"The Six" AU
'Journeys Converge'
Chapter One
- What? -

A/N: I don't own squat, except what I write.

Yes, another AU sprang from my brain. Happened in a dream, so welcome to my madness.

I will not write out what happened in Journey's End that has not changed... Which is why this is happening in the middle of everything.

Donna followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS to find themselves in a bit of a ruin. A church was close by, but what drew their attention was the emptiness of the streets and the burning cars.

The Doctor turned around to face her. "Think, Donna, think. What else did she say to you?" His brain caught up with the fact that she was smiling and looking over his shoulder.

"Why don't you ask her yourself?" she said gently.

The Doctor's respiratory bypass kicked in with those words, as shock went over his face. Turning to look over his shoulder, he could see a very familiar blond walking towards them from down the street. He completely didn't care about that rather large rifle she was carrying.

Just the sight of her brilliant smile caused his hearts to stutter. Smiling wide himself, he bolted down the street towards her. He noted with some great satisfaction that she started running at the same time. He never knew it, but the first honest smile creased Donna's mouth when he took off.

He could swear he heard her screaming 'I'm here!' as they were running, but he didn't see her mouth move. That thought flew from his brain as he heard 'EXTERMINATE!' from his left. Time seemed to slow, only it wasn't him doing it. He'd heard of this phenomenon with humans during heightened states of anxiety or fear, most notably while in the middle of car accidents, but never experienced it himself before now.

The only thing he could do was twist himself slightly, and that was the only thing that saved him as unholy agony ripped through his left side. The faint sounds of a teleport and an energy blast was completely overwhelmed by Rose's screaming 'No!'. Her voice seemed to be coming from everywhere as he hit the asphalt.

What he didn't expect was feeling his head caught by a hand before it impacted. Not completely coherent, the Doctor looked up into gold flecked hazel eyes. "Rose," he rasped.

"Hello," she whispered. "You're not dying today, do you HEAR ME! I've spent too much time getting back to have you die on me now, so you..."

Jack interrupted her as Donna fell on her knees next to them. "Get him in the TARDIS!"

Sarah Jane was frantic. Once they broke through the interference and got through to the Doctor, she had to get to him. The streets were empty, so it was completely surprising when she ran into two Daleks after she turned a corner.

Seeing them swivel their eye stalks to stare at her, she threw her hands up. "I give up! I surrender! I'm sorry!"

"DALEKS DO NOT ACCEPT APOLOGIES. EXTERMINATE!"

Inside the TARDIS, Donna was losing her mind. "What's going on?"

Kneeling over the Doctor, Rose cupped his cheek. "I really love this face," she said under her breath.

The Doctor held his hand up, seeing it glow. "It's started," he stated full of dread.

Her head snapped up suddenly to stare at the console. "Right. Good idea!" She looked at Jack. "Get that hand over here!"

Jack looked confused, but did as she asked. "What's this for?"

Rose grinned at the Doctor. "Biomatched receptacle."

The Doctor looked at her in wonder as he grunted in pain. "You heard her," he rasped.

"Always will," she replied. "Get the timing right and don't miss."

"Here we go!" Jack said. "Good luck, Doctor."

"Would somebody please tell me what's going on?" Donna yelled.

"C'mon, Rose," Jack prodded as she helped the Doctor stand. "Time Lords can cheat death. They call it regenerating. It's a bit explosive, and their entire appearance changes. Personality too."

Holding the Doctor up by his armpits, Rose grinned. "Yeah, but we got a Plan-B. Don't we swee'hear'?"

Despite the pain, the Doctor smiled. "Back up, or you'll get hit and that hurts a lot."

Her smile was a bit forced now, but Rose nodded and went to the opposite side of the console from where Jack was holding on to Donna. "DO IT RIGHT!" she yelled at him.

"ALLONS-Y!" the Doctor screamed as he threw his head back and exploded from every bit of exposed skin.

"C'mon, c'mon," Rose murmured, holding her fingers crossed behind her back and squinting at him. "Please."

Nerves, muscles, and part of his brain reconstituted themselves, then the Doctor bent forward and aimed the remaining energy into the hand that was in front of him. Once it all blew away from him, the Doctor gasped and stood up straight – still himself and unchanged. "How the hell can you hear my ship?" he shouted at Rose.

"Shut it," Rose said with a huge smile on her face. "Weren't you paying attention?" Off his look of confusion, she grabbed his lapels and snogged him outright.

Even though he was stunned as much as Donna was, Jack chuckled. "Bout damn time."

An explosion of light to her right drew the two Dalek's attention away from Sarah Jane, and she saw one of their tops explode with a scream. "ALERT!" the other one said, just before it exploded as well.

Her door opened, and a young black woman with braided hair leaned down to check on her. "Sarah Jane Smith?" she asked her.

Looking up, she didn't recognise her at all. "Yes? Who are you? Thank you so much!"

The young lady grinned. "Danielle Smith. Mickey's my dad. C'mon, we need to catch up with my godmother. Do you know where the TARDIS is?"

"Mickey Smith is your father?"

"He sent you a message," she grinned cheekily. "Us Smith's need to stick together."

"Are you breaking the laws of time or something?" She shook herself. Not important, she thought. "The TARDIS should be around the corner."

Danielle nodded with a smile. "Let's go. Leave the car."

"Where's your father?"

"His knees are shot, so I thought I'd help my godmother."

She looked at her in confusion. "Who's that?"

"Oh, just the crazy blond woman that wont show her age." She looked at her and grinned. "Rose Tyler."

Donna hadn't removed herself from Jack's arms, and they both tilted their heads slightly while the Doctor was getting his face smooched to death. "Oi, get a room," she said a bit quietly. To say that she was shocked didn't do the effect justice.

Jack chuckled. "Let them have it. Been a long time coming."

"You're telling me," Donna said with a huge grin on her face. "I don't think I've ever seen him that happy before." The sight of those two going at it made her fidget, and she held Jack's waist a bit tighter. "Damn," she mumbled.

"Tell me about it," Jack agreed with a wide grin.

All of the Doctor's questions died when Rose's lips met his, and his arms went around her without his say so – not that he was complaining in the least. However, he lost a bit more of his control and groaned when her right leg went up to hook around his waist.

Rose thoroughly enjoyed the noise her leg around his hip caused. The firmness she felt in between them was even more lovely. Once she knew his defences were completely down, she surprised him. 'How was that sentence supposed to end?' she thought to him.

'Rose Tyler, I love you,' the Doctor thought back without thinking about it, which was all sorts of ironic. Then he broke the kiss, noting his protesting mouth when her tongue left it. "Did you just say that in my head?"

Grinning like mad, Rose nodded. "Surprise," she whispered. Over the moon at hearing the words, she assaulted his mouth again.

"We missed something," Donna said, trying her best to not rub her thighs together. Something about Jack was really getting to her, and these two put PDA on a whole new level.

Coming around the corner, Danielle and Sarah Jane saw the TARDIS being surrounded by four Daleks. Hiding behind a car, they heard, "INITIATE TEMPORAL PRISON!"

Their second kiss was better than the first, but was rudely interrupted by the TARDIS screeching in pain. Breaking apart, they both looked up as the lights went out. "Ohhhh no no no no!" The Doctor ran around the console, checking everything.

Rose put her hands to her head. "What are they doing to her!" she shrieked in obvious pain.

Stopping abruptly, the Doctor stared at Rose. Seeing her like that, he shot around to hold her by her shoulders. "Stasis lock, chrono loop," he mumbled. She can feel this, he thought. Watching her eyes blinking rapidly, he was alarmed when he saw bits of gold escape her eyes.

"No, no, no, no!" he panicked. "Rose, look at me! Pull back! Pull back from the pain. Rose, look at me."

Focusing on the Doctor, she could see him in a near nutter. "It hurts," she whimpered. Then her voice changed and went deeper. /"Help me, Beloved."/

The second voice alarmed him to his teeth. "Pull back from Rose, old girl! Just a bit. She can feel this. Do it now!"

The flecks of gold that were flicking from her eyes faded, and Rose started crying. "What are they doing to her?"

He pulled her head into his shoulder and held her tight. "They've put the ship into a temporal prison of sorts. I know it hurts. I can feel it too, but you need to pull back enough to focus. I need you."

Hearing that calmed her down. "Need you too," she whimpered. "Always need you."

Danielle and Sarah Jane were dismayed when the TARDIS was pulled upwards. "Oh, crap," Danielle muttered.

"If the Daleks have the Doctor, then that's where we need to be," Sarah Jane said, then looked at her young companion. "Drop the gun."

"What?" Danielle hissed in confusion.

Sarah Jane nodded. "If they see you're armed, they'll shoot you dead. Trust me."

Not liking it, Danielle unstrapped her rifle and set it on the ground. She was shocked when Sarah Jane held her hands up, but followed suit when she stepped out behind her.

"Daleks!" Sarah Jane shouted, getting their attention. "We surrender."

"HUMANS IN THIS SECTOR WILL BE TAKEN TO THE CRUCIBLE."

Jack was at the keyboard, looking at the monitor. "Looks like we're headed to that station in the middle of all the planets. Rose, you okay?"

"I will be," she said, holding on to the Doctor for support. 'As long as I'm with you, I'll be just fine,' she thought to the Doctor.

'How did this happen?' he asked her.

Rose lifted her chin and put her mouth to his ear. "Bad Wolf," she whispered. "I remember everything that happened at the Gamestation. You pulled it out too soon, love. I wasn't done cookin' yet."

The Doctor pulled back to look at her, completely gobsmacked. "What?"

She pulled his arms from around her waist and placed his hands above her breasts, to let him feel the twin beating inside her chest. "Make more sense now?" she asked with a coy smile.

His shocked expression changed slowly to a wide grin. "I thought I was just happy seeing you again, but I can really feel you up here," he twitched his head to emphasize, since she had hold of his hands.

"Don't you two start anything while we've got bad things going on," Donna chided with a grin from where it looked like his hands were. "I know you missed each other, but please, skinny boy. Show some restraint for heaven's sake."

Looking over at her, Rose and the Doctor grinned and said, "Shut it, Noble." Their surprised look at each other from saying the same thing got them to laughing.