I know, I know. There are reasons. Read, and you'll find out. Eventually.
The wall falls away and I head into the bowels of the TARDIS as the meta crisis flies us into the vortex, and out of harms way. I'm rather angry with the TARDIS for stopping my mission and she knows it. She leads me directly to the wardrobe and front and center is already the suit I want. Complete with the red converse on top.
I grab it and look up. "Don't think this means I'll forgive you."
She hums in my mind and I stock back to the console room. Donna is hanging on and the Doctor is busy trying to do something on the controls. He spins around with a grin.
"There! All safe."
"Oi."
I fling the clothes at him and they smack him in the face.
"Put some pants on!"
"It's just skin."
"I second her motion!"
"There. Donna said so too. Put it away."
He rolls his eyes and mutters about how we humans always have our minds in the gutter but gets dressed quickly anyway. I smile to myself, knowing that he's now one of those humans. When he's finished he starts rambling.
"All repaired. Lovely. Shush. No one knows we're here. Got to keep quiet. Silent running, like on submarines when you can't even drop a spanner. Don't drop a spanner! I like blue. Good choice. What do you think?"
"You are bonkers."
"Why? What's wrong with blue?"
"Is that what Time Lords do? Lop a bit off, grow another one? You're like worms."
"No, no, no, no, no. I'm unique. Never been another like me. Because all that regeneration energy went into the hand. Look at my hand. I love that hand. But then you touched it. Wham! Shush. Instantaneous biological metacrisis. I grew out of you. Still, could be worse."
Here comes the banter.
"Oi, watch it, spaceman."
"Oi, watch it, Earth girl. Ooo. I sound like you. I sound all, all sort of rough."
"Oi! "
"Oi!"
"Oi!"
I got to stop this before it comes out of hand.
"Shut it!"
"Spanners. Shush. I must have picked up a bit of your voice, that's all. Is it? Did I? No. Oh, you are kidding me. No way. One heart. I've only got one heart. This body has got only one heart."
"What, like you're human?"
"Oh, that's disgusting."
"Oi!" I'm offended but also find the whole thing hilarious.
"Oi!"
"Stop it," Donna says it this time.
"No, wait. I'm part Time Lord, part human. Well, isn't that wizard?"
"I kept hearing that noise, that heartbeat."
"Oh, that was me. My single heart. Because I'm a complicated event in time and space. Must have rippled back, converging on you."
"But why me?"
"Because you're special." I say it as earnestly as I can. The Doctor nods in agreement.
"Oh, I keep telling you, I'm not."
"No, but you are. Oh. You really don't believe that, do you? I can see, Donna, what you're thinking. All that attitude, all that lip, because all this time you think you're not worth it."
"Stop it."
"Shouting at the world because no one's listening. Well, why should they?"
"Doctor? Stop it."
"But look at what you did. No, it's more than that. It's like we were always heading for this. You came to the Tardis. And you found me again. Your granddad. Your car. Donna, your car. You parked your car right where the Tardis was going land. That's not coincidence at all! We've been blind. Something's been drawing us together for such a long time."
"But you're talking like destiny. There's no such thing. Is there?"
"It's still not finished. It's like the pattern's not complete. The strands are still drawing together. But heading for what?"
He looks at me and I try not to look sad and defeated. I put on a cheeky grin and say the first word that comes to mind.
"Spoilers."
He gives me an intense look. Looking up and down and back at my face. I feel trapped in his gaze.
"Jane was it?"
"Yeah. Jane Ryder."
"No. What your real name?"
"That is my real name."
"No its not. Who are you? What your name?"
"What's yours?! You are the last person to be critiquing me for my choice in name. I have my reasons, just like you do."
He's about to make a retort but an alert from the console grabs his attention.
"It's the planets. The twenty seven planets."
Donna and I flank him to see what he's looking at.
"Single string Z-neutrinos compressed. No way."
There's a small explosion.
"What was it? Doctor, what did it do?"
"Shush. I need parts."
He rushes into the corridor and Donna and I follow. He leads us into the depths of the TARDIS and then into a storage room filled with lots of mechanical looking stuff. Donna looks annoyed.
"Doctor what are we doing in here?"
"I need to build a thing. A very important thing."
My lips quirk up as I add, "Respect the thing."
"You're both bonkers."
"No not really. Just a little off our rockers that's all."
"Right, Donna. I need this thing. It's small. And it's green. Possibly yellow. Anyway, it's sort of crescent shaped. And it's that way. I need you to find it."
With that he grabs my hand and drags me in the other direction.
"Oi! Where you going with her."
She eyes him suspiciously.
"She's gonna help me find other little things. And I don't trust her alone."
"Oi!"
He ignores me and drags me away as a satisfied Donna goes the other way. He grabs some things off shelves and stuffs them into his pockets and then turns to me.
"Alright, explain. Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying."
"Not now, but you were. Your eyes are still red."
I sigh. Time to start on plan C.
"Because that meta crisis went both ways."
He sucks in a breath.
"Well that's fine. She just has to be careful. A catalyst could..."
"You mean like getting shot? That could trigger all the Doctor memories in her head. Everything. But the thing is...without that happening, we loose. I tried to change it but..."
I trail off. I can't admit that I failed yet. His eyes widen in understanding.
"You were going to take her place."
I nod.
"Parallel world. You knew this was all going to happen but, you can't be Pete's world either. That doesn't make sense."
"Well I'm not. But I've seen all this before. And I have a plan."
"Plans are good. What's the plan."
"Do you still have telepathy?"
"I should. It won't be as strong but I can still feel the TARDIS and Donna, even you a little. But those connections are faint. Always have been. Why?"
"Let me show you."
I take his hands and I place that at my temples.
"Just don't look at what I don't show you, yeah?"
"You trust me?"
"Believe it or not, I know you a bit. So yeah. I trust you."
He nods and closes his eyes. I follow his lead. It's a strange feeling, having someone else in your head. But not unpleasant. I dredge up the memory of Donna saving the day. I don't let him in on scents. That could give things away. So could sight, so I only let him see glimpses here and there. But I do let him have full access to the audio. He needs to hear everything that Donna is doing.
When he reaches the end and pulls out my brain feels a little funny. Like a muscle I haven't stretched before. His hands move to my shoulders to keep me steady.
"You good?"
"Yeah."
"You really have lived through this before...right. Ok. Why show me that? I still don't get the plan."
"You have those memories too. You know how to do what I showed you just now. Give me the knowledge. I can still take Donna's place. She'll have to live a quiet life but she'll keep her memories. She'll live."
"No, no. The pain would be too much. It's one thing to look at a memory you already had, it's quite another to force feed several into it."
"I can handle it."
"You don't know that."
"Yes I do. You don't know me. I have been through a lot of pain. I floated in the void and survived. You think that was painless? Not by a long shot. And that's just the start of it."
"I'll do it. You run out with the thing, and I'll do Donna's job."
"That won't work. You're the Doctor. You really think Davros isn't going to lock you up? Of course he is. It has to be me."
I switch tones and try a softer approach.
"I can handle it."
He sighs and then nods. I smile and he raises his fingertips to my head.
"Brace yourself."
He's right. It's painful this time. Before it was just a gentle touch. This is an unnatural force pushing into my mind. The pain is bad but I can't let it be. So I focus on remembering the pain from the void, and loosing my family and friends, and the incident with the Macra. His voice sounds like it's underwater as he says that he's making the shot as the trigger for me just like it would have been for Donna.
When he pulls out, I'm shaking with a massive headache. But I take a deep breath and I focus. Just in time, because that's when Donna is back.
"I found the yellow-green crescent thing."
"Brilliant!"
He takes it from her, glances at me and then rushes out of the room with Donna hot on his heels. I'm grateful for that. We can't let Donna see me clutching my head. She'd blame him. It is his fault but mine too. When the pain is manageable, I move toward the door. That's when I see it. The TARDIS put it right in my path. I pick it up and place my hand on the wall.
"Alright. You're forgiven."
The vibrations comes off as smug to me and admonish her for it.
"Don't make me take it back."
With that, I rush to the console room to join the other two.