CHAPTER 22

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TISH'S SECRET REVEALED

Martha had let herself into Tish's house and had been waiting on her there for what seemed like hours but was actually in reality only about thirty minutes. It only seemed like hours because she wasn't in the house alone.

K-9 was there with her and he was currently driving her completely up the wall.

"Are you sure that you wouldn't like a cup of tea, Mistress?" K-9 asked as he carried a tray on his back filled with drinks and food.

"For the tenth time, I said no, K-9. I'm fine," Martha said hoping that he would eventually take the hint and go away.

"I'm only doing what I was ordered to do. Your sister, the real Mistress, says that whenever you come and she's not here that I should do my best to meet all of your needs," K-9 said for what had to be the hundredth time since she had arrived there.

"I've already told you that I don't want anything, K-9. I'm just waiting for Tish. Why aren't you with her by the way?" Martha asked.

"I used to go on trips with the Mistress until Master Master started to go along. He threatened to disintegrate me when I walked in on the two of them . . ." K-9 said.

"Stop right there! I don't want to know anymore," Martha said with a shudder.

"I was going to say kissing, Mistress. I walked in on them kissing, but I misinterpreted the situation somewhat at first," K-9 said.

"Misinterpreted how?" Martha asked feeling her curiosity get the better of her.

"I thought that he was attacking her because I'm not used to seeing such displays of affection. I then immediately went into protective mode and shot him," K-9 said.

Martha laughed out loud finally enjoying having him there for once as she asked, "Where? Did it hurt?"

"I'm not expert on pain, Mistress, but the Master Master screamed in a manner that suggests that it did. He cursed profusely when I shot him with a stun blast in a sensitive part of his anatomy where I knew that I could cause him the most damage and where I would be most likely to stun him the most efficiently," K-9 revealed.

Martha was now laughing out of control as she said, "Yes, I can imagine that he was stunned very efficiently alright. I wonder how long it was before he could walk again?"

"It took him approximately twenty minutes, Mistress. The screaming didn't stop until ten minutes later," K-9 said with no trace of humor whatsoever in his voice.

Martha was practically on the floor now as she said, "I can definitely see why he doesn't want you coming along with them anymore then."

That was the moment that she began to hear the sound of the TARDIS rapidly approaching and did her best to try to stop laughing. She really did try. She didn't quite make it though.

She was surprised (but still didn't stop laughing) when instead of the Doctor's familiar blue box a small Chinese pagoda materialized instead. Tish immediately stepped out of it with a confused expression on her face as she stared at her sister intently.

"What on Earth are you laughing about?" Tish said.

"Nothing," Martha said innocently as she looked at what she realized must be Tish's TARDIS in surprise even as she continued to laugh.

"What's wrong with a pagoda? I've always liked Chinese architecture," Tish said.

"It's not that, Tish. Honest. It's just something that K-9 told me," Martha said.

"Oh, he told you about when he shot the Master, huh?" Clara said with a chuckle as she stepped out of the TARDIS next.

"Speaking of which," Tish said as the Master cautiously stuck his head out of the pagoda's doors.

"Is he here?" The Master said as he looked around with a frightened expression on his face.

Tish quickly looked around and didn't see K-9 anywhere. She smiled as it seemed as if K-9 had finally gotten the message at last and made himself scarce as soon as he detected the Master's life signs on the TARDIS.

"No, he's gone. It's safe to come out now, Koschei," Tish said with a chuckle.

"Imagine that. Scared of a little tin dog," Clara chastised him.

"You'd be hiding from the little tin monster too if he shot you like that. I've always hated that thing," The Master said with a frown.

"Well, I can guarantee you that no one's ever going to take you seriously again, Koschei. Who's going to be afraid of you anymore when they find out that you've been cowering from harmless old K-9," Clara said.

"Just . . . shut up," The Master said as his face turned red in embarrassment.

Clara smiled at him warmly and gave him a hug as she said, "Oh, I won't tell anyone. I promise. I would never do that to one of my boys."

"So you have a TARDIS of your own now," Martha said looking at it in amazement.

"Yes, I finally got one. Now I don't have to travel around with the Doctor if I don't want to anymore," Tish said.

"I'll second that," The Master said happily.

"Oh, hush up, you! You'll still travel with him regularly, Koschei," Clara said.

"I will not," The Master said.

"Yes, you will," Clara said as she glared at him.

"Yes, I will. I want to travel with Tish sometimes too though," The Master said in an almost pleading voice.

Clara smiled as she said, "Of course you can, Koschei. You can travel with Tish all you want the others six days of the week. Wednesday is still your day to come with me and Theta though."

"I wouldn't miss it," The Master said with a sigh clearly not meaning it.

Clara smiled as she said, "You know you enjoy being with me and Jenny."

"Yes, and I'd enjoy it a lot more if only he wasn't coming along every time too," The Master said.

"Well, it is his TARDIS," Clara said.

The Master frowned at that even as Tish tried to change the subject and said, "So do you want to see the inside of the TARDIS?"

Martha's eyes lit up with anticipation as she said, "I'd love to set it. Is yours like the Doctor's on the inside?"

"No, it's much better. I have a deluxe model Type 70 not a broken down old Type 40. Do you know that it actually has a holographic scanner? It's also voice controlled and can pause during materialization. That bit's not as impressive as you might think though. It only last two microspans. That's only about two minutes more or less here on Earth. What good is that?" Tish said as she proudly listed all of her new TARDIS' features.

"Hey, I like the Doctor's TARDIS even if it is an antique. I mean she and I haven't always gotten along that well, but she's always looked out for him so I'm willing to give her a little leeway. Besides that those antiques have a certain kind of charm to them, don't you think?" Clara said.

"I suppose they do if you like worthless pieces of junk," The Master joked.

Clara glared at him ready to come back at him with an acid-witted comment in response when suddenly Tish's front door opened. Everyone immediately froze as Tish's hearts started beating so fast that she was sure that she was going to have a hearts attack right then and there.

Only one other person besides Martha and Clara had a key to her house. Her mother!

Tish let out a cry of fear as she realized that her mother was about to see the Master there with her. She was about to tell him to run into her TARDIS when she realized that it was already too late. Her mother had already started to scream as soon as she came inside.

Tish felt as if she had entered into a nightmare as she saw her mother losing all of her self-control at once and then things get even worse as her father and Leo entered the room as well. They were all here now.

"What are you doing here? What are you trying to do to my daughters this time, you twisted heartless monster?!" Francine Jones screamed.

"Mum, wait! Let me explain!" Tish pleaded.

Francine didn't listen though. She continued to attack the Master verbally instead and then her attacks started to become much more serious as she pulled out a gun and held it on him.

"Leo, call UNIT. No, scratch that. Call Torchwood. I want Jack to deal with him and give him what he deserves," Francine said.

"Jack already knows, Mum," Tish said.

"What?" Francine said in a horrified voice.

"He already knows and he's not going ballistic about it like you. He knows that he's different now. You would realize that too if you just gave him half a chance," Tish said.

"It's worse than I thought. He's brainwashed her!" Francine said obstinately.

"Mrs. Jones, he's not the same man anymore. I can guarantee to you that he's changed. He's reformed now and is trying to become a better person. I would never let him be around your daughters if he was dangerous. You know that," Clara said as she suddenly spoke up since Francine wasn't listening to Tish.

"How do I know that he hasn't hypnotized you and is making you say that? He can do that. He can hypnotize anyone. I saw that for myself during that horrible year. Even if what you say is true which I really doubt that, it stills doesn't make up for all of the terrible things that he did. Nothing can ever redeem him for that," Francine said in a furious voice.

"He's honestly trying to be a better person. He doesn't want to hurt anyone anymore," Clara said.

"She's telling the truth, Mum," Martha said.

"I don't care what he's fooled you all into thinking, Martha. I'll never believe anything good about that man. Never. Either he leaves right now and never comes back or I'll shoot him dead right here and now. This time I really will do it too. I'll finally finish the job that Lucy Saxon started," Francine said.

"Mum, just stop it! He really is a good man now. He really has changed. Listen to me. I know what I'm talking about. I know because I've become telepathically linked to his mind, and I know exactly what he's thinking at all times now," Tish said.

"Why? Why in the world would you allow yourself to become linked to this creature?" Francine asked in disbelief.

Tish took a deep breath before saying, "I had to link with him because that's what you do on Gallifrey when . . . you get married to someone."

Francine's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head as those words slowly sunk into her mind. Clive Jones meanwhile went completely berserk as he rushed towards the Master with a homicidal look on his face.

"What have you done to my daughter?!" Clive screamed as he wrapped his hands around the Master's throat.

"Stop it! Just stop it!" Tish shouted in an upset voice.

"It's not like he can actually strangle him. You can't strangle a Time Lord," Clara reminded her.

"He can still break his neck, Alura," Tish said in a terrified voice.

"I doubt that he's really that strong," Clara said.

"Really? What if you just found out that Merry married Mr. Clever?" Martha said.

"Koschei's in trouble," Clara said as she realized that she'd rip anyone apart who dared to touch Merry.

"You . . . think?" The Master said in a strained voice as Clive continued to try to strangle him.

"Mum, Dad, stop this! I married him long before I even became Tish. He didn't do anything to me. I married him because I love him, and I'm going to stay with him no matter what either of you say," Tish said defiantly.

Then she froze in fear as she saw both of her parents look at her with a combination of surprise and disbelief. She was beginning to wonder if she had gone too far in saying that.

"Listen, I . . ." Tish said in a gentler voice as she quickly tried to defuse the situation.

"No, you listen. I don't know what's going on here, Tish, but you're not staying anywhere near that man from now on. Do you understand? I won't allow him to hurt you or anyone else in my family ever again. Am I being clear?" Francine said in a no-nonsense voice that made it clear that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"Mum, I . . ." Tish protested.

"Am I clear?" Francine said again in a voice filled with anger.

"Tish, go with them. Forget about me," The Master said.

"Koschei," Tish said in a weak voice.

"I don't want to cause you and your family any more pain. Please. Just go with them," The Master said even as tears began to fall from his eyes.

"No," Tish said in a low voice.

"What? What did you say to me?" Francine said with an unbelieving look on her face.

Tish spoke loud and clear this time as she said, "No, Mum. I'm not leaving him. I'm going to help him become the good man that I know that he really is deep down. I'm sorry but I can't obey you. Not this time."

"I won't stand by and watch you destroy yourself, Tish. If you do this, I won't . . ." Francine's voice then cracked as she hesitated.

"Say it. Just say it," Tish said as she became enraged.

"I won't . . . I can't have anything to do with you anymore," Francine said.

"You don't mean that," Martha said in disbelief.

"Yes, I do, Martha. I can't watch him hurt her. I can't watch him destroy her life. I can't go through that anymore," Francine said as she burst into tears.

"Mum, wait!" Tish said as all of her anger immediately left her as soon as her mother started to break down in front of her.

"Clive, Leo, let's go. I can't be a part of this anymore," Francine said in an emotional voice.

Clara now ran in front of Francine and blocked her path as she said, "Look at me, Francine. You've trusted me for years now. Would I ever allow anyone to hurt any of your children? Would I ever let anything bad happen to your family? Do you really truly believe that I could do such a thing?"

Francine stared at her without speaking for several long moments while everyone held their collective breaths in anticipation. It seemed as if the very birds in the trees had stopped singing in order to hear whatever was about to occur next.

Then Francine slapped Clara right in the face as hard as she could!

"I don't even know who you are anymore but you're not my friend. I know that much for sure now. A true friend would never let an animal like him do this to my daughter," Francine said before turning around on her heel and leaving with Clive and Leo right behind her.

Clara then began to burst into tears herself now as she said, "I am your friend though, Francine. I always have been."

Martha immediately wrapped her arms around her and tried to comfort her as she said, "She doesn't understand, Clara. She just doesn't. It's just going to take a while to reach her. That's all. I'll talk to her and make her see the truth. Don't worry. It's all going to be alright."

Tish could see Martha looking at her when she said that and knew that she was talking to both of them at once.

"Is it? I don't think so," Tish said in a defeated voice.

"Tish, I'm so sorry," The Master said with a devastated look on his face.

"Don't be. It's not your fault," Tish said just before she buried her face in his chest and began to cry like a child as he wrapped his arms around her to comfort her.

The Master's hearts broke in that moment as he watched her fall to pieces right in front of him. He swore to himself that he would do whatever it took to reunite her with her parents no matter what the cost to him might be.

He was so tired of causing her pain.

Meanwhile at that very moment the Doctor and Jenny were on his TARDIS traveling through the Vortex. The Doctor was busily working at repairing wires under the console while Jenny was completely absorbed in watching an episode of Doctor What on the monitor and staring at it with a huge grin of satisfaction on her face when the main villain of the episode's true identity was finally revealed at last.

"I knew it! I just knew it!" Jenny said in triumph

Neither of them was paying any attention to their surroundings at all in that moment. Therefore they were both taken completely by surprise when they suddenly found out that they were no longer alone in the Console Room anymore.

"Knew what, Jen?" A familiar voice suddenly said behind Jenny.

Jenny whirled around in shock and then smiled from ear to ear as she said, "Rose! You're okay!"

She ran to hug the Moment as tightly as she could while the Tenth Doctor looked at her in complete astonishment as he said, "Jenny?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Doctor. Jenny didn't die," The Moment said with joyful laughter as Jenny continued to hug her and wouldn't let go.

"Thank you, Rose. Thank you so much! I would have died if you hadn't saved me," Jenny said as she kissed the Moment's cheek.

"How did you know that it was me?" The Moment asked.

"What I want to know is what is he doing here? What sort of trouble have you gotten yourself into now, Sand Shoes? Don't expect me to bail you out of it this time," The Eleventh Doctor said indignantly as he stared at Ten suspiciously.

"I didn't get into any trouble. I'm dead," Ten said.

"What?" Eleven said in shock.

"I died. I was in the middle of regenerating into you and I just slipped out of our body somehow and found myself with Rose," Ten said.

Eleven began to look at the Moment in alarm as he said, "Are you . . .?"

The Moment nodded as she said, "I died in the explosion of the Movellan ships when I blew them up, Doctor. At least I thought I did anyway. Instead of dying though, I found myself on the TARDIS watching him regenerate into you. I have no idea how I got there."

"You're not dead, Rose. You can't be or you couldn't be here talking to us now. Someone must have saved you somehow," Jenny said.

"How am I here then? I definitely died," Ten asked.

Eleven looked at him with a thoughtful, contemplative look on his face as he said, "We never did know what happened to our past selves when we regenerated. No one knows that. I've often wondered about it though. So you just appeared next to Rose after you became me?"

"Yeah, and it was just as if nothing had happened except that you couldn't see me. Nice job at taking care of the TARDIS by the way, Chinny. It was exploding and falling to Earth the last time that I saw it," Ten said with a frown.

"Oi! That's your fault. You're the one who held back on regenerating until the last possible second so that the regenerative energy built up so much that it caused a massive explosion when you finally did let it all out. You knew that would happen too or why did you take the TARDIS into orbit like you did?" Eleven shot back.

"I was trying to say good bye to everyone," Ten protested.

"You were trying not to die," Eleven said.

"I wonder why. Maybe I didn't want to become an enormous man child with a freakish chin," Ten said.

Eleven started to say something equally nasty back about him when suddenly a voice said, "Doctor, it is you! I made it! I made it!"

Ten looked on in absolute shock as Rose Tyler ran straight towards him and hugged him as she said, "I can't believe it. I finally made it back out of Pete's World! I've been trying for so long now that I can hardly believe it. I finally did it."

"Rose?" Ten said as he looked at her like she was a ghost.

"Rose?" The Moment said in a strangled voice.

It was only then that Rose noticed the Moment standing there as she said, "Who is she? Has she been telling you that she's me, Doctor? She's a phony that's what she is. Who are you and what are you trying to pull here?"

"What?" Ten said.

"You can't be Rose. Rose is dead. She died on Pete's World a long time ago. She had a long happy life and then she died. I saw it happen," The Moment said.

"That's where you're wrong and that shows that you're nothing but a liar because I didn't die. I came back to life with my youth restored again. I'm just like Jack now. I can't die," Rose said.

"What?" Ten said again.

"This isn't possible," The Moment said in a shocked voice.

"Oh, it's possible alright. I've been trying to break through to this universe for a long time now. I had almost given up hope but now I've finally done it at last. I made it through just when I finally thought about giving up. I just hope that I've come here in time. I need your help, Doctor. My husband, the version of you that you called the Metacrisis, is dying and you're the only one that I know that can possibly save him. I can't do it myself. I can't control my powers that well yet. It took me forever just to get here. I think that I may just be able to get us both back now if you'll hurry up and come with me," Rose said.

"What?!" Ten said in complete shock.

"Oh, shut up! Must you do that?" Eleven said in an irritated voice.

"Dad, is she really Rose?" Jenny asked Eleven as she looked at Rose warily.

"I think that she very well might be," Eleven said as he scanned Rose with his sonic screwdriver and looked at the results with surprise.

"You're almost ninety years old and you're filled with Vortex energy. I thought that I got all of it out of you," Eleven said.

"Well, obviously we didn't, did we?" Ten said in an angry voice.

Rose looked at both of them in puzzlement for a moment and then said to Eleven, "You're the next Doctor after him then?"

Eleven smiled at how clever that she was as he said, "Yes, I'm the younger, smarter, and far cooler Doctor that comes after him, Rose."

Rose laughed as she said, "Yeah, it's you alright. Only you could be that full of yourself."

"Oi!" Both Doctors said indignantly as Rose laughed at them.

"And you are?" Rose asked Jenny.

"I'm his daughter, Jenny. Nice to meet you, "Jenny said with a warm smile.

Rose looked at her with a smile as she said, "He said that he was a dad but the way that he said it I thought that his kids were dead."

"I got better," Jenny said with a mischievous grin.

Rose smiled at her liking her already before frowning at the Moment as she said, "So who's she?"

"Don't you remember me? You created me back when you were the Bad Wolf. You made me out of Vortex energy to help the Doctor," The Moment said.

Rose looked at her with an uncertain gaze as she said, "I don't remember much from that time. I might have done something like that. It . . . does sound familiar now that you mention it, yeah?"

"Rose, I'm a part of you. I'd never hurt the Doctor. I promise," The Moment said.

Rose looked her in the eyes for what seemed like an eternity as she tried to determine whether she was telling the truth or not. Then she finally smiled as she said, "Okay, I believe you . . . for now. If you try to pull anything against the Doctor though, I'll make sure that I take you down for it . . . hard."

"You don't have to worry about that, Rose. Believe me," The Moment said.

"How is she still alive? What happened?" Eleven asked her.

"I don't know. I don't even know how I'm still alive," The Moment said.

"Join the club," Ten said.

"Wait. So you died too?" Rose asked in amazement.

"Yep," Ten said popping the p.

"So both of us died and came back? What is this? Who's been mucking about with our lives and should we thank them or start to get worried?" Rose asked.

"Let's just hold off on the worrying for a while, okay? I've already done enough of that today already," Clara said as she suddenly appeared in the Console Room wearing a Vortex Manipulator that Jack had given to her.

"Who's she then when she's at home? Wait a minute. Do I know you?" Rose said even as she looked at her with a look of recognition in her eyes.

Clara smiled as she said, "Yeah, you do. I'm Clara Oswald. We met a long time ago in your timeline, but it was only a few months or so ago for me."

Rose blinked as she said in a distant voice, "Now I remember. You're the other Doctor's girlfriend. I met you two while I was looking for my Doctor."

"You're starting to remember everything now then?" The Moment asked.

"I still don't remember you yet so don't get too excited, Fake Rose," Rose said.

"I'm not a fake and my name is the Moment," the Moment said indignantly.

"What kind of a naff name is the Moment? Why don't you call yourself by a real name?" Rose said.

"Alright, fine. Just call me . . . Marion. Yeah, I like that. I'm Marion," The newly renamed Marion said happily.

"That's my middle name. I never really liked it myself," Rose said with a scrunched up nose.

"I do like it though. I think it sounds fine. It feels good to have a real name after living so long without one," Marion said.

"Well, are you all going to help me or not? I have to get back there before he dies," Rose pleaded.

"Let's not keep him waiting any longer then. What can you do to get us through to Pete's World?" Eleven asked.

"I'm doing it right now. Set the coordinates and go, Doctor. You'll get there. I'll make sure of it," Rose said as she began to glow with the power of the Vortex.

Eleven smiled as he set the coordinates for Pete's World and said, "We're on our way then. Geronimo!"

"Allons-y!" Ten said.

"You always have to have the last word, don't you?" Eleven said with a frown.

Then the TARDIS suddenly went through the barrier between worlds as both Doctors eagerly waited to see exactly what waited for them beyond it. Both of their heads were still filled with mysteries even as they raced off to help the woman that they both still loved with all of their hearts.

Little did they know that the younger Rose from the time of the Gamestation who still had the full power of the Bad Wolf at her disposal was watching them even now from across time and space. She smiled as she watched her long game finally being played out at last.

She had been the one to bring Marion and Ten back to life again because she had wanted them to have a happy life together in order to give Marion a reward for helping her all of those long centuries. She had made herself immortal because she wanted to fulfill her promise of staying forever to the Doctor. Now she was allowing them all a chance to go to Pete's World to save the Metacrisis. Even she wasn't sure of the outcome of that just yet though.

She really hoped that she hadn't just saved herself from dying only to wind up making her future a long and lonely one without her husband in it.

Next: Can the Metacrisis be saved or is Rose doomed to be alone forever? Exactly how did the past Rose bring Marion and Ten back to life anyway and what changes did she make to Ten? Will Tish decide to leave Earth behind now that her family has rejected her or can she still be talked out of it? Oh, and Clara makes a startling discovery on Pete's World just in case it isn't clear just who the star of this story is.