PROLOGUE - Journey's End

The TARDIS landed at the end of a deserted street and the Doctor and Donna emerged.

"It's like a ghost town," the ginger commented to her friend.

"Donna, when you saw Rose in that parallel universe, did she say anything about what was going on?" he queried.

She shook her head. "Just that the stars were going out."

"Anything else?"

She looked over his shoulder. In the distance, a young blonde appeared, carrying a really big gun. Donna gave a little smile. This was going to be beautiful! "Why don't you just ask her?"

The Doctor's trademark smile faltered a little at that as realization dawned on him. Ask her... but... what?

Donna just nodded as she looked pointedly over his shoulder. His face registered disbelief and shock as he slowly turned around. There she was. Rose.

She looked at him and smiled, a beautiful smile that she only seemed to have for him. He ran! He had been running all his lives, but never before had he run like this! For the first time in his lives, he was running towards something, instead of away. With a humongous smile on his face he ran to her, Rose Tyler, his Bad Wolf and love of his lives.

She ran, too, and in the moment, both of them forgot about the danger they were in: the stars going out, the stolen planets, and the universe on the brink of destruction. All they knew was each other! But in a split second, reality came bursting in to ruin the moment completely. Before they could get to each other...

"EXTERMINATE!" a Dalek cried out. Before they knew what was happening, the Doctor was hit!

Captain Jack Harkness came out of nowhere and shot the thing, but it was already too late. Rose ran to him, determined to have her reunion, no matter what it took.

"Hello," she said, simply, running to his side and cradling his head in her hand.

"Hello," he replied, his humongous grin barely diminished by his injury.

"Rose, he's been hit and he's dying. You know what that means. We have to get him to the TARDIS!" Jack said, quickly.

Together, the three companions, Donna included, carried him to the TARDIS. The gravity of the situation did not stop Jack from slipping in a flirt with Donna, though. Once they got inside, Rose wouldn't leave the Doctor's side.

"Rose, you have to leave him!" Jack urged. "You know what's about to happen!"

"Why, what's about to happen?" Donna asked, panic rising in her voice.

"Time Lords have a way of cheating death," Rose replied. "They change." She then turned to the Doctor. "But you can't!" I just got back! Don't leave me!

"I'm sorry. I'm regenerating!" he grunted out before exploding into golden light. In the midst of the change, though, he moved, and placed his hands together, aiming the energy explosion towards the hand in the jar. The light cleared, and the Doctor remained exactly the same.

"Now, then. Where were we?" The Doctor left the others gobsmacked.

"There now," he continued, blowing on the jar with the hand in it, making it stop glowing. "You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me. So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. My hand there. My handy spare hand. Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand. What do you think?"

Rose just looked at him in amazement. She approached him slowly, looking him in the eyes."You're still you?"

"I'm still me."

They hugged. It wasn't quite the embrace they were going to have before he was hit, but it was wonderful nonetheless as Rose buried her face into his suit jacket. The old team was back together. Like Hope and Glory, Mutt and Jeff, and Shiver and Shake, the stuff of legends. Too bad it could never last.

...or could it?

-DW-

By the end of the adventure, the Doctor had learned just how many people were on his side. For an alien with no planet, no home, and whose species were all dead, he had a really big family. Besides Donna, Jack, and Rose, he was reunited with Sarah Jane, Martha, Mickey, and (to his shagrin) Rose's Mum, Jackie. He also learned that Jack's Torchwood team, Sarah's family, and even "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister!" (Yes, we know who you are!) had joined the cause. But there was someone else, too.

When he siphoned off his excess energy into the hand, it sparked a life of its own. It had called out to Donna, and she had touched it. At her slight touch, the hand sparked with regeneration energy and grew a complete body that at first glance appeared to be exactly like the Doctor.

It was the Doctor, sort of. While the new man looked like the Doctor, talked like the Doctor (with a little of Donna's sassiness on the side), and had the same memories and feelings as the Doctor, he only had one heart - a completely human body. A human biological meta-crisis. A man who was the Doctor in every way that mattered, but whose life span matched a human.

Even as he twirled happily about the console, giving each of his friends (sans Jackie) a role in flying the TARDIS so they could tow the Earth home, the full Time Lord felt like someone had dropped a weight in his stomach. There was only one outcome for this. And he didn't like it. No, he did not like it at all!

Soon Sarah Jane left, along with Jack and Martha, who were quickly followed by Mickey. He seemed to have found a reason to stay in this universe as he casually struck up a conversation with Martha as he left. There was one stop to go. And the Time Lord dreaded it. The return to Pete's world.

Rose was not happy about it. Not one bit. "Hold on, this is the parallel universe, right?"

"You're back home," came the Time Lord's matter of fact reply.

Donna was excited with her newfound knowledge. "And the walls of the world are closing again, now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure. " She grinned. "See, I really get that stuff now."

But the blonde wasn't having it. "No, but I spent all that time trying to find you. I'm not going back now. "

The Time Lord regarded her sadly. "But you've got to. Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him." He pointed to the other Doctor. "He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own. "

The new Doctor was indignant. "You made me. "

"Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge." He turned back to Rose. "Remind you of someone? That's me, when we first met. And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him."

"But he's not you."

His eyes looked even sadder, if that was even possible. "He needs you." His voice broke ever so slightly. "That's very me."

Donna spoke up, trying to help. "But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's trying to give you?" she turned to the new Doctor. "Tell her. Go on."

"I look like him and I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything. Except I've only got one heart."

Rose was skeptical. "Which means?"

"I'm part human. Specifically, the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you, if you want."

She seemed to contemplate this for a moment, then shook her head, as if physically clearing her thoughts. "I'll travel with both of you then. I don't see why we both need to stay here! I doubt either of you can really give up the TARDIS anyway."

Both Doctors and Donna looked at her in shock. "What?!"

She turned to her Mum. "Mum, you know I love you very much. But I don't belong here. I never will. My place is with him... err, them!"

Jackie embraced her daughter, tears streaking down her face. "I know, Sweetheart. We've known ever since that jumper thing-y started working that we would never see you again. I'm proud of you. And I'm happy for you! Not sure what you're gonna do with two of 'em, but then again, I probably don't want to know!" She winked. Then she addressed the Doctors. "Now I want no arguments from either of you. You are both takin' my daughter and showin' her the universe, and if either of you ever hurts her, so help me, I will find my way across this Void and slap you both so hard, leather boy's ears will fall off! Do I make myself clear?!"

"Yes Ma'am!" both Doctors replied in unison. Forget bloody Daleks. Jackie Tyler was the most terrifying thing in any universe!

"Well, I guess that settles it, then," the Time Lord muttered before plastering on a fake smile. "Allons-y! We have to get out of here before the walls close."

Rose gave her Mum another quick hug and tried not to think about how it was the last time she'd ever hug her before running to join the others in the TARDIS. At the last second, she turned around. "Tell Pete and Tony I love them, too, and will miss them very much!"

"I will!" came the choked reply. The TARDIS dematerialized as soon as Rose closed the door. Jackie sighed. It was as it should be.

-DW-

"I thought we could try the planet Felspoon. Just because. What a good name, Felspoon. Apparently, it's got mountains that sway in the breeze. Mountains that move. Can you imagine?" Doctor-Donna was perhaps even more manic than her male counterpart, and Rose laughed.

"And how do you know that?"

"Because it's in their heads. And if it's in their heads, it's in mine."

The Time Lord looked at her with concern. "And how does that feel?"

Donna's excitement was obvious. "Brilliant! Fantastic! Molto bene! Great big universe, packed into my brain. You know you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just tried hotbinding the fragment links and superseding the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary."

Rose was now very concerned. "Donna? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Nah, never mind Felspoon. You know who I'd like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I bet he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin? Shall we? Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester. Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction. Friction, fiction, fixing, mixing, Rickston, Brixton." She gasped and started holding her head.

There was something wrong, Rose realized, and she had a suspicion as to what it was. "Oh, Donna!"

The Time Lord addressed his companion, guilt etched into his face. "Do you know what's happening?"

"Yeah."

"She's burning up, isn't she," Rose said in a hushed, shocked voice to the human Doctor. "Like I almost did when I was Bad Wolf." It was a statement instead of a question. He just nodded and swallowed a lump his throat before turning his attention back to the other two.

The Time Lord continued. "There's never been a human Time Lord metacrisis before now. And you know why."

Donna was near tears as she realized what was about to happen. "Because there can't be." Her voice rose to a near panic. "I want to stay!"

The Time Lord took her face in his hands. "Look at me. Donna, look at me."

"I was going to be with you, all of you, forever."

"I know."

"The rest of my life, travelling in the TARDIS. The Doctor Donna. No. I can't go back. Don't make me go back. Doctor, please, please don't make me go back!" She pleaded with him, but to no avail. There was no other option. Like she herself had said only moments ago, if it was in the Doctors' head, it was in hers. She knew what he was about to do.

"Can't anything be done?" Rose whispered to the human Doctor, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"He's doing it right now," he replied, his voice thick with emotion. "He's gonna erase all of her memories about us: aliens, time travel, the TARDIS. Basically, he's resetting her mind to before we met. If she ever remembers, she'll die."

The Time Lord lifted his hands to his companion's temples. "Donna. Oh, Donna Noble. I am so sorry. But we had the best of times. The best. Goodbye." And she collapsed in his arms.

The others just watched in shocked silence as he lifted the unconscious Donna into his arms and prepared to carry her home. The others made to follow, but he stopped them. "Please. This is something I need to do on my own." And with that, Donna Noble left the TARDIS forever.

Rose and the human Doctor stared silently at the door for a few minutes. It was Rose who finally spoke. "That's just... I mean... getting trapped in a parallel universe was horrible and I never want it to happen again, but at least I had my memories. I can't even..." Her voice trailed off as she shook her head.

"She was a great friend," came the reply. "The best. Donna Noble. The greatest temp in Chis, Chis, Chis, Chis, Chis.. " He suddenly hissed in pain and grabbed his head.

Rose whirled around with sudden alarm. "Oh no! Not you, too!"

"No! But I'm a Time Lord! I'm supposed to be able to handle it! Bandle it! Sandles mitt!" he gasped again as another sharp pain burst through his head. What little Time Lord physiology remained in him was not enough to save him. It bought him a few extra minutes than Donna, but that was it, just a few minutes.

"Oh, my Doctor!" she cried, for in that moment, she no longer remembered that he was just a copy. This was her Doctor, the man that she crossed multiple universes to be with, the man she loved more than anything, and now he was dying. When another wave of pain hit him, she lowered him gently to the floor, and rested his head in her lap.

Despite his pain, he smiled at her. "Oh, I'm still your Doctor, then?"

She smiled down at him through her tears. "Forever. Is there anything I can do?"

"The only way to save me is to erase 100% of my memory, and then I'm as good as dead. Won't be me anymore."

She had figured as much, but she had to try. She gently stroked his cheek. "I love you."

"Quite right, too. And I suppose that this really is the last chance I get to say it. Rose Tyler... I love you!" He cried out in pain one more time, and that was it. He was gone.

The Time Lord returned shortly thereafter. His gaze fell upon a grief-stricken Rose sitting in the middle of the console room with his lifeless counterpart lying on her lap, and he knew immediately what had happened. He gently moved the body from her lap to the floor and helped her to her feet before enveloping her in a tight embrace.

"Oh, Rose," he choked, as this final tragedy was what finally broke the dam of his emotions. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."