A/N: Okay, so I lied. Sue me. It's now a three-parter, and that little snippet...was for the next chapter. Cause I'm never satisfied, and I changed everything. So, there we go (Surrenders) kill me!

Okay, how's THIS for a summary?:
Too much alcohol is never a good thing…or maybe it's just an excuse? These are the humorous events after a drunken night between The Doctor and Rose, and then it gets worse - soon an unknown force is chasing Rose, and The Doctor really doesn't know why. TenRose.

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Chapter 8 – How Utterly Depressing Part 2

He breathed in oxygenated air.

He was alive.

He could hear womans' screaming, shouts and yells from men, and children crying in the background, aswell as the crackling of a nearby fire. But despite all that, he could still hear his angel speaking to him quietly, right into his fragile ear.

"Doctor," his angels voice came again in a terrified whisper. He managed to wrench open his horribly tired eyes and slowly lift up his throbbing head, the blur of Rose wavering precariously in his vision as he suddenly got a sense of relief. She was fine, Thank god. It didn't matter if he died now – Rose was safe, and looked in pretty good shape, considering she'd just been in a bus crash.

"Rose," he muttered, gargling through the blood in his mouth, "we've gotta get everyone out before the fire hits the fuel tanks…" he forced himself to sit up, trying his hardest to ignore the pain vibes rushing through his entire body.

"Oh god," Rose breathed, and he felt a strong hand grab his elbow and pull him onto unsteady feet. He staggered backwards as a wave of fatigue, pain and nausea hit him full on, but when he opened his eyes again his vision could now distinguish the difference between Rose's hair and face.

"Rose," he muttered, leaning on the bus seat, his leg hurting too much to put weight on. "Start getting everyone out now."

"Okay!" she answered, too terrified to do anything else. She disappeared from his vision, and he looked around as a glance at the inflicted damage on the bus. He was vaguely aware of a few people screaming at him in fright and shock, probably either from the way he looked right now, or the way he could actually stay conscious. He put his stronger, yet unsteady foot forward, and to his surprise, he found he could keep his balance while walking. He scrunched up his eyes tight again, and then opened them. His vision was throbbing like a pulsating headache, swerving in and out in a blur, inevitably making him even more dizzy and nauseous. But yes - it was getting better.

"Doctor!" Rose said from somewhere beside him, and he slowly turned to face the sound of her voice. "The entrance is blocked!"

"Hold on!" He had just managed to grab hold of a seat when he felt the bus floor move erratically below him, nearly throwing him to the ground again. He managed to regain his pose and turned around to check on Rose, who was holding a somewhat dishevelled looking teenage boy with one hand, clutching onto a ripped seat for a lifeline with the other. The front axles had just split – it was now a climb up a slope to their only escape.

Sloped. He couldn't manage a slope now.

By some miracle he managed to make his way slowly up to the back of the bus, and with a fortifying intake of sharp air, he drove a fist straight though the emergency glass. Pain shot straight up through his knuckles and hand, but the pain just joined the list of the other pains he was trying in vain to ignore.

It would have been nice to avoid all this unnecessary pain, but there wasn't an emergency hammer at the back. Must've been stolen. Why the hell do you need to nick an emergency hammer from a bus? Seriously? It wasn't strong enough to murder someone or knock in a nail. Maybe people actually made collections of stolen bus hammers. What's strange about that? People collect photos of lampposts.

The glass smashed down onto the ground outside, and within seconds a few blurry passer-bys had gathered outside the smashed glass, their voices screaming desperately for him to jump down to safety. To hell with that.

He swung around, beckoning the shape of Rose with his now stinging and blooded hand. He saw several people charge crazily towards the back window, throwing themselves out of the burning bus and onto the people outside, waiting to catch them.

The more people that fled out, the more The Doctor was starting to feel his own pains. By the time it was only him and Rose left, he was on the brink of unconsciousness.

"Get out!" he yelled at Rose, and saw her undecided expression. "I'll be right behind you, I promise!"

"You'd better be!" she screamed as The Doctor gently lowered her out of the smashed window to the people waiting below. He was just about to follow, when he heard something that made him swing back around in fear and dread.

He immediately ran as fast as he could with his hurt leg full speed down the aisle, leaving Rose's screams of frustration fading into the distance. He searched every destroyed and burnt seat until he finally found what he was looking for.

A small girl, probably barely more than ten years old was tucked up under a seat with her eyes staring wide at him, fire raging no more than a few feet away. She was crying her heart out, absolutely terrified. Obviously whoever had been with her had been killed or one of the majority that had been knocked out, and Rose had probably only been looking at the seats for people – not under them.

The Doctor took her arms and tried to pull her out from under the seat, but she only cried out in pain, refusing to budge. He peered closely at the problem – crushed legs underneath a collapsed seat. There was no way of dislodging her.

Crash.

He cried out in fear and pain, instantly realising the back axles had broke. There was another smash as he desperately tried to stay conscious, the fire following a laid trail of petrol straight towards him and the girl.

The Doctor knew at that point – they were both going to die. At least there was now no petrol in the petrol tanks to explode; or that would have been a death and a half. He cradled the girl in his arms, biting his lip to contain the despair rushing through him. He could feel the little girl crying into him, petrified with fear.

"What's your name?"

She looked up at him through a smeared black face, the tears running down her cheeks leaving snail trails in the blackness.

"K-K-Katie," she stuttered, and he nodded, smiling, as if they weren't about to be burnt alive on a bus in the middle of London. "What's your name?" she asked, tugging on his jacket zip with tiny, fragile fingers.

"I'm The Doctor." He suddenly felt very protective of this child – his instinctual father neurons getting the better of him, and he held her tighter to his chest.

"That's a weird name."

"Between you and me, I think it was a mistake at the christening. I reckon someone needed help right when the priest was naming me, and yelled out 'DOCTOR!' then I got stuck with it."

Katie giggled. "Really?"

"Oh yeah. You've got a beautiful name, Katie." He stroked her matted brown hair, holding her close. "For a beautiful girl. I bet you're fighting off the boys with a stick." He put his body between the fire and her as a shield, so at least when they found her she would still have a face. "I bet you've even got a boyfriend now."

She raised a small smile, shaking her head. "Boys are idiots."

He laughed openly, running a hand through his messy hair. "Girls are the best, right?"

"You have a girlfriend," she suddenly said, and The Doctor looks down at her with a furrowed brow. "She's called Rose."

The Doctor couldn't speak for a moment as memories came flooding back. Rose. She thought he'd left her for no reason. Ran into that bus to burn.

"You're a very observant girl," he finally said, feeling the heat start to burn the back of his neck.

"Do you miss her?"

"…Yes, I do. I miss her like I've never missed anyone before."

"Do you love her?"

He paused, the answer caught midway in his throat. She was only a girl…

"I…" he started, but was interrupted by a huge ripping sound from somewhere above him. The ceiling - the ceiling had given way. He threw himself over the girl on instinct, looking up just in time to see the heavy metal flying with accurate precision towards his head.