Hello everyone - welcome to a phenominally long chapter! As you can see I have several unconnected announcements to make. They have NOTHING to do with the story, so if you wanna skip them, skip them...

The short version of what's going on in my crazy life is that I tripped over a friend's guitar amp today (very very HARD) and went out cold with concussion, apparantly. Ah well. Don't worry about it, but if you don't get posts for a week or two you'll understand that I'm running around with a bloody HUGE bandage over my poor temples lol. Therefore, the quality of this chapter may have been compromised. Very sorry about that. There ARE a couple of other things:

1. Betas. Everyone seems to have one. Should I get one? Would any of my wonderful readers like to be one? Please just let me know.

2. I realised I hadn't included one of these - Disclaimer: Just in case anyone managed to get confused about this... no, funnily enough, I DON'T OWN DOCTOR WHO. Happy?

3. I can't thank the following people enough: pinktardis (who says this is better than what she could write but I bet you anything she'd make a fantastic author if her reviews are anything to go by), Xxdoctorwho28fanxX (who is a genuine angel in disguise - I can't think of higher praise), daffodillTARDIS (kindly allow me to say how brilliant your work is), as well as all the following: saiyamar (thank you again), blackhairdye (hey, I'm glad you like it), I-Confuse-Everyone, Cacunai, one of the riddle's, Francescanne and anyone else I have stupidly forgotten to mention. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Right, now we can FINALLY get on with it. Once I start using fluff I can't seem to stop so you have been warned! Enjoy!

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CHAPTER 10

The Doctor wandered over to the kitchen to make hot chocolate - his speciality - and get digestive biscuits, having left Rose in one of the rooms of the Tardis. She was listening to the Tardis from the floor, hugging her knees and paying close attention with a rapt expression on her face, and he'd gazed at her fondly for a long moment before leaving the two of them to get everything sorted. He was surprised at how well Rose had reacted to her newly-found powers - he didn't think she was a Time Lord, but still... he could sense a storm brewing. God, he did love her though. His eyes glazed over as he allowed himself to daydream on the subject that yesterday he would have firmly banished from his mind. Rose loved him... he would never get tired of thinking that.

His head was rather abruptly brought down from Cloud 9 by two things - one, the kettle was boiling over, burning his hand, and two, he heard a yell and a thump from Rose's room. Instantly forgetting the former event, he ran into Rose's room, completely unaware as to what was going on. What he saw made his blood run cold. Rose was lying flat out on the floor, looking deathly pale. Apparantly she had fainted. Shocked and angered, the Doctor turned on the Tardis.

"What did you do? What did you show her?" He pounded on the metal frame.

The Tardis' reply was calm. "I didn't show her anything. I taught her to see what is now stored inside her head. She looked into your memories."

"...Oh shit." He gulped. This was gonna need straightening out. "Do you know what she saw?"

"She saw until the Time War, then she left. She couldn't bear watching you kill so many..."

On the floor, the Doctor could practically feel the sparks of shock and revulsion coursing through Rose. Getting over the initial scare, she came to and found the Doctor standing there in the doorway, looking at her guardedly but with undisguised love still bubbling through as an undercurrent. Right now, however, she was absoloutely furious with him.

"How could you?" Her voice was shaking with rage. "How could you go back in time to stop the Daleks from existing? You killed the Time Lords! You destoyed Gallifrey. The things I saw inside your head, oh..." The Doctor folded his arms. He wasn't going to stand there and watch Rose take his soul to pieces in front of his eyes. He hadn't lived 900 years for nothing.

"Rose, you don't understand. It wasn't meant to be like that..."

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND? Theta... I admired you. I thought you were perfect, saving the universe, saving LIVES. But you hated the Time Lords didn't you? You thought they were stuck-up, dusty senators..."

The Doctor was horrified. "Yes, I did, but that doesn't mean I wanted to kill my own people, Rose. For God's sake - my own flesh and blood - how could I commit genocide?"

"Genocide? That's what you did - what you tried to do with the Daleks, isn' it?"

"I - I - the Daleks were my enemy, Rose. They were at war with Gallifrey, someone had to die..."

"But how many did you kill, Theta? HOW MANY?"

"I WILL DO WHATEVER I HAVE TO TO SAVE THE PEOPLE I LOVE!" bellowed the Doctor, and in the heat of the moment Rose raised her hand up to administer a characteristic Tyler slap, but as her hand moved, white-hot sparks fizzled around her fingertips, one of them shooting out to burn the Doctor on the cheek. She stared at her hand in absoloute terror before running from the room, slamming the door behind her.

The Doctor slumped down on the floor, feeling more miserable than he had since the Time War. He had feared this might happen. Of course Rose didn't understand - the problem with what had happened was that a 19-year-old shop girl now had to cope with all the knowledge of time and space. But if she only saw until the time war, maybe he had a chance to make this right.

Yes, he was a killer. He couldn't deny the truth. But Rose didn't know the whole story - she hadn't seen the whole of his mind... He was interrupted by the Tardis.

"Theta, just so you know, the situation on Earth is OK for now, but you don't have much time left... you and Rose are needed soon..."

It looked like he was gonna have show Rose all his memories, and explain everything, including the emotion spark... he grinned. He wasn't sure what the hell that was, but he knew one thing: both him and Rose was more powerful than they realised. With a plan of action in his head, he leapt up, the familiar adrenalin rush returning, and sprinted down the corridoors to find out where Rose had run to.

In the maze of corridoors, he groaned as he realised that Rose now knew the Tardis as well, if not better than she did. Finding her could take hours... the universe didn't have that much time. In desperation, he reached out for her telepathically.

"Rose... Rose... ROSE!"

"Yes?" Positively icy. He shuddered. Tyler females sure knew how to hurt a guy.

"Oh Rose... where are you?" He felt her soften as she made her decision.

"Third turning on the right from the control room... Theta, this had better be good..." Theta gulped. Wait - she knew his name now? What else did she know - his fear of mice? Suddenley, he felt Rose projecting an image of a furry doormouse - he yelled and could feel Rose smirking on the other side. How had she entered his mind like that, without him noticing? Oh... she was good. Very good.

Theta picked up his pace and soon arrived at the door. He opened it cautiously to find Rose standing on the other side, waiting for him. She grabbed him by his shirt collar.

"Right, you're gonna tell me right now - you're gonna explain exactly what I saw in your memories, and why you did it..." Theta took hold of her hand, and said very gently to her through their link, "Rose, put me down." She released her hold on him immediately, and sat down next to him on a couch. She heard a static noise, and looked down at their joined hands. A yellow spark escaped, darting in-between them. Rose looked down at it, gasped, and told Theta down their mental link, "OK, first you're gonna explain what those things are..."

As Theta could see she was near panicking, he held his arms wide. "Come here." Despite being angry with him, Rose fell into his embrace staight away, and clung to him tightly before Theta pulled away. He looked down at her, his eyes twinkling with that mischevious expression she loved so much.

"Those things... you mean this? Hang on, I'm gonna test it." He put his hand on her shoulder, centering his thought processes on one blinding emotion - his love for Rose. The result was astonishing - both of them were surrounded by an electric current that ran through both of them, causing their hair to stand on end. Suddenly, both of them were pulled into a mind-blowing limbo that showed the strength of the love both of them were experiencing. The effect was so strong that they almost blacked out and both of them collapsed back on the couch. Rose spoke first.

"Woah! Bloody hell - yeah, what was that?"

The Doctor was smiling. "Not bad... not bad at all... it felt rather good, actually. Bit strong though..."

"A bit strong? It nearly killed me!"

"Ah, and that's the beauty of it." The Doctor beamed. "That was a physical manifestation of love. Pure love, Rose Tyler. Seems to occur most times we touch each other. Though how it happened I have no idea. I've gotta say I've never seen anything like it before. Wasn't bad though was it?"

"Not bad... but this has something to do with... the joining?"

"Yup - as the first two beings of different species to be... joined... in the universe there's potentially an infinite number of new experiences ahead... weird isn't it? We're gonna have to be careful to keep those under control - he referred to the sparks - it's not gonna be pretty if THAT happens again at an inopportune time. Of course, being holders of infinite power as Bad Wolf, the last Time Lord, the last Tardis and holder of the Vortex..."

Pulling her close again, he explained the verse that controlled their destiny, with complicated scientific reasoning, as Rose listened to the double heartbeats in his chest and smiled contentedly. She was surprised to find she understood perfectly.

"Right... but you still haven't explained to me why you're a killer." Theta's eyes darkened but he pulled Rose in anyway. Close to her, he put his hands on Rose's temples, ignoring the gentle yellow glow that was an aftershock from their previous experience. He instructed Rose to do the same. As she did so, increasing the strength of the glow that surrounded them, they both instinctively closed their eyes. The feeling of the glow was very pleasant, like a warm breeze on their faces, sleep-inducing and intoxicating. Theta groaned - he could sense this development was going to be a problem.

More in control of his faculties than Rose, who hadn't learned to use Time-Lord powers, had already fallen completely under the spell, and was now murmuring his name, he somehow managed to control the pleasant haze that threatened to engulf him and firmly told her to take her fingers off. The golden light ceased immediately, and they both blinked as they came back to reality.

The Doctor rubbed his head. "Phew, that was close. Lucky escape, that drug could have had us out completely."

Rose blushed at what could have happened...

"Aboloutely intoxicating... we're gonna have to ask the Tardis for help with that, and see if there are any other surprises."

"Right, now let's try a different approach. Reach forward into my mind WITHOUT touching me - shouldn't be too difficult, you've done it already, and I'll go with you, talk you through it, you know, so you understand. Trust me, Rose..."

She did it. They both reached into the Doctor's soul and as she was dragged in she saw a mirage of colours, golden, pink, sunset orange, all glimmering in a beautiful haze of unrecognisable shapes. It was like flying, soaring through clouds in a candy-floss sky.

Rose gasped. "It's beautiful..."

The Doctor beamed. "It's the primary emotion I'm feeling at this moment in time. Your mind should be looking about the same right now. Not everyone's minds are this idolized, you know. Only people in love..." He winked at Rose as she blushed, in her case literally sparking with emotion.

"Right, prepare yourself Rose Tyler - I'm gonna show you memories no other living soul has ever seen. These... are my memories."

They descended suddenley into a swirling vortex of memories, shapes and colours. They stopped rather abruptly at a newborn baby with jet black hair and dark eyes who grinned up at his mother.

"Aww..." Rose grinned. "Ain't he cute!" Theta gazed down, interested.

"I haven't seen this before..."

A little boy wearing a green tunic ran around his bedroom fixing his new telescope. As a chubby dog with purple fur bounded into a room, the boy squealed and bent down to give the little dog a hug. Watching the little Doctor, Rose watched transfixed while the Doctor scratched behind his ear uncomfortably.

"I was very attatched to my telescope, as you can see. This is before my first regeneration."

"You were so sweet!" Theta turned crimson endearingly.

"Women..." he muttered. "Moving on..."

They saw a young man wearing a red tasselled tunic with a gold border, and looking very important. He carried a scroll in his hand, was standing on a podium, and was clearly about to deliver a speech to a large hall of people. He now had a curly light brown mop on his head, and studious glasses, marking him out as a bookworm.

"Graduation Day!"

He grinned. "The Gallifreyan equivalent. Top student in Astronomy, Medical Science and Practical Mathematics..."

As the figure on the podium opened his mouth to speak, the Doctor moved them on again, much to Rose's disappointment. They met him slightly older, taking part in a Gallifreyan ceremony. The Doctor looked down sadly at his converses.

"Arranged marriage. I was one of the last Time Lords to have to go through that. My mother made me, for my own safety, being half-human. Gallifreyans are characteristically xenophobic - they don't like mangy half-breeds. They thought they were better than everyone else. As you are about to find out, I was incredibly determined to prove them wrong..."

They moved on again, saw his marriage, which was brief and passionless. They saw his wife, who never loved him, leave him in the end, and his despair and frustration when he realised the authorities would soon discover his secret - that he was half human - and arrest him. So, he was forced into exile. The Doctor had been silent through all this, and as Rose gently took his hand, she saw that she could begin to understand. She stroked the back of his hand softly, entwining his fingers with hers. The Doctor looked down at her and smiled.

They next saw the moment when the Doctor first met his Tardis, about to be scrapped and thrown away, in the same situation that he was. Rose could feel his joy on finding a true friend at last, and watched as he made his decision to escape in his Tardis, and flee to his mother's planet - Earth.

She saw his previous regenerations one by one, in tantalising glimpses. The Doctor had only remembered the most important and special events, and some memories were clearer than others, so the focus was constantly changing. She saw all his regenerations in bodies of different ages - the endearing curly-haired scarf-bearer, the blond cricketer, the time he had an unusual attraction for bright colours. All his regenerations, however, were incredibly attractive, though not in the stereotypical sense. She saw the Doctor's brief marriage to his friend Romana, a Time Lady, and bring up a family. She saw him as a father, his sorrow when his family was taken away from him. The Doctor wouldn't show her how they died, just his image crying in the Tardis alone, for so many long and sleepless nights. She saw all of his companions, many of them leaving a life they couldn't understand, and Sarah Jane, the only one who didn't leave him willingly had to be dumped back on Earth. She felt his sorrow, joy, the familiar intense excitment, adrenalin rushes and an insatiable appetite for danger. When they came to the end of his eigth body, the Doctor halted and looked at Rose.

"Are you sure you want to go through this? The thing is... Rose, I love you too much to put you through what I've suffered unless you're absoloutely sure." He looked uncomfortable - Rose knew he had difficulty expressing his emotions, Time Lords generally weren't accustomed to doing that much.

"And... once you see the Time War, you'll probably change your mind about me." he muttered. He looked so folorn and lost, like a puppy, that Rose was overflowing with emotion. Forgetting the possible consequeces, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulled him down and kissed him. The resulting blast was electrifying, around as loud as a minor explosion and Rose would have fainted if the Doctor hadn't caught her. Straightening up, he stroked her hair before firmly stepping back.

"Now was REALLY not the right time... we don't need you fainting on me now... but thank you."

"Theta... we've been joined by blood, as the Tardis said, for all eternity. I know you better than any other being in existance. And there is no WAY I could hate you. Not ever. I mean - My God, I feel like STRANGLING you sometimes - but I couldn't hate you. No matter what you've done I am NOT leaving your head until you explain the Time War. Now if you ever want to get kissed like that again, you'd better take me in - " She paused, stunned by the way he was looking at her. His gaze was so intense and admiring that she was frankly stunned. She gazed into his beautiful brown eyes, reading the happiness in there as well as the terrible lonliness that had never left him. She felt she could stare into them forever...

"Oh Theta... I love you so much..."

Theta smiled ruefully. "You're too good for me Rose." He took her hand suddenley and plunged with her into his memories of the Time War.

Those memories were darkened by hate and shame. She saw the Doctor meet the Daleks while travelling through the future in the Tardis. She watched as he went back in time to try and stop their race from ever existing. As he failed, the Daleks, infuriated that a Time Lord tried to meddle in their existance, began the Time War, a long and bitter massacre. She watched from the front line as Gallifrey was stormed by the Daleks, saw the Doctor whirling around, an indestructible figure, murdering countless Daleks in his rage. She watched Romana and the Doctor's children die a cruel death, the Doctor powerless to help them. As she saw, she understood just why the Doctor tried to stop the Daleks from existing. He tried to save lives. Rose gasped and bowed her head as she accepted the decisions that the Doctor made, that she would have to make from now onward. He had to decide who lived and who died, and it had been torture. He shouldn't have to do this, thought Rose, furious with fate. She looked down as she heard a crack and saw white sparks erupt from her fingers again. Slowly, she closed her eyes and managed to control her emotions enough to stop their physical effects.

Looking over at the Doctor, Rose could see him bristling with rage. White electricity coursed through him, getting stronger and stronger by the minute. Rose became rather alarmed.

"Theta, you're burning up!" She could feel him seething with extreme fury. Keeping a firm lid on her own rage, she entered his mind and whispered soothing words through their link for several minutes until the sparks faded away and he collapsed unconscious in her arms. Shaking her head, she exited their mental link and found them both back on the couch in the room. She stretched the Doctor out on it, and stroked his hair quietly until he stopped shaking and came back to her.

"R-Rose? What happened?"

"Uh, you got so furious that you got engulfed in sparks and blacked out for quite a while..."

The Doctor groaned, rubbing his head gingerly. He looked at Rose.

"You... you saw the Time War, then?" Rose nodded.

"But do you - do you understand? Why I've gotta decide everyone's future? Until I die, 'cos there's no-one to do it for me... Gallifrey's lost... Oh Rose..."

He broke down in abject misery. Rose took hold of his hand, fiercely determined. The Doctor wasn't gonna be alone any longer.

"I do understand. But you're forgetting - you're not alone any longer. You're joined to me - the Bad Wolf - who's about to take half the weight off your shoulders... and you're stuck with me."

She bent down and lifted the Doctor's chin. "Close your eyes..." On impulse, she put up her mental barriers against the vortex, and accessed Bad Wolf in her mind, who darted into the Doctor's conscience and took away some of the hurt, anger, grief and pain from the memories that was tormenting him, destroying it in a burst of golden rain. The Doctor immediately felt his conscience lighten considerably and opened his eyes, astonished as to how Rose could possibly have done that.

Rose gasped. "I-I didn't mean to do that... it just happened, I have no idea... I'm sorry"

"No, it's OK," said the Doctor, getting to his feet and pulling Rose up with him. He looked carefully into Rose's eyes and saw the same knowledge that he had buried in them. He wasn't alone... he wasn't alone! "Don't ever apologize, Rose. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me."

He spoke to the Tardis. "Tardis, maybe you have some idea about what's going on." The Tardis agreed she had a vague idea, and began to deliver her hypotheses for exactly what was happening. The strange quirks were being caused by the mixing of Time Lord and human blood with the Vortex, and the best thing they could do about them was attempt to control them. More would appear in the future, that was certain: and they were gonna have to try and cope with them.

At this, Rose became incredibly frustrated, pacing the room and suddenly began swearing in Gallifreyan. Hearing her, the Doctor burst out laughing at the amazed expression on her face. Asking her a question in Gallifreyan, Rose responded happily and he beamed at her. They were about to continue their conversation when the Tardis cut in.

"You know, I think a crash course is in order. It's about time Theta had a pupil. He's gonna have to conduct a crash course in Time Lord ship, and you're both gonna have to learn how to control our power. It won't be pretty if you two erupt into electric shocks in the middle of saving Earth... You'd better get started. I've been stopping time outside of the Tardis ever since we entered the Void, and if I continue this you have a maximum of five hours to save the Earth before I run out of power... Good luck, my children." The Tardis then fell silent, thinking her own thoughts.

Theta explained. "She's like that. Listen, she's severed the telepathic connection. She most probably won't talk to us for another millenia or so."

He turned to Rose and took her into his arms. He nuzzled her nose as she giggled. "Well Ms. Tyler, we have five hours to save the world... and we should probably practice your Gallifreyan while we're at it..."

"My Gallifreyan is perfect! " she retorted. "Well... as perfect as yours is anyway."

Theta laughed and hugged her. Siting on the sofa with Rose in his arms, he proceeded to tell her everything he knew about being part Time Lord, in Gallifreyan - she interrupted the lesson with her comments on the Time Vortex.

The Tardis watched in absoloute delight as the unique bond between Rose and Theta began to mature - those two were hoplessly head-over-heels for each other - but as the crash course continued, the Tardis could sense danger on the horizon. While the Genesis was after the Doctor, both their lives were at stake...

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Well there you are then. I've just read through this and it's the most shameful fluff I've ever seen... with a lot of confusing nonsense... I'm ashamed of myself. I promise you we move straight back to Earth's invasion when I get over this, and I'm sorry the chapter is so long. Anyway, think about the beta thing, let me know.

Next update - the Invincible Two kick alien ass! I'll probably come up with a couple of witty one-liners...

I'm sorry this is so long, but please Review review review... you are all angels, don't you dare think otherwise!