**Notes: This wraps up their visit with Nine. Hope you liked it. Thank you for the reviews, keep them coming!**
Chapter Five – The Non-People
Evander and the past Rose joined Alex as he began speaking to the man he was told was their leader.
"Hello," Alex said as he smiled warmly at the man to put him at ease. "My name is Doctor Alex Tyler, this is Doctor Evander Tyler and our friend Rose. We'd really like to help you with your little problem, so we've asked a friend of ours to go pick up the President, willing or not, and bring him here for a little chat. How does that sound, eh?"
Rose looked at these two men who had befriended her thoughtfully. Both of them had the same last name as her? They said they were telepathic, so they probably weren't human, but their names sounded very human. Something wasn't sitting right about this situation. They acted so much like the Doctor. They were taking charge and trying to solve the problem the way she did with the Doctor. Her limited experiences in travelling the stars told her that this wasn't the way most people did things. Who were they?
"My name is Michael. What do you mean you asked a friend? I didn't see anyone using a communications device," the leader answered.
"Well... You see, we're telepathic and our wife happens to be outside. I told her what was going on and she along with our friend, Doctor John Smith are going to help us all out here. The less guns and bloodshed the better, don't you think?" Alex explained.
Michael nodded warily at him. "Why would you help us? No one helps us. The Flawless don't even think Outcasts are real people."
"Of course you're real," Evander said assuredly. "You certainly aren't imaginary. You aren't robots or holograms. You are living, thinking beings and you will be given a fair chance along with all the future Outcasts."
Rose was getting more confused by the minute. They both sounded so much like the Doctor that her head was spinning, but she wasn't about to interrupt their discussion while things seemed to be going so well.
~'This Rose is feeling suspicious of us, I can feel it,'~ Alex thought to Evander. ~'Maybe I shouldn't have introduced us as Tylers.'~
~'Well, the Doctor title adds authority to our position and you can't exactly use the title with just a first name. She won't remember this anyway. As long as she doesn't start questioning us in front of them and raise doubts to our sincerity to help, it should be fine. Rose wouldn't risk destabilizing a situation like this that way,'~ Evander assured him.
~'You're right and they should be here with the President soon,'~ Alex thought and relaxed a little.
"So," Alex said to the Outcasts, "once our friend arrives with the President, you'll let all the hostages go and put the guns away, yes?"
"Agreed," Michael said. "We will wait for your friend, for now."
The older Rose and the leather clad Doctor made their way back to his TARDIS after he managed to shove their cobbled together device into one of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets. As they entered, Rose felt a wave of love shower over her from the TARDIS and she smiled as she patted the console affectionately in return.
Rose immediately went to the monitor and looked up the location of the President's office. He would most likely be there and if they were going to bring him with them unwillingly, it would be best if they took him by surprise. She called up the coordinates and checked the sensors to see if any life signs were present in the office. Only one person appeared to be there, so she started entering the commands to take them there. She was still learning how to fly the TARDIS, so she couldn't do it by herself, but she had learned this part.
The Doctor watched over her shoulder in shock as he saw what she was doing. This woman was barely recognizable as the one that travelled with him now. She was confident and capable of academics that were completely beyond his Rose. He had seen her potential, but this was beyond even his imagining. She was magnificent, and somehow, she was his.
"Is that right?" Rose asked, as she showed her first inkling of insecurity.
"Perfect," he answered. "Do you know the next bit?"
"Not quite yet," she replied with a smile. "I usually just follow instructions from this point."
The Doctor guided her in activating several controls while he jumped around to a few more and soon the TARDIS sounded its arrival at their destination. Taking a quick look at the monitor, they saw that they had landed perfectly, blocking the doors into the office so they wouldn't be disturbed.
The Doctor and Rose both walked out of the TARDIS and leaned their backs up against it with their arms crossed over their chests. Sitting behind the desk in front of them, was a tall, thin, balding man that looked at them rather nervously.
"Who are you? What are you doing my office?" he asked in the most demanding tone he could muster.
"He's the Doctor and I'm Sagacity," Rose said in the haughty tone that she had perfected during the trial. "And you, Mr. President, have an appointment. We are here to make sure you keep it. Come along." She opened the door to the TARDIS and gestured for him to go inside.
"I'm not going anywhere. You can't just abduct me like this!" the President insisted.
"Actually," the Doctor interrupted, "you'll find that we can. And this is one meeting that you cannot miss. Lives are at stake and only you can save them." The Doctor grabbed the man by the arm and walked him into the TARDIS. He still fought a little, but it was more to show his disapproval than actually expecting to escape the forceful grip of the Doctor.
Once they were inside and the doors were closed, the Doctor released him and went to check the coordinates that Rose had entered. He smiled at her, then adjusted them just slightly so that they would land in the room with the hostages and the other two Doctors. The President gaped at the size of the room he found himself in and grabbed the railing when the TARDIS jolted a bit on take-off.
The TARDIS materialized shortly after the time when the leather clad Doctor and future Rose had just left the building to go to the TARDIS. They knew that the more time that passed, the more dangerously impatient the hostiles would become. Just to be safe, the Doctor turned on the shields in case anyone decided to attack the President on sight.
The three people exited the TARDIS together and the older Rose felt waves of relief from her husbands. She smiled at both of them and gave them each a mental kiss.
"Alright," Evander said authoritatively. "The President is here, as you can see, so you can let all the hostages go and put the weapons away now. Because I'm sure that the President would be more than happy to have a nice little chat with the leader of the Outcasts regarding their basic rights and citizenship status, wouldn't you, sir?" Evander was looking the nervous President in the eye as he walked towards him.
"Y... y... yes, of course," he stuttered as he realized exactly what was going on. "We just need to assemble a group of representatives..."
"No!" Michael interrupted. The other Outcasts were guiding the hostages out the doors while he was engaged in this discussion. "If you get your group together to discuss this, then you outnumber us and we just get rounded up and dismissed or arrested and nothing ever changes. This time, you're going to listen to us!"
"I have an idea, Michael," Alex interjected. "Is there somewhere we could take the President to show him, safely, the conditions that the Outcasts live in? Your housing? School? Medical facilities? Maybe that would help to open his eyes to your situation a little better."
Michael nodded and smiled at the suggestion as the other Outcasts gathered behind him. "That sounds perfect, but how will we get there? The police have gathered outside, they'll never let us through."
"Good thing we've got transport then," said the Doctor that was leaning against the TARDIS with his arms crossed over his chest. He pointed his sonic through the open doors and activated it to let down the shields so that everyone could get inside.
As everyone moved towards the ship, Alex quickly scooped his wife into a twirling hug and kissed her neck. As soon as he put her down, Evander put his hands on her hips and leaned his forehead against hers. Threading her arms into theirs, they all entered the TARDIS with the past Doctor and Rose, all of the Outcasts and the President of Transinia 3.
So as not to arouse further suspicion from the younger Rose, only the leather clad Doctor piloted the TARDIS on this trip and the trio from the future leaned against the railing with their arms wrapped around each other. They arrived in the middle of an isolated village. It was obvious that living conditions were poor and supplies extremely limited. The people living there were very friendly to the newcomers, especially when they realized that one of them was the President. Michael led the man on a tour of the village, knowing the difference it would make to look these oppressed people in the eye as opposed to seeing them as statistics on paper.
By the end of the tour, the obviously moved President promised that there would be changes made and said that he would stay there until the support group arrived. He was making phone calls for supplies and medical personnel as Michael thanked all of the time travellers before they left.
"Well," Alex began as they all reentered the TARDIS. "If you don't mind, we could use a lift back to our ship now."
"Who are you though?" the past Rose asked. "Because both of you act so much like the Doctor. He said there weren't any of his people left, so who are you?"
Evander and Alex both beamed at her and the older Rose laughed.
"Always so observant," Alex said. "Sagacity indeed."
"This is going to be really, incredibly unbelievable, but you're going to end up forgetting this for now anyway," Rose said to her past self. "I'm you and they are both the Doctor."
"What are you talking about? You're not me!" the past Rose said incredulously.
"It really is too much to explain, but you'll get there," Rose assured her as the past Doctor approached the younger Rose from behind and placed his hands on her temples. She collapsed back into his arms, asleep and he adjusted her memories so that anything after the explosion was suppressed for now.
While the past Doctor carried the past Rose to her room, the new Stuff of Legends flew the past TARDIS to park next to theirs. Before they left, the leather clad Doctor was back in the console room to say goodbye.
"You two had better take good care of her," he scolded.
"Ah well, it'll take two of us to keep Ms. Jeopardy Friendly out of trouble," Evander teased.
"Excuse me," Rose retorted, "who saved who today?"
"Well..." Alex said while sheepishly rubbing his neck. "I think it's safe to say that we all take care of each other, eh?"
"You'll do," Rose said as she ruffled Alex's hair and poked Evander in the chest. Rose sashayed over to the past Doctor, swinging her hips a little more than necessary, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She gave him a thorough snog and Alex rolled his eyes.
"Oh! It's like velvet and curls all over again!" Alex complained.
Evander pursed his lips and frowned thoughtfully as he watched them. His memories of this day were just starting to clear in his mind and he vaguely remembered having kissed her first back in the dark kitchen. He was still getting used to these kinds of activities in this body. It had come to him relatively easily in the past, he just didn't feel physically affectionate this time around. He had actively tried to make himself into a man that not only wouldn't attract that kind of attention, but wouldn't crave it either. Then, of course, the love of all of his lives had to come crashing back into his life. He hadn't craved those kinds of things, but to feel the waves of pleasure that rolled through his bond with Rose whenever they were intimate, he would do anything she liked.
When Rose finally released the past Doctor, she winked at him flirtatiously and took her husbands by the arms and walked with them out of this TARDIS and into their own.