Episode 12: All Worlds Ending

Rose Tyler, twenty-nine year old commander of the Dalek-resistance faction of New Earth jabbed the shuttle controls and let out a scream of frustration, kicking the control board with the heel of her boot. "Damn it! Not now! Come on—work! Work, damn you!" She spun around, her newly dyed red hair flashing against her cheek where an old scar from a laser wound ran to her jaw.

"I can't get the back-up controls to work, either," Eroica told her, seated at the control station behind her. "I'm beginning to think it's hopeless, love!" His long golden curls were fastened back in a loose ponytail, and his black jacket bore the insignia of the resistance, as did her own. "Ooh look, the Major's ship is hailing us," he cooed with clear amusement.

Her lips cracked into a half-smile despite herself. "He's a colonel now, isn't he? Besides, NATO has long ceased to exist."

He grinned back at her. "Doesn't matter. He'll always be my darling Major to me."

She smiled back, and turned to the controls. Colonel Eberbach's voice filled the shuttle. "Get out of that area now," he ordered, his voice sounded gruff and almost roared at them. "Dorian, there are Dalek ships headed your way. Do you hear me? The fleet has changed its course dramatically. Get out of there NOW!"

"Aye, aye, Captain," Dorian shouted, smiling, as always, "We're just having a bit of engine trouble—"

"Idiot! This is no time for jokes!"

"So who's joking? Listen, shouldn't take us half a minute to correct…"

Rose looked back at the control panel. "It's an old shuttle, stalls from time to time, just…" she delivered another sharp kick to the controls. "…come on, come on…please…"

"We can't reach you before the fleet!" Klaus' voice shouted over the speakers. And, by God, Rose thought, Iron Klaus actually sounded frightened. "Get out of there right now!"

"Don't worry about it…" Dorian repeated, "We'll be out in a min—"

The entire shuttle seemed to let out a scream. They shook wildly; Rose grabbed the edge of the panel until it bit into her fingers. The thick black safety belts fastened around them automatically, but she still felt her neck snap as she was jerked backwards into the seat. The sensors flashed red, and an alarm was singing shrilly as the display panels crackled and jumped in front of her. It was a passenger shuttle, about as equipped for combat as a school bus, and it wasn't a new one, either.

"Damn it…" Dorian muttered. "What are the Daleks doing in this part of space, anyways?" he was still trying to get the sub-power working. "It's no good, it's not accepting my commands."

They were struck again and the entire ship lurched. There were horrific blasts all around them. Klaus' voice crackled in and out over the intercom, shouting, shouting loudly, but she couldn't make out any of the words.

Except. "—Dorian—"

"We're within range of a planet!" she shouted. "I'm going to try and land!"

They were too damaged. The Daleks were too close. "Can we make it?"

"Of course!" Dorian shouted to her, but she heard the tremor in his voice.

There was a horrific crunch and a crash, the sound tearing through everything and making her shudder. An inhuman screech tore right through her skull. She tried to twist around in the seat as the entire shuttle ripped apart around them and the control panels exploded—

Dorian was sitting back in his seat. No. She realized, he was pinned there, by a long jagged shard of twisted metal struck cruelly through his right shoulder.
He smiled at her, even with his eyes full of tears.

"If you make it back, Rose—"

"NO!" she shouted. "NO! Dorian—"

"Tell the Major—please tell—Klaus—"

"NO, please, NO!" she screamed, as the shuttle lurched wildly, the control panel in front of her burst apart in a crackling shower of glass and metal. Fire roared and she felt heat engulf her, burn her. The stinging raw pain splashed across her face, and cut deep through her hands and flesh.

The shuttle shook and she felt herself being torn apart. Everything was screaming up around them. Tearing up around them.

And then everything cut to black.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Dorian looked up at the dark sky, the wind carried with it the heat from the fires. He shuddered. Klaus stood only a few feet away, studying the destruction, his arms folded across his chest with that perpetually unapproachable demeanor of his. "So what are we going to do now, Major? Sit here and wait for the end?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Klaus scowled. "We must find the Doctor and put an end to all of this once and for all!"

"But…" Dorian sighed; he dropped to his knees and placed a hand on K-9's back tiredly. The little robot's ears twitched around, making him smile. "But where do we find him, Klaus?"

The Major's eyes darted sharply to the dog. "K-9…"

"Masters!" the dog jerked sharply out from under Dorian's hand, his ears whirring and his silver tail quivering.

Klaus turned and drew his Magnum, the Daleks were coming after them, making their way up the hillside in massive lines, their metallic shells looking grim and dark in the shadows, their rifle-arms all protruding and ready. Dorian felt a dark chill running under his skin, and could not force his legs to move to stand or to run. He felt Klaus move closer to him, and K-9 made a low whirring noise that reverberated throughout his entire metal casing and might have been a growl.

"Major…" Dorian whispered, just as he felt the air change behind them, heard a low buzzing, and didn't have to turn to see—"Klaus…they're behind us."

The Major turned slowly from the lines of the aliens that were moving up the hillside, and saw more of the Dalek forces rising through the air, lifting themselves up to the edge where Dorian and K-9 were crouched, hovering above them. "THE HUMANS WILL NOW BE EXTERMINATED."

And for one horrifying moment, they were all stranded there in that fragment of time, unable to move, unable to fight back or escape or cry out. Then the first Dalek's rifle arm snapped into position, Dorian crouched against K-9, and Klaus' arm seemed to rise of its own volition and pull the trigger. The creature's eye-stalk exploded as the Magnum's bullet tore through it, and the shots fired flew inches above Dorian's head.

"Get up!" the Major shouted, hauling Eroica to his feet and shoving him out of the way as the rest of the Dalek forces opened fire on them. K-9 trundled along at their heels, and the Major turned back to fire two more bullets at the creatures' eyes before falling behind a dense thicket of crackling branches and shrubbery.

He fell down a short ways into a wooded area, and Dorian landed next to him, the dog rolling along afterwards as the explosions of laser-fire continued along the cliff above them.

"What are we going to do now?" Dorian asked.

The Major reloaded his gun. "Find the Doctor."

"With those things chasing us!"

"We haven't got much of a choice, have we?"

"No, Master," the dog agreed.

"But where are we going to find him?"

The Major sighed for a moment, looking up at the dark sky. Dorian followed his gaze, and suddenly a burst of incredibly thick white and blue lightning slashed across the sky as though the universe had been cut through with a terrific knife. The lightning continued, crackling and streaming down from the heavens, thin veins of light shooting from it and splintering back to the Earth, all of it crackling and fluctuating but never fading, never vanishing. The Earth trembled beneath it. It was as though the sky was tearing open.

Eroica stared at it with wide eyes. "What IS that?"

Klaus grimaced darkly. "I believe we now know where to find the Doctor."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The incredible force, powered by the Luinway Solar Crystal and the TARDIS was beginning to tear right through the Earth, its force blinding and surging with raw energy.

The Doctor stumbled backwards, staring up at the light that crashed into the TARDIS, as his other self laughed hysterically. "It's all over, Doctor. There's nothing you can do now. It's all been set into motion. Time and Space are going to fold back over each other and erase. This is the end! The end of all that is and ever was and ever will be! The end of everything that goes wrong! The end of all worlds, everywhere in all of time!"

"NO!" Rose growled. "I won't let you! I won't let you kill Dorian and Klaus all over again! I won't let you HURT MY DOCTOR!" With a guttural cry, she drew her weapon and fired a mass of shots towards the Doctor.

The bursts of laser struck the outside of the TARDIS walls around him, but fell away, harmless, as the entire structure was engulfed in the blinding white power of the charged Crystal reacting with the Heart of the TARDIS.

He smiled at her. "Oh, you'll have to do better than that, Rose Tyler. But then, you were just another stupid ape, after all."

She screamed, and flung the weapon at him, it struck the air in front of him, and before their eyes incinerated into black ash that floated to the ground.

"Doctor!" he turned to see Eroica and the Major stumbling over the rocky terrain behind him, being led by K-9. Rocky terrain? When had the ground become—

"Doctor! WATCH OUT!" Rose was shouting from somewhere, and that was the last thing he heard before one of the great white splinters of energy broke out from the TARDIS' shattering walls, and tore straight through him.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Doctor! NO!" Dorian shouted, running to the fallen Time Lord with K-9. The Major grabbed his shoulders as the entire world trembled beneath them. The light coming from the TARDIS was now incredible, blinding to look at.

They heard the other Doctor's hysterical laughter above even the roaring and screaming of the lightning and the earthquakes. But when they looked at their enemy, there were tears running down his face.

"Gallifrey…I did it for Gallifrey…and for…Rose…"

"NO!" Rose screamed, turning to him, throwing her red cloak away, her scarred face twisted into a hideous grimacing snarl. "NO! You monster!" she screamed, and lunged for him with her mangled hands like claws before her.

And behind him, the TARDIS erupted and exploded in a blast of white light. The Major clutched Dorian close to him. The Earl's hand tightened over his. There wasn't time for anything more.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"What are you doing, Rose?" the Doctor asked. He was just lying there. That wasn't like him at all. But he couldn't move any part of him. There was no pain. There was no…nothing.

Rose was looking down on him. Blue eyes. Scarred face. Orange hair. Tears. Tears spilling wildly.

And blood.

Blood was splattered thickly on her face, dripping from her chin, mixing with the tears. It soaked her chest, and sloshed in thick globs from her mangled fingers.
"I want you safe," she said. And the voice encompassed everything. "MY Doctor…I want you protected…from becoming that…I want to save everyone."

"But you can't change the past…" he thought, his head pounding. "Rose, we can't change the past…You KNOW you can't change the past..."

"I don't care," she said, and her voice was everywhere, echoing off everything. "I don't care, I will, Doctor, my Doctor, I will, I can do it, I will…"

And she began to fade from him into the blinding white light, but her voice continued to reverberate and hum through his core, a harsh whisper: "I can, I, Doctor, I will, my Doctor, protect you, protect them all, I will…"

All worlds--everywhere--were ending then. Everything was being erased. And it was his fault. For being weak. For not accepting the past. For…

"And you went mad, Doctor."

--"My Doctor."—

"I will protect you, and this world."

He could not move. He saw her walking towards the TARDIS, through the burning like, like a ghost. And it was killing her—destroying her. She was melting away. Like the gun, the light pulled her apart into shreds, her hair touched it and was turned to ash, her legs struck it, and were torn away, her arms, her chest, her face, looking back at him one last time, weeping, smiling.

"I will—I promise I will—"

And she was gone. But her spirit was continuing to walk towards that light, that core, the Heart of the TARDIS. And it would hear her. And then what…what would it do?

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Major Klaus Heinz von dem Eberbach didn't know where he was. It was not a good feeling. He couldn't even be sure if he was on Earth any longer. Perhaps he wasn't even in the universe. Where was Dorian? The thief had vanished in the rush of white light. The Major tried not to be too concerned about Eroica, tried to focus all of his concentration on the blank emptiness that surrounded him. It wasn't easy. Had everything been obliterated? Was this emptiness the loneliness of Death?

Slowly, slowly, shapes and value began to deepen out of the nothingness. Slowly, until he was able to perceive the familiar stone walls of the Schloss Eberbach, the interior of a familiar hallway, faintly through the thick white mist. But the mist was receding and receding until he was left standing there, in the old corridor, alone.

He looked one way and then the other, through the dark shadows, the faint flickers of light across the stones at one end of the hall. His head felt strangely foggy. His hands reached up and grasped his head automatically. He felt dizzy. Disoriented.

"Dorian…"

"I'm here, Klaus," a hand grasped his gently.

He turned and saw Dorian standing next to him. The thief looked scared. "You're really here, aren't you?" he asked. "Not just in my head."

Dorian nodded.

Instinctively, he pulled the thief closer.

"I'm…scared, Klaus,"

"Ja…" he murmured, "Me too."

Dorian looked at him in such surprise he smiled just a little. "You…too?"

He nodded, and pulled Dorian against him, stroking his hair.

"Klaus…Is it really the end, then?" Dorian whispered. The sky outside was flashing strange colours. The walls of the castle trembled around them.

The Major was stroking his hair, and remained silent.

"Major? Did you hear that?" Dorian asked. He thought he heard the faintest whisper of a voice. There didn't seem to be anyone there, besides the two of them.

But he heard it calling again. "There it is again!"

"I hear nothing," Klaus scowled.

"Wait. There it is again."

"I don't—"

"Listen!"

And they did.

The voice came again. Louder, this time. It was Rose. "Hey…are you there? Dorian? Major?" she appeared sort of out of the shadows, faded and transparent.

Dorian gasped when he saw her. "Major! A ghost!"

Klaus' hand was on his shoulder. "Miss Tyler? What—"

"I don't know!" she looked scared, her arms tightened across her chest, and a few stray strands of long blonde hair blew across her lips. "I don't know what's happening! Where's the Doctor?"

"We don't know," Dorian said quietly. "We don't even know where we are, at the moment, you see."

"Oh, Dorian…I—I think we're inside the TARDIS."

"But we are…here," the Major said, frowning.

"I know…but…I feel the TARDIS. It's hard to explain. I can't—" she was flickering and jumping in and out of their vision.

Dorian shuddered.

"Rose…we don't understand," the Major said slowly.

"I…I know," she said it as though just coming to a realization herself. "I know…I know how to get back there!" she looked up at them and smiled. "Follow me! This is it, we have to get back to the TARDIS!" So saying, Rose turned around, and walked straight through the stone wall of the Schloss, vanishing into the night.

"Rose!" Dorian cried. "We can't—"

Both men stood staring after her for a minute. Finally, Dorian pulled away from Klaus and tentatively reached a hand out towards the stone wall. It melted away beneath his touch. Shuddering, he looked back at the Major and shrugged, before vanishing through it.

"Damn it! Eroica! Lord Gloria! Dorian!" the Major shook his head. Then followed.

When the darkness melted away, they found themselves standing within the familiar TARDIS' walls. The console room lurched and shuddered around them, and light and smoke flooded everywhere, burning the melting room.

Rose stood next to them, her appearance more solid, but still lacking in depth. Then he caught sight of her real body on the floor, having been knocked from one of the beds. The mists from the TARDIS' engines (were they engines? Dorian didn't know) floated over her, and were seeping into her skin. He stared for a moment, before returning his gaze to her. But, considering that she was a floating incorporeal ghost at the moment he decided it would be uncouth to ask if she was okay.

She didn't seem to mind, however, her attention was solely on the TARDIS and the task at hand. She brushed a strand of hair away from her face and bent over the control panel. "He's using the TARDIS as a tool to channel the power of the Solar Crystal somehow. We have to stop it. This machine is supposed to be manned by six Time Lords together. So…let's see what we can--"

She stopped, and there was another Rose standing next to her, older, scarred, but she smiled at her younger self. And then Dorian felt something—something in the air beside him, and he turned and grasped the Major's hand tightly—standing beside him, another Klaus, and another—another of himself.

"Hey, we're going to try and change the past now, alright? I don't know if it'll work or not, but it's worth a try!" his other self said.

The other Major nodded towards the center of the TARDIS. "Do it," he ordered.

Dorian's Major nodded, but as he approached the console, the light became too blinding, the smoke too intense. Dorian slid on the trembling floor and felt sweat running down his back. When had it gotten so hot? "Rose…we can't…"

To his surprise, even Klaus stumbled down next to him, trying to shield his eyes from the overwhelming brightness. "This is killing us," the Major told the—spirits.

"But how! How do I--" she cried in anguish, as her hands moved through the console.

"Like this," the other Rose said, standing at the console. The ghostly figures of Dorian and Klaus moved with her, and then the light became too blinding, and Dorian fell against the Major and collapsed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

When it was all over, Dorian had no idea of how it had ended, or why. For several long minutes he couldn't remember anything at all. Then he shifted, and found he was lying in one of the beds in the TARDIS, feeling completely refreshed, and for the longest time he couldn't remember anything at all.

And when he did remember, he was only very, very confused.

"Well, I should expect so," was all the Doctor would say, when he found him working away in the console room. "Old girl's as good as she's ever been. I think I can have you and the Major back on Earth in no time."

"Oh…" Dorian said. "That's it?"

The Major was smoking diligently and watching the various numbers rise and fall on the display. Dorian rubbed his forehead and sighed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The Doctor found himself standing in the TARDIS. His other self was lying crumpled on the ground, in a thick black pool of blood. Rose. Blood splattered on her hands, her chest, and her chin. His...the other his…chest was…torn open.

Blood streaked everywhere. He would have been sick, he thought, had he been capable of feeling anything. Both the Doctor's hearts had been torn out.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The light was fading from the TARDIS. "How did you know…how did you know to stop it?" he asked, feeling the TARDIS creak and shudder all around him. He thought he saw the hazy outline of four figures standing around the controls. But he wasn't sure.

The hatch on the main console snapped shut and the blazing light of the TARDIS' Heart was cut off.

The ghosts disappeared.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Lord Gloria and the Major were collapsed on the floor. But they were alive. The Doctor sighed, and then he shuddered, as feeling began to sweep through his body once again. He almost cried out, and had to grasp the main console to steady himself. He looked at the stilled center column and a sudden wave of weariness washed over him. "For what it's worth," he murmured. "Thanks for listening, old girl…"

And collapsed.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"But Doctor, what are you going to do now?" Dorian asked.

The Time Lord sighed. "Well, first of all, I'll be taking the Solar Crystal back to the Meren," he seemed so much older than when they had first met. So much more…tired.

"Doctor—" he hugged the Time Lord tightly. There was something awful about saying goodbye to him, something horribly final about it. "And I'm so sorry—you couldn't save her—"

"The TARDIS," the Doctor said quietly, and he looked to the once again hidden Heart of the TARDIS, his eyes were dark and sorrowful. "She'll be there…forever now."

Dorian smiled a little, and squeezed the Doctor's hand. "To protect her Doctor."

The Doctor turned away for a moment, and then as the Major entered, he looked back at them, and offered a smile no-where near as brilliant as he had when he had first met them.

Epilogue

Dorian was sprawled comfortably in bed, the Golden Fleece draped over him in a pile with the rest of the multitude of quilts and blankets that Klaus sorely disapproved of but Dorian just found so wonderfully cozy! He pulled the fleece closer and yawned, he really ought to have it hung up somewhere properly, but the feeling of magic still clung to it, and it made him feel safer, somehow, especially on the nights when Klaus wasn't there.

"Master!" a familiar mechanical voice chirped. Dorian groaned and rolled over, burying his head in the thick feather pillow.

"K-9…" the Earl groaned. "I'm sleeping! You're as bad as Jamesie!"

"Master, you did request to be awoken at six-thirty AM," the robot dog replied. "And it is now ten past seven."

"That doesn't sound like something I'd request…" he sighed, rolling over.

"Are you still in bed?" an equally familiar voice demanded. Dorian finally managed to pry one eye open. Klaus was standing—well, looming really—over his bed. This made the thief smile lazily.

"Ooh you're back from your latest assignment! Finally!" Dorian exclaimed. "I'm sorry I stopped hanging around to bother you after the first week—it was just so incredibly boring. It was much more fun in the old days when we had adventures, rather than all this dull reconstruction stuff!" he yawned. "….you know, you look tired, I think you should come back to bed, Major," he purred, but alas, Klaus was fully dressed, adjusting his tie, even.

Oh well, there was always a certain amount of fun to be had in un-dressing, which made the thief smile even more. "Yes, I think you really should definitely come back to bed, Major…"

Klaus regarded him for a moment. "If you're going to insist on referring to me by my rank, you could at least get it right, Thief."

"Lieutenant-colonel 'as too many syllables for this early in the morn—" the rest of the word was obliterated in a yawn and Dorian snuggled further under the covers. "Or—what did you call it—Oberstleutnant…?"

Klaus rolled his eyes at what was probably the worst pronunciation of attempted-German he had ever heard in his life. Dorian's fluency in second and third languages evidently did not kick in until past noon. "Come on, get up, or we'll be late."

"We don't have to go anywhere, it's Sunday!"

"It's Monday!"

"I don't care!"

"Don't make me get K-9 to shoot a laser at you!"

"K-9 wouldn't do that, he loves me!"

"He is nothing more than a dog-shaped machine!"

The small robot's ears were busy twisting back and forth all the while, the tail wagging. He was well used to his masters bickering, as it happened every morning.
"Besides, you DON'T work today, you JUST got back from your mission! And my hours are very irregular!"

"Come on, Dorian! I took two weeks vacation—"

"Really?" Dorian asked, cracking one eye back open and looking up at his beloved lazily. "So you COULD come to bed, now, you know."

"I do not approve of lazing around in bed all day!"

"It's seven a.m.! Besides…" Dorian suddenly bolted straight up, grabbed Klaus by the shoulders and dragged him back to bed forcibly. "I like spending time with you in bed, darling! I promise, there won't be anything 'lazy' about it!"

It was amusing to watch his beloved turn several interesting shades of red; so adorably bashful Klaus was, sometimes. "If it were up to you, we would never do anything besides—besides—"

"Yes, darling?" Dorian asked, fluttering his eyelashes up at him. "Anything wrong with that?" he asked, trying to get Klaus' jacket off, amid considerably struggling.
"Dorian—not—not in front of K-9!"

The thief pouted, but finally relented, knowing Klaus would have to give in to him later; it was, after all, their anniversary. "I thought he was just a 'dog shaped machine.'"

"He is a very sensitive machine!" the former-Major snapped, straightening his jacket and fixing his tie. "Now, get up, shower and dress so I can take you on our date!"

"Aye, aye, captain…" Dorian muttered, already falling back asleep.

"NOW!"

K-9 might have barked in agreement if he had the proper sound clip in his databanks. As it was, he wagged his tail.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The Doctor stepped back into the TARDIS after returning the crystal to Luinway. The Meren had wept and sang and rejoiced. They wanted him to stay, to be rewarded, but he never did. He would disappear again. Into space and time. The last Time Lord, for now and for always.

He sighed and looked at the empty control room. And then, as he flicked a few switches, he heard footsteps in the TARDIS behind him.

Almost not daring to look, he raised his head. He listened. A muffled yawn. His hearts stopped.

He turned. Slowly. The aching pain in his chest was almost paralyzing.

And she stood there. Her hair was pulled back in a messy pony tail, as though she had been sleeping with it that way and hadn't bothered to brush it yet. She was wearing her pink sweater. She was there. She stretched and looked at him. "Hey,"

He stared at her in amazement. "Rose—"

"What? Find more trouble for us to get involved in, did you?" she grinned, leaping over. He stared at her, stunned. "But, I've leaned my lesson, no changing the past, just doesn't work," she sighed. "I want to thank you for trying though, taking me back to meet my dad, and all…"

"Rose…"

She looked at him in surprise. "What?"

"What's the last thing you…remember?"

"What? You mean like…going to sleep? Yeah, I took a nap in the—"

"Do you mind that I gave K-9 away?"

"K-9? What's that? Some kind of dog?"

"…never mind," he murmured, turning back to the TARDIS controls. "Hey, look, there's something on the monitor. Let's check this out, what do you say?"

Grinning madly she stepped up beside him. "Of course! Oh, wait, I'm just going to change out of this," she looked at him. "Okay?"

He smiled as she darted off back down the TARDIS corridors. And then slowly he looked up at the reverberating central column and the Heart of the TARDIS.
He thought that he could feel a presence close to him. And just for one instant, he thought he saw the outline of her standing there, that woman that Rose could have become. She seemed to be smiling.

"Stay with me," the whisper faded softly out of the TARDIS as old ghosts got to rest.

"Thank you," he whispered back.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Why G, that dress looks simply adorable on you!" Dorian said. He sat across from the agent in a café in Bonn. It was spring, and green was becoming to come into the trees along the street. The ruined buildings had been mostly repaired over the last year and a half, and the scars of what might have been the end of the world were gradually beginning to fade.

The mysterious hot white light that had erupted from the TARDIS, while not harming any people, had fried something deep within the Dalek circuitry and most of the Dalek fleet that had been assailing the Earth had been destroyed, leaving only empty shells. Shells which NATO and other organizations had used to build new weapons, better equipped to fighting the remaining Dalek armies.

UNIT, an organization Dorian had vaguely recalled the Doctor mentioning, had also come to the fore, combining their resources and not-inconsiderable knowledge of extraterrestrial life with NATO and helping to eliminate the last of the Dalek threat.

And of course, Klaus had always been right there, fighting the enemy, saving the world, with the Eroica gang more-than occasionally appearing to lend a hand. And for once not deliberately interfering. And for once not charging a fee. Well, not much, James had demanded that they be paid something.

Finally, all that was left was the reconstruction. And the Earth would survive. Although, as happy as he was, sometimes Dorian couldn't help but wonder what had become of the Time Lord.

"Lord Gloria!" Z exclaimed, and came over to sit with them. Even though they were under someone else's command since Klaus' latest promotion, many of the agents which had been the "Alphabets" under Major Eberbach still referred to themselves by their code letters, almost like nicknames now. "G and I just got back from a mission in Rome. Fancy meeting you here! So, how did your team take it when you told them you were moving to Germany to live with the Major?"

The Earl smiled. "Fairly well, I suppose. I think they're mostly happy I haven't given up thieving yet."

"You haven't?" Z asked in surprise. "We all thought you'd retired, I mean, since, being married to the Major and all..."

Dorian smirked and lifted his cup of tea to his lips. "Not really."

Through the windows, he noticed Klaus walking down the street, reading the newspaper, K-9 trundling along beside him, and smiled. When the former-Major, now-Colonel reached the café, he folded the paper under his arm, told K-9 something (probably to wait for him) and came in. He looked around for a minute, until he caught sight of the Earl.

"Sir!" Z and G exclaimed, but he barely seemed to notice them. Instead, he grasped Dorian's arm.

"Come with me, quickly," Klaus said in a low voice.

Once outside the café, Dorian asked him what was wrong. Klaus gestured to the robot dog. "Tell him what you told me,"

K-9's tail wagged, and his satellite-ears rotated. "TARDIS signal located, Masters."

Dorian gasped. "Klaus? Does that mean--?"

The Major pulled something out of his jacket pocket. Dorian saw it was the TARDIS key the Doctor had given them. And it was glowing.

THE END.