The Doctor, the new Doctor, had been very eager to head to this funeral, but as the hearse left one of the grander houses in London, he didn't seem to want to follow it. He and Rosita stood off to the side, watching the parade of solemn, well-dressed men following after the cart pulled by black horses.
The Doctor, Danielle, and Rose stood just behind them, keeping to the shadows in an alleyway so they could watch what was going on.
"The late Reverend Fairchild, leaving his place of residence for the last time. God rest his soul," the new Doctor stated lowly. He was barely loud enough for them to hear, but he also didn't seem too keen to keep his plan to himself. "Now, with the house empty, I shall effect an entrance at the rear while you go back to the TARDIS. This is hardly work for a woman."
Danielle hit her Doctor on the arm with the back of her hand. "What's that supposed to mean?" she whispered, outraged as Rosita also seemed rightly indignant.
"I have no idea," the Doctor quickly. "Maybe I'm playing into the time period?"
"Maybe you're just talking out of your arse," Rose muttered.
"The Doctor's companion does what the Doctor says," the new Doctor told Rosita. "You know what happens when they don't. Off you go."
Rosita did as she was told, leaving to head back to their TARDIS and the new Doctor headed around to the back alley.
"Come on," the Doctor instructed.
"Oh, so you don't want us to stay behind, then?" Rose teased. He shot her a giant grin.
"Never," he promised.
They walked up to the front of the house, pretending like they were there to pay their respects to the deceased. With a glance each way, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and let them all in, quietly shutting the door behind him.
"Have a look around," he told the two, putting the sonic away again. "I'll go find… well, me, I guess."
He didn't give any more instructions than that, heading to what seemed to be the back entrance. Danielle looked up at Rose.
"What are we supposed to be looking around for, exactly?" she asked the blonde.
Rose looked up and down the hallway they were stood in. It was rather dark, but she could still see how well-off the reverend actually had been. The Doctor had walked past a set of stairs leading to the first floor, but there were a couple of doors leading off either side to different rooms.
She shrugged. "No idea," she replied, deciding on the door in front of them to head into.
"It's not like I want to be told what to do," Danielle continued. "But, you know, a little guidance would be nice sometimes. Why does he get to go and surprise him?"
The room they'd entered was clearly some sort of study. "You're just annoyed that he didn't want you to go with him," Rose teased.
"No, I'm not!" she protested, even as her cheeks heated up at the accusation. "I'm not happy to be left to the mercy of some sort of emotion-sucking furry, robot, thing." She shot Rose a look. "And you shouldn't be too!"
"Remember Sherice? She just the same," she teased again. "Hates to be away from her boyfriend even for a few minutes."
"He's not my boyfriend," Danielle defended as she opened the drawer on the large desk at the back of the room. She paused, seeing nothing particular of note. "We're not… I don't know what we are," she admitted. "How do you even know if you're… You know, together?"
Before Rose could answer she shook her head and shut the drawer. "What even are we looking for?" she asked her friend. "Cause unless it's something that looks like that thing we saw, I've got nothing."
The door opened again and the two jumped, turning around as if they'd been caught breaking and entering. The Doctor entered, his future self behind him. "Look who I casually bumped into," the Doctor commented.
The new Doctor looked between the two women. "Do you normally bring your friends along for your criminal activity?" he asked.
"Well, they're my accomplices," the Doctor dismissed, hand running through his hair awkwardly. "Found anything?"
"No, you didn't even tell us what we're looking for," Danielle pointed out, a little cheekily. He opened his mouth to protest, but then realised that he didn't know what they were looking for, either.
"This investigation of yours, what's it about?" the Doctor asked his other self, who had already started rummaging through the desk. It was obvious he was on the lookout for something particular.
"It started with a murder," he explained.
"Oh, good," the Doctor replied, eager as always to jump head first into an adventure.
They all looked at him, perplexed for a moment by his words before Rose rolled her eyes. "He means bad," she replied. "He definitely means bad. Whose murder?"
"Mr Jackson Lake, a teacher of mathematics from Sussex," he shut the drawers on the desk and began looking at the papers covering the top. "He came to London three weeks ago and died a terrible death."
"Cybermen?"
"It's hard to say. His body was never found. But then it started. More secret murders, then abductions." He paused, seemingly staring at the book he was holding. However, it was obvious he was lost in some sort of memory. "Children, stolen away in silence. Loves lost in the dark."
"And you're investigating it all on your own?" Danielle asked quietly. The Doctor looked over at her soft words. She looked concerned, sympathetic, and his hearts swelled slightly. He loved that she cared for any him, even if he wasn't quite sure that this man was him at all.
His happiness turned to slight jealousy and the other Doctor turned to her, grinning at her. "Don't worry about me, Danielle," he promised. "I can handle it. I also have Rosita helping."
"The Doctor and Rosita, sounds familiar," the Doctor cut in. "Whose house is this?"
"The latest murder. The Reverend Aubrey Fairchild, found with burns to his forehead, like some advanced form of electrocution."
"But who was he? Was he important?"
The other Doctor paused, looking at him suspiciously. "You ask a lot of questions."
"I'm your companion," the Doctor replied. "Your-Your companion and my accomplices."
Still obviously suspicious by this man who seemed to be following him everywhere, the other Doctor didn't waste time searching through the papers again. "The Reverend was the pillar of the community, a member of many parish boards. A keen advocate of children's charities."
"And he knew this Jackson Lake fella?" Rose asked him. "That's why the Cybermen killed him?"
"There must be some kind of connection," the Doctor agreed.
"Is it the children?" Danielle spoke up. "I mean, teacher and a charity advocate? It doesn't seem to be a great connection, but it might be a start?"
"It's a good start, Danielle," the other Doctor praised. "Look for anything different, anything out of the ordinary. Possibly metal. Perhaps a mechanical device that could fit no earthly engine."
"Should check the Doctor's pockets," Rose muttered to Danielle, who pressed her lips together to stop herself from giggling. "He'd have a field day with the lint alone."
"Shush, you two," the Doctor warned, although he really did enjoy seeing them get along together. It wasn't too long ago that he was worried about what bringing Danielle onto the TARDIS would do to his relationship with Rose. How times had changed.
He took out his screwdriver and gave the room a quick scan, looking for anything that could speed up their search. He'd seen the other Doctor's 'sonic screwdriver' – just a normal screwdriver – and knew that with that type of technology it was better if he sped things along.
The other Doctor stopped his shuffling to stand up straight. "What's that noise?" he asked as the Doctor pocketed the screwdriver again.
"Oh, it's just me, whistling," he offered, pointedly ignoring the amused look his two friends sent his way. Instead, he moved over to the writing desk where he'd picked up something that definitely didn't belong. "I wonder what's in here, though."
He opened it up and pulled out a small cylindrical piece of metal, holding it up for them all to see. "I'd say that was different and metal," Danielle commented and he nodded.
"Definitely," he agreed. He pulled out another few, handing one to the other Doctor.
"What are they?" Rose asked.
"They are infostamps," the Doctor commented before he realised that he'd answered something he wasn't supposed to know. After all, they were supposed to be following the other man's lead. "I mean, at a guess. If I were you, I'd say they worked something like this."
The Doctor pressed a button on one end of the infostamp. Images were suddenly projected onto the wall, flicking through at a rapid speed like a really fast slideshow. The Doctor glanced to his side at Danielle, who was watching it was an amazed look on her face. He really did like showing off to her.
"See? Compressed information. Tons of it. That is the history of London, 1066 to the present day. This is like a disc, a Cyberdisc. But why would the Cybermen need something so simple? They've got to be wireless. Unless, they're in the wrong century. They haven't got much power. They need plain old basic infostamps to update themselves."
"Doctor," Rose interrupted, having noticed the way that the other Doctor was looking at the infostamp he hadn't let go of. She had her hand on his arm, concerned.
The Doctor looked as concerned as they all were. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," the other Doctor replied, not looking like it at all.
"You're lying," Danielle said softly. She crouched down next to him, offering a kind smile. "It's okay, you can tell us."
He met her eyes and the sorrow there hurt her heart. "Looking right through me," he whispered before sighing heavily. "I've seen one of these before," he explained. "I was holding this device the night I lost my mind. The night I regenerated. The Cybermen, they made me change. My mind, my face, my whole self." He looked up at the Doctor, as if just seeing him for the first time. "And you were there. Who are you?"
"A friend. I swear."
"Then I beg you, John. Help me."
There had been a time, not too long ago, where the Doctor would have been rather reluctant to help someone who claimed to be him. He would have been suspicious, and immediately would have jumped to the conclusion that they were trying to harm him rather than being in trouble. Then he met two wonderful humans, both of whom were looking at him expectantly along with his counterpart. "Ah. Two words I never refuse," he said with a smile, one that the other Doctor could barely return. He patted the other man on the knee, then stood up and took another look around the room. There was something he was missing; he was sure of it. Something he should have thought about sooner. "But it's not a conversation for a dead man's house," he continued. "It'll make more sense if we go back to the TARDIS." He caught himself, glancing at his other self. "Your TARDIS," he corrected. "Hold on. I just need to do a little final check. Won't take a tick. There's one more thing I cannot figure. If this room's got infostamps, then maybe, just maybe, it's got something that needs infostamping."
He moved to one of the many doors into the study, opening it to see a Cyberman behind it. Again it looked so much different than what he was used to, but he could recognise a Cyberman anywhere. "Okay," he said, closing it again and turning to the room of people. "I think we should run."
He rushed over and grabbed Danielle's hand as the door was smashed open by the robot behind it. Danielle was very quick to follow him to the next door as Rose helped usher the new Doctor out as well.
"Delete. The Doctor will be deleted," the Cybermen stated as it followed them with heavy footsteps.
"How does it know you?" Danielle asked the Doctor before stuttering slightly. "I mean the Doctor? How do they know the Doctor?"
"Oh, I'm sure that someone as infamous as the Doctor has had a run in or two with them in the past," the Doctor rambled. "Even if he can't remember it right now." He tugged her towards a staircase up to the next level of the house. "Stairs!" he called back to Rose. "We can't lead them outside."
He pushed Danielle up first, who was more than happy to follow his lead and get away from the giant metal man. She hadn't expected it to be so tall, or so loud, and she was still incredibly ill equipped to fight anything like that. Rose and the other Doctor were quick after her. The Doctor had paused at the bottom of the stairs, looking around for something to help keep the Cybermen away from them.
He reached into a coat stand and pulled out what he had evidently thought was a weapon, but instead turned out to be an umbrella. Danielle rushed down the stairs and grabbed a sword off the wall. It was most likely only decorative, but she couldn't just stand there and watch him get attacked. "Doctor!" she cried and he turned to see her toss it at him. He caught it and turned around, brandishing it at the Cyberman that were approaching now from all sides.
"This is your last warning," he told them but they continued to approach. "Okay, I give up." He turned and moved further up the stairs before realising he was just leading them towards everyone. "Listen to me properly. Whatever you're doing stuck in 1851, I can help!" he told them, pleading that they would listen. The Cybermen were usually many, efficient and deadly and he didn't want anything to happen to Danielle or his friends. "I mean it. I'm the only person in the world who can help you! Listen to me!" One of the swung an arm at him to knock him away, but he brought the sword up to meet it. "I'm the Doctor," he told them. "You need me. Check your memory banks. My name's the Doctor. Leave this man alone. The Doctor is me!" He used a foot to push the Cyberman back down the stairs. It only worked for a moment and they were back on his heels again.
"Doctor!" Danielle cried. "Stop fighting them and run!"
He swung his sword and grunted again. "I can't exactly stop fighting them, can I?" he countered. "I'm the Doctor! You need me alive. You need the Doctor, and that's me."
Neither Rose or Danielle noticed that the other Doctor had been staring at the infostamp he had kept with him like he knew he'd seen it somewhere before. Out of nowhere he pointed it at the approaching Cybermen, sending a stream of data into both of their heads. They cried out in pain before their heads exploded. Both young women screamed, grabbing onto each other in their surprise.
The Doctor laughed in delight. "Infostamp with a Cyclo-Steinham core. You ripped open the core and broke the safety. Zap! Only the Doctor would think of that."
Danielle rushed over to his side, smacking him one on the arm. "What the hell were you thinking?" she scolded. "Fighting two giant robots? You could have died!"
"You're the one who threw me the sword," he pointed out in his defence.
"I thought you had a fighting hand?" she retorted.
"I do!" He looked down at his hand. "Well, I did. Maybe it's forgotten."
"Don't do that again. It was stupid," she continued before wrapping her arms around him for a tight hug. He held her back, enjoying knowing that she was safe for the moment.
"You told them you were the Doctor," the other Doctor stated. "Why did you do that?"
"Oh, that's what he's like," Rose answered for him. "Jumping in the way of other people, trying to be the hero. We all know that the Doctor is the only one who can save the world, after all, isn't that right?"
"Well, maybe," the Doctor replied, trying to act modest.
"They stole something, something so precious," the other Doctor continued, his voice full of pain that he couldn't quite place. "But I can't remember. What happened to me? What did they do?"
"We'll find out," the Doctor promised him. "Together."
~0~0~0~
Rosita had been very happy to see her Doctor alive and well when they had turned up at the large stable that the other Doctor was working out of. After a brief look around and investigation of Jackson Lake's property, the companion led them to their TARDIS. It wasn't quite what the trio had been expecting. Instead of the beautiful blue box they travelled in, they were greeted by a blue hot air balloon. It sat out the back of the stables that both the other Doctor and Rosita were working out of.
"He's not the Doctor, is he?" Danielle whispered from the Doctor's side as they looked up at the spectacle. The Doctor shook his head.
"He's not me," he replied just as softly. "But the Doctor? Maybe."
She smiled sadly. "I saw you rummaging through his things," she explained. "You were looking for clues. Did you find any?"
The Doctor took in a heavy sigh. "I did," he replied.
"And it's not good?"
"It never is."
"Is there anything we can do to help him find himself again?" she asked. The concern on her face spoke wonders and he couldn't help the little tug on the corner of his mouth.
"You're just willing to help him, just like that," he commented. "Even though he's not me."
"That's not his fault, is it?" she replied. "Somehow he thinks that he's you, and he's not. We can't just leave him to fend for himself."
"That is quite right," he replied. They both continued to look up at the balloon for a moment before she shot him a cheeky look.
"He can't be you," she whispered. "She's the wrong shade of blue."
She wasn't wrong, and even though it amused him slightly that she was trying to cheer him up, the next part was going to be difficult for everyone. He took the few steps over to where the other Doctor was showing off rather modestly to Rose and Rosita, looking up at his hot air balloon with a fond smile.
"One day," he was saying. "I can depart in the TARDIS once London is safe. And finally, when I'm up there…" He sighed almost happily. "Think of it, Rose. The time and the space."
"The perfect escape," the Doctor chimed in and the other Doctor nodded. "Do you ever wonder what you're escaping from?"
"With every moment," he replied with all earnest.
"Then do you want me to tell you? Because I think I've worked it out now. How you became The Doctor. What do you think? Do you want to know?"
~0~0~0~
The Doctor had been through so many thoughts from the moment they'd met the other Doctor. Slowly things had been slotting into place, not quite painting a full picture until he'd been his nosy self and he'd had a look through Jackson Lake's luggage. The infostamps that he had found in there had connected dots that he should have realised sooner, and painted a terrible picture for the man sat in front of him.
They'd formed a little circle back in the barn, with Rose and Danielle on either side of him and Rosita sat dutifully next to her own Doctor. It made his hearts heal that little bit more to think that, in any form, he would always seek out companions and save people who needed it.
"The story begins with the Cybermen," the Doctor explained softly. "Created time and time again, they spread themselves across the universe, trying to fix what they find and conform worlds to their paradigms. Somehow, they've found themselves back in time, and back on Earth."
The other Doctor nodded slowly. "I fought them, I know that," he replied. "But what happened?"
"At the same time, another man came to London," the Doctor continued. "Mister Jackson Lake. Plenty of luggage, money in his pocket. Maybe coming to town for the winter season, I don't know. But he found the Cybermen too. And just like you, exactly like you, he took hold of an infostamp."
"But he's dead. Jackson Lake is dead. The Cybermen murdered him."
"You said no body was ever found," he pointed out. "And you kept all his suitcases, but you could never bring yourself to open them."
The other Doctor looked over at the piles of bags that were lining the shed. His eyes glazed over slightly as he fell into his head and Rose looked up at their Doctor. "Are you saying what I think you are?" she asked. "That he's…"
"Jackson Lake," Rosita finished for her. "Jackson Lake is you, sir?"
"But I'm the Doctor," he protested.
"You became the Doctor," the Doctor corrected. "Because the infostamp you picked up was a book about one particular man."
He pulled out an infostamp out of his pocket and pressed the button on the back to project it onto the wall. They all watched as black and white images of many difference faces began to cycle. Danielle's heart ached slightly as a very curly-haired man turned into the Doctor's previous body, before flicking onto the man who she was sat beside now. She wondered if it would ever stop hurting. She scooted a little closer to him as she had the sudden need to feel him next to her.
"That's you," Jackson breathed.
"Time Lord, TARDIS, enemy of the Cybermen. The one and the only," he confirmed. "You see, the infostamp must have backfired. Streamed all that information about me right inside your head."
Jackson ran his hands over his face as his whole idea of self crumbled. "I am nothing but a lie."
"No, no, no, no, no," the Doctor insisted. "Infostamps are just facts and figures. All that bravery. Saving Rosita, defending London town, hmm? And the invention. Building a TARDIS. That's all you."
"And what else?" Jackson demanded. "Tell me what else."
"There's still something missing, isn't there?"
"I demand you tell me, sir," Jackson shouted. "Tell me what they took. Why does Danielle bring me such sorrow?"
Danielle's eyes widened slightly in surprise, and a quick glance at Rose told her that she hadn't missed something as the other woman also looked rather surprised at his angry outburst.
The Doctor didn't, though, and instead looked back at him with a sombre look on his face. "Sorry. Really, I am so sorry, but that's an awful lot of luggage for one man," he broke as gently as he could. "Because an infostamp is plain technology. It's not enough to make a man lose his mind. What you suffered is called a fugue. A fugue state, where the mind just runs away because it can't bear to look back. You wanted to become someone else, because Jackson Lake had lost so much."
A bell tolled in the background, echoing loudly in the heavy silence that fell upon them. "Midnight. Christmas Day," Rosita stated quietly.
"Another Christmas," Rose muttered. "Think I've had enough of these for a bloody lifetime."
"I remember," Jackson told them, horror spreading through his voice. "Oh, my God. Danielle! They killed my wife. They killed her."
He fell forward, sobbing heavily. Danielle couldn't take the pain on his face, so whilst Rosita comforted him on one side, she knelt on the floor and joined him on the other. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I am so sorry." Rose was the same, moving to help comfort the man whose whole world had been built up and broken down in an instant.
The Doctor, on the other hand, had his attention immediately torn away by the beeping of the infostamp in his hand. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the one from the reverend's house, which also was beeping loudly.
He followed the noise to one of Jackson's trunks, opening it up and pulling out a large belt full of more infostamps, all beeping and flashing blue on one end. "Oh, you found a whole cache of infostamps."
"But what is it? What's that noise?" Rosita exclaimed.
"Activation. A call to arms." His eyes widened in horror. "The Cybermen are moving!"
He dashed out of the building without a thought for anyone else. Jackson continued to sob quietly on his seat but, after a moment, looked up at the three women.
"The Doctor needs help," he stated. "I learnt that much about him. There should be someone at his side. Now go." None of them made to move away. "Go."
"You two go," Danielle instructed the pair. "I'll stay."
"But the Doctor…" Rose began to protested.
"Rose and Rosita?" the ginger replied pointedly. "Sounds plenty to me. And the Cybermen think Jackson is the Doctor, someone needs to stay behind in case they decide to come looking."
Rose nodded, and Rosita quickly followed her out of the door. Danielle moved over to Jackson's side, giving him the warmest smile. "I'm sorry about your wife," she told him. "I can't imagine what that's like to have to relive again."
"She was called Danielle also," he told her. "With flaming red hair just like you. She-She tried to save me. She pushed the metal cylinder over to me. The infostamp, it was from her. Of all the ones she could have chosen, she chose the Doctor before she died."
"Sounds like she loved you a lot," she replied.
"And I her," he said. "What am I going to do without her?"
"I don't have an answer for that," she said gently. "But you'll work it out. You became the Doctor with not much more than some vague memories of a man. Sounds like you can do more than what you think you're capable of to me."
~0~0~0~
Danielle's words had sat heavily in Jackson's head. He'd begun pacing around the stables, looking down at the infostamp that had held the Doctor's life in it. His heart was breaking heavily, but somewhere in the back of his head there was this niggling feeling that his life wasn't fully complete. That beyond some dark veil was a memory, a thought that he couldn't get at. The Doctor had unlocked so many memories for him, perhaps the Doctor was the key to the last part of his life.
He couldn't just go after him, though. He had no idea where the Doctor was even heading, and he was just a man. A man who had lost his wife, his home, his…
His home. Very quickly a few more memories fell into place and he chucked the infostamp aside to search though his own luggage, digging deep and disregarding everything immediately and without care.
"There's no sign of anything coming," Danielle said as she stepped back into the stables. She'd headed out to give the man a bit of privacy to grieve, but also to check to make sure they were safe. She didn't want to move Jackson unless she absolutely had to, especially since she didn't know the way back to the TARDIS.
It was also to try and distract herself from the Doctor and Rose. She didn't want to think about how they might have been in danger, or how she might have been able to help had she been there. She didn't want to think about how she might not get to hold his hand again, or feel his lips on hers. That wolfish grin, that wonderful hair…
She frowned as Jackson chucked open another trunk. "What are you looking for?" she asked him.
"I remember," he told her. "I remember my wife, my Danielle, and how she died. And more importantly I remember where."
He pulled out a large, folded piece of paper tied together neatly with the twine. "Our house, our new home. She died in the basement. I suspect that is where the Cybermen are congregating."
She grinned at him. "Oh nice one!" she praised, rushing over to take a look at what turned out to be the deeds to his new home. He obviously had an idea, and drive, to go help the Doctor and she was definitely not going to turn away that opportunity. "Do you remember where that is?"
He shot her a grin of his own that could have sat right on her Doctor's face. "That I do, Danielle," he told her. "There's just one more thing we are going to need."