A Second Chance (Peterick AU)

Chapter 4

The Doctor opened the tardis door and stepped out. I was right behind him. I was expecting any landscape, except for the one I saw.

It was my city. We were in my city in my time in another dimension. I felt my heart speed up and my hands patted my sides nervously. It had been who knows how long since I'd been anywhere near where I came from. (Keeping track of time was a bit wonky in the tardis.)

The Doctor hadn't turned and seen me yet. He had taken out his sonic screwdriver and held it up in the air. It made it's familiar sound before he brought it down to his face to examine it.

"Nearly a perfect copy of your world!" The Doctor laughed. "Alternate reality, extremely similar to yours..." Now his tone was pondering.

"What's so different about it?.." I asked, trying to maintain a calm physique.

"I don't know..." He pondered, looking closely at something on the sonic.

**

"What is this?" I asked, looking around at the huge room I had found myself in.

"My ship!" The Doctor said, strolling inside, "Can travel through all of space and time..."

I looked at the round room. There were other compartments and tunnels visible under this metal paneling that we were standing on that lead to what looked like a control panel.

"All of space and time?" I repeated, still looking around.

The Doctor grinned and nodded.

My immediate thought blurted through my mouth. "Can I see Patrick?"

The Doctor stopped moving around. The look on his face already gave me an answer before he could even speak. "I can't...I'm sorry Peter, but that is a fixed point in time...meaning if I take you back, nothing you try to do can save him. Not only that, but you'd be crossing your own timeline, which is a big no no."

I looked down at my feet. My world really was gone. This was really happening.

"What's the point then?.." I asked. I was standing on a set of stairs. I turned my back to the Doctor and sat down facing the door. I heard footsteps and I saw him sit next to me. I wiped a tear away from my eye before he started speaking.

"I can't give you Patrick back, but I can show you so many other things." He put his hand on my shoulder and I turned to look at him. "I won't force you if you don't want to come, but I know from experience that being alone with your thoughts with no one to pull you out of it every now and again is destructive. I'm so sorry I couldn't get there in time, but let me help you through it at least."

I looked down. I remembered something Patrick had told me.

"How can you handle being alone? I hate thinking about you all alone..."

I let a tear fall from my eye. I looked back over at the Doctor and bit my lip. I nodded. "Anywhere but here?" I asked in a shakey voice.

The Doctor gave me a sympathetic smile. "Tell me where you'd like to go."

**

I had calmed slightly before the Doctor noticed my shakiness.

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking at me with concern.

I nodded and let out a breath of air. "Yea, yea... Can we go walk around?" I asked.

The Doctor nodded, concern still evident on his face.
I just smiled and lead the way, not that I knew where I wanted to go. I knew these streets. They were identical to my own Chicago. I looked at the people we passed on the street, some I had known in my own Chicago.

In a way, seeing what I used to know was comforting after such crazy adventures with the Doctor. I was taking it all in, when I looked across the street and froze. What I saw was absolutely impossible. It just couldn't be true.

"Peter!" The Doctor had walked past me and had to double back, "what is it? What's wrong?"

I didn't say anything. I just continued to look across the street.

Because I had seen the impossible.

Patrick Stump was alive and walking just across the street.