THE CULT OF THE DOCTOR
Chapter Three The Doctor lay on his bed, watching Rose while she slept beside him. He had long since given up on trying to solve the various problems that were swirling around him and concentrated on how beautiful his lover looked while she slept. This was the first time since finding her again that they'd had a quiet moment together and he was making the most of it. The closeness of her body soothed him and he wondered how he'd been able to survive these past few years without her at his side. He realized that having her here would make it that much harder to give her up when the time came but for the moment he didn't care. Rose was beside him again and all was right with the world, as far as he was concerned. Then a knock at the door shattered the illusion of being alone with Rose and he sighed when he heard his double calling to him beyond the locked door. He tried to move off the bed without waking Rose but the bed creaked the moment he sat up and Rose opened her eyes and gazed at him. "Is it supper yet?" she murmured. "Don't know. My clone is at the door," he said to her before standing up. Rose turned and watched from her spot on the bed as the Doctor walked to the door and opened it. "I have a bit of news for you," the clone said. He then saw Rose and stiffened. The Doctor glanced at Rose and looked at his clone, trying very hard not to look like he was gloating, even though internally he was doing just that. The clone was also trying to be passive but the Doctor noticed he clenched one fist at his side before catching himself and relaxing it. "What's the news?" the Doctor said before he and his clone got into a fight over Rose. "I was trying to find something to watch on telly to pass the time and I found a news report about this biography of yours," the clone said. The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What did they have to say? Did they say who wrote it?" "Yes. George White is the author." The Doctor looked at Rose who was now sitting up on the side of the bed. "George White? Know someone by that name?" he said to her. "No," Rose said, shaking her head. "Did they show his face?" the Doctor said to his clone "No. They just mentioned the name and said the book is gaining worldwide popularity now, even here," he said. The Doctor beckoned him inside and the clone closed the door and winked at Rose when the Doctor turned away from him. The Doctor went to the window and looked out on the town while he mulled over this new bit of information. There were several people walking around outside, a few were going into other shops and businesses while a young man and woman snogged on a bench across the street. "Rose, are you sure no one did anything to you?" he heard the clone say. "You're absolutely sure no one at Torchwood hypnotized you or did a mind probe?" The Doctor turned around at that. He realized he'd never considered that but it made sense. Especially given his distrust of Torchwood. "Rose, did you ever experience lost time?" he asked her. "Or have trouble remembering things?" "I don't think so. I don't think anyone ever hypnotized me," she said. "I...can't be sure though." "And George White sounds a bit generic to me," the Doctor said to the clone. "Like an assumed name," the clone said, nodding in agreement. "I think we should try to find a copy of this book, don't you agree?" the Doctor said to the clone. The clone nodded, pleased that the Doctor was including him in this instead of pushing him to the side. He saw in this moment an opportunity to prove himself and possibly mend things between them. The last thing he wanted was the Doctor for an enemy. He decided to try a little test first and he told the Doctor and Rose he would go out and try to find a bookshop. He turned without waiting for an answer, half expecting the Doctor to stop him or tell Rose to go with him. But nobody said anything and the clone walked down the corridor to Jackie's room. He didn't have any money on him at the moment and he didn't feel like stealing a book since he was already a criminal in the Doctor's eyes. He knocked on Jackie's door and called to her. When she opened it, he explained what he needed and wondered if she could lend him a few quid to go find the book. "I could lend you the money but I only have pounds, you'll have to exchange it for the local money." She noticed the clone's blank look and sighed. "Wait a minute, I'll help you find a currency exchange place," she said to him before going back inside to collect her purse. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (Three hours later…) Rose looked up when the Doctor came back into her room. "They're still gone, both of them," he said, shutting the door. Rose checked her watch. "It's nearly three hours now. Where did they go?" Rose said. "It's taken them this long to exchange money and find a bookshop?" The Doctor shrugged and sat down beside her on the bed. After they left, he'd turned on Rose's television and searched for any other mention of the biography but they couldn't find anything else so eventually they turned it off and waited for Jackie and the clone to return so they could go eat. In that time, the Doctor silently worried about Donna. He knew that Donna would have had a meltdown by now and without intervention… He tried not to imagine what would happen to his best friend after the meltdown. He dreaded finding the TARDIS again with her dead body inside it. That's why he kept trying to turn his attention elsewhere so he didn't have to imagine that scenario. He tried to figure out where his TARDIS could be. There was no indication the TARDIS was dead or destroyed, he would feel it if that were so. So where was it? He and Rose looked at the door when they heard knocking. Rose told them to come in and Jackie opened the door. She entered and the clone entered behind her, a stunned look on his face and a book in his hands. Rose walked around the bed to him when she noticed his hair was messed up and his clothes looked torn in a few places. "Where'd you go? Are you alright?" she asked them. "We found a bank and exchanged some money," Jackie said to them. "Then we found a bookshop. We found this book you're looking for but the moment some people saw him, they…freaked out and surrounded him," Jackie added, pointing to the clone. "We couldn't leave because more people were coming in to get a look at him and they acted like he was a rock star." "We finally told them we had to go but a few of the more aggressive ones grabbed at me and tore my clothes and messed up my hair. Doctor, whatever this book says, it's turned you into a celebrity." The Doctor took the book from him and told him to sit on the bed and rest. He admired his clone for going out and getting the book and getting swarmed in the meantime. Jackie told them that they found a Chinese takeaway down the street from the hotel and she would go get some food for them while they rested. She left the room and shut the door behind her. Rose sat down beside the clone and the Doctor sat down beside her on the end of the bed. They Doctor looked at the front of the book. The title of the book was WHO IS THE DOCTOR? There was a drawing of him rather than a photo but it was a very realistic looking drawing, enough to know that it was him. Rose rubbed the clone's back while he rested and recovered from the assault and the Doctor opened the book and began speed reading it. He got halfway through it before he stopped. "So far this is surprisingly accurate," he said to them. "It has information about my time on Gallifrey, information I never shared with Rose so even if someone did a mind probe, they never would have learned all this from her. And it couldn't have come from you," he said to the clone. "So where did it come from?" "Maybe there really is a parallel you here?" Rose offered. "There was a parallel me and Mickey and Mum and Dad here, so what if a parallel you wrote the book." "Somehow I can't see myself writing something like this, even if it is a parallel version," the Doctor said, closing the book and staring at the drawing on the front. "But if there are differences between you and your other you, maybe the other you is a celebrity seeker while you're not," Rose said. "But the legends of Gallifrey said that in the beginning when the universes were formed, there was only one Gallifrey created," the clone said. "And supposedly the Time Lords exist only in one universe, the universe we came from." "But you said it's a legend," Rose said. "Could it be a lie then?" The Doctor tapped his fingers on the book while he thought about that. After thirty seconds, he suddenly realized he was mindlessly tapping out the Master's four beat rhythm and stopped himself. "This book…given the amount of information in it about Gallifrey, it could only have been written by me. You and me," he said, gesturing to the clone, "we're the only ones who could know about all this. Rose doesn't know it so there's nothing for Torchwood to extract from her mind. So that must mean there is another me and possibly…" He looked at the clone. "Another Gallifrey," the clone finished with wide eyes.
Back Home Doctor Who Main Page Next