NEW: A Different Threefold Man (5/11?)
Title: A Different Three-Fold Man
Rating: T
Author:
tkel_paris
Summary: Not even Caan could see every possibility. The Hand was far more aware than anyone gave it credit for, and it transformed itself into something different. Now Donna Noble and the Doctor have their work cut out for them.
Dedication:
tardis_mole. This was provoked by “Another Fine Mess.” You'll have to read it all the way through to have any clue why. And yes, I beta read that story, so in a tiny way I'm tooting my own horn in addition to TM's. ;D And thank you, my friend, for the chapter titles! :D
Disclaimer: Rose Tyler wouldn't have been anywhere near Series 4, and therefore this probably couldn't have happened, had I anything to do with owning these characters. I've lost all respect for the character, I freely admit it. Which means I've lost some respect for her creator. Shame, since he also created characters that I adore.
Author's Note: A new entry for the Alternate Handy Fanfiction Challenge. Nope, we haven't mined this one to death. Not at all! :D And there are still other possibilities! :D
Warning: Violence within.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4
Chapter 5: The Oncoming Husband, Part 2
The Doctor's roar silenced the Control Room. Even the TARDIS humming dulled a bit. Finally, Rose was silenced again. It was a blessed relief. He pulled out his Sonic and scanned Rose. He couldn't find any trace of the Bad Wolf within her, thankfully. He did find something else. “Jackie, the TARDIS key I gave her is in her right trouser pocket. I can tell Rose was using it to hone in on this universe. I can't risk her using it again, so I need it back.”
“No!” Rose shouted, “you can't take it! You gave it to me!”
But Jack held her in place while her mother quickly found the key. Which made the Doctor wonder how much practice Jackie had searching pockets - until he remembered the day Jackie stopped chasing men, and practically threatened him with her ankle when he made one too many cracks about her feelings about her age. His respect for her had increased ten-fold that moment.
He took the key back with relief. “Jackie,” he yelled over Rose's screams that it was hers now, “when we get you home, I need you and Pete to make sure that the Cannon, and any information about it, is completely destroyed. Search Rose's room and anywhere she might have frequented if you have to, just to be sure.”
The long-suffering mother nodded, understanding and apologizing with her eyes.
The Doctor smiled sadly back. Apology accepted and understood. The poor woman had fallen into the trap of doting on the child one had with a deceased love. It could backfire on you much later in life, and it had for Jackie Tyler. Pete had come into Rose's life too late.
“Doctor, please!” Rose was desperate, willing to say anything and agree to anything. “If a family is what you want, I can give you far more children than that ginger can! We'll have more time together!”
“Once again, shut up!” The Doctor knew he'd barely beaten his children to the shout, and he could feel his wife's shock.
What's it going to take to get through to her, she exclaimed in his mind, us shagging behind a closed door near her?!
He coughed, sensing the amused smirks from the twins. He was so out of practice restraining his thoughts from other Gallifreyans. But if he got this one lucky break, he'd never be alone ever again. I doubt she'd have a clue even if we shagged right in front of her.
Donna cringed. Even if you could sonic her vocal chords silent, which would be an improvement right now, I wouldn't let her have even a glimpse of your bum! That'd just encourage her!
He shook his head, shuddering at the idea. Good point.
The TARDIS hit a time eddy, despite the best efforts of six pilots, and landed with a hard bump. It made everyone lose their footing. Unfortunately, it also meant Jack had to let go of Rose.
The girl, feeling her chance, flew to the Doctor's side, sure her touch would snap him out of this madness. “Doctor-”
But the Doctor grabbed her wrists, keeping her at arm's length. “My grip is stronger than Jack's. Struggle too much and you'll break bones fighting me. Fair warning.” He thought he'd earned an medal for keeping an even keel to his tone, especially given that he had to restrain her when he really didn't want to touch her.
Jack thought about drawing Rose back, but it dawned on him that only the Doctor had a chance in hell of getting through the delusions and the fixation. Not that it was looking good on that front. Still, he kept Jackie at his side by grabbing her hand gently, shaking his head when she looked puzzled at him.
Rose tried to step closer, but the grip was harder than steel. “Why are you fighting me? We're meant to be!”
“You are meant to return to Pete's World, to be exiled for your misdeeds and crimes against space and time.” His voice was deadly in its calm, belying his and his ship's simmering mood. “You've ripped into two TARDISs, and killed one! There is nothing that can excuse that!”
She shook her head. “I had to save you! Besides, that world didn't happen now! What does it matter what happened to that TARDIS or that Donna Noble?!”
The twins sucked in a breath, nervously wondering what happened. Donna somehow knew that the truth wasn't something she'd want to remember. The rest were so far from appalled that it would take light a million years to reach there.
The Doctor's insides froze, and the TARDIS's humming went oddly silent. “What did you do to them?”
She didn't think, or even pause because of the cutting tone in the question. She just answered it. “I had to rip her insides apart to build the machine, and then I sent Donna back in time to stop herself.”
“Stop herself how? Talking to her earlier self?” He desperately wanted to believe that, but the reactions toward Donna that he'd witnessed didn't give him any hope that Rose could still redeem herself a bit.
The Old Girl had no such thoughts. Her growling resumed, sounding more dangerous than before.
She laughed. “Oh, I knew better than to let that happen. I remember those Reapers from when I touched my baby self. So I dropped her too far away to make it in time, so she walked in front of a vehicle, causing an accident that forced the right Donna to turn left.”
Gasps exploded throughout the room. Only the Doctor and the TARDIS didn't. They were too shocked with horror.
The twins and Jack started feeling energy crackle in the room. Jack wasn't sure what it was, but the twins knew immediately. Uh, oh, they thought, their anger at Rose taking a backseat.
Donna felt it more through hearing her husband's thoughts, and saw the danger. “Doctor,” she said as she approached, trying to warn him.
He ignored her, cutting off another snap from Rose as he gasped, “You killed Donna?!” The tension he held back was enough to be cut with a laser scalpel, and he felt the Storm within picking up speed.
She scoffed. “That world wasn't real in the end. What does it matter?”
“Did you offer her any comfort in the end, as she lay dying?!” The words escaped without his permission. His instincts, however, were turning toward the point of no return, fueled by the TARDIS' own building fury. Only one kind of answer could stop the Storm in its tracks, if Rose was wise enough and caring enough in that parallel world to do that one thing.
She blinked, baffled over his cold expression. “I told her what to tell you when she saw you again, and walked away. Didn't know if I'd be caught in something bad if I didn't. Again, what does it matter?”
As much as the callousness alarmed Donna, and left her beyond relieved she couldn't remember that death (she knew a few people who'd died and come back, and the memory of dying was frightening), she had bigger concerns. The energy in the room was generating static electricity, making her insides tremble, and the humming of the TARDIS became decidedly malevolent. She stepped almost next to her husband, hoping to put to stop to things. “Doctor-”
She cut off on a cry as the energy of the Oncoming Storm unleashed. The Doctor's face contorted with a rage he hadn't expressed since he was thrown out of the Time Lock. The languid fluidity was replaced by the measured, precise movements of the soldier he'd once been. The gentle man who abhorred violence had been swallowed by who Eight had to become, and who Nine was born as.
Rose barely had the time to register alarm in herself when she found her body sharply dragged to the side, drawing a scream of shock. But then her back slammed against a column. With photon-fast reflexes, he let go of her wrists to stab a fist into her stomach - making her exhale sharply - and clamp the other around her neck.
“Doctor, stop!” Donna screamed over the terrified exclamations, grabbing his wrists. “Remember Peri!”
The combination of her terrified voice with those words halted him, but he didn't let go. Rose was having trouble struggling - the force of hitting the column had knocked the wind out of her, the fist to the stomach made breathing even more difficult, and her airway was cut off. She was feebly twitching and starting to pass out.
Not that he noticed. “She thought nothing of killing my girls! My future!” The roar made the already terrified companions - even the stricken Jackie - shudder and back away further.
The twins reached them, and tried to pull his hands away. The memory of the soldier he had been was frightening enough, but seeing it was making their insides feel aghast. As one, they cried, “She's also responsible for our existing!”
He shook his head ever so slightly. “Not enough,” he snapped. “She's probably destroyed entire universes in her obsession! She's committed genocide and murder and rape! She's tried to destroy my family! She would kill all three of you if she could! Why shouldn't I take justice into my own hands?! I'm the one who didn't punish her, who didn't turn her in the first time!”
Donna had one answer: “Jenny!”
The shock of that word was enough to make him let go. He staggered back a ways before bumping into another column.
Rose collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath and struggling for each bit of oxygen. Her mother rushed to check on her, as any caring person would, and Jack and Mickey followed. Both men still remembered what it was like to care for Rose, and such an aftermath did need follow-up. Martha approached more slowly, falling back on her medical training to push through her horror. Sarah Jane stepped more toward the Doctor, trying to see his face.
Donna and the twins followed him. She cupped his face in her hands, trying to draw his shocked gaze on her. Sh-sh-sh, she told him. I'm here. The TARDIS is here. The twins are here. The multiverses are safe.
His respiratory bypass was active - he couldn't draw breath. I nearly became a killer. Just like her.
If you were, she gently reminded him, then nothing I could've said would've stopped you. You were pushed to your limits and beyond many times today, and she was the cause of most of them. I will help you forgive yourself.
His body started shaking. I don't know where all that anger came from. It was beyond what I felt even after the Time Lock.
Donna tugged his head down so their foreheads could touch, strengthening their bond. When your feelings are trampled over, punched down, it's only natural to feel anger. Even rage. I have. Didn't know it until one boyfriend was critical of me and I hit him. You've had your feelings repressed so often over the years, and Rose was talented at shoving another's feelings aside. It was all going to come out, and your restraints were weakened today.
Their children touched his shoulders. Neither dared to speak. Their mother's words were what he needed more than anything, and her observations about trampled over feelings hit them both. Maybe it was the source of the anger they each felt - a combination of the emotional injustices each parent had faced.
They definitely needed help to let it all go. Locking things away might not work so well if the emotional memories seeped through.
His airway opened again, and he gulped air in, shaking hard. Oh, my... He went pale with shame.
It's okay, my love. You'll be able to let it all out soon enough. We'll spend a little time in the Vortex once everyone's gone home.
Donna, he told her in a panic, I need you to send...her...away. I can't trust myself.
Can't blame you, she whispered. Any instructions?
Do whatever you feel is necessary. Say whatever you think right. Hard to be wrong here. Then he pulled something out of his pocket, grateful for the TARDIS' ability to make things accessible instantly through them.
Donna looked at it, and cringed. It was something they'd both wanted to forget about ever since that awful day in the Library. But she would likely need it, and the key that the TARDIS had fashioned for it. Sighing, she stuffed them into a pocket, suspecting that no one was watching. “Keep your dad just out of the room,” she whispered. “I'll call when they're gone.” Because her Spaceman would want to pilot the TARDIS out of the parallel universe as quickly as possible, and he'd need something constructive to do soon.
The twins nodded, and gently escorted the Doctor to the hallway right outside of the Control Room. Put some distance between him and the person who'd caused him so much pain - and yet be close enough to not waste time getting home.
During the whole exchange, Rose tried to recover her voice as she was checked over. She'd been rolled onto her side from the slumped position she couldn't move from. She'd looked toward where the Doctor was, but her mother was in the way. It wasn't until she heard footsteps out of the room that she managed to croak, “Doctor?” She couldn't believe that he'd done that deliberately. Something had to be influencing him.
Even though his face had - for one terrifying moment - looked like the mental image she gained from reading a few novels: the face of Death, announcing it had come for you.
Donna had had enough. She didn't trust Rose as far as she could throw her - and then about five hundred metres. And seeing the rage her husband had developed from what the little bint had done to him, after everything his own people did? Enough was enough! So she marched over and pushed her way into the huddle, yanking Rose's arms behind her and slapping the restraints the Doctor had given her onto Rose's bruised wrists, drawing a whimper.
Jackie's eyes widened. “Hand cuffs?!”
For the first time in a long while, Jack had absolutely no urge to make a very naughty joke. Naughty behavior was clearly the furthest thing from the Doctor's wife's mind.
Donna kept her tone tightly controlled. “We've landed at Bad Wolf Bay. Sorry, Jackie,” she added when the over-burdened mother groaned, “but we can't get you any closer without risking the TARDIS's life, and the Doctor and I won't risk stranding ourselves in a universe where my children won't have my family around.”
She nodded, sighing. “I'll call Pete. He's probably on the nursery run for our son and daughter.”
Oh, good, Donna thought with a smile for her. She had a family she could be proud of. Maybe they would one day make Rose snap to and take a hard look at herself. Maybe.
She looked back at Rose. “You will go outside with your mother, saying pleasant goodbyes to Jack, Sarah Jane, and Martha. I know better than to expect such toward me.”
“Hey, Mrs. Boss?” Mickey interrupted.
Donna blinked. She wasn't the only one.
He shrugged with a smile. “Seems fitting. Anyway, is it all right if I return with you?”
She thought she should've been surprised, but given what she was seeing in Rose, she wasn't. “Yeah, you can. You haven't done anything that's worthy of being exiled.”
Mickey grinned, but it faded when Rose protested, recovering her loudness. “Exile?! Why, you ginger cow?!”
Donna groaned. “Oh, let's see. Like my children, you also committed genocide, but - unlike them - you felt no shame or guilt over the deaths. You basically forced the Doctor to give up a life to save you from your own foolishness. You made Jack immortal, which has been a flipping burden on him since he's had to die over and over - yet never able to stay dead - and watch all the people he's ever cared about pass on!”
Rose looked back at the 51st century flirt, and the grim look in his eyes told a story. Of feeling haunted, troubled, and sometimes without hope. That hit her in her heart. She had caused that.
“And where's the sadness over the Ninth Doctor's death?” There was a fire in her belly, and she was going to have her say - regardless of whether the target listened. “No, you were utterly fixed on the Doctor's current self, thinking him your perfect man even though you'd seen he's an alien! You caused the death of a person you claimed to love! Your actions might've led to all those deaths at Canary Wharf! And then there's this latest Dalek mess, which was made worse by your Cannon! Not to mention nearly killing him again, and the two times you ripped a TARDIS apart! The Old Girl has told me that any one of those could be considered an execution-worthy crime!” Going to have to have a talk with Sunshine about all those second chances he gave her, she thought privately.
Everyone paled. Rose was the only one trying to process what was being said. “But I didn't mean-”
“Exactly. You didn't mean to, you didn't think to, you didn't think of the implications!” Donna pursed her lips, eying the other companions in a silent warning to be quiet. “Now, Rose Tyler, I've lost my patience with you. No more second chances. Even my compassion has its limits. You will go outside with your mother willingly. I'm leaving a key with your mother and the instructions to not release you until the Cannon and all information on it are destroyed.”
Rose cried incoherently, shaking her head in dismay. How could this woman call herself compassionate?!
“You were nearly killed by the Oncoming Storm. What did you expect when you just brazenly told him that you thought nothing of killing his beloved ship and the woman who's now his wife?!”
“Wife?!” Rose's eyes tried to beat dinner plates.
Jack groaned. Clearly one more thing hadn't gotten through to Rose. “He married her the moment he leaned in to whisper in her ear. Time Lord marriage bonds are made through confessing their secret names to their spouse. One cannot force that.”
No, Donna thought, but one can be bullied into doing it. That sums up my husband's previous two marriages.
Rose had a talent at figuring out flirts. One had that when they knew how to flirt themselves. So she saw that he was telling her the truth. And it crushed her.
“That's right, Rose,” Donna said quietly. “You tried to plough your way back to him, and in so doing forced into being a family with the woman he'd lost his hearts to.”
Rose started crying.
“If you think this is unfair,” Donna said, “be grateful I have enough compassion to not turn you into the Shadow Proclamation and their rhino thugs.”
It might actually be crueler to make her live, but where there was life, there was hope. That was what Donna believed, and she wouldn't alter it to deal with the girl who was practically her worst enemy thus far.
Jack and Martha paled. Mickey and Sarah Jane's eyes widened. Jackie blinked, instantly terrified at the thought. She didn't want to know any more, and prayed her daughter didn't push him too far.
Rose couldn't help herself. “Rhino goons?”
Martha gulped. “They decide guilt in a moment, and their guns can vaporize a person.”
Jackie nearly fainted. Rose wasn't far behind.
“So...” Donna drawled, dangerously, “what's it going to be?”
There was a long moment of silence.
Jackie looked up, eyes so wet she couldn't see. “Tell the Doctor...I'm sorry I didn't raise her better.”
Donna nodded sadly, feeling the mother's agony over her child's outcome. She knew that Rose didn't exist merely because of the child benefit support. (It wasn't the best reason to have a child, but it could make the difference between having food on the table or not. She knew a few people who'd done it, but couldn't fathom bringing a child into such circumstances.) Poor Jackie Tyler - she'd tried to raise her only link to her husband, and got this utterly selfish brat in return.
Rose Tyler now felt that the day she'd previously called the worst day of her life was actually pretty good. At least she hadn't had her dreams completely crushed by a different destroyer of worlds: the presence of Donna Noble.
Jack watched from the TARDIS doors as Jackie dragged her numb daughter away. She had the details for what she and Pete had to do once she was back in London, and he was sending a zeppelin to collect them.
Best they started as soon as possible, he knew. The girl he had once loved had wept goodbyes to Mickey, Sarah Jane, and himself - but had nothing to say to Martha. Which ticked him off. Martha Jones was a wonderful nightingale, and the most loyal friend. Not to mention a great human doctor. Rose really didn't care about anyone other than herself, at her core.
Which was so sad. She had the intelligence to do things in life. Yet she took all of the lessons the Doctor tried to teach her, and came away with all the wrong messages. Just because she wanted to escape her boring life instead of transform it through hard work. She certainly could do it - getting that cannon built proved it. She just needed to direct it elsewhere.
Sighing, he closed the doors and returned to the station he'd manned earlier. Donna had indicated he should. “Time to go home?” he asked.
“Passed time.” The answer came from the Doctor, who bounded into the room and placed himself at the lead station. “Everyone ready?”
More than one companion raised an eyebrow, but Donna and the twins - who followed behind their father at a more sedate pace - shook their heads.
Jack in particular frowned as they all followed the Doctor's instructions. Donna manned the station that Rose had earlier, but she was clearly getting more things to do.
Much sooner than anyone expected, they had landed in London in their universe. The Doctor put on the brake. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. The explosion had caught up to him, and the numb feelings that had overtaken him after Donna had stopped him from killing were gone. He was emotionally spent, overwhelmed. And deeply ashamed that his failure had been in front of several companions.
Sarah Jane could read the look on his face. It was a more extreme version of one she'd seen on Luke's face when he did something wrong, knew it, and expected a massive punishment. “Don't beat yourself up, Doctor. No one here blames you for what happened.”
He shook his head, unable to meet anyone's eyes. “I took her on as a companion. I let her think she was special to me. I let her get away with genocide instead of making her face a punishment right away. I had so many chances to dump her and make her face the music. I didn't, because I didn't want to be alone. What kind of a monster am I?”
“A monster,” Martha interrupted his verbal diarrhea, “wouldn't feel guilt. He wouldn't be concerned about the right or wrong in killing. He wouldn't fight against injustices and for people who can't do anything for him. He doesn't worry about teaching anyone to be better, or what his friends think of him. Trust us, Doctor. You're not a monster.”
“I agree,” Mickey interjected. “You're just like anyone who's tried to escape their past. Unless you face it head-on sometimes, it keeps catching up with you. You're just a bloke who was pushed beyond your limits today.”
“And when any person,” Jack continued, stepping right up to face the Doctor, “is pushed that far, they break or snap. You snapped, but not one of us can blame you. You're naturally protective of the ship that's been your most faithful companion and the woman you've taken as your wife. I defy anyone here to swear that they would've acted differently.”
The words weren't exactly helpful to the Doctor's mental state. Yet he did hear that none of them were angry.
Jack clasped the Doctor's shoulders, startling the overwhelmed being. “I think your wife will handle this better than any of the rest of us can, but we don't hold what happened against you. And there's something I think I'd better add in light of today.” He swallowed. “I forgive you.”
That made everyone blink.
Jack had to take a breath to fuel the words that had to come out, for both their sakes. “For introducing me to Rose. For not stopping her from turning me into what I am now. For leaving me behind. For calling me wrong. For everything. Because you didn't do anything wrong. She did.”
The Doctor sucked in a breath. He hadn't realized how much easier it had been for him to place the faults on the Boe-Kind flirt than to face his own guilt and Rose's selfish destructive behavior.
Mickey bowed his head. He'd had no idea what had happened to Jack until today, and this confirmed every worst impression he'd been left with about Rose. He also noticed Martha crying softly, and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder.
She gripped it in gratitude. She'd watched a lot of awful things in her time with the Doctor, heard hints of the horrible things he and Jack endured during The Year That Never Was, and wondered how anyone could lack even a basic level of caring. Because that was what it looked like, judging from what she saw of Rose.
Sarah Jane closed her eyes. The Doctor needed this to be able to heal, to be the father and husband he clearly wanted to be.
Jack hugged the Doctor before he could react. “Don't worry. I don't kiss anyone who's taken.”
That drew a hiccuping laugh out of the Doctor. It was a bit on the hysterical side, but it pulled him from a darker place. He returned the hug, sagging a little as a huge weight he hadn't even known he was carrying evaporated off his shoulders.
When Jack let him go, the Doctor found Martha tugging him into another hug. Silent forgiveness was being given from her, too. He wasn't even aware his eyes had become watery. He still didn't know when Sarah Jane took her turn at a consoling embrace. Hers was that of an old friend who knew better than anyone - even perhaps Donna - what a burden the Doctor carried. She'd witnessed some of what his own people had made him feel, so she wasn't surprised that he could react so intensely.
When she let go, Mickey just grinned. “You really want a hug from me, Boss?”
The Doctor laughed. A genuinely amused laugh. Rassilon, he needed that! He shook his head with a smile.
Mickey's smile grew. “You have my forgiveness, too. I figure...you've endured enough.”
The unsaid aspects of Rose Tyler being the Doctor's punishment were still heard loud and clear by everyone. Still, even as his smile faded, the Doctor was able to shake Mickey's hand. Yes, that chapter was completely behind them both now.
Jack looked at Donna. “Is it too late to claim that hug?”
Donna fixed a glare on him. “Why should I when you wouldn't hug me earlier?” Not that she was feeling vindictive, but she had to know. “Got a problem with gingers?”
The Boe-Kind grimaced in embarrassment. Especially because all eyes were on him. “No, and I definitely don't have a problem with curves.” His admiring grin spoke volumes.
She just stared at him, silently commanding him to get on with it.
He cleared his throat. “No, what stopped me was that I don't flirt with people who are taken, and I didn't want the Doctor mad at me. Who knows what he might do.”
Donna frowned. “But I wasn't taken then.”
“Emotionally, you were.”
“But not actually.”
“Well, the TARDIS told me that you belonged to the Doctor. I had no reason to not believe her.”
The Doctor's eyes widened to dinner plates.
Martha looked pointedly at him. “You said you weren't anything other than just mates.”
The TARDIS' humming started to take on a snickering quality.
Now better able to hear the Old Girl, Donna's mouth opened. “Is that why we were always landing in places that thought we were married?! You, TARDIS, were trying to push us together?!”
The Doctor flinched as his ship had something to say privately to him. He cleared his throat. “She was trying to push me into making a move, but I was trying to deny what I felt. Especially when you said you weren't having any of that mating nonsense.”
The twins smirked. “Come on, Dad,” the girl said, “you know you practically fell for Mum within moments of meeting her! You instinctively knew she'd possess your hearts!”
Her brother cheerfully added, “Have to wonder what she would've done if you'd tried to kiss her.”
“Probably slap me for my cheekiness.” The Doctor wasn't an idiot - she wasn't ready for that then.
Donna blushed, her turn to clear a throat. “Here, Jack.” She got the impression from the TARDIS that the clone talk from Rose had hit a sore spot with him, but she wasn't going to ask why. That was for Jack to admit to, if he ever felt comfortable enough with her. Perhaps never. It didn't matter as long as she could help in some way as a friend.
Jack gratefully accepted the warm hug. His instincts were right - Donna was the best hugger he'd ever met. She gave herself over to the hugs.
So he held on a bit longer than the Doctor was strictly comfortable with. Not because he wanted to make a move on her, but because the comfort was addictive.
“How the hell,” Jack suddenly asked, pulling away with a sigh, “did you, Doc, hold out against her charms and temptations? Why hadn't you gone on your knees and begged her to be your wife the day you met her?!” That he hadn't made Jack now convinced that the Time Lord was certifiably insane.
The Doctor flushed a bright shade, forcing Martha and Mickey to cover their grins. Sarah Jane's smile was indulgent, like a knowing aunt's. The twins just snickered.
Donna was blushing, too, but she hadn't lost her wit. “Just because I fell for him the first day don't mean I would've said yes!”
Chapter 6: Mirror Image
Rating: T
Author:
tkel_paris
Summary: Not even Caan could see every possibility. The Hand was far more aware than anyone gave it credit for, and it transformed itself into something different. Now Donna Noble and the Doctor have their work cut out for them.
Dedication:
tardis_mole. This was provoked by “Another Fine Mess.” You'll have to read it all the way through to have any clue why. And yes, I beta read that story, so in a tiny way I'm tooting my own horn in addition to TM's. ;D And thank you, my friend, for the chapter titles! :D
Disclaimer: Rose Tyler wouldn't have been anywhere near Series 4, and therefore this probably couldn't have happened, had I anything to do with owning these characters. I've lost all respect for the character, I freely admit it. Which means I've lost some respect for her creator. Shame, since he also created characters that I adore.
Author's Note: A new entry for the Alternate Handy Fanfiction Challenge. Nope, we haven't mined this one to death. Not at all! :D And there are still other possibilities! :D
Warning: Violence within.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4
Chapter 5: The Oncoming Husband, Part 2
The Doctor's roar silenced the Control Room. Even the TARDIS humming dulled a bit. Finally, Rose was silenced again. It was a blessed relief. He pulled out his Sonic and scanned Rose. He couldn't find any trace of the Bad Wolf within her, thankfully. He did find something else. “Jackie, the TARDIS key I gave her is in her right trouser pocket. I can tell Rose was using it to hone in on this universe. I can't risk her using it again, so I need it back.”
“No!” Rose shouted, “you can't take it! You gave it to me!”
But Jack held her in place while her mother quickly found the key. Which made the Doctor wonder how much practice Jackie had searching pockets - until he remembered the day Jackie stopped chasing men, and practically threatened him with her ankle when he made one too many cracks about her feelings about her age. His respect for her had increased ten-fold that moment.
He took the key back with relief. “Jackie,” he yelled over Rose's screams that it was hers now, “when we get you home, I need you and Pete to make sure that the Cannon, and any information about it, is completely destroyed. Search Rose's room and anywhere she might have frequented if you have to, just to be sure.”
The long-suffering mother nodded, understanding and apologizing with her eyes.
The Doctor smiled sadly back. Apology accepted and understood. The poor woman had fallen into the trap of doting on the child one had with a deceased love. It could backfire on you much later in life, and it had for Jackie Tyler. Pete had come into Rose's life too late.
“Doctor, please!” Rose was desperate, willing to say anything and agree to anything. “If a family is what you want, I can give you far more children than that ginger can! We'll have more time together!”
“Once again, shut up!” The Doctor knew he'd barely beaten his children to the shout, and he could feel his wife's shock.
What's it going to take to get through to her, she exclaimed in his mind, us shagging behind a closed door near her?!
He coughed, sensing the amused smirks from the twins. He was so out of practice restraining his thoughts from other Gallifreyans. But if he got this one lucky break, he'd never be alone ever again. I doubt she'd have a clue even if we shagged right in front of her.
Donna cringed. Even if you could sonic her vocal chords silent, which would be an improvement right now, I wouldn't let her have even a glimpse of your bum! That'd just encourage her!
He shook his head, shuddering at the idea. Good point.
The TARDIS hit a time eddy, despite the best efforts of six pilots, and landed with a hard bump. It made everyone lose their footing. Unfortunately, it also meant Jack had to let go of Rose.
The girl, feeling her chance, flew to the Doctor's side, sure her touch would snap him out of this madness. “Doctor-”
But the Doctor grabbed her wrists, keeping her at arm's length. “My grip is stronger than Jack's. Struggle too much and you'll break bones fighting me. Fair warning.” He thought he'd earned an medal for keeping an even keel to his tone, especially given that he had to restrain her when he really didn't want to touch her.
Jack thought about drawing Rose back, but it dawned on him that only the Doctor had a chance in hell of getting through the delusions and the fixation. Not that it was looking good on that front. Still, he kept Jackie at his side by grabbing her hand gently, shaking his head when she looked puzzled at him.
Rose tried to step closer, but the grip was harder than steel. “Why are you fighting me? We're meant to be!”
“You are meant to return to Pete's World, to be exiled for your misdeeds and crimes against space and time.” His voice was deadly in its calm, belying his and his ship's simmering mood. “You've ripped into two TARDISs, and killed one! There is nothing that can excuse that!”
She shook her head. “I had to save you! Besides, that world didn't happen now! What does it matter what happened to that TARDIS or that Donna Noble?!”
The twins sucked in a breath, nervously wondering what happened. Donna somehow knew that the truth wasn't something she'd want to remember. The rest were so far from appalled that it would take light a million years to reach there.
The Doctor's insides froze, and the TARDIS's humming went oddly silent. “What did you do to them?”
She didn't think, or even pause because of the cutting tone in the question. She just answered it. “I had to rip her insides apart to build the machine, and then I sent Donna back in time to stop herself.”
“Stop herself how? Talking to her earlier self?” He desperately wanted to believe that, but the reactions toward Donna that he'd witnessed didn't give him any hope that Rose could still redeem herself a bit.
The Old Girl had no such thoughts. Her growling resumed, sounding more dangerous than before.
She laughed. “Oh, I knew better than to let that happen. I remember those Reapers from when I touched my baby self. So I dropped her too far away to make it in time, so she walked in front of a vehicle, causing an accident that forced the right Donna to turn left.”
Gasps exploded throughout the room. Only the Doctor and the TARDIS didn't. They were too shocked with horror.
The twins and Jack started feeling energy crackle in the room. Jack wasn't sure what it was, but the twins knew immediately. Uh, oh, they thought, their anger at Rose taking a backseat.
Donna felt it more through hearing her husband's thoughts, and saw the danger. “Doctor,” she said as she approached, trying to warn him.
He ignored her, cutting off another snap from Rose as he gasped, “You killed Donna?!” The tension he held back was enough to be cut with a laser scalpel, and he felt the Storm within picking up speed.
She scoffed. “That world wasn't real in the end. What does it matter?”
“Did you offer her any comfort in the end, as she lay dying?!” The words escaped without his permission. His instincts, however, were turning toward the point of no return, fueled by the TARDIS' own building fury. Only one kind of answer could stop the Storm in its tracks, if Rose was wise enough and caring enough in that parallel world to do that one thing.
She blinked, baffled over his cold expression. “I told her what to tell you when she saw you again, and walked away. Didn't know if I'd be caught in something bad if I didn't. Again, what does it matter?”
As much as the callousness alarmed Donna, and left her beyond relieved she couldn't remember that death (she knew a few people who'd died and come back, and the memory of dying was frightening), she had bigger concerns. The energy in the room was generating static electricity, making her insides tremble, and the humming of the TARDIS became decidedly malevolent. She stepped almost next to her husband, hoping to put to stop to things. “Doctor-”
She cut off on a cry as the energy of the Oncoming Storm unleashed. The Doctor's face contorted with a rage he hadn't expressed since he was thrown out of the Time Lock. The languid fluidity was replaced by the measured, precise movements of the soldier he'd once been. The gentle man who abhorred violence had been swallowed by who Eight had to become, and who Nine was born as.
Rose barely had the time to register alarm in herself when she found her body sharply dragged to the side, drawing a scream of shock. But then her back slammed against a column. With photon-fast reflexes, he let go of her wrists to stab a fist into her stomach - making her exhale sharply - and clamp the other around her neck.
“Doctor, stop!” Donna screamed over the terrified exclamations, grabbing his wrists. “Remember Peri!”
The combination of her terrified voice with those words halted him, but he didn't let go. Rose was having trouble struggling - the force of hitting the column had knocked the wind out of her, the fist to the stomach made breathing even more difficult, and her airway was cut off. She was feebly twitching and starting to pass out.
Not that he noticed. “She thought nothing of killing my girls! My future!” The roar made the already terrified companions - even the stricken Jackie - shudder and back away further.
The twins reached them, and tried to pull his hands away. The memory of the soldier he had been was frightening enough, but seeing it was making their insides feel aghast. As one, they cried, “She's also responsible for our existing!”
He shook his head ever so slightly. “Not enough,” he snapped. “She's probably destroyed entire universes in her obsession! She's committed genocide and murder and rape! She's tried to destroy my family! She would kill all three of you if she could! Why shouldn't I take justice into my own hands?! I'm the one who didn't punish her, who didn't turn her in the first time!”
Donna had one answer: “Jenny!”
The shock of that word was enough to make him let go. He staggered back a ways before bumping into another column.
Rose collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath and struggling for each bit of oxygen. Her mother rushed to check on her, as any caring person would, and Jack and Mickey followed. Both men still remembered what it was like to care for Rose, and such an aftermath did need follow-up. Martha approached more slowly, falling back on her medical training to push through her horror. Sarah Jane stepped more toward the Doctor, trying to see his face.
Donna and the twins followed him. She cupped his face in her hands, trying to draw his shocked gaze on her. Sh-sh-sh, she told him. I'm here. The TARDIS is here. The twins are here. The multiverses are safe.
His respiratory bypass was active - he couldn't draw breath. I nearly became a killer. Just like her.
If you were, she gently reminded him, then nothing I could've said would've stopped you. You were pushed to your limits and beyond many times today, and she was the cause of most of them. I will help you forgive yourself.
His body started shaking. I don't know where all that anger came from. It was beyond what I felt even after the Time Lock.
Donna tugged his head down so their foreheads could touch, strengthening their bond. When your feelings are trampled over, punched down, it's only natural to feel anger. Even rage. I have. Didn't know it until one boyfriend was critical of me and I hit him. You've had your feelings repressed so often over the years, and Rose was talented at shoving another's feelings aside. It was all going to come out, and your restraints were weakened today.
Their children touched his shoulders. Neither dared to speak. Their mother's words were what he needed more than anything, and her observations about trampled over feelings hit them both. Maybe it was the source of the anger they each felt - a combination of the emotional injustices each parent had faced.
They definitely needed help to let it all go. Locking things away might not work so well if the emotional memories seeped through.
His airway opened again, and he gulped air in, shaking hard. Oh, my... He went pale with shame.
It's okay, my love. You'll be able to let it all out soon enough. We'll spend a little time in the Vortex once everyone's gone home.
Donna, he told her in a panic, I need you to send...her...away. I can't trust myself.
Can't blame you, she whispered. Any instructions?
Do whatever you feel is necessary. Say whatever you think right. Hard to be wrong here. Then he pulled something out of his pocket, grateful for the TARDIS' ability to make things accessible instantly through them.
Donna looked at it, and cringed. It was something they'd both wanted to forget about ever since that awful day in the Library. But she would likely need it, and the key that the TARDIS had fashioned for it. Sighing, she stuffed them into a pocket, suspecting that no one was watching. “Keep your dad just out of the room,” she whispered. “I'll call when they're gone.” Because her Spaceman would want to pilot the TARDIS out of the parallel universe as quickly as possible, and he'd need something constructive to do soon.
The twins nodded, and gently escorted the Doctor to the hallway right outside of the Control Room. Put some distance between him and the person who'd caused him so much pain - and yet be close enough to not waste time getting home.
During the whole exchange, Rose tried to recover her voice as she was checked over. She'd been rolled onto her side from the slumped position she couldn't move from. She'd looked toward where the Doctor was, but her mother was in the way. It wasn't until she heard footsteps out of the room that she managed to croak, “Doctor?” She couldn't believe that he'd done that deliberately. Something had to be influencing him.
Even though his face had - for one terrifying moment - looked like the mental image she gained from reading a few novels: the face of Death, announcing it had come for you.
Donna had had enough. She didn't trust Rose as far as she could throw her - and then about five hundred metres. And seeing the rage her husband had developed from what the little bint had done to him, after everything his own people did? Enough was enough! So she marched over and pushed her way into the huddle, yanking Rose's arms behind her and slapping the restraints the Doctor had given her onto Rose's bruised wrists, drawing a whimper.
Jackie's eyes widened. “Hand cuffs?!”
For the first time in a long while, Jack had absolutely no urge to make a very naughty joke. Naughty behavior was clearly the furthest thing from the Doctor's wife's mind.
Donna kept her tone tightly controlled. “We've landed at Bad Wolf Bay. Sorry, Jackie,” she added when the over-burdened mother groaned, “but we can't get you any closer without risking the TARDIS's life, and the Doctor and I won't risk stranding ourselves in a universe where my children won't have my family around.”
She nodded, sighing. “I'll call Pete. He's probably on the nursery run for our son and daughter.”
Oh, good, Donna thought with a smile for her. She had a family she could be proud of. Maybe they would one day make Rose snap to and take a hard look at herself. Maybe.
She looked back at Rose. “You will go outside with your mother, saying pleasant goodbyes to Jack, Sarah Jane, and Martha. I know better than to expect such toward me.”
“Hey, Mrs. Boss?” Mickey interrupted.
Donna blinked. She wasn't the only one.
He shrugged with a smile. “Seems fitting. Anyway, is it all right if I return with you?”
She thought she should've been surprised, but given what she was seeing in Rose, she wasn't. “Yeah, you can. You haven't done anything that's worthy of being exiled.”
Mickey grinned, but it faded when Rose protested, recovering her loudness. “Exile?! Why, you ginger cow?!”
Donna groaned. “Oh, let's see. Like my children, you also committed genocide, but - unlike them - you felt no shame or guilt over the deaths. You basically forced the Doctor to give up a life to save you from your own foolishness. You made Jack immortal, which has been a flipping burden on him since he's had to die over and over - yet never able to stay dead - and watch all the people he's ever cared about pass on!”
Rose looked back at the 51st century flirt, and the grim look in his eyes told a story. Of feeling haunted, troubled, and sometimes without hope. That hit her in her heart. She had caused that.
“And where's the sadness over the Ninth Doctor's death?” There was a fire in her belly, and she was going to have her say - regardless of whether the target listened. “No, you were utterly fixed on the Doctor's current self, thinking him your perfect man even though you'd seen he's an alien! You caused the death of a person you claimed to love! Your actions might've led to all those deaths at Canary Wharf! And then there's this latest Dalek mess, which was made worse by your Cannon! Not to mention nearly killing him again, and the two times you ripped a TARDIS apart! The Old Girl has told me that any one of those could be considered an execution-worthy crime!” Going to have to have a talk with Sunshine about all those second chances he gave her, she thought privately.
Everyone paled. Rose was the only one trying to process what was being said. “But I didn't mean-”
“Exactly. You didn't mean to, you didn't think to, you didn't think of the implications!” Donna pursed her lips, eying the other companions in a silent warning to be quiet. “Now, Rose Tyler, I've lost my patience with you. No more second chances. Even my compassion has its limits. You will go outside with your mother willingly. I'm leaving a key with your mother and the instructions to not release you until the Cannon and all information on it are destroyed.”
Rose cried incoherently, shaking her head in dismay. How could this woman call herself compassionate?!
“You were nearly killed by the Oncoming Storm. What did you expect when you just brazenly told him that you thought nothing of killing his beloved ship and the woman who's now his wife?!”
“Wife?!” Rose's eyes tried to beat dinner plates.
Jack groaned. Clearly one more thing hadn't gotten through to Rose. “He married her the moment he leaned in to whisper in her ear. Time Lord marriage bonds are made through confessing their secret names to their spouse. One cannot force that.”
No, Donna thought, but one can be bullied into doing it. That sums up my husband's previous two marriages.
Rose had a talent at figuring out flirts. One had that when they knew how to flirt themselves. So she saw that he was telling her the truth. And it crushed her.
“That's right, Rose,” Donna said quietly. “You tried to plough your way back to him, and in so doing forced into being a family with the woman he'd lost his hearts to.”
Rose started crying.
“If you think this is unfair,” Donna said, “be grateful I have enough compassion to not turn you into the Shadow Proclamation and their rhino thugs.”
It might actually be crueler to make her live, but where there was life, there was hope. That was what Donna believed, and she wouldn't alter it to deal with the girl who was practically her worst enemy thus far.
Jack and Martha paled. Mickey and Sarah Jane's eyes widened. Jackie blinked, instantly terrified at the thought. She didn't want to know any more, and prayed her daughter didn't push him too far.
Rose couldn't help herself. “Rhino goons?”
Martha gulped. “They decide guilt in a moment, and their guns can vaporize a person.”
Jackie nearly fainted. Rose wasn't far behind.
“So...” Donna drawled, dangerously, “what's it going to be?”
There was a long moment of silence.
Jackie looked up, eyes so wet she couldn't see. “Tell the Doctor...I'm sorry I didn't raise her better.”
Donna nodded sadly, feeling the mother's agony over her child's outcome. She knew that Rose didn't exist merely because of the child benefit support. (It wasn't the best reason to have a child, but it could make the difference between having food on the table or not. She knew a few people who'd done it, but couldn't fathom bringing a child into such circumstances.) Poor Jackie Tyler - she'd tried to raise her only link to her husband, and got this utterly selfish brat in return.
Rose Tyler now felt that the day she'd previously called the worst day of her life was actually pretty good. At least she hadn't had her dreams completely crushed by a different destroyer of worlds: the presence of Donna Noble.
Jack watched from the TARDIS doors as Jackie dragged her numb daughter away. She had the details for what she and Pete had to do once she was back in London, and he was sending a zeppelin to collect them.
Best they started as soon as possible, he knew. The girl he had once loved had wept goodbyes to Mickey, Sarah Jane, and himself - but had nothing to say to Martha. Which ticked him off. Martha Jones was a wonderful nightingale, and the most loyal friend. Not to mention a great human doctor. Rose really didn't care about anyone other than herself, at her core.
Which was so sad. She had the intelligence to do things in life. Yet she took all of the lessons the Doctor tried to teach her, and came away with all the wrong messages. Just because she wanted to escape her boring life instead of transform it through hard work. She certainly could do it - getting that cannon built proved it. She just needed to direct it elsewhere.
Sighing, he closed the doors and returned to the station he'd manned earlier. Donna had indicated he should. “Time to go home?” he asked.
“Passed time.” The answer came from the Doctor, who bounded into the room and placed himself at the lead station. “Everyone ready?”
More than one companion raised an eyebrow, but Donna and the twins - who followed behind their father at a more sedate pace - shook their heads.
Jack in particular frowned as they all followed the Doctor's instructions. Donna manned the station that Rose had earlier, but she was clearly getting more things to do.
Much sooner than anyone expected, they had landed in London in their universe. The Doctor put on the brake. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. The explosion had caught up to him, and the numb feelings that had overtaken him after Donna had stopped him from killing were gone. He was emotionally spent, overwhelmed. And deeply ashamed that his failure had been in front of several companions.
Sarah Jane could read the look on his face. It was a more extreme version of one she'd seen on Luke's face when he did something wrong, knew it, and expected a massive punishment. “Don't beat yourself up, Doctor. No one here blames you for what happened.”
He shook his head, unable to meet anyone's eyes. “I took her on as a companion. I let her think she was special to me. I let her get away with genocide instead of making her face a punishment right away. I had so many chances to dump her and make her face the music. I didn't, because I didn't want to be alone. What kind of a monster am I?”
“A monster,” Martha interrupted his verbal diarrhea, “wouldn't feel guilt. He wouldn't be concerned about the right or wrong in killing. He wouldn't fight against injustices and for people who can't do anything for him. He doesn't worry about teaching anyone to be better, or what his friends think of him. Trust us, Doctor. You're not a monster.”
“I agree,” Mickey interjected. “You're just like anyone who's tried to escape their past. Unless you face it head-on sometimes, it keeps catching up with you. You're just a bloke who was pushed beyond your limits today.”
“And when any person,” Jack continued, stepping right up to face the Doctor, “is pushed that far, they break or snap. You snapped, but not one of us can blame you. You're naturally protective of the ship that's been your most faithful companion and the woman you've taken as your wife. I defy anyone here to swear that they would've acted differently.”
The words weren't exactly helpful to the Doctor's mental state. Yet he did hear that none of them were angry.
Jack clasped the Doctor's shoulders, startling the overwhelmed being. “I think your wife will handle this better than any of the rest of us can, but we don't hold what happened against you. And there's something I think I'd better add in light of today.” He swallowed. “I forgive you.”
That made everyone blink.
Jack had to take a breath to fuel the words that had to come out, for both their sakes. “For introducing me to Rose. For not stopping her from turning me into what I am now. For leaving me behind. For calling me wrong. For everything. Because you didn't do anything wrong. She did.”
The Doctor sucked in a breath. He hadn't realized how much easier it had been for him to place the faults on the Boe-Kind flirt than to face his own guilt and Rose's selfish destructive behavior.
Mickey bowed his head. He'd had no idea what had happened to Jack until today, and this confirmed every worst impression he'd been left with about Rose. He also noticed Martha crying softly, and placed a supportive hand on her shoulder.
She gripped it in gratitude. She'd watched a lot of awful things in her time with the Doctor, heard hints of the horrible things he and Jack endured during The Year That Never Was, and wondered how anyone could lack even a basic level of caring. Because that was what it looked like, judging from what she saw of Rose.
Sarah Jane closed her eyes. The Doctor needed this to be able to heal, to be the father and husband he clearly wanted to be.
Jack hugged the Doctor before he could react. “Don't worry. I don't kiss anyone who's taken.”
That drew a hiccuping laugh out of the Doctor. It was a bit on the hysterical side, but it pulled him from a darker place. He returned the hug, sagging a little as a huge weight he hadn't even known he was carrying evaporated off his shoulders.
When Jack let him go, the Doctor found Martha tugging him into another hug. Silent forgiveness was being given from her, too. He wasn't even aware his eyes had become watery. He still didn't know when Sarah Jane took her turn at a consoling embrace. Hers was that of an old friend who knew better than anyone - even perhaps Donna - what a burden the Doctor carried. She'd witnessed some of what his own people had made him feel, so she wasn't surprised that he could react so intensely.
When she let go, Mickey just grinned. “You really want a hug from me, Boss?”
The Doctor laughed. A genuinely amused laugh. Rassilon, he needed that! He shook his head with a smile.
Mickey's smile grew. “You have my forgiveness, too. I figure...you've endured enough.”
The unsaid aspects of Rose Tyler being the Doctor's punishment were still heard loud and clear by everyone. Still, even as his smile faded, the Doctor was able to shake Mickey's hand. Yes, that chapter was completely behind them both now.
Jack looked at Donna. “Is it too late to claim that hug?”
Donna fixed a glare on him. “Why should I when you wouldn't hug me earlier?” Not that she was feeling vindictive, but she had to know. “Got a problem with gingers?”
The Boe-Kind grimaced in embarrassment. Especially because all eyes were on him. “No, and I definitely don't have a problem with curves.” His admiring grin spoke volumes.
She just stared at him, silently commanding him to get on with it.
He cleared his throat. “No, what stopped me was that I don't flirt with people who are taken, and I didn't want the Doctor mad at me. Who knows what he might do.”
Donna frowned. “But I wasn't taken then.”
“Emotionally, you were.”
“But not actually.”
“Well, the TARDIS told me that you belonged to the Doctor. I had no reason to not believe her.”
The Doctor's eyes widened to dinner plates.
Martha looked pointedly at him. “You said you weren't anything other than just mates.”
The TARDIS' humming started to take on a snickering quality.
Now better able to hear the Old Girl, Donna's mouth opened. “Is that why we were always landing in places that thought we were married?! You, TARDIS, were trying to push us together?!”
The Doctor flinched as his ship had something to say privately to him. He cleared his throat. “She was trying to push me into making a move, but I was trying to deny what I felt. Especially when you said you weren't having any of that mating nonsense.”
The twins smirked. “Come on, Dad,” the girl said, “you know you practically fell for Mum within moments of meeting her! You instinctively knew she'd possess your hearts!”
Her brother cheerfully added, “Have to wonder what she would've done if you'd tried to kiss her.”
“Probably slap me for my cheekiness.” The Doctor wasn't an idiot - she wasn't ready for that then.
Donna blushed, her turn to clear a throat. “Here, Jack.” She got the impression from the TARDIS that the clone talk from Rose had hit a sore spot with him, but she wasn't going to ask why. That was for Jack to admit to, if he ever felt comfortable enough with her. Perhaps never. It didn't matter as long as she could help in some way as a friend.
Jack gratefully accepted the warm hug. His instincts were right - Donna was the best hugger he'd ever met. She gave herself over to the hugs.
So he held on a bit longer than the Doctor was strictly comfortable with. Not because he wanted to make a move on her, but because the comfort was addictive.
“How the hell,” Jack suddenly asked, pulling away with a sigh, “did you, Doc, hold out against her charms and temptations? Why hadn't you gone on your knees and begged her to be your wife the day you met her?!” That he hadn't made Jack now convinced that the Time Lord was certifiably insane.
The Doctor flushed a bright shade, forcing Martha and Mickey to cover their grins. Sarah Jane's smile was indulgent, like a knowing aunt's. The twins just snickered.
Donna was blushing, too, but she hadn't lost her wit. “Just because I fell for him the first day don't mean I would've said yes!”
Chapter 6: Mirror Image