A/N: Sorry its been so long since I last updated I was off work and spending the majority of the three days in the pub so was in no fit state to write (My best friend was visiting and I only see her once a year or so- ample excuse for a good time) Anyway, on we go. As usual I don't own anything, if I did we'd still have Billie and not be having to betray her with a new assistant. Warning as well, this might be very VERY fluffy!
It was shock that set them all crying. The turn of events since Omega had taken them captive had shaken the Romanov family beyond belief. Even the Tsar was frantically wiping at tears as he knelt beside his wife, relief spreading through him as she slowly came round and was carried from the room. The guards were herding the children away from the scene, ensuring that no harm came to Alexis as they led him from the room. The Doctor was barking orders at several of them, his hand gripping Rose's firmly. They heard the sounds of the crowds dissipating outside, their anger cooled now that Omega's will no longer flowed through them. Never had they defeated an enemy so easily but they all knew the ease only came because they had the strength to love on another. When the commotion had died down the Doctor held onto Rose's shoulder for dear life and lowered himself to the floor, removing the tourniquet from his damaged leg and surveying the injuries. The blood had slowed but hadn't stopped and he knew he was in danger if it didn't get sorted soon, an injury such as that was even beyond the sonic screwdriver. Rose fussed around him, trying to stem the bleeding with anything she could find, trying to thwart the Doctor's growing paleness with pressure alone.
Rose felt two cool hands take hers from the Doctor's leg and move her gently to one side. Rose felt her fingers tingling as she watched Romana kneel down beside him and gently run her hands over the open wound. Mickey and Rose both stood dumbfounded as they watched the light gold dust play from her fingertips over the Doctor's leg, gently closing the wound and allowing the colour to return to the Doctor's white cheeks. Even the Doctor looked on in shock as newly form skin appeared through his ragged trousers. He ran a finger over it experimentally, finding it a little tender but no more. He looked up at the girl next to him and smiled.
"Thank you," he said softly, almost mesmerized by the eyes before him.
"I didn't know Time Lords could do that," said Mickey, "You can't."
The Doctor gave both Rose and Mickey a knowing smile and beckoned them beside him, wrapping an arm around Rose's waist as she knelt beside him.
"Look into Romana's eyes Rose, tell me what you see," said the Doctor.
Rose looked up and was captivated again by the blue of Romana's eyes. She shook her head as something familiar touched at her conscience, some long lost memory. She willed it to come forward and then saw the gentle flash of gold behind the blue, the calming swirl of a thousand generations in the young woman's eyes. Rose felt the smile forming on her face, some of the Doctor's knowledge remaining in her own head and allowing her to know that the woman before her was no Time Lord, let alone Romana.
"How can this be?" murmured Rose, reaching out to the touch the cool skin of Romana's cheek, "I know who you must be but how?"
"I couldn't let the two of you down," said Romana softly, "I brought you here, I didn't know the risks. I never could have without Susan, she was so bright, knew so much about me from watching her father, I could use her to help me and I did. She set the co ordinates by they went slightly wrong but I only did it for you. I wanted you to talk, to be happy again. I hear you both so often in the night, wishing the same things but never talking. I didn't know about Omega but when I did I had to help. I can do this only once in my entire life time, the one thing I could keep for myself but my family needed me."
Both Rose and the Doctor bit back sobs at her words but Mickey still managed to look utterly bemused. He coughed for attention and raised an eyebrow at his friends.
"Anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on?" he said, "Who is she?"
A smile quirked at the Doctor's lips, "This Mickey, is my oldest and dearest friend," he said taking Romana's hand, "She also happens to be my house."
Mickey's face fell even more into confusion as he stared at the woman before him, "You mean she's…oh no…hell no…that's too weird even for you Doctor."
"Its true," said Romana softly, "To you I am so often known as the TARDIS, the name given to me so long ago by another who I loved. You know me Mickey Smith, don't fear me now."
"You're really…her?"
"Yes," said Romana, "I'm her, I'm it, I'm everything. I came in a form I knew the Doctor would trust, even he did not know I had the power to manifest myself in this form but I cannot stay for long, my power is depleted and I will need to allow myself back before too long. When Rose returned to the Powell Estate I tried to maintain a presence here but I could not stand the distance, it exhausted me. I don't have long."
Rose took Romana's hand and joined it with the Doctor's, "Then we'll leave you two alone, you will have a lot to talk about and we'll bother you with questions. We'll go back to the rooms upstairs, I'll try and do some explaining to Nicholas and Alexandra. Find me later."
The Doctor nodded solemnly, his eyes not leaving the join between him and Romana. He felt Rose's lips brush his cheek and heard her faint footfalls as she left the room, closely followed by an ever curious Mickey. Silence descended as they were left alone in the ornate room. The Doctor looked up into Romana's swirling gold eyes. He smiled ruefully at her before pulling her into a hug.
"You should have told me sooner," he said, "I have so much to say to you and I don't know where to begin."
"You talk to me every day," she said softly, "Every night before you go to sleep like you've done every night since we started travelling. I couldn't tell you any sooner, I saw your eyes when you thought Romana was truly alive, I didn't want to lose the fantasy for you."
The Doctor knotted his fingers into the soft blonde hair, "I would give up a hundred thousand reunions with my people to have a few moments with you but I don't know how to talk to you like this, you're…so…you're my ship, you're my best friend, you're…"
"I know. Perhaps, for once my Doctor, we don't need your eloquence. I do have once request though, please be a little gentler with that mallet of yours."
The Doctor felt the laughter rumbling in his chest as he pulled back to look into the eyes that were so alien and yet so familiar, "I'll try, you are a stubborn old ship at times though. My TARDIS I…what is your real name? Unless Susan was just telepathic even in her youth and you told her it."
"It is as much my name as yours is the Doctor but after nine hundred years, I'm coping."
"You know me far too well."
"Its my job," she said softly, her fingers coming up to push back his fly away hair, "I'll always be here to know you too well, to look after you, to love you. You needn't fear loneliness Theta, the Time Lords live on in you and little Susan and from now and forever more your blood will still flow somewhere in the universe, even after both you and I are gone from this lifetime."
"But I'll lose Rose so soon by our standards," said the Doctor softly, his voice still overwhelmed by the events surrounding him, "That I don't know if I could bear."
"Then do not lose her," said the TARDIS softly, "I have a little manifest power left in me and I am before you as a Time Lord. I can't perform a miracle, I can't give her your form or regenerations but I can give her youth, a few centuries perhaps enough to last your regenerations out but it will deplete me. You will be stuck here for at least a couple of months, you will be parted from your daughter for a long time."
The Doctor smiled, "That is why I have you," he said, "My time ship, my TARDIS. I can choose to go back to just after we left no matter how much time has passed here. Do it, I need her to live."
The Doctor saw the smile form on Romana's face and he felt his hearts light up at the sight but he saw that it was tinged with sadness.
"This is goodbye for us Doctor," said the TARDIS softly, "In this form anyway, I can never do this again, not with my kind extinct as yours are. I just wish…I wanted…"
"Tell me," said the Doctor catching her cool face in his hands and wiping away the tear that coursed down her cheek.
"I have always loved you," said the TARDIS, "Always…"
The Doctor needed no further prompting as he pressed his lips to hers, feeling the guilt rising in his chest but pushing it down, promising himself to tell everything to Rose. He felt the gentle electrical vibrations he knew so well flow through to him and knew the tears on his cheeks were mingling with her own. He pulled back, unable to open his eyes.
"Goodbye," he murmured.
The chill of the room hit the Doctor like a sledge hammer as he realised that he was alone. He looked around himself, convinced for a moment that he must have blacked out from the blood loss but he saw the healed flesh on his leg and felt the warm tingle on his lips and knew that he was truly conscious. His body convulsed with a sob but he shook his head, he had no loss to mourn, merely a memory to treasure. One he would gladly file under his more bizarre experiences. Pushing to his feet he tested his weight on his injured leg and found there to be a little pain. He limped over to the mass of robes where Omega had once stood and pulled out the gold and silver harlequin mask. He looked into the hollow, expressionless eyes for a moment before tucking it under his arm. He turned on his heel and began to whistle happily to himself as he left the room. Impossible had been fun today.
XXXX
Rose knew something good had happened to her before even seeing the Doctor's grinning expression when he found her. She'd managed to calm the Tsar and Tsarina, concocting a rather impressive story even the Doctor would have been proud of, implicating Rasputin wonderfully and ensuring that he was swiftly escorted from the palace but not executed, even she knew a few more weeks had to pass before that event. The dumbfounded Royal family were easily led into Rose's tale and accepted it whole heartedly, more concerned with their son and the war still raging in Europe.
Rose had felt the power hit her as she returned to her room, having left Mickey in an adjoining chamber to get himself together, even after years of being friends with the Doctor Rose didn't believe that Mickey would ever get used to their weird lifestyle. Rose had been sitting before her mirror when she felt it, something hit her like a feather striking her arm but then worming its way into her soul. She had been alarmed for a second but then she saw her reflection change, saw the blonde girl she would still call Romana staring back at her for a split second. She knew something wonderful had happened. Knew what the Doctor's expression would be as he walked through the door. She knew they would both weep happily as she ran to his arms, running her hands desperately over every injury she knew he had sustained and exulting as she brushed new, healed skin. She knew they would stop and he would give her that mournful smile of his that told her they needed to talk and she knew they would, for hours and hours until everything was said and everything laid bare before them, building blocks set out for children's play that they could now build a stronger tower with because they knew they could.
XXXX
Three months had passed slowly in St Petersburg. Rasputin had been murdered as history dictated and the Tsar still slowly lost his grip on his throne and his country. Christmas and New Year came and went, the TARDIS a welcoming break from the ever more distraught palace when her doors opened to allow habitation if not travel on Christmas Eve. Passing over the threshold had been a daunting prospect but the Doctor had heard a familiar rasp from the console, berating him for allowing the driving snow to blow through the doors, and threw open both doors wide, taking Rose's hand and throwing an arm around Mickey's shoulders as they stepped over as a group, each one smiling at their own memories of the ship.
It was February tenth when the Doctor heard a beep from the console and the screen read that they were ready to fly once again. He looked over at Rose and Mickey who sat chatting on the captain's chair, he felt four years lift from him at the sight, remembering their adventures and revelling in those that were yet to come to them, it may not always be the people before him but he knew they still had a long way to go. He tried to see a change in Rose but nothing lingered on the surface, the same beauty he had always known reflected back at him with perhaps a little more confidence now she knew that her love was matched by his and that time was a little more on her side.
"Ready to go home?" he said, his fingers working deftly over the controls, perhaps moving a little more gently that before.
The smiles before him gave him his answer as he pulled down on the final lever and the ship sprang into life. The ride was rough and he could swear beneath the whirring and grating of the engines he could hear someone laughing deep down inside the ship. He joined in, laughing himself as the TARDIS ground to a halt and he fell to the floor with a bump. It was a mad dash to the door as all three tried to get out at once, squeezing through the half open door into the sun drenched court yard of the Powell Estate. The echo of running feet greeted them. The Doctor held his arms open for Susan as she ran to him, flinging her arms tightly around his neck. The Doctor hugged her tightly against him before opening out an arm for Rose to join them.
"Are you and mummy talking again?" said Susan softly.
The Doctor smiled, "Thanks to you my littlest Time Lord but promise me you won't fiddle with the TARDIS next time, you certainly caused a few problems, most of them good though."
"Very good," said Rose pressing a kiss to her daughters cheek, "So how long were we gone?"
"Two days," said Jackie, turning her attention from Mickey and Trisha who were otherwise engaged.
"Hah! Pay up Time Lord!" said Rose, sweeping a hand into the Doctor's pocket and extracting his wallet.
"Hey!"
"You said you could get us back within a day of leaving," said Rose, "You lose!"
The Doctor set Susan on her feet before sweeping Rose into a hug, deftly removing his wallet from her grasp in the process, "I may have lost our bet my darling but I think over all, I won."
A/N: Fluffy I know but it had to be done, just the epilogue to go now and we're finished. I thought it would be easy writing the Doctor/TARDIS scene but it was actually really hard. What would the Doctor say if he met the TARDIS in physical form? Answers on a postcard please.
Nova x