It's all AU.

((A place to put more threads, since some people are having trouble with loading large pages))

The Doctor did eventually end up in the hotel lobby, but by the time he made it there the party had ended and he'd forgotten what he was looking for, anyway. His head was aching, in a way that was nearly crippling. It didn't feel like a headache, really, it was deeper than that. It was rawer, sharper and more exposed. It made it impossible to think, and behind the pounding there was an echo of a memory of a rhythm that he couldn't shake. It wasn't real, it wasn't driving him, but it added one more layer to the distracting, maddening, sense of being undone.

He was tired, but he couldn't go to sleep because he couldn't stop moving for long enough. If his TARDIS had worked - hell, if his brain worked- he likely would have been running. As it was, he was just wandering. He left the hotel and restlessly roamed the confines of the town. When he got near the park he was aware of the Master - not his, but the line between the two less distinct than before - under a tree with a book, but not until he'd just about fallen over him. He sat down beside him abruptly and closed his eyes. "What're you reading?"