Chapter 18

The Doctor, Jack and Rose decided it safer to stick together even though it meant they couldn't cover more ground. They were in the local shopping centre and more and more Wendigos were coming out of no where at them. The place had been recently evacuated as the alarms were still ringing.

So far they had got away without any injuries, but the Doctor had a feeling they could stay that way not much longer.

They were near the escalators when one came up behind them. The Doctor shot it but it just burnt the Wendigo, angering it. "What?" the Doctor said. They're getting stronger, he thought. He saw one come up to Rose and it was almost smiling. She was about to shoot and he yelled, "Rose, no!" she shot it and strangely it did turn to ash. She turned in time to see the Wendigo by the Doctor lash out. It scratched him deep and the impact shot the Doctor high the air and he went flying out of sight. "Doctor!" she screamed. "Jack, come on!"

Jack followed her, having too, seeing the Doctor being hit. The Wendigos seemed to have disappeared because he looked back and they were gone.

They found the Doctor had been thrown through a shop window which had smashed at the force of his landing. Rose and Jack ran inside through the doors and discovered him lying on the carpet, bleeding heavily. He was pale with blood loss and shaking. He opened his eyes hearing them approach and saw Rose kneel beside him. She held his hand. "Rose…" he managed weakly.

"Don't talk, I'll fix you." she whispered. She fumbled in her pocket for the Sonic Screwdriver. She got it out and was about to set it but he shook his head. "No," he choked. "It's my time."

"You can't say that." She told him, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Remember… what I told you… everything has it's time and… everything dies."

"No!"

"I've gotta go."

"But you can't…" she tried to argue. He shakily raised his arm and brushed her hair out her face.

"Don't give up." He told her. "Before I go…" he winced but continued, taking a deep breath. "The Time Lords… they're coming."

As if they had heard him, three Time Lords walked around from behind them. "Help him." Rose cried from the floor. "He hasn't done anything wrong… please…"

The Chief spoke. "We understand time is short, so I must hurry. The Wendigos were a test, to see your dedication to one another and we have dealt with them. We can see now the Doctor loves you, Rose Tyler. That is why we are granting the Doctor his wish: to become human." He looked down at the Doctor who smiled, although still pale and shaking worse than ever. The Time Lord closed his eyes as the two other Time Lords put their hands on his shoulders, joining their power. The Chief stood as still as a statue. He started glowing and white/gold colour and knelt down, opposite Rose. He placed his hands just above the Doctor's gash in his abdomen and then the Doctor started glowing too. He stopped his shaking and the colour returned to his skin. He opened his eyes and smiled. The Time Lord staggered backwards, drained. One of the Time Lords escorts took him by the arm and left, leaving one behind.

"Thank you." The Doctor said to the Time Lord, standing up. He took Rose's hand. She looked astounded at what had just happened before her. "I'm ok now, no need to worry."

"But… you're… you're human now? Right?" she stuttered.

"Yes. You'll want to take the TARDIS, won't you?" the Doctor asked. The Time Lord nodded as the Doctor handed over the key sadly.

"Why can't you keep it?" Rose asked as the Time Lord went inside. It dematerialised.

"I'm no longer a Time Lord. I'm not allowed it anymore. That would be like giving it to you as a present. Besides, I'm sure there's a young Time Lord out there that would like one. So. No more time travelling for us three." The Doctor said to his two companions. "Time to move on and settle down."

"What about your title?" Jack asked. "The Doctor. Will you change your name?"

"No!" the Doctor said, shocked. "I'm staying the Doctor till the day I die."

"So you can die now? Properly, like a human?"

"I am human. I just need to have a quiet life I'll need to make up a new age and everything. I'll grow old at human speed. Maybe I could be twenty eight, what do you think? And I can be with you." He added to Rose. "How about it? We still on?"

Rose grinned. "Yeah. Just us; together forever. I'm not sure if people will believe you if you say twenty eight though. They'll think who's he kidding!"

"Oi!" he poked her.

"Er, sorry to crash the celebration guys," Jack said. "But what about me? Where will I go? I live in the 51st century."

"Stay here. Get a job," the Doctor suggested. "Maybe the RAF."

Jack smiled. "Good idea, Doc. Good thing I've still got some psychic paper though! Or they probably wouldn't let me in. I mean I've got no real ID. Hey Rose, still has the Sonic Screwdriver!"

"Oh yeah!" Rose remembered. "How come the Time Lords didn't take it?"

"It's not theirs to take. It's from Villengare, you know the banana groves? They don't only do blasters. Bought it when I visited."

Still holding Rose's hand, the Doctor and his companions walked out the shop.

"Where to now?" Rose asked. "Where are we gonna live?"

"Your mum's." the Doctor replied simply. "We'll find ourselves jobs, me with my first in jiggery-pokery and then we'll get ourselves a flat or something. That ok with you?"

Rose looked up at him and rested her head on his shoulder as they went. "Yeah. Yeah that sounds good to me."

Yay! The end! They can be together! I may write a sequel but for now I want to carry on with one of my unfinished stories.