Author's Notes: I just bought the BBC, so I own it all. (And if you believe that, I've got a couple of nice bridges in Brooklyn and San Francisco for you.) Nope, I just own Kit and Madhukar. Actually, I share Madhukar with Aibhinn. He was her idea in the first place. I owe her huge thanks for that and for being an outstanding beta all through this saga.

Chapter Nine - Promises Kept

"Kit, I thought I told you to warn me before lighting any more bonfires in the TARDIS," the Doctor said with a grin as he walked into the library. "Why do I smell smoke in the corridors?"

She was lying on the floor, on her stomach with her feet up in the air behind her, reading the book Raf had left her. "I wasn't trying to light a bonfire," she replied without looking up. "I was trying to cook breakfast when Jack…um…distracted me. Next thing we knew, the toaster was on fire."

The Doctor shook his head as he settled into his favorite chair. "Why am I not surprised?" he chuckled. "Would it be too much to ask you two to exercise a little self-control?"

She put the book down and rolled on her side to look up at him with a grin. "So should I call you 'pot' or 'kettle,' Doctor?" Her grin got wider when the heat rushed into his cheeks. "In our defense," she went on, "we did put the fire out and cleaned everything up. But I regret to inform you that the toaster is, well, toast." Her expression became mournful, but there was a twinkle in her eyes.

Her violet eyes.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and leaned forward, pulling his sonic screwdriver from his jacket pocket. "New look for you," he observed, dialing a setting and pointing the screwdriver at her. "Let's see if anything else changed."

"I feel fine. More than fine," she said as it whirred and the Doctor ran its blue light down along her body.

"Well, after what the Vortex did to Rose and to Jack, I'm not taking any chances."

She watched him with an amused look. "You know, you could probably make a fortune selling copies of that thing on the Home Shopping Channel. So what's it telling you?"

"Hmmm...Looks like you're now a normal, healthy human female in her mid-20s." He turned the screwdriver off and looked at her very seriously. "And I mean normal in all respects, Kit. Including mortality. Are you all right with that?"

She looked back at him just as seriously. "Do I have any choice?" she asked. "I should be dead, you know. I'll take this second chance."

"Kit, I've been in your mind, even if it was just for a moment. I know what you've given up," he said. Even in memory, the images he'd seen and melodies he'd heard were staggering. Birth songs for stars, dances across the Web of Time, dirges for dying worlds, all interwoven in a never-ending Song. "Losing the Music traumatized you before. I know Raphael said there would be compensation, but if you ever need to talk about it…"

She smiled softly at him. "I'll probably take you up on that. In some ways, you understand me better than Jack ever will. You and I both know what it's like to be cut off from our people."

He nodded, but there was still one other question. "Will Jack be all right with your mortality?"

"We've talked about it already. He's not as thick as a certain Time Lord I know!" She winked at him. "We'll take whatever we get, and we won't waste it. Even at the risk of burning down the kitchen! Besides, if I understand Raf's message, this is my purgatory, and there's always hope." She shifted to sit up, holding up her book. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to have the Classic Comics version of this, would you?"

The Doctor laughed. "At least you didn't ask me for the Cliff's Notes! And no, I don't have either."

She thought for a moment. "Dante for Dummies?"

He shook a finger at her. "Told you before, you are not a dummy. Though you are trying to cheat! What would your teacher say?"

She chuckled. "Raf would say I was spoiled rotten. That's the truth, you know."

"Well, I am not contributing to the delinquency of an angel! I'll leave that up to Jack!" he told her with a smirk. "But I do have something else for you." He reached into his jacket pocket and took out the iPod he'd gutted for their Torchwood break-in so long ago. "All fixed and better than before, as promised!" he said, and reached back into his pocket. "And somehow this got under the console grid." He held out her miniature video recorder.

"My D-Snap! And it still has a charge!" she exclaimed as she turned on the device. She pointed the lens at him. "So, Doctor," she said in her best 'television announcer' voice. "We've beaten the Master, the Daleks, the Cybermen and the devil himself. What are we going to do now?"

The Doctor smiled broadly. "We're going to Disney World!" While she giggled, he held up a threatening finger. "Remember, no Small World. And no hat shops, teacups or Tiki Rooms!" That bloody song still ran through his head at inopportune moments.

"Oh, ruin all my fun, why don't you?" she said with a pout, lowering the camera. "That's okay. Jack'll go with me."

"Angel, I'll go with you anywhere," Jack said from behind them. He walked into the library carrying two cups of coffee, and handed one to Kit. "Where are we going?"

"The happiest place in the universe!" she answered with a grin.

Jack's eyes lit up. "Back to bed?"

Kit began to laugh again. The Doctor coughed. "I told you, Kit! He's contributing to the delinquency of an angel!" He held up the screwdriver and pointed it at Jack. "Just a quick check, Jack," he explained. After a moment, he said, "Good. Aside from the immortality, everything seems normal. Neither of you will have to stay on the TARDIS the way Rose does. Not that I'm putting you off!" he said, holding up a finger. "You two are family now, and this is your home for as long as you both want it. But if there should ever come a time…"

Kit moved to hug him, and Jack observed teasingly, "It's getting a bit domestic around here, don't you think?"

"Perhaps," the Doctor admitted as Kit let him go. "But the TARDIS is happy. She was always supposed to have more than just one Time Lord aboard."

"Speaking of happy," Jack said, settling on the floor next to Kit, "if the happiest place in the universe isn't our bed," he winked, "then where are we going?"

The Doctor rose from his chair. "I promised her Disney World. But I have one stop to make first, so you two can do whatever you want for now." When they both smiled mischievously, he warned, "Kit, remember what I said about self-control!"

He left them snuggling together in front of the (thankfully unlit) fireplace and headed to the console room, where Madhukar was meditating and Rose was flipping through a magazine. He set some coordinates and flipped some switches as Rose watched him curiously. "I have a promise to keep," he told her.

The rotor stopped. He grabbed his coat. "Come on, Rose. Madhukar, I'm going to want you in a few minutes, so stay right there, all right?"

Rose followed him through the door to the outside. They'd landed in a park-like setting, families and couples scattered across a green lawn. "This looks familiar," Rose said. "Have we been here before?"

"Someplace very much like it. Remember Traken?" When Rose smiled and nodded, he went on, "She likes it because it reminds her of home."

"She?"

"Her," the Doctor answered, pointing at a woman approaching them, an expression of recognition and disbelief on her face.

"Doctor?" the woman asked in an amazed voice.

"Yes, it's me. Just another regeneration. This is Rose," he said. Rose gave her a smile and a small nod, and he went on, "Actually, you've met before, but you were very, very small." He smiled at the memory of a toddler chasing after a bright red ball. Not so long ago for him and Rose, but so very, very long ago for the woman who now stood before him. Her hair was now shot with silver, and her figure had thickened just a bit with the years, but she still had the same bright, curious, intelligent eyes as when they'd traveled together, such a long time ago. She'd gone through so much heartache, so much loss. He hadn't known then what to say or do for her. But now…perhaps this would help. "Nyssa, I have a message for you…from your father."

The End