This is something I have been working on for a while... An idea that I put on paper...

AU Post-journey's end

The Tardis rocked unusually to it's destination and Martha had a feeling that this wasn't the spa world that the Doctor and Donna promised her.

"It's not the spa world is it?" Martha looked at him with an unimpressed look. Donna shook her head sadly.

"Peladon!" Doctor said with a wide grin that would have fooled anybody but Donna saw unlying pain in it. It never leaves and while everybody else might be fooled, Donna can see through it all.

Martha rolled her eyes and was sitting on the captain's seat swinging her legs, a small bump on her stomach of being 3 months pregnant. Her light lavender dress showed her figure, and she had trainers on that were the same color. She was studying the ring that Mickey gave her for their 1st anniversary, then she looked at him with a question on her mind. Donna seemed to know what Martha was going to ask so she answered the question that was never spoken.

"Peladon is a planet in which humans will occupy in the 29th century." Donna explained to her knowledge. She had a time lords brain but she didn't want to reveal the Doctor's past travels. "What century is it?" Donna asked to reveal, about what would be happening.

"51st century." He answered with his eyes on the monitor. He was looking through every word with unusual fervor

He looks so old. Donna thought sadly. She was blaming it on him, though. His choices refused him to be selfish and bring the love of his life on the TARDIS.

"I am so old." He startled Donna with a smug grin that followed with a shoe hitting him on the back of the head.

Martha tried to stop the laughter bubbling up from her throat. She hasn't seen the Doctor and Donna being playful since the last time she saw them.

"What was that for?!" the doctor shrieked, his voice going all squeaky.

"Get out of my head, spaceman!" Donna retorted. Missing one shoe, she skipped to where it lay on the floor and put it on, while the Doctor was rubbing on the spot on his head that got hit.

"Don't rub it it'll make you bald." Martha commented. The Doctor just stuck his tongue out.

"I'm feeling a real level of maturity here." Donna smiled at the other two.

"You love it!" the Doctor's smug grin made most people smack the living daylight out of him, but right now it made Donna happy. He was brooding a lot more often.

"and us." Martha added.

Donna's smile turned into a wide grin, and she spoke wistfully. "Yeah."

The three of them were set in a comfortable silence after the Doctor couldn't find anything wrong with the Tardis. Each of them in their own thoughts.

Donna opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by four knocks at the door.

The doctor and Donna looked at the door in horror.

Martha was getting up to go answer it. But was stopped by the grim expressions that both of her designated driver held.

"He will knock four times." Donna whispered. After saving him from killing himself to save her grandfather, she knew what he meant.

"It's the end of my song." The doctor explained to Martha.

"You're going to die?!" Martha asked him incredulously.

"Yeah." The doctor simply answered. He felt the tingling sensation of a fixed point that is meant to happen.

"I'm guessing this is a fixed point." Donna put in, hoping Martha would understand there was nothing he could do. Martha deflated.

"We should go with our hands in the air, incase they have guns. There could be americans that inhabited this planet. We never know... Did you know that I had two United States founding fathers that fancied me?" His lopsided smile relaxed his two companions slightly. He was trying to make joke of the situation.

They walked to the door in their own stride, walking towards and somehow avoiding the Doctor's death.

The Doctor put his hand on the door and shot both of his partners a look asking if they were ready.

They nodded simply, as he opened the door he wasn't surprised by the 21st century soldiers that seemed out of place in the strange planet years into their future. He and his companions were surprised by the honey blond standing in the middle of it.

A choked gasp came from the doctor, while Donna simply gaped, and Martha stared at her and the guns of the soldiers that were pointed at them.

Rose was wearing stylish work clothes but nonetheless reminded the Doctor of that woman: Yvonne Hartman they met in Canary Wharf.

Her royal blue sheath dress had a square neckline and ended above her knees, and he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the universe. The dress wrapped around her curves and had quarter sleeves which hid part of a series of small tattoos that the doctor believed were in circular gallifreyan. Before he could read what they said she crossed her arms and finally spoke.

"Hello, Doctor. Long time no see." Rose broke him out of his thoughts. He was barely grasping that she was here. He was still as in love with her as he hoped she was too.

"What's with the posh accent?" Donna stopped gaping and shrieked, she was so freaked out about the whole situation, but she was doing better that the other two.

"Priorities, Donna." Rose playfully scolded. And she sounded...malevolent and wicked. "You've got guns ready to shoot you and you're worrying about my voice. Nice to see that you care, though."

"What? H-how? What?" The doctor exclaimed.

Rose's manner, posture and accent were so... posh. As Donna so eloquently put it.

Martha kept staring and felt a panic attack rising since she was not acclimated to her new hormones, and the guns.

"Do you wake up in the morning and say: Hey let's see how many ways I can say 'what' shocked manner?" she said mockingly.

The trio just stared.

"Alright, well." Rose spoke softly and frowned. "Cuff them." She turned her head to the soldier nearest to her and gestured her head to the three.

She turned on her heels and walked away with ten guards whose guns were trained on a flabbergasted timelord, a gaping half-timelord metacrisis, and a hormonal pregnant woman.

The clicks of her lace peep toe Jimmy Choo pumps reverberated throughout the very high tech facility that reminded Martha of Star Trek.

With the crazy leader leading the way, probably to their holding cells.

"Can you explain something?" Martha asked somewhat shyly, being the first one to speak as they roamed the halls.

Rose just nodded.

"This looks somewhat... Star Trekky," Rose smiled at the phrase. "Centuries into our future. So why does everybody look like they're from the 21st century. The soldiers look very similar to U.N.I.T soldiers, but they aren't. They office workers look like high office workers but they seem off compared to the weird architecture of this whole building." Martha observed.

"Very perceptive, Martha." the blond praised. "Doctor you weren't lying you do really choose the best." she complimented with a malicious undertone.

"Chose." The Doctor spoke after a long time of sulking in silence behind the three woman. The doctor thought referring that he used to choose the best, by using the past tense, he could hurt the evil blond that had them in cuffs.

She tensed slightly, offering him a small victory. Then, they stopped in front of a door, and Rose put her hand on a panel next to it.

"Ouch, Doctor. Why so much venom?" she asked playfully.

"I could ask you the same." his demeanor changed from shocked to very calm and angry. The other two were witnessing this banter, the Doctor trying to hurt her and Rose who claimed she crossed universes for him, wasn't reacting. She changed, something made her like this. Something hurt her in this way to be this person. Last time Donna saw her she was with the metacrisis of a man she loved and she was worrying about the Doctor to check that he wouldn't be lonely. She seemed sweet and selfless at the time, young but her worries making her older. Now she changed drastically.

She just laughed at his question/answer he always did when the door opened and the group stepped room looked like a conference room with windows that held a view of the rest of the was raining, the dark clouds which you would expect to be almost dark grey where lighter than when the Doctor came here. This was off, this planet usually held thunderstorms 24/7.

The group followed Rose into the conference type room that was their temporary cell as half of them believed to be. Martha, Donna sat their respective chairs far away from the door and across from each other. The Doctor stood in the middle, and together they looked downright intimidating aside from them having handcuffs on. Rose shot them an amused look from the other side of the table, and sat down.

There was something to her that reminded Martha and the Doctor of someone. They couldn't put their fingers on. Donna was just angry and confused.

"So..." Rose started the conversation. "You wanted answers." She stretched her arms out. "Here I am." she kept eye contact with the Doctor and only him.

She held a challenging gaze, but nonetheless there was a viciousness underneath. She was angry, and hurt. He couldn't pick up on her emotions, he couldn't read her facial expressions. The woman he thought was an open book to him, was closed off. She was a stranger, he loved her nonetheless deep down inside. He loved her from the moment he held her hand and ran. He loved her in their first goodbye in that beach when she said the words and he couldn't.. And he loved her in her second goodbye when he said he loved her and he said 'does it need saying?' But now as she was closed off from him, his facial expression was stony and set, borderline 'Oncoming Storm'.

Martha spoke up after a few moments, the tension in the air was becoming too thick. Donna studying the Doctor with her 'mother hen' way. And the Doctor was close to popping a vein from the intense look he was giving her. Reminded them all when he fought the Daleks.

"Why is everything off?" Rose stopped studying the Doctor, and looked out the large window that encompassed all of the wall.

"Everything died after the time war. It wasn't only your people that died, Doctor. You should know that. You've met Daleks after the battle of Canary Wharf. Some Daleks became cowards and took refuge in this somewhat peaceful planet." She stood up and walked up to the window overlooking the beautiful forest. The sky was light grey, clouds going away, leaving a slight drizzle, that made very soft pattering sounds. "Daleks killed everything and everyone. They destroyed and mined a moon and a half for fuel. They shortly died when they realized that humans survived..." she stopped being so serious "There was a war and after everybody dies for the umpteenth time..." she sighed exasperatedly. " Humans colonized again, then another alien force comes in and decide that they are the superior race." She paused, and looked back. "Sound familiar, Doctor?"

His jaw became tense, as all three woman could see. And his glare became murderous, no longer holding that softness that he reserved for Rose. She took that a victory for herself.

"Could this reminds me so much of your high council." She continued looking off into the distance once again.

"Stop it." His glare was becoming pleading. He full well knew that when she hurt him he was going to hurt her.

"A pompous group thinking that they were the superior beings of the universe and the small creatures creating armor to protect themselves from them. A crazed scientist making them hate everything in the universe and to hate the time lords even more. Becoming monsters to prove something to them. Breeding out the emotions that kept their moral ground intact. And in the end what did that group think? Doctor?" She was waiting for the outburst.

"Stop it." He warned now. His glare that would have armies running away didn't make Rose bat an eyelash. She looked more interested, a slight manic gleam in her eye.

"They thought absolutely nothing..." She paused for a slight dramatic effect. "Because they're dead..." She paused again thinking. "No wait.. They're imprisoned in a time lock... So that means that they're dying everyday. You kno-"

"YOU KNOW NOTHING OF THE WAR!" He stood up and slammed his palms on the table. He was walking on one side of the table. Making Martha and Donna feel helpless, the two women could only watch the train wreck in front of them.

"I AM TALKING!" Rose now showed emotion, real emotion and that was anger that rivaled the Doctor's own, she slammed her hands on the table. She was across from him. "And you need to listen. I know everything of the war. You could have helped them, done anything. The democracy on your dead planet was flawed and corrupt, and you did nothing. If your race was truly superior, then the council would still be alive today. Your people would still be alive." She calmed down a bit. Her body was taut like string and she was seething but she covered it up well. "You claim that Davros created monsters. But he didn't he created soldiers, to keep his race surviving. He was crazy, and mad. His creations were becoming mad, at the edge of a cliff. You made them the monsters that they are today, you pushed them. I am so sorry. You need to recognize the mistakes of your people and what led them to their deaths. Not everybody deserved what they got. Innocent people died." Compassion laced her anger. It was true empathy. They could all see it, her voice didn't quiver, but you could see it in her eyes. "Everything proved that your government was corrupt." she spit the word out. "When your president used a child, only a small child. And raised him from madness. Making him a killer and a coward, destroying the only good left in him by sending a spy to play his best friend. Manipulating him to destroy another planet to bring back the one that was burning. " she sat down on the chair across from Donna and Martha. She looked wary, and older that she was. She looked up at the Doctor tiredly. "Am I wrong?" She almost pleaded, hoping that was she said wasn't true.

"No." The Doctor said just as somber as she did. He sat down carefully with Donna.

Whatever sorrow they say a few moments ago were gone, replaced by a mask of no emotions.

"Everything and everybody died, Martha. But they Colonized and rebuilt. Made something else. When everything became established, they became nostalgic. Went back in time and took fashion trends and weapons. That's why everyone looks out of place. Nostalgia." She uttered the words as if they were a good memory, but showing no real emotion in her eyes.

"You remind me of someone." Martha spoke. The Doctor was calming down from his outburst, wouldn't trust himself to speak, and Donna was studying her.

"In his final hour, Did the drums go away?" she asked. Pain in her features, her eye shiny with unshed tears, she asked the question she was longing for. Hoping that at least he died with a few moments of peace. "Did he finally have peace?"

Martha gasped at her revelation, kicking herself for not figuring it out earlier.

"Are you the Master?" Martha voice was laced with venom and fear.

Rose set her mask again, and laughed. "No. I'm not some sort of weird parallel regeneration of him. But thanks for asking." She winked.

"What happened to the weather? The last time I came here the weather was made up of thunderstorms." The Doctor catching Rose's eye.

"Daleks destroyed a moon and a half, Doctor. Weren't you listening?" She narrowed her eyes playfully. "The absence of the moons, leveled out the climate to resemble one of earth's." She explained noncommittally examining her nails.

"When you came back did you leave any cracks?" The Doctor asked warily.

"No. I fixed that already." She waved her hand.

"Oh."

"Yeah." She nodded still examining her nails.

"What about the Metacrisis?" His anger was gone, replaced with curiosity, trying to grasp how much she changed.

She tensed and her rage made an appearance again. She leveled her glare and she was almost shaking with anger.

"Don't you dare call him that." He flinched and figured out what made her like this. She winced looking at him decipher a part of her life. She cursed under her breath.

"What happened to him?" Donna tread on softly, seeing the hurt underlying Rose's hate, pure sorrow.

She looked at Donna, analyzing her face, trying to figure out what her intentions were. Rose saw compassion and decided to tell her about him.

"His name was James Noble. He passed away before we got here." Her emotionless mask slipped on, but you could see the wistfulness seeping through, talking about her late husband.

"He took my last name?" Donna asked in awe and love, and Rose smiled a bit showing the Doctor the old Rose that he used to travel with.

"Yeah. I remember that the first day he found a lock of red hair hidden, right here." She pointed to her bangs. Rose looked off into the distance and settled into her seat more comfortably. She smiled wistfully, her mask cracking, showing more of her true feelings. "He was overjoyed saying that he finally became a rude ginger." She chuckled at the memory. "James took me to garden and we.." She stopped in thought. Her face hardened. "Get out of my head, Timelord. My mental barriers are as strong as Dwarf star alloy prison. You can't get in."

He came back into his own mind, looking at her in awe and a bit of horror.

She snorted. "I knew you would act like that." She looked at the window her posture slumping a bit, sad. Her face constructed her mask that everybody was getting used to.

"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you hide?" He whispered softly. His other two companions looked away to the window like Rose was.

"When you dropped us off... You told him that he was too dangerous. But you were wrong... because he had too. You knew that. You knew that they couldn't live doing what they were going to do... You said he was born in anger... but he was born in hope... You said he was born in battle... but he was born in the middle of a damn invasion. That wasn't a battle..." She scoffed. "I spent a week figuring out.. why? Why did you say those things to him?... But then I figured it out... You meant me... You were horrified. When I didn't react like a naive child at the death of the earth. You were horrified that I became like that after years of spending all that time in that other universe... He committed genocide. Right. But I was the one that was born out of war and blood and became... you." She looked at him now with pained amusement. "You didn't leave him with me. You left me with him." She stared into his pained eyes. He opened his mouth to deny it. "Don't lie. You didn't want the responsibility. And now," she opened her arms and gestured towards herself. "you don't have it."