AM I A GOOD MAN?

Chapter Eight

"Doctor, what's the matter?" Clara asked. She didn't like her friend being upset, but the look on his face was that of pure shock.

"They can't be here," he said as he stood up and looked toward the horizon.

"Who can't be here?" Clara asked, standing up. "Don't tell me it's the Daleks."

"No, it's someone far worse," he said as he started walking and Clara ran to catch up with him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Any luck, Oh Godly One?" Rose asked when Gaz opened his eyes and folded his arms over his chest.

"I thought I made a connection with him, but I was cut off," he said then turned to look at the Doctor's TARDIS. He closed his eyes again as he felt the TARDIS entering his mind and memories of the Time War painting entered his head. "Blimey, I remember that."

"What are you seeing?" she asked as he opened his eyes.

"It's something the Doctor did a short time ago," Gaz said then smiled, clapping his hands. "Ok, enough standing around, let's go!"

"Are we going to go look for the Doctor?"

"All in good time, Wifey of Mine, all in good time," he said and she rolled her eyes. She followed him back to the TARDIS when he walked inside and slammed the door in her face.

"Oi, watch it," she shouted and he opened the door again, looking at her.

"Sorry, I'll be right out," he said then closed the door again. She leaned against the side of the TARDIS when a low rumbling sound filled the air and she looked at the doors. The doors flew open while Gaz howled and the TARDIS expanded to allow an all-terrain bike to sail outside. The wheels hit the ground with a low thud as he bounced in the seat and held tightly onto the handlebars. "Oh, yeah, that's the only way to travel. Well almost."

"Where did you get that?" Rose asked as she walked closer and he took the TARDIS blue helmet off.

"The guys at the lab bought it for me for my birthday," he said with a wide grin.

"I don't remember seeing it in the garage."

"That is because I parked it in the TARDIS. Knew you and your mum wouldn't let me keep it," he said and bounced on the seat. "I made a track room so I could learn how to ride it properly."

"So that's how you really broke your wrist," Rose said as he looked at his left wrist and shrugged.

"Care for a ride, Honey Bunny?" he asked as he held up a pink helmet and wiggled the helmet back and forth.

"I must be mad," she said then took the helmet. Placing the helmet on her head, she slid behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Just take it….!"

"Geronimo!" Gaz shouted as he started the engine and the all-terrain bike sailed through the yellow grass.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Doctor, slow down," Clara said as the Doctor slowed to a stop and she panted, placing her hands on her thighs.

"Sorry," he said as he looked around, but saw nothing only yellow grass. Suddenly the lizard birds darted through the yellow grass as he placed Clara behind him, but the lizard birds ran straight pass them and vanished into the forest. "What?"

"Doctor, look," Clara said as the all-terrain bike sailed through the grass and the Doctor couldn't believe his eyes. The all-terrain bike stopped inches from him when Rose and Gaz took their helmets off and Gaz ran his fingers through his hair.

"It can't be," Clara thought as Rose placed the helmets on the hooks on the back of the seat and Gaz placed the kick stand down. Getting off the all-terrain bike, he folded his arms over his chest and looked at the Doctor.

"Miss me?" Gaz asked while Rose stood next to him and he placed his arm around her waist. "Correct that. Miss us?"

"What are you doing here?" the Doctor demanded and they saw the anger in his eyes. "Do you have any idea what you have done?"

Gaz frowned as Clara walked closer and he gave her a small smile.

"Ah, you must be Clara," he said then made a little bow. "I am Gary Nicholas Lachlan. Pleased to meet you."

"Knock it off, Casanova," Rose said while rolling her eyes and gently smacked his bottom.

"Oi, hands off the bottom," he said, placing his hands protectively over his ass.

"Uh, pleased to meet you," Clara said. She had thought Gaz was the Doctor in his tenth life, but the person standing before her was totally bonkers. "Are you Rose?"

"Yes, I am," Rose said.

"But he isn't the Doctor," she said, pointing to Gaz.

"Well, I am, but I'm not," Gaz said with a cheeky smile. "Did he ever tell you about the Doctor/Donna?"

"No," Clara said and Gaz blinked his eyes a few times.

"You never told her about me?" he asked, but the Doctor just glared at him. Gaz thought back to what the TARDIS had shown him about the Time War painting and sighed. "You forgot all about us."

"No," the Doctor finally said. "I never forgot Rose."

"But you forgot about me," Gaz said then lowered his head and walked off.

"Gaz, where are you going?" Rose asked then looked at the Doctor and gave him a look that would have made Jackie proud. "Is he right? Have you forgotten about him?"

"No, I haven't forgotten," the Doctor said as anger bubbled inside him. "If it wasn't for him, Donna would still be traveling with me."

Clara had seen all of his companions so she knew who Donna was and she looked from the Doctor to Gaz. She knew it wasn't safe for Gaz to go off on his own as she ran to catch up with him and saw him sitting down on a large rock. She came to a stop as she watched him hold his right hand in his left hand and she slowly walked closer.

"Are you ok?" she asked, making him jump then turn to look at her.

"Oh yeah," he said. "Right as rain, me."

"You're a worse liar than he is," she said as he moved over a bit and she sat down. "So, who are you?"

"I told you. I'm Gary or Gaz, if you like," he said and she gently nudged him.

"That's not what I mean. You look just like he did in his tenth life."

"How do you know that? Were you traveling with him then?"

"No," she said then sighed. "I was sort of able to see all his lives and those who traveled with him. In fact, if it wasn't for me, he'd be dead right now."

"What did you do?"

"He was dying and I asked the Time Lords to save him."

"But the Time Lords are dead," he said then remembered what the TARDIS showed him. "Oh, wait, no they're not. So they saved him?"

"Yeah, and rebooted his lives."

"So that's why I got sick," he said to himself and she gave him a confused look. "See, recently I became deathly ill and spent a month in a coma. When I came out of my coma, I realized the Doctor had regenerated a second time."

"You got sick the other time he regenerated?"

"Yep," Gaz said, popping the "p".

"But I don't understand. What are you?"

"If you want to get technical, I am something called a meta-human crisis. I am a combination of the Doctor and Donna's DNA."

"You're their kid?" she asked, wide eyed.

"No, nothing like that," he said then laughed, rolling his eyes. "I'm more like a clone. More to the point…I am the Doctor. I have his thoughts, his memories, his…everything. The only difference is I only have one heart and one life. I can't regenerate."

"How were you…born?" she asked and he thought she looked cute when she got flustered.

"Did he ever tell you about his fight with the Sycorax?"

"No."

"The Sycorax had arrived on Christmas Day shortly after he regenerated into his tenth life and he had to fight their leader for the sake of the planet. They were using swords and the Sycorax leader cut the Doctor's right hand off," Gaz said and wiggled the fingers of his right hand at her. "I'm still not sure who found the hand or how Torchwood got hold of it, but…"

"I know what Torchwood is," she said and he smiled, gently tapping the tip of his finger against the tip of her nose.

"Little Miss Brilliant, that's who you are," he said and she smiled. "To get back to my story, a friend of the Doctor's got hold of the hand and returned the hand to the Doctor. Now, instead of putting the hand somewhere safe, he goes and shoves the jar the hand is in under the console like some overnight bag. Want to know what happens next? The Master gets…"

"You know the Master?"

"I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person, but I know who he is."

"The Doctor said he was dangerous," Clara said and he sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.

"Yeah, he was," Gaz said then smiled. "Anyway, the Master gets ahold of the hand, uses it to turn the Doctor into a Yoda rip-off, but the Doctor got the hand back after he became young again and put the jar back under the console. The jar stayed there for a bit then Donna gets into trouble. The TARDIS was exploding all around her and, scared as she is, she couldn't help notice the jar. Instead of picking the jar up to take a good look at the hand, she touches the jar and…poof…here I am."

"But how can touching the jar turn the hand into…you?"

"That's the thing, we don't really know. It could have been an exchange of genetic material or some sort of bio-electric transfer or just a bloody miracle. The only thing I know is Donna and I became like the same person. We both were human, well, I was half-human/half Time Lord, and we shared a Time Lord mind. We were able to help the Doctor and brought everyone home."

"Why would he want to forget you?"

"I'd rather not talk about that."

"Ok, but why was he so upset?"

"Well, in order to make sure I didn't get into trouble, he sent us to another dimension and sealed the dimension so we'd stay there," Gaz said and Clara gasped. Could her friend really do something like that? She looked deeply into Gaz' chocolate brown eyes as he titled his head and she stood up. "You don't believe me."

"I'm not sure what I believe," Clara said and he stood up, holding his hand out.

"Then let's go ask him," he said as Clara took his hand and they walked back to Rose and the Doctor.

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