A/N: Hmmmm ... not entirely sure how I feel about this finished result. It's been a heck of a couple of days writing, deleting, rewriting, and deleting, and rewriting again.
Every step I took, every action, seemed so far out of the Doctor's character that I continually dumped it off and started new. After all that... This is what I ended up with, hopefully maintaining the Doctor and who he actually is...
...And of course reminding myself why Rose was so important to him to begin with.
Swoon.
I really, truly, seriously hope that you like this one... I'm actually a wee bit nervous about posting it lest I disappoint you all.
~~oooOOOooo~~
None of the family members gathered in the group ahead of him seemed in any way threatened nor intimidated by his words nor his posture. If anything, the four of them actually seemed bored by it. Steve was leaned up against the haulpak tyre, his legs crossed at the ankle and his arms folded against his chest. The Mother and Father of the group just offered flat stares, with identical sneers, and really just appeared to be pissed off. And that left Mary...
…Well…
Mary wasn't in any real kind of shape to have any outward emotion. She was injured beyond a human recovery. Whatever it was that attacked her, it had been a merciless beast for sure. A dog? A wolf? Rose did own rather a large canine, perhaps it was responsible? He turned to look toward Rose, who was still tied up and looking really quite uncomfortable lying there on the floor.
He winced and held up a finger to the gathering. "Please do give me a moment," he said with a huff in disappointment more toward himself than to anyone that happened to be standing around him. "I really shouldn't leave her like that."
"You really do seem to be taking this quite nonchalantly," Father muttered disdainfully.
"I'm really not," the Doctor answered with a wince in his eye as he felt a whip-crack of pain behind his eyes. "I'm actually taking this very, very seriously." He walked toward Rose but kept his eye on the man. "But it appears we may be at somewhat of a stalemate right now." He turned to walk backward and keep his attention on the group. "You're looking for the Time Lord. I'm the Time Lord." He shrugged. "But then again, I'm not." He turned again and then crouched beside Rose. "You can kill me through your own frustration, of course. It would be quite easy for you to do, really. I'm only Human, after all."
"But we want the Time Lord," Father growled.
"That's quite the conundrum for you, then, isn't it?" The Doctor said with a shrug. He gave Rose an apologetic look as he dropped his hands and started to undo the ties around her wrists. "What with me being the last of them and all – The last of the Time Lords. It'd be quite the waste for you to just go ahead and kill me without getting what you want first." He loosened the ropes and half whimpered as the ties gave way to reveal raw, red, and bleeding wrists. "Oh my precious Hearts," he breathed out unable to take his eyes off her wrists. He lifted them both, holding them together, and pressed a soft kiss to where they joined. Finally he lifted his eyes to hers. "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay, Doctor," she whispered in reply.
"No. It's not." He sniffed deeply, wetly, and untied the ropes binding her chest and shoulders. He didn't need to see the skin underneath her shirt to know it would be red and purple with bruising, much like her beautiful jaw was. The way she moved so gingerly once she was given her freedom gave him insight enough. He drew himself to a stand and held down his hand to help her to her feet. He didn't slip an arm around her, nor embrace her when she made it to a stumbled stand, instead he dropped a hand to hold protectively at one of hers. He turned to face the group.
"Mary," he said with a thick swallow and a flick of his eyes to the woman who could now no longer stand on her own. "Really doesn't seem to have all that much time left in her current body." He blinked. "The wounds she's sustained are far too severe to be survivable." He looked back toward the patriarch of the group. His lips pressed together and he shook his head. "Therefore, you need me alive as a Time Lord, or she will die."
His lip curled. "I won't let that happen," he snarled as he made a fast and aggressive approach toward the Doctor.
The Doctor's lip curled and he strode a fast and equally aggressive stride forward, making sure to keep Rose behind him. "Yet you think I would allow you to hurt my mate. No," he lowered his head and shook it. His eyes lifted to be able to look at the man through his brows. "Not hurt. You wanted to kill her."
"I want the Time Lord," he snarled. "And the best way for me to get him…"
"Is obviously not to go through my mate," he snapped aggressively. His eyes pinched and his nose scrunched. "Just to keep you caught up: The only way to bring about my true Time Lord self is to release him from the bio-receptacle provided to me by my TARDIS." He shook his head. "Which you did not do. Therefore, you only have a rather pitiful – and rather close to death from a neural implosion … explosion … complete burn-through." He let out a pained sound that was half gag and half moan. The right side of his face contorted into a wince that held as he spoke again. "Really didn't think that one through, did you?"
Rose pressed up against his back and held at his arm. "Doctor, are you alright?"
A twitch in his eye and a tilt of his head made it clear that he was fighting off the burning inside his mind, and he shook his head. "No, not really," he answered through the side of his mouth.
She tried to walk around him, but was held in place by the way he held her hand. She made to with stroking his arm. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Just…" He sighed with a shake in his head as he petted his pockets. "Just stay behind me, please." He felt a circular bump on the left side and smiled just slightly. He released Rose's hand and strode forward. "So where were we then? Time Lords and how to get me to revert to one, right?"
Bob met him in the middle of the floor, standing close to nose to nose with him. His lip was curled in both anger and frustration, and his voice low and threatening. "Revert back to your Time Lord self," he growled. His arm thrust out to point toward Rose. "Or I will see that she dies far sooner than my daughter will."
The Doctor kept his eyes locked on the man, but his arm snapped out fast to grab at his wrist. With little more than a grunt he had his arm twisted painfully. The much larger man dropped to a knee in an attempt to stop his elbow from dislocating. "What did I tell you about threatening her," he growled out. "If you want me, then come for me. Don't be a coward and go after my beating hearts."
"A coward like you," he grit out through a groan of pain. "Who hid in plain sight to escape. Too scared to face us directly."
The Doctor maintained the tight grip on the man's arm and leaned down to his ear. "You think I hid from you because I was scared?" He belched out a single laugh at the notion. His voice them came out as a hoarse whisper. "You couldn't be more mistaken." He lifted his head to look across at the three other family members through blurring, burning eyes. By now, Mary couldn't even stand on her own, and was in an unfortunate lean against the truck's wheel. The Mother was at her side, struggling to keep her upright. Steve remained alone, standing in the middle of the floor in a hunch of pure indignance.
The three of them, well, four when he added the man who whimpered and growled at his side, were once vibrant, brilliant Human beings. Well. He knew first hand that at least two of them were at any rate. Both Mary and Steve were popular teachers who did well with their students, found ways to make all of them excel. Brilliant, they were, with such great potential. He couldn't be entirely confident about the other two of course, having never met them personally – but he was sure that they must have been great people before they were murdered and then taken hostage.
People who wouldn't have been murdered if he had faced the family head on rather than hide himself away like he did. Four innocent lives taken because he cared so much for one that he didn't want to see her get caught up in it.
Martha. Where was she? Had they hurt her as well in their hunt for Rose?
He immediately let go of the man's wrist and spun to face Rose. His eyes were wide with panic "Martha, is she okay?" he breathed out through a worried breath. "Rose, is Martha safe?"
Rose nodded. "She's safe, Doctor. Being courted by a Gallifreyan soldier last I saw her."
He sniffed and turned around. "That doesn't really make me feel any better about her safety," he said with a sigh and a twitch in his eye. He held back the Gah sound that was trying to rip free of his throat and made do with lowering himself into a crouch beside the Father, who held at his arm. He flipped from furious to almost cordial as he rested his forearms on his knees to keep his balance. "You and your family killed innocent people…"
"To stay alive," he sneered back. "To keep my family alive – like you would. Like anyone would."
"Actually," he answered through an open mouth that showed the movement of his tongue to say the word. His eyes were almost vacant as they stared off into the distance. His voice was tight when he continued. "That's where you're wrong." He shifted his head to look along his shoulder at the man. "Do you know why I am the last of the Time Lords, of dear Father of Theirs?"
"Because Gallifrey was destroyed during the Great Time War?"
The Doctor nodded. "It was," he agreed. He looked down and cradled his fingers together. "But did you hear how it was destroyed?"
"The Daleks."
He slowly shifted his head sideways. "Yes, they would try and claim that victory, wouldn't they?" He rose to a stand, stumbling for balance as the fires of a burning mind seared hot inside him. "But the truth is, it wasn't the Daleks. It wasn't them at all..." He fumbled inside his pocket, no longer able to withstand the burning in his mind and desperate to return to his true self. He drew the watch from his pocket and made a show of admiring the tarnished old timepiece. "…It was me."
Bob said nothing, although the widening of his eyes spoke volumes.
"I had family on Gallifrey," the Doctor continued as he very slowly inched forward step by step. "People who I cared for very very much." His eyes rolled and he half smirked. "And yes, there were also people I cared very little for. I won't lie about that. But the fact remains…" His eyes hardened and his lip curled. "I killed them all. Every last one of them. Those I loved, those I loathed, and those innocent ones who I didn't even know existed until the day I heard each and every one of them scream out in unison as their planet – my planet – burned." His hard expression softened a little, and he looked upward with brows high as is tongue settled up against the roof of his mouth. He let out a surprised sound. "Well I guess you're right to some degree. I committed unadulterated murder and mayhem in order to save them, I suppose. Save them." He shrugged as he looked toward the Father. "Well. Not my family, per se, but for those who were, are, and will become as close to me as family in their own very special ways out there across the rest of the universe." He smiled. "Most of them here, of course." He sighed appreciatively. "I really do have a bit of a soft spot for these humans."
"Why are you telling me this?" Father asked with forced frustration. "What is your purpose?"
"Two reasons," he answered with a shrug. "One: So you can get it into your thicker than thick skull that I really don't have too many qualms about avenging the lives and bodies you stole by ending any further chance you have of ever being able to do it again. I guess you could say I've been there, done that. Well. Sort of at any rate." He pressed the butt of his hand against his aching forehead. His whole face contorted in agony, which served well in producing a glare of utter fury around the wrist. "Two – and the less frightening reason - to waste time," he said with a smirk, his eyes shifting toward Mary, who was now down on the ground in an unmoving heap, above her swam a small cloud of green gas. "There we are! One down, three to go!" he growled in a dangerous laugh as he thumbed the catch on his watch.
Instantly he was awash with bright and brilliant amber energy. The burning in his head roared down into his toes, and with a long and loud cry of absolute agony, the Doctor fell to his knees. His head was held high, and his arms opened up to the universe to invite the Time Lord to take over this pitifully inferior body. The light drew in though his mouth, inhaled with a gasp that held as the body swayed on its knees, looking ready to fall off to one side and collapse at any moment. His held breath flew out of him in the way of a long cry in a language that only Rose could understand at that moment, the Doctor dropped forward onto his hands and knees, his fingers curling into fists as the cry lengthened and then struggled as he ran out of air to keep it going.
Rose called out his name as she started to run across the room to reach him. "Doctor!"
His hand shot out to the side, one palm held upward in a demand for her to stop. "Rose. Get back!" he cried out without looking at her. "Stay away." His head dropped in between his arms and he panted once, and then twice. To all around him, the Doctor looked to be an exhausted shell, unable to move, fight, or even defend himself.
This made Steve smile widely. "And there he is," he purred out. "The Time Lord."
Father grinned just as widely. "He's weak and unable to defend himself," he half cheered. "Now, Time Lord, you belong to us."
The Doctor lifted his head and glared toward them. His eyes swill swirled with hot amber energy, bright and holding on with a web of vein-like tendrils over his cheeks and forehead. "You think so?" he growled in an almost ethereal tone of voice. He slowly lifted up to a stand in an almost robotic manner. His left shoulder rolled, and then his right. He looked at his hands, with golden amber veins that were working to rewrite his entire biology. He then looked to Father and the smile he wore fell to a scowl. "The only person who owns me … is my mate," he growled out as he stalked forward. His hand flicked up and circled around Father's throat. He tightened his grip and pulled him in close, spraying spittle against his face as he snarled. "You hurt her, and now I'll hurt you…"
"Doctor, No!" Rose cried out as she bounded across the floor, skidding to a stop at his side and grabbing at his arm. She tried with all her strength to pull at his elbow to break the hold he had on the other man's throat. "Don't do this."
His eyes flicked to hers. "Rose…"
She shook her head. "You already let one of them die, Doctor. You don't have to hurt the others." She tugged harder at his arm. "Please. There has to be another way. This isn't you. This isn't who you are."
He relaxed his arm just slightly, enough that she had at least a little leverage. The burning of Artron and Lindos was beginning to fade, and the orange filter that had been across his eyes was waning. A crease formed in between his eyes. "But Rose, they killed four innocent people. They hurt you…"
"And I will heal," she assured him. She moved her hand from his arm and cupped his cheek in her hands instead. "Please, Doctor. Don't become them. I don't want you to lose who you are … because of me."
"I can't let them get away with it," he answered with a wince. "I just can't."
She drew his forehead to hers, holding him awkwardly to her from around the arm that still held onto the Father's throat. "And you don't have to. There has to be another way, Doctor. You know there is."
He closed his eyes for just a short moment. "This is why I need you," he breathed out in a whisper. "To stop me Rassilon, Rose. I've missed you so much."
"And right now, Doctor," she breathed out. "Thete," she added, smiling when his breath caught at the word. "At this moment. I'm right here. Begging you to find another way." She shook her head. "No one else needs to die tonight."
"You always know just what to say," he admitted. He looked down along his arm at the man held at the end of it. He let out a huff and dropped him from his grasp. "Just the right thing." He stood tall, looming down over the man that was now cowering on the concrete at his feet. His gaze remained down along his nose as he considered the options available to him that wouldn't kill anyone else, and would make Rose happy.
Not a lot of options, really.
Rose stood at his side and surveyed the scene a little. She looked toward the dead woman and noted the green smoky mist that hovered over her body. "Gee. Bit of a leak over there," she murmured. "Need an exhaust fan or a shopvac…"
The Doctor's eyes widened with her random comment. His face broke out into a grin and he practically cheered. "Oh, Rose. You are … Brilliant!" He spun to cup her face with both hands and pressed a hard kiss to her mouth. He only intended on the kiss being chaste, more to prove a point and celebrate than to draw anything deeper, but when he captured her surprise-parted lips and tasted her properly, his hands shifted from her face and snapped hard around her ribs. He pulled her up close, a straightening of his legs almost lifting her from the ground. He chased after the angle of attack she gave him, moving his head when she did, trying hard to maintain their connection…
Then she let out a pained sound, contracting away from him. His eyes widened with horrific realisation and he immediately released her, stepping back so quickly he may as well have pushed her off him. She fell hard onto her knees, her arms wrapped tightly around her belly. He staggered backward with confusion with a shaking head. "What?" His head still shook, utter confusion in his expression. "But I thought … Rose? What's going on? Why can't I … can't we…?
His head shot up fast at a low and dangerous growl from beyond the doors. There was the clinking, scraping sound of sharp claws on polished concrete, and the heavy pant of an animal at full run. Blue-white fur, a pelt possessed by only one creature in the known universe ran by him, taking aim at Steve with bared teeth and an unearthly growl.
The Doctor spun a complete circle as the animal passed him, caught by the wind drag of such a large animal at full run. He ended up with his back to the beast, and his eyes toward yet another, leaning with pain against a tool cabinet with his arm across his belly and a rather dangerous look in his eye…
The Eighth version of himself…
The Doctor looked toward the Dahrama that threatened Steve. He then looked toward Rose, still hunched beside him, and back toward his younger self. He gulped…
..Right now, he wasn't sure just which of the beasts were the more dangerous.
"Rassilon…."
