The End of the Road
Twelve minutes, forty three seconds and counting. He counted down as he mused over his choices. A planet was at risk. He was at risk. Rose was at risk. Everything was at risk. He held the two wires in his hand. But which one to cut? The quiet ticking was distracting his thoughts. Would he even regenerate or would he end here? Three lives unused?
Mind you thirteen lives had always been a curse, maybe ten was a good number. Rather like a cat's nine only one more. He had known from the day he had been born that he was doomed to meet his end like the rest of them. No stopping to say goodbye or to exchange a couple of words between anyone in any way.
He had hit the road running but now he had reached the end and there was no where left to hide. The darkness crept up behind him and a bright light in front. Which way to turn? To go backwards or forwards? To choose eternal rest or eternal suffering?
He had never been good a making choices. Nine hundred and thirteen years of experience and he still didn't know what to do. Was that why he had been the renegade? The one that was always left out? Had it been because he couldn't choose or because he was different?
"Doctor?" Rose's sweet voice drifting through to the front of his mind. He shook his head to clear his thoughts as he stared as the controls in front of him. He knew which wire to cut but he couldn't remember. Black or white? Life or death? Go with your gut feeling his instinct cried but his mind remained fierce. What if your gut instinct's wrong?
"Sorry Rose, just thinking." the Doctor apologised hurriedly. He didn't want his voice to sound shaky but it was.
"It's ok, just take your time. It's not going to blow up for another ten minutes." Rose promised him quietly, her hand falling to lie on his shoulder, comforting him. She had always been there when he left lonely or had needed strength. She was always willing him on. In a way she had nicked the TARDIS's job. His constant companion and friend.
Although it went deeper than that. He had only just got her back. He didn't want to loose her again. His hands were shaking now. Eight minutes and twenty seven seconds to go. Eight minutes to say everything he wanted to say. Not nearly enough time.
"Rose, you know I lov…" He stopped as Rose's finger pressed against his lips.
"Don't say it Doctor. I already know." she told him quietly. She knelt beside him amidst the tangles of wires and circuits that she couldn't even start to understand the purpose of and hugged him. He gripped her tightly, burying his face in her hair letting a single tear fall.
Seven minutes, two seconds and counting. He let go of her and pulled his torn soul back together. No point going down looking like he was already broken. Once again two little wires took his attention, one black, one white. He reached out and took hold of them both. This was it then, the final decision that would either take their lives or save them. No regeneration this time. His body wouldn't be able to do it if it had been torn into so many pieces that you wouldn't be able to count them.
He glanced at the clock on the wall.
Six minutes ten seconds and counting. A Time Lord running out of time. Jack was gone, trying to stop the invasion from the inside. He might never see him again. The orphaned girl, Kyran, who had gone to help Martha and Donna look after the injured. His brilliant and beautiful Rose Tyler who had traveled across the void to find him again.
Five minutes thirty seconds and counting. He racked his brain going back almost nine hundred years, back to his time at the academy where he had learnt how to diffuse this type of bomb only to find that his memory had gone blank.
The desperation and despair must have shown in his eyes because he felt Rose tipping his chin up, forcing him to look into her eyes. They shone with belief, love and blind trust for everything he did. They all had shown that trust today and he knew that at least one would pay. There was no way they would all get out alive.
But who would it be? The brave, loyal and immortal Captain Jack Harkness who had come back again and again and proved that he was never going to be alone again. He had shown his to love again, had led him out of the darkness when he lost someone. Had taught him how to live.
Maybe it would be Donna Nobel. The stubborn human girl who was noble indeed just as her surname stated. The girl who had taken some of the burden to every decision he had made, in Pompeii, on the Odd planet, when he had met his own daughter again. She had helped him get through and although she teased and confused him she had become one of his closest friends.
Or maybe Martha Jones. A medical student with a wisp of adventure about her. Martha Jones who had always worked things out in the end. The women who had walked the Earth for a whole year to save him from the Master. Or perhaps Kyran, the teenage girl who had shown him courage from the moment they met. He knew there was something special about her and he had only known her for two hours and he might loose her again.
Then his precious Rose and himself as they sat beside a ticking bomb all set to blow them to smithereens. His lovely Rose who he loved and adored. To whom he had been planning to propose to in a few weeks time. But that opportunity might never come now. Two minutes and counting.
"What do I do Rose?" he asked, his voice trembling. She glanced and him and gave him a winning smile. She eyes glanced from his to the wires in him palm and back again.
"Go with your instinct. If it's wrong I can't blame you." Rose told him, taking his hand in her own. He nodded at her weakly; there was no turning back now. He had to make a decision or doom the planet and everyone on it.
"I love you Rose Tyler." the Doctor's voice cracked as he muttered the words.
"I love you too Doctor." he heard she whispered reply.
"If we ever get out of this Rose, will you marry me?" the Doctor held his breath, dreading the answer.
"Yes." Rose replied and the word gave him renewed strength. Three days awake and no food wouldn't drag him down. There were lives to save. Ten seconds and counting.
"Together?" he asked.
"Together." Rose agreed. They held the wire clippers, Rose's hands over his as they picked a wire and hoped that it was the right choice. Three days and it had come to this. They held the wire out and held the wire clippers over that one wire and cut it neatly in half, together.
Everything went black and they knew nothing more.
Fin.
Note: There may be a sequel…