Fic: Girl In The Mirror ‘Verse, Chapter 12: The Forgotten Day
Title: Girl In The Mirror ‘Verse, Chapter 12: The Forgotten Day
Author: psyfi_geekgirl
BetaBabe: akkajemo
Characters/Pairings: Ten/Rose, Twelve, River
Rating: PG-13
Excerpt: “You’re going to regenerate!?!” gaped River. She hadn’t even gotten used to this one yet...
Word count: 3,186
Disclaimer: Until she’s Jossed, Twelve is mine-but of course based entirely on stuff that ain’t mine… All hail Auntie Beeb!
A/N: Photo prompts from TTU challenge 35 (Photos-pics under cut). With this fic, I complete my backlog of then_theres_us prompts (YAY!! \o/ I DID IT!). This fic also comes in the middle of my Twelfth Doctor series, Girl In The Mirror. I may cross post each of the five entries to time_and_chips since it features Ten/Rose.
If you’re here from time_and_chips , these can stand alone, but if you’re inclined to read the rest of the series that this is a part of, links are provided.
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11
As usual, they needed milk.
The Doctor threw the parking break (having avoided the blue stabilizers, yet again) and bounded down the ramp. He had changed clothes, River noticed.
No. Correction: She had changed clothes.
God, that was hard to keep straight…
River grabbed her unwieldy backpack, slung it over her shoulder and followed him-no, her-through the doors and outside into a bright grey morning in the crowded city outdoor market.
“River,” the Twelfth Doctor tutted at her, “you can leave that pack in the TARDIS, I’m sure we don’t need antigrav boots or anit-polarity whatsits or any of the other stuff you’ve got in there. We’re just going for milk. Take it easy on your back.”
“With you, you never know. I’m happy to carry it,” she patted the pack. “Just in case.”
“Suit yourself,” muttered the Doctor and took in her surroundings, sniffing the air. “HA! Got it right! Not bad, eh?” she beamed, grinning smugly at River and negotiated her way around the people shopping in the open-air market. She had, apparently, got it right, and continued unabated with the smugness: “Y’think you’re so smart. As if I’d get it wrong, Timelor-lady and all. Nicely done, by the way, if I do say so myself-21st Century, 2006. Southwark, London, England, Earth, the Solar System, Milky Wa---weeelll, specifically the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy-rotten luck, all that global warming…”
“Sweetie?” It escaped out of her mouth without thinking, just out of habit. Now that was odd, thought River, but still-she’d had stranger relationships in her time she had to admit. “What’s up with the suit?”
“Hmmm?” said the Doctor, distractedly, looking around for a newsagent to prove her point and then really rub it in.
“You’ve changed.”
The Doctor laughed, ruefully, and looked pointedly down from her chest down before raising her brown eyes back up to River and winking. “Just noticing that, are we?”
“Ha. Ha,” River deadpanned. “Yes, very funny. The sarcasm is new. You were funnier when you were younger-I mean your suit. You’ve changed your clothes.”
“Yep. New clothes, new me, something like. And, it must be said, I am loving these shoes! These shoes, River! They fit perfectly!!” she said, quickly running in place. She looked up for a smile or some sort of reaction from River and frowned. “Why? Don’t you like what I’ve got on?” she asked, defensively.
River took a look at the new outfit: A very tailored, form fitting, midnight blue jacquard suit with a burgundy vine/flower pattern that, when she moved a certain way looked aubergine. The jacket had a structured shoulder and a wide, black satin lapel and underneath she wore a fitted aubergine organza blouse. She also wore a burgundy wine pair of high-topped sneaker wedges. The whole look was topped off with that ubiquitous long camel coat that swished dramatically when she walked.
It was quite a look.
“Very glam…” she teased. “Where are you hiding your emo goth cds? In your transdimensionally augmented pockets?”
“Are you being snide, Doctor Song?” the Doctor teased.
“The hair’s different, too,” said River quickly, eying the funky, brown, asymmetrical bob that the Doctor had seemed to magically sport when River had awakened and found her in the console room that morning. The last time River had seen the Doctor-this Doctor-was the first time she’d ever laid eyes on her, and things had not gone well. Nor had the entire encounter lasted more than a minute and a half. Since picking her up five days ago, the Doctor had been nicer than expected, but River was still a bit thrown off. As a result, their usual teasing banter and innuendo had taken on something of a girl’s locker room kind of vibe. River realised she’d been treating the Doctor like something of a sister, and she didn’t entirely know why she’d been acting so distant and contrary to the Doctor yet.
In comparison, the Doctor seemed a little thrown and tetchy with her, too; although she could hardly blame her, after how River had greeted her the last-the first-time… They seemed to be feeling each other out and redefining their relationship with the new changes in mind. Maybe this trip was supposed to work that out. Bound to be some eggs broken and some hurt feelings in this process, after all.
Par for the course, with them…
“And just what is wrong with my hair?” whined the Doctor, pulling a few wispy strays out of her mouth.
“Well, your sense of fashion has always been a tad on the eccentric side, hasn’t it, Sweetie?”
“No. You’ve just had it out for the bowtie and every cool piece of headgear I’ve ever put on my head… and what is wrong with this? You don’t like my hair, you don’t like the outfit…”
“I liked the hair,” said River bluntly.
“This IS my hair!” she huffed. Exasperated, the Doctor sighed loudly. “Milk? Right??” and stomped off down the street towards a random little food stand, brown bob flouncing in her wake.
The new do was cool, she had to admit… But what the Doctor was not quite ready to admit was that after the funeral she just needed a change, and so the curly hair had to go. But, pain in the arse as she was, River had probably already figured this out and was just needling her (in her cloyingly teasing way) into opening up. Well, she’d regenerated, not had a brain transplant-and, despite whatever the packaging advertised on the outside, a reticence in talking about some things was still a very Doctorish trait. And exploring her feelings ad nauseum about Amy’s death was one of those things she wished to avoid.
She also hadn’t counted on picking up a River that hadn’t really known this incarnation of her yet. On Gallifrey, when River had insinuated that they’d already seen each other (from her point of view), the Doctor didn’t realise she’d meant this. While the Doctor had already sorted out her standing with River on Gallifrey, now it was River’s turn to sort things out with her and the Doctor would just have to wait for her to catch up.
Bloody out of order life!
No wonder River had been so shocked at how she’d yelled at her on Gallifrey-from River’s point of view everything had already been settled as a result of this trip! The Doctor shook her head, figuring that the only spoiler she could glean was that at least they ended up on good terms after this-whatever this was.
By the time River reached her, the Doctor had picked up two gallons of milk and was halfway to the seller’s stand when she gasped and stood stock-still.
River noticed the change in the Doctor’s face straight away. She looked positively ashen. In all of their adventures, in all of the worlds, in all of the times and regenerations she’d known him, she’d never seen the Doctor look like this-positively scared of her own shadow. But there was something else in this look, too-something immeasurably sad-and while that was quintessentially the Doctor, this Doctor, it would have to be admitted, was certainly not like any of the others…
For she was too much like many of them…
For a moment, she thought it was one of her fits. She’d begun to get used to them, the way the Doctor clutched at her head, the way she dug a thumb between her eyes, the way odd accents or old incarnations’ expressions sometimes tumbled out of her mouth and then would evaporate as quickly as they’d come on. Sometimes she sounded like so many of the old Doctors-some River had known, or some she’d never met, but had only seen from a distance…when she’d gone looking…
But those were spoilers, weren’t they?
River reached out a hand to steady her. “Doctor?”
He She shushed her violently.
Before River’s mouth could form the rude comment that had sprung to mind, she followed the Doctor’s gaze. Coming up the road was a thin young man in a brown pinstriped suit, long camel coat flapping energetically in the breeze. His hand was firmly entwined in the hand of a blonde girl, who playfully bumped shoulders with him. He turned to her and they both grinned like such idiots at each other it was clear to River that they were either disgustingly in love or had undergone matching lobotomies. She had no idea why the Doctor could be so horrified to see them, unless she sensed that their nauseating positivity was spread by alien mind-control or something.
Suddenly, the Doctor dropped the milk and grabbed River’s shoulders. “River! I’ve no time to explain and no time for an argument! Just for once, do what I say with no questions: RUN!!”
She grabbed her hand and pulled her in the opposite direction of the couple, down the street and finally into an alley, where they came to a breathless stop.
“How is this happening? How is this happening?!” the Doctor gasped, mindlessly repeating as she ruffled her hair. “Ohhh! Think, think, think!!”
“Doctor, don’t worry,” River purred, patting her disintegrator gun. “I come prepared for any eventuality.”
“Don’t you dare,” she said sternly. “The timeline is holding by a thread right now anyway. Do that now and it’ll mean I’ll have never met you.”
River gasped, putting it together. “Do you mean? That’s…”
“Me?? Yes.” The Doctor bent over and dug her thumb into the space between her eyes and groaned in frustration. “How could I be so thick!? We’d just come back from Queen Victoria in Scotland! She’d wanted to pick up some supplies for her mum’s…”
“Doctor... He’s coming!”
The Twelfth Doctor wheeled around to see the Tenth Doctor spinning in the middle of the road like a compass looking for True North. It also looked as if he were looking for something or someone he’d lost track of.
Instantly, the Twelfth Doctor wriggled out of her long light brown coat and thrust it at River to hold. She wrenched River’s pack off her back, and dug through it. “I haven’t got much time!”
“What is it?”
“He can smell me!!”
“What???”
“Timelords can sniff out other Timelords. I remember I felt something strange in the middle of the street and ran down here but I didn’t---Ohhh! Look, I know you’ve gone to the black market, River. You’ve got to have something of use in here…” She pushed all kinds of hot merch and the usual assorted Time Agent gear around the bag including an EMP grenade, a Tachyon Causality Pulse bomb, her ubiquitous bottle of Retcon, extra hallucinogenic lipsticks, some assorted cables and a grapple. “AHA!” She sang and pulled out a small aluminum briefcase from River’s pack. “River, I’m not going to ask you how you got this-but right now, I’m very glad you have it!”
As the other Doctor got closer-about a half-block away-she cracked open the case and pulled out a long, metal, cylindrical object that looked like an epi pen. Her sonic screwdriver appeared from nowhere. “Does it do what I think?”
“Of course, but-“
“Are you wearing your TARDIS key?!” She asked as the screwdriver came to life, its buzzing directed at the epi pen the Doctor was holding.
“Yes, but-“
A second after the whirring of the screwdriver stopped, the Tenth Doctor turned towards them, zeroing in.
Twelve winked at River. “Geronimo!!”
Without warning, she jammed the epi pen to her chest. Yelling out in agony, she scrabbled at the brick wall behind her for support. River shrieked, dropping the coat, and tried to break the Doctor’s fall as she went down like a dead weight. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!”
“Buying us time,” groaned the Doctor from the ground as she clutched at one of her hearts. “Behind me!” She gasped, directing River, straining to get the words out. “Stand very still!” she rasped. “Perception filter… should hold.”
River backed herself up against the wall and averted her eyes from the other Doctor like you would with an angry stray dog or a wild animal. But the temptation to watch this strange new Doctor was great; it pulled at the centre of her chest and wanted to urge her forward, push her out into the open and see what would happen. She made her knees lock, rooting herself to the spot-a willow tree in a storm.
River’s eyes widened as the other Doctor neared them. He took a couple steps forward and she could see him so well now. Spiky brown hair jiggling like a demented weathervane looking for trouble, hands jammed in his pockets, and those clear brown eyes were focused to a familiar intensity that she would see hundreds of times and never get tired of-no matter what colour they were or what face they stared out from. He was so intense, every muscle seemed taught-the very picture of The Doctor On High Alert. She could make out the cinnamon dusted freckles on his face as he turned his head. Her breath hitched as she saw the double pulse point throb in his neck, just above his pale blue collar (where she saw another freckle). He spun around again-coat flapping-and she could make out the very, very familiar scent of leather-bound books, cloves and motor oil. And his coat…that coat… River swore that the very same coat was now lying in a rumpled ball on the ground between her feet and the brick wall the Doctor was crumpled against.
The other Doctor turned again like a cat in the darkness.
He raked his eyes right over her.
He didn’t see her.
The plan had worked. He looked right through her, and something shimmered in her heart.
Below River, the Doctor groaned. “Spare us some change, Luv?”
Distracted, he looked right through her as well, mumbling, “Sorry. I’m so sorry… I haven’t got any money.”
“Ow, s’what they all say, innit?” slurred the Doctor in a decidedly Cockney accent.
Having lost the scent, the Tenth Doctor shook his head as if he was trying to clear flies or troubling thoughts away. Then as quickly as he’d appeared, he turned on his heel and ran off calling “Roooose! Wait up!”
River gasped. That was Rose! That blonde he’d been with had been Rose! Rose Tyler!
The groan from the Doctor below her was enough to jar River back into focus.
She was kneeling by the Doctor’s side in an instant, demanding to know why she had been so stupid and impulsive.
“M’so glad you still worry about me,” said the Doctor in a tone somewhere between sarcasm and touched appreciation. It seemed as though the Doctor herself wasn’t exactly sure where to place it and it came out sounding a little bit of both.
River hastily reached inside one of the Doctor’s coat pockets and fished around for the stethoscope. Snaking it out of its hiding place, she listened to both sides of the Doctor’s chest.
“OnlyoneofyourheartsisworkingDoctor,” she said in a very concerned rush.
The Doctor gently pushed the stethoscope off and looked into River’s panicked eyes. “I know. That was the plan.”
“Doctor! You killed one of your hearts?!”
“No,” she said, unbelievably calmly. “It was injectable potassium chloride. I just temporarily stopped one of them to throw him off the scent. It’s all right. I’ll be fine. Hurts like hell-rubbish having only one heart, don’t know how you lot do it-but the regenerative process should kick in and restore it in about 45 minutes or so. Give or take.”
“You’re going to regenerate!?!” gaped River. She hadn’t even gotten used to this one yet.
The Doctor chuckled softly and then pressed a thumb to her forehead. She tried to be reassuring. “River… Look at me. I’m fine, always fine, me. I am not going to regenerate. You’re stuck with me, you are. Soon the process will kick in but only to heal whatever damage has occurred…” She pulled her head to one side and back again as if she were wrenching away from pain. “…And then, I’ll be right as rain again. Your old Sweetie, with two hearts and fabulous hair… only y’know, with… breasts...”
In her effort at reassurances, River heard the kind, soft, steady voice of the Doctor-the other Doctor, her green-eyed doctor, the Eleventh Doctor-and she began to feel on keel again. Still, she eyed the Doctor warily, remembering Rule One. “I swear, Doctor, if you regenerate now I’ll give you another to go just for lying to me!”
“River, I’ve only one regeneration left-why would I do this to myself unnecessarily?”
“Doctor, I’m quite sure at this point you would do anything just to piss me off.”
The Doctor chuckled.
“Can you stand?” asked River. “Will he-you-come back?”
“No,” said the Doctor as she allowed River to help her to stand, groaning on the way up. “That’s all of the drama for today, I should think. It was a perfectly ordinary day, as I remember. Just shopping and---“
WHOOOBOOOOM!
The Doctor was cut off by a massive sonic boom that threw them both onto the ground. People screamed, car alarms wailed, tyres from panicked motorists screeched like fingernails on a blackboard and the Doctor yelled in shock and disbelief.
“WHAT???”
The sky darkened from a massive alien mothership, hanging above them-a new layer of the atmosphere, like some prototypical alien invasion movie. Panicked, the Doctor stared at River as they struggled to get up. The look in River’s eyes somewhere between critical and blasé: “As you were saying, ‘just an ordinary day,’ Doctor?”
“This didn’t happen! I don’t remember this. I swear, THIS ISN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!”
The ship thundered out a deafening electronic screech and the screams of the populace increased. From their vantage point in the alley they could see people, mad with fear, running for cover, anywhere they could find it, like ants in a rainstorm.
The Doctor was beside herself. “Oh. This is not good. This is very not good! River! Go back to the TARDIS. Hide that coat!”
“And just where do you think you’re going with only one heart?!”
The Doctor grabbed the backpack back from River with one hand and unstrapped River’s Vortex Manipulator from her wrist with the other as she babbled, “Something’s going on, River. This didn’t happen before. But I’ve heard it before: Time can be rewritten. And if time is being rewritten-my time, this time-then this is not good. Very not good… River, this is important-go back to the TARDIS.” She gave her the sonic. “Keep out of the way. Whatever you do-don’t let him see you!”
“But I’ve never met him before! He doesn’t even know me!”
“River!” she yelled desperately at her, clutching River’s head between her hands-and willing her to understand what she could never (would never) utter, shouting with tears in her eyes: “SPOILERS!!”
In a blur of shimmering blue jacquard, she disappeared around the corner, running pell-mell into the danger, one heart beating out one word:
Rose….
To be continued in Chapter 13: Confederacy of Rivals --and on time_and_chips as The Forgotten Day (2/5)
Author: psyfi_geekgirl
BetaBabe: akkajemo
Characters/Pairings: Ten/Rose, Twelve, River
Rating: PG-13
Excerpt: “You’re going to regenerate!?!” gaped River. She hadn’t even gotten used to this one yet...
Word count: 3,186
Disclaimer: Until she’s Jossed, Twelve is mine-but of course based entirely on stuff that ain’t mine… All hail Auntie Beeb!
A/N: Photo prompts from TTU challenge 35 (Photos-pics under cut). With this fic, I complete my backlog of then_theres_us prompts (YAY!! \o/ I DID IT!). This fic also comes in the middle of my Twelfth Doctor series, Girl In The Mirror. I may cross post each of the five entries to time_and_chips since it features Ten/Rose.
If you’re here from time_and_chips , these can stand alone, but if you’re inclined to read the rest of the series that this is a part of, links are provided.
Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11
As usual, they needed milk.
The Doctor threw the parking break (having avoided the blue stabilizers, yet again) and bounded down the ramp. He had changed clothes, River noticed.
No. Correction: She had changed clothes.
God, that was hard to keep straight…
River grabbed her unwieldy backpack, slung it over her shoulder and followed him-no, her-through the doors and outside into a bright grey morning in the crowded city outdoor market.
“River,” the Twelfth Doctor tutted at her, “you can leave that pack in the TARDIS, I’m sure we don’t need antigrav boots or anit-polarity whatsits or any of the other stuff you’ve got in there. We’re just going for milk. Take it easy on your back.”
“With you, you never know. I’m happy to carry it,” she patted the pack. “Just in case.”
“Suit yourself,” muttered the Doctor and took in her surroundings, sniffing the air. “HA! Got it right! Not bad, eh?” she beamed, grinning smugly at River and negotiated her way around the people shopping in the open-air market. She had, apparently, got it right, and continued unabated with the smugness: “Y’think you’re so smart. As if I’d get it wrong, Timelor-lady and all. Nicely done, by the way, if I do say so myself-21st Century, 2006. Southwark, London, England, Earth, the Solar System, Milky Wa---weeelll, specifically the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy-rotten luck, all that global warming…”
“Sweetie?” It escaped out of her mouth without thinking, just out of habit. Now that was odd, thought River, but still-she’d had stranger relationships in her time she had to admit. “What’s up with the suit?”
“Hmmm?” said the Doctor, distractedly, looking around for a newsagent to prove her point and then really rub it in.
“You’ve changed.”
The Doctor laughed, ruefully, and looked pointedly down from her chest down before raising her brown eyes back up to River and winking. “Just noticing that, are we?”
“Ha. Ha,” River deadpanned. “Yes, very funny. The sarcasm is new. You were funnier when you were younger-I mean your suit. You’ve changed your clothes.”
“Yep. New clothes, new me, something like. And, it must be said, I am loving these shoes! These shoes, River! They fit perfectly!!” she said, quickly running in place. She looked up for a smile or some sort of reaction from River and frowned. “Why? Don’t you like what I’ve got on?” she asked, defensively.
River took a look at the new outfit: A very tailored, form fitting, midnight blue jacquard suit with a burgundy vine/flower pattern that, when she moved a certain way looked aubergine. The jacket had a structured shoulder and a wide, black satin lapel and underneath she wore a fitted aubergine organza blouse. She also wore a burgundy wine pair of high-topped sneaker wedges. The whole look was topped off with that ubiquitous long camel coat that swished dramatically when she walked.
It was quite a look.
“Very glam…” she teased. “Where are you hiding your emo goth cds? In your transdimensionally augmented pockets?”
“Are you being snide, Doctor Song?” the Doctor teased.
“The hair’s different, too,” said River quickly, eying the funky, brown, asymmetrical bob that the Doctor had seemed to magically sport when River had awakened and found her in the console room that morning. The last time River had seen the Doctor-this Doctor-was the first time she’d ever laid eyes on her, and things had not gone well. Nor had the entire encounter lasted more than a minute and a half. Since picking her up five days ago, the Doctor had been nicer than expected, but River was still a bit thrown off. As a result, their usual teasing banter and innuendo had taken on something of a girl’s locker room kind of vibe. River realised she’d been treating the Doctor like something of a sister, and she didn’t entirely know why she’d been acting so distant and contrary to the Doctor yet.
In comparison, the Doctor seemed a little thrown and tetchy with her, too; although she could hardly blame her, after how River had greeted her the last-the first-time… They seemed to be feeling each other out and redefining their relationship with the new changes in mind. Maybe this trip was supposed to work that out. Bound to be some eggs broken and some hurt feelings in this process, after all.
Par for the course, with them…
“And just what is wrong with my hair?” whined the Doctor, pulling a few wispy strays out of her mouth.
“Well, your sense of fashion has always been a tad on the eccentric side, hasn’t it, Sweetie?”
“No. You’ve just had it out for the bowtie and every cool piece of headgear I’ve ever put on my head… and what is wrong with this? You don’t like my hair, you don’t like the outfit…”
“I liked the hair,” said River bluntly.
“This IS my hair!” she huffed. Exasperated, the Doctor sighed loudly. “Milk? Right??” and stomped off down the street towards a random little food stand, brown bob flouncing in her wake.
The new do was cool, she had to admit… But what the Doctor was not quite ready to admit was that after the funeral she just needed a change, and so the curly hair had to go. But, pain in the arse as she was, River had probably already figured this out and was just needling her (in her cloyingly teasing way) into opening up. Well, she’d regenerated, not had a brain transplant-and, despite whatever the packaging advertised on the outside, a reticence in talking about some things was still a very Doctorish trait. And exploring her feelings ad nauseum about Amy’s death was one of those things she wished to avoid.
She also hadn’t counted on picking up a River that hadn’t really known this incarnation of her yet. On Gallifrey, when River had insinuated that they’d already seen each other (from her point of view), the Doctor didn’t realise she’d meant this. While the Doctor had already sorted out her standing with River on Gallifrey, now it was River’s turn to sort things out with her and the Doctor would just have to wait for her to catch up.
Bloody out of order life!
No wonder River had been so shocked at how she’d yelled at her on Gallifrey-from River’s point of view everything had already been settled as a result of this trip! The Doctor shook her head, figuring that the only spoiler she could glean was that at least they ended up on good terms after this-whatever this was.
By the time River reached her, the Doctor had picked up two gallons of milk and was halfway to the seller’s stand when she gasped and stood stock-still.
River noticed the change in the Doctor’s face straight away. She looked positively ashen. In all of their adventures, in all of the worlds, in all of the times and regenerations she’d known him, she’d never seen the Doctor look like this-positively scared of her own shadow. But there was something else in this look, too-something immeasurably sad-and while that was quintessentially the Doctor, this Doctor, it would have to be admitted, was certainly not like any of the others…
For she was too much like many of them…
For a moment, she thought it was one of her fits. She’d begun to get used to them, the way the Doctor clutched at her head, the way she dug a thumb between her eyes, the way odd accents or old incarnations’ expressions sometimes tumbled out of her mouth and then would evaporate as quickly as they’d come on. Sometimes she sounded like so many of the old Doctors-some River had known, or some she’d never met, but had only seen from a distance…when she’d gone looking…
But those were spoilers, weren’t they?
River reached out a hand to steady her. “Doctor?”
He She shushed her violently.
Before River’s mouth could form the rude comment that had sprung to mind, she followed the Doctor’s gaze. Coming up the road was a thin young man in a brown pinstriped suit, long camel coat flapping energetically in the breeze. His hand was firmly entwined in the hand of a blonde girl, who playfully bumped shoulders with him. He turned to her and they both grinned like such idiots at each other it was clear to River that they were either disgustingly in love or had undergone matching lobotomies. She had no idea why the Doctor could be so horrified to see them, unless she sensed that their nauseating positivity was spread by alien mind-control or something.
Suddenly, the Doctor dropped the milk and grabbed River’s shoulders. “River! I’ve no time to explain and no time for an argument! Just for once, do what I say with no questions: RUN!!”
She grabbed her hand and pulled her in the opposite direction of the couple, down the street and finally into an alley, where they came to a breathless stop.
“How is this happening? How is this happening?!” the Doctor gasped, mindlessly repeating as she ruffled her hair. “Ohhh! Think, think, think!!”
“Doctor, don’t worry,” River purred, patting her disintegrator gun. “I come prepared for any eventuality.”
“Don’t you dare,” she said sternly. “The timeline is holding by a thread right now anyway. Do that now and it’ll mean I’ll have never met you.”
River gasped, putting it together. “Do you mean? That’s…”
“Me?? Yes.” The Doctor bent over and dug her thumb into the space between her eyes and groaned in frustration. “How could I be so thick!? We’d just come back from Queen Victoria in Scotland! She’d wanted to pick up some supplies for her mum’s…”
“Doctor... He’s coming!”
The Twelfth Doctor wheeled around to see the Tenth Doctor spinning in the middle of the road like a compass looking for True North. It also looked as if he were looking for something or someone he’d lost track of.
Instantly, the Twelfth Doctor wriggled out of her long light brown coat and thrust it at River to hold. She wrenched River’s pack off her back, and dug through it. “I haven’t got much time!”
“What is it?”
“He can smell me!!”
“What???”
“Timelords can sniff out other Timelords. I remember I felt something strange in the middle of the street and ran down here but I didn’t---Ohhh! Look, I know you’ve gone to the black market, River. You’ve got to have something of use in here…” She pushed all kinds of hot merch and the usual assorted Time Agent gear around the bag including an EMP grenade, a Tachyon Causality Pulse bomb, her ubiquitous bottle of Retcon, extra hallucinogenic lipsticks, some assorted cables and a grapple. “AHA!” She sang and pulled out a small aluminum briefcase from River’s pack. “River, I’m not going to ask you how you got this-but right now, I’m very glad you have it!”
As the other Doctor got closer-about a half-block away-she cracked open the case and pulled out a long, metal, cylindrical object that looked like an epi pen. Her sonic screwdriver appeared from nowhere. “Does it do what I think?”
“Of course, but-“
“Are you wearing your TARDIS key?!” She asked as the screwdriver came to life, its buzzing directed at the epi pen the Doctor was holding.
“Yes, but-“
A second after the whirring of the screwdriver stopped, the Tenth Doctor turned towards them, zeroing in.
Twelve winked at River. “Geronimo!!”
Without warning, she jammed the epi pen to her chest. Yelling out in agony, she scrabbled at the brick wall behind her for support. River shrieked, dropping the coat, and tried to break the Doctor’s fall as she went down like a dead weight. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING??!”
“Buying us time,” groaned the Doctor from the ground as she clutched at one of her hearts. “Behind me!” She gasped, directing River, straining to get the words out. “Stand very still!” she rasped. “Perception filter… should hold.”
River backed herself up against the wall and averted her eyes from the other Doctor like you would with an angry stray dog or a wild animal. But the temptation to watch this strange new Doctor was great; it pulled at the centre of her chest and wanted to urge her forward, push her out into the open and see what would happen. She made her knees lock, rooting herself to the spot-a willow tree in a storm.
River’s eyes widened as the other Doctor neared them. He took a couple steps forward and she could see him so well now. Spiky brown hair jiggling like a demented weathervane looking for trouble, hands jammed in his pockets, and those clear brown eyes were focused to a familiar intensity that she would see hundreds of times and never get tired of-no matter what colour they were or what face they stared out from. He was so intense, every muscle seemed taught-the very picture of The Doctor On High Alert. She could make out the cinnamon dusted freckles on his face as he turned his head. Her breath hitched as she saw the double pulse point throb in his neck, just above his pale blue collar (where she saw another freckle). He spun around again-coat flapping-and she could make out the very, very familiar scent of leather-bound books, cloves and motor oil. And his coat…that coat… River swore that the very same coat was now lying in a rumpled ball on the ground between her feet and the brick wall the Doctor was crumpled against.
The other Doctor turned again like a cat in the darkness.
He raked his eyes right over her.
He didn’t see her.
The plan had worked. He looked right through her, and something shimmered in her heart.
Below River, the Doctor groaned. “Spare us some change, Luv?”
Distracted, he looked right through her as well, mumbling, “Sorry. I’m so sorry… I haven’t got any money.”
“Ow, s’what they all say, innit?” slurred the Doctor in a decidedly Cockney accent.
Having lost the scent, the Tenth Doctor shook his head as if he was trying to clear flies or troubling thoughts away. Then as quickly as he’d appeared, he turned on his heel and ran off calling “Roooose! Wait up!”
River gasped. That was Rose! That blonde he’d been with had been Rose! Rose Tyler!
The groan from the Doctor below her was enough to jar River back into focus.
She was kneeling by the Doctor’s side in an instant, demanding to know why she had been so stupid and impulsive.
“M’so glad you still worry about me,” said the Doctor in a tone somewhere between sarcasm and touched appreciation. It seemed as though the Doctor herself wasn’t exactly sure where to place it and it came out sounding a little bit of both.
River hastily reached inside one of the Doctor’s coat pockets and fished around for the stethoscope. Snaking it out of its hiding place, she listened to both sides of the Doctor’s chest.
“OnlyoneofyourheartsisworkingDoctor,” she said in a very concerned rush.
The Doctor gently pushed the stethoscope off and looked into River’s panicked eyes. “I know. That was the plan.”
“Doctor! You killed one of your hearts?!”
“No,” she said, unbelievably calmly. “It was injectable potassium chloride. I just temporarily stopped one of them to throw him off the scent. It’s all right. I’ll be fine. Hurts like hell-rubbish having only one heart, don’t know how you lot do it-but the regenerative process should kick in and restore it in about 45 minutes or so. Give or take.”
“You’re going to regenerate!?!” gaped River. She hadn’t even gotten used to this one yet.
The Doctor chuckled softly and then pressed a thumb to her forehead. She tried to be reassuring. “River… Look at me. I’m fine, always fine, me. I am not going to regenerate. You’re stuck with me, you are. Soon the process will kick in but only to heal whatever damage has occurred…” She pulled her head to one side and back again as if she were wrenching away from pain. “…And then, I’ll be right as rain again. Your old Sweetie, with two hearts and fabulous hair… only y’know, with… breasts...”
In her effort at reassurances, River heard the kind, soft, steady voice of the Doctor-the other Doctor, her green-eyed doctor, the Eleventh Doctor-and she began to feel on keel again. Still, she eyed the Doctor warily, remembering Rule One. “I swear, Doctor, if you regenerate now I’ll give you another to go just for lying to me!”
“River, I’ve only one regeneration left-why would I do this to myself unnecessarily?”
“Doctor, I’m quite sure at this point you would do anything just to piss me off.”
The Doctor chuckled.
“Can you stand?” asked River. “Will he-you-come back?”
“No,” said the Doctor as she allowed River to help her to stand, groaning on the way up. “That’s all of the drama for today, I should think. It was a perfectly ordinary day, as I remember. Just shopping and---“
WHOOOBOOOOM!
The Doctor was cut off by a massive sonic boom that threw them both onto the ground. People screamed, car alarms wailed, tyres from panicked motorists screeched like fingernails on a blackboard and the Doctor yelled in shock and disbelief.
“WHAT???”
The sky darkened from a massive alien mothership, hanging above them-a new layer of the atmosphere, like some prototypical alien invasion movie. Panicked, the Doctor stared at River as they struggled to get up. The look in River’s eyes somewhere between critical and blasé: “As you were saying, ‘just an ordinary day,’ Doctor?”
“This didn’t happen! I don’t remember this. I swear, THIS ISN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN!!”
The ship thundered out a deafening electronic screech and the screams of the populace increased. From their vantage point in the alley they could see people, mad with fear, running for cover, anywhere they could find it, like ants in a rainstorm.
The Doctor was beside herself. “Oh. This is not good. This is very not good! River! Go back to the TARDIS. Hide that coat!”
“And just where do you think you’re going with only one heart?!”
The Doctor grabbed the backpack back from River with one hand and unstrapped River’s Vortex Manipulator from her wrist with the other as she babbled, “Something’s going on, River. This didn’t happen before. But I’ve heard it before: Time can be rewritten. And if time is being rewritten-my time, this time-then this is not good. Very not good… River, this is important-go back to the TARDIS.” She gave her the sonic. “Keep out of the way. Whatever you do-don’t let him see you!”
“But I’ve never met him before! He doesn’t even know me!”
“River!” she yelled desperately at her, clutching River’s head between her hands-and willing her to understand what she could never (would never) utter, shouting with tears in her eyes: “SPOILERS!!”
In a blur of shimmering blue jacquard, she disappeared around the corner, running pell-mell into the danger, one heart beating out one word:
Rose….
To be continued in Chapter 13: Confederacy of Rivals --and on time_and_chips as The Forgotten Day (2/5)