A/N: For those Americans reading this, a nappy is a diaper.

Chapter Ten.

The warm fuzzy feelings of being a family didn't last long. Rose had gotten dressed whilst glaring at him. Theta had decided to use the Doctor's coat as a toilet rather than blanket and was now wailing in disgust. Rose was snapping at the Doctor whilst he hurriedly searched his pockets for something to clean the tot with. He finally produced his favourite handkerchief and watched mournfully as it was used to wipe the child's bottom. Then Rose had the nerve to yell at him for not carrying more than one handkerchief. Now what was the baby supposed to be wrapped in?

Suddenly Rose broke into hysterical laughter and the Doctor eyed her warily. These hormones were dangerous, and he didn't trust the crazed cackles. With tears in her eyes she finally stopped laughing to smile broadly at his confusion.

"What's so funny?" he asked, nonplussed by her sudden change of moods.

"Look at us," she giggled. "We are so domestic."

"So we are," he smiled. "And I never thought I'd see the day when I became domestic."

"I'm sorry for being so awful," she said softly, smile fading away. "It was like I couldn't stop it."

"Its fine," the Doctor said charitably. "I understand that you're going to be a pain in the neck for a while."

Rose slapped him playfully on the arm whilst he resumed his search for something akin to a nappy. In his search he produced the TARDIS key and gazed at it solemnly, the pain obvious in his handsome face. The moment was strangely quiet, broken after several minutes by Rose.

"Can you use it to get the TARDIS back?" she asked. "You did it when we saw my dad and we were locked in the church."

"It's not glowing," he said sadly. "The TARDIS was sucked into the Void when the two worlds collapsed."

"Was just a suggestion," she pouted. "You could at least try."

"I'd need a battery to charge it with anyway."

Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, throwing it to the Doctor. Theta began to howl again and Rose gently rocked him, crooning into his ear. The Doctor sighed and resignedly pulled out the battery, sitting it on the key and plucked the sonic screwdriver from his pocket. Convinced it wouldn't work he performed a quick bit of screwdrivering and almost dropped the key when it flashed brightly and began to glow.

"It's… its working!" Rose smirked at the gaping Doctor and nestled her crying baby closer. He began to laugh and soon Rose was laughing with him. Tears of mirth and joy shone in their eyes and the Doctor draped his arm around Rose and Theta, gazing down lovingly at them both. He turned and watched as the faded outline of the TARDIS formed in a pulsing glow.

"It'll take a few hours to get the TARDIS," he said softly. "At the moment it's just the shadow. The full existence and everything will appear within several hours. Even once it's completely here it'll take another few hours, maybe a day, to be able to use it. Being ripped out of the Void will take a toll on the old girl so we'll have to give it time."

A long silence began to play out again, interrupted only by the whimpers of baby Theta. After a while the Doctor seemed to remember that he was searching for a substitute nappy and resumed his hunt. The trouble with pockets being bigger on the inside was that he had trouble finding things when he needed them. At last he found a piece of cloth, garishly coloured, and handed it to Rose.

"Not the most fashionable," she commented as she wrapped the piece of bright orange, yellow and green cloth around Theta in a vague imitation of a nappy.

"I used to cover my parrot's cage with that at night," he said thoughtfully and Rose stared at him. He smiled brightly at her and she wasn't sure whether or not he was serious, but decided to let it pass. It smelt clean, so she had no choice but to accept it.

"Anyway," the Doctor said, breaking the silence. Theta seemed content now and was beginning to doze again. "You never finished telling me what happened. We've got hours to waste so you might as well talk about it."

"Okay," Rose agreed. "But it might be a bit intense. I dunno how similar it was to your life, but if you get upset then just tell me to stop and I will."

"Go on," he said shortly and Rose began to speak, her descriptions vivid.

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Fighting the Daleks brought on a terror Rose had never known before but she was being fuelled by adrenalin and was unstoppable. In the fleeting moments she took to concentrate on the surroundings she felt sick. Her clothes clung to her body with sweat caused by the burning fires scattered around them. The air was thick with choking black smoke and dying screams from both Time Lords and Daleks reverberated around before being drowned out by the firing of weapons.

Rose winced every time she hit a Dalek; the shot would either cause the creature to explode into flames or else ricochet and risk hitting someone else. She soon learnt that the Daleks could only be killed if hit on the top half, above the panelled section. Hit anywhere else and the creature seemed unaffected. Aiming was difficult in the circumstances but she did her best.

A Dalek descended in front of her and she aimed carefully, finger poised on the trigger… The Dalek fired and Rose's eyes widened in shock as she dropped the mangled remains of her gun. Her mouth fell open in shock as she realised that this was war, and she was completely defenceless. The moment seemed to stretch on and she gaped in horror as the Dalek moved closer.

"Exterminate."

Rose screamed as she was flung to the ground and the Dalek's shot missed her by inches. She hit the ground painfully on her back and looked up into the ancient eyes of her saviour. The Doctor quickly leapt off her and whirled around to face the evil creature, brandishing his own gun and firing. The Dalek exploded and Rose breathed a sigh of relief. The Doctor bent down to help her up and in that moment they both forgot one rather large detail: they had killed one Dalek. They were in the middle of a war, and there were hundreds, thousands, more Daleks just waiting to kill.

The blast was large and the ground shook. Rose staggered and almost fell, the Doctor reaching out to catch her. Another dozen fleets of Daleks were descending upon Gallifrey and Rose gasped in terror. She glanced around and could clearly see that they were already losing, and with all the Daleks coming in now… They had no hope.

"Doctor," she said fearfully, gazing deeply into his ancient eyes. "We can't do it. We won't make it. Should I go down and open the Eye? Get everyone out?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to answer her but was cut off by a loud band. A Dalek exploded very close to them and burning debris flew through the smoky air. Rose gasped as a large piece of metal hit her head and she swayed for a moment before crumpling to the ground.

"No," the Doctor whispered, turning her over and checking her pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief as he felt the steady thumping beneath his fingertips. Not even caring about the war any longer he lifted the human girl into his arms. Shielding her as best he could the Doctor broke into a jog and ran. Ran away from the fight, ran away from the danger, ran away from his people and planet. It was what he'd always done, he realised with a jolt. He was the scared, weak Time Lord who always ran away.

The TARDIS; he could see it. There it was, standing sentinel on the horizon. So close now, so close. He ran across the whispering red plains, Rose Tyler in his arms, and realised: he wasn't running away. He'd never run away. He'd run towards something, but never away. All his life he'd run, searching for something better. And now that something better was lying unconscious in his arms. He was running for her, running to save her. He loved Rose Tyler, and she was what he'd been searching for. Now he'd found her and he wasn't about to run away.

The Doctor flung the TARDIS door open and tumbled inside, kicking it shut behind him. He eased Rose onto the floor and bounced about at the console, fiddling with coordinates and settings. He heard her begin to stir and hastily set the last few things to how he wanted it. He knew it was too perfect that they'd got away unharmed; someone must've seen them. Must have seen the Doctor running, with a girl in his arms. They would come to find him, question him, kill him.

With the coordinates set he raced over to Rose and crouched down at her side. Her eyelids began to open and she glanced up at him groggily. He was eager to get back to the fight so he talked quickly, hoping she'd obey him.

"Rose," he said hurriedly. "I have to get back. You're injured, so don't protest. I've realised that I have you, and you're all I want, so I've got no excuse to run anymore. There's nothing left to find. I'm going to open the Eye and get everyone out, and we're going to flee."

Rose tried to sit up, her eyes wide in shock but her head span and she lay back down to listen.

"Anything could happen out there, so I've set the TARDIS coordinates to Emergency Default 61. If I'm not back within two hours, or if you and the TARDIS are threatened, I want you to hit that big blue button on the side there. It will take you to the default safe place."

"Where's that?" Rose managed to ask, her head spinning horribly and an awful ache throughout her body.

"It's a little planet," the Doctor explained quickly. "Nothing there, just dust and rocks. It's an intergalactic place of refuge and it's usually empty. You only go there if you've got no choice."

"But I…"

"Now Rose, don't argue. I must go now. Two hours, big blue button."

"I love you."

She knew that she had to say it. She could never make the same mistake as last time. The Doctor smiled tenderly at her as he stood up. He gave her hand a last squeeze before letting it fall back to her side.

"Rose Tyler, I love you too. I do hope you know that."

Rose struggled into a sitting up position and watched as the Doctor opened the door and stepped out. She frowned as he started slightly, taking a small step back. He was staring at something but she couldn't see what, as he was in the way. But she couldn't fail to miss that cold robotic voice as it infiltrated her ears. Couldn't fail to see the blue flash of the deathly laser, or the way it lit up the Doctor's body. Couldn't fail to scream as he hit the ground, his lifeless body jerking the TARDIS door shut.

Rose Tyler couldn't fail to remember. And she would never forget. She would always hear that one cold word, repeating itself in her mind constantly. The word that had killed the Doctor.

"Exterminate."

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TBC….

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