Title: The Stowaway
Summary: The Doctor crashes into the Titanic in time to find the whole ship under a Mummy's curse, and a waitress with a message about Rose. An alternate version of Voyage of the Damned.
Ships: Doctor/Rose. And the Titanic - that's a fairly big ship, obviously.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: All belongs to the BBC. Salutes and sings the National Anthem
Status: Complete

Astrid was dead.

The thing inside her had stolen years of a life that it had had no right to. And what for? To trick him with a stolen voice?

It was still in there, hidden in the dying flesh. There was no human body for it to jump into. It would steal the last of the heat from Astrid and then it would die.

Only first he was going to make it very, very sorry.

Astrid lay on his lap. He could feel it burning inside of her, harvesting the last heat her body had left. He took her head in his hands, and leaned his own head over hers. The thing stirred at his mental presence.

"Talk," ordered the Doctor.

Astrid's body jolted. The Doctor had seen too much death to hope that she had miraculously recovered.

The thing gasped as though it was not used to controlling a body. Astrid was no more alive than the corpses in that morgue in Cardiff all those years ago.

"Doctor…my Doctor."

It was Rose's voice, as young and innocent and as he remembered it ever being.

"You've stolen that voice," he snarled. "What are you?"

"You know who I am," the voice accused.

Astrid's eyes snapped open. They glowed up at him with all the power in the universe.

"That's impossible," he stated. "I put you back! I died!"

He clutched at the body, peering into the eyes as if searching for the answers.

"You put back the Time Vortex. I am…the Bad Wolf. I was not yours to take."

The voice was more distant now, as though it was rapidly using up Astrid's last energy.

"I was lived in the heart of your ship. Rose Tyler absorbed one tiny, tiny piece of it forever. She and the TARDIS both share a…mutual interest. A part of them that would do anything to save you. Anything at all. I am the part of TARDIS that lives for you and I found a home in Rose…"

"And Astrid?"

"I could not…follow Rose into the other universe. Just as the TARDIS could not. I could only travel to the places Rose had gone. I was weak and had nowhere to go – so I found the rift. Your second journey. But I could only survive inside a body… I was forced to hide inside people, passing from one to another. I waited years before someone – Astrid - stumbled across something with alien technology…"

"But you kill them," the Doctor snarled. "You let them die!"

"The deaths were not wanted," said the Bad Wolf. "I kept each one alive for as long as I could…at great expense to my own power. I had no choice. All I can do is talk to them and lead them into it willingly and without fear."

"It was you – you stopped Astrid from letting me help her! Why? What can her death have achieved for you?" he demanded. He gripped Astrid more tightly.

There was a sound like a sigh. "You do not understand. You could not have saved her by removing me. The bodies are doomed the second I enter them. She would have died anyway and you would have only given her false hope. Astrid would have gone into the darkness alone and afraid without me."

The Doctor was angry – incandescent with rage at this creature – how could something created by Rose's love for him do such evil?

"Why burn these people up? What can be that important?"

There was a sigh again, like a schoolteacher whose student has failed to grasp something after the tenth attempt at explanation. The Doctor had never claimed to truly understand the universe – but it was disconcerting to have bits of it sighing at him for not getting it.

"I did not want to. I live for as long as Rose Tyler exists in her universe, but I cannot die before she does. Hitching a ride in these bodies isn't a choice – it's a fact of my existence. And I needed to find you..."

"Is that why you used the psychic dampener as a signal? You used Rose's voice to call to the TARDIS?"

"This is my voice. The only voice I have ever known. I called to the TARDIS and used what little energy I had to pull her to me."

"The crash – you did that?"

"I…apologise. I did not intend the damage. I have a message…"

The body was colder now. The Bad Wolf didn't have long.

"What message? What have you done so much to find me for?" he asked.

The golden eyes drifted shut. "You must return Rose Tyler to this universe."

That was all? This thing thought it was that simple? It had searched so long for him only to ask for the impossible?

"I can't-"

"You must. I can only live while Rose lives. I will not even be able to return into the TARDIS. I am too…human."

"How will you know when she dies?" the Doctor asked, although he certainly didn't want to know.

"I cannot reach Rose, but I sense her. In your timeline she will die in one year – on Christmas day."

The Doctor clutched at Astrid. "No. Rose lives. Rose i has /i to live," he shouted. His voice was thick. "That was the only – that was the thing that kept me-"

"I would have kept her alive for you," the Bad Wolf whispered.

The Doctor frowned, and when he spoke his voice shook. "How? You burned up all the others…"

"Their bodies rejected me like a…a transfusion gone wrong. Rose is the body I was created for. I could have given her hundreds of years…all so that she could share them with you."

The Doctor shook his head. This was too much. This was taking away a gift he had never known he had, and knowing made it all the worse. "Stop it!"

"I'm fading…" the Bad Wolf whispered. "The TARDIS will keep me in stasis until Rose returns. I will not cause another death."

The Doctor clutched at Astrid's face. "If I find her, if I do the impossible…" He couldn't finish the question. It was too big a concept to put into one sentence – even for him.

"Then you will never have to watch her wither and die. A gift…for my Doctor."

And then the light was gone. It poured into the air and faded, no doubt hidden away by the TARDIS. The cold body of Astrid lay on his lap.

He would never have been able to save her.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor whispered. "I'm so very sorry."

He sat for a long time, not moving, not doing anything. He was taking it in, digesting it, and although he had no concrete plan, long forgotten cogs in his brain were whirring.

One year to find Rose. To do the impossible. Of course there were different levels of impossibility. Some of them were just 'unlikely' dressed up in fancy clothes. But breaking into the other universe…that was impossible with a capital 'I'. It was so impossible that the word 'possible' shouldn't even be allowed near it. It was, quite simply, 'Im'.

But what a gift it would be - not just getting Rose back for a few decades, but getting Rose back and never having to say goodbye. It was a prize so wonderful that he felt sick even thinking about failing.

After a while he stood and gently laid the body back on the chair. Astrid looked as if she were merely sleeping. He wished that she could have learned the secret in her head without having it kill her. He wished he could have shown her the universe. She'd deserved so much more than just being the Bad Wolf's messenger.

He set the co-ordinates for New York. He had a promise to fulfil.

And then…well…there was a gift he wanted for next Christmas.

I think of him now and again
I wonder how his journey ends
As I sail by on my lonesome sea
That stranger with the haunting face
Here then gone without a trace
Lying with his love, that's where he'll be.

The End

A/N: It was an image of this final scene in my head that sparked the whole fic off. This story got a bit bigger than planned – I originally only envisioned two chapters. Oops.

So that's it. I wanted it to be a reunion fic without it actually being a reunion fic. A slightly bittersweet message of hope and love (as befits a Christmas story) and not too sappy. I also wanted the story to be close enough to what we know about the episode and the song as I could make it. So if it fit one or all of the above do let me know!

I would love to honestly know what you thought about any or all of it.