DISCLAIMERS: If I owned Doctor Who, Tennant would still be the Doctor! No offense to Smith, but Tennant is perfect Doctor material!

Thanks to JKW for her Beta work!

CHAPTER 5: END OF THE WORLD part 2

Previously on Doctor Who...

As they began playing Soft Cell's "Tainted Love" on a mislabeled Jukebox, Rose looked around the room. Aliens to the left, aliens to the right, and aliens in front of her. Really alien aliens too. Not human-looking aliens like the Doctor. She was getting really overwhelmed and it was just too much. She suddenly felt closed in, she needed some air to breathe. Rose left the room to get some space...

D*W

Rose had made her way to an empty room- what's its function was Rose had no idea- with a tall narrow window so she could look out at the Earth. When one of the blue aliens dressed like staff came in, Rose asked her if she needed to leave. She was floored to discover that the poor woman needed her permission even to talk; that wasn't right. But Rose gave her the permission and talked with her for a minute. Rose asked about where she came from, but since it wasn't a planet, she really couldn't understand the woman's explanation of what it was. The return question of where she came from surprised her.

"I don't know. A long way away," Rose told her. "I just sort of hitched a lift with this man. I didn't even think about it. I don't even know who he is. He's a complete stranger." Rose said, realizing this for the first time. It was hitting her that here she was, in the year five billion with someone she barely knew. What happens if something goes wrong? What if something happens to him, and he dies or something? She'd be trapped!

She knew nothing about this strange alien she had followed to the "End of the World". He could be anyone. She didn't know his name, other than "Doctor". She didn't even know his species! She had no idea what his home planet was called or any idea what his people were like. If they ran into trouble, she would have no idea how to help him if he got hurt or something.

D * W

The Doctor had been a bit concerned when Rose had suddenly taken off. Apparently it had all become just a little bit too much for her. But he didn't want her wandering off all on her own; anything could happen to her if she did that. He was delayed first by Jabe, and then the Steward wanting the Tardis moved. Finally, he was able to track her down; she was in the room the Tardis had landed in sitting on the edge of the raised platform. He joined her.

"What do you think, then?" he asked her.

"Great, yeah. Fine," Rose answered. Her tone indicated that something was bothering her despite her words. "Once you get past the slightly-psychic paper," both of them laughed a bit at that.

"They're just so... alien," Rose finally said. "The aliens are so alien. You look at 'em; and they're alien." They didn't even look remotely human, like the Doctor did. She didn't meant to be difficult, but it did take some getting used to. This was her first experience with aliens, besides the Doctor.

"Good thing I didn't take you to the Deep South," the Doctor quipped. No, not a place to take someone who didn't like the look of non-humans. Talk about throwing someone into the deep end! She'd definitely have trouble adjusting to that.

Rose turned to him and suddenly was giving him a hard look. It was a stronger look than she had been wearing earlier. This was the look of a fighter. "Where are you from?" she asked.

'Where did this come from? Why did she have to ask about that? The one subject I want to avoid most of all,' the Doctor thought. He did not want to discuss Gallifrey with her. Not now at any rate.

"All over the place," he told her, looking down at his hands. He had been traveling around the universe for over six hundred years now. So it was true, sort of. For some odd reason he didn't want to outright lie to her.

"They all speak English," Rose commented, moving on for the moment. Obviously, questions about his past troubled him greatly, or at least questions about his home did. She had been thinking briefly about how she could understand everyone. Why would everyone still speak an English she could recognize after all his time?

"No, you just hear English. It's a gift of the Tardis. Telepathic field, gets inside your brain, translates," the Doctor explained to Rose, glad that she had dropped the questions about his origins. He laid back on his elbow to look at her, glad to brag about his ship.

"It's inside my brain?" she asked him, with a hard edge in her voice.

"Well, in a good way," he defended.

"Your machine gets inside my head. It gets inside, and it changes my mind, and you didn't even ask?" she said with anger rising. She had the right to know before some machine got into her head and started doing things to it. She probably would have said yes, but he should have asked. If this was happening without her knowledge, what else would he do before asking?

"I didn't think about it like that," the Doctor said. Really, what was the problem? It was something the Tardis did automatically to anyone in her range.

"No, you were too busy thinking up cheap shots about the Deep South. Who are you, then, Doctor? What are you called? What sort of alien are you?" Rose asked quickly, demanding answers.

The Doctor's easygoing smile left at Rose's questioning. He wasn't ready to answer her, even the few questions that he could answer. He sat back up and looked out the window. "I'm just the Doctor," he said.

"From what planet?" she asked.

The Doctor was baffled as to why she even bothered to ask; she was a human from an era long before they traveled the stars. They still had a few more centuries before they developed the technology to take their place among the stars. What help would his planet's name be to her? "Well, its not as if you'd know where it is," he said.

"Where are you from?" she persisted.

"What does it matter?" he yelled. Gallifrey was gone; there was no going home. 'Drop it Rose,' he thought.

"Tell me who you are!" She yelled back.

"This is who I am, right here, right now, all right?" he yelled. "All that counts is here and now, and this is me."

"Yeah, and I'm here, too, 'cause you brought me here, so just tell me!"

Rather than continue arguing with her, he stood up a stormed down to the windows staring out at the stars. He wished that his home system in the constellation of Kasterborous could still be seen among them, but he wasn't even granted that small luxury. He watched the Earth and wished humans could grasp what names meant in Gallifreyan society. But it took too much out of him to even try to explain.

After a few moments, Rose got up and went over to stand next to the Doctor. She wished he'd open up to her, tell her something about himself. But clearly his scars went very deep, so deep he couldn't even talk about who he was or where he came from. She supposed it could be as simple as he didn't know-but Rose doubted that was the case, he was reacting all wrong for that scenario. She decided to drop it for now.

"All right. As my mate Shareen says, 'Don't argue with the designated driver.' Can't exactly call for a taxi. There's no signal," Rose said, having pulled out her phone just to prove her point. She knew there wouldn't be a signal; all the cell towers and satellites that the mobile phone used to receive a signal were long gone. "We're out of range. Just a bit."

Rose's change of topic had actually managed to get the Doctor's mind off his depressing thoughts. He smiled as she mentioned being unable to call a taxi. He heard the beeps her phone was making, and looking over he saw her playing with it. That gave him an idea to make it up to her, just a bit. "Tell you what. With a little bit of jiggery pokery– ," he said, taking her phone and pulling out his sonic screwdriver.

"Is that a technical term, 'Jiggery pokery'?" Rose asked, with a teasing smile on her face.

"Yeah, I came first in jiggery pokery," he replied, loving the banter. "What about you?"

"No, I failed Hullabaloo," Rose returned.

"Aw. There you go," he said, as he finished his work on her phone. Now she would be able to call any one at any time, from anywhere during any time. It was referred to by his last friend from a similar time period as a "super-phone".

Rose took a second to call her mum, hearing her voice made her feel closer to normal, even being so far. But after she hung up it hit her. "That was five billion years ago. She's dead now, five billion years later, my mum's dead," Rose said.

"Bundle of laughs you are," the Doctor said.

Suddenly she entire deck shook. The Doctor's attention then shifted. "That's not supposed to happen," he said to Rose.

ALL GUESTS MAY BE REASSURED THAT GRAVITY POCKETS MAY CAUSE SLIGHT TURBULENCE. THANK YOU.

The Doctor led Rose back toward the reception area so he could check Platform One's systems. "That wasn't a gravity pocket. I know gravity pockets, and they don't feel like that. What do you think, Jabe?" he said, turning to the Tree that had approached the two of them. "Listen to the engines. They've pitched up about 30 hertz. Is that dodgy, or what?"

"Its the sound of metal. It doesn't make any sense to me." The pretty Tree-lady replied.

"Where's the engine room?"

"I don't know. But the maintenance duct is just behind or guest's suite. I could show you. And...your wife?" Jabe said in a questioning tone, clearly fishing for information.

"Oh, she's not my wife," the Doctor said quickly, perhaps a little too quickly. He didn't like the train of thought that question had just set his mind off on. 'Impossible,' he told himself firmly.

"Partner?" She asked again, clearly referring to a more sexual reference.

"No," No, Rose was not his partner, not even in a purely friendly and "Saving the world" sense. Not yet at least. Maybe soon she could be. But somehow he thought that she would mean more than the word implied someday soon.

"Concubine?"

"No! Not at all," the Doctor said quickly. He didn't want anyone thinking that about Rose. She was already so much more than anyone else had been to him in a long time.

"Prostitute?" Jabe continued to question.

The Doctor was about to protest, but Rose beat him to it. "Whatever I am, it must be invisible. Do you mind?" she said rather crossly, glaring a bit at the Tree. The Doctor liked her attitude; no one could look down on her, she wouldn't let them.

"Tell you what. You two go and pollinate. I'm gonna go catch up with the family. Quick word with Michael Jackson." Rose said, pointing to Cassandra.

"Don't start a fight," the Doctor called after her. "I'm all yours," he said to Jabe offering her his left arm.

"And I want you home by midnight," he heard Rose call after him. He inwardly smiled at that. He wondered if she would be around long enough to think of the Tardis as her home. He quite liked that thought.

EARTH DEATH IN 15 MINUTES.

Rose did go and have a few words with Casandra. She discovered that the piece of skin was not the last human, the rest and spread out throughout the universe and evolved. Whereas Casandra had kept herself back and had surgery after surgery in some vain attempt to remain "pure human". Rose had a fit when she commented that she needed work; she'd never live like that. What was the point? So Rose had technically started a fight, saying that she was the last human being in the room-and then she left.

The Doctor meanwhile was discovering that there was no help to be had if anything went wrong with the computer or any other system. "Unsinkable," the last time he was on a ship that was unsinkable he ended up clinging to an iceberg. He supposed that was but a forgotten footnote to these people anymore.

As he checked the systems Jabe told him that she had figured out what he was. He had not even spoken the name of his planet, or his people, out loud since that day decades ago when he lost his homeworld. But he appreciated her concern and sympathy all the same.

They found the engine room and a small spider-like sabotage droid. Jabe was able to grab it for him and the two headed to the steward's office. Reaching the corridor where his office was they noticed a dramatic increase in temperature and smoke covered the area. He ran to the controls, pulling the rest of the short alien staff back. "All right. Hold on, get back," he said clearing the way.

Sunfilter rising. Sunfilter rising...

"Is the steward in there?" asked Jabe, shocked and horrified.

"You can smell him," the Doctor answered. Well, he could anyway. "Hold on. There's another sunfilter programmed to descend." The Doctor quickly took off in the direction of the other room that would soon be a death trap.

When he got there he could see the smoke building, like before, and he quickly ran to the control panel with his sonic screwdriver in hand. "Is anyone in there?" he asked, after hearing banging coming from the other side of the door.

Rose had finished talking with Cassandra and had stormed off down the corridors to be on her own and think. She had been knocked on the head and had woken up alone in this room. She had quickly realized that she was in grave danger from the sun and had tried to get out-only to discover the door was locked. Still, she banged on the door, hoping someone on board might come along and hear her. She was more than relieved when she heard her Doctor's voice on the other side of the door. She knew if anyone could save her now it would be him.

"Open the door! Let me out!" said a voice that almost made the Doctor's hearts stop. 'Rose! How did she get herself into this mess?! Oh, Rassilion, something tells me I'm gonna have my hands full with this one,' the Doctor thought.

But he pushed down his worry and focused on saving her. "Oh, well, it would be you," he said, joking. If he didn't joke at times like these, he'd have gone nuts long ago, or would curl up in a ball crying in these situations and be of no use to anyone, least of all Rose.

"Open the door!" Rose shouted again. He could barely tell through the metal door, but her voice sounded afraid and very urgent. He had to hurry!

Rose knew the heat from the sun was getting stronger in here; if she didn't get out of here soon she's be vaporized! She trusted the Doctor, she did, but time was running out.

"Hold on. Give us two ticks," he told her, letting her know he wasn't out here doing nothing, he was just having more trouble than he should be having while fixing this.

Sunfilter Descending. Sunfilter Descending. That stupid message was starting to piss him off. Finally the Doctor managed to trip the controls back.

Sunfilter Rising. Sunfilter Rising. Both him and Rose breathed a sigh of relief- for a moment. He was just about to give another cocky smile when he heard a click.

Followed by the computer announcing: Sunfilter Descending.

"This is just what we need," said the Doctor, "The computer's getting clever."

"Stop mucking about!" Rose fairly shrieked at him, pounding on the door.

"I'm not mucking about. It's fighting back!" He yelled back, worry increasing. If this kept up, Rose could be dead in seconds.

"Open the door!" Rose shouted yet again. Finally, she had to leave the area by the door, or she'd be vaporized. She dashed to what little protection the steps might offer her, crouching down to hide from the super-heated sunlight that was breaking through at the top of the window.

"I know!" the Doctor called back. He knew; he was working as fast as he could. He couldn't lose Rose, especially not now.

Finally he managed to get it and went back to see about getting her out of there. He could tell right away it would be rather useless, right now. And he feared that this was only the beginning, he had to go see what he could do to stop it. "The whole thing's jammed, I can't open the doors. Stay there. Don't move," he told her. She only made some sarcastic remark right back-letting him know she was tough enough to handle this.

EARTH DEATH IN 5 MINUTES

To discover that this whole thing had been a plot by Cassandra to get more money so she can continue to look the way she does, really pissed the Doctor off. But then she teleported out of there and took down the shields. Leaving the Doctor with less than 3 minutes in which to save them.

Back in the engine room with Jabe, he realized the computer reset switch was on the other side of the three huge rotating fans that were spinning out of control as Platform One heated up. Jabe offered to hold down a switch that slowed them down, but he knew it would kill her. The heat would pump through this place and if she was holding onto something, she'd burn.

"So stop wasting time, Time Lord," Jabe said. It was the first time someone had called him that in years. He gave her a big smile and headed off. By the time he reached the third fan Jabe could no longer hold on to the lever; and she caught fire and burned. He had to slip into using his extra time-senses to get past the third fan; he rarely needed to use them like this, but the fan would kill him otherwise.

With only seconds left, he made it through the blades and pulled the switch, "Raise shields!" he said. The shields came on-line just in time before the sun ripped the planet apart. He turned around and slowly made his way back to where Jabe had been-only ashes remained of the kind Tree.

D * W

Rose meanwhile had been struggling to stay out of the rays of sun that had been breaking through the window. Finally a computerized voice said"Exoglass repaired"and the danger seemed to be over. Rose assumed that the Doctor had saved them. Finally, she could get out of that room. Walking into where the reception had been, she could tell that not everyone had been as lucky as her during the crisis.

The Doctor came striding in moments later, an angry and solemn look about him. He made his way over to the other two Tree-men and told them something. Rose could not hear what was said but given the looks of grief being passed, she figured that the other one-Jabe-had been killed.

The Doctor left them to their grief and made his way back to Rose. "You all right?" she asked him, concerned. This was why he liked her. She had likely only just barely made it out of that room alive, and yet she was asking him if he was alright!

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said shortly. He was pissed, beyond pissed; he was furious. All this pain and suffering and loss for what? Money and looks. He was just glad Rose had made it through her first ordeal okay.

"I'm full of ideas, I'm bristling with them. Idea number one: teleportation through five thousand degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two: this feed must be hidden nearby," he said, now walking over to the "last remaining ostrich egg" that Cassandra had brought with her. Breaking it, he found exactly what he was expecting, a teleportation feed.

"Idea number three: if you're as clever as me, then a teleportation feed can be reversed," he said, putting words to actions and reversing the feed with his sonic screwdriver and bringing Cassandra back to Platform One.

She tried to make an excuse, but as he said, "People have died, Cassandra. You murdered them!"

She gave no remorse, just continued to say how she would get out of it, by putting on a show in court. And so he gave her no mercy, in return. The skin that was all that was left of her creaked and dried out in the room's increased temperature. But Rose, how forgiving and compassionate was her heart, that she asked him to help her? But he couldn't, wouldn't.

"Everything has its time, and everything dies," he said. Everything. Even the universe someday. But today was Cassandra's day; her skin exploded over the two of them. The Doctor turned around and walked away.

Sometime later, after he had cooled off, he found Rose staring out at the pieces of the Earth drifting past the window. "The end of the Earth," she said in a quiet voice. "It's gone. And we were so busy saving ourselves. No one saw it go." She sounded like she had been crying, just a bit.

The Doctor stared out the window for a moment, thinking about what had happened to his own beloved planet, Gallifrey. Sometimes he still couldn't believe it was gone. But the silence told him it was, completely and utterly and he could not go back, even to visit. He could never go home again. However, the same wasn't true for Rose. She could go visit any time or place she wanted, even go back to London 2005, if she wanted.

"All those years, all that history, and no one was even looking," Rose said.

Before she could say much else, he held out his hand to her, "Come with me," he said. She took his hand and he led her back to the Tardis. The Tardis gave Rose a comforting hum in response to her somber mood. As Rose entered the strange alien ship, she almost felt as if someone had just given her a comforting hug.

T.B.C...

A/N: I spent days debating what to do about Jabe; I hope you like what I settled on. But Hurray! First change I've made to the show! Minor though it was. I had thought it was too soon for changes and began to write the scene; the Doctor argued with me halfway through that scene. I agreed with his thoughts and, hey, they were his lines.

I recommend you read: A Golden Rose

Reviews make the TARDIS HUMM!