Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who nor any of its characters.
"Doctor? Oh god, I thought I knew how to say this but now that you're here I don't know…"
"What is it, Rose? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Is it Jackie? What has she done? Did she say something about last night because really it was all her fault if you think abo-,"
"I'm pregnant."
"I love you so much."
"I love you, too."
"How much longer?"
"Just two more months, Rose. Well- two months and a week or two. But! You're doing marvelously, Rose. Gallifreyan pregnancies are not easy. That's why we switched to looming. Takes about twelve months, this. The body is ready to go, greet the world, but the mind still has a ways to go, yet. I'm sorry, love. I had no idea our child would be anything but human. Honestly."
"It's alright, Doctor. I'm glad I can give you even a piece of your home back. You'll just have to be a better date, is all."
"What- better? Rose, I'm the best date there is! Stop laughing, that was one time!"
"Does it get any better than this?"
"I don't think so, no."
"I want to see! Please Daddy!"
"Come here, Graeca. Meet your brother, Q."
A gust of wind blew Graeca's hair back as she opened the TARDIS door. She blinked a few times to adjust to the sunlight, feeling a smile light up her face.
"We made it, Q! Oh my god we actually did it! Planet Earth with no zeppelins!"
Q ran up behind her, craning over her shoulder to get a look.
"Wow," is all he could manage.
Graeca let out a girlish squeal and threw her arms around her brother's neck.
"We're here! We made it!" she exclaimed, disbelief clouding her voice. She could feel Q's shock and excitement in her mind, as she was sure he could feel hers. As siblings, and the only ones of their species, they had a constant telepathic connection, allowing them to feel the other's presence in their minds. They couldn't exchange thoughts without touching, but they could project emotions across great distances. Their father, the Doctor's meta-crisis, had explained how sibling connections worked, telling them about how Gallifreyans were all naturally telepathic and could "feel" each other at all times. The consistent noise forced them to construct telepathic barriers to bring the noise down to a low hum in the back of their minds. They could, however, create closer bonds with fellow telepaths and allow them more access to each other's minds. The most common of these were familial bonds. Parents with children and siblings with each other. Since neither of Graeca's or Q's parents were telepathic, they couldn't create a parental bond with the children. The children themselves, however, having no one else to telepathically connect to, had forged an almost unbreakable bond to each other, being able to sense the other's emotions with no effort whatsoever when in close proximity, and holding onto a weak connection over thousands of kilometers apart. This allowed them to work seamlessly together and keep the other safe when in danger, which was more often than most children their age.
Children they were not, anymore, however. As the brother and sister stepped out of their home-grown TARDIS onto a parallel Earth, they each had over fifty years under their belts. Graeca, the older, was fifty-seven Earth years and Q was fifty-four. They didn't look older than twenty, however, the first sign of their alien-ness. The fact that their entire interior biology didn't resemble a human's in the slightest was a close second.
Q's voice made Graeca turn her head from gazing at the planet around her.
"It's been so long since we've been on Earth. I'm surprised you recognized it so quickly, Grae."
"The TARDIS has scanners, you know. And we were aiming for Earth."
"Still, we could've ended up anywhere, you know that. Crossing universes isn't exactly our expertise."
Q was right. It should've been impossible. But, it seemed they were lucky. Some event weakened the walls between the universes just enough for them to slip through before they fixed themselves. They managed to make it to the parallel Earth relatively unscathed. The TARDIS, on the other hand, needed time to recuperate before making any more trips. It was just as well, since Graeca didn't intend to leave so soon anyway.
"Where'd we end up? Jack Harkness is in Cardiff, right?" Graeca asked Q as he stepped back through the door.
"Let's see… what! That's impossible! Weeelll- not impossible but certainly improbable! How could we have ever managed to get so lucky-,"
"Q!" Graeca interrupted, following the sound of his voice back inside.
"Right! We are in Cardiff! It seems like there's a rift here and we've landed right on top of it. Brought the TARDIS in like a scriped to fringa. Maybe that's why Mr. Harkness set up his base here. More likely to come in contact with alien activity, wanted or otherwise."
Graeca was suddenly sucked into the image of winged scripeds flocking to a pile of fringa on the coasts of the planet Xelios. Their father took them there for her eleventh birthday. The sea foam on the beach crystallized to form translucent flakes that collected in piles along the shore. The piles would last only until the next big wave came in, dissolving them. They were edible, which caused bird-like creatures, the scripeds, to flock en mass to the temporary nourishment. They were easily spooked, fortunately, and Graeca had a lovely memory of her father chasing the scripeds away when they got too close and scared her.
"Look, Daddy! They're so delicate," she'd stated, holding some fringa in her palm, studying them closely. She wondered how they were created, developing theories in her head. She was so caught up in her reverie that she almost jumped out of her skin when a beak flew into her vision, pecking from her hand. At her shriek, the Doctor came rushing to her side.
"Oi! Back, back, back! Get away, shoo!" he called, running at such a speed, the animal squawked and flew away. Graeca was already in her father's arms. "Are you alright, love? Did it bite you? Are you hurt? Show me your hand."
"I'm alright, Daddy," she'd reassured. "It just scared me, is all."
"Is everything alright?" she heard her mother call. She and Q were further down the beach, making sandcastles. Q's was more like a glistening sand village.
"I'm alright, Mum!" she shouted back. She looked into her father eyes and smiled.
"Graeca," her father said. "Graeca…"
"Graeca. Are you ready?"
Graeca sucked in a breath, realizing quickly she had been lost in her memory for four minutes and sixteen seconds, just staring at the Time Rotor. Turning around, she spotted her brother at the door, a look of concern on his face.
"I'm ready," she replied, nodding and walking over. She really meant, I'm okay, and she knew Q understood. He always understood.
The two left the safety of their TARDIS and stepped onto the alien (yet not) planet. There were people walking about, completely oblivious to the presence of the two Gallifreyans, all except one. The siblings spotted him almost immediately. It's easy enough to spot the only person watching, and now walking towards, you. It's another thing entirely when said person is a walking fixed point.
"My god," breathed Q. Their dad wasn't kidding. Their time senses hurt like hell. It probably wasn't as bad as what himself went through, as a fully-fledged Time Lord and all, but they still had basic time senses and could feel the difference. Time literally bent around him. It was completely unnatural. Graeca had the sobering thought of wondering how long he had been alone.
"Why hello there," came an unexpectedly American voice. "I'm not sure what you came here for, but this is a level five planet and if you have any preconceived notions for the future of this planet, I would like to warn you. This planet is defended. They may look weak and defenseless, but they aren't. And I'm just the frontline."
Graeca glanced at Q then back to the man before them. This had to be Jack Harkness. Standing right in front of them. Like he was expecting them. It was just too good. Controlling her facial expression, she replied,
"We're not here to invade. It's just us two. We're actually here to find you, Captain," she couldn't help but smirk.
The man's eyebrows furrowed. "Oh? And why would you be looking for me?"
Q spoke up, "We believe you know how to find someone very important to us. The Doctor."
"I don't know what you're talking about," the man replied, not bad at lying.
Graeca tried to fix the situation before it got worse, adding, "Listen, my name is Graeca and this is my brother, Q. If you saw our mode of transport, I believe you'd be more willing to help us. It's not a trap, I promise," she hastily added, seeing his eyebrow raise.
The man looked between the two, seemingly weighing his options before shrugging nonchalantly and stuffing his hands in his pockets. He obviously didn't fear death anymore.
"Lead the way," he offered, acting casual, but still having an air of distrust.
Graeca turned around, ready to gain some trust from the man who had such a deep connection to her parents and started walking the dozen paces back to the TARDIS. Q looked a bit leerier, not wanting to turn his back on the man with not much to lose, but caught up with his sister. They could hear the man's footsteps behind them, thankful he was following. Graeca pulled her key from her elaborate keychain and started putting it in the Yale lock when the Captain spoke up.
"This is your spacecraft? Excellent camouflage technology; I've never seen anything like it. Does it always look like this or can it fit in with its surroundings? It actually reminds me-," he cut off with his questioning, catching himself from the ramble he was getting himself into. Graeca met his eyes for a moment, trying to say with her eyes: yes, it reminds you of the TARDIS because it is one! She turned her key, opened the door, and stepped inside.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the beginning of this story! Please leave a review and let me know what you thought/where you'd like this story to go! I've only written this first chapter and have an idea of the storyline, but I have a tendency to rush stories and not have a satisfying climax/resolution because I'm too eager to get it to the public haha. Not sure when I'll update, but I'm excited for now!