Ok everybody this is the penultimate chapter (the one before last)!

Chapter 17

After their father-son talk, Jack and Sam rejoined the Doctor and both Rose's back in the cottage. The Time travellers stood. "We have to go." The Doctor said. "We've got a war to win." They all hugged again, but not the Roses. "I know you'll win," the old Rose said quietly to young Rose. "The Doctor swanned off and came back here and here I am, fit as fiddle, and Jack survived too." Twenty year old Rose nodded. "It was nice meeting you." She replied.

Back in the TARDIS, when it was just the three of them once more, the Doctor started the engines. Rose went over to him as Jack went and sat down. "Do you really go away forever? I mean, stay away until I'm seventy one?"

"Rose, remember what I told you when we were trapped by the Gelth? Time can be bent into any shape. The future can be changed in a second. You never know, I could convince the Time Lords to let me come see you. In the mean time they probably have me followed, but keep this in mind when I'm gone: I've seen you when you were twelve and seventy one. I might see you again on the off chance."

Rose smiled and then said. "But it's still goodbye, isn't it? I'll never talk to you again…" he rested his hand on her arm, and kissed her briefly on the forehead, then turned back to the controls. She could tell this conversation had now passed and went to sit with Jack.

"We're gonna have to get together." She said. "Doesn't that seem just a little bit freaky to you?"

"No," he replied, grinning. "From the impression we were happy and Sam said I was a good dad!" Rose was about to reply but, "The year 2006, Powell estate, home sweet home." The Doctor announced as the engines stopped. "I presume you did get weapons?"

"Absolutely," Jack said, rising from the chair. He walked over to the sports bag by the hat stand and picked it up. "Locked and loaded. Where to first then Doc?"

"Let me check," the Doctor told him. He activated the screen and flicked through the channels. A news flash was on. The Doctor saw the location and said, "Ok, I think we'd better hurry."

"Why?" Rose asked.

"I er, wouldn't draw attention to yourself when you open the door."

"They're on the estate?" The Doctor nodded. "How many?"

He consulted the screen again. "Seven counted."

"Seven? In the car park?"

"Yep."

"how many in the building, let's go!" she cried. "Give me one!" she commanded Jack. He unzipped the bag and gave them each a flame thrower. "Watch out, we're coming to get you!" she said, going briskly to the door. She got caught by surprise as when she opened the door a Wendigo stood before her. She jumped out the way as it swiped, missing her by a second. The Doctor shot it with a burst of fire. "One down, God knows how many more to go." He said, setting off at a run towards a group of three Wendigos. They were surrounding a small red car, which had a terrified middle-aged man in it. "Howard!" Rose yelled.

"Who's Howard?" Jack asked, running along beside her, the nozzle of the flame thrower aimed in one hand, the sports bag in the other.

"Mum's boyfriend off the market." Rose told him quickly. They sped up, tying with the Doctor. The trio skidded to a halt and each shot a Wendigo each. When they were ash, Rose ran over and helped him out. He was numb. He turned to her and saw the flame throwers. His eyes widened. "Rose?" he whispered. "What are you -? Your mum, I was coming over to see if she was alright and then these things surrounded me…"

"It's alright, Howard, we're just going up now, it's best if you go home now." She told him.

"Can you run?" the Doctor asked him quickly. "Fast?" Howard nodded. "Jack, give him a flame thrower. Howard, you're about to become a hero, helping us save the human race."

The four headed to the building and encountered far more than seven Wendigos on the stairs. Howard kept up with them, not needing to stop for breath and seemed on the ball when the Time travellers stopped for breath. When they reached Jackie's floor, the door was ajar. Rose didn't stop to think, she ran inside and yelled, "MUM! Where are you?"

"Rose!" she heard her mum scream back. "Help!" she ran to the sound of her mum's cry and found a Wendigo bolted outside the bathroom. Her mum was trapped inside and the door was about to give way. The Wendigo looked pissed off that its victim was putting up a fight. "Jackie!" Howard called.

The Wendigo wheeled round and snarled. It super sped and burst into flame as he shot it in mid-run towards him.

The bathroom door opened a creak slowly and they saw Jackie's eye look out. She saw Howard and Rose and hugged them. She stood back as she saw the Doctor. "You said he was dead." She said to Rose.

"Nice to see you too." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, we thought he was but he wasn't." Rose said hastily. "Listen, we'd better be going, we don't know how many more Wendigos are out there… Howard, maybe you should stay here with mum?"

"I want to help." He said.

"Stay with me," Jackie said. He nodded and handed Jack the flame thrower. "Good luck," he told them.

"See you soon." Rose said to them both. "Take care."

(Note to last anonymous reviewer: Thanks for the pointer! In 'The Christmas Invasion', 'The Empty Child', etc, Rose and the Doctor have used the screen to see things like the Time Tunnels. The TARDIS has the screen in it and I presumed because it's so high-tech, it would have TV station links.)