Chapter Two

The Actual Plan

The Doctor, now filled with such magnificent hope, flew his legs around the TARDIS controls. If you listen closely, you can hear the numbers again amongst the crashing sounds. Like a calculator with two hearts. He was double checking his math. But how could a Time Lord get his math wrong?

But this… this is worth a recheck. Especially, with this massive mysterious headache that he didn't care about right now.

This was his chance to be with Rose. Not to just only ensure that he won't ever be alone, but to be absolutely certain that she will never know the loneliness that he had is whole life…until he met her. She loved him! She said it to him. He remembered how those words made him feel. It was practically yesterday to him. And we see a huge, eyebrows up, open mouth, smile, appear over the TARDIS controls.

"Ohh, That's right. She loves me…." His gaze falls to the left again. He stopped what he was doing. The TARDIS shook. His grin grew and he quickly said, "I better get to work then!"

It was going to take some time to get everything he needed. Well, what's time to a Time Lord anyway? Relative time for him lasted about half a year. You would have to ask him the exact number of minutes he spent away from Rose Tyler. He knows.

The TARDIS was parked. Somewhere, some-when. And the Doctor was sitting high up, on one of the "branches" of the TARDIS control room, living room, foyer, whatever you want to call it.

He had a pencil and paper with him. He was scribbling wildly. Not that he needed to write it all down. He wanted a record of his plan to share with Rose. To prove to her that he actually had a plan. Like a gift of sorts. The margins were filled with mathematical numbers, symbols, equations and, oh yes, imaginary numbers too!

He frantically flipped up the page of the yellow tab paper. Immediately, he started to write more.

"I'm going to need more paper." He mumbled to himself and to the TARDIS.

The title of this page was "Shopping List".

-Lanthanides from Asterina

-Plantonium from Katilina Five

-Rose's love

-new Tanik coils for the TARDIS from Crymegitron

-Black light from Ravolox

-Something very special from the leisure planet, Midnight

- Tinclavic metal from Raaga

The list went on and on. Only one item had a check next to it. The Doctor had spent his whole life traveling around from planet to planet between time and through time. Now, all of that was adding up to this plan. He knew where everything was that he needed to make it work. He knew when to travel there and who to get it from.

He needed to get the TARDIS into the best shape it had ever been. It was going to break the time vortex. Er… open the time vortex. I mean, fix it up so that it could get though…. It barely made sense to the Doctor even. Since it was impossible. But that wasn't going to stop him.

About three more months past for him… Constantly going across the universe and time to get everything he needed. He's an insomniac, so when a normal person would sleep, the Time Lord tinkered. He placed in the new parts into the TARDIS with one tool, a screwdriver. She, the TARDIS, didn't like it very much. If he did this it would mean that all the time traveling she had done would now be over. Did he even care about the TARDIS anymore?

The truth is.

The TARDIS missed Rose too. She missed the happiness she got to witness when Rose was with the Doctor. Somehow the Doctor knew how the TARDIS felt. He had a lot of faith in the TARDIS. He was going to need two things when this was all over, he made a mental list: Rose and the TARDIS. There, checked off. He simply continued to work.

"ROSE TYLER, I LOVE YOU!" He screamed at the top of his lungs. He burst his arms apart ready for her leap. Only when she jumped and he was about to receive the best hug ever from his best friend, she vanished like smoke.

The Doctor quickly sat up and hit his head on some metal bar. He was dreaming. It's too bad that his dream won't come true. Not like that. All in good time, however.

Today is the day. Well, what are days to a Time Lord. Still. Perhaps, this is the best day of his life, his last day as a true, Time Lord.

"Rose." He whispered softly.

She was sleeping. His projected image was standing next to her bed. He could see her image too. Her hair grew out longer then it was when they first met. He could hardly contain himself. He wanted to scream with delight. But wait. It just hit him and he took a step back. What if she had fallen in love with someone else? The closest time he could get to her was three years after he saw her at the beach, to the day. That's practically four years apart. Her left hand was tucked underneath the pillow below her head. No, impossible. Not her. She was so loyal. But four years is more than five and a half hours and she is so beautiful. Damn. Was all that work for nothing? He had been so filled with hope while he worked so hard on the TARDIS just to get to this exact moment. He didn't have room for doubts. He decided not to say anything and thought to himself. He remembered the work. The effort. Getting just the right element of metal for the new coils took him five weeks of near to no sleep and three fires to get it right. Don't even mention the time when the sonic screwdriver broke and he had to "fly" all the way back to Calpix for the damn battery. THEN when he got there they were closed for some holiday to celebrate the invention of peanut butter or something like that.

The Doctor shook his head to forget that infuriating day. His hair moved back and forth a bit. That didn't matter anymore. He needed to find out if Rose still needed him, the way he needed her.

"Rose Tyler." He said louder. He imagined the Tyler mansion walls were pretty thick, maybe he could try again, louder still.

"Oi! WAKE UP!" He shouted with a grin.

She sat up fast. She was there, right in front of him. Sort of. His muse, his strength the only person he could ever… the only reason he wants to live.

"DOCTOR?" She called out in disbelief. She had, of course, dreamt of him from time to time. Okay, let's try like every night. This was not one of her dreams. It was similar to the beach, a fuzy image.

She jumped up to hug him, but stopped herself. She knew he was just a projection. She started to say something but the Doctor interjected first.

"Rose! Wait, I need to ask you something. Do you…er… do you still…."

"I love you!" She had waited years to say that to him again, him and only him. Her Doctor.

He grinned. She doesn't care right now that he's not answering, that smile was nice enough, for now.

"Fantastic! Come to the beach! Quick as you can! I'll be waiting for you." His image faded out.

"No, wait!" He didn't hear her. But it didn't matter. She smiled that wonderful wide smile. She had been waiting for him. She leapt out of bed, ran from her room and down the hall "Mum! MUM! It's him! It's the Doctor!" Her heart was pounding.

The family, and Mickey, piled into one of Pete's new Hybrid Hummers, he invented it, and they were off. The miles went quicker than their last trip to Bad Wolf Bay, new hydrogen fuel tanks with electrode boosts. "Still looks like a regular old car", Jackie would always tease him. Tony, Rose's little three year old brother, stayed behind with his nanny. You never know what's going happen around the Doctor.

The car went right up onto the beach and stopped near the water's edge, where the sand became more solid with the close water. Rose jumped out of the car before it came to a complete stop. She ran to the spot where the Doctor stood before. She would never forget.

"Rose! Wait!" Mickey called as he struggled to get his seatbelt off and ran after her. Jackie, Pete, Mickey and most importantly, Rose all stood there waiting for the Doctor, their good friend and defender of the earth. Mickey grinned to himself about the Doctor's line "It. Is. Defended!" If it wasn't for the Doctor he would probably be dead. Well, no. He would definitely be dead. On the other hand maybe he would have married Rose back on their old planet and time. He knew how much Rose loved the Doctor. He had gotten over her years ago. Mickey was stronger now.

Rose stared up at the sky while she mumbled. The others just met up behind her. "No, no, this can't be real. But it is…" She smiles back at her family. All those teeth and a tongue were proof that Rose truly had back all the hope she had lost these last years. Mickey used to sleep on the floor in Rose's room just to be there when she woke up screaming his name. Mickey smiled and looked up at the sky too.

That sound.

That music that should be terrifying.

The sound of metal against metal, a large rusty gear turning and turning…was getting louder and longer.

But to them, the sound of the TARDIS was one of the sweetest sounds they could hear. Other than a sound of Rose's laughter again.

How wondrous.

For one tick, the TARDIS music stopped. Not even long enough to wipe that smile off of Rose's face. THEN

CRASH! Like a gigantic glass window shattering all at once and falling onto a concrete floor. But there was no glass, no floor. Just the sand and the water…..oh, and the TARDIS!

The TARDIS was flying down like a chariot from heaven. Amazing and beautiful still spinning around, out of control, but beautiful.

Wait. Wait Rose. He's coming for you. Your Doctor. He fought all the rules of time and space just to be with you.

CRACK! The wood on the TARDIS started to crack.

"What?" Rose's smile was gone. Something was wrong. Then, just then, the TARDIS disappeared again, as quickly as it has appeared in the sky.

"ROSE!" It was him. Rose spun around to see the Doctor's image there. Just three meters away from her.

"Doctah! What's happening? Are you okay? The TARDIS, it was here, but just for a second!" Unfortunately, the Doctor didn't hear most of her words. The communication link wasn't clear enough. Not with all the TARDIS energy being used up on the whole "impossible" aspect of this whole final adventure. He broke his gaze a suddenly moved. They watched him dance around. He looked rather silly. His image just jumping around, slamming his hand down at something in front of him. Then his foot jumped into the air. Rose knew that stance. The Doctor was frantically running around the TARDIS controls! But all she could see was the Doctor's image. That image that kept gaining static. Like a screen going in and out of vision, like losing a radio station.

"There!" The Doctor shouted with one last punch of a control. His image cleared a little and he stared at Rose, out of breath. "Well! Hello there, Rose Tyler!"

"Hello Hello." She didn't know what else to say. Then she became worried again, "Doctor, What's happening?"

"I did it Rose. I figured it out. We can be together but I just have to well….erm…. sacrifice a few things." He said the word sacrifice like he wished it didn't sound so dark, he doesn't like sounding dark. He liked to be carefree and witty. He liked it because he knew Rose loved that about him. "Because you love me, Rose Tyler." She grinned at how happy he sounded when he said that. She could barely hold the excitement in that he was coming but… what sacrifices?

"What's going to happen?" She asked, eager to learn.

"Don't worry! I've got a plan! A real plan!" She glared at him in disbelief. "I have got a real plan Rose! I even wrote it all down for you! You'll need it to pass some time." He mumbled that last bit.

"Hwhat?" She called out a bit louder. The static was getting stonger still.

"I haven't got much time to explain. I'm sorry. But just, trust the TARDIS and help me. Don't let me be alone anymore, Rose. I need you. I lo—" the static cut in and only the image of a man stood there. Not the doctor's face, brown hair and long coat, just a grey body, like the "ghosts". As if he was going out of focus.

Back on the TARDIS the Doctor scrambled around the controls again. "C'mon then!" He yells at the controls. He stood back up straight. Looking forward at nothing, at no one.

"TARDIS? I need you to record this for me and try to send it to Rose. You'll know when to tell her…." He stopped and swallowed as he looked down. "I'm sorry, Rose. I know you might disapprove, but, I fixed up the TARDIS and made her work harder then she's supposed to. When she and I crash on that beach she'll practically be dead. I also… I had to use everything I had left as a Time Lord. Well, actually-" The TARDIS jolted sending the Doctor back into the controls and stopping his sentence. "Okay, I really haven't the time. Listen to me, Rose Tyler. If you stay with me while I grow up everything will be okay. Er. That doesn't make any sense. I'm using up all the possible energy I could ever achieve in my body and using it to directly fuel the TARDIS! I should die. But, you love me, so I found a way so that doesn't have to happen. I will revert back to childhood and I will have to grow up. I won't remember… everything all at once, but I do certainly hope I will remember you. I'm not certain. I've never done this before. Don't you DARE lose hope Rose Tyler!"

Back on the beach Rose tried to listen to what the grey image was saying. It was cutting in and out.

"Sorry….TARDIS… fix-…. Crash"

"What's he saying then?" Jackie asked.

"SHH!" Rose needed to hear.

It continued "grow…. Body….. die….Rose-ler!"

BOOM! The TARDIS had landed behind them. Something was wrong. It landed on its side! It never does that! Rose ran to the familiar blue box that was falling apart and slightly on fire. The door was cracked open. She climbed in.

When she got her feet on the ground the gravity kind of shifted so she could stand straight up. There was fire everywhere. Pieces were falling from the ceilings, the TARDIS controls were sparking wildly. But where was her Doctor.

"Doctah!" She cried out. "Doctah, where are you!" She started to run across the living room to maybe go look in the kitchen or the wardrobe. But then she heard it.

No. That doesn't sound right. It wasn't the doctor voice greeting her. It was crying.

To be more specific it was a baby crying. "Wwaaaaaah! Ah. Whhaaaa!"

Now worried about a baby being lost in the fire Rose started looking at the ground. Good ol' Rose. Then she saw it! The Doctor's coat! She fell to her knees and crawled under the controls and reached out to drag the coat out from under. But there was more. His suit was there too. Not only that. But….

"Oh my God…" Rose murmured. There was a baby entangled in the Doctor's normal wardrobe. Rose didn't have time to think about it. She quickly scooped up the baby, clothes and all and ran for the TARDIS door.