A/N - Hey, look at that - I live!

This fic is complete, and posted in its entirety at AO3 under my name MagicaDraconia16. So if you get impatient for this to update (which should be one a day, depending on how impatient I get), then you can nip across and read it in one go over there.

He slammed the door shut and leant against it for a moment to catch his breath, before staggering forwards to catch himself against the console. He stared blankly at the numerous switches and levers. Why had he evicted frowny face again? It was never a good idea to evict the pilot from a vessel. He might not know much, but he at least knew that.

He let out a groan and collapsed against the console, clutching his side as his left kidney shifted an inch to the left and became a shade darker.

"Oh, yes, I like that shade better," he announced, then wondered who he was talking to. There was nobody else here, now that he'd thrown out frowny face. Which he'd done, he now remembered, because she had a frowny face. No frowny faces around him, no sir!

Although… there seemed to be a different frowny face in his mind. No, not frowny – upset. The new face was upset, was demanding that he bring back the Doctor…

Doctor who?

The new face was much more pleasant to contemplate, despite an odd sensation in his chest that seemed to echo the new face's sadness. He wanted, very badly, to make that face's sadness go away.

The light around him suddenly became a shade that fell somewhere between red and pink. If it had had a touch more yellow in it, he would have called the shade arkytior. Hmm, didn't that translate to something else if he wasn't on Gallifrey? Or even if he was, technically, he supposed. But still – his granddaughter had told him once, he was sure of it. Not Susan; that had just been a name that she'd liked the sound of. But Arkytior became something else in English, he knew it did…

His ruminations were interrupted as his right kidney abruptly decided to try turning itself inside out. He groaned and collapsed the other way against the console. "No! What are you doing? Stupid kidney!" he berated it, and let out a breath of relief as it relaxed, apparently satisfied now.

He didn't remember ever having this much trouble before, not even in his first regeneration. Maybe it was the new cycle that was doing it? It was a shame he couldn't ask Koschei – his old friend had had at least one additional cycle that he knew of.

But all his friends were gone now, and his enemies, and those he didn't care for or about… Gone, gone, gone. All burnt away with Gallifrey. He was alone now, there was just him.

Aside from when there was the not-frowny face.

He missed not-frowny face. Especially when it was not being a not-frowny face. There was a word for that, wasn't there? Happy! …No, wait, wasn't that one of the seven dwarves?

His ruminations were again interrupted; this time by the vessel giving a tremendous jolt that almost tossed him off his feet. He staggered forward and caught the railing before he could land face-first on the floor, clinging on grimly as the vessel lurched again and then settled with a rattling groan.

"What was that for?" he wondered out loud once everything had stopped. He didn't really expect an answer, which was a good thing, because he didn't get one. Perhaps something had crashed into the vessel. Hadn't he thrown frowny face out into a street? He hadn't seen any other traffic or vehicles around, but he'd certainly been standing – or collapsing – long enough for something to have unexpectedly run into them.

He gingerly straightened and took a step towards the door, meaning to go and check – what if someone were hurt and needed a doctor? Hmm, perhaps they might need that Doctor that not-frowny face had been demanding he return. But he could still help; he was… he was… he was… – but his inner ear was obviously in cahoots with his kidneys, as he ended up in a drunken tilt, rushing rather more quickly down the ramp than he meant to.

He crashed into the door, unable to stop, and almost ended up on the floor. He gave a growl of frustration as he clutched wildly at anything nearby to stay upright. "For God's sake," he shouted, although that didn't seem quite right. "You're useless! Where can I return to sender? Give me a new nervous system that bloody works!"

As if in response – and if it was, it wasn't a polite one – a spasm went through his entire body, eliciting a yelp of pain.

Somehow, his flailing hand managed to catch, twist and pull the door lock, and he almost fell out of the vessel. To his surprise, he wasn't in the street where he'd left frowny face. Instead, he was in a small concrete area, surrounded by tall buildings.

The place looked very familiar, and caused a pang in his chest similar to thoughts of the not-frowny face. Even more familiar were two people who were standing over an unconscious body on the ground and who were staring at him in slack-jawed amazement.

"Jackie!" he whooped in delight. "It's good to see you again. Have you been having treatment; you don't look any older than fifty six!"

"I'm thirty nine!" the woman protested, indignantly, her surprise turning into a scowl.

"How's Pete? And Tony? Has he been born yet?" He squinted at the woman's mid-section, to her huff of disapproval, but turned to the other person before she could say anything else. "And Rickey Smith! Rickey the Idiot!"

"It's Mickey," the young man groused, also scowling. "And who the hell are you?"

He shook his head, then staggered a step sideways when it made him dizzy. "No, it's definitely Rickey," he corrected. "I remember. London's most wanted for parking tickets. And I'm – I'm – Oi," he protested. "Stop going all dark and wobbly when I'm speaking to you! It's very rude! It's–"

And he pitched forward to land in a heap beside the other one.

Lights out…

Rose Tyler chewed anxiously on her lower lip as her mum and Mickey hefted the stranger off the ground and began lugging him towards her mum's flat.

Well, she corrected herself, glancing down at the still comatose man lying at her feet, one of the strangers.

She glanced behind herself at the TARDIS, and the identical one standing beside it. Her head was still spinning from the last few minutes. The last thing she remembered clearly was her mum and Mickey helping her to open up the heart of the TARDIS, so that she could get back to the Doctor, thousands of years in the future. Mickey had revved the truck her mum had borrowed, the TARDIS console had creaked, then cracked and then…

Nothing.

The next thing Rose knew, she was waking up on the floor of the TARDIS with the Doctor hunched over the console as if in pain and rambling nonsense. Then he'd exploded into golden light, and this… this… person had appeared in his place, trying to convince Rose that he was the Doctor.

He'd gone absolutely mental, spouting off something about it 'going wrong' – whatever it was – before literally crash-landing them back at home on the Powell Estate. The TARDIS was giving off the kind of indignant humming that put Rose in mind of her mum, arms folded and foot tapping, repeatedly stating, "Well, I never!"

Oddly enough, the other TARDIS was giving off the same kind of indignation, and Rose wondered just what this other man had been doing before landing here.

A sudden shrill ringing made her jump. She spun round to stare at the second TARDIS. The phone was ringing. Aside from when the gas mask zombie had been doing his – what had Jack and the Doctor called it? – Om-Com thing, Rose had never heard the TARDIS phone make even a peep. She hadn't even been aware it even worked.

The second TARDIS' humming changed pitch, becoming more encouraging. Rose took a step towards it, then paused. The TARDIS hadn't changed when the Doctor had vanished, but how did she know that this TARDIS was her TARDIS? She didn't recognise the man that had stepped out of it and then collapsed, but just how many TARDISes were there in the universe? The Doctor might not be the only one who had one; how would Rose know?

The feeling from the TARDIS on the right, her TARDIS, changed, too. It felt rather like someone soothing her, reassuring her that things were all right.

"You're saying I should answer that, yeah?" Rose asked, out loud. The answering positive feeling came from both TARDISes. Still not quite convinced, Rose carefully pulled open the compartment and reached for the phone. "Hello?" she said, cautiously.

"Rose," answered an odd, wavering, echo-y voice, which then separated out into two different voices as one continued, "oh, Rose," in a gasp and a second one said, "now, listen."

"Doctor!" Rose gasped, clutching tighter at the phone. That had been the Doctor! "You're alive! What happened? Where are you?"

"Oh, Rose, I'm sorry, but I don't have much time," the Doctor said. "We've just left Satellite Five."

Rose removed the phone from her ear to stare at it. "We?" she repeated, putting it back.

"We," the Doctor agreed. "I'm crossing my own timeline for this."

"You're not the only one," the second voice interrupted. "And I really mean that; you're not the only one crossing this point."

Rose frowned as the Doctor snapped out, "Oi! D'you mind? This is supposed to be a private conversation, thanks!"

"It's necessary," the second voice insisted. "Rose, listen to me, I'm the Doctor."

Not another one! Rose rolled her eyes. As if the skinny fellow with brown hair hadn't been bad enough, now someone else that wasn't even in front of her was trying the same thing?

"I'm the one after pinstripes," the voice continued, and then paused. "Wait, no, never mind, he won't be in the pinstripes yet, scratch that." Somehow, even over the phone, Rose had the impression he was wildly waving his hands. "The one with the really great hair!" he said, triumphantly. "That's what you've always said, right? Well, I'm the one after him. And the one that I suspect is also there with you is also me."

"Hang on, what?" the Doctor interrupted. "What d'you mean 'also there with Rose'?!"

"Precisely what I said," the Doct… the other Doctor said. "I'm regenerating, but it's the start of a new cycle, and I can feel it's going to be a whopper. I suspect it might have gone a bit wrong. Again."

The Doctor was silent, apparently stunned by the information he'd just been given. Rose hoped it made more sense to him than it did to her. Except…

"That's what he said," she informed them both. "The one with the brown hair that appeared in the TARDIS after you—" The word died got caught in her throat, and she coughed to clear it. "Anyway, he suddenly got really manic, and then he doubled over and coughed out this gold dust. Said something about it going wrong, and then he was up again and crashing the TARDIS."

At the remembrance, Rose glanced over her shoulder towards Bucknall House. Where the hell had Mickey and her mum got to? Surely it shouldn't be taking them this long to get the man who was apparently also the Doctor upstairs?

Mind you, her mum was likely to carry on demanding answers when she came back down, and Rose still didn't have any for her.

"I'm so sorry, Rose," the Doctor said. "I never meant for this to happen." He made a stifled sound, and Rose realised that if he was contacting her from when she'd been unconscious then he was in pain.

"No," agreed the other Doctor. "Nor did I. I actually had someone else with me, and I tried to call her to reassure her… but she said that I – he – was acting strangely, and he all but threw her out of the TARDIS." He paused to take a couple of shaky breaths. He'd said he was regenerating, Rose recalled. Just what was that? Whatever it was, it apparently hurt. "I suspect she reacted rather badly," he continued, finally. "And the last companion that was present for a regeneration was you, Rose, so I suspect Clara's reaction made him think of you and he, apparently, decided to go and visit."

Guiltily, Rose cast a sideways look at the man that was still unconscious on the ground. She had reacted rather badly to what had happened. Not knowing didn't really excuse her, not after all the adventures she'd had with the Doctor. "Wouldn't really call it a visit," she muttered, feeling another rush of guilt go through her. Whether he was a future Doctor or not, the man was unconscious, and Rose had just left him lying on the floor. She hadn't even thought to fetch something from the TARDIS – either TARDIS – to cushion his head or cover him up.

"Oh, no, what's he doing?" groaned the other Doctor. "Wait, don't tell me! He passed out, too?"

"Too?" the Doctor – her Doctor. Blimey, this was going to get very confusing! – asked. "And what d'you mean, 'passed out'? I haven't passed out! ...Have I, Rose?"

Rose winced. "'Fraid so," she admitted. "Right after we crash-landed at home. You raced out the TARDIS before I could stop you, babbled on at Mum and Mickey, and then just… collapsed. Then this second TARDIS appeared, and it was pretty much the same thing all over again, 'cept with a different bloke."

The other Doctor chuckled. "Ooh, I bet Jackie's face was a picture!" he said. "I hope I get to remember it once he wakes up."

"I don't," her Doctor said, glumly. "She's likely to slap me. And now there's two of me for her to slap!"

Rose couldn't help the snort she gave at that. She still laughed every time she remembered the look on the Doctor's face after her mum had slapped him. To be fair, he had sort of kidnapped her daughter for a year.

"Hmm, good point," agreed the other Doctor. "Anyway, Rose, they should both be in healing comas right now. If you just let them sleep, they should wake up in about twelve hours or so."

"All right," Rose said. "Is there anything I can do to help speed things up?"

"Yes, actually," the other Doctor said, surprising her. She'd been half expecting to be told that there was nothing she could do but wait things out. "A superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. That'll sort them both out lickety-split!"

There was a stunned pause.

"Ugh," the other Doctor complained. "Never saying that again. Forget I said it!"

Rose rolled her eyes, thankful that only the TARDISes were here to see her. In fact, she had the very strong impression that if the TARDIS whose phone she was using had eyes, they would be rolling, too.

"Gladly," her Doctor agreed with a snort of disdain.

"And what is a superheated infusion of whatsits, when it's at home?" Rose wondered.

"Funny you should put it like that," her Doctor replied. "It's tea, Rose! Greatest thing on Earth; a nice cup of tea!"

Rose had to remove the phone handset from her ear to blink at it again. "Tea?" she repeated, sceptically, putting it back. "Tea?"

"Oh, yes!" the other Doctor exclaimed, sounding, for one moment, a great deal like the Doctor that had appeared in the TARDIS and crash-landed them here. Really, Rose reflected, there just had to be a way to differentiate between them all! The other Doctor on the phone was still babbling, she realised, and tuned back in. "–get Jackie to make us a cuppa, and we'll be right as rain in no time!" There was another pause. "No, not liking that either. Forget I said it," the other Doctor continued.

"Still, he's right," her Doctor agreed, sounding reluctant. "Jackie's tea could bring anyone back from the dead."

"Oi!" Rose objected, fiercely.

"I meant it in a good way," said her Doctor, hurriedly. And then, before Rose could ask how on earth that could have been taken in a good way, he let out a strained sounding groan. "Rose," he gasped out. "I'm sorry, but I think my time's up. And you're going to be waking up soon. I have to go. I know you've probably heard this already from me, but, Rose Tyler, you were absolutely fantastic!"

"No, wait!" Rose cried out. "I haven't had a chance to say–"

The phone line suddenly went flat, and Rose knew it was too late. He was gone.

"Goodbye," she whispered, closing her eyes and leaning her forehead against the TARDIS door as tears began burning at the back of her eyes.

"Oh, Rose," said the other Doctor, softly. "I'm so sorry." There was an odd noise from his side of the line. "And… I'm afraid I don't have much time left, either," he continued. "I won't be able to hold it back for much longer. There's so many things that I wanted to say to you, Rose, but there's just… no… time!" He said the last through gritted teeth, but sounded equally as anguished as Rose felt at that moment. "So, since I have to choose, there's just two things I need to tell you.

"One – I'm changing my own timeline. No, don't panic, no panicking, there's absolutely no need to panic!" he said, hastily, even as Rose's eyes flew open wide. "There won't be any Reapers, Rose, I swear. It won't be anything bad, just different. I only mentioned it because I'm not sure how my next self will react once he wakes up."

Rose sniffed. "What d'you mean?" she asked.

"It's the first time I've changed my timeline when there's more than one of me present," the Doctor explained. "And I don't know whether the older me will have both sets of memories or not. So he may still be a bit erratic, and it may seem at times like he's telling the future."

"Because he'll be remembering it as he lives it," Rose hazarded.

"Exactly!" The Doctor sounded proud, and despite the fact Rose had no idea what this version of him looked like, she could still see the wide grin on his face. The line buzzed briefly into static. This Doctor's time was almost up, Rose guessed. "Nng," he groaned. "Rose, I can't hold on…"

"Wait!" she shouted, clutching harder at the handset as though that would physically keep him with her. "There were two things you said! What's the other one?"

"You may not understand this, but I need to say it," the Doctor told her. "It does need saying. Rose Tyler, I love you!"

And the phone line went completely dead.