The Doctor Rediscovered [Attn: Donna, Rose]

The Doctor leaned against the open doorway of the TARDIS, idly watching a new star forming as if on fast forward. It was sights and experiences like these that kept him travelling, always moving. And the fact that The TARDIS was as much his home as anywhere else could ever be since Gallifrey was destroyed.

But somehow, sights like these weren't meant to be seen alone. The Doctor sighed, thinking of companions past. It had been a view just like this he'd shown Donna, but she was right not to come with him. At least she was safe. Quite possibly bored, but hopefully safe... and happy.

"Rose would love this," he mumbled. Grinning, he imagined her standing here with him, her excited expression of wonder and joy. The affectionate hug he'd no doubt receive.

He shoved his hands deeper into his jacket pockets and slouched a little further down door frame with a listless sigh ...determined to just enjoy the view.

Donna took Rose's mobile and pocketed it, nodding. "Just in case, Rose..." Donna said, her voice trailing off as she gave a sad smile. "Just in case it works for you and you can't get back to me...thank you. For everything. And I hope you get to travel with him forever."

Rose had started to drink the Huan Particles and, almost instantly, started glowing brighter and brighter. Donna imagined that if Rose felt an ounce of the emotions Donna had surging through her right at that moment, they would definitely activate and she'd be off to the Doctor.

Part of Donna was excited at the prospect of seeing him again...another part terrified of the consequences of drinking the particles straight; still another part was anxious to see whether they'd work and yet another part sad at the prospect of seeing Rose go, even if she thought she might be able to follow straight behind. But the thing Donna was feeling most, which she found peculiar enough as it was, was the nervous flutter in her stomach that if it worked for the women, she'd be in their way - the Doctor and Rose- and if it didn't, she'd be unintentionally bringing harm to her new friend.

Donna watched as Rose glowed more and more brilliantly with every swallow. Surely, it was seconds away; Rose would disappear into thin air and Donna may or may not ever see her again. Without even realizing it, Donna stared at the girl, taking in all of her features. She wanted to remember Rose, just in case.

"I think it's workin' Rose..." she breathed. "I really think it's workin' for you!"

Rose lowered her sleeve for a moment, taking a gulp of air as she listened to Donna speak. "You too." She smiled slightly, even though she didn't think the situation'd happen. "Thanks." I do too. Her silent addition remained unsaid.

After a few moments she returned to her drinking, remotely aware of the brightening glow. The sleeve grew emptier and emptier and she couldn't help her mind going. This was it, really it. She watched Donna over the bag, her eyes hopeful as anything. Soon she'd be there, back there in the TARDIS. Her mind wandered and she couldn't help but wonder if he'd be in there, or out on some remote world leaving her to wait. What his expression would be when he saw her, had his words on (though it had only been so for her) that beach disproven. She was vaguely aware of Donna's speaking-

"I think it's workin' Rose... I really think it's workin' for you!"

and a surge of excitement went through her as she took one last swallow from the near-empty sleeve. She glowed more brightly than ever and soon the glow was all that was left, and even that broke apart into tiny specks that zoomed skywards. Before she had time to speak, Rose was gone.

________________________________________

It was a different sensation than when she'd used her device to cross into this universe earlier that day. There was an awareness of the movement, and an odd moment that lastest forever and no longer than a second at the same time. Rose thought it might have been because of the chemical rather than technological aspect of this form of travel, but when she resettled in her new location, she stopped thinking altogether.

She held onto her sleeve loosely now, staring in awe at the scene before her, heart skipping a beat. When she'd come together she'd been facing the TARDIS doorway and the familiar sight of Time Lord and TARDIS juxtaposed against whatever fantastic happenings were going on outside the door left her anything but speechless. But when she tried to speak the words caught in her throat. Wide-eyed she just blinked for a moment before taking measured, careful strides. She felt as if she made any wrong moves the universe would shatter around her so she took her times as she headed towards the door. Towards the Doctor.

The gold glowed brighter and brighter until it was nearly blinding and just like that...Rose was gone.

For a second, Donna just felt overwhelmingly sad. She was alone in the street and it had gotten so much darker. The breeze blew her hair gently and she stared at the space where Rose had, only moments ago, stood. She was back with the Doctor where she belonged.

It didn't occur to Donna right away that, hanging limply and ignored, the second bag of Huan Particles was in her hand.

When she realized it was still there, she took a deep breath and gulped down half the sleeve's worth before pausing. She didn't know if it was safe for her to drink as much as Rose had; Donna had the particles in her system already, after all. Still, after all this time. Drinking too much, on top of that could be fatal, couldn't it?

And for the second time after being left behind, Donna felt alone. For the first time, she felt ashamed of her fear...and Donna had to hold back a sob as tears began to form in her eyes.

She didn't dare drink anymore of the stuff. She was glowing intensely - almost as much as Rose had done - already...and if she wasn't moving, yet, she didn't think she ever would. All there was left was to hold to hope that Rose would call her mobile; that they would come to her.

The Doctor had this feeling, like someone was in the room with him, inside the TARDIS. But that was impossible, he was spinning through time... alone. He turned anyway, peering behind him, figuring there was no one around to tell him how silly he looked doing it, and wishing there was.

And there was Rose; her jacket sleeves were missing, her hair was mussed and there was a smudge of dirt on one cheek as she stared at him wide-eyed. She looked so real.

The Doctor smiled wistfully. "Rose," he breathed.

Then he frowned, blinking his eyes as his brain caught up to his vision. "Rose, what? I'm hallucinating," he muttered. But despite what he said, she looked so very real as she began to stride quickly toward him.

Rose shook her head, throat still not cooperating. When he'd spoken it had been all she could do to keep from covering the rest of the distance at a run out of fear that she'd somehow knock him out of the still-open doorway. Instead her pace quickened just slightly, and then she managed to speak.

"I really, really hope you're not hallucinating." Rose told him, voice all but steady while her eyes shone. "Cos I don't think that'd go well for me." She smiled, all at once nervous and ecstatic. This was real, it had to be real. Suddenly all her fear of it shattering into nothingness was gone.

A few feet were all that was left between them now, and she almost hesitated. But she pushed thought from her mind and said the only thing that was left afterwards, voice almost a whisper. "Doctor.."

"I really, really hope you're not hallucinating." Rose told him, voice all but steady while her eyes shone. "Cos I don't think that'd go well for me."

The Doctor pushed off the door frame at that, standing so straight his skinny frame was practically vibrating with hope.

"Doctor.." she whispered and suddenly he was moving. His feet brought him those few feet left between them as he engulfed her in a hug.

It was only when he felt her, solid and real, in his arms that he really believed. His arms still wrapped around her, he picked her off the ground and spun her around like he'd never let go. "Rose! You're back, but that's impossible and yet. You're back!" he babbled happily.

Rose was quick to return the hug,and when the Doctor spun her she let out a a laugh that was somewhere between surprise and delight, tightening her hold. She was fairly sure his babbling was one of the most wonderful things she'd ever heard.

"I'm back." She echoed him. "Couldn't let a little thing like impossible keep me away, could I? Had a crash course in it."

Her voice was light but all the same it held an edge of sincerity. Here and now she was more sure of the reality of the moment, of the Doctor than she could remember. She felt as if she were about to burst from everything welling up inside her at once.

The Doctor's face was lit up like a Christmas tree, his mind so busy spinning with she's here, that he set aside the how is she here? for a few moments. Long enough laugh and to get more hugs and listen to Rose laugh with him.

"Of course not. What's the impossible to Rose Tyler, eh? I never thought I'd see you again. I shouldn't be able to see you again. And here you are, Rose Tyler. Right here in the TARDIS. It's brilliant! You're brilliant!" He grinned so wide, turning a small circle with his hands in the air, before facing her again, taking her shoulders in his hands as if she wasn't real unless he touched her. Like she might vanish the same way she'd appeared if he let her go.

Tilting his head slightly, still with a grin, he asked: "Not to sound, you know, but how did you get to be here, in the TARDIS, in this universe?"

"This universe..." With the intention to both show and tell, Rose shoved the open end of her sleeve into a pants pocket, letting it effectively hang as she still somehow had hold of it. She gestured to a device on her wrist once her hands were free, purposefully keeping her movements slow to avoid slipping from the grasp.

"This. I told you about the Torchwood over there, yeah? Well I got the job like I said and, at one point we found something. Figured it was probably the equivalent of this universe's Time Agency tech. Now I don't know all the technical.." She tried to give him a warning look, but her grin made it entirely ineffective.

"But they sort of joined it with those button things. You don't have to worry about the holes in the universe thing though, cos you've already taken care of them." Rose added quickly. "That's what the time part's for. Doesn't work fully but it could do a sort of...slingshot. Went back to when the hole was, before it closed, crossed over so it was with the ones that got fixed already. Then it bungees forward in time, to when I'd be linearly if I'd never left home."

There was a recited ease to the explanation, something she'd had explained a few times because she knew it would be asked. "I ended up in Torchwood One since I figured it would be empty, but it wasn't. That's where I met-" Rose froze, suddenly remembering, and looked urgently at the Doctor. "Donna!"

The Doctor nodded, a little concerned that technology like that wasn't always that stable and she could have become trapped somewhere in the past, but since she hadn't and he was definitely not unhappy to have her here, he decided to leave that thought unvoiced. After all, it really was rather clever.

That's where I met-" Rose froze, suddenly and looked urgently at the Doctor. "Donna!"

"What? Where?" The Doctor asked, spinning around to look for his ginger-haired friend. Then his mind started to put together certain things, the way Donna had suddenly appeared on the TARDIs... but it couldn't be.

"What about Donna?" he asked slowly, his expression, though still happy, now turned to concern.

"When I showed up in Torchwood one she was there, looking for you. I didn't know that at first, we were both vague, just said we were looking for a friend. Laughed at the similarities in descriptions." Rose spoke quickly, trying to get the backstory out of the way and move towards the point.

"Anyway, more or less out of nowhere she, I guess remembered you mentioning me. We teamed up to try to find you. Thought of looking for strange goings on first, but never made it to that. Looked up Sarah Jane but didn't quite make contact and then she remembered how she'd gotten into the TARDIS her first time. The hu-" She couldn't quite remember the name. "Some sort of particles. These." She added on, taking the sleeve from her pocket and holding it out to him.

"Anyway we went to this building where she used to work and I suppose everything happened in. There were these things but we managed to get the particles. She told me to go first, and I gave her my mobile to hold in case she couldn't follow after. Thought I could call from that phone that was in there, and you could trace the signal or something."

The Doctor was nodding with interest, keeping eye contact with Rose, until she got to the bit about ingesting particles.

"Some sort of particles. These." She added on, taking the sleeve from her pocket and holding it out to him.

He knew what sort of particles they had to be before he scanned them, but he put on his glasses and pulled out his sonic screwdriver anyway, scanning the particles still left in the sleeve as Rose continued her explanation.

"Huon particles. You ingested huon particles!" The Doctor gave Rose a frustrated look. "Why would you do that? Didn't Donna, I mean she knew that..." He couldn't bring himself to mention how deadly they might turn out to be. He wouldn't let that happen to Rose, he'd find a way. "Huon energy is dangerous, Rose."

Pacing back and forth, the Doctor ruffled his hair, with the hand not holding the sleeve of huon particles, unconsciously spiking it up wildly.

"Huon particles contain a huge amount of energy. We used to produce them back on Gallifrey; they're at the heart of the TARDIS. So that's how you're here. Of course, one set of huon particles will magnetise with another sets of particles..."

His rant drifted off as he took in the rest of Rose's explanation and he smiled and looked up for a moment. "Donna was looking for me? Really?" His head dropped back down and his pacing resumed as he continued to think out loud. "Of course, that's beside the point. We don't need the phone signal to find her. If she's ingested the huon particles too, then all we need to do is let the TARDIS drift. The huon energy will do all the work for us. She's the only other source of huon energy in the entire universe and we'll be dragged right to her."

The Doctor kicked the TARDIS door shut, before moving to the central column and throwing a lever. "Donna, here we come!"

Donna's glow had all but completely dissipated and she dropped herself back against the building, sliding down it until she'd sunk into a deep crouch, dropping her head into her free hand. Her other hand remained on the makeshift bag, keeping it from spilling. She'd done it again...made the same mistake twice.

If she could just buck up and finish the bag...

Closing her eyes, Donna decided to admit defeat. Rose's phone had still not rung. They weren't coming. The two of them were so happy to see one another that Donna had either become forgotten or easily ignored and in either case, it hurt.

Unbeknownst to Donna as she remained there, eyes closed - to shut out the tears - and head bowed - out of embarrassment for her failure - she began to glow again. Dimly at first and then progressively brighter and brighter.

Rose watched in slight incomprehension as the Doctor paced. What did Donna know exactly? That the particles were... Dangerous he'd said. It would figure, really. On the scale of things it'd gone far too smoothly, the things aside. She wondered exactly how the particles were dangerous, what they did besides contain a huge amount of energy like he was explaining.

If certain events hadn't burned themselves out of her memory, she might've noticed a pattern in dangerous-gold-and-glowing as a reocurring theme for her returns to the Doctor. She didn't though, so it was all she could do to focus her energy on the defense of her intelligence, even if it hadn't been questioned directly.

"It's not like I knew that. Didn't know anything about them really, just what Donna said." On second thought, Rose decided, that might have made things worse. She didn't think she'd mentioned that everything had happened on the same day, which was something at least.

"She has." Rose told him needlessly as her words were quickly swallowed once the Doctor'd begun talking again. They were going then. She rather hoped Donna hadn't gotten on the bus back, she wasn't sure what the TARDIS'd do in that case. Materialize on the roof?

As the Doctor started the TARDIS drifting she moved to within grabbing distance of the support closest to the door.

As the TARDIS shook and rattled, riding the drifting currents of the vortex, The Doctor kept stealing glances at Rose whenever possible, a large grin lighting his face when she proved to still be there. He still couldn't quite believe it! But there she was, holding tight to the TARDIS like a pro.

Yeah nothing, not even possibly deadly huon particles, could have stopped him from grinning right now.

-----

As Donna sat, eyes closed and head bowed, she began to glow again. Dimly at first and then progressively brighter and brighter. And then a familiar whooshing started to fill the air around her, cutting through the howling wind, as the Doctor's blue box slowly pulsed into existence just meters away.

An all too-familiar whirring sound made Donna look up quickly, her jaw dropping. They were coming back for her, after all? She fished Rose's mobile out of her pocket to see if she'd somehow missed a call, but there were no missed calls listed on it. It didn't really matter. Donna got to her feet quickly as the Blue Box came into view.

While the TARDIS was in transit, Rose spent much of her time returning the grins as she kept her footing with aid of the support. Once it had stopped she glanced over to the doorway, letting go before turning back to the Doctor. "I'll go let her in." She told him, moving to the door without waiting for a response.

She figured from the way he'd reacted to the name he had no problem with her, and that was good since the last thing she wanted to do was end up arguing. Rose opened the door, leaning out to look around for a moment and smiling when she saw Donna. "Need a lift?"

The TARDIS door opened and Rose leaned out.

"Need a lift?"

Donna let out a huff of laughter before bolting toward the TARDIS and throwing her arms around Rose. "I didn't think you were coming back," she admitted into the other woman's ear. She looked up and saw the Doctor over Rose's shoulder. This was real...she was getting a second chance...

She stepped back from Rose. "Oh, I'm sorry," she laughed, blushing and feeling a bit foolish for practically attacking Rose in such a way. She fished Rose's mobile out of her pocket and handed it over. "What should I do with this...?" she asked, holding up the half-empty bag of particles.

"Thought wrong then." Rose whispered back, lightly. She gave a small smile at Donna's apology and backtracking. Roles reversed she couldn't help but think that she'd have probably done the same anyway. Taking her mobile as it was handed back to her and pocketing it, grabbing Donna's wrist.

"Going the wrong way." She teased her, leading her into the TARDIS. "Should probably give it to the Doctor." A moment's thought suggested to Rose. "He said they're dangerous, so..."

"Should probably give it to the Doctor." A moment's thought suggested to Rose. "He said they're dangerous, so..."

Donna suddenly felt really guilty. She'd completely forgotten...and she'd been the one to suggest to Rose that she ingest so much of the stuff...

She followed Rose inside and frowned a bit. "I completely forgot..." she breathed. "Are you okay, then, Rose...?" she asked, suddenly concerned all the while feeling a little foolish.

"Far as I can tell." Rose told her, aware that the fact could count for next to nothing as far as she knew. In any case she was there, and that was swinging her judgement a good deal as far as things were concerned.

"If you'd remembered we'd be sitting waiting for her to call still, wouldn't we?" She didn't quite expect an answer. "But we're not so get going, don't think you need an introduction, do you?" She smiled.

The Doctor watched the women exchange greetings in fascination. He really must find out more on how these tow got to know each other. The odds of them just meeting seemed so utterly phenomenally small, but then... stranger things happened, enough for him to shrug it off and just feel lucky.

"...don't think you need an introduction, do you?"

As the women turned to face him, The Doctor strode toward Donna with a wide grin and arms open. "Don't I get a proper greeting too?" he asked.

"Don't I get a proper greeting too?"

Donna stopped and looked back at the Doctor, her expression stuck somewhere between elated and awestruck. After a short pause, she threw her arms around the Doctor, too, and closed her eyes as she squeezed him. He was really there...it wasn't a dream; they'd done it. She and Rose had actually found the Doctor.

The Doctor laughed, squeezing Donna tight and bouncing a little as he did so, before finally easing off.

"Guess you should've come with me after all," he said, voice low in an attempt to keep his emotions in check.

"It's good to have you here...both of you!" Though he was hugging Donna, there were tears in his eyes and he was looking at Rose as well.