A/N: Oh, I snuck it right in today ... hid myself and wrote ... like totally hid myself to do this.

Bad bad me.

Okay. This is going to raise some questions. mmHmmm. The only one I'll actually answer here is just why Brax is talking English ... translation circuit in play, yeah, okay? I couldn't be arsed switching between the two languages tonight.

I really, really hope that you enjoy this chapter. It has to take you to Monday, because there is no way at all I'll be able to manage anything tomorrow. :(

Again, if you recognise it, then RTD wrote it. (or one of his lovely writers did)

~~oooOOOooo~~

There was an air of excitement in the TARDIS console room as the Doctor attempted to teach Donna how to pilot the old time ship. Well, okay, not teach her how to fly it alone, but at least give her a little bit of understanding to mybe give him a hand every once in a while. And really, what harm could it do?

…Ahhhh, no sooner asked…

"I can't believe I'm doing this!" she half cheered with excitement.

"No, nether can I." He tried hard to hide the grit in his teeth as he leaned forward on the console to make a slight adjustment. "Oh, careful." He leaned down to retrieve the hammer he had been using of late to make minor adjustments to the flight plans. He flipped up a lever then stepped back, hoping she'd go back to exactly what she'd been doing before. His eyes flashed when she made a move toward the absolute wrong lever.

"Left hand down, Left hand down." He stumbled and rached out to grab at her arm as the TARDIS pitched to one side. "Getting a bit too close to the 1980's."

She eyeballed him with a sideways glance. "What am I going to do? Put a dent in them?"

His eyes flashed and rolled but didn't look at her. "Well," he drawled. "Someone did."

She looked at him to ask him to maybe elaborate on that a little, but ended up instead gasping at the sound of a ringing phone. "Hold on, that's a phone."

He listened curiously for a moment. He cautiously strode around the console and eyeballed a mobile phone ringing in a socket on his console. With a slight tic in his eye he retrieved the phone.

"You've got a mobile?" she asked him with her brows seated high. She'd never seen him chat on a phone before – come to think of it, did he have any friends around to have random phone calls with?

"It's not mine,' he answered carefully as he opened the phone and brought it to his ear. He swallowed and sat back on the jumpseat, steeling himself for the call. His voice was cautious. "Hello?"

He knew who would be on the other end and held the phone in between his ear and shoulder. He was in motion to set materialisation coordinates before the person replied to his guarded greeting.

"I'm on my way," he answered softly. He disconnected the call without saying goodbye and slipped the phone into his pocket.

Donna watched him carefully. The complete lack of expression on his face meant that whomever was on the other end had definitely called unexpectedly – and quite likely not entirely welcomed to do so. She did her best to listen in, disappointed that he said very little on his end…

…Very unusual for this babbling fool.

"Who was that?" she asked him curiously. Watching the way he leaned forward on the console with both hands and looked up into the time rotor column had her concerned.

"A friend."

"A friend?" she parroted with a lift in her brow. "Obviously not a very good one…"

"Actually," he corrected gently. "She's a very good friend. I just didn't expect to hear from her so soon."

He pressed off the console when the whining of the rotor fell to silence. He then spun on his toe and walked to the door. "Coming?" he called over his shoulder.

Well, she wasn't entirely sure if she should or not. The Doctor didn't seem as though he was all that excited to receive the call, nor did he seem entirely thrilled to have to do a stop off and visit the caller. She remained at the top of the ramp to let him venture out before her.

The Doctor stepped into what appeared to be a rather bright and almost inviting alleyway of sorts. He looked to his right, and then left, and stilled. There she was. Martha Jones. The one who had chosen to leave him right when he felt he might just need her more than ever…

Or was it that he was jealous of her desire to leave him for another man…

No, it was that he needed her soothing presence. He'd just lost his best friend … his enemy … his childhood friend. He needed some comfort and assurance … and most of all: company. He needed to be assured that sometimes, people stayed.

…Everyone he cared about. They all left. All of them.

He stepped fully outside the TARDIS and stood in a guarded posture with one hand in his trouser pocket, the other hanging down one side of him. "Martha Jones," he said on a rather chilly breath.

"Doctor," she answered back with much the same level of chill has he had offered.

They stood in their respective positions for a moment, both inching small steps forward. Then, almost simultaneously, their slow strides shifted to a run toward each other. He both purred and growled with happiness when he scooped her up into his arms and hugged her tightly enough to lift her from the ground.

"You haven't changed a bit," he observed with a smile hoping beyond hope that didn't come across as rude.

"Neither have you," she replied in kind, shifting her hair from her mouth and rewarding him with a smile that had the potential to light up more than one constellation.

"How're the family?"

"You know," she answered. "Not so bad. Recovering." Her smile faltered somewhat when she saw Donna step out of the TARDIS behind him.

"What about you?"

Her eyes shifted to him. Her disappointment was obvious. " Right. Should have known," she said, battling to try and remain smiling and happy. She even slapped him on the shoulder. "Didn't' take too long to replace me, then?"

Annoyance and worry for how the rest of this encounter was to proceed from here was crystal clear. He leaned toward her ear and was quiet, but firm. "Now, don't start fighting." He cleared his throat and straightened up. "Martha, Donna. Donna, Martha. Please don't fight." He huffed at the immediate remembrance of Sarah Jane and Rose's first meeting, and how it cut him deeply that they didn't immediately get along. "Can't bear fighting."

Donna huffed. As if. "You wish," she chided him. She held out her hand to shake Martha's. There was a warm and exceedingly friendly smile on her face. "I've heard all about you," she said by way of greeting. "He talks about you all the time."

"I dread to think," Martha said, trying hard for joviality, but only managing to project worry about just what had been said. She could see the Doctor's expression and look of warning toward Donna, and knew that her concern was warranted. She managed to stop herself reddening in embarrassment.

"No. no, no," Donna stammered, her eyes shifting between the Doctor's expression of worry and Martha's quietly worried expression. "No, no, no. He says nice things. Good things. Nice things." She watched the Doctor nod. "Really good things."

Martha's face did redden. "Oh God, he's told you everything." She then looked up to him with a slight tilt in her eye. "Or not enough." She turned back to Donna. "Tell me, did he only mention to you my passing fancy toward him, or did he actually remember to include my affections for Tom in his retelling of our time together?"

Donna took interest in that and looked toward the Doctor with a smile gracing her lips. "Tom, Doctor?" she was highly amused. "I don't believe you mentioned him to me at all."

"I did," he said with his eyes to the sky. "Pretty sure I remember mentioning the Cerulean to you." He looked at her. "You remember that, don't you? In Pompeii? Random Time Lord. My telling him to keep hands off because…"

Martha interrupted him with a sharp laugh. "Oh my God. He did that to you as well?" Her laugh was infectious enough that Donna joined in. "That's brilliant, that is. The cheek of it. This one's all unavailable and uninterested, but heavens forbid anyone else pays any attention in you. Then it's all hands off my companions by order of the Time Lord Doctor."

He was most definitely put off and offended by that rather poor impersonation of him and let it known with a closed-mouth curl in his lip and dark petulant expression. "I hardly think…"

Donna threw her head back with a laugh. "That is so spot on accurate to how it happened in Pompeii." She shrugged her shoulder and lifted her eyes upward. "Of course, in that case, it was his son … well … not that he knew it of course."

Martha seemed surprised by that. "Mark?" she held her hand at hip level. "But he's only a little guy."

"Time traveller,' the Doctor interrupted with a huff. "He was a future incarnation of my son. Was wearing a bio-dampener, and so I didn't recognise him. When he got all handsy and hugged her – after I told him not to, of course – I might have issued warning."

Donna twisted and dipped her shoulder to talk along it toward Martha. "There was no might about it. Got right mad, he did."

"Been there," Martha sighed. She lifted her hand to push her hair from her face ready to speak to the Doctor and let him know just why it was that she'd called him here, but had her attention toward him yanked away when Donna snatched her hand.

"Oh wow," she purred appreciatively as she analysed a large glimmering rock on Martha's finger. She showed it to the Doctor. "Can't have fancied you too much, Doctor." She looked back to her. "Engaged?"

Martha looked down at the ring and smiled. "Well. Yes and no." She looked to the Doctor. "Married in the way of his people, but still just engaged in the ways of my people."

"Hold on," Donna barked. "You're married to, or marrying one of his kind?" She turned to look at the Doctor with confusion on her face. "But I thought you said you were the only one?"

"It's complicated," the Doctor managed with a twirl of his hand in the air and a contorted expression of I-really-don't-want-to-explain-this-to-you on his face. "Time Travellers. Time Lords. Existing across all timelines, and yet not existing at all. We're a complicated people."

"Or you're just making it complicated," Donna muttered with a look toward Martha as she let her hand drop. "Congratulations."

"Thank you," she sang out with a smile. She looked to the Doctor. "What about Rose? Have you found her yet?"

He slowly shook his head. "Not yet."

"Jack and I," she started with a smile. "We're still looking ourselves."

"Jackie?" he asked hopefully. "Did you try her?"

She nodded, but shook her head. "Jackie still thinks she's on Gallifrey with younger you," she answered. "Apparently you picked her up and took her to watch your daughter be born a couple of weeks ago." She shrugged. "If Rose is in this timeline, then she's so far out of synch with her mum that she can't even reach out to her yet. But Jack is maintaining contact with her, so when we know anything, so will you."

The Doctor's face lengthened with heartache. "A daughter," he breathed out sadly. "We have a daughter."

Martha lifted her hand to touch his arm. "We'll find them, Doctor," she assured him. "I promise you, yeah?"

"Thank you,' he breathed softly.

Donna's face fell into an expression of utter confusion. She didn't understand anything of what was going on here. She thought of several questions, none of which would actually answer the actual questions burning inside her mind. Her mouth gaped and flapped. She didn't even know where to start.

The radio at her hip buzzed loudly and Martha dropped her chin as she unclipped it from her belt. She drew it to her mouth, holding it sideways as eh spoke. "This is Doctor Jones. Operation Blue Sky is go, go, go. I repeat this is a go."

Within a moment the scene exploded with jeeps, trucks, and a squad of soldiers. There was loud chatter and orders being thrown about, and it made both Donna and the Doctor take a staggered step backward.

The Doctor held his hand backward, his intent to keep Donna safely behind him. "Martha? Care to explain?"

She held up a finger to him and turned to a soldier, who had wandered into the alleyway. Her finger of shut-up moved to him and she lifted the radio to his mouth. "Greyhound Six to Tap One. B Section. Go, go go. Search the ground floor. Grid Pattern Delta."

The Doctor stepped up to her side, his brow lifted at the movement of a large platoon of soldiers across the alley. "What are you searching for?"

"Illegal aliens," she answered without looking at him as she walked down toward the soldiers.

The Doctor remained in place, his expression one of discomfort and surprise. His expression shifted toward something unreadable when Donna stepped up at his side.

"Is that what you did to her?" she asked him curiously. "Turned her into a soldier?"

~~oooOOOoooo~~

Things had been getting a little bit out of Donna's comfort zone over the few hours. She'd seen far more than she'd wanted to see, and learned far too much. She worried about her mother, about her grandfather, about Rose and her kids living all alone next door to her.

This was well out of her depth and she knew it. The Doctor and his former companion, Martha, seemed to have everything very well in hand.

Her decision to step away from this particular adventure was made, and she walked into a garage of military vehicles and approached her alien friend as he prepared to go into battle or whatever.

"Doctor?" she said gently as she approached.

He gave her a beaming grin, obviously very happy to see her. "Oh! Just in time,' he cheered. "Come on, come on. We're going to the country. Fresh air and geniuses, what more can you ask?"

Well, not to be the only non genius, that's for sure. She swept her hair from her face and gave him a soft smile. "I'm not coming with you." Her smile fell and she spoke almost hesitantly. "I've been thinking. I'm sorry. I'm going home."

His enthusiasm fell abruptly. He looked disappointed. "Really?"

She shugged, hoping that he'd understand her need to check in on her family. "I've got to."

"Oh," he breathed out in a strangled tone. "If that's what you want." He might not have actually shuffled his feet in the floor, but Donna certainly felt that he did. "I mean. It's a bit soon." He inhaled deeply. "I had so many places I had wanted to take you: The Fifteenth Broken Moon of the Medusa Cascare, the Lightning Skies of Cotter Palluni's World, Diamond Corel Reefs of Kataa Flo Ko." He then shifted to an expression of genuine affection. "Thank you. Thank you, Donna Noble. It's been brilliant." His voice became breathy. "You've. You've saved my life in so many ways. You're…" He paused at the somewhat amused expression on her face. "Oh. You're just popping home for a visit. That's what you mean?"

There was hope in his voice at that. She smiled and shook her head. "You Dumbo."

Well, shit. Everyone left him in the end. What else was he supposed to think. "And then you're coming back?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You know what you are? A great big outerspace dunce."

Relief flooded him and he couldn't help but smile with agreement. "Yeah."

Both of them looked toward a soldier as he approached them. Stopping short to attention, sans a salute. "Ready when you are, Sir."

Donna grabbed his arm. "What's more. You can give me a lift. Come on." She tugged him toward the vehicle. "Broken moon of what?"

"I know. I know."

~~oooOOOooo~~

Rose wandered through her terribly quiet home. She kicked at the floor, and balled her fists in the pockets of her jeans as she headed toward the kitchen. Her son was at school, and her daughter was playing in a daycare centre a few blocks away.

She didn't understand the push for her sweet baby girl to attend daycare – particularly as she was a stay at home mother – but it had been at the insistence of both Brax and Romana that young Alirra spend at least a few days a week amongst youngsters her own age. The two of them had carefully vetted the venue and arranged a years worth of advanced payments, giving her very little option to tell them both to sod off and let her watch her child.

Braxiatel had said it would be good for the both of them. Rose could engage herself in activities that she would be otherwise unable to partake in, and Alirra would get some social development training. Maybe being around other young children would pull her out of her shell. Not that Rose could really disagree with that. Alirra was almost two and a half years old now, and hadn't uttered a single word in the eighteen months they'd been on Earth – since she'd lost her father. None of them knew how long it would be until they would see him again – or they ever would see him again. They had to find some way for her to pull out of her misery and learn to laugh again.

So. With Mark at school and Alirra at daycare, Rose was absolutely and utterly lost. For the first time since losing the Doctor all those months ago, she started to feel well and truly alone. At least having her daughter on her hip for almost the entire day, she could forget about the hold in her heart left by the Doctor. Now, it was all rushing toward her with all the power of a freight train, and she didn't know if she had the strength to handle it.

…She desperately needed something to take her mind from it. Something. Anything!

A whimper from underneath the kitchen table gave her the tiniest hope that there may be something. She put her hand on the tabletop and lowered into a crouch. She dipped her head to look between the legs of the chairs and saw the blue-white fur of her male Dahrama.

The poor thing looked absolutely emotionally destroyed and whimpered pathetically at her.

"Soliarn," she cooed gently. "What's got you all in a rut, then?"

He humphed at her through his lips and nose at the same time.

"Are you not well?" she asked as she lowered herself to her knees and made to crawl down there with him. The simpler option would have been to pull out the chairs, of course, but as it certainly appeared to her that he was in hiding, she opted to do it the hard way. "Come here, my big buddy. Let me take a look at you."

He practically shook his giant head at her as he scuffled even further backward. She truend her head at the tikka tikka of claws on her marble floor and peered back to notice Tiallu padding into the kitchen. The female wolf was definitely in search of something. Her nose lifted and then fell to the floor, her head swinging side to side. Rose leaned out from her place under the table and held out her hand to the cub-swollen belly of the wolf to give it a rub.

"Tiallu? Everything okay?"

She huffed in much the same manner that Soliarn had done, and the male in question whimpered and moved even further back. Rose flicked her eyes between the pair of them and found herself chuckling just a little. "Oh," she breathed out with amusement. "I get it." She leaned down and looked back to Soliarn. "Oh, you need to man it up, buddy." She pointed to Tiallu's belly. "She didn't get that way by herself you know."

At her chatting underneath the table, Tiallu determined that her mate was in hiding underneath the table. She rushed in with hot snarls and yapping of such ferocity that it had Rose scuffle back herself.

"Tiallu!" Rose yelled at her wolf. "What are you doing?"

Tiallu was on her haunches underneath the table, growling and yapping at her mate as though admonishing him for some incredible misdeed of biblical proportions. Soliarn wore a wince at her verbal attack, tilting to one side in the most submissive manner she'd ever seen of an animal. He didn't even huff a reply, just took her snarling and yapping with more cowering.

Oh, Rose wasn't going to have any of this nonsense going on in her home. She crawled backward to get out from underneath the table. "Tiallu! That's just enough from you, young lady," she snapped. She grabbed at the thick collar around her neck and tugged with everything she had to pull her free of the table. With Tiallu's weight and strength, it took quite an amount of effort. "Oh my God, you're heavy," she growled out.

The front door opened, and Rose could hear Donna announcing her presence in the foyer.

"In the Kitchen," she called out with strain in her voice as she fought against the strength of her wolf. "Just come through."

"What the hell is going on in here?" Donna called over the snarls and growling and furniture scraping across the floor as Rose struggled against a wolf who struggled against her to get to her mate.

"Marital struggle," Rose grit out through her teeth. "Tiallu's pregnant, and hormonal, and I think Soliarn might have breathed wrong or something, because she wants a piece of him." She grunted as she briefly lost her footing and stumbled forward. "Donna. Some help please?"

Donna reached forward and clutched hold of the leather collar, her hand beside Rose's. "She's not going to bite me if I help, is she?"

"No," she replied through her teeth as the pair of them finally got some form of control over the beast. "She wants to take it out on him, so you and me … we're safe."

"I hope so," Donna said with a wince in one eye as she helped Rose tug the wolf free of the table. "Because I've got things to do later, you know. Need all my limbs for it."

Tiallu gave up the fight and with a last snap toward her mate let the ladies pull her out. Donna stepped off, but Rose grabbed the wolf's nose. She looked her dead in the eyes. "Bad girl!" she hollered at her. "Don't you start getting all mad and blaming him for that squirmy thing in your belly. It was a decision made by the both of you."

"Well," Donna countered. "Not really. She just went into heat. He was the one that got all frisky with her."

Rose stood up and took Tiallu by the collar to the door. She slid it open and forced her wolf outside. "You can just stay out there, young lady, till you get a handle on yourself and can treat him right. He loves you and is only trying to do right by ya…" She paused and shuddered as she slowly slid the door closed. "Oh, God. I just realised I sounded like my mother in the delivery room with me and Thete."

Donna lifted a finger. "Ahhh. But a labouring woman is allowed to lose it on the man that put that kid in her."

Rose looked to Donna with wide eyes. "I know, right?" She then laughed and shook her head. She looked down at the table and pointed toward the male. "Now you. You'd better figure out just what marvel of brilliance is going to make her like you again. Because trust me, buddy. If you think she's bad now, you wait till she's gotto push that thing out of her."

"Things," Donna corrected. "They don't just have one of them."

Rose stretched and walked into the kitchen. "Nah. These wolves, they only have one at a time. No multiples. She's only got one in her." She shifted her hand between the kettle and the bottle of wine sitting on the counter. "Wine, or tea?"

"Got anything stronger?"

"Vodka," Rose said with a laugh. "Orange juice okay?"

Donna nodded. "Make mine a double."

Rose was intrigued. She walked around the kitchen with practiced ease to prepare two drinks. "Hard day, Don?"

She huffed and slouched after taking a seat at the table. "Ever felt like you were the dumbest person in a room?"

Rose chuckled. "You've met Brax and Romana, yeah?" She placed two glasses with ice on the counter and uncorked a bottle of Grey Goose. She tipped the neck of it at her. "And you're not dumb at all. Where were you that made you feel that way."

Donna watched the pour and, when Rose lifted it to stop the pour, indicated she wanted at least another finger. Rose did as asked. "Ugh. Ended up at a military facility filled with scientists and the such. I can handle the Doctor and his smartest in the room babble, you know, when he's by himself. I mean, it's bad enough, but get a whole whack of them?"

"I know the feeling," Rose commiserated as she poured the Orange Juice. She pushed a glass over with her fingertip. "How'd you end up at a military base? Just what kind've travelling are you doing with this guy to end up there?"

Donna drew back a long swig and let out a purr of appreciation. She straightened herself up before she answered. "His friend Martha called for help, and so we stopped by."

That name made her smile. Rose really liked Martha. She wondered how she was doing now, and if there might be some way in the near future that they may meet up again for a chat.

"Anyway," Donna continued. "Martha's a sweet girl. Very clever. Married herself off pretty quickly after leaving the Doctor, actually."

Awwwwww. Rose's face lengthened with happiness. "Really? To whom?"

Donna chuckled. "Oh, you say that like you actually know the girl." She drew back at her drink once more. "Married to a fellow named Tom, I believe. Someone the Doctor doesn't approve of, it seems." She snickered. "Jealous creature he is."

Rose wanted to squeal with happiness. She bit at her lip to hide her glee and hid it behind her glass. "The type that needs to be the most important man in a girl's life." Rose ventured, knowing beyond all doubt it was true. "And will get all bent out of shape when he isn't?"

Donna let out a laugh. "Yeah. Got it in one, Blondie." She looked toward the wall, in the direction of her house. "So Mum and Grandpa, know where they are?"

"Grocery shopping, I believe," she answered with a shrug. "Wilf asked if I needed anything. I told him no, but I expect he'll rock up with a bag full of sweets for the kids."

"And snaffle a few of the better pieces for your self, I would hope."

"You know it," she said with a smirk. "Bit addicted to Twirls and Dolly Mix, me, and he loads up on those ones."

Donna leaned in. "Because he knows they're your favourite," she whispered. "He's not a Dumbo, my Grandad. He knows how to read a person."

"Doesn't he just?"

A howl and whine started to weep out of the hallway wall just off the kitchen. Rose's eyes widened in panic. By now Donna would know beyond all doubt what that sound was. She looked to her best friend with a look of horror. Donna's eyes were locked on the hallway.

"Why is he coming here?" she asked underneath her breath. She stood up and walked to the doorway.

"Donna," Rose called out. "Wait a minute."

Donna turned to Rose with apology as the sound increased, followed by a gusting breeze. "Rose, I'm sorry. He shouldn't be coming here…" She turned back to the hall. "And please don't freak out when you find out what he is."

Rose walked up beside Donna and shook her head. "I'm going to ask you the same thing." Against the wall, a grey cylinder was ebbing in and out of existence with a slower than normal pulse.

"That's not the Doctor," Donna breathed out worriedly. "the TARDIS doesn't look like that."

"No it doesn't," Rose agreed. Her voice was in a low worried tone. The sound of the engines were all wrong. This capsule was struggling to materialise. Something was wrong.

"Rose?" Donna asked with a pinch in her eye. "You've heard of the TARDIS?"

She held her hand and petted it in the air. "Gimme a sec. Something's wrong." She tried to touch at the capsule but snapped her hands away at a jolt from its forcefield. She held at her hand and looked up at capsule. "Brax! Brax! Everything okay?"

Donna looked at the pulsing shape. She looked at Rose, who was completely unsurprised at it materialising in her home. Well, not surprised at all. She was expecting this arrival.

"Rose?" she pushed harder. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," she answered with worry. "It's struggling to materialise."

"I can see that," she snapped back. "I mean what's going on, as in…" she gestured with two hands at the capsule. "Why do you have a TARDIS trying to land in your hallway?"

"It's not a TARDIS," she answered softly, her eyes still on the capsule as it began to finally huff and wheeze into existence. "Only the Doctor calls it a TARDIS. This is a Type 76 Travel capsule"

"Wait," she huffed out. "You. You know the Doctor?" She grabbed at her arm. "Rose, answer me."

The capsule finally materialised into existence with a rush of acrid white smoke and a clanging grind of metal on metal. It was a thud across reality that announced full materialisation. Rose pulled from Donna's grasp.

"I'll answer every question you have later, Donna. But right now…" She pounded on the door. "Brax! Brax, open up. It's me, Rose."

Donna remained in place, practically slumped. She looked at her friend, her apparently best friend, who had listened to her spin tales about the Doctor for months upon months, never once letting on that she knew who he was.

Hold on. Rose? As in the Doctor's Rose? Her head shot up. "Are … are you his Rose?"

The door to the capsule hissed open and belched out a thick cloud of black, grey, and white smoke. The thickness of it, and the stench that followed had both women cover their mouths with their sleeves. They both coughed against the choking stench of fried electronic circuitry, and plastics.

Rose called out to her brother in law, her voice now panicked beyond all reason. When he finally appeared in the doorway of the capsule, he did so with a low moan and a stagger. He fell against the wall of the capsule and slid with a heavy thump to the floor. He was utterly torn and beaten to what looked to be within an inch of his life. His face wore cuts, blisters and scrapes. His clothing was burned and torn to shreds that barely offered him any dignity at all. Any bit of skin that was exposed was covered in blood and bruising, and she could see parts of his stomach that belonged inside, rather than protruding outward like they were.

"Brax," she whimpered out as she fell to her knees at his side. "Oh my God, what happened to you?"

He writhed in place. "We got ambushed,' he managed out through gritted teeth. "The whole convoy, outside of …" He coughed up a mouthful of orange, crimson blood. "Three capsules," he moaned. "My entire guard."

"Got you good, too," she said forlornly. These were some serious injuries. There was no way to survive them. "God, Brax." She shuddered as she touched at his chest. "And Romana?"

"Safe,' he breathed out. "Thank Rassilon. And for once, that's not in vain," he said with a gurgling laugh. "She was sent across to the other end of Mutter's Spiral. To Shesoth – No fighting up there."

Donna dropped at the other side of Braxiatel. She knew that the image she was looking at should have made her turn her head and vomit uncontrollably, but she knew she couldn't do that. No. She was needed right now.

"I'm going to call 9-9-9," she said to him as she pulled out her phone.

"You can't," he spluttered.

"He's right, Donna," Rose said sadly. "He. I guess you've worked it out. He's not Human." She panted. "One drop of Time Lord Blood, and those scientists could change the whole course of humanity."

"Time Lord," Donna repeated. She twisted her neck, shoving down her growing litany of questions and yells that she was going to lever toward Rose when all this was over. "Then let me call the Doctor."

Brax shook his head. He moaned through his teeth and shook his head. "Told you … Doctor …. can't help." He looked to Rose. "I … I have to … regenerate."

"She doesn't mean any doctor," Rose said with apology more toward Donna than to Braxiatel. "She … Donna … She means Thete."

"No," Brax managed out. "She can't…" he looked at Donna. "Please … you … can't."

"He can help you, Brax," Rose pleaded tearfully. "Please. God, please let her call him for you."

He lifted a hand to her cheek to cup it as best he could. There was apology in his gaze. "Thete's timelines … they aren't yet stable, Rose. Not .. for the two of you. It's still not safe. We're … still at war." He panted. "And we … still need you. Now more … than ever."

Rose nodded sadly and wiped at her tears with a bloody sleeve that did little more than smear blood across her face. "I understand." She sniffed. "But he won't. You know that. When it all comes out."

"I … I'll deal .. with him," he assured her through a bloody grimace.

Donna shot her a look, a hard look of question that shifted toward realisation. "Rose? You. You're his Rose, aren't you? The Doctor's Rose?"

She closed her eyes and nodded.

Donna then looked toward Brax. "Which makes you?" she didn't want to know the answer, especially seeing the man this close to death and knowing there was nothing at all she could do to help him.

"He's his brother," Rose confirmed. "Brax is the Doctor's brother."