A/N: Thanks to those of you who have been reviewing. Please keep the reviews coming!

Chapter Eleven.

Rose lay on the cold floor of the TARDIS, weeping. She didn't know how long she'd been there but the tears were still flowing and she didn't have the strength to fight them. The Doctor. Dead. Her Doctor. The Doctor was dead. These words kept racing through her mind, forcing the pain deeper into her heart. The TARDIS was quiet, Rose realised through her grief. That lone Dalek, that killer, must have got what it wanted when it murdered the Doctor and wasn't bothering with the human girl locked in a TARDIS.

It wasn't until Rose realised that the broken sobbing she could hear wasn't her own that she finally sat up. She sniffed and wiped her eyes with her sleeve before listening carefully. Yes, she could hear it. Someone was crying. A man. She realised that it was coming from outside the TARDIS. The Doctor! He was alive! Rose grinned and leapt to her feet, flinging the door open. A quick glance told her that the Dalek was gone but looking to the ground her heart sank.

"S-sorry," the stranger said through his tears, looking up at her. "I hope I'm n-not intruding."

He was holding the Doctor's head on his lap, stroking the soft white hair back from the smoke blackened forehead. The tears coursing down his face spoke volumes, and clearly told Rose that he knew the Doctor well.

"Um," Rose said, for it was all she could manage.

"Sorry," he said again with a sad smile. "I see you've been crying too. You must've known him."

"I loved him," she whispered, the tears threatening to fall again.

"As did I," the man said softly, gently laying the Doctor's head on the ground and closing his eyelids tenderly. The man stood up and brushed himself off before offering his hand to Rose, who shook it gingerly. "I am the Master."

"Rose Tyler. Hold on, I've heard that name. The Doctor mentioned you were his friend or something."

"One of the best, I should think." The Master smiled warmly at her and Rose immediately felt comfortable with him. She quickly studied his appearance and noted that he was slim, looked to be aged in his fifties, had slick black hair slightly frosted with grey, and had a sharp moustache that almost made him look sly. His pointed beard only added to that impression, but his smile was friendly and kind.

"We should…" Rose nodded down at the Doctor's body and tried to fight off the tears.

"Not yet," the Master said solemnly. "The war is still going, and I must return to fight. Once we have won, the Doctor will have a proper burial."

"I want to fight too," Rose said firmly but the Master raised an eyebrow.

"By the looks of you you've already been fighting, am I correct?" Rose nodded. "Then you should stay here and protect the Doctor."

"But I wanna fight!" Rose realised with embarrassment that she was beginning to sound like a small child. The Master didn't seem to notice, or if he did he said nothing.

"Rose, was it? Rose, stay here. I beg you, stay with the Doctor. He needs you."

"What happens if you don't come back?" Rose asked tearfully. "What if we don't win; what if you die? Then I'll truly be alone."

"I shall go and assess the situation," the Master said after a moment's hesitation. "If it appears that all is lost I will return and we can do our best for the Doctor before fleeing. If we appear to be winning then I shall stay and fight, before returning safely to you. You have my word."

Before Rose could protest he was marching back towards the battle. Why was it always the kind ones who made you feel at ease that had to go and fight? War was a dreadful, terrible thing. It stole people's lives, whether they died or not, for once you have seen war you are never the same again. Death is almost welcome after witnessing the atrocities of battle. Blood, pain, agonised screams and friends slowly dying all around you. These were all part of war.

Rose felt it before she heard it. The ground began to shake, a great vibration running through the core of the planet. The shivering was followed by a deep rumble which echoed loudly. The sounds of fighting stopped and it seemed everyone was in awe. Rose got to her feet and strained to see what was happening, but the battle was too far away. A piercing shriek was followed by an angry roar. A monstrous beast must have been let loose. And then Rose saw it. Not a beast. The roar was the sound of people running. Every single Time Lord on the planet was running across the plains, fleeing the fight in a desperate attempt to survive.

The Daleks were ascending back up into the sky, the fleets turning around and escaping. Hundreds and thousands of Daleks were running away in terror. Rose stood, mesmerised, as the Time Lords scattered, all trying to hide. The Daleks were leaving, but somehow she felt it wasn't over. And she knew she was right when she spotted something unusual. A large tendril of smoke rising over the Citadel. Oh, but it wasn't like the clouds of thick dark smoke from the battle. It was a deep purple colour and it seemed to scream out one word; just one. RUN! And Rose ran.

She spun around and locked herself in the TARDIS. She pelted over to the console and wished her hands would stop shaking so she could concentrate. The Doctor had said the red button? Or the yellow? No, blue. Definitely blue. Rose swore. Then the sounds of an explosion filled the air, shaking the TARDIS and knocking Rose to the floor. She bit her lip in fear, waiting for it to end, and lay still for several moments. At last, shaking with fear, Rose got to her feet and listened. There was no doubt about it; Gallifrey was being engulfed by an inferno.

Without another moment's hesitation Rose hit the blue button and was once again knocked off her feet. With the soothingly familiar grating sounds the TARDIS took flight and Rose sighed in relief. It wasn't until they were well into the journey that Rose realised with a jolt of pain that she'd left the Doctor behind. She burst into tears of shame and anguish, sinking to the floor yet again. The tears ran unheeded down her cheeks with no one to wipe them away. No one to comfort her. No Doctor…

And then they landed. Rose sighed, knowing that she'd best get out and see what this default safety planet was like. She stood up and headed over to the door but before she could open it the Doctor's voice began to speak. Rose span around in shock to see a hologram.

"Good afternoon, I hope you are well and enjoyed your flight," the Doctor's hologram said pleasantly. "The TARDIS has detected that we have landed on the Emergency Default 61. This is Safety Protocol 181. Please depart from the TARDIS immediately, as she will self-destruct in eleven, ten, nine…"

Rose hesitated a moment before leaping out of the door and running as fast as she could. The explosion knocked her off her feet and sent her sprawling. Rose sighed sadly as the last of the debris landed and she stood up. She'd been knocked to the ground more times than she could count today and was getting sick and tired of it. Now the TARDIS was gone too and Rose began to cry yet again.

----

"And that's about it," Rose said with a shrug. "Explored the place, recognised that it was here I'd seen us in that pool, and here we are. Figured out I was pregnant about a week after being stuck here."

"How have you survived?" the Doctor asked in confusion.

"Ate the rocks," Rose said as though it was obvious. "You should know that. This place is the default safety for every single different Universe out there. That's how we both managed to get here."

"Ah, that's right," the Doctor said with a grin.

"Took me a while to figure out that the rocks were food," Rose laughed, "and that the bigger ones have got water inside."

"It's very clever," the Doctor said. "Reminds me of this little planet I once went to, I forget the name, but it had these little green men and when it rained they'd sprout little vegetables from their ears, so when you got hungry you could… just… harvest…"

The Doctor trailed off and seemed to droop as Rose glared at him and he realised he'd been babbling. He was about to apologise when a sudden bright glow lit up the planet before receding and the TARDIS fully appeared. Theta began to cry, the sudden flash of light upsetting him. Rose soothed the baby whilst the Doctor leapt to his feet, whooping and laughing.

"Not long now, Rose!" he cried in excitement and joy. "Twenty-four hours tops, then we go home! Ha!"

TBC…

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