England was absolutely amazing! Thank you for being patient with me as I was overseas. Anyway, this story is going to be wrapping up soon (I think). As of right now, I'm finished with it after the NEXT chapter, so there will be one more update of this. That means that I am trying to figure out what I want to write next. There's a poll on my profile, or you could just go to my tumblr and tell me there.

Thanks for the love! Enjoy, and please review.

Chapter X - The Day of the Doctor

Swinging her legs from her perch on top of a large crate, Rose watched the War Doctor blink several times as he realized what exactly was standing in front of him. "You wanted a big red button," she explained, smirking at the red crystal atop a long stalk extending from the box she had been contained in for the duration of the Time War. "One big bang," she went on to say, "no more Time Lords. No more Daleks. Are you sure?"

"I was sure when I came in here," the War Doctor said, refusing to look at her. She knew him better than anyone else in this universe; there was an impossible choice before him and he was weighing the consequences, reevaluating what he knew to be true. "There is no other way."

If only. "You've seen the men you will become," she said.

"Those men. Extraordinary." His tone was not malevolent, but respectful. He was in awe of them, despite how he may have acted or what he might have said.

"They were you," she said, feeling conflicted on what she wanted him to choose. The weapon within her was begging to be ignored, but Rose knew that the universe would go to hell if he didn't do this. This moment sat on the line of being a fixed point in time, just enough on the edge of both sides that it could go either way. But Rose knew that her Doctor wouldn't be her Doctor if he hadn't been so broken, if he hadn't chosen the universe over himself. And as a woman who had lived on Gallifrey for centuries, she was entirely torn.

He shook his head. "No. They were the Doctor."

Rose wouldn't let him tear himself down from the magnificent lives he had led because he pitied the choices he had made, would have to make. "You're the Doctor, too."

Again, the War Doctor shook his head in disagreement. "No. Great men are forged in fire. It is the privilege of lesser men to light the flame, whatever the cost." His calloused hand hovered over the gleaming button, the fear emanating from him stronger than any emotion she had ever sensed from another person. Like an echo in her mind, she thought of children laughing and tried to keep herself from crying out because she was Rose and the Moment and the Bad Wolf and human and not-she couldn't let him do this, but she had to make him, and this was all so bloody confusing!

Her exterior remained calm, and unsure of which part of her was speaking, she said, "You know that sound the TARDIS makes? That wheezing, groaning. That sound brings hope wherever it goes." A potential timeline that was growing firmer and brighter brought a smile to her face.

"Yes," he said, turning to look at her sadly. "Yes, I like to think it does."

"To anyone who hears it, Doctor. Anyone, however lost." And it was Rose who spoke, for she could not keep the smile off her face as that wonderful sound began to accompany that beautiful blue box fading into existence on a planet it had not seen in at least a century. "Even you."

Not just one TARDIS appeared, but two: one for each of the Doctors they had just been with. Thankfully, the barn was rather large and easily accommodated two time and space machines. The TARDIS door with the St. John's Ambulance logo on it swung open, and out bounded Clara, tugging the bow tie clad Doctor out with her. "I told you," she said, yanking him out the door. "He hasn't done it yet."

The Warrior shook his head, his frown deepening as the Tenth Doctor stepped out of his TARDIS, which would never fail to make Rose's heart lighten. "Go away now, all of you," the War Doctor said adamantly. "This is for me."

Unlike his older self, the Tenth Doctor looked around warily, his hands deep in his pockets. Just for a second, his eyes settled on the crate where Rose was still sitting, but then moved on like nothing had happened. "These events should be time-locked," he said anxiously. "We shouldn't even be here."

The Eleventh Doctor's eyebrows crinkled in thought. "So something let us through."

"You clever boys," Rose breathed out, praying they might piece everything together. Just as she spoke, all three Doctors flicked their eyes to her, but only the War Doctor seemed to really see her.

The War Doctor quickly diverted their attention, using his body as a shield between the three interlopers and the Moment's physical box. "Go back," he pressed, "go back to your lives. Go and be the Doctor that I could never be. Make it worthwhile." His words weren't just a command, but a plea. He would grieve and regenerate and meet her in a few hours, but they were past the initial moment of injury.

Shaking his head sadly, the Tenth Doctor looked over the War Doctor's hardened form. "All those years, burying you in my memory."

"Pretending you didn't exist," added the Eleventh Doctor. "Keeping you a secret, even from myself."

"Pretending you weren't the Doctor, when you were the Doctor more than anyone else."

"You were the Doctor on the day it wasn't possible to get it right."

"But this time," started the Tenth Doctor, taking a step toward the War Doctor, where his hand was again frozen in the air above the button. The Eleventh Doctor followed his younger self's footsteps, the air crackling with the power to change.

He put his hand above the other two hands, saying, "You don't have to do it alone."

Rose's heart pounded, feeling like she was being ripped into pieces. The different pieces of her being were arguing over the right thing to do, warring over how she should be feeling. Above all, Rose was silently begging for them to make the right choice.

A sad smile spread on the weathered face of the youngest Doctor in the room, as he said, "Thank you."

Looking between the bodies of his past and future selves, the Tenth Doctor said, "What we do today is not out of fear or hatred. It is done because there is no other way."

Eleven nodded and said, "And it is done in the name of the many lives we are failing to save." But just as the three men were about press down on the button, unleashing Rose's full combined powers on the planet surrounding them, the oldest Doctor of the three looked to his companion and saw her shaking her head repeatedly, clasping her fists together with tears in her eyes. "What? What is it? What?"

"Nothing," Clara sniffed, and something told Rose that it was not fear that upset her, although the Doctor had basically forgotten about her wellbeing by bringing her to the destruction of the planet that would kill all of them.

"No, it's something," he said, pulling away from the other men to his friend. "Tell me."

After a tense minute, Clara said, "You told me you wiped out your own people. It's just...I never pictured you doing it, that's all."

Though she spoke only to the War Doctor, her words were meant for them all so that it was almost possible for them to hear Rose say, "Take a closer look." And everything went dark.

Clara immediately panicked, sensing that another presence was in control. "What's happening?" she squeaked, trying to keep her voice firm and together.

"Nothing," said the War Doctor as the Eleventh put a comforting hand on Clara's shoulder. "It's a projection."

Rose could almost feel the tension between the group as the last day of the Time War came into being around them. They were perfectly safe, not really present, but it was still an overwhelming experience, even for Rose. "It's a reality around you," she corrected.

Clara turned around slowly, looking at the people screaming and Daleks killing. "These are the people you're going to burn?" she asked, her voice shaking. It was apparent that she did not approve, and Rose couldn't blame her. Destroying two entire civilizations (even if one kept coming back) was monstrous.

"There isn't anything we can do," said the Tenth Doctor, his own posture indicating that he wanted to leave. The Ninth Doctor had been the disturbed veteran, passing along his guilt to the Tenth Doctor, who in turn had allowed the Eleventh Doctor to move on. That didn't stop any of them from being just as broken as the man before him.

The Eleventh Doctor tightened his jaw. "He's right. There isn't another way. There never was. Either I destroy my own people or let the universe burn."

Burning gold and bright, the flames of power and Time ran through her veins, slowly planting the seeds of change in her body to be watered by her own blood. The gift of another chance, of a woman who could shoulder the burden with him, who could fulfill her promise of forever. Out of the entire universe, no one could have saved the Doctor better than Rose Tyler and the Bad Wolf.

Clara, not wanting to take no for an answer, shook her head, her brown eyes furiously blinking back tears. "Look at you. The three of you. The warrior-" (the Doctor on the day it was impossible to get it right) "-the hero-" (the Time Lord Victorious) "-and you."

"And what am I?" asked Eleven, focusing only on Clara like it was just the two of them in the TARDIS after a long day of universe-saving.

Sadly, she countered, "Have you really forgotten?"

"Yes," he said quickly. "Maybe, yes."

"We've got enough warriors," she said, and Rose knew it was time to intervene. If there was to be a single change to the timeline, it had to be now before things grew too complicated. Rose stepped forward and placed her fingertips against Clara's back, not enough to raise awareness, but enough to just give Clara the support she didn't know she needed. "Any old idiot can be a hero."

"Then what do I do?"

She smiled. "What you've always done. Be a doctor. You told me the name you chose was a promise. What was the promise?"

Everything around them froze with a snap of Rose's fingers. The War Doctor did not look at her, although he seemed to know that she was in control of the entire scene-they were still in the barn, with an image of reality surrounding them. The Tenth Doctor was the first to answer Clara's question. "Never cruel nor cowardly."

"Never give up, never give in," continued the War Doctor.

And just then, the images of war disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the image of the barn returned to the forefront. Rose returned to her perch on the wooden crate, watching the scene with a small smile. Maybe they would get a happy ending this time.

The Tenth Doctor did not seem so convinced. "You're not actually suggesting we change our own personal history?" Rose took a peek along his individual timeline, and knew of the Time Lord Victorious, knew what happened when fixed points were rewritten. But this was not fixed, not necessarily. It teetered on that edge, ready to fall in either direction.

"We change history all the time," said the Eleventh Doctor, clapping his hands together. "I'm suggesting far worse."

"What, exactly?" asked the War Doctor.

Eleven smiled and put his arms around Clara and the Tenth Doctor. Both gave him a questioning look, so he frowned and quickly retracted his arms, flailing about a bit while he figured out what to do with his arms. Settling with them clasped in front of him, he said, "Gentlemen, I have had four hundred years to think about this. I've changed my mind." Sonic screwdriver in hand, the Doctor aimed at the box containing the Moment and made the stalk and crystal sink back into the box.

But he didn't do just that. Somehow and probably accidentally, the sonic screwdriver disabled the Moment entirely, freeing up Rose's own consciousness. She felt herself grow lighter and heavier at the same time. Not quite in a physical form to be seen by all yet, Rose sat silently, afraid to change things from how they were already changing. The Moment would need time to restart itself, and Rose didn't want to be reunited with her Doctor only to be torn away at the last minute.

No one noticed if she became visible to them. The Warrior wasn't entirely convinced of their plan. "There's still a billion billion Daleks up there attacking."

"Yeah," said the Eleventh Doctor, "there is. There is."

A smile hinting at the corners of his mouth, the Tenth Doctor bounced up and down. "But there's something those billion billion Daleks don't know."

"Because if they did," continued Eleven, "they'd probably send for reinforcements."

"What?" asked Clara, interjecting herself into the conversation. "What don't they know?"

The Eleventh Doctor smiled broadly, exclaiming, "This time, there's three of us!"

It took a moment to sink in, but then the War Doctor understood. He barked out a gravelly laugh and grinned, the smile finally reaching his eyes because his choice had been made and a plan developed-he would not have to kill his planet. "Oh! Oh, yes, that is good. That is brilliant!"

Ten was still a bit slow on the uptake, and whacked himself on the forehead when it clicked, shouting, "Oh, oh, oh! I'm getting that too! That is brilliant!"

Eleven looked like he was about to cry of happiness, picking Clara up and swinging her around in a hug. "I've been thinking about it for centuries!" he laughed, as loud as ever.

"She didn't just show me any old future!" mused the War Doctor. "She showed me exactly the future I needed to see!"

Rose grinned. "Now you're gettin' it."

Confusion hit the other two Doctors. "Eh?" asked Eleven, "Who did?"

The Warrior spun around on the spot to face her, reaching his arms out to her. "Oh, Bad Wolf girl, I could kiss you!"

The Tenth Doctor took a step in front of where the Warrior was looking, just as Rose said, "Yeah, that's gonna happen." And funnily enough, it wouldn't. Not really, not properly until the Metacrisis and even then, it wasn't with the Time Lord him she had fallen in love with.

"Sorry," said the Tenth Doctor, rather quickly so the conversation would not continue on. "Did you just say Bad Wolf?"

Eleven's head whipped around the barn, but Clara was the first to see her. With a gasp, Clara tugged on the Eleventh Doctor's sleeve and pointed straight at Rose. She wiggled her fingers in a little wave, and Eleven's eyes widened as he saw one of the many people he had never thought he would see again.

And then the Tenth Doctor looked over his shoulder, the rest of his body slowly turning to follow. His eyes met hers, and Rose let herself smile. He seemed frozen solid at first, but then took a hesitant step forward, his hand rising of its own accord. "Rose," he began to say, but stopped himself, clearly afraid that this was some sort of dream. Rose couldn't blame him. Getting both Gallifrey and Rose Tyler back in one day? That was simply not possible. And yet it was.

Sliding off the crate as carefully as possible so she wouldn't rip anymore holes in her torn stockings, Rose stood in front of him, her heart racing. He moved to take her hand, but Rose pulled it back before he could touch her. "I am sorry, Doctor," she said, "but I have things I must do."

Rose blinked, and she was gone.

The Tenth Doctor wavered in place, stunned. "What the hell just happened?" he finally managed to grunt out.

"Rose Tyler on Gallifrey," said the Eleventh Doctor. "How did I not remember that?"

"She's not Rose Tyler," the War Doctor said.

"You haven't met her yet," interrupted Ten. "You don't know her."

The Warrior shook his head. "She said herself that she wasn't Rose Tyler, but Bad Wolf in that form. That's the consciousness of the Moment, the physical interface of a weapon so powerful it developed a conscience. She's the one who brought me to you in the first place."

"So she was there the whole time?" asked Eleven. At the War Doctor's nod, he continued, "No wonder I felt like we weren't alone. And if she was there the entire time..." He paled. "We're going to have to explain Elizabeth."

"And River," said Ten.

Clara rolled her eyes. She knew exactly who Rose Tyler was to the Doctor, having been inside his time stream, but that was not the issue right at hand. Gallifrey was still being attacked by Daleks and would be destroyed if they didn't act quickly. "So," she said, "what are we doing? What's the plan?"

With a smile growing on the face of all four of them, they prepared to save Gallifrey.

Rose hurried through the halls of the Citadel. She had to reach the war rooms in time to convince the High Council that everything would be fine. Ideally, the Doctors would even see her and be able to pick her up and take her off planet before Gallifrey was frozen. She had waited lifetimes for this; there was no way she was going to sit back and take this lying down.

But as her feet pounded against the marble floors, a light voice cried out, "Lady Arkytior!" Rose groaned and slowed down enough to swing around a pillar and ran back towards the direction from which she had come. "Lady Arkytior!"

Before her stood a young woman with dark brown hair and clear blue eyes. She didn't look much older than Rose's physical appearance, but considering the circumstances, that hardly meant anything. Her hair was plaited down her back, her black and white clothing militaristic and not particularly ladylike with its trousers and high collared jacket. But despite Rose not knowing the woman's physical appearance, the ring on the woman's left thumb gave her identity away.

A smile grew on Rose's face. "Lady Romana," she said, thankful for a friendly face who could help her in her task of stalling the High Council. "I've just seen the Doctors, and they're going to freeze Gallifrey by use of a stasis cube. It's all backwards, but this is the second time it's happened and the only way to keep Gallifrey from being destroyed is to freeze it and they need time. We have to stop the Lord President."

Romana's expression grew dark. "Rassilon will not be easily persuaded."

"I know," Rose nodded. "But they won't listen to me."

"How are you even here? And more than one Doctor in one place?"

"Yes," Rose said impatiently, starting to briskly walk back toward her destination. "Three of them, and one of his traveling companions. And England's Queen Elizabeth I, but I'd rather not get into that right now. It's a bit of a long story and I'm not sure I understand it all. The Moment used my form as its interface because of my experience with the Doctor. Somehow, one of the Doctors disabled the weapon while trying to simply close the box. I don't know why or how, but I've been given my real body back, but was still linked to the Moment to bring myself here, but now I'm not the weapon, at least I don't think so, and-"

She stopped as they reached the thick double doors leading into the War Room. The doors were barred and deadlock sealed; there was no getting in. And to further worsen things, two different symbols were posted on the doors. Rose could not read the circular Gallifreyan, even after so many years on the planet. Romana's eyebrows furrowed as she considered the runes.

"Romana," said Rose, "what does it say?"

"It doesn't make any sense," she replied. "Bad Wolf."

With a dejected sigh, Rose closed her eyes. Of course those words would be the reason she could not be reunited with the Doctor. For if she was unable to get off-world before the Doctors froze the planet, she would be stuck on Gallifrey until the Doctor was able to find the planet and restore it, if such a thing was possible. The plan still had no guarantee to work.

"Arkytior," said Romana, "what does that mean?"

"It's a message. To lead myself here. You know the words, you know who I am. I am the Bad Wolf, howling in the Oncoming Storm. And if those words are on the outside of those doors," she said, voice beginning to shake, "then I am not meant to leave Gallifrey."

Romana took her arm and closed her eyes. "The Doctor is here-well, three of them? No, all of them. Every single Doctor has his TARDIS in orbit around Gallifrey."

Rose swallowed. "So there's nothing we can do." When Romana shook her head, Rose took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. "It's all up to the Doctor now. Why does that make me nervous?" Romana simply laughed.

The old curator hobbled away, leaving the Doctor with his arms crossed in front of his chest and a huge smile on his face. Clara was waiting in the TARDIS, but the Doctor wasn't quite ready to face her yet. She would have questions that he was still afraid to ask himself, much less answer. He could find Gallifrey and unfreeze it-Gallifrey falls no more. On that planet, presumably, was a woman who looked remarkably like Rose Tyler, a face which he would never forget. She was a mystery that he needed to solve. And now he had the freedom to do so.

When the Doctor walked into the TARDIS, Clara was leaning against the console, waiting for him to reenter. "There's this man at my work, his name's Tom. I think you would like him, Doctor."

"Eh?"

Clara nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I think you would. And if that Bad Wolf girl starts traveling with us, you'll be sorely outnumbered. Maybe having another man onboard would be good. Double dating across the universe, having cocktails on the moon."

The Doctor hesitated in his dematerialization maneuvers, his hand resting on a big purple button. "We never did get around to that, did we?"

She screwed up her face. "We were a bit busy."

"Yeah," the Doctor agreed, going back to his motions but with less fervor than usual.

Clara noticed the change in his attitude, and, once they were safely in the Vortex, put a hand on his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay? And don't say that you're always okay, because I know you aren't. You just have to look at me with those big, sad eyes and I know that something's wrong. Super nanny, me. Used to having to guess at these things. But I know you, Doctor, and you're sad. You should be happy; we saved Gallifrey!"

"Yes," he said, his smile reaching out toward his eyes. "Yes, we did. But that still doesn't change the fact that it was gone. For hundreds of years, I lived with the guilt of destroying my own planet, my own people. Now Gallifrey is safe, but I still feel that guilt in my hearts. Because it happened, we just changed the past and the future. That guilt made me the man that I am today, and I won't let that change me. And I suppose, if you're up for it, we could find it, find out if it worked."

Taking one of his hands in her own, Clara swung their arms and laughed. "I'm game if you are. But first I think I want to go home for a bit. You should come for lunch. I told the Maitlands I would be over sometime, and I know Angie and Artie miss you. They'd love for you to come."

"Perhaps I shall, Clara Oswald," he said. Just as she was looking at him, his expression brightened like a lightbulb had gone off above his head. Clara could practically imagine the ding as the idea hit, and giggled. "Oh! Thanksgiving is next week!"

"Doctor, I'm not American," she said, immediately growing a bit confused. Sure, he was an alien, but he had to know that the British didn't celebrate Thanksgiving.

He rolled his eyes. "Of course you aren't, Clara. But that doesn't matter! In the thirty-ninth century, every human colony in this half of the Milky Way celebrates Thanksgiving, although I think it is mostly just as an excuse to eat exorbitant amounts of food. Honestly, you humans eat like you have four stomachs like bovine. Oh, I like that word bovine, even if it doesn't sound like cow-"

Clara's raised eyebrows were enough to shut him up. "Thanksgiving?"

"The first Thanksgiving!" he exclaimed, spinning in a circle with his arms stretched out wide. "The day that the Pilgrims and the Indians came together to give thanks! Though you shouldn't call them Indians-not politically correct. Native Americans is a good term, but the Wampanoag is the real name of the tribe. So what do you think, Clara? Let's go eat some turkey with Squanto!"

And before she could even think about arguing, they were at Plymouth Rock and running out the doors.