Prologue
The Doctor ripped the earpiece from his ear and threw it away from him. Rose was dead. It was all his fault. He heard Van Statten muttering something behind him but he couldn't focus. Just then there was a flash of light and he vanished, reappearing in a large white room that contained a couple of couches, some beanbags and a television.
There was another flash and Rose stood in front of him and his mouth dropped.
"Rose! You're alive!" He gasped in delight. He rushed towards her and enveloped her in a bear hug. Once he put her down, he kissed her forehead and let out a sigh of relief. Rose grinned at him.
"Yeah, the Dalek shot the door not me. Where are we?" She asked, looking around.
"No idea, one minute I'm listening to Van Statten bumble on about how damn sorry he is and the next second I'm here." The Doctor frowns.
Their conversation was interrupted by another flash of light. Jack Harkness suddenly joined them.
"Who are you?" Rose cried.
"Rose? Where are we?" Jack asked.
"Where did you come from? How do you know Rose?" The Doctor asked.
"The hospital in London, don't you recognise me Doc?"
"Should I?"
"Yeah, I was just taking the bomb away from London. You just saved those kids." Jack told him with a frown. The Doctor ran a hand over his face, looking confused.
"We seem to be from different times." His frown deepened as he thought about what that could possibly mean and what could be powerful enough to pull people here from different points in the same timeline. They didn't get any further before more people joined them. These were people Rose had never seen before. One was a man with a pinstriped suit and long brown coat. A few feet from him stood a dark skinned, dark haired woman. Another red haired woman was also regaining her balance next to the tenth Doctor. Then Mickey appeared.
"Oh great, Ricky is here." The ninth Doctor groaned.
"It's Mickey." He retorted automatically, before glancing at who had spoken and his mouth fell open. "Doctor?" The two new people turned and the man in the suit gasped.
"Who are you two?" Rose asked.
"Rose!" The strange man hurtled towards her and pulled her into an even bigger hug than the Doctor had. "You...I...What is going on?" The man gaped as he finally put her down.
"Not to be rude, but who the hell are you?" She asked, thoroughly confused.
"It's me. The Doctor."
"He's the Doctor." She pointed at Nine. Both of them sighed. Nine's mind was racing. This future version of his had had almost an identical reaction to him when he had seen Rose. Did she really die in the future? By pure luck he hadn't lost her in his timeline, was he still destined to fail to protect her? Horrible ideas chased each other round his mind and he drew Rose back towards him, wrapping an arm around her waist.
"He's a past version of me." Ten explained. "When are you from?"
"Van Statten's museum."
"Ah, I remember that." Ten winced. "I'm from a bit further in the future. Time Lords have this trick where they can cheat death. If we are about to die then we can change our bodies. Same memories, same person, but different body. He is me and I am him." Rose just gaped. As did everyone except Nine. He was busy staring at his future form in horror.
"I turned into a pretty boy! Rose this is your fault." Nine groaned. "So who are you then?" He turned to the other women.
"Martha Jones." She replied a little nervously. "I travelled with him." She pointed at Ten. "We've just met the Family of Blood." She looked over at the girl addressed as Rose. It seemed like the strange man in a leather jacket was a previous version of the Doctor, so she assumed that the girl must be The Rose her Doctor kept talking about. She was very interested to see this girl that had so clearly captured the heart of the Doctor.
"I'm Donna Noble. I've also travelled with him." She points at Ten. "We've just been to Pompeii."
"So I'm from furthest in the future." Ten states, "But I'm not long in front of Donna. Only a week or so." He wanted nothing more than to just drink in the fact that Rose was back with him. Something Nine was quick to notice and it did nothing to soothe his nerves about Rose in future. They were just about to work out why they were all there when a final person dropped into the room.
"Sarah Jane!" Ten cried.
"Doctor!" She smiled. "Where are we?"
"Nobody is quite sure. We are all from different points in time, so when are you from? What were you doing when you got brought here?"
"You had just left after the school fiasco."
"Oh yeah, that was fun." The Doctor grinned.
"Oh Rose, there you are." Sarah Jane smiled but Rose looked bewildered. Ten suddenly looked nervous as he remembered the first time these two had met.
"She doesn't know you yet. She's from before we met." He explained.
"Who's that?" Rose whispered to Nine, who still had his arm around her waist.
"Sarah Jane Smith. She used to travel with me many years ago. Before the Time War ended."
"All those other people. You don't meet them until after you regenerate. You leave me?" Rose looked horrified. "Sarah Jane used to travel with you, do you just leave us all behind once you get bored of us?" Tears welled up in her eyes.
"No! Not you Rose. I think something happens to you." He confessed in a grim voice. "That future version of me had the same reaction I did to seeing you alive. I came from a time I thought you were dead, maybe he does too." Rose took a moment to process that.
"I'm sorry. I said I'd never leave you." He looked at her in astonishment. Only Rose would apologise for dying.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. I always knew you would die before me. As a Time Lord I live on while my companions die. You can spend the rest of your life with me but I can't spend mine with you. I just didn't expect the rest of your life to be so short. I fail to protect you. Again." He couldn't meet her eyes.
"I know you will always do everything you can to protect me. If something does happen, it will not be your fault. That much I know." Rose smiled at him tentatively. He still refused to look at her.
"So why are we all here?" Jack decided to intervene.
"No idea." Ten shrugged. "There's a TV there."
"You think something brought us all here to watch TV?" Mickey scoffed. Jack picked up the remote and switched the screen on. The words DOCTOR WHO flashed across the screen. All of them jumped as the music began.
"Might as well have a look." Jack suggested. They all settled down on the various couches. Nine sat with Rose tucked into his side. With what he had guessed, he didn't want her away from his side. Ten sat with them and Martha on his other side. Jack took the other couch with Donna and Sarah Jane while Mickey took a bean bag.
(A/N Sorry guys, somebody posted a incredibly necessary, vile review that was basically porn instead of anything to do with this story, not even Dr who related or anything. As I can't take down reviews that aren't guest ones without deleting the chapter, I tried to get rid of the chapter and repost it but got in a little bit of a mess so decided to repost the whole story. Thank you to all my lovely reviewers, I appreciate you very much and the next chapter will be up on Monday.)