A Few Delirious Moments
"What's wrong with you? What's she done to you?" Rory glared at the spot where River had just jumped out the window.
"Poisoned me. But I'm fine," the Doctor said quickly. "Well, no, I'm dying, but I've got a plan."
"What plan?" Amy asked hopefully.
"Not dying. See? Fine." The Doctor gave Amy and Rory a bright grin, the one that they knew not to trust but pretended to.
Rory was the first to speak the thought on both their minds. "Okay, what do we do? How do we help you?"
"Take this," the Doctor replied, handing Amy his sonic screwdriver. "The TARDIS can home in on it. Now, go. Get after her." He made for the TARDIS.
"You said the smoke was deadly!" Amy protested.
"No, no, the smoke's fine. The poison will kill me first. Now, get after River!" The Doctor made a little shooing motion with his hand.
"I don't understand, okay?" Amy shot the Doctor a confused look. "One minute she's going to marry you and then she's going to kill you.
"Ah, well, she's been brainwashed. It all makes sense to her. Plus, she is a woman. Oh, shut up. I'm dying." And with that, the Ponds ran off and the Doctor went into the TARDIS.
"I'm shutting down!" the Doctor shouted as he collapsed next to the console. "I need an interface. Voice interface. Come on, emergency." An image of himself popped up.
"Voice interface enabled," the holo-Doctor announced.
The corporeal Doctor shook his head. "Oh no, no, no, no, no. Give me someone I like."
Holo-Doctor vanished, to be replaced by a hologram of Rose Tyler, in the purple leather jacket she was wearing the last time they'd seen each other, a hint of a smile on her face.
"Oh, thanks. Give me guilt." He expected the image to change, but it stayed put. If anything, it grew a little brighter. "Get rid of her! Give me someone else!"
A universe away…
"Get rid of her! Give me someone else!"
"What the hell?!" There was nobody in the room. Rose was sure of it. She turned around to see something she'd never expected to see in her life.
A man was leaning against a little set of steps, an expression of pain on his face. The steps and man seemed to be in some sort of room within her bedroom. And it was the weirdest room she had ever seen, all bright and orange and green and gold and-
"Rose?"
She laughed aloud. Of course. Only one place that could ever look like that. "Hello." It was all she ever had to say to him. The smile he gave her was slightly different, seeing that it was on a different face, but it was still his, the smile that she'd seen a hundred million times and always made her heart skip a few beats. "I didn't know the TARDIS could change like that."
The Doctor shook his head violently. "But… but you're a voice interface! You can't be…"
"What's a voice interface? Is that like the trick you pulled on me back at the Game Station?"
"TARDIS, cut it out. It's not funny anymore. Give me someone else." The Doctor buried his head in his hands.
"Doctor, it's me, it's really me, I swear." A tear fell from Rose's eye. Yes, she had her half-human Doctor, who was currently out on a mission for Torchwood, and their TARDIS was nearly grown, but she had missed the original Doctor and his TARDIS. She reached out to touch the Doctor, knowing her hand would probably pass right through, just like at Bad Wolf Bay on the worst day of her life. But it didn't. Her hand met his shoulder, and there was a flash of light, and all of a sudden the room was all around her. "Oh my God, what just happened?"
"You're… in the TARDIS… how the hell are you in the TARDIS?!" The Doctor managed to stand up a bit and reached into his pocket. "Right, I gave Amy and Rory the screwdriver… how are you in the TARDIS?!"
"I dunno… did she come across somehow?" Rose reached out to touch the console and felt the familiar warmth as the TARDIS greeted her.
"Couldn't have; the engines would've started."
"Right… Well, only one way to find out!" Rose made for the door. "Come on!"
"Oh, Rose Tyler," the Doctor grinned. "You just might've saved me from dying."
"Wait… what?"
"I'll explain in a minute. Open the door!"
Rose very carefully opened the door to see some sort of office with a giant swastika on the wall. "Is this Nazi Germany or something?"
There was a banging from somewhere and a familiar voice screaming "Let me out!"
"You're kidding," Rose laughed, going back into the TARDIS. "You would shut Hitler in a cupboard. What year are we in?"
"1938… We're only in 1938!"
"What's important about that?"
"I came here because… someone… wanted to kill Hitler. Can't do that, or we'd never have met Jack. Although, that could be considered a good thing…" He chuckled.
"Who wanted to kill Hitler?" Rose asked. "And why didn't you say no? You know better, right?"
"It's a long story. Didn't want her to run off on us; she's… important." The Doctor sighed as he thought about the fact that she did in fact run off, after poisoning him.
"Well, who is she?"
"Her name is River Song. We've sort of been meeting out of order, timeline wise. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff and all. Anyway, at this point in her life, she's been brainwashed into wanting to kill me. And she sorta kinda… succeeded. I don't know exactly how much longer I have to live. Any thoughts, TARDIS?"
Thirty-two minutes, the TARDIS hummed. Rose grinned at hearing the TARDIS in her head; she hadn't had that in so long. And then she realized, her Doctor was going to die in thirty-two minutes.
"Oh, Doctor," Rose whispered, sitting down next to him and hugging him close. "Wait, can't you just regenerate again?"
He won't be able to, little one, the TARDIS said sadly. The poison of the Judas tree prevents regenerations.
"Isn't there any way to save you?" Rose asked. "Come on, Doctor, you're clever! You'll think of something!"
There is one way, the TARDIS replied. And I think Rose can help it happen.
Rose looked right at the time rotor, the place she had always felt the TARDIS's heart lived, and said, "What do I do?"
The woman who poisoned the Doctor, River Song, is somehow part Time Lord. She can give up her regenerations to save the Doctor. And you just might be able to convince her to save him. Go find her.
"TARDIS, are you insane? Send Rose out into the middle of Nazi Germany and go after River? Going after her is dangerous enough, but especially now! She's been brainwashed by some secret organization to kill me! She's nuts!"
Doctor, you're forgetting who she is, the TARDIS reminded him. She traveled with you for over two years. She's faced a million things, remember? She saved you from the Nestene Consciousness the day you met. And from there… Daleks, Cybermen, everything. If anyone can find River Song and get her to save your life, it's Rose Tyler.
"That's true," the Doctor sighed. "Rose, be careful. I don't know how stable you are; you've been zapped in from another universe-"
She's fine, the TARDIS interrupted. As soon as the voice interface shuts off, she'll be zapped back. Unless she gets killed. If she's killed… she dies here and she can't go back. Probably not a good thing. Rose, stay alive.
"Will do." Rose ran her finger along the TARDIS console. "I have missed you."
And I you. Now go! When the Doctor dies, I'll die with him and the interface will be shut off. You'll be zapped back to your universe. You have seventeen minutes.
"Rose, come here," the Doctor said softly. It was clear now that he was dying. "Rose… If I don't see you again…" He waited until Rose was sitting next to him to whisper, "I never got to say it to you…"
"And you don't have to," Rose said gently. "Doctor, you've moved on. You've regenerated, the TARDIS is different, you have new companions… And you love this River person. I can tell. Even though she tried to kill you." She chuckled softly. "I'd say especially since she tried to kill you. You love a thrill."
"I still love you," the Doctor said softly. "Always will."
"You'll always love everyone you've had on the TARDIS," Rose replied. "That's the kind of man you are." She sighed. "Alright. I'm going after her. Doctor, you're going to make it!"
One last thing, little one, the TARDIS hummed. River Song is who she's going to become later. Right now, her name is Mels. Make sure you call her that and not River. Also, here's a picture. The TARDIS zapped a picture of River into her hand.
"Mels. Got it." Rose pressed a quick kiss to the Doctor's cheek before running out the door, saying "Allons-y!" as she went.
"That's my Rose," the Doctor said with a soft smile. "That's my Rose."
Rose took off down the street, picture in hand, her years of running with the Doctor and working with Torchwood showing through. How to find her, how to find her… there! A man and a woman not in period clothes. Only way that could happen is if they came through a time warp – or a TARDIS.
"Excuse me," she said quickly, running up to them. "Have you seen this woman?" She showed them the picture.
"You're looking for her, too?" the man said.
"Rory." The woman spoke with a strong Scottish accent. "She's Mels and River. Everyone's probably looking for her."
"True," Rory mused. "What's she done to you, then?"
"Tried to kill my friend, now let's move it!"
"Has she killed everyone's friend?" Rory asked as they ran.
"Wouldn't put it past her," the woman replied. "I'm Amy, by the way. Who's your friend?"
"He's called the Doctor. Let me guess, yours too?"
"How'd you know?!" Rory looked shocked.
"Well, you're clearly not local, dressed like that. I can spot a time traveler a mile away." Rose laughed as she reminded herself of Jack. "I traveled with the Doctor for years. And he's going to die in—" she checked her watch "—fourteen minutes. Unless we find River."
"How can she do anything?"
Rose decided that it might not be the best idea to explain Time Lord biology – it would take too long. "Well, she poisoned him. She's bound to have some sort of cure. Okay, all of Berlin. How do we find her?"
"I don't know," Amy replied, irritation in her voice. "Look for clues."
"Clues?" Rory asked somewhat indignantly. "What kind of clues?"
"Shut up," Amy muttered. All of a sudden, they saw a whole big group of people running out of a fancy hotel in their underwear.
"Jackpot," Rose muttered. "Amy? Rory?" She turned to see Amy, but the redhead said nothing. "You aren't Amy; I can tell. Not sure what you are, but I don't care right now. Come on."
Rose and Not-Amy walked into the hotel to see the woman in the picture. "Now, look at that. Now that's fun from every angle. Now dear, I told you not to follow me." And then she noticed Rose in the room. "Who the hell are you?"
Rose was about to speak, when Not-Amy said, "You killed the Doctor."
River sighed. "Oh yes, I know, dear. I hope you're not going to keep on about it. Oh, regeneration. It's a whole new colouring to work with." Clearly she was more interested in trying on new clothes than in listening to them.
Not-Amy carried right on. "You killed the Doctor on the orders of the movement known as the Silence and Academy of the Question. You accept and know this to be true?"
"Quite honestly, I don't really remember. It was all a bit of jumble." Not-Amy shot a bright beam from its mouth at River. "No! No! Get off me!"
"Leave her alone!" Rose shouted.
"Sorry, did you say she killed the Doctor? The Doctor? Doctor who? Rose, River, and Not-Amy to see the Doctor, sitting by the TARDIS, in evening clothes and a top hat and with a cane.
"You're dying and you stopped to change?" River and Rose said at the exact same time. "Typical," Rose laughed.
"You know him?" River asked.
"Damn straight." Rose shot River a sort of glare.
"Oh, you should always waste time when you don't have any," the Doctor grinned. "Time is not the boss of you. Rule four hundred and eight. Amelia Pond, judgment death machine. Why am I not surprised? Sonic cane." He twirled aforementioned cane.
River rolled her eyes. "Are you serious?"
"Never knowingly," the Doctor replied. "Never knowingly be serious. Rule twenty-seven. You might want to write these down. Oh, it's a robot. With four hundred and twenty three life signs inside. A robot worked by tiny people. Love it. But how do you all get in there, though. Bigger on the inside? No, basic miniaturisation sustained by a compression field. Ooo. Watch what you eat, it'll get you every time. Amy, if you and Rory are okay, signal me." The cane lit up. "Thanking you." Just then, the Doctor started doing some sort of thing vaguely resembling bad break dancing. "Argh! I'm so sorry. Leg went to sleep. Just had a quick left leg power nap. I forgot I had one scheduled. Actually, better sit down. I think I heard the right one yawning." River took this opportunity to make a run for it, but Not-Amy was faster. It shot a beam at her and she was trapped in an energy field. "Don't you touch her! Do not harm her in any way!"
"Why would you care?" a male voice clearly coming from Not-Amy asked. "She's the woman who kills you."
"He cares about everyone," Rose replied, just as the Doctor said "I'm not dead."
"You're dying," Not-Amy pointed out.
"Well, at least I'm not a time travelling shape shifting robot operated by miniaturised cross people, which, I have got to admit, I didn't see coming. What do you want with her?"
"She's Melody Pond," Not-Amy replied.
"According to records, the woman who kills the Doctor," the male voice from inside Not-Amy explained.
"And I'm the Doctor," the Doctor replied snarkily. "So what's it to you?"
"Throughout history, many criminals have gone unpunished in their lifetimes," the guy said somewhat pompously. "Time travel has responsibilities."
Rose tried and failed to stifle a laugh. "What? You got yourselves time travel, so you decided to punish dead people?"
"We don't kill them," the guy tried to explain away in a manner similar to a sleazy political figure. "We extract them near the end of their established timelines."
"And then what?" Rose asked.
"Give them hell." The casual tone in which he said it made Rose want to grab the Doctor's cane and blow the robot to bits. All that stopped her was that Amy and Rory were inside.
"I'd ask you who you think you are, the Doctor said, "but I think the answer is pretty obvious. So, who do you think I am, huh? The woman who killed the Doctor. It sounds like you've got my biography in there. I'd love a peek."
"Our records office is sealed to the public. Foreknowledge is dangerous."
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Rose muttered. "He'll be dead in three minutes! There isn't much foreknowledge left! Idiots."
"Sorry, can't do that," the man replied.
"You really are a robot," Rose muttered.
Just then, they heard Amy's voice from inside Not-Amy, but it wasn't Not-Amy. It was real-Amy. "That man is my best friend. That woman is my daughter. You give him anything he wants."
There was a short burst of conversation from inside the robot, and then Not-Amy said, "Records available."
"Alright, said the Doctor. "Question. I'm dying. Who wants me dead?"
"The Silence," Not-Amy replied.
Rose stepped in, "What is the Silence? Why is it called that? What does it mean?"
"The Silence is not a species. It is a religious order, or movement. Their core belief is that silence will fall when the question is asked."
"What question?" the Doctor asked.
"The first question. The oldest question in the universe, hidden in plain sight." It sounded like a sort of riddle.
Rose rolled her eyes. "Yes, but what is the question?"
"Unknown."
"Well, fat lot of use that is, you big ginge. And you call yourself a record." Rose scoffed. "Torchwood's based on Earth, we don't have time or space travel, and we still have better records than you. About two universes." Just then the Doctor groaned. "Doctor? What is it?"
"Kidneys are always the first to quit. I've had better, you know." Just then, the white energy around River turned into some sort of energy that caused her pain. "Amy. Rory. Amy. Can you hear me?"
"This is me," Amy replied from inside Not-Amy. "This is me actually talking. What do we do?
"Just stop them," the Doctor replied. "She's your daughter. Just stop them."
"How?
"Just do it!"
"Amy!" Rose shouted. "He gave you his screwdriver!"
"What are you doing?" They could hear Rory's voice from inside Not-Amy.
"Pointing and thinking," Amy replied. "Get ready to run." Chaos and alarms sounded from inside Not-Amy, and River was released from the hell-energy.
They could hear Amy's voice inside, screaming, "Doctor, can you help us? Doctor? Doctor, help us!"
The Doctor tried to make his way to the TARDIS, but he couldn't.
"Look at you," River half-sneered. "You still care."
"Damn straight, big-hair," Rose retorted. "Look at me."
Amy was still screaming for help. River talked right over her, "It's impressive. I'll give you that."
"River. Look at me."
"Again? Who is this River? She's got to be a woman, am I right?"
"Oi! Mels or River or whoever you are, you listen to me!" Rose grabbed River's arm and pulled her towards her. "Now you listen. You've screwed up. Big-time. And I don't know why you did, and I don't know how you did, but you've screwed up. And let me tell you this. The Doctor's a time traveler. You know that. And he knows what happens to you in your future. I'm a time traveler too, and I've run with the Doctor, and I'm going to tell you something: You are just starting. Today is your first day running. And from here, it only gets better. You're scared now, I know it. But you have such a life ahead of you, you hear me? And he loves you. He loves you. He's loved me, too, and being loved by the Doctor? It's the best feeling in the world. The best. You have the ride of your life ahead of you, but it ends here unless you save your parents. I can't do it for you. I'm only here for a few more moments, and when the Doctor dies, I'm gone. You're the only one who can save them. Now do it! Rose grabbed River's hand and ran for the TARDIS. "Come on!" She flew open the door. "Alright, old girl, she's all yours. Don't mess around with her, alright? Life or death here." And she ran out the door.
"Rose," the Doctor whispered as the TARDIS dematerialized. "Oh, Rose, you're amazing."
"So's she," Rose grinned. She sat down next to the Doctor and hugged him gently. "You've got to stay alive until they come back in here, alright? You can do it."
"I know I can," the Doctor replied. "I have you. Talk to me, Rose. How's the other Doctor?"
"He's fine. Out on a Torchwood mission when the TARDIS pulled her little trick."
"And your TARDIS?"
"Almost fully grown," Rose grinned. "We should be traversing the galaxies in no time."
"The Doctor and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS, just as it should be." He started to cry a bit. "Rose, before I go… I just want to tell you—"
"—that I was fantastic, absolutely fantastic?" The Doctor nodded, laughing weakly. "Yeah, I know that. And y'know what?" She gave him her brightest smile. "So were you."
Just then, the TARDIS materialized in the hotel room. "Where is he?" Amy asked. She ran for the Doctor. "You can't die now. I know you don't die now.
"Oh, Pond," the Doctor sighed, "you've got a schedule for everything."
"But it doesn't make any sense!"
"Doctor, what do we do? Come on. How do we help you?" Rory knelt by the Doctor's side. Rose knew that it was time to go. She walked away from the Doctor and leaned against the TARDIS.
"No," the Doctor replied, shaking his head. "Sorry, Rory, you can't. Nobody can. Ponds, listen to me. I need to talk to your daughter." Amy and Rory moved away and let River approach. "Find her," the Doctor commanded. "Find River Song and tell her something from me." He whispered something in River's ear.
"I'm sure she knows," River replied as she stepped away. Rose walked over to her and gently tapped her shoulder.
"You can save him," Rose whispered. The Doctor's eyes closed. There was a flash of light, and the hotel was gone.
"Rose? Rose, where are you!" Rose turned to see the other Doctor, her Doctor. "How did you get there? You weren't there a second ago, I swear you weren't. Hold on, what's that?" He pulled out the screwdriver the TARDIS had made him just before dropping them off. "Void energy… How the hell—You went to the other universe!"
"The TARDIS pulled me across somehow," Rose explained. "Landed in Nazi Germany in 1938, had to run down the street to find a woman who'd poisoned the Doctor, accompanied by a robotic replica of her mother piloted by tiny people – including her mother and father – and then managed to get her to get her mother and father out of the robot. And then the Doctor died, but the woman who poisoned him, River, is able to regenerate somehow and she might be able to bring him back to life. Tried to convince her to do so. I think I managed to."
"If anyone could, it's you," her Doctor replied. "But if not, that's the last Time Lord in existence, dead."
"In that universe," Rose reminded him. "In this universe, the Time Lords are alive and well." She patted her belly softly. "And there'll be another soon."
The Doctor grinned broadly. "Well, I just checked on our TARDIS, and she's just about fully grown! Want to come see?"
"Definitely," Rose grinned.
"Well then, allons-y!" The Doctor ran out the door.
Rose lingered for a moment. "Goodbye, Doctor," she whispered. "I hope I'll see you again…"
Hey guys! Here's A Few Delirious Moments! Hope you liked! Drop a review, if you please; I love those so much!
This story is dedicated to an old friend of mine, who quite some time ago wrote a review of my TFiOS fanfic, Final Moments, that read:
"Bentkitty [bentkitty100 was my name back in the day] does an amazing job of getting inside Hazel's head! While ending a fanfic in the middle of a sentence may be (intentionally) annoying, it show attention to detail that clearly demonstrates bentkitty's love of TFIOS. Maybe Peter Van Houten was wrong, because this epilogue truly shows that hazel could live on after the book, if only for a few delirious moments."
I loved that last sentence, and do to this day.
I loved him, and do to this day.
I finished this story on October 1st, twenty days ago, but decided to wait until today, because today is his sixteenth (I think, but I might be wrong) birthday. Happy birthday and a thousand inside jokes to you.
Anyway… Remember to check my profile for info on other stories, What the Fluff, etc. etc. And as always, love and ducks to the Lone Shippers, hugs to supporters, thanks to Eleonora, Noe, Hanul, and Kizzie, and cookies for all.
Love,
Ofelia xxxxx