A/N: Just a short one today ... didn't have a lot of time at all ... whimper ...

I hope this is okay.

Thanks for sticking with me!

~~oooOOOooo~~

River Song circled the console of the young TARDIS that she was slowly forming a bond with. She fingertips brushed lightly along her cobbled orange coral arms and smiled at the slightest tingle of awareness from the ship that tickled up the length of her arm.

"She likes you," the Doctor offered with a soft and genuine tone of voice. He lifted his head to gaze at River squarely and opened up his lips to a grin. The softness in his voice shifted to mild excitement. "This lovely young girl senses your familial bond, I'd say. Poor little lady is a bit lonely and is looking to connect with her sister."

River's eyes lifted to his and held a world of questions inside a shade of light brown.

The Doctor grinned and slid his hands into his trouser pockets. He rocked back onto his heels. "Chinny told me that you're a child of his TARDIS…"

"Amy and Rory are my parents," she corrected sternly.

He hummed and pressed his lips together as he nodded slowly. "Right. Yes. The biological requirement to provide a vessel for a TARDIS consciousness." He held up his hand before she could cite taking offence to that. "Not that I'm in any way minimising their importance to you and your … well … your creation. They are vitally and wholly important, of course. Wonderful people, both of them. You're a very lucky woman. However, do consider the part his TARDIS took in your conception and ultimate creation."

River rolled her eyes. She knew there was no point in trying to stop him now.

"You're a Time Lord born to Human parents. Bit of an impossibility by tried and tested scientific standards. You regenerate – which is something not even a child born on Gallifrey has the capability of doing. Regenerations are not a birthright. You – as a gift from the TARDIS – were born as a regenerating Lady of Time with all of the longevity afforded to my people."

"That," he continued with a point of his finger "is why you're a child of the TARDIS." His hand waved her off. "Go ahead and argue with me on it if you want, but facts are facts: Chinny's TARDIS is as much your mother as Amy is, and therefore you're a walking, talking, and somewhat deadly sister to my lovely girl here."

River tilted her head to one side with challenge. "And so the people who raised me into this walking, talking, and deadly sister to your TARDIS would also count as my mothers and fathers, Doctor?"

The Doctor's face hardened for a moment. He let out a loud breath through his nose, and then sniffed hard enough to crinkle his nose. "Yes. Well. Moving on, then."

River smiled to spite the discomfort in the large cavernous console room of the young TARDIS. "I quite like her too."

That drew a wide smile from the Doctor. Full of teeth surrouned by fully stretched lips, he grinned a manic smile. "Oh yes. Me too, River. Me too. Lovely girl, this one."

The door of the TARDIS slammed open, which drew the attentions of both the Doctor and of River. They looked toward the doorway and felt their breath draw from their lungs.

The bright sunlight from the Borrav sky shine in through the doors and into the windowless TARDIS with almost blinding intensity. It spilled in through the open doors, forcing its way in and around the frame and curled around the central figure that stood at its centre.

With Rose Tyler still held tightly in his arms and flush against his naked chest, the Ninth Doctor stood proudly in the doorway of the young TARDIS like a powerful God overlooking his lands from atop his throne in heaven. The blinding light behind him gave him a commanding silhouette that had River Song swallow her heart, her lungs, and about every bit of air in the room.

"Magnificent," she drawled breathlessly.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and let out a rather petulant snort. "I wouldn't be too impressed if I were you," he groused under his breath. "If I had that light show, I bet I'd look that good and all."

River Song slapped the back of her hand against his chest and kept her eyes on the figure in front of her. "Let me have this moment, please."

The Doctor gave the side of her head a rather narrowed glare of annoyance and lifted his hand to snap his fingers. Inside a breath the TARDIS doors closed and the magnificent vision of a God haloed by sunlight shifted into the lithe form of a proud man of time holding a giggling Rose Tyler against his chest.

The smile on his face as he watched his prize laugh and giggle against him was no less than completely goofy and besotted.

…Almost the complete polar opposite of the vision that stood in the doorway only moments earlier.

"Oi!" the Pinstriped Doctor called out sharply. "Put my wife down and put some damn clothes on."

Nine snapped his attention toward his brother. The goofy expression shifted to one of supreme annoyance, and he made no move to put Rose on the ground. "I'm dressed, thank you very much. Bit more than you were when you took to arguin' with your clone in front of our friends and family in nothing but your underclothes."

The MetaCrisis Doctor stalked toward the full time Lord with a sneer on his sharply featured face. "Give me my wife," he snapped as he pulled Rose from Nine's arms and let her feet touch the ground. "You had your chance; you blew it. She's mine, so hands off."

Nine crossed a forearm across his chest and tapped at his chin with the fingers of this other hand. "Well, technically it wasn't me who blew the chance. That mistake belongs to a future incarnation…"

"A future you is still you, you daft idiot," Ten snarked in reply. "So don't try and make yourself feel better with your 'Well, technicallies'. Like it or not, you're going to balls it up yourself when you're him, so enough of the self right—"

"Enough from both of you," both Rose and River called out at the same time, and while it was enough to stop the vocal part of the two Doctors arguing, it wasn't effective enough a demand to stop the non verbal part of things.

Each man glared hard toward the other.

Rose shook her head with exasperation at the pair and strode toward River song. "Again," she began on an annoyed voice. "You still have time to back out. Is this really what you want to have to endure for the rest of your life; married to a child?"

"Oi!" the Doctor called out with offense.

River ignored him. "Remember when I told you that I don't travel with him now, and I never will?"

Rose pursed her lips and nodded. River didn't need to expand upon that thought. "Yeah. Can't say that I don't see the appeal in it…"

A pinstriped arm shifted by her to tug at a lever on the console. His voice gravelled against her ear. "I'll honestly try not to take too much offence to that."

Nine snorted from behind them. "Better comeback to that would've been that it goes both ways."

Ten twisted his head to look down along his shoulder toward his brother. His glare was hot as his eyes followed the movement of the man to the other side of the console. "I promised her that I would never leave her," he smoothed out darkly. "And by Rassilon if I can only honour one promise in my entire lives, that's the one I intend to keep."

Rose whimpered out a long and happy swoon of a sigh. She tipped her cheek to look up innocently toward River. "And that. That right there is why I will always travel right at his side, River. Because I never want to miss hearing him make a comment like that…"

River Song lifted a perfectly manicured brow over hr left eye and watched as the man wearing pinstripes grinned triumphantly and toggled a pair of switches on the console.

"If you're worried about missing him speaking words of love and adoration, Rose, perhaps he should be encouraged to say them a little more often." She flicked her eyes toward Rose. "That way, when you do find yourself with a little bit of wanderlust, you won't be so frightened to miss out on something."

Ten lifted his eyes toward River. "The more you say it, the less impact it has."

"Pathetic excuse."

He roughly flipped up a large switch and let the TARDIS rumble loudly to life with a wheeze and a groan. He looked first toward the rotor column to confirm it was sliding as smoothly as it should, and then cast his gaze back toward River. "The words I love you should be spoken with an appropriate amount of passion and reverence toward the one you love. It should be spoken with your eyes upon one another, and within an embrace." He flicked his hand with disgust. "Anyone can end a phone call with a hurried I love you. People proclaim their love to even the most mundane items. I love this, and I love that, and oh my god this is the most incredible thing in my life." He snorted. "Bollocks on that."

Rose looked toward him. Her voice was quiet. "But from time to time, Doctor, it does need saying." She lifted her head. "You of all people should know that."

He double-checked the rise and fall of the time rotor, and then looked back toward his wife. He stood square to her and gently used his hands to coax her to stand in front of him.

"Rose.." He inhaled deeply and gave her a smile. "I can say it, proclaim it to the entire universe how much I love and worship you. I can, and if you want me to I will. Easy-peasy, Rose Tyler, I love you." He touched at the edge of her smile with his thumb. "But I prefer this instead…"

He cupped her cheek in his hand and slowly lowered his mouth to her ear.

Nine and River watched the change in Rose's expression from playful to floored within a heartbeat. Her eyes closed and she seemed to draw in whatever her husband was saying into her ear like a sponge. He reduced his wife to whimpers before he released her and leapt back into a dance around the console.

"So now that we have that out of the way. Off to Pete's world we go."

River moved toward Rose, who was stilled, unfocused, and swaying in place. "Are you okay, Rose?"

Rose shook her head lightly and her words drew out slowly from between wettened lips. "How can I ever top that?"

"Top what? What did he say to you?"

Nine ignored the pair completely. He watched the manic dance of the TARDIS fairy around the console and crossed his arms tightly across his chest.

"Care to fill me in on the plan, Sandshoes?"

Ten stopped and pointed down at a shoe. "Converse, actually, and come on: Do we really need a plan? Isn't it way much more fun to just throw ourselves in and make it up on the fly?" He flicked his hand in a finger-slap against Nine's chest and rushed around to the other side of the console to flip up another lever. He stooped to reach a couple of levers under the console and looked up at the time rotor column with a look of thrill. "Oh, it's been a while since I've dropped my TARDIS into shark infested waters and had to run simply on adrenaline and good luck." He stood up and looked toward his brother. "Feel that rush!"

"I'm feeling that you're a certifiable lunatic," None growled.

Ten looked at him with his manic smile in place. "Oh don't try and tell me that you're not getting the same thrill that I am. I was you once, I know exactly how you feel."

Nine tried to hide his smile, but a small amount of it crept through his cool façade. "Thinking of Jackie in danger doesn't exactly thrill me, Doctor."

"Not I," he admitted with a falter in his smile. That smile kicked back in, only more fakes than genuine. "But knowing that we have a trio of protective TARDISes working to protect Jackie, Tony and Pete in a protective bubble does allow me a certain measure of confidence."

Rose's voice finally spoke up, and there was definite worry in her tone. "So did Spencer say how Mum was? Does he know that they're okay?"

The Doctor in pinstripes nodded, and his smile faltered into a serious expression. "Spencer's not exactly our inside man at the moment. Torchwood are on the hunt for him because they think that he knows where we are."

"Because takin' my Mum's not enough for them?" she growled hotly. "They're goin' after everyone?"

Her Doctor let out a breath and set his hands on her shoulders. He looked into her face and implored her to look at him with a stare of his own. "Rose. Look at me."

She held her breath as she willed herself to look into his eyes and did so very slowly. "What?"

"Rose, they're safe," he assured her. "Spencer's not on site, but he has contacts who are and is linked into their network with a rather remarkable hack." He swallowed and waited for her to do the same. "Torchwood are being driven insane because they can't get to your mum, Pete, and Tony. They've got them in the building, but they can't access them. Noone in or out, I promise you."

"We bring them home," she demanded wetly. "Back here. This side of the wall. No more Pete's world, you hear me? We get them out and then lock up that damn white wall tight so nothin' can get through."

"Yes, Rose."

"Promise me," she demanded loudly. "No more of this. No more danger. We bring 'em back here and find a good planet to settle them on. No more Earth and evil Humans."

"Well, that's really up to them…"

"Promise me!"

Nine looked up from the console, and the rather outdated monitor that had been installed. "Your wish," he declared darkly, "is, and always will be, my command."

"You don't know Jackie," Pinstripes growled in reply.

"I do," Nine argued. "In case you forgot. If there's anyone who can put that woman in her place and make her do what has to be done, it's me. Did it at church, and I'll damn well do it this time."

River's attention got caught on that. "In church, Doctor? I never figured you a religious type."

"Nah," he drawled. "Not me. Not really. But," he coughed into his fist and went back to the keyboard underneath the monitor to call up some schematics. "Had to take a bit of a detour into one back on Earth in the 80's. Rose had upset the timelines and the Reapers swooped in. Jackie was there with baby rose in tow…"

"This really isn't the time," Pinstripes warned. "And are you about done messing about with my TARDIS controls?"

"I'm a Time Lord," Nine groused, "so it's always time. And no, I'm not even half way close to trying to repair the mess of this system." He gruffed. "What kind of hack job wizard cobbled together this mess of a program?"

Rose coughed with offence. "That would be me."

Nine stared at her for a moment and tried to ignore the barks of laughter from both River Song and his meta crisis self. He blinked slowly, then looked back down at the keyboard. "Doesn't change my opinion of it. It's still a hack job." He inhaled. "But leave it with me, Rose, and I'll have this beautiful girl purring in no time."

"It would be fine is no time was now time," Pinstripes warned. "We're through the wall and out of the vortex. We're beginning Materialisation procedures."

Nine looked up at the monitor and nodded. "Couple'a minutes left till full materialisation." He passed his gaze to his elder self. "This Spencer friend of yours, where'd he tell you to land the old girl?"

Pinstripes pointed at the monitor and then tapped a sequence of keys on the keyboard. "Keep your eyes there, I'll pull up a schematic. There are materialisation blocking protocols on the entire Torchwood building. Nothing can transmat in or out without authorisation."

"Which I'm assuming we don't have."

Pinstripes snorted. "Oh, I'm sure I can get it if I asked them nicely enough, but we'd probably end up walking into a guard of honour of high powered weaponry." HE shook his head. "Not interested in that, ta."

River leaned into the conversation. "Then how will we get in?"

Pinstripes smiled. "Ahh. Old school, dear. Spencer's gotten us a nice big black SUV with Torchwood access cards and codes. We're going in the front door."

River huffed out a breath through pursed lips and furrowed her brow. "But won't they recognise the two of you." She looked between them. "as Torchwood's most wanted, I wouldn't think it a great idea to walk in the front door."

He smirked. "If we give ourselves up…"

"No," Nine growled. "That's a rubbish idea." HE shook his head. "I'd rather take up Dad's option of robing up and getting pompous on them than handing the two of you over." He paused to reconsider. "No. Scrap that. You can go, Rose can stay with me."

"Not happening," Rose growled. "Where he goes, I go."

Pinstripes pursed his lips and nodded his head. "Rose. Ears over there might have a point. I can get in, keep their attentions off you lot, which will give you a way in."

"Don't you dare," she thundered as she stalked toward him and clutched his lapels with both hands. "You're not martyring yourself and leavin' me behind again, Doctor. You hear me. We're a team, you and me. Whatever we do, we do it together."

"I'm not risking you, Rose," he pleaded urgently. HE gestured toward his ninth self with a jut of his chin. "He'll take care of you, I promise."

"And who'll take care of you, then?" she snarled.

River stepped forward. "I will."

Rose shook her head. "No.

"I will keep him safe," she promised firmly.

"Not happening." She glared into her husband's face. "Think of somethin' else, Because I'm not letting you put yourself in danger like that."

Nine snorted. "This whole thing is dangerous, Rose."

She spun on him. "And so we do it together, yeah? Together, or not at all." She looked to her husband. "When we regenerate, we do it together. Every time!"

"Oh," he breathed apologetically. "I wish it was that simple, Rose. I wish I could make that promise to you."

"Don't wish it, just do it."

He pulled her in for a tight hug and rested his chin on her hair. He exhaled sadly and looked across at his younger self. "She's my universe, Doctor…"

Nine nodded. "I know, Doctor. She's mine, too." He held out his arms to take Rose. "Come here, Sweetheart."

Rose buried herself further into her husband's chest and shook her head. "I'm not leavin' him."

Pinstripes kissed at her head. "But you've got to," he said in mimicry of his words back on Bad Wolf Bay so many months ago. "It's the only way."

River exhaled hard and looked toward the door as the TARDIS shuddered with materialisation. She threw Nine a shirt that had been draped over the jump seat and nodded for him to put it on. "Well, it looks like we're here. How about you get dressed so that we can convene with your friend Spencer and see if we have any other options."

"Yeah," Pinstriped breathed quietly. He dropped his hand to take Rose's hand in his and led them all toward the doorway. "That's a good idea, River. Perhaps Spencer can give us a better idea of what we're going to go up against here."

River smiled and pressed her hands into the door in order to exit ahead of them. "That's my clever boy." With the creak of old wood she gave them a wink toward Nine. "After me, Sweeite…"

The doors opened to show a single man, dressed in filthy blue jeans, a buttoned Oxford shirt underneath a tattered old lab coat. His face was bruised and bloody and he wore an expression of desperate apology.

Rose pulled quickly from her Doctor and called out as she rushed forward. "Spencer! What happened?"

From either side of the TARDIS, two separate black-clad Torchwood troops filled the room, each of them cocking high-powered weapons and aiming toward the blindsided foursome. Immediately, Rose felt the tight grip of her husband's hands on her upper arms and was pulled in protectively against his chest. She looked toward her assistant with hurt and sorrow in her eyes.

"Spencer?"

He shook his head, wincing through obvious pain, and coughed up a mouthful of blood. "Rose," he croaked sadly. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I – I had no choice."