Chapter 5
"I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be."
"That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?"
"My head."
"Come here."
"It's killing me."
"I think you need a Doctor."
When Susan peeked her head out of the TARDIS, she could see pipe work and cables running along the walls and ceiling, with trolley cages containing white bags of hospital linen. She had worked in hospitals before, and she knew a basement when she saw one, and she was looking at one right now.
"Come on, Grandee. There should be a lift nearby where they take the linen up to the wards." She led him a short distance along the corridor, and found the metal lift door recessed into the wall. Once inside the lift, there was a helpful menu that told them that the Delivery Suite was on the second floor.
The lift 'dinged' its arrival at the second floor, and they stepped out onto a very nice, carpeted hallway with comfy leather chairs for patients and visitors. A sign hanging from the ceiling, indicated that a door along the hallway was the relatives room.
"She'll be in there," he told Susan. "You go and say hello, and I'll have a seat here and wait for her to come out."
She kissed him on the cheek, squeezed his forearm, and headed for the door. She opened it as though she had every right to do so, and casually walked over to the drinks dispenser in the corner. Through the corner of her eye, she could see a young, blonde woman sitting on one of the comfy chairs, cradling a Styrofoam cup of brown liquid.
Susan picked up her cup from the dispenser tray and sat in the corner, picking up a copy of 'Chat' magazine. She looked over to the blonde woman, who she couldn't help but notice, had a haunted look in her eyes, and gave her a pleasant smile. The blonde flashed a smile back and then went back to gazing into her cup, lost in her own thoughts.
Susan then looked at the cover of the magazine, and stifled a giggle. There was a photograph of the woman sitting opposite her, wearing a black, paramilitary uniform. She was receiving a kiss from a handsome, dark skinned man, who had a shaved head and wore the same uniform.
'Is the ice maiden thawing?' the caption read under the photograph, speculating on whether this man was a romantic interest in the action heiress's life. She saw Rose flinch at the taste of the tea, and struck up a conversation, which ended when the midwife called her into the Delivery Room.
She rolled the magazine into a baton, and left the relatives room to find the Doctor outside. He seemed to be dozing with his head slightly bowed. She sat by the side of him, which made him turn his head to look at her.
"I met her. I talked to her. I can't believe I just did that. This is brilliant." She unrolled the magazine to show him. "Look, is it alright if I keep this?"
He read the resume on the front cover, and a low chuckle bubbled up from inside. "Hah, she'd have hated that," he said. "Yes, you can keep it. It can be a family heirloom."
The door to the relatives room suddenly opened, and Rose hurried out, a sob escaping from her throat. She turned to the wall and rested her head on her arm against it. The Doctor hurriedly struggled to his feet with Susan's help, and made his way over to the distraught young woman.
"Tears of sadness at the birth of new life?" She heard him say to Rose, as he took his folded handkerchief out of his top pocket and offered it to her. She saw the look of sadness turn to surprise, and then to absolute joy as she hugged him around the neck. Susan was worried that the Doctor might fall over with the extra weight of Rose hanging on his neck.
But it seemed that seeing his love again had revitalised him and given him the energy he needed to carry on. She saw him gently take Rose's face in his hands and kiss her on the lips. Rose seemed to be in some sort of a trance, as she just stood there, lips still pursed as though she were still enjoying a kiss that would never end.
The Doctor walked over to Susan and took her arm, leaning on her heavily. "We have to go before she recovers," he told her, his voice breaking with emotion, tears stinging his eyes.
Susan put his arm around her shoulders, and supported him around the waist, almost dragging him to the lift. It took an eternity for the lift to arrive, but when it did, they stumbled inside, and she hit the 'B' button.
"Not long now my love," he whispered as the lift descended.
The door 'dinged' and opened, and she shrugged her shoulder under his armpit to help him into the corridor and over to the TARDIS. He rested his body, and the side of his face against the blue wooden door, as he took out the key and put it in the lock. He could feel the TARDIS in his head.
"You can feel it, can't you old girl? The time has come, but I need to get Susan home first."
As the door opened inwards, he nearly fell to the floor grating, but Susan caught him and helped him up to the console. He activated the controls, and the Time Rotor started to pump up and down. Susan stood back and looked on in wonder as a golden mist enshrouded his body.
"Badabing-badabong," he said with a sniff and roll of his neck. "That should be enough to get me home."
"What was that golden light?" She asked him.
"Artron energy, the very stuff of time itself. It's what helped Rose reach one hundred and twenty seven years, and it's what's kept me going until now." He looked down at her, and she could see a golden glint in his eyes. "And it will be what keeps you going."
"What did you say?" She asked him, but the TARDIS landed before he could elaborate.
"Please help me get to my bed my child," he said with exhaustion, and she bumped her shoulder under his armpit again.
The TARDIS had materialised back in his bedroom, so it was a short struggle to get him to the bed. She managed to get his coat and jacket off, slip off his red converse, and cover him with the duvet.
"Susan, I don't have much time left. You'll have to use that incredible brain of yours and listen carefully."
"No Grandee, I'll call an ambulance. The paramedics will be able to help you," she declared with tears in her eyes.
That deep chuckle bubbled in his chest again. "I'm beyond their help my dear, and besides, why would I want their help? I'm about to be reunited with my Rose."
"But you can't die."
"I'd have a job not to. But listen, I have to explain some things to you. The human race is changing, its evolving. When we travelled to the future, I saw what was happening and investigated."
Susan wiped her eyes and sat on the edge of his bed to listen to everything he had to say in detail, so that she could recall perfectly what he had said.
"I am a Gallifreyan-Human hybrid. Our children had a mix of genes from both races. Even without the Artron energy, they had a long life span, and they had Gallifreyan brains. Brilliant and creative individuals who had a unique understanding of time and space."
He reached over and held her hand. "Five children sired 14 grandchildren, all of whom had the hybrid genes. They in turn sired 31 great grandchildren, and then 71 great great grandchildren. In one hundred years, there were 121 new humans, hybrids.
"Are you saying they are mutants, like the X-men or something?"
"No, well, sort of. They all have latent telepathic powers if that's the sort of thing you mean. Any way, in the next one hundred years, we have 140 great great great grandchildren, 302 great great great great grandchildren, and 573 great great great great great grandchildren to date. That's another 1015 people with the hybrid gene my great great great great great granddaughter," he said, looking deliberately at her and waiting for the penny to drop.
"ME?! I'm a mutant!" She gasped.
"You are the future. I've seen it, and it's wonderful. You spread through the galaxy, and then to other galaxies. There are setbacks of course. Disputes over trade and territory, wars. But the Gallifreyan brain wins through and you forge alliances and friendships, and create bountiful human empires. The hybrid gene is being passed on at an exponential rate, there's even a great great great great great great grandson on the way."
"My cousin Olivia, she's expecting in the autumn."
"The next wave of hybrids," he said. "Nothing to be frightened of, it's a good thing, a positive enhancement to the future of OUR race." He could say that now, he wasn't an outsider any more. He was part of the new dawn of the human race.
"When I took Rose to New New York, I downloaded their internet into the TARDIS, and over the years I was able to trace all the technological advances back to their origins, and I've got to admit, it was a bit of a surprise."
"And where was it?" Susan asked. "Torchwood, were they using alien technology?"
"Hmmm, interesting thought. That would have been my guess if I hadn't done the research myself, but it was Oxford university. Someone at Oxford inspired the creation of advanced technology that led to the technological progression of the human race right out to the edge of the universe."
Susan's eyes went wide. "It was you. Professor John Smith, senior lecturer in theoretical physics at Oxford."
"So it would seem," he said dreamily. He was getting tired now. "There is only one bit of technology that is unique in all of this universe." He nodded his head to the object behind her.
She looked over her shoulder at the blue wooden police box. "What will become of it when you are gone?" She cried.
"Oh, I think it will be in a safe pair of hands. Like I said, I knew you were the one when we first met. I could feel it, the Old Girl felt it as well."
"What, you can't mean for me to have it. How would I know what to do with it?" She was really upset now, and it was all getting too much for her.
"Susan, you've known me most of your life… Do you trust me?" His voice was quiet and weak.
"Yes, of course I do."
"Good, because I need to tell you something, and I need to do it in a special way," he said, squeezing her hand reassuringly.
"Er, o-kay," she said hesitantly.
Oh she was So like Rose that it made him weep. He lifted his hand and stroked her cheek, before placing his index and middle fingers on her temple. She could feel him, as though he was standing outside the door to a house waiting to be invited in.
"Is that you Grandee?"
"Yes my child. Do you remember that I told you that the Gallifreyan gene made you telepathic? Of course you do, you remember everything. It's your choice Susan. If you want this, you only have to invite me in."
Wow, what an offer! She thought to herself. What was he offering her. All of time and space by the sound of it. Did she want that? Who was she kidding, of course she did. She'd been listening to his stories all her life, the crafty bugger had been priming her for this very moment. She opened the door and let him in.
She gasped, and her breath caught in her throat, as she saw everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be. She saw him as he used to be, before he split in two, all fire and ice and rage. Like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun, ancient and forever. Burning at the centre of time, seeing the turn of the universe…. Oh he was magnificent.
She knew the TARDIS, and the TARDIS knew her. They would take each other were they wanted to go and where they needed to be. It was a match made in heaven, and they were going to have SO much fun.
"This is beautiful. Thank you Gra… thank you Doctor. Thank you." Her tears of sorrow for her ancestor, turned to tears of joy for the gift of understanding he had given her.
She realised that she was alone on a beach, with golden sand, and a golden sun shining, giving the sea a golden hue, with flecks of gold on the breaking surf.
"Where am I?" She called out.
"Dårlig Ulv Stranden," a familiar voice said behind her, although it sounded fresh and youthful. She turned around, and saw a tall, thin, young Grandee John with brown sticky up hair, wearing a brown pinstriped suit and red converse.
"Wellll, it's a representation of Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Wellll… it's where it all started for us anyway, and this is where it will start again." He looked past Susan, to something behind her, with a smile of pure joy that made her cry.
She turned around, and saw the blonde woman from the hospital walking towards them.
"Hello Susan, it's good to see you again," Rose said, although her voice didn't come from her lips, it seemed to resonate in Susan's head. "I'm sorry if I seem rude, but there's someone I really need to hug."
Susan smiled and stood aside, letting Rose walk past her and into the waiting arms of her lover. They kissed. Oh how they kissed. As Susan watched, the golden glow enveloped them, and their bodies seemed to melt into one, as if two parts of the whole had finally been joined together. Yin and yang fused into perfect harmony.
She blinked her eyes against the glare of the light until she had to close them. When the light had faded, she opened her eyes again, and found she was still sitting on the bed, holding the hand of the now dearly departed Professor John Smith.
She wasn't sad though. She was overjoyed, because she knew he had fulfilled his destiny, and he was finally reunited with his love.
"Where are we?" The Rose half of the new entity asked.
"The Time Vortex," the Doctor half answered.
"So where do you fancy goin' first?" The Rose half asked.
"Any where and everywhere, first and last, they are the same in here," the Doctor half answered.
"Oh yeah, you're right. This is goin' to be so much fun," the Rose half said.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
The entity that used to be the Doctor and Rose, thought about which universe they would like to visit.
"Oh look, there's Gallifrey tucked away in that little universe," the Rose half said.
"That means that I didn't destroy my people. Oh that's a relief."
"Come on, let's go and watch the Sun explode again. I missed it last time."
The End