Enjoy ^^ I hope.
"Look at you! You look the same as I remember!" the Doctor cried, when he pulled back a bit to take a better look at Rose.
"Yeh, I bet my mascara is all run down now." Rose laughed, trying to wipe it off with one of her sleeves.
"Weeell, you are a bit black," the Doctor agreed. When Rose raised an eyebrow at him, he was quick to add. "But nothing we can't fix!" he exclaimed all happily, as he pulled his sonic screwdriver out and bleeped it on his palms. Rose just watched him in wonder.
"What-" Rose began, chuckling, when moments later, she was silenced by the Doctor's both hands on her cheeks, caressing them gently. Rose blinked at him.
"Good for removing unwanted liquids. Just a bit adjustment by passing on the energy on my hands and it works like magic," he spilled. "Here you go! All clean and perfect!" He pulled back his hands off her face, grinning by the work he had done.
"Don't tell me you just washed my face with your sonic'ed hands." Rose shook her head in disbelief, but smiling despite that.
"Yes, I did!" he exclaimed all happily.
"That must be one of the weirdest things you have ever done," she said in a half-whisper, pushing her hair from her face, as she composed herself.
"Well, thank you." She tried to be serious, but had a hard time doing so.
"You are welcome." The Doctor beamed at her, and Rose couldn't suppress her snort any longer.
"What?" the Doctor asked innocently, feeling intrigued.
Rose just shook her head, as she pressed her lips hard together, stifling the further laugh from coming out to the surface.
After a while only just staring at the waves, she finally turned to face him.
"This's just so..." She trailed off, gesturing around herself with a look of astonishment.
"Mh-hm!" The Doctor nodded his head, grinning all silly. "One major mystery," he uttered each word meaningfully.
"But you know what's going on, yeh?" Rose asked him, hopeful.
"No idea," the Doctor replied in an amused tone.
"What, seriously? You don't even know how you became..." She gestured at him. "Well, you."
"Nope," the Doctor answered blithely. "Weeell." He trailed off, looking upwards. "I might have an idea as to how I remembered all those things."
"Okay..." Rose laughed a bit. "That's a start. So what happened?"
"Emotional attachment," the Doctor stated, looking at Rose now.
Rose just blinked at him a few times. "Meaning what?"
"Basically it means just what it represents," he replied innocently. "And, although, it could represent many things at once, this time it just means what it signifies. Emotions and attachment," he ended simply.
Rose just looked at him in a blank expression. "And how are they related to your memories again?"
"Helped in recovering them," the Doctor stated in an obvious tone.
"So, If I get this right... And I'm not really sure what I should be getting here..." Rose smiled at the last word, the Doctor looked at her in amusement. "This place triggered your memories to come back?"
"You could say that," the Doctor agreed. "But it was not just this place. Bad Wolf Bay." He uttered the words in a low voice. "It happened in that school where we were at with Sarah Jane and Mickey, also in 51st century spaceship." He tugged on his ear while speaking.
"What, in the school too?" Rose looked at him in bewilderment.
"Well, yeh, but it was a pretty small thing." He shook his head together with his hand, trying to dismiss it.
"What was it?" Rose insisted. The Doctor glanced at her, and after seeing her intrigued expression gave in.
"Just the time, when you weren't in the school kitchen," he began, his hands in his pockets now. "I was dead sure you were running before me; me and K-9 as the last ones." He tilted his head to the side slightly. "But that was from our original timeline." He bent his knees a bit to make a point. "Of course, at that time I didn't know that, and it was pretty much confusing." He laughed at that bit. Somewhere along those lines they started walking by the shore.
Rose just nodded, trying to digest the information. "And in the 51st s-spaceship..?" Her voice cracked a bit at the end. She was not sure what were his thoughts on that now, since he had double memories of it.
The Doctor hesitated for a moment to answer that, his expression serious, and Rose thought it must be because of Madame, but what he said was not what she expected to hear.
"It was like literally reliving Canary Wharf," he said in a faint voice, his gaze focused ahead.
It was the same for her...
Rose put her hand into his pocket, searching for his hand. When she found what she was looking for, she squeezed his hand in comfort. As he felt her hand into his, he pulled them both out and looked at their entwined fingers. They fit so well, like none other. He smiled at the sight, squeezing her hand a bit himself. He met her gaze and smiled at her tenderly. Just then, the Doctor drew her a bit closer to his side, placing a soft kiss on her forehead, thus making her feel not alone into this after such a long time, and safe.
They walked for a while in a comfortable silence, before Rose couldn't suppress her curiosity for much longer.
"I thought they were gone," Rose half-whispered. "Your memories from those times." Shaking her head slightly to the sides in disbelief.
"They were not gone gone. Like ever. Not gone gone." The Doctor grimaced a bit, talking in a nonchalant voice. "They were just..." He rubbed on the back of his neck. "Locked away." He shrugged, gesturing with his hand. "Kept safe till it's safe for them to come out. Till they can run into the wild, embracing the riches of the world!" He went into one of his "story telling" modes.
"Trying to be poetic, are you?" Rose grinned at him, raising a suggestive eyebrow.
"Maybe a tiny miny bit." He considered. Rose nodded her head, stifling the snort.
"Alright then." She gulped. Back to serious. "And you managed to do that... how?"
"I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor stated solemnly.
"Sure you are." Rose just smiled at him.
"And it's literally impossible to erase the timeline I once lived at from my awareness completely." He was talking in a casual voice, while they were walking by the shore. "The most one could do, although." He considered. "I'm not even sure what was that one." He grimaced at that, then shook his head, trying to get back to the point. "The most one could do is lock the memories down. With some sort of energy...something like-" He was thinking of the right word.
"What, like a seal energy?" Rose suggested.
"Something like that." The Doctor beamed at her.
"Do you know what that energy is?" Rose asked, looking at him.
"Nope." The Doctor was just grinning.
"And why are so giddy then?" Rose laughed, slapping him on the arm playfully.
"Oh, there are plenty of reasons to be happy." He leaned to her side, bumping into her shoulder, grinning.
"Yeh?" Rose looked at him with tongue between her teeth smile.
"Uhuh." The Doctor giggled.
"Stop it." Rose bumped into his shoulder, chuckling.
"I didn't even start," the Doctor sang. Seconds later, he picked Rose up again, holding her in the air, spinning her around. Rose was squealing between laughter, holding onto him tightly.
Some time later, when Rose felt her head spinning out of focus, she was placed on the sand, just to sway on the side, thus leaving the Doctor to hold her in place, his arms on her waist.
"All right?" the Doctor was asking playfully, his gaze fixed on her.
"No." Rose chuckled, her eyes closed.
"Take it easy, or you might need a Doctor." The Doctor formed a serious tone.
"Oh, my God. That's so cheesy." She laughed, resting her head on his chest.
"Oh, don't say that. Already used that once," the Doctor said nonchalantly, as he drew her closer, resting his chin on her head. "Or was it twice now," he muttered, seriously considering it.
"Wha-" Rose began, leaning backwards to look at him, her eyes now trying to get to focus. "What did you say?"
The Doctor just giggled and placed her against his chest again.
Something was moving faraway in the distance, past all those rocky mountains and the beach. A black dot. Tiny but visible to the Time Lord's eyes. It was getting nearer steadily.
At first, he had no idea what that was. He just looked at it in wonder and amusement, until his face fell. His double heartbeat skipped a beat.
He looked in the distance, his mouth slack open, the bottom lip slightly quivering, eyes wide. He stiffened in Rose's embrace, his arms wrapped more tightly around her, like preventing anything or anyone from taking her from him.
He recognised it.
"Doctor?" Rose asked him softly, tugging on his arm.
No answer.
"Doctor, what is it?" In a more urgent voice. He was starting to scare her. "What's wrong?"
The second time managed to pull him out of his trance. His mouth closed together with his eyes, as he gulped.
How was he supposed to tell her? All those universes and chances...and neither managed to get things right.
"Doctor!" Rose shook his arm, making him turn to her side. She gasped, when she saw his pained expression. Her eyes travelled from one side to another, desperately searching for an answer to his sudden change. She could see it was hard for him to force himself to speak up. If given the chance, he would be anywhere, but here, in this situation. But he had nowhere to go now.
"I'm sorry," he whispered in such a faint and remorseful voice that it broke Rose's heart.
Thump.
"Wh... why're you saying that?" She shook her head, her voice wavering.
This couldn't look good.
He looked at her for one last lingering moment, before he turned, taking her together with him. "We've got to go." Was all he said.
"What's going on?" Rose still tried to ask, but got no answer.
"Run," he said instead. Moments later they began running, back towards where the TARDIS was parked. She half-turned to see what was going on behind her back. And, although, her eyesight was pretty good, she could not identify what was the thing in the faraway distance, supposedly moving. So she continued to run, following the Doctor.
They were gone a bit of a distance from their beloved ship, so it took a couple of minutes to get back to her. When they finally reached the TARDIS, the Doctor literally flew into the ship, rushing about the controls in the console room, checking monitor and all kind of things.
"What're you looking for?" Rose asked him, getting inside herself. "Can I can help?" She tried asking softly.
"No," he answered flatly, as he continued his frantic search of something.
Because of that, Rose felt even more worried. Something was very wrong. The Doctor wouldn't shut her off like that. They were past that ages ago, and now, more than ever that was not the case. The only possible explanation to that was...if it involved her well being.
"It's alright." Rose began faintly. "I can handle it, whatever that is."
She was preparing herself for the worst.
It made the Doctor tense all the more. He didn't want to give her those news. Anything but that. It was just not fair! And to make matters worse, the readings he was so desperately trying to get, were not giving the wanted results. He leaned on the console, his hands supporting him, head down as he exhaled a long and heavy breath.
"What're you not telling me?" Rose's voice cracked at the end. "What was that thing?"
She was not sure she wanted to know it.
The Doctor closed his eyes as he whispered. "It's Pete's car."
It felt like a slap in the face. Sadly it hurt so much more than that. She had imagined all kinds of horrible things. Hostile aliens invasion, something very dangerous that even the Doctor was afraid of. Cybermen? Those were dangerous enough. Daleks? Yeh, Daleks would be very bad news. But as funny as fate was, a car, just an ordinary car of an ordinary man meant every possible destruction. Pete's car. Her parallel dad's car coming here now, at this moment, meant that everything they feared of came true. Thus including Cybermen and Daleks all the same. The void. And her trapped in the parallel universe.
She knew it would not heal fast this time round, and it was probably the cruelest thing to happen. After everything... Well, nothing she could do about that really. Rose took a few deep breaths, her expression blank. It felt like she ceased to feel.
"I'll go check how long we've got." Her voice echoed in the still recovering TARDIS.
She could hear the Doctor's teeth clench as he gulped, swallowing the painful words or would it have been remorseful? Whichever where on his tongue then.
It was not his fault.
And it was left for Rose to let him know that. But firstly, she had to get a hold of herself. She went through so much in the last year. All those adventures repeating themselves, but never really working out the way you expect them to. Always preserving the timelines, avoiding paradoxes. It was nothing new to her. But it was new for him. He may be a Time Lord, but it was not every day you find yourself tossed between your two possible timelines. No less, it was not every day you learn that no matter how hard your try, doomsday still reaches you in the end.
Once she opened the TARDIS doors, her heart skipped a beat. What was a barely visible dot before, now could be identified as a black moving object in the distance. They had to move fast, with whatever they were gonna do about that.
She closed the doors.
"We-" Rose began, then quickly corrected herself. "They're getting closer," she half-whispered.
The Doctor caught her slip up, but never commented on that. He wanted to pretend it was not who they knew were in the car. So he just nodded, fiddling with the controls again. He tried to put a tough front, but Rose could see through that. She knew him way too well. Despite the fact, that he was still looking for a way out, she could see that he had lost hope and was doing that only for the name's sake.
Rose slowly approached him and drew her arms around his neck. She could feel the Doctor's breath hitch and his fists clench as if searching for a rightful place to put them. When Rose tightened her grip on him, he finally gave in to his instincts and wrapped his arms around her back. They held onto each other so tightly, that it was very likely to leave some bruises on both sides. But their hearts were hurting too much to feel any possible psychical pain.
"This's not your fault," Rose whispered in his neck. The Doctor shivered a bit, refusing to drop his guilt on this with his body language.
"It's just..." Not fair. She wanted to say, but could not make herself to do so. "At least I've tried." Rose tried a casual approach on that, chuckling sadly.
His breathing became even more labored from the words. He was trying so desperately to ease his breathing, to soothe himself and his precious girl, but there was nothing to say to fix this. So he just tightened his grip on her, holding her as close as he could to himself.
They slowly pulled back from their embrace, the Doctor still resting his hands on her waist, and Rose's hands on his forearms. "So, what do we need to avoid the destructible paradox from happening?" Rose said lightly despite her inner heaviness.
"Perception filter," he said, stepping back a bit from Rose to take a better look at the monitor. "But it's not working. Not enough power." He gestured with his hands madly, running a hand through his hair.
It seemed like it became some sort of habit for them. To stand at the edge of the World's destruction. And them being the responsible ones. However, if this was really the end, he will gladly welcome it. Stuck together with Rose Tyler was not so bad. And therefore, if the universes were going to collapse any moment now, he will use his last chance.
He turned around to face her, finding Rose in a concentrated pose, thinking of something deeply. The Doctor chuckled fondly at her. Never losing hope, that was so her.
"Rose," He began softly as he made a step towards her. When she did not recognize him, he tried again.
"Rose Tyler." Saying her name solemnly. Then he opened his mouth to utter the words...but-
"Perception filter!" Rose's squeal shook him in place.
"W-what?" He looked a bit confused, shocked to say in the least.
"I remember!" Rose jumped in place from happiness. The Doctor just eyed her suspiciously.
"Remember what?" he questioned her. He was really trying to form a sentence.
"Rose-" He spoke her name tenderly once again, lifting his hand towards her.
"I know it! I know it!" Rose suddenly fixed her gaze on him. "I know of a solution!" She beamed, making the Doctor only look at her in bewilderment, his hand freezing on the spot. Moments later, he tilted his head upwards, exhaling.
"You're becoming like your mother," he muttered.
"Are you seriously complaining about me finding a solution now?" Rose dared him to say it, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Course not!" the Doctor cried in defence. "Let's hear it, Lewis." He made a prompting gesture at her.
"Working on it, sarge." Rose played along, grinning. The Doctor gave her an urging look.
"We got a hold of this-" Rose grimaced, when she couldn't remember the name. "Um, alien technology back in Torchwood." She decided to dismiss it. "We found out that it used perception filter, but it was broken. So we had to boost its energy."
"What did you use?" the Doctor asked, feeling a bit hopeful by the course of the conversation it was leading.
"Dimension jumpers." Rose looked at him meaningfully. "They had the energy which was compatible with perception filters."
"We don't have them now..." the Doctor stated, furrowing his brows.
"No, but we have a similar device with us," Rose said, looking at the Doctor expectedly. The Time Lord's mouth started twitching into a small smile.
There just might be a way out.
"Oh, of course we do! How did I not think of that?!" he exclaimed, walking around the console with more energy now. "Give him a call," he instructed, pointing at Rose. "And he better make it fast."
"On the scale of 1 to 5, 1 being the highest. What's the case of emergency?" Jack asked over the phone.
"Zero," Rose answered at once.
Seconds later, the immortal captain was standing right besides the pair. "Okay. I'm listening. What's the problem?"
"I need to borrow your Vortex Manipulator, Jack." The Doctor extended his hand.
"What for?"
"Why people keep asking?" The Doctor grimaced at that. "Just do as your told. For once." The Doctor directed it at Jack, but possibly meaning all the others including in his travels.
"If we take into consideration the little fact that I've left Emilie out there gaping at the empty space-" Jack began.
"Who's Emilie?" Rose asked, interrupting him.
"The receptionist," the Doctor and Jack answered in unison.
"Oh, " Rose breathed nonchalantly. "So that's Emilie."
"What's with this thing?" The Doctor was looking at the device in disapproval. "I should have disable it ages ago," he noted.
"Well," Rose began. "Lucky you haven't or else we would've been doomed."
"'Guess so," the Doctor breathed. "Give me that." As he snatched the Vortex Manipulator from Jack.
"Okay. I was robbed of my time travelling object. Anyone mind telling me why?" Jack asked casually.
Rose smiled at Jack's lost face and took a step near him. "We need to borrow some energy to boost perception filter of the TARDIS," Rose began in a serious tone.
"Perception filter? Why do you need it so urgently-" Jack began, but then was interrupted.
"It's working," the Doctor breathed in awestruck expression. "We've just saved the world. HA!" the Doctor exclaimed, jumping at the last words.
"It's working? The perception filter is working now?" Rose got closer to his side, looking intrigued.
"Good as new." the Doctor assured her, smiling at her.
"That's great!" She exclaimed and the next moment they met each other in a brief hug.
"Alright. Now... back to the inn!" the Doctor exclaimed blithely.
"So everything is fine now?" Jack asked to be sure.
"Yeh. Probably," the Doctor answered nonchalantly.
"Probably?" Jack asked incredulously. "Don't you have to check if it's fixed?"
"Yeh... I guess that would make sense," the Doctor mumbled.
Jack eyed him suspiciously, when the Time Lord was making no effort to move.
"It's..." Rose stammered. "Outside those doors." She gestured with a shaky hand towards the TARDIS exit.
"Let's go then?" Jack asked both of them, but found only two living-statues, glued to the floor. They both ducked their gazes, faraway from the doors.
They couldn't possibly step outside and see...
Thankfully, Jack seemed to catch on and volunteered himself. Before he walked away, the Doctor called out.
"Give us your second one."
"The second?" Jack turned to face the Doctor.
"I know you have it. Just hand it over." The Doctor extended his hand.
"Aw, nothing goes past your eyes, Doc," Jack complained jokingly as he held out his second Vortex Manipulator.
"Superior senses, me," the Time Lord agreed casually. The next second he was buzzing the device in his hand with his sonic screwdriver, then doing something similar to the one on the console.
"Should work now." The Doctor tossed the device in his hands like a ball; swinging it, throwing in the air with one hand, and then catching with another.
"What should?" Jack asked warily.
"We're leaving now?" Rose asked cautiously.
"Yep," the Doctor answered blithely. "Ready?" he asked, turning to Rose.
"As ever I could be," she exhaled, going to stand next to the Doctor.
Jack looked like he wanted to ask something.
"We're going to use it to teleport back to the inn. Can't let our future selves notice," the Doctor spilled nonchalantly, like answering Jack's silent question. The last bit was just an excuse, though. He just wanted to be as far away from this place as possible.
"Your future selves?" Jack asked, blinking.
"Norway, fifty miles in the radius of Bergen...There it is! Ulvehi inn." The Doctor was adjusting some settings for their location, ignoring Jack's question. "Better make it to the right place. Imagine us ending up on South Pole!"
"We could meet penguins," Rose sang.
"Yeh, you would like that." The Doctor nodded, smiling.
"You're pumping a lot of energy out of it," Jack noted, watching the Vortex Manipulator on the console. "Will it work after use?" he wondered.
"Oh, did I forget to tell you?" the Doctor asked innocently. "You're not gonna see that one anymore. It's gonna perish. TARDIS power is too much for it. It gives the needed energy to boost the perception filter and that's it! A piece of junk. Trash." He laughed a bit, then added. "I tinkered it a bit to give you one last trip to the inn. Be careful when you teleport, though," he warned him. "You might get frazzled." Gesturing with his hands fire going out.
"But I guess we'll see you in afterlife if what. No real harm done." The Doctor patted Jack's back casually. When noticing Jack's completely non amused face and Rose's head shaking in disapproval, he leaned to her side to whisper.
"Was that rude?"
"Just a bit." Rose nodded.
"Alright then. Rude and not ginger, together with pink and yellow, are teleporting out!" the Doctor exclaimed, taking Rose's hand into his. "Allons-y!" With that, he pressed the button.
They found themselves in some sort of cramped place.
"Not a cupboard again," Rose complained.
"It certainly feels like one," the Doctor muttered. "Judging by the smell...uh, cotton, feathers. Yep, definitely bedding."
"Well, either way. We better get out of h-here," Rose's voice cracked as she found her leg stuck in something.
"Wait, don't move," the Doctor chided her. "Something's moving," he whispered, but was too late. Moments later, everything what was in the closet on the shelves fell down right on top of them.
"Whufph" Rose was silenced by a pillow crashing on her face. She stumbled then, taking the Doctor down with her.
Thud.
"Sorry," Rose said sheepishly.
"Loud entrances are usually used in wars, not in cupboards. Although." He stopped, considering. "Can't say I explored cupboards all that much. Weell, except with you."
"Wait," Rose breathed.
"And that also-" the Doctor began again, but was silenced by a finger on his lips.
"Shh," Rose whispered. They froze in place when a sound of something, or rather, someone, moving outside the doors was heard.
"Something's out there," she breathed.
"Yeh, well. It seeems, we took attention of habitats of this room," the Doctor said lightly. "I hope they're friendly," He said, a bit concerned.
Silence
"I don't suppose you thought we ended up in Mickey's room."
At those words the closet doors opened, the bright light blinding the pair, as a young girl greeted them with shocked and amused expression.
"Not Mickey's then," Rose muttered.
"Hello!" the Doctor greeted the girl enthusiastically. "I'm the Doctor, this is Rose." He gestured to her. "What's your name?"
The girl looked at them suspiciously. "What are you doing in our cupboard?"
The Doctor blinked a few times. "Oh, right. Up we go. Come on, Rose. Gotta represent ourselves properly." As the both of them stood up, Rose nearly slipping by the covers, so in the end, the Doctor had to steady her by taking her hand. When they finally stepped out of the closet, the Doctor squatted down, to meet the girl's height.
"Hello. Better now?" he asked gently, the girl just nodded. "What are you called then?"
"Flora," she whispered.
"Nice to meet you, Flora." The Doctor beamed at her. "You might be related, she is a flower too." He gestured to Rose blithely.
"You're gonna get a smack." Rose joked, joining the Doctor near the girl.
"I saw you had a beautiful snow globe with you," the Doctor said to the girl expectedly.
"It's broken. I didn't hold it properly and it fell on the floor," the girl said in a dispirited voice.
"Did you really drop it or did it fall on its own?" the Doctor asked mysteriously.
The girl's eyes sparkled at once. "Do you believe me?"
"Yes, I do," the Doctor assured her. "Now, could I take a look at it for a sec?"
"Mummy threw it away," Flora said, lowering her head.
"She must have," Rose said softly. "Should we look at the recycle bin?" she suggested to the Doctor.
The Doctor smiled warmly at her. He really missed having her with him. Even if they did spend the last year together.
"Come on then," Rose urged him as she stood up. "See you later, Flora." She waved to the girl from the doorway.
"It's not picking up," the Doctor said faintly as they came to a stop near the trash bin and now the Doctor was busy scanning the shattered bits of the snow globe.
"Did too much time pass?" Rose guessed.
"No, it wouldn't matter. The signal must have been only temporal. Like a testing." He furrowed his brows at that.
"So what do we do then?" Rose asked.
"Nothing yet," he answered and stood up, pulling the sonic back to his suit's pocket. "Gotta find Mickey first."
"Oh, right." Rose seemed to suddenly remember him. "But he couldn't have wandered off far, could he?" she asked him casually.
"Let's find out." The Doctor raised his eyebrows as he lead the way in the hallway.
They walked through the corridors for a while, but everywhere seemed to be silent-dead.
"You may have been right. It is kind of spooky," the Doctor whispered, looking around cautiously.
"Mickey?" Rose called out for him.
Silence.
"Mickey?" She tried again.
"Mickey dipery boy!" the Doctor joined.
"Mickey, are you there?" Rose tried, her head peeked out of one corner.
"Mickey dooby doo!" the Doctor tried. "Where're you?" He stopped for a moment. "Hold on. That was Scooby doo." He shook his head, then continued walking.
"Mickey?" Rose called out.
"Rickey!" the Doctor yelled. Rose gave him a bemused look.
"What?" The Doctor just shrugged. "Thought that might work." Rose just shook her head.
"I feel like I'm searching for Arthur!" the Doctor complained. "Although, that one followed me on his own." Then he turned to Rose. "Speaking of which, where did you learn horse-riding?" he asked her, intrigued.
"Pete taught me," Rose answered simply.
"Yeh? That man was hiding all sort of things under his sleeves..." The Doctor trailed off.
They walked through the dark corridors just when a blur of energy appeared before them. The pair stopped right at their tracks.
"Captain Jack-" he began, extending his hand.
"Stop it!" Rose and the Doctor said together.
"Oh, it's you both."
The Doctor raised a knowing eyebrow at him.
"Was everything alright?" Rose's a bit shaky voice caught both men's attention. "On the beach." She tried warily.
Jack just gave them an uncomfortable look. "Not sure if it could be called as alright."
"Just tell us what you saw," the Doctor told him, his expression blank, unreadable. He was hiding his inner turmoil behind his facade.
"Well," Jack began, inhaling deeply. "First of all, you two met each other. Rose was normal, but the Doctor was what looked like a projected hologram, my guess - it being transmitted from the TARDIS." He then studied their expressions. Both of them just nodded silently.
"You said something about burning up the sun just to say goodbye. That was kind of romantic of you, Doc." Jack told him softly. The Doctor just smiled sadly. Rose bit her trembling lip.
"Are you sure you want me to continue?" Jack asked, making sure.
"Yeh," the Doctor said in a low voice. They had to know.
"Okay." Jack took a breath. "Then you-" He gestured to the Doctor. "Asked Rosie where did the gap come out. I wonder what you drank that you didn't notice it was Norway, considering you have been here before." Jack half-joked. The Doctor seemed to let it pass, Rose, on the other hand, began to frown.
"Then she told you that it was about fifty miles out of Bergen. Called Dårlig Ulv Stranden," Jack said blithely. "You seemed surprised by that-" he was interrupted.
"Hold on," the Doctor interrupted Jack. "What?" he asked, his forehead wrinkled in confusion.
"I said you seemed surprised-" Jack repeated.
"Yeh. And that I asked what was the beach called?" the Doctor asked him again.
"And about Norway," Rose stated, frowning.
"Yeh," Jack agreed. "I told you, you seemed pretty out if it."
"But... how's that possible? It just doesn't make sense!" Rose furrowed her brows.
"It doesn't," the Doctor whispered, looking in the distance. "None of this is actually making sense. Since the beginning it was not making sense at all!" The Doctor began pacing around in circles, tugging on his hair.
"If all this happening for the second time now... how were we reacting to it the same way?" Rose asked, her voice a bit shaky. She locked her gaze with him for a moment. The Doctor's expression slowly changing from concerned, to a hopeful smile.
Then it clicked him.
"But of course!" he exclaimed. His face splitting into one huge and silly grin. He turned to face her.
"What?" Rose asked him, watching his amused face. He just continued looking at her, grinning.
"What is it?" Rose persisted.
"It's our original timeline." The Doctor spoke the words fondly. It was the best news he could have gotten today.
"Wha-?" Rose shook her head. "How d'you mean?"
"It seems..." the Doctor began in a casual voice. "That whatever reset your timeline, only did that to our universe. All this-" He gestured around himself. "Was left untouched. So basically the ones on Bad Wolf Bay were us, in our past. Before you met me for the second time at Henrik's."
"That is..." Amazing, she wanted to say, beaming at him in disbelief, when her face twisted in worry. "If that's me, in the past. Then we don't have much time!"
"What do you mean?" the Doctor asked her seriously.
"After we left the beach, we came here." Rose gestured to the floor.
"As in here here?" Jack asked again, previously silently observing and coming to a conclusion that a very different Doctor was standing before him. Rose bit her lip.
"Oh, just one more thing to our crate," the Doctor said blithely. "We've had worse. Didn't we?" He passed the question to Rose.
Rose skipped a few times in place until she launched herself at the Doctor. Both of them giggling as they held onto each other.
"It's not the end!" Rose squealed. "We're gonna fight, yeh?" She pulled back a bit to look at his face.
"Till the end," the Doctor said in a low voice, beaming at her.
"And we have to somehow avoid bumping into one of our past selves." She looked at him sheepishly.
"Would be wise, that is," the Doctor agreed in a half-whisper. "Considering that you might want to avoid one huge paradox, which could lead to some serious consequences, like-" He considered. "Oh, I don't know. The usual stuff." He shrugged blithely.
"The End of the World," Rose sang.
"Yeh, one of those usual stuff." The Doctor nodded together with her. Moments later, they both snorted, followed by them bursting out laughing.
"Doc?" Jack tried to call him warily. Finally Rose and the Time Lord seemed to calm down from their fits of laughter. "It's still you, right?" Jack asked again.
The Doctor then came to stand before him. "No," he said flatly.
"No?" Jack asked, feeling a bit lost.
"It's Doctor, not Doc. How many times do I have to ask you not to call me that?" the Doctor furrowed his brows in fake annoyance. Jack let out a relief filled laugh at that.
"Doctor." Jack tried again, purposely uttering the word meaningfully, nodding his head at him.
"Captain," the Doctor said fondly. "Thank you." They hugged for a brief moment. When they pulled back, both men were smiling in their silent understanding.
Suddenly a voice reached their ears.
"Doctor? Rose? Captain?"
"Here he comes," the Doctor announced, smiling.
When moments later Mickey's face came into view, the Doctor was first to greet him. "Mickity-McMickey!" he cried, then gave him a bear hug. "Oh, it's been ages since I last saw you! Look at you!" He beamed at him, then considered. "Oh, you still look a bit stupid. But don't worry. We believe in you," he assured him seriously.
Before Mickey could comment on that rude remark of the Doctor's, to which Rose snorted together with Jack, who could barely hold his composure. The Doctor began walking backwards.
"Now then. The good team is finally reformed." He gestured with his hands, still walking backwards. "We've got work to do!" he announced in a lively voice.
"I thought you hated the word team," Rose noted teasingly, skipping towards his side.
"Oh, not if I get to have such brilliant people." He beamed at each of them.
"Doctor," Jack called out for him between his laughs.
"Mm?" The Doctor looked at him in an amused expression.
"I think you going to crash into someone." He made a pointed look behind him.
"Really?" The Doctor grinned all silly. "I wonder who that is," he cried, then turned around, nearly jumping backwards.
"Uh oh," he only said, looking a bit disturbed by the sight.
"Doctor?" A figure looked at him in disbelief.
to be continued...
So. What did you think of this one? I absolutely loved your feedback on the previous chapter (as I always do). You really make me happy! Thank you, brilliant people =}