Chapter Text
Chapter I
⊹‧˚₊• ︵‿︵‿︵୨୧‿︵‿︵‿ •.₊˚⊹
Shortbread and Shortcomings
“Do you know like we were saying about the Earth revolving? It's like when you were a kid. The first time they tell you the world's turning and you just can't quite believe it because everything looks like it's standing still. I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet is spinning at a thousand miles an hour, and the entire planet is hurtling round the sun at sixty seven thousand miles an hour–and I can feel it. We're falling through space, you and me, clinging to the skin of this tiny little world, and if we let go…”
He releases her hand and it drops to her side, uncomfortably cold.
“That's who I am. Now, forget me, Rose Tyler. Go home.”
Words that obfuscated her years ago made perfect sense now. Even through thick-soled boots, Rose knew this ground was not hers. Even as the light felt fresh and warm on her skin, she knew this sun was not hers. Things she had never noticed before unveiled themselves to her, and now she could feel the same things her younger Doctor had said so long ago.
She could feel its relentless revolution, its steadfast path around the sun, and its aimless descent through space and time. Yes , this earth certainly belonged to someone else.
Cars and buses whipped past her as she stood in a walkway bustling with people. It sounded familiar–even smelled like chips–but she knew she hadn’t landed in her target destination from the moment she materialised. Conversations took place all around her; variations of business calls, gossip, or simply discussing ‘last night's episode’.
Pulling herself out her daze, she looked back and forth, deciding which way to go as she waited for the dimension cannon to charge. She had half an hour to kill, she could do what she always did.
Explore a foreign world. Find him. See what life was like for a human Doctor.
London was similar on every version of earth she visited, having most of the same infrastructure and big companies. She could buy a coke almost anywhere, even if it tasted a bit different. She could also find the same people doing slightly different jobs. She had seen a parallel version of herself once from afar, working diligently in a shop down town. She even found herself jealous for a moment, seeing how carefree and blissfully ignorant her life was…until she saw a parallel version of Jimmy Stone glued to her side.
Rose knew it wasn’t ethical. The Doctor would have slapped her silly for doing such a thing, but Rose wondered if that was how she would’ve ended up if she never met him. What started as regret turned into motivation, and she carried it with her through every stride down a busy London walk way.
Unintentionally, she found herself following a scent of coffee and glazed pastries into a small bakery. Perhaps she could have a little treat. Rose didn’t know how long it had been since she last ate, dimension hopping also happened to mess with her sense of time. What she did know was that she felt famished.
“I’ll take a shortbread, please.” She asked the man behind the display of pastries.
She yawned, watching the baker pull out the tray of shortbreads, grabbing one and placing it in a small oven.
“Sure you don’t need a coffee with that?” A man beside her asked, and she instantly recognized his voice.
It was the Doctor, clear as day beside her. Dressed from head to toe in dark grey, he wore a suit and coat. His hair was slightly longer and a shade lighter, but he had the same sideburns and specs. She ceased breathing as she took him in.
“You alright?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.
“Sorry?” She finally inhaled.
“I asked if you were okay?”
“Oh–yes I’m fine. Sorry, it’s just…you look a bit like someone I know.” She says, trying to quell the hammering of her heart.
“Ah, I get told that from time to time. I hope it’s not disconcerting for you.” He says, taking a sip of his coffee and– oh , he even has the same smile.
“No, no, you look like him in a good way.” She smiles. “I haven’t seen him in a while, so that was why you scared me.”
The conversation stills as the baker hands her a bag with her shortbread. She goes to take out her wallet and hands the cashier money from her own world. Her stomach drops when she sees the boy look at the bill with a perplexed expression.
“I’m sorry Miss, but we can’t accept…whatever this is.” He says, and she opens her mouth to talk before the Doctor hands the boy a £20 bill.
“It’s on me.”
Rose freezes as she feels the hem of his coat brush against her side, and her breath hitches when she catches a faint whiff of aftershave and cologne. Daring to turn her head, she stares at his side profile–identical to the Doctor’s. The cashier quickly makes change and hands it to him.
“Thank you.” She musters as they walk away from the register.
“Don’t worry about it. We all have those days where we accidentally bring suspiciously realistic looking fake money into a bakery.” He says, and she laughs.
“Sorry, I…left my wallet at home. My real wallet.” She feigns clumsiness. “I play…Monopoly with my younger brother a lot.” Monopoly?? That was the best you could come up with? She internally chastises herself.
“Well in that case,” he pulls out the crumpled bills he had hastily stuck in his pocket, “you can have this.”
“Oh…I couldn’t–”
“I don’t mind. I hate loose change anyways. It’ll save you a trip home hopefully. ”
“Thank you…again.” She smiles.
“What’s your name?” He asks, and her heart skips a beat.
“Rose. Rose Tyler.”
“Well, nice to meet you Rose, the name’s John. John Smith.” He flashes her a Doctor-y grin.
“Likewise…”
Lifting up his arm to glance at his wrist watch, his eyes widened. “Oh, look at the time, I’ll be late for class. It was lovely meeting you, Miss Tyler, but I really must get going. Quantum physics can’t teach itself. See you around, yeah?” He waves to her and whooshes out the door.
Cold November air hits her face as she follows him a few steps behind, unseen in the heaving crowd of people. She had no goal or reason to follow him, other than that she simply needed to be near him. He reminded her so much of her Doctor, it was nearly impossible to ignore.
This was not her world, what could the consequences even be? She watched as John’s thick coat fluttered in the wind, his steps reminiscent of the Doctor’s walking through the TARDIS. Sometimes, she would even smell a trace of the warm coffee nestled in his hand. She followed him up to a crosswalk, making sure to keep her distance as they crossed.
Reality seemed to fade away as all she followed him. She weaved through hoards of people trying to keep up with John’s brisk pace, and if she let herself see past it all, suddenly she was young again following the Doctor close behind on a mission to save the world. Rose trailed John all the way to a university, and watched as he disappeared into an old college building.
A cathedral bell echoed through the air and students had begun to sprint to their respective classes. Within a minute, she was the only one left standing outside. With effort, she turned around and walked back in the direction of the bakery. It was best that she didn’t allow herself to get attached to this version of the Doctor. He had his own life, own job, and own name. It wasn’t right.
Pulling her mobile out of her pocket, Rose glanced at the time. Five more minutes before the cannon was fully charged.
‿︵୨୧‿︵
“That’s all for class today. Please make sure you read chapter 7 on Schrödinger’s Equation, there will be a quiz on Monday and there will be no makeups. Looking at you, Mr. Williams.” John said, looking the boy in the eye.
The professor watched as his students drained out of the room one by one. “Oh! I almost forgot.” He says, and they stop and groan. “Have a good weekend.”
Chuckling to himself, he retreats to his office once the room is empty and sits down to grade last week’s problem sets. As expected, only a handful of students managed to get a majority of them right, including Mr. Williams. The boy was talented, but lacked proper organisation and efficacy. Some classes were better to teach than others, and his current semester fell somewhere in the middle. They were blissfully unremarkable.
After an hour or so, John leaned back into his chair with a stretch. He could only take so much grading at a time. Glancing out the window, he watched as students walked past, laughing and talking to each other. Caught in a daze, his mind began to wonder about that morning. John was a regular at that bakery and knew pretty much every face that came in and out, but this girl he had not recognized. She was rather strange.
The image of her astonished at his presence was painted in his mind, and he speculated that the person he reminded her of was someone very close to her. Even still, it felt like a fraction of her bewilderment was reserved for him in some way. Maybe he was off his rocker, though, there was the odd currency she handed the cashier. What game did she say it was from again? Monopoly?
John leaned forward and quickly typed in the word ‘Monopoly' into his laptop, only to be met with results of the literal economic definition. Trying again, he typed in ‘Monopoly game’. Results were scarce and the only relevant search he yielded was an online news article about ‘Five Monopoly Stocks at the Top of their Game’. Whatever game she was talking about apparently didn’t exist–or was too obscure to be on the web–and that currency looked too high quality to be from a simple board game. She had handed it to the cashier as if it were normal pounds, and he didn’t miss her terrified expression when the boy handed it back to her. Anyone would have noticed it wasn’t right as soon as she took it out of her wallet, which she supposedly had just for the mysterious game.
She was strange indeed.
John sighed and decided the last thing he wanted to do on a Friday evening was grade quantum mechanics problem sets, and a smirk tugged on his face as he thought of what to do with the rest of the night. Picking up his mobile, he typed in the contact Reinette and texted her.
ᯤ Friday, November 2nd 32% 🪫
Date night tonight? I get off early :)
Can’t. I have to work on a network project. Louis wants it finished by EOD:( Besides, we need groceries.
I’ll pick some up on the way home.
Delivered ✓
Always that tosser Louis she had to stay late at work for. He had considered on several occasions just waltzing into her place of employment and slapping some sense into the man. It had to be violating some labour law, continuously making his employees work overtime on Fridays. She was right though, the flat was getting quite barren.
Grabbing his coat and briefcase, John made his way down the halls of the Mathematics college and to the bus stop. When the bus arrived, he boarded and dug in his wallet for his oyster card.
“Haven’t got all day, mate.” The driver said as people waited impatiently behind him.
John nearly turned his wallet upside down in search of the thing but it was nowhere to be seen.
“Sorry, must have left it at my flat.” He quickly hopped off the bus and ran down the street in the direction of his flat. Out of all the bloody days to leave his Oyster card…
By the time John had reached his floor, his heart was pounding. The sooner he could grab the card, the sooner he could buy groceries to cook Reinette a surprise dinner for her to come home to. It was the least she deserved after all the overtime she was pulling.
He fiddled with his keys at his door, opening it and stepping inside. First he rummaged through his foyer table, looking for it there but couldn’t find it. “Where could I have put the damned thing?” He murmurs to himself before hearing a thud come from down the corridor.
Furrowing his brows, he carefully followed the noise. It didn’t make sense anyone would be home, Reinette was at work, right? “Rei, is that you?”
Eventually locating the source behind their bedroom door, he heard muffled shuffling and whispering on the other side. Flinging open the door, John’s stomach dropped at the sight he was met with. Reinette was home. And so was Louis. In their bed. Without another word, John pivoted and turned towards the door.
“John, wait! It’s not what it looks like!”
Her fingers latch around his arm, stopping him, but he shook her off. “‘Not what it looks like’? Blimey Rei, you're naked!” He scoffs.
“You said he wouldn’t be back for another hour!” Louis said, and John rolled his eyes.
“We were just—oh John, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for you to find out this way…”
“And what way did you want me to find out? How many times has this happened, Rei? How many Fridays?”
She bows her head in shame, and John watches the sod Louis struggle to buckle his belt and tie his shoes. “How. Many.”
“This was only the second time–I swear! Please don’t leave me John, I promise I’ll be better–I-I’ll get a new job! I’ll do anything, just please don’t leave!”
Silence befalls them and he rubs a hand over his face. He should be furious, devastated even. He and Reinette had been engaged for almost a year, and somehow it felt like the woman standing before him was no more than a stranger. Maybe it was shock, or adrenaline, but he wanted nothing more than for her to get out of his sight. Or deep down, maybe he knew it all along and was too afraid to admit it. They had been drifting apart the last few months and the feeling wasn’t lost on him.
John’s gaze drifted towards Reinette. Her face was flushed and raw with sex, and her lips were swollen from snogging the man who was actively trying to evade his flat. Her eyes welled with tears and he could no longer tell if they were real or not.
“You can keep your damned job.” He finally says, and she sighs with relief pulling him into an embrace.
“Thank you! I don’t deserve–”
Grabbing her shoulders, he gently pushed her away from him, feeling disgusted at their touch. “Pack your stuff and get out of my flat.”
“But you said I could–”
“I said you could keep your job, not that you could keep living here. Get out, Reinette. It's over.”
“But…I love you, John…” she says, and he shakes his head. “Doesn’t that mean anything?”
“No you don't, Rei. People who love each other don’t do this. I gave you everything, Rei. I did everything right, and this is what I get in response.” She opens her mouth to talk but a hand closes over it. “I don’t want to hear it. Just…leave.”
“Okay.” She says defeatedly, backing up. “I’ll go.”
John watches as she disappears into the bedroom, and a strangled sobs come from it as she hurries to get dressed and pack her things. Glancing off towards the kitchen, he sees his oyster card laying on the counter. Sighing, he goes to retrieve it, sticking it in his wallet. Who knew such a tiny thing could cause so much trouble.
God, he could use a drink.
Bumping into Reinette on his way out of the kitchen, he tried to leave without speaking.
“Where are you going?” She asks, voice small.
“The pub. I expect you to be gone when I come back.”
“Okay.” Her gaze falls to the floor. “Goodbye, John.”
“Goodbye Rei.” He says, and the door closes behind him.
‿︵୨୧‿︵
What started as a few minute stroll around the city turned into a several hour long adventure of exploration. She knew she was stalling but for once it was nice to land in a world that wasn’t ravished by interdimensional extinction yet. It reminded her a lot of her home world, and there was a part of her that wanted to stay because of it.
The horizon was beginning to glow a soft magenta colour as the sun dipped below it. It was time for her to go, despite how much she wanted to freeze time and never leave. Cool evening air breezed through her hair as she stood along the edge of Westminster Bridge. Worlds were dying and she had a duty to alert the Doctor. She didn’t have the time to waste taking tours of cities that weren’t hers…but it was nice to pretend for a while.
“ You lot, you spend all your time thinking about dying, like you're going to get killed by eggs or beef or global warming or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible, that maybe you survive. This is the year five-point-five-slash-apple-slash-twenty six. Five billion years in your future, and this is the day,” he looks at his wrist watch, “hold on.”
Rose watches as the sun flares a furious crimson and begins to swell.
“This is the day the Sun expands. Welcome to the end of the world.”
A bittersweet smile finds itself on her face as the memory plays in her mind. Earth had a long life to live ahead of it and it was a disservice to let it stop now. Rose reached for the dimension cannon around her neck and looked at the device.
“No use in waiting around any longer.” She says.
She hesitates before activating it, only for nothing to happen. Furrowing her brows, she tries to activate it again but to no result. “What?” She asks, bewildered. Rose attempts several more times before acute panic settles in after she realises it might be broken.
“Oh no you don’t. You’re not breaking on me.” She mutters to the device, yanking it off her neck.
Unscrewing the protective conductive material on top revealed the chassis of the device and her eyes widened at the sight of it. Where there should have been several blinking lights to indicate it was working, the circuitry was completely dead.
“No no no no no …” she hit it against the palm of her hand in hopes it would somehow fix it. “It was just working this morning!”
After a few more minutes of resetting the cannon and trying to activate it, Rose sank to the ground in despair. “Oh my god what am I gonna do?”
She felt her eyes burn and tears rolled down her cheeks. She couldn’t be stuck, she couldn’t . There was no fathomable reason for why the cannon would mystically break over the period of a few hours, there had to be an explanation for it. Rose understood how it worked on a rudimentary level but had no knowledge of the technical bits. If it was really broken she would have to find someone who knew how to fix it.
Taking a deep breath, she wiped away half-dried tears and tried to brainstorm who would be able to fix it in this universe. Torchwood . Yes, they might be able to fix it…if this world had a torchwood. Quickly pulling out her mobile she searched ‘Torchwood’ on the internet but was only met with results of different shops you could buy firewood from.
Don’t panic, they could just be hidden… she told herself. She would simply have to find them.
Rose hopped to her feet and started to walk east before stopping. She had absolutely no idea where to begin. The night was still young but she didn’t favour walking alone at night. Especially not without a functioning dimension cannon. Even if she did manage to find them, what was stopping them from locking her up and analysing her? Torchwood had a habit of being quite hostile towards aliens, and she technically was one now. But what other choice did she have?
Her mind floated off to the man she met this morning, John.
No. Can’t risk contact . He probably wouldn’t know how anyways. Not to mention how uncanny it would be for her to wait outside his work to ask him about interdimensional travel. Way to look like a complete nutter.
No home, no place to go, and the only money she had was the few quid John had spared her earlier. She was completely and utterly screwed.
‿︵୨୧‿︵
John walked without purpose down the streets of London. The more he thought about it, the more the dots seemed to connect in his mind. He remembered the first company dinner he attended Rei with and noticed the odd way she seemed to look at her boss. Thinking nothing of it at the time, he chalked it up to simple corporate admiration. Little did he know…
Seeing her do such a thing put things into perspective and after a while he found himself asking if he ever really loved her. They were set up by their parents who had previously been mates at uni and encouraged to get engaged early on in their relationship. She seemed nice enough at the time so he obliged and proposed to her. Was he going to marry her because he wanted to, or because their parents wanted them to? It was a question he didn’t care to answer sober.
The pub was moderately busy, a few geezers here and there watching the game on the telly above. The sky had darkened to a deep blue and the pub illuminated a soft glow. Walking up to the bar, he was surprised to find a familiar face slumped over a bottle of whiskey.
“Rose?”
The woman straightened up and squinted her eyes at him. “Doctor?”
“Nope. Just John.”
“Oh yeah. Must’ve forgot.” She says, slurred.
John watches as she throws back a shot of whiskey, slamming the glass down and wiping her lips.
“Are you alright?” He asks, resting a hand on her mid back for support.
“Better now.” Rose grins and hiccups.
“How long’s she been here?” He asks the bartender.
“About an hour.”
“A water, please.”
“What brings you here, Doctor?”
“It's John–although I guess you could technically consider me a doctor, I do have a doctorate–but that’s not important. Why are you here?”
“I asked you first.”
“I…broke up with my fiance.” He said, surprised at his willingness to admit such a thing to a total stranger.
Her expression shifts and she blinks a few times trying to get ahold of herself. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s alright. Somehow I feel a bit better after getting that off my chest.”
Her eyes soften, and she slides him a shot of whiskey. “Drink with me?”
John stares at the shot of whiskey before throwing it back, hissing. The bartender returns with a glass of water. “Your water, sir.”
“Better make it two.” He says, passing the glass to Rose. “Drink up. You're bound to be dehydrated after all that.”
She frowns and begrudgingly brings the glass to her lips, taking small sips.
“Now are you gonna tell me why you’re here?” He asks after a moment.
A dejected look finds its way on her face and she forfeits words. “It's alright if you don’t want to tell me. I suppose you would have no reason to tell a stranger anyways.”
“You’re not a stranger.” She chuckles, and he raises an eyebrow.
“Are you saying you know me?”
“Yes…and no.”
“I thought I only looked like the bloke, you didn’t say I was him.” He remarks, referencing their conversation from earlier.
“You aren’t. Not really.” She meets his gaze. “But you are in a way.”
Bemused by her words, John had no choice but to blame her oddness on the alcohol. He started to smile at the absurdity of it.
“What’s so funny?”
“You are. You’re very strange, do you know that?”
“I get told that from time to time.” She smiles with her tongue peaking out and John finds it hard to ignore.
She’s drunk and you just called off your engagement. He reminded himself.
“Why did you break up with your fiance?” She asks, fiddling with the strange yellow medallion around her neck.
He had no obligation to answer her. Typically he would find such a personal question insulting but the words seemed to come easily when he was around this strange girl. “Caught her having an affair with her boss. I should have known better with all the overtime she had.”
She silently nods in understanding. “You don’t seem too worked up about it.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure why either.” He tugs on his earlobe. “Really though, are you okay?”
She shakes her head and he can see a greater sadness reveal itself in her eyes. It was the type of despondency that reached beyond a bad day. Something terrible had happened to her and she had been carrying the burden of it for several months. Maybe even years. If he had to guess, he would theorise her sorrow was attached in some way to the mystery man who wore his face.
“I've got no money. No home. I don’t even have any belongings here.” She finally admits, looking vacantly at the various bottles of alcohol behind the bar. “I ended up here by accident, and my only way of getting home is gone.”
“You mean you were kicked out or something?”
“No. I mean I literally don’t have anywhere to go.”
“Surely you must have family you can stay with, you mentioned a brother?”
“They're…not here. They don’t live in london.”
“You could take a bus.” He offered.
“No, you don’t understand.” Rose bites her lip, unsure of how to craft a believable lie. She couldn’t just tell him they didn’t just live somewhere else, they also lived in a different dimension . “They’re abroad.”
“Ah. So you don’t have money for a plane ticket, is what you're saying. Did they leave you behind or something?”
“Something like that, yeah.” She throws back another shot.
John is silent as he absorbs her words. Something wasn’t adding up. It didn’t make sense that her family could forget an entire person before travelling abroad. Not only that, it didn’t make sense they wouldn’t leave anything behind if they were simply travelling. She had spoken as if she had simply left her wallet at home this morning. There was no way all that happened over the course of a few hours.
The girl that sat before him was a mystery. She spoke as if she knew him (kept calling him ‘Doctor’) and had the strangest responses that only left him with more questions. It would have been easy to dismiss her as a complete loony, but something about the girl urged him to reach out. To help.
“You could…stay with me, for the time being. You know, just until your family comes back.”
“You would do that…?” She asks, voice soft and disbelieving.
“Yeah, if you’re amenable, that is. Free space just opened up in my flat anyways.”
“Why are you so nice to me?”
John is rendered speechless as she gazes upon him with chestnut coloured eyes. Her face is rosy and flushed with alcohol. She was beautiful. Of course, he had noticed it the moment he met her but this was different. It was a type of allure that was nostalgic and sentimental. It felt like he was staring into the face of contrition itself.
“I don’t know.”