Author's Notes: Lindisfarne (and Holy Island) is a real place, and descriptions of the castle, priory and general orientation of the island are based on memory and a bit of research. However, while I visited the island once in the past, I do not know any of the inhabitants. All characters appearing in this story are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Disclaimer: This story takes place within the Doctor Who universe. This story is a way of re-interpreting concepts and ideas already present in Doctor Who. All Doctor Who characters within belong to the BBC. All other characters are fictitious. This story is for fun and for sharing, but not for profit.


Chapter 4: Only Partly Human


That evening, Rose began to pack their clothes.

'We never had a chance to wear much of this stuff,' she said. 'I shouldn't have bothered to go shopping. We're just going to have to lug all this out of here tomorrow.'

Ten shrugged. He picked up a hand mirror and turned it over, looking at it critically. 'Nice degree of magnification on this side,' he said. 'Why did you buy this? There's a perfectly good mirror in the loo.'

'That's outside,' she said patiently. 'I'm not going to go all the way out there if I just want to brush my hair.'

He shrugged again and looked at himself. He smoothed his hand over his own hair. Suddenly he stopped. 'Hang on.' He frowned and peered into the mirror. Then he flipped the mirror back to the convex side. He scowled.

'What is it?' She put down the sweater she was folding and moved to his side.

'What's this?' he muttered. He fingered a strand.

'That's a grey hair,' said Rose in disbelief. 'You have a grey hair.' She thought for a moment. 'Have you ever had grey hair?'

'A full head of it,' he answered, still staring at his reflection. 'Twice.' He fiddled a bit with the strand so that the single, offending hair lay between his finger and thumb. 'I didn't think I'd start having grey hair this time so soon though.' He gave a sharp tug and brought his hand down in front of his face.

'You pulled it out!' She stared at him. 'One itty, bitty hair and you pulled it out. Is that vanity?'

'Vanity?' he echoed, affronted. 'It didn't match, I'll have you know.'

'Of course.' Rose grinned and rolled her eyes. 'Gotta make sure you match!'

Ten grinned back, but then he turned away and dropped her mirror onto the bed. He snatched up two blankets. 'I'll be outside. Come out when you're ready.'

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Rose found Ten sprawled on his back on a blanket on the grassy slope of the hill. The walls of the castle soared above him to his left. At his feet passed the path that climbed the hill to approach the castle. On the other side of the path wound a waist-high wooden fence that protected passers-by from a drop to the rocky shore below. Over the fence and across the water, the sun had set some time earlier on the north-west horizon, leaving a muted glow that blended into gradations of deepening blue.

'So, tell me again why we're here and not on the roof?' she asked. Out of breath, she flopped down on her stomach beside him and propped herself up on her folded arms.

'One, it's more sheltered here. Two, I thought right from the beginning that this would be a nice spot to stargaze. Any light pollution from Bamburgh or even Newcastle will be blocked by the castle. And, three, the NATS came here last night, remember? Right here. Handy, that. Right where I wanted to stargaze.'

'Right.'

'Yep,' he said. 'Only for a short time, though. I wonder if they usually pop in and out or if they linger.'

'So far,' Rose mused, 'we've only seen the NATS. No monsters Betty talked about.'

He shrugged. 'Could be hysteria. Reacting to the unknown. Villagers' exaggeration. Who knows? You humans love to embellish your stories.'

She pushed him playfully. 'You're human too. You insist on forgetting that. Must be very convenient!'

Ten sniffed. 'Still Gallifreyan by upbringing. And only part human.'

She laughed. 'That dignity thing doesn't work anymore, Doctor. Sorry.'

He let out an exaggerated sigh and worked an arm around her shoulders. She wriggled up against him and rested her head against his chest. A single heart rhythm beat gently in her ear. 'Ah, well,' he said. 'It was worth a try.'

The breeze from over the water ruffled Rose's hair and she shivered. With his other arm, Ten worked the spare blanket and then his coat over them both.

'Mmm,' she breathed. 'That's better. Helps you're not the ice block you used to be. Bit warmer, cuddlier.'

'M-hm,' he agreed. 'I like cuddly.' He paused. 'Did you know that gnats-the bugs, that is-come out around dusk in swarms and are called "ghosts"?'

She twisted her neck to look up at him. 'Really?'

'Usually,' he continued, 'they are males wanting to mate.'

She giggled. 'Wonder if the alien NATS just want to mate with helpless Earth females.'

Ten made a sound somewhere between a snort and a guffaw.

'What was that?' She raised her eyebrows. 'Should I, helpless Earth female, be worried?

He quirked an eyebrow. 'Would you like to be worried?' His voice was low and his breath tickled through her hair.

'Terribly!' she whispered. 'But... not here.' She paused. 'With our luck-George would arrive just at the wrong moment.'

'Hmm,' he said and pouted just a little. 'Good point. I'll stay a friendly gnat then. Safe. Not swarming. Pity. I'd rather like to swarm. Don't swarm enough, I've sometimes thought.'

Rose giggled and then, turning solemn, reached up and stroked his jawline. 'If you're a good gnat this evening, then maybe later tonight...'

She suddenly felt, beneath her ear, Ten's breath suddenly catch.

'Really?' he asked with a note of awe. 'You... you would-I mean-I... that's okay? You'd let me-'

'More than okay,' she said firmly, raising herself on one elbow.

He stared up at her, eyes wide and an indescribable expression on his face. He raised his arm and ran his fingers gently over her cheek, as if in wonder.

'Very okay,' she whispered and she bent her head downward and softly grazed her lips over his, warmth to warmth. But before he could respond, she laid her finger over his lips for just a second, and murmured, 'Later.'

He made a sound, somewhere between a muted whine and a growl, but, accepting her direction, he tightened his arm around her when she snuggled back down against his chest.

'Wonder if we'll see a ghost tonight,' he said after a bit.

'Dunno. Show me some stars.'

Ten laughed happily. 'All right.' He brought his left hand out from under the blanket and pointed to a very faint, almost imperceptible path of stars meandering across the sky. 'Not very bright, it'll get a little better later, but there's the-'

'Milky Way,' said Rose.

'A ha! Good! Then, tell me... what are those stars? I mentioned them yesterday.'

Rose pondered. 'Viga?'

'Vega. Good. The other two?'

'Denby?'

'A dinner plate? Not quite. Deneb.'

'Right. And... um...'

'Altair.' He pointed out each star in turn. 'Vega, Deneb and Altair. See how the Milky Way separates Vega and Altair? In Japan, they believe that those stars were two lovers, Orihime and Hikoboshi, who were separated by the great river. Mind you, there's a similar story on almost every inhabited planet in this part of the galaxy. Not that that is that many planets,' he mused, 'given that to maintain the same perspective of those two exact stars being divided by that arm of the galaxy would mean that only a narrow corridor of stars and planets radiating outward from this section of the outer band with those two stars in similar positions could... Well, that's not strictly true. There are other locations in other parts of the galaxy with two bright stars that straddle...'

'Tell me the story,' interrupted Rose.

'Oh! Well, they could only meet once a year on the seventh day of the seventh month. Of course, I could never really understand why they just didn't build a boat to cross to the other side. Or if they had any sense of engineering, built a bridge. A simple suspension bridge would be easy. They could even swim, though I suppose if the river was fast or had rapids, that might be tricky. Of course-'

'Seventh day and month,' she said. 'July 7th. That was just last week, wasn't it?'

He nodded. 'Five days ago.'

'Five days,' mused Rose. 'We were on that moon by the sea with Eleven.'

'No, we weren't,' he objected. 'That was in the 55th century. We were ahead in time. Now we've returned.'

'You know what I mean,' she grumbled. 'Besides, Eleven said that he brought us forward a week to give Martha some time to get stuff ready for us. So, it's been a week. And we were on Earth-time before that, during your trial.'

'All right,' he said amiably. 'Last week, it was. Relatively speaking, of course.'

'Of course,' she whispered.

The sound of crunching gravel came to their ears, getting louder.

'Whoops,' said Ten and he sat up. The blanket fell away, leaving Rose to shiver from the sudden chill. 'We have company. Our stalwart villager, I believe.' He leaned back on his arms and regarded the approaching villager with mild curiosity.

Rose scrambled to her feet. George was indeed approaching, making his way up the sloped pathway, pausing once or twice to look over the waist-high, wooden railing to the drop down to the rocky shore below.

'Hm!' he said when he reached them. 'Been waiting long?'

'Not long,' she said. She tapped Ten's shoulder hard and he looked up at her with a puzzled expression. 'Get up, silly,' she murmured.

'Ah,' he said and he jumped to his feet. 'Good to see you. George, is it?'

'That's right,' George responded. He looked down at the blankets. 'Camped out, I see. Have the NATS appeared here?'

'Yep,' said Ten and he bounced on the balls of his feet. 'Right here. Last night. I'm hoping they might choose this spot again tonight. Has anyone actually seen them appear? As opposed to coming across them already there?'

'Last night, when you came.' George tilted his head. 'Though that's the first time they've attacked anyone.'

'I'm not sure that was an attack,' Ten murmured.

'What else would you call it?' George objected. 'They swarmed around her and pushed her to the ground. You can't call that friendly.'

'There was no harm done,' Ten said. 'Maybe they were curious.'

'No harm? She was terrified!'

Ten held up his hands. 'Right. Okay. Yes, she was terrified. But let's not jump to conclusions.' He took a few steps across the path and sat on the top rail of the fence. 'We don't know their intent.'

'Hm,' said George. He turned to gaze up at the castle walls behind them and picked his way around the blankets. He placed his hand on the rocky base. Rose followed him but then, for some reason she looked behind her.

'What's that?' she hissed. A small luminescence began to shimmer into being. Hovering over the path, it rapidly grew. Within the expanding cloud of light, a multitude of rapidly jiggling, glimmering points could clearly be seen. George turned around and froze.

'Wo-hoah!' crowed Ten in delight. He leaned forward, though he stayed on the wooden rail and made no sudden moves. 'We have visitors!' A big grin lit his features. His eyebrows were raised and eyes were wide. 'Oh, my beauties. Look at you!'

'Be careful,' snapped George. 'You don't know what it can do.'

'Maybe not,' Ten said, still staring raptly at the cloud, 'but they don't know about us either, I imagine!'

'Still,' said Rose, 'it doesn't hurt to-'

'Time,' he whispered. 'These are definitely time creatures. Absolutely! It's coming off them in waves. So strong... so beautiful. So brilli-'

But at that moment, the cloud seemed to gather itself and then, suddenly, shot towards Ten, surrounding him, buffeting him.

'Woah! Wait...' he yelped. He rocked backward.

'No!' cried Rose. She jumped down onto the path, but, before she rush to his defence, the portion of railing gave way under the sudden stress. With a tearing, cracking sound, it, Ten, and the cloud of NATS tumbled back and over the cliff, crashing down onto the rocks below.

'Doctor!' screamed Rose, and she ran to the edge of the cliff. Her heart felt as if it were hammering in her chest. Fearfully, she looked over as George joined her.

Ten lay on his back on the rocks, head toward the cliff, with limbs flung outward. The NATS still swarmed around him, covering every part of him. His body glowed from their light.

'Doctor,' sobbed Rose. Panic overwhelming her, she swung her legs over the edge.

'Don't be an idiot,' snapped George and he hauled her back up, his hands under her armpits. 'You'll fall too, and who knows what those things will do to you.'

Rose squirmed out of his grasp and looked around her. A hundred feet away from the castle, the path dropped closer to the shore. She began to run. Behind her, George gathered up the blankets and then followed her. She climbed over the fence and down the small grassy slope to the shore. She began to pick her way back towards Ten.

The boulders were difficult to climb over. Smaller rocks between them shifted under her weight and more than once she stumbled, nearly falling. Clumps of seaweed left behind by the tide slimed some of the surfaces and her feet slipped. Her breath rasped in her ears, and her hands shook so hard that she found it difficult to steady herself against the edges of the boulders.

'Hang on, Doctor. Hang on!' she whimpered.

She looked up and suddenly stopped. Bending over Ten's body was a dark shape. The NATS swirled in confusion around it. A dark limb reached out and touched Ten's face.

'Hey,' Rose screamed. She scrambled forward again. 'Hey!' The lack of breath didn't allow her to say anything more. She was half-way there. Another stone shifted and her foot dropped into the gap. She gasped and fought for a minute to free herself.

'Get away from him!' she yelled. Finally the foot was free. Furious and upset, she climbed onto the biggest boulder nearby and jumped to the next one. It rocked slightly, but fear propelled her forward and she jumped to another. The tops were dry and untouched by seaweed. She jumped again, faster and faster, uncaring of the rocks and sand shifting under the boulders.

The dark shape seemed to look up and register an angry Rose hurtling towards it. It straightened and touched something at waist-height. There was a brief flash of multicoloured light and both it and the NATS disappeared.

A few seconds later, Rose reached Ten. She dropped to his side. He was lying across a jumble of rocks, his back unnaturally arched from a small boulder underneath it. His left leg lay at an odd angle and there was a lot of blood soaking through the jeans. His head lay on a flattish rock, cushioned by a clump of seaweed.

'Doctor,' she cried urgently. She felt under his head with her fingers, though she knew not to move him. Her hand came away sticky with blood.

Ten groaned and his eyelids fluttered open.

'Don't move,' she warned.

He didn't move, but instead looked at her, panic in his eyes. 'I can't,' he whispered. 'I-I can't feel my legs.'

Trembling, Rose gently cupped his face in her hands. 'Just look at me, all right. Just look at me, okay?'

He swallowed and made as if to nod, but the movement was a mistake and he gasped.

'Don't move!' she snapped, and she began to gently press her hands over his body. She knew to leave the oddly-bent leg alone, but she cautiously felt over the other limbs.

He stared at her, his chest rising and falling jerkily with his panicked gulps of air.

'You have a broken leg,' Rose whispered. 'You must have a concussion-the back of your head is bleeding. Lots of cuts. And...'

'And...' he hissed. His teeth were clenched against the pain.

She took his right hand and held it hard. 'I think your back is broken. And you're lying across a rock...'

He closed his eyes tightly. 'Yeah. Think you're right.' His fingers curled around hers and gripped tightly.

At that moment, George arrived, puffing from the exertion.

'Bloody hell,' he said, looking at Ten. 'Here. Let's get you covered. Don't want you getting cold.' He took the blankets he had snatched before descending and he covered Ten, tucking the edges around his neck. 'We've got to get the doctor.'

'I'm not leaving him,' objected Rose. 'He can't be left alone.' She still clung to his hand.

'I'll go,' George assured her. 'My car is at the end of the path by the gate.' He turned and scrambled back the way he came. Rose watched him to make sure he safely traversed the rocks and then looked down at Ten. His breaths were gasps now, and his face was contorted by pain.

'I 'spose it's stupid to say "try to relax",' Rose whispered.

'Yeah,' he agreed. His fingers once again clenched around hers. 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I don't think I...'

'Don't you dare,' she hissed.

'No, no. I have to say it. It's not fair.' He inhaled sharply and gasped from the exertion. 'It's not fair to you. I'm such a bloody idiot.'

'Shhh,' murmured Rose and she stroked his cheek with her free hand. 'Keep your strength.'

'I can't,' he whispered. 'I don't think I... I'm too... I'd've started regenerating by now if...if I were still fully Time Lord.' He gasped again. His fingers twitched against hers and then went slack. Slowly, his eyes closed.

'Hang on, Doctor,' Rose snapped. 'Don't you dare give up. You hear me? You can do it.'

There was no answer.

'Doctor? Stay with me!' she cried. 'Don't go!'

A stray breeze picked up and tugged at Ten's fringe, brushing it over his forehead. But otherwise he was utterly still.

'Doctor,' she sobbed. She chafed his hand in hers. 'No... Please... Don't...'

Despairing, she looked wildly around her, but George was gone, the sound of his car already having faded. There was no mobile in her pocket, and there were no boats in the inlet. She was utterly alone. Tears came and she bent over Ten, her forehead just touching his chest. 'Don't leave me,' she whispered.

She fumbled at his neck, pressing with the tips of her fingers. It seemed to take forever to find it, but finally she did-a fast, weak pulse. A second later, however, she snatched her hand back and stared. Wisps of golden light drifted over Ten's face.

'Wha...?' Rose backed away. She looked down at his hands. They shimmered, as if gold flowed within and under his skin.

'But you can't,' she whimpered. 'He said!'

The golden light gathered in the dark and played about in wisps and curls. From and within the glow, Rose could see his face illuminated like some beautiful painting.

Rose held her breath, for, any moment now, that light must surely pour out of him in an explosion of energy.

Ten was regenerating.

To be continued