Author's Notes: I do not own Doctor Who, the Duplicate Doctor, Donna, anything. Sorry for the delay, especially if you're following both stories. It has seriously not been my week healthwise. Anyway, thanks for the reads and reviews and I hope you enjoy this one. Please let me know what you think!
Adeola, Gwen, Jack and Bernard had gathered in the situation room in the Torchwood Extraterrestrial Department. The entire staff buzzed around outside. Torchwood was on full alert, the city was on lockdown as the alien ships continued to buzz above London, sometimes taking out a landmark.
"Two new ships for the Krillitanes," said Adeola, still getting comfortable with saying the word.
"Three more with the Sonatarans," said Gwen.
"Have we gotten John on the phone yet?"
Just then, they looked up to see John and a blonde walking out of a large locker.
A grin spread across Jack's face. "Mayantha of Gallifrey! As I live and breathe!"
Mayantha shook her head. "Commander Jack Harkness. There's trouble and here you are. Why am I not surprised?"
"Sorry, did you two just walk out of a supplies cabinet?," asked Gwen.
"Of course not. Don't be ridiculous," said John.
"John, what's going on?," asked Bernard.
John motioned at Mayantha. "She's a Time Lady."
"And what's she doing here?," asked Bernard.
"What am I doing on Earth or what am I doing here?," asked Mayantha.
"She can help," said John. "That's what's important."
Just then, Pete Tyler entered.
"John, I've been trying get you on your mobile! Where have you been?" He looked at Mayantha. "Who is she?"
"Hi. Mayantha. Are you the guy that tried to keep the Master's body for himself?"
Pete stiffened. "I don't know what you mean."
"Right, see, this is how it's going to work," said John, "Mayantha and I are going to save the Earth from the Sontarans and the Krillitane. Assuming we manage that, she'll need the Master's body."
"You tried to keep his body?," asked Jack incredulous.
"What does that mean?," asked Adeola.
"It means if the two races dogfighting over London don't kill us all, the Time Lords will."
Everyone looked at Pete.
"I can't talk about this. It's classified."
"Pete!," exclaimed John.
"I'm terribly sorry," said Mayantha, "I'm not following."
"Oh, blimey, she sounds like her mother," John muttered.
"You see, I've been sent on a mission by the High Council of the Time Lords to recover and dispose of the Master's body. If you had disposed of it yourself, your planet wouldn't be facing certain conquest and or destruction right now. So, either help me or get out of my way."
"What are you? Twenty?," asked Pete.
"I'm four hundred and two."
"I'm sorry," said Gwen, "are they fighting over a bloody corpse?"
"We have a charter to uphold," said Pete.
"Good, we can all have a nice look at it as the Earth burns," said John.
Mayantha pointed at Pete. "Hey, were you the guy who let that one girl blow holes in the universe?"
"How did you know about that?," asked John.
"We do have dominion over all of time and space. Holes get blown in the universe, we tend to notice."
The building shook. Everyone grasped onto something for balance.
"Oh, lovely," said Mayantha, "the ground troops."
"We have to get down there," said John.
"There will already be troops on the way," said Pete.
"What? You can't do that! You can't fight Sontarans!," shouted John. "You're going to get everyone killed! All for your stupid charter!"
"Look, John, you still work for me and you'll follow my orders."
"I don't work here," said Mayantha. "I don't actually work anywhere."
"Sorry," said Jack, "I know I didn't get out of my cell all that long ago, but I don't want to die because I'm following your orders. John, Mayantha, I'm with you."
Mayantha looked at John. "Usually about now you have an idea."
"I'm not the Doctor."
"So, you don't have ideas?"
John sighed and looked back at the table. Pete Tyler glowered.
"Well, I might have one idea. Jack, Mayantha, allons-y to the morgue." He paused. "That doesn't really have a ring to it, does it?"
Donna sat in the cellar with the children and Lisette. She wished she had bothered to put some sort of emergency preparation down here. Mostly it served as the gathering point for old furniture and things she meant to give to charity. Ella curled up next to her on an old sofa. Lisette played with Josh and his collection of action figures.
"Everything's going to be fine, sweetheart. You'll see," said Donna.
"I'm scared."
"I know. That's alright. Mummy is right here with you."
"What's that?," asked Lisette.
Donna stopped and listened.
There were footsteprs
"Mummy," said Ella.
"Mum." Now Josh was looking at her.
"It's going to be fine," said Donna.
She got up and foraged in the boxes, finding an old set of golf clubs. She walked to the cellar door and waited as she heard footsteps approaching.
"The door opened and she raised her arm to strike and just as she was about to make contact she realized it wasn't an alien coming through the cellar door.
It was bloody Ethan.
"Jesus, Donna! What do you think you're doing?"
"What do I think I'm doing? What the hell are you doing here?"
"It's my weekend."
"Are you serious?"
"Yeah, I thought I'd take the kids to the cinema."
Donna looked back at her children, who were holding on to Lisette. She looked back at Ethan.
"Did you happen to notice the alien ships in the sky?"
"Oh, is that what that is?"
"You're not taking them anywhere. They're staying here where it's safe."
"You never let me have them. The other weekend with the monster rubbish, then you were too busy because your boyfriend got shot, now aliens. Really, Donna."
Donna crossed her arms. "My children are staying with me."
Ethan looked at the twins. "Josh, Ella, get your stuff."
Both of them looked at Donna.
"I want to stay with Mummy," said Ella.
Ethan groaned. "Fine. Josh, you're not scared, right? Get your stuff."
Donna thought she would once again have to be the bad parent, but she was surprised.
"No, I'm staying with Mum," said Josh.
Donna looked at him in shock. He quickly followed up with. "Just to make sure she's safe, you know."
"This is nonsense, come on."
He headed towards the kids, Donna put herself between him and them.
"What in the hell do you think you're doing?," asked Donna. "Have you gone completely mad?"
"I'm taking my kids!"
"Ethan, no."
"Don't try to stop me, Donna."
"What is wrong with you?"
Ethan shoved Donna aside, nearly pushing her to the floor. She regained her balance as Ethan grabbed Josh's wrist.
"Mr. Croft, please, no!," protested Lisette.
"Get your hands off him," said Donna tightly.
"Dad, you're hurting me!," said Josh.
Donna grabbed Ethan by the back of his top and kicked him in the shin as she had once done to an unruly Tottenham fan. He cried out in pain, releasing Josh's wrist. She put herself back between him and the children who were now both crying.
"Get the hell out of my house!"
"What are you going to do about it, Donna? They're my children! I have a right to see them!"
Donna shook her head. "You're leaving. Now!"
Donna suddenly realized that Ethan's hands were around her neck. She tried to pry them off, but things seemed to be happening in slow motion, but that wasn't making them easier. She realized Lisette's hands were around Ethan's wrists, trying to pull him off and that Josh was pounding his fists into Ethan. She heard Ella's awful primal scream behind her.
"The monster! The monster!," she screamed.
It didn't make sense, but Donna didn't focus on it. She had to work out how to get out of this, but suddenly Ethan let her go. She worked to catch her breath, still feeling dizzy as Josh wrapped himself around her hips.
She realized Ella was still screaming. Donna looked up at Ethan.
"Get the hell out of my house before I kill you."
Ethan didn't say anything, he just turned around and left.
"I'm sorry, Mum," said Josh.
"Shh, sweetheart. What are you sorry for? You've done nothing wrong."
"I couldn't stop him," he said.
Donna shook her head. "That's alright. It's not your job to protect me, I protect you."
"Are you alright?," asked Lisette. "Should I call a doctor?"
"I'll be fine," said Donna. She looked back at Ella, who was crying against the wall.
Donna hurried over and peeled her off the wall. "Come here, Ella. Mummy's alright."
Ella sobbed into Donna. "The monster. The monster was here!"
"Hush, he's gone now."
The storage locker materialized in front of the Sontaran soldiers as they marched towards the sublevel where the Master's body was being stored.
"A TARDIS!," shouted the commander.
The door opened. John stepped out.
"Oh! Sontarans! Brilliant! It's been a while since I've seen you lot!"
Suddenly, he heard the scream of the Krillitane as they flew down the corridor, stopping just on the other side of Mayantha's TARDIS.
"Oi! We can't hear anything over you lot! I'm trying to speak! Now shut it!"
The Krillitanes quieted.
"So, suppose you lot want the Master's body, right?"
"You can't intimidate us, Doctor," said the Sontaran commander.
"The secret of the Time Lords will be ours!," shouted what John assumed was the head Krillitane. It was hard to tell.
"Time Lord immortality will be the prize of the Sontarans!"
"Yeah, yeah," said John, "now I'm willing to let you have what you want, but then you two have to decide how you're going to share it."
"The Sontarans will not share this glory!"
"Nor will we!"
John shrugged. "Oh, well, just one thing left to do."
Jack dragged out the Master's body. "Hello, everyone!," he said cheerfully depositing the body on the ground.
"Oh, this is my friend, Jack. Does everyone know Jack?," asked John.
Mayantha came out with a barrel.
"And this is Mayantha! Do we all know Mayantha?"
"Hello, everyone," she said with a smile. "Anyone want to guess what this is?," she asked taking the lid off the barrel.
An explosive timer beeped on the side.
"You will not scare us with your puny human technology!," said the Sontaran.
"Well, it's not exactly human. Fun fact about the new model TARDISes, did you know they can replicate any substance they happen to get a sample of? Whole wide universe!," said John.
"Another fun fact," added Mayantha, "did you know last time I met the Krillitanes, I got a sample of their oil? My mum thought I should dispose of it, but my dad the hoarder said not to."
"I am not a hoarder!," said John.
"Anyway," said Jack, "this barrel is attached to a highly flammable explosive set to go off in..."
"About thirty seconds," Mayantha finished.
"Right, so, we're off then," said John.
The three rushed back in the TARDIS and John locked the door. Mayantha set it to dematerialize just as they heard the explosion. They arrived back at the conference room and came out.
"They're leaving," said Gwen.
"Not exactly the most dignified burial for a Time Lord," said Jack.
"The Master would have appreciated it. You'll find the Krillitanes and Sontarans will stay away." John shrugged. "No prize, no glory, no point. Plus, they're afraid of incurring the wrath of the Time Lords," he said. He looked to Bernard.
"Well done, John. Really."
"But?," asked John.
"Pete wants to see you."
"I bet he does." John looked at Mayantha. "I'll just be a few minutes.'
John made the trek up to Pete Tyler's office and went past the secretary, even as she called for him to stop.
"What?," said John.
"What?," Pete said insulted.
"I told you not to keep the Master's body and you did. You tried to keep it instead of saving the Earth, so yes, I disobeyed orders. I don't even know what that means 'orders.' I'm not your slave, I'm not anyone's slave. If something needs done, I'm doing it."
"I'm afraid that's not how it works, John."
"No, how it works is you do something unreasonable and I clean it up for you when it backfires."
Pete took a long breath. "I think it would be best if you took a break from Torchwood."
"Yeah, just until next time the Earth needs saving. See if you can manage that, like the time you saved the universes. Oh, wait was that someone else?"
John didn't wait for the reproach, he just left.
The reaction at the Torchwood extraterrestrial department ranged from shock to disgust to Gwen saying they should each grab a golf club out of Bernard's office and show Pete Tyler a thing or two.
Oddly, she didn't find supporters of that plan. When she suggested downgrading the plan to slashing the tires on his Lexus, nobody said no until she started looking for a knife.
"He can't do that!," said Gwen.
"I'll speak with him, John," said Bernard.
"No, it's fine," said John as he collected his things off his desk.
"You can't go. You're the only one here who actually knows anything about aliens," said Adeola.
"Hey," said Jack.
"You know, the only one who's not a sex addict," said Gwen.
"I appreciate all that," said John. "Really, I do."
"You're coming back. I'll see to it," said Bernard.
John nodded and went back in Mayantha's TARDIS.
"So, sacked," said Mayantha. "I've never been sacked."
"Neither have I," said John. "Then again, I never had a job."
"Home then?," asked Mayantha.
"Suppose so?"
Mayantha looked at her watch. "I need to go to Gallifrey soon or I'll miss my window."
"Oh," said John, feeling a twinge of sorrow.
"I'll come say goodbye first," she said with a smile.
Josh watched the news reports about the alien invasion in the sitting room and tossed aside the cold compress Lisette had given him for his wrist. He knew his mum and Lisette were trying to distract him as they did every time there was bad news. He looked up to see that new armoire had appeared again and John and Mayantha stepped out of it.
"Oh, Josh, right, we were just..."
John found he couldn't think of a good reason why he and Mayantha would have been in an armoire for hours. He found he didn't have to as he realized Josh's arms were wrapped around his waist.
"Joshua? What's going on, mate?"
Josh didn't look up. "Dad was here and he was really angry and he tried to kill Mum."
"What?," exclaimed John. "Donna!"
John rushed upstairs. Josh looked at Mayantha.
"You like stars, don't you?," asked Mayantha.
"Yeah, I've got a telescope."
Mayantha nodded. "Well, you haven't seen them through mine."
Josh grinned.
John found Donna in Ella's room. Ella was on the bed, looking positively catatonic as Donna gently massaged her back.
"Donna, what the hell happened?"
She shushed him as she looked up from Ella. John knelt down to Ella.
"Sweetheart, are you okay?"
"The monster..." she said.
"You're fine," said John. "I'm back and I promise nothing will hurt you."
Donna kissed her on the head. "I'm going to go with John for a bit. We'll be just down the hall, okay?"
Ella didn't answer. Donna motioned for John to follow her out.
With the door to the master bedroom safely shut, Donna collapsed against John.
"You're alright," said John. "Just tell me what happened."
She groaned. "I don't know. In the middle of everything Ethan showed up and wanted to take the children for the weekend!"
"What?"
"I wasn't about to let them go."
"Of course not."
"And they didn't want to! They were frightened, even Josh didn't want to go and I told him to go and he choked me!"
"Choked you?" John gingerly moved her chin up and saw fingerprints starting to bruise around her neck.
"I'm fine now. Really." She shook her head. "My poor babies. Josh tried to fight him off and Ella wouldn't stop screaming!" She looked up at John. "John?"
"I'm going to go see him," said John.
"What? No."
"I wasn't here today and I'm sorry, but I'm going to make certain he understands that he can't do that."
"John, I will take care of it! I have scary attorneys! One of them is a very angry lesbian who is just dying for a chance to ruin a man's life."
"No, that's not enough!"
"Don't you bloody dare! I swear to God, I'll kill you." She smacked him on the arm. "Who do you think you are? Rambo?"
John sighed. "I want to help!"
She took his face in her hands. "You're better than that," Donna said simply. "Besides, you saved Earth, didn't you? I think that's more than enough heroics for one day."
"I got sacked."
"Sacked?," exclaimed Donna. "Am I mistaken? Are we all actually dead? We're all still here."
"We are."
"So, what did you get sacked for?"
"Being clever so far as I can tell."
Donna shook her head. "Don't worry. It won't last. They can't do anything without you, but I think they can wait until after the honeymoon."
John smiled at that thought and had a glance out the window where he saw Mayantha and Josh in the back garden.
"What is she doing?," he said.
"What?," asked Donna.
"She's going to miss her window to get home," said John. "When Time Lords go into seclusion, they really go blocking all access to the planet. They gave her a small opening to come home during."
John hurried downstairs and into the back garden.
Mayantha sat next to Josh with a large telescope, set up on the grass.
"See anything?," she asked.
Josh shook his head. "Wait. No. I see two stars. Right together!"
John approached. "Mayantha, what are you doing? You'll miss your window."
"I'm fine. There's another one in a month. Besides, I'm not missing it. I'm using it." She looked at her wristwatch and then at Josh. "Keep your eye on it."
Donna came out. "What's going on?"
"Seriously, Mayantha, your mother will kill me if I keep you," said John.
"I'll explain it was my idea."
"She won't believe you!"
Donna sat next to Josh. "What are you looking at?"
"I don't know. Wait! What's that?," Josh exclaimed.
"Big red circle?," asked Mayantha.
"Yeah."
"That's Gallifrey."
"But how can you see that on a telescope?," asked Donna. She looked at John. "You told me it was billions of miles away."
"The telescope is dimensionally transcendental, like my ship," said Mayantha, "the eyepiece is here, but the lens is at another point in space and time."
"Oh, Time Lords, what will they think of next?," joked Donna.
"How does it disappear like that?," asked Josh.
"Perception filter."
"May I have a look?," asked Donna.
"Yeah," said Mayantha, gently moving Josh out of the way.
Donna looked. It was amazing, like she could reach out and touch the red soil so much more detailed than when her grandfather had shown her the stars when she was a little girl. She sat back up and looked at John.
"You should have a look," said Donna.
John shook his head. "No, I couldn't..."
"Why not?," asked Donna.
John froze. It was just a memory to him, it shouldn't have existed and the last time that he had seen it or rather had the memory of seeing it, it was burning. That last horrible day.
"You should decide soon," said Mayantha.
"Go ahead," said Donna, her hand over his.
John took a breath and looked in the telescope.
There it was. As he remembered it. Hanging safely in the sky as if nothing had happened to it, because of course, nothing had happened to it. It wasn't his Gallifrey, not really, not that he'd really ever had a Gallifrey. It was some other Doctor's Gallifrey.
Yet there it was, hanging in the sky.
There it was.
Then it disappeared. John sat back.
"Sorry," said Mayantha, "the window closed."
Donna rubbed John's back and then looked at Mayantha. "Now, don't you care about worrying your poor mother? If this one's any indication, the poor woman must be riddled with stress."
Mayantha smiled. "She gives as good as she gets. Sort of like you."
"Oi, watch your mouth, you cheeky girl."
"I'm four hundred and two," protested Mayantha.
Donna shook her head. "Like I care." She looked at Josh. "Let's go inside, sweetheart. It's been a long day and Lisette should be finished with your supper by now."
"No John at Torchwood," Jack mused at the pub where he and Gwen were have a late dinner. "Adeola's right. He's the only one who knows what he's doing."
Gwen shook her head. "I don't even want to work there without John. If it hadn't been for him it would still be Rose Tyler messing about and screwing things up."
"Who is Rose Tyler anyway?"
"Well, as I understand it, in the universe John came from, she thinks she's the love of the Doctor's life. Didn't care that he got married and was having a baby."
Jack shook his head. "Glad I never met her."
"Apparently her big accomplishment was absorbing the Time Vortex, whatever that means."
Jack snorted as he took a sip of his pint. "It's like staring at the sun too long."
"Oh, well, that explains some things..." Gwen looked up. "Oh, God, speak of the devil!"
Gwen motioned and Jack saw a brunette woman in a dark pantsuit sitting next to a man with two many buttons on his shirt undone.
"She looks familiar," said Jack.
"She's dyed her hair, you know, from when she dyed it blonde."
"Who's the guy?"
Gwen shook her head. "Don't know. Rich from the looks of him. Poor unlucky bastard."
Jack looked at Gwen. "Speaking of lucky..."
"Oh, good, I thought you had forgotten to come on to me."
"Come on, Gwen. You at least owe me a shot."
"I don't even know if you're any good!"
"Then you should find out!," he grinned.
Gwen sighed. "Fine. You get one shag, but just so you'll shut up."
Jack stood and pulled Gwen's chair out for her. She stood up and thought she saw something by Rose and the man, but then she didn't.
"Gwen, why are you breathing so fast?," asked Jack. "We haven't even started yet."
"Oh, God, I'm going to regret this, I can tell."