The Doctor

Mike and his twin stood in a frozen tableau, staring at each other for an endless moment. It was the Doctor who looked away first, squeezing his eyes shut against the pain and starting to turn away.

"Oh, no you don't," Mike growled. "Just stop right there. I am NOT going through that again. Not this time." Caught, the Doctor looked sideways at him again, and Mike went on, answering the question in his eyes. "That's right. Same shit, different day. She's still yours. Always was, always will be. You just need to talk to her, you stupid..." He shut his mouth on the expletives that wanted to follow; they wouldn't make him feel any better.

The Doctor hung his head for a moment, then raised it to search the foggy sky as if looking for his own common sense. A rueful, pain-filled smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, and he nodded. "Now is not the time..." he murmured. Then, catching Mike's outraged reaction, he threw his hands up to ward him off, spluttering wordlessly. "Dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit – that's not what it sounded like." He snorted. "Pete's advice, remember? – No, you were already born; you didn't hear it. Um..."

"You're babbling," Mike said flatly, so not interested in the Doctor's propensity for running his gob at the moment.

"Yeah." He took a deep breath, and faced the other squarely. "Pete gave me some advice, back then – I just wish I'd listened to it better. He said, 'women can talk your ear off, and it's the easiest thing in the world to tune them out. The trick is learning when to do that, and when not to. Now is not the time.'" He sighed heavily. "Why do I keep having to learn the same lesson over and over again?" he asked rhetorically.

Mike couldn't resist the obvious opportunity. "Because you're a Class A Idiot. Always have been, always will be," he said bitterly.

"Yeah." Another deep breath, and the Doctor nodded to his twin, then turned walk past him, following Rose back up the beach. He paused after a few steps, turning back as an idea struck. "Mind taking Davey for the day?"

Mike's turn to sigh, gazing at the empty sand. "Sure."

Another couple of steps. "Can we take the car?"

This time he snorted. "Just gas it back up."

"Thanks, dad."

He still didn't get very far up the beach. A dozen steps later and Mike's voice came, loud and harsh. "Hey!" The Doctor turned back to meet his brother's eyes, and all Mike's pain came pouring out of them. ""Do you have ANY idea how much you owe me?" His voice was broken, the words torn out from deep inside.

The Doctor nodded, slowly. "Yeah. I do. The trouble is... I don't have the slightest idea how to begin paying it back." He paused, then unknowingly echoed Rose. "For what it's worth... I'm sorry."

It was Mike's turn to tear his eyes away, and he stared at the dunes beginning to become visible as the fog continued to lift. "Well," he said softly. "That's a start."

^..^

The Doctor found Rose a short time later sitting at the breakfast table with Donna and Sylvia. She'd refused any food, and was simply holding her coffee cup and staring into its depths as if divining the future from the swirls of cream. Before she'd even registered his appearance, he plucked the mug from her hands and set it on the table, then took both her hands in his and gently pulled her around in her chair as he knelt down beside it.

"I'm sorry," he began. "You've been trying to tell me something, and I haven't been listening. I'm ready to listen now."

She tightened her grip on his hands, and squeezed her eyes closed against the tears, unable to speak.

The Doctor looked across the table at Donna, deciding instantly not to give any clue that he'd run into Mike already. "Mind if we trade for the day? A kid for a car?"

She nodded, grinning, and reached for the key sitting on the counter behind her, tossing it to him. "On one condition," she added. "If you happen to run across a grocery, we could use some more milk."

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A/N: This story seems to be unfolding in VERY short scenes. Hopefully some longer ones are in the future, but no promises.