The Doctor-who-wasn't reveled in Rose and Clara's embrace, in the sensation of being treated like a person, instead of a monster, for the first time that he could remember. He kissed each girl's forehead gently before releasing them and stepping back a pace.
"You really are quite amazing. I only hope that those two appreciate you properly."
The other two Doctors had the good grace to look thoroughly embarrassed.
"What do we call you?" Clara asked. "He said you're not the Doctor, but…who are you? What's your name?"
"I don't have one. Not any more. When I did…what I did…eight voices inside my head - the same eight voices that collectively couldn't come up with a better solution - cried out that I wasn't them any more. That I wasn't entitled to the name 'Doctor.' Since then, well, it's not like there's been anyone else for me to speak to."
"That's horrible!" Rose gasped.
"All right then," Clara continued. "Answer me this: if you hadn't ended the war when you did, what would have happened to the Earth?"
"That's an impossible question," her Doctor protested.
"And I'm the impossible girl, remember?"
"If one happens to be both a genius and a Time Lord, there are extremely reliable predictions that can be made from viewing all the possible time lines," the other answered.
"Go on," Clara encouraged.
"Annihilation. At the hands of one side, or the other, or both, by getting caught in the crossfire. Does it really matter which?"
"You don't know that for certain!" Rose's Doctor protested, albeit feebly.
"So, the Earth would have been destroyed, before Clara or me were even born?" Rose asked softly.
"Rose," her Doctor entreated, "even for you…two entire sentient races…"
"An' I'd never expect you to do somethin' like that, just for me, but don't you see? You saved the Earth, again, and all the other worlds out there that would have burned."
A lightening bolt split the sky, followed closely by a deafening clap of thunder.
"Speaking of saving the Earth, weren't you all doing something, before you ended up here?"
"Trying to solve a mystery and save the Earth," Clara answered. "The usual."
"Don't you think it's time you got out of here and went back to saving the world?"
"Love to, but I don't think it's up to us…I think this one's all on them," Clara said, nodding towards the Doctors.
Her Doctor gazed back at her, his ancient green eyes brimming with loss and sorrow and shame. "Clara, I told you, the name I chose, it was a promise I made; a promise to help people, not to willingly participate in the wholesale destruction of two races."
"Being a doctor, even just a human medical doctor, means having to make hard choices sometimes," Clara responded. "What if a patient's leg is crushed, and the flesh and bone are rotting away? What would you do then?"
"Amputate the damaged limb."
"Why?"
"To preserve the rest of the body and save the patient's life."
"So, what do you call someone who was forced to sacrifice a part of creation, to protect the rest of it?"
Her Doctor drew in a ragged breath. "A healer…a doctor."
"The Doctor," Rose's own Doctor added.