Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Donna and Ten - The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Chapter Twenty Four ( Chapter 24 )

All the teas and coffees had been drunk, friendships made or renewed, and it was time to start taking people home.

 

'Well, time's moving on,' the Doctor said, moving to the console and starting the time rotor.

 

'Says a man with a time machine,' Jackie said sarcastically.

 

'Yeah, thanks for pointing that out Jackie,' the Doctor said as people laughed.

 

Jack gravitated towards the Metacrisis Doctor, who he'd had a quick chat with before, when he was drinking his coffee. 'How's it feel to be the black sheep in the family?'

 

The Metacrisis Doctor frowned at him. 'Eh?'

 

'Don't you remember? You ran to the end of the universe to try and avoid me.'

 

'Oh that, yeah, sorry about that.' He glanced over to the Doctor at the console, and back to Jack. 'He saw you as something wrong in time . . . still does, but now you just seem weird.'

 

'I've been called that before,' Jack laughed. 'And what about you, you said you're the Doctor too, but you don't seem too bothered by my wrongness.'

 

'Yeah, I am him, but I'm in a different body, a part human body where my sense of time isn't as acute as it was. To me, you're just a curiosity, y'know, a bit weird.'

 

'And what happens now, I mean, two of you, how's that going to work?' Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

 

'Oh his Lordship there has something up his sleeve, he seems to see me as his responsibility, as though I have no say in it, no free will.' He didn't know whether he should say anything else, but, what the hell. 'Although, if it's what I think he's got planned, I'm not complaining.'

 

'Right then, next stop Bannerman Road,' the Doctor announced as he set the coordinates.

 

'Oh, that's my stop,' Sarah Jane said, and then hesitated. 'That is Bannerman Road in London isn't it, not Aberdeen?' she asked. 'Only this one time, you did leave me in Aberdeen.'

 

Donna rolled her eyes and nudged him out of the way. 'Typical bloke, never think to ask for directions,' she said with a smirk.

 

She looked at the monitor. 'Ah, here we are, we'll be landin' in the park a few streets away.'

 

'Oh, like you know how to read a map,' the Doctor said with scorn.

 

Donna straightened up and gave him her “look”. 'Jackie, limber up yer palm, I can feel a slap-fest comin' on.'

 

The Doctor visibly paled and Rose snorted a laugh as she hugged his arm and gently guided him from the console.

 

'Er, Donna, how would you like to do the honours and take our guests home?' he said sheepishly.

 

'Don't mind if I do Sunshine,' she said with a grin.

 

The Doctor walked over to Sarah Jane, as Donna landed the TARDIS. Everyone was hugging her and saying goodbye, before she walked down the ramp with him and stepped outside.

 

'You know, you act like such a lonely man,' she said. 'But look at you. You've got the biggest family on Earth.'

 

She gave him a big hug. 'Oh! Got to go. He's only fourteen. It's a long story . . . and thank you!'

 

Inside the TARDIS, Jack and Martha were preparing to leave, and he gave Rose a big hug. 'It's been so good to see you again . . . you look after him now, you hear?'

 

'Yeah, I will . . . and it's been good to see you too. I've missed you, bein' stuck over there,' she said with a sigh, releasing the hug.

 

'And I got to meet the legend that is Rose Tyler,' Martha said, pulling her into a hug.

 

'Legend, me?' she said with a laugh. 'I'm just a shop girl who met an amazin' alien . . . I mean, look at you, you're a doctor.'

 

'You are never `just' anything Rose, you've saved the world on more than one occasion . . . and the Doctor, from what Mickey tells me.'

 

'I guess we all get that badge of honour when we travel with him, yeah?' Rose said.

 

Martha returned the smile. 'Yeah. C'mon Jack time to go, UNIT will be here soon to give us a ride.'

 

Rose gave them a sad, half smile as she watched them walk out of the doors, before turning around and looking at the rest of the team. She saw Donna on her phone, presumably phoning her family.

 

'Yeah, I'm fine. Are you all right?' she was saying, as she walked past.

 

Her mum was talking to Mickey near the console.

 

'I'm going to miss you more than anyone,' Mickey was telling her. She wondered what he meant by that, was he thinking of finally moving out of the mansion to find a place of his own? He could certainly afford it now, having been a senior agent for the last few years.

 

'What do you mean?' Jackie said. 'The Doctor's going to take us home, isn't he?'

 

'Well, that's the point,' he said.

 

'Mickey, what's goin' on?' Rose said as she came up to them.

 

'Well, Babe, I'm stayin' here,' he told her. 'I mean, it's been great an' all, and we've had some brilliant adventures workin' for Torchwood, but Gran's dead now, and I don't think Pete is gonna be too happy with me havin' put Jackie in all that danger . . . and, this universe looks quite appealin' at the moment,' he said with a lopsided smile.

 

'It's Martha, innit . . . you fancy your chances don't ya?' she said with a beaming smile.

 

'Er, she might have somethin' to do with it, yeah,' he grinned.

 

Rose hugged him around the neck and kissed him on the cheek. 'Good for you, go get her tiger.'

 

'Really, you don't mind?' he asked her.

 

She had a big grin on her face. 'I think it's brilliant, and it means I'll be able to visit my best mate when we're in the area.'

 

They hugged again, and then he jogged down the ramp and out of the doors.

 

Outside the TARDIS, the Doctor was using his sonic on Jack's teleport bracelet. 'I told you, no teleport . . . and, Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time,' he told her.

 

'Consider it done.'

 

Jack stood to attention and saluted the Doctor, even though he knew he didn't like people saluting him, he felt he had to pay him some tribute. Martha followed his lead and also saluted, feeling the same need to pay him some accolade for everything he had done.

 

The Doctor gave them a warm smile and touched his forehead to return the salute, appreciating their tribute. They turned, and started to walk up the path towards the park entrance.

 

'You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days,' Jack told her. 'Maybe there's something else you could be doing?' Like work for Torchwood, maybe, he thought to himself.

 

Mickey came out of the TARDIS, walking past the Doctor.

 

'Oi, where are you going?' he asked Mickey. They would have to be going soon if they were going to get to `Pete's World' before the breach closed.

 

'Well, I'm not stupid; I can work out what happens next. And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world, but my gran passed away, nice and peaceful. She spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me now, certainly not Rose,' he said.

 

So, he'd decided to stay. 'What will you do?'

 

'Anything,' he said, and he meant it. He wasn't the clueless car mechanic that had gone to stay in a parallel world. He was a man now, more mature and experienced. 'Brand new life . . . just you watch . . . See you, boss.

 

The Doctor held up his fist and Mickey bumped it, in their old, familiar style.

 

'Hey, you two!' Mickey called to Jack and the hot Martha as he ran to catch them up.

 

'Oh. Thought I'd got rid of you,' Jack said jokingly. Mickey put his arms around Jack's and Martha's shoulders, and Martha didn't mind that at all.

 

'Nah, not just yet Captain Cheesecake, I've come back to make my mark on this world,' he said with a grin.

 

'Hah! Mickey Mouse becomes Mighty Mouse,' Jack laughed.

 

The Doctor smiled and shook his head at his old friends, turning back to the TARDIS and a final journey that he was not looking forward to. He walked up the ramp, and activated the time rotor.

 

'Just time for one last trip. Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as . . .'

 

'BadWolfBay,' everyone except Jackie, said. "That must be where the dimension cannon still works", Rose thought, remembering all those years ago that BadWolfBay had been the last place on the Earth where the breach had existed.

 

Jackie was silently looking at her daughter with tears stinging her eyes. She knew that this would be their last journey together before she lost her forever. Donna walked over to Jackie and gently put her hand on Jackie's arm.

 

'Can we have a chat before we land?' Donna whispered, nodding towards the corridor leading to the kitchen. Rose was absorbed with talking to the Doctor, so didn't notice them sneak away.

 

Jackie used a tissue to wipe her eyes. 'What have you got to say? I haven't got much time left with me daughter, I'd like to spend as much of it with her as possible.'

 

Donna smiled at her sympathetically. 'I can't say too much, because I don't want to upset the plan,' she started.

 

'What plan?' Jackie asked with a frown.

 

Donna ignored the question. 'Rose loves the Doctor, and the Doctor loves her . . . more than you or Rose will ever know. When she first started travellin' with him, it was the lifestyle and the adventure she loved.'

 

'Yeah, I know, she was infatuated with `im,' Jackie said, rolling her eyes.

 

'And the Doctor was damaged goods, he was battle weary and broken, and your daughter healed him, she tended his emotional scars, and soothed the rage that burned inside him, and they fell in love.'

 

'An' you wanted to tell me this, because . . .'

 

'Because Rose promised him that she would stay with him forever, and she intends to keep that promise, and he's come up with a plan which means that they can be together for the rest of their lives, and you will still be able to see Rose.'

 

'Wha, Really? How the hell's he done that then?'

 

'You'll see, we'd better get back to the console, we're about to land . . . just don't say anythin' to Rose, we have to let it play out, and I didn't want you gettin' all upset an' doin' somethin' daft to spoil it.'

 

'Okay . . . and Donna . . . thanks.'

 

The Doctor landed the TARDIS, and started shutting down the console. He smiled at Rose. 'Why don't you go outside with Jackie and say your goodbyes in private.'

 

She kissed him on the cheek, he could be so thoughtful. 'Yeah, thanks.'

 

'Oh, fat lot of good this is,' Jackie complained. 'Back of beyond . . . Bloody Norway? I'm going to have to phone your father, he's on the nursery run.'

 

Rose smiled at her mum; didn't she know that her phone wouldn't work across different universes? If it did, she'd have been on the phone continually to the Doctor over the last four years. The Metacrisis Doctor stepped out behind them and looked around.

 

'I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy,' Jackie said to him, not even considering that he wasn't the original Doctor.

 

'Oh, brilliant. What did you call him?'

 

'Doctor,' she said with a smile.

 

The Metacrisis Doctor looked at her in wonder, what an honour. 'Really?' he asked.

 

Jackie smiled, he was an easy target. 'No, you plum. He's called Tony.'

 

The Doctor and Donna stepped out of the TARDIS, as Rose looked around suspiciously, something wasn't right.

 

'Hold on, this is the parallel universe, right?' she asked.

 

'You're back home,' he told her.

 

'And the walls of the world are closing again, now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure. See, I really get that stuff now,' Donna said.

 

'No, but I spent all that time trying to find you. I'm not going back now,' Rose said defiantly.

 

'But you've got to,' he told her, his hearts breaking at what he was doing. 'Because we saved the universe, but at a cost, and the cost is him . . . He destroyed the Daleks, he committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own,' he said.

 

'You made me,' the Metacrisis Doctor said accusingly.

 

Thoughts of a previous regeneration entered his head, an old renegade warrior with a posh, gravelly voice. 'Exactly, you were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge.'

 

He looked at Rose. 'Remind you of someone? That's me, when we first met, and you made me better, now you can do the same for him.'

 

'But he's not you,' she protested. Ah, she didn't believe it. Come on Rose, you're smart, work it out . . . please, he thought.

 

'He needs you,' he told her. "I need you", he thought. 'That's very me.'

 

Donna could see that Rose hadn't realised what the Doctor was offering her. 'But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's trying to give you?' She looked over to the Metacrisis Doctor. 'Tell her . . . Go on.'

 

This was his chance, he had to convince his love that he was still . . . well, him! He was still the man she had fallen in love with. 'I look like him and I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except, I've only got one heart.'

 

'Which means?' Rose asked, unsure of where this conversation was going.

 

'I'm part human. Specifically, the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you, if you want.'

 

"If I want?" Rose thought, of course she wanted. That was the whole reason for coming back. 'You'll grow old at the same time as me?' She asked,

 

'Together.'

 

She hesitantly put her hand on his chest and felt the `lub-dub' of his single, human heart. "Oh God, its true", she thought. She was suddenly reminded of an argument they had once had.

 

[`I don't age, I regenerate. But humans decay, you wither and you die. Imagine watching that happen to someone who you . . .'] She wondered then how he was going to end that sentence, and now she knew.

 

'Oh, and don't forget this,' the Doctor said, as he reached into his pocket and threw them a chunk of TARDIS coral.

 

'This universe is in need of defending . . . chunk of TARDIS, grow your own.'

 

'But that takes thousands of years,' the Metacrisis Doctor said with a frown.

 

'No, because . . .' the Doctor started to say, when Donna interrupted him.

 

' . . .if you shatterfry the plasmic shell and modify the dimensional stabiliser to a foldback harmonic of thirty six point three, you accelerate growth by the power of fifty nine,' she said, looking at them as though they had dribbled down their suits.

 

'We never thought of that!' they said together.

 

'I'm just brilliant!' she replied with a grin.

 

'The Doctor . . . in the TARDIS, with Rose Tyler, just as it should be,' the Doctor said, calling the Metacrisis Doctor by his own title, to try and convince Rose that they were the same . . . well nearly the same.

 

'But . . . what about you?' Rose asked in concern, she knew that he loved her, and that he had missed her.

 

'Oh, I'm fine, I've got madam,' he said, nodding his head to Donna standing behind him.

'Human with a Time Lord brain, perfect combination! We can travel the universe forever . . . Best friends! And equals, just what old skinny boy needs, an equal!' Donna said with a smile.

 

They heard the TARDIS time rotor rumble behind them.

 

'We've got to go. This reality is sealing itself off for ever,' the Doctor said.

 

'But, it's still not right, because the Doctor's still you,' she protested.

 

'And I'm him,' the Doctor said, nodding at the Metacrisis Doctor.

 

Oh, this is ridiculous, there can't be two of the same person . . . could there? And then she thought of a way of finding out, she stood between them. 'All right. Both of you, answer me this. When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it.'

 

Oh she was smart, "my brilliant Rose Tyler",  the Doctor thought. 'I said, Rose Tyler.'

 

'Yeah, and how was that sentence going to end?' she asked him, challenging him to profess his love for her.

 

He knew what she was waiting to hear, and he SO wanted to tell her, but if he did, then he knew that she wouldn't have the fantastic, normal life that she deserved. 'Does it need saying?'

 

She turned to the Metacrisis Doctor. 'And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?'

 

So this was it, the Doctor had given him the opportunity to steal his girl away from him and claim the prize. He leaned in close, almost intimate as he gently held her elbow, and whispered the three little words in Rose's ear that she had longed to hear.

 

'I love you.' Rose turned and looked into his eyes, and saw the truth looking back at her. She grabbed his lapels and pulled him into a passionate kiss.

 

And that was that. It should have been the Doctor kissing Rose, but it wasn't to be. He turned his back on a scene that was too painful to watch, and stepped inside the TARDIS. Donna took one last look at the lovers before closing the door on Pete's World for the last time.