Author's Note:

Apparently I was on a roll because this chapter just came to me, and I stayed up all night to write it for you! I hope you enjoy it!


God, how Rose missed shopping in alien markets on a gorgeous day! This one in particular was simply divine, with the brightly colored fabrics blowing in the warm, dry breeze, this sky a bright lilac shade of purple and grey sand underneath Rose's sandal-clad feet. She turned to Amy, so happy to see she was enjoying the beautiful scenery too, the little bundles each of them carried in papooses attached to their chests fast asleep. Amy took Rose's hand and pulled her over to a booth selling silk clothing, and held up a little infant-sized robe in TARDIS blue. Rose held out a little red one and Amy nodded. They quickly headed back to the boys to show off their purchases.

They had left the two Doctors, Rory, and John to deal with the more technical aspects of home acquisition in favour of selecting furnishings for Rose and John's new home, a blue stucco two-story on the corner of the marketplace, with a tea shop across the unpaved street and a restaurant with (near-perfect in Rose's mind) chips that were advertised as "best in the galaxy" just around the corner. Really, it was just an excuse for Rose to make friends with Amy, who had been a confidant to her in the private conversations they'd had while Rose was in labour, and a soothing influence. As they approached, Eleven waved. "Oi! Girls come see this! It's a special type of home security system. You touch the door," John demonstrated, resting his hand on the door. It turned green and there was an obvious latching sound, "and it unlocks the door for you! Takes a detailed image of not only your hand itself but the electro-magnetic energy radiating from it! Isn't that cool?"

Amy and Rose rolled their eyes at each other. Boys and their toys! "Yes, Raggedy Man, it's a lovely door. Can we please go in now? I'm starvin' and it's hot!"

John pushed the door open the rest of the way and the girls led the group inside. It looked as though the movers had delivered everything, and the boys had tried to make it look homey. John took the twins to put down for a rest while the adults had a meal together and, ultimately, said their goodbyes. But as Rose was placing hot food upon the table and everyone was gathering around for the most glorious smelling pots and pans of who-knows-what, one of the babies started screeching, immediately followed by the screams of the other. Rose excused herself and went into the nursery, but the cries were no longer coming from this room. It sounded as though it was coming from just outside the window, which was open, the breeze causing the sheer blue curtains to billow into the room. Rose didn't think she'd left the window open. She ran to it and leaned outside, scanning the streets around, but saw nothing. Then Rose heard it, the scraping of feet against the stucco. She glanced to her left just in time to see a robed figure leap down from the ledge carrying her twins. She screamed, and everyone came running. The Doctors got to the window just in time to see the robed figure turn to look in response to Rose's screams. They knew that bug-eyed mask anywhere. And the Sycorax who ordered this kidnapping would pay dearly.

Making a mad dash out of the room, the Doctors quickly explained their findings to John, who was holding Rose in his arms, and the three of them decided it would be better to try to catch the thief before he left the planet. The Doctors insisted Rory and John stay behind, but the two humans looked at each other, then back at Ten and Eleven. "You can't deny my right to avenge them," shouted John, "Or Rory the Roman's right to give em one hell of a fight!"

Rose pulled John to her and begged, "You come back to me, you hear? Let the Doctors fight this; just bring Amy and Mickey back to me. I can't live without you!"

He kissed her, pouring all of his love, his passion, and his fear into it. "I love you," he whispered before he ran out the door after Rory and the Doctors. He caught up with them a short distance from the house, where Eleven was examining his sonic.

"Got em! They haven't left the planet yet, and their ship is cloaked a few blocks from here. Geronimo, boys!" and Eleven took off at a mad dash down the street to their immediate left, with Ten right on his heels.

Following the trail picked up by Eleven's sonic; they ended up in a grassy field where the ship was, obviously, cloaked. The weight created a circle of smashed grass. Ten walked right up to the invisible hull and hit it three times with his fist, before calling out, "You have something that belongs—"

"To me!" John interjected. "And I challenge you—for the lives of my children! Open up, unless you're yellow!"

All four men found themselves suddenly inside the ship in a giant arena. A Sycorax stood between them and the babies, who were lying inside a little wooden makeshift cradle. "How dare you challenge me, you puny human. You're so tiny! Don't attempt to deceive me, these are children of Gallifrey, and you're definitely not!"

"They are MINE, and I will defeat you! It wouldn't be the first time. Ever hear back from the Sycorax ship that tried to invade Earth? Probably not, since I sent their leader flying over the edge of his own ship and the humans that live there disintegrated it." John pulled a sword from a rack next to him and held his arms above him, the sword in one hand and his other balled into a fist. "I am the Doctor," he shouted, "and you will NOT deny my challenge!"

The Sycorax lunged at him, and John sidestepped the blade. His own sword made contact with an earsplitting clang. John gritted his teeth, and swiped at his enemy's abdomen, the Sycorax barely dodging out of the way. They were locked sword to sword again, and John shoved the Sycorax backward, it losing the sword it had held, and using the leverage to aim his sword for a quick beheading, John stopped mere centimeters from the Sycorax's neck. "I've defeated you, have I not?"

The Sycorax mumbled, "Yes."

"LOUDER!" John roared.

"Yes!" it shouted.

John looked back toward the two Doctors and Rory. "Will you get them, please?" he asked, his sword still pointed at the neck of the villain. Eleven and Rory stepped forward, each taking a babe in their arms. Ten walked over to John and placed a hand upon his shoulder. John smiled at him, but his eyes got wide, and he grunted. Blood filled his mouth, and he reached up and touched his lips, not believing this was actually happening. Ten's face cringed in horror. John dropped his sword and collapsed, Ten desperately trying to break his fall by at least keeping him sort of upright. "No! No no no no!" Ten cried out. He pulled the sonic out of his pocket and tried to scan his duplicate's injury. He turned back to Rory and Eleven, and recognized the look on Eleven's face. There was nothing they could do, if they removed the sword, he'd bleed out in seconds, before the sonic could heal at least part of the wound. It was going to be a slow death.

"Take care of her," John choked, "please."

"I promise."

Suddenly a wheezing, groaning sound erupted from the silence, and the TARDIS materialized. Rose burst through the doors. Eleven walked up to her, trying to block her view. "Rose," he said, "It's not good."

Her breath caught in her throat, as she saw Ten holding the crumpled body of his duplicate. She pushed past Eleven, who handed the little boy to Amy, who had followed Rose out of the TARDIS. Rose fell to her knees, sobs racking her body violently. "Baby, please don't leave me! You can't do this!" She turned to Ten, "Can't you help him?"

Ten shook his head.

"Rosie," John whispered, his breathing laboured and gurgling. "I love you… my…flower."

"I love you," she bawled into his shirt. All Ten could think to do in that moment was place his hand upon her back and run it up and down softly along her spine, hoping the contact would be a comfort. Apparently Rose had other things in mind.

She took a deep breath, and stood, eyes glowing gold and piercing with anger. She moved toward the Sycorax who had run her lovely husband through, picking up John's sword as she swept across the floor in an almost inhuman quickness. She pointed it directly into his face. "Did you do this?" a menacing, growl asked through Rose's clenched teeth. This may have been Rose, but it was quite obvious, the Bad Wolf had never really left her, just remained dormant until this moment, when Rose was so broken that she couldn't protect herself. The Bad Wolf was her defense mechanism.

The Sycorax didn't answer fast enough so the Bad Wolf screamed, "DID YOU KILL HIM?" right into its scarred, ugly face. It shook violently in fear of this thing it had never seen before. Murmurs blanketed the crowd, and the Bad Wolf addressed them, "You see something and you take it? The big bad Sycorax?" She laughed and pointed her fingers at the one trembling beneath her in fear. "This is what happens when you mess with the big Bad Wolf." The Sycorax at her feet disintegrated into dust. Rose looked up at the crowd. "You will leave this planet. You will never return. I will bring you all to dust if you try!"

Ten stood behind her in shock. Is this what it looked like to his companions when he stood up to an army? He tried to pull her away. She turned to him glaring, and knelt down over John's body. "I can bring life," she whispered.

"Rose?" Ten turned her face to his. "You'd make him immortal, and he wouldn't want that. He made his peace before we went onto the ship. He knew he wasn't—." Ten paused, trying to think of the right way to say it. "John came here to give his life protecting you and his children. We need to do him the honour of respecting that."

Eleven walked over to them and helped Ten carry John's body into the TARDIS, and they placed him in the infirmary. They glanced at each other knowingly. Eleven turned to leave Ten alone in the room with Rose, putting an arm over the shoulder of each of his companions, guiding them to the TARDIS console room.

Ten took Rose's hands gently in his. The glowing had faded long ago, and now she was just Rose, numb to the core, her heart crumbling into millions of shards of glass, cutting her chest deeply as they fell away. He knew the feeling.

Without looking at him, Rose squeezed his hand. Her eyes wouldn't leave the face of her lost husband, her hero. A few tears fell from her eyes, but she didn't notice. "Why do these things happen?" she whispered.

Ten shook his head. "I don't know."

"How am I supposed to live without him?" The tears began to flow more steadily.

The Doctor pulled her into his arms. "I know I'm nothing by comparison, but I promised. I promised him I would take care of you." Her body relaxed as she melted into his embrace, trembling with pangs of grief that enveloped her, her loud sobs filling the air around them.

The next morning, as the sun rose over the aquatic horizon, they set John Smith to sea, his body aflame. And as the vessel that bore him away drifted out of view, Ten and Eleven looked to each other. Eleven pointed with his eyes to the blonde woman in Ten's arms, mouthing the words, "Forever."