Title: Days Like This
Author: Gillian Taylor
Rating: PG
Characters: Ninth Doctor, Rose, Jack
Summary: He needed more days like this.
Spoilers: Empty Child/Doctor Dances
Disclaimer: Don't own them. I just like playing with them...a lot.
Archive: Sure, just let me know.

A/N: Thanks, as always, to my lovely beta WMR.

"Days Like This"
by Gillian Taylor

Everyone lived.

Just this once.

Everyone lived.

Rose. The people of London. The human race.

Just this once.

Everyone lived.

And he felt his hearts soar. So many times, he had watched people die for the sake of his master plan. So many times it had been those he cared about. So many times it had been his actions that had destroyed people, places, entire planets.

Gallifrey was one such example.

Silurian Earth was another.

And now. Now, everyone lived.

And it was good.

He beamed as he danced around the console, setting coordinates. He was on fire, but this was a good fire. The best fire. He won. And everyone lived.

"Look at you, beaming away like you're Father Christmas!"

He shot her a wide grin. Nothing could stop him now. He was on fire! "Who says I'm not, red-bicycle-when-you-were-twelve?"

"What?" She looked dumbfounded. Of course she would. She didn't know. But it didn't matter. Not now. He could do anything! Be Father Christmas, like he was in his seventh life. Be anything. Do anything. It didn't matter. He was on fire!

He held out his arms, embracing the source of his joy. "And everybody lives, Rose! Everybody lives!" He couldn't stop grinning. He needed more days like this. Had needed them for a long time. It was perfect. Just Rose and him. And everybody lived. "I need more days like this."

"Doctor..."

"Go on, ask me anything. I'm on fire!" He was. It was perfect. Just perfect.

"What about Jack?"

Oh. Jack. The one person that he had failed to tally in his 'everyone lived' quota. Jack had proven himself. Jack had proven that he was sorry for what he had done, and had done his best to make his amends. Besides, he owed him one. There was no way to dispose of that bomb safely, not with Chula technology. He couldn't leave the man to die, not when he'd taken the bomb away due to his own machinations. Maybe, just maybe, for a little while at least, there could be room in the TARDIS for one more.

Though he still wasn't too sure how he would react to Rose fawning over Jack or Jack flirting with Rose. The sudden pang in his hearts told him. Fantastic. But he did owe him.

"Why'd he say goodbye?"

"Wasn't goodbye," he replied, grin still firmly in place. "Jus' a see you in a bit." He set the coordinates for Jack's ship and set the TARDIS in flight.

He flipped one of the switches on the console and the sound of Glenn Miller filled the room. "So, Rose Tyler, I believe you owe me a dance."

"I do?" she asked, tongue-firmly-in-cheek.

He nodded. "You do." He held out his hand in open invitation. "Something about not believin' that in nine hundred years I've danced?"

"You can dance?" Rose grinned even as she stepped forward to claim his hand.

"I've got the moves, but I wouldn't want to boast..." he replied, suddenly nervous. He hoped he could remember this stuff. It really had been several centuries since his last ball, and even then he'd worn a different body.

"A'right, Doctor. Show me your moves."

And he did.

FIN