A/N: I err... make things up.

Chapter 21 – His Name Is...

The Doctor covered Rose with his coat and covered Leah with his jacket, before the Judoon came back in minus the Master, set their guns on him, clamping the familiar metal bands that forbade exit of the room to his and his family's wrists. They swiftly left again without another word, the door slamming closed and the forcefield starting up. Any slim chance of escape had just been tarnished. He just sat down next to Leah and took her onto his lap, looking down at her face as his hand held hers. He was staring at her tiny fingers and struggling not to cry. He didn't know what to do. The Master had won, and the Doctor had given it all to him. He'd trusted the Master, like a fool. Now he would lose his entire family for his stupidity.

He sat there for ten minutes, just holding his daughter whilst checking constantly that she was breathing. He assumed they had drugged her. How had he not felt her panicking? Maybe she hadn't been panicking. Maybe she thought Uncle Harry would protect her because her Daddy had told her he would...

Suddenly Rose shifted, coming to before she opened her eyes and looked at him sitting there, holding Leah. Her eyes widened and she struggled out from under the Doctor's coat and to her knees to kneel in front of him, checking Leah in his arms.

"Oh God," she whispered. "They caught you?"

The Doctor could barely speak. "I'm so sorry, Rose..." he croaked, still holding Leah's little limp hand.

She leant forward to check Leah. "What happened to her? Is she okay?"

He nodded. "I think she's been drugged," he muttered.

Rose was alarmed to see he was almost crying. She took Leah from his arms, placing her down on the Doctor's coat as carefully as she could before she directed her attentions back to him, holding him tightly.

"We can get out of this," she assured him. "We always do."

"No, we can't," the Doctor whispered, holding up his wrist to indicate the metal bands they all had. "We're in high security, I can't get us out. Soon I'll be transferred to Volag-noc, Leah will become their test subject and you..." He paused, taking a breath. "You're not important to them."

"... There has to be a way?" Rose asked quietly.

He shook his head. "This is all my fault."

"No, it's not," Rose said gently.

"But it is," he replied, looking at her sadly. "I... I gave Leah to the Master to look after her."

Rose's face fell, and for a moment she could only stare. He waited, and then it came.

"You gave our daughter to the Master?" she shrieked.

He nodded silently, swallowing.

"You stupid bastard!" she yelled, infuriated as she lifted a hand and slapped him straight across the face. He didn't even bother trying to dodge it.

"I deserved that," he muttered.

"Yes you did!" Rose almost screamed back. "You gave our daughter to the Master on a plate! Why didn't you just put a bullet in her head for him?"

The Doctor tried to swallow his tears, but he couldn't. The next thing he knew he was sobbing in front of her, tears running down his cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Rose," he choked through his tears.

She watched him break down in front of her for a moment, every tear like a little bit of his soul was falling out. She was so angry at him, but she couldn't find more words to yell, so she just let him cry until he had none left to shed before she uttered her next word.

"Why?"

He couldn't even look at her. "...I thought it counted for something... I thought I meant something..." he whispered.

"Tell me," she said.

He didn't answer verbally, instead leaning forward to press his head to her's, closing his eyes...

She was standing in a dark room, seeing through his eyes. Things took a few moments to adjust before her senses began to align, and she realised she was standing up, and had been for quite a few days, her hands tied in the air.

She tried to shout, but nothing came out. She tried to move, but she couldn't. It was his memory. What was this?

Suddenly the far door open, bright, blinding light bursting in and almost shattering her eyes. Four men, much taller than her, flooded into the room, all wearing long flowing robes and sporting strange hats. They were Gallifreyans.

One moved forward. "Theta," he grated.

"Father?" she heard herself say. It was a child's voice.

"Your Mother and I are extremely disappointed in you. If it were up to me, I would disown you. But your Mother insists you have simply been misguided. She has been crying since Otherstide."

"I'm sorry, Father..."

"What good are apologies now, Theta?" the man demanded to know, and Rose truly felt the fear that only a child could get from being yelled at by a parent. "You've brought this on yourself, boy. I cannot stop the actions of the authorities. Is there nothing you will tell us to prevent what is about to happen?"

Several thoughts flashed through her mind. It had been Koschei, not her. He'd done it, and she was taking the blame. She wasn't going to dob him in though, he was her best friend. She would endure anything they threw at her – to protect Koschei.

"... Nothing, Father," she finally heard herself say quietly.

The man looked at her disappointedly. "Then I hope, for your sake, you will come out of this with a changed attitude." He turned to the others in the room, suddenly completely losing interest in her. "I leave him in your care. Do as you please for as long as you please."

Her Father strode out of the door, disappearing with a flourish of his cloak. Rose felt herself tense, suddenly absolutely terrified before the remaining men in the room began to move towards her...

Then suddenly she wasn't in that memory, anymore. She was flying through his mind, fast-forwarding everything that had happened. He was screaming, he was in complete agony, and all the time, he refused to tell them he was completely innocent – protecting Koschei...

Finally it stopped, and she was stood in the grounds of some kind of large, old-looking building... The Time Academy. She was learning to be a Time Lord, here, and she'd been gone for four months since the fatal prank had occurred...

Her body was still aching, underneath her robes she was scarred beyond belief. She wasn't allowed to say anything or show anyone... and she was too scared to. She didn't want to go back there, ever.

People were saying hello to her, welcoming her back. They seemed to think she'd been ill. But she didn't really know how to talk to anyone anymore, so she'd just nodded at them and uttered a quiet thank you.

Finally she reached her dormitory, and found Koschei lounging on her bed. He sat up and beamed at the sight of her.

"Thete!" he exclaimed. "Heard you were coming back today! Where've you been?"

"... Ill," she heard herself say quietly.

"Yeah, you still look a bit pale," Koschei said. "I know what'll get you going. They've got roasted Grockleroots in the café today! Total fine dining."

She forced herself to smile. "Sounds great."

Koschei jumped to his feet and moved to her, suddenly wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Thanks for taking the wrap for that prank. I really owe you one, all right?"

She nodded as he let go of her.

"Now, let's go and eat," Koschei said, and they started towards the door...

The world began to twist and merged again and she was flying through the Doctor's life; pain, laughter, joy, anger and sorrow from 900 years of space and time travel. Finally she screeched to a halt, and she found herself sitting in a house on Earth. Leah was in the car with Jack outside, and in front of her sat the Master, gazing at her sadly.

"Wow... This is really big," the Master breathed, hand on his forehead. "What makes you think you can trust me?"

"What makes you think I can't trust you?" she asked. "Master, I know times have changed. Concerning Gallifrey... concerning us. There's so much that's changed but the only things that haven't changed are Koschei and Theta. They're both still alive, and fighting. Theta needs Koschei... just one more time."

She watched the Master as he swallowed. "How long for?"

"Until I sort this whole mess out," she said. She was getting through to Koschei... "A couple of days, a week at the most?"

There was a long pause as she gazed at him, pleading with him.

"Okay," the Master finally said. "I'll do it."

Then the memory faded, and Master was gone.

Rose opened her eyes, her mouth open as he drew back from her, and gazed at the floor.

"Was that...?"

"I'm Theta," the Doctor began quietly. "And the Master is Koschei."

And just like that, Rose understood. She knew why he had trusted the Master completely.

"Oh God," she whispered, staring at him. She was about to cry, now. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah," he croaked quietly.

"I can't believe you did that for him..."

He started crying again. Rose had never seen him cry so much.

"This is all my fault," he gasped, tears splashing down. "I thought he would... I thought I could..."

"Shh, Doctor," she whispered, cupping his face in both hands, leaning forward so their noses were millimetres away. "It's okay. I understand. I get it," she whispered, and kissed him, tasting his tears. "You couldn't have seen that coming, he's a bigger piece of worthless shit than you ever thought imaginable."

"It didn't mean anything, did it?" the Doctor whispered. "All of that. It was for nothing. And now I've killed all of us."

"This wasn't your fault," she insisted. "This was all him."

"I want to kill him, Rose," he whispered. "I'm going to kill him." He was staring with wide eyes at the floor, flickering around, as if planning his exact course of action... "I'm going to make him suffer, and then I'm going to string him up and let him die and rot, slowly and painfully..."

"No," Rose said instantly.

"Why not?" the Doctor demanded to know, suddenly angry. "I fought in the Time War, he didn't. I'm a trained soldier, a trained assassin. I could have him dead in less than two seconds. It's so easy. I've done it thousands of times before. I can kill him, right now... He won't even see me coming..."

"Then he wins," Rose said firmly. "If you kill him, you'll be just like him. I love you, Doctor. Leah loves you. Jack loves you, Martha, Mickey, Sarah... every single one of us. How many people have you met and inspired? How many people love you? The Master doesn't have any of that, he's completely alone. Because he kills, and you don't. Yeah, I want him to die for what he's done too, but you're not the one to do it."

And with that, she leant forward and kissed him with every ounce of love she could manage, tongues and all. When she'd drawn back she could see he had calmed down somewhat, staring at her with wide eyes.

"The Master ever got that?" Rose wondered, forcing a smile.

He smiled weakly. "Thank you, Rose."

She held him, but then he suddenly tense in her arms and cried out in pain. She pulled back, alarmed as the Doctor pulled an apologetic face.

"Sorry," he said. "Broken my collar bone."

It was only then Rose realised her shoulder was tingly – the sign through the bond that he'd damaged it. Her knee was also tingling, as well the left side of her chest, and the side of her head. She pulled open his shirt and checked the damage to his chest, only to find it was badly bruised and swollen.

"Cracked ribs," he said on cue. "And torn knee ligament. Bullet graze and a fair whack on the head."

"Oh God, what did they do to you?" Rose asked instantly.

"Oh, they didn't, I crashed Jack's car and then got chased by the police, got shot and fell into a ditch."

Rose stared at him. "I feel like I've started reading a book from the middle."

He grinned, a genuine gesture this time before he began to explain all he'd been through since they had parted. When he was done Rose stared at him, frowning.

"So!" the Doctor began happily. "What've you been up to?"

"Clearly not as much as you," Rose replied, and then burst into laughter, holding him again. But this time, she was careful. "I feel better knowing that you punched the Master in the face. I hope you broke something."

He laughed, and a few seconds later there was the sound of a toddler rousing from behind Rose. Rose spun around instantly as the Doctor grunted and moved with some pain difficulty to sit next to the girl.

She opened her eyes, looking up to see her parents above her. She smiled.

"Mummy," she said, a little weakly.

"Hello again, feels like I haven't seen you for years," Rose replied, leaning down to kiss her little girl.

"I missed you, Mummy."

"I missed you too," Rose replied as the Doctor pulled Leah up to lie comfortably in his lap, looking down at her and smiling as best he could.

"Daddy, why I feel funny?" she asked, blinking erratically.

"It's something the bad people gave you to make you sleep," the Doctor said gently. "You'll feel better in a minute."

"Oh," she said, reaching up to run her hands over her face. Then she noticed the metal band around her wrist, and frowned. "Daddy, what?" she asked, holding up the wrist with the band on.

The Doctor glanced at Rose. "That's something that stops you leaving this room, Leah. Don't leave this room unless me or Mummy says so, okay?"

She nodded, looking around room with interest. "Where are we?"

The Doctor glanced at Rose again, who nodded. He could really only tell her the truth. "We've been caught by the bad people, Leah. They keeping us locked in this room because they don't want us to leave. But hey, at least we're all together now, right?"

She smiled, and reached out one hand to her mum, her hand dwarfed in Rose's. "Will the bad people do bad things to us?"

Rose offered her best smile. "They might. But remember, whatever happens, you have to be really brave through it all."

"Mmkay," she replied.

The Doctor checked the room for any cameras but there didn't seem to be any. To be safe he leant closer, keeping his mouth hidden. "And now we're all together, we need to talk to you about something."

"Is this about the thing in Mummy's tummy?" Leah asked tiredly.

The Doctor blinked, somewhat surprised. "Um, yeah. In there is a little tiny person, your little brother. He's growing in there to keep warm and safe, and when he comes out he needs his big sister to protect him."

"Can I boss him around?" Leah wondered.

"No. Well, yes. A little bit."

"What's his name?"

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other.

Rose jumped in instantly. "His name is Michael."

"No, it's not," the Doctor said gently to the girl. "His name is Louis."

"That's a silly name, Daddy," Rose said instantly. "His name is Ben."

"Well, I don't really like that name, Mummy," the Doctor replied. "His name is Henry."

"His name is Freddie."

"Daniel."

"Tom."

"Will."

"Oliver!"

"James!"

"Sam!"

"David!"

"Aaron!"

"Okay, okay!" the Doctor said quickly. "Mummy and Daddy haven't quite agreed on a name yet, Leah. But as long as we're in this place you can't mention him at all, don't even say there's anything in Mummy's tummy, all right?"

She nodded. "Okay."

"Good," the Doctor said, brushing back her hair. "Now try and get some sleep while Daddy tries to work out our great escape plan."

She beamed. "Okay," she said, snuggling down into his lap. Within minutes she had faded, and the Doctor looked at Rose.

"You haven't got a clue have you," Rose said quietly.

"Nope," the Doctor croaked.