Doctor Who fic: The Trial of Ten, (2/20)

[gentlehobbit]

Banner made by 'D', my amazingly talented RL artist friend.

Characters: Eleventh Doctor, Metacrisis Doctor, Rose (Also: Martha, Jack, Amy, Rory, Gwen, John Hart)
Genre: Drama; some action and h/c
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Up to/including A Christmas Carol
Beta gayalondiel, my lovely Britpicker extraordinaire
Summary: When the Metacrisis Doctor returns with Rose from the other universe, he is captured and put on trial for various crimes including genocide. Can Rose and Eleven save him? How does the case affect Eleven who is also, in effect, on trial? How does the unexpected return to the Tardis and to the original Doctor affect Rose?
Chapter 2 Summary: Past and present teams of the Tardis meet with mixed results. Another crisis forces the Doctor into some creativity with jiggery-pokery.



Author's Notes: This story has already been written and completed. I will post a new chapter twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays.
Disclaimer: This story takes place within the Doctor Who universe. This story is a way of re-interpreting concepts and ideas already present in Doctor Who. All characters within belong to the BBC. This story is for fun and for sharing, but not for profit.

The Trial of Ten

Chapter 2: Names and Faces

The ground was cold, hard, smooth and, Rose suddenly realized, see-through. The next thing she felt were some very familiar vibrations. A rhythmic hum murmured in the background.

'The Tardis,' her Doctor said softly, his eyes wide in wonder. Then he raised an arm and touched the back of his head. 'Ow.' He blinked. 'Bright.'

The other Doctor was already on his feet and flipping switches, twirling knobs and muttering to himself. 'Yes, yes. The garden. Exactly. But that isn't where she would be now. No. The hall.' Abruptly he turned to face them. 'Ah, the Tardis. A bit different from what you remember, I imagine?'

'A bit?' echoed Rose in disbelief as she clambered to her feet. She looked around her and up to the soaring ceiling. 'It sounds the same, though. She is the same, isn't she?'

'Oh, yes!' her Doctor responded, his eyes glowing with eagerness. 'She's the same.' He struggled to sit up. 'Ow. Shame the bed didn't get remembered too.'

'Never mind,' said the tweed Doctor. 'Important thing is, I need to make an appearance, and I'd like to do it in style. A little vindication for a young girl's imaginary friend, we might say. But you two need to stay here, if you don't mind. Rose, help me get him to the infirmary.'

'We're back,' whispered Rose as they helped her Doctor to his feet. 'We're back. You can live!' She stood on tip-toes and kissed his cheek. He grinned, eyes shining.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

There was something crystalline about this new Tardis, Rose thought as she looked around her. All glass and gold, with bright lights shining. As odd as it was, it didn't seem quite as... alien as before.

'He looks good in a tux,' her Doctor commented. He lay swathed in blankets on the infirmary bed.

'Yeah,' said Rose. 'Why didn't you ever wear one? I bet you'd have looked dashing.'

'I did,' he said, with a slightly injured air. 'When we first found your dad's universe, remember?'

'Oh,' she said, thinking. 'Right. But we were serving staff. That's different. You should wear it more.'

'I did. You weren't around to see it.' He looked up at the ceiling. 'It should be around here somewhere. Or perhaps that's what he's wearing now. It is his, you know.'

'Never mind that,' she said. 'How d'you feel?'

'I'm not quite sure,' he responded. 'Odd. Though, is it just me or is it hot in here?'

She shrugged. 'Feels all right to me. All right for the Tardis, that is. You always kept it a bit chilly.'

'Chilly?' he asked absently as he gazed at the ceiling. 'She's changed quite a bit.'

'Sorry?'

'The Tardis. I don't mean the heat. Just her... how she looks. It's the third time now. Third time she's changed this much. She never used to. Much.'

Rose laid the back of her hand gently to his forehead. It seemed rather warm. 'Can you feel her--the Tardis, I mean?'

'Oh, yes!' he said, the corners of his eyes crinkling.

'I love it when you're this happy,' she said. 'You have such a goofy smile.'

'I've missed her,' he murmured. 'It feels good to be back. No. Better than good. It's... it's...' he floundered.

'What? You--at a loss for words?'

'Seems so. Hm!' Still smiling, he closed his eyes.

Rose leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. 'Relax then, yeah? I want to look around a bit. The other Doctor's been gone a long time. He could've returned. We'd never know it tucked back here.'

The Doctor nodded, his eyes still closed, and so she left.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Wandering around the corridors felt no different to Rose. She easily found her way back to the console room. No one was there. Slowly she walked around the console, seeing a few old familiar controls and spying many new ones. She trailed her hand lightly over the surface, careful not to move anything. She had become familiar with the old layout, but here she felt like an interloper.

A suspended flight of stairs stretched up behind her. It felt odd climbing steps in the console room itself. When she reached the top, she leaned over the low wall and looked down into the centre. It seemed bigger than before, or perhaps it was the absence of the coral struts that left the room open. Staircases spun off in all directions, almost inviting more movement, more people to dash in and out.

Slowly, she descended the stairs. This new room was beautiful, big, golden and intriguing, but she missed the coral. The Tardis seemed cozier then, just with her and the Doctor. As she reached the bottom, she heard the familiar sound of the key in the lock. She darted back up the stairs and out of sight as the current Tardis team entered.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

The Doctor was awake when she returned to the infirmary.

'The others back yet?' he asked.

Rose nodded.

'Did you see them?'

She shook her head and looked down at the floor.

'Hey,' he said softly. 'What's wrong?' He held out a hand. 'Are you missing your parents? What a silly question. Of course you are.'

Rose came to the bed and took his hand. He caressed her fingers with his thumb. 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you had to leave them,' he said. 'I never wanted that.'

'I know you didn't,' she said. 'It's not that. I mean, I know I'll miss them, but it's not that now. I made my decision long ago. Oh, it's just stupid.'

'What? What is it?'

Rose ran her free hand through her hair. 'It's just so silly. I wanted to see the Tardis again. I thought it was gonna be like coming home. I didn't know she'd changed too. She didn't when you regenerated before.'

'She doesn't always,' he said.

'I know. You said. But here we are. She sounds the same--well, mostly--but doesn't look the same, doesn't feel the same. I don't belong here. This is someone else's place now--the Doctor's, but I don't know him any more. He feels more different this time. And this Amy. It's her Tardis, not mine.'

The Doctor was silent. Slowly, he pulled her closer and obediently she sat down on a stool by the bed. She leaned over and laid her head on his chest. He wound his fingers through her hair and gently stroked it. The feel of his fingers was soothing.

'The Tardis still feels familiar to you,' Rose murmured after a while. 'You feel like you've come home, yeah? You've looked so happy since we got here.'

'Yeah,' he said. 'It doesn't matter what she looks like. I know her. I always know her. I wish... I wish I could give that feeling to you.'

'Never mind,' she whispered. 'I'll get used to it. Anyways, home is where you are, really.'

The Doctor stiffened. 'Our current home has just moved. Odd. Haven't felt that for a while. He's taking us somewhere. In time, too. Can you feel it?'

'A bit,' admitted Rose. 'I can feel you more. You feel like a furnace.'

He relaxed. 'We're just passengers, you and I,' he mused. 'That's something I'll have to get used to. Gosh. Me a passenger. Who would have thought.'

He lapsed into silence then and continued to stroke her hair languidly. Rose sighed and closed her eyes.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Rose and the Doctor hadn't moved by the time the others made their way to the infirmary.

'Oo-er,' the new Doctor said. 'That doesn't look very comfortable.'

Rose sat up slowly and blinked. Her Doctor opened his eyes and smiled.

'Amy, Rory, this is Rose,' said the new Doctor. 'She used to travel with me, rather like you do now.'

'Hi there,' said Rose.

'Hello,' said Amy. Rory smiled and gave a quick wave.

'And this is... Well, this is the Doctor. Another Doctor.' He paused and looked over at the bed. 'What do I call you? My... brother? Twin? Er... son?'

'Not son,' Rose's Doctor said firmly. 'We're the same age... well, experientially that is. Brother. I like brother. Or twin.'

Amy crossed her arms. 'You don't know? And you've got the same name? What's with that? Is this a Time Lord thing? You don't look like twins.'

'Ooh, I like that!' he responded. 'You should have seen us before I left the Tardis. He looked just like me then.'

Amy scowled. 'Doctor, what is he talking about?'

'What I mean is...'

'I'm not talking to you,' said Amy fiercely. She turned her back on him. 'Doctor, my Doctor... God, we're going to have to give this other one a name. I'm not calling him Doctor.'

'Hey,' said Rose. 'I'm not calling him anything but. You hear?'

'Amy,' said the tweed Doctor hastily. 'Names might be a bit difficult. You see, we are actually the same person.'

Silence fell.

'Come again?' said Rory. His gaze darted between the two Doctors, to Amy, to Rose and back to the new Doctor. His Doctor. 'Er...'

'Time Lord-Human metacrisis,' said Rose's Doctor and he waved his hand casually. 'I was duplicated from his ha... genetic material with some human DNA thrown in. Duplicate memories, body, but I'm partly human. Long story. Very improbable, but there you are. Things are always more interesting when they're improbable, don't you think?'

Amy blinked and then scowled. Rory looked at her. 'Then why,' she asked slowly, 'do you, Doctor, not look like him now? What does he mean by that?'

'Ahh,' said Rose's Doctor. 'You haven't told her about regeneration. Oho! This is going to be good.'

Amy's Doctor rounded on his twin and waggled his finger. 'Hush.... you. I'm thinking.'

'You don't need to think,' said Rose. She too crossed her arms. 'Just tell her. You never told me. Believe me, you'd be doing her a favour. Tell her, or I will.'

'Doctor?' said Amy, her voice rising. Her glance darted between her Doctor and Rose.

The Doctor looked at Rose over by the bed and then at Amy. 'Ah, well, you see, it's like this. If there is sufficient damage to my cellular structure that necessitates--'

Rose snorted. 'If he's hurt enough,' she said, 'that he's gonna die, he changes to a new body. Problem solved.'

Rory gulped. 'That... that would be convenient.'

Amy's eyes narrowed. 'Like a snake? You're telling me he peels off his own body and steps out in a new one?' She backed away from the Doctor. 'This is wierd.'

'No,' protested the Doctor. 'No snakes. I can assure you. No snakes.'

'No,' said Rose. 'He just sort of changes. With a lot of light. In a rush.'

Amy eyed her Doctor warily. 'All right. For now. So... if you changed, why didn't he change?'

'The Human DNA,' said Rose's Doctor. 'It bollocksed the mix. Can't regenerate. A shame really. You're right, Rory--is it?-- it's quite handy. I'd like to still have it. Mind you, I think Rose might have something to say about that.'

Rose took his hand and held it. 'Yeah, I would. No more changing, thanks.'

'Enough,' Amy said. 'You can't change. But you--' She wheeled around and pointed to her Doctor. '--can. Enough. Got it.' She shook her head. 'Names. Names. We've got to have a different name for the other one.'

'I'm telling you--' began Rose.

'Just the Doctor,' said both Doctors.

'Nothing else?' queried Rory, looking at Amy nervously. 'We really need something, here.'

'Nothing else,' said Rose.

'Later Doctor; Earlier Doctor?' offered Rory. Amy gave him a withering look. 'First Doctor? Second Doctor?'

'Ha!' said Amy's Doctor. 'Haven't been them for centuries.'

Rose's Doctor sat up, somewhat unsteadily. 'What number are we at now? I think we were at ten when I was created. But you're one step on? Two?'

'Just one,' said the other. 'I'm at eleven.'

'Tenth Doctor, Eleventh Doctor,' supplied Rory desperately.

'Tenth Doctor... Eleventh Doctor,' mused the tenth Doctor as if rolling the sounds around his tongue. 'Mmmmm... too unwieldy.'

'Ten? Eleven?' said Amy. 'What about that? Short and snappy enough for you?'

The eleventh Doctor perked up. 'You may have something there.'

'I agree. Nice, short and to the point,' said the tenth.

'But we can't call you by numbers,' said Rose, aghast.

'Why not?' asked Eleven. 'You'd always know who you were referring to.'

'Yes,' said Ten. 'And "Doctor" would always be implied, even if no-one said it. There you are. You wouldn't have to call me by anything else. Besides,' and he tilted his head and grinned, 'if a Rose by any other name would smell just as sweet, I think "Ten" would do nicely, although I'm quite sure I don't smell as sweet.'

Amy rolled her eyes.

'Doctor...' said Rose, but she was smiling. Ten smiled back but then shivered and fell back against his pillows. His hair was plastered against his forehead.

Eleven coughed slightly. 'Er, yes, well. Right you are. We've got our names. Is that all right with you, Amy?'

'It'll do,' she said. Then she frowned again and approached the bed. She peered at Ten's face. 'Am I imagining things or are you looking sicker than when we came in?'

'All the excitement of getting new names,' said Ten. 'I'll be all right.'

'I agree with Amy,' said Eleven. 'You don't look at all well.' He pulled out his sonic screwdriver as he approached the bed and began to scan. After a moment he peered at the screwdriver and then back down at his patient. 'Ah!' He looked at the screwdriver again. After a pause, he looked up. 'Oh. Oh dear.'

'What's wrong?' asked Rose.

'As odd as this may sound,' he said, 'I think that he's reacting to this universe.'

'What?' cried Rose. 'He can't live here either?'

'No, no, he should be here. It's rather... Hmmm. Ah....Think of it like this--do you offer a man dying of thirst a glass of water or do you dump him in a swimming pool and hold him under?'

'Oh,' said Rose.

'I gave him the glass of water before we returned, metaphorically speaking, of course. Now we've thrown him in the swimming pool.'

'Is he going to be all right?' asked Rory.

'I'll be fine,' said Ten. 'I just need some time to adjust.'

'Er,' said Amy. 'I get the metaphor, but what is the water supposed to be?'

'This universe's energy,' said Rose. 'It's different.' She turned to Eleven. 'Is it because he's hybrid? Maybe the human part of him was fine, but the Time Lord part wasn't. Now they're unbalanced all over again?' She frowned. 'No. That doesn't make any sense. I'm human and I've been fine all along.'

'Actually, you may have something there,' mused Eleven. 'He may be human as far as his internal organs go, more or less, but his mind, and the rest of him, is mostly Time Lord. His body was trying to adapt with what healthy human DNA he had. However, the Time Lord part couldn't absorb the energy of the other universe and those cells were shutting down. You could say he was starving to death. Although he wasn't really, but he was. So to speak. Now the Time Lord cells are suddenly being called into action, but... after being starved of this universe's energy--'

'He's now in the swimming pool,' said Rose.

'Precisely,' agreed Eleven. 'His body is struggling to make do with the constant stream of this universe's energy while the Time Lord part is trying to recover--in very simplistic terms, that is. Put it another way--the Time Lord cells are being choked, overloaded, before they can re-adapt. It's compounding the problem. The question is--'

'Why weren't you affected--either of you, both of you--when we first found the other universe?' Rose asked.

'Pure Time-Lord?' suggested Ten. 'No genetic conflict? We might have, though, if he, I, had stayed longer. Hard to say.'

Eleven nodded. 'I'm afraid, Rose, that your Doctor is a walking anomaly. Human-Time Lord metacrisis is, well, it's never happened before. He's lucky. It's an unstable, unprecedented thing. There is no telling what balances and checks go on in him at a genetic level every day. It would be fascinating to study...'

'Oi!' protested Ten. 'I had enough of that in the other universe, thank you very much. By humans who had no idea what they were doing.'

'Yeah,' said Rose. 'Don't go there.'

'I wouldn't,' said Eleven. 'Not without your permission. It would be fascinating though.' He peered closely at Ten. 'You must have lost your time sense.'

'Yeah,' said Ten and he winced. 'Now... it seems all over the place.'

'I'm not surprised,' said Eleven. 'You're going to be pretty clumsy.'

'Dizzy,' murmured Ten. He waved his hand slightly in front of his face as if fascinated. Then his arm dropped to the bed and he clutched the edge of the mattress.

'Doctor,' said Amy, 'am I the only one here who isn't caught up in all of your fond memories and speculation? He's sick and you lot are still blathering. A little less talk and more action, I'm thinking.'

'You're right,' said Eleven. 'You're absolutely right. Hmmm.'

'I'm not caught up in it,' said Rory. 'How do you kick-start a Time Lord's cells anyway?'

Rose shook her head. 'I don't know,' she said miserably. 'I thought coming back here would fix everything. I should've learned by now it doesn't work like that.' She hung her head.

'Hey,' said Eleven. 'Come here, you.' He gathered Rose in his arms and hugged her. 'I'm going to do everything I can. No need to give up yet.'

Rose nodded and rested her head against his shoulder. From his bed, Ten watched them and then slowly closed his eyes.

After a moment, Eleven abruptly straightened and let go of Rose. 'That's it!' he cried.

'That's what?' asked Amy.

'Rory,' said Eleven, 'you're a genius.' He took out the sonic screwdriver and scanned himself. He then crossed over to the bed and scanned Ten. Ten did not stir.

'I am?' asked Rory. He straightened.

'You are. Absolutely!' said Eleven, peering at the screwdriver. 'That's it. Ha ha! We have a plan.' He tossed the screwdriver to Amy and handed Rory the stool. 'Carry those, would you?' He swept the blankets off Ten.

Rose touched Ten's face. 'Doctor, wake up. I think we're moving you.'

There was no answer. 'Doctor?' she said again. She shook him gently by the shoulders. 'Doctor!'

'I'm sorry, Rose,' said Eleven. 'He's not asleep. He's unconscious.' With one swift move, he lifted Ten easily and carried him in his arms. 'Come on,' he said and strode out of the infirmary.

To be continued

Chapter 3: Adrift in the Vortex

Chapter 1