A/N: This chapter is double the length of a normal chapter, but I want this segment out of my system. It's looooong! Sorry. And slightly gory too. And Parting Of The Ways...speaks for itself, really.

Chapter 26 – Parting Of The Ways

"Doctor…"

The Doctor was dreaming. He knew he was dreaming from the way the white world around him warped with his thoughts smoothly, strange and confusing but somehow understanding it all the same. He didn't feel as though he was himself, perhaps watching from third person.

"Doctor…"

Instantly without any initial warning, he knew it was the purple woman. As it clicked in his messed up head She instantly appeared in the distance, floating towards him.

"Where's Rose?" he ordered instantly, teeth already gritted.

Without any warning at all She was suddenly standing next to him and for the first time he was conscious to feel Her icy cold touch, bringing with it years of torment and bitter resentment aimed specifically at one organisation…

Then the world disappeared from around him, and he was suddenly in the dark. As his eyes adjusted to the light he found he had not prepared himself, seeing Rose so helpless and fragile understandably unnerved him from the surprising clarity of dream-state.

"Rose!" he called instantly, taking a step forwards towards her figure lying so helpless on the cold floor, so defenceless, so miserable. To his complete and utter astonishment she looked up directly into his eyes, first squinting in confusion then widened to impossibly large.

"Doctor?!" she gasped, unable to believe it. "You…you're glowin'…"

"I'm not exactly here Rose, this is a dream, I'm sure of it."

Her face fell. "My dream?"

He shook his head, closing the gap between them and dropping to his knees before her. "No, mine."

"But…how? How can…"

He shushed her gently, reaching up to her face but somehow already knowing he wouldn't be able to touch her before his hand passed through her cheek, confirming his suspicions.

"What's She done?" he demanded, angered by the fact he couldn't touch her, "has She hurt you?"

Rose inclined in negative. "No…She just left me here."

"Which is where you will soon be, Doctor!" the woman suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, and the Doctor turned just in time to see Her hand fly out before he went soaring backwards into the hard concrete wall, his body now becoming puzzlingly solid – probably to torment him. The girl in question cried out his name and staggered onto two feet, weak from fatigue and lack of food as the Doctor was held by some kind of invisible force, keeping him on the wall.

"Stay back!" the woman screamed at Rose, waving Her free hand to conjure up two more objects – nails, and making them fly into the air. "Stay back!!!"

But Rose wasn't listening. The Doctor could only watch as the two nails began to hurtle towards his hands spread out against the wall, managing to realise with a flicker of wit that this was actually the first time he would actually be crucified.

How he could feel pain in a dream was a mystery in itself, but this woman could do anything. It was probably a simulation of the pain it would normally cause – or it was actually happening to him too in the real world.

The nails reached his hands and slowly began to drill in through the bones, blood and muscle. He bit his lip so hard he almost chopped it in two, hopelessly trying to contain the pain for the sake of Rose who had now stopped dead in her tracks, shocked.

"Now maybe you will stop trying to act foolish, mortal!" the woman screeched in delight at Rose as She continued to make the nails spin around and around in his palms, slowly getting deeper and deeper until they were finally drilled the entire way in, the Doctor breathing heavily with small moans of pain. "Listen to me Doctor, because this will keep your precious mortal alive. I want you, and you only. I will give back the mortal if you hand yourself over to me."

"Where…I wouldn't know where…?" he murmured, coughing slightly as Rose watched a slick of deep red blood from one of his palms drip down eerily onto the floor.

"12, 96, 47," she replied simply, lifting her gaze off of his and flickered to the still paralysed Rose. "Else…" – hand lifted to the girl – "I might get a little impatient…"

She squeezed her hand together tightly and suddenly with a obscenely evil laugh, watching with glee as the girl screamed and dropped to her knees…

Jackie Tyler was sitting on the second sofa of the sitting room at 9:00am, clutching a cup of tea in both hands whilst clad in her silken dressing gown chatting quietly to Mickey. The Doctor and Rory were still asleep on the other sofa, Rory's hands clutching onto his dad's shirt whilst the Doctor's arm stretched around his son's shoulders. Jack was feeding the baby in the kitchen with some more milk.

"So she's gone," Mickey said lowly for the hundredth time, obviously having trouble accepting the idea. Jackie nodded again, knowing she'd had to be patient for this.

"Only temporarily," Jack chipped in from the kitchen doorway, moving towards them with the baby in one arm, bottle in the other. "The Doctor'll get her back Jackie, you know that."

She nodded briefly as Mickey took some interest in the baby Jack held.

"That her?" he asked dumbly, getting onto his feet and looking down at the girl who was now sleeping quietly. "She'll be pretty, I bet. Just like her mum."

The other two nodded in agreement, before the silent air was suddenly cut by a helpless yell of, "no!" and they turned to see the Doctor sitting upright with his left arm stretched out high infront of him as if he was trying to reach out to someone, short and sharp breaths issuing through gritted teeth as his eyes stared unseeingly at the wall.

Jackie bustled over to him instantly, worried. "What's wrong sweetheart?"

He turned his head to face her with wide eyes, still breathing heavily as though he'd just run a marathon.

"I…" he began, but suddenly choked for no apparent reason. He could feel a very warm liquid somewhere midway down his tongue. He had practically bitten it in half…

Was it true? He lifted his palms up towards him, Jackie's eyes widening as she saw two bloody holes in the middle of each like where a nail would go for crucifixion. Instantly pain hit him but he forced it to reel as Jackie handed him a handkerchief silently.

He caught some of the warm liquid in his mouth in the handkerchief, not too surprised to see the stain of blood. The crowd watched as the Doctor's hands and mouth area were suddenly enveloped in a bright purple smoke-like energy and remain there for a few seconds, before it seeped away leaving his hands and tongue completely healed.

"What the hell was that?" Jackie demanded to know, roughly taking his wrist and jerking them forward to inspect his hands. "They looked like…"

"They were," he finished gently. "I was dreaming…she came to me in my dream and tried to speak with me, I wouldn't listen so she threw me against the wall and…" he trailed off to nothing, before reinstating himself and looking back up. "She proposed a deal. She gave me co-ordinates to meet, and if I turn myself in she'll release Rose."

"No Doctor, there has to be another way," Jackie said instantly when she realised the implications as the Doctor slipped his arms until sleeping Rory and lifted him up, getting onto his feet.

"I'm sorry Jackie, but I haven't got any options. This is the only choice I have."

"Don't be dumb, Doc," Jack was saying, trying to sound as jokey as possible in the heftiness of the situation. "We can just take the TARDIS, bust her outta there!"

"Two problems Jack, we have no idea where she isand there's no way of tracking her. Believe me, if there was another way I'd take it, but I can't let them both die. Whatever She wants me for I don't care, I can endure it knowing my family is safe. You haven't seen Her true capabilities Jack, what's happeningto Rose…" He swallowed. "I won't let you follow me, any of you. You can't come and rescue me. It's too dangerous."

Rory was awake now, still clutching onto his father's jacket.

"Daddy please don't go…" Rory whispered, almost in tears, "we can get mummy out, like Uncle Jack said. Please daddy, you said never give up."

The Doctor harshly ignored him, holding him out to Jackie who took him in puzzlement. "Jackie, get Rory out of here. He doesn't need to see any of this."

"No I won't," Jackie answered strongly, much to the Doctor's surprise. He met Jackie Tyler's piercing gaze.

He gritted his teeth. "Jackie, I told you to get Rory out of here!" he growled.

"No! He's the one with the most right to know."

"He's as much your son as he is Rose's too," Mickey pointed out.

There was another brief flash of a pause as the Doctor stared between the occupants of the room, his expression hard and unforgiving.

"Fine," he said thickly, "stay."

Unknown to the company, Bob had managed to wander from the next room to where the Doctor stood next to the sofa. The Doctor felt his furry pink-maned head rub against his leg affectionately, and the Doctor known if he could talk he'd be saying exactly what Jack and Rory had said.

He turned, feeling everyone's eyes on him as he dropped to the floor to stroke the Delorion's back.

"I only wish it were that simple," the Doctor whispered, giving the animal a half smile of reassurance. "But I'll be okay."

The others however, were not so sure.

"You don't have to do this."

The Doctor turned to Jack after setting the designated co-ordinates in the TARDIS for what he well knew could be the last time, hitting the button. "I think I do," he answered plainly.

"Daddy…"

The Doctor looked down at his son, a perfect resemblance to both him and Rose. The boy stood there, trying so hard not to cry to try and make his daddy proud of him. The Doctor knelt down to the young boy, lifting his chin delicately with a finger to look at him.

"Y'know, sometimes it's okay to cry. There are times when it's the best thing to do. It can be really manly to cry."

Rory burst into tears without hesitation at his words, hugging his father tight to which he returned. Rory's hands automatically tightened on the material of his dad's coat.

"Don't go, please daddy, I love you…don't go…" he sobbed uncontrollably as he clung to the Doctor tighter. "Please…"

"I'm sorry Rory," he sighed, "this is just something I've got to do. One day when you're older you'll understand it." Rory just sniffed in reply, his tears making the Doctor's front damp. After a brief moment they parted, and the Doctor kissed him gently on the forehead, ruffling his hair. "Look after your little sister and your mummy, and cause all the trouble in the Universe, okay?"

Rory nodded, wiping his wet eyes with his sleeves.

The Doctor got up, looking directly at Jack standing next in line. He knew what was coming even before Jack launched out his hands and grabbed him around the back of the neck and pushing the Doctor's lips forward to his own.

"Mmm!" the Doctor protested as the others sniggered about him, and action seemingly insane to any bystander lurking in the shadows. "Mm, mm-mm-MM!"

Finally, Jack withdrew. Disgusted, the Doctor was quick to wipe his mouth free of Jack germs as Jack beamed broadly at him.

"Look after them for me?" the Doctor said, and Jack didn't need to ask who he was speaking about.

"You'll be back," he said simply, and though his spirit believed it, his aching heart didn't.

The Doctor said nothing in reply to this as he looked at the next person in line, Mickey Smith. He extended a hand, to which Mickey took.

"Ricky the Idiot," he acknowledged, and Mickey smiled at him.

"Everytime."

"I never did say sorry about stealing Rose, did I?" Mickey shook his head as the Doctor spoke. "Well, I'm not sorry I took her. She's fantastic. Look after her."

Mickey nodded, letting go of the Doctor's hand as he moved on to Howard, re-extending his hand – but found Howard instead grabbed him into a huge bone-crushing hug.

"Doctor, you've been like a son ter me!" he almost broke the Doctor's rib cage with his clamp of a hug, the Doctor fully relieved to be let go once more.

"You're a good granddad, Howard," he said, wincing at the shot of pain through his ribs from the 'hug'. He finally turned to Jackie, this time being the one to lead a hug with her, being careful of the baby girl in her arms.

"I know you'll look after them all anyway," the Doctor said in her ear, and she nodded. "So look after yourself too."

She even kissed him on the cheek to mark a final farewell, knowing life with the two Time Lord children and no Doctor to guide them would be difficult – although not impossible. The Doctor reached down to his little girl and traced a thumb over her cheek, dabbing a loving kiss to her.

"I know your mum'll name you right. Grow you up to be everything you can be, Rory too. I'm just sorry I won't be there to see it."

He took a step back and turned once more to the entire group, giving a small salute to them all, to which they returned.

"Allons-y then, can't keep Her waiting," he said as he walked over to the doors, resting a hand on the handle and pulling. The TARDIS did obviously not like this one bit as it refused to open, forbidding him from stepping outside.

The Doctor sighed, realising he had not even told his beloved timeship goodbye – perhaps through the denial that this was the last time he'd ever see her. He sighed, lifting his hand and resting it against the wooden white door.

"I want you to take good care of them like you always do," he said with a small smile, head dropping onto the wood. "We've had some great times together, haven't we? You're the only one thing that's stayed with me all these years – I'll miss you. You've always been there, giving me the nudges in the right direction. Thank you, and I know you're upset but we both know this has got to be done."

The TARDIS seemed to stop giving her usual whirl of mechanics and air hissing and rattling through pipes for a moment, as if taking a deep breath. Quietly, the door clicked.

"Thanks," he'd said, pulling the door open and slipping outside to the world beyond.

There she was, already waiting withy Rose next to her, held in some kind of restrictive field. The Doctor looked down to her, giving her a broad grin.

"I'm glad you came to a sensible decision, Doctor." The purple woman waved a hand and Rose immediately started forwards as the barrier dropped, falling onto the Doctor for protection. He obediently held her.

"I want you to get back to the TARDIS right now. The automatic program will take you back home."

"I can't leave you…" she whispered, looking up from resting her head on his chest before he kissed her softly.

"Yes, you can. Go Rose. Please."

"B-but…" she stammered, torn in two.

"No buts. Get back into the TARDIS or I'll throw you in myself."

"Doctor…"

The Doctor's eyes darkened. "Do it Rose!"

Rose finally nodded, pressing one last kiss to his cheek before dashing to the TARDIS. She hovered outside the doors for a moment, just watching him watch her before slipping inside. The Doctor had a backup plan, right? He was going to get out of this, like he always did. He wanted her safely out of the way before he initiated it…

She ignored the crowds in the TARDIS and dashed over to the monitor, watching the camera to the outside and waiting for his last minute turn of the tables.

But as the woman raised a hand and the Doctor collapsed backwards into a deep sleep, Rose realised there was no backup plan. The engines burst into life and the central column pulsated loudly up and down, Rose's eyes still fixed to the monitor as it faded to black, her Doctor with it.