A/N: This story is already completely written so updates shouldn't be too far apart, at least once a week, maybe sooner if the mood strikes. This is un-beta'd so all mistakes are my own. Also fair warning, while this story is listed under romance/humor, there will also be a fair amount of angst as well, because I can't seem to stay away from it! Please leave a review if you are so inclined!

Chapter 1: Unexpected Arrival

The Doctor was in a bit of a sulky mood, like he tended to be when he was wrong about something. It had been a bit jarring, at first, to find that they had somehow landed on another parallel world. Once could be put down to luck, but twice...impossible.

Apparently, though, it wasn't, because here they were. A London much like their own but with small changes littered about here and there. The most prominent being the colors. The world almost seemed brighter here, colors more vibrant and fairy-tale like. The air was cleaner, fresher. Everything seemed so crisp.

While Rose found it charming and was eager to explore all the differences, the Doctor was obviously troubled. He poured over different calculation, checking and double checking all the Tardis's systems. Last time they appeared on a parallel world, she had died on their trip over, only that small crystal clinging to life, but this time was different. She seemed to be completely fine, actually. In tip-top shape really, and this only confused the Doctor more.

"Without other Time Lord's around she shouldn't be able to make this trip at all and she definitely shouldn't be okay now that we're here and I just...don't get it." He flung the view screen around to her gaze despite the fact she didn't understand a word of it.

"None if it makes sense. Look at this! According to this Rose, we can also travel back. No problem. There is like a...a...a window between these two universes that can be opened and closed safely. Technology like that..." His voice trailed off, worried.

Rose only smiled widely. "I think it's time for a little investigating, yeah?" she said, voice giddy at the prospect of a new adventure. The Doctor, while still a touch unsettled, couldn't help but beam in return.

"I guess so," he exclaimed, starting a familiar dance around the console. "If I can triangulate the point of the power source that's keeping this window open, because keeping a window like this open takes an immense amount of power, then we can see what's going on here."

"What d'you think it is?" Rose asked. "Who d'you think could work out how to open doors between universes on their own, where even you couldn't."

The Doctor's eyes darkened a little bit. "I don't know. And I hate it when I don't know something. Having a window between universes open like this is extremely dangerous."

He pulled the view screen around, pressing more buttons without even looking. "Annnd, almost...Got It! Ha!" His dance around the console got more frantic as he worked on chasing down the signal. The Tardis shuddered and the Doctor threw his leg up onto the console in an attempt to steady her.

"She doesn't want to land," the Doctor shouted, over the sound of sparks emitting from the console. "It's weird, she only usually ever does this if there's another Tardis around, but that...can't be it."

"Could it be this universe," Rose shouted, frantically pressing the buttons and flipping the switches that he indicated to her, "like you said before, petrol in a diesel engine?"

"No I've checked all her systems," he said through gritted teeth. By this point he had picked up the mallet, so Rose knew he was getting a bit desperate.

With a lurch and a groan the Tardis landed, throwing them both to the ground. The Doctor quickly dusted himself off and offered a hand to Rose. Once he'd pulled her to her feet, he ran to consult the view screen again. He pulled his glasses on, and squinted at whatever was there.

"Well that's..." he said, trailing off. His voice sounded small and strained. Rose looked over his shoulders at the incomprehensible symbols.

"What is it?" she asked, clueless.

"It...according to this, we have landed in the vicinity of another Tardis," he said, truly flabbergasted.

"Is that even possible? Could there be...Time Lords here. In this universe?" Rose asked softly. She put a comforting hand on his arm.

"I'm not...I mean, weeelll, technically there could be. There were other universes that had Time Lords in them, but those were forbidden to us. Caused too much of a fuss when we intruded on their universes. We tended to stick to alternate realities that branched off specifically from our own universe. We are trans-dimensional creatures and those sub-universes were under our control, so other Time Lords weren't present in them, besides us. Like you saw in the last alternate world we ended up in. Much simpler that way. If...if we are in one of these alternate universes with other Time Lords, weeelll, we really shouldn't be here."

Both of them looked at each other solemnly for a few minutes and then suddenly grinned widely at one another.

"Aww, what the hell!" he said jubilantly. "We've got to get that window closed, anyway. Fancy a peek, Rose Tyler?"

She grinned delightedly, looping their arms together. They sauntered out of the Tardis, the Doctor with his sonic screwdriver already poised at the ready. The room they were in was large and dark, a glass office on one side overlooking the city. Looking out it, they could see it was now dark.

"Must've skipped forward a little bit on accident when the Tardis was acting up. It's nighttime now," The Doctor said, answering her unasked question.

Finding a light switch, the Doctor flipped it on to reveal the room fully. There was a large white wall opposite from the glass room, that for some unknown reason, made Rose shudder a little. Off to both sides of the room were levers. A few desks also littered the room, but other than that it was bare. Rose gripped his arm tighter feeling decidedly unsettled.

"S'room is kinda given me the creeps," Rose admitted as the Doctor scanned the equipment.

"I must say I feel a tad uneasy as well," he said as he fiddled with the sonic.

He scanned the room and then whipped around suddenly and dashed over to a small white box on the wall and pointed the sonic at it. "Just disabling the security," he said brightly. Once done he turned back to the room to continue his scan. The sonic whirred as he ran it all around the room and he paused when he got to the white wall.

"This is definitely our spot," he said at last, as he looked at the blank white wall. "Void stuff, massive amounts of it, all over this wall."

"Void stuff?" Rose asked.

"The void, it's like the space between universes. This void stuff, it's like a...radiation. Traveling through universes like we've done leaves a mark, we're covered in it. Hmm, let's see-" he said, digging through his pocket, elbow deep, "ahh here it is!" Triumphantly he held out a pair of 3-D glasses to her. She looked at him amused.

"Go on then," he said, beaming at her. Laughing, she put on the glasses. The Doctor moved around in front of her, grinning, and she watched as green and red bits moved all around him. She lifted her own hand in fascination as the particles moved about it.

"See! Void stuff. Now if we could just figure out how they're opening this window..." he trailed off, dashing to one of the computers to begin fiddling with it.

"Where are we anyway?" Rose asked, looking about. "Is this some kind of government building? Research facility?"

"Rose Tyler, always asking the right questions. Who is behind this?" He jammed his screwdriver in his mouth as he rapidly broke past firewalls and security defense systems.

"Whoever they are, they're powerful." The Doctor mumbled around the screwdriver. "This is some high tech security. No match for me though, of course. Might take a little bit of time, however." His voice was apologetic.

"How about I look around a little," Rose said, gesturing to the door. "Still haven't figured out what all that business with another Tardis was about, yeah?"

Honestly, Rose had almost forgotten about the other Tardis until just now, and by the Doctor's expression, he had too.

"I don't know, Rose. Maybe we should go together. We don't know what or who is out there."

"Never stopped me before. Or you for that matter. I can handle it," she assured him. He still looked a bit uneasy with the idea, but eventually nodded his consent.

"Just...be careful, yeah," he said, voice serious and tender. "We don't know how these alternate Time Lords are in this universe. If there even is any. For all we know they could be behind this window in the first place. Certainly have the brains for it." He grinned cheekily.

"Yeah, yeah," she said grinning affectionately. "You're a genius. Honestly, sometime I think you only have me around to stroke your ego."

He grinned broadly at her, then quickly pinned her with a serious look. "Really though. Careful."

"I will," she said. He stood up fully to give her a tight hug. "I'll see you later," she told him.

"Not if I see you first." They grinned cheesily at each other and then she was dashing out of the room.

She walked down darkened corridors, peeking into rooms here or there. Mostly it seemed to be some kind of office space, desks everywhere she looked. Eventually she came to a stairwell and made her way down to the ground floor where a big open parlor was located. The words Canary Wharf were written in big, cursive lettering behind what looked to be a visitor's desk. So definitely some kind of office building. Canary Wharf. Sounded vaguely familiar. Perhaps there was a Canary Wharf back in their own universe.

Finding nothing more of interest down here, she made her way back to the stairwell. There were many floors to this building, including the top one where the wall and levers had been, but something told her that those floors weren't where she needed to be looking. On impulse, she made her way down to the basement. When she got there she grinned when she saw the padlock shut door. Bingo. You don't hide just anything behind padlock doors.

It was times like these when she really wished she had her own sonic screwdriver. Grumbling, she took the bobby pin out of her hair and got to work. After a few minutes of intense struggle, she finally heard a snick as the lock opened and she grinned widely. Pushing open the double doors, she strode confidently into the darkened room only to stop dead in her tracks when she flipped on a light switch.

The room was enormous. She couldn't even properly see the back of it. And all around her she was surrounded by alien equipment. Some things she recognized, others she didn't. There were spaceships and gadgets in every direction she looked. Whatever was going on here, it was big.

She walked deeper into the room, truly astonished by the sheer amount of stuff that had been collected up. Her hands lightly breezed over the gadgetry as she passed.

As she journeyed deeper into the room, a flash of blue caught her eyes and she whirled around to see a blue police box off in a corner. Her hand immediately flew to her chest where her Tardis key lay and she lifted it in front of her face with shaking fingers. Tentatively, she stepped forward and inserted the key. Holding her breath, she twisted and was met with resistance. It didn't work. This wasn't their Tardis. Not that she had thought it was, but still best to check.

Rose lay her hand against the door anyway. Could this Tardis just be scrap gathered up like the rest of this stuff? No Time Lords after all? She didn't know whether to be relieved or not.

Suddenly, she felt a comforting pulse in her mind, much like her own Tardis would send to her. It had a different kind of taste to it. It was familiar in the most unfamiliar of ways. Like reuniting with an old friend who had completely changed from how you knew them as a child. Un-mistakingly them, but oh so different. Sort of like a regeneration, really. Still, it was welcoming and loving and she couldn't help but grin.

"Hello, old girl," she said. "Maybe the Doctor will know some way to open you up. You must be lonely down here." Rose felt the Tardis hum in her head. It was almost an amused sound. Rose grinned and with one last affectionate pat, continued down the rows of alien tech.

It wasn't long before she began to pick up the quiet murmurs of someone talking. Heart racing, she quietly crept forward, eager to see if she could get any information from her mysterious company. She ducked expertly behind equipment, creeping forward till the voice got clearer and clearer. She was properly startled when she realized it was the Doctor's voice. How did he get down here so fast? Easing around the spaceship she peeked around the corner. Just to be sure.

The Doctor was standing there, some alien gadget or another in his hand. His expression looked a little confused, which she rarely ever saw on him. He was still muttering to himself, but she couldn't fully make out the words. She was just about to go ask him what he was doing down here, when she realized something was off about him.

It took her a minute to figure out what it was. His suit, while undeniably pinstriped and brown, seemed deeper and richer than she remembered. The cream converse practically glowed and his hair was like dark chocolate, deep and rich and luxurious looking. She could make out more shades of brown in it than she ever had before.

Was this some kind of alternate Doctor, perhaps? He certainly wasn't the man she had left upstairs disabling security systems. It was a definite possibility. The Tardis was just around the corner after all. That seemed like proof enough to her.

The thought made her smile and small thrill of excitement went through her. How similar, she wondered, would this man be to the man she knew? Was he traveling with someone? With her? The prospect was tantalizing, to think that their could be hundreds of parallel worlds out there where she and the Doctor were traveling together.

She was just about to reveal her presence, eager to meet this man, when she quickly pulled herself back. Maybe she should get her Doctor first. Like he'd said, this Doctor here, for all she knew, could be the one behind opening the window in the first place.

As soon as she thought it though, she dismissed the idea. She trusted him, any him, even an alternate universe him. She could feel it in her gut that he was all right. He was probably looking for trouble just as much as they were, she thought with a grin.

Stepping out from behind the ship, he immediately whirled around to face her, eyes going wide. He looked her up and down, a small, confused frown on his face and just as she was about to greet him, he beat her to it.

"Doctor?"