And now the final farewell. Much sadness. Many tears. I'm debating posting tomorrow's interlude today to make up for any wrung hearts. I'll leave it up to you guys...let me know in reviews.

oOoOo

She leaned against a coral strut as the time rotor ground to a halt, slowly making her way outside. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it, trying without success to control herself. One way or another, she was getting back to him. If she could make it across dimensions, then she could do this.

"I knew it!" she heard Mickey yell behind her as he ran up. "I was all the way down Clifton's Parade, and I heard the engines and I thought 'there's only one thing that makes a noise like that'." She turned slowly as he got closer. He stopped just in front of her, looking at her in concern. "What is it?"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. He reached for her and held her while the tears poured down her cheeks.

Eventually, Mickey called her mum. Rose had finally gotten control of herself when Jackie made an appearance, suggesting they all go for chips.

"Two hundred thousand years in the future, the Doctor is fighting for the whole universe," Rose said coldly. "I'm not going for chips."

"Like you said, that's a long way off," Jackie said dismissively, taking her arm and trying to pull her away.

"But it's not," she said, pulling her arm free. "It's right now. It's happening right now. They're dying, and I'm stuck here."

"Listen to me," Jackie said firmly, standing in front of her. "God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him, and d'you know why? Because he did the right thing. He sent you back to me. Just like YOU said he would."

"But this isn't right, Mum," Rose said softly. "Out there, it's a better life. It's not the travelling, it's not seeing things that no one else here would see—it's the way he lives his life, the way he taught me. Mickey, he showed you that too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't—" She stopped abruptly, unable to go on. She shook her head and walked away.

She ended up near a park. She tried to remember what she'd done last time, what she'd said to make them see. She could remember now what happened when she'd returned to the GameStation, but everything in between was a blur of high emotion and golden light. She needed their help; she couldn't open the TARDIS without them. But she couldn't see a way to make them understand.

"You can't live your life like this," Mickey said as he walked up to her slowly. "He would want better for you."

"I can't just give up," she said softly.

"But what else can you do?"

She looked up and hesitated, wondering if he would really believe her. That's when she saw it. Bad Wolf, written over and over, all over the playground. She smiled fiercely. He would believe her, because he had. And she would get back to the Doctor.

"Come on," she said quickly, pulling him back toward the TARDIS. She explained on the way about the TARDIS being alive, about the heart of the TARDIS showing when it got pulled apart. If she could just tap into that, then she could get back to him, save him.

"Rose," Mickey said, taking her arm and pulling her to a stop just outside the TARDIS. "If you go back, you're going to die."

"That's a risk I've got to take," she said firmly, knowing he'd never understand if she told him for certain that she wouldn't. As long as the Doctor was still alive, they would both survive.

"You really love him," Mickey said softly. Her eyes burned again, but she only nodded. "Well alright then. What are we waiting for?"

He ran for his car, and they hooked the chain up to the console. She didn't think it would work, but Jackie wasn't open to anything right now, so it was this or nothing. Mickey ran back to the car and floored it. The chain pulled tight and shook, but the console stayed firmly in place. The car finally stalled without raising it an inch.

Rose leaned against the console, frustration and despair seeking to overtake her determination.

"It was never gonna work, sweetheart," Jackie said, coming inside. "And the Doctor knew that. He just wanted you to be safe."

"I can't give up," she replied hoarsely.

"Lock the door. Walk away."

"Dad wouldn't give up," Rose said as inspiration hit, turning to her mother.

"Well, he's not here, is he? And even if he was, he'd say the same."

"No, he wouldn't," she said, speaking not of the Pete Tyler that had died in the road, but of the man she'd known in the parallel world. Luckier than the one here, but still him. The strong, courageous director of Torchwood. The man who took her in as his own, who risked everything to save both her and Jackie at Canary Wharf. "He'd tell me to try anything. If I could save the Doctor's life…try anything."

"Well, we're never gonna know," Jackie said dismissively.

"Well, I know," Rose said firmly. "'Cause I met him. I met Dad."

"Don't be ridiculous," Jackie said quietly, anger flashing in her eyes.

"The Doctor took me back in time, and I met Dad." Close enough to the truth. She had met him once, the first time, when she'd nearly destroyed time to save him.

"Don't say that," Jackie said.

"Remember when Dad died? There was someone with him. The reports said so." Jackie stared at her. "You read them, Mum. The boy who was driving, he kept saying that there was a blonde girl, one who held his hand until the ambulance arrived."

"Stop it," Jackie warned.

"That was me, Mum," she told her, tears streaming down her face. "That's how good the Doctor is—"

"Stop it!" she yelled, cutting Rose off. "Just stop it!" She ran out the doors without looking back. Rose leaned against the console, thinking about Pete, about her mum and Tony, about her whole life rolling out ahead of her. She thought about the Doctor, fighting against time, knowing that even if he succeeded, he would once again be doing it at the cost of an entire planet. Finally, she wiped the tears from her cheeks and walked back to the doors.

"So what're we gonna do now?" Mickey asked as she stepped outside.

"We…wait," she said, a smile coming to her lips. She remembered now where they had gotten the truck.

Mickey gave her a strange look. "For what?"

Rose looked at him, then down at the corner. It was another couple minutes, but she finally saw it. "For that," she told him happily, as the huge recovery truck rolled to a stop in front of them.

"Right," Jackie said, hopping out of the driver's seat. "You've only got this until six o' clock, so get on with it."

"Mum...you are a star," Rose said, grinning widely at her.

"Time you noticed it," Jackie said with a smile. "You were right about your dad, sweetheart. He was full of mad ideas, and this is exactly what he would've done. Now, get on with it before I change my mind," she finished, tossing the keys at Mickey.

They chained the console to the truck and tried again. Rose shouted for more power when she heard the console start creaking. The truck outside revved louder and louder, and the creaking became more pronounced, until suddenly the console flipped up and the chain burst off and was thrown outside. Rose stepped closer as the panel raised higher, and looked into the light shining out. She heard a gentle song surround her, and her mind began to burn with a golden light...

oOoOo

The Doctor's hands shook as he gripped the plunger that would set off the Delta wave. He thought of Rose, two thousand years and millions of miles away. He couldn't do it. He couldn't destroy another world he loved, the world she belonged to, for the sake of the Daleks. Not again.

"Coward," he said finally, releasing his grip and stepping back. "Any day."

"MANKIND WILL BE HARVESTED BECAUSE OF YOUR WEAKNESS," the Emperor said triumphantly.

"And what about me?" he asked. "Am I becoming one of your angels?"

"YOU ARE THE HEATHEN," the Emperor declared. "YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED."

Jack was gone. Lynda was gone. Everyone who had stayed to fight was dead. But Rose was safe. At least he had made sure of that. The last good thing he could do. "Maybe it's time," he said finally, closing his eyes. Then he heard the engines. He kept his eyes closed, telling himself it was his imagination. He'd sent it away.

"ALERT! TARDIS MATERIALISING!"

His eyes slammed open and he spun around in shock. There, in front of him, against all odds, was his magnificent ship. But why? How did it come back here, and why?

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" the Emperor cried as the TARDIS finished materializing.

The doors opened, and a golden light spilled out as Rose stepped out of the ship. The light spread and curled in tendrils around her as she stepped forward while the Doctor stumbled back, falling to the floor.

"What've you done?" he asked her fearfully.

"I looked into the TARDIS," she said, her voice reverberating strangely, her harsh London accent gone. "And the TARDIS looked into me."

"You looked into the Time Vortex," he realized, and the fear inside him grew. "Rose, no one's meant to see that."

"THIS IS THE ABOMINATION!" cried the Emperor.

"EXTERMINATE!"

The Doctor watched, first in fear and then in amazement, as the Dalek shot its ray at Rose, only to have her stop it with a hand, reversing the beam back into the gun.

"I am the Bad Wolf," she said. "I create myself. I take the words...I scatter them in Time and Space." She raised her hand, and the words lifted and spun and danced before disappearing. "A message to lead myself here."

"Rose, you've got to stop this," he said urgently. "You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're gonna burn!"

"I want you safe, My Doctor. Protected from the false God," she said, abruptly looking down at him. He looked back, stunned. She had done god knows what to be able to pull apart the TARDIS, she risked everything she was to look inside and come back for him. He didn't think he'd ever understand what she saw in him that she felt merited such extreme devotion.

"YOU CANNOT HURT ME," the Emperor stated. "I AM IMMORTAL."

"You are tiny," Rose said angrily, turning back to the screen. "I can see the whole of time and space—every single atom of your existence, and I divide them." She raised a hand, and a Dalek flew apart into golden particles of dust. "Everything must come to dust...all things. Everything dies. The Time War ends," she vowed, raising both arms, as the Daleks surrounding them disintegrated.

"I WILL NOT DIE," the Emperor shouted. "I CANNOT DIE!"

The Doctor watched as the figure on the screen dissolved into golden light, and turned back to Rose. She stood shaking in front of him, staring straight ahead, the golden light still making her glow from within.

"Rose, you've done it," the Doctor said in a low but insistent voice. "Now stop. Just let go."

"How can I let go of this?" she asked in a hushed voice. "I bring life."

The Doctor felt it grating against his senses when she brought Jack back to life. One day, he would have to deal with that. He was sure of it. But that wasn't important right now.

"But this is wrong!" he told her urgently. "You can't control life and death!"

"But I can," she said, looking at him again. "The sun and the moon... the day and night. But why do they hurt?" she asked finally in a trembling voice.

"The power's gonna kill you and it's my fault," he said hopelessly.

"I can see everything," she said softly. "All that is...all that was...all that ever could be."

He jumped up, standing before her, and looking down into her golden eyes. He could save her. He would save her. Because he loved her, and had for a long time. He could never, ever tell her that. He couldn't bear losing her if she knew. But he loved her, for everything that she was and everything that she did that made him feel whole again. Any sacrifice he made now for her was worthwhile.

"That's what I see," he told her gently. "All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"

"My head..."

"Come here."

"...it's killing me..."

"I think you need a Doctor," he said softly, pulling her close and pressing his lips to hers. She tasted of cherries and Time, and something indefinably her and strangely familiar. He drank her in as he absorbed the Time Vortex from her mind. He could have done this a hundred ways, but it would always end up the same way for him. If this had to be his sacrifice, he'd have one perfect moment with her first.

He heard the song, and slowly pulled away from Rose, seeing the last of the golden energy leave her eyes just before they fluttered closed. She sagged against him, and he lowered her gently to the ground before standing up and breathing the energy back into the TARDIS. He stumbled as it left him, and he smiled a little bitterly. He wouldn't have long.

He knelt down next to his beautiful girl, the one who risked so much to save him. He checked her pulse, then brushed her hair out of her face, caressing her cheek. He sighed and picked her up, carrying her into the TARDIS. He had to get them out of here before he lost control completely.

oOoOo

Wake up, my Wolf!

Rose's eyes snapped open. It wasn't words. It was...odd.

Later. Go to him.

She looked up. The Doctor was leaning heavily on the console as he worked the controls. He glanced at her as she stood up. "Doctor…"

"Sleeping Beauty awakens," he said with a grin. The grin faltered after just a moment as he asked, "What do you remember?"

"Everything," she said, her eyes burning. "You saved me."

"Rose Tyler," he said with a small laugh, like he was staggered at her very existence. Which, she realized, was probably the truth. "I was gonna take you to so many places. Barcelona—not the city Barcelona, the planet. You'd love it. Fantastic place—they've got dogs with no noses." He laughed at that, and Rose rolled her eyes as she edged closer. "Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny!"

"Doctor...that trick you told me about..." Rose trailed off, watching him. He looked up at her and nodded.

"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that," he explained, his tone light despite his obvious pain.

"What's going to happen to you?" she asked cautiously. "The you you are now, I mean."

He hesitated. "I'm going to die," he said quietly. "A new man is going to saunter away with you…but I'll be dead."

"Oh, Doctor," she choked out through tears, running to him. She threw her arms around his neck before he could stop her, and after a split second, she felt his arms wrap around her to hold her tightly one last time. "I'll never forget you," she whispered urgently in his ear. After a moment, he pulled away. His hand brushed her cheek, and she leaned into it as he kissed her forehead before pushing her away to a safer distance.

"It's a bit dodgy, this process," he said softly once he was sure she was at a safe distance. "You never know what you're gonna end up with—" He was cut off as a blast of golden light exploded from him, and he stumbled backwards, doubled over.

"Doctor!"

"Stay away!" he cried urgently. Rose watched him in concern. Even knowing what was happening didn't make it easier for her to watch, especially now that she knew that it was completely her fault. He gave her a long look, filled with so many things he didn't think he should say, things Rose already knew and broke her heart. "Before I go...Rose...I just wanna tell you, you were fantastic," he told her with a proud smile. "Absolutely fantastic. And d'you know what?" She shook her head, tears escaping from her eyes. "So was I." He smiled at her, and she smiled back.

"Always," she said softly, nodding. "My Doctor."

His smile grew, and then he exploded with a golden light. Rose watched as her beloved Doctor changed from the man she had known, all leather and rage, who had become so much more this time around, to the man she had loved so fiercely and lost across the Void. She choked on a sob as she stumbled back.

And then he was standing there in front of her, with a slightly concussed look on his face. "Hello," he said, glancing up at her briefly. "Okay—oh," he stopped. "New teeth, that's weird," he said after a moment. "So where was I? Oh that's right," he said looking up at her again and grinning. "Barcelona."