The road less travelled...

Title: Finding A Way Home – Living Memory Part 3/4
Author: katherine_b
Rating: G
Summary: Back on Earth, the Doctors have some business to take care of.
A/N: Written for the 36th Travellers’ Tales with the prompt ‘cooking’.

Part III

“There he is,” the half-human Doctor hears as he approaches the place where the TARDIS landed some hours earlier.

“Actually, it looks more like ‘here they are’,” he hears Donna correct her husband, and he’s grateful his hearing is probably better than Verity’s because he isn’t particularly happy about them being watched.

“Oh, that’s it!” Verity exclaims as they come in sight of TARDIS. “The police box!”

“What, you doubted me?” he asks in mock-hurt tones. “And she’s called the TARDIS.”

“She’s a she?” she teases in return.

He rubs a hand through his hair and chuckles. “We-ell,” he offers, “I could say it’s because she’s inclined to be moody at times and is impossible to control...”

“But that would get you killed, Spaceman, slowly and painfully,” Donna interrupts as she comes to join them. “So don’t.”

“Yeah, fair point,” he has to admit, before turning to the woman beside him. “Verity, this is Donna. Donna, meet Verity.”

While the two women are shaking hands, the half-human Doctor notices his Time Lord counterpart lock the TARDIS door and pocket the key.

“Hey, hold on,” he protests. “Verity wants to see inside.”

“Later,” the man in brown tells him. “Right now, we’re going out for dinner.”

“I’m sorry?” The other man looks startled. “What did you do to the TARDIS that she can’t do the cooking all of a sudden?”

“Actually, it was Donna’s idea,” the Time Lord informs him, a meaningful expression in his dark eyes.

Okay, what exactly is going on? he demands suspiciously, projecting his thoughts into the other man’s mind, because this is definitely not natural behaviour for the Doctor.

Relax, Earth Boy, it’s nothing serious, comes the not-at-all soothing reply. We’re just double-dating. Me and Donna, you and Verity.

He chokes, but has no chance to recover before the Time Lord turns to Verity and greets her with his best smile.

“I’m really glad you came with him,” he says, nodding at the other Doctor, who is trying not to cough too obviously. “There’s so much I wanted to ask you, particularly about Joan.”

“Actually, I would have hoped you’d want to know about Verity herself,” interrupts Donna, and puts her hand almost warningly on Verity’s arm.

Verity casts a look at the man in blue that combines both bewilderment and amusement and allows herself to be led away down the street, leaving the two Doctors alone.

“Right, what’s going on?” the half-human Doctor demands as soon as they are out of ear-shot.

“Giving her time to adjust?” suggests the other man, a wicked light dancing in his eyes. “After all, if she’s heard even half of how you came into being, not to mention bits and pieces about me, and maybe a healthy dab of what happened to Donna when we got married, I should think the sight of the TARDIS would be enough to send her running and screaming.”

Leaning against the blue box, the man in the matching suit gives him a scornful look. “Why do you persist in thinking I was born yesterday?” he demands.

“’Cos in your case it’s almost true,” comes the rapid retort. “But actually, since you asked, I really was hoping to talk to her about Joan.”

“I see.” The half-human Doctor considers for a moment before casting a rather sympathetic glance at his double. “And how are you going to feel, spending time with a woman who looks just like her?”

“I know,” the Time Lord replies, losing the joking tone in his voice. “I’ve been thinking about it ever since I left the cafe. ‘I’m not sure’ is the best answer. I do know it would be very different if I didn’t have Donna. As it is,” he shrugs, “I suppose time will tell.”

A silence follows this, which the man in blue is almost nervous about breaking. Finally the other Doctor does it for him.

“And you?”

“She’s not Joan to me,” he says quietly. “She’s Verity.”

“When you first saw her, though,” his progenitor persists, “you must have thought of Joan.”

“Actually, I probably got past that pretty quickly,” admits the half-human Doctor. “I think, because I heard her first, I had time to work out that it couldn’t possibly be Joan and there had to be another explanation. And then,” the words come rather more slowly as thoughts unfold in his mind, “when we’re talking, unless it’s specifically about her great-grandmother, I find I’m thinking about Verity herself instead.”

“Ah, that’s the relationship, is it?” The man in brown nods and then glances down the street. “Come on, they’re waiting for us!”

The other Doctor glances down the street and sees Donna and Verity standing on the corner, looking back in their direction. Even at this distance, he can see the impatience on Verity’s face and pushes himself away from the TARDIS, joining the other man in walking down the road to where the two women are waiting.

Donna takes her husband’s hand and they lead the way, leaving the other two to follow. The half-human Doctor considers taking Verity’s hand likewise, but somehow he can’t bring himself to be that familiar with someone who, after all, he has only just met.

“It’s interesting,” Verity murmurs at this moment and he looks down at her.

“What is?”

“The two of you.” She nods at the other Doctor. “For all that you look the same, you’re very different.”

“Yes, I suppose we are,” he agrees. Then, curiously, “Is that a problem?”

She shakes her head in a very definite gesture. “I think I prefer it that way.”

They catch up with the others at the doorway of a restaurant. It’s very busy, but a flash of the psychic paper and they find themselves seated a small booth tucked away in one corner of the upper floor.

“This is on me,” the Time Lord declares as they begin browsing the menu.

“Oh, but...” Verity begins, but Donna shakes her head.

“No, really,” she insists. “This time, we’ll pay. Perhaps another time...”

“Let’s not worry about that now,” the half-human Doctor interrupts with a meaningful look at the two people opposite him. “Can anyone see the specials?”

Please he thinks desperately, can you not spoil this?

A faint chuckle echoes in his mind and then, much to his relief, one of the waiters comes over to take their orders. The man in blue notices that the woman beside him only orders a salad, perhaps not wanting to make the cost of her meal too great, and adds a bowl of chips to the order. Then he realises who he’s eating with and changes it to two so that Verity will at least have some.

“Would you mind very much,” the Time Lord asks somewhat hesitantly, and with a glance at his wife, when the waiter has gone, “if I asked you about Joan?”

Verity smiles. “Of course not.”

“Oh,” the man beside her fishes in his pocket and pulls out the diary, “here.”

He passes the book over the table, but it’s Donna who picks it up and not the Doctor. She flips through the pages, stopping here and there with a slight smile to examine certain images. The Time Lord, meanwhile, is busy asking Verity questions about her family and her relationship to Joan.

“Your mother’s side of the family then?” he clarifies. “And your grandmother was born...?”

“The year after the First World War ended,” Verity tells him. “Great-grannie married my great-grandfather in 1917, but he was away fighting until the following year, so they were unable to start a family right away.”

The Time Lord sighs a little. “And was she happy,” he asks almost nervously, “in the end?”

“Yes,” she replies quietly. “Yes, she was.” She studies his features for a moment, before casting an infinitesimally quick glance, first at the man beside her, and then at Donna, who is seated opposite the other Doctor. “Were you?” she prompts. “Are you?”

The man in brown glances at his wife and nods. “Yes,” he says simply.

“She’d be glad,” Verity tells him sincerely. “She wanted you to be happy. I know she did.”

He nods. “Thank you.”

“And what about you, Verity?” asks Donna as their drinks are delivered. “Your family. Do they know you’ve been searching for the Doctor? How do they feel about it.”

“There’s not too many of them left,” she admits. “My older brother and my Dad live up north. We really only see each other at Christmas. And Mum’s been gone for a few years now.”

“I’m sorry,” the man beside her murmurs and earns himself a grateful glance.

“But you,” Verity turns to Donna, “surely... aren’t you?”

“Pregnant?” Donna smiles. “Gee, and I was hoping I’d be able to hide it better after all these months of practice. Yes,” she adds more seriously. “Two little ones ready to make their presence known almost any day now.”

“Except not right here, if possible,” protests her husband. “Otherwise we might never be able to come back here – and I like this restaurant!”

“Oh, you just like their chips, that’s all,” Donna scolds. “And I’m sure they’d give you some to take away if you – ooh!”

“What is it?” The Time Lord is already half out of his seat at the sound of her voice – the closer she gets to full term, the twitchier he’s become – but Donna’s hand on his arm keeps him in his seat.

“There’s something moving between us,” she tells him, “and it’s not me. I’m not even sure that it’s you! So what is it?”

“Oh!” The man beside her looks rather uncomfortable. “I was hoping he’d stay quiet and behave.”

“What did you bring him for?” demands Donna. “Do you know how much trouble he could cause?”

Verity gently plucks the sleeve of the man beside her. “What is it?” she asks softly when he turns to her.

“It’s, um,” he shrugs rather awkwardly, “I suppose you’d call him a pet of sorts. He sort of attached himself to us – well, to Donna, actually.”

“Yes,” she says rather impatiently, “but what is it?”

“It’s this,” the other Doctor tells her rather resignedly, easing the wriggling ball of fat out of his pocket and placing it on the table.

The Adipose squeaks and skips in a small circle in its joy at being free. The half-human Doctor, meanwhile, sneaks a wary look at Verity, who is staring wide-eyed at the little alien object. The other three people at the table watch her with varying degrees of anxiety, most of all, it is almost needless to state, the half-human Doctor, as they wait for her response.

Next Part