Dancing Across Time (Book Two of The Bad Wolf Chronicles)

Interlude: Worlds Apart

"And his face!"

Grant leaned on the railing of the Ward mansion, looking down at Jake, his second-in-command at SHIELD. The agency was slowly building up with their help, and while there were still Cybermen on the loose, England had been liberated.

Currently, he was getting to know the duplicate of the woman that had died by Cybermen hands. While the woman who had died was Sally Harper, her duplicate was Saleen Harper. And while they both had the same badass attitude, this woman had loyalty he was impressed by.

Plus, having a woman who was cryogenic and could control water and earth was something to be impressed by altogether.

"Did she really slap him?" Jake asked with a grin.

Saleen grinned, laughing hard as she tried not to spill the water bottle she had. "So hard, too! I'm sure Jessie would've laughed so hard at that if it had been any one of us except the Doctor."

"What did you say he looked like again?"

"Leather jacket, really short hair, blue eyes that could burn you to death."

Grant frowned, coming down the stairs. "That doesn't sound like the Doctor."

Saleen grinned. "No, it doesn't." She took out her friend's phone and looked through the camera roll. "Time Lords are tricky." She held up the phone, and Grant narrowed his eyes at the three in the photo: Jessie, the girl who didn't exist in this world, and two others. One had black hair and blue eyes, smiling widely at the camera, arms folded. Jessie, however, seemed to only care for the war-like man in the leather jacket on her other side.

Grant's eyes narrowed. He didn't really know Jessie, but for some reason, an urge to protect kicked in. "That's the Doctor?"

"Before he regenerated, yeah," Saleen confirmed, smiling softly as she found another picture, this one of the Doctor he had seen, Jessie, Saleen, and five other people, and with a tug in his gut, Grant recognized one of them.

Jake did, too. "Is that - ?"

"Skye," Grant said hoarsely.

Saleen nodded. "This past Christmas." She grinned wider. "Right after he regenerated, too. Earth invaded by the Sycorax, and the Doctor wakes up just in time to save our asses."

Jake snorted, and Grant shook his head. "He's incredible, I'll give him that," Grant admitted.

Saleen's smile faded. "And I can't see them again."

Jake held out an arm, and after a little hesitation, Saleen leaned into him, swallowing. Grant looked down at the table, deciding what he wanted to do. "Saleen, do you really want to help out here?"

"Yes," she replied instantly.

Grant looked at her. "Report to SHIELD headquarters tomorrow at nine hundred tomorrow."

Her jaw dropped. "Are you - ?"

Grant gave her a small smile. "Welcome back to SHIELD, Agent Harper."

Her wide grin made the decision worth it.

***

"So goes the next in many casualties in your impossible war, Bad Wolf girl."

Jessie looked around to find herself in a rocky place with clay jars. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Fate takes many people. Your first casualty was Captain Jack Harkness, but you . . . you brought him back. But then went your Doctor."

"He's still here!"

"But he is not the one you knew."

Jessie closed her eyes, trying to rip the Beast's voice out of her head, but then the two Doctors' faces began blurring together. She couldn't tell one from the other. "Leave me alone!"