Chapter Nineteen

"Get behind me." The Doctor said to the three women.

He glared at Triton as he came forward. Instinctively, his hand reached back to Rose's side shielding her from danger. Triton stopped and stared at her in shock.

"She's been restored." He said in awe.

"Yes, no thanks to you." The Doctor spat out.

"But…how?"

The Doctor hesitated a moment. He decided that the Bad Wolf should remain a secret between the four of them.

"I restored her." He said.

Rose glanced up at him, but said nothing, understanding what he was doing.

Triton stared at him.

"How did you do this?" he asked.

The Doctor smiled at him.

"I'm clever." He said.

"Tell me how you did it."

"It doesn't matter how I did it, what matters is Rose is her old self again."

He gritted his teeth.

"And by Rassilon, I dare you to harm her again." He said balling his fist up.

"Wait, Doctor, I did not come here to fight." Triton said holding up his hand. "I wish to make amends for what I did."

The Doctor unclenched his fist, but he still looked at him warily.

"Go on," he said. "Talk, I'm listening."

"I was wrong, Doctor. I harmed an innocent woman because I wanted revenge for what you did to our world, but what I did was just as bad as your destruction."

The Doctor said nothing.

"We Arcadians are not evil, Doctor." Triton insisted.

"I never said you were, if you were evil I never would have tried to protect your planet." The Doctor replied. "And I understand how you feel, I really do. But, what you did to Rose was unconscionable. Making an innocent woman suffer doesn't solve anything."

"I realize that now, Doctor." Triton replied. "I hope that she can forgive me. I was blinded by my lust for vengeance as all my people were. It took my brother to bring me to my senses. He could see what I could not. That revenge only breeds more revenge that continues on and on in a vicious never-ending cycle."

The Doctor nodded.

"Which is why I choose not to take revenge and believe me, I have lots of reasons to take it. My lives have been filled with more injustices than I can count, but I decided long ago to just walk away and move on because if I decided to get back at everyone who has ever wronged me, I wouldn't have any kind of a life. Which is what is happening to you and your people. You are caught in the hatred of the past and by choosing to obsess on it instead of letting it go, you are letting the past rule your future. I'm not making light of anything that happened in the Time War, but don't you think all that time you spent hunting me down could have put to better use rebuilding your homes and your families? Your people are smarter than this, Triton. Let go of petty grudges and rebuild your civilization back to its former glory."

Triton nodded.

"You are right, Time Lord. That is exactly what we will do. We have spent too long seeking retribution. Our race is dying out. It is time to settle down and rebuild our lives."

The Doctor smiled.

"Then, I wish you and your people all the best." He said. "All of you deserve a second chance, go and take back what the Daleks stole from you. Let the Arcadian empire live again."

Triton smiled and nodded. He looked at Rose.

"I hope you will forgive me, Rose Tyler, I had no right to do that to you."

"I forgive you." Rose replied. "I don't hold any grudges either."

Triton smiled and nodded.

"And now, Doctor, I must take my leave. I wanted to find you to apologize and restore Rose Tyler to normal, but I see that's already been taken care of."

"Yup, little ol me sorted that part out." The Doctor said.

"Will you tell me how you did it?"

"Nah, I don't like giving away my secrets. Time Lord secrecy and all that."

Triton nodded.

"Very well, I bid you all a good day."

The Doctor nodded. They watched as Triton stepped back, spoke into his communicator and the tractor beam came down. They shielded their eyes as it vanished taking Triton along with it.

"Right," the Doctor said slapping his hands. "Who's up for a nice round of shuffleboard?"

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(One week later…)

"Oh my God!" Rose said holding her hand over her heart. "It's gorgeous."

The Doctor had kept his promise to bring them back to Gargumenta and Rose stood outside the TARDIS staring in awe at the mountains in front of them.

"Told you they were a sight to behold." The Doctor said stepping out behind her.

Donna and Martha followed him out and stared at them in awe.

"Oh God, I love the view." Martha said. "You're right, the place really is gorgeous."

"And best of all, it's quiet. No explosions around." Donna said.

"Well, come on, help me get the tents set up before nightfall." The Doctor said.

All of them turned and went back into the TARDIS.

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"It's called KMX-YT 16." The Doctor said.

Rose nodded as she looked through the telescope at the star. All of them sat together on a blanket taking turns looking through the telescope at the clear night sky. She looked for a moment and then scooted aside to let Martha see. Martha stared at it for a moment and then let Donna look.

Rose looked up at the mountain range rising up above them in the darkness. She felt the Doctor scoot up beside her and she leaned her head against his shoulder as he took hold of her hand.

"Any specific place you wanna go after this?" the Doctor murmured to her.

"Anywhere is fine with me." Rose replied. "I'm just excited to be back that I don't care where we go or what we do."

The Doctor nodded.

"You know, Martha and I started a new game." He said to her.

"What game is that?"

"Well, she gives me three random numbers and I use those as the coordinates and we go to whatever comes up."

"Wow, sounds foolish and dangerous." Rose said.

She smiled at him.

"I like it." She said as he chuckled.

"Good, then we'll start doing that regularly. Makes it more interesting for me." He said.

He looked at her for a moment.

"I also want to ask you something." He said.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Well, since you were destined to be my helpmate, I figure I should start teaching you a bit more about the TARDIS and how to fly it." He said.

Rose's eyes widened.

"You'll let me fly the TARDIS?" she said.

The Doctor stared at the eager look in her eyes.

"Under my supervision, of course, don't start thinking you can just take my ship off on joyrides whenever you feel like it."

"Drat."

She giggled as the Doctor swatted her head.

"And…" he said.

Rose looked at him expectantly.

"I want to teach you Gallifreyan. How to speak, read and write it." He said. "I am the last of my kind and I hate being the last living speaker of my language. If you are my equal then you should know it as well."

Rose beamed.

"I want to learn, Doctor. Please teach me."

The Doctor smiled.

"It's difficult to learn, especially the writing of it. You've seen what it looks like on my monitor. Those circles must be written in precisely the right place or it throws the whole meaning off. It's extremely tricky."

"Yeah, but I love a challenge. Bring it on!"

"Okay, you asked for it." The Doctor said.

"Um…"

He looked at Rose.

"Yes?"

"Well, I've always wanted to know more about Gallifrey, it's history. Do you happen to have any books I could read about that?"

The Doctor nodded.

"As a matter of fact I do. I have a couple of huge books you can look through if you want."

He grinned as Rose let out a "Yes!"

"The Bad Wolf really did instill you with a love of learning, didn't she?"

"Too right she did, you don't tell me enough as it is, so believe me, I'm gonna jump on the chance to learn more about you and your life."

"What about me?" Donna asked. "Can I learn how to fly the TARDIS too?"

"No, piss off, you're not special enough!"

Rose and Martha laughed as Donna flipped him off.

"But, if you want to learn Gallifreyan, I'll teach that to you." He said.

Donna frowned.

"Um, I was useless when it came to learning foreign languages. I tried French once and nearly tied my tongue in a knot trying to speak it."

"I'd like to learn, Doctor. I love learning other languages."

The Doctor nodded.

"Alright, I'd be happy to teach it to you."

Martha looked at Rose.

"Then, once we get good enough and learn all the swear words, we can call Donna foul names in front of her."

"Oh well then, on second though, sign me up for lessons too!" Donna said as Rose and Martha laughed. "If my friends are gonna start calling me a bitch in Gallifreyan, I'd like to know about it."

"How do you say bitch in Gallifreyan?" Rose asked the Doctor.

The Doctor thought for a moment.

"Um…well, the closest that comes to it is Minoto which roughly translates as Deros spawn.

"And Deros is…" Rose said.

"A dog-like creature. But, it's a wild dog. We didn't domesticate them."

"Minoto!" Rose said pointing her finger at Donna.

"Oi!" she said as Rose and Martha giggled. "Don't call me Minoto, you Minoto!"

"I'm not a Minoto, you're the Minoto!" Rose shot back.

"Alright, you two, settle down or I won't teach you anything more." The Doctor said rolling his eyes as the three women giggled.

He shook his head as Rose laid his head back on his shoulder.

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"Rose, Donna, Martha wake up!"

The three women stirred in the tent and looked sleepily at the Doctor who was poking his head inside the flap.

"It's happening, come outside now." He said to them.

The three women quickly woke up and scrambled to come out of the tent. The Doctor stepped aside as they all came outside and looked at the morning sunlight hitting the snow-capped peaks.

"Oh my God," Rose said breathlessly as she stared at it. "You're right, Doctor, the snow does sparkle."

"Told ya."

He smiled as the three women stared at the sight in awe. He put his hands in his pockets and watched with them.

"Oh God, I love it." Rose murmured.

She felt tears come to her eyes. The Doctor walked over to her.

"Rose, what is it?"

She smiled as tears of joy ran down her face.

"I'm so glad I'm back with you, Doctor, I missed sights like this."

The Doctor beamed, he put his arm around Rose's shoulder and kissed her cheek.

"I'm glad you're back too." He said. "And this time you are never gonna leave me again."

"Never say never---"

The Doctor slammed his hand over her mouth.

"Utter that phrase and you're dead, Tyler." He said as Rose giggled through his hand.

He took his hand away and hugged her against him. All of them stood beside each other watching as the sun came up on a new day. A new day filled with new possibilities and new adventures for four time traveling friends.

THE END.

A/N: The adventures of the Doctor, Rose, Martha and Donna continue in the sequel, The Zombie Bride.