Outside the church, the silence is oppressive, seeming to bend in and listen like a living thing. It seems to muffle the few sounds that do squeeze their way into reality.
A little boy cries, running for sanctuary. A broken communicator warbles its familiar song. A swirl of golden leaves blows across the street, one of a few spots of colour in a world leached of it.
Outside a lonely, desolate church in a city of ghosts, a lorry driver drove the same route over and over again, and a lone Dalek glided in the same repetitive circle.
Rose jumped as something invisible and enormous slammed repeatedly into the windows. Or maybe it was several somethings. Rose wasn't sure, but the guilt and fear mixing in the pit of her stomach were becoming a toxic brew. Rose twisted her TARDIS key on its chain. The Doctor glanced at her, ice blue eyes softening.
Then he turned around, addressing the clump of huddled, frightened people. "Treat these words as if your life depends upon them, because in any likelihood, your lives do. The creatures that you can doubtless hear are here to sterilise a wound in Time. With each paradox, they grow in strength. Another rip in the fabric of time, and they will be able to breach the walls of this church. But first things first. Let's bar the doors."
Most of the crowd darted off in all directions, but two people remained. Jackie Tyler stared hard at Rose, scrutinising her ring. Sara Corde was busy doing the same thing, and Rose inwardly winced. Cass's aunt was notoriously angry and xenophobic.
"Time Lord," Sara snarled. Then she turned to the rest of the room, pointing at the Doctor. "He's a Time Lord! For all we know, he engineered this whole incident!"
Jackie stayed silent, but she shot Sara a murderous glare. There was never any love lost between those two. Cass was shifting uncomfortably, looking like she wanted to say something. But she didn't. Rose could feel the Doctor running through possible things to say. "My soulmate made a mistake, and so did I. Mine was not telling her enough to prevent a paradox. It was not a malicious-"
Doctor! The scream came from one throat and one mind. Rose already had her vortex blaster out and aimed at Sara's head, but Sara had almost completed her lunge, knife aimed at the Doctor's throat. Rose realised with a sick sensation that she was going to be too late.
And then the Doctor moved. In one lithe motion, he grabbed the knife out of her hand, and stepped away. Sara Corde went down under a pile of people. Rose went over to the Doctor, gently picking up his hand and turning it over.
Reddish orange blood soaked the Doctor's hand, originating from a shallow gash. Rose released his hand, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. "Let's go deal with this." The Doctor kissed the end of her nose fondly, and said, "Agreed."
Cass stood by her parents, wondering what the heck she'd gotten herself into. Nadia was busy bundling Sara to her feet. She pushed her into a pew. The women were both glaring at each other.
It kind of shattered the childhood illusions Cass had possessed, leading her to believe that her mother and aunt had loved each other. Nadia firmly patted Sara's shoulder, and said, "Stay there, and try not to murder anyone else? The three year olds are behaving better than you."
And indeed they were. Young Rose and young Cass were dashing around under the pews as if there weren't reapers beating on the windows. Cass watched her mother with her heart in her throat, trying to absorb every moment, attempting to make it part of her being. Her father, in turn, had been watching her with a puzzled expression. That expression abruptly changed to one of recognition. "You're Cass, aren't you?"
Cass tried for a nonplussed expression. "I already said my name is Cass, didn't I?"
James grinned. It was such a happy expression for a dead man walking that Cass simultaneously wanted to cry and smile back at him. "No, you're our Cass. All grown. The Doctor, he's a Time Lord. He can make stuff like that happen. Things like our own Cass saving our lives."
The pure trust in her father's expression made Cass want to cry.
I didn't save you. I only bought you a few hours of life, Cass thought. The clock is running, and it wants you and Mom to pay the piper.
She wanted to be honest so badly it was a pain in her heart. But Cass was selfish, so she only looked out the window, and said, "I guess so."
Outside the window, a lorry driver disappeared through a wall of greenish energy, throwing up his arms to ward off a crash that would never come. And a lonely Dalek glided in endless circles, calling out a battle cry. Time was trying to heal, but first it needed to balance the scales.
Now that the ruckus with Sara had settled down, everyone was wound tighter than coiled springs. Jackie, Pete, Rose, and the Doctor had all clustered near the cherrywood pulpit. Pete stared intently at the Doctor. You could almost hear the cogs whirring in his brain. "You seemed very intent on this church. Why not any other building?"
The Doctor didn't look up from the power source he was fiddling with. "There's a certain sort of power in age. This church is probably four hundred fifty years old? That's plenty of power to repel the reapers."
Just then, the sound of a child crying could be heard outside the door. Tiny fists beat on the door. Cass and Rose both dashed for the door, then stopped in unison, pausing to glance at the Doctor. For a second Rose was afraid that the child would be a fixed point, but then the Doctor nodded.
They continued their headlong dash. As if they'd done this hundreds of times, Cass yanked opened the door, and Rose quickly reached for the kid, who she noticed in passing, was a very distraught Mickey Smith. The poor kid, still wailing, leapt on Rose, wrapping his arms around her neck. Rose turned around, approaching the clump of people.
A middle aged black woman who Rose dimly recognised as Mickey's grandmother stepped forward, a look of tightly controlled panic contorting her face. "Where's my daughter?"
Rose felt her stomach drop. Cass was the one who said something. Her tone was quiet, much unlike her usual brash, snarky tone of voice. "I'm sorry. They weren't out there, and I don't think they would leave Mickey alone."
In complete silence, tears slid down the older woman's face. Mickey began to struggle, and Rose put him down. She slumped down on a pew, and Mickey hugged her. Grandchild and grandmother wrapped around each other like melting ice cream. It was a strangely private moment.
Rose and Cass both turned away. Cass went back to her family, and Rose went back to her parents and the Doctor. Rose glanced back at Mickey's gran, and swallowed hard.
Don't be sorry for the dead, darling. They've got it easy. Pity the poor folks left behind. Living is brutal. Always something new around the corner to knock you down and make you hurt.
Looking at the sobbing child and distraught grandparent, Rose thought Jackie's words were truer than ever. Rose and seen death and suffering. This was no different, no less painful. Once again, she remembered the vow she'd made as child who had just witnessed the destruction of her own planet. That she would end the Time War. It was a promise made with all of an eight year old's naive determination.
The Doctor's arms came around her midsection, tucking her against him. Rose paused to bask in the safety his touch brought. Then abruptly the TARDIS key under Rose's shirt heated up, glowing incandescent gold. Wrapping her hand in the hem of her leather jacket, Rose grabbed the key and spun around to face the Doctor. She dangled the key in front of his face. "I get the feeling," Rose said quietly, "that this means something."
The Doctor beamed at her. He took the key from her hand, not seeming very bothered by the temperature. The Doctor kissed her, still beaming. "You're brilliant, Rose Marion Tyler! Of course this means something. It's the beginning of a plan."
The Doctor squeezed Rose's hand, and dashed behind the pulpit with great enthusiasm. Behind her, Rose's parents were staring at her with new eyes. The Doctor rapped his fist on the wood of the pulpit, making everyone jump and turn towards him. The Doctor grinned at them. "If I may have your attention, please. I need some variety of power source. If I can induce a loop, then I might be able to recall my TARDIS and give us a way out."
Everyone looked at each other, but no one stepped forward. Cass sighed in a resigned fashion. She pulled a small, sleek vortex blaster out of her boot, then stepped up to the pulpit. "Here," Cass said, cracking open the blaster to reveal a power pack. "Hopefully this'll work."
The Doctor smiled at her, taking the pack. "Thank you." Then he eyed her speculatively. "Just how many concealed weapons do you have?"
Cass smiled airily, picking up the useless blaster and spinning on her heel. "I ought to have some secrets." Then she strolled back to her parents, seemingly without a care in the world. Rose knew better. She knew just how much it would hurt her friend when Time righted itself.
The Doctor sat, chin resting on his hands, watching the outline of the TARDIS shimmer into being, like some ghostly knockoff of a Gallifreyan timeship. In theory, getting everyone off the planet and giving Romana the green light to sterilise might work, but more likely it would not eliminate the fixed points.
There had to be a better way. Then the Doctor's time senses screamed, and the Doctor whipped around in time to see the small toddler who was Rose sneaking up on her older self, intent on… something. The Doctor could sense the potential paradox a mile off. He bolted to his feet, mentally yelling a warning to older Rose.
But it was too late. The child tagged Rose, and ran off, cackling gleefully. Cass's younger self joined her in her happy circles of the church. For a long moment, the temporal pressure built. Then the dam burst. Reptilian reapers swooped through the windows. One swept through the almost-TARDIS, sucking all the power out of it in a single moment. The TARDIS key and power pack clattered to the floor, useless.
The Doctor backed up, arms outstretched and ready to shield. "Get behind me! I'm the oldest thing is this room. They might ignore you in favour of me." The humans huddled behind him.
A reaper focused on him with predatory intensity. Thinking of Rose, the Doctor moved two steps forward to meet its attack.
The reaper roared, a shivery, spine-scraping sound. Grandstanding in a position of power, the Doctor thought morbidly. It's a cheap trick, for bullies.
The reaper pounced, and the Doctor felt a sharp pain, then blackness. Somewhere in his head, Rose was screaming in terror and grief.
He wanted to reassure her that he was fine. But he couldn't. And he wasn't. And then he was nothing at all.
Rose watched in numb horror as the reaper slowly stalked the Doctor, and then swallowed him in one jerky motion reminiscent of a praying mantis. When Rose felt the Doctor's pain, that drove her into a frenzy. Screaming down the link, Rose struggled unthinkingly to get to him, not noticing Cass and Jackie restraining her.
There was one faint wash of concern and affection, and then the bond broke. Pain and terrible emptiness washed over her, and brought some semblance of rationality back to her. "Let go of me," Rose croaked.
Cass nodded, stepping back immediately. Jackie cast her a wary glance, but let her go. Rose stretched, barely noting the muscles she'd wrenched while struggling. The reapers had gone, taking the Doctor with them. Rose stuffed her grief down, straightening, and squared her shoulders.
Time enough to grieve for the Doctor later. Then she noticed Nadia, James, and Pete all milling around near the window. Rose and Cass exchanged a wordless glance, and made their way over. Rose stepped up beside her father. For a long moment, they both stared out the window, watching the lorry careen down the street, and vanish in a ripple of greenish energy. Then her father turned his head to look at her. "Your soulmate. The Doctor. He was brave, but most of all he was kind. You ought to be proud."
He took a deep breath, and looked out the window again. "Remember when I asked what kind of father I was, and you tripped over your answer? Well, I just realised. I don't have a future, not alive and certainly not as a small-time inventor. So I hope you're proud. Of me."
This only added to the tears leaking down Rose's face. "I am!" Then she hugged her dad. They stayed that way for a long moment, then they broke apart. Rose smiled tearfully at Pete, and then he went to make his goodbyes.
Rose clutched the TARDIS key in one fist, watching as her father stepped closer to the curb. At the other end of the street, two cries of "Exterminate!" and screams of pain could be heard. Cass let out a cry of despair, and ended the Dalek's misery with a single well-placed shot.
The lorry appeared at the other end of the street, hurtling toward them. Pete smiled at Rose, and stepped in front of the oncoming truck. There was a thud, and the screech of the driver hitting his brakes. There was a strange kind of peace in Pete's expression, even as he lay dying. He smiled at her, whispered, "Be brilliant." Then his eyes closed for the last time.
There was a shifting in the very fabric of the world, a little skip. And then the city was once again buzzing with life. Rose waited a few seconds, and the rest of the life went out of her. The bond didn't reconnect. The Doctor was still dead. Tears streaming down her face, Rose headed back toward the church. The TARDIS still sat on the street corner, but she wasn't a home. Not without the Doctor.
Then she did a double take. Leaning casually on the doors of the church, was a familiar chestnut haired figure with aristocratic features, a leather jacket, and battered slacks. Rose stared in disbelief, then bolted for the Doctor, laughing and crying at the same time.
She threw her arms around him, and they stayed that way for a while. Eventually they broke apart just far enough for Rose to pull the Doctor down for a tender kiss. That was when the bond chose to reconnect.
Carrying two mugs of hot cocoa with marshmallows, the Doctor knocked on Rose's door. "Come in," Rose said.
The Doctor opened the door, setting down both mugs on the desk, the one Rose was currently seated at. The Doctor sat down in the armchair by the fire, and studied Rose carefully. There were snail trails of snot and tears, and Rose's blonde hair was mussed. "Where's Cass?"
Rose smiled wanly. "She's hiding. That's how she copes. Can we talk about something, anything?"
The Doctor slowly scooted the armchair over. "Gladly. What do you want to talk about?"
Rose smiled, and this time there was real mischief in her expression. Her eyes sparkled with it. "Tell me a story."