A/N: A small divergence to the canon - inserting two other characters into the single scene of Time Crash. I've decided to put my own spin on the dialogue, without changing too much of the major plot points.
"How's the anxiety?" Jack sipped at his morning tea.
Elisabeth looked up, propping her head up on her left hand. "Oh, it's just-" She stopped short, blinking the sleep out of her weary eyes. "Wait, I don't think you should be asking that."
"I was just caring for you. You know, the Doctor and I, we're damn concerned for your health."
"Thanks." Elisabeth mumbled.
"Come on, just out with it! Or would you want to have an answer teased out of you?"
Elisabeth scowled. "It's not getting any better...or any worse. Still getting nightmares. They haven't stopped since we encountered the Daleks." She shivered. "It still gives me the creeps, to bring them up."
"And you're not thinking of putting yourself in mortal danger?"
"I can't help it." She looked up at Jack. "I'm sorry."
"Good morning, everyone," The Doctor burst into the kitchen, clearly in high spirits. "I've managed to do a few repairs to the console. It should steer us out of danger, at least for a while. How are you both doing?"
"Great, fine as usual." Elisabeth lied, straightening up.
"And you've been sleeping well." The Doctor observed.
She forced a smile. "Er, I have."
"That's great, Elise. Just continue to keep your spirits up." He applauded, clapping her on the back. "Great to see that you two are getting along fine. It's been a long time since there's been so much, harmony, on the TARDIS." He hesitated, as if contemplating whether to use such a word.
"Do find me in the console room once you're ready." The Doctor strode out again.
Jack watched the Doctor leave through the door, and once he was out of earshot he lowered his voice. "You're a terrible liar, Elisabeth."
She stirred her tea and bit a piece out of her toast. "He's gone through enough. I don't want to add to his burden."
"Not everything's your fault, you know." He leaned forward across the table, clasping his hands. "You can't save the whole world. Nobody can."
"I'm sure the Doctor could."
"You're not him, Elise. You're you. Just do what you can."
"Thanks for attempting," Elisabeth started, rising, "to cheer me up."
"I bet he knows," Jack mused, following her out of the kitchen.
"It's just a short jump across dimensions," The Doctor announced. "Far away from Earth. You're fine with that, Elise?"
"Anything to get away from that dreaded planet." Elisabeth jested. "So, what exactly are we up for?"
"An utopia." The Doctor stood back from the console, a gleam in his eye. "Well, an almost-utopia. Nothing's perfect, you see. Now if I've keyed in the right coordinates, the old girl here should end up in the right place without landing too far off."
The column in the centre of the console rose and fall, light reflecting off the glass structures within. The engines took a while to start up, and they choked and spluttered. Elisabeth side-eyed the Doctor, who was watching on with an expression of anticipation - had he actually managed to make improvements to the console?
The floor shook, and all three were flung to different corners of the console room. Elisabeth rammed into the hatstand, knocking it over. "Oh dear," She apologised under her breath. "Terribly sorry, Doctor." She righted the hatstand but it fell over again as the TARDIS gave another lurch. Suddenly the shaking all stopped and there was silence but the low drone that was always present. Then bells rang, deep and low tones like the ringing of a church bell. The noise tolled on and on, giving an air of doom.
"The cloisters," The Doctor gasped, crawling back to the console and ducking under it. "Something's gone terribly wrong. The cloister bell doesn't sound until something very bad is about to happen. Hold on, you two!" He finished examining the underside of the console, and squirmed out from underneath. "There's a collision. With another TARDIS!" He exclaimed, pulling on levers. "Must get away, or the TARDISes will crash and there'll be devastating results. The whole craft will be blown apart!"
"Is there a way we can help?" Jack called from the other side of the room.
The Doctor shook his head vigourously. "No, it doesn't seem so. All we can do is wait for the collision, then separate the two time crafts." Elisabeth gritted her teeth as she grabbed onto the hatstand. There was a tremendous shaking, and the whole room went fuzzy. Lights dimmed and the wallpaper seemed to change. Elisabeth shielded her eyes from the initial glare, and when she opened them again she realised she was standing in a completely different room. It still seemed enough like a TARDIS console, but the unfamiliar dials and switches stared back at her.
"Well, we've got to get to work," The Doctor huffed, bounding to his feet. He unrolled his panama hat, setting it on his head. Elisabeth sensed something a little different about his voice. It'd gone a bit gruffer, and when she had gotten a better look at him now she'd realised that he'd aged at least twenty-five years. Hurriedly, she got up and stared at her reflection in a glass column, relieved to see that she hadn't changed, not like him.
"Can you two give me a hand here-" The Doctor instructed, stopping when he rammed into him. The Doctor went on for a couple more seconds before doing a double-take and staring intently at this new face.
"Doctor!" Jack called. Elisabeth scratched her head, trying to make sense of the situation.
"No, wait, I don't quite understand," The Doctor (well, the one that Elisabeth knew) exclaimed, staring intently at the other man. Tall, slim with the brownest eyes and hair ever. If there was a dictionary definition of the colour brown, that'd be it. He was dressed in a tight blue suit (honestly, it left almost nothing to the imagination, thought Elisabeth disdainly) and a sharp red pair of Converse sneakers were on his feet.
"I don't understand any of this either." Elisabeth said, crossing her arms. "What's happened to you, Doctor?'
The man in the blue suit turned slightly to face the Doctor. "Ah, just shortening out the time differentials. That's why you've aged, Doctor. It's all to do with me..." He observed, talking in a cockney accent.
He made another sharp turn, addressing the two companions. "Jack. How brilliant to see you - in fact, you just left, just a few minutes ago. And now you're back and..." He took a few seconds, scanning Elisabeth up and down. "...and you..."
"Is there a problem, sir?" Elisabeth said.
"Ah, nothing. I remember you now. It's been years, you know. You didn't have that problem, you and the memory thing, you," The man turned back to the Doctor. "And now you. It's been ages, yes, again."
The Doctor stepped forward. "Who on earth are you?"
The cloister bells sounded again. "And what have you done to my TARDIS? It's gone coral. Have you gone and changed the desktop theme, hm?" He stopped for a beat. "How do you even know where I live?" He put down his hat on the console, and worked over the alien controls in a rushed frenzy.
"Oh, Doctor, of course I do know," He said, and stepped back and watched the Doctor as he worked at the console. "Hm, the back of my head," He observed, peering over the Doctor's head. "Uh, I think you should put that hat back on. I do have a bit of a vanity issue, must say,"
The Doctor grumbled, stepping back again. "Would you mind?"
"Doctor, I think there's some figures on the screen you might want to take a look at," Elisabeth stepped up, breaking the two men up. "Something about calculations regarding the size of the hole that might be blown through space and time if the two crafts don't separate soon enough."
"Do let me take a look at that, Elise," The Doctor stepped around the console, peering up at the screen. "Did you bring my reading glasses?"
"You don't even need them," called the man. "You just use them to make you look smart. What would I call them again, wait, brainy specs!" He said, smugly. "You can read just fine and you know it. Your companion probably needs them more that you do."
"I don't see how I can get things done if I'm constantly being bugged by this skinny idiot," The Doctor sighed, turning his attention to the screen.
"Watching you two bicker is hilarious," said Jack. "Honestly, I can't even tell you what I'm thinking right now."
"Jack," The man called sternly.
Jack shrugged. "Couldn't help myself."
"A hole the size of Belgium, that's the damage it's going to do." The Doctor announced, stepping back with a grim expression. "Now if we could just-"
The man fished a pencil-like device from his coat with a flashing light on the end. "Do you need this?" He prompted, before breaking into a subtle grin. "Then again, you always went hands-free."
"Who on earth are you?" The Doctor's tone grew harsh, clearly more than just irritated. After a brief pause, his face dropped. "Oh, no," He sighed.
The man nodded. "Oh, yes, you're finally getting it-"
"You're a fan!" The Doctor turned away, back to work at the controls.
"A fan!" The man exclaimed.
"You're one of those LINDA lot, I swear. I can't have you knowing where I live."
"Funny choice, the celery," The man smirked. "Not many men could pull off a decorative vegetable."
The Doctor wrung his hands in exasperation. "It's five minutes to Belgium, and I'm spending these five minutes arguing with this..." His voice trailed off. "I still don't understand."
"Doctor, let's play a game. Two truths, one lie." The man offered, leaning on the console and crossing his arms.
"If you let me play, you've got to leave me alone while I work at this."
"First statement: This is your TARDIS."
Elisabeth glanced at her watch. "Four minutes. Look, I don't see what's the point of your little game if all you're doing is stalling for time. The universe is going to be ripped apart - how could you be playing games at this time?"
"Oh, Elise," The man smirked. "You're brilliant, I know. Brilliant at everything...almost. You might just be a terrible kisser though. Hm, could that be my second statement? I suppose it could."
Elisabeth stepped forward, yelling. "Excuse me? I believe there are some things you shouldn't be commenting on, especially not on a first meeting like this. Also, it's Elisabeth to you, sand shoes."
"Third statement:" He grabbed the Doctor by the shoulders. "I'm definitely not one of your future regenerations!"
"I refuse to believe any future regeneration of mine talks in this sort of way, so I'm presuming the second statement's the lie. Or, er, the first," The Doctor rambled on, exasperated. "Look, would you just move out of the way?"
"Hey!" The man frowned. "I mean, didn't I make it obvious enough? Oh, maybe that's in your future, I'm not sure. Where are you now, actually? Nyssa and Tegan? Cybermen and the Mara? Time Lord and funny hats and the Master...wait, he just turned up recently."
"Again? With that rubbish beard of his?"
"No beard this time, a wife."
Jack leaned over and whispered to Elisabeth. "He's in so much denial right now."
"Shut it," Elisabeth spat. "Doctor, have you considered neutralising the environment?"
"How on earth would I do that?" The Doctor pondered.
"You clever, clever thing! I knew I could count on you, Elise!" The man scrambled over the controls, leaving the Doctor on his heels.
"It's Elisabeth." She rolled her eyes. "You're not kidding me, right? Jack, is that man really..."
"Is it really so hard to believe?"
"How could he be two different people at the same time?" Elisabeth said, thinking hard. "Don't tell me, regeneration?"
"Sure, yes."
"I don't even know where that term came from. It just flew to my mind, just like all the other strange terms. I never understood how I knew how to fly the TARDIS. It seemed so normal, so natural. I just don't understand myself sometimes."
"Elisabeth," Jack started.
"Yes?"
"Did you ever remember something like, a fobwatch or something?"
Elisabeth shook her head. "No, why?"
"Because it might be very important. He did explain the chameleon arc to you, did he?"
"Briefly. Jack, please – you don't think I'm..." She gave a heavy sigh. "It seems unreal."
"I'm just saying, it might be a possibility." Elisabeth found it even harder to process his words, and she turned away.
The Doctor paced around, his nervous gaze still on the console. "You two, might want to grab onto something. I sense there's going to be quite a tremendous rocking and-"
He didn't finish his sentence before the TARDIS gave one gigantic lurch, and all went still.
"You've managed to create a supernova and black hole at the exact same time," said the Doctor in awe. "I didn't think that was possible. How on earth did you work it out so quickly?"
"I didn't have to." The man smiled. "I remembered."
"You could have remembered only, only if you were here. Which means..." The Doctor brought his hands together. "You are me, after all. You remembered, because I saw you do it. That's astounding, to say the least."
"You know, Doctor, I loved being you." He gushed.
"I didn't know you were the sentimental type, Doctor," Elisabeth poked.
"Oh, come on! Can't a Time Lord reminisce his days past? I remember when I was you, just dashing about and having fun, with that cricket game you so fondly loved. Definitely a far cry, from the men I was before, when I was young and trying to be all bossy. Look," The Doctor gestured to his bright red footwear. "The trainers, with all the running, and your voice going higher when you shouted - still do that sometimes!"
"And just look." He whipped out a pair of rectangular-framed glasses. "Snap."
The engines whirred again, and Elisabeth found herself fading. "Doctor, what's going on?"
"It's time to go- the TARDISes are separating," The other Doctor explained. "Goodbye, everyone." He hit a switch, and Elisabeth found that the world started to grow paler and paler, until all that was left was just pure white...
Elisabeth woke in the TARDIS, alongside Jack. However, the Doctor was nowhere to be found.
"He's gone." Jack pulled himself to his feet. "He couldn't have recovered that quickly, perhaps."
"Or maybe he's not back yet."
The Doctor faded into view on the other side of the room, back to his usual, (young) self once again. "My apologies for being a bit late - I left my hat behind."
"Must be weird, meeting yourself in another part of your timeline."
"As much as it sounds absurd, I believe you've also done it yourself, Elise. Don't ask me for an explanation now - you'll find out soon enough."