A/N: Sorry for the delay. I'm currently planning my wedding which is in ten weeks time so I'm pretty snowed under and haven't had much of a chance to write but now the story continues.

"Get them out of here," said the Doctor, taking over from Grace and getting a better angle on the probe to examine the foreign object currently lodged beside a vital valve in Rose's heart.

"But they're needed, for the anaesthetic, to monitor Rose…" muttered Grace but a look from the Doctor silenced here and she quickly ushered the nursing staff out of the room, making them promise to stay close in case anything went wrong. She turned back to the Doctor, her eyes blazing over her surgical mask, "I could get my licence revoked for this."

"I'm not having them cut Rose up like a guinea pig," said the Doctor, nudging the blockade with a probe and his eyes widening as it began to glow a brilliant gold on the screen, "We have to get her open."

"You want to attempt open heart surgery with just us two here? Are you mad?"

The Doctor's voice rang out angrily despite how gently he was now removing the probe from Rose's chest, "She has a piece of the Time Vortex lodged in her heart somehow, slowly killing her and you're worrying about protocol! Now I don't know how it got there, even how it seems to be solid but you are the best cardiac surgeon I know Grace and Rose is dying, please help her. We need to get it out of her. I thought I'd removed all of the vortex from her but I was wrong and now the power that she used to save me is destroying her."

"But how Doctor? How am I meant to perform surgery on something I don't know about. And have you even considered Rose? Open heart surgery? There are so many risks," said Grace, seeing the conviction already present in the Doctor's eyes, "but I don't need to tell you that do I? What do you want me to do?"

"Crack her chest and get me safe access to the blockage, then I'll take over," said the Doctor, "I just hope I can figure out how to do this."

XXXX

The Doctor and Grace worked side by side as Rose's desperate form lay open and vulnerable before them, her heart still and bypassed as they worked for several hours to reach the site of the blockage. The initial sight of Rose's chest cracked open and her heart naked before him had almost sent the Doctor running for the hills. In his lifetime he had seen and participated in several human surgeries but never on someone he cared for and he was terrified. Grace had remained cool and calm throughout, a welcome anchor for the Doctor's tormented countenance as they worked. She gently found a suitable path to the blockage, glad to see Rose's heart muscles looking strong despite the damage it had been subjected to. The Doctor's eyes widened as he saw the location of the vortex, easy enough to remove it seemed but he was amazed at how it had even managed to latch onto Rose's form but he knew he had no time to question its presence, that time would come later.

"What will you do now?" said Grace, sensing the Doctor's hesitation.

"Try to remove it without killing her," said the Doctor, unable to look at his hands stained with Rose's crimson blood, "How I'm going to do that though and contain the vortex once its removed is another matter."

"Contain it?"

"Well I can't exactly let it just get thrown in the bin," said the Doctor, "That's a solid piece of time and space, the tiniest speck in the wrong hands could cause unknown damage. Do you have anything strong, like a radiation box or something?"

Grace nodded and fetched him a box marked radioactive on the side, "We had these installed a while ago, in case of nuclear war and we had to be pulling bits of bomb out of people or something."

The Doctor gave a half smirk under his surgical mask, "Bit daft, hit by a nuclear bomb you're pretty much knackered anyway, doubt you'll be needing surgery."

"Well the bureaucrats have to be seen to be spending tax money on something, " said Grace as the Doctor gently angled the low humming sonic screwdriver at the base of the blockage, "Careful you don't nick the valve."

"I did think about that," snapped the Doctor, "sorry, nervous."

"Its okay, you're doing well," she said, desperate to help but knowing even her expertise were useless in this field, "How's it coming?"

"Its loosening, can you get a clamp around it, I don't want it slipping."

Grace took a clamp and gripped the alien object, surprised that it felt oddly organic rather than the metal she had expected. The light glowed angrily around the object as if protesting to being removed. Grace swore she could hear the words BAD WOLF whispered as the Doctor worked but paid it no mind. As a final burst of energy fizzed from the sonic screwdriver Grace felt the blockage give and gently lifted it free from Rose's body, placing it in the radiation box and firmly closing the lid.

"Job well done Doctor," she said.

The Doctor turned his eyes away from hers, "We still need to get her off bypass and shock her heart back into a normal rhythm," he said, "I'm not celebrating yet."

"I'll call the team back," said Grace, "Hopefully they've stayed close by and not gone to get me sacked."

She turned to the door and left the theatre, leaving the Doctor alone with Rose. He couldn't even look at the girl before him. When he had been operating he had been able to convince himself it wasn't Rose whose life he was precariously toying with but now, with nothing to occupy him and her body open before him he felt his throat close up against a sob. Her surveyed her damaged chest and visualised the scar that would be there. He could fix much of it with the TARDIS dermo-regenerator but she would still be scarred by his own hand.

The Doctor stood back as Grace re-entered with her bemused team, only releasing that they had been waiting outside for nearly three hours while he and Grace had worked when he noticed the clock by the door. He watched as they began the process of taking Rose off bypass, each well practiced in their jobs. He heard the countdown begin and silently added his own voice to the nurse's but he was pulled from his thoughts by a sickening noise. His eyes flew to the monitor and he felt his own hearts stop as he stood frozen, listening to the sound of a flat line.

A/N: Oooh I must stop with these cliffies! Sorry for anyone medical reading this, I know very little of heart surgery so if I've got something wrong please don't hurt me. Will Rose live?