"Rose, wot's goin' on?" Mickey asked again as they made their way down the street near the coast.
"I have'ta make sure we're far enough away." Rose answered seriously.
"For wot? Rose," He stopped abruptly, making Rose stop as well and face him. "tell me wot's goin' on. Please?"
She looked around to make sure they were alone. When she was finally sure the coast was clear, she looked to Mickey, unsure where to start.
"Look, when I met the Doctor," She started uneasily. "it… it wosn't the first time I met him."
"You knew him before?"
"Sortof. He didn't know me, but I knew him." She could see the confusion and disbelief on Mickey's face, so she changed tactics. "I died, Mickey. I died old and alone in another universe. I traveled with the Doctor for two years and in two years he changed my life. This thing happened while we were travelin', and it's about to happen again."
"Rose, you're not making any sense."
"Just!" She shouted, then took in a deep breath. "Just listen, okay? When I died, this… thing that's gonna happen came back. It's a power, Mickey, that I have. She calls her the Bad Wolf. She came to me as I died and took me back to the moment I stepped into the TARDIS."
"Oh, my god."
"It's true! Every word. I'm reliving the two years I had with the Doctor so I can fix it."
"Fix it? Fix wot?" Mickey shouted. "You sound absolutely crazy!"
"Believe me, Mickey, I know. But it's the truth! I've done this before, all of it. Tha's why I told you to tell mum I was travelin', that's why I got so mad at Margret, cos I already know wot happens. Like, right now, the Doctor has taken Margret out of the TARDIS for her last request, Jack is workin' on the extrapolator to get it hooked up to the TARDIS, but when he does it's gonna cause a massive earthquake. It's gonna rip open the Rift, and she's gonna try to ride the wave of the planet's destruction out into space."
"If this is true, why are you tellin me? Why don't you just tell the Doctor?"
"Cos I can't. I already altered time to be here, imagine wot I could do to the Timeline if I tell the Doctor any of this. You're the only person I can think of that it'd be safe to tell. I trust you, Mickey, to keep my secret. No one can ever know I've done this, not until it's safe." Rose looked pleadingly into his eyes. She could almost see the gears turning in his head as he processed her words.
"When will it be safe, though." Mickey asked, looking scared for her, like he not only believed, but sympathized with her.
"I dunno. When I fix it?"
"But fix wot?"
"I died in another dimension, Mickey. I got trapped there, but if I stop that from happening…"
"Then wot? You'll die here. The Doctor is old, you told me that, he goes on living while you die."
"I don't think that's the case." She said after a pause. "I think, if everythin' goes right, I'll be with him forever."
"You love him." Mickey realized.
"I love him." Rose whispered back, nodding.
They were silent for a moment. Just a moment. Then, crack! The light fixture near them sent out sparks and the whole place began to shake. Rose went into immediate action, taking Mickey's hand and running to the TARDIS. They'd spent too much time talking, the extrapolator was activated. Mickey quickly ripped his arm away, out of Rose's grip. She turned back to him, confused.
"You need to get to the Doctor, not me. I'll make sure people get to safety. Go, run!"
Rose smiled at him, recognizing the brave man he would become, the man he'd always been, then she turned and ran.
The TARDIS finally came into view, a beam of electricity shooting out from the top. She hopped over cracks that started to form in the ground, her mission dead ahead. She could hardly breathe, but she pushed forward. Finally, she burst through the TARDIS doors. She only had time to yell out for the Doctor when Margret wrapped her claws around her throat.
"One more move and she snaps like a promise!" Margret threatened as the Doctor started forward. He stopped dead in his tracks.
"I might've known." The Doctor said, anger edged in his voice.
"I had you bleaking all night, poor baby. Now, shut it!" Margret pulled Rose forward with her towards the men, right where she needed to be for the TARDIS to work her magic. "You! Fly boy! Put the extrapolator at my feet."
Jack hesitated, but Margret's grip only tightened at his pause. He looked to the Doctor, who only nodded. So, he did as he was told.
"Thank you. Just as I planned."
"I thought you needed the power station?" Jack spat, tyring to buy more time.
"Failing that, if I were to be arrested, anyone capable of tracking me down would have considerable technology of their own. Therefore, they would be captivated by the extrapolator. Especially a magpie mind like yours, Doctor. So, the extrapolator was programmed to go to plan Z. Lock on to the nearest power source and open the Rift. And what a power source it found. I am back on schedule, thanks to you." Margret gloated.
"You'll destroy the whole planet." Rose croaked. The grip on her neck tightened again, making Rose see spots.
"And you with it, dearie." Margret chuckled. "While I ride this board over the crest of the inferno, all the way to freedom." With a jolt, she moved Rose to the side, still holding on to her neck as she stepped onto the extrapolator. "Stand back boys, surf's up."
Rose suddenly felt like her head was going to explode as a golden light showered Margret. Her and the Doctor were speaking to each other, but all Rose could hear was the sound of someone singing. Margret's grip was loosening, but Rose couldn't feel anything but the song resonating through her blood. Suddenly, Rose was on the ground, shivering. Margret was gone and Jack and the Doctor were crowded over her. Everything was still.
"Did we win?" Rose croaked.
"Are you okay?" The Doctor asked frantically.
"I'm fine." She cradled her head in her hand. "Wot happened?"
"That was the heart of the TARDIS." The Doctor answered.
"Margret must've burned herself up, carried out her own death sentence." Jack said, a bit shakily.
"I don't think she'd kill her." Rose said.
"She is telepathic, the TARDIS. She gets in your head, translates all sorts of languages." The Doctor looked over next to Rose. She followed his gaze and they both noticed the egg sitting next to her. "Maybe the raw energy can translate all sorts of thoughts."
"What is that?" Jack asked, confused.
"Is that her?" Rose asked, curiously.
"She's been regressed to a child." The Doctor said, as though that answered it. "She can start again, live her life from scratch. If we take her home, take her to a family and tell 'em to bring her up right, she could turn out better than she was."
"Or worse." Jack replied pessimistically.
"That's her choice."
"She's an egg." Rose said in disbelief, even having seen it a second time.
"She's an egg." The Doctor responded, more enthusiastically.
After the initial shock wore off, the Doctor made Rose go to the med bay. After much protest, he finally got her in the bay with the promise of a cup of tea. While she waited for him in the sterile white room, she called Mickey. They got passed the initial are-you-okay's and telling each other what happened on each of their ends when the Doctor walked in, holding a steaming pink and blue polka dot mug.
"I gotta go, but I promise I'll call you later." She said into the receiver.
"Alright, but you better keep to that." Mickey joked. "You got a lot of explainin' to do." She pressed the end button and put the phone back in her pocket.
"Thank you." She said in an effected tone as the Doctor handed her the tea. "So, how's it look? 'M I gonna survive?"
"Don't joke, that's some serious brusing." He replied sternly.
"Doctor, I'm fine. Really, I can handle a lot."
"You shouldn't have to." The Doctor said in a sullen voice. It made Rose want to comfort him, despite being the one on the table.
He took her chin in his cold fingers and moved her head up to survey the damage. Then, he pressed the tip of the sonic against one line of bruising and pushed the button. Rose tried not to flinch, but he saw it anyways and shot her a look of comfort. Once the pain dulls, Rose takes in this moment of intimacy between them. She becomes acutely aware of his scent. It's always the same no matter the regeneration, even his metacrisis smelled like him. Cinnamon spice and something foreign, almost minty, that Rose deemed Space and Time. She took in a deep breath, hoping the Doctor would think she was breathing in the pain and not sniffing him like a creep.
"So, how's Mickey?" The Doctor said, trying for conversation.
"Good as ya can be after runnin' around, savin' people." Rose chuckled softly.
"Saving people? Mickey?" The Doctor asked incredulously.
"Yes, Mickey. He's more a man than you give him credit for."
This makes the Doctor just a touch uncomfortable. She can see it in his eyes and she smiles. He's jealous.
"Kinda like the Captain in that way. You've underestimated them both, but they're good people." She continues. "Honestly, the only better man I know is you."
They share a smile, all traces of jealousy gone from the Doctor's eyes. She can't tell, but his thoughts have all been replaced with admiration for her. Her kindness, her understanding, and her ability to see it; beauty in all things, in all people. To see the good was like her superpower in his eyes.
"Wot 'bout Margret?"
"Blon Fel-Fotch Passameer-Day Slitheen." He said, revealing her true name to Rose.
"But not a Slitheen anymore." She pointed out.
"Nope." He popped. "We'll head to Raxacoricofallapatorius when you've rested and give her to a new family."
Rose almost protested the rest, but she thinking over it quickly in her mind, that meant more time. An extra day of two with her first Doctor before it all came to an end.
She knew in her heart that nothing would truly change once he regenerated, especially when he already acted so much like her love-sick Doctor, as John always put it, but that didn't mean his regeneration wouldn't hurt both of them. For her, it was saying goodbye to this version of himself, but for him it was death. John had told her about it, how a new man walks off with his memories and his feelings, but that version of him would now only live in memory. He'd never actually considered it an issue, just a thing Time Lords did, until Rose. He had told her when she asked if he could change back, he suddenly realized what regeneration really was. Rebirth, but at a cost. Rose wouldn't make the mistake of hurting him like that again. So long as she could help it, she never wanted the Doctor to feel hurt by her.
Her train of thought was going in such a way, she hadn't even noticed the Doctor had finished healing up her bruises until he spoke.
"That should do for now. Still a bit dark, but that'll heal naturally in a day or so." He said. She hopped off the table and grabbed her now cold mug of half-drunk tea. "So long as you don't get into any more mischief."
"Oi, like it was my fault." She laughed. He chuckled back.
"As sweet as this is," Jack's voice came from the doorway. "we should probably head out."
"Right you are." The Doctor said, clapping his hands together. "Always moving on."