Chapter Fourteen:

The Noble Thing to do

The proper Jack for the world sat in his living room, eyes staring past the curtains and out into the world. The sky was dark, now, and he covered up Andie with the duvet she had always preferred when at his home. He had been thinking long and hard since she talked with him about her mother and how she felt like she shouldn't bring herself to see her mother.

Donna Noble was alive, and Andie had died. His heart ached at that sentiment, and he had wanted to punch his past-current-paradox self. Andie had struggled with her mother dying at her birth for her entire life. Still, he felt like somehow, she should not have made her mind as she had. She was articulate in her explanation to the lot of them before she closed the door to her car and drove to see Martha, but the expression on her face when she arrived at his door was explanation enough for him.

He needed to talk her into seeing this Donna Noble. This Donna, who had lost a child, could gain the one who had, in other world, lost her mother. Andie needed this, and somewhere inside the two-hearted Doctor, he did, too. Heck, watching the two of them, the weird way they were, Jack felt like he needed Donna. The same Donna who had helped Rose with her husband, the Donna who had made a beautiful woman such as Andie and the woman who helped his paradox-self become softer without Andie Echo Noble. Who in the galaxy was Donna Noble and how could she do all of this dying in one world while still existing in the other?

He knew the tricks his paradox-self used to fix her memory. It was the same sort of mix of medicine that Jack had used with Andie. It was an old Time Agent mix that he couldn't really remember where he got it, but knew its uses.

The Doctor had knocked on his door before using the sonic on it, his three accomplices following behind. He turned around with a finger to his mouth before having the other Jack shut the door.

"I don't need to think about there being two Jack's, now. I already have a proper Doctor and other Doctor. It doesn't help that I have a proper Jack and the other Jack," Andie said, her voice far away. Her eyes were still shut, but she woke up at the sound of the knock. Jack's place was so quiet any noise woke her up. "And," she added, "Why didn't the TARDIS make that noise?"

Jack threw the closest pillow at her, laughing as he did so. "Well," he said, turning on the fan and leaning over the side of the couch. "Obviously, they didn't take it!" He was smiling down at her as she turned to playfully glare at her uncle.

"Obviously, I find you annoying," she replied, slapping at his hand as he made pointy fingers in her direction.

"I think he knew that before," said the other Doctor, walking to sit on the chair next to her. "Andie, I think you should reconsider something."

She opened her mouth but a hand, Jack's hand, was placed over her mouth as she started to protest.

The other Doctor leaned over, looking at her through silly glasses. "If you were a real Noble woman, you wouldn't give up a second chance. Donna doesn't know about you, but she does know that her spaceman and best friend was terrified of her dying and left her. The knowledge in her head almost burned her as she gave birth to a still-born girl, and that knowledge has been treated out of her. I've met your mother, your proper mother and this Donna Noble who lost a daughter. They are the same woman. She knows about time travel, Andie. She wouldn't worry or feel sad about meeting her daughter. She would milk the time she had with you and be happy, because somewhere, her daughter lived."

She had relaxed against the couch through his tiny monologue, and no longer needed Jack's hand over her mouth. Andie's hair, though, was a curly mess that Jack, during the two or so minutes the other Doctor talked to brush out the mess. She was tired, a sort of tired that was the result of Martha's soup and Jack's couch and the pressure of the dream she had had.

Sylvia apologizing for her not having the proper, young mother that Donna should have been as she had run into the room, begging for a play-mate a young age was an often thing until Jack had showed up to be her nanny. She looked up, her hands braiding her now brushed hair, and looked at Jack with wide eyes. Slowly nodding, Andie asked the Doctor a quiet question, "Can I bring her with us?"

"It is the Noble thing to do." The Doctor grinned, matching the expression on everyone else's face, joy in his eyes.