"The Six" AU
'Journeys Converge'
Chapter Nine
- Shopping? -
A/N: I don't own squat, except what I write.
Music: 2011 Big Brother Theme
In the middle of breakfast, Jack looked over at the Doctor's double and tilted his head. "Not to be rude or anything, but what exactly should we be calling you? I mean, 'hay you' works in a pinch, but what about everyday conversation?"
The double looked up and tilted his head. "Been thinking about that." He paused to wash down his mouthful. "While John Smith does work, it's not all that imaginative and screams 'fake name' at people."
"Worked enough for me," the Doctor said, frowning at him.
"Hence the non imaginative part of what I said," he grinned at the Doctor. "I've an idea, but… uhm…" He pursed his lips, and locked eyes with Donna across the table. "Would you be opposed to Donald Michael?"
She blinked in a bit of shock, then grinned at him. "Seriously?"
"Why not?" he countered with a shrug. "I mean, we're technically twins in a roundabout fashion as it is," he looked to the Doctor briefly, "or triplets, but I wont use Noble unless mum … I mean Sylvia says it's all right."
Donna was all smiles. "Yeah, we can do that… Don," she nodded.
"Let me guess," Jack said, looking over to her. "You're middle name is Michelle?" Donna nodded, still grinning. "That does go rather well together," he smirked.
"Plus," Don said quietly, looking at Danielle. "I kinda wanted to pay my respects to Mickey at the same time… if that's all right."
Danielle looked up sharply with wide eyes, pausing mid chew. Swallowing forcibly, she blinked away the tears that were building up and nodded slightly. "I … I think he'd like that," she said under her breath. "Thank you," she smiled pensively.
"The Doctor, Donna and Donald," Jack said in a radio voice impression, "now in 3D!" Groans from all around the table preceded several things getting tossed at Jack for the pun. Chuckling from under his defensive arm, he continued. "Plus, Donald Duck kinda fits."
"Oh, you would think of that!" Don said loudly. The mini rant would've gone over better if he hadn't been grinning when he complained. Then there was the fact that he mimicked the character perfectly when he said it, causing a bit of an uproar.
"The Bane of Man… The Mall," the Doctor mumbled after several hours. He shouldn't have been surprised at Don's enthusiasm over the whole thing. What did though, was the man's stamina. Places like this really didn't impress him all that much. Sure, it had a nostalgic feel – what with the inane gadgetry of the twenty first century and everything – but the fact that they were after a wardrobe of clothes set his teeth on edge.
Clothes kept you warm and hid your modesty. If it was comfortable and suited his sense of style, the Doctor wasn't above having several identical sets made up. He wouldn't have even had a blue suit if Rose hadn't pestered him on it.
As it was, he'd opted out of the more in depth discussions on the subject and sat himself in the food court. Rose lasted all of ten minutes from tasting what he was eating, before joining him. As she unwrapped her chips, she gave him a coy smile. "Thanks for putting up with this. I know you hate it."
"It's just so redundant," he muttered. Mouth full, he switched to telepathy. 'I mean, I know that clothes make the man, so to speak. But the amount of thought he's putting to it makes my head spin.'
'And, how much time did you take to first put that outfit together?' Rose smirked, already knowing the answer.
His lips pursed as he drank his chocolate shake. 'Two hours,' he thought quietly, sounding rather sheepish about it. Glancing up, he grinned at the sight of Sarah and Danielle approaching with their own trays of food. "Hello, you lot. Taking a break from mister marathon man?"
"Just watching him makes me tired," Danielle said as she sat down.
Sarah grinned, parking herself next to Rose and across from Danielle. "I dunno. I think it's sweet how he keeps asking her opinion."
"Who's? the Doctor asked.
Rose chuckled. "Martha's."
"Bout died laughing when he asked 'Does this make my bum look too big?'" Danielle giggled.
"Not half as much as how large her eyes got just staring at it," Sarah countered.
The look of horrific pain on her husband's face caused Rose to burst out laughing. "Blimey! Not while I'm drinkin'!" she complained. She looked up when she saw Jack across the way, locating them by her laugh, and waved him over.
Don was holding two packages, looking back and forth between them in a mutter. "Boxers… briefs… boxers…" His eyes lit on something, and he replaced the ones he had to pick up another one. "Aha! Bikini!" Smiling in triumph, he tossed it in the trolley.
'Are you tryin' to give her a heart attack?' Donna chided. 'I swear, the amount of pheromones she's putting out would choke an elephant!'
Don bit his lip to keep from smirking. 'Oh, so it's workin' then?'
"Stop it," Donna grumbled aloud, jabbing his shoulder.
"Ow!" he complained. "What'd I do?" Donna just scowled at him from the side.
For her part, Martha fought back what she was thinking by distracting the siblings. And boy, was it easy thinking of them that way now, what with how they constantly bickered. "So, tell me something. Why is it, you're only buying one of everything? No backups?"
"Cheaper and easier that way," Don said. "All I really need is their pattern. Once they're aboard ship, the TARDIS can duplicate, tailor, and colour them any way I need."
"So this is just finding out what you like?" she asked.
"Pretty much," he nodded. "Thanks for helpin' out, by the way. I really appreci… ate…" His voice trailed off as something caught his eye. "Ohhhhh," he left the trolley and fast walked over to a headless mannequin that had a dark brown leather jacket on it.
Martha and Donna caught up with him, pushing the trolley along, as he began flipping through the rack. Finding the right size, he tried it on right there. Looking over at them with a spark in his wide eyes, grinning his face off, he bounced on his toes. "What you think? Can I have it mummy?"
Donna's mouth dropped open. "Don't call me that!"
He pouted. "But, part of me came from you, so…"
"I. Will. Slap. You. if you call me that again," Donna said slowly, glowering at him.
Martha was thoroughly amused. "I think it looks good," she said through her giggles. "Brings out your eyes, and… hold on." She stepped up to him and gave his hair the once over. "I just realized. You're hair is different."
"What do you mean?" he asked, looking concerned.
"You haven't had time to get your hair done, so where did…" she trailed off and turned to look at Donna. "I think he got a bit of your hair."
"Mirror, mirror, mirror," Don said rapidly, moving to a support column, which doubled as a place for customers to see how things fit on them. "Look… at that!" he smiled. "Ohh, he's gonna kill me." He burst out laughing.
'I HAVE GINGER HIGHLIGHTS!' Don broadcast.
Luckily, the Doctor didn't have anything in his mouth, otherwise Rose would've had whatever it was all over her face. As it was, his jaw fell open. "That… bastard."
Rose didn't help at all when she burst out laughing again. 'You hit the parlour?'
'Looks like it was my fault,' Donna replied. 'It's not that noticeable, unless you're actually looking for it.'
'Well, that's something,' the Doctor grumbled.
Sarah was confused. 'Why is that such a big deal?'
'Remember when I told you how upset your father was,' Rose thought to them all with a grin. 'When he found out he was brown instead of ginger?'
'You told her that?' Don said, sounding amused.
'Stop gloating, before I belt you,' Donna threatened.
A hand waved in front of the Doctor's face, startling him. Looking over, he saw a worried Jack. "What's going on? Who's a bastard?"
Wilfred Mott heard something strange coming from the back garden. Opening the door from the kitchen, he saw the TARDIS fade into existence. Huge smile on his face, he looked back into the house. "Sylvia! Donna's back!"
The door to the TARDIS opened as Sylvia joined him. Their smiles lit up as Donna came out. She was hugging the both of them, when Wilfred saw the Doctor step out. "Oi, there he is! Did that nice young lady find you?"
The Doctor nodded with a big grin on his face as Rose came out. Noticing that she took the Doctor's hand, Wilf's brow went up. Rose actually blushed, and the Doctor chuckled as she became bashful – turning to hide her face in his shoulder.
"We have a lot to discuss," the Doctor said, looking back into the TARDIS.
"What if they don't accept me?" Don whispered to Martha.
She smiled and gave him a hug. "It'll be all right, regardless."
"Mum can be a bit… much," he said quietly. A tapping on his shoulder made him flinch.
"Go on," Martha encouraged, taking his hand. "Right behind you." The strength of his hand surprised her, but it wasn't painful – just extremely tight. It was almost as if she was his lifeline, she realized.
After Donna led her mother inside the house, Wilf saw the Doctor reach into that daft blue box of his. The other door opened, and he was shocked to see another Doctor step out. He recognized the black lady behind him from that strange conference call on his laptop. "I didn't know you had a twin, Doctor."
The second Doctor actually looked frightened. He was dressed far more casually than the Doctor, wearing denim trousers, trainers, a button up shirt and a dark brown leather jacket. It was odd, but the look on his face worried him. "You all right? I'm Wilf. He's told me absolutely nothing about you," he grinned.
Don's face cracked and he started laughing. "Oh, I missed you Gramps." He let go of Martha's hand and wrapped Wilf up in a hug. Freezing up, he let go of him. "Uhm, I mean, nice to meet you, Wilfred." Wide eyed, he mumbled, "Maybe I should just wait in the TARDIS."
"The only one that's going to get yelled at is me, I expect," the Doctor said, putting a hand on Don's shoulder.
Martha stepped up to Don's left side and took his hand again. "If she yells at you, she'll have to go through me."
"What's all this?" Wilfred asked.
From inside the house, they all could hear Sylvia's sharp, "What?"
"Bad idea," Don mumbled. "Very bad idea. I should just… go."
Before he had the chance to move, the back door opened. Sylvia didn't even glance at the others as she stared at Don in absolute shock.
"Good to know some things can make you speechless," Don said without thinking, then cringed over it.
"Sylvia?" Wilfred said, staring at her. "What's goin' on?"
"Dad, Donna's making tea," Sylvia said quietly. "Please make everyone comfortable in the sitting room. Doctor, explain things to him."
'You all right?' the Doctor asked Don. The only reply he got was a small whimper as Don swallowed nervously. His attention was diverted when Rose tugged him into the house.
Once the door was closed, Sylvia was interrupted from what ever she was going to say by Martha. "Don't you dare yell at him."
Startled, Sylvia blinked and looked at Martha. She noticed how the pair were holding hands and shook her head. "Not going to yell, just ask for some proof." While she was civil, her tone was anything but.
"You return every present given to you, exchanging it for something else, no matter the holiday," Don said quietly. "Except for one time, when you didn't have a choice. Donna put a lot of work into that sculpture, and you let it rot in the attic. Do you have any idea how much that hurt her?"
Her hand moved before she realized it, and the sound of it hitting his cheek was immediately answered by another one. Blinking at the sting of her face, she turned a wide eyed look of shock at Martha.
"Slapping isn't allowed either," Martha said, her voice hard. "He's a little over a day old, and had no control over how he came to be. I don't care how much you rail against it, but he's as much your son as Donna is your daughter. If you want to say anything else to him, we'll be in the TARDIS." She turned him around. "C'mon Donald."
Before the doors closed, Martha looked back out. "If you're nice." She then slammed the door and locked it.
The door to the house opened, and Sylvia saw a scalding glare from her daughter. "I see your manners still leave a lot to be desired. Get inside the bloody house, mother!" she hissed.
Don stood in the console room in shock. He wasn't all that surprised, but it still hurt. He only realized he was shaking when Martha hugged him underneath his jacket.
"It's okay to cry," Martha whispered. She felt his arms come around her and his wet cheek against hers. His shaking got worse, and she held him tighter when he began softly sobbing. "Shhhhh. Got you," she murmured.