Not much to say here, except . . . sorry. I haven't had much time for writing lately. This came in a short burst of inspiration through my persistent writers block, so there's no saying when the next chapter will be. However, reviews do help my inspiration...

"Its been years since I've had to work this fast," Van Statten says excitedly, his eyes flickering from the screen to the keyboard.

"You enjoying this?" The Doctor snaps, still irritated that he's had to stoop to having Henry "I Own the Internet" Van Statten help him contain the dalek. He could do it himself if he had the time, but he doesn't know any of the passwords and it would take to long to hack the system with the sonic.

"Doctor, she's still down there." Van Statten's assistant (what's her name?) says. He glances up at her, a little surprised she remembered Rose at all, then nods. He grabs a ear piece off the desk and hooks it up, continuing his work as he calls Rose. It rings twice before she picks up and his heart lifts a little at the sound of her voice, even though he's not really sure what she said.

"Where are you?" he asks, hoping the tremor isn't showing in his voice. There's a pause before she replies and his hopes sink a little. Level 49. She's not out yet. "You've got to keep moving, the vault's being sealed off at Level 46." he tells her.

"Can't you stop them closing?" she asks, sounding a little breathless. If (no, he thinks, when) they get out of this he'll have to show her the TARDIS gym so she work up some endurance. Running for their lives seems to be becoming a pattern.

"I'm the one who's closing them." he says. Not strictly true, since Van Statten is doing most of the work, but he doesn't really feel like explaining his motivations for using the git's help. He keeps his eye on the dalek's progress, wishing he could see Rose. Those bulkheads need to be closed, fast. "I can't wait, and I can't help you. So for God's sake, run." Run, Rose. Run as fast as you can.

For a few seconds the only sound is the rapid of click of computer keys and Rose's panting through the phone. Then...

"We've got power to the bulkheads."

Van Statten's done it. But Rose isn't through yet, so he doesn't push the button.

"Doctor, the dalek's right behind them." Van Statten's assistant reminds him. His hands twitch toward the button, images of burning ships and screaming children assaulting his mind. But he's not leaving Rose behind. He can't.

"We're nearly there, two seconds!" Rose calls.

"Doctor, I can't sustain the power." Van Statten says, still working furiously at his keyboard. "The whole system is failing. Doctor, we've got to close the bulkheads."

He stares at the dot on the screen that indicates the dalek. Memories and emotions and morals flash through his mind, but his burning hatred and fear of that creature wins out in the end. Before he can consider his actions, he's muttering, "I'm sorry." to Rose and hitting the button.

He closes his eyes and waits. There are twenty-eight agonizing seconds where the only sounds are the alarms announcing the bulkheads closing and his own hearts.

"The vault is sealed." Van Statten finally announces, but there's nothing only silence from Rose's end. The Doctor is out of his chair in a second, as though standing will somehow get him closer to her.

"Rose, where are you?" a pause, and no response. "Rose, did you make it?" he asks.

There's a sniffle. A tiny sigh. "So I was a little slow." she mutters finally, and his hearts nearly stop in his chest.

She didn't make it.

She's trapped.

Alone, with a dalek.

And it's his fault.

"It wasn't you fault, remember that, okay?" she says, and a twisted part of him wants to laugh at the absurdness of her responding to his thoughts. "It wasn't your fault." she repeats, but it does nothing for this new sprout of pain and guilt in his chest. He wants to say something to her, but the words get caught halfway up his throat. "And you know what?" she says, sounding like she's on the verge of tears. But she's still strong, even in the face of death. God, what has he done to her? "I wouldn't have missed it for the world," she says. Tears prickle at the back of his eyes, but no he will not cry. He can not cry for this beautiful human girl who's brought joy back into his life, a cool breeze blowing the dust off his soul. He wants to scream and cry and apologize and hold her, exchange her life for his, anything that will get her on the other side of that door. But he can't. And now he's missed his chance to say anything at all.

"EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" the cry is loud over the roaring in his ears and he hears the two shots that follow it perfectly. Flinching as if it was him that was shot at, he rips the ear piece out. He doesn't want to hear anything else. What would there be? A last, dying breath? The sound of her body hitting the floor?

There is silence for a minute. The Doctor can't breathe and doesn't even realize it when his respiratory bypass kicks in, because his mind is full of her. Her smiling at him with her tongue between her teeth. Her in that dress in 1869. Her grabbing hold of his hand in a closet in Downing Street. How can he not blame himself? He brought her here and snuffed out her beautiful light practically singlehanded. He pushed the button. He couldn't kill the dalek. It is nobody's fault but his own.

"I'm sorry." he hears Van Statten whisper behind him, and that is just enough to push him over the edge from grief to rage. He turns to face the billionaire, the only other person left that he could possibly blame.

"I said I'd protect her. She's only here because of me, and you're sorry?" he sneers, a little pleased to see Van Statten cringing at his tone. "I could've killed that dalek in its cell, but you stopped me." yes, he could've done it. It would have saved so many people. It would have saved Rose.

"It was the prize of my collection!" Van Statten objects..

"Your COLLECTION?! Well was it worth it?" the Doctor rages, surging forward and desperately wishing there wasn't a desk between them. "Worth all those men's deaths, worth Rose? Let me tell you something Van Statten, mankind goes to space to explore, to be part of something greater-"

"Exactly!" he interrupts. "I wanted to touch the stars!"

"You just want to drag the stars down and stick them underground underneath tons of sand, and dirt, and label them! You're about as far from the stars as you can get!" the Doctor yells, then stops. Another thought had pervaded his mind, of taking Rose to see the rose galaxy. Her comments about it being 'close enough to touch'. And thanking him for taking her with him, for setting her free. "And you took her down with you." he says quietly, all his rage draining out of him for the moment and being replaced with an all too familiar heartache. "She was nineteen years old." Still a teenager, barely an adult. Except now she is none of that. Now she is just another face that will haunt him at night, another name on the list of the dead. Another life lost that he will never forgive himself for. What will he tell her mother? What will he tell himself?

What will he do now, without her light to guide him through his darkness?