A/N: Mini celebration time! I've got 30 followers (thank you all so much) and I'm nearly done with Children of Earth! Fair warning: this is going to be extremely AU. Now, I've got a lovely interlude planned for after this chapter, followed by Flesh and Stone/Time of Angels and Vampires of Venice. After that, I'm gonna try my hand at writing an original adventure. There'll be lots of fluff interspersed throughout these chapters, and I've finally got a plan for the rest of this fic. Please, do tell, am I writing Eleven properly? My Doctor is Ten (though I can write Nine fairly well too), and I'm afraid I'm writing Eleven out of character.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who or Torchwood.

Children of Earth—Day Five

"Why do they never just leave?" the Doctor muttered under his breath. The Dreamer tightened her arms around him, trying to give him some reassurance as they watched Jack mourn Ianto. The Doctor looked down at her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't think I breathed any of the virus in. I was using my respiratory bypass."

"Good."

"Doctor!" Amy called from the doors of the TARDIS. "Doctor, it's Clem. They did something, I don't know, there was this high-pitched noise and he just started screaming and blood was pouring out from everywhere and he's—he's dead."

"It was a telepathic frequency. Burned his mind up," the Doctor said darkly.

Meanwhile, the members of Gold Command were talking quietly among themselves. One of them made some sort of phone call. Lois, who was still listening carefully to everything said, hurried over to the Doctor.

"They've just sent the go-ahead to gather the children, Doctor. They're gonna do it."

Jack stood and turned towards her. "Damn," he said succinctly.

"Dad!" a voice cried. Jack turned to see Alice run to him. He embraced her tightly.

The Dreamer stepped away from the Doctor as she realized what was going to have to come next. Her eyes landed Stephen. The bright, animated blonde boy was grinning from ear to ear, reacting to the news that Jack was his grandpa, not his uncle. He was the only child near them. She took a deep, steadying breath, then grabbed her phone and walked to the corner. No one noticed her.

"Cardiff police station," a voice said.

"Hello. My name is the Dreamer, and I'm working with the Doctor and Torchwood to save the children. Listen, can you please transfer me to the officer who was in charge of tracking Jack Harkness and the Torchwood team's movements?"

There was a silence, then a click. "This is Officer Johnson."

"Listen, I need you to set up a ring of computers as a telepathic wavelength magnifier. As quickly as you can. I also need the coordinates for where you're gonna do it. This is very important, and if you want to save ten percent of the world's children, you'll do as I say without questioning it."

There was a moment of silence, then Johnson began to speak.

A moment later, the Dreamer hung up the phone and tuned in to the conversation around the table.

"You, all of you, had a chance to do the right thing, to think of something other than yourself, and you instead chose to refuse my help," the Doctor said, his voice cold and laced with the fury of the Oncoming Storm.

"You had your chance, Doctor, and you failed! There were seven hundred people in the Thames House, and they died in minutes! This is not a war we can win. Our only choice is to comply with the wishes of the 456!" Green shouted.

"There is always a choice."

"Not this time."

"Actually, I have to disagree with you."

"Oh, really?"

"There's always been a way to defeat them, to kill them all."

"Then for God's sake, why haven't you done it yet?"

"Because I don't want to kill them all."

"Doctor…" Amy said softly. "What do we do?"

"I can send a telepathic signal, like they did to kill Clem, but I need a focus. I'd have to use a child. And it will kill them. The frequency will burn out the child's mind, and there's absolutely nothing I can do to prevent that. One child… or ten percent of all children." He turned towards the Prime Minister. "Could you make that decision? Could any of you?"

There was silence. The Dreamer broke it.

"Theta… we don't have to use a child."

The Doctor whirled around to look at her. "What—oh, no. No you don't."

She continued on, ignoring his protests. "All we need is someone with a telepathic link to the 456. I'm not a child, not being actively used by them, but I'm a very strong telepath and I could broadcast the frequency."

"Your mind will burn!"

"I have a better chance of surviving it than a child! Would you really sacrifice an innocent child when there is another option? How many children have already died by your hands? Do you not wish to keep that number from increasing?"

The Doctor flinched at her words. "Your mind will burn and there's no way you'd regenerate, not from that."

"I'm the Bad Wolf, Theta. I've got a connection with the TARDIS that's stronger even than yours. There's a chance that She will be able to shield my mind."

"You don't know that! What if you're wrong?"

"That's something I'm willing to risk. I'm not going to let you kill a child. Think! They've already given the order to gather the kids. We have to move quickly. The only child in reach is Steven. Would you kill Jack's grandson in front of him?" Alice wrapped her arms tightly and protectively around her son.

"I just got you back," the Doctor whispered faintly, staring at her. "I—I can't lose you again." His face was pale and his eyes wide with fear.

The Dreamer sighed. "Then I've got no choice. Sorry about this," she said, before she took a single step towards him and punched him hard in the jaw. He collapsed, unconscious, into Jack's waiting arms. "Alice, Gwen, Amy, you stay here, please. Keep them" here she indicated the members of Gold Command "from leaving, and keep Lois safe. After the 456 are taken care of, we need to chat. We'll be back." With that, she stepped into the TARDIS.

The Dreamer materialized them in the warehouse where she'd told Johnson to set up the magnifying equipment. "I've not got long until that one comes to," she said, jerking her thumb behind her at the Doctor, who was still out cold, "so we need to work fast.

OoOoO

The Doctor opened his eyes slowly, groaning. Women seemed to have a penchant for knocking him out in this body, he'd noticed. Then he remembered why Arkytior had done so, and he tensed, trying to get to his feet. It was then that he realized he was handcuffed to a metal grating. He swore under his breath and struggled to get his sonic from his pockets.

"Sorry, Doc," Jack said, "but you're not going anywhere." The Doctor turned to see Jack holding his sonic, standing just out of reach. His gaze traveled past the immortal man, to see Arkytior, his Arkytior, standing in the center of a ring of computers, which he identified immediately as a magnification circle.

"Let me go!" he cried desperately. "Please, stop it!" Rassilon, why were women so stubborn? Didn't she know—oh. Perhaps she didn't. It wasn't like he'd done anything to make her realize; in fact, he'd been running since she returned. Was that why she was so determined to do this? Because she didn't think that she was good enough for him? The Doctor recalled Jack's words. She fought in the Time War… she doesn't think she's good enough for you anymore.

Now that was an idea. "Arkytior, please," he begged, his voice low. She looked at him sadly, and smiled.

"I'll see you in a moment," she said softly, musically, that gorgeous Celtic accent making her words, so optimistic, sound so sad and final. She whispered something else, something in Gallifreyan, he could tell, but he couldn't hear her well enough to know what she said. There was a bright flash of light, and the Doctor felt something in him break as he heard the screams of the woman he loved.

OoOoO

The Dreamer screamed as agony seared through her. A bright flash of gold obscured her vision as she called desperately on the Wolf inside her. TARDIS! She screamed mentally as she felt her barriers collapsing.

I am here, my Wolf. Be strong.

It burns, she thought, whimpering as her scream trailed off. Her throat was raw. The frequency tore through her mind, still, and held her body frozen. The golden light surrounding her reached its peak, filling the entire warehouse, then began to die down. A strange, unearthly wail escaped her parted lips, and she knew it was being echoed by every child in the world.

Be strong, my Wolf.

Her mind was blurring. . . she reached desperately for memories, any memories, trying to keep herself from burning…

Hi, my name's Theta Sigma. Nice to meet you, Arkytior.

Laying in the red grass, her head pillowed on his chest, his fingers playing with her hair, they watched the suns set in the orange sky, a stolen moment of peace amidst the rigors of the Academy.

I hate my father, Theta. I wish I could get away from him. I have an idea; I'll ask him for permission to bond with you, and if he accepts, we'll steal a TARDIS and run away, you and me, and see the universe together.

How dare you become attached to a man lower than you? You are forbidden to ever speak to Theta Sigma again, daughter, and if I discover you are flouting this rule, I will not hesitate to punish you.

Seeing him married, with children and a granddaughter, was more painful than she could've imagined, but the pain of not ever seeing his face would be more than she could handle. The granddaughter's name was Arkytior, and a message had told her that he had asked for this name in memory of her.

He was stealing a TARDIS, and running away, just like he had said he would, only with the Arkytior he was allowed to have by his side, rather than the one he wanted the most. She saw it, and ran to try and get to him, but her father appeared from out of nowhere and wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her captive. She screamed his name, before Rassilon placed a finger to her temple and sent her into a deep sleep.

"Run."

"Nice to meet you, Rose. Run for your life!"

Memories of her travels with him flooded her mind, and the Dreamer let her love for the Doctor, regardless of his face, pull her through the burning, searing scream that tried to tear her apart.

The light died down and the onslaught suddenly left her mind. She was free. The Dreamer turned her head slightly to see the Doctor struggling with his sonic, not bothering to find the right setting, just switching it to the closest one that would undo his restraints. He flew across the room and caught her as she collapsed in his arms.

"Arkytior? Arkytior, answer me. Are you alright? Arkytior!"

"Hello," she murmured, drawing strength from his presence, and from the singing of the TARDIS in her mind. "I'll last long enough to deal with Gold Command, then I'm going to need to sleep."

"How did you survive? I thought—I thought you were going to burn. Your mind should've been completely destroyed!"

"It doesn't matter," the Dreamer said, refusing to meet his gaze. "C'mon. We've got stuff to do."

They landed the TARDIS back in COBRA to pick up Amy and drop Jack off with Gwen and his family. Jack graciously agreed to take care of the clean-up, knowing how much the Doctor hated it, and promised to make sure that the Queen knew exactly what had happened. He also said that he would make certain to change the piece of the Torchwood charter that stated the Doctor as an enemy of the Crown. Before they left, however, Jack pulled the Doctor aside.

"Remember what I told you, Doc," he said, glancing over where the Dreamer was telling Stephen a highly edited version of what had happened. She was clearly exhausted, but she was grinning brightly and her voice was animated. The Doctor had never seen anything more beautiful, and he said as much. "Neither have I. Doc, she made her choice a long time ago, but if you don't treat her the way she deserves to be treated, I swear to you that genius Time Lord or not, I will take her from you. Understood?"

The Doctor nodded solemnly. "Perfectly," he said. Jack grinned and changed the conversation.

"So, would you mind giving Gwen and I a ride? UNIT's bringing some soldiers in to take these guys into custody, and the TARDIS is far more comfortable than the vortex manipulator."

"Yeah, not a problem."

Jack followed the Doctor into the TARDIS and grinned charmingly at Amy. "I don't think we've ever been… properly introduced," he said with a grin and a flirty wink. Amy flushed slightly.

"Jack, now is not the time," the Dreamer said teasingly, laughing.

"There's always time for a feisty redhead," Jack returned, shifting his suggestive gaze to the Dreamer. "But there's only one on this ship who's available."

"Oi, Harkness, no flirting with Amy!" the Doctor exclaimed as he threw the lever that would take them into the Vortex.

"You've already narrowed my list of people I'm allowed to flirt with down far too much."

"She's not people, she's a Pond! My spaceship, my rules, Captain."

"You're calling me a captain now? The bow tie really has changed you!"

"I'll have you know, bow ties are very cool," the Doctor sniffed, straightening said tie possessively. He circled the console and landed the TARDIS where Rhys was.

Before Jack and Gwen exited, the Dreamer took both of their phones and added her number. "You ever need help, you call us, ok? We'll be there in a heartsbeat." With smiles and nods, the two humans left the TARDIS.

The Doctor sent them back into the Vortex and said something about taking a rest. Both women gratefully agreed. The Dreamer went to her bedroom, took a long, hot shower, and changed into a vest top and shorts, before curling up in her bed. Her last thought was a hope that she was exhausted enough to sleep free of nightmares.

She should've known better than to hope.

Wow, soo, lots of stuff in this chapter! Character development, depthness, wow. This was mentally exhausting to write, but it just flowed from my mind. Next up is an interlude, with *hint, hint* lots of Doctor/Dreamer goodness. Oh, and, thanks to garbolaughs39 for the idea of the Doctor naming Susan after the Dreamer. Thanks to all reviewers, followers, and favoriters. Until next time!