Notes: This Epilogue is designed to provide a bit of explanation and elaboration on the story you have just read. I don't consider it compulsory to enjoying the actual story, which was originally intended as a one-shot character study.

Disclaimer: This story is purely for the speculation and exploration of what might happen in an imagined situation. None of the charactersinvolvedare my own but I hope that their portrayal rings as true as possible.

EPILOGUE

"Rose! Over here! I found him!"

Captain Jack's voice rang loudly through the chamber and though the Doctor flinched at the sound, for Rose it was a welcome call. She was beside Jack in seconds, hurriedly kneeling in front of the Doctor, who was propped up against the cold cell wall.

"Doctor?" she asked. He tried to open his eyes but they refused to co-operate; he felt himself slipping back down into oblivion…

"Doctor!"

He started, drawn back up from the depths of himself. That was Rose - and beside her, Jack. He smiled.

"Hey, buddy," Jack murmured, and it seemed such a distant tone that the Doctor had to concentrate hard to hear him. "Guess what? You did it."

He frowned in confusion - what had he done? - but before he had chance to ask he was being hauled to his feet. Energy was slowly beginning to replenish his fatigued muscles, energy that could only be from the TARDIS.

The Doctor forced himself to open his eyes.

He found Rose staring back at him, pale with worry and an ordeal beyond his current comprehension. He smiled weakly at her and she smiled back. The Doctor turned his head and Jack was there, scratched and bloodied but grinning.

"Thought we'd lost you for good," he said.

"Yeah," Rose agreed, "so don't you ever do that to us again!"

The Doctor looked between them, his mind still clouded, his eyes still dim.

"How long…?"

"Were you asleep?" Jack finished for him.

"You weren't," Rose answered earnestly. "At least, not while they could still destroy us. Doctor, you bought us enough time to stop them! Another minute and they would have used the energy of your unconscious mind to power their weapon."

The Doctor blinked at her.

"Maybe we should get this fella back to his ship," Jack chuckled, "before his head explodes with the confusion. These shoes were expensive, y'know, and brain juice is just impossible to get out of real leather."

Rose laughed and nodded, true relief shining through her features. She placed one of the Doctor's arms around her shoulders and together she and Jack began to guide him away from the room of his torture.

"Thank you," he croaked to them both as they paused with him in the doorway.

"For what?" enquired Rose curiously, a gentle smile lifting her face and lightening her eyes. "You're the one who saved Earth - again."

Ten separate voices answered her in the Doctor's mind, but only one found true voice.

"Thank you… for reminding me I can't do everything alone."

"Well I am glad that you finally managed to realise that!" Jack responded, sincerity behind his tone of jest.

"You're only human," Rose added; then corrected herself: "Time Lord, I mean."

"Either way, you're not perfect," Jack continued, "and it's about time you accepted it." Rose sent him a glance and he shrugged. "It's true."

The Doctor just smiled at them and inclined his head in a slow nod. "Now, if you don't mind," he said, a familiar golden spark dancing behind his eyes, "I'm thinking it would be a good idea for me to find a bed - before I collapse or start to exhibit any unpleasant symptoms. I feel like I've been awake since the dawn of time."

And that, he thought, was probably quite close to the truth.