A SPECIAL TRANSMISSION

"Sweetie, are you sure you'll be alright?" River asked the Doctor as he sat in his seat near the monitor.

The Doctor had just lost Amy and Rory and his spirits had sunk to an all time low. He and River managed to get back in the TARDIS before the Weeping Angel did further damage but he felt like chucking the thing into the nearest black hole for what it did. His wife was trying to comfort him but he wanted none of it at the moment. River finally kissed his cheek and whispered her love for him before leaving the console room. His head sank down and he stared morosely at the floor.

"I've lost them forever," he murmured to himself while a single tear ran down his cheek.

"Hello?"

The Doctor's head jerked up when he heard a voice coming from the monitor. He stood up and his mind boggled when he saw a bunch of static on the monitor. The static would clear up for a few seconds and he swore he could see Rose's face.

"Hello?" Rose said in a garbled voice as the transmission fuzzed in and out.

"TARDIS, lock on to the transmission and enhance it," the Doctor said.

"Doctor?" Rose said through the garbled transmission.

"Yes, I'm here," the Doctor said while he flipped a few switches and tried to help his ship clear up the transmission.

"Doctor!" Rose said as the transmission finally began to clear.

She frowned when the transmission finally cleared and she got a good look at him.

"Um…is the Doctor there?" she said.

"It's me, Rose," the Doctor said.

"You changed again?" Rose said.

"Yes. Where are you?" the Doctor said.

"We're in our TARDIS," Rose said, gesturing to the metal interior behind her. "It's large enough that we can fly her now."

The Doctor gazed at her. She was older with a few lines on her face but she was still beautiful. Her blonde hair was down past her shoulders again and she was wearing a red shirt. But she was standing up straight so the Doctor surmised the monitor was at eye level like his was.

"You look younger," Rose said.

"And you look older but still lovely."

"Thanks," Rose said blushing.

She looked at him in silence for a few seconds.

"Have you been crying?" she finally said.

"Um…yeah," the Doctor said sheepishly while he tried to wipe the tear streaks off his cheeks.

"What's wrong? Are you alright?" Rose said alarmed.

"I just lost two friends that were traveling with me," the Doctor said. "Lost them forever."

Like I lost you, he thought to himself.

Rose was silent for a moment and the Doctor could tell she was trying to say something tactful about that.

"It's alright, you don't have to say anything," he said to her.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I hate that you lost more friends," Rose said. "I wish we could be there with you right now."

"Who's we? You mean my clone?" the Doctor said, scanning the other TARDIS for any sign of him.

"No, my daughter," Rose said. "Jules, come and say hello," she said to someone off to her right.

She lowered the monitor and the Doctor saw a young girl wave at him. She looked like her mother and had her father's hair color. Her hair was down to the small of her back and she was wearing a pink shirt and jean shorts. She waved to the Doctor and the Doctor smiled and waved back.

"He doesn't look like Daddy, Mummy," the girl said, looking up at her mother.

"Remember when I told you about regeneration, love?" Rose said off camera. "He regenerated."

"Oooh," her daughter said, nodding. "Hi, I'm Julie but people call me Jules."

"Hello, Jules, I'm the Doctor. Nice to meet you."

Jules nodded.

"How old are you?" the Doctor said.

"Seven. And Mummy is having another one soon," she said, pointing to her mother.

Rose moved the monitor so the Doctor could see her swollen belly.

"Wow, you're quite big," the Doctor said while Rose moved the monitor back up to her face. "I told my friend, Amy, once when she was pregnant that she looked like she swallowed a planet."

"Gee, I bet she was flattered," Rose said dryly.

"So you and he…you're getting along?" the Doctor said.

Rose nodded.

"He had some anger issues but we managed to talk things out and work through it."

"I knew I could rely on you," the Doctor said proudly.

"Mummy misses you," he heard Jules say and Rose blushed.

"Yeah, obviously," Rose said. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be sending this transmission to you."

"But…how are you doing this?" the Doctor said.

"Well, our TARDIS plus a little Torchwood tech added to it," Rose said. "It's perfectly safe, I promise you."

The Doctor felt a lump come to his throat while he looked at her. He just lost his inlaws and now he was staring at another person he lost and he knew as soon as the transmission, the ache in his hearts would increase.

Why today, of all days, did you have to send this to me, Rose, he thought to himself while he gazed at her.

"Well, I better go before my Doctor comes back," Rose said.

"He doesn't know you're doing this?" the Doctor said.

"Um…no," Rose said.

He smiled when she shot Jules a look when she giggled at that.

"I don't know how he'd react to me doing this but I just had to see you again," Rose said. "I love him but I love you as well. I always will."

The Doctor smiled at that.

"Will you find someone else to travel with now?" Rose said with a tinge of hope in her voice. "I worry terribly about you and you shouldn't be alone."

"I have someone. Someone that wasn't lost," the Doctor said, being vague since he didn't want to mention River to her.

"Good," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I…"

"Ought-oh," Jules said when Rose suddenly jerked her head and looked at something beyond her monitor. "Daddy's here."

"Yes, Daddy's here," the Doctor heard his clone say to Jules, "and now I will feast on your flesh!"

He smiled when he heard Jules giggle at that. Rose was still watching his clone but so far she hadn't turned off the monitor. He heard his clone making roaring noises while Jules squealed.

"I am Monster Destroyer," his clone said in a deep voice while the Doctor listened with a smile on his face. "I will devour you whole!"

Rose glanced at the Doctor and he chuckled. He fell silent when the clone suddenly walked to the monitor and looked at who was on it.

"Who's this?" the clone said to Rose while he gestured to the monitor.

"It's the Doctor, Daddy. Rose found him," Jules said off camera.

The clone's mouth dropped open and he stared at the Doctor.

"Hello," the Doctor said. "Rose contacted me, this wasn't my idea."

"Why?" the clone said to Rose.

"Because I wanted to see if he was alright and I wanted to try out the TARDIS long range capabilities," Rose said to the clone. "This is just a one time thing, honestly."

The Doctor could tell his clone had doubts about that but he kept silent as he turned to look at him. He studied him for a moment while the Doctor smiled amiably at him.

"What life is this?" the clone finally said to him.

"Eleventh," the Doctor said.

"You look good," the Doctor said.

"Maybe he could be my boyfriend," Jules said off camera.

"What?" the clone said while Rose laughed. "He's way, way, waaaaay older than you are so the answer is no."

The Doctor chuckled when he moved the monitor so he could see Jules. He bent down and put his head against his daughter's head.

"See this, be glad you don't have her there, she's a menace," the clone said to him.

"No, I'm not, Daddy," Jules said.

"Nah, she's not," the clone said while Jules giggled.

He fixed the monitor so the Doctor could see him and Rose again.

"Are you alright?" the clone asked.

"Yeah, I just lost a couple of good friends before Rose contacted me but I'll be fine," he said. "You?"

"I'm better," the clone said. "I did have some anger towards you but that's dissipated. We managed to grow the TARDIS and we were planning to go somewhere in it. I was doing some last minute things before our inaugural journey and apparently Rose got the idea to find you. I was a bit shocked to see you again but I'm glad you're alright."

"Sweetie, who's talking?"

The Doctor stiffened when River came into the room and walked down the back steps. The clone's eyes widened when she stepped into view and stared at the monitor.

"River?" the clone said.

"Yeah, who are you?" River said.

"River, who's River?" Rose said to the clone.

"Friend," the clone said.

"Sweetie, who are these people?" River said, gesturing to the monitor.

"Sweetie?" Rose said, her eyebrows raising.

"Um…perhaps we should go," the clone said when Rose looked to him for an explanation.

"Who are you?" River said to the clone.

"People," the clone said. "Random people. We should go."

"Wait, who is…"

Rose was cut off in midsentence when the clone ended the transmission. The Doctor slowly turned his head to look at his wife and she cocked an eyebrow.

"So…random people, eh?" River said to him.

"Spoilers?" the Doctor said.

River rolled her eyes.

"I figured one day you would use that against me," she said to him.

She studied him for a moment and laid her hand against his cheek.

"Are you still depressed?" she asked.

"Not as badly as I was before."

"Because of chatting with the random people?" River said.

"That helped."

"Good," River said, nodding. "I won't say anything more about those people then. But if they were friends of you, I'm glad they cheered you up."

"They did," the Doctor said sincerely.

"Good," River said. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I think we'll spend time at a resort so we can both recover from what just happened," the Doctor said.

"I think that's a good idea, love. You choose where to go then."

She kissed the top of his head and the Doctor squeezed her hand before she left the room. He watched her go and then got to his feet and looked at the blank monitor.

"Thanks, Rose, for finding me again," he said to the monitor before he began inputting a destination.

THE END.

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