Chapter Nine

The tenth Doctor slowly walked down the stairwell of Bucknall House, wincing and stopping periodically to catch his breath. The pain in his chest was dissipating somewhat, but the mere fact that he had had it was troubling to say the least.

"Troubling," he scoffed to himself. "It's a personal crisis and a potential catastrophe."

Gritting his teeth, he made his way back to the park where, to his relief, Clara was still waiting for him on the bench.

"Alright," he said as he sat down next to her, "who are you, and what do you have to do with all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

"The changes to the timeline have accelerated, and they aren't just affecting me, they're affecting you as well. Now it would be one thing if the changes just had to do with my future, but they have begun to affect my past, and I don't know why." His eyes narrowed at her. "But you do. You started to tell me why before I went to see Jackie."

"And you told me you didn't want to know," she reminded him.

He felt another twinge and shook his head.

"I think I have to. I need to know why this is happening."

She didn't answer immediately. "I think the reason all of this is happening," she said eventually, "is that I saved your life."

"So? Lots of people have saved my life. If I had a banana for every time someone saved my life—well, I'd have a lot of bananas, I suppose. But saving my life would only affect my future, not my past."

She shook her head. "No. I saved your life before we met. And helped you in other ways as well."

"Really?"

"You don't sound surprised."

"Time Lord," he said as if that explained everything. And perhaps it did, she thought. "Time twists and turns are part and parcel for a Time Lord, standard operating procedure. I haven't met you, but you've met me. You haven't met me, but I've already said goodbye to you. You've influenced my life before we knew each other. But it all seems dependent on us meeting eventually."

Brow furrowed, he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I obviously still meet you because you still remember me, and because I'm still here. And you're still here. But if I don't meet you at the same time, if for some reason our meeting is delayed, something in my past could change. I could turn left instead of right. I could arrive somewhere earlier or later than I originally did. Even a few minutes could make a difference…" He looked at her sharply. "I could miss meeting Rose. And if I missed meeting her, she wouldn't have survived in the basement of Henrik's. And she wouldn't have been there to save my life on Satellite Five."

He shook his head. "No, the changes haven't been that bad yet. Jackie still remembers me. But any more changes and we'll be smack dab in the middle of a paradox."

~oOo~

Stomping down the stairs to the area directly surrounding the console, the twelfth Doctor railed at the ceiling.

"How am I supposed to do this, hmm? Am I supposed to just dump her off at the Powell Estate, give her a peck on the forehead and leave her with my idiot younger self who STILL doesn't realize what he's got and has no idea how little time he has left?"

Wishing for the first time in centuries that he still had his rubber mallet, he shouted in the direction of the Time Rotor. "And after I PROMISED her I wouldn't dump her off like I did Sarah Jane, now I'm supposed to do it for a second time? I CAN'T DO THAT! NOT AGAIN!"

As he stalked around the console, his mind raced through possibilities, searching for any way he could avoid returning her to her own timeline. "Maybe I can convince her to stay a little longer," he said. "Maybe I can even convince her to travel with me. I could prevent her from being trapped in the parallel universe."

Every light on the console began to flash in warning. "I know, I know. I can't. But there must be something I can do."

As the lights continued to flash urgently, he sank down onto the stairs and dropped his head in his hands. "Why would you do this to me?"

The lights dimmed and all of a sudden he could feel the TARDIS' equivalent of sorrow, grief and loneliness. It surrounded him, overwhelmed him, moving his own feelings to the background.

"Oh," he breathed. "You missed her too. But why bring me back now? After all these years, why now?"

In front of him an image appeared of a burst of blinding golden light that was replaced by the formation of his current body. As the image faded, the lights in the room briefly changed color, taking on a slight tinge of mauve before returning to their normal color.

"You were worried about me? It was a bit of a rough regeneration, I have to admit. But aren't they all?"

The ever present hum of the Time Rotor grew quieter.

"Yeah. Not like this one," he admitted. "And you thought I needed someone to help me through it." His mouth quirked in a small smile. "And you didn't think Clara could do it."

The lights brightened slightly as if in agreement.

"But why now? Why now in her timeline?"

This time, the TARDIS didn't react, and the Doctor thought about where exactly in her timeline she was. She had just gone through the business with Reinette, and even more, the business with Pete's World. And losing Mickey.

"So she needed me as much as I needed her," he said quietly. "Is that it?"

The lights brightened a little more, and he remembered her telling him that she had considered leaving, telling him when she still thought of him as "Harry" that she needed a break and she was afraid to ask for one.

He swallowed hard. "Was I going to lose her back then if we didn't come?"

Now the lights came full on.

"So this has been a time loop? I was always meant to come back?" He paused thoughtfully. "But she wasn't supposed to figure out who I was, was she?"

At that the TARDIS began to hum.

"So I was supposed to come back and help her out, and in doing so she would help me. But then she figured out who I was and I convinced her to come with me and things began to change. No," he corrected himself, "I felt things begin to change even before that." Brow furrowed, he tried to remember all the details of their conversation. Then his eyes opened wide in shock. "Oh, this was my fault. It started when I referred to my idiot younger self as her boyfriend, and it snowballed from there."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a rush, he dropped an elbow on one knee and pinched the bridge of his nose. "How much has changed?"

The hum of the Rotor grew, and the lights tinged mauve again.

"That much?" He sighed heavily and stood up. "I have to take her back. But not to the way things were," he said, shaking a finger at the Time Rotor. "I think it's time to teach past me a lesson."

The Time Rotor hummed.

"So you agree. I'll just let you handle that, shall I? And in the meantime I'll go find Rose."

~oOo~

Rose woke up suddenly from a deep sleep to the sound of her mobile ringing. She blindly reached over to the nightstand.

"Where is it? Where is it?" she muttered. To her relief it stopped ringing, and she buried her head under her pillow and tried to get back to sleep.

To her frustration it started ringing again, and this time she noticed it sounded muffled. Maybe because of the pillow over her head, she thought. No, it had sounded muffled the first time before she put the pillow on her head.

For a moment, she wondered whether it would stop ringing if she just ignored it. It was worth a try, she thought. Distantly noticing she felt cold, she reached down, grabbed the sheet, and pulled it over her head as well.

To her relief, the ringing stopped and she snuggled under the sheet, determined to go back to sleep.

It began ringing again.

Muttering a curse that turned into a loud yawn, she pulled the sheet and pillow off of her head and opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room.

And realized she was naked.

"Wha…" she started. And then her eyes opened wide as the memories of last night came flooding back. A slow smile spread across her face.

The phone stopped ringing only to immediately start again.

Rose suddenly remembered her mobile was in the pocket of her jeans. Which were hanging in the en suite. Not in any particular hurry to answer her phone, she got up and stretched before she wrapped the sheet around her and crossed to the bathroom. As she walked across the room, she noticed a mild, not entirely unpleasant soreness between her legs which only served to remind her just how long it had been since the last time she had shagged.

But it had definitely been worth the wait, she thought, chuckling to herself.

Once in the bathroom she pulled the mobile out of her pocket and gave it a quick glance before answering.

"Hi, Mum," she said as she walked back out into the bedroom. "Sorry it took so long to answer. Yeah, I couldn't find it at first. How did you know?"

Only half paying attention to her mother's answer, she looked up to see the Doctor in the doorway. She gave him a small wave and a grin before turning her attention back to her mother.

"What? Dinner? Oh," she said, her grin fading. She glanced at the Doctor and noticed the somber expression on his face. "You want to know if the Doctor and I are going to be there for dinner. I, uh, I don't know, Mum. No, don't go out to the shops. If we come, we'll get Chinese or something, yeah? Okay. See you later. Love you too."

She rang off and stared at her phone for a moment.

"That, uh, that was Mum," she stammered. "She, uh, wanted to know if we were coming to dinner because she'd have to go out and get something if we were." She paused. "Me and, uh, other you."

He didn't answer, and she was almost afraid to look up at him.

"Mum called like, three or four times in a row," she continued. "I've got all these missed calls." She scrolled through the list. "Huh. That's strange. I've got a half a dozen calls labeled the TARDIS. Why would… Oh."

Rose pressed play and speaker. The younger Doctor's clear tenor filled the suddenly silent room.

"Rose? Something odd is going on, and I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Stop by the TARDIS when you get this."

Despite the casualness of his tone, she could hear the worry in his voice, and she felt a twinge of guilt for leaving without letting anyone know she was going.

And hearing his voice made her heart ache. Oh, how she missed him. But how could she miss him when he was standing right in front of her?

The mobile beeped and then switched to the next call.

"Rose, where are you? You aren't picking up your phone, and you always pick up. If you can't make it here, ring me on the TARDIS phone."

There was a pause, and another beep, and then a new message.

"Uh, Rose? Where are you? Are you alright? Just wanted to make sure that, uh, a lupine wavelength haemovariform or a Slitheen or something didn't get you." There was the sound of false laughter, and then the call disconnected. The next few calls were simple hang ups, and she glanced up at the Doctor in front of her. She bit her lip nervously.

"It's, uh, time for me to go back, isn't it?" she asked.

In response, he crossed over to her and pulled her into his arms. She sniffed, trying to hold back tears.

"You know I love you, yeah?" she said into his shoulder. "Both this you and that you."

"Same man, Rose," he said. He took the phone from her and set it down on the table and then tilted her chin up so he could look in her eyes. "And I love you too, both now and back then. But you promised me 24 hours, and it's only been a little over 21. Please stay for just a little bit longer. It won't matter to him, and it will make the world of difference to me."

She nodded. Reaching up to cup his face, she stood on her tiptoes and gently kissed him. And knowing it was the last time for both of them, she let the sheet fall to the floor.