AM I A GOOD MAN?

Chapter Fourteen

The doors to the TARDIS opened as Gaz led the way and placed his hands in the tan, long coat pockets. Unlike the Doctor's coat, the pockets weren't bigger on the inside and Rose laced her arms around his right arm. The Doctor and Clara came out of the TARDIS as Clara's eyes went wide and Gaz smiled.

Spreading out around them were large trees with thick green leaves and long vines, lush green grass and a wide variety of large flowers and mushrooms. Birdsong floated in the air around them while large, pink clouds floated lazily across the violet sky and the sunlight from the yellow sun shimmered on the leaves.

"Right, where are we?" Rose asked while Gaz looked at a large beetle with a bright blue exoskeleton move up the trunk of a large tree and she tapped his back.

"Wha'?" he asked after turning around then looked at them. "Oh, this is Lanvalli III."

"Have you ever been here before, Doctor?" Clara asked.

"No," he said and frowned at Gaz. He wasn't sure why he picked this planet and he walked to his clone. "Why are we here?"

"You asked to go on an adventure," he said with his arms out and he looked up at the large leaves overhead. "This place is perfect!"

"We have no idea where we are," the Doctor said and Gaz grinned.

"All the reason to go exploring," Gaz said then turned to Rose and smiled. "Shall we, Wife of Mine?"

"Lead the way," she said and he nudged her toward the Doctor. Rose watched Gaz take Clara's hand as he wrapped their fingers together and headed toward the bushes. Smiling, Rose walked to the Doctor when she held her hand out and wiggled her fingers. Smiling, the Doctor took her hand and a cool chill moved through him. Even with a new body, her hand fit perfectly in his and she wrapped their fingers together.

"Come on, Slowpokes," Gaz shouted as the Doctor nodded and they walked to Gaz and Clara.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This puts Avatar to shame," Clara said as they walked by trees with large patches of glowing moss on them and Gaz frowned, tilting his head to one side.

"Is that a planet?" he asked.

"No, it's a movie. Didn't they make that where you're from?"

"Nope," he said as he shook his head.

"Shame, it's a great movie," she said and he smiled at her. They walked down the path while Rose and the Doctor followed and Rose noticed the look on the Doctor's face.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked, giving his fingers a small squeeze.

"Tell me what happened after I left you and…Gaz on the beach," he said and she wondered why he paused before saying her husband's name.

"We kissed on the beach for a bit," she said and anger started nibbling at his hearts. "Then Mum came and told us that Pete was sending a helicopter for us. We went to an inn and spent the night."

"Did you…share a room with him?"

"No, Mum and I shared a room. He didn't want me to feel uncomfortable being in the same room with him."

"I wouldn't have minded," he said softly and she nodded her head.

"Doctor, look, I know that you loved me…"

"I still do," he said and felt her skin grow cold. "Is that wrong?"

"No," Rose said with a shake of her head. "I still love you, but not the way I used to."

"So what we had meant nothing?!" he growled as he stopped and let go of her hand.

"Is there something wrong?" Gaz asked while half running toward them and the Doctor closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"Yes, there is something wrong. I left the love of my life with my genocidal clone when she should be with me," the Doctor thought then sighed and opened his eyes.

"It's nothing, Love," Rose said while Gaz cast a suspicious look at the Doctor then shrugged, walking back to Clara. She was looking at a large plant with blue gossamer petals and the petals moved in ripples from the cool breeze. Rose looked at the Doctor when she sighed and folded her arms over her chest. "To answer your question, what we had meant everything to me. I risked my life trying to get back to you. Every time I used the cannon, I was at risk of being torn apart. You have no idea what I saw or went through to get back."

"Does he know?" the Doctor asked, pointing to Gaz.

"He knows some of it," she sighed and brushed some hair from her eyes. "And, before you ask, I know what I was doing was dangerous. Living without you, that was killing me!"

"You don't think it wasn't killing me?!" the Doctor growled and balled his hands into fists. "Before I came back to Earth, I was thinking of opening the doors of the TARDIS and step out into the time vortex! Do you want to know what stopped me? You! I had to live for you!"

"I didn't…I…," Rose said when she slid her arms around him and held tightly onto him. Her head was against his chest as she listened to the sound of his hearts beating loudly like two war drums and she closed her eyes. The Doctor slowly slid his arms around her when he breathed deeply until his hearts slowed and she looked at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Gaz looked at the Doctor and Rose hugged while Clara stood next to him and he tilted his head to one side.

"Well, so it starts," Gaz whispered and Clara gave him a confused look.

"What?" she asked.

"Uh," he said as he looked at her and ruffled the back of his head with his right hand. "When he came to Earth in his ninth life, he was a shell shocked alien who had thought he had destroyed his world."

"No, that was the one he says isn't him."

"Ah, yeah, right. Anyway, he was so broken that he didn't care if he lived or died. What saved him was Rose. She healed him in ways even I don't understand. When he regenerated into his tenth life, he was ready to live again and he could be the way he was as long as Rose was with him. When she was stuck in the other world, he started slipping back into the darkness."

'Then why did he leave her with you?" she asked and he puffed out a breath of air.

"He said it was because I could give her the life he couldn't give her because he was a Time Lord, but the real reason was because I…Well, Donna and I…we sort of committed genocide."

"You did what?"

"Do you know what a Dalek is?"

"Yes," she said with a nod of her head.

"Well, the Doctor, Rose and some other friends, as well as some other planets, were kidnapped by Davros and the Daleks and Donna was trapped on the TARDIS."

"That's when she touched the jar and you were born."

"Yep," he said as he popped the "p". "I was so angry when I remembered what happened that Donna and I went to where the Daleks were and Donna and I destroyed them and Davros."

"But the Dalkes weren't destroyed."

"They weren't?"

"Not according to him" she said and Gaz looked at the Doctor.

"Then I'm not a murderer?"

"No," she said and he blinked his eyes a few times.

"Then why does he still hate me?" he asked when something clicked in his head and he balled his hands into fists. "Come on."

Clara didn't understand why he was getting angry again as she followed him and looked back at the Doctor and Rose.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Feeling better?" Rose asked as the Doctor moved back and nodded his head. She looked to where Gaz and Clara where when she frowned and folded her arms over her chest. "Where are Gaz and Clara?"

"I don't know," he said as they headed down the trail and found Gaz and Clara standing at the edge of a clearing. Rose walked to her husband when she placed her hand against his arm and he looked at her. Hushing her, he slid his arm around her waist and she placed the side of her head against his arm.

Soft music filled the air as they looked at the rope bridges connected to the branches of the trees and wooden huts sat on platforms. Skin sacks filled with glowing bugs hung outside the doors of the wooden huts and a large wooden hut sat at the center of the glade with skulls of animals on pointed sticks encircled the hut. Wooden stalls stood near the trees while figures moved by the stalls and dried meats and baskets of fruits, nuts and vegetables were in the wooden stalls. A medium size, stone hut had smoke rising from the hole in the roof and the sound of metal being pounded filled the air.

The figures moving about the village were humanoid, but had feline features and long tails. Some of the figures had orange or white fur with black stripes, white hair and yellow or blue eyes and white fur spread down their throats, chest and stomachs. Some had tan fur and jet black hair and amber eyes and the males had tuffs of black hair on the end of their tails. Finally, there were some with jet black fur and hair and their eyes were a soft green. All of the people were lean and muscular and wore tan loin cloths or dresses and the males wore metal bands around their biceps.

"Blimey," Clara whispered and Gaz smiled, nodding his head.

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