Chapter Text
“Oh, hello?”
What the hell was going on?
No, no, Rose was just in Pete’s world, desperately trying to help Rogue to get back to his universe, when suddenly… She started glowing.
The Doctor — Her doctor, the metacrisis Doctor, he had stepped back in surprise, or was it horror?
Regeneration energy, he had exclaimed as he pulled Rogue away with him.
And then she was here. Inside the Tardis. She realized how close to the edge of the Tardis she was standing and immediately took a step back, though tripped and fell onto her back. She looked up.
The Tardis was different, she didn’t like it, but it was comparable to what her own new Tardis looked like. That one wasn’t done yet, of course, the part Tardis they had still needed some more growing.
What the hell was she doing here and why was she alone?
Oh, but she was never alone with this old girl, now, was she?
She stood back up and approached the console, running her fingers over the railings. She smiled.
“Hello there. Old friend.”
The Tardis hummed softly in her head.
“Do you have any idea where to take me now?”
Another hum.
“Thank you.”
The Doctor opened his eyes and closed them almost immediately again as he felt his head get lighter, he almost passed out when a pair of hands gripped him tightly and slowly lowered him down to sit on the floor. He opened his eyes again, and when he saw who was looking back at him, almost passed out again.
Rogue smiled.
“Hello Doctor.”
“You’ve regenerated.”
The Doctor’s eyes shot to where the voice had come from and there stood his tenth regeneration. No. No, this was the other one. The metacrisis.
“Almost half a dozen times since you.”
“Really?” The Doctor gripped Rogue’s arm as he pulled himself up to stand once again.
“That should’ve been half a dozen.” He frowned, “What am I doing here?”
“Rose had been standing right where you are now,” said Rogue.
“What? Rose was here?”
The metacrisis doctor, John Tyler, the name he had been going by, nodded, a sad smile painted his lips.
“Where did you leave me, then?” Rose pulled the screen towards her and looked at the surroundings outside. The Tardis stood in the garden of a large, rather pretty house. Harmless, it seemed.
So, she decided to step outside, taking her time, she locked the door behind her and when she was about to turn around—
“Rose?”
The Doctor. Her Doctor. She turned around to face him and he looked the same age as well. But this wasn’t him, no, it couldn’t be, her John was different, he didn’t look like this, John Tyler was happy.
“Doctor.” She smiled, “How long has it been?”
He shrugged, no smile came from him, “A million years or so.”
“A million years and you didn’t regenerate?”
“I did. Only I got this face back.”
An uneasy chuckle left Rose’s mouth in the form of an anxious breath.
“What are you doing here?”
Rose looked at him and shrugged, “I have no idea. One moment, I was back home at Torchwood, helping an alien bounty hunter-“
“Cool.”
“Very. Very cool. Next, I was inside the Tardis. Alone. She took me here. I guess she wanted me to find you.”
A gentle smile formed upon the Doctor’s face, “I guess she did.”
And it was as if all nervousness washed away, she laughed, she was in her home dimension and the Doctor was with her, she pulled him into a tight hug with her and refused to let him go.
“But if I’m here and Rose is gone. I think I know where she is.” The Doctor ran over to one of the people working and started typing on their keyboard, “Excuse me—“ He looked the girl in the eye, “Shirley!”
“I have no idea who you are, sir.”
“Right, sorry about that, I know you in another universe.”
Shirley nodded, “Right.”
“Okay, let me just—“ The Doctor continued to type, only he seemed to come across some error. He turned to John, “You have a Tardis?”
“Almost,” He said, “It’s not fully grown yet.”
“Well, you’re lucky, then,” He held up his hand, still glowing with regeneration energy, “Because I’m not done cooking yet.” The Doctor ran off into the hall.
“Wrong way, Doctor,” said Rogue and the Doctor turned around.
“Doctor, who’s there?” The Doctor froze.
“Donna!” He stepped away from Rose and let his sister see for herself.
Donna froze, “Wha…” she stared at Rose for a long time, until a voice rang from inside the house,
“Mum, can we hurry up, I need to-“ The young girl froze as she entered the garden, the Doctor’s voice sounded,
“Rose!”
Rose Tyler looked at him, “What?”
The Doctor grinned at Donna and the young girl, “Donna, you know Rose Tyler, Rose…”
The girl looked at Rose in wonder, she smiled, “I’m Rose Noble.” Rose turned to the Doctor, who smiled at her,
“Donna’s daughter.”
Rose turned back to the girl and chuckled, “Pretty name.”
"Thanks." The girl brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, "I chose it myself."
John and Rogue watched as the Doctor tinkered with the unfinished Tardis console, his sonic screwdriver buzzing loudly.
“But you were going to regenerate,” said John, “That’s what I saw, regeneration energy.”
The Doctor shrugged, pressing a new button, causing the sonic to buzz differently, “I don’t think she wanted me to.”
Rogue frowned, “Who wanted you to?”
The Doctor turned to look at him, “The Tardis,” he said and turned to John, “Remember when you were created, I put my regeneration energy somewhere else, making me survive, but not change.”
John nodded, “You think she did that for you?”
The Doctor turned back to the console, “I put my regeneration energy into the heart of the Tardis to change time, save a life. I think she used that energy to save me from changing, but it brought back the last connection to her heart.”
“Bad Wolf,” said John.
The Doctor looked at him, “Rose.”
“I’m not following,” said Rogue.
“I’ll explain later,” said the Doctor, “Step back.”
Rogue and John stepped away as the Doctor pressed his two hands on top of the Tardis console, they started glowing, buzzing, the same energy Rogue had seen when Rose disappeared and the Doctor came back in her place.
The energy shot up the middle piece, then it shot out, knocking the three men over. The Tardis started blinking in and out of existence,
“No!” John stood up, trying to reach the console in time, but it had dematerialised before he could.
The Doctor stood, helping Rogue up, “I’m sorry. She’ll come back.”
John nodded, “She has to.” He turned to look at the Doctor, “Plan B,” he said, “We have a dimension cannon.”
The Doctor crossed his arms, “Right. ‘Course you do.”
John looked him in the eye, “While it’s not completely accurate, dimension travel has been much easier recently.”
The Doctor gave him a single, guilty, nod, “That’s my fault,” he said, “I awakened the Toymaker.”
John’s face fell, “Oh.”