DISCLAIMER: Still don't own Doctor Who. Still don't make any money from this. But if he doesn't stop leaving TARDIS prints in my flower bed, we're gonna have words…
SUMMARY: Something goes horribly, horribly wrong in the Parallel Universe and the Doctor's not there to save the day.
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Eight hours later, the sound of the Universe echoed off every available surface in the Hub announcing the TARDIS' arrival. The door swung open soon after, allowing the Doctor, Amy, and Rory to exit.
"That was an amazingly smooth ride, Doctor! Been practicin'?" Amy grinned cheekily up to him, prompting him to tap her nose and reply, "No."
They could see no one in the Hub and the silence under the whir of the computers was deafening. Then, a clatter of glass breaking on glass drew their attention to the space behind the TARDIS.
Jack was sitting on the couch not far from them, looking rumpled, tired, and not a little drunk if the almost empty bottle of hypervodka dangling from his fingertips was any indication. Several more empty bottles littered the floor beside him and the table he curently had one leg propped on. If that did not give the Doctor pause, the tear tracks on the Immortal's face most certainly did.
Jack brought the bottle to his lips and downed the last of the potent liquid, not yet acknowledging his guests.
"Jack?"
"Doctor." He saluted the man with the bottle, knowing how much the Doctor hated salutes. "You regenerated. Again."
"I did. And now I'm here." The Doctor made his way over to Jack, sat next to his former companion, and pulled the empty bottle from Jack's hand. "So what's the rush, eh? Yet another strange alien popping up on your doorstep? Myself not included, of course."
Jack just smiled sadly and snorted in tandem with Rory and Amy.
The Doctor just pointed at Amy and cocked an eyebrow, drawing a laugh from the redhead.
Jack turned blearily to the Doctor. "Bowties this go 'round?"
The Doctor checked his bowtie and replied with a sniff, "Bowties are cool."
"Yeah, they are, Doc. Looks good on ya."
"See!" The Doctor beamed at his companions.
Jack laughed again, hoarsely, then dropped his propped foot to the floor, leaned forward and buried his face in his hands with a sob.
"Jack?" The Doctor was shocked and reached to place his hand on Jack's shoulder. "What the hell is going on here? Where's Martha, Mickey? Gwen and Rhys? Is everyone alight?" He had started shaking Jack in fear.
Jack dropped his hands between his knees and drew a deep breath. "No. No, everyone's fine. Well, almost everyone." He turned to the Doctor. "The Rift's been quiet the last few months. Like it was waiting for something. Been drivin' us crazy." He let out a short laugh and said lowly, "Until a week ago."
The Doctor just waited until Jack composed himself.
"He came through, Doc." Jack's bloodshot eyes met his and the Doctor cocked an inquiring eyebrow. He sighed. "Come on," and levered himself up.
The Doctor followed quietly behind to the Hub's medical bay. Jack stopped and stared down to the gleaming equipment, hands braced on the railing above the amphitheatre, knuckles white.
The Doctor looked too and didn't realize he'd been staring at a sheet-covered body until Jack said, "It's you, Doc."
Blood started pounding in the Doctor's ears at this and he jerked back a step.
"No, wait." Jack reached for the Doctor. "Damnit," and ran his hands through his hair, "Not you you. The other you. The metacrisis you."
The Doctor said nothing, merely stared down at the body on the cot, and slowly made his way down the stairs, not once even blinking.
Jack followed him and watched as his oldest friend – no pun intended – pulled back the sheet from John's face. He looked away. It was hard enough knowing the Doctor was a new man (again) and may not even want to be around him, but seeing the face of the Doctor's previous form on the dead man shredded his heart to pieces and brought a new wave of tears.
The Doctor held the sheet above his former clone's body waiting for something… anything… even knowing the man wouldn't regenerate. Human, he reminded himself. He started to sway but Jack caught him by the shoulder.
"It's him," the Doctor whispered.
"Yeah," Jack croaked. "Martha confirmed it after he came through the Rift."
"Wait. He came through the Rift?"
"Yeah. Showed up with this huge hole in him," and pulled the sheet further down, keeping one hand on the Doctor's shoulder. Both men looked but averted their gazes quickly and Jack dropped the sheet back over John's face. He pulled the Doctor to a nearby chair.
"His ID says he called himself John Cameron Storm, 37 years old, resident of London." Jack paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "… Married to Rose Tyler-Storm."
The Doctor snapped his head up, his eyes amazingly pain-filled. Even in this regeneration, knowing and having done everything he's done, he still loved Rose Tyler. Rose Tyler-Storm now. His eyes dropped closed and he slouched back in the chair, legs crossed at the knees, arm across his abdomen, and hand over his eyes.
Even after the mess with River and the Silence and Lake Silencio, the mention of his 'pink and yellow human' could still make his hearts clench.
Jack pulled up another chair sat in front of him, leaned forward in his chair and hands clasped. "I called you last night. Sent the rest of the team home about three hours ago… after John died."
The Doctor just watched him from under his hand.
"He never woke up, never made a sound, didn't even twitch when Martha was working on him. She couldn't give him any painkillers because we weren't sure what he could and couldn't have. But he never reacted." Jack sat back in his chair then. "We tried everything but it just wasn't enough. He'd already lost so much blood before he got here. Then, whatever we did manage to do didn't seem to work. Even the few nanogenes I had on hand weren't working."
Jack sighed and looked to John. "Martha thinks that whatever bit of Time Lord he may have had in him was keeping him from healing. His body or his mind or whatever wouldn't let him heal because he would have just regenerated otherwise."
The Doctor followed his gaze. "Just too human." He looked to Jack. "So, if John came through…"
Jack just shook his head. "That's what I thought too. Where one is, you'd ususally find the other. At least that's how it used to be." Both men smiled at this. "We checked the Rift activity, CCTV and anything else we could think of. Just him. You don't think she's...?"
"No." The Doctor broke in harshly before Jack could finish his thought, then softer, "No. Rose Tyler… Rose Tyler-Storm… is not dead." He slowly came to his feet. "He deserves a proper burial. A proper Time Lord burial. He deserves that much."
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A/N: Sorry, John. You were a good clone.
So I feel like I need to apologize. I keep killing people or hurting them to bring about the ending I want...
Now, I realize that not only do I have another story almost fleshed out, but I did it again. *sigh* One of these days, my characters will end up jumping out of the screen and say, "NO MORE! I'm sick or dying, getting hurt, blah blah blah! THAT'S RORY'S JOB!"