Paradoxical Paradox Chapter 2
“Oi, what was that for?” John Smith demanded, holding his reddening cheek. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Oh, yes, you did,” Donna Noble said, glaring at him.
The Master burst out laughing and the next thing he knew, Donna slapped him as well. “Hey,” the Master protested, making a reach for Donna. Jack stepped up and held him back, attempting a smile in the hopes that he wouldn’t get slapped as well.
“Don’t think I don’t remember what you pulled the other time,” Donna scolded the Master. “My mum and my fiancé turned into you. I almost died because of that.”
“But what did I do?” John Smith whined. “You were fine when I left you.”
“Fine?” Donna demanded. “You call erasing my memories fine?”
“What?” John Smith asked.
“He didn’t do that yet, Donna,” the Doctor said. He frowned and peered at her. “Yet another impossible thing; you shouldn’t remember.”
“Well, I do, spaceman,” Donna said. She scowled at him. “The hair’s a bit long and the chin’s a bit thick, but not bad for a regeneration. Not ginger, though.”
“No, not ginger,” the Doctor said, running a hand through his hair. He turned to the Master. “How is this possible?”
“She’s half Time Lord,” the Master offered.
“Oh, of course,” the Doctor said. He ignored all of the curious looks that they were getting and approached Donna. He looked into her eyes, cupping her face with his hands. She rolled her eyes at him, but allowed him to check her mind. “Her brain is still the same, but the memories and some of the knowledge have leaked through, since this dimension was already unlocking memories from the people within it,” the Doctor explained.
“This is a pocket dimension, right?” Donna asked. “It’s rather surprising that the knowledge was transferred over, you did something big, didn’t you? Nearly killing yourself again in the process, I’d bet.”
“Hey, Amy brought me back, just like I knew she would,” the Doctor protested.
“You must be Amy,” Donna said, brushing past the Doctor to shake hands with the girl. “Martha and Captain Jack I’ve seen before, although I don’t think that you’ve met me before. I’m Donna Noble.”
“Half Time Lord,” Jack said. “How does that work?”
“I absorbed some of his DNA and temporal energy, long story.” Donna brushed the question off and turned to John Smith. “Two Doctors, been there, done that. Now, who are you?”
“Uh, me?” Rory asked, pointing to himself. “Rory, Rory Williams, Amy’s husband.”
“Nice to meet you,” Donna said. She turned back to the Doctor. “So, one alien crisis that I didn’t miss, although I still didn’t remember it even before you wiped my memory.”
“Ah, yeah, about that,” the Doctor said. “We erased almost everyone's memories of the year that the Master took over when we stopped the paradox machine.”
“That Doctor there, right?” Donna said, pointing at John Smith. “Because you did not look like that when I last saw you and I know that regenerations rarely look the same. In fact, you got rather lucky a couple of times.”
“Yeah, I just managed to find myself here,” the Doctor said. “I shouldn't have tried traveling in the Tardis yet, but I was phoned and we had to go to the Orient Express in space.”
“Oh, a very good location,” Donna said. She paused. “You know, I've essentially live through this twice already, are you sure that you should be talking to your other?”
“Call him John Smith,” Amy said, ignoring the look John Smith gave her.
“Right,” Donna said. “Even if this is a pocket dimension, should we really be changing things?”
“Do you want to stay here for the entire year?” the Master asked.
“I don't know, I don't mind being myself once again,” Donna said. “Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm happy with my life now, always did want to get married and have kids, but I feel like I'm complete with all of my memories and some of yours.”
“Are you?” the Doctor asked.
“No, not yet,” Donna laughed. “We had the money for it, though, thanks to you, I'm sure.”
“Yeah, that was me. A bit of a going away present,” the Doctor said.
“Going away?” Martha asked.
The Doctor shrugged. “I haven't had much dealing with my previous life. You've all moved on and I had to as well. In fact, I think that River’s the only one that I've seen before this. Though, I'm not sure if all of you count. Donna, maybe, and the Master, but the rest of you technically don't count.”
“Thanks for that,” Jack said.
The Doctor shrugged. “Well, what now? I can't use the Tardis just yet, until there's a decent enough distraction. I suppose I might be able to use the time when you three go to confront the Master, but I'm not so sure if I should do that.”
“They can't go after me just yet,” the Master said. “We've got one other thing to do.”
“Oi, who put you in charge?” Donna asked, backed by the other two girls with glares.
“I did,” the Master said. He smirked proudly. “I'm the only one who really knows what's going on here.”
“Not fair,” the Doctor said. “I could have figured it out, if I had the time.”
“I'm sure you could,” the Master scoffed.
“Hey, we were rushed. I didn't even have time to find my regular outfit,” the Doctor said as he pouted.
“And what sort outfit is that?” the Master asked.
“Plaid with a bow tie,” the Doctor said.
“A bow tie?” the Master repeated, staring at the Doctor in horror.
”What? Bow ties are cool,” the Doctor said. “And fezzes.”
“No fezzes,” Amy said.
“Aw,” the Doctor said.
“He keeps trying to slip that by us, hoping we won’t protest, but he looks horrible in a fez,” Amy said. She lightly smacked her husband. “Go on, tell them, Rory.”
“He looked ridiculous both times,” Rory obliged. “Of course, I think the mop helped with that.”
“I don’t know, I think I’d like to see him in a bow tie and fez,” the Master said.
“So you can laugh,” the Doctor pointed out.
“True,” the Master acknowledged. He smirked. “It would be a sight to see.”
“And mock, right?” the Doctor asked. He shook his head. “Even without the drums, your sense of humor is the same.”
“What's this about the drums?” John Smith asked.
“Oh, yes, I forgot, you weren't there,” the Master said, peering to look at John Smith. “You were wrong.”
“Wrong about what?” John Smith asked.
“Wrong about me. Turns out, I wasn't so crazy after all,” the Master said. “Or, rather, I had an excuse.”
“Is this true?” John Smith asked, glancing to the Doctor.
“The drums were implanted in my head. Do you want to know who by?” the Master asked.
“Who?” John Smith asked.
“Our own people,” the Master replied, a grin spreading over his face.
“Impossible, why would they?” John Smith trailed off, seeing the dark look that his future self had.
“The Time Lords wanted to return,” the Doctor said. “So they sent a signal through the Master and he brought them back, for a short amount of time.”
“What's so bad about that?” Martha asked.
The Doctor chuckled and glanced over at Donna. “You know, your grandfather asked me that during the whole thing.”
“Granddad helped you?” Donna asked.
“He noticed something was up, you noticed too,” the Doctor said. “He came and helped me deal with the Master and everything else.”
“Listen, this is a long story, and we really should be going. Just because you showed up on your own doesn’t mean that I wasn't tracking you down before,” the Master said. “So, can we move on?”
“Where do you want to go?” the Doctor asked.
“And why?” John Smith added.
“Cardiff,” the Master said. He turned to Jack. “And, yes, there’s something I want out of your headquarters.”
“What?” Jack asked, stepping forward.
“Nothing that matters at the moment, but it’s something we need,” the Master said. “I thought you guys wanted to save the world?”
“How are we going to get there?” Amy asked. She glanced around. “There doesn't seem to be any cabs running and we can't use the Tardis.”
“So we steal a car,” the Master said with a shrug.
“You can’t just steal a car,” Amy said.
“Yes, I can,” the Master replied.
“You don’t have to, we can use my car,” Donna interrupted.
“It’s rather small for eight people, don’t you think?” the Doctor asked.
“It seats five, six if we squish together, and some can ride in the back,” Donna said.
“Oh, boy,” the Doctors muttered under their breaths.
“Come on, follow me,” Donna said. “Allons-y.”
“That’s my line,” John Smith said.
“DoctorDonna, that’s me,” Donna said in a sing-song tone.
“Well, parts of her are the DoctorDonna,” the Doctor corrected. “Your mind would be burning up by now if you had my full brain; instead you only ended up with your memory and parts of mine.”
Donna shrugged. “It’s enough.”
“Besides, you’d probably say that even if you didn’t have parts of my mind in yours,” the Doctor said.
“I would,” Donna agreed. She led them over to her blue car and unlocked it. “Now, before you lot start arguing, I’m driving, the Doctor gets the front seat, four of you in the backseat and the rest of you in the back.”
“Do we have to?” Amy asked, looking at the size of the car.
“I get shot gun,” the Doctor called out before John Smith could react.
“I’m the Doctor,” John Smith protested.
“So am I and I have seniority,” the Doctor said, grinning at John Smith before hopping into the passenger seat. Donna stayed outside, to make sure that everyone else found their places.
John Smith allowed Martha to pull him in to sit in the back seat, along with Jack, and the Ponds. Amy sat on Rory’s lap and Martha ended up sitting on Jack's lap.
“Fine, leave me all alone in the back,” the Master sulked.
Everyone ignored him as Donna started the car and pulled away from her house, driving towards Cardiff.
“Can we stop by the Tardis on the way there?” Amy asked.
“Why?” the Doctor asked. “What for?”
“Do you even have your screwdriver on you?” Amy asked. “And I know that there’s stuff that I forgot on the way out, like my phone.”
“Phones are a bad idea,” Martha said. “The Master can track people with the Archangel Network.”
“I don’t have that, that network failed years ago,” Amy said. “And I need my phone, just in case my mum and dad call.”
“You’ve got parents,” the Doctor said. “What are they like? I only got to see them a couple of times at the reception.”
“Yes, most of the time you were busy making a loon of yourself,” Amy said.
“I like dancing,” the Doctor said. “But, I’m only really good at one type of dancing.”
“That’s still true?” Jack asked.
“Why, what kind of dancing is he good at?” Amy asked.
“Swing dancing,” Jack said. “He’s absolutely rubbish at waltzing, but he is pretty good at swing dancing.”
“I never knew that," Amy said. She reached over and smacked the Doctor on the shoulder. “Why don’t I know those kinds of things about you?”
“We were kind of busy at the time,” the Doctor said with a shrug.
“I suppose that’s true, between the angels, vampires and everything else,” Amy said.
“They weren’t vampires,” the Doctor absently corrected.
“Angels, not the weeping angels?” Martha asked.
“Ugh, they were horrible,” Amy said as she shuddered. “That whole planet.”
“Spoilers,” the Doctor gently reminded. “Just to be safe.”
The Master chuckled from the back of the car. “That’s just like you, Doctor. Safe when it doesn’t matter, rushing in when it does.”
“We’re here,” Donna said as she parked the car. The Tardis was nowhere in sight, but the Doctor glanced at Donna and nodded.
“Thanks, we’ll be back as quick as we can,” he said as he and the Ponds got out of the car. He grinned. “I might even have the solution for gas.”
The Ponds waved goodbye and the doors were shut and locked before the Master could go and try to find them. The Doctor and his companions disappeared off into the distance.
Chapter 3