All Four of My Hearts Belong to You, Ch. 2
The Doctor is over 12 billion years old, almost as old as the universe. Stars have been born and died out since the last time she saw Rose Tyler. And yet, when they bump into each other one day on a nondescript world, the Doctor discovers that sheâs not over her old love. Not by a long shot.
Now if only Ten werenât there...
A plastic hamster ball thunks against her nose.
The Doctor groans. She isnât ready to wake up, not yet.
âDoctor! Wake up, please!â
Her eyes snap open at the sound of her name, immediately settling on the upside-down pink imp in lederhosen standing in front of her inside the ball. Well, not upside-down. The Doctor is on her back.
âHello, Wankershim,â she says. âSorry for the mess.â
âRight, you,â Rose says from somewhere near her feat. âWho are you and whatâve you done to the Doctor?â
The Doctor tilts her head and looks up to see Rose brandishing a rather large cannon, pointed directly at her face. âThatâs a fire extinguisher,â the Doctor smirks. âDid you sneak that on board while I was in France with Reinette?â
Roseâs eyes narrow. âNo, itâs a freeze ray.â
The Doctor rolls onto her side and lifts herself upward. âFire extinguisher. And I showed you how to use it.â Sheâs on her feet, and Rose hasnât even tried to pull the trigger. âHeâs fine, heâll wake up soon. Blistering headache though.â As soon as the words pass her mouth, the pain splits her prodigious brain in half, as if reminded itâs supposed to exist. âAh!â She grabs her forehead with one hand, staggers into the TARDIS console. Oh, grunge phase. She hasnât missed THIS setup.
Rose immediately drops the fire extinguisher and rushes to the Doctorâs side to steady her. âWhatâs going on?â
âBlinovitch Limitation Effect,â Ten says from behind them. âReapers arenât the only thing that happens when you cross your own timestream.â
Thirteen can see it, the way Roseâs face lights up, and her stomach leaps into her esophagus at the sight. Sheâd forgotten that look, and the feeling it brought.
âDoctor!â Rose shouts, racing to hug him. âYouâre all right!â
âCourse Iâm all right. Why wouldnât I be all right?â he replies with a confused sort of half-hug back. Heâs still staring at Thirteen, accusation across his face.
âI thought sheâd hurt you,â Rose breathes.
âNahhhh,â Ten drawls. âNothing intentional, just the laws of temporal physics! For instance, if I takeââ
âIâm not doing that,â Thirteen interrupts, sensing where heâs going with this. âYou may be fond of waking up on the floor, but you donât remember what being old feels like.â
Ten boggles. âBlimey! I forgot what conversations with me are like.â He steps forward to examine her, walking in a way that kind of reminds her of a chicken. âSo which me are you? Next? Next but one?â
Thirteen ignores him and stretches out her hand to Rose. âHello, Rose,â she says. âIâm the Thirteenth Doctor. Itâs good to see you again.â
Ten freezes with a look of shock on his face. âIâm sorry,â he says. âDid you say thirteen?â
Thirteen, it turns out, has quite the craving for jelly babies, and she goes wandering off with the small pink man she calls Wankershim sitting comfortably in her pocket, gazing out at the rest of the TARDIS. For the moment, Rose and Ten are alone.
âDoctor, whatâs going on?â Rose says. âWho is she?â
âSheâs me,â the Doctor says with that little excited pout he does when heâs surprised by something but doesnât want to show it. âWell, a future version of me anyway. I mustâve squeezed out an extra regenerationââ
âYou can regenerate as a woman?â
âOh, yeaaah,â The Doctor says. âOne of usâthe Corsairâswitched genders with every regeneration!â Heâs talking to distract himself as much as to answer Roseâs questions; for one fraction of a second, before she knew he was there, Thirteen had left her thoughts unguarded. And the Doctor had seen what was inside her mind when she looked at Rose.
âAnd what was that thing, back at the bazaar? With the blue lightning?â
âItâs what happens when a time traveler touches their displaced self,â The Doctor hears himself saying, though the vast majority of his brain is still trying to puzzle out what, exactly, Thirteen was thinking that left her feeling so guilty. âRemember when your dad handed Baby Rose to you in the church? Weâre lucky you two didnât make skin contact, we could all have been vaporized.â
Rose grimaces, then leans in close. âDoes she, you know...â she giggles. âMonthly?â
Ten smiles back. âAw, Rose, I can consciously control the rate my hair grows, do you really thinkââ
He feels the frustration boiling from Thirteenâs unshielded mind seconds before she storms back into the console room, Pycorean prince still in her pocket. âWHERE DID YOU PUT THE BLOODY PANTRY?â