The Doctor and Romana, trapped in their nightmarish fantasies, stumbled and both fell to the floor. Romana's "death" at the hands of the Daleks had shocked her into a moment of clarity, The Doctor feeding off it and also becoming lucid. Seeing themselves as they were, they finally found each other; but they were still trapped in the cloud of memories. In their stupor, they were able to sit up and lean on each other; still back to back. They sat like that for what must have seemed like hours, keeping each other afloat.

"After the Sontarans," Romana began, "Why did you look at me like that? You looked at me like… like you hated me." Her voice cracked near the end.

The look The Doctor had given her had haunted her since it had happened, and doubt had been eating away at her ever since.

"We're supposed to be there for each other." She finished.

The Doctor sighed. The mist cascading around the two of them seemed to have them trapped. For the time being, there was nowhere to run. There was nowhere to hide any of this, anymore.

"I looked at you like that because… because part of me was disappointed, or… ashamed. Ashamed that that was what you had become."

He brought his hand to his face, rubbing his eyes. He hoped that when he was done things would return to normal. They didn't.

The Doctor's words stung Romana, but she didn't dare turn around. If she did, and it was his fourth face looking back at her, she wasn't sure she could bear the sight.

"How dare you… You can't just judge me like that. The war changed me too! You weren't the only one who made sacrifices!"

Romana was angry and saddened all at once. The Doctor and her were each other's lifelines. As each sector was lost, as the deaths of her people began to weigh down on her, The Doctor was there for her. Much in the same way, as The Doctor's hands became more and more bloodied, Romana was there for him. Shame ruined that. Judgment destroyed the foundation they had worked so hard to build.

"But I should've been!" The Doctor countered, his voice wracked with pain. "I took up the blasted sword so that those I cared about would be spared. Why should we all be sullied by this blood? Why should we all rot away as the universe burns around us?" The Doctor's hands bunched into fists. "Only the monstrous thrive now, and I… I can't live to see you become that."

"We are what we make ourselves. I appreciate you wanting to protect me. It means more to me than you know, but all this was my choice to make. I chose this as much as you did."

They let the words sink it, both looking up as they realized someone was approaching them. Two figures walked out of the haze and stood in front of them. The Doctor saw his fourth life looking down on him with remorse. Opposite him, Romana saw her previous life.

"I miss us." She said softly. The Doctor only grunted in reply, not knowing what to say.

The two projections sat down next to their counterparts, mirroring their stance. The Fourth Doctor's hand fell over the second Romana's, the two of them looking relieved for it. This time, it was the current Doctor and Romana that mirrored them, letting their hands touch. They slowly slipped back into the machines, their older selves vanishing. Without realizing it, they had slipped back into another memory.

She left him near the end of his fourth life. All that bluster, all the bohemian charm fell from that satellite like he did. As he lay there dying, he was a broken man. The Fifth Doctor, the man who walked away from the fall, was a much humbler man for the experience. She left him between dimensions, a place of unending whiteness as far as the eye could see; never being seen again until his seventh life. This is where they found themselves. Adric was not there, nor was Biroc. It was just the two of them, the vast white void, and the TARDIS.

The Doctor came up to the doors of the TARDIS, opening them up. It had been a hard journey, but he was happy to be able to return to his own universe.

"We made it! Quick, quick! Inside!"

He turned to Romana in a questioning manner after she offered no response. She had been sympathetic to the cause of freedom for the Tharils. She was becoming more and more like him the more time they had spent together, and deep down, he was afraid that she wouldn't come back with him.

"I'm not coming with you." She replied, confirming his fears.

She stood resolute, with the specific mix of seriousness and jovialness that he had defined himself by. Even though it was to be expected, he was still taken aback by it. Not knowing how to react, he fell back on his bluster.

"Inside, that's an order!" He commanded, any semblance of command that the statement may have carried melted away as she smiled at him, shaking her head.

"No more orders, Doctor." She scoffed affectionately, looking at him. "Goodbye."

She saw through the bluster and loudness. She knew this was difficult for him and did her best to keep this from being any sadder than it needed to be.

"Wha- What… What a moment to choose!" He said, desperately probing her for a reason beyond the obvious.

He wanted more information, but even as the words left his mouth, he knew; the time lord council had placed her with him for a specific mission. This mission was over, and they wanted her back. Romana was not at all keen on these orders, and didn't want to return. This was the perfect excuse.

"But it is, isn't it? A moment to choose. I've got to be my own Romana. Goodbye, Doctor." She kept smiling, never betraying any other emotions outside of fondness and oncoming feeling of nostalgia.

The Doctor, not wanting to take a moment to think on it, lest he convince her otherwise, ran inside the TARDIS and fetched K-9.

"No, no, no, wait. Wait. There's something else. K-9. He'll be alright with you." He handed her K-9 as both her own companion, and something to remember him by.

She would never forget him, but he didn't want to take that chance.

"I'll take care of him." She said, understanding completely. She took K-9 and placed him on the ground beside her.

The Doctor spoke quickly, wanting to leave immediately.

"I'll miss you. You were the noblest Romana of them all!"

He ducked back into the TARDIS, and shut the door, leaving her in the other dimension. As it really happened, he left the dimension with Adric, and Romana continued to fight for the freedom of the Tharils. Yet as The Doctor shut the door behind him, he knew this was not how it could possibly end.

The Doctor threw the doors of the TARDIS open and dashed out, running after Romana as she walked away.

"Romana!" He called out, catching up to her. She turned to him, tilting her head.

"Don't… don't go. I know that you want to save these people and you don't want to return to Gallifrey, but please. We can save them together. Then we can run away from the Time Lords. I've done it. I've been doing it. You're my best friend. You're the best friend I've had in the entire universe, and I need you."

Romana smiled, shaking her head. "This… this is what I need to do."

"No, no, don't you see? We're Lords of time. We can do whatever we want to do. We can do anything. Be anywhere. Be anyone. We can be heroes to the Tharils. We can be wanderers seeing the wonders of the universe." He took her hands, squeezing them. "We can…"

"We can what, Doctor?" Romana was elated as he spoke, everything seeming to melt away as they held hands.

Everything was perfect, and neither of them were in their right minds to see the truth; this was too perfect.

Yet, as The Doctor leaned in and kissed her, neither of them seemed to care. This was the first time they had done this. It was terrifying, magical, and unknowable all at once; and it was grand.

"I think I love you." Said The Doctor.

"You think?" She asked.

"About you? All the time, now." He replied.

Romana pulled away gently, nodding.

"Okay…" She said softly.

Content to be anything and everything, the two of them walked off to the TARDIS hand in hand.