AN: Thanks to all of you who figured out the confusion with the last two chapters. Sorry for that. Now we are back up and running.

The Doctor had been far too much of a coward to lie to them.

In the end he had left it to Jack. Brilliant, brave Jack, who knew the odds far better than the rest of the huddles remnants on the satellite did. And yet had shrugged as he met the Doctor's measured gaze, turned to the controllers and programmers left on board, and began formulating his grand plan of defense. Jack was far too good at what he did, so smooth, so cool as assured them that simple bullets could destroy the Daleks armor. It must have been how he could be so very successful with his many conquests, those nerves of steel. The Doctor almost envied him courage. Jack knew he was leading them all on a suicide mission. The odds of any of them surviving were none. And yet he was willing to take on that burden himself, because he knew that the Doctor couldn't. And for the rest of his days, however brief it may be, the Doctor thought he would be forever grateful to Jack Harkness for it.

They all gathered around one of the broadcasting computers as Jack outlined his plan, all of them, even Rose. There she was, that determined look on her face. She knew the truth about the Daleks, knew that Jack's words were a pipe dream, and yet she stood there, ready to fight, to die with these utter strangers...just for him. That, the Doctor couldn't allow.

"Rose," he called from where he sat in his tangle of of plastic and copper, voice sharp and taught, catching her attention away from the others. "You can help me. I need all those wires stripped bare."

She did as she was asked without comment, silently snagging a pair of wire strippers from the counter to begin peeling the plastic casings from around the bundle of wires he'd yanked from the bank of servers. He was grateful she made no protest, as he half thought she might. He didn't know what he could say that wouldn't make it blatantly obvious he was deliberately keeping her away from harms way. The hell he was letting her go down in the fools quest that Jack was committing himself to. He had watch her die once already this day, and he couldn't do it any further, not again. He would not test his promise to her parents any further.

The others broke, though he saw no hope in their eyes, save Lynda, perky, sweet, adventurous Lynda, who sauntered over to him with her shy smile, wrapping her fingers in knots around each other. He stood to greet her. She knew the truth, or at least suspected it, he could read it in her nervous bouncing, in the her false, cute cheer. Even so, she was still, like an eager puppy, wanting to please him.

"I just want to say that...um...thanks, I suppose. And I'll do my best."

"Me too," he grinned, nervous, that sort of laughter that you have when one doesn't know what to do. He could just ask that she too stay, even if it cuts Jack's numbers even further. Demand that she help Rose. Judging from Rose's death glare beside him, he highly doubted she'd appreciate the gesture. Despite that, he should. He was the reason this girl stayed rather than fled like he asked her to. But instead, he faltered and fumbled, wondering what to do. Hug her tightly? He hardly knew her, sweet as she was. He settled on a handshake with her, a firm and friendly goodbye.

He could save her. But he didn't.

Beside him, Rose ripped through one of the copper wires, nearly slicing her thumb. He said nothing, choosing to ignore her jealousy for now. He felt too tired to deal with it.

"It's been fun!" Jack's swagger and cavalier smile didn't quite meet the solemnity in his brilliant, blue eyes. He sobered, glancing at them both. "But I guess this is goodbye."

The Doctor smiled, sadly, for he realized in that moment he had come to care for Jack Harkness despite himself. Cocky and charming and courageous he was, whether he knew it or not. So easy to fall in love with.

"Don't talk like that," Rose admonished, and the Doctor's heart ached at her confidence. "The Doctor's going to do it. You just watch him!"

Rose Tyler, who thought he could do anything. In her eyes he was invincible, and if he could have cried in that moment, the Doctor would have, in the face of her unwavering faith. Even Jack's expression softened, his hands coming up to cup her face, adoration in his sad smile.

"Rose," he murmured, bittersweet and sincere. "You are worth fighting for."

The Doctor wondered, briefly, if Jack was telepathically channeling his very thoughts, or if he was at least projecting them to the other man. But no, they were Jack's own. The Doctor was glad that it was Jack who was brave enough to vocalize them. He hardly minded as the other man bent to kiss Rose's lips gently, a chaste brush of affection and farewell, before he turned to to grin wildly at the Doctor.

"Wish I'd never met you, Doctor," he cheerfully quipped. Like with Rose, Jack cupped the Doctor's face, his warm, calloused hands gentle on the Doctor's cool skin. "I was much better off a coward."

The Doctor didn't bother to move as Jack's lips found his, soft and caressing, tasting of metal, sweat, and adrenaline. He felt his hearts break, just a little, as the other man pulled away, regret, longing, and admiration in Jack's brilliant gaze. With a hand on each of their shoulders, Jack straightened his shoulders, tall and proud, as if he were in a uniform and not a t-shirt and vest. Pointing to the exit, he looked at neither of them, as if steeling himself for what was to come.

"See you in hell," he remarked, running to the door without looking back.

The Doctor certainly hoped that whatever Jack's destiny was, hell wasn't it.

"He's going to be all right." Rose looked to him as if seeking his assurance that all would be well. But the Doctor could only meet her gaze and say nothing.

They fell to work in silence.

He began sonicing wires together in lieu of solder, twisting and melting as Rose cut and stripped. The process was tedious, but not difficult, Rose had worked with him for long enough as he puttered on the TARDIS that she was old hat at it and quick with the tool. Despite the metal ends tearing at the tender flesh of her thumb, she pulled and handed the naked ends to him as she finished.

It was ten minutes before she finally said anything.

"So who is Lynda?"

He had a feeling that she was going to come up, somehow. "A girl in the game I was in. Why?"

"Just curious." She was more than that, but the Doctor didn't have it in him to chastise her for the pettiness. After all, he reasoned in an uncharacteristically self-reflective mood, had he been any less with Mickey, or Adam, or Jack?

"Lynda is a good girl, a nice one," he replied simply, casting Rose a hard look. She didn't meet his gaze, but he could see her face turn pink all the same. "She deserves better than the lot she got here."

Rose nodded, focused on the wires in her hand. "Will you take her with us?"

Could he really lie to Rose? He chose to evade, to sidestep. "I suppose it depends on how successful we are here, doesn't it?"

Rose finally smiled, her tongue peeking out of her teeth. "Yeah, I guess it does."

"Would you mind?"

Her shoulders stiffened, but she at least thought about it. "Maybe not. Depends. Wouldn't want her sticking around this place, yeah?"

"You just wouldn't want her staying?"

Rose at least looked guilty as he pressed her on the truth. "I'm not a monster, Doctor, if we can get her out of here, I say let's do it."

"But she's staying," he replied, knowing that somewhere below, Lynda was preparing to make a stand she wasn't going to win. "You have to admit she's a bit brave doing that."

"Yeah," Rose murmured. "I know the feeling. Wanting to stay and fight beside you."

Rose Tyler would, too, and there wouldn't be a damn thing he could do to stop her. Even if it was madness, even if she died, she would stay by his side, to hell and back. And that was what terrified him at the moment. Because the last thing he wanted was Rose Tyler by his side. It was far too deadly there.

"This isn't your fight, you know," he offered, matter-of-factly. "I mean, for Lynda, yeah, this is her home her time, but you…"

"I'm not leaving you." Rose didn't bother looking up, her face set.

"I'm just saying…"

"Better with two, remember?" False cheer broke forth in a smile as she jerked hard at the plastic casing she was working on, nearly smacking herself in the face.

He could force the issue. But he knew he hadn't the time. Rose would balk, they would quarrel, and he didn't have the luxury of convincing her. He worked, fingers twisting and holding as he melted and worked, ignoring the frantic panic just on the edges of what he hoped was his cool exterior.

"Suppose," Rose murmured, peeling plastic and glancing at him as he worked. He waited for her to continue.

"What," he prompted.

"Nothing," she waved him off. With Rose it was never nothing. And he was at a point where he'd run out of ideas, all of them. He was grasping at straws and had come up with the short one.

"You said suppose," he pressed.

"No, I was just thinking. I mean, obviously you can't, but you've got a time machine. Why can't you just go back to last week and warn them?"

It wasn't a horrible idea in Rose's reckoning. She had thought it through, in that way Rose had, even if it wasn't feasible. He was reminded why she had caught his attention in the first place, her cleverness. He just wished it was something that would work.

"As soon as the TARDIS lands, in that second, I become part of events, stuck in the timeline." Pity that time tended to work that way, it would make his life far easier.

"Yeah, thought it'd be something like that." Rose replied, shrugging as she carried on.

She hadn't mentioned the one solution that seemed the most obvious to him.

"There's another thing the TARDIS could do," he offered, cutting eyes towards her as they worked. "It could take us away. We could leave. Let history take its course. We go to Marbella in 1989."

He tossed it out there between them, that golden option to just flee. To play the part of cowards and hide from what fate had in store for them. A part of him wished desperately that she would say yes to that, so he had the excuse to just grab her hand and run back where they came. However, much as he had expected, she simply shook her head.

"Yeah, but you'd never do that." She stated it with utter confidence in his own sense of courage. Rose had much more faith in him than he did at the moment. Still, she was likely also right. He couldn't just walk away from people in need, especially not with the Daleks threatening these people and everything they held dear.

"No," he admitted. "But you could ask."

Rose looked at him as if he were mad for even suggesting it.

"Never even occurred to you, did it," he teased, grateful in a way that it didn't.

"Well, I'm too good," she laughed, tongue peeking out of bright, white teeth, that brilliant smile. Too good? Yes. Far too good for the likes of him, and for the likes of this. This place and this world wasn't the future Rose Tyler should have. It certainly wasn't where she was meant to die.

He felt the hum of energy through the joined chords and a beep at the computer behind them. Finally! "The Delta Wave's started building. How long does it need?"

They rushed to the console, the Doctor scanning data, hoping that his adjustments had paid off. In a way, they had. Rather than three days, it would take him three hours. Not bad...but still far too long for the Dalek's. They would be here in minutes, and he'd be lucky if a handful of human defenders let by Jack Harkness could hold them off that long. He hung his head in the knowledge that despite all of his brilliance, he had come to the end of his rope.

"Is that bad?" Rose's, anxious over his shoulder, attempted to understand the readings. "Okay...it's bad. How bad is it?"

Bad enough he knew she was going to die.

It only took a heartbeat to make his decision. Less than that, the space of a breath, that moment between seconds. He knew in that instant he had to let her go, to send her home. Her and the TARDIS, he couldn't let the Daleks get ahold of his beautiful ship. The two closest things he had in his blighted life, he had to send them far away, before they succumbed to what was coming. And he had to do it now...before she figured it out or he changed his mind.

He couldn't lie to those people earlier, but he certainly was going to pull a ripper now. Slapping on his most brilliant, manic grin, he turned up to her, eyes sparkling, pretending he was at least considering it. "Rose Tyler, you're a genius. We can do it! If I use the TARDIS to cross my old timeline….yes!"

With mania born of desperation, he tore off towards his ship, Rose close behind, right up to the console. He flipped at buttons, specific ones, emergency ones he had never bothered explaining to Rose. He gestured to one, large, important looking black button on the far side of the console. "Hold that down and keep position."

Long experience told him if he told someone to do something with enough authority and command, they'd do it forever. And Rose was no different. She eagerly went to do as he bid, holding down the button with both hands, grinning as she waited for his next, impressive, magic act.

"What's it do?"

"Cancels the buffers." It wasn't completely untrue, that's precisely what it did do, on video messages. "If I'm 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," she teased.

"Me too," he agreed. Certainly he would love to save the world. Right now, he would just settle for saving Rose Tyler. "Now, I've just got to go and power up the Game Station. Hold on!"

He bolted out of the doors, back into the mess of wires and cabling, stopping in the midst of the storm of it. Turning, he glanced back at his oldest friend and his pink-and-yellow companion for the last time. Before he could dare even talk himself out of it, he raised his sonic screwdriver.

The TARDIS engines groaned to life, pumping and wheezing, as the blue, police light at the top flashed in time. The winds of time whipped from out of the Vortex as the TARDIS slammed her doors shut. Inside, he could hear Rose's confused voice call out.

"Doctor, what're you doing? Can I take my hand off? It's moving?"

He said nothing as his beloved ship began her slow disappearance back in time. Rose's fists slammed against the doors, finally she had given up on his big, black button, but it was no use. He could hear her screaming for him, demanding he let her out, asking what he had done.

They disappeared, fading into nothing, Rose's angry, frantic demands ringing in his ears. About now, his holographic image would appear, explaining the truth to her. How he had sent her away and how the TARDIS was taking her home. She'd return to Jackie and Mickey, safe and sound, nary a scratch on her. And she could live out the rest of her days, safe, happy, content. Sure, she'd like as not be furious at him, for a while. She'd probably curse him. He rather hoped she'd miss him. But eventually she'd forget the mad, old man with his big ears and daft face, who had wandered into her life one day at the shop she worked at. And she'd go on to live the beans-on-toast life he interrupted. Maybe marry Mickey, maybe not, though he'd hope she married someone amazing. Someone who would fill her life full of laughter and adventure and show her what a beautiful creature she was. And one day, when she was old, a life fully lived behind her, he hoped she would remember him, this broken soldier, and learn to forgive him for what he did.

Thousands of years in the past, Rose Tyler was living her life, day by day, without him. It hurt. And yet, he'd never be sorry for letting her into his life...or for letting her go. She had her chance to have a fantastic life.

The Doctor turned stared at the tangle of wires before him. He had work to do if he had any hope or prayer of succeeding. He quietly settled himself down, picking up one of the wires Rose so recently peeled, and returned to what he had been doing.