For those who are such die-hard Doctor/Rose fans that they want to see them together forever! But in this version and the sequel there will still be some hurdles to get over and a few unexpected surprises. Plus some old faces, both good and bad!
Thanks for the support on the first chapter! Hope the wait was worth it :)
Again, warning for minor language.
Borrowing a couple ideas from The Rebel Flesh. These next two chapters are a bit longer than the first.
The first few hours are the same as the first chapter. They go to France and eat chips etc. But by Hour 10 Rose has noticed the Doctor doing something strange...
2nd Alternate "Reunion" Ending
"You told me but you never really showed me
That I'm worth the fight.
Oh I'm worth the fight..."
Hour 10:
"Rose there's...there's something I haven't told you yet." The Doctor was cornered after Rose demanded to know why he kept fiddling with the TARDIS behind her back. "I didn't want to tell you this until I was absolutely sure but..."
"What, what is it?" He had been pondering the idea for quite a few hours, and he hoped it wasn't a mistake telling her this.
"There may be a way for you to be able to stay here, and not go back to the other universe."
"Really?" Rose cried in excitement.
"Well, it may take a lot of work and even then–oof!" He stumbled backwards as Rose threw herself on him, her arms around his neck.
"Oh you don't know how much that would mean to me!" She cried.
"Mmmf. I do now." They both laughed as he set her down. "Let's get started shall we? We'll need all the time we can get to make sure this goes right."
"What exactly are we gonna do?"
"Well, in the 22nd Century, humans developed a way to create doppelgangers made of real people. That way they could work in hazardous fields without worry of being killed, maimed, disfigured, melted or-"
"Yeah, I get it." Rose interrupted. "So we just go and make a clone of myself?"
"Well, not quite. It's not that easy. In order to keep the ganger alive, the real you," he poked her arm. "-needs to be in stasis. I need to find a way to keep both you and your ganger's brains active. That's what we need the extra hours for."
"And we'll send the ganger to the other universe?"
"Yup. The universes would be in balance, and you can stay here."
"With you?" The Doctor nodded. Rose squealed and hugged him again. In pure joy the Doctor picked her up and spun her around, their laughing filling the TARDIS.
"If we give it just one more try,
Maybe we could stop this goodbye."
Hour 11:
"This is the factory where they developed the technology to make the gangers, or so the TARDIS tells me." What the TARDIS hadn't told him is that she had gotten the information about this entire project by peeking into the Doctor's future. He wouldn't have liked that at all. The Doctor led Rose inside an old building. After a few minutes of searching they found the room they needed.
"What are you doing?" Rose asked as he began removing wires from one of the stasis chambers.
"It'll be much easier for me to work in the TARDIS Med Bay than here." Removing the Sonic Screwdriver from his pocket, he pressed a button and the TARDIS "whooshed" in front of them.
"First we'll create your ganger, then I'll move you both to the Med Bay and go from there. But first, the machine needs a copy of your DNA." He led her over to a vat filled with a strange grey bubbling liquid.
"Eww." She remarked, leaning over and looking into it.
"Just stick your hand in."
"In there?"
"Well you could stick your head in if you wanted to but..." Rose grimaced and quickly stuck her hand in. The grey flesh oozed around her hand, reading her DNA.
"Owch!" She cried. "It burns."
"Alright, take it out now." She pulled her hand out and wiped it on her pant leg in relief.
"That should do it." He said as she climbed into one of the stasis chambers. The Doctor connected her to the machine and her eyes drifted shut. He went to the machine next to it and hit a few buttons. After a moment the flesh in the vat began to rumble and bubble. Slowly, a figure emerged from the flesh. An exact likeness of Rose.
"Did it work?" The flesh asked, looking at herself.
"Looks like it." The Doctor replied, grinning. One step down. "Alright, help me move your counterpart into the TARDIS." Moving a little stiffly, the ganger came over and waited as the Doctor unhooked the wires from her comatose counterpart. Once she was free the two of them carried Rose into the TARDIS and down towards the Med Bay, where the Doctor motioned for them to lay her on an examination table. Within minutes the Doctor had her hooked up to a machine in the corner that kept her in safe stasis and monitored her life signs.
"Okay, now you lay on this one here." He pointed to another table next to it.
"No."
"What?" The Doctor spun around.
"I said, no." the flesh Rose said, placing her hands on her hips. "I'm Rose Tyler too. And I don't want to go back to the other universe!"
"B-but...you have to! Someone has to go back."
"Then send her." She motioned to the real Rose."
"You know I can't." The Doctor said, coming up to the flesh Rose. He knew getting the ganger to leave him would be just as hard as getting the real Rose to go. "I'm sorry." He said as he went to place his fingers on her temples.
"No!" She saw what she was doing and nimbly dodged away, grabbing a sharp knife from the counter. She waved it menacingly at him.
"I know you do this 'mind erase' thing and try to get me to forget who I am. Well I won't let you. You're smart, find a way to keep us both here."
"It's not possible. Rose, your mind is still unstable, please, let me just-" The Doctor implored her, but her eyes flashed in anger. Her gaze moved to the Rose lying next to her and she gripped the knife tighter. The Doctor seemed to know what she was thinking. As the ganger raised the knife he cried.
"Stop! She's what's keeping you alive! If you kill her your synapses will shut down."
"Well what am I supposed to do then?" She cried in desperation. "You can't make me stay on that parallel world. I'd rather die than to live without you! If I can't stay, then neither of us can then!" With a cry she turned and struck the machine keeping Rose in stasis.
"No!" The Doctor cried, but it was too late. She screamed as electric shocks ran through her body. The Doctor rushed forwards, but the explosion of the machine threw him back and into the wall, where his head cracked viciously and he collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
A few minutes later the Doctor lifted his head up groggily.
"Rose." He muttered, remembering what had happened. As he pulled his body up he noticed both Roses were on the floor, their clothes and hair singed, but other than that they appeared fine. He smiled in relief as one Rose opened her eyes, sat up and rubbed her head.
"What happened?" The Doctor began to answer her but noticed the other Rose awake.
"Yeah, what happened?" She said. Then the Doctor came to a horrible realization.
He didn't know which was the clone and which wasn't.
The knife was in between them, so that didn't help, and they were wearing the same clothes, same hairstyle, in fact they were identical in every way, except inside one was made of real flesh and the other, manipulate flesh. He knew it wouldn't work but he decided to ask anyway.
"Which one of you is the ganger?" The two Roses looked at each other. The first one to wake up spoke first.
"She is."
"No she is!" The other immediately cried. The Doctor groaned. Well at least it was worth a try. The two Roses began arguing.
"Jericho Street Junior School Under 7s Gymnastic Team, Bronze Metal! I'm the real Rose!"
"Oh yeah, September 16th, 2004, the day I first started at Henrik's! I'm the real Rose!"
"No you're not!"
"Yes I am!"
"No you're-"
"STOP!" The Doctor shouted. The two blondes turned to look at him, forgetting he was there. "The only way to tell who the real Rose is," he continued, "is to take a blood sample." While the Roses had begun arguing the Doctor had crawled closer to them and removed a pin from his pocket. Quickly he reached out and pricked the hand of the Rose closest to him, the one that had woken up first.
"Ow!" She cried in pain. She went to snatch the pin from him but instead he grabbed her hand. On closer inspection he grinned.
"Real blood. It worked!"
"It worked?" The original Rose cried.
"Yes! You can stay!" They went to hug each other but at a noise the Doctor and Rose turned around.
"Uh oh." They said in unison.
The ganger was gone.
Hour 13:
"We have to find her." The Doctor said as they ran through the TARDIS. "We have to get her back to the parallel universe before time starts back up again, else both universes will collapse!"
"What will we do when we find her?" Rose panted as they ran.
"I'll knock her out using an old Time Lord trick, my fingers on her temples to temporarily disable her neural pathways."
"My mind to your mind?" She giggled. The Doctor held up the famous Vulcan hand sign.
"Gene got the idea from me anyway." Rose laughed, then sobered up again.
"And after you knock her out? She still doesn't want to go."
"I'll just remove her memories of ever meeting me or the TARDIS. She'll be fine."
"Oh." Rose said, at a loss for words. After a minute she spoke again. "I'm so sorry."
"What for?"
"For my clone being so stubborn."
"Well, it's not your fault, mostly. I suspect a chemical imbalance, as well as a desperation to stay in this universe."
"So in other words, dangerous as well as crazy?"
"As I said, your clone." He said with a cheeky smile.
"Oi!" She reached out and slapped his arm.
Hour 17:
"I have to stop! I can't run anymore!" Rose collapsed to the floor. In the past four hours they had been searching in every room they could find in the TARDIS but so far, no sight of her ganger. The Doctor stood beside her, barely winded.
"She must figure if she hides long enough, I'll have to send you back in her place so the universes aren't destroyed."
"Only in hell bitch." Rose growled and jumped back up, a renewed determination in her step. The Doctor bit back a grin and chased after her.
Hour 19:
The Doctor and Rose burst into the console room, being one of the last places to look. Rose glanced around.
"I don't think she's-" They both started in surprise as a gunshot rang out. Rose cried out in pain, clutching her side where blood suddenly had gathered.
"No, no no no no no!" The Doctor cried, catching her as she fell. "No!"
"I...I'm sorry." The doppelganger stepped out from behind the console, clutching a gun she had found in Jack's old room. "There was no other way." her voice hitched, and tears fell down her cheeks. The Doctor's eyes flashed in anger and he jumped up.
"How could you?! How could you kill yourself in cold blood?"
"I had to!" She cried back. "I can't live without you! I love you!" The Doctor realised that he would have to try something different to stop her.
"You're right. How could I ever send any version of my Rose away? I can't, it's not in my power." He walked up in front of her. With slow movements, he took the gun away from her and set it on the floor.
"I love you." The ganger repeated.
"I know." The Doctor replied. "Quite right too." He leaned over and kissed her. She moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck. As the Doctor deepened his kiss, his hands moved slowly to her temples. As she realised what he was doing, it was too late. She dropped into his waiting arms.
After checking to make sure the clone would be out for a few good hours, he ran over and collapsed at the original Rose's side. Her body was in the fetal position and she groaned, her hand lingering over her bloody side.
"Rose, can you hear me? I got you."
"Hurts." Was all she was able to say in between short labored breaths. In a swift and careful move the Doctor picked her up and carried her back to the Med Bay.
Hour 21:
"It's a good thing you're a lousy shot, Miss Tyler, though, I will have to strangle Jack a few times for leaving a loaded weapon on my ship!" He growled and Rose looked up at him, smiling weakly.
The wound wasn't even close to being fatal. After removing the bullet, the Doctor cleaned the blood up, bandaged her side and gave her an alien serum that would help her heal five times as fast.
"You may be a bit weak from the loss of blood, but let's try to get you to stand up." Rose leaned forward and pulled her legs off the examination table. She leaned on the Doctor heavily, wincing as pain rushed to her side when her feet hit the floor.
"H-how much time?" She whispered.
"Only a few hours. Not much time for me to remove her memories and get her back to the parallel universe."
"But what about my mum, Mickey? We'll have to tell them she's a copy. Mum won't like that."
"Urgh." The Doctor groaned. "I didn't think of that either." He stood there, for a moment, trying to think of an idea.
"I'll write them a letter." Rose piped up.
"Yes! And I'll add a few memories to fill in the gaps for the ganger." He nodded his head, satisfied. Rose frowned.
"Okay. I know my mum's gonna be upset though." The Doctor stole a glance at his blonde companion.
"Are you upset?" He was suddenly afraid of the answer. She shrugged.
"Small price to pay." was her only reply.
Hour 22:
The ganger laid on the Med Bay table and the Doctor sorted through her memories using old Time Lord abilities which Rose couldn't even begin to grasp. But she knew that he was removing those relating to him, his TARDIS, and the existence of parallel worlds, and making new ones up to explain the inaccuracies. After watching him for a few minutes, Rose had gone over to the corner to write a letter to her family. The Doctor had given her a list of certain things she needed to tell them.
Dear Mum, Pete and Mickey:
Although it seems like nothing happened while I was talking to the Doctor, in reality, a lot did.
First of all, don't let me see or read this note. It was mentally "suggested" to me that I give it to you but you'll find out why. It seems confusing now, but hopefully I can make this all clear. I'll start at the beginning I guess.
The Doctor found a way to pause time for twenty-four hours using Time Lord abilities., and he pulled me through the gap into the other universe for a while. There we found a way to clone myself so I could stay here with the Doctor.
Don't get upset mum, I'm sorry but you know it's what I've always wanted.
The reason why I had to come back was because if I didn't, the universe would be out of balance and explode (don't ask me why). So we had to make a clone or a "doppelganger" to go in my place. But there was a problem. The 'ganger' didn't want to go back as much as I did because she still had all the same memories and feelings that I do. So in order to get her to go back the Doctor had to remove all of her memories of ever meeting him or seeing the TARDIS.
Now this next part is very important. Because memory removal is such a delicate thing (or so the Doctor says) you can't ever mention a single syllable about the Doctor or the existence of the parallel universe. In fact, there are quite a few things that are different for my clone, as the Doctor added new memories to replace the ones removed. Here's a list:
1. This Rose grew up in the universe you're in now. It's fine to mention Torchwood and aliens, as long as the parallel world, the TARDIS, or the Doctor don't come up in conversation or visual representation. The result may be disastrous, as the Doctor and I quickly learned by experience. Just imagine all the heartache and pain I would be in if I remembered all that had transpired. Also, the Doctor suspects a slight chemical imbalance, but it may fade in time, hopefully.
2. We didn't always live in a mansion. We moved into it just a few years ago. It explains the early childhood memories in the Powell Estates.
3. Pete, you are no longer my parallel universe dad, but my real dad. Don't worry, the Doctor gave her fake memories of you being deployed on a top secret Torchwood assignment for the first 19 years of her life. Due to the immense danger involved which you cannot speak of, you had to stay under cover until it was safe to come back, which was just a little over a year ago.
4. Mickey, the Doctor left the memories of us together intact. Whether you want to continue our relationship or not is up to you.
5. And finally Mum. I know you probably don't understand how I could do this to you, or why I would even think of sending a copy in my place, but I need you to know that this is for the best, for me. My clone has nearly every right to be your daughter as I do. It's been no secret that I love the Doctor with all my heart and soul and it would literally kill me if I had to leave him all on his own. So please treat her exactly as you would me. I love you all, and she does too. Don't worry about me, I'm doing what I love best, with the one who vowed to protect me for the rest of my days.
~Rose Tyler
Rose finished and set her pencil down. She looked over at the Doctor who was still hard at work in the ganger's head. She looked at her watch. If she was right there was still one hour until time started moving again. She'd been awake that whole time, as well as being shot, so surely the universe would let her have a quick nap. Without another thought she curled up on her chair and laid her head down on the armrest.
Hour 23 ¾:
"Rose, Rose wake up!" The Doctor shook her gently. She only turned over and muttered in her sleep.
"No, don't make me go back! I don't-"
"Rose!" The Doctor shook her a bit harder and she opened her eyes. "Only a nightmare." He reassured her.
"Thanks." She muttered, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Seeing the Doctor glance at the letter she had written she quickly snatched it and put it in her pocket. It may be obvious to her family that she loved the Doctor with "all her heart and soul", but it certainly wasn't obvious to him, and she intended to keep it that way. Distracting him, she walked over to her ganger who was still comatose on the medical table.
"It's kind of depressing." She said, looking at her mirror image. "I mean, I was so desperate not to go back, and this version has to live that life and not even know the amazing things I did with you." The Doctor came and stood by her side, and they were both silent for a minute. Rose broke the silence.
"How long have we got?" He looked up and winced.
"Ooh. Ten minutes. We better get her back."
Rose really wasn't prepared for coming back to Bad Wolf Bay. All the thoughts that she could have been left behind made her shiver. Rose's hold slipped on the ganger a bit and she repositioned the grip on her arm so her counterpart wouldn't fall. She couldn't stop her head from lolling forward however. She glanced over at the Doctor who was holding the ganger's other arm and fiddling with his sonic, making sure they had crossed over safely. Remembering the letter, she pulled it out of her pocket and placed it in her clone's hand, making sure it wouldn't drop to the sand.
She was about to ask the Doctor if her clone were to wake up soon, but as soon as she opened her mouth she heard something. A sound started low and gradually grew louder. Rose stared in awe as the waves beside them began to roll and crash once again and seagulls cried out over their heads. She was jerked back to the present as her ganger began to stir, moaning and shaking her head. As soon as she was awake enough to stand on her own, quickly the Doctor and Rose jumped behind her, grab each others' hand, and vanished from sight.
The ganger blinked twice, the distinct feeling of someone holding her arms causing her to burst into wakefulness.
"Hello? Is someone there?" She spun around but there was nothing there. She could swear she heard a 'whoosh' noise but within seconds it faded completely.
"Rose, Rose!" The ganger turned back around and saw Jackie – her mother – running towards her with Pete...no, her dad, with Mickey behind. "Rose, are you okay, what did he say?" The new Rose looked at her family with a strange, confused look on her face. Looking down she noticed a piece of paper in her hand. Awkwardly she held it out to her mum.
"I uh... I think I'm supposed to give you this." Jackie grabbed the letter from her and took a few steps away to read it. As she neared the end, her eyes began to tear up. With a sob she handed the letter to her husband. Pete had a grave but calm expression as he passed it to Mickey. Jackie had walked away from them, crying into her hands.
"What's wrong?" The clone Rose asked, oblivious of everything that had happened to her. "And why are we on a freezing beach in the middle of nowhere?" She rubbed her hands against her arms to demonstrate. Pete stepped up and placed one hand on her shoulder.
"Nothing's wrong darling." Apparently used to thinking quickly on his feet, he continued. "We're here on vacation...don't you remember?" Pete hoped the Doctor had been smart enough to explain why they were in Norway and also forget about the note from her counterpart.
"I...I guess so." She still looked strangely at her mother as she came back, wiping her tears away and trying desperately to put on a brave front.
"Rose, sweetheart, is there anything you need, anything you want to do?" Jackie reached out and, with a little hesitation, embraced the clone of her daughter. Her Rose may have left, but she would be damned if she was going to let this one go too.
"I want...I want..." Jackie pulled away and Rose looked into her eyes. "I want to go home."
Mickey winced as the truck bounced particularly hard on a pot hole. Rubbing the spot on his head where it had bumped against the window, he stole a glance at Rose who was sitting next to him in the back seat. She was currently looking out her window as they drove through Norway and past all the sites with an expression on her face that Mickey hadn't seen in a really long time. It was joy and wonder. Granted, she still had that slight look of confusion and emptiness in her eyes, but at least it wasn't foremost, unlike the past few months where all they read was sadness and hopelessness. Mickey thought about what the real Rose had said specifically to him in the letter.
"The Doctor left the memories of us together intact. Whether you want to continue our relationship or not is up to you."
Could he really start dating this Rose again? The past three months were the worst he'd ever seen her, as if a piece of her heart had been torn out, which he supposed in a way it had. The Doctor and Rose. It sounded right. Like they were made to be said together. And now they were together. So how could he condemn this Rose to be on her own for an indefinable amount of time?
But in these months Mickey knew he had changed as well. He now saw his Rose as a lost, heartbroken little sister who needed protecting until her true love could come and take her away from this horrid place. He knew she was never going to be his again, so he had changed her thinking towards her to protect his own heart.
He spent the next ten minutes debating what he should do, whether he actually could love Rose again or not. Finally he came to the conclusion that he should talk to her, find out what she thought, what she might want from him. He glanced towards the front seat, seeing Mr. and Mrs. Tyler talk in low, hushed tones, obviously about what had transpired on Bad Wolf Bay. This was his chance.
"Rose?" He asked, breaking the silence between them. Immediately she spun around, her bright brown eyes full of life.
"Yeah?" She asked with a spark in her voice.
"Where...I...do you know, where we stand, you and me?" And there it was again, that look of confusion. He suspected it would be a regular thing whenever she had to recall something from her 'past'. Suddenly her face cleared and she nodded.
"Well, sure. A few weeks ago we took a step back and took a break, to sort our feelings out. Don't you remember?"
"Of, of course, yeah. But do...do you want to get back together?" The confused look again.
"I...I don't know. Do you?" And then it hit him. The Doctor may have been able to add memories, but there was no way he could have added feelings. If Rose didn't love the Doctor, then she didn't love anybody, at least not in the same way. And Mickey wanted a girl who would be true to the same about him.
"No, not really." He finally said. "Are you okay with that?" He looked at her with worry, wondering if he had done the right thing. After all, she had been through a lot today and might be fragile, whether she remembered most of what had happened or not. But she just smiled and turned back to look out the window.
"Yeah, that's fine." She replied in all honesty. Mickey gave a sigh of relief. Without the Doctor there, it was now his duty to step up and look out for Rose's best interests, not as her boyfriend...but as her friend.
That night the ganger Rose stepped into her room back at the Tyler mansion and looked puzzled. Why had it felt like she had been away for so long? And why did her walls and desk look emptier than before? Now that she thought of it she had noticed one or two of their servants carrying boxes down the stairs... Oh well, probably just spring cleaning. Mum did it nearly every season just to keep her busy. With more servants there was much less to be done than at their flat in the alternate...what? She suddenly lost her train of thought. With a shake of her head she threw her overnight bag on the chair by the window. She closed her eyes as muffled voices drifted up from what sounded like the den or the kitchen on the first floor. She couldn't hear every word but what she could hear made no sense.
"What...now?"
"We...and go...our daily lives..."
"But...about...Torchwood?...ask about...him."
"...meeting...tomorrow...spread..."
Rose opened her eyes and went over to shut the door. It was none of her business, and if it was, her parents would discuss it with her. It took her a minute to change into her pyjamas and crawl under the warm covers of her ginormous bed. She grinned in pleasure as she snuggled in deeper. If she thought too hard, her head would get fuzzy and confused. So she chose not to think about those things and instead on the good things in her life. Her loving parents, her best friend th-...Mickey, and her bright and dangerous future hunting aliens at her job at Torchwood. Aliens, why did that word feel so strange to think...?
As Rose drifted off to sleep, the conversation downstairs continued on, unheard by the clone girl upstairs.
"What are we going to do now?" Jackie asked her husband.
"We act normal and go about our daily lives, just like before."
"But what about everyone at Torchwood?" Jackie leaned in closer to Pete, glancing up the stairs towards her daughter's room. "Somebody's gonna ask about...him.
"I'll hold a staff meeting early tomorrow." Pete replied. "Get Ianto and Lisa to help spread the word. I'll give Rose the day off tomorrow to get her co-workers used to the idea. You take her out shopping or something." Jackie paused for a moment, a torn look on her face.
"How can we do this to her love? Maybe she should know the truth."
"Are you insane?" Pete snapped. "Do you remember her restless demeanor, nights spent crying to sleep, her absolute obsession with finding a way back to the other universe? Hell Jackie! Jen and Alex had to take nearly four boxes out from her room filled with the junk!" He grabbed his wife by the shoulders. "Do you really want her to go through all that heartache again, this time with absolutely no hope that he's coming back for her, much less replaced?" Jackie cast her eyes downward.
"No of course not. Still feels wrong though." Pete reached out and embraced her.
"I know. But it's for her own good."
The Doctor and Rose stood completely still inside the TARDIS, still holding hands, as if moving even a fraction would shatter the illusion, spoil the fantastic dream, pop the bubble and return them both to reality.
Finally with a joyous squeal Rose threw her whole body on top of the Doctor, laughing hysterically. The Doctor laughed with her and picked her up, the immense, overwhelming bliss filling his hearts. For once, for one time in his whole life, something had finally gone right.
He set Rose down and they suddenly found their faces barely an inch from each other. The Doctor looked deep into her eyes and marveled at the tiny gold flecks he never seemed to have noticed before.
Rose continued to giggle, before she noticed the Doctor's eyes flash down to her lips, immediately silencing her.
As if in slow motion, the two of them leaned in together. Just as their lips brushed against each other, a noise at the other end of the console made them jump like they were shocked.
"What?!" The Doctor cried, looking at who was standing in front of them.
"Who is that?" Rose asked.
"Where am I?" The ginger bride shouted. "What the hell is this place?!" The Doctor and Rose looked at each other in utter confusion, shouting at the same time.
"WHAT?!"
"If we give it just one more try,
Maybe we could stop this goodbye.
Through all the fire and rain,
Somehow somewhere,
I know through all this pain...
Somehow somewhere love remains.
So baby just breathe in, breathe out.
I never wanted to give up this fight.
What if we give it baby one more try?
Let's try, this time."
No, the gold flecks in her eyes have nothing to do with what's coming next. I just thought it'd be pretty cool, as if a part of the Bad Wolf would always stay with her :)
Stay tuned for the sequel: DOUBLE-TAKE, coming this Thursday! :D