Chapter Nine:
The New Earth
The Doctor stepped out first, hand clasped in Andie's. Neither of them remembered that she still had his jacket wrapped around them. If they thought about it, it was darn near impossible for her to still have it around her, but they didn't notice.
His eyes scanned everything. "Notice everything," he said, now seeing the building that was Torchwood London. "Notice that we're a little bit after your time and this is parallel earth."
"Parallel?"
"Think of it like a comic book! Another dimension, so to speak. Well, not so to speak because it's true, but still!" That was the Doctor's voice, but it was his old voice. That was the tenth Doctor's voice. He was standing behind them, hands in pockets in a suit very similar to what the proper Doctor had regenerated in.
The proper Doctor turned around, subtly pushing Andie a fraction of an inch behind him. No, he wasn't scared of his former self; he just didn't trust this earth. "I've nearly forgotten that this earth had a Torchwood London."
Andie made an audible gasp at that sentence and turned – eyes wide. "No, don't say that. Torchwood London isn't good."
The other Doctor frowned, looking towards the building, but then catching the companion's words looked at the proper Doctor. "Why—"
The proper Doctor held up a hand before taking Andie's waist in his arm, and pulling her towards the building. She was shaken and tried to resist, but the Doctor didn't let up. "Andie, listen to me. Do you think I'd bring you into a place I hated? I don't like our world's Torchwood London, but this one actually helped to save lives in that same battle, and our Torchwood London is gone completely."
She was still trying to resist, a habit only Jack would approve of in this circumstance, but slipped into a turn to get away from his gift. "It still killed staff. I don't care where it is, Torchwood is Torchwood and even with Jack in charge, it's a bad thing. I don't like it. Take me to UNIT. They like me at UNIT—" Her eyes widened.
It was then the other Doctor noticed her mannerisms, and saw the resemblance she had to Donna. He put two and two together. This was Donna's daughter. And she had knowledge, and very suddenly he felt the blatant link he was created by with her and closed it off, feeling the sadness that only meant that the girl was the only thing left of Donna Noble.
She looked from Doctor to Doctor, and took her Doctor's hand to pull him close. "Do I exist here?"
The Doctor shrugged, not looking at her eyes. "I don't even know, Andie. We can look. If you'd just trust me—"
Andie, tired of that word, tired of that sentiment, rolled her eyes and began something she knew only her mother would have tried. She started pulling the Doctor – silently, though – towards the building. Every cell in her body didn't want it, but she had to prove herself, again, to someone else.
The other Doctor followed, hands still in pockets. When they entered, the other Doctor held up a hand to an almost protesting secretary. He was hot on their heels, watching as the proper Doctor sonic'd his way through the doors. Maybe the proper Doctor didn't even think about what Rose would say if she was in the building.
Andie commanded the audience of the room in personnel, and she froze at the sudden feeling of eyes on her. There wasn't preparation for that. Especially at Torchwood. She let the proper Doctor's arm go, and diverted the attention by pointing to the other Doctor. "He said we could come in." She faked a grin, one reminiscent to aforementioned Doctor, and turned around to face the proper Doctor.
"Right, ah, um… Okay, team, here's the thing! The Doctor – the Time Lord version, regenerated, obviously – is visiting us till the TARDIS gets kicking. This is his newest companion…" He looked down at her, looking at how her eyes seemed to stare at something in the floor, the Doctor tucking her into his jacket that was still wrapped about her shoulders. He felt that link reach for safety, but knew that she wasn't really aware of the power that she held. A human with such power could nearly…
"Andie. Her name is Andie Echo Noble." The Doctor grinned when she looked up at him, and then she too glanced his way, smiling.
"That's me! Andie Echo Noble who is soon to be Professor if I get to the right time. UNIT's forcing my internship and education through," she added, seeing the raised eyebrows. "I'm a UNIT favorite. They sort of helped in my childhood." She shrugged, hair suddenly tumbling to her shoulders as her hair tie broke. Andie didn't think about it as she played with her hair comfortably. It did have ginger roots. Dark, but still there.
The other Doctor's eyebrows were now fully raised like the Doctor's, and he nodded slowly. "Alright," he drawled, "shall we prepare rooms?" He was waving for someone to go ahead and prepare them as a positive nod came from the Doctor.