Chapter Seven: The Wisdom to Know the Difference

Donna scowled up at the temple ceiling. "You have got to be kidding me." This was not what she'd had in mind when she'd imagined seeing classical architecture in person. It was hard to enjoy it when she was strapped to an altar, surrounded by a bunch of girls who looked like goths dressed in red.

Only they weren't goths. They were priestesses planning to sacrifice her. One priestess lifted her knife and stared at it dramatically. "The false prophet will surrender both her blood… and her breath."

Donna tugged at her ropes, but they didn't give. "I'll surrender you in a minute," Donna retorted. "Don't you dare." She wanted to think the Doctor and Rose would find her, but how would they even realise she'd been taken, since she hadn't been able to call out?

The priestess glared at her, and the haughty gleam in her eyes would have triggered Donna's ire even if the other woman hadn't been preparing her for a sacrifice. "You will be silent," the priestess ordered.

"Listen, sister," Donna whispered. Then she raised her voice to a full yell. "You might have eyes on the back of your hands, but you'll have eyes in the back of your head by the time I've finished with you." Donna swivelled her head to look at the circle of priestesses gathered around the altar. "Let me go!"

"This prattling voice will cease forever," the priestess intoned as she raised the knife above her head.

"Oh, that'll be the day."

Donna sighed with relief; the Doctor was here. She lifted her head and peered around the priestess, and Rose waved at her.

The priestess spun around and threw her head back when she saw the Doctor. "No man is allowed to enter the Temple of Sibyl."

The Doctor pushed off the pillar he was leaning against and started meandering around the back half of the temple. "Well, that's all right. Just us girls. Do you know, I met the Sibyl once. Yeah, hell of a woman. Blimey, she could dance the Tarantella. Nice teeth. Truth be told, I think she had a bit of a thing for me. I said it would never last. She said, 'I know.' Well, she would."

While the Doctor was rambling and wandering around the temple, picking up artefacts and tossing them in the air, Rose had insinuated herself into the circle of priestesses and used her sonic screwdriver to undo the ropes binding Donna to the altar.

"You all right there?" she asked in a low voice as she worked.

The sound of the sonic screwdriver caught the sisters' attention, and they turned around in time to see the knots came undone, freeing Donna. "What magic is this?" the leader asked, eyes wide.

Rose twirled her sonic screwdriver before sliding it into the coin purse she wore tied to her belt. "Just a little manipulation of the sound waves," she said breezily. "Nothing magic about it."

"Little less space woman, little more getting me off of here," Donna grunted, and Rose smiled apologetically and helped her to her feet.

The Doctor was leaning against the altar when Rose and Donna hopped down to the floor. "Let me tell you about the Sibyl, the founder of this religion," he said. "She would be ashamed of you. All her wisdom and insight turned sour. Is that how you spread the word, hey? On the blade of a knife?"

"Yes, a knife that now welcomes you."

Rose took a step forward when the priestess raised her knife, but before she could do anything, another voice interrupted them from behind a gauzy red curtain.

"Bring them to me."

The Sibylline Sisterhood spun in place, then knelt as one, facing the curtain. "High Priestess, the stranger would defile us."

"Let me see," the high priestess insisted. "This one is different. He and his mate carry starlight in their wake."

Rose felt the same protective instinct from the Doctor that had shot through her a moment ago, and they shared a rueful look before climbing the stairs together.

"Oh, very perceptive," the Doctor said as they approached the curtain. "Where do these words of wisdom come from?"

"The gods whisper to me," she said, her gravelly voice making it sound like every word took effort.

"They've done far more than that," the Doctor countered. Then he spun around to look at the sisters. "Might I beg audience? Look upon the High Priestess?"

Two sisters pulled back the curtain to reveal a woman made entirely of stone, clothed in the same red robes and veil of her priestesses. It wasn't the strangest thing Rose had ever seen, but it did rank up there.

Donna, however, was shocked."Oh, my God. What's happened to you?"

"The heavens have blessed me."

"If I might?" the Doctor asked, gesturing that he would like to touch her.

She held out an arm, and the Doctor and Rose both approached her. It was really, truly stone. When she and Donna had seen Evelina, Rose had wanted to believe that it was just… some kind of condition, something that happened in small doses, but this was far more than that.

"Does it hurt?" the Doctor asked softly.

The high priestess straightened haughtily. "It is necessary."

Rose crossed her arms over her chest. "Who told you that?" she demanded. Honestly, all these religions with their glorious sacrifices…

"The voices," the high priestess said enigmatically.

"Is that what's going to happen to Evelina?" Donna asked.

Rose turned around and watched her look at all the sisters.

"Is this what's going to happen to all of you?"

One of them pulled back the sleeve of her robe, revealing a large patch of stone. "The blessings are manifold."

"They're stone," Donna whispered.

"Exactly." The Doctor got to his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets.

Rose followed him back down to the temple floor and stood with Donna, watching the Doctor work.

"The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts." He spun back around the glare at the high priestess. "But why?"

She rose slightly off her bed. "This word, this image in your mind. This volcano. What is that?"

Rose narrowed her eyes. Something had been bothering her ever since Donna had pointed out that none of the soothsayers knew about the volcano. "Hang on, why don't you know about it?" she demanded.

"Oh, very good, Rose." The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest. "Who are you?"

"High Priestess of the Sibylline," she claimed proudly.

"No, no, no, no." The Doctor shook his head. "I'm talking to the creature inside you. The thing that's seeding itself into a human body, in the dust, in the lungs, taking over the flesh and turning it into, what?"

The high priestess looked rattled, as much as it was possible to determine a facial expression on a face of stone. "Your knowledge… is impossible," she gasped.

"Oh, but you can read my mind. You know it's not." He shoved his hands in his pockets and stood to his full height. "I demand you tell me who you are."

"We… are… awakening," the high priestess said, in a strange, dual-toned voice.

"The voice of the gods!" the sisters exclaimed. They swayed in place on the temple floor and began chanting, "Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom, words of power. Words of wisdom—"

The Doctor ignored them. The Sisterhood were not the ones in charge here. Instead, he stared down the creature who had once been their high priestess. "Name yourself. Planet of origin. Galactic coordinates. Species designation according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation."

The creature on the bed slowly got to its feet. Doctor, what do you need me to do? Rose asked.

Make your way over the hypocaust, casually as possible. See if you can get it open without anyone noticing.

"We… are… rising," the creature said, sounding less human with every word.

"Tell me your name!" the Doctor demanded, being as theatrical as possible to keep all the attention in the room focused on him while Rose crept over to the hypocaust.

"Pyrovile," the high priestess cried out.

"Pyrovile. Pyrovile. Pyrovile," the sisters chanted.

Donna sidled over to the Doctor's side. "What's a Pyrovile?" she asked.

The Doctor nodded at the high priestess. "Well, that's a Pyrovile, growing inside her. She's a halfway stage."

"What, and that turns into…?" Donna asked, letting the question dangle open-ended.

"That thing in the villa. That was an adult Pyrovile."

The high priestess pointed at him. "And the breath of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor."

The Doctor reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out the yellow water pistol he'd found in his coat pockets before he and Rose had gone after Donna. "I warn you, I'm armed."

Donna was still at his elbow, and he leaned closer to her. "Go help Rose. I'm right behind you."

She crossed the temple floor, and the Doctor shifted a foot to the left so he was directly in the high priestess' line of vision, keeping her attention focused on him. "What are the Pyrovile doing here?" he asked, pointing his water pistol at the Pyrovile's heart.

"We fell from the heavens," she said, still using the dual-toned voice. "We fell so far and so fast, we were rendered into dust."

Got it, Doctor, Rose told him.

He adjusted his hold on the toy and shifted on the balls of his feet, ready to run. "Right, creatures of stone shattered on impact," he muttered to himself.

He made eye contact with Rose over the high priestess' shoulder. Get down in there, he told Rose. I promise, I'm right behind you.

You'd better be, she told him, and he watched just for a moment out of the corner of his eye as she convinced Donna to go down into the tunnel.

To keep the attention focused on him, he raised his voice. "When was that, seventeen years ago?"

The Pyrovile shook her head. "We have slept beneath for thousands of years."

That only surprised the Doctor for a moment before he realised what it meant. He nodded quickly. "Okay, so seventeen years ago woke you up, and now you're using human bodies to reconstitute yourselves." He suddenly remembered the high priestess was not the only member of the Sibylline in the room, and turned quickly to brandish the weapon at the young women chanting on the floor before asking another question. "But why the psychic powers?"

"We opened their minds and found such gifts."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. Humans didn't have psychic gifts. Not like this, anyway. "Okay, that's fine. So you force yourself inside a human brain, use the latent psychic talent to bond. I get that, I get that, yeah." He shook his head. "But seeing the future? That is way beyond psychic. You can see through time. Where does the gift of prophecy come from?"

The high priestess writhed on the bed, and the Doctor decided that maybe his interview was over. "On second thought," he said as he pivoted and started jogging towards the hypocaust, "maybe it doesn't really matter."

He'd almost made it when one of the sisters called his bluff. "Sisters, I see into his mind. The weapon is harmless."

The Doctor shrugged. "Yeah, but it's got to sting," he countered, shooting the high priestess several times before dropping through the open grate, down into the tunnel.

The heat hit him like a brick wall, and he took a second to regulate his own internal temperature before grinning at Rose and Donna. "Just the kind of weapon I like," he said, squirting into the air.

Donna laughed. "You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you."

Rose pushed herself off the wall and grabbed his hand. "Mmm, so do I," she agreed.

Donna wrinkled her nose. "Not quite what I meant."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "This way," he said, before Donna could go into another long tirade about how unappealing she found his attributes.

"Where are we going now?" Donna asked.

The Doctor shook his head, pulling his thoughts away from the amusement he could feel fizzling over the bond. "Into the volcano."

Donna gaped at him. "No way."

"Yes way." He twirled the water pistol around his finger as he started into the tunnel. "Appian Way."

Rose snorted. "You are such a dork," she told him.

The Doctor pointed at her with the water pistole and shook his head. "Never let a pun pass you by, Rose," he said seriously. "They are the height of humour."

She nodded, although the Doctor suspected the serious expression on her face was fake. "Whatever you say, Doctor."

Choosing to ignore the affectionate mockery in her voice, the Doctor brought the conversation back to Pompeii, rambling as they walked. "Why can't this lot predict a volcano? Why is it being hidden?"

"And why doesn't it feel like a fixed point?" Rose asked. "Because I think those questions have the same answer, don't you?"

He nodded as he ducked beneath some low-hanging rocks. "That seems highly likely. So we have a fixed point that doesn't hurt and soothsayers with an uncanny knack for speaking the truth who can't see the one thing we know for sure is coming for this city."

As they jogged towards Vesuvius, Donna asked the question that had been building in her mind ever since they'd discovered the Pyrovile were behind what was going on in Pompeii. "But if it's aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it all right for you to stop it?

He shook his head as they walked down roughly cut stairs into a larger cavern with a fire burning in the middle. "Still part of history. Still a fixed point."

Donna looked over at Rose, and she nodded. "Doctor, I told you that Donna and I think we should save Caecilius and his family."

"And I told you that we can't," he snapped.

To Donna's surprise, Rose stopped dead in the middle of the tunnel. Her palla had slid off her head to drape around her shoulders, and she put one hand on her hip. "Give me one reason why we can't," she insisted. "We're not talking about changing the fixed point, or saving everyone in the whole town."

The Doctor raked his hands through his hair. "Just one family?"

"Just one." The hard line of Rose's jaw softened and she took the Doctor's hand. "Wouldn't you feel better if we saved someone, even though we can't save them all? Wouldn't it be better to show as much compassion as possible?"

He sighed and clenched his eyes shut, but a moment later, Donna watched the lines around his eyes smooth out. "You're right. Thank you, Rose."

"Thank Donna," she said. "It was her idea."

Something roared in the distance behind them before the Doctor could offer Donna his thanks. "They know we're here." He pushed Donna into another narrow tunnel with a hand on the small of her back. "Come on."

"Of course they know we're here," Donna said breathlessly as they ran. "They watched us disappear through the hypocaust."

Rose chuckled. "She has a point, Doctor. We weren't exactly stealthy."

"Oi!" the Doctor protested. "Is this what my life's going to be from now on? The two of you, ganging up on me?"

To his surprise, Rose's hand went limp in his when he suggested that. He glanced down at her, but the tunnels had just broadened out again, leaving them in an open cavern where voices could echo.

Rose? he asked as they carefully picked their way down a rocky incline. The closer they got to the heart of the volcano, the warmer it got.

Rose bit her lip. Is it really okay if we save Caecilius and his family? she asked. I don't want you to feel like we've forced you to do something you're not comfortable with.

The Doctor smiled and brushed a kiss over her knuckles before dropping her hand. I promise, it's just fine. I was only teasing when I said you were ganging up on me.

The last tunnel finally led them onto a rocky overhang that gave them a view of the mountain's opening, and the Pyrovile marching around the lower cavern. "It's the heart of Vesuvius. We're right inside the mountain."

"There's tons of them," Donna whispered.

The basalt they'd been walking through gave way to porous pumice. Magma bubbled up through cracks in the Earth, and everything looked… well, volcanic. Everything but that, the Doctor realised when his gaze landed on something distinctly artificial in appearance. He pulled a spyglass out of his jacket pocket and used it to get a better glimpse. "What's that thing?"

Distant footsteps rumbled in the tunnel they'd just walked through, and Rose crouched lower to the ground. "Better think of something fast, Doctor," she said. "I don't think they're gonna leave us alone for much longer."

The Doctor pressed his lips together. The artificial structure he'd spotted was a door. "That's how they arrived," he said, handing Rose the glass so she could look. "Or what's left of it. Escape pod? Prison ship? Gene bank?"

"But why do they need a volcano?" Donna asked reasonably. "Maybe it erupts, and they launch themselves back into space or something?"

The Doctor thought of the humans he'd witnessed turning to stone, and shook his head. The Pyrovile didn't want to return home. "Oh, it's worse than that."

"What do you mean, worse?" Rose asked as she handed the spyglass back.

Donna glanced over her shoulder when the rumbling sounded behind them. "Doctor, it's getting closer."

"Heathens! Defilers!" Lucius stood in the middle of the crater below and shouted at the Pyrovile. "They would desecrate your temple, my lord gods."

Oh, that's not good. That's very much not good. "Come on," the Doctor hissed, eager to get out of range before the Pyrovile could track them down.

"We can't go in," Donna protested as he led them forward, deeper into the volcano and closer to Lucius and the Pyrovile.

"Well, we can't go back," the Doctor retorted. A groaning rumble sounded from the tunnel at their backs to prove his point.

"Crush them. Burn them," Lucius ordered.

The Doctor scrambled over the rocks, heedless of noise now. Behind him, Rose and Donna sent more rocks skittering down the slope. A huge Pyrovile rose up out of the rocks and loomed over them, and they skidded to a halt. The Doctor stared for a second before he reached into his back pocket and pulled the water pistol out.

The Pyrovile shrieked when it was hit by the stream of water, and the Doctor, Rose, and Donna used its moment of confusion to dart around it to the escape pod, dodging the flames of the Pyrovile as they ran.

"There is nowhere to run, Doctor and daughters of London," Lucius hollered.

The Doctor paused in the door of the escape pod, his water pistol held at the ready. "Now then, Lucius. My lords Pyrovillian, don't get yourselves in a lather."

Rose and Donna groaned, and he looked over his shoulder at them.

"In a lava? No?" They shook their heads, and he shrugged. "No. But if I might beg the wisdom of the gods before we perish. Once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?"

Because that was what it really came down to. This was the Pyroviles' last chance, though he didn't use those words.

The Pyrovile stomped towards them, his fiery footsteps crushing rocks as he went. The Doctor kept an eye on him, while waiting for an answer from Lucius.

"My masters will follow the example of Rome itself," Lucius shouted. "An almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilisation."

Donna took a step forward. "But if you've crashed, and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?"

"The Heaven of Pyrovillia is gone," Lucius explained.

"What do you mean, gone? Where's it gone?" the Doctor asked as the mountain rumbled beneath his feet. He could feel seconds ticking by and knew the time of the eruption was almost upon them… if he could repair the timelines so it actually happened.

"It was taken," Lucius shouted. "Pyrovillia is lost. But there is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise."

Rose snorted. "You do realise it's like, seventy percent water out there?"

Even from a distance, Lucius' smirk was obvious. "Water can boil. And everything will burn, Doctor."

The Doctor pressed his lips together and nodded once. "Then the whole planet is at stake," he said as he put the pistol back in his belt. "Thank you. That's all I needed to know," He bowed, then gestured for the women to go into the escape pod. "Rose, Donna."

He followed them inside and then used the sonic screwdriver to seal the doors. "Could we be any more trapped?" Donna asked.

Rose shook her head. "We're exactly where we need to be, aren't we, Doctor?" She'd felt the turmoil in his mind calm the moment he realised the entire planet was in danger.

Instead of answering, he peered at the controls, not even blinking when steam filled the chamber as the Pyrovile tried to smoke them out.

Donna took a breath and fanned her face. "Little bit hot."

"See?" The Doctor pointed at the circuits, which had been set up along the wall of the pod. "The energy converter takes the lava, uses the power to create a fusion matrix, which welds Pyrovile to human. Now that it's complete, they can convert millions."

Rose sucked in a breath. He'd turned the controls on as he explained, but she had a feeling he wasn't going to let the energy converter work according to plan. And that meant…

"That's why they can't see the volcano," she realised. "If the Pyrovile are using the lava, they're funnelling all that power away from the mountain. It's never going to erupt."

"And they're going to use the power of the volcano to take over the world," the Doctor concluded.

Donna looked from the Doctor to Rose and back again. "But you can change it back."

Tears sprang to Rose's eyes when she saw the choice looming before the Doctor. It wasn't a choice anyone should ever have to make, and somehow, it always fell on his shoulders.

He nodded once in answer to Donna's question. "I can invert the system, set off the volcano, and blow them up, yes. But…" He looked at them then, and for once, his age showed in the lines of his face. "That's the choice, Donna. It's Pompeii or the world."

Donna recoiled from the pain in his eyes. "Oh, my God."

"If Pompeii is destroyed then it's not just history, it's me. I make it happen."

Rose took his hand. "No, Doctor. We make it happen." He frowned at her, and she brushed her thumb over his knuckles. "It has to be done, but the responsibility won't rest on your shoulders alone."

His body shook with repressed emotion. "Vesuvius explodes with the force of twenty-four nuclear bombs. There's no way we'll survive."

His eyes begged her to find another way, but there wasn't one. It was their first, "I could save the world but lose you," moment since their year-long holiday, and Rose tried to project as much trust as possible over the bond.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then went to work on the controls, resetting them to funnel the power of the mountain out through the volcano, instead of into the energy converter.

When the controls were reset, the Doctor swallowed hard and put his hands on the lever. "Push this lever and it's over." He looked at Rose, then at Donna. "Twenty thousand people."

Rose put her hands down on top of his, and a moment later, Donna rested hers on the lever in between theirs. The three of them shared a last look, then closed their eyes and pushed.

The change was immediate. The mountain rumbled beneath their feet, shaking the pod and tossing them around.

Time shifted, too, and the Doctor and Rose both felt it. There was a moment, just a second, where timelines blurred and a rift in time opened before healing itself almost instantly.

At the same time, the fixed point cemented back into place. The Doctor and Rose both shuddered as their time senses awoke with all the fury of a cat who'd been dropped in water. As uncomfortable as the sensation was, it was also a relief that this moment finally felt as forbidden to them as it should have from the start.

The pod whirled and tilted as it was projected through the air. "Come on," the Doctor shouted. "Get down on the ground." He pulled Rose and Donna both down with him and wrapped an arm around each of them, trying to protect their heads from falling rocks.

But there was no staying safe when the pod spun end over end, and eventually, he gave up and covered his own head. They were tossed about for almost a minute until they landed with a hard thud.

The door popped open when they hit the ground, and they crawled out at the base of the mountain. "It was an escape pod," he mumbled as he looked up at the sky.

The Doctor looked back towards the rumbling mountain, and his eyes widened when he saw the pyroclastic flow of ash and rock rushing towards them. He grabbed Rose and Donna's hands and yanked them towards Pompeii.

"Come on!" he yelled as they ran. "We've got to get to Caecilius' before the worst of the ash hits, or we're going to die!"

Day turned to night as the cloud of ash blocked the sun. When they reached Pompeii, people were standing in the streets, staring at the mountain in horror. None of them had any frame of reference for something like this, any way to explain what had happened today. To a society living before the age of scientific discovery, it would appear that the gods had gone mad, raging at the people on the Earth below.

Donna slowed, and her slack hand fell from the Doctor's grasp. There was so much destruction all around her… so much death coming. She stared at the people running towards the water, and even though she knew this had to happen, she couldn't help but yell advice at them. "Don't. Don't go to the beach," she shouted, remembering how tsunami worked. "Don't go to the beach; go to the hills. Listen to me. Don't go to the beach. It's not safe. Listen to me."

No one listened. Rose took her hand and pulled her away.

"Come on, Donna," she said, pitching her voice low to be heard. "We can't save them, but if we hurry, we can save our one family. Remember?"

Donna looked away from a little boy crying in the street and swiped at the tears on her face. "Yeah. I just…" She nodded. "Yeah."

"Come on," the Doctor said, leading the way to Foss Street.

When they reached the villa, Caecilius, Metella, Quintus, and Evelina were huddled together against one of the interior walls. "Gods save us, Doctor," Caecilius shouted as his family whimpered in fear.

The Doctor took a deep breath and nodded. "Come with me," he ordered, then ran for the TARDIS, pulling his key out as he went.

He stalked towards the console, talking to the TARDIS as he went. It's my fault, he lamented. I swore I'd never push another button like that, but you made me do it.

She hummed apologetically while he moved around the console, setting the coordinates for a safe distance from the disaster. Rose joined him and helped him finish, and a moment later, Donna ushered the stunned Pompeiian family into the TARDIS.

"It's all right," she said soothingly when Caecilius froze in the doorway. "I promise. We're going to take you someplace safe."

"We can't stay here, Dad," Evelina said, her voice soft, and together, she and Quintus convinced their parents to enter the ship.

Rose guided them to the railing, and once they were hanging on, the Doctor flipped the lever without a word. There were no words for a day like today, and he wouldn't disrespect their guests or the people who'd died by pretending there were.

The TARDIS was kind enough to give them a light landing, and he stuck his hands into his pockets and nodded at the door. "I think you'll find we're safe now," he said quietly.

Caecilius and Metella blinked at him in confusion, but Quintus nodded and pushed the door open. "Come on, Dad," he said quietly. "Look, we're safe."

The Doctor put his coat back on while everyone else filed out of the ship onto a hill some twenty miles from Vesuvius. When the ship was empty, he ran his fingers lightly over the controls, then followed them outside.

They stood on the hill in silence, watching the destruction of Pompeii. Then the Doctor took a breath and turned to the man standing beside him. "It's never forgotten, Caecilius," he promised. "Oh, time will pass, men'll move on, and stories will fade. But one day, Pompeii will be found again. In thousands of years. And everyone will remember you."

Donna stepped out of the shadows to stand by Evelina. "What about you, Evelina? Can you see anything?"

The girl shook her head. "The visions have gone."

Rose put a hand on the young woman's shoulder. "The force of the eruption actually cracked open a rift in time, just for a second," she explained.

The Doctor nodded. Finally, there was an answer to everything. "That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovillian alternative. But not any more." He smiled at her. "You're free."

"But tell me," whispered Metella. "Who are you, Doctor? With your words, and your temple containing such size within?"

"Oh, I was never here." She frowned, and he shook his head quickly. "Don't tell anyone."

"The great god Vulcan must be enraged," Caecilius mused. "It's so volcanic. It's like some sort of volcano. All those people," he sobbed, and Metella turned and buried her face in his shoulder as they watched the destruction of the only life they'd ever known.

And that's our cue to leave. Rose and Donna were already slipping back inside the TARDIS, and the Doctor took one last look at Vesuvius before he joined them.

Rose was at the console, and as soon as he closed the doors, she threw the dematerialisation lever. The Doctor took his coat off as he felt the TARDIS slip into the Vortex, then he looked at Donna, who was staring down at her clasped hands.

"Donna Noble," he said, giving her name some weight. She looked up at him, and he tried to let her see how grateful he was to her. "Thank you. Thank you for helping us find a way to show compassion, even when we're dealt a bad hand."

Donna smiled and tipped her head back. "Thank you," she returned. "For being the people I thought you were."

The Doctor nodded. "Time for a night in, I think."

Donna rubbed at her face, streaking tears and ash over it. "Yeah," she agreed wearily. "There's an enormous bathtub in my ensuite that's calling my name." She paused at the entrance to the corridor. "I'll see you for breakfast?"

"Of course," Rose said, and Donna nodded, then walked away.

The Doctor tossed his coat onto the strut and took Rose's hand. "I think a bath sounds like an excellent idea, don't you?"

"Yeah."

Rose ran her hands over the wall as they walked to their room, and when they pushed the door open, they could hear the water running and see steam billowing out of the ensuite. They both stripped silently, tossing their soiled, dusty clothes straight into the laundry chute.

The tension in the Doctor's body was obvious when he stood before her, naked and vulnerable. Come with me, my love, she beckoned, walking backwards toward the open door. He followed, only hesitating when she turned the shower on instead of stepping into the bath.

"We need to rinse off quickly first," she told him gently. "Or our bathwater will get muddy."

He nodded, and they both stepped under the stream of water for a few minutes, letting it rinse away most of the ash and get their hair thoroughly wet.

After turning the water off, Rose climbed into the bath and indicated that he should sit down in front of her. Let me take care of you tonight.

The slight hitch in his chest wouldn't have been noticeable to most, but Rose knew her Doctor. She waited patiently while he stepped gingerly into the water and sat down, his spine stiff.

Rose took the bottle of shampoo from the ledge of the bathtub and squeezed some into her hands, rubbing them together until it formed a rich lather. The Doctor sighed when she sank her hands into his hair, massaging the shampoo into the scalp and getting every bit of dust and grime washed away.

"Tilt your head back," she ordered softly. When she could see his eyebrows, she reached for the cup on the ledge and used it to rinse the soap away.

"Feel better?" she asked when his hair was clean.

He nodded, but she could still feel the tension in his body. "What about you?" he asked.

Rose started to tell him that this was for him, not her, but then she caught a glimpse of his thoughts—he'd been on edge all day, afraid they wouldn't get out in time. Then in the escape pod when they pressed the lever, he'd been certain they were going to die. He needed to take care of her for a moment, just like she'd needed to take care of him.

They turned carefully in the tub, managing not to slosh huge amounts of water onto the rim as they moved. Rose's hair had dried slightly while they'd sat in the bath, and the Doctor used the cup to get it wet again before washing it. Well-trained, he reached for the conditioner next and carefully untangled the snarls that had formed, not rinsing it out until he was satisfied.

"I think that's good enough," Rose said gently when he set the cup down. She leaned forward and pulled the plug, then stood up and grabbed the warm, fluffy towels that were waiting on the rack. "Let's put pyjamas on and go to bed."

After drying off, Rose started to wring the water out of her hair with an extra soft towel kept just for that purpose. However, the Doctor pulled it from her hands and motioned for her to sit on the bed. The towel she'd wrapped around herself tugged loose as she sat down, and she let it fall to her waist.

A moment later, Rose felt his fingers comb through her hair. "You shouldn't go to bed with wet hair." She heard the hum of the sonic screwdriver, then felt the subtle vibrations shift against her scalp as he used it to get her head dry.

A tingling sensation started at the base of her skull, triggered by the combination of the Doctor's fingers and the sonic massage. The rhythmic motion of his hands seemed to spread the tingles, until they covered her whole scalp.

A moan escaped her lips when he pressed his fingertips to her scalp and massaged lightly. "Doctor…"

"Frisson," he whispered. "I didn't think about it before, but I'm not surprised the sonic caused it."

His fingers slowed, and finally he pulled them away from her head. Rose sighed in disappointment as the feeling faded, but at least the remaining tension from the day seemed to have left her body. She pulled on one of the Doctor's vests and slipped under the covers.

Watching the Doctor, she quickly realised he was more tightly wound now than he had been when they'd entered their room. She rolled over onto her side and watched him meticulously hang up their towels and clean up the water on the bathroom floor.

When he ran out of meaningless chores to fill the time, he shuffled over to the bureau and found a clean pair of pants to put on. Then he climbed into bed and lay flat on his back, staring up at the ceiling for a long moment, until Rose reached out hesitantly and took his hand.

That simple gesture seemed to flip a switch. A choked sob escaped his throat, and he rolled over and pressed himself to her side.

Rose blinked, but she responded almost immediately, rubbing his shoulders and stroking his hair. "Talk to me, love," she pleaded.

He drew a shuddering breath and wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close. "Too much like pressing the button," he mumbled.

Her heart clenched. The parallel had not been lost on her, either, but feeling his aching sorrow as he said the words made it so much worse.

"Only you weren't there when I killed everyone that time. You were there today, and it was—"

The Doctor swallowed hard. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't. If he said it was, Rose would tell him she'd chosen to be there. It wasn't his fault.

Her gentle fingers stroked along his temples, and he sighed. "That's right, love," she whispered. "It wasn't your fault. And not only that, but we all made it out just fine. We're here. We're home."

He blinked. That… that was true. How had he missed that? He turned his head slightly so he could see more of their room. They were home.

He sighed and pressed himself tighter against Rose's side. "But… that wasn't the only thing," he said quietly. "You and Donna, you both wanted me to save someone."

She caught the amorphous thoughts floating through his head, but they were too scattered and trauma-driven to make any sense to her. "Why didn't you want to?"

He turned his head so it was resting on her shoulder. "You don't understand, Rose. It wasn't that I didn't want to; it was that I did. I wanted to save someone… I wanted to save everyone."

She felt a tear on her shoulder and waited while he took a few deep breaths to bring himself back under control. "Why could I save someone today, but not on Gallifrey?" he finally whispered.

Rose didn't have an answer for that. The best she could do was reach through the bond and soothe the ache she could feel pulsing back to her. He shuddered again when she traced a light telepathic touch over the open wound, but eventually, she felt him drift off to sleep.

Even his sleep was fitful though, and Rose wondered, not for the first time, if there wasn't some way of saving Gallifrey without giving the Time Lords free rein to wreak havoc on the galaxy. It was an impossible wish, but if they ever found a way, however faint the possibility of success, she was determined to make it happen.

oOoOoOoOo

When Rose woke up the next morning, the Doctor's head was pillowed on her chest, his hair tickling at her neck and chin. His desperate hold had relaxed in his sleep, the arm that had been clutching tightly to her now draped over her waist.

She smiled and combed her fingers through his hair. It didn't often happen that she woke up before him, so the chance to witness him completely relaxed was welcome.

The Doctor stirred, and his lips brushed against the swell of her breast. "You can keep doing that," he mumbled as she scraped her nails over his scalp.

Rose chuckled, but her hand slowed. "I can't actually," she told him.

"Oh, come on!" He pressed his head into her hand, silently begging for more.

Rose gave his hair one last stroke, then pushed at his shoulders. "I'm starving, and I need to wee."

The Doctor flopped onto his back, his arm flung dramatically over his head. "Fine," he muttered as Rose hopped out of bed. "I guess I'll make breakfast then."

After using the toilet and freshening up a bit, Rose pulled on slippers and her dressing gown and went to the galley. The Doctor was putting bacon in the frying pan, and several bowls of various sizes cluttered the countertop.

"Crepes?" Rose guessed when she saw the thin batter and the large, flat pan.

"Yep! I don't know what Donna likes, but she strikes me as someone who enjoys good food."

Rose leaned against the counter and watched for a moment as he sliced strawberries. "And then what do you want to do today?"

The knife stilled, and his expression was sober when he looked up at her. "I really need a slow day," he admitted. "Is that all right?"

His brow furrowed slightly, and Rose reached out to rub the crease away. "Of course it is, Doctor. I could do with a bit of quiet myself. A walk in the woods, maybe? With a picnic?"

He nodded, but he still looked too uncertain for Rose's satisfaction. She glanced quickly around the kitchen, smiling when her gaze landed on the bowl of strawberries. She snagged a whole berry and popped it into her mouth, humming at the sweet flavour.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes and shook his finger at her. "No snitching, Rose Tyler. If you eat it all now, we won't have anything left for breakfast."

Rose arched her eyebrow and grabbed another berry, then danced back a few steps. She bit into the strawberry, feeling the juice drip over her lips as she maintained eye contact with the Doctor.

"How do you plan to stop me?" She licked her lips and watched his Adam's apple bob in response.

Then he was standing in front of her, bringing the hand still holding the rest of the berry to his mouth and taking it from her with his teeth. I think I'll just have to teach you how to share. He tugged on her hand until she was close enough for him to wrap his other arm around her waist.

Rose looked up at him through her eyelashes, not even trying to pretend that this wasn't exactly the outcome she'd aimed for. He leaned down slowly, and after a moment of breathless anticipation, Rose whined softly. Doctor… He chuckled, but gave in and pressed his lips to hers.

Her mouth opened beneath his immediately, letting his tongue sweep inside, chasing the lingering taste of strawberries. The hand on her back flexed, then pulled her closer. I'll never get tired of kissing you.

Rose sighed and her hands raked through his hair. Well I hope not! She scraped her teeth against his lip, and he groaned softly into her mouth.

"Good morning!"

Donna's louder-than-usual greeting made the Doctor and Rose jump back like guilty teenagers. She stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips and a mildly amused look on her face.

"I know this is your home, but I think we need to make a list of places I don't want to catch you snogging." She tilted her head. "Scratch that, I'd rather not catch you snogging anywhere."

The Doctor felt his ears turn bright red and he ran a hand through his hair, trying to tame the wild hedgehog look he knew he sported. Donna pressed her lips together, trying not to laugh, so he suspected he'd failed spectacularly.

"Sorry, Donna." He shuffled his feet back and forth. "It won't happen again."

She snorted. "Somehow I have a hard time believing that. You've been married for a year and you still look at each other with hearts in your eyes, like you're on your honeymoon."

Rose poured water into the kettle and turned it on. "We've been married for three years actually," she said while pulling mugs and the tea canister out of the cupboard.

"But—"

"Time machine," she reminded the other woman. "And we've been alone for the last year, so I guess we've forgotten to be considerate of other people who might walk in. Sorry."

Donna relaxed and waved off the apology with a smile. "If you've been on your own for a year, I can see how you might forget." She raised an eyebrow. "That's not permission to let it happen again, mind."

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "No, you've made your position on that very clear. Now, breakfast?"

oOoOoOoOo

After the somewhat awkward start, breakfast was perfect. The Doctor's assumption that Donna would enjoy crepes was proven correct, and they talked and joked for nearly an hour before leaving the table.

When they'd done the washing up and put everything away, Donna looked at the Doctor and Rose. "Well. Where are we going today?"

To her surprise, Rose reached into the pantry and pulled out a picnic hamper. "We thought we'd take it easy today—just a picnic in the countryside. You up for it?"

Donna felt a band ease around her chest, and she sighed as her whole body relaxed. "Yeah, that sounds perfect," she agreed, and helped Rose make sandwiches while the Doctor added drinks and picnic dishes.

When the hamper was full, he nodded at the door. "Well, let's go then," he said, leading the way to the console room.

Donna sat down gingerly on the jump seat and watched the Doctor and Rose move together around the console. It was like a dance, the way they spun and twisted in harmony to reach all the levers and knobs at the right time.

When the ship landed, she shoved aside the worry that today would be another day like yesterday and walked to the door. "So, where are we?" she asked as they stepped outside. The sun was warm on her shoulders and she caught a sweet floral fragrance in the air. "Are we on an alien planet?"

The Doctor shook his head. "We're on Earth. Italy—Tuscany to be exact. The year is…" He tilted his head slightly. "1324."

Rose linked her arm through the Doctor's and rested her head on his shoulder. "Sometimes, after a trip like yesterday, we just need…"

She sighed, and the Doctor picked up the train of thought. "We need to do something to remember that it was worth it. Making the choice to let Vesuvius erupt was hard on all of us, but if we hadn't…" He stretched his arm out and gestured at the gently rolling hills surrounding them. "None of this would be here anymore. Or if it was, it wouldn't look like this."

Donna looked at the hills covered in vineyards with new eyes. She hadn't slept well the night before, unable to stop thinking about the people they hadn't saved. The little boy who'd been scooped up by his mother, the fruit vendor who'd sold the TARDIS to Caecilius in the first place… Every face she'd seen in their twenty-four hours in Pompeii had gone through her head on a constantly repeating reel.

But with her lungs full of the rich, loamy scent of tilled earth and a castle looming in the distance, her enthusiasm for travelling returned. They'd saved the whole planet yesterday! She, Donna Noble, temp from Chiswick, had helped save the Earth from alien invasion.

Oh, no one back home would ever believe this.