Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of its trademarks. If I had a Tardis, I wouldn't hang around here. I tolerate this century but I don't enjoy it.

Rose catches sight of him out of the corner of her eye. He's dressed similarly to the natives, except a bit more expensively. The crowds open and close behind him as he strides through, giving him his own bubble of personal space. Rose pushes her way through the crowd, clutching Matthew's hand.

"Doctor! Doctor!"

She manages to catch hold of his arm and he swings around. This isn't the Doctor. All the physical features are there, but set in anger and contempt. His eyes hold no recognition or love, no fond emotion at all. They hold only disbelief and disgust. He gingerly flicks her hand off his arm. She stands frozen. This is just like when she was young and mistook a strange woman for her mother. But so much worse.

"Guards!" he calls and his voice is like the Doctor's but higher and colder. Big men appear around them in an instant. "She has violated my person! Take her. And the other strangers, they must be her friends."

xxx

Lydia hunches in the corner of the cell and glares at him. She has spent a very long time in solitary confinement. It's impossible to measure: even if she had a window, the two moons wouldn't tell her anything, she has no timepiece on her, and her sleep cycles are all over the place. But it must have been a few weeks, at least. Such a long time without seeing another living soul, unless you counted the hand that pushed food through the flap, wondering what had happened to Rose and Matthew, wondering whether she would ever see daylight again and all because the heir to the kingdom happened to be an exact physical double of Rose's Doctor.

After all that, she had been glad for the company when someone had been thrown in her cell. But after only ten minutes, she is wishing him and his infernal spoons at the bottom of a very deep ocean. A sea of acid might be good, surely there is somewhere like that in the universe?

She amuses herself for a short time, imagining various painful and inventive things that involve him and his spoons. Then comes up with some cruel but not entirely untruthful things to say about his apparent fondness for question marks designs. And then decides she has exhausted all the interesting possibilities of being annoyed with him and asks him, politely, to stop playing the spoons.

"Don't worry, my dear." He rolls his r's with a soft Old Earth accent. She's noticed that she seems to understand everyone they come across as they hop around. Matthew must have built some kind of a translator into that device of his.

"Ace should be along soon."

Marvellous, she thinks sourly. The first company I've had in ages and he's going to escape aided by this Ace.

"So what's your name?"

"The Doctor."

She gapes. "No, you're not."

He sighs and searches her face. "As I don't remember you, I would imagine you have met a future me."

"A future…you? You mean that they were all you? All the same person? It's not possible."

"Professor!" The shout comes from somewhere outside, muffled by the thick stone walls.

"In here, Ace!"

The voice comes again after a few seconds.

"You've got fifteen seconds!"

Lydia wouldn't have believed that the portly man could have moved that quickly if she hadn't seen it.

"Come on!" he beckons from behind the overturned bed. "We've only got ten seconds at the most."

"But she said…"

He drags her behind the bed. "We're talking about Ace's fuses here, she…"

There's an explosion someway off and something that sounds like a curse.

"Professor!" It is the mysterious Ace's voice again, sounding a lot nearer.

"Inhere, Ace!"

A few seconds later, another explosion, a much louder explosion, rocks the cell. The dust settles, allowing them to see the hole at floor-level in the wall.

A girl's face appears in the hole.

"Professor? Do you want to be left alone?"

Lydia and the Doctor pick themselves up.

"Are you Lydia?"

Lydia nods.

"I rescued your friends here. Sorry about the wait, Professor, I got the wrong cell."

"Rose? Matthew?"

"Lydia! You're safe!"

"After you, my dear." He indicates the hole in the wall.

Having crawled through the hole, she discovers Rose and Matthew both looking much the worse for wear. She knows she can't look any better herself. Her hair must be a few inches shorter for all the length entangled in knots. She's been wearing the same clothes for weeks and they itch. She hopes it's just the dirt. And the clothes hang looser than they used to. Judging by Rose and Matthew's appearances, Rose has been giving Matthew most of her food.

"How are you?"

"Fine. And you?"

"Okay."

Neither of them mention the time the guards had been drunk. It had been the drunkenness that saved them; the guards had been too drunk to fit the keys to the locks on their doors.

Rose doesn't tell of the time the Governor came in to inspect the alien prisoner. She hit him over the head with their water bucket and barricaded the door. They had had no food for some time afterwards.

Lydia doesn't tell of the screams she sometimes heard.

Hopefully, it's behind them.

"Do you have the…our transport?"

"They took it. And all our possessions."

"Mine too."

xxx

Two hours, one toppled regime, a thorough wash, change of clothes and large meal later, they bid goodbye to the Doctor and Ace and clutching their newly-reclaimed possessions (which had thankfully been put aside for detailed examination at some time rather than being claimed by anyone), they vanish into thin air.

xxx

They had picked Jackie up, skilfully avoided her questions about the sudden disappearance of Delta and let the Tardis choose the destination. They've ended up at the beach with the purple sand again.

Romana doesn't seem to be enjoying herself as she usually does. She hasn't moved from the spot since they sat down and is silent and withdrawn, digging a hole with her hands and contemplating the pebbles she uncovers as if they hold the answer to all the universe's problems before flinging them into the sea with some force

"Romana?" The Doctor sits down beside her.

She ignores him and continues to throw stones out to sea. A few minutes pass.

"Do you regret it?" she says abruptly.

"What?"

"Do you regret it? Romana, Delta…me."

"Romana? Talk about not meant to be. Their child turned out to be a fatal weakness. Although, in every set of universes, there's a universe with Time Lords. Maybe somewhere they lived happily. Maybe somewhere I didn't go to investigate that time storm and we live happily. Maybe somewhere I wasn't born, and the Time War never happened." He shakes his head as if dispelling dreams and turns to her, his voice becoming much more urgent. "But, understand this, no matter what, I will never, ever regret the moment when you came into my life."

She smiles and flops across his lap. "Alright."

xxx

Jack is stretched out full-length, fast asleep and blissfully unaware of the sand cocoon that has been built around him. Jackie and Romana are engaged in building a sand castle and the Doctor is inspecting the stones that he has uncovered. Some have a strange reflective quality.

Angling it to catch the light, he catches a glimpse of red hair and twists around, finding himself looking straight at Johanna Tyler.

She runs. He chases her. She stumbles and slips on the sand, he's by her side in an instant.

"Right, question time. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

He stares into her eyes and something seems to crumble. What he sees behind the walls shakes him profoundly.

"I just wanted to see…to remember when we were happy."

"Romana," he whispers.

This older, different, and infinitely more pain-filled Romana stares back.

"Situations that I needed rescuing from are hardly my happiest memories. I just wanted to see…to assure myself that we were happy once; I wasn't just seeing it with rose-coloured glasses. Ha. Rose." She gives a weak smile.

"Romana?" the Doctor repeats disbelievingly. "Oh, I don't even want to think about the paradoxes involved in this. She's… you're only alive because of the actions of her future self, that is, you but without her future…you interfering, she wouldn't have grown up to become you to save herself…" the Doctor trails off.

"Predestination paradox. Nice waking up from your first regeneration to realise that you've got to save your own life sometime before you regenerate again. Gives you a sense of purpose, you know?" She speaks lightly but he can sense the bitterness beneath the surface.

"You never did like being told what to do."

She draws a shuddering breath. "Do you know how hard it was? To see myself, so innocent. To see you, the Doctor of my childhood, miraculously returned to life by the science of time travel. And you didn't know me, and I couldn't say anything."

"I'm dead, aren't I?" he curses himself. He sounds so selfish.

"Yes. Oh, yes. You stupid idiot. I…you… I shouldn't say anything."

Standing up, she looks over to where she can discern the figures of her family. No distance at all in space. A significant amount of time. A lifetime of experience. The one dimension that she can't travel in.

"I'm not alone. Remember Delta? We went back for her."

The Doctor nods silently, wishing that she could answer the unspoken question that they both know is there.

"Now this is over. All obligations fulfilled. I can live my own life."

She pecks him on the cheek. "Goodbye, Dadtor."

He hugs her impulsively. "Goodbye, Romana."

He watches her walk steadily across the beach, not looking back.

A few minutes later, he hears the familiar sound of a Type 40 Tardis.

xxx

Romana is frantically rebuilding the walls around the castle as the sea erodes them. The Doctor has previously explained how pointless this is, but Jackie told him to shut up very sharply.

He's sitting there grumbling about this, and how Jackie is probably going to expect Romana to believe in the Easter Bunny next, just to keep up appearances. He's grieving and giving thanks in equal measure. Grieving for what she will become. Giving thanks that she still has these years of innocence. Then suddenly, it feels as if someone is trying to drag his insides out through the pores in his skin.

Judging by the fact that Romana has collapsed, it seems it has affected her too. She's ruined her castle.

But the Doctor is happy.

"They're coming," he mutters, standing up and beginning to stagger back to the Tardis. "Come on! They're coming!"

Jackie is left to wake Jack and pick Romana up.

xxx

The trace died halfway again. They're hanging around in the vortex while the Doctor tries to make some improvements to his trace-tracing equipment. Jackie isn't very happy about this; she still isn't used to sleeping on the Tardis. But they all know that Rose might be close. The Doctor's sent everyone to bed; he said he needed absolutely no disturbances. Romana isn't very happy about this; she isn't tired, she slept two nights ago. But it's something to do.

xxx

The older Romana looks at herself sharply.

"What are you doing here?"

Romana shrugs and sits down on a comfy chair that has just appeared.

"The Doctor sent us all to bed. I wasn't tired."

"Oh, so you decide to occupy your mind by finding ours? You shouldn't be here."

"You're me, are you then? How come I still have to wear glasses?"

"Luck of the regeneration. I don't wear them all the time, just like you don't."

"Why not?"

"One, I don't like them. Two, they always fall off when I run."

Romana snuggles into her chair. Something about this place makes her feel incredibly comfortable and serene. It is quite peaceful, but it makes her head feel rather empty.

"Oh, that's right. You're the one who keeps saving me. What's the name for a paradox like that?"

"Predestination paradox," Romana replies. "I meant what I said. You shouldn't be here. I don't remember this. And I'm not starting to remember it either."

"Well, maybe I won't grow up to be you. Or maybe I just won't remember it when I wake up. I suppose I am asleep?"

"Your body is. Your mind isn't. That's why you're here."

"Mmmm," she agrees languidly, stretching her corporeal limbs, her 'dream' limbs and her mind lazily.

Her mind snaps back at the accidental contact and the warm comfort that has been blanketing her mind is ripped away.

"I won't become you," Romana whispers. "I won't let myself. I don't want to."

The other looks at her sadly.

"Your mind is so dark. It's full of shadows. You've lost so many…you lost the Doctor. How do you bear it? His mind feels like this sometimes, right deep down when he's not paying attention. He's much better at hiding than you are. The pain is so raw, it hurts. I won't become you, I won't. You're tired."

"Yes," Romana agrees. "And you're not." She gently pushes her back into her own mind. She watches the dream-pictures that her younger self's mind conjures up for a while.

"Sweet dreams," she whispers. "We deserve another chance."

xxx

Jackie cleans the mess left by the smashed bowl of cornflakes while Jack holds Romana. She's beginning to wish there was some kind of warning. I wonder what that ache means? It's a warning to put down whatever you're holding and curl up into a small ball. It seems to be almost as bad as when it first started. Perhaps that means that they're getting closer. She finishes mopping up the milk and cornflakes and has just dropped the newspaper-wrapped china pieces into the bin when the Tardis settles.

xxx

It's beginning to dawn on Rose that they could do this for years before they find the Doctor and Romana in the right time period. So far, they've either run into younger versions of her or past incarnations of the Doctor. And following the Doctor around, especially when he's not looking out for you and won't attempt to rescue you, is quite hazardous.

Then they land. In front of them are two police boxes.

xxx

The Doctor looks at the scanner. A police box is apparently sitting in front of them, a few metres away.

"I seem to have crossed my own timeline again." he mutters and strides for the doors, throwing his scarf over his shoulder.

He steps out of the Tardis and notices a man in brown and a small girl with his scarf rapidly approaching.

The man does not appear to be happy to see him. No, he is happy to see him, but not in a way that he will appreciate.

xxx

Jack is quite scared by the expression on the Doctor's face as he sees the man step out of the other Tardis. A cross between a child at Christmas and an innocent man who has spent many years in prison, is freed and finds the man who put him in there completely defenceless.

"I remember," he grins.

Then he's at the doors. Romana runs after him.

xxx

"Thank you for that. I have just fulfilled a wish I have held for three years. And preserved the timeline at the same time."

The Tenth Doctor holds the door to the Fourth Doctor's Tardis open for him.

A blonde girl looks slightly amused at the spectacle that presents itself. For a second, the Doctor sees her as he last did.

She knew perfectly well what he was going to do. Neither of them had voiced it; they both knew that the other knew. He had begged her to come with him. He didn't want to die up there alone. She knew perfectly well why he wanted her to come with her. She even knew the reasons he didn't know, or didn't admit to himself. She refused, politely but firmly.

'My place is with my people."

He didn't turn back at the corner. He knew what he'd see; he'd see her distant back as she walked in the opposite direction. So he remembered her as he last saw her; dressed in full presidential robes, looking up into his face.

"Romana, meet Romana." The very young, more-human-than-not Romana smiles at Romana. The not-quite-so-young, completely Gallifreyan Romana looks uncertain, as if she's hoping this isn't a future incarnation.

He takes in her costume. "I've heard Paris is very nice at this time of year."

xxx

Lydia tries to shake Rose awake. She recognises the man in brown from Rose's photo and suspects they may have arrived at their destination. He and a small girl, who Lydia assumes is Romana, Matthew's twin, travel the short distance between the blue boxes, and meet the man who had emerged from the other blue box. The three all disappear inside the other man's blue box and Rose's Doctor and Romana emerge shortly, after which the blue box fades away. Lydia doesn't even blink. It's much the same thing as they've been doing, as far as she can see.

But seeing the man who steps out of the Tardis amazes her. Then infuriates her.

xxx

Jack rubs his cheek.

"Did you deserve that?" Romana asks.

"Not sure I did."

The Doctor rolls his eyes and makes a mental note to hide all the copies of all the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

"You…you… you!" Lydia tries and fails to come up with an appropriate insult. "Two years and you just vanish."

They all stare at her in complete incomprehension.

"And who are you?"

"Don't pretend you don't know, you lying…"

"I have never…"

"Excuse me!" Romana yells. "Can you start again, from the beginning and leaving out the insults?"

"Ten years ago, he comes to Earth Colony whatever-number-we-were. And James stays…"

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there for a minute. What do you think my name is?" Jack interrupts.

"James. James Whiteside."

"I think you have the wrong man. I am not James Whiteside."

"But you look exactly like…" Lydia trails off and mentally starts kicking herself. She spent at least a month in imprisonment because Rose found someone who looked exactly the same as her Doctor. What happened to learning from mistakes?

"Oh. Sorry." She resists the urge to hide her burning face. "You're the Doctor? And this is Romana?"

She notices how the two men instantly take up protective stances.

"Why?"

"I just landed with your wife and son."

xxx

Rose stirs. She swats ineffectually at the person next to her. "Get to your own bed, Matthew."

"Rose?" She knows the voice wasn't real, couldn't be real, but she allows herself to believe in it for a minute, like always.

She sighs, a small smile crossing her face.

"Rose?" She could have sworn she had heard it, heard it through her ears. Now is the time to open her eyes and reconcile herself to the reality before her hopes build up.

Rose opens her eyes.

xxx

The Doctor is lost again as soon as she opens her eyes. Deep brown eyes that he's seen nearly every day of the recent past, yet has not seen for six years. Romana's eyes are not the same as Rose's eyes. And Rose doesn't need all that mascara she used to wear. Her eyes are still beautiful without it.

"Doctor?" She doesn't dare to believe it yet, is disbelieving what her senses are telling her.

"Rose. Oh, Rose."

Nobody is sure who made the first move, but somehow they end up clinging together, so tightly, as if they believe the other would disappear again if they let go. She sobs into his shoulder as he murmurs her name over and over, the only word he can say.

Matthew makes a face at Romana. She replies with an infinitely more impressive grimace, personally taught to her by the Ghix of Basf.

xxx

A few hundred years and light years away, a woman with orange hair that has earned her the stunningly original nickname of 'Carrot Top' watches her so much younger self double over with laughter. She watches the blue aliens advance and times it just right. Darting forward, she grabs her younger self's hand and pulls her away. It probably doesn't matter whether she was a second out; after all she was saved by a different Romana. She carried out her promise and didn't let herself become that woman. She knows she's not her. Perhaps the girl whose hand she's holding won't grow up to become her. Perhaps this sequence repeats itself over and over, always producing a different Romana.

She lets the hood fall back and her hair stream out behind her. As they run, she shouts inside her head.

The word that started everything.

"Run!"

A/N: The End. I hope I didn't disappoint anyone. I was really nervous about writing the reunion scene as I have had reviewers saying they were looking forward to it for a long time. I am currently playing with the idea of a sequel but I am very cautious. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. And I will make one last plea; if you have read this, whether you liked it or not, please, please review and tell me so.