AN: We're back in the parallel world now, and we've skipped ahead just a bit to the day the Doctor regenerates. How will the duplicate take it? Let's see, shall we? As always, Doctor Who belongs to the BBC!

Chapter 3-Ends

John and Rose were sitting in the kitchen sharing a cuppa when the unthinkable happened. John bent over the table in pain, clutching his chest.

"Oi! Are you alright? What's wrong with ya?" Rose rushed to John's side, concern on her face, as she rubbed his back.

John did not answer for a few moments only choking out in pain.

"John?" she asked softly. "What is it?"

He clutched his chest. "I don't know," he managed to get out. "I think it's something wrong with the Doctor. I think he's dying."

Tears streamed down Rose's face as she supported John's head on the ground. "Does that mean you'll die, too?" She didn't think she could stand the pain of losing both Doctors, even if this one wasn't entirely hers.

"No," he whispered, "I also have part of Donna, and we aren't connected in that way. I'll stay with you." John reached up to cup her cheek before grimacing and clutching his chest again. "Ugh, this hurts so much."

"Do you know what happened to him? Can you sense it?" Rose grew hopeful that John could relay the Doctor's last moments so she could feel she was there with him.

"Hang on, I'll check." John gritted his teeth. "Oh."

"What?! What is it?!" she demanded.

"You'll never believe this, Rose. He sacrificed himself for Wilfred. He could have left him, the old man said he could, but he didn't." Tears welled in Rose's eyes.

"He saved him?" She let out a shaky breath of air she hadn't realized she had been holding. "But he 's regenerating, right?"

"I...I don't know. Maybe not. He's laying on the ground. I don't see him moving."

"What do ya mean, layin' on the ground! He's the Doctor, he has to get up, he has to! The bloody universe needs him!" Rose screamed, foolishly hoping the other Doctor could somehow hear her and start the regeneration process.

"Wait!" John wheezed. "He's struggling up. He's made it! But the process started. He doesn't have much longer."

Rose squeezed John's hand. "Can he feel you at all?"

"No," he shook his head. "It's only a one-sided thing. I'm sorry, Rose."

"Weeeell, at least I can comfort one Doctor," she said sadly and smoothed his sweaty hair away from his face.

"He's going to see you, Rose. He stepped out to see you."

"What do ya mean? He can't come back here. Can he?" A trace of hopefulness seeped into her voice.

"No. He went back to before he even met you, and told you that you would have a fantastic year."

Rose smiled. Even in his dying moments, her Doctor wanted to see her.

"Ow, oh gosh, it hurts so much," John clutched his chest. "I don't want to go!" he cried out. He collapsed onto the floor.

"John? John!" Rose tried to rouse him. "Come on, John. Wake up, wake up!" Tears poured down her cheeks. "Pete! Come help me carry him to his bed!"

Her father rushed into the kitchen. "What's happened to him, sweetheart?" He sat by his daughter and pushed the hair out of her face, then pulled her into a hug.

"I dunno. He was clutching at his chest, because the other Doctor regenerated and then he screamed 'I don't want to go!' and collapsed."

Pete felt for his pulse. Still there. "He's alive, still, Rose. I think it was just a shock to his system. Come on, help me pick him up."

For a tall and lanky man, John was sure not easy to pick up at all. Rose tugged on his legs, while John carried his upper body. Between the two of them, they managed to get him into his bed. Pete kissed her on the forehead when he left and Rose sat in the chair across the room that John used for reading. She waited.

A few hours later, John woke up. He stretched and opened his eyes. "Hello, Rose!" he said brightly. "What am I doing in my bed? I thought we were in the kitchen?"

"Do you not remember what happened?" she asked.

A look of confusion crossed John's face. "He was burning. He turned into a new man, and I slept. I needed it."

Rose nodded slowly. "Okay."

The thing about this ending was she never got to say goodbye, and he was alone. Lonelier than ever, with no one to hold his hand as he died.