Bounty Part Seven

Notes: Last part. Hope everything gets wrapped up sufficiently. A little bit of shippyness but as always, I leave you hanging. Lots of implied stuff though. And…some of you have been hoping that Mickey didn't die…

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Try as she might to retain her nonchalant image, Rose couldn't help gasping when she saw the Doctor. They were in another ugly room, bare and grey and dark. But somehow this place felt different. There was a sickening, burning smell in the air, and the room held lost memories of pain and despair that raised goose bumps on her arms.

Chains were fastened at regular intervals around the walls, driven into the concrete. And hanging from some of these, his arms stretched out like some grotesque puppet, was the last remaining Time Lord. They'd put metal bands around his wrists and ankles. Feeling sick, Rose followed with her eyes the wires that connected them to a control panel. Mert was sat behind it, regarding them impassively.

"He's not—"

"No," said Jack, staring at his friend. "He's breathing."

The Doctor looked up at the sound of their voices. His mouth opened as he tried to form words, but no sound came out.

"Look at those burns," said Jack in horror. "Electrical burns."

"You're sick," said Rose, turning on Mert. "Let him go! Let him go!"

"Gag her or something please," said the Tamathans lazily. Rose was seized by the guards who had escorted her there.

"Leave her alone!" bellowed Jack, trying to prise their grip away.

"Gag them both!" said the Tamathans. "They're giving us headaches. And chain them up. We need to begin."

"Begin what?" started Jack, but the Praztofs shoved a rag in his mouth, muffling his words.

"Going to kill them Mert?" asked the Doctor hollowly.

"Well, no," replied the Tamathans, seeming to take great delight in revealing Rose and Jack's fate. "We thought of something better for the moment. After all, we need permanent bodies, and theirs do look so…adequate. Less crowded than Mert's anyway."

For once, the Doctor was speechless. But not for long. Straining against the chains, he summoned all his five billion languages and started calling the Tamathans the worst words he could think of.

"Temper temper," they said, chuckling.

"You have no idea," he promised, snarling at them.

"Right, are they secure?" the Tamathans asked the guards. "Then you can go. We'd like some privacy for this."

The guards left dutifully. The Tamathans started humming cheerfully as Mert approached Rose and Jack.

"Now then children, let's all hold hands," they said, laughing. They took hold of Rose and Jack, crushing their clenched fists.

"This isn't a good idea you know," said the Doctor's voice from behind them.

"Yes, we had a feeling you'd say that," sighed the Tamathans. "This is the part where you swear revenge, isn't it? The thing is, it's tricky to exact revenge when you're dead."

"Have it your way," he said, shrugging. "This'll all end in tears. They won't be mine."

"Shut up!" screamed the Tamathans. Mert grinned at Rose and Jack. They glared right back. "Now then. Ready to start?"

Rose tried not to scream as Mert's face stretched and transformed. But this time, the demons that were swirling in his eyes didn't stay there. Rose could feel them creeping up her arm, tugging at the corners of her mind. She tried to wrench her arm away but they just kept coming, screaming in her ears. Screaming…

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There was a scuffling sound as a key turned in the lock. Mickey looked up from the TV, slightly annoyed that this visitor had interrupted Scrubs.

Only, it wasn't a visitor. Only a few people had spare keys to his flat. His mate Stan. His parents. And the Tylers.

"Rose? Rose are you OK?" She was shaking badly, tears running down her face, leaving black streaks on her skin. Her eyes were red and swollen as if she'd been crying for a while.

He reached out to help her. That's when he saw the gun.

"Rose, what…what have you done?" he asked, thinking the worst. He didn't know the worst was still to come.

She wouldn't speak. He called her name again, beginning to feel nervous.

She raised the gun.

"What did he do to you? What did he do?" Mickey said, panicking. "Rose, whatever it is we can deal with it. Just put the gun down!"

Her hands shook violently as she pulled the trigger.

He screamed.

She was stood over him.

He was losing too much blood.

Another shot was fired but Mickey had already passed out.

With his last breath he loved her. Dependable Mickey Smith, the one who she'd come back to long after the Doctor had gone. He would always love her. He would always forgive her.

By the time the credits rolled at the end of Scrubs, Rose had gone.

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But then it stopped.

Rose opened her eyes.

"What's happening?" screeched the Tamathans, and for the first time they sounded like they were panicking.

"Get out, get out, get out!" yelled Mert, scratching at his face and howling. He fell to his knees.

"Doctor, what did you do?" screamed the Tamathans, and they weren't in Mert's body anymore. They swirled around his head like ghosts or bats, all the time getting smaller and smaller. There was a terrible screaming and Rose squeezed her eyes shut.

When she opened them, the Tamathans had gone, leaving Mert huddled alone on the floor, sobbing.

An empty silence echoed around the room, punctured only by Mert's strangled sobs.

"Is it over?" whispered Rose, cradling her sore hand awkwardly. Jack reached for her other, hindered slightly by the manacles, but she wouldn't take it. She subconsciously moved towards the Doctor, her eyes never leaving Mert.

"Mert, let me go," said the Doctor at last, and Rose and Jack were amazed to see him do just that.

"What happened?" asked Jack as the Doctor snatched his jacket up, feeling in the pockets for the sonic screwdriver.

"Mert, where did my jumper go?" he asked. No reply. Whatever scrap of sanity Mert used to have, the demons had evidently taken it with them, and he was in no state to answer. The Doctor shrugged and just put on his jacket, unlocking the manacles around his companions' wrists.

"What was that?" asked Rose, who was feeling a little shaken.

"That Rose, is what happens if you try and beat a Time Lord at his own game," he said, grinning. "The Tamathans would never have been able to stay in this dimension while I still lived. As long as there is a living Time Lord, they're banished. And they wouldn't just kill me, would they? They wanted me to suffer…well, that's what happens if you seek revenge I suppose."

He smiled. She looked none the wiser. "Think of it like an elastic band. They could just about stretch into this dimension, but the moment they pull too hard, snap!"

"They tried to get into us," said Jack, understanding what the Doctor meant. Rose nodded to show she understood.

"They bit off more than they could chew," said the Doctor. "They got too ambitious. And now they won't be coming back."

"But they're not dead?" asked Rose worriedly.

"They're not dead. But they won't be back, I promise," he said. "The moment we get back to the TARDIS, I'm sealing the dimensional hole they crawled through. We've seen the last of them Rose."

"Pity you had to go through all that first," said Jack, nodding at the burns on the Doctor's chest.

"It happens," he said, shrugging. "Are you two alright?"

"I think some of the bones in my hand might be broken," said Rose, who was cradling her left hand.

"He had quite a grip," added Jack.

"OK, let's get back to the TARDIS and sort that out now then," said the Doctor. "And I think I might need some help with the burns on my back. I can feel them." He wriggled uncomfortably in his coat.

"I'll do it," said Rose suddenly, surprising even herself. She flushed a little as they both stared at her. "I mean, if you want me to," she added defensively.

"Thank you," said the Doctor. He looked around the room, his eyes resting on the alien huddled in the corner. "Rose…"

She looked at Mert. She thought about everything he'd made her do. But just in time she remembered that maybe it hadn't been entirely his fault. And at that moment, she felt she could pity him.

The Doctor watched her face intently, watched her make up her mind. In the moment she smiled and followed him back to the TARDIS, he knew she was different. In a way, this was Rose's regeneration. She wasn't the person she'd been before her mother had died, she wasn't the person who'd killed Mickey Smith. This was a new Rose Tyler, untried and untested. He wondered what sort of person she'd be. He grinned. "And Jack can make some tea."

"Oh gee, thanks Doc," he drawled. "Because I love fulfilling your tea fetish."

"I do not have a fetish!" he protested, disappearing into his ship.

Rose laughed as she stepped through the door, shutting it carefully behind her.

Crouched in the shadows, watching them from a corner, Mert looked on as the TARDIS faded away. He giggled and started singing. When some other Praztofs found him a couple of hours later, he'd gone completely insane.

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"Doctor, we've got a call from Rodger," said Jack, poking his head around the door of the medical room. The Doctor was just tying off a bandage around Rose's hand.

"That healed quickly," Rose marvelled.

"What can I say? I'm a Doctor," he said, chuckling. "Keep the bandage on for support, and don't do any heavy lifting."

"Doctor?" Jack waved impatiently from the door. "I think it's about another job."

He looked up immediately, undecided for the moment. He glanced at Rose, this new, fresh Rose, and seemed to make up his mind.

"We're not taking it," he said firmly. If Rose had changed, so would he.

Jack grinned and clattered away down the corridor.

"Y'know, in all this time …there's something you never told me," Rose said slowly. "Why did you and Jack become bounty hunters in the first place?" He sighed. In the light of one lonely lamp, he looked older than she'd ever seen him before.

"Jack wonders the same thing I think," he said, rubbing his eyes.

"It makes sense in a way," she said hesitantly. "From the right angle, it's sort of righteous."

"It was a job," he said honestly, focusing his grey eyes on her. "I didn't have the heart to just wander anymore. Jack was happy I suppose because we got to travel and explore and have adventures." He paused. "And I just wasn't happy. But sometimes, when I was chasing some alien criminal it felt like the old days. And then, just for a moment, I could pretend I was."

"That's funny. All I ever did back at home was pretending," she said, fiddling with her bandage. "Did it help?"

"Not at all."

"Me neither." The shared a smile.

"So what happens next Doctor? Happily ever after?" she teased, but her heart wasn't really in it.

"Up to you," he said seriously. "I know Jack would want you to stay."

"Yeah, but what about you?" she asked.

He paused. "Rose, all I ever wanted was for you to stay with me."

"Even after…" She couldn't finish. Her voice was low, barely a whisper. "I'm a bad person now…I've done so much…"

She dropped her head, picking at her bandage. He smiled and cupped one side of her face in his hand, making her look at him.

"You are still Rose Tyler," he said firmly. "You are still that brave, fantastic woman I chose so long ago, just as much as I'm still me. We might have hidden away under things we've done, but in the end we are all who we are." He smiled again as she brought her hand to his, their fingers entwining. "No matter how much we appear to have changed."

She smiled gratefully. A silence fell, and she squirmed, feeling uncomfortable. "So d'you think I should go blonde again?" she teased.

He laughed, then started playing with her hair, marvelling at how soft it was. "Your hair looks beautiful whatever you do to it," he said, not meaning to speak aloud. He suddenly realised what he'd done and dropped it, feeling foolish. He prayed he wasn't blushing. She laughed at how self-conscious he looked.

"Yep, you're definitely still you," she said triumphantly. She looked at him coyly. "You never were very good at…dancing."

"I've got the moves."

"Then show me your moves." They laughed. Rose gripped his hand, remembering it.

"We'll be OK, you and me, won't we?" she asked, knowing she was close to tears.

He kissed her forehead. "Always."

Rose finally allowed herself to cry for what could have been. She cried as her Doctor held her because things could have been different. And she cried because she thought it would never be the same.

But the Doctor, who understood more about Time than this beautiful, precious human ever could, simply smiled. He smiled because he knew things could be…better.

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Rodger was wrong.

As soon as he realised she'd gone, Mickey grabbed a towel and tied it around the top of his injured thigh, trying to stop or at least slow the bleeding. Panting with effort, he managed to drag himself towards the phone.

He watched Mickey go down. He didn't see him come back up.

"Ambulance," he gasped, watching his heart pump his blood away. He gave his address through cries of agony. "I've been shot. No…I didn't see his face," he lied. Because maybe he did still love Rose. And even if she'd…well, he'd still protect her, with everything he had left.

Rose was a lousy shot. She only ever hit him in the thigh. The second shot…she was crying. Shaking. She hadn't seen properly, and then she'd bolted like a frightened animal.

The paramedics loaded him onto a stretcher.

"Don't worry mate," said one. "You'll be fine."

Mickey recovered…

The Doctor shot bolt upright in bed and ran to the control room. Hacking into the coroner's office, he searched for a name. It was possible, just possible.

Mickey Smith…two shot wounds …dead on arrival.

Mickey Smith had died because of him, because of his long dead race. He was yet another in a long trail of the dead that seemed to follow the Doctor everywhere. An innocent man who'd helped him save the world, who in another lifetime he could have befriended.

He sighed. Some things were possible, some probable even. But some things would always be just a hopeful dream.

"Rest in peace Mickey," he said quietly. "Rest in peace."

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END

(sniff)