The last meal was a hugely entertaining affair. This group of people, thrown together in adversity, had very little in common but for the man seated, confusingly, at either end of the table. BrownDoctor headed the rectangle. He was flanked by Rose and Donna, followed by Jackie, opposite Martha, Sarah-Jane and Mickey next along, and Jack and BlueDoctor facing one another at the end. It turned out The Doctor's "stores" consisted of very little edible matter, and Martha had entrusted Mickey to go and buy the ingredients for a vat of regular, human spaghetti carbonara.

"Bloody Toxteth, you've landed us in!" Mickey had teased The Doctor as they all sat to table. "The middle of Liverpool, I couldn't understand a word from the man in the shop!" Though his eyes fell on the Blue-suited Doctor as he mocked, it was BrownDoctor who went on the defensive.

"It wasn't me who wanted low-key earth cuisine was it? You're lucky I brought us to Britain at all!"

"I think it's brilliant, the TARDIS doesn't get to the North anywhere near enough!" BlueDoctor added his two cents, and for a fleeting moment there was an identical smile shared between him and his double. Jack noted it, and a glimmer of hope returned that Rose would be content with this man after all. Meanwhile Rose herself was busily complimenting the chefs and trying to work out where to sit down. Everybody was equally baffled, and hence had fallen upon quite a random arrangement for the breaking of bread.

Whilst Italian food and The Doctor's infamous banana daiquiris were consumed by all, the various pockets of conversation escalated. Sarah-Jane found herself comparing notes on motherhood with Jackie, smiling at photos of baby Tony and not being remotely surprised to hear what a terror Rose had been. Martha and Donna swapped stories of their own adventures since meeting last, the elements of The Doctor within Donna Noble now spilling out in the form of raucous laughter and delectable techno-babble. The three men at the foot of the table joked and reminisced about times gone by; shared memories and solo anecdotes in equal measure. Rose had noticed this, smiling to see three of the most important men in her life enjoying each other's company so.

She turned to the most important of all, seated at her right hand and prodded him gently in the arm. BrownDoctor was staring intently past the table and up into the heights of the oval room, through narrowed eyes. He turned and his face immediately softened, smiling devotedly at his companion.

"What do you want?" he asked with a sideways grin. He mirrored her pose and rested his chin in one cupped hand.

"You," Rose began. "...to have a good time!"

"I am," he said in a sincere tone. "Surrounded by friends, couldn't be happier!" Unsurprisingly, Rose wasn't convinced.



"He knows everything," she mused, nodding towards BlueDoctor. "I've been listening, and it's like... it's just like listening to you."

"It is listening to me, in effect." Donna and Martha were now subtly listening in on the conversation, whilst stacking plates. "He is... basically... me."

"Well... How can that work?"

"I don't know." Rose looked sceptical so he continued. "Honestly! I don't understand it all myself. I mean, I could, obviously, quite easily come to understand every detail of the complex science but... well, where's the fun in that?!"

"But he is... pretty much just you..?"

"He is me, as I was the moment I nearly regenerated. Everything in my mind up until that point exists in his mind too. Then the choices we've made since... since he came into being... that's what separates the two of us."

"So what happens to him now?" Even as Rose voiced her primary concern, BrownDoctor was thinking up ways to avoid an answer.

"He's a raw version of everything I am. The experiences may be in his mind, so is the knowledge, but he has to learn things anew, in a way. To find out what works for him. There's no guarantee that his actions will always be as mine would. It's all untested, see. This has never happened before so we can't truly predict but... if I'm clever enough – and, frankly, I am – then I expect he has to figure out his own morality, his own limits and..." He broke off momentarily, realising that this level of truth was not going to help in convincing Rose to take this man in his place. "And, because I'm basically brilliant, I'm sure his life will play out exactly as mine would in his position."

"His position?"

"Who's for cheesecake?" Mickey interrupted the tete-a-tete with the arrival of dessert. He and Jack stood in the doorway, both holding huge platters topped with delicious-looking cheesecakes. Jack beamed at BrownDoctor as a memory bounced to the surface.

"Doctor?" he teased.

"Yah?" BrownDoctor played along, fully aware of the skit that this was leading to.

"I've got cake!"

"Woohoo!" both Doctors cheered in unison, and all three men broke into uncontrollable laughter, so much so that Jack had to quickly pass the cheesecake plate to an unsuspecting Jackie, who was trying to refill her daiquiri glass at the time. The rest of the assembly exchanged mystified looks. 

Donna mouthed "mental" and twirled her finger aside her head. Mickey shrugged and commenced the deliverance of dessert, which Rose leapt to assist with, completely nonplussed by the apparent joke.

"Ahh, you had to be there!" Jack explained to the room, deathly silent but for The Doctor's continuing duplicated laughter. That prompted the laughter to stop, as suddenly as it had started. The two Doctors looked at each other, sharing the thought that only one of them had been there. This reality dawned on Jack too, and stalled him momentarily as he struggled for comprehension. Nobody else but Donna seemed to have noticed, but just in case she launched into a very Doctoresque lecture on the many qualities of cheesecake.

Dessert was eaten merrily to the background noise of a round table conversation about everything and nothing. It was generally the sort of inane, trivial babble that The Doctor had become accustomed to, but never quite embraced, during his travels with humans. They really did concern themselves with the most insignificant things sometimes... who really cared which supermarket made the best cheesecake or where in North London one could buy cocktails for less than a fiver?!

Shortly, spoons fell onto plates, redundant, and satisfied bodies leant back in chairs and stretched their sated stomachs. A rumbling of content went round the room and ASDA was once again commended for the quality of cheesecake. Then an awkward silence took hold as the company contemplated... what next? Rose wanted to put off the addressing of this issue as long as possible, and therefore it was she who moved first and began to clear the plates. Jack looked quickly to BrownDoctor, questioning him wordlessly. He received a nod and immediately jumped to his feet, stacked a few remaining plates and followed Rose out of the room.

He met her in the kitchen and they shared a warm smile.

"So, some day huh?" Jack grinned. "And we've barely had a chance to talk. Come here you!" Rose stepped into him willingly and they embraced lovingly. Before long, Jack noticed her hold on his waist was tightening and he pulled back slightly to look down at her. "You ok?"

"Of course. I've just missed you, Cap'n!" The flirtatious banter was prominent as the day they parted, regardless of the hard journeys travelled since.

"Two Doctors hey?! I can't be the only one whose eyebrows rose!"

"Jack!" Rose playfully hit him as they separated, then, a moment later; "obviously not!" They both giggled.

"No need to worry about sharing now..."



"Oi, you back off – I hear you've got a whole group to yourself back in Wales!"

"That's as may be, but you know there's always room for The Doc! And you too, come to that..."

A reflective silence stalled the joking suddenly. Both parties fell into sincerity and sullenness. Rose turned away towards the sink.

"What's really going to happen, Jack?"

He sighed and thought it through.

"I don't know," he lied. "Far be it from me to double-guess a Time Lord, never mind two of 'em!"

"I've missed him so much..."

"I know."

"I said, a million times, I'd stay with him forever."

"Yet your forever is different to his..."

"It never bothered him before. He always said I was different to the others."

"Yes. But because you're different it would be even harder to lose you."

"You think he'll send me back? Again? I don't see how saying goodbye now is any easier than in fifty years time!"

"I know..." Jack delayed, unsure whether to say more or leave it to The Doctor. "What if... what if there was another way? That you could be together forever and... Oh I don't know."

"What?" Rose looked very concerned and stared intensely at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Nothing... I just... well, there are two of them. Don't you wonder how that will pan out?"

"I... I hadn't really thought."

"Perhaps you should, then." Jack turned to leave. Though he hated every minute of the tough love, he felt it was best.

"I love him, Jack. The Doctor, the real Doctor. I thought... I thought we'd be together."

Jack winced and swallowed through the lump rising in his throat. "I know sweetheart." He turned to look at her once more from the doorway. "Just... keep thinking. And don't forget... what love means." He gave her a final grim smile and then was gone.

Rose stared at the space he had left behind.



"Isn't love enough?" she asked, hopefully, into the empty room.

Jack passed BlueDoctor on his way towards the console room.

"Kitchen?" he asked. Jack nodded, pale-faced and dewy-eyed. "Thanks Captain."

He walked into Martha next and they exchanged pleasant greetings.

"Everything's going to be alright, isn't it Jack?" she asked tentatively, although fully aware of the real answer.

"Sure. I'm sure it will..."

Martha remained unconvinced and mirrored Jack's frown. "Hey, I'm sorry about Owen and Tosh." She put a hand softly on his forearm.

"Yeah," Jack mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "So, you heard?"

"Ianto filled me in." Jack's eyes now shot upwards, slightly panicked. "Ohh yes, we've been in contact since my last visit! You know he calls you his boyfriend now?!" She grinned mischievously at him.

"Haha... well..." For once Jack seemed lost for words. "He's a good man."

"He's great," Martha smiled. "Make sure he knows it." Jack nodded, somewhat flushed.

"So what else does he tell you?!"

Martha simply grinned.

"Martha, come on! I need to know if I can ever look you in the eye again!"

"Ha! I've heard only good things, Mr Harkness. You're quite safe with me!"

"Good. That's good... because I have a proposition for you!"

"I'm listening..."