The Doctor was NOT a happy Time Lord. First, he couldn't stop thinking about his unusual brunette companion. Then, he had taken both companions on a trip into the future only for something to go wrong. Seriously? For once, why couldn't something not go wrong? The Doctor had known something was wrong when the floors had begun to shake. That wasn't supposed to happen and he should know. He walked into the observation gallery, eyes searching for at least one of his companions. His eyes lit up when he saw Piper and walked right up to her. She looked at him curiously but didn't fight when he grabbed her arm, pulling her with him. "What's wrong Doctor?"

She looked over at Jabe, the tree woman, who had also followed the Doctor. They stopped by a wall panel. "What do you think, Jabe? Listen to the engines. They've pitched up about 30 hertz. Dodgy or what?"

Jabe shrugged her shoulders. "It's the sound of metal. It doesn't make sense to me."

"Where's the engine room?"

"I don't know but the maintenance duct is just behind our guest suite. I could show you...you and your wife?" She motioned to Piper.

"She's not my wife."

"Partner?"

"Nope."

"Concubine?"

Okay this is getting way too personal, Piper thought.

"Nope."

"Prostitute?"

This made Piper glare at her harshly. Did she look like a freaking prostitute?! "Hey!" She snapped. "Do you mind? I'm not a prostitute, okay?!"

"Oi, she's not a prostitute!" Rose said as she caught up to them. "Tell you what, I need a quick word with Michael Jackson over there," she said pointing at Cassandra.

"Don't start a fight," the Doctor called.

"Earth death in 15 minutes. Earth death in 15 minutes."

When Rose reached Cassandra, she was talking about the Earth. "What happened to everyone else? The human race, where did it go?" Rose wanted to know.

"They say mankind has touched every star in the sky."

"So you're not the last then?"

"I'm the last pure human," Cassandra rolled her eyes. "The others...mingled. Oh they call themselves new humans, proto humans, digi humans even humanish. You know what I call them? Mongrels."

Rose tried to rein in her anger but it was difficult. "Right...and you stayed behind?"

"I kept myself...pure."

Rose bit back a nasty retort at that. "How many operations have you had?"

Cassandra rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I already told your friend. The other girl from before. 708, next week it's 709. I'm having my blood bleached. Is that why you wanted a word, Rose? You could be flatter. You've got a bit of a chin."

"I'd rather die." Rose stated flatly.

"Honestly, it doesn't hurt." Cassandra tried to encourage her.

"No, I mean it. I would rather die. It's better than living like you, some bitchy trampoline!" Rose snapped harshly.

"Oh, well. What would you know? I think I like the other girl better." Cassandra dismissed.

"Piper and I were born on that planet. So were our parents. And officially, that makes us the last humans. Cause you're sure as hell not!" Cassandra opened her mouth but Rose was on a roll. "You've had it all nipped and tucked til there's nothing left. Anything human got chucked in the bin years ago. You're skin, Cassandra. You're just skin. Lipstick and skin. Nice talking to ya!" Rose added spitefully, walking away. Walking down corridor after corridor she slowed down when the Adherents of the Repeated meme turned the corner. She smiled at them tentively as they got closer but shrieked when one of them hit her, knocking her out and dragging her away.

Some time later, Rose woke up on a marble floor. She rubbed her eyes as the computerized voice from before said, "Sun filter decending. Sun filter descending." She opened her eyes just as a bright light began to shine in the room as the shields were taken down. Terrified, she jumped up and ran to the door, banging and pleading for anyone to let her out. "Let me out. Let me out!" She cried out in terror as the sun began to burn the room. She knew that if it touched her it would kill her. She tried not to panic as the voice continued. "Sun filter decending. Sun filter descending."

She banged on the door until she heard someone call out, "Anyone in there?"

It was the Doctor.

"Let me out!"

The Doctor paused. "Oh, well, it would be you wouldn't it?"

"Shut up and open the damn door!"

"Hold on, give us two ticks!"

"Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."

Rose let out a relieved breath. Outside, the Doctor grinned. His grin slipped, however when it began decending again.

"Sun filter decending. Sun filter decending."

"Oh my god. Doctor, get her out of there!" Piper screamed.

"I'm trying!" He snapped.

"Piper?" Rose called out shakily.

"I'm here, Rose. We're gonna get you out."

"Just what we need," the Doctor muttered.

"What are you doing?!"

"The computer's getting clever."

"Well stop mucking about!" Rose said angrily.

"I'm not mucking about. It's fighting back." He explained. The sun had almost reached her so Rose did the only thing she could think of. She ran from the door and down the stairs to hide from the sun's death rays.

"Sun filter rising. Sun filter rising."

Rose ran back to the door but groaned when she realized the lock had melted. There was no way out. "The lock's melted!"

"The whole things jammed." He told her. "Don't move. Stay here!"

Rose sighed. "Where am I supposed to go, Ipswich?"

"Earth death in 5 minutes. Earth death in 5 minutes."

Rose sat by the door, trying to calm herself down. The Doctor would save her, he wouldn't just leave her. At least, she hoped he wouldn't.

"Safety systems failing. Heat levels rising."

She closed her eyes trying to block out the fear and the heat of the sun that was becoming unbearable.

"Earth death in 2 minutes. Heat levels critical. Heat levels critical. Shields failing, shields failing."

The glass began to crack. Rays of light shot in the room making Rose jump whenever it went near her.

"Shields malfunction. Shields malfunction. Heat levels critical, heat levels critical. Planet explodes in 10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1. Exoglass repair. Exoglass repair."

Rose let out a shakey breath. She was still alive. The cracks in the glass began to disappear. She got up just as the doors opened. She ran out of the room and into the room where everyone was introduced and caught sight of the Doctor. "Doctor!" She cried, pulling him into a hug. She looked at him to see anger in his eyes. And then she realized. Where was Piper? She looked around hoping to see the other girl and smiled in relief when she did. Her joy faded though when she saw the brunette's hands. They were burnt and blistered. Skin was peeling off and it made Rose want to be sick. She could see it hurt badly. He walked off, making both girls follow behind him. The Doctor walked over the tree people, pulling Piper with him. Rose watched quietly as he spoke to them, pointing at Piper while he did. She was surprised when they pulled the human girl into a hug, expressing how thankful they were for her apparently saving Jabe.

It turns out, that turning the shields off wasn't an easy thing to do. The switch was on the other side of some big fans that were spinning dangerously fast. The Doctor had pulled down a lever which had slowed them down but as soon as he let go, the fans began to spin even faster, making it impossible to get across without someone keeping hold of the lever. Noticing this, Jabe had moved to push the lever down herself, holding in place. The Doctor had immediately protested to this, telling her the heat would flood through the room and being made of wood, she would burn. That's when Piper had stepped in. She had pushed Jabe out of the way as she held the lever down. The Doctor hadn't liked that either but she told him it was better if she did it. She was human so she wouldn't burn like Jabe but it would hurt like hell. They made sure Jabe left safe and sound before turning back to the task at hand. Piper gritted her teeth as she watched the Doctor slowly get past the fans. She could feel her skin blistering and peeling. She closed her eyes as she tried to think of anything but the raw pain flooding through her hands

She screamed as they blistered and burned and grinned weakly as he made it to the other side, raising the shields. Tears rolled down her face as her hands shook in agony. They were covered in blood and peeling skin. Tears slipped down her cheeks. He took them gently in his own hands and kissed her on the forehead, assuring her that he would fix it when they got back to the Tardis and that she was very brave for what she did. He paced the room, full of fury. "I'm full of ideas. Idea number one, teleportation through 500 degrees needs some kind of feed. Idea number two, this feed must be hidden nearby." He grabbed the Ostrich egg and smashed it open, revealing a silver device. "Idea number 3, if you're as clever as me then a teleportation feed can be reversed." He twisted a switch and looked up. A second later, Cassandra re-appeared.

"Oh, you should have seen their little alien faces," she gloated. "Oh."

"The last human," the Doctor spat.

"So you passed my little test. This makes you eligible to join the, er, human club." She stuttered.

"People have died Cassandra. You killed them." The Doctor said darkly.

"Depends on your definition of people. That's enough of a technicality to keep your lawyers dizzy for centuries. Take me to court, Doctor and watch me smile and cry and flutter and..."

"And creak." The Doctor interrupted her.

"And...and what?"

"Creak. You're creaking."

"What? Ah, I'm drying out." She began to panic as her skin began to grow smaller as the gaps grew bigger. "Oh, sweet heavens. Moisturize me! Moisturize me! Where are my surgeons? My lovely boys? It's too hot!"

"You raised the temperature."

"Have pity! Moisturize me!" She begged. She turned to Piper, knowing the girl wouldn't want her to die that way. "Please, Oh, Piper, please. I'm sorry. I'll do anything. Please!"

Piper walked over to the Doctor. "Help her, Doctor."

"Everything has it's time and everything dies," he said coldly.

"I'm...too...young!" Cassandra screamed before her skin tore, leaving bits of flesh flying everywhere. The Doctor walked off leaving both Rose and Piper visibly shaken.

After everyone else had long departed, the Doctor found the girls watching pieces of the Earth floating past them. Rose was distraught. "It's gone. End of the Earth and no one saw it go. We were all too busy saving ourselves and no one was looking."

Piper slipped her hand into Rose's, ignoring the pain. "I know," she said confortingly.

"Come with me," the Doctor said, taking their hands. He led them back to the Tardis. He quickly fixed Piper's hands before setting a course. As soon as it landed, he led them outside. It was Earth on a normal day. People were walking past, going about their day. "You'll think it'll last forever. People, the cars and concrete but it won't. One day, it's all gone. Even the sky." He looked up at the sky before turning to look at them. "My planet's gone," he said suddenly. "It's dead. It burned like the Earth. It's just rocks and dust. Before it's time."

"What happened?" Piper whispered.

"There was a war and we lost."

"A war with who?" Rose coughed. "What about your people?"

"I'm a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. They're all gone. I'm the only survivor. I'm left travelling on my own cause there's no one else," he said sadly.

"There's us."

"You've seen how dangerous it is," he looked at Piper. "Do you wanna go home?"

Piper smiled at him softly. "No," she grinned.

"I don't know what I want." Rose said. She sniffed the air. "Can you smell chips?"

The Doctor laughed. "Yeah, I do."

"We want chips."

"Me too," he agreed.

"Right then, now before you get us back in that box, chips it is. And you can pay." Rose smiled.

"No money," he patted his coat, grinning sheepishly.

"What sort of date are you?" Piper asked him. "C'mon then tightwad. Chips are on us. We've only got five billion years til the shops close."

They grinned as they walked down the street towards the chip shop. Piper let out a small smile. Their story was only just beginning.