My Doctor Who fixation is at the end of its cycle. I am hoping to continue this story, but I haven't had the motivation to work on it in over a week, so this will probably be the last chapter for a while. Thank you to everyone who has supported this story. This is a weird place to end it, but hopefully it won't be the end for too long.
After a refreshing shower, Rose and the Doctor headed off to the galley. They started cooking in silence, taking every opportunity to bump each other. Eventually Donna burst in, and she collapsed into a chair.
She looked over at them and took a deep breath in through the nose. "Oh, good, I'm famished."
The Doctor and Rose smiled and nasally laughed at their friend. When they finished cooking, the Doctor passed Donna a plate of food. He and Rose dished up their food and joined her at the dining table.
"So, you have questions?" Rose asked, and the Doctor sighed, annoyed that she reminded her instead of trying to avoid her questions.
"Yes, um," Donna paused before speaking at an incredibly fast pace. "Why do your eyes change color? Why are planets going missing? How does a planet go missing? How did you fix Evelina's arm? And" She paused again. "You said when you changed time, that that was the first time you, um," she looked between the Doctor and Rose. "Killed him? What's that about?"
The Doctor raised his eyebrows, "Killed who?"
"You," Rose whispered.
"Rose? What? No! Rose?" The Doctor stumbled. He looked at her with wide eyes. "You haven't killed me! What?"
Rose sighed, "When I tried to save my Dad, and the reaper wiped you from existence." She held up one finger, "When you regenerated on the game station," she held up and second finger and hesitated. "And John. Don't try to tell me he didn't feel like he was dying even though he's a part of you."
Donna's eyes widened. She had a feeling she was going to have more questions than answers as long as she traveled with them.
"Rose-" he started.
"Don't, it's alright. I still have you."
"Rose, I need you to understand. You didn't kill me. I gave myself up to the reaper. That was my choice. And if you're not going to allow me to blame myself for you absorbing the time vortex, then you can't blame yourself for me regenerating to get rid of it. That was my choice too. And John, John is still in here." He tapped his head. "It may have felt like he was dying, but he wasn't." His eyes bore into hers, begging her to believe him and free herself of the guilt she felt, but he could tell he was failing. It would take more time to convince her, but at least he knew now. He'd keep an eye on her.
"What?" Donna asked, bluntly.
Rose started by explaining what happened with the family. The Doctor added in details as to why he had become John Smith.
"And the games? Game Station?" Donna pressed.
"That's also why my eyes change sometimes. We were facing an enemy we couldn't defeat. He sent me away." She glared at him momentarily, but then her gaze softened. "But I opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the time vortex. It changed my biology a bit and gave me powers, sort of. They only come out when Bad Wolf chooses."
"Right," Donna still looked confused. "Evelina called you a wolf, and you said that you were born human, but you're a bit weirder now."
"Yep," she popped the 'p.' "And the Doctor tried to pull the vortex out of me because it was killing me, but it just killed him instead."
"But I'm a time lord, so I didn't really die. I just regenerated. My body changed," he tilted his head to the side. "Well, and a few mannerisms, but I didn't truly die." He pointed the end of his sentence at Rose.
"Why a wolf?" Donna tilted her head. "Why Bad Wolf?"
Rose stared at her blankly. "I don't know. I just remember seeing those words everywhere, and they helped me see that I could get back to him, but it was Bad Wolf that sent those words, so I don't know where they originated, I guess."
"It's a bootstrap paradox. If you were to-" The Doctor began.
"Ok, and why does Bad Wolf react to hearing that planets are missing? Is it taking planets because it hears that they're missing, or how does any of that work?"
"Not really sure about that part, but I'm pretty confident that Bad Wolf isn't stealing planets." Rose laughed. "She warned me that something big was coming and said she'd tell us more when it was time for us to deal with it. I think my eyes glowing is her warning to pay attention." Rose thought about telling her that Bad Wolf was still changing her, but Donna already seemed overwhelmed.
"None of this makes any sense, you know that, right?"
"Yeah, eventually you get to the point of 'this might as well happen.'" Rose shrugged. "Welcome to aliens and time travel."
"Bloody brilliant." She shook her head and laughed. Who cares if they make sense or not? Certainly not me!
"Well, if we're done with questions for now, shall we adjourn to the media room?" The Doctor asked, bouncing his leg. Rose laughed at his nervous energy.
Rose ran her hand through his hair and spoke to him gently in his mind. Her questions weren't even that bad. She deserved to know what we know.
I know, but it's been a long day. He looked deeply into Rose's eyes, and Donna sighed and started to leave the room, heading towards the media room. I really need you to know that you haven't killed me.
Agree to disagree. Just trust that it won't keep me from you. Only make me hold you closer. She leaned her head against his. She knew it scared him; she could feel his worry mounting, but she couldn't change how she felt on that. But what really mattered is that they were together now. Rose hoped the Doctor could see what she couldn't communicate. It hurt that she had killed him, but it didn't change her heart. We should go join Donna. Rose took one last bite of her food and rinsed off her dish before walking to the media room. The Doctor sighed and followed behind her, jogging a little to reach her side and hold her hand.
They met Donna in the media room, and she was already digging through movies and shows. "What is Good Omens?"
"No." The Doctor said quickly, pulling the collection out of her hands and tossing it behind them.
"Explain?" Rose laughed.
"Oh, it's nothing. I, um, I just don't want you to spoil media from your future. Maybe, um we could watch, um-"
"Traveling with you already spoiling my future, isn't it?" Donna asked. Rose watched him carefully and slowly backed up. She grabbed the disk while the Doctor continued to babble at Donna about everything else they could watch.
The Doctor jumped as the opening played, and the two women laughed at him. "It's not something inappropriate is it?" Rose questioned.
"Yes, it is! So inappropriate! We should really stop it now!"
"Liar," Donna laughed, "What is going on with you?"
"Oh," Rose exclaimed as Crowley appeared on screen. "What?"
The Doctor grumbled but settled onto the couch, and Rose automatically cuddled into him. "I was bored." He mumbled under his breath. Rose laughed and kissed him. He tried to prolong the kiss, but Rose merely laughed against his lips and turned back to the show. She was not going to miss this.