"And the fever began to spread. From my heart down to my legs…." Florence + The Machine
"What are you on about? Why would Rose know who you are because they locked you up?"
"Not the cage, stupid." She said as she got to her feet. She approached the bars of her cage, and Rose got to her feet so they'd all be roughly eye level. The human TARDIS put her hands on her cheeks. "In here. They put me in here."
The Doctor merely stared at her, suspicion unwavering.
"She's the TARDIS." Rose finally said.
The Doctor whipped around and looked at her. "What?
"She's our TARDIS." Rose repeated.
"Time and relative dimension in space." The TARDIS said with a nod, dropping her hands to her side.
"No," The Doctor said, looking between the two of them. "No, you're not. She's not! She's a bitey lady, you're a bitey lady. The TARDIS is up and downy stuff in a big blue box." He insisted, finger firmly pointed at the TARDIS while he continued his dizzy inducing back and forth.
"Yes, that's me. A type 40 TARDIS." She said giddily to the Doctor's bewilderment. "I was already a museum piece when you were young, and the first time you touched my console you said …."
"I said you were the most beautiful thing I had ever known." He said with disbelief mixed with the fondness of the distant memory.
"And did he follow that up with a 'considering you're a time ship?'" Rose teased.
The TARDIS laughed, likely because she liked it. "He stole me like he stole you. Like I stole him, and then you."
"I borrowed you." The Doctor said to the TARDIS as if he thought anyone would believe him.
"Borrowing implies the eventual intention to return the thing that was taken." The TARDIS said as she lifted her chin. "What makes you think I would ever give either of you back? We were bonded. Are bonded. Became bonded." She said, eyeing the ceiling as if it had the proper answer.
The Doctor stared at her a few seconds before saying, "You're the TARDIS?"
"Yes." She said, meeting his gaze eagerly.
"Our TARDIS?"
"My Doctor. My Rose. Oh!" She said, eyes going wider. "We have now reached the point in the conversation where you open the lock."
The Doctor removed his sonic and pointed it at the latch on the door, all while holding the human TARDIS's eye. The Door swung open slightly, and Rose pulled it open the rest of the way, shutting behind the TARDIS as she stepped out. As the TARDIS turned to the Doctor, her hand fell into Rose's.
"Are all people like this?" The TARDIS asked him.
"Like what?" He furrowed his brow.
"So much bigger on the inside?" She replied, looking to Rose. "I'm … oh, what is that word? It's so big, so complicated. It's so sad."
"I'm not sure." Rose shook her head.
"You're the same," She said thoughtfully. "The three of us, we're all … oh what is the word?" She said, frustration making her human form a bit adorable.
"Why?" The Doctor asked, shifting so they were all more or less in a circle. "Why pull the living soul from a TARDIS and pop it in a tiny human head? What does it want you for?" The Doctor asked.
"Oi, she's been in my head." Rose countered.
"I said 'tiny', Sweetheart. Nothing about you has ever been small." He said, and as Rose arched a brow and trying not to look too offended, his ears reddened. "Inside. Nothing, small, inside. Outside, outside has always been perfect, and lovely, and squishy. No, not squishy, lovely. I've said lovely, haven't I?"
"TARDIS, why does House want you in a human body?" Rose asked her when the Doctor clearly muddled himself.
"It doesn't want me," She said, leaning in and sniffing Rose.
"How do you know?" The Doctor asked as the TARDIS leaned in and sniffed his coat.
"House eats TARDISes." She said absently.
"House what? What do you mean?" The Doctor asked.
"I don't know, it's something I heard you say." She countered as she turned back to Rose. "Your hair is lovely. Gold, like the Vortex."
"When?" The Doctor said with frustration. "When have I said that?"
"In the future." The TARDIS said, looking to the ceiling thoughtfully.
"House eats TARDISes?" He questioned.
"There you go!" The TARDIS said, followed by a sharp intake of breath. She placed her finger on the Doctor's lips, and looked him in the eye. "What are fish fingers?" She said with utter seriousness.
"When do I say that?" He asked despite her finger on his lips.
"Any second." She said, withdrawing her hand from his personal space.
"Of course!" The Doctor smacked himself on the forehead. "House feeds on rift energy and TARDISes are bursting with it. And not raw, all lovely and cooked, processed food …. Mmm, fish fingers." The Doctor said with a smack of his lips.
"Do fish have fingers?" The TARDIS asked thoughtfully.
"But you can't eat a TARDIS, it would destroy you. Unless …."
"Unless you deleted the TARDIS matrix first." The TARDIS nodded.
"Alright, you two are giving me a headache trying to keep up." Rose said, gesturing for them to stop for a moment. "So House somehow has the technology to drain a TARDIS of its soul?"
"Same concept as draining a human of its life essence. Second a TARDIS lands on the surface, it pulls out the matrix."
"That would blow a hole in the Universe." The TARDIS nodded. "He pulls out the matrix and sticks it in a living receptacle and feeds off the remaining Artron energy." She turned to the Doctor. "You were about to say all that. I don't suppose you have to now."
The Doctor grinned slightly before it faded, dread coming over his face and through the bond. "Amy and Rory. I sent them in there. They'll be eaten." He said as he pulled what looked like Amy's phone out of his pocket and started dialing.
"Why would you send them away?" Rose asked, indignant for them.
"Because I thought there were Time Lords here and I didn't want them interfering if there were. I wanted to find them on my own, I wanted…." He stopped. "I wanted to believe. They wouldn't let me." He said. A moment later he shook off his melancholy and started running through the tunnels as he put the phone to his ear.
"Is this when we do that thing you two seem to like so much? The running thing, not the other." The TARDIS asked.
"Yeah, now's when we run." Rose said, giving the hand in hers a squeeze before she and the TARDIS took off after their Doctor.
They might have caught up, but the TARDIS started slowing, her breathing growing labored.
"What's wrong?" Rose asked as the TARDIS stopped her, pulling her back toward a hunk of junk that looked a bit like a really old television without a screen or inner components.
The TARDIS sat on it.
"I wasn't made for all this running about. It's why I stay parked while you and he do all the saving." She replied, waving a hand in the direction the Doctor took off in.
Rose crouched down, noting the light sheen of sweat on the TARDIS's brow. She lifted her free hand to it. "You're burning up." She said.
"From the inside." She said with a nod.
Rose pursed her lips. She knew what that meant, had felt it herself a couple of times. She was caught between raging and weeping, wanting to lash out on the stupid asteroid who took the closest being she'd ever had to a sister and sentencing her to die in a body she didn't belong, and sobbing in the human TARDIS's lap for what she may lose. She heard the shuffle that was Auntie and Uncle, wondered briefly where the Ood was, but said nothing. They were a part of this, she was sure. They knew what was happening and allowed House to do it anyway. So she did her best to ignore them, clutching to the TARDIS's hand as she caught her breath.
"It's gone." The Doctor's voice startled Rose, having not heard him approach them again.
"Eaten?" The TARDIS asked worriedly.
"No, it left." He countered, and Rose turned to look at him. He was properly terrified and more than a bit worried.
"Wasn't emergency program one, then?" She asked.
He shook his head. "Hi-jacked."
"By who?" Rose asked.
"Well," Auntie said, getting their attention as she said down. "It's time for us both to go, and keep together."
"Whoa, go where?" The Doctor asked, darting over to her and Uncle where they sat a few feet away.
"Well, we're dying, my love. It's time for Auntie and Uncle to pop off." She said like it was obvious.
"I'm against it." Uncle said with a shrug.
"Why?" Rose asked, letting go of the TARDIS's hand before she marched toward them. "Why's he letting you die now 'stead of putting you back together?"
"House is gone. Can't keep us going if he's not here, can he, sweets?" She looked to the Doctor. "Your fault. You told House it was the last TARDIS. House can't feed on 'em if there's none more coming, can he?"
"So now he's off to your universe to find more TARDISes," Uncle added with a nonchalant shrug.
"It won't." The Doctor said.
"Jenny." Rose reminded him. "She's got a coral. For all we know, she's got a full grown one by now."
The Doctor opened his mouth to say something, but the thud of Auntie falling over stopped him.
"Actually, I feel fine." Uncle said, standing up only to fall over.
"No," Rose said, shaking her head. "No, this isn't good."
"We need to go where I landed, quickly." The TARDIS said behind them, and they turned to see her getting up.
"Why?" The Doctor asked as Rose and he moved to their fourth heart.
"Because we are there in three minutes," The TARDIS replied. "We need to go now!" She took off running then stopped short, clutching her side and bending over a bit. "Roughly how long do these bodies last?"
"Long enough to get you back to your proper one." Rose said with confidence as she came up to sooth the TARDIS's back.
"She's dying, you're dying." The Doctor said, his panic mounting.
"Yes, of course I am. I don't belong in a flesh body. I could blow the casing in no time." She retorted bitterly.
"Why don't I take you into me again?" Rose suggested.
The TARDIS shook her head. "Idris, the woman I'm in, had her mind and soul drained. It's how I was able to fit inside. I'm sorry, my little Wolf, it won't work like that."
"So we are stuck down what is essentially the plughole at the end of the universe on a stupid old junkyard?" The Doctor cursed, gripping his face as if it gave him some sort of tangible hold on the situation. It must have worked as his eyes lit up, and hope spike between he and Rose. "Oh."
"Oh, what?" Rose and the TARDIS said in unison.
"It's not a junkyard. It's a TARDIS junkyard." He said with mounting giddiness. "Come on, girls," He said, turning to head off then stopping short. "Sorry, probably the only time I'll get to ask. Do you have a name?"
The TARDIS looks to Rose with an eye roll. "First thing you asked me when you realized who I was. Takes him eight hundred years and a half hour to even realize I might have one."
"Well?" The Doctor asked.
"No. But I've heard you call me … Sexy." The TARDIS replied.
The Doctor's ears reddened as he visible swallowed and had a hard time meeting Rose's eye. "Only when we're alone." He said in a terrible attempt at whispering.
"That's a load of rubbish. Heard you call her that loads." Rose countered.
"Alright, fine." The Doctor said. "Come along, you sexy things you." He waved them along before darting off.
"Oi, not a thing." Rose yelled after him.
"It's practically impossible for him to see reason. Believe me, spent nearly a millennium trying to shock it into him." The TARDIS said with a sigh before taking Rose's hand and running with her after their Doctor.
~DWDWDW~
If there was one positive Rory could latch on to, it was that the moment the TARDIS took off on its own, Amy was a bit more herself. Her panic became real, her eyes became alive.
"Corridors, I have corridors." The deep, menacing voice that Rory knew as House said as he seemed to become more away of his new container. "So much to learn about my new home. But you haven't answered my question, children."
"Er, question? Rory asked, unsure at all what was going on anymore. Why had being on that asteroid affect only Amy? And how did the thing living inside the asteroid manage to get control of the blue box and move them away from it?
"You remember," House insisted. "Tell me why I shouldn't just kill you both now?"
"Well," Amy said, a slight tremor to her voice. "Because … Rory, why?" She asked, turned to him, lost and confused and more than a bit scared.
"Because … killing us quickly wouldn't be any fun." Rory realized, making sure he could emphasis the point as much as he could with his voice. "And you need fun, don't you? That's what Uncle and Auntie were for, wasn't it?" Someone to make suffer. Had a PE teacher just like you. You need to be entertained, and killing us quickly wouldn't be entertainment."
"So entertain me." House said. "Run."
A tighter grip on Amy's hand, Rory turned them around and started running down the corridors with his wife.
He hoped the Doctor would figure this all out, and soon. Because it felt like he had lost Amy and was just getting her back.
Rory didn't want to lose her again.
~DWDWDW~
"A valley of half-eaten TARDISES." The Doctor said as he looked down at what Rose now considered a grave yard. It was just old, abandon ship wrecks before. Now she could see it for what it was, what they were, and her heart broke for the woman beside her. "Are you two thinking what I'm thinking?" The Doctor asked, over cheerful.
"I'm thinking that all my sisters are dead. That they were devoured, and we are looking at their corpses."
His smile dropped. "Ah, sorry. No, I wasn't thinking that." He admitted.
"No, you were thinking you could build a working TARDIS console out of broken remnants of a hundred different models. And you don't care that it's impossible." The TARDIS retorted.
"Is it impossible?" Rose asked, looking between the two.
"Not impossible. Complicated. Bit dangerous. But Rory and Amy need us. So, regardless of the impossible, the complicated, the dangerous, we are going to do it. Three heads are better than one, so let's go." He said, mustering up a bit more enthusiasm before darting down the mound of scrap they were all standing on. Rose cringed as she watched him go, worried the whole time he'd fall. She let out the breath she was holding when he made it down to the bottom, and then helped guide the human TARDIS down as well.
They all worked to build the console. Rose, having no idea what she was looking for, would show the Doctor what she was seeing through their bond. He would highlight what was useful or needed, and she would collect the parts and bring them out to him. Between the three of them, it felt like their progress was going well.
"Bond the tube directly into the Tachyon Diverter." The TARDIS told the Doctor as Rose dragged a wall panel toward them by a rope. The TARDIS tapped something near where the Doctor was working on what looked like a mostly assembled control panel.
"Yes, yes. I have actually rebuilt a TARDIS before, you know. I know what I'm doing." He insisted as he finished what he was doing, then came over to give Rose a hand.
"You're like a nine-year-old trying to rebuild a motorbike in his bedroom." The TARDIS countered with exasperation, earning a snort from Rose. "And you never read the instructions." The TARDIS added on.
"I always read the instructions," The Doctor insisted.
"No you don't." Rose shook her head.
"Oi, whose side are you on, Rose Tyler. I do so follow instructions, and you know it." He said as they got the wall over to their console base.
The TARDIS put her hands on her hips. "There's a sign on my front door. You have been walking past it for eight hundred years. What does it say?" She asked.
The Doctor hesitated. "Those are not instructions."
"There's an instruction at the bottom. What does it say?" The TARDIS insisted.
"Pull to open." The Doctor grumbled.
"Yes, and what do you do?" She asked.
He rolled his eyes. "I push." He admitted.
"Every single time. Eight hundred years. Police Box doors open out of the way." She said.
"I push them." Rose reminded.
"Yes, but he taught you." The TARDIS countered.
"And I think I've earned the right to open my front doors any way I want." The Doctor yelled, as he hoisted the wall up and held it in place as Rose withdrew the sonic from his pocket and found the setting to fasten the panel to the edge of their console base.
"Your front doors? Do you have any idea how childish that sounds?" The TARDIS asked as she abandoned what she was doing to stomp over to the two of them.
"You are not my mother." The Doctor whined.
"And you are not my child." The TARDIS countered.
"Sound like an old married couple to me." Rose finished. She stood up and untied the rope wrapped around the wall panel.
"No, we do." The Doctor said.
"We do, you and she does, sure given enough time with her like this we'd be right there, too. You said yourself, three way commitment this." Rose said as she moved back toward the other wall panel they'd managed to collect and began tying the rope around it.
"She's right, of course. Our Wolf usually is about these sorts of things." The TARDIS sided with Rose.
"Right yes, of course. And since we are talking with mouths here, I just want to say that you have not been very reliable."
"And you have?" The TARDIS countered.
"You didn't always take me, or us, where we wanted to go." He said.
"No, but I always took you where you needed to go." The TARDIS said much more calmly.
Rose turned away from her task to look over her shoulder at the pair. The Doctor smiled slowly, and the TARDIS was already beaming.
"You did." The Doctor relented. "Look at us. Talking. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could always talk? Even when you're inside the box?"
"You know I'm not constructed that way." She said with an eye roll. "I exist across all space and time, and you talk and run around, and bring home strays." She fell, and the Doctor caught her.
Rose abandoned the rope all together to see how she could help.
"You alright?" She asked, touching the TARDIS's cheek and feeling the fever rising.
"One of the kidneys has already failed. It doesn't matter, we need to finish assembling the console."
"Using the console without a proper shell will be dangerous." The Doctor said to her.
"This body has eighteen minutes to live. The Universe we're in will reach Absolute Zero in three hours. Safe is relative." The TARDIS countered.
"Alright, let's get going." Rose said. "Got the other wall ready. Can get most of them up before we need to rush it, yeah?"
The Doctor nodded, and the two worked double time as the TARDIS seemed to be out of commission, sitting on nearby piece of junk.
They assembled most of the walls and a roof before the Doctor abandoned that heavy lifting to get a central column. Rose found something to make a half wall, one they could hop over and get inside. A little extra protection at least. Once the time router was installed, and everything seemed ready to go, the TARDIS came over and inspected it.
"Will work much better than when you built it yourself." She commented, allowing the Doctor to lift her over the half wall first.
"When did I do that?" He asked as he set her down and then moved to help Rose.
"You didn't. But you would have still." The TARDIS replied. "This is always meant to happen, was always meant. Either way, regardless of how your life would have turned out, you were always meant to do this. I see that now. That's amazing. And sad. Do you wonder why I chose you all those years ago?" She asked the Doctor as he set Rose down on her feet.
"I chose you, you were unlocked," He replied as he hopped over the wall, caught his foot on the edge, and gracefully rolled into the console.
"Of course I was. I wanted to see the universe, so I stole a Time Lord and I ran away." She countered.
"Really are the same, aren't we?" Rose said, giving the TARDIS's hip a little bump.
The Doctor looked between the two women. "Maybe it's best we don't talk with mouths all the time. Would be like having two wives."
The TARDIS turned to Rose and winked.
"Okay," The Doctor dragged out the word. He clapped his hands together and moved to the console, Rose following to roughly where she'd normally be herself. "Let's go. Follow that TARDIS!" He said with great enthusiasm before throwing the switch.
Nothing happened except for a few sparks.
He tried again, but had the same results.
"What are we forgetting?" Rose asked.
"Nothing, we aren't missing anything, it's just not holding the charge. We've got nothing." He said with frustration, pulling at his hair.
"Oh our beautiful idiot." The TARDIS said with affection. "You have what you've always had. You've got me." She kissed her finger tips, her eyes glowing gold as some of her essence was released. She placed her hands on the router, and the console dematerialized with a violent jolt.
~DWDWDW~
She knew House was messing with her head, even if she felt as though she'd only just gotten it back. She knew that the Rory who leaned against the wall with gray hair and along beard likely wasn't the real one. Logically. But logic wasn't working for her right now.
"How long have you been here?" She dared to ask him.
"I don't know." He said. "I stopped counting after the fifth decade. You left me, you always leave me. I can't trust that you'll ever stay, can I?" He growled, banging his head against the wall behind him.
"I didn't mean to." Amy insisted. "I didn't mean to, I'm sorry."
He got up and stormed toward her, and Amy moved backward. "They come for me at night," He said. "Every single night, they come for me, and they hurt me. Like you do. Over and over."
"Rory," She whimpered, clutching her stomach.
"How could you leave me? How could you do that to me" He demanded.
She didn't answer. Before she could, Amy fell through a door and into another corridor. This one line with slurs, all about her. Appearing as those written in blood, words like "hate", "kill", and "die" were all followed by her name. And those terrifying words led her down the hall, around a corner, and to a skeleton dressed in her husband's clothes.
As she fell to her knees by the corpse, she knew it wasn't real. Logically, there wasn't any way her husband could already be dead. Time was different on the TARDIS, but there was no way it could run faster for one of its inhabitants than another.
"Amy?" Rory's voice pulled her from the illusion, making her turn to see him behind her. She got to her feet, ran to him, held him, felt his firm body in her grasp and reveled in it's warmth. He took her face in both hands, forced her to look at him. "It's messing with out heads." He reminded her. "Come on, run."
And with his hand in hers again, they ran.
~DWDWDW~
"We've locked on to them," The TARDIS shouted as the winds rushed past and the sound of the engines nearly blocked out any other noise. "They'll have to lower the shields when I'm close enough to phase inside."
"Can you get a message to Amy?" He asked. "The telepathic circuits are online."
"Which one's Amy? The pretty one?" The TARDIS asked, and the Doctor nodded. She shifted her palms, and Rose watched as mental signature came up. The hologram looked like a blue call of energy, though there were lines around it like bits of string.
"What's wrong?" The echoed voice of Amy came through, and the Doctor darted over beside the TARDIS, about to say something.
"It's like …," Rory's voice came through much louder. "I'm getting a message?"
"Hello, pretty!" The TARDIS greeted.
"What the hell is that?" Rory's voice asked, and Rose watched as the signature danced and vibrated with each word.
"Telepathic messaging, don't worry. And that's Rory."
"Who's sorta pretty," Rose said, earning a pout from the Doctor. "You said the pretty one, she's gonna assume you mean the man who has the same nose you once had, yeah?" She reminded him. The Doctor straightened his bow tie and moved away from the TARDIS as she continued to her communication with Rory.
"You have to go to the old control room. I'm putting the route in your head," She explained, projecting her voice to be heard through the noise though didn't shout. "When you get there, use the purple slider on the nearest panel to lower the shields. You'll have about twelve seconds before the room goes into phase with the invading Matrix. I'll send you the passkey when you get there. Good luck." She ended the communication for the time being.
"How's he going to be able to take down the shields anyway? There aren't any old control rooms, they were all deleted or remodeled." The Doctor asked.
"I archive them for neatness." The TARDIS replied. "I've got about thirty now."
"But I've only changed the desktop, what, a dozen times?" He countered.
"So far, yes."
"Blimey, how often does he change the bloody console?" Rose asked.
"He'll go through a phase." The TARDIS said as if it was an endearing yet annoy future trait.
"Just keep this up." The Doctor said. "We'll worry about my future remodeling tendencies later."
"They're there!" The TARDIS announced.
"That was quick." The Doctor replied.
"Time is relative." She countered before bringing up Rory's mental signature again. "Crimson, eleven, delight, petrichor." She said, shutting off the message and gripping the console with both hands, eyes closed.
"You alright, Old Girl?" Rose asked.
The TARDIS nodded, seeming to focus. Whether on keeping herself alive, or trying to sense her proper body, Rose wasn't sure and she didn't dare ask.
After a few beats, she opened her eyes and worked to establish another connection to Rory. "They did it, shields are down." She informed them before Rory's mental signature popped back up. "We're coming through. Get out of the way, or you'll be atomized." She warned him.
"Where are you coming through?" He asked.
"I don't know." She replied honestly, disconnecting him once more. "Alright, let's get inside. The shields won't hold."
The Doctor nodded, and he and Rose worked in tandem to phase inside the proper box. The grinding of the engines wasn't the familiar one Rose knew, but it was enough to allow her to breathe easier when the old, coral grunge console began to appear around them.
Amy and Rory were both pressed to the far side of the old console room, and when they full materialized, they seemed to breathe a sigh of relief before rushing over to them. Amy embraced the Doctor, Rory doing the same with Rose over the half wall.
"Not good," The TARDIS said, getting their attention. She stumbled, and the Doctor ran over and scooped her up. "Not good at all. How do you walk in these things?" She asked.
"We're not quite there yet, just hold on." He said, carrying her over to the half wall and handing her to Rory. Once the TARDIS was secure in Rory's hold, the Doctor climbed over and took her again.
Rose pulled herself over the half wall, moving to the TARDIS and touching her head. She pulled her hand back.
"We're helping the bitey lady?" Amy asked, more confused than anything.
"She's the TARDIS," Rose told her.
"She's the TARDIS?" Amy repeated incredulously.
Rose nodded, wanting to explain more, when she felt a presence around them.
"The environment has been breached. Nephew, kill them all." A deep voice Rose hadn't heard before filled the room.
"Who's that?" She said, looking around.
"It's house. The, umm, asteroid." Rory explained. "But where's Nephew?"
"He was standing right where the materialized." Amy pointed to the thrown together console.
"Ah," The Doctor said. "Well, he must have been redistributed.
"Meaning?" Rory asked.
The Doctor winched. "You're breathing him." He sighed as the rest of them grimaced. "Another Ood I failed to save."
"Doctor, I did not expect you." House, as Rory called him, noted with a touch of surprise.
"Well, that's me all over, isn't it? Lovely old, unexpected me."
"The big question is, now you're that you're here, how to dispose of you. I could play with gravity…." He suggested, and suddenly Rose and the rest of the room was on the floor. She tried to get up, but it felt as if she were pushing back against a hundred tons of pressure. Until suddenly, it wasn't like that, and everyone got up except for the TARDIS. Rose reached out a hand, feeling the moisture on the human TARDIS's skin. Rory joined her at the TARDIS's side, trying to help soothe her as best he could.
"Or," House said, "I could evacuate the air from this room and watch you choke."
The air was gone. It was a sensation Rose was too familiar with, struggling for a lungful when there was nothing to get. It was the worst way to die, the most painful, and her heart began to pound at the prospect.
"You really don't want to do that," The Doctor, his respiratory bypass quite obviously in used, hissed at House.
Just as spots started to appear before Rose's eyes, she finally inhaled that wonderful gulp of air she was fighting for.
"Why shouldn't I just kill you now?" House asked.
"Because then I won't be able to help you. Listen to your engines…." The Doctor continued to argue with the presence around them, but Rose tuned him out to focus on the TARDIS.
"The only water in the forest is the river." She mumbled.
"It's okay, Sweetheart." She soothed, stroking the TARDIS's hair.
"The only … water. Water."
"Doctor, she's burning up. She's asking for water." Rory said over his shoulder.
A moment later the Doctor appeared beside Rose, stroking the TARDIS's face. "Hey, hang in there, Old Girl. Not long now. It'll be over soon." He promised, kissing her brow before getting up and moving away from them.
"I always like it when you call me … Old Girl." She said.
"We'll remember that, promise." Rose swore. "Call you that all the time, we will."
"Already do." She said with a gentle smile, eyes falling shut.
There was a bright flash, and Rose had to blink to get her eyes to readjust.
She also really wished she'd been paying attention. They were back in the proper console room, though she wasn't entirely sure how. It was dark except for a lime green glow that reminded her a bit too much of villains in Disney films.
"Yes, you can delete the room, and kill us that way, but it won't work." The Doctor said to the dark room. "Hardwired fail-safe. Living things from the rooms that are deleted automatically deposited in the main control room. But thanks for the lift."
"We are in your universe now, Doctor. Why should it matter to me in which room you die? I can kill you just as easily here as anywhere. Fear me, I've killed hundreds of Time Lords." House said.
"Fear me, I've killed them all." The Doctor countered.
"The only water in the forest is the river." The TARDIS repeated softly, her voice failing. "Remember that, both of you. You'll need to know."
"Yeah, you're right, you've completely won." The Doctor said as the TARDIS tried to speak. "You've completely won. Oh, you can kill us in oodles of really inventive ways. But before you do kill us, allow me and my wife, and our friends to congratulate you properly."
"What are you doing? She's dying!" Rose hissed at him through their bond as he moved to pull Amy to her feet.
"Trust me." He encouraged.
So Rose stood with her husband, applauded. "Bravo." She said as Amy cheerfully cried, "Congratulations."
"Yep, you defeated me, and my wife, and our lovely friends here at last." The Doctor said as if he was humbled. "But definitely not least the TARDIS Matrix herself, a living consciousness you ripped out of this very control room and locked up in a human body, and look at her." He gestured to the still body of the TARDIS.
"Doctor, she's not breathing." Rory worried.
"Enough!" House demanded as Amy went to where the TARDIS's human form lay.
"No, it's never enough." The Doctor yelled. "You forced the TARDIS into a body so she'd burn out safely a very long way away from his control room. A flesh body can't hold the TARDIS Matrix and live. Look at her body, House." He instructed, gesturing to her.
"And you think I should mourn her?" House asked.
There was a tickle in Rose's mind, and she was only able to stop he gasp with a sharp intake of breath as that one presence missing was suddenly back at the edge of her consciousness.
"No," The Doctor shook his head. "I think you should be very, very careful about what you lit back in to this control room." He said as a golden glow grew behind Rose. A rail of energy circled her, circled him, and then made its way through the console room. It touched nearly every point of the console, entered every nook and cranny, washing away that villainous green glow. "You took her from her home," The Doctor said. "But now she's back in the box. And she's free."
"No!" House protested. "Doctor, stop this. Stop this now." He continued to demand, pain in his voice.
"Oh I hardly think you have the right to make demands." Rose said to the ceiling where a little green light lingered. "You caused her pain, you tried to destroy her. You murdered countless of her sisters, and destroyed the last of her family. You do not have the right to beg for mercy." She sneered.
"Make it stop!" House demanded, his agony clear.
"Finish him off, girl." The Doctor said, pride for the TARDIS and disgust for House sounding much like the Oncoming Storm.
House groaned in pain, trying to get in the last words before the last bit of green was replaced by a delicate gold glow. The room was silent then, and Rose could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Doctor, Rose, are you there?" The TARDIS's human voice asked, and the two turned to see a hologram of her hovering where the body had been before disappearing. "It's so very dark in here."
"We're here." The Doctor said as he and Rose approached her.
"I've been looking for a word. A big, complicated word, but so sad. I've found it now."
"What is it?" The Doctor asked, putting his arm around Rose and pulling her head to his shoulder.
"Alive." The TARDIS said. "I'm alive!"
"'S not so sad." Rose said, eyes tearing up as she realized this would be the last time they'd likely talk like this.
"It's sad when it's over." The TARDIS replied. "But this is when we talked, and now even that has come to an end. There's something I didn't get to say to either of you."
"Goodbye?" The Doctor choked out.
"No, I just wanted to say hello. Hello, Doctor. Hello, Rose. It's so very, very nice to meet you both."
"We love you." Rose managed to say. "Know that, yeah?"
The TARDIS smiled a sad smile. "I love you both." She said just as she faded away.
The Doctor pulled Rose more firmly to him as the console room lit up with her normal splendor.
~DWDWDW~
Rory came out into the console room just after Rose had returned herself with a mug in each hand. She sat them on the jumpseat, turning to Rory with a smile. "How's Amy?"
"Good." He said. "She's quite knackered. Know she wasn't quite herself today but she can't really explain why. Figure, maybe, she's just tired, is all." He said as the Doctor came up stairs.
Rose pursed her lips and nodded, not wanting to mention the discussion she and Amy had back in Mercy just yet.
"You two find your bedroom okay?" The Doctor asked as he wiped his hands on a yellow rag. "TARDIS likely rebuilt all the rooms shortly after she was back in control."
"Yeah," Rory said with a nod. "Everything back the way it was, just a couple small things out of place." He sighed, going to the rail and running his hand over it. "Something the TARDIS said, though. She said, 'the only water in the forest in the river.' Said we'd have to remember that. It doesn't make sense, does it?"
The Doctor frowned, then grinned. "Not yet."
Rory nodded.
"You alright?" Rose asked, noticing he was a bit more distant than normal.
"No," He admitted. "I watched her die. I shouldn't let it get to me, but it still does. I feel like I could have done more to save her, to stabilize her."
"Nothing you could have done to save her." The Doctor said, moving to put a hand on Rory's shoulder. "But letting it get to you? That's called being alive. Best thing there is."
"Right." Rory nodded. There was a gentle hum of reassurance and warmth, the lights dimming a touch. "What was that?" He asked.
"The TARDIS trying to reassure you." Rose said, turning and picking up both mugs from the jumpseat before slowly sitting down. "She knows you care, Rory. She appreciated it."
Rory gave a bit of a grin to that. "Well, I'm going to go back tend to Amy, make sure she's alright. Goodnight." He said with a wave as he turned away.
"No nights on the TARDIS, Rory." The Doctor countered as he sat down beside Rose, taking his mug from her. If Rory had anything to say to that, neither of them heard.
After Rory's footsteps had faded, Rose took a sip of tea and stared at the light brown liquid. "Did the TARDIS manage to finish her scan of Amy before this whole mess with House happened?"
"Yes," The Doctor said, staring off into the distance. "Inconclusive. Pregnant, but not. I think I know what it means, but I need to research a bit more." He said, turning to her with an apologetic grin. "Not going to be spending much time in bed with you."
Rose shrugged. "Never wanted to share you with anyone. But the one woman I do have to, love her nearly as much as I love you." She said, feeling the nudge of affection from the TARDIS. "Pair of you can spend some quiet time together figuring this out."
"I'll stay with you until fall asleep." He promised, kissing her on the top of her head.
Rose hummed happily. So did the TARDIS, and the three remained quiet, merely enjoying each other's presence until they had to return to the hectic ways of their daily lives.
A/N: Thank you to all the readers, favoriters, followers, and reviewers.
Darkelvoriplorellion Tyler, pyro-pixichik, BadWolfGirl, DuShuZhi, Eagle Hawke, annabehfan15, Vallora (I'm not done with Tim yet, not by a long shot), and TheKitchenMistress.
Thank you all for leaving word as always.
An original coming up next. 2 parts, and then, well, it's a none original.
Until next post.