Time is Still A-Flying

by chocolatequeen

Part 3 of Being to Timelessness. With a bond and a promise of forever, the Doctor and Rose have managed to escape the trap set for them in Torchwood, but Time is not yet done with them. The Master is still in London and Election Day draws ever closer. He's tried to separate them once; will they survive a second attempt? Sequel to To Make Much of Time

18. (Nobody) Likes it Better That Way

Chapter 18: (Nobody) Likes it Better That Way

The wind cut through Rose's jeans, turning her legs numb before they even reached the mast. She rubbed her hands together and kept climbing, a vague sense of time running out tickling the back of her mind.

Once she reached the platform, she crept over to the mast, keeping a low profile so the wind couldn't catch her and send her flying over the edge of the building. Martha copied her, and a moment later they were crouched side by side in front of the first of three panels of Dalekanium.

"All right, let's do this," Rose said, pulling her sonic screwdriver out of her pocket. Despite the circumstances, she felt a tiny thrill go through her—this was her first time using her own tool in a "save the universe" situation.

"Can I ask," Martha said as she went to work on the first bolt holding the closest panel to the mast, "earlier you said you didn't want to ask the Doctor what he wanted you to do."

Rose looked sideways at her. She hadn't been thinking when she'd said that out loud, and she was glad Tallulah hadn't caught it. She knew Martha, and she still wasn't sure if she wanted to tell her.

The bolt snapped and Martha pulled it loose while Rose went on to the next one. "Let's finish this first," Rose suggested. "When we get home, I'll talk to the Doctor and—"

Martha's eyes flashed. "I'm not stupid, Rose," she hissed. "You're telepathic, aren't you? You and the Doctor."

Faced with a direct question, Rose nodded. Martha shook her head. "You two really are alien," she muttered.

Rose glanced at her, trying to feel out how bothered she was by the revelation. "We don't like… read your mind though," she said awkwardly. "That's not how it works."

"But you can read his mind."

"Well, we're married," Rose said, and thankfully Martha accepted that answer. She'd already had to share more than she felt completely comfortable with. Time to move on from personal topics! "Now, let's see about getting this stuff off the mast before the lightning hits, yeah?"

oOoOoOoOo

The Doctor tucked the sonic back into his jacket pocket. "We've only got minutes before the lightning strike. We need to get to the top of the building."

He glanced to his right and saw Laszlo leaning against the wall, breathing heavily. "Laszlo, what's wrong?"

"Out of breath," Laszlo reassured him. "It's nothing. We've escaped them, Doctor. That's all that matters."

The Doctor put a hand on his friend's shoulder. He was playing this casually, but they both knew what was really happening. Dalek Sec had told them that none of the pig men lasted more than a few weeks—which, coincidentally, was how long Tallulah had said he'd been missing.

They reached the top floor, and he forced those thoughts to the back of his mind. If he could, he would help Laszlo later. Right now, they had to stop the Daleks.

He expected to see Rose when the lift doors opened, but Frank and Tallulah were alone, pacing the floor nervously. "Where's Rose?" His eyes scanned the room and lit on a ladder. "Did she go up there?"

He was already to the ladder when Frank confirmed his hypothesis. "They said something about Dalekanium on the mast and climbed up there about… oh, almost two minutes ago."

The Doctor leaned over to the open side of the building and looked out. New York City spread out below them—far, far below them. "Oh, that's high. That's very…" He blinked against the sudden vertigo. "Blimey, that's high."

On the other side of the room, the lift dinged. The Doctor whirled away from the ladder and whipped the sonic out, but the doors were already closed by the time he reached them. "No, no, no." He tried to sonic the controls, but as he'd expected, they'd made that impossible. "Deadlock seal." He smacked the lift door in frustration. "I can't stop it."

"Where's it going?" Tallulah asked.

"Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here." He raked a hand through his hair. "All right, I'm going up. I'll send Rose and Martha down to help you deal with whatever the Daleks send up."

"Be careful, Doctor," Laszlo said.

"Oh, me? I'm always careful."

His flippant words taunted him when he stood at the base of the mast for a moment, looking up at it, then down at the street. Right. No more looking down. Resolutely, he grabbed the scaffolding surrounding the mast and hoisted himself up.

Strong winds caught his coat and made it difficult to maintain his hold on the scaffolding. Thunder rumbled in the night sky as he pulled himself up onto the platform supporting the mast.

"Fancy meeting the two of you here," he quipped.

"Doctor!" Rose smiled at him. "We've managed to get one piece of the Dalekanium off, or almost—just one bolt left to go."

The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and insinuated himself between Rose and the mast. "I need you both to go back down. I'll finish removing the Dalekanium." Rose's displeasure was obvious, and he held up a hand to forestall her argument. "My body can handle this weather better than yours can, Rose. I can even withstand a lightning strike if it comes to that."

Martha nodded and started back down, but Rose scowled at him. "I won't just hide down there and wait for you to come back."

He smiled grimly. "No, you won't just be waiting for me," he told her. "Because while I'm up here, you're going to have to fight. The Daleks are sending the pig men up, and I need you to stop them, Rose."

She pressed her lips together and nodded once before hugging him desperately. "Be careful," she whispered into his coat, then let him go.

"You too," he told her, then watched as she lowered herself over the edge of the platform.

The countdown to the lightning strike ticked down in his head. He had less than four minutes to remove the remaining panels of Dalekanium from the mast.

oOoOoOoOo

When Martha returned to the work area, Frank and Laszlo were talking quietly by the lift. They both looked up when they heard her, hopeful expressions on their faces. "The Doctor's going to get the Dalekanium off the mast."

Frank shook his head. "We've got bigger problems than that." He jerked his thumb at the lift. "Them Daleks called the elevator back, and it's dollars to doughnuts they'll be sending someone up."

The American idiom was unfamiliar to Martha, but she guessed it meant a sure thing. Thunder rolled before she could answer, and the storm gave her an idea.

Rose lowered herself down the ladder, and the militant set to her jaw pulled Martha's attention away from the immediate problem of the lift. "Everything all right?" she asked.

"Fine, yeah," Rose said blithely. "My husband is at the top of the tallest building in the world in the middle of a thunderstorm, but I'm fine. Really."

Martha looked at her warily. The Doctor's reaction to Rose's kidnapping on New Earth loomed so large in her mind that she'd forgotten Rose's own anxious determination when he'd been attacked by the plasmavore.

"Anyway," Rose said brightly, "the Doctor says it's our job to keep the pig men back, and if we're going to fight, we need weapons. Grab what you can to defend yourself."

Everyone reached for metal pipes and the heavy work tools, but Martha shook her head. "I had an idea, actually." She swallowed hard when they looked at her expectantly. "First, I don't think we can fight them head-on. Laszlo?"

He shook his head. "Not with pipes and building tools. They're savages. I should know." He rocked unsteadily on his feet before continuing. "They're trained to slit your throat with their bare teeth."

She nodded. "So we need a different idea. And I thought… They're coming up in a lift. A metal box. And lightning is going to strike in…" She looked at Rose.

"Just over two minutes."

"Right. So if we put some kind of conductor together and connected it to the lift, then it would fry them as soon as the lightning hit."

Laszlo moaned and collapsed onto the floor, distracting the group for a moment. "Laszlo?" Tallulah said. She dropped her wrench and went to his side. "What is it?"

"No, it's nothing," he insisted. "I'm fine. Just leave me." He tried to get to his feet, but he fell back against the wall.

"Oh, honey, you're burning up," Tallulah cooed. "What's wrong with you? Tell me."

"Great," Frank muttered. "One man down, we ain't even started yet."

"Well, the rest of us need to get started," Rose said briskly. "Martha's plan is excellent."

oOoOoOoOo

Once Rose had gone, the Doctor examined the panels of Dalekanium. Each one was secured to the mast with two metal bands, each held in place with two bolts. Rose and Martha had gotten three of the bolts undone on the first panel, and the Doctor made quick work of the fourth. Then he pulled it loose and tossed it aside before moving on to the second one, working as quickly as he could to remove it as well.

The storm was getting worse when he yanked it off the mast, and his fingers were stiff from the cold. He stuck the sonic in his mouth as he shifted around the mast to the third panel and rubbed his hands together, trying to get feeling back into the uncooperative digits, but he had a feeling it hadn't done much good.

In the middle of removing the first bolt holding the third piece of Dalekanium to the mast, the Doctor's hand slipped and his fingers lost their grip on the sonic screwdriver. He yelled and lunged for it, but he wasn't fast enough and it tumbled down to the base of the mast.

The Doctor hung over the side, looking down at the tool. He'd never be able to get down there and back up in time, much less have time to take off the last panel. After a second, he pushed himself back up to the panel and tugged at the Dalekanium with his bare hands. He couldn't let the Daleks win, not again, not like this.

oOoOoOoOo

Rose ran with Martha to the edge of the building and picked up a long pipe. "We've got a minute left before the strike, according to the Doctor's countdown."

"Then let's get to work!" Martha cried. They carried the pipe over to the lift and used chairs to hold it off the floor.

"Can I help?" Frank asked.

"Grab chairs, saw horses, anything you can find that we can lay the pipes over," Rose told him. "They can't be on the floor, because the lightning would just go into the concrete and be grounded."

"What the hell are you three clowns doing?" Tallulah yelled at them from where she sat caring for Laszlo.

"Even if the Doctor gets all the Dalekanium off, this place is still going to get hit," Rose said as she and Martha set their pipe down over the first two chairs Frank had found.

Martha picked up the explanation where she left off. "Great big bolt of lightning, electricity all down this building. Connect this to the lift and they get zapped."

"Oh my God, that could work," the showgirl said admiringly.

"Then give us a hand," Frank barked at her, and she finally got up off the floor and helped him arrange the chairs.

Rose looked at Frank. "We need to connect this to the scaffolding," she told him. "The mast, that's what's going attract the lightning." She twitched at the thought, but forced herself to focus on stopping the pig men.

"Leave it to me," Frank said and went to the edge of the building, carefully climbing onto the scaffolding.

Inside, they managed to get a connected line of metal poles leading from the edge of the building to the lift doors. "Is that going to work?" Tallulah asked sceptically.

Martha put the last pipe in position and backed away from the doors. "It's got to."

Frank came back inside. "I've got it all piped up to the scaffolding outside."

Rose sat down on the concrete floor. "Come here, Frank,"

"Just sit in the middle and don't touch anything metal," Martha added.

"Yeah," Frank agreed, sitting down with them with his back to the wall.

They all watched the lift as it got closer and closer to the top floor.

oOoOoOoOo

The last panel wouldn't budge, no matter how hard the Doctor pulled on it. Between the static charge in the air and the countdown ticking down in his head, he knew he had very little time remaining. If he wanted to stop this Frankendalek experiment, he had to do something—now.

He stared up at the mast. There was only one option left. I'm sorry, Rose, he told her as he got to his feet and wrapped his body around the mast. She immediately pelted him with questions, asking what he was about to do, but he ignored them—he couldn't bring himself to tell her.

Even if this didn't kill him, the pain would be almost unbearable. It would be strong enough to echo across their bond, and he gritted his teeth against the knowledge that he was about to cause her pain.

oOoOoOoOo

The Doctor reached out to Rose only seconds before the lightning strike was scheduled. I'm sorry, Rose.

She jerked to her feet. What do you mean you're sorry? Doctor? What are you doing?

He didn't answer, and she started for the edge of the building. She only made it one step before Martha grabbed her hand and yanked her back down to the floor.

"What are you doing?"

Rose opened her mouth to explain, but the lightning struck and searing pain went through her body. She screamed and arched her back against the sensation, then curled up in a ball on the floor, panting for breath.

"Rose? Rose, what's wrong?"

The pain slowly dwindled, and Rose was aware of Martha calling for her frantically. She opened her eyes and looked up at her. "It's the Doctor," she said, her voice hoarse from screaming.

The air was filled with the smell of ozone and roasted flesh, and she looked over at the lift. "It worked, Martha."

Martha looked over her shoulder and slumped when she saw the dead pig men. "They used to be like Laszlo," she said quietly. "They were people, and I killed them."

"No," Laszlo countered. "The Daleks killed them, long ago."

Rose pushed herself to her feet. "I'm going to get the Doctor," she said and went over to the ladder.

She had one foot on the first rung when Martha put a hand on her shoulder. "Are you sure you're okay to be going up there?" she asked. "Maybe I should check you out first."

Rose shook her head. "All I got was the initial sensation. Once the lightning went through the Doctor, I was fine." Martha didn't let go of her, and Rose narrowed her eyes at her. "And honestly, Martha, you'd have to knock me out to keep me from going up there."

Martha nodded. "Then I'm going with you," she said. Rose opened her mouth to argue, and Martha shook her head. "If he's… you might need help getting him down."

A chill ran down Rose's spine at the thought, but she couldn't pretend that wasn't a possibility.

The winds buffeting the top of the building were stronger than they had been before, and Rose swayed a little in the breeze. She grabbed onto the scaffolding, and then she saw something that made her heart clench—a familiar sonic screwdriver.

She stuck it in her coat pocket, then used the scaffolding to swing herself up to the mast. Martha grumbled behind her, but a moment later, Rose could tell she was climbing too.

When she reached the pedestal supporting the mast, Rose froze. The Doctor was lying there, obviously unconscious. He's just unconscious. For the second time in under a week, she reminded herself that she would know if he were dead, and he would regenerate.

Logic couldn't convince her though. She crawled over to him and reached for his wrist, breathing a sigh of relief when she felt the familiar double pulse. "It's time to wake up, my Doctor," she whispered in his ear.

He turned his head a little, and tension lines appeared around his eyes. "Oh, my head," he moaned.

Rose clutched his hand to her heart. "Hello," she said, smiling through tears.

His eyes fluttered open. "Hello," he returned. "So it worked?"

"The pig slaves are dead," Rose confirmed. "We used the lightning strike to electrocute them in the lift—Martha's idea," she added, pointing at their friend. Then she looked back at him. "Speaking of the lightning strike…"

He pushed himself up. "I'm sorry, Rose," he said, his voice hoarse. "If there'd been any other way…"

Rose pressed her lips into a thin line and shook her head. "There's Dalekanium still attached," she said, glancing at the mast.

"Which was why I had to… get in the way of the lightning strike."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "You let the lightning pass through you first, so it carried Time Lord DNA along with it."

"Something like that," he agreed. A groan escaped his lips when he stood up and shuffled to the edge of the platform.

Martha put a hand on his arm, steadying him as he lowered himself over the side. "But if there was still Dalekanium attached, then there are still human Daleks out there," she pointed out.

"Let's get out of this wind, and I can tell you all about it," the Doctor suggested.

Back down in the work area, the Doctor stood in the open end of the building and looked out at the city below. "The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing. They'll be using the sewers, spreading the soldiers out underneath Manhattan."

"How do we stop them?" asked Laszlo.

The Doctor drew a breath. "There's only one chance. I got in the way." He looked at Rose, but she refused to meet his gaze. "That lightning strike went zapping through me first."

"Yeah, but what does that mean?" Martha asked.

The Doctor ignored Martha's question and blocked out Rose's anger as best he could. "We need to draw fire," he said as he walked back into the room. "Before they can attack New York, I need to face them. Where can I draw them out? Think, think, think, think, think. We need some sort of space." He grabbed his hair and tugged at it, trying to focus. "Somewhere safe. Somewhere out of the way. Tallulah!" He spun around and pointed at her.

"That's me. Three Ls and an H."

"The theatre!" he exclaimed. "It's right above them, and, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?"

She grinned. "Don't see why not."

The Doctor turned back around and remembered the lift had been zapped. "Is there another lift?"

"We came up in the service elevator," Martha told him and ran off.

"That'll do. Allons-y!"

As they ran towards the theatre, the Doctor tentatively tried to reach out for Rose through the bond. He'd known she wouldn't be pleased with him, but he hadn't anticipated this much anger.

What's wrong, Rose?

I'm all right.

The use of their private code to say, "I'm not ready to talk about it," nearly had the Doctor stopping and insisting that they… talk about it. He shook his head; they didn't have time to talk right now, and even if they did, forcing the conversation before she was ready wouldn't be a good idea.

When they reached the theatre, the Doctor whipped his coat off and jumped up on one of the seats. "This should do it. Here we go." He pulled the sonic out and pushed the button.

"There ain't nothing more creepy than a theatre in the dark," Tallulah muttered. Laszlo collapsed into a seat behind her, and she turned to look at him. "Laszlo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he panted. "It's just so hot."

"But it's freezing in here. Doctor, what's happening to him?"

"Not now, Tallulah. Sorry." The Doctor held his sonic to his ear, trying to pick up the frequency the Daleks were broadcasting orders over.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked.

He glanced down at her, wincing at the stony expression on her face. "If the Daleks are going to war, they'll want to find their number one enemy." He looked down at her apologetically as he held the sonic overhead. "I'm just telling them where I am."

"Right," she said. "Of course the plan is to lead them straight to us."

The Doctor hopped off the seat, the sonic still held aloft. "I'd be happier if the rest of you would go. Frank can take you back to Hooverville."

Rose snorted. "Not happening. You stayed up on the mast alone, and—" She cut herself off and took a breath. "I'm not leaving this time, Doctor."

He sighed and looked at Martha, but their friend crossed her arms and shook her head. "If Rose is staying, then so am I."

Rose could feel the Doctor's very real fear that something might happen to her if she stayed, but she wouldn't let him send her away this time. Feeling his pain and then finding his still body lying on the base of the mast… She clenched her jaw and reached for the anger, shoving everything else aside. If he hadn't sent me away, we could have worked together and finished the job.

The door burst open, making the conversation a moot point anyway. Two lines of humans marched into the theatre, carrying weapons modelled after the Dalek death ray. Their eyes were glazed over, and Rose realised that no matter what they were—human, Dalek, Time Lord, or some mixture of the three—right now, they were not in control of their own actions.

"Doctor!" Tallulah cried out. "Oh, my God! Well, I guess that's them then, huh?"

"Humans, with Dalek DNA?" Martha asked.

Frank started towards one of them, and the Doctor grabbed his arm. "It's all right, it's all right. Just stay calm. Don't antagonise them."

"But what of the Dalek masters? Where are they?" asked Laszlo.

Rose couldn't stand it any longer. Do you have a plan? she asked the Doctor.

He looked at her, obviously surprised she was reaching out for him. I do, he promised. It's slightly mental, but I promise it's the only thing I can think of that will stop the Daleks from conquering the Earth.

Rose drew in a breath and let it out slowly. She'd once told him to put the safety of the planet over her well-being; how could she be upset when he put it above his own? But now she understood better than she ever had before why that had been such a hard choice for him to make.

Explosions backstage brought the conversation to a close. When the smoke cleared, Rose saw two regular Daleks, with Dalek Sec in chains between them, on his hands and knees like a pet.

"The Doctor will stand before the Daleks."

Rose watched the Doctor climb over the seat in front of him and walk along the backs of the seats until he was standing on the front row, facing the Daleks. That would be dead sexy, she admitted to herself, if he weren't offering himself up to the Daleks.

"You will die, Doctor. It is the beginning of a new age."

"Planet Earth will become New Skaro."

"Oh, and what a world," the Doctor said sarcastically. "With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt." He pointed at Dalek Sec. "That's Dalek Sec. Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new empire, hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilisation?"

Dalek Sec lifted his head up and looked at the human-Dalek hybrids. "My Daleks, just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."

Rose had to bite back a giggle—since when did Daleks sound like fortune cookies?

"Incorrect," one of the Daleks said. "We will always survive."

"Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor."

"But he can help you," protested Sec.

"The Doctor must die."

The Doctor was trying to suppress his emotions, but Rose felt the spike of fear. This was his plan, but he didn't know if it would work. She started to climb over the seat, but Martha yanked her back. "Oh no, you don't," she said through gritted teeth. "I'm gonna make sure at least one of you makes it through this alive."

Sec crawled to the front of the stage. "No, I beg you, don't."

"Exterminate!"

"No!" Rose screamed, preparing herself for the searing pain of the death ray.

It never came. Instead, Dalek Sec stood up and blocked the Dalek's shot.

"Your own leader," the Doctor said angrily, looking at the body on the stage. "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him." He turned around and addressed the human Daleks lining the theatre aisles. "Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is?"

Rose chewed on her thumbnail. Now they would find out if his plan had worked.

"If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek humans." The Daleks looked at each other, then back at the Doctor. "Their first blood. Go on, baptise them."

He held his arms out like an open target, and Rose groaned. There was such a thing as pushing it too far.

But it worked. "Dalek humans, take aim."

The Dalek humans primed their weapons as one.

The Doctor stared down the Daleks on stage. "What are you waiting for? Give the command!"

"Exterminate!"

Rose froze. She was peripherally aware of Martha and Tallulah whimpering slightly, but her time senses tingled, distracting her. Two paths diverged here… hopefully the one that happened would let the Doctor live.

Rose looked at the faces of all the Dalek hybrids around her and felt a glimmer of hope that the Doctor's crazy plan might work. Somehow, they didn't seem quite as blank as they had before. Their individual wills were coming out.

"Exterminate!" the Dalek repeated.

And yet, the army surrounding them remained still.

"Obey. Dalek humans will obey."

"They're not firing," Martha muttered. "What did he do?"

"Shhh, don't complain," Rose hissed.

"You will obey. Exterminate."

Finally, one of the Dalek humans spoke, and it was a word Rose had never heard come out of a Dalek's mouth—at least, not like this.

"Why?"

"Daleks do not question orders," the Dalek said imperiously.

"But… why?" the same hybrid questioned.

The Dalek rolled back and forth slightly. "You will stop this."

The hybrid and the Dalek looked at each other. "But why?"

"You must not question," the Dalek insisted.

"But you are not our master. And we, we are not Daleks."

"No, you're not," the Doctor said softly. "And you never will be." He shoved his hands into his pockets and looked back at the Daleks. "Sorry. I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom."

"If they will not obey, then they must die." The Dalek shot the human hybrid who'd refused to kill the Doctor.

The Doctor dove behind the seats. "Get down!" he shouted, and everyone huddled down for cover.

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

Rose saw another Dalek human go down, but from the sound of things, some of them were getting shots in on the Daleks too. The only thing that remained to be seen was if these weapons could pierce the shell of a Dalek.

"Exterminate!"

An explosion from the direction of the stage answered that question, and Rose clapped in victory. One down, one to go.

"Extermin—"

The remaining Dalek exploded mid-order, and the firing ceased. The Doctor jumped to his feet and jogged over to the closest hybrid. "It's all right. It's all right. It's all right. You did it. You're free."

He looked down the line of Dalek humans. A brand new species, ready to take its place in the universe.

Before he could say anything, or start talking about where they might live, every single hybrid put their hands to their ears and writhed in pain. After screaming in agony for several seconds, they collapsed to the ground.

"No!" the Doctor shouted, running over to one. "They can't! They can't! They can't! They can't!"

Martha joined him beside the body. "What happened? What was that?"

"They killed them, rather than let them live."

Rose put her hand on his shoulder, and he reached up to take it.

"An entire species. Genocide," he spat out.

"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed," Laszlo said. "One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."

The Doctor stood up slowly. "Oh, yes. In the whole universe, just one."

Frank shifted his weight from one foot to the next and looked over his shoulder at the theatre doors. "I reckon I ought to get back to Hooverville," he said. "Let people know things are turning out all right."

The Doctor nodded, then looked at the devastation around him, turned around, and headed to the props room, the others following close behind. There was one Dalek left, and he knew exactly where he would find it.

The walk through the sewers was quiet. When they reached the entrance to the Daleks' laboratory, the Doctor turned and held up his hand. "I'm going in there alone," he said firmly. "He's the last Dalek in existence, so he'll be desperate. All of you, stay here. I'll let you know when it's safe to enter the room."

He looked at each of them, then held Rose's gaze until she nodded. Then he strode into the darkened room.

The Dalek was attached to the computer by cables. "Now what?" the Doctor asked bitterly.

"You will be exterminated."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." The Doctor brushed aside the tired phrase. "Just think about it, Dalek—what was your name?"

"Dalek Caan."

"Dalek Caan." The Doctor pushed his hands into his trouser pockets and walked forward. "Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated, leaving only you. Right now you're facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion."

Dalek Caan's eyestalk shifted back and forth slightly as he watched the Doctor, as if he were thinking about what he was saying.

"Because I've just seen one genocide. I won't cause another." The Doctor looked at his greatest enemy and swallowed hard before saying the last thing he really wanted to say. "Caan, let me help you. What do you say?"

"Emergency temporal shift!" Caan cried out. The cables fell off of him and he disappeared, just before the Doctor could reach him.

The Doctor didn't have time to brood about that, because Martha and Tallulah struggled to support a wheezing Laszlo into the room. "Doctor! Doctor!" Martha cried out. "He's sick."

He raised an eyebrow at Martha, and she nodded her head towards the door. The Doctor nodded and walked towards them.

Laszlo collapsed onto the floor in Tallulah's arms. Martha felt for his pulse, still reassuring him. "It's okay. You're all right." She looked at the Doctor. "It's his heart. It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it."

The Doctor crouched down beside the group, and Tallulah looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "What is it, Doctor? What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe. What is it?"

"It's time, sweetheart," Laszlo gasped out.

"What do you mean, time? What are you talking about?"

Laszlo looked up at Tallulah, love on his face as he gently explained what was happening. "None of the slaves survive for long. Most of them only live for a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on because I had you. But now… I'm dying, Tallulah."

"No, you're not," she denied through tears. "Not now, afterall this. Doctor, can't you do something?"

"Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H, just you watch me." The Doctor stood up and flung his coat off. "What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory?" He raised his eyebrows sardonically. "Oh look, I've got one."

Martha grinned at him, and Tallulah watched hopefully as he started to drag equipment out into the open.

"Laszlo, just you hold on," the Doctor ordered. "There's been too many deaths today. Way too many people have died." He mixed a solution, and when it started steaming, he grabbed the next component and added it. "Brand new creatures and wise old men and age old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! You got that?" He lit the burner with the sonic, then pulled a stethoscope out of his pocket. "Not one. Tallulah, out of the way. The Doctor is in!"

oOoOoOoOo

After the Doctor stabilised Laszlo's condition, he approached Rose cautiously. Her back was to him, and he started to reach out to put a hand on her shoulder, but then he remembered how upset she was.

"Rose?"

He flinched when she turned and leaned against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest. "You know," she said, her voice dangerously even, "it occurs to me that after insisting I go inside to safety, you were the one that got struck by lightning. If you'd've let me stay and work with you, we probably could have gotten all the Dalekanium removed and then you wouldn't have had to play lightning rod."

The Doctor sighed. "I told you; my body can handle being struck by lightning. And you had a job of your own to do—taking care of the pig men wasn't exactly nothing."

"Martha could've handled the pig men herself," Rose countered. "The whole plan was her idea anyway."

The Doctor remained implacable. "That doesn't change the fact that if you'd been on the mast with me, you might have been electrocuted."

"Well, sending me away didn't keep me from knowing exactly what it felt like." Her eyes widened as soon as the words left her mouth, and she spun away from him.

"Rose?" he said quietly. Instead of turning, she curled in on herself. "Please look at me," he pleaded.

She turned around slowly, and the tears on her face were a gut-punch. "Oh, Rose," he murmured as he pulled her into his arms. He stroked her hair and paid attention to the chaotic emotions roiling within her. One memory was playing on repeat in her mind, and seeing it added to his guilt—it was the moment he'd been struck by lightning.

It was several long minutes before she could talk. "This doesn't mean I wasn't angry," she muttered. "You know how I feel about being sent away for my own good."

The Doctor closed his eyes and rested his chin on the top of her head. He did know exactly how she felt about that, but this time, he refused to budge.

Her hold on him loosened. "And I had to stay angry, because I knew as soon as I let it go, I'd be a mess. I couldn't afford to break down when we were in the theatre."

"I'm sorry, love," the Doctor said. "You have no idea how much I wish there'd been another way. I couldn't let the Daleks succeed, but if I'd known it would hurt you this much, I…"

Rose shook her head adamantly. "You still don't get it. It wasn't about the physical pain—I mean, yes it hurt, but I only felt it right at the moment. It faded almost immediately." She ran her hands over the lapels of his jacket, tugging and straightening them.

The Doctor stilled her hands. "Tell me what's bothering you, Rose. Please."

"I didn't know what had happened to you! I mean, I knew you'd been…" She swallowed. "Then we climbed up to the mast, and you were unconscious, and that's three times this week that I've found you like that."

The Doctor winced; that hadn't occurred to him.

"And by the way, a bit more warning than a vague apology would have been nice." Rose tapped him lightly on the chest. "Feeling like I'd been hit by a bolt of lightning out of the blue was not a pleasant experience. And if you'd told me what you were planning, I would've known what happened and what to expect when I found you."

"I just…" The Doctor rubbed at the back of his neck. "I didn't tell you because I thought it would be less alarming if you didn't know."

Rose tilted her head and looked at him. "No," she corrected. "That's part of it, but mostly I think you didn't tell me because you didn't want to give me a chance to argue."

He opened his mouth to debate the point, but no words came. "You're right," he admitted after a moment of silence. He lowered his head, then looked up at her meekly. "Next time, I'll tell you what's going to happen—assuming it isn't a surprise to me, too."

"Thank you." She sighed and some of the fight drained out of her. "I know you had to do it," she admitted. "But you sent me away to keep me safe and instead you got hurt and I was so scared." Her lips twisted into a scornful smile. "I know it sounds silly, I mean I could tell you were alive, but…"

The Doctor put a hand under her chin and gently turned her face back to look at him. "It does not sound silly," he told her firmly. "It sounds wonderful and compassionate and so you." Rose looked sceptical, so he continued, determined not to let her feel self-conscious over this. And, okay, so maybe he wanted to distract her from the debate over him sending her away. "Honestly, Rose, you're in a much better state than I would be if our positions were reversed."

Choosing just one memory to prove his point, he let her see the helpless anger he'd felt when he'd seen her after the Wire had taken her face. Her embarrassment faded as she took in how distraught he had been.

Cupping Rose's face in his hands, the Doctor leaned down and rested his forehead against hers. She drew in a deep, shuddering breath, and the Doctor projected as much love and calm as he could.

Slowly, he felt her chaotic emotions come back under her control. When it seemed like she was as calm as could be expected, he pulled back and looked her in the eye.

"Better?" he asked, rubbing his thumbs over her cheeks.

"Yeah." She looked over his shoulder at the empty platform where Dalek Caan had been controlling the hybrids. "He's falling through Time, Doctor. And he won't escape unscathed."

"Emergency temporal shift," the Doctor told her. "It's a rubbish way to travel, really—who knows where he'll end up, or what it'll do to him?"

Rose nodded absently. "It won't be just his body this time though, Doctor," she said. "It's gonna tear his mind apart."

The Doctor repressed a shiver. He could feel the timelines flowing around them, and he knew Dalek Caan had reminded Rose of something she'd seen when she was Bad Wolf. With an effort, he held back his questions—he didn't really want to know how the last Dalek would play into their lives.

Rose shook her head and blinked, then looked at Tallulah and Laszlo. "Do they know what they're going to do?"

The Doctor nodded. "We're going back to Hooverville. Laszlo's going to ask if they'll let him live there."

"And then home?"

"And then home."

oOoOoOoOo

After getting Laszlo settled in Hooverville, the Doctor, Rose, and Martha caught the ferry back to Bedloe's Island.

"Do you reckon it's going to work, those two?" Martha asked as they walked back to the TARDIS, breaking the silence that had settled over them when they'd left Manhattan.

"I don't know." The Doctor turned around and looked back at the skyline. "Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York—that's what this city's good at. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig slave Dalek mutant hybrid too."

Rose and Martha laughed. "The pig and the showgirl," Rose said.

He grinned down at her. "The pig and the showgirl."

"It just proves it, I suppose," Martha said. "There's someone for everyone."

The Doctor wrapped his arm more tightly around Rose as they walked towards the TARDIS. "Yeah. Yeah, I reckon there is." She stretched up and brushed a kiss over his lips, and he finally let go of the last bit of tension he'd been hanging onto since they'd argued.

"Martha, would you care to do the honours?" He pointed at the TARDIS.

Martha's jaw dropped, and she pulled her key out of her pocket. She stuck it in the lock, then looked back at them before opening the door. "Meant to say, I'm sorry."

"What for?" Rose asked.

"Just because that Dalek got away. I know what that means to you," she said on a rush. "Think you'll ever see it again?"

The Doctor glanced at Rose, remembering what she'd said earlier. "Oh, yes. One day."