All four Doctors breathed sighs of relief 'she finally got through and found us' Eleven said with a grin 'and not a moment too soon' said Nine 'she couldn't have picked a better time' Ten said with a smile 'the block must've lowered as soon as…whoever he was' Twelve said as he looked at the empty throne-seat 'removed himself from things'. In was in that moment that one by one each of the Doctors TARDIS's opened and their companions emerged slowly and carefully: Clara then Amy and Rory, then Donna followed by Rose a few seconds later.
For Ten and Eleven the sight of Rose, as soon as she emerged and they saw her, made their hearts skip beats and they both felt a weird flush wash over them 'Rose' they both muttered quietly under their breaths. 'Doctor there you are' Rose said as she began to step towards her Doctor, Nine, and hugged him while Nine just stood there open armed in surprise 'oh hello, what that's for' he said before he put his arms around her to return the hug before it ceased a second later.
This caused both Ten and Eleven to feel a clinch on their hearts if only I'd appreciated that hug more at the time when I was him they both thought, Eleven looking at his former self, Ten, knowing that he too was thinking exactly the same thing before Ten looked back at him and shared his pained look as they both shared the same feeling between them yeah, I know exactly how you feel before they both looked back at Rose for a second before they were hugged by their own companions. Donna with Ten and Amy with Eleven with Rory right behind her giving Eleven a soft and friendly punch on his arm just below his shoulder 'don't you dare disappear on me like that again spaceman' Donna said as she back-hand slapped Ten lightly on his shoulder 'where the hell were you?' she questioned, Ten let out a breath 'it's a long story I'll tell you soon' he said.
'What took you so long? I thought you were going to get your special straw' Amy said to Eleven who responded 'I was, but then something happened and I found myself in this place, except not here exactly but somewhere else'. Clara had gone to Twelve after closing the door to the TARDIS behind her 'not the first time you've swept me out of my own life to be part of yours' she said 'I told you that was the emergency protocol, it wasn't me' said Twelve. Then gradually Rose, Donna, Amy and Rory and Clara acknowledged each other as well the other Doctors they didn't know.
'Who are they?' Rose asked the Doctor as she looked at the Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors 'they're me, from the future, the spiky-haired one, the bow-tie and the elder' the Doctor replied as he looked at each of his older selves, Rose looking at him confused, before he turned his gaze back to her 'the others I guess must be "future friends of mine"' which got him a questioning look from Rose.
'So, who are they?' Donna asked as she pointed at the other Doctors, the Doctor inhaled 'they're my past and future, old and new faces of mine' he said 'what? What do you mean?' Donna responded with mild shock at the Doctor's words as she looked at him with a mixed look of question and confusion, the Doctor inhaled again at this 'I'll explain later' he said. Donna then looked at Rose 'this might be a silly question, but…who's she?' Ten took another deep breath, without opening his mouth, as he once again acknowledged Rose even though he'd been partly hoping to be distracted enough to not do so again, the pained look on his face and in his eyes returning as his gut clenched a bit. Donna noticed this and her expression shifted a bit 'Doctor?...are you-…wait, is that- ' she began before the Doctor interrupted her 'that's Rose, yeah, that's her' he said a tad too quickly. Acknowledging this while looking at Rose again Donna then looked back at him and noticed how uncomfortable he was 'sorry, I- ' she said 'no, it's alright, don't mind me' the Doctor said as he sniffed before he made Rose a blind spot in his field of vision again despite part of himself urging and begging him to acknowledge and look at her since he might never see her again after they parted ways with the Doctor's other selves and their companions. 'I just wasn't sure, why don't you go and say hello?' Donna suggested, the Doctor's eyes darted about a bit before he looked at Donna for a second then his gaze moving 'no, no no no I'm fine' he said calmly, Donna looked at him in surprise 'are you sure? This might be your only chance to see her again, go on, go say hello' she gently insisted.
The Doctor's eyes became pain-filled as his emotions began to bubble up and breach the surface of his composure which he did his best with every ounce of willpower and character to hold back as he looked at Donna 'I can't Donna, I just can't, I could but then she doesn't know who I am, to her I'm still in her future…' the Doctor said trailing as if he might say something more, but didn't as he looked to try and pull himself together. Donna looked at him in consideration, then 'alright, we won't go there then' she said calmly and submissively not wanting to push the Doctor to do something if and when he really didn't want to do so 'no, yeah' the Doctor said dismissively as he looked around while keeping his gaze well away from Rose 'right' Donna agreed, and that was the end of it.
Rory was looking at the other three blue boxes 'uh, so Doctor, how come there are three other TARDIS's here like yours?' he asked 'because they belong to my past and future selves' the Doctor said as he pointed in both directions to Nine, Ten and Twelve his hands crisscrossing past each other as he gestured 'they're past versions of the TARDIS, my TARDIS'. Amy looked at the Doctor curiously 'and they're your past…and future companions?' she asked as she pointed at Clara, Donna and Rose 'yes, yes they are' the Doctor said as he looked at and acknowledged Rose and Donna with pained reluctance then at Clara, an expression of familiarity crossing his features hmm, she seems familiar, where have I seen her before?… the Doctor thought.
Amy interrupted his thoughts 'Doctor you said they're your past and future selves, what do you mean by that?' she questioned, the Doctor looked at her for a couple of seconds in acknowledgement of her slightly unexpected question before he replied 'as in they're me, older and younger'. This got him a confused look from both Amy and Rory 'older and younger? Wha- ' Rory began to say 'but they look nothing like you, they're faces, they're- ' Amy said before the Doctor answered their questions 'older-looking than mine, yeah they are, but looks aren't everything, they can be deceiving' he said.
The Doctor looked at Nine and Ten 'the bloke in the leather jacket he's my earliest face among the four of me here, then spiky-haired suit was my previous face' he said 'hm he's not bad' Amy said with a bit of a grin which got her a look from Rory who just said 'what?'. 'yeeaahh' the Doctor said in restrained agreement while trying to be modest before he turned to Twelve and went to explain him, though Rory beat him to it 'and he's who you become next?' Rory clarified 'yes, it would seem so' the Doctor confirmed before looked at his future self for a second 'ugh I get old, I don't like old, old is not cool' he said with a repulsed look.
Clara looked at and acknowledged the Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh Doctors 'I see you've met yourself again' she said 'yeah' was all the Doctor said in reply 'it's strange seeing the old you, before you changed, again' Clara said as she looked at Eleven with Amy and Rory 'just standing a few feet away, and he doesn't know who I am because he hasn't met me yet…is that how you used to dress?' Clara said as she kept her gaze on Eleven before returning it back to her Doctor with question. The Doctor acknowledged the tone of her look 'what? What's wrong with that? Tweed and a bow-tie?' he said, Clara looked back at Eleven 'it's a bit old fashioned and professor-like, so was your purple coat and waistcoat but I liked that getup better' she said.
Something changed in Clara's look before she re-acknowledged Amy and Rory 'who are they?' she asked, a slightly pained look appeared in The Doctor's eyes as he looked at Amy and Rory 'they're who I travelled with and lost, before I met you twice' he said. Clara acknowledged the pained look the Doctor had taken on as he spoke 'how did you lose them?' she asked, he was silent for a couple of seconds as he breathed in 'an incident, with weeping angels in Manhattan in New York, I- we at the time thought we'd beaten and eluded them, but a survivor took them both and zapped them back to an earlier time period in Manhattan that was so scrambled, especially after bringing about a paradox during the time period, that I couldn't ever take the TARDIS back to that time, so they were lost to me, forever' he responded.
Clara looked back at Amy and Rory then back at the Doctor 'well, there they are now, why don't you go and say hello?' she suggested, but the Doctor shook his head 'na, na, na I won't' he said calmly and dismissively. Clara gave him a bit of a sideways-questioning look 'you sure? This might be your one and only chance to see them again' she questioned 'yeah I'm sure, I can them from here they're just right there, I'm seeing them' the Doctor answered dismissively again, but more so this time with some resistance. Clara just looked at him before she said 'Doctor' but the Doctor stopped her 'Clara please, I'm fine, ok? It's fine, plus anyway some things are best left in the past' he said, Clara just keeping her gaze on him 'alright' she said and dropped it.
All four Doctors looked at and gestured to each other before they stepped away from their companions for a while and gathered at one of the windows looking out into space.