A/N: Continuum! I don't have much to add here. I'm so interesting.

Chapter 1 - 18th May 2013, 10:30:22

"... So at seven o'clock, Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked straight past the doorway to the packed Great Hall, which was glittering invitingly with gold plates and candles, and directed their steps instead toward the dungeons.

"The passageway leading to Nearly Headless Nick's party had been lined with candles, too, though the effect was far from cheerful: These were long, thin, jet-black tapers, all burning bright blue, casting a dim, ghostly light even over their own living faces. The temperature dropped with every step they took. As Harry shivered and drew his robes tightly around him, he heard what sounded like a thousand fingernails scraping an enormous blackboard..."

"Jack," the Doctor interrupted, poking his head inside his daughter's bedroom door where Jack was reading to the girl from the tried and tested Harry Potter book. "Finish up, Leah needs to go to sleep."

"I'm not tired," the four-year-old insisted, despite the fact her tone of voice alone was laden with lethargy.

"Maybe not, but you're ill, so go to sleep," the Doctor ordered. "And eat any and all chicken soup brought to you. Chicken soup has mystical healing powers. We are still yet to unearth its true power."

"But I'm fine."

"You aren't."

"But-"

"Sorry, Dad wins," Jack interrupted with a grin, and snapped the book shut. "To be continued! Go to sleep."

"Aww," Leah said disappointedly as Jack leant forward to kiss her forehead and tuck her in.

"Later," Jack assured her, standing up. "Good night. Shout if you need anything."

"Night," Leah murmured, turning over to hug her teddy tighter. As he left the Doctor closed the door behind him and immediately strode off to the kitchen with nothing but a small beckoning motion with his fingers. Jack supposed he was meant to follow.

When they got to the kitchen Rose was there finishing up a mug of tea along with the Doctor's brother Braxiatel, sitting at the table. The Doctor went straight to his wife, perching himself on the tabletop next to her.

"You off, then?" Jack asked, looking between the Doctor and Rose.

The Doctor nodded. "We'll be back tonight."

"And you still won't tell me where you're going?"

"Nope," the Doctor confirmed, smiling winsomely. Jack sighed.

"Mum'll be here in a minute," Rose said, finishing her tea and setting it on the side.

The Doctor nodded. "Got our numbers?"

"Yep."

"I don't understand why you don't just let me look after the tots," Brax insisted.

The Doctor snorted with laughter. "Thanks Brax, but I couldn't trust you to look after my plant, never mind my children."

"I did everything on your guide, letter for letter," Brax insisted lamely.

"Except the letters that combined into the arrangement of the words 'water' and 'it'?" the Doctor wondered vaguely.

Brax sighed. "In my defence, your handwriting is appalling."

The Doctor rolled his eyes just as Jackie came in the door, Tony at her side.

"I'm 'ere, what's the crisis?" she asked.

"We need you to look after Leah, Mum. She's got chickenpox. We should be back by tonight," Rose told her, gazing at Tony with a frown.

"Where're you goin'?"

"Manchester," Rose replied without really thinking about it, before realising what she'd done and looking at the Doctor with a wince and apologetic expression. She quickly changed the subject. "Has he had chickenpox yet?" she asked, pointing at Tony.

Jackie shook her head. "Now we're 'ere, hoping he'll get it. Why d'you 'ave to go to Manchester anyway?"

"Why do you want to make your son ill?" the Doctor countered, partly as a means of changing subject but mostly out of curiosity.

"It's chickenpox, ain't it?" Jackie dismissed, as if that explained everything. "Why are you goin' to Manchester?"

"What about chickenpox?" the Doctor persisted.

"It's better to get it when you're a kid, else it's really bad later," Rose explained to him.

"Oh," the Doctor muttered, scratching his head.

"I thought you were a doctor?" Jackie said with a roll of her eyes, but spoke again before the Doctor could interject. "Why are you avoidin' the question? Why are you goin' to Manchester?"

"We just need to see a friend, Mum," Rose insisted, but already knew her mum well enough to know she wouldn't back down.

"Can't it wait?" Jackie wondered seriously.

"Not really."

"You're 'appy to wander off to Manchester while your daughter's sick?" Jackie surmised, glaring at the Doctor.

"It's urgent," the Doctor insisted, starting to get a little wound up. "Leah's fine. It's just chickenpox."

"You can't know that! Kitty's boy, Jason, ended up in 'ospital when 'e got chickenpox!"

"Mum, please," Rose cut in as she rested a hand on the Doctor's arm to try and keep him calm, but Jackie wasn't paying her any attention.

"You're supposed to be lookin' after 'em!" Jackie snapped at the Doctor.

"Jackie, I'm..."

"And if Leah got really bad we wouldn't even know what to do with her whole alien thing!"

"I'm here," Brax put in somewhat quietly, but he was completely ignored.

"Mum!" Rose squeaked, throwing her arms around the Doctor to try and calm him but he was beginning to shake...

"You promised me, Doctor, you promised you'd look after them!"

"I am!"

"Well you'd better start workin' harder!"

"I..." the Doctor began, but suddenly stopped, his breath catching in his throat.

Rose saw it coming. "No, no, no!" she cried as the Doctor collapsed. Brax immediately dived forward to catch him, but the sheer weight forced him to his knees.

"Doctor!?" Jack shouted in alarm, helping to support his utter stiff body. Jackie just watched, wide-eyed as he began to shake, his eyes wide and staring transfixed at the ceiling with quiet, strained moans slipping out.

"What the hell?!" Jackie yelped, leaping back with her hand over her mouth in shock and terror. "I bloody killed him!"

"Mum, calm down, just help us," Rose said quickly, positioning herself to carry the Doctor.

"Rose, what the hell is going on?" Jack said seriously, clearly shocked.

"Just help us," Rose insisted, indicating the Doctor's body with her head. "I'll explain everythin', I swear, just help us."

After a moment's pause, Jack just nodded and moved into position. The Doctor was still shaking badly and it took all four of them to gain a secure hold on him, lifting him up until together Jack, Jackie, Rose and Brax carried the Doctor to the nearest bedroom, and lowered his utterly stiff body gently down on the bed. Rose quickly loosened his tie and shirt, before running into the adjoining bathroom. Jackie just watched, horrified and confused before Rose came back in with a wet flannel and commenced mopping his already sweaty face and chest.

"Rose, what's wrong with 'im?" Jackie squeaked, not really knowing what to do as the Doctor continued to sweat and shake. "Is 'e havin' a fit!?"

"No, he's in pain," Rose said quickly, pressing a kiss to his forehead.

"Pain!? How? Why?"

Rose ignored her mother for the moment, directing her attentions to the Doctor. "It'll be okay I promise, just relax," she said so soothingly she almost hummed it.

"Hurts," the Doctor rasped.

"I know, it'll be over soon."

"Rose, you've gotta tell us what's going on or we can't help," Jack said seriously, resting a hand on the Doctor's arm.

"No," the Doctor suddenly gasped.

Rose immediately cupped his face gently. "Doctor, they need to hear this. We can't keep hidin'. Just Jack and mum, okay? They need to know."

The Doctor didn't answer for a moment, his trembles seemingly increasing. "Okay," he finally gasped out.

"Brax," Rose prompted.

Brax nodded, standing up to address the frantic humans. "There's something wrong with Thete. Very wrong. As I'm sure you're all aware during his time in Volag-noc he was gassed with a deadly compound called alere flamman. When we got home, I fully scanned him to find it wasn't out of his system, and never will be. It's permanently attached to his blood, bonded until he regenerates. This also means... I'm sorry, but the alere flamman won't just sit there. It will multiply again. Thete is very, very ill. I believe he has three months to live."

"What!?" Jackie shrieked as Jack swore loudly, the both of them gazing at the Doctor...

"For now the symptoms are treatable with medication," Brax continued after he'd acknowledged the replies. "But any raise in blood pressure causes him extreme pain that can't be rectified with painkillers."

"We can't stress him out, or he ends up like this," Rose clarified, gesturing at the man on the bed.

"So he's dying," Jack surmised quietly.

"… Yeah," Rose answered flatly.

"So why doesn't he regenerate?" Jack asked.

"We have a way he can regenerate into the same body and mind," Rose explained slowly. "But..."

She suddenly trailed off, unable to find the words.

"But what?" Jackie prompted.

"Thete and Rose have lost a memory," Brax continued, glancing at Rose. "One of their memories are blocked and without that he can't finish the template regeneration."

"Unit?" Jack suddenly asked, frowning.

Rose nodded silently. "We need to find out what happened to us in Manchester that made us wipe our memories there, Jack."

Jack nodded.

Jackie blinked. "You said you..." she began quietly.

"I'm sorry, Mum, we wanted to sort this out quietly. But we can't. Just don't tell anyone else. If they knew he was dyin'..."

She didn't finish the sentence.

"Does Leah know?" Jack asked.

"No," Rose said, shaking her head.

"You should tell her. She might know what happened to you, or at least give you some ideas," Jack insisted. "She was around, wasn't she? Nobody wiped her memory."

"I know, we just... I can't tell her Daddy's dying," Rose muttered quietly.

Silence followed.

"Do you want me to get her?" Brax wondered.

Rose glanced at the Doctor, who was still unable to talk. He was quite clearly trying, his breath repeatedly catching in his throat.

Silently, Rose nodded.

By the time Brax got back with Leah, the Doctor was sitting up with a little help from Jack and Rose. Brax sat the little girl on the bed next to her father, who wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head.

"Leah, d'you remember being in the Unit hospital?" Jack began. "You had Zolynawian Reverse Influenza."

"Yeah," Leah replied, gazing up at her father.

"D'you remember the monsters?"

"Yeah."

"Can you tell us what happened after we got back to the hospital?"

"Daddy was ill cos of his arm and Mummy stayed with him a lot in hozziepol," Leah began. "You took me back to the TARDIS, Uncle Jack, until Mummy came back and her eyes were all wet and she was really sad all the time. When Daddy came back he played with me a lot, and Mummy wasn't around a lot. But he kept falling asleep."

"Falling asleep?" Brax echoed. "What do you mean?"

"He would play with me then stop and fall asleep for a bit until he woke up and we'd play again."

"Why was he falling asleep?" Brax asked.

"I dunno," she replied, shrugging as she took her father's hand in both of hers, playing with his fingers.

"Did any of us say anything about that or Mummy or Daddy, Leah?" Jack asked next.

"I dunno. But you were getting mad at Daddy, Uncle Jack."

"What did I say?"

"I can't remember," she admitted. "But then when you were putting me to bed they were shouting a lot at each other. You ran out. Then Daddy woke me up later and said I had to go to Torchwood cos there was something you had to do."

"Okay. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Can I go to bed?" she asked tiredly.

"Thought you said you weren't tired," the Doctor whispered to her, kissing her again.

She ignored his words, gazing up at him. "Don't be sad."

"I'm not sad."

"Yeah, you are."

"What makes you think I'm sad?"

She didn't even blink, staring up at him with those big brown eyes. "Cos you're hugging me really tight."

He smiled briefly at that. "I'm just a bit sick, but I'll get better."

"Promise?"

"Yeah."

"And will you stop being sick?"

He smiled again. "I'll try very, very hard."

"Okay," she replied, seemingly satisfied.

"Me and Dad are goin' out for the day," Rose began, kneeling down to her. "But Granny, Uncle Jack, Uncle Brax and everyone else are gonna be here for you all the time. If you need more itching cream just let them know."

"Okay. Where're you going?"

Jack met Rose's gaze, who looked at the Doctor, who shook his head almost imperceptibly.

Manchester," Rose told her. "We're gonna go and see someone who might be able to fix daddy."

"Okay," she said, accepting it immediately. "Night night."

"Night night," the Doctor replied, kissing her forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too," she said, reaching up to her mother for a good bye kiss.

"Night night," Rose said as Brax picked her up and carried her back out of the door, Jackie immediately following with Tony in tow.

Jack turned to the Doctor. "All right?"

"Yeah," the Doctor muttered, using a combination of Rose, Jack and the bed to get up. "It's just temporary," he continued, blinking a few times. "Be fine in a minute."

For a moment there was silence as Jack continued to gaze at him, not letting go.

"... Why didn't you tell me?" he asked quietly, traces of genuine hurt plain in his tone.

"We didn't wanna burden you," Rose answered honestly, glancing at the Doctor.

"You're not a burden, you're my best friends," Jack replied honestly.

The Doctor finally pulled away from them both to stand confidently under his own power, wiping at his eyes. "You've done so much for us, Jack. Stand down. This is for me and Rose to sort out."

"But I need to do something," Jack insisted. "Gimme something I can do for you. Let me help."

"Look after the kids," Rose said seriously.

Jack sighed. "You're really not gonna let me help, are you?"

"That is helping," the Doctor countered, grinning.

Jack sighed again. "All right. But if you need me for anything, anything at all, you just call me, okay?"

Rose nodded. "Thank you, Jack."

"And you'd better come back with a cure," he added after a moment's thought.

The Doctor smiled a little at that. "We'll try. And Brax knows, but keep Alex and Kiana separate from Leah, she's too infectious. And, remember..."

"I know," Jack began as though he'd repeated his following phrase a thousand times before. "Any scratch, bruise or hint of sadness on any of their adorable little faces then I'm a flat, lemon meringue pancake."

"Good, just checking," the Doctor insisted.

"Sweetheart!" Jackie was back with Tony, looking at the Doctor in alarm.

"You ain't gone yet? You've gotta find that cure!"

"We're goin'!" Rose insisted.

Jackie immediately dived for her to give her a kiss, and then to the Doctor for the same, which made him squirm and protest as usual. She then embraced him in a hug – tight and full of love.

"Please don't die," she whispered in his ear, so quietly the others couldn't have heard.

"I'll be fine," was all he replied as a whisper directly back to her.

She pulled back, gazing up at him for a moment before finally letting go and clapping her hands together. "Right, bye then!"

Rose giggled. "Bye, Mum," she replied, taking her husband's hand and leading him out of the door where Brax was approaching.

"Good luck," he said sincerely, sticking out a hand for his brother to shake. "And don't do anything to that blood pressure. Stay calm."

"Oh, you know me," the Doctor responded flippantly with a wave of a dismissing hand.

Brax's eyebrows lowered. "Yes, I do. That's why I said it."

Rose giggled, reaching up to Brax for a hug. "See you later."

"What are you implying?" the Doctor asked seriously as they parted.

Brax just smiled. "Nothing," he said, reaching up to tousle his little brother's hair. "Good luck, Thete."

The Doctor patted down his hair indignantly, before running both hands through it to completely mess it up again. He then took his wife's hand again, gave a final wave to Brax and lead her through the sterilisation field and out into Torchwood.

Immediately the Doctor's leg was commandeered by Alex, the little one-year-old clinging on tightly. The Doctor dropped down to hug him as Ianto approached.

"Where's Kiana?" Rose asked, looking around.

Ianto frowned. "You can't hear them?"

Rose stopped, listening for a moment until she realised the Hub was filled with the sound of two babies laughing, rattles being shaken and toys making repetitive beeping noises.

"Oh," she realised. "I dunno, I think you sorta tune it out after a while."

Ianto smiled. "She's playing with Anwen, ma'am."

"Gwen's here?"

"Yeah, in the sitting area with Martha."

Rose left, leaving the Doctor to scoop up his son and follow her with Ianto. Sure enough he happened across Gwen and Martha, sitting on the sofa with Anwen and Kiana sitting on the rug eating rattles and talking nonsense.

Martha saw him and smiled. "You going, then?"

He nodded. "Back tonight."

"Good, we need to sort out my birth plan tonight."

"Oh?"

"Where I'm gonna deliver, silly," Martha laughed, indicating her now very heavy pregnancy. "I'd rather you delivered."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Wait, when did we discuss this?"

"Tonight," Martha replied.

"Oh," he said for the second time.

"Something wrong?" she asked, unnerved by his disposition.

"Oh, no," the Doctor said quickly, glancing at Rose who stayed silent. They both knew that if they didn't find their memory, by July the Doctor would have deteriorated so badly that he wouldn't be able to stand up, let alone deliver a baby. "I'd love to."

She laughed again. "Don't tell me you can't deliver a baby."

"Oh, yes, of course," the Doctor said. "It's just…" He gestured to the two babies on the floor. "Does this place seem less like a secret alien-hunting base and more like a crèche to you?"

The women giggled as Ianto stepped up beside him.

"I like it," he admitted, producing an envelope from his pocket and handing it to the Doctor. "Train tickets and £500 in twenties for you, sir."

"What's the money for?" the Doctor asked, staring at the envelope.

"Coffee, sir," Ianto responded, a small smirk on his face.

"One day you'll forget to call me sir," the Doctor said seriously.

"Never, sir."

The Doctor rolled his eyes, slipping the envelope into his inside pocket as Rose got up.

"Thanks, Yan," Rose said, dropping to kiss Kiana and Alex in turn.

"I could drive you to the station, ma'am, sir?"

"Don't worry, it's a nice day, we'll walk," Rose assured him as the Doctor said good bye to Alex and Kiana. Alex just gazed up at him, those big blue eyes seemingly cutting into his soul.

"We're back tonight, okay?" he told the boy, who nodded and hugged him tighter. Several moments passed before the Doctor managed to peel the boy off of him and sit him on the sofa.

"Bye, Alex," the Doctor whispered to him.

Everyone waited, just staring at the boy, willing him to speak.

He didn't, and just waved instead.

The Doctor withheld a sigh and just waved back with a smile, giving the boy one last kiss before he cemented his hand back in Rose's.

"Have fun," Gwen said, and they both smiled and nodded.

"See you later," Rose responded before they both headed out of Torchwood.

A/N: What's this? Next time? What? WHAT? WHAT!? Wonder how long I'll keep this up...

Next time...

He was ill. Terminally ill. He'd only been diagnosed two days ago, and even now she almost believed it wasn't true. The scans were corrupted. Brax had read them wrong. A million reasons why everyone else was wrong and the Doctor was in fact perfectly fine.

But he wasn't. She knew that. It was happening right in front of her ears and her eyes. He was paling a little more with every day, getting a little bit more tired as they began to approach his scheduled death day. It was such a little decline at the moment that no one else had noticed, but she could see it.

And it was her fault.

Her selfish fault.