Chapter Ten

Once Martha had followed Rose and Jack at a sprint, Romana had followed behind her at a more leisurely pace.

True, she had been waiting to see the Doctor again ever since he had left E-space with Adric. And yes, she did want to question him about every detail of the Time War she knew he wouldn't want to talk about…ever. Of course Rose's impatient attitude at being kept waiting by him had kind of, sort of, maybe worn off on her. And she really wasn't going to deny that there was a small part of her that regretted ever leaving him in the first place…

But other than that, Romana knew she could wait a few minutes more to see the Doctor. She had already waited a few years to do that. Three more minutes wouldn't kill her. And she wanted Rose and the Doctor to have a proper reunion without thrusting another totally and unbelievably shocking surprise upon him.

So, it was just as Martha was saying, "…maybe survivors of the Time War?" that Romana reached the basement

"But that wasn't the case, was it, Martha?" Romana heard a calm voice reply. And she knew that, without a doubt, that was the Doctor. His voice may have changed, but it still sounded like him…somehow. "To the best of my knowledge, Rose wasn't holding you hostage, nor is she a survivor of the war."

Romana rolled her eyes at this. Some things would never change with the Doctor. No matter what he was saying or whom he was speaking to, he always made himself sound so…academic.

"But she said 'people' Doctor." Romana heard Jack point out. "Not just Rose. Martha called you to tell you about more than one person who was here looking for you."

It was now that Romana stepped up to the doorway of the room. She stood so that she could see the whole room, but so that she was still in the shadows.

"Give the Doctor some credit, Jack. He does have a point," Romana spoke up, "You really can't classify me as a 'survivor' of the Time War; I was never there."

At the sound of her voice, Romana, satisfied smirk upon her face, saw the Doctor jump just the tiniest bit in surprise. She saw him turn, his eyes squinting in her direction, trying to make her face out from the shadows she stood in. As he continued to search her out, she decided that it was now or never, and stepped into the room.

"Romana." Was the shocked whisper that came out of the Doctor's mouth, a surprised look on his face.

"Did you miss me?" Romana said with a smile now.

But the Doctor didn't smile back. Instead, a horrified look appeared on his face and he started to back away from her. She noticed his arms were wrapped around Rose as he dragged the blonde girl along after him.

"Doctor, what's wrong?" Romana asked, suddenly worried, as she took another step into the room. She really hadn't been expecting that reaction. Shock, yes. But horror…definitely not.

"You…" He said softly, his eyes wide, "…You died…you can't be here. It's impossible." He added in a voice that was so soft it was almost a whisper.

"It's not impossible." Romana said, slowly taking another step in the Doctor and Rose's direction. "Why would I be dead?"

"You all died…" The Doctor whispered now, his expression tortured. "I saw it…all of you…burning…"

"But I wasn't there." Romana told him, almost consolingly. "Don't you remember? You left me in E-Space. I didn't want to come home to Gallifrey, so I didn't. I was never there…" A sad look passed over her face. "I didn't know about the war until Rose told me a few weeks ago."

"It's true, Doctor." Rose said, speaking up as she somehow managed to turn around to face the Doctor, though his arms were still wrapped tightly around her. "She's telling the truth; she's been in E-Space the whole time; she was never a part of the Time War."

"You…weren't there." The Doctor said slowly and Romana nodded encouragingly. "You're real?"

"Of course I am." Romana said, as if it were obvious…which, you know, it was.

All of a sudden the Doctor's face lit up with incomprehensible joy. "You're real!" He exclaimed. "You really are real."

"Always." Romana replied with a broad grin, mirroring the Doctor's.

"And it's just like the Face of Boe said, Doctor." Martha said suddenly. "You aren't alone. The Master might be gone, but you aren't the last of the Time Lords anymore."

"The Face of Boe?" Rose cut in. "You've met the Face of Boe? You didn't tell me about that. Where'd you meet him?"

"You don't need to know that." The Doctor said swiftly, cutting Martha off as she opened her mouth to reply, suddenly distracted from his reunion with Romana, which had first distracted him from his reunion with Rose. "You really don't need to know that."

"It was on New Earth." Martha said, looking at the Doctor strangely as he shook his head franticly at her from behind Rose, looking very worried about something. Not knowing what he was trying to communicate to her, Martha continued to speak without missing a beat. "In the year 5,000,000,053."

Rose raised an eyebrow at this. "That's only thirty years after the time he took me there." She said in a contemplative voice. "The city of New New York?" She said looking questioningly at Martha, who nodded. "That's…interesting. Did you meet the duke of Manhattan?"

Now Martha shook her head. "He died…twenty-three years before we got there. There was a virus and he became infected, the whole Overcity did…it was the Face of Boe who saved them." She paused, a faraway look on her face. "He died saving them."

Jack, who had remained silent throughout this entire conversation, chose this moment to speak up, an unreadable expression on his face, "This 'Face of Boe'…you've mentioned him before, Martha. When Professor Yana became the Master. And you said the same thing then—you said something about the Doctor not being alone." He took the briefest of pauses to intake a breath. "Who is the Face of Boe?"

"Why, he's…" She trailed off, an uncertain expression on her face. "I don't know who he is. I only met him the one time, but…" Her head swiveled around to face the Doctor, then she turned back to look at Jack, then back to the Doctor, and back to Jack again. "Do you remember after the year that never was—we were dropping you off in Cardiff, Jack, and you said you were worried about aging. You said you were a poster boy as a child, before you joined the Time Agency. You said they called you the 'Face of Boe.'"

"And Boe referred to me as an old friend." The Doctor joined. "And he was never surprised when I didn't age, or when it was Martha who showed up and not Rose." He looked at Jack with a new expression on his face. "Captain Jack Harkness…I knew you when you were a giant head."

"I'm going to become a giant head?" Jack said, an expression on his face that clearly said that really wasn't one of his goals in life. "Seriously?"

"And you're going to die." Martha added, a pleased smile upon her face. "Isn't that great?"

At those words, the widest, and possibly happiest, smile ever spread across Jack's face.

"I'm going to die!" Jack exclaimed cheerfully, the news of his future adaptation to partial-immortality temporarily overshadowed by this news.

Romana observed this exchange silently; her face was expressionless as the four comrades discussed one of the few things they all shared in common. In her travels with the Doctor, Romana had seen some strange things; she'd witnessed rituals and ceremonies unlike anything she'd heard of before in her life; she'd even met a woman who was her exact physical duplicate in every way (and then when she'd regenerated, she'd gone and copied the physical image of another woman she and the Doctor had met on their travels). But what she was being witness to at the current moment was, in it's own way, unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Never had she known a person to be so…jubilant at the prospect of their own demise…

"I've a feeling that we're going to have a lot of catching up to do." Romana said, finally speaking up. "I've obviously missed a lot more than Rose, Jack, and Martha let on to, in the past few years we've been separated."

"The past few years?" The Doctor repeated, eyebrows raised. "More like the past few centuries."

"Like I said," Romana began with a slight nod of her head, "We have a lot to talk about."

a/n-i am so sorry for the long wait for this update. I really meant to update ages ago, but time sort of got away from me. Then I wanted to get caught up on all of the Doctor Who episodes I missed, which I then regretted because it brought up the question of where I want this story to go. So, overall, I'm sorry for the delay in updating. Hopefully I'll be quicker with the next chapter, but I am currently experiencing computer/internet problems and i find it quite miraculous that i've even managed to post this chapter. I hope you all liked the chapter!