"Well he's cheating, that's really what it is." John pointed at the horseshoes that were all perfectly lined up around the metal pole. Two of his had managed to hit the pole and bounced away, but not far; Rose was doing almost as well, but the perfect alignment of the Doctor's horseshoes was ridiculous.
"Now now, you've just let your physics get rusty is all. It's all in the legs." The Doctor grinned and posed in his winning toss stance. "Double or nothing? Or would you like to cut your losses?"
"Bah." Was all John said. He retrieved the shoes and walked back to where Rose lounged on the garden bench, sipping merrily on a virgin banana daiquiri.
"Come here sweetie and drink away your troubles." She offered up his glass and he took it grudgingly. The Doctor had made the daiquiri's five of the ten days he had been there so far, it was something to keep him occupied. Rose wasn't complaining, and he had insisted on making her own special alcohol free batch, but she had hoped he would move onto another fruit at some point. He wore a buttoned up shirt and slacks, he had been wearing a suit earlier but decided that the sleeves were inhibiting his ability to fully trounce the two of them, so he had tossed the jacket to the side and rolled up his sleeves. He had ransacked John's wardrobe and found several things to his liking, and with the ocean-smelling suit of his at the cleaners, John had let him borrow whatever he liked. He was more of a jeans man now anyway, ah how the domestic life changed one.
They were all just killing time now, the first day had been a bit of a nervous one, catching up with the Doctor on what had happened, and what they thought was the explanation. It fascinated her to see her husband fall back into the habit of explaining things with words she didn't understand, it was the time travel that did it. Impossible topics that were incomprehensible unless you really lived it, or if it was explained very slowly, in small words. He did seem to be a bit slower than the Doctor; she imagined that was probably her fault, filling up his brain with useless things like how to change a diaper, or how to braid Sarah's hair. She grinned at the thought, when the other Doctor hadn't showed up, they had worried. But it was too stressful to stay tensed up like that for long, and the waiting was excruciating without anything to distract them.
They thought it best to lay low so John took a few personal days and Rose worked from home, though there wasn't much on her plate just then. The Doctor seemed to take it the worst though, for them it was just a nice long vacation. For the Doctor, the man who regularly showed up in a place just to save the day, it was a tedious process, waiting. He had slowly given up on discussing thoughts on what exactly had happened with John, who had started to get a little annoyed by the constant debate. He had relaxed a little in the last week, finally succumbing to the fact that maybe the solution wouldn't present itself immediately.
"You're just trying to get me drunk so you can beat me!" John huffed and then slurped down the last of his drink. "Women." He muttered with a dark smile and Rose tugged on his shirt to pull him down to her level and planted a kiss on him.
"Oi, get a room you two." The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Now come back here so I can beat you proper," He spun around and looked over his shoulders. "Backwards." He waggled his eyebrows with a grin.
"Showboat!" John called after him.
"Is this a bad time?" A man appeared at the gate then, they all three turned slowly, the grins fading from their faces. "I got the coordinates a bit wrong, alternate dimensions have a habit of that. We walked the last mile. Are those banana daiquiris?"
"Ooh, horseshoes. You're on." A red haired young woman pushed open the gate and walked in, leading a gangly looking man by the arm.
"Ah, the proper Doctor, I presume?" John spoke first waving one hand in a half-hearted salute.
"Yes." He replied with a nod, following his companions into the garden.
"You didn't say there's two of them." The red head looked between the two men and shot an accusing glare at the Doctor.
"I didn't know." He muttered annoyed, but she just shrugged him off
"I'm Amy, this is Rory." She pointed to the man next to her who grinned and waved with a 'hello'. "Mind if we have a go? It's refreshing to do something normal once in a while." She shot another look at the Doctor over her shoulder.
"Be my guest." The other Doctor responded with a grin and handed her the horseshoes.
"Didn't realize you'd be together. Which of you is the meta crisis?" He pointed his hands between the two men.
"That'll be me." John raised his hand where he stood. "I've taken to calling myself John."
"Ah, lovely to meet you John, and there's Rose Tyler." The Doctor grinned; Rose was still sitting there in shocked silence. "Always a pleasure."
"Hello." Rose smiled politely; it was hard to remember that this Doctor was nearly the same man as the two she had been playing horseshoes with. He was so different looking, still rail thin, but he had more shape to him, his jaw was wide like his forehead and his hair was nearly long enough to be put up. Also, there was the bow tie, and the suspenders. "Nice bow tie."
He grinned in response and tugged on the red bow tie he was wearing at his throat. "You like it?" He nudged Amy as she walked by to line up her throw. "Told you, bow ties are cool." Amy rolled her eyes and tossed her first shoe; it rang as it hit the pole and landed squarely in the center.
"Competition," The old Doctor grinned. "I'm in."
"What's a meta crisis then?" Amy asked watching the man set up his next shot.
"Me," John shrugged pouring daiquiris out of the pitcher. "Drink?"
"Instantaneous biological meta crisis, after I siphoned off the rest of my regeneration energy into a handy biometric receptacle, an old hand. Well, in my last regeneration." The Doctor responded adjusting his bow tie carefully.
"Timey wimey is it? Hate it when you do that." Amy muttered.
Rose laughed out loud then. "Me too." John was glad to see her more relaxed.
"It's not completely timey wimey, it's just…complicated." He shrugged and tossed his shoe into the ring; it hit the pole with a clang but didn't quite land as neatly as the ones he had thrown before.
"Quite right, what shall we call you then? Calling us both 'Doctor' is going to make things…more complicated."
"Timey Wimey," Amy muttered behind her hand to Rory who had accepted a glass from John.
"I dunno," He tapped the end of one of the horseshoes against his chin. "How about James, always liked James." The newly dubbed James stuck out his hand to Amy in greeting. "Good to meet you Amy, I'm James. Yeah, rolls off the tongue." He grinned.
"It's lovely to meet you James," Amy mock curtsied. "I'm sorry I'm going to have to beat the pants off of you though." She turned and threw another perfectly arching shoe.
"Ah, real sport, molto Bene!"
"I know this is fun, but, is anyone worried about how you all got into this alternate reality?" Rose spoke up finally. "I seem to remember it was a big deal in the past, a kind of, ripping a hole in space, destroying the entire universe, kind of big deal."
"Yes, it was a big deal." The Doctor pulled out his sonic and scanned the sky. "It seems like it's not even registered yet, so something else must be going on. Something really big." He tapped the sonic on his chin, and then realizing he had seen James doing the same thing, stopped, and instead tugged his jacket straight. "I know how you got here," He pointed to John. "But how did you end up here? Or end up existing at all?" He pointed to James now.
"Well," He stretched out the word. "The thing is, we don't know."
"You don't know? How can you possibly not know you're here! You were there! You've obviously-" He stopped when he heard that familiar humming sound. "Oh brilliant. Left the parking break off have we?" He muttered and started to dash back out of the garden gate to stop the TARDIS from taking off.
"Um, Doctor?" He heard Amy's wavering voice back in the garden and he stopped, realizing that the sound was coming from behind him. He turned and saw what alarmed her; a small box was shimmering into existence right above the horseshoe pit where there had been emptiness before. James stood as the horseshoe he had tossed vanished within it.
"Um, is everyone else seeing a photo box?" Rory tilted his head as the thing finally was solid and the noise stopped. They all stood silently looking at it, unsure of what to do.
"Are they mad? Fifty P for a photo? That's a brilliant deal!" James finally exclaimed, startling almost everyone.
"I'll say." Rose agreed, for a moment trying to ignore that there was clearly another TARDIS sitting in her garden.
The Doctor approached first, his sonic out and scanning the machine in front of them. "It's real; it's a real, living breathing, TARDIS." He stared at it in awe.
"Oi, who's throwing horseshoes at me?" A voice called from within and the curtain pulled back. A tall woman with black hair pulled back in a bun stepped out with an annoyed look on her face. "You could put an eye out with that." She dropped the horseshoe in the sand nearby and stepped around the pit. "Hello boys, I'm back." She grinned with her arms opened wide. She seemed to be looking directly at James, who didn't understand why, or who she was. "Bit rude," She scowled as she approached and gave James a hug, who returned it a little reluctantly. "Who's he then?" She nodded over to where the Doctor stood.
"I'm the Doctor," He watched her carefully. "Who are you? And how have you got a TARDIS?"
"You're the Doctor?" She asked him skeptically. "No," She shook her head, "No, you're not the Doctor, this is the Doctor." She pointed to James. "You're just a silly man with a bow tie." The Doctor pulled out the sonic and scanned her up and down. "Oi! Watch where you're pointing that…is that…" She turned back to James. "How's he got a sonic? Will someone bloody well tell me what's going on?"
"I'm truly sorry, but I've no idea who you are." James stared at her confused.
"She's a time lord." The Doctor answered, looking at his screwdriver. "But that's impossible…"
"You don't know who I am?" She erupted at James. "I can't believe-" She stopped herself and all the rage rushed out of her. "Oh, sod it, I've done it again." She sighed. "It's Donna, Donna Noble. I've changed."
"Donna…" James stared at her in shock for a moment before realizing she was telling the truth. "Donna Noble!" He pulled her into a hug once again and she rolled her eyes.
"Now he gets it."
"How… but you've remembered, Donna, how are you alive?" James shook his head.
"She's mutated." The Doctor grinned putting his sonic away. "She can't burn up because she's a time lord now. Brilliant."
"A what?" James stared at the Doctor now.
"Time lord, sweetie." Another voice called from the TARDIS as they all turned to see a blond haired woman stepping out from it. "Three of you boys now? Isn't that going to be interesting." She grinned in such a way that the Doctor felt he had to adjust his bow tie.
"Oh, yeah. I picked up River along the way, that alright with everyone?" Donna asked the stunned group.