Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I make money from it.

A/N Thanks for the amazing reviews and love on the last chapter. I adore you guys.

Final part of story #8 New Earth. Cassandra is to be dealt with and some drama is headed your way.

Happy Reading!

New Earth: Rapture

Previously

The door was opened by a woman in her late-fifties, wearing an old-fashioned black dress. "Good evening," said Rose with her most charming smile. "I am sorry to have bothered you but I appear to be lost. Would you happen to have a phone that I could use?"

The woman appraised her quietly before a wide smile appeared on her face. "But of course, my dear," she said in a sickly sweet voice. "Such a beautiful girl, all alone at a time like this. Come in, come in. I would be delighted to help."

"Jesus, she must be fast," said Fitz as he and the Doctor looked around the empty street. "Any idea where she would have gone?"

The Doctor was about to say 'no' when something in his pocket chimed. Feeling slightly relieved, he took out the phone that Rose had made him carry and read the address she had sent him. "You know this address?" he asked, showing the phone to Fitz.

"Yeah, it's just down there," he said, pointing vaguely in the right direction. "What the hell is that thing?"

"It's a phone," said the Doctor as he started running down the way he had pointed.

Fitz followed him quickly, trying to wrap his mind around the idea. "A phone? That small? And how does it send messages?"

"Yes, a phone, yes, it is that small, and yes, you can send messages using it. Actually you can do a lot more but Rose insisted on having a phone from her time rather than the advanced ones from even further into the future," he said.

Fitz was certain that either the Doctor was completely insane, or time travel was real. He knew which one he preferred.

"Here we are," said the Doctor. "Number 17. Over there."

"Hang about, we can't just knock on the door, can we?" he asked.

"Why not?" asked the Doctor. "It's a perfectly reasonable thing to do."

Fitz was starting to rethink his previous assumption about the Doctor's sanity. Maybe he really was just a nutter. A nutter who was currently knocking on the door of that house. Alright then, thought Fitz as he followed the Doctor. The door remained closed though, even after the Doctor knocked again. Getting impatient, he drew a thin, metallic tube from his pocket that glowed blue at the end. It made a whirring noise when he held it at the lock and the door opened slowly.

"What is that?" Fitz asked in fascination.

"Sonic screwdriver," answered the Doctor as he ran inside the house.

Fitz wanted to know more but he went pale when he saw a mangled body of an old man lying in the foyer of the house. It looked like his neck had been snapped, leaving his head at an odd angle. At first, Fitz was too horrified to realise that there was someone else there too. Someone whose muted sobbing he could hear.

The Doctor immediately sought out the other person, who was a very weak-looking woman in a black dress. She let out a wail of sorrow when she saw the Doctor and Fitz and pointed at the body of the man. "She made me," she sobbed. "I didn't want to. She used my body."

"Where is Rose? What have you done to her?" demanded the Doctor sharply.

"Rose? Who is Rose? I'm Hannah," she said.

"Rose, the blonde girl. I know she was here," said the Doctor furiously. "Where is she?"

"Cassandra...Cassandra took her," she said between heaving sobs.

"Don't lie to me," snapped the Doctor. "Her body was dumped in the alley. Tell me where Rose is right now!"

"That was Cassidy Kemp," said Hannah, seemingly falling into a numb state. "Cassandra chose her because she looked like her when she was younger and their similarity of names."

"Where's Cassandra taken Rose?" asked the Doctor, forcing himself to be calmer.

"She was saying that she was going to return home," said Hannah in a monotone, her eyes starting to lose their focus.

"Hannah, look at me," said the Doctor sharply and her eyes snapped to his. "Where is home for Cassandra?" he asked calmly.

"The year 5 billion," she said. "The crude vortex manipulator we used burnt out by the time we got here. We thought we were trapped for certain. But Cassandra, she made Charles build a psychograft so she could keep living."

"Charles? Dr. Charles Davy?" he asked.

Hannah nodded. "He was a brilliant man. I was in love with him for almost twenty years, you know. And she made me snap his neck," she started to sob again.

The Doctor patted her shoulder comfortingly. "It will be alright," he said. "After I've dealt with Cassandra, I'll take you home."

"No need," she said and smiled suddenly. "The poison will start working anytime now."

The Doctor's eyes went wide. "No!" he said, reaching into his jacket for the emergency medical supplies. Hannah started giggling hysterically, before gasping loudly and collapsing. The Doctor checked her pulse and closed his eyes in remorse.

"Is she…?" Fitz asked, looking slightly green himself.

"Yes," said the Doctor shortly. "No more," he declared. "There shall be no more death."

"This is just spectacular," purred Rose/Cassandra as she ran her fingers over the TARDIS console. "Such beautiful technology."

She read the coordinates that had been entered into the navigation system and raised her eyebrows. 30th century wasn't a bad time in history. Much better than the 20th century. They were practically barbaric apes now. She felt a sharp pain through her head and groaned.

"Stop fighting, you chav," she snarled angrily.

The pain seemed to increase before Cassandra focused her energy on compressing Rose Tyler's consciousness even further. She was already weakened and Cassandra did not expect her to survive for more than a few hours. It didn't matter as long as the body stayed as it was. Perhaps she would go to the 30th century after all, if only to find an actual natural blonde who had blue eyes instead of the one she was stuck with now.

Accessing the surface memories of Rose Tyler, Cassandra started the dematerialisation sequence of the TARDIS. The TARDIS console lit up and the rotor jumped to life, but it was sluggish as if the TARDIS was actively fighting her attempts to pilot.

"Come on, you stupid junk," she snapped at the console. "I know you are sentient, so quit acting like a cow."

The rotor became even slower at that and she growled in frustration. "Don't make me hurt you," she threatened. The rotor jumped to life and Cassandra's smile became triumphant until it stopped again and she heard the door open behind her.

"Oh, it's you," she said dispassionately when she saw the Doctor and Fitz enter. "How did you manage that?"

"Stattenheim remote control," said the Doctor, showing her a short, silver rod. "Recently, a lot of people have tried to meddle with the controls of my TARDIS, forcing me to take drastic measures."

"Hmm," she said. "And why did you bring the James Dean wannabe with you?"

"The name's Fitz," he snapped angrily. Even though it was Rose's body, she was holding herself differently and her accent was gone to give way to a posh, nasally voice.

"Whatever," she said. "Well, now that you are here, I would appreciate a quick lift back home, if you'd please."

"Get out of her," said the Doctor in a deadly calm.

"You know I'm not going to do that," she said as she sauntered over to him. "This is a rather beautiful body. I know you've thought so too," she added, running a hand over his chest.

He grabbed her wrist. "Give her back to me," he said, fixing her with a cold glare.

She rolled her eyes. "Actually, you know what, this is pointless. You want her back, well, you can't have her. I'm going to make sure of that," she said and winked at him before her eyes rolled upwards and she fainted.

While Cassandra had been prancing inside in her body, Rose had been fighting tooth and nail to regain control of her own mind. It was more difficult and Rose was reminded of being possessed by the Mara. But unlike that time, she was feeling much more in control. If she focused hard enough, she could give Cassandra a headache, enough to break her concentration at the very least.

She heard her threaten the Doctor but didn't understand why she suddenly fainted. Then she was there, in Rose's mind, stronger than ever. She looked like a flat piece of skin with eyes and lips being the only distinguishable features that she possessed.

"So, we meet properly, Rose Tyler," she said.

"Get out of me," snapped Rose.

"Blah blah blah, same thing over and over again," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm not here to get out. I'm here to kill you."

"You'll be killing yourself too," said Rose, trying to ignore the trickle of fear she felt.

Cassandra smiled. "Ooh, you're scared. Now we're having fun at last," she sounded delighted. "I won't be killing myself. You would have been compressed to death soon enough but since your Doctor friend is being adamant, I thought it to be a priority to kill you at once. Then the body would be free to occupy at last. Don't say I'm not compassionate."

"You call that compassionate?" snarled Rose angrily. "You're nothing more than a leech, Cassandra O'Brien."

"Enough of this," she said in a bored voice. "Time to die, Rose Tyler."

"What happened to her?" asked Fitz.

"No, no, no," said the Doctor, frantically. "She will kill her."

"Can't we stop the psychotic bitch?" asked Fitz frantically.

The Doctor seemed to be steeling himself for something. He knew that there was a simple way out of this but it would require him to do something that he had avoided doing so far. But this is Rose, his mind argued. The woman he cared very deeply for, and loved with all his hearts. Which was also why he was hesitating. It was always difficult to keep the distance when it came to a relationship like his and Rose's.

Hands trembling, he lowered her on the ground until she was lying down. A thousand years of his lives swirled and coalesced as he tried to think of any other way out. He knew there was none and he could see her starting to tremble. Cassandra was compressing her to death. His pink and yellow human, whom he had only just been able to tell how much he loved her. He refused to lose her. Not now, not ever.

He closed his eyes and touched his fingers to her temple, gently entered her mind. The gold of her mind was getting murkier due to Cassandra's presence but as soon as his mind touched hers, she started fighting right back. The gold became brighter and brighter until the murkiness was all but non existent. Cassandra was screaming in pain, but as an ancient melody rang through both their minds, the Doctor and Rose did not notice it as Cassandra died.

Rose awoke with a gasp and saw the Doctor's concerned face above her, his hands still cradling her face. He hugged her tightly at once, and pressed one, two, three kisses to her lips before hugging her again. Rose held on to him just as tightly, feeling like she couldn't bear to let him go.

Fitz cleared his throat awkwardly and the two of them broke away from their embrace slowly. The Doctor stood up and helped Rose to her feet. "Right, we should get you home Fitz," said the Doctor, still keeping his eyes fixed on Rose.

"Hey, it's alright, I can walk back," said Fitz, guessing that they needed to sort whatever the hell had just happened. "It was nice meeting you two." He looked around the cavernous TARDIS that had just been a Police Box from the outside, and shook his head. "Whoever you two are," he added.

"It's no bother at all," said the Doctor, finally tearing his eyes away from Rose to start the dematerialisation sequence that would take them near Fitz's house. The landing went smoothly and Fitz watched open-mouthed as they arrived in the alley behind his building.

"What is this thing?" he asked in wonder.

"TARDIS," answered Rose, patting the console gently. "It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space."

"You two travel through time?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, we do," said the Doctor.

Fitz nodded slowly, as if unsure if he should believe them or not. He smiled uncertainly at them as he opened the doors, only to shut them again quickly.

"Something wrong?" asked the Doctor.

"Coppers standing near my building," he said.

"I'll check what it's about," Rose offered as she went outside the TARDIS. She returned only a few minutes later, looking at Fitz apologetically. "They are looking for you. They think you kidnapped and murdered Cassidy Kemp."

"What?" he asked, aghast.

"A girl matching her description jumped out of your flat and later turned up dead near your favourite pub. Not exactly a huge leap to make," she said.

Fitz sat down on the stairs near the TARDIS door, clutching his head in his hands. "What the hell am I going to do?"

"Stay here," offered the Doctor.

Fitz looked up at him, hardly daring to believe it. "What?"

"Stay here, travel in time," said the Doctor with a smile. "If you want, of course."

"Yeah," he said quickly, as if he thought that they'd change their minds if he took too long to make a decision.

The Doctor nodded and turned to Rose who was looking a little uncertain at Fitz's enthusiasm. "Come on," she said to Fitz, shaking her head to clear her line of thought. "I'll show you to your room."

"I've got a room?" he asked in disbelief as he let Rose lead him down the corridor.

"The TARDIS will have made one by now, I think," she said and turned back to the Doctor, who nodded at them to go along.

Rose and Fitz disappeared down the corridor and the Doctor let his smile slip. Stupid, selfish Time Lord, he chastised himself. He'd had no right forming a bond with Rose without her permission and certainly not in this way. He had always managed to keep that aspect of himself private and he'd only just gained the courage to tell her he loved her. They had been nowhere ready for a bond but he had been stupid and gone ahead and done it. It was still incomplete but the foundations had been laid in.

"Hey," he heard and he looked up to see Rose coming back into the console room.

"Hello," he said, smiling a little. "Did you find Fitz's room?"

"Yes, he is excited to decorate it," she said with a chuckle. "The TARDIS seems to really like him. She's warmed up to him better than she did with Rory in the beginning."

"Well, she does see much more than either of us," he said. "Perhaps there is something extraordinary about our friend after all."

Rose nodded. "She still won't let him smoke though," she said as she walked up to the Doctor. "He was grumbling like anything."

"He will get over it," he said. "You must be tired," he said quickly when she leaned in for a kiss.

She looked a bit surprised but nodded. "Yeah, I was just gonna ask when you're coming to bed," she said.

"Oh, I don't think I'm all that sleepy," he said at once. "I have to go back to the house and make sure that the psychograft is dismantled before the authorities discover it."

"What about Hannah and Dr. Charles?" asked Rose in concern.

The Doctor shook his head in remorse. "There is nothing we can do for those poor souls," he said.

Rose searched his eyes. "Do you want me to go with you?" she asked.

"No," he said immediately, plastering a smile on his face. "You should get some rest."

Rose nodded, looking a bit confused at his unusually cautious tone. "Right, I'll turn in then," she said. "You okay though?"

"Yes," he said and because he couldn't help it, he kissed her softly. "Goodnight, Rose."

She gave him a small smile and the Doctor kept his smile fixed, trying to seem as confident as he was not. Rose went down the corridor to their room and the Doctor let his smile drop again.

The incomplete bond started to hurt him but he tamped the pain down. His pain was not that important, he just had to get used to it.

A/N End of story #8 New Earth. Thanks for reading.

So, what did you think? Nothing like a bit of drama to jazz things up. It was fun to write this story.

Stattenheim remote control was seen in the episode 'The Two Doctors' and is basically a recall device that can call the TARDIS to its Time Lord.

The next story is called #9 Ghosts of Oldbank. It is based on one of my favourite audio stories ever and I was very, very excited to write it. Part 1 will be up soon. See you then!

Let me know how this one was.

~ Phoenix