I'm pretty sure my alternate universe WILL become its own story, but I'd like to finish at least up to the first season before I put it up here, since I have a... um... less than spotless record when it comes to finishing stories. I have a pretty good idea about what will happen. It's looking to be pretty dark.
Sometimes, Jack wonders.
When sometimes his two very attractive rescuers stand silently, lost in some shared memory, when hands are held while running for their lives, the way Rose is so protective, so suspicious and cynical.
When the Doctor looks up into falling snow, not moving, white flakes frosting her long braided hair and eyelashes, her skin so pale it's almost blue, her colorless eyes not reflecting, not absorbing, not... looking.
Sometimes he wonders just what happened to them before he walked in.
Most of the time, though, he doesn't.
"You don't like my mum very much, do you," Rose said, trying not to laugh and not really succeeding. The Doctor was at her most alien and haughty, graciously sipping a cup of tea she obviously considered inferior to the Time Lord sort.
Rose's friend wrinkled her nose. "She's just so... human. Ugh."
Rose giggled. "If you hate us so much, why d'you bother to save our asses so much?"
The Doctor smiled, slightly, gloriously. "Well, someone has to."
Martha refuses to let go of the Doctor, delighting in the velvety texture of her dress, the smell of her perfume, her just being alive and there. "I'm nothing special."
The Doctor frowns at her reprovingly. "Of course you are, Martha Jones, you are incredibly brilliant and you know it."
Now it's Martha's turn to frown as a memory slips past. You're brilliant, Martha Jones, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. "He said that."
"Who did?" says the Doctor indulgently.
"The man- I- I can't remember, it's all a blur-"
"He's not real," the Doctor says, soothingly, stroking her hair. "He never existed."
"No, but he mentioned you," Martha says, struggling to remember, "and Jack and Rose-"
"Parallel selves. All gone now."
"No, but he talked about parallel universes-"
The Doctor freezes, suddenly. Worried, Martha looks up into distant alien eyes. "Martha, what did he look like- no, scratch that- what was his name?"
"He called himself the Doctor. Like you, except... um... a guy."
The Doctor gets up and paces, shoulders hunched, hands picking nervously at her lacy sleeves. "What did he say?" She turns, and there is madness in her eyes. "Martha, what did he say?!!"
"I can't remember-" the way the Doctor is looking is scaring her- "um, no, wait, I remember- he said a word-"
"What words? What were they? What did he say?!!"
Martha closes her eyes, tries to breathe deep, and tells her.