Meant to Be (TARDIS Family Adventures: Part 1)

Chapter 2 - Stolen Earth, plus One (Part 2)

Donna jumped back as he shouted the last word, and watched as he threw the lever, sending the TARDIS into space flight.

Donna came back towards him. "Where to now?"

The Doctor hopped around the console in typical Doctor fashion. "Earth! We've got to help Earth. They don't have the defenses that Teni does, not nearly as advanced. And Earth will be hit hardest."

Scarlett finally spoke back up, having observed everything up to this point quietly. "Why?"

"Because Davros knows what Earth means to me, what it has always meant to me. He doesn't care about any of the other planets, except what they can do for his bigger plan. Teni was just another planet plucked out of time and spaced. He has no idea we knew each other. No idea about—" He paused momentarily, glancing up to her. "—about us." He finished his statement, staring at her another moment before looking back down at the console.

The Doctor walked around the console, almost mindlessly, ending closer to Donna and Scarlett. He turned to Donna as he spoke, "Donna, I have a feeling we're going to find Rose soon."

"Oh, Doctor!" Donna felt so bad for him, she knew how much Rose meant to him, but also how horrible the things are that she has done to get back to him. Including sending Donna to her own death, something she still has mixed feelings about. "What are you going to do?"

Scarlett piped up, "Rose? Sucked-into-a-parallel-universe-Rose?" She spoke as she pulled off her outer robe and draped it across one of the coral struts of the TARDIS, giving it a quick pat before turning back. "How could she possibly be here?"

"How could the Daleks possibly be here?" The look on his face was almost hopeless as he considered the possibilities of how that happened. "She was in a parallel universe with Donna. If that's the case, I think she is ripping holes in the universes to try and get back here—to me-- and I'm worried she may have inadvertently helped the Daleks get where they are now—or they helped her without her knowing it—either way it's not good." He slumped into the jump seat. "And it's all my fault."

"Oh no, Doctor." Donna stomped over, and he recognized the hand on her hip and the storm that was coming, "You will not blame yourself for her actions. You left her, you tried to give her closure. It was her own—insanity—immaturity—whatever—that caused her to do horrible things to get back here."

Scarlett came over, setting a hand on Donna's shoulder to try and calm her. "So... what are you going to do? If she is here, if she is on Earth, she'll find you."

The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, then across his face, and leaned over, his elbows on his knees. "What I have to do... I must act like I'm happy to see her. Even if it makes me physically ill to think about." He looked up at the two women whom, if he was honest in this dark moment, meant more to him than anyone else in the universe. He looked them each dead in the eye, back and forth as he spoke. "I need you two, of all people, I need you two to know—while this is going on—I'm going to act like things are a way that—well, that they aren't. I'm afraid you're right, Donna. Rose is unstable, based on what she's done, and there's no telling what traveling back and forth across the universes has done to her mind." He stood up from the jump seat, standing tall and straightening out the front of his suit. "To keep us all safe, I have to keep her close—for now. There was a time when she saved me from myself, after the Time War. But when I look back I realize so much now. Once this is all over with, we'll figure out what to do. We'll get her back to that universe and figure out how to keep her there for good."

Donna couldn't believe that in that moment, she almost felt sorry for the woman. To Rose, the Doctor was all there was worth living for, it seemed. And the Doctor was going to lead her on to dump her back in the parallel universe. "So that's it. That's the only option? To lead her on like that? You're going to pretend you care, so that you can trick her?"