Author's Notes:
This took two weeks to complete instead of the average one, and I am sorry about that. Hopefully it was worth the time! This is the final chapter, but I will continue as soon as I've finished with another project - trying to tackle writing a novel. No easy feat! But I *will* finish this. Again.. all themes are already laid out, it's just a matter of getting them typed. And sometimes the characters act of their own accord! I can't be held responsible for what they do, heh!
Please let me know what you thought about this. All reviews are so very, very much appreciated. Especially here, at the end of all things!
Chapter Thirteen: Emergence
"A tapestry is being stitched "Imagine yourself a caterpillar.
Story by story, step by step,
Thread by thread
Pictures of her life come alive with threads of gold,
Of silver, of royal purple,
Of hope, of faith, of love
Her story unfolding in the fabric,
The knitted tapestry of her life..."
- Raymond A. Foss
There's an awful shrug and, suddenly,
You're beautiful for as long as you live. "
- Steven Dunn
The Adamant Citadel
Collegium Intellectum
Jack's dimpled smile vanished, all playful reminiscences gone at Fred's sudden collapse. He hastily abandoned his post to kneel beside his fallen friend, and River was tugging his limp body into her lap, laying two fingers against the pale skin, then exhaling in relief at the evident pulse. She looked up at Jack and, taking his hand in her trembling fingers, held it gently against the right side of Fred's chest, then the left.
Jack inhaled through his teeth with a whistle - two separate hearts were beating discordantly beneath his palm. Jack looked questioningly at River, who was gently smoothing Fred's hair.
"His physical form has been altered," she responded to his unspoken question. "The body and mind of a Time Lord, but I'm afraid there's still something missing." She laid her palm against his forehead in trepidation. "He shouldn't be unconscious like this."
"Shock?" Jack suggested. "Can't be easy, suddenly coping with a second heart." He smirked slowly at her, "Although, I could do with another-"
"The Vortex!" she interrupted him, looking up at the Doctor's suspended clone. "All regenerative energy comes from the Vortex," she breathed, then shifted her focus to Jack. "It's necessary for all of his other senses," she explained, "seeing all of the time lines, knowing where the abberrations lie. The dual-circulatory system is meant to power those Time Lord senses."
River glanced worriedly at Fred's peaceful expression, pressing both hands against his chest. "The Time Vortex thickens the blood, Jack, and right now those hearts are pumping everything through his body with twice the necessary force. That explains why he passed out - his body is overcompensating." She swallowed hard and looked up at Jack: "He's suffering from severe anemia. We need to get him to the TARDIS!"
Jack gritted his jaw and nodded. "Should we wake him up?"
River opened her mouth to reply, but Jack suddenly covered her mouth with his hand. "Did you hear that?" he whispered, letting go as she slowly nodded.
There was a distant clang from the direction of the lift, and both looked on in horror as its digital display began to count down from floor 81.
River cursed and shoved Fred's torso into Jack's arms. "We're out of time," she sighed, and rose to her feet. Her fingers worked at the armband surrounding her wrist, finally biting it with her teeth to pull it free.
She threw it at Jack: "Get him out of here!"
Jack caught the armband, but wasn't about to be so easily dismissed. "What about you?" he demanded. "If they catch out you down here, it'll be the end of your professional life."
River stood before the Doctor's clone, her eyes wide, and gently pressed her fingertips to the clear glass. "More than my life," she whispered.
Jack slung Fred's arm over his shoulder and moved to her side. "River, you have to get out of here. I'll be fine with just the one - please, take it," he pleaded, trying to give her the extra armband.
"No," she answered with surprising force, turning to face Jack and immediately disarming him. "I know your kind, Captain Jack," she continued, pointing his own blaster gun at him and slowly backing away. "You've got a hero complex, but you have to trust me - I can't be saved because this needs to happen," she pleaded.
Jack took a step back, shifting the Fred's body as he weighed his options. His attention flickered to the lift display - now at floor 65 - and back to River's threatening pose.
"I don't understand-" he began.
"You don't need to, Captain," she interrupted firmly. "This is a fixed point. The Doctor would tell you that. Now go, while there's still time!"
"But he's alive," Jack realized aloud, lifting his chin to gaze at the Doctor's suspended identical copy. "What happens to him?"
River said nothing, but he would have been blind to miss the trouble in her eyes. "River," he repeated in dangerous tones, "what are you going to do with him?"
She licked her lips. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.
River swiveled, aimed the gun upward, and shot an electrical line where it crossed one of the fluid tubings. The wire sparked and broke into the tube, flooding the culture medium with bolts of electricity. Lightning roared into the Vinvacci chamber, and River and Jack had to shield their eyes from the bright intensity. Abruptly, everything faded and Jack lowered his hand, blinking away the blinding shadows of residual light.
The Doctor's clone had been annihilated. Nothing remained of him but bits of skin, bone and blood, which River promptly sent into an incinerator hot enough to withstand the temporary lack of oxygen. She dropped to her knees, the blaster gun hanging limply at her side. Her eyes were shining, lips quivering with suppressed emotion.
Jack's mind was a whirlwind. Part of him knew what she'd done had been necessary, and that humanity could never hold the power of Time Lord DNA. It was far too dangerous. The other part of him - the part holding Fred's body, feeling the mad beat of his hearts against his ribs, all of that life - knew that River Song had just murdered a perfect replica of the most important, most magnificent, most benevolent being he'd ever known. His stunned silence ended abruptly as he stared blankly into the incinerator:
"What have you done?" Jack whispered harshly, his chest heaving as adrenaline surged and tears rose to his eyes. Still holding Fred's dead weight, he bent down, grabbed River's wrists and hauled her to her feet. "That was the Doctor! And I don't care if it was a clone - he had every right to live!"
River's jaw clenched as she looked Jack in the eye: "I know," she countered, shaking her wrists free. "But that wasn't our Doctor."
Jack took a tiny step forward, using his height to full advantage and glaring down at River. "It wasn't your choice to make!" he shouted, "we could have taken him with us!"
"And do what, Jack?" she cried, clenching her fists at her sides. "The genetic fluid would have leaked all over! It's not his body that made the Doctor who he was, it was his mind - his experiences, his feelings, instincts, intellegence," her voice was desparate as she glanced at the lift display, "and we've only got thirty seconds left and I'm sorry, really, I'm so sorry, Jack, but it was the only way."
Jack looked down into her eyes and wondered at her resolve, then shook his head in disgust. It was beyond him. Too much had happened in too little time and it was getting to be too much, even for Captain Jack Harkness. Voices rang from the lift shaft, and he took a few hasty steps back.
"They'll lock you up in Stormcage for this. You'll be imprisoned for life!" He held out his hand one last time, gesticulating with his fingers.
She shook her head, backing away. "Go. Now," she commanded.
Fine, Jack thought to himself. What a waste. He held tightly to Fred, and opened the flap on his wristband. The last thing he saw was River mouthing "thank you" to him, clasping her hands behind frizzy hair before she was surrounded by black-garbed men.
~*~
Hotel Zeddz'ull
Zagizalgul, Zog
2012, January 5th
Fred felt lighter than a feather. His fingers brushed against the silky surface of what could be bed sheets. Clutching weakly at the fabric, he wondered at both his waning strength and the intensity of silken threading beneath his skin. His head was gently throbbing in a syncopated rhythm, and Fred realized with a start that he was feeling two hearts beating within his chest. He inhaled and froze at the acute rush of scents, his fuzzy mind struggling to catalogue each one: petroleum distillates mingling with - he wrinkled his nose - formaldehyde? Ah, of course - air freshener! Iris Rhysomes - cologne? - and... something else, something wrong -
- he slowly opened his eyes and nearly jumped at the sight of Jack. Fred struggled to support his own weight beneath his elbows, straining to get some distance between the two of them.
"Easy now, tiger," Jack soothed, leaning toward the bedside table to pick up a glass of orange liquid. "You can't have a lot of energy in that bag of bones. Time for your medicine." He forced a dimpled grin, trying to make light of their situation.
Fred closed his eyes and immediately regretted it. With the loss of sight came another sense - he could feel the Earth's tilt and movement around the sun. His fists clenched at the sheets, and he quickly opened his eyes against the ensuing dizziness.
"I can see it," he said faintly. Jack raised a questioning eyebrow. "The anomaly," Fred explained. "Time lines shifting around you. I'd forgotton how wrong you are."
At Jack's cynical chuckle, Fred frowned and went on: "Was a bit of a shock, that's all. So, what's in that?" He gestured toward the glass held in Jack's hand, and stared in shock at the brown sleeve covering his arm.
For the first time since waking, Fred took in his own appearance: he was wearing his brown suit with the blue pinstripes! His hands rose to find a light blue shirt, and he tugged at a brown tie with wavy blue swirls.
"How -" he began, scrunching up his face in confusion.
"Jackie," Jack explained, reaching into his pants pocket to pull out a folded note. "I found this in your dry-cleaning."
Fred took the paper, reaching for his glasses before recalling their absence. Shame she couldn't find a matching pair of specs, he reflected to himself. At least they were just for show. His still-weak fingers unfolded the note, smoothing it out on his lap:
"Dear Fred," it began, "I took your clothes to the drycleaners myself so Rose wouldn't get suspicsus. Then I got to thinking that if I got your mesurments, I could find a copy of your brown suit that Rose always liked at Henriks. Stole a photo from her room and went on a proper quest and it turns out they had the shirt and tie too! I remember its what you wore at Christmas when you were first the new you. Stands to say it might jog her memory a bit and help her accsept you. You stayed behind for her, gave up the stars to be with my daughter. I think you both deserve a bit of happiness. You can pay me back in diaper duty. Jackie"
Fred reached up to massage the lump in his throat, then tilted his chin up to stare at the watery ceiling. He rested his tongue behind his teeth and slowly brought a breath of sweet air into his open mouth. Jackie Tyler, he thought. I underestimated her. Just as I had underestimated Rose. Shutting the door to those thoughts - and inwardly noting the new ability to do so - he turned again to face Jack.
"Thank you," he said softly.
Jack nodded. "What do you remember?" he asked.
"Don't remember you stripping me naked, if that's what you're asking," Fred replied smugly.
Jack barked a short laugh. "Don't ask, don't tell," he jibed with a wink and cheeky grin.
Fred crossed his arms and decided to change the subject. He took in his surroundings, and surmised that he and Jack had landed themselves in a fancy hotel room. Just the two of them, though?
"Where's River?" he asked with sudden concern.
Jack had prepped himself for the question. Humans were easy, but a Time Lord was beyond his powers of persuasion. He needed to tread carefully and avoid any outright lies. Jack was no Doctor, but he knew Fred's fragile hearts could not handle his possible reaction to the truth.
"I don't know," he answered honestly.
Fred's brow wrinkled. "What do you mean, you don't know?"
Jack affected a sigh and went on: "She wouldn't come with us. Said it was a fixed point and needed to stay. Does that make any sense to you?"
"I suppose so," Fred replied with a slow nod. His hand trembled slightly as he fidgeted with his tie. "There are fixed events in time that cannot be altered. You're one of them," he added.
"I thought I remembered you saying something like that," Jack agreed, glad steer the conversation away from River. "And speaking of time, it's past time you took your medicine." He fetched the orange concoction and held it out to Fred, who made a face as a took it from him. He brought it to his nose and took a long sniff, dipped a finger in and licked it, rolling the medicine around his tongue.
Jack swallowed and repositioned his legs.
"Iron," Fred concluded, smacking his lips. "Lots and lots of iron. And orange juice. I take it my red blood cell count is down? Suppose it would account for the weakness," he added, looking up to the ceiling in thought. Then he brought the glass to his lips, opened his mouth and chugged it in one fell swoop.
"I'd love to see what else you can do with that mouth," Jack breathed wistfully.
Fred set the empty glass on the nightstand with a solid thunk, and nodded toward the door. "Judging by that note - written in sonic! there's a language of love if there ever was - you've got other plans," he drawled with a cheeky grin, then leapt out of the bed and ran fingers through his ever-wild hair. "Feeling much better, thank you! Good old Time Lord metabolism, always good in a pinch - now, I think we've got a date with the TARDIS?"
"You heard River?" Jack asked before he could stop himself, then inwardly cursed his traitorous tongue.
Fred frowned at Jack's odd behavior, but shook his head lightly. He bounced eagerly on his heels - his timey-wimey senses were back! Stars and planets and cascades of galaxies were flowing around him and he could finally feel it!
And... oh, he missed Rose (and even Jackie). He always would, even if she faded to a voice of conscience beside Donna. Memories like hers could never be forgotten.
And yet - the universe was singing to him. It was calling him home. He closed his eyes and gingerly prodded at his severed connection to the Time Vortex. He needed his TARDIS.
Reaching out with his mind, Fred felt her presence just out of Earth's orbit, and his eyes suddenly opened wide. He launched himself at Jack's vortex manipulator, rapidly keying in her coordinates
"Whoah, whoah!" Jack exclaimed. "What's got into you?"
"He's regenerating," Fred told him hastily, wrapping an arm around Jack to ensure safe travel. "We've got to jump. Now," he commanded.
Jack swallowed and jammed his thumb onto the red button.
~*~
Showers of sparks erupted from the TARDIS console, bits of coral flying through the air as Fred and Jack materialized on the metal grating. The Doctor was an image of dazzling light, golden fire shooting from his outstretched arms and tilted head.
Fred wasted no time with thought. He flew from Jack's arms to his other self, plunging his hands into undiluted Vortex energy. He felt it enter through his fingertips, up through his arms and into his face, neck, torso, and legs. A river of fire coursed through his veins, igniting his blood and causing him to bend backward and scream with the torture and ecstasy of so much life, as if the entire universe were flowing through him, rippling around him and changing him-
He was vaguely aware of Jack grabbing hold of the Doctor, but too far gone to acknowledge either of them. Fred could feel himself morphing, every cell in his body transforming into something else. A part of him was grateful for the body River had given him, or he would surely have died at first contact with his other self. But most of him was in awe of the changes being made to his entire physical form.
Bone structure began to reinvent itself even as his skin shifted, stretching and squeezing with the Vortex, sculpting his atoms into something entirely new. Strength began to flow into unused muscle tissue, his hearts beating health into this unfamiliar body. The golden flood began to temper itself within his bloodstream, and he finally heard himself screaming.
He stopped, feeling both sheepish and stunned at the strength of his own lungs. Blimey! Fred chided himself, taking a moment to reflect before taking stock of his new self. Another new self! How many had he gone through today? At least his knees weren't buckling this go-round. Or were they? He couldn't feel his legs!
Fred looked down and heaved a quick sigh of relief. "Legs!" he cried, stooping to kiss a raised knee. "I've still got legs! Good," he breathed, his mind racing frantically. The whole of the universe was at his fingertips, and he wasn't about to let any missing body parts stop him!
After a careful evaluation, a frightful scare and another disappointment at not being ginger, Fred concluded that he was - again - a tall, skinny male in dire need of a haircut. But what am I missing?
"There's something else," he thought aloud. "Something important. I'm - I'm-" he tapped his fingertips vigorously against his temporal lobe to jog his latent memory,"I'm-"
There was a huge explosion and Fred fell to his knees against the console. He laughed in delight at his sudden realization:
"Crashing!" he cried with an enormous grin, getting to his feet and spitting out the residue of Jack's iron cocktail. Yeurgh! No more orange juice this go-round, thank you very much!
He felt the TARDIS whirling and somersaulting its way toward the Earth, and he circled the console, whooping with pure joy and exhilaration. The display readout spelt danger, circles converging on the screen to indicate the tricky games gravity was playing with him. Oh, but I love games, he thought, laughing aloud at the sheer wonder of being alive.
Hmm, he wondered to himself, now what's a good word to use when falling? ... aAh! The Apache man who rode his horse off a cliff! That's it!
"GERONIMO!" he shouted exultantly. Fred was falling - oh, yes, he was falling, and he felt trouble whipping up a storm - but it was going to be one hell of a ride!
2012, February 23rd
Cardiff, England
Rose opened her bleary eyes at Jackie's insistant nudging. She'd fallen asleep on her mother's shoulder, huddled on the floor of the Cannon bay. Rubbing at her tired eyes with her knuckles, Rose muttered, "What is it?"
Footsteps approached from the direction of the circle of mirrors, and all of the tiny hairs on the back of Rose's neck stood on end. She swallowed and looked up, leaning her hand on Jackie's shoulder for support. Jack held the limp form of the Doctor in his arms, and slowly knelt before her. He laid him on the ground between them, before reaching out to press his fingertips to her cheek.
"Rose," he said simply. Jack's eyes were shadowed, and his face seemed pale. He looks so tired, she thought. What did he suffer through, bringing the Doctor to me?
She looked down at the Doctor, and laid her hand against his chest. Two hearts. Rose clamped her lips tightly to keep them from trembling, swallowing the lump in her throat, then reached up to hold Jack's hand against her cheek.
"I'm here," she told him gently. She didn't need to be a psychiatrist to realize that Jack had been through a lot. She'd had her rest, and now she was needed. "The Doctor," she began, almost choking on the "d" sound. "Is he... ?"
Jack squeezed her hand. "He was regenerating. Fred took the vortex energy into himself. Don't worry," he soothed quickly at her alarmed expression, "he was ready for it." Jack sighed at the unconscious Doctor, gently shaking his head. "It's a long story," he admitted.
Rose nodded. "Then come home with us and get some sleep, yeah? You can tell us all about it in the mornin'," she told him by way of invitation.
"Yeah," he agreed with a smile. "I'd appreciate that."
Though slightly off balance from his lack of flirtation, Rose quickly recovered her wits. "Here, I'll help you carry him," she offered. Jack took the Doctor's right arm and Rose took his left, and together they lifted his body between them.
"Anythin' I can do?" Jackie offered.
Rose winced. She'd completely forgotton about her mother! "No, 'salright, Mum," she replied. "We got it. Unless you could have Dad come and pick us up?"
A pink cellphone was in Jackie's hand before Rose could finish voicing her request. She turned and nearly jumped out of her skin:
The Doctor was awake.
He was struggling to face her. She reached out and tilted his head toward her, supporting his jaw in her right hand. "Doctor?" she asked softly, not knowing what else to say.
This was the moment she had been waiting for - here, in her arms, was her Doctor. She struggled to keep her footing, biting her lower lip as the Doctor's hand slowly ascended. His eyes met hers, and he took her hand away from his face, holding it in his own. It took a visible effort to hold his head up of his own accord. His pupils were huge, brown and black orbs darting back and forth in earnest as they looked into hers.
He threaded his fingers through her smaller ones, his eyebrows curving upward at the touch of their familiar clasp. Time stopped for Rose, yet her heart raced as the Doctor opened his dry, cracked lips:
"Rose?" he whispered.
~*~
Epilogue
Stormcage Holding Facility
Somewhere in Time
River Song rested her head back on her folded arms and sighed. She lay sprawled upon her bed, idly kicking her heels while rain steadily beat against the tiny windows. The miniscule dots making up the ceiling had long since been counted, along with the individual blocks that made up her cell. Each number was accounted for in lipstick on the wall.
The steady booted footsteps of a watchman echoed along the curved stone corridor. Did they really think she was daft enough to attempt the same escape maneuver? River snorted in derision. She'd obviously not made much of an impression.
At the same time, perhaps appearing dull and stupid wasn't such a bad idea. She knew that her hallucogenic lipstick trick was bound to fail a second time, but what if she played the ditzy flirt? It's a thought, she admitted to herself, though most of her was too proud to give it any real mind.
River turned onto her side and reached beneath the bed to fetch her journal. She idly flipped through the pages, wondering where the universe would send her next. She frowned, and blew a lock of curls out of her face. She wouldn't allow herself to be moved by self-pity. Clone or no clone, she'd killed a man. A very good man. The best man she'd ever known, even if it was only a copy. His mind had been blank. All of the parts were there, but that didn't make him the real Doctor.
Did it?
No, she assured herself. He could have grown into a tyrant, a blight on the universe, given the wrong living conditions. She'd been right in her course of action.
Still, it wouldn't hurt to have the Doctor here to reassure her. She'd be able to tell him someday, and until then, she would bide her time. Chewing on a fingernail, River sorted through the stories and poetry within her mind. Telling stories always helped, even if there was no one to listen.
"Once upon a time," she began, "there lived a little girl in a great, empty house. There were plenty of rooms and a warm fireplace, but no one to share it with. The little girl grew lonely," River went on in tones of sorrow, "until one day something very strange happened."
River took the glass of water from her nightstand and swallowed a mouthful. I'll find a way out, she promised herself, before setting the glass back in its proper place.
"Where was I? Ah, yes. Something very strange, very mysterious." River smiled softly to herself. "A tiny crack had suddenly appeared in her bedroom wall . . ."
River reminded herself that she was clever, and after all - time was on her side.
~*~
Fin.