AN- Hello again! Here's the second and final chapter of this little two shot. I hope you guys enjoy it; the ending was kind of iffy for me, but I thought I'd go for it. And if you feel like it please do leave a favorite or review! :)

She signaled for the other three Time Lords to remain silent as her eyes watched the blue box before them darkly. She had a very bad feeling about this.

A tall, skinny man Romana instantly recognized as the Doctor stepped from the TARDIS followed by two women and one man. The three humans were walking around, shock evident on all of their faces. But what stunned Romana was the expression the Doctor held.

It was an expression she had seen on innumerable Time Lords during the War. It was the fire of madness, of having seen and gone through too much, but there was… something more to it in the Doctor.

In her old friend, it was the look of victory. Of… age old grief, morphed and melded into mad recklessness. She had always known he was a bit mad, but… this was something more.

The two younger humans scurried away in- was that fear?- and the older woman said a few more things to the Doctor before she walked away, into her apartment. Once the older woman was gone, Romana whispered a quiet command to her team, ordering them to stay there while she dealt with this.

Because whatever this was… it was incredibly different.

"Excuse me," she said as she approached the Doctor, feigning ignorance and keeping her mental shields up so that he couldn't recognize her presence. For the first Time, she was actually grateful that none of those on her team had telepathic ability as pronounced as a Time Lord.

The Doctor turned around with a slight start as she called out to him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Romana was quicker.

"I couldn't help but notice you and your box… appear out of nowhere," she said, keeping her voice even, adapting the speech patterns of the Time. "Is it magic?"

The Doctor glanced her over, and for the first Time in all the Time she had known him, he looked the epitome of a Time Lord.

"You wouldn't understand," he spat harshly, and Romana pretended to flinch. "Not in this Time."

"In this… Time?" Romana paused for dramatic effect. "Well, why don't you tell me?"

"No one understands," he continued on, as though he hadn't even heard her. His eyes glazed over slightly. "Not ever again. I'm the… last."

Romana's hearts broke for him, and she felt mildly ill. Of course. He still believed he burned Gallifrey.

"The last of… what?" she murmured in a voice barely above a whisper, struggling to keep up the appearance.

"Of a race that upheld thousands of silly little laws, protecting silly little people," he snarled suddenly, his gaze growing fiery, and Romana felt she could hardly recognize her old friend. "They thought they could control me. All my life, they held me back. But then they died. They all died. Leaving me. Alone. For the longest Time, for the longest Time, I thought I had to abide by those old rules, those ancient rules, but I know better now. I've watched people die for so, so long. I've grown so… so tired, leaving people behind, letting them perish, and all the Time, I've been ignoring the simple fact. I'm the last. The winner. The Time Lord, Victorious."

Throughout his speech, Romana was silent, her hearts a mixture of slight sadness, but mostly fury, as it all fell into place. He had broken the fixed point. He had grown out of his already massive head and gone absolutely bonkers.

Romana had heard enough. She let her barriers drop.

It took a moment, but when that moment struck, it was like a lash to the Time Lord's face. He stumbled back in shock and horror.

"You're… you're a-"

"I am Lady President Romanadvoratrelundar of Gallifrey," she bit sharply, her face losing any semblance of calm. "And you, Lord Doctor-" She spat his name in disgust. "-have broken the most important rule, which has existed ever since Rassilon and Omega created our kind. You have upset Time, and you have shattered that which must never be shattered-"

Suddenly, Romana was cut off by a gunshot. The sound echoed from the flat the woman had gone into earlier. Immediately, the Time Lady felt Time shifting, the flux points adapting and the fixed point healing. That woman had been the fixed point. She was meant to die, and she must have known enough about her situation that she took care of the job herself.

The Doctor grew intensely pale as he saw the Timelines fall back into place at the same Time as Romana did. His breath grew short.

"I've… I've gone too far," he muttered in nothing but horror, falling to his knees in the snow. He looked up at Romana, standing over him with her hands on her hips.

"Is this it?" he asked with a shout. "My death?"

Romana swallowed the lump in her throat, forcing herself to remain stern. She took his arm, pulling him up to his feet.

"Come on," she said, seeing that his fire had passed from his eyes. "Let's go, Doctor."

He flinched when she took his arm, but he allowed her to pull her up.

"You're not…" he realized with a broken voice. "You're not a hallucination, or-?"

"I'm not," she admitted, deciding it was okay for the moment. She would deal with his memories later. "Come on. My team is waiting for me. But they can wait."

"Your… team…?"

Romana did not answer his questioning tone, turning around to her team. She motioned to Riandra to wait for her in the TARDIS. The other woman appeared hesitant at first, but Romana nodded in insistence. Turning back around to the blue box she once called home, she took the Doctor by the arm, the doors swinging open easily for them. The lights were darkened, the old ship knowing exactly what was wrong with her Thief.

Romana led him to the library, a spot that had brought both of them peace back when she traveled with him. She made him sit down on one of the plush couches, and she sat down on the couch opposite.

"Doctor," she said plainly, folding her arms over her chest. His gaze was focused darkly on the ground, refusing to meet her eyes. "Doctor, look at me."
"You can't be real," his breath shuddered as he spoke. "Can't be, I…"

"Listen, you think you burned us. I understand, I was there-"

"I think?!" the man's head whipped up in fury, and Romana thought she saw a remaining spark of that madness in him, though it soon died with his next words. "I was- there." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Romana, I… spoke to you. Over the hologram. I used the Moment. Killed you all." He swallowed hard. "And now you're back to haunt me. Suppose you took your Time, didn't you." His face twisted into a grimacing grin.

"Oh, you-" Romana huffed, frustration peaking. "I'm not haunting you. I was trying to complete a mission for Gallifrey, when you and your Rassilon-forsaken fixed point attacked my Timesense!" She quieted her voice. "Doctor… what did you do?"

"I…" The blue suited man rubbed his face over with his palm in sheer exhaustion. "...never meant for it to happen. I landed on Mars, just for… fun, never meant to land in… this Time. Bowie Base One."

"Oh, Doctor," Romana murmured in fear. Bowie Base One was monumental in Earth history. "You saved them."

"I didn't mean to," he protested, however weakly. "I was just… I was walking away from the base, it was exploding, and I was hearing all their voices in my head, and I was just… so tired. Of people dying. Losing people. I couldn't… I wasn't…"

Romana knew the symptoms of post traumatic stress, and she also knew that it wasn't a solely human condition. He fit the bill in every way. To suffer through the war, then spend centuries alone, with no telepathic contact, as the sole bearer of Time…

Romana suddenly felt very, very guilty for ordering his post Time War self- the angst ridden and probably suicidal Northern one- to live.

She reached over to touch his hand, sending light telepathic waves over to him. His eyes flickered up in alarm, but it was that gesture that made him know.

"You… are real," he murmured, his voice cracking. "Romana, my Romana…"

"Yes. I am," the Time Lady responded. "Doctor, I'm sorry about everything that's happened. That… you had to be the one to carry it all for the rest of us. But you have more to do. You mustn't throw it all away for some stupid, reckless power trip that ends in the universe's destruction."

"I… I know," he said, averting his eyes again. "I'm sorry Romana."

"Don't apologize to me," she said sternly. "I have to go soon, back to Gallifrey, so our people have a leader. And you'll have to forget this, so you can go on, being you. But don't forget this: you are a good man. This universe needs you, Doctor. You've done so much good. There's so much more you have left to do. Be the Doctor again."

The pinstriped Time Lord stared up at her as she rose to her feet, emotion welling up in his eyes.

"Romana…" he began, before the lump in his throat stopped him short. He took a deep breath, starting again. "Romana, I… need you."

"Don't be daft," she said firmly, rolling her eyes. "You went on fine both before and after you and I rattled about. We'll meet again, I promise you. But for now, you'll do fine without me."

She sat down on the couch next to him.

"Why do you always find yourself in these situations when I show up?" Her voice was teasing.

"That's just you," he said with a half smile. "You always have to show me up. It's part of every regeneration."

Romana gave a watery laugh, before she hugged the Doctor, her arms wrapping tightly around him. He melted into the embrace, his shoulders trembling slightly, but Romana knew better than to bring it up. After a moment, she drew away, placing her fingertips on his temples.

"Time for me to go, Theta," she whispered with slight sadness. "It's not Time for you to remember yet. I'm sorry."

"I understand." From his eyes, he did understand. He opened his mind to her, allowing her to go in, extracting every memory, every wisp of her presence.

Romana allowed him to drift off into a sleep after it was done, lying the Time Lord on the couch after removing his coat for a more peaceful sleep. She swiped a tear away from her face as she departed, taking one last glance over her shoulder to look at his sleeping form. Swallowing hard, Romana shut the door firmly behind her, hurrying out of his TARDIS, the familiar presence leaving her mind as the old girl dematerialized away into the Vortex.

Romana slipped away into the shadows. Sirens whined as they pulled onto the street, the reports of a gunshot attracting the attention of the local authorities. Romana hurried back to the TARDIS, where she muttered a quick explanation to her team members, telling them that the fixed point had been repaired, and that this was not a suitable Time period, and that they should prepare for dematerialization as soon as possible.

That form of the Doctor, if she was being perfectly honest, frightened her. Not so much because of what he was capable of- because she knew that already- but the places his being alone would drive him to. She had felt his mind. It was lonely. Dark. Empty. She'd had to force herself away from her oldest friend. She didn't think she would be able to leave him if she'd hung on for much longer.

But she had to remind herself that he would, somehow, some way, work himself out of it. He had a Twelfth form. He would make it. Without her.

That thought gave her hearts what she considered to be a very unnecessary pang of emotion.

She took a deep breath, and forced herself back into reality.