"I'm coming to get you" He told her, every last bit genuine and assuring her that he would stop at nothing.
"I don't doubt it for a second" She told him. The screen turned off, the last thing she saw being the Doctor's grinning face.
"The Doctor is initiating hostile action!" One Dalek cried, actually sounding scared.
"The stratagem must advance! Begin the invasion of Earth!" Another ordered loudly. They spun and ran around wildly and Alex stepped back into the wall, trying to stay out of their way while they were ignoring her.
"The Doctor will be exterminated!"
"Exterminate!" They chanted together. Alex looked around, feeling herself shaking again now that the Doctor was gone. She did her best to keep his face and words in her head as she waited. I'm coming to get you.
"Please hurry Doctor" She whispered, looking around fearfully as the Dalek continued their chant at full volume.
One of the Daleks turned to her suddenly, stopping in its tracks.
"You know the Doctor! You understand him! You will predict his actions!"
Alex actually found herself laughing.
"I do know him, but you evidently don't know me" She responded with a bravery she didn't know she had.
"Predict! Predict! Predict!" It ordered again, moving towards her dangerously.
"No" She responded evenly.
"Tardis detected. In flight" Another Dalek spoke up, distracting the first from her.
"Launch missiles. Exterminate!" The first ordered in response.
"No!" Alex cried, looking between them. "The Tardis's defences are down! You'll kill him!"
"You have predicted correctly" The Dalek responded. Alex looked between the two, shaking again. She hoped he'd thought of this. If he died, or if something happened to Rose, Alex would never forgive herself for being the one they were coming to save. She didn't remember details like this.
The sound of the Tardis invaded the ship and Alex looked around quickly, finding the outline of the Tardis surrounding her. The console room came into view and Alex's eyes locked on the Doctor she moment she caught sight of him.
"Alex! Get down!" He shouted just as the engines stopped. Alex never understood why she didn't follow his instructions immediately, maybe it was shock, but she simply stared at him. "Get down, Alex!" he repeated, his urgent and almost scared tone registering in her now as she dropped to the floor. She let out a strangled scream as the Dalek she hadn't noticed behind her was shot by something in front of her. The gun Jack was holding.
Alex stumbled to her feet, taking a single step forward before the Doctor reached her himself, wrapping her up in a tight hug. She let out a sob, clinging to his coat.
"I've got you. You're safe" He whispered to her. Alex took a deep breath, composing herself.
"God, I missed you" She told him quietly.
"Told you I'd come and get you"
He pulled away slightly, looking her in the eye.
"I never doubted you" She nodded.
"I did! You alright?" He asked, looking her over.
"Yeah" She nodded. "Better now. You?"
"Not bad. Been better" He told her. He seemed to take one last look at her before deeming her alright enough for now and moving over to inspect the damaged Dalek. She knew he would no doubt want to follow her back to her room when all this was over, something he did a lot after something had really scared her. Sometimes they just talked, other times she liked him there when she went to sleep. He kept the nightmares away and was there already if she woke from one.
"Hey, don't I get a hug?" Jack asked, stepping closer. Alex smiled softly and walked over to him. "I was talking to him" He said then, gesturing to the Doctor. Alex blushed slightly and Jack laughed. "I'm just kidding Lex, come here" He pulled her in for a hug and she held him tightly in return.
"I thought I'd never see you again" She admitted.
"Oh you were lucky, I was just a one-shot wonder. Drained the gun of all its power supply. Now it's just a piece of junk" He explained to her. She nodded in understanding as he stepped away, revealing Rose watching them.
"Not dead" Alex pointed out hesitantly.
"I am so mad at you" Rose said softly, shaking her head. Alex sighed softly, nodding.
"I know"
"I don't want you to keep trying to die in my place"
"I know"
There was a moment of silence before she rushed forward, pulling Alex into a huge hug, clinging to her tightly.
"I thought you were dead" Rose told her tearily. Alex hugged her back, feeling her own tears surface.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Rose. But you know I had to protect you" She tried to explain.
"Well what if you had died? What would I do then?" She demanded, pulling away to grab her shoulders tightly.
"You have…" Alex trailed off, looking towards the men in the ship, who didn't look like they were too keen on being brought into the issue.
"I want you" Rose insisted. "It wouldn't be the same without you" Alex took another glance around the occupants of the room. Both men were staring at her now, silently agreeing.
"I'm sorry" She told them softly. Rose was still a moment before nodding and pulling her into another hug. The girls smiled at each other when they pulled apart, wiping their tears with small laughs. Rose led the older girl back towards the remains of the Dalek, incredibly aware of the way her hand tightened around hers. She squeezed back reassuringly, standing back with her while the guys continued to look it over.
"You said they were extinct, how comes they're still alive?" Rose asked, peering over their shoulders.
"On minute they're the greatest threat in the universe, the next minute they vanished out of time and space" Jack told them, likely it was all he knew.
"They went off to fight a bigger war" The Doctor told him, his eyes not leaving the remains of the Dalek.
"The Time War" Alex finished, her voice hollow. Jack looked back at her and was surprised by what he saw. Her eyes suddenly seemed so much older and held so much pain, something he'd never seen in the girl. Like he'd only seen in one other person. They almost seemed to reflect the horror of war like she spoke about, but he knew for a fact that the girl could never have fought anything of the like. It was only a moment, a flash, then it was gone like it had never been there. Jack almost thought he'd imagined it. Alex blinked like she'd come out of a daze, but said nothing.
"I thought that was just a legend" Jack said quietly, deciding to focus on the Daleks first.
"I was there" The Doctor told him. "The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords. With the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them" His voice turned quieter as he continued. "I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing"
"There's thousands of them now" Rose pointed out worriedly. "We could hardly stop one. What're we gonna do?"
"No good stood 'round here chin-wagging" The Doctor told her cheerily, standing. He held his hand out to Alex and she moved almost hesitantly, letting go of Rose to join him. He gave her an encouraging smile. "Human race, you'd gossip all day. The Daleks have all the answers, let's go meet the neighbours" With that, he headed off down the ramp and to the door, Alex in tow.
"You can't go out there!" Rose shouted urgently, trying to chase after them before they left, but it was too late. The two had already stepped outside to stand in the open in front of the Tardis.
"Exterminate! Exterminate!" The Daleks cried without hesitation. Alex flinched and pressed herself into the Doctor, her other hand grabbing his singed sleeve as they shot at them, only to have their shots stopped in mid-air by their force field. Alex laughed slightly as the Doctor raised his free arm like a question.
"Is that it?" Was the question. "Useless. Nul points" He smiled down at Alex, moving so she could stand between him and Jack right in front of the Tardis.
"It's alright, come on out" he told the other two. "That force field can hold back anything"
"Almost anything" Jack corrected. The Doctor paused, staring at him and Alex rolled her eyes.
"We weren't meant to tell them that" Alex sighed.
"Sorry" Jack muttered sheepishly, realising his mistake. Alex seemed unscared enough to sigh mockingly at him, but she was still pressing herself into the Doctor's side, one hand grasping his tightly. The Daleks were silent and the Doctor looked around at them a moment before looking down at Alex. She understood quickly, letting go of his hand and taking a step away. He gave her a small encouraging smile as he moved towards the Daleks.
"D'you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek homeworld?" The Doctor asked as he faced them. "The Oncoming Storm. You might've removed all your emotions but I recon that deep down in your DNA, there's one little spark left. And that's fear. And doesn't it just burn when you face me?" Alex had to admit, he was pretty terrifying when he got angry, and that was from her side. She couldn't imagine the fear of going against him for real. "So tell me, how did you survive the Time War?"
"They survived through me" A deep voice reverberated through the open space. Alex jumped and her hand flew out to grab at the nearest person, who just happened to be Jack. He took her hand as the Doctor moved towards the voice and lights came on, illuminating a giant Dalek, towering above them all. Alex's eyes were wider than she thought they ever had been before as she stared up at the creature.
"Alex… Rose… Captain… This is the Emperor of the Daleks" The Doctor spoke over his shoulder, sounding amazed himself. Alex detached herself from Jack, slowly making her way towards the Doctor. She was almost afraid to reach out to him, knowing he could very well go back to the man he was in the Time War at a time like this. But when her fingers brushed his he took her hand immediately. She wasn't sure if it was for him or her. She continued forward until she was stood by his side. Sure, she was scared, but she hated being scared. And maybe, she thought, this could be a good first step to being brave. Holding the Doctor's hand and standing in front of the Dalek Emperor.
"You destroyed us, Doctor" The Emperor spoke in its loud deep voice. Alex mouth fell open as her eyes moved over the bodywork of the machine. "The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, felling through time, crippled but alive"
"I get it" The Doctor cut it off impatiently.
"Do not interrupt!" Some of the Daleks exclaimed, one after the other. Jack and Rose winced at the yelling and Alex jumped, taking another step closer to the Doctor. He merely looked annoyed at them, but that changed when he felt Alex move beside him.
"I think you're forgetting something" He started calmly. "I'm the Doctor. And if there's one thing I can do, its talk. I've got five billion languages, and you haven't got one way of stopping me. So if anybody's gonna shut up, it's you!" He shouted the last few words facing the Daleks behind them. He felt Alex's hand leave his and turned quickly, fearing the worst. What he discovered though, was even worse than what he had imagined.
Alex had taken a step back from him, staring at him with wide eyes and her mouth slightly open. He froze. He had seen her in front of zombies and Slitheen, gas-masked people and Daleks and seen her terrified of every single one, but never before had he seen her as scared as she was now. And he knew, this time, it was because of him. And that was about the worst thing, he thought, that could ever happen in his lives. That he could scare Alex like that.
"So, where were we?" he asked, turning back to the Emperor. He knew that he could do nothing now, he'd have to pretend, at least for this minute, that it didn't bother him like it did. And if he tried to approach her now, he didn't think he could handle it if she stepped away.
"We waited here and the dark space. Damaged but rebuilding" The Emperor continued. "Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the disposed, they all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted, only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured"
"So, you created an army of Daleks out of the dead" The Doctor summarized.
"That makes them… half human" Rose guessed.
"Those words are blasphemy!" The Emperor shouted back, enraged.
"Do not blaspheme!" The Daleks chanted.
"Everything human has been purged. I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek" The Emperor corrected. The Doctor looked around at the Daleks, purposely keeping from looking at Alex.
"Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?" The Doctor questioned, confused.
"I reached into the dirt and made new life. I am the god of all Daleks!" The Emperor declared.
"Worship him! Worship him! Worship him!" The Daleks chanted together. The Doctor looked around in surprise.
"They're insane!" He told the others. "A hundred years of hiding in silence, that's enough to drive anyone mad. But it's worse than that" He walked closer to a group of Daleks. "Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity. You hate your own existence, and that makes them more deadly than ever" He turned back to the Emperor. "We're leaving" He announced, watching as Alex rushed back to the Tardis, not even looking at him as she passed.
"You may not leave my presence!" The Emperor Dalek shouted back at them. The Doctor simply stared at them before closing the doors, leaning his head against them with a heavy sigh.
Alex stood by the console, watching him guiltily. It was true, he'd rather scared her. But she knew that was the very last thing he'd wanted to do. Now she felt horrible for letting it get to her, and for letting it show so easily. She knew she had to make it up to him. But in the events to follow, how? It's not like she ever thought this would be easy.
Alex was the last one out of the Tardis when they'd made it back to the Game Station. She closed the door behind her, hearing it lock as she watched the Doctor rush around, throwing out orders. He's not looked at her since she'd stepped back from him, and she didn't blame him. The Tardis hummed under her fingers and she looked down to where she was still holding the handle. She smiled softly, stroking the wood lovingly before making her way further into the room.
"Lynda, what are you still doing on board?" The Doctor asked suddenly. Alex looked up and frowned.
"Jacob? I thought you would go with the others" She told him, surprised he was even there.
"I told you to evacuate everyone" The Doctor accused, turning to the programmer who sat beside him.
"They wouldn't go" He said simply.
"We… didn't want to leave you guys" Jacob told them, Lynda nodding along. Rose frowned at the two, glancing at Alex and the Doctor, noticing the way they stood on the opposite sides of the pair.
"There weren't enough shuttles anyway" The other programmer spoke up. "Or I wouldn't be here. There are about a hundred people stranded on floor zero"
"Oh my god" The man at the computers spoke up, looking intently at his screen. "The fleet is moving. They're on their way"
The Doctor turned, starting to pull panels off computers to access the wires. Alex frowned at him with the rest for a moment before it clicked in her head. Delta wave. She stepped forward to help him pull off one of the panels and he paused a moment, looking up at her. She simply stared back at him before giving a small nod. He returned it before going back to work, tugging wires out, handing some to her and gathering some in his own arms.
"Dalek plan, big mistake" The Doctor started, talking quickly. "Because what have they left me with? Anyone? Anyone?"
"A, uh, a transmitter" Alex stumbled quickly.
"A great big transmitter! My clever human" He praised with a grin. Alex couldn't help but grin in return. "This station" He clarified. "If I can change the signal, fold it back, anyone?"
"You've gotta be kidding" Jack spoke, his questioning look disappearing.
"Give the man a medal!"
"A delta wave?" Jack asked, incredulous.
"A delta wave!" The Doctor repeated excitedly.
"What's a delta wave?" Rose asked with a frown. Alex opened her mouth to explain but closed it again with a frown when she realised she'd forgotten.
"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy" Jack told them. "Fries your brain. Stand in the way of a delta wave and your head gets barbequed" Rose went to say something when Lynda spoke first.
"Well, get started and do it then!" She told them. Rose looked away, disgruntled at being interrupted.
"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, even with Alex, should take about, ooh, three days?" The Doctor rambled off. "How long 'till the fleet arrive?"
"Twenty-two minutes" The computer man answered, consulting his screen.
"We'll be working on the delta wave just on this floor yeah?" Alex asked, looking to the Doctor, who nodded in confirmation. "Well concentrate the shields, don't let them board on this floor, far down as you can" She told them. The Doctor stared at her a second before grinning.
"Have I ever told you how fantastic you are?" He asked excitedly. Alex smiled.
"Yeah, you have"
"Well I'm saying it again" He got back to work with his wires, waving at the Jack. "Go on, do as she says" He told him. Jack nodded, running the fetch the extrapolator and plug it into the computer. Alex continued working with the Doctor as Jack explained the force field to the programmers. The Doctor called Rose over to help not long later and Alex passed her the wire stripper with a soft smile. Alex stopped working a moment later as she realised what was currently happening. Jack was still ordering people about and the Doctor had said goodbye to Lynda. Jacob was suddenly stood above Alex and she looked up at him.
"I'm… really glad I met you" He told her awkwardly.
"I'm glad too" Alex told him, forcing a smile. She let him pull her to her feet so they were closer to the same height.
"I… don't know what to say" He admitted. Alex laughed softly.
"Yeah, neither do I. I don't like endings" She said softly. He tried to give her an encouraging smile. "Just… do one thing for me"
"What?" He asked, listening closely.
"Stay alive. Live a good life, do everything you dreamed of. Meet a girl, fall in love and start a family. Travel the world, or the universe. Do what you were always afraid to do" She pleaded.
"I doubt I'll ever be afraid again" He told her, nodding. "I promise. And I won't let anyone ever forget what you did here today. I'm gonna tell people, 'I met the girl who saved the world'" Alex laughed.
"You do that" She nodded. There was a pause.
"Goodbye" He said solemnly.
"Goodbye" Alex repeated, watching him go. Jack walked up a moment later, bringing the moment Alex had been dreading.
"It's been fun!" He told the three. The Doctor smiled back at his light tone but Rose didn't react and Alex felt tears at her eyes. "But I guess this is goodbye" His tone changed. Serious and sad now. Alex didn't like the sound of it.
"Don't talk like that. The Doctor's gonna do it. You just watch him" Rose told him hopefully. He cast a glance at Alex and shook his head slightly at her sad expression.
"Rose…" He said softly, taking her face gently in both his hands. "You are worth fighting for" He gave her a brief kiss before pulling away with a slight smile. He turned to the Doctor then.
"Wish I'd never met you Doctor!" He joked, holding his face the same way he did with Rose. "I was much better off as a coward" He kissed him too, before turning to Alex, who had silent tears falling down her face. He cupped her cheeks with a soft sigh.
"Alex… you are more than worth fighting for. And if anyone is the reason I'm not a coward anymore, it's you. You are most definitely, single-handedly the best person I have ever met" He told her sincerely. Alex managed a smile and he grinned in return, leaning down to kiss her. He went to pull away but she wrapped her arms around his neck suddenly, pulling him back down for a moment longer. When she pulled away she hugged him close so her head was in his neck.
"I hope to see you in Cardiff" She whispered. "But the Doctor may be alone. Watch out for him" She pulled away, giving him a sad smile. "You're a good man, Jack" He smiled genuinely at that, remember their first real conversation.
"See you in hell" He grinned.
"Je te vois en enfer, Sparrow" Alex replied, grinning herself at his confused expression. He shook his head at her as he left. Alex's grin fell quickly and she looked down at the ground. A hand fell on her shoulder and she jumped, turning as the Doctor stepped away slightly. She realised suddenly what she had done, he still thought she was scared of him now.
"Doctor…"
"We have to get back to work" He said, shaking it off. Alex nodded, silently helping Rose with stripping the wires.
"He's gonna be alright…" Rose said slowly, as if she was trying to convince herself. She looked between the Doctor and Alex, who both remained silent. "Isn't he?" No answer.
"Suppose…" Rose trailed off after a moment, trailing off with a shake of her head. There was no one else left on floor 500, just the Doctor and his companions, sitting in silence. Well, almost silence. The rest had gone downstairs to either cower on floor 0, or had taken a gun to help Jack protect floor 500 while they worked. Alex was lost in her thoughts as she worked methodically, thinking about Jack and the Doctor, how she could fix things and show him he didn't scare her, his upcoming regeneration. She glanced up at Rose before looking back down at her work. The Doctor, however, wasn't going to let it go so easily.
"What?" He asked, awaiting her answer.
"Nothing" Rose shook her head again.
"You said 'suppose'" The Doctor pointed out.
"No, I was just thinking… I mean obviously you can't, but… you've got a time machine… Can't you just go back to last week and warn them?" Rose asked slowly.
"Paradoxes would be immense, possibly tear the multiverse apart, wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey" Alex listed off, her tone flat and she stripped the next wire with a little more force than necessary. The Doctor glanced at her before going back to working as he clarified.
"Soon as the Tardis lands in that second, I become part of the events, stuck in the timeline" He explained as he worked.
"Yeah, thought it'd be something like that" Rose admitted, continuing her own work. None of them spoke for another moment.
"There's another thing the Tardis could do… It could take us away…" He told the two slowly. Alex simply shook her head as Rose looked up with a small smile. "We could leave, let history take its course, go to Marbella in 1989"
"Yeah, but you'd never do that" Rose pointed out.
"No but you could ask" He told the two, looking between them. He ducked down slightly, catching Alex's eye. "Never even occurred to you did it?" Alex gave him a soft smile.
"Well, we're just too good" Rose smiled, looking between the two. The Doctor sent her a grin but looked back at Alex. There was a moment of silence as Alex seemed to think over what he'd said.
"I like to think I'm too much like you to think about that" She told him quietly. He grinned at her and she smiled almost shyly back. Rose looked between the two still, smiling softly, like she knew something they didn't. She had been hoping for them to get together from the start, and she knew she had made no mistake. Even with the way Alex kept looking from him down at the wires in her hands, they were both looking at each other like they were seeing the most important thing in the universe.
"Timey what?" The Doctor asked suddenly. Alex laughed.
A computer made a sudden whirring sound and all three of them looked up.
"That's the delta wave" Alex realised, already stumbling to her feet.
"It's started building" The Doctor confirmed, standing also. "How long does it need?" He moved to sit in the chair Alex was already standing behind and the two peered over his shoulders at the writing only he understood. He pressed a few buttons and seemed to read the monitor before his face fell. Alex's expression fell in the same way soon after, looking as if she'd just remembered something.
"Is that bad?" Rose asked, looking between the two. The Doctor leaned forward, his head between his knees. Alex pushed away from the chair, stepping back with her hands running through her hair. Neither answered. "Okay, it's bad" Rose deduced, nodding. "How bad is it?" The Doctor perked up suddenly and jumped to his feet, his eyes bright as he looked down at her.
"Rose Tyler, you're a genius!" He exclaimed suddenly, joyfully. He pulled her forward to place a kiss on her forehead as she grinned. "We can do it! If I use the Tardis to cross my old timeline, yes!" He rushed off to the Tardis, grabbing Alex's hand on the way past. She stumbled slightly as she followed him, her eyes wide. Rose followed, not noticing Alex's panicked look. He let go of her on the ramp and she stopped there, even as he led Rose to the console.
"Hold that down and keep position" He told her quickly, pointing to a lever. Rose did as she was told, looking up at him.
"What's it do?" She asked, slightly breathless.
"Cancels the buffers" He told her, busy looking over the monitor and doing something else. "If I'm very clever, and I'm more than clever, I'm brilliant, I might just save the world. Or rip it apart…"
"I'd go for the first one" Rose told him, nodding to show she understood.
"Me too" he agreed, moving back to Alex on the ramp. "Now, I've just to go and power up the Game Station" With a glance to make sure Rose wasn't paying attention, he took Alex's wrist in one hand.
"Doctor" She said quietly, calm as ever. Before she could say anything else, or even realise anything was happening, he had pulled something from his pocket and she was handcuffed to the railing. She gaped down at it, looking at him in shock. He gave her one last look before running to the door.
"Hold on a tic" He finished, rushing out and letting the door swing shut behind him. Alex gave the handcuffs one hard tug, looking down at them. They looked more advanced than anything she'd known. The engines started and Alex looked back up at the door, her mouth gaping open. She turned back to see the rotor moving.
"No…"
"Doctor, what're you doing? Can I take my hand off? It's moving" Rose called in the direction of the doors. She shifted to look around the console, her mouth falling open in shock as she took in the position Alex was in.
"No"
Rose ran for the doors, pounding on them as if that'd make them open. "Doctor! Let me out!"
"No!" Alex shouted louder, pulling relentlessly at her wrist.
"Let me out! Doctor, what've you done?" Rose continued, glancing back at Alex.
"Doctor!" Alex called out, her voice trailing off eventually as she realised they were gone.
'This is emergency programme one'
Alex and Rose both turned quickly when the Doctor's voice filled the room, slightly distorted like the flickering hologram standing by the console. Alex couldn't help but look away. Had she been crying this whole time?
'Alex, Rose, listen, this is important. If this message is activated, it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger, and I mean fatal. I'm dead, or about to die any second, with no chance of escape'
"No!" The girls shouted at once. Rose ran forward up the ramp as Alex moved as close as she could.
'And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised to look after you, and that's what I'm doing. The Tardis is taking you home'
"I won't let you" Rose protested, as if he could hear her. She moved even closer until she was standing beside the hologram, but he just looked straight forward, not seeing her.
'And I bet you're fussing and moaning now, typical. But hold on and just listen a bit more. The Tardis can never return for me. Emergency programme one means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do, let the Tardis die'
"No!" Alex shouted without hesitation, staring at the flickering picture.
'I mean it Alex' It spoke. He knew she was going to say that… 'Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it, no one will even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world will move on, and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, you can do one thing. That's all, one thing' He turned his head suddenly, facing Rose as if he knew she was there.
"Have a good life. Do that for me, Rose. Have a fantastic life. Look after Alex" He looked to Alex then, knowing where she was too. "Alex, please, keep yourself safe. Look after yourself, and don't blame yourself for this. Go live with Rose, or travel, just live. Live for me" Alex shook her head slightly as his image gave her one last smile before fading away.
"You can't do this" Rose declared, as if he could hear her. "You can't do this to her! You can't!" She yelled, kicking the console and hitting every button and lever she could reach.
"Rose" Alex called, trying to get her attention. As the engines slowed down the handcuffs clicked open. Alex looked down at them, baffled. She shook her head, throwing the object to the ground.
"Take us back!" Rose shouted at the machine "Take us back!" She turned around and rushed outside. Alex closed her eyes against the tears, knowing she'd be finding the outside of the Powell Estate. She ran back inside a moment later, trying to press every button and pull every lever in sight. "Come on, fly. How do you fly? Help me!"
"Rose" Alex repeated, pulling her away from the console. She turned her around to wrap her arms around her, keeping her from abusing the Tardis anymore. She shushed the girl gently, holding her and stroking her hair like the Doctor did for her. She bit back her own tears as Rose cried into her shoulder.
"He's gone" She sobbed. Alex nodded.
"Yeah" She agreed, her voice breaking slightly. "He's gone"
Damn you guys, this starts to get real sad during the end of this chapter and some of the next one. Have fun with that.