THE DOCTOR'S TRIPLE TROUBLE

Chapter Seventeen

The Doctor rested a few minutes until he had the strength to stand on his own while Mara and Donna waited by the console. Then he slowly got up and moved his leaden legs to the console, grabbing the rim of it for support.

"Better keep this handy," the Doctor said to Donna as he pointed to the antidote in her hand. "I'm assuming that was the Doctor's plaything and I'm sure he has more of them. Better safe than sorry. Now we were discussing perhaps going back to the pub when all this happened. Unless you have any idea where he might have gone, Mara?"

"I don't know, honestly. We met him in a pub and then Sabessa and me came here."

The Doctor tapped his fingers on the rim of the console while he thought.

"Doubtful he took Rose back to his room, that would be too obvious," he said. "He's probably in his TARDIS now but…even if he's scarpered, I'm sure he'll be back. I've been interfering too much in his affairs and I doubt he'll let me keep on breathing. Besides, he has Rose and if there's one thing he likes doing it's showing off what he's doing to her to me."

"What about his room then?" Donna said. "Maybe he left some clue there?"

"Perhaps, that would be our best bet for the moment since we have no idea where they went."

The Doctor thought for a moment and then excused himself, telling his friends to stay put. He ran out of the room. Several minutes went by and she and Donna chatted. They noticed someone coming through the back door and Mara gasped when she saw the Alternate Doctor.

"No, it can't be you," Mara said.

"Easy, it's just me," the Doctor said. "I decided to masquerade as my other self when we go to the pub so I won't have any trouble going to his room. It's just makeup. I roughed up my face a bit and added a few fake scars and added a black suit and trainers to complete the look. Sorry to startle you but at least I know it looks realistic. Now, I was thinking you could pose as my concubines so you could help me search. Just let me do the talking and act all randy and we'll be in his room in no time."

"Doctor, I think you should know something," Donna said. "Mara, tell him how old you are."

"Twelve," she said.

The Doctor was taken aback.

"You look older than that," he said.

"Yes, my people are like that. We look older than we are," she said.

The Doctor came near to her.

"Wait, you're only twelve and you were having sex with him?" he said.

Mara nodded and the Doctor fought to keep his anger in check.

"Where are your parents?" he said to her.

"They gave me up two years ago. We lost everything in a fire and they couldn't afford to feed me and my brothers and sisters so they sold us to slavers to work as prostitutes. It's how I met Sabessa. I look older than I am so no one really brought up my age."

"Does he know how old you are?" the Doctor asked her.

"No. He never asked me. He just took me and Sabessa back to his hotel room."

"Would he care if he knew how old she really was?" Donna said.

"Probably not," the Doctor said angrily. "I don't think there are too many things my double wouldn't do. The depraved bastard doesn't seem to have too many boundaries. What has he done to you?"

Mara described the rough night of sex they had and Donna felt her stomach lurch while the Doctor could barely keep his anger from exploding. He shook his head when she was done.

"I'm sorry you got mixed up with the likes of him," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry your parents had to sell you in the first place, surely there were other options besides selling you into sex slavery but it's too late for that now. You're here and I promise I'll find a better place for you to go than a street corner after all this is over."

He smiled when she thanked him and squeezed her shoulder.

"I'm glad you don't hate me," Mara said to him.

"Nah, I don't hate you," the Doctor said.

"But you hate my people," Mara said.

"No, I hate the smugglers and that was a very small percentage of your planet's population. I don't hate your world. Truth be told, up until now I haven't had much interaction with it. I told you we're friends and unlike my bastard double, I hold true to my word."

"Can I go with you?" Mara said. "The barkeep saw me earlier and it might help convince him you're the other Doctor."

"Yes, although I don't like treating you as my concubine, even if it is pretend," he said. "Girl your age needs to be doing children's things not having sex. Although, you apparently know how to fight."

"Yes, my people are trained to do that from an early age," she said.

"Then that'll come in handy," the Doctor said. "So…what I want you both to do is get tarted up a bit and we'll go down the pub."

Maza looked over when he heard laughter and grinned when the Doctor approached the pub counter with Donna and Mara beside him. Both women had dressed up in tight leather outfits and put on lots of makeup so they looked slutty. They sauntered up to the counter and Maza chuckled.

"Nice to see you back, mate," he said. "Been havin' fun?"

"Always," the Doctor said with a wink. "but I think we should go upstairs now and continue the fun, eh?"

Maza patted his back and wished him good luck. The three of them walked to the stairs and went up. On the way up, the Doctor looked at Mara.

"Mara, he had a trolley filled with different things he apparently used for sex. One of them was hydrochloric acid. Please tell me he didn't use that on you."

Mara nodded and both the Doctor and Donna cursed.

"I'm gonna use it on him the next time I see him," Donna growled as she clenched her fists.

"He made me pretend to be Rose too when we had sex. That's where he got the idea for me to be her."

The Doctor and Donna shared a look before the Doctor used his screwdriver to unlock the door to Alternate Doctor's room. The room looked pretty much the same as before but the Doctor asked Mara to help him look before he and Donna split up and searched.

"So…" the Doctor said as he and Mara lifted up the mattress, "what you said when I was paralyzed about falling in love with me, is that true?"

Mara nodded shyly and the Doctor chuckled as they looked under the mattress and saw nothing.

"I s'pose since my mum and dad got rid of me, I've been looking for someone to love and when I saw you looking at me when I was Rose, I wanted to be her because I've never seen anyone look at someone the way you looked at her."

The Doctor smiled at that and kissed her forehead.

"I'll take you somewhere where you have a chance to find someone to love like that," he said to her. "I'm not about to leave you out on the streets where you can be harmed and taken advantage of. You deserve better than that."

"Can't I come with you? Not as your lover but just help you like Donna does."

"Well…normally I don't take someone as young as you but you have shown you're very capable of taking care of yourself so let me think it over, okay?"

Mara nodded and the Doctor patted her on the shoulder as they went to look in another part of the room.

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