"Tell The Doctor nothing of this. His life could still be saved. So long as you tell him nothing."

~The Woman, The End of Time: Part One

'It's all over, it's all over. This is it. This is it. This is it.'

Danielle's mind raced as she stood in a corner of the room, trying to take in everything before her.

There was The Doctor, his face cut up from crashing through the glass roof, the remains of which were shattered on the floor.

Then there was The Master, changing sides at the blink of an eye in an attempt to save his own skin.

What dominated both the room and Danielle's thoughts, however, were the Time Lords. Behind them was nothing but a bright white, shining from who knows how far away.

Her attention was ripped back to The Doctor, however, as she began to comprehend the gravity of the situation.

"Then you die with me, Doctor!" Rassilon was yelling as he and the others began being pulled back.

"I know." Oh, no. No, she was not going to let him die, not now.

"Get out of the way."

The Doctor jumped back as The Master started shooting energy at The Lord President.

"You did this to me! All my life! You made me! One! Two! Three! Four!" The Master yelled, punctuating each number with a blast as the Time Lords were pulled back completely, the force of it knocking The Doctor and Danielle off their feet.

And everything was quiet, the battle over. Danielle grabbed a table and pulled herself up, watching The Doctor cautiously as he pulled himself to his knees.

"I'm alive. I'm still alive." He let out a shaky laugh. He looked up at Danielle and her now outstretched hand. He smiled. "I'm still alive."

"So you are!" She helped him up and pulled him tight. "I thought I was gonna lose you."

They jumped apart at the sound of a bang.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He rushed to the Vinvocci container. The man inside, who was most likely a scientist of some sort, had gone pale and stared, terrified, at the place the Time Lords had just been.

The man looked to The Doctor, his mouth opening, but no sound coming out.

"What's wrong, Doctor?" Danielle asked, seeing that guilty look in his eyes.

"The Master's left the Nuclear Bolt running. It's gone into overload."

"Oh. That's...bad. That's very bad."

"No, because all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass. It contains it. All 500,000 rads, about to flood that thing." The Doctor explained to both of them.

The man's eyes widened, and he looked to the little control panel inside. He slammed his hand down on the controls.

"No!" The Doctor exclaimed as a red light turned on inside.

The Doctor watched in horror as the man held his head in pain and collapsed.

DWTWDWTWDWTW

The Doctor and Danielle walked back to the TARDIS is silence. The whole time, Danielle wondered what was going through The Doctor's mind. If he was blaming himself for this, she was going to kill him.

But he wasn't. He was doing something he promised himself he wouldn't - he was checking the timelines. If he hadn't found Danielle in the rubble of Torchwood 1, he'd be dead. He would have found someone else - a bride. She'd leave, and he'd find Martha Jones. She'd left already, and she'd leave him in that timeline, too.

He'd find the bride again. Her name was Donna. Everyone would gather, only to be separated again. Martha would leave again, he'd leave Rose with himself, and Donna would never see him again.

A man, Donna's grandfather, would have saved the man who died today. And The Doctor would save him. Then The Doctor would get his reward, and some new man would go sauntering away.

Then he'd find another ginger girl, trying to replace -

He was jolted from his thoughts by Danielle slamming into him.

"Oi! Watch it!" Danielle glared at the person who had bumped into her.

"Oh, pop your clogs on, Vera Duckworth, and go feed whippets!" The ginger girl glared back.

"Donna?"

A/N: I really like this chapter. I might make a story of it. It depends on how fast I can finish Out of Order and Life Undone. Anyway, this is the first chapter of In Flux, a series of oneshots that are either in the show's universe, but aren't on the show itself, or are set in a parallel universe, complete with different events and/or companions.

It's called In Flux because, according to The Doctor, time is in a constant state of flux.

I hope you liked it! I think I may have stopped it a little short. Did I? Let me know by clicking the little box and leaving me a review. Please?

-Cameron (HereComeTheDrums)

P.S. That was non, non, non, *non* heinous. (Cookies for whoever gets the reference)