that is final. The Doctor may have said we have 24 hours here, but that is not 24 hours to go and mess around with the lives of the people who live here. You cannot become their daughter just like that. It doesn't work like that." Kari was not going to give up, she also wasn't going to let the Doctor shout at Rose to try and convince her.
But the Doctor could see that she was fighting a losing battle. "Rose, listen to us, you can't do it. Mickey, tell her."
The only problem was, he had ideas of his own as well. "Twenty four hours, yeah?" He said, as he started walking away from them.
"Where're you going?" The Doctor asked in confusion, watching both Rose and Mickey walk off in different directions.
"Well, I can do what I want." Mickey called back.
"I've got the address and everything." Rose said, her mind already focused on what she was going to do.
The Doctor was not happy, no one was listening to him except for Kari. "Stay where you are, both of you. Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back here right now!"
Kari let out a sigh. "Forget it, Doctor." She said to him, knowing that now it was him fighting a losing battle. "Mickey, stay safe. She's going to be happy to have you visit. But a word of advice, beware the van."
"What? How did you…" He trailed off, wondering how she knew where he was planning on going.
She couldn't stop herself from smirking at him. "I know all, Mickey. Now go, but back here in 24 hours, got it?" To her surprise, he saluted at her before jogging off. "Rose, will you just wait!" Kari called, latching onto the Doctor's hand and dragging him along with her as they chased down the blonde.
"You know where Mickey is going?" The Doctor asked as they finally caught up to Rose.
Kari nodded at him. "Yeah, his gran. She is still alive here. Rose knows more about it than I do." She said, looking at her friend.
"Mickey's mum just couldn't cope." Rose started as the trio continued to walk together. "His dad hung around for a while, but then he just sort of wandered off. He was brought up by his gran. She was such a great woman. God, she used to slap him! And then she died. She tripped and fell down the stairs. It's about five years ago now. I was still in school."
There was a look of sadness now on the Doctor's face. "I never knew."
"Well, you never asked." Kari said at the same time as Rose. Usually the pair would have cracked up laughing, only this time they simply shared a look with each other. This wasn't the time.
"That's Mickey. I suppose I… we just take him for granted. Do you think she's still alive, his gran?" The final part was more directed at Kari than the Doctor.
Kari once again nodded a little. "Yeah, she is. Still waiting for the carpet to be fixed. Mickey will make sure that it is, he isn't going to let what happened to her in his world happen here."
Before anything else could be said everyone around them stopped. Every single person just… froze. They weren't even blinking. Each and every one of them were wearing these silver ear pieces, like wireless earphones, only a little bit bigger. They were beeping and flashing. "What're they all doing?" Rose asked after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.
"It's the earpieces." Kari announced, while the Doctor took a look at them. "Like Bluetooth attachments, but everyone's connected together."
A beeping noise came from Rose's pocket, and a text message tone came through on Kari's. While Kari chose to ignore it, already knowing what would be there, Rose pulled hers out to have a look. "It's on my phone. It's automatic, look. It's downloading. Is this what they're all getting?" The Doctor came over and had a look at Rose's phone, putting on his glass as he did. Kari knew it wasn't the time, but she couldn't help smirking at him. "News, international news, sports, weather."
"They get it direct. Downloaded right into their heads." He said, while Rose carried on scrolling through her phone. "Everyone shares the same information. A daily download published by Cybus Industries."
Kari stayed close to the Doctor as the joke of the day downloaded. A moment later everyone around them was laughing, before they suddenly came back to reality and carried on with their lives. It had really freaked her out to see everyone around her just stop like that, because it wasn't normal.
The Doctor could see she was a little freaked out and took her hand, giving it a gentle and reassuring squeeze. "You lot," he started, still looking through Rose's phone, "you're obsessed. You'd do anything for the latest upgrade."
"Oi, not my lot." Rose protested. "Different world, remember."
"It's not so far off your world, this place is only parallel." He pointed out, still going through the phone. Finally he seemed to find what he was looking for. "Oh, look at that. Cybus Industries, owners of just about every company in Britain, including Vitex. Mr Pete Tyler's very well connected." There was a hint of excitement on Rose's face now, she had a feeling she knew what was going to happen next. The Doctor looked at Kari who let out a sigh and a slight nod. "Oh, okay. I give up. Let's go and see him."
It was clear Rose was happy with this decision, but Kari really did seem to be lacking in enthusiasm. She knew this story, she knew what was going to happen and even the Doctor knew that, but he hadn't asked her anything about what was going on. Why? There had been many times when he wanted to know, that he kept asking her or trying to get her to slip up and spill some information. But he wasn't even attempting to talk about what she knew.
Rose bounced off ahead a little, filled with joy about going to see her dad. "Come on, what's up?" The Doctor finally asked, knowing that Rose was out of earshot.
"Where do you want me to start?" She asked, hoping that he didn't want to talk about everything that had happened. "It's been a very crazy and tiring few days, Doctor. I almost got myself killed, more than once. It wasn't your fault, it was me just being… well, me I suppose." Kari admitted, knowing that she couldn't really tell him more than that. She would love to be able to tell him everything that had happened, in detail, but that was not going to happen.
The Doctor let out a sigh. "Why am I not surprised"? He replied, understanding that it was probably difficult for Kari. "Are you okay now, though?" There was concern in his voice, like there always was.
Kari wondered, did she tell him the truth, or gloss over all the things that were going on with her? "Yes, and no. Yes, I'm okay after everything that happened. No, I'm not because there is something wrong with me and we don't know what it is." She needed to be honest with him, to tell him the truth, because she had no idea how long this was going to be going on for. What if whatever was wrong with her never went away? What if they never found out what it was? "You've been doing countless scans and tests and you can't find anything physically wrong with me. I am completely healthy."
"So what is it then? What is it that's wrong?" The Doctor was trying his best to hide his worry, but Kari could feel it.
"I know what you're thinking. I mean, I can hear your thoughts clearly even when you close yourself off." Kari knew that it was easier and better to just explain it all, get it all out in the open. "And I can feel how you feel. Right now, you are worried but trying so hard to suppress it. You're worried about what I've been through and the fact that I have just told you that there is something wrong with me." She paused for a moment, waiting. "And now you are thinking that this is all a bad idea and that we should go back to the TARDIS."
The Doctor stopped walking, forcing Kari to stop as well. He turned her to face him and just stared into her eyes. "What happened, Kari?" He needed to know, he had to know what had happened to her for something like this to have started.
All Kari could do was shake her head at him. "I can't, I'm sorry, I can't. It's in your future, Doctor. I did something stupid, like I always do, and it almost killed me. Since then things… things have been different. All I can tell you is that everything will be fine in the end. At least that is what you tell me." It all just seemed to be one great big mess that she wasn't going to be able to explain to him easily.
Luckily for Kari, the Doctor did seem to understand. While he thought about all the other things he wanted to ask her, to find out, he stopped himself. "As long as you are okay, that is all that matters." He told her, meaning every word of it. "But, you have to promise…"
"If anything is wrong or doesn't feel right then I will tell you." Kari said, having known exactly what he was going to say. "I promise. Okay?"
The Doctor couldn't help but give her a smile. "Okay. Now, come on. We've still got a bit of a way to go." Kari couldn't agree more. They were in for a long walk to get to where they needed to, and she knew that it was going to be well past sunset by the time they made it to the house that Rose's mum and dad lived in.
They finally made it to their destination and kept a watch on the rather grand house. The sky was dark now and the three of them were crouching beside a tree, watching as a black limousine drove by and towards the house.
"They've got visitors." Kari whispered at the same time as the Doctor.
Rose looked at him, ready to comment about them speaking at the same time, but saw the look on Kari's face. It was a look that told her something was not right, so she left it. "February the first. Mum's birthday. Even in a parallel universe, she still loves a party."
"Well, given Pete Tyler's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look. And there is one guaranteed way of getting inside." The Doctor told her, pulling something out of his coat pocket and holding it out. Rose got very excited at the sight of the psychic paper. "Who do you want to be?" He asked, looking between Kari and Rose.
Before either of them could answer, Kari's phone started to ring. A frown appeared on her face. How was she still getting phone calls? They were in a different universe, that didn't make sense at all. After digging through her pocket she pulled her phone out, her eyes wide with disbelief as she saw who was calling. "Um, I better answer this." She said, quickly showing it to the Doctor. "You two go on ahead, I'll catch you up." Kari added, the Doctor nodding at her.
"Don't be too long." He told her, quickly kissing her cheek before rising from where they were crouching.
Kari watched as the pair strolled forward, the Doctor asking Rose who she wanted to be as they headed towards the house. She pulled her attention back to the phone that was ringing in her hand, her eyes focused on the caller's name, TARDIS. "Hello?" She said, when she eventually answered. She was expecting someone to speak, to talk to her, but she just received silence. Kari tried again. "Hello? Is there anyone there?"
After a few more silent seconds, she heard a voice. "Kari…"
Now her eyes were wide, she knew that voice. "Amy? Amy, what's wrong?" It was her red hair, Scottish friend, and she sounded really upset.
"Why do you assume something is wrong when I call you?" Amy asked, sounding a little off still.
"Because you only call me when something is wrong." Kari replied, actually trying to think of a time when Amy had actually called her. "Yeah, actually I'm not sure that you ever really do call me. So what is going on?"
She heard Amy let out a sigh. "Okay, fine. It's the Doctor."
Kari felt a horrible pounding in her chest. "What's happened? Is he okay? Is he hurt?" She rambled all in one breath.
Amy chuckled a little at the panic she heard in Kari's voice "Well, he is okay at the moment, but if he carries on moping about then he won't be." Her words calmed her, but just a little. "You've been gone for a few days and all he is doing is hiding in the TARDIS. He refuses to take me anywhere until you're back."
That sounded about right to Kari. "Where is he now?" It was clear that she needed to talk to him, to find out what was going on and why he was refusing to take Amy anywhere.
"The library, I think."
"Okay, I'll talk to him." Kari said, letting out a sigh. "Behave, Amy, I'll see you soon."
She heard Amy chuckling a little at the other end of the line before it cut off. However, the dead tone quickly changed to ringing as she waited for someone to answer. The TARDIS had redirected to call, sending her through to the library where she was waiting for the Doctor to pick up. After a few more rings, she heard a familiar voice. "Hello?" There was a hint of confusion in his voice, which only made Kari smile.
"So, I have had a call from Amy. What are you moping around in the library for?" She asked him, trying her best to sound cross and annoyed.
"Kari?" Now there was a hint of disbelief in his voice.
Even though he couldn't see it, she rolled her eyes at him. "Yes, I'm Kari. Now what is going on with you? Why did Amy call me, telling me that she was worried because you are acting odd? Well, more odd than normal."
"Ah, well… you see…" It was clear from his stumbling that he did not have a proper response for her.
"Doctor, come on. You know that sitting around in the TARDIS the whole time I am gone is pointless. You need to be showing Pond the stars. You should be taking her to the most amazing places, where I will end up joining you. You should not be locking yourself away." There was a hint of annoyance in Kari's voice, because they had had this conversation many times before when he had just stopped and waited for her to return when she left.
She received a few moments of silence, before she heard the Doctor let out a sigh. "Okay, fine. But where are you?"
Kari hadn't expected him to ask her that, but she had no problems with telling him. "Alternate universe with Rose and Mickey. You've just gone inside the Tyler mansion with Rose. I was going to accompany you inside, but I had a phone call to take instead." She was on the phone to a future regeneration, he already knew what happened there.
"Ah, Cybermen."
"Yeah, Cybermen. My first time meeting them properly, actually. Not really looking forward to it very much." Kari admitted to him. While there had been the Cybermen with her grey haired Scottish Doctor, Missy had been behind all of that. "I've spent plenty of time with the Daleks but not the Cybermen. Now, are you going to go and take Amy somewhere amazing? Because if not then you will be in some big trouble when I finally do get there." She told him, knowing that she was taking far too long and that the Doctor was probably freaking out waiting for her, wondering where she was. Knowing him, he was probably fighting with Rose to come out and check that she was okay.
"Right, yes. Just… you, behave. And stay safe." It was clear from his tone that he missed her and would much rather carry on the conversation, but he knew that she needed to go.
Kari couldn't help but chuckle a little at his words. "It should be me telling you to behave and stay safe. We both know that is never going to happen, so just don't get into too much trouble and I'll be there soon, okay?" It was ironic, she was telling him to stay out of trouble when she was about to go and join him in a mansion and get into so much trouble.
After saying goodbye to each other, Kari pulled out her psychic paper. She knew that the Doctor and Rose had gone in there under the pretence of working as waiting staff, but she had a different approach. She was going in through the front door, as a guest, regardless of what she was wearing.
Oddly enough, no one questioned her attire, they didn't seem to care that she wasn't wearing a fancy dress like everyone else. It didn't take Kari long to spot the Doctor and Rose, wandering around carrying trays of food and drink.
Kari approached them as they were in the middle of a conversation, but she knew that the Doctor had spotted her. "Yeah. Lucy says, that," he nodded towards a man, causing Rose to look, "is the President of Great Britain."
"What, there's a President, not a Prime Minister?" Rose asked in shock.
"Yup. Alternate world, some small changes here and there, sometimes a big change. Either way, it's still a totally different world with totally different people." Kari said, adding in that last part for Rose. She knew that she was still thinking about her dad, about the fact that he was alive and had made a good living out of his little projects.
Before anything else could be said, Pete Tyler was standing at the staircase, calling for everyone's attention. "Excuse me! Thank you very much. Thank you if I could just have your attention, please?"
Kari knew he was going to make his little speech, thank everyone for coming and introducing his wife. But she wasn't interested in that, she knew what was coming and what was going to happen, so instead she let his eyes drift around the room, looking at all the people that were there. It was then that she saw someone familiar, someone that she hadn't seen in what felt like forever, someone that Kari believed that she was never going to see again.
Standing over with a group of other party-goers, dressed smartly in a suit, was a man that looked remarkable like her father. He was wearing a navy suit with a navy and white spotted tie around his neck. The man's hair was neatly combed into place. Kari couldn't help but think how smart he looked, she couldn't remember a time when she had seen him looking so dressed up. Kari was struggling to pull her eyes away, just as she was about to turn, to focus on anywhere but him, the man looked at her, his eyes lighting up and a smile stretching across his face.
Kari didn't know what to do, she didn't know how to respond, was he really looking at her? Was he smiling at her? Does he know her? Did she exist in their world? There were so many things going through her head, so many questions that she knew were never going to be answered. In the end, she just smiled back, not knowing what else to do. It was wrong, in so many ways.
It was when she finally heard the Doctor's voice that she managed to pull herself together a little. "You can't stay." She heard him telling Rose. "Even if there was some way of telling them."
"Course I can't." Rose replied, a little reluctantly. It was clear that she wanted to say something, or do something. "I've still got Mum at home. My real mum. I couldn't just leave her, could I. It's just… they've got each other. Mum's got no one."
"She's got you." Kari said at the same time as the Doctor, risking a glance back at the man she had seen. He was still there, smiling and talking. "Those two haven't. All these different worlds, not one of them gets it right." She added, turning back to face her friend.
Before anything else could be said, Jackie Tyler was calling, she was calling for Rose. "Rose! There's my little girl! Come to mummy, come to mummy!" The only person who knew what was happening was Kari, so she wasn't shocked when she saw a tiny little dog go trotting up to Jackie Tyler. "Yes, good girl! Good girl, aren't you?"
At hearing that, the Doctor started laughing, which resulted in Kari lightly whacking him and giving him a very firm look. He looked at her and saw the serious look on her face, before turning to Rose. "Sorry." Then he turned and looked at Kari. "I'm sorry."
The look on his face told her that he was sorry. Kari knew that she had to tell him what she had seen or rather who she had seen. "Doctor, I need to tell you something…"
Before she was able to tell him anything else, someone was standing beside her, lightly touching her arm. "Hello Keri, I didn't know you were going to be here, love." It was him, the man who looked exactly like her father. But it wasn't it couldn't be, he hadn't even called her the correct name. "Your dad said you were sick."
"Oh, um, yeah." Kari said, trying her best not to stumble over her words. "Well I was starting to feel better."
He smiled at her. "And we all know you're not one to miss a party." That was when he noticed that she was with people, and he didn't miss the look in the Doctor's eyes. "So, are these people friends of yours? Are you going to introduce me?" He asked, feeling a little uncomfortable with the way he was being looked at.
That snapped Kari back to reality, well snapped her back a little at least. "Oh, right, yeah. This is the Doctor and Rose."
"Martin Conner." The man said, holding his hand out towards the Doctor. "Keri's uncle." Kari just didn't know what to say, her head was starting to fill with so many things, and none of them made sense. She knew this man as her dad, but he was claiming to be her uncle? So that meant… "Her dad, Patrick, is my brother. We run the business together." Martin looked at Kari, a frown forming on his face. "Have you done something to your hair? It looks different."
It was all just getting a little too much for her, this man was not her father, he sounded like him, he looked like him, but he was not the man that had raised her. Kari couldn't stand it any longer. "Yeah, yeah I have. Sorry, I need to… excuse me." She managed to say, before making a very hasty exit out of the room and away from it all. He wasn't her dad, according to him her father was actually who she knew to be her uncle. It wasn't right, it didn't make sense. It was giving her a headache.
A/N: So, I had so so so many ideas for this, for what could happen in 'Pete's World'. I didn't want to to be something too obvious, I wanted it to be different and to take you all by surprise. So I hope that I managed that..
A big thank you to all of you that have taken the time to leave a review, I really do appreciate it. I means a lot to me to know that there are still people out there reading my stories.
I wish you all well and the very best, until the next time!
Pippa.