A/N: Guys! Relax! David isn't leaving the show. I can't access the site at the mo, but the BBC have confirmed he's not leaving ages ago. This whole thing was stirred up by the Sun - and who believed what the Sun EVER had to say anyway? He's not leaving. I read somewhere too that he's signed an X million deal for Series 4 if it's commissioned. So, RELAX!

Chapter 31 – Eh-oh! Po!

The Doctor wouldn't break. Wouldn't let go.

He would protect his son to the death. Even if it was a very messy and complicated death – still, the death – then he would regenerate, making it the death of the death. Then after that, the death of the death of the death. Then the death of the death of the death of the death. Then he truly would be dead.

It all made his head hurt. Either that or the repeated hits he seemed to be receiving to the head.

He felt his throat get taken hold of again and his limp body dragged upwards, but he was past caring. Was it time for the first death, yet?

It was a pathetic thought really – seeing as he now believed he was dying when just a week ago he'd been medically deceased from taking something he was deathly allergic to. And now he was going to die from a couple of scratches and a headache. That was like surviving an organ transplant and dying from a cold a few days later.

"Darkeese!" someone suddenly yelled from afar, and the Doctor groaned outwardly as he realised it was Rose. She was going to get herself killed…

But the Darkeese wasn't an idiot.

"What do you want?" it shouted over to her, not taking it's big black eyes off of the Doctor, who by now was just letting the Darkeese beat him senseless.

"I'll give you the baby, just don't kill the Doctor!" she shouted back, and at these words the Doctor's brain buzzed into overload, his muscles instantly tensing in total panic and his hearts began to ache. He tried to shout out to her, but the Darkeese's grip on his throat was only just about letting him breathe, let alone shout.

The Darkeese glanced over to somewhere on the Doctor's right, pausing for a moment as he considered what he was seeing. Obviously interested, he let go of the Doctor like a ragdoll who fell to the wet floor uselessly, his head hurting too much to move any of his limbs. He weakly turned his head to look at Rose, and she did appear to have Rory in her arms with tears apparent in her eyes, though maybe he was mistaking it for the rain that was pouring down on them…?

"Please, let his father see him first before you take him…" she whispered, and the Doctor could see now that they were 100 percent real tears. "Please…"

The Darkeese looked sympathetic, shuffling guiltily over on one foot, hands clasped behind it's back.

"Yeah," it said sadly, "take as long as you need. Sorry I have to take him and all. A job's a job."

Rose didn't reply. She just jogged hurriedly over to the Doctor, kneeling on the side hidden from the Darkeese. She laid the bundle of blankets on the ground, but the Doctor was just looking at her in despair.

"Rose…I'm not worth it…" he tried to say, but she quickly shrugged off his trenchcoat that she was still wearing, covering him over with it. One, for him to access, but also two, keeping him shielded from the rain - and she turned him gently onto his side towards her as she did so.

"Look," she hissed, pulling the blankets back to reveal what was inside.

It wasn't Rory, that was for sure.

"I found it in one of your pockets," Rose explained in a whisper as he brought a hand out from under his coat and the Doctor stroked the soft material of the toy replica of Po – the red one from the Teletubbies - lying comfortably in the blankets. "I won't ask what it was doing there."

"Rose," he muttered, reaching up to caress her cheek. "You're a genius."

"I know." She hid her smile with a fake cry of sorrow, covering up Po's obvious Teletubbiness by drawing the blankets closer around again. "I couldn't find the Sonic Screwdriver…" The Doctor nodded at her words, discreetly slipping a hand into the pocket out of the view of the Darkeese and searching. "Oh God, I'm so sorry Doctor, I couldn't let you die…" she suddenly said out loud, holding Po to her chest, letting the fake tears fall thick and fast down her cheeks.

"Please, take him now…" the Doctor said in loud weak voice.

"Please don't hate me Doctor," she said in a sorrowful voice, "I couldn't watch you die like this."

"I will always love you Rose," he whispered loud enough for the Darkeese to hear. "Please, now…go…"

She leant down and gave him a soft kiss on the lips, making the most of it like any normal person would, before she had to draw away and get onto her feet, still clutching Po in her arms. She lifted the bundle of blankets upwards, offering Po to the Darkeese, before looking sideways with tears rushing down her cheeks as she brushed her hair away from her head.

"Take him now!" she cried in a melodramatic voice, "before my heart breaks!"

The Darkeese slipped it's arms under the bundle of blankets, gently lifting Po up and away from Rose.

"I'm real sorry 'bout this," it apologised humbly; looking in the blankets at the baby he was expecting to see.

Then he gawped.

"There's a big red cuddlytoy in here!" the Darkeese realised, staring at Rose in surprise. "Where did the bloody baby go?"

Rose just grinned, gesturing for the Darkeese to look down at the Doctor on the ground. It was immediately met by a slim silver device in the Doctor's hand good hand, pointing straight at it's chest with a small look of regret on his face.

"I don't want to do this," the Doctor started firmly as Rose slipped her hands onto his hips and helped him up onto his feet subliminally, trying to make it look like she was actually holding him for protection so he didn't lose any dignity. The Doctor didn't move his firm gaze from the Darkeese's own pits of blackness as he held Sonic Screwdriver high and sturdy. "You seem like a nice guy. But if you're trying to take my son, then I'm going to be very human about this."

The Doctor paused, swallowed, and tightened his grip on the silver device oh so slightly as he spoke the words in a low voice:

"Get the hell away from my family."

The Darkeese gave a low growl, making to move forward towards him, but the Doctor thrusted forward the Sonic Screwdriver slightly to show he was deadly serious about it. The Darkeese seemed to take this on board, and stepped back away.

"Now," the Doctor continued, and Rose could feel the warm crimson liquid from the Doctor's flesh wound slicking down her front smoothly, making her press herself against him even more. "You can give it up, walk away now with your life – tell your corporation the baby got killed in the midst of chaos and move onto your next mission. Or alternatively, you can get blown to smithereens. What's it gonna be?"

The Darkeese considered the proposition for a moment, weighing up the pros and cons of the argument, before shaking it's head in a negative.

"Despite 'ow temptin' it sounds Doctor, I just can't do that. I gotta remain committed to the job."

"You're sure?" the Doctor asked, sounding slightly disappointed in the decision it had made.

"Totally," it assured him, then lashed out. With lightning quick reactions the Doctor pressed down on the button on the small device, and it activated.

The last thing the Darkeese saw was a blinding wave of blue light coming from the tip of the silver stick the Doctor was holding so firmly, letting out a high-pitched scream of pure despair as the world around it went quiet.

It didn't feel it's body get ripped apart in a thousand piece jigsaw. It didn't feel those parts rapidly melt like ice cubes on a hot summer's day onto the ground. It didn't feel those molecules slip oh so quickly through the gaps in the concrete to the underground beneath.

It didn't even know it had died.

A/N: Rubbish place to leave it, but I couldn't link it up. I can't give a preview of the next chapter coz it's hardly been written, and I can't confirm the name of it yet - I'm not too sure, but it MIGHT be the last chapter. If it isn't, then the one after it is.