"Oh," James puckered his lips, taking in the interior of the TARDIS. "Like what you've done with the place."
"Yes," The Doctor looked rather pleased with himself. "She's an attractive old girl."
"You boys and your machines." Rose couldn't help but smirk, John was looking around just as wide-eyed as James.
"Honestly," Amy rolled her eyes and plopped herself down on a couch that had appeared, the TARDIS anticipating their need for more areas to settle.
"You lot about ready?" Donna's voice crackled and her face appeared on the screen. It was strange to see her with such a new face, it didn't quite sound like her, but it did, and there was the occasional quirk that screamed 'Donna' if you knew what you were looking at. The Doctor stood in front of the screen then, a scowl on his face.
"I'd really feel much better if you'd explain where, exactly, we are going."
"Hah." She laughed. "Now you know how it feels spaceman. You can't know, because if you do, you can't go. Trying to prevent a paradox here, Doctors. So humor me. It's all very, timey wimey space stuff." She waggled her fingers at the screen. "You wouldn't understand."
"I'm really, very good at timey wimey." The Doctor insisted.
"You forgot wibbly wobbly." James added from over the Doctor's shoulder. "I'd rather know where you got your hands on a TARDIS." He glared through the screen at Donna.
"Trying to ruin all the fun, aren't you." Donna stuck out her tongue.
"Would you mind?" The Doctor turned to James. "You're…" He shooed him away. "Looming, it's bothering me."
"Oh, wouldn't want that." James nodded and stepped away from the screen. As soon as the Doctor turned back to the screen, James made a face at Rose and John. Rose snorted out loud and tried to cover it with a cough because she had seen the Doctor doing much of the same thing. It was good to see some habits stuck with him.
"They're quite adorable together." John leaned over and whispered to Rose who hit him in the shoulder playfully.
"You're one to talk." She laughed.
"Boys, boys. Enough fussing. I'll explain when we get there. You've got a lock on us then?"
"Yes," The Doctor grumbled. "I've got a lock on you."
"Make sure he takes the brake off!" They heard River shout in the background.
"The brake? What does she know about the TARDIS?"
"Too much. Apparently," The Doctor spoke with just a hint of disgust. "We taught her to fly it. However," He raised his voice so that his voice could be heard through the radio contact. "That is the best sound in the universe, so we shall politely decline her suggestion." He slammed a lever to his left forward, apparently the brake.
"Atta boy," James cheered him on, feeling certain he should have the Doctor's back on this one.
"Off we go then!" They heard Donna shout and the machine started up on her end, a moment later their own TARDIS roared to life.
"Allons-y!"
"Geronimo!"
James and the Doctor both cried at the same time, and shared an awkward look broken by a wide grin.
"Well this is going to be weird." Amy commented while watching the two men work the levers.
"Weirder than traveling through space and time, with three duplicates of the same man, on a ship that's bigger on the inside?" Rose asked her with a grin.
"No, I suppose not." Amy smirked at the blond woman who sat with them on the couch and they shared a laugh. The ship lurched suddenly, back and forth violently, catching them all off guard. John had to grip the handrail nearby but dropped to his knees. The Doctor hung onto the scanner screen tightly and James was sprawled across the console controls to steady himself.
"What was that?" Rory asked with concern in his voice.
"Nothing to worry about!" Donna's voice called from the screen but she was no longer visible. "Just a little dimensional gap interference, followed by…smoke…River, what's smoking?" She wasn't speaking to them anymore. "No, no. We've got it all sorted. It's alright, every thing's alright." The ship shook again and the companions all gripped the couch for dear life while the Doctor lost his foot and dangled by his grip from the screen. James continued to stay attached to the console where he thought it was safest.
"How much longer?" Amy yelled from her position splayed on the couch, Rory was attempting to keep them both firmly on.
"Unless Donna is taking us on a casual stroll through the universe, we should be there short-ERG." The Doctor stopped himself mid-sentence and dropped one hand to clutch at his chest, his head rolled back on its shoulders and he was clenching his eyes shut.
"Doctor?" Rose spoke then, and then realized James had fallen to the ground, his fist also pressed against his heart, his jaw tight against making a sound and his eyes bulged. "James, are you alright?" She was on the ground trying to make her way toward him.
"It's fine. I'm fine." He gasped.
"Then what's wrong?" Rose shook her head, not understanding in the least and the shaking continued.
"We shouldn't be here." The Doctor spoke from the console. Groaning and huffing as he lifted himself back up to the console, he brought himself very close to the screen and started to shout. "Donna? Donna Catherine Temple-Noble. Where have you brought us?" The tone was dangerously close to angry.
"Nearly there!" She shouted from beyond the screen. They landed with a great shuddering bang and both the Doctor and James collapsed with it, the color returning to their faces. "See you boys outside!" Donna grinned once in the screen before vanishing from view again.
"I'm fine," James waved John off as he tried to help him stand. The Doctor popped up quickly and dusted himself off.
"Well then, shall we go have a look?" He nearly skipped across the ship, James right on his tail. The rest of them followed with a little more reserve as they flung open the door.
Rose blinked slowly in the bright light, for a moment she thought there was something wrong with her vision, the world around her seemed so very…red. Red grasses surrounded them, as high as their knees; it stretched out in a wide plain before them. To their left, some distance away, was a rippling field of trees, their branches dark and sturdy, the color of ebony, but their leaves were silver, a glittering ocean above the trunks, reflecting the red of the field. To their right was a great domed city, far surpassing anything she had seen on earth, possibly anything she had seen on her travels with the Doctor. In the sky were two suns, one a smaller twin of the other, and the sky was a husky orange.
"It's beautiful." She whispered. The sight nearly took her breath away, and she could tell she was not alone. James just stood there with his hands in his hair, letting out a slow breath.
"Oh Donna, what have you done?" He swallowed and the stress was etched clearly across his face now. The Doctor stood with his hands at his side, the worried frown he wore made him look so old.
"I don't understand, what's wrong?" Amy finally asked. John had come up next to Rose and clasped her hand tightly in his own. She squeezed it reassuringly but his eyes were haunted and staring at the world around them.
"It's Gallifrey." He said, his voice husky and dry. "But that's…"
"Impossible." James finished for him.
"Well boys, what do you think?" Donna strode out from behind them, a smug grin plastered on her face. "Can I deliver a surprise or what?"
"Oh Donna," The Doctor couldn't stand to stare at the city any longer and so he turned his attention to the ground. "Donna, you sweet idiot. What on earth could have possessed you?"
"What do you mean?" She scoffed at him, offended at his use of the word idiot. "This is your home, this is Gallifrey! You've always said you couldn't go back, couldn't change it. But it wasn't really you, it was the TARDIS. You couldn't get the blue lady to come back round again. So I've brought you instead! Just think, you don't have to be the last! You can make it all better! Doctor, you can save your people!"
"We have to get out of here. Right now." James had suddenly gotten a very intense look on his face where the Doctor just looked miserable. "Back into the TARDIS. Donna, you too. We need to leave. Immediately." Amy looked a bit startled to be taking orders from an older version of the Doctor, but Rose and John both recognized the tone and they were headed to the door.
"What?" Donna looked at James exasperated. "You can't just leave! You'll destroy everyone! Isn't this what you want? To save everyone?" Donna threw up her hands at him.
"Yes, Donna." James gripped her shoulders tightly. "More than you could ever know. But if we don't get out of here this instant, we'll be here for an entire fleet of Dalek's that come to attack the city, and we're all going to die."
"And quite possible we'll tear a giant hole in the fabric of time, destroying Gallifrey, Earth, and everything." The Doctor chimed in helpfully.
"Yes, there's that too." James agreed with him.
"Alright, if you think we should go…" Donna nodded at the seriousness of the two men.
"Too late." River's voice called from behind them, her tone that of defeat.
"Under the intergalactic treaty of the Seven Elder Systems, I am placing you and your ships under quarantine for breach of the neutral property of Gallifrey." They all turned to face the handful of red caped men who had appeared behind them. Marching River along who already had her hand raised.
"Hello gentlemen," The Doctor raised his own hands in surrender. "Good to be back."