Title: AU: Part Two Pairing: Rose/ Duplicate, Rose/ 9th Doctor, Donna/Duplicate
Series: Dr Who, series 4 Rating: 15 Type: Fanfiction, Angst
Summary: The Duplicate Doctor has met Alternate Donna! So what's going on with Rose?
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Dr Who characters or anything from the universe of Dr Who. I am just taking the characters and playing with them a while – promising to restore them whole and unblemished! Thanks to Russell T for creating these toys for me to enjoy. Please don't take any of my playing as having any bearing on the actual franchise. Enjoy.
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Rose saw the life drain out of the cyber unit lying before her and tried to hang onto the feeling that what she had done was good and right…
But instead of getting easier, each death stabbed her deeper. All she had wanted was to explore the universe… instead she had become this; a murderer.
"This section is clear, ma'am."
Rose winced; she hated that handle… she wasn't a soldier. At least, she hadn't meant to be.
"Fine," Rose said, checking her mobile monitor and ordering, "team one can stay up here and clear away the wreckage, team two will head to the central hub and make sure there are no other communication nets… team three with me, we'll check out the basement…"
Soldiers moved with purpose… and so did she.
The group of twelve at her back raised their weapons… but Rose used her eyes. The room was filled with dust-covered computers, mechanised limbs and plastic mannequins.
Once, years ago, this place had been a department store. There was nothing out of the ordinary.
She ventured further inside.
The room was silent and even after minutes of searching there was nothing to conclude but the security of the place.
She dismissed the soldiers, but remained to look over the room.
In truth, she was glad of the time alone. A moment where she didn't feel the weight of command that had been forced upon her, a moment where she could reflect and remorse the lives lost…
They were, none of them, willing enemies. It was a tragedy. Not a victory.
But she had been foolish; keeping her eye off the game.
Before she had realised it, Rose had found herself in a room with plastic mannequins moving, jerkily, toward her.
The gun she habitually carried, discarded in the delusion of safety.
Not again, she thought as she helplessly pressed herself against the wall. Her gun abandoned in the notion she was safe and out of danger.
And she closed her eyes…
In a moment, her hand was snatched up in a warm, strong hold by a familiarly solid grip…
It couldn't be… she must be imagining it.
But that big, ragged face… the crooked nose, the wide and slightly mad smile told her otherwise…
He looked at her as though he had never known her… and, of course, in this universe… the Doctor had no idea who she was.
"Run," he said, dragging her away from danger and into a new life…
()
It had been a slightly anti-climactic day up to that point; the duplicate Doctor had been asked to open negotiations with the Dreen… a somewhat basic species when it came to culture and equality… but they were a neighbouring force in this universe and they had had experience in dealing with cybernetics…
He understood the reasons behind the government's desire to contact this race… they wanted to know there was a future after the devastation of the Cybermen and the following global warming crisis caused by the rip in the fabric of the universe. They wanted hope.
What they had failed to consider was the extreme prejudice the Dreen showed any species bar their own. Thankfully, the Doctor had connections…
It was going to take a lot more time to convince them to help the humans build a better tomorrow. He sighed, he would have to write a report… another one… thankfully, this time, he would have help.
Donna Noble sat beyond the glass wall to his office… she was working on her computer.
The Doctor felt a bloom of joy in his chest. Something must have been smiling on him to bring her back into his life.
Nothing could describe how he felt when he looked up from the dreary paperwork to see her smiling at him; he had to hold himself back from scooping her up into the tightest hug he could muster.
He had wanted to sing! To laugh about how much he had missed her and the times they had shared and could share again…
But what had he done since he had met her this morning? Shaken her hand; wanting desperately to embrace her but handing over the rest of her induction to Duncan. It was almost as though he was scared to spend any time with her, in case she was different.
Rose had been different; he had rushed into her life and buried himself there all the same and realising he didn't belong with Rose had meant a slow-tear of his heart for the past several months.
Seeing Donna this morning had thrown him.
This time he was going to make it work. That's why he had practically dismissed her under a pile of paperwork… that's why he had hardly spoken a word to her in hours… He was being irrational, The Doctor chastised himself. Even if it was anyone else, he would have taken the time and made the effort. It had nothing to do with the fact it was Donna Noble.
Was he scared? What scared him?
The possibility that she was nothing like his Donna? Or that she was? And what that would that mean?
The Doctor steeled himself.
There was only one way to find out, he thought as he strode out of the office and stood over a startled Donna…
"It's been a long day, hasn't it?" He asked, containing his excitement as she smiled at him.
"I don't mind." She shrugged toward the papers on her desk, "Gave me the time to catch up."
He tried to swallow down the growing excitement as she startled and said; "That is… if you're keeping me. You are keeping me? Right?"
The Doctor felt his heart strain at its seams… how could he ever reject her?
"I think you'll fit in here perfectly," he said with confidence.
She smiled, demurely…. And gave him the added boost he needed.
"But it is quite late," the Doctor took a breath, "and I'm starving. Do you fancy getting a bite to eat?"
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Donna couldn't remember a time she had laughed so much.
It had been a funny old couple of years. She had started off happy and engaged to a half-decent man when all hell had broken loose and the cybermen killed off the majority of the world…
Luckily, Donna had won a cruise in the Mediterranean with her family at the time. So they had missed the initial slaughter. When they were, eventually, allowed to fly back to Britain she had found that Lance was dead.
Then there was the aftermath… panic and disorder and the fall of the economy and the job losses. Amongst all of this her dad died and her mum became ill.
Finally, Britain was getting back on its feet, ahead of the rest of the world. Finally she had a job and she could pull her family out of the financial struggle they had been in… she had a lot riding on this job and the healthy promotion track that was on offer.
She absolutely, under no circumstances, should fall for the boss. Or, at the very least, fool around with the boss… It was a very, very bad idea…
But as John Smith started on another, hilarious, story of far-flung places and wild adventures, Donna couldn't help but feel smug that she seemed to have this wonderful mans undivided attention. She had never 'clicked' with someone like this before. She had never known it was even possible.
Here was someone with a completely different outlook on life than anyone she had ever known… here was someone who had been to places on this earth she could only dream of… she soaked up each and every word with wonder.
She felt slightly ridiculous, sitting there, head resting on her hand as she gazed at him, thinking about the images his words conjured
But everything he said was enticing her to listen and he was equally captured by anything she said in return. In fact, he seemed to hang off every word and movement she made… no other women they had met that night even registered on his radar.
Before she knew it the restaurant was closing and they moved to the bar across the street.
She knew she had to be in work the next day, but John smiled and ordered them drink after drink before ordering her them taxi home and walking her to the door.
A surge of excitement tingled over her skin as she tried not to slur, "Goodnight."
John Smith took in a great breath and smiled, "Goodnight."
But they stood there… gazing into each other's eyes, their smiles fading as their eyes drifted to each other's lips.
The night air became crisp and they leaned toward each other…
The taxi beeped, causing both to jump with alarm.
Startled, Donna and John looked back to each other before sniggering in dual embarrassment.
"Well," he sighed, "I'd better…"
"You'd better go," she agreed with a nod.
He swayed slightly, left-to-right as if he were undecided, before grinning, "Tomorrow then."
Donna felt herself melt and nodded, "Tomorrow."
He ducked to place a peck on her cheek, then he was gone and Donna leaned back on the door…
Cold shower… she told herself.
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