CHAPTER 56

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A SECOND CHANCE AT DESTINY?

"Joan, you didn't have to call all of those people here. I'd never hurt you," John said.

"How do I know that? I don't even know who you are. You're definitely not the Doctor or Donald. They're both with the Bad Wolves. If you're not either of them, then who are you?" Joan asked.

"I'm John. Just plain old John Smith, the man that you fell in love with," John said.

"John Smith wasn't real. He was just the Doctor in another form. You can't be him so who are you really, and why are you here?" Joan asked.

"I'm telling you the truth, Joan. I'm John Smith. As to why I'm here, it's so that we can have the life that we saw in our vision together. I believe it was our real future, Joan. Not the future of the Doctor obviously but yours and mine," John said.

He was really starting to convince Joan that he was who he said he was, but she couldn't understand how that could be unless he had been taken out of his own time and brought to hers somehow. If that was the case, he would have to go back or the Doctor's entire timeline would be completely altered.

It was scary what she had learned about time travel from both reading The Journal of Impossible Things and traveling with Donald. The fact that she understood all of that scared her sometimes. She knew that the people of her own time would think that she was mad for even saying such things.

Then again they'd never believe that she had traveled in time to the future either. They would probably pass out in fright and shock at what the future held as well since it was so different from their own time. She had to admit that it had taken her a while to get used to it herself, but she had finally done so more or less.

"If you are John, then how are you here? How did you get here from 1913?" Joan asked.

"Well, I had some help obviously. I . . ." John started to say.

That was when he was interrupted by the Doctor's and Donald's TARDISes both materializing in the middle of Joan's living room at once. The Doctor immediately ran outside and said, "Get away from her right now."

"Who are you to tell me to do anything? In fact, who are you period?" John asked.

"Like you don't know who I am. I'm the Doctor, the coolest man in the universe, and you're a shape changing imposter. Although why you'd want to impersonate old Sandshoes for when you could impersonate me I have no idea," the Doctor said with a smug grin on his face.

"Oi! I resent that," Donald said as he left his own TARDIS.

"I'm sorry, Donnie. I know you can't help looking like Sandshoes. It's not your fault that you weren't created from the hand of a much better looking Doctor," the Doctor said.

"He looks absolutely perfect to me. At least you can't land small aircraft on his chin," River said.

"I also have better hair," Donald said.

"Oh, you did not just go there," the Doctor said as he looked like he was about to explode with anger.

"I believe I did," Donald said with a smirk.

"Stop it. We're here to help Joan not to argue over which of you is better," Rose said in irritation as she left the TARDIS.

"Rose," John said as he looked at her in shock.

Rose walked up to John and began to glow with the power of the Vortex as she searched through his timeline for some clue as to who or what he was. John looked at her in shock as he said, "How did you get back home from Pete's World and why are you the Bad Wolf again?"

"It's a long story, John. Yours is much shorter thankfully and so is your timeline," Rose said as she stopped glowing.

"What does that mean? Who is he?" Ileana asked as she and Michelle left the Doctor's TARDIS.

Ileana had been going to come with them by herself, but Michelle had insisted on going too for some reason. A reason she was about to find out.

"It's more like what is he. You know, don't you, Michelle?" Rose said as she stared pointedly at Michelle who shrank away under her penetrating gaze.

"Michelle, what's she talking about?" Ileana asked.

"It's okay, Michelle. It's not like you did anything wrong. Tell her," John said.

"Tell me what? Spill it, Michelle. We don't keep secrets on this team," Ileana said in irritation.

"I just wanted to do something good to make up for my past. I heard that Donald left Joan for someone else so I decided to give her a replacement for him. I thought it would make her happy and make up for my part in helping to cause her so much pain by taking the original John away from her in the first place," Michelle said with a sad look on her face.

"What did you do though? How did you create another John?" Ileana asked in a gentler voice as she felt sorry for Michelle now.

"I borrowed Donna's TARDIS and went back in time to 1913 when the Doctor was John Smith. Then I made a mirror duplicate of him in secret while I was there and took him home with me," Michelle said.

"You did what?!" Ileana asked in shock.

"That's what I was trying to explain to you, Joan. She made me from the original John Smith so I actually am him plus I have the Doctor's memories all the way up to that point in time as well somehow. I'm not quite sure how that happened since he had lost his memories thanks to the Chameleon Arch," John said.

"It may be because he was holding his fob watch at the time I created the mirror duplicate. Thankfully so far the memories don't seem to be overloading his mind like they did to Donna's. Maybe it's because he doesn't have any of the Doctor's knowledge. Clara has the memories of all of her lives after all and she's doing okay," Michelle said with a nervous laugh.

"She wasn't at first. I had to help her to learn how to deal with them because they were trying to drive her insane. What if that happens to 'John' here? Besides, I thought your mirror duplicates were all the opposite personality of the originals. Wouldn't that make him more like the Master than me?" the Doctor said in concern.

"He was the mirror duplicate of John Smith who was the opposite of you though so that would make his opposite, well, more like you or at least more like the tenth you anyway. As for his memories, he hasn't complained about them so far," Michelle said.

"I'm fine. Maybe it's because I only have the memories of my tenth incarnation," John admitted.

"What? That's not what I had intended," Michelle said in concern.

Now she wondered if she had created him right or if he was going to suddenly fade away at some point. He was the first Mirror Duplicate that she had ever tried to make permanent after all, and she wasn't sure now if she had done it right or not. What if Joan fell for him, and he suddenly vanished? That would make things even worse. Maybe she shouldn't have done this after all.

"Really? So you don't remember anything before Sandshoes then? That must be horrible to only be limited to one persona like that. I mean how do you live with it?" the Doctor asked.

"I don't remember anything from before your tenth life except for Rose. I remember how I met Rose and all about Shouty's adventures with her. Somehow I still remember Rose," John said as he smiled at Rose.

"Why am I not surprised by that?" River said as she rolled her eyes.

Joan inwardly cringed as it seemed as if history might repeat itself, and she was destined to lose yet another John to another woman. She knew that Rose was married to the real Doctor, but if her John was hopelessly in love with her anyway then what chance did she have with him?

"I remember you too, River, and how you . . ." John stopped himself before going any further.

"Yeahh, she already knows about that. She died but then she got better, and I married her so don't worry," Donald said.

"And you are?" John asked.

"Oh, that's just Handy. He's no one important," the Doctor said.

"Thanks oh so much," Donald said with a frown.

"Oh, you're the hand. The one that got chopped off. That's brilliant! How did you become a whole person though?" John asked in confusion.

"It was a Metacrisis between him and Donna. You remember Donna, right?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, so she did come back to travel with me. I knew she couldn't resist. I mean who could? Traveling anywhere and everywhere in time and space is pretty amazing," John said smugly.

"So you're not really John after all. You're more the Doctor than John," Joan said.

"I'm both of them actually. I'm completely human, and I'm hopelessly in love with you just like John Smith was. I could be with you the rest of your life if you want me," John said.

Joan looked at him hesitantly as she said, "I don't know."

"Please. I just wanted to make things up to you for what my family and I did to you. I swear that he's harmless," Michelle said.

"What brought this on anyway?" Ileana asked.

"It was just being reminded about my inner darkness by Carmilla. I wanted to pretend that it wasn't there but it is. It's always there and it always come back to remind me of that somehow sooner or later. It makes me feel so ashamed. I just wanted to do something to show that it didn't control me anymore. I just wanted to prove that my inner demons aren't the focus of my life now," Michelle said looking down at the floor in sorrow.

Joan walked over to her and embraced her as she said, "As far as I'm concerned, you're forgiven, Michelle. I also think that anyone who goes to this much trouble to make someone else happy is definitely not driven by darkness anymore in any way. Did you ever think that maybe your past is helping to make you into a better person? It is the focus of your life but in a good way because you're using it to help others."

Michelle smiled as she said, "Thank you. I never thought about it like that."

"Sometimes it takes an outsider to see someone as they truly are I suppose," Joan said.

Michelle's disposition changed for the better as Ileana sighed in relief. She had been worried about her moodiness lately and was glad that she was back to her old self now.

"So what did you decide about us?" John asked.

Joan looked thoughtful as she said, "I still don't know yet. Maybe we could try things out for a while though. We could get to know each other and then go from there."

"You already know me though," John protested.

"Not this you I don't. You're like John and yet not like him at all. Let's just take things slowly, alright?" Joan said.

John looked unhappy about it at first but quickly forced a smile as he said, "Alright. Where will I stay in the meantime though?"

"Well, I'm still old fashioned despite what century I'm in so I don't think I would feel comfortable living with you even in a platonic way," Joan said as she looked at him uneasily.

"I suppose I could let you stay in the Mirror Verse when you're not with Joan. I could give you your own place there. It's not too bad there. It has everything that you'll need to survive," Michelle said.

"Really? What all is in the Mirror Verse anyway? Exactly how big is it anyhow? I've never thought to ask even after all this time," Ileana asked.

"It's an entire universe, Lana. A pocket universe but a universe nonetheless. I can totally reshape it to my will, and it's only limited by my imagination. I can create an entire city out of nothing there if I want to so I don't think one house with hot and cold water, heating, etc. is beyond me," Michelle said.

"You're even more powerful than I thought. You're starting to remind me of Omega only with more style and imagination," Donald said in surprise.

"Anyone would have more style than he did. He lived there for thousands of years, and the best universe he could conjure up looked like a rock quarry with giant blobs made out of jelly as its inhabitants? I mean come on!" the Doctor said.

"The Mirror Verse usually doesn't look much better I have to admit. It takes a lot of concentration to change it that much so I usually don't bother. I mean who's going to appreciate it? The beings I trap there usually don't take the time to say 'Nice scenery.' Know what I mean?" Michelle said grinning.

"Well, I guess that would be alright. I'll stay there then," John said.

"I hate to do that to you," Joan said.

"It's alright. I'm sure you'll feel better about things between us in no time," John said.

"He'll be just fine there," Michelle reassured Joan.

A sudden thought hit Ileana as she said, "John, do you think that you would like to have a mother and her little girl there to keep you company? They could maybe have their own house next to yours."

John looked at her in surprise as he said, "I don't see why not. It would be nice to have some neighbors. A proper house and neighbors. Huh! That'll be strange. For some reason, having an ordinary life is just strange to me. I don't even remember all of my lives, but I remember that much. I'm not particularly fond of domestics for some reason."

"That's okay. The real you never was very good at them either," Rose said laughing.

"Oi!" the Doctor said pouting.

"You know it's true," Rose said.

"I'll have to ask you about that more later. There are a lot of things I'd like to know about the real me," John said.

"Anytime," Rose said.

"So you're going to try to get Katherine and Amanda to move to the Mirror Verse instead of Masada, aren't you? I don't think she's going to go for it, but it's a good idea. I don't want them to go either especially not Amanda. She can always make any bad day better for me. I'd hate to lose a friend like her. I have to admit that sometimes I actually think of her as my own daughter," Michelle said.

"I think we all do, Michelle. She's become like family to all of us. Both of them have, and that's even more of a reason for me to try to come up with some kind of compromise to keep them around somehow," Ileana said.

"They're not the only ones thinking of leaving. I've heard Alina and Stefania talking about it as well. The two of them want to go off and have a normal life together. Or at least as normal as two vampires could ever have anyway. Uh, no offense," Michelle said.

"None taken. I'd be the first to admit that my life is weird because I'm a vampire. It doesn't mean that they shouldn't try if that's what they want though. I'd hate to lose them too, and I never thought I'd say that about Alina. It seems like everyone wants to leave all of a sudden. You'd think that being a Bad Wolf was a bad thing or something," Ileana joked.

"They're not the only ones unfortunately. Even Victoria has been talking about going," Michelle admitted.

"What? Since when? She never mentioned it to me," Ileana said completely surprised.

"She's been having thoughts about leaving lately. I think I may be the only one that she told. She said that she wants to try to find the other werewolves and lead them since she was supposed to be their Queen. She told me that she thought of it as something that she had put off for too long now. I think she's afraid to talk to the rest of the group about it," Michelle said.

"Why would she be afraid of talking about it for? We should talk. We should definitely talk. Then I can find a good reason to talk her out of it," Ileana said in a panicked tone.

"I can't imagine why she didn't come to you about this," Michelle said laughing.

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying that I'm overreacting?" Ileana said with an incredulous look on her face.

"Me? Never," Michelle said.

"Yes, well maybe I am. She's my friend just like you are. Please don't tell me that you're leaving too. That would really set me off," Ileana said.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise," Michelle said.

"Good. I was beginning to think that I was about to have to start going on my adventures solo. I've done that before, and I always hate it. I hate this, Michelle. It seems like the entire team is disintegrating all around me. Everyone wants to leave," Ileana said in a sad tone.

"Not everyone. I'm sure that Donna and her family will be sticking around. She's already decided to stay after having her own doubts about the group lately. So at least there's that," Michelle said.

"Yes, and there's this new person that Martha said might be joining us just before she went on maternity leave. Someone called Toranga. I don't know anything about her though," Ileana said.

"Excuse me. I hate to eavesdrop, but I know her. She's very cool. She needs a place to fit in in the universe these days. Well, I say 'she' like she's a person, but she's actually not. She's a living star inhabiting the body of an Auton if you can believe that," the Doctor said as he suddenly interrupted them.*

"I'd believe anything's possible as far as you're concerned, Doctor. You're always surrounded by weirdness. I mean look who you're talking to," Ileana said pointed to herself in amusement.

"That's true. That's very true, and it's just so great, isn't it? That and being married to Rose are the two reasons why I'm the coolest man in the universe!" the Doctor said grinning proudly.

"It's a good thing you mentioned that," Rose said as she gave him a quick kiss.

"Of course it is. I may be mad but not that mad as to make you angry," the Doctor said as he kissed her back.

John smiled at the two of them with joy filling his human heart. He was so glad that the Doctor had Rose with him now. He was really looking forward to finding out how that had happened.

"I think you'll love Toranga. She should be an invaluable addition to your team," the Doctor said to Ileana.

"I just hope that she comes up with a better name for herself than that. Her real one's quite a mouthful," Ileana quipped.

"That's funny. I didn't like your name when I first met you either. That's why I shortened it to Lana, and then everyone else started doing it," Michelle shot back.

"Don't start with me. At least I had a name other than Sister/Daughter of Mine. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bring that up again especially after what you've gone through lately," Ileana said.

"It's alright. It doesn't bother me anymore at least not now anyway. I definitely like my current name though. Can you imagine Mark calling me Sister every time that we go out on a date? That would just be weird in so many ways," Michelle said laughing.

"Where are you two going in your relationship anyway? Are there any wedding bells in the future? I mean am I going to be an Aunt soon or maybe even a Godmother?" Ileana prodded.

Michelle smirked at her as she said, "Not yet, Miss Nosy. You'll definitely be a Godmother though when I do have a child."

"I'm so glad you said when and not if," Ileana said.

"Amanda kind of cemented that idea in my mind," Michelle admitted smiling at her.

Rose suddenly noticed how tired that Joan looked when she saw her yawning. She had had a long hard day at work, and Rose knew that their being there wasn't helping her any.

"I think we should all leave. Joan needs to rest," Rose said as she finally spoke up.

"It's alright," Joan said to be polite.

"No, it's not. We've definitely outstayed our welcome here. Let's go, everybody," Rose said.

The Doctor looked at Rose in surprise. He did notice that Joan looked very tired at this point now that Rose had pointed it out to him, but he hadn't before. It showed how human that Rose still was that she had noticed it without having to be told.

As everyone prepared to leave, John said to Joan, "I'll be back before you know it. I really believe that we were meant to be together. I think that the vision of our future that we saw once was real and that it was about us."

"I look forward to finding out if you're right or not," Joan said as she smiled at him.

Rose smiled at both of them. She was pretty sure that they were both right. Of course it never hurt to give prophecy a helping hand like say making sure that Michelle's mirror duplicate of John Smith was a permanent one by solidifying him with a bit of her Vortex energy when she had noticed that he was starting to slowly fall apart earlier as she looked at his timeline. It wouldn't have been noticed for several weeks by anyone else so it was good that she had put a stop to it earlier. She thought that the universe owed Joan Redfern a favor for once, and she hoped that this was it.

Michelle quickly sent John into the MirrorVerse and then everyone left in the two TARDISes. As soon as Ileana and Michelle were dropped off by the Doctor back at the Bad Wolves' Headquarters, Donna's TARDIS seemed to return from her honeymoon almost immediately afterwards.

The Doctor hadn't left yet so he immediately got an earful from an angry Donna as she quickly left her TARDIS saying, "Why didn't you two tell me who Caecilius really was? What's wrong with you? I expect that from him but not you, Rose."

"What are you talking about?" the Doctor asked in confusion.

"Yeah, like you don't know," Donna said.

Rose glared at her and Donna finally realized, "You really don't know, do you?"

"Don't know what? What are you going on about?" the Doctor asked.

"Nothing, Doctor. Absolutely nothing," Rose said.

"Oh, is this where River would say 'Spoilers!'?" the Doctor asked.

"Yep. Sorry," Rose said.

"It's okay. I think I'm getting some of my own back for keeping so many secrets from other people all of these centuries. I guess I'll find out what she's talking about when I get there," the Doctor said.

"I hope so," Rose said in a low voice.

Donna looked at her oddly as she wondered what she meant by that and why she had looked so frightened for him for a moment there when she had said it.

Rose smiled at her and then gave her a small wave before she and the Doctor left in the TARDIS. She hoped that whatever that had been about that the Doctor was going to be alright because she had a bad feeling about it.

"Where's Lee?" Ileana asked Donna as soon as the three Bad Wolves were alone.

"UNIT's helping him and his friend Heather, who went through so much to give his watch back, to set up an identity for themselves in this time. Lee's going to need one if we're going to live properly together. I offered Heather a position on the team, but she wouldn't take it. She just wants to have an ordinary life. Maybe she'll reconsider sometime. We need more people what with everyone talking about leaving lately. Are Katherine and Amanda still going?" Donna asked.

"You knew?" Ileana said in shock.

"Of course I knew. I could tell from the expression on her face that she was thinking of leaving after that last fight. Carmilla turned Amanda into one of her clones, Lana. That was really the last straw after everything that's happened to that poor kid lately. You're going to try to stop them, aren't you?" Donna asked as she smiled at Ileana knowingly.

"You're good. That's why you're the leader and I'm not," Ileana said appreciatively.

"I just know people, Lana, especially when I live with them for a long time. I always did notice things that other people never did anyway," Donna said.

"You knew?" Katherine asked as she and Amanda now appeared to talk.

"Yeah, I did. So what have you decided?" Donna asked.

"I don't want to go," Amanda said before Katherine could answer.

"Listen, I have an idea about that. The two of you could live in the MirrorVerse. No one could bother you there. How about it?" Ileana quickly proposed.

"What are you talking about? Michelle puts our enemies there all the time," Katherine said in disbelief.

"I just won't do that anymore. That way, it'll just be you and a mirror clone of the Doctor named John Smith there. He won't bother you a bit I promise," Michelle said.

"Let's do that, Mum. That way Michelle could always bring me back for a visit with the others. Please!" Amanda pleaded.

Katherine hesitated and then said, "No, I can't. I need to break all connections between us and the Wolves. I'm sorry. It's for your own good."

"No, it's not. It's because you're afraid. You're making a mistake, Mum. You can't do this!" Amanda protested.

"I'm sorry. I have to do what's best for you," Katherine said.

"I'll take you to Masada tomorrow. I can't guarantee that they'll let you in though," Ileana said as she sighed in resignation.

"They'll take Amanda though, right?" Katherine asked.

Amanda's eyes widened as she screamed, "No! I won't lose you too!"

"It's the only place that I know you'll be safe. I don't want to do this but if I have to . . ." Katherine said but she broke down in tears before she could finish her sentence.

"They'll take you too, Katherine, or I'll know the reason why," Donna said in a firm voice.

"We'll all go with you to Masada tomorrow as a team," Michelle promised.

"That's right. We need to make sure that you're really safe anyway. We'll just check a few things out about the place and see if it's all it's cracked up to be while we're there," Donna said.

"Thank you, all of you," Katherine said as she hugged Donna and then the others.

"It's no problem. That's what I do for family," Donna said.

"So did you have a good honeymoon?" Ileana asked Donna.

"It was wonderful once I got past a certain issue that Rose probably doesn't want me to discuss here. Wasn't it, Lee?" Donna asked without turning around.

"Y-you heard me coming?" Lee asked.

"Of course I did. It's these Time Lord senses of mine. They have this incredible sense of hearing. That makes me wonder even more how the Doctor can always be so oblivious to everything that's going on around him," Donna said as she kissed Lee.

"H-He's always been like that. E-even when we were kids together. W-we used to have a saying in the Deca that someone was being as thick as Theta," Lee said laughing.

"I know. He hated it. I think I'll start using it around him the next time that I see him," Donna said with an evil grin.

Amanda looked down on the ground and sniffed as she tried very hard not to cry. Donna gave her a hug as she said, "We'll visit, Mandy. I promise. We'll be around so much you'll hardly have time to miss us."

Amanda smiled but it didn't reach her eyes so Donna kissed her forehead as she said, "I promise you that you'll see us again, sweetie."

Amanda nodded but she continued to silently cry. It tore the hearts of the Bad Wolves out to watch her because none of them wanted her to go either.

*See Adventures in Time Chapter 10 and 11 if you don't know who he's talking about.

Next: Katherine and Amanda go with the Wolves to Masada only to find that things there may not be as safe as Katherine thinks they'll be. It seems that the supposedly only safe spot on Earth from vampires has just been infiltrated by them! Can the Wolves help save the day or is Masada doomed? Plus we meet Martha's temporary replacement as the Wolves' liaison with UNIT. Who will it be?