Disclaimer: Not mine.
Tonight
Inside the TARDIS the Doctor whirled in a solitary dance around the console, hair and coattails flying out behind him. Turn, turn, flip switch, step to the left, and another, and another, push button, long spin and a tricky piece of footwork, pull lever. And whenever the dance paused, he would talk to the empty air, voice as wild as his dance.
"Why, my dearest Romana, I am certainly not drunk!"
"I would certainly like to be."
"Tomorrow I die. So I may as well drink tonight. I will not have to worry about a hangover."
Pause. Delicate recalibration. It could not be done with moving feet.
"It's a good thing I never brought you here, Sarah-Jane. You truly are better off in Croydon."
"Oh, I know it's something new. And I know it's beautiful. But tomorrow it will be ashes in the vacuum of space. I have always found ashes and rocks floating in space to lack aesthetic appeal."
"What can I do but laugh, Sarah-Jane? It has to be done. And past that, nothing means anything. Nobody will know the difference afterwards anyway."
Finishing his recalibration, the Doctor abandoned his dance to thread wires from seemingly random terminal to seemingly random terminal.
"There is always method in the madness, Adric."
"It's creating a signal. Everything will burn. All the Dalek ships."
"Gallifrey too."
"Yes. Like…like…"
"What does it matter? I'll be seeing you soon."
He stood over a rectangular metal object, tampering with some controls, movement becoming wilder the longer he did not dance.
"I would have been glad for some of your nitro-nine, Ace."
"There's a first time for everything."
"Of course there's a plan."
The Doctor danced away again, a short respite from his work. It would take twelve hours, he reckoned. All night, the last night of the world.
"You said you could give me a day, Madam President."
"Of course I trust you."
"Did you announce this plan to the general population?"
"Ah. I see. Thank you."
"This is war. It is to be expected."
"Perhaps I would not have said that when I was younger. But when I was younger I also would not have even considered this."
"Gallifrey owes me nothing."
"Goodbye, Romana."
And finally it was finished, just before the dawn. The night was over. Literally and metaphorically. The Doctor returned to the smaller rectangular control panel, and placed his hand on a lever.
"Look, Susan. The end of the world. The fire will be so beautiful."
"…I suppose not."
"Yes. I will die. And so will everyone else."
"Don't worry. You will live."
"There, there. Don't cry. I said I had to leave you, back then. You cried then. You shouldn't cry for me again."
"Because the Daleks are evil."
"I can. I have to. Better that Time Lords and Daleks die than Time Lords die and Daleks live."
"Please try to understand me. This is not something I want."
"Yes. I love you too."
He stopped there, trying to forget what he could not help but remember. For the first time in twelve hours, the Doctor was motionless.
Then he pulled the lever.