Author's Note: I must apologize for the absolutely dreadful delay in updating this story. I can hardly believe that it has been 8 months since I have been able to return to this world. I always knew that this chapter was going to be a hard chapter to write, but I never expected to get hit with such a terrible case of writer's block when I was asked a simple question by someone who had read the previous chapter and wanted to know about the consequences of Alec's actions in the previous chapter. A simple question that made my muse slam into a brick wall at 90 miles an hour. Then came Christmas and then the new year and it has only been in recent weeks that I have felt the characters begin to speak to me again with a solution to my dilemma. Now that this difficult chapter is behind me, I hope to be back to a semi-regular schedule of updating this story.

As always, I have to thank the wonderful and tireless BMG for instantly reading my chapter when I send it to her even though it meant having to go back and reread the first five chapters to remember where we were!

I'm so happy to be back, and hope that you all will forgive me for the 8 month hiatus. I hope you enjoy this next installment.

The Doctor and Donna's screams had faded to faint murmurs in the back of Alec's mind, but he could tell by the still wildly fluctuating energy field at the end of the lab that the battle was still raging in a distant reality.

Alec tried to still the hammering of his double hearts as he struggled to find order in the chaos that was even now threatening to overwhelm him. His mind was swimming with all the memories that he had been forced to remove from Rose's mind, his still very human emotions were painfully conflicted with the finality of his actions.

He had effectively killed Rose Tyler and he knew that he would have to leave it up to Jackie and Pete to help her rebuild her life in a strange world that she truly should have never known. It was a strange feeling, knowing that he was now essentially a cold blooded killer, but he knew that the Doctor would have never been able to separate himself enough from his memories of Rose to be the one to make sure she was never a danger to the multiverse again.

Alec jumped when he felt a hand drop onto his shoulder, his head jerking up and his vision swimming for a moment with time's infinite dance before he was able to focus on Pete's tear streaked face as he stood by Alec's side.

"What did you do, Alec? At least with the retcon, we could've controlled the damage."

Alec grimaced at Pete's direct question, his eyes darting to Rose as she was being carefully lifted onto the stretcher in preparation for transport. "I already told you that the retcon would've never worked, her memories were too ingrained in everything that she had become. I had to completely erase the last eleven years of her life. I had to remove every memory that she ever had of the Doctor and any of her adventures with him. It was the only way to make sure that she didn't remember enough to become a threat to the multiverse again." He clenched his eyes closed when he saw the new timelines dancing around Rose, the grim future that he had glimpsed seemed to have been averted, at least for the time being.

Pete's hand tightened on Alec's shoulder, his eyes widening when he realized the enormity of his decision to allow Alec to deal with Rose. "You never mentioned that you had those sort of abilities Alec, you didn't explain what you were going to do to her. Who are you really?"

Alec clenched his eyes closed when he heard Pete's accusation, his head dropping for a moment as another wave of vertigo washed over him. He could feel the wild fluctuations of the rift tearing across his skin, the voices from another reality were still echoing faintly through his mind but he could tell that whatever was happening was fast spiralling out of control. His time was running out, Jack wasn't showing any signs of resurrecting and he was beginning to worry that he would lose this chance to return to the reality where he truly belonged.

"I've become a Time Lord now, Pete. I didn't posses these abilities before but whatever is happening in that alternate reality has unlocked the ability within me to become a full-fledged Time Lord. I've told you something of my past and what my progenitor, for lack of a better word, was and now I've been able to assume the full mantle of all the abilities available to his species."

Alec opened his eyes and looked back into Pete's bewildered eyes, wincing when he saw the faint hint of anger simmering in their depths. "Even if you had known the extent of my newfound abilities, which frankly I don't even know what they are yet and don't have the time to try to figure them out, would have you made a different decision? I can see time and chance, Pete. I very distinctly saw two possible futures for Rose. In one, she would never be happy and would continue to use every means at her disposal to rip a hole in reality that would allow her to return to the Doctor and in the other possible future, she had the chance of picking up the pieces of her shattered life and trying to rebuild here with you and Jackie." His hand shook as it clenched into a fist, the motion catching Pete's eye for a moment before Alec continued. "My actions today seem to have averted the one reality that would lead to death and destruction on a scale that you can't even begin to imagine. Hopefully with the loss of those memories, I have made the other possibility a certainty now."

Pete's jaw clenched and he choked back a sob as he looked back at the woman who he considered to be his daughter, the tears streaming in an unstoppable flow down his cheeks. "I didn't know what I was agreeing to, Alec. I didn't understand."

Alec struggled to his feet, his hands clenching for a moment as he was nearly forced to sit back down when the dizziness momentarily overwhelmed him. He breathed through the waves, before he reached up to clasp Pete's shoulder, the movement forcing the older man to look up into Alec's faintly shimmering, golden eyes.

Pete gasped through his tears when he saw that faint golden light still shining in Alec's eyes, the sight reminding him sharply that this strange man was unlike any being he had ever encountered. It also drove home the fact that Alec was now so much more, and that he had abilities that were frankly unbelievable. He felt a strange sense of finality in these moments with Alec, as though with everything changing he was soon going to be losing a man that he had considered a good friend.

"I'm sorry I didn't have time to explain what I was going to do, Pete. At the end of the day though, it doesn't change the fact of what had to be done to protect reality. You've been a steward of this reality for years, you've seen this world nearly destroyed by war with an alien species. You've had to make the difficult decisions before and you haven't hesitated when the time came. Would you truly have made an alternative decision even if you had known what that choice would ultimately lead to?"

Pete's shoulders dropped under Alec's question, his hand rising to rub tiredly at his eyes while he shook his head. "No, Alec. I don't suppose that I would've made a different decision. Still though, what do we tell her? How much are we going to have to help her rebuild?"

Alec sighed softly as he looked over to see that Rose was finally secured and that the medics were preparing to transport her to the medical wing. Thomas had already run an IV and was leaning over the stretcher with a small penlight in order to check her pupil response. Alec knew that Rose would get the best medical treatment this world had to offer, but that wouldn't even begin to touch the real trauma that he had inflicted on her mind.

"You need to treat her like any amnesia victim because that's what she essentially has become. She can never know about the Doctor, me or the Tardis though with her memories now removed there shouldn't be any danger."

Pete frowned when he heard Alec's words, his eyes snapping back to the stretcher before he whispered, "Will she remember me? I was dead for years in her world, and now suddenly I'm back?"

Alec grimaced when he saw the dilemma that Pete now found himself in, he vaguely remembered Rose mentioning that her father had died when she was still a baby, long before the Doctor had found her and he knew that her memories of her father were at best the faint impressions of an infant that were only reinforced with the many trips down memory lane that her mother would take on any given occasion. "I'm sorry Pete, but I don't have an easy answer to that question. You saw as well as I did what she was capable of committing today to get back to the Doctor even though she knows what the danger to all of reality her actions would most likely pose. You saw what she has become and that she would never be happy in this reality with any of those memories intact."

He shuddered when a particularly harsh fluctuation in the temporal energy at the other end of the lab sent a wave of fire racing through his still stabilizing systems, his eyes slid closed for a moment while he exhaled a soft golden mist.

Pete's eyes widened when he saw those golden particles drift on Alec's breath, his hand rising to his heart before he swallowed hard and forced himself to watch as Alec was obviously struggling with the after effects of the change that he had just undergone. Even though, he had never really thought about Alec's very alien origin over the years, he had seemed every bit the human and had even begun to show signs that he was aging as time had passed. Yet now, his friend was staring at him from a stranger's eyes with every tone and gesture feeling so hauntingly similar to the Alec that he had known. Pete found that he could barely reconcile the strange, powerful man standing beside him with the quiet man that had become something of a son to him over the past few years. "I'm thankful for the chance to have and raise my daughter again that I never would've had if she had never met the Doctor, but still I have to wonder if the price is worth it. Surely there were good things that she had accomplished during the years? Please tell me that it wasn't all just a pointless waste?"

Alec nodded softly, his hand reaching out to take Pete's in his own as he tried to bring some measure of comfort to his tormented friend. "There were indeed many wonderful things that she did over the years, Pete. It just sort of all went wrong when the Cybermen attacked her reality, the attack that initially sent her here. I wish I could understand how or why she changed after that incident, but I hope that this way you and Jackie can help her find the woman she was meant to be."

Pete nodded and gripped Alec's hand tightly for a moment longer, his eyes held by Alec's gaze before he whispered, "This is goodbye isn't it, Alec?"

Alec numbly nodded, his own eyes misting before Pete pulled him into a tight embrace. "Take care of yourself, I'll tell Jackie that you said goodbye. If you ever see this Doctor, tell him thank you for giving my daughter back to me."

"I will, Pete. Please make sure to tell Jackie that I'm sorry, but that I hope she eventually comes to appreciate having the daughter that she knew back."

Pete swallowed with some difficulty, before he forced himself to turn away from Alec and hurried after Rose's stretcher. He didn't even know how to explain to Jackie what had happened or how they were going to help Rose adapt to a new life with a seemingly new family, but he knew that she'd been given a second chance and that he would make sure he did everything in his power to help her make the most of it.

Alec watched Pete turn and hurry out of the lab, his hand rose to his mouth to choke back the sob that threatened to break free. He knew that he had left a terrible mess on Pete's hands, his actions had not made the man's life any easier but perhaps he had given him the chance to finally have the daughter that he had always hoped to have. He knew that he absolutely had to erase Rose's memories to avoid the future that he had glimpsed when she had looked up at him through tear streaked eyes, but there was no guarantee that he had set her feet on the path to the happy future that he had glimpsed in the other timeline.

"Rose, NO!"

Alec jumped when Jack sat bolt upright next to him, his eyes wide with terror as he flung his hands out in front of him in a futile gesture to deflect a bullet. The swirling aura that always seemed to dance around Jack was suddenly blazing from his outstretched hands, the breath of impossible life had been drowned out by Jack's terrified shout as he had resurrected from another painful death.

"It's okay, Jack, I've taken care of Rose, she won't be a problem anymore."

Jack turned towards the voice, the light Scottish brogue catching his attention before his eyes fell on the unfamiliar man sitting next to him. "Who the hell are you? How did you get in here? This is a restricted area."

Alec grimaced when he heard Jack's question, having momentarily forgotten that Jack had died before he could see the full effect of his regeneration. "It's me Jack, it's Alec. I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time to explain, suffice it to say I've finally managed to become a full-fledged Time Lord and it ended up changing me."

Jack swallowed convulsively at Alec's words, his hand rising to massage the still healing bullet hole in his forehead before he shook his head and tried to rise to his feet. "How did that happen? I thought you'd said that you would never be able to become one of these Time Lords?"

Alec reached out to grip Jack's hand as he struggled to rise, the movement reminding him quite forcefully that he was still suffering from the after effects of his regeneration and that if he didn't lay down in a healing trance soon then he wouldn't be able to control when he finally did collapse. He didn't want to have to deal with the regeneration sickness that he knew was looming before he managed to get through the portal and back in time to help the Doctor face down the Master.

"I honestly don't know, Jack, but something is happening in the universe that I came from and it has to do with the Doctor and the Master. Whatever the Master is doing is what has generated this energy wave and if he isn't stopped, then every universe on every plane of existence will be destroyed." Alec's mouth snapped shut on those last words, his eyes pleading with Jack to understand and accept his explanation without pressing for too many more details on what exactly this threat entailed.

If Rassilon managed to initiate the final sanction then there really was nothing that any of them could do, and they wouldn't even be aware of the destruction of the time vortex. This could all just be useless flailing and they would all cease to exist at any moment. Alec couldn't let himself be overcome with despair at the thought that nothing he did would help to save reality, he had to do everything in his power to try to help the Doctor do what he did best.

Jack grunted when he heard Alec's explanation, his gaze traveling from the different hand that was gripping his to the vortex that was still raging across the lab. "I feel like you're hiding something from me, Alec, but you did manage to save us before this energy wave hit so I guess I've got to continue trusting you." He held on to Alec's hand for a moment before he used the leverage to pull himself to his feet. He could feel Alec's hand shaking in his grasp, his strangely vivid blue eyes still seemed to have a golden glow to them if he found himself looking too closely.

He had no experience with these Time Lords that Alec had always spoken about, but then he was more open minded than most people on this planet because of his extensive training with the Time Agency. He knew that there were beings both in the past and the future that could shapeshift should the need ever arise, he just didn't recall Alec ever mentioning that Time Lords were also shapeshifters.

"We're not traditional shapeshifters, Jack. We can only change at great cost to ourselves and usually many only choose to do so when they've either lived a long time in one body or when that body is mortally wounded. The Doctor was on his tenth incarnation when I first came into existence and I ended up looking like that regeneration. Now, I've somehow taken on a completely new face and personality but I don't have the time to try to figure all that out."

Jack jerked his hand away from Alec's like it was scalded, his eyes widening before he took an involuntary step back. "How did you do that?"

Alec winced, in the giddy rush of having many of his old abilities back as well as many new ones, he had forgotten the first basic rule of telepathy and that was not to react verbally to what people around you were thinking. At least not if you didn't want to give yourself away. "Did I ever mention that Time Lords were also telepaths?" he asked sheepishly.

Jack narrowed his eyes before responding, "No, you failed to mention that little tidbit."

"Well, I didn't think it was important since you never should have run into a Time Lord in this universe. Even you are mildly telepathic and I know that it's not a particularly powerful ability, but humans evolved quite a bit over the next three thousand years as they began to travel amongst the stars."

Jack opened his mouth to refute Alec's claim, though if the man suddenly had telepathic abilities then there really was no use denying his assertion, but he instead cried out and had to reach to steady Alec when the man suddenly began to sway, Alec's hand rising to his temples as his eyes squeezed shut in an obvious show of pain. "Alec, what's wrong?"

Alec grabbed onto Jack's hand, his teeth clenching hard when he felt the universe begin to spin around him. The first waves of regeneration sickness were beginning to wash over him, the Doctor and Donna's voices continued to fade as events continued to race towards their climax.. He suddenly felt time slow for him, the strange, hypervigilant state that the Doctor had been able to achieve during times of crisis began to settle over his senses.

He looked back to Jack, his vision tunneling to pick out individual strands in the timelines that always danced around the immortal, the timelines that even now reminded Alec of the agony that was going to be this man's life for all eternity. He knew now that Jack would be forever alone in this universe and that he would only ever know short periods of happiness, but that he would be vital in the protection of earth for centuries to come and that he would be there to witness humanity's first steps into the stars.

He swallowed hard against the rise of sorrow at the knowledge of Jack's fate in this universe, his jaw clenching for a moment to push back the burn of tears before he muttered, "I've got to go back to my universe, Jack. I've got to help the Doctor in any way that I can against this threat."

Jack jerked away from Alec, his mind spinning as he tried to think of all the implications of Alec's words. He could sense Alec's implacable resolve, but he could also tell that there was something else to his statement. "Why can you return to that reality but Rose can't?"

Alec sighed and turned away from Jack, his steps still jerky as he tried to grow accustomed to the strange body that he now wore. He should've expected such a question from Jack, but it gave him hope that Jack didn't outright refuse his statement. "Because I'm not at home in any reality. I came into existence in the midst of a crisis, I'm the combination of both the Doctor and Donna but really I guess you could call me an impossible man. I'm not bound by the same restrictions as Rose, because truly I never had a home in that universe. Also, I didn't make a habit of ripping holes through reality despite being told explicitly never to do so again."

"I guess you've got a point there, Alec" Jack felt forced to admit. The conundrum of Rose Tyler's obsession had caused him many sleepless nights and he had to admit he was relieved that Alec had been able to deal with that particular situation.

Alec made his way to the dimension canon controls, his fingers flowing over them faster than Jack had ever seen anyone work a control station and within seconds the impenetrable algorithms that Jack had encrypted the controls with were overridden.

Jack's jaw dropped when he saw Alec's blatant skill though he tried not to let show how impressed he was, his natural skills with the computers in this reality had obviously been extraordinarily enhanced with whatever special mojo this Time Lord change had wrought. "Okay, I'm not going to waste time asking how you could do that so quickly. You obviously don't need my help to get back to the Doctor's reality, so what are you really asking me to do?"

Jack watched Alec closely, the man was obviously unused to the face that he was wearing and his emotions and reactions were fascinating to observe as they chased themselves across his visage. He was pretty sure that Alec would rediscover his poker face, but for the time being, he was a painfully open book as he winced slightly at Jack's direct question.

Alec bit his lip, his gaze darting over his shoulder to the metal cylinder that stood on the other end of the lab before he decided to respond. "The Tardis can't make the trip on her own, she's too young and the impact of the energy wave has damaged her. I can't leave her here either though or she will quickly wither and die. Her bond with me is the reason why she was able to cross the boundary into sentience and grow into the being that she now has become. She is a sentient being, Jack and more than that she is a part of me. Please help me bring her back with me."

Alec paused when he felt the concern from the Tardis flash through his mind, the strange terror that she had never felt before suddenly screaming through her as she realized that she might have to be forcibly separated from her pilot. A single agonized word echoed through Alec's mind at that realization.

No!

Alec struggled to maintain his composure when faced with the very real fear of the infant Tardis. Her consciousness was straining to force itself into his mind so that she could show him how to make the repairs himself so that they wouldn't have to depend on anyone who might be determined to separate them. He strove to keep some semblance of control over his own thoughts, his gaze locked with Jack's while he waited for the man's decision. A decision that he hoped he wouldn't be forced to ignore.

Jack watched the strange dance of emotions across Alec's unfamiliar face, the slight lines at the corners of his eyes tightening ever so briefly when he seemed to be having an obvious argument with himself. Jack turned to glance back at the strange ship that had been so instrumental in saving the reality that he called home and he couldn't help but think about all the knowledge that could be gleaned from the strange craft.

He contemplated for just a moment refusing Alec's request, but he knew that he could never be so cruel, not when he knew how connected the two of them truly were. He realized that it was time to say goodbye to his strange friend, and with a lump in his throat he replied, "Alec, it would be my honor."

Jack clapped Alec on the shoulder, his eyes shining with a sad smile when he let himself remember the strange road that they had traveled together. He would never forget Alec, and he would make sure that he did what he could to make a difference in this reality. Alec had always held himself to a higher ideal, he had always made every decision with the utmost care for what was the right thing to do. Jack had learned alot from Alec, and Alec had helped Jack see that it was sometimes a worthwhile endeavor to fly straight. He hoped that he had had even half of an impact on the man.

"Thank you, Jack. Words are not enough to express the depth of my gratitude, but thank you."

Alec reached up to hold Jack's wrist for a moment more before the two men turned and set to work returning Alec back to the reality from which he should never have been banished.