"I'll get her back in then shall I?" he asked his twin.
"We're wasting time, brother," John reminded him. "I'll only have Rose for my wife for a few minutes."
"I know, I wish I could do more," the Doctor told him.
He went back out to get everyone and they gathered around where John was being propped up on the bed.
"Rose. Well, I can do this for you, at least for a short while," John managed a smile. "I know it's not nearly as much as you deserve. We should have done it before."
"It doesn't matter," Rose told him, with tears in her eyes.
The registrar thought it a bit unusual, wondering why he'd been led down corridors with thick cables all over the place.
"This won't exactly be legal," he looked at both Rose and John.
"We don't care," Rose replied, holding John's hand and wondering what the Doctor had done.
She wanted to tell John he looked better but she knew it wouldn't last. After the shortened version, them both just answering 'I do' the registrar pronounced them husband and wife and Pete led the man away.
"Thanks, it means a lot to them," Pete told the man. "You can't tell anyone about this."
"Well, I've performed wedding ceremonies in some strange places," he admitted to Pete. "Was that just a fancy door to a part of the building being renovated? I mean I know what Torchwood does, Mister Tyler."
"It's top secret shall we say?" Pete smiled. "Jake will see you out, I didn't get your name."
The man handed Pete a card.
"I'd best not try and explain where I dashed off to," he laughed. "I don't want to get a visit from one of your operatives in the middle of the night."
"We don't go to such extremes unless we're forced to," Pete laughed back, looking at Jake as he'd joined them. "Jake, if you want me, I'll be inside with Jackie and Rose."
"Let me know if there's anything you need," Jake replied.
"The crew will have to be ready to pull the cables," Pete replied. "I'll let you know what's happening, thanks Jake.
Pete made his way back to the infirmary, where Jackie and the Doctor were waiting outside.
"I can only give them a short time Pete," the Doctor told him.
"I know, I'm sure they're both grateful for that," Pete assured him.
"I'd do much more, if I could," the Doctor replied sadly. "A word Pete."
Jackie wasn't even bothered they walked back down the narrow passageway.
"Pete, I told John that I had time to look someone up. I know Rose is upset but she won't always be."
"She said you couldn't go forward in someone's personal timeline," Pete reminded him.
"Well I didn't, not exactly," the Doctor grinned. "I need you to make sure she meets someone, I've talked it over with John."
When he'd been told, Pete nodded his agreement.
"So I just wait for this detective to hit the news over a boy's death in Dorset?" Pete wanted to make sure. "Won't she think I'm up to something, if he looks like you?"
"You'll have to keep her away from the news, somehow. Especially if he's been in the news over something else," the Doctor replied. "Just make sure she meets him at the right time. He's going to need her Pete."
"I promise. I expect she'll be upset for quite some time, I'm putting her on extended leave, she won't be fit to work anyway," Pete decided.
"Good, if you can keep her off work," the Doctor smiled. "I should go and check on her. Once the bubble collapses, he said he doesn't want putting back on the machines. Rose is going to go crazy so I need you and Jackie to tell her it's best to just let him go."
"I agree with you Doctor, we did everything we could while we were trying to find a way to contact you," Pete replied. "I know it seems cruel but if that's what he wants?"
"How long have we got?" Rose was asking John, being reminded of the hologram on the beach.
"Not long love. Listen, you have to promise me something Rose," John was now gasping.
"You need that breathing tube in," Rose tried to tell him.
"No Rose, I'm not going back on that machine," he replied. "Please, don't argue and prolong it. You have to let me go."
"No, I'm not letting ya go," Rose cried. "Not after all we've just been through. The Doctor will think of something."
"He's right Rose," the Doctor agreed as he joined them. "I'll give you a few more minutes, then you have to be prepared to let him go."
"You promised you'd do something," Rose reminded him.
"Rose, please don't argue, this is not what I wanted," the Doctor told her. "Spend what time you have with John, eh?"
Rose rested her head on John's shoulder, the tears now flowing.
"We had all this extra time," John just managed to tell her. "Like you did with your real dad that time."
"I'll always love you for that John," Rose told him through her tears. "Doctor, why can't the Tardis provide more of the air in this bubble?" she wanted to know.
"Rose, she can only do it for a short time, like when we go outside. It's just like a shield, making it easier for him to breathe. I'll go get your mum and Pete, you'll need them."
"I love you Rose," John struggled to tell her.
"I love ya too. It's not fair," Rose told him. "At least put the breathing tube in?"
John tried to reach for her hand.
"I wanted us to get married properly," Rose carried on.
She kissed him properly, just as the others joined them. Jackie had also been asking questions.
"Why don't ya take him with ya?" she wanted to know.
"Jackie, he would if he were able," Pete defended him. "Rose would be forever trying to get back again and it's dangerous."
"Pete's right Jackie, Rose wouldn't be able to rest until she found a way back and there's no guarantee he'd be any better off," the Doctor agreed. "He may be just stuck in that bubble, he doesn't want that."
"Sorry," Jackie apologised. "I just want what's best for him."
"I know Jackie," the Doctor assured her. "Rose is going to need you now."
Rose had to run out as John closed his eyes and the Doctor was monitoring him.
"I'll go after her," Pete told them.
"Leave her Pete, she'll come back," the Doctor was sure.
Rose was alone in the console room, no sign of the central console having any life in it. How had she expected the ship to keep up the bubble when she was barely functioning.
"I can't let him go," Rose sobbed to the Tardis. "Why does this keep happening to me?"
She stopped for a moment as the ship seemed to be telling her to go back to him. She stood in the doorway, seeing her mother had taken her place at John's side.
"Jackie," the Doctor whispered to her as he saw Rose had returned. "Give Rose a minute, then I should take care of him."
"Can ya take him to Bad Wolf Bay?" Rose asked as she neared them.
"As soon as the power cell's ready," the Doctor agreed, since he'd already planned it.
"Ya were tryin' to stall earlier," Rose told him.
"Sorry. Maybe I was but if I'd been on Earth, you may have found me sooner," he admitted.
"There's no proof of that," Pete told him as he put his arm around Jackie. "I'll check on that power cell."
Jackie went to hug poor Rose and they left the Tardis, most of the workmen had left but Pete would have to get them back soon.
"You two wait here," Pete suggested as he led them out of the cannon room.
Rose and Jackie were just sitting in silence when Jake arrived back on that floor, Pete having called him. He went to give Rose a hug.
"Sorry Rose. Pete asked me to make sure the Tardis was ready to leave, when it's powered up."
"Ya mean we're going back to Norway?" Jackie wanted to know.
"If I have to let John go, that's where I want to say goodbye," Rose insisted.
"Well I expect it'll be the last time," Jackie relented.
All the cables and lights were being taken out of the Tardis and the Doctor had been carefully dressing John in the robes of the Timelords. Once the Tardis was powered, Rose, Jackie and Pete, who had arranged for a helicopter to be on standby to pick them up from the beach were waiting in the console room for the Doctor.
Owen had gone back up and was told Rose and John had sort of got married, so he did a quick examination of John and wrote out a death certificate to give to Pete, who would pass it on to Rose when she had got over losing him that she could deal with things like that. The Doctor thanked him as they went back to the others.
"How are you dealing with it?" Owen asked Rose as he was leaving. "Come and see me when you're ready to go back to work."
Rose nodded and when Owen left, the Doctor crossed his fingers there would be enough power to get them to Bad Wolf Bay and for him to get away afterwards. Rose was watching him at the controls and got up to join him.
"You don't want me to go back with you, why?" she asked him, since he'd never mentioned it to her.
"Rose, your life is here now, things have changed back in your old world," he told her. "It was only thanks to Torchwood and John that I was able to get through, I tried Rose, really I did. Well, we're here, if you want to do this here?"
"I'd like to think we'd said goodbye to him here," Rose told him as they landed more gently than she'd been used to. "At least I can come back here from time to time."
The Doctor scanned around for driftwood and any tree branches then powered everything he could down to save energy. Rose went to help him while Pete waited with Jackie in the doorway.
"It's hit her hard," Jackie remarked.
"She had those few minutes as John's wife," Pete replied. "She would have felt even worse otherwise."
As they gathered in front of where the Doctor had placed John, Rose lit the wood as the Doctor put his arm around Rose on one side and her mother and Pete on the other side. The Doctor thought back to when he'd done this for The Master and wished there was something he could have done for John.
"Look after yourself Doctor," Rose told him afterwards.
"You too Rose. I'm sorry it never worked out."
"You couldn't have known," Rose assured him. "Don't go gettin' yaself trapped here."
He was about to go back inside the Tardis when he turned and went back to her, despite time running out.
"I love you Rose," he whispered in her ear. "So did John, we were so much alike but not enough. Don't be sad Rose," he told her. "There may be someone else out there for you."
"What do ya mean?" Rose wanted to know.
Instead of replying, he kissed her lightly on the lips and turned back.
"Doctor!" she called after him.
Jackie could see what was happening but Pete held her back.
"Leave her be Jackie," he told her.
"I hate that this is happening to her again," Jackie replied sadly.
"I think the Doctor planned something with John," Pete admitted. "There may be someone already here who looks like the both of them and Rose will meet that person, when the time's right."
"That's all she needs," Jackie disagreed.
They all watched the Tardis disappear and Rose just hoped he'd get back safely.
"I should have gone with him," Rose told them as she rejoined them.
"Rose, what if he changes again when he gets back?" Pete asked her. "You could have been all on your own. Think about it eh?"
He called the number for the helicopter service and they were soon on their way back to London. Rose took a few weeks off and spent some time with her younger brother, trying to get back to normal again. Meanwhile, down in Sandbrook, Alec Hardy was getting ready to leave what had been his home after the divorce had come through. His daughter was barely talking to him, accusing him of leaving her. He had seen her the night before.
"You can come and visit when I get settled," he had told the girl.
"Why so far away?" Daisy had wanted to know.
"It was all there was," Alec bluffed, not wanting to say that his new chief had been the only one willing to take him.
He'd already had one trip down near Broadchurch, to settle Claire Ripley into the cottage he had rented for her, a few miles outside the town. She had sworn she'd told him the truth, finally about what had happened that night but it hadn't been enough to keep Ashworth behind bars.
She had asked him if he would keep visiting her.
"You have to get on Claire, forget about me and Sandbrook," Alec had insisted.
"But what if I need you?" Claire had tried to get round him. "What about what you said when I was at that clinic?"
"Forget it Claire, I was just making sure you were okay," he'd tried to convince her. "You can call me if you think Lee has found you but you should have no trouble."
"I hope not," Claire wasn't happy. "Well I suppose I should say thanks for getting me out and giving me that reference for that job."
So, the next day, he got the coach from Sandbrook, the card in his pocket of the hotel that had been arranged for him and remembering what his friend had told him, that all the paperwork had been filled regarding his health. He was far from fit and he would have to bluff if something did start going wrong.
His friend had agreed to visit when he got settled, hoping Alec had picked a nice quiet town.
"Nothing will go wrong," Alec had tried to insist. "I was surprised they actually need someone to take charge."
"Well be thankful they did," his friend Alistair had laughed the week before. "Have you got enough pills for now?
"Ah, don't fuss over me," Alec had insisted.
"Well let me know when you get to this place you're going Alec," his friend had replied. "Forward the results from the hospital as well. They won't be happy you're moving though."
Once he arrived in Broadchurch, he got a cab from the bus station to the hotel, though it wasn't far but he had a big suitcase with him. He walked into the hotel to be met by Becca Fisher, the Australian hotelier who was hiding a secret longing for Mark Latimer, the town's plumber to ask her to sleep with him.
Little did either Becca or Alec know what was going to come of that.
"Hi. Welcome to The Traders," Becca greeted Alec. "The police never said how long you were staying, Alec is it?"
"Just Hardy will do," he corrected her, not wanting to get too friendly. "I don't know how long I will be staying."
Not long at all, if he got his own way. He'd had very little choice though when it had been revealed the chief here had been forced to take him on, at the expense of turning someone down for a promotion. He settled in as best he could then got directions to the police station, finding out he had to either walk back up a big hill or all the way round.
He would just have to be allocated a driver until the DS he'd be working with came back from their holiday, if the said DS would be talking to him.
"Don't worry about the DS you will be working with," Elaine Jenkinson was telling him after offering tea to him.
He was going to say he wasn't worried anyway. His new chief went on to say she didn't believe he should be punished for something that hadn't been his fault and she was taking him on because she wanted someone who was experienced. The truth was, those above her wanted Alec out of Sandbrook because of the fuss the girl's father had been kicking up.
"I know why I'm here," Alec told her. "To lie low."
"Yes, well just keep your head down for now Alec, while people forget. I'll make sure no-one here brings it up," Elaine tried to assure him.
He was sure the soon returning DS would make it a priority to make sure they mentioned it.
While Rose was trying to get over the loss of John, she had still spent a lot of time alone and both Jackie and Pete were getting worried.
"Can't we do something Pete?" Jackie asked him one evening. "What about a new project or something?"
"Jackie, she'd only be trying to pretend she was interested," Pete told her. "I doubt she'd even want to get the cannon project started again. Remember I said the Doctor had made a suggestion?"
"About someone getting in the news? How are we supposed to know?" Jackie wondered.
"We could send her there, maybe to wait for him?" Pete suggested. "I have a feeling who he meant Jackie, that detective the press weren't so kind to when that killer walked free. The police were convinced it was that neighbour."
"Come on Pete, he lost the evidence," Jackie laughed.
"Did he? Maybe he was covering for someone else's mistake Jackie?" he suggested. "What if it's him who needs Rose's help? The Doctor was being a bit mysterious over it, like we had to figure it out."
"You really think so?" Jackie asked him. "I hope you're right then Pete, we have to do something with her. How do we know when he'll arrive in that town?"
"It won't do Rose any harm to spend her time by the sea, she might even feel closer to John?" Pete wondered. "I'll go and talk to her."
"Come on Rose, it was just an idea," Pete told her when she said no to going off. "Just go and relax for a while. You could sit by the sea instead of your room."
"You mean think more about John?" Rose replied.
"I just thought it may help?" Pete tried again, wondering if he should suggest it was the Doctor's idea.
"Well I don't feel much like driving anywhere and I've never heard of the place," Rose tried to think of some excuses.
"I can get Jake to take you down and even stay with you for a while, in case you decide you want your car after all," Pete knew what she was trying to do. "If you don't want to be stuck in a hotel, get a holiday home or a caravan? Shall I get Jake to make some arrangements?' he asked hopefully.
