*Evil Laugh*

I am so, so sorry.

Chapter 14

"Stop!" Someone ordered. Malokeh stepped back into the room with another Silurian, who was obviously the leader. The warrior's lowered their guns and Rose slowly opened her eyes.

"You want to start a war while the rest of us sleep?" The leader asked.

"The apes are attacking us!" Restac exclaimed.

"You're our protector, not our commander, Restac." The leader said softly. "Unchain them."

The Doctor let out a sigh of relief. Rose was going to stay alive.

"I do not recognize your authority at this time, Eldane." Restac hissed.

"Well then" Eldane said, still very calm "you must shoot me."

Restac let out a hiss and walked over to stand right in front of Malokeh. "You woke him to undermine me." She said.

"We're not monsters, and neither are they." He added, nodding his head toward the group chained to the poles. "While we slept, they've evolved. I've seen it for myself."

"Shush now Restac, go and play soldiers. I'll let you know if I need you." Eldane told her.

"You'll need me." She hissed, and stormed out of the room, followed by her warriors. Eldane and Malokeh unchained them, and the second the Doctor's bonds came undone, he rushed over to Rose and swept her up into his arms.

He spun around, all the while crushing her to him. He buried his face into her hair.

"I thought I was going to lose you for good this time." He said quietly. Rose just responded with quiet tears that soaked through the Doctor's jacket.

He pulled away, but kept a firm grip on her hand. "Better contact the surface people. They probably think you're…" he trailed off and glanced at Rose. "Let's see if we can fix this." He finished, looking at the machine that had been used to contact the surface people.

He turned it on and Rory's face appeared on screen. "Rory!" The Doctor yelled.

"Oh! Is Rose…" Rory didn't need to finish his question.

"She's fine! See!" The Doctor yanked Rose on screen and Rose waved.

"Hey Rory." She said happily. "Just keeping you guys on your toes."

The Doctor quickly explained how Rory and the others were going to get down there and return Alaya. Soon everything would be fine as long as they returned Alaya.

"Now then!" The Doctor clapped his hands together. "Negotiations."

Everyone had sat down at the table in the center of the room. "WE have a lot to discuss. You both want the planet." The Doctor said to Eldane, Nasreen, and Amy. He hadn't let go of Rose's hand.

"You can't possibly be authorized to negotiate on behalf of humanity." Eldane exclaimed, turning to face the Doctor.

"Us? No. But they are." He gestured to Amy and Nasreen.

"What?" Nasreen asked.

"No we're not." Amy said, her eyes widening.

Eldane's mouth fell open and he looked at the Doctor. "Course you are! Amy Pond and Nasreen Chaudhry!" Rose said, smiling. "Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors!"

Amy stood up and rushed over to the Doctor. "Is this what happens, in the future? The planet gets shared? Is that what we need to do?" Amy asked excitedly.

Nasreen looked at Rose, confused. Rose just smiled and shook her head.

"Oh Nasreen, sorry. Probably worth mentioning at this stage, Amy, Rose, Rory, and I travel in time a bit." The Doctor smiled at Nasreen, whose mouth had fallen open.

Eldane raised his eyebrows as Nasreen crossed her arms. "Anything else worth mentioning?"

The Doctor smiled. This is where he could go on a roll about the laws of time travel. This is the part he always enjoyed when he met someone new. Rose gave him a knowing look.

"There are fixed points through time" he started "where things must always stay the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity. A temporal tipping point. Whatever happens today, will change future events, create its own timeline, its own reality. The future pivots around you, here, now." The Doctor put his hand on Nasreen's shoulder.

"So do good, for humanity, and for Earth." Rose finished, smiling at Nasreen.

"Right, pressure there then." Amy exclaimed, going to sit back at the table.

"We can't share the planet!" Nasreen hissed. "Nobody on the surface is gonna go for this idea. It is just too big of a leap."

"Come on, be extraordinary." The Doctor encouraged.

Nasreen seemed at a loss for words as she tried to think of a good comeback. She let out a sigh and sat next to Amy at the table. Rose smiled at her and the Doctor wrapped his arms around Rose's waist.

"Okay. Bringing things to order." The Doctor said excitedly. "The first meeting of representatives of the human race and Homo Reptilia is now in session. Ha! Never said that before. That's fab. Carry on."

Rose glanced at Amy and the Doctor followed her gaze and found that Amy was trying very hard not to laugh.

The Doctor then turned to face Mo. "Now, Mo. Let's go and get your son. Oh, you know, humans, and their predecessors shooting the breeze. Never thought I'd see it."

Malokeh followed them out of the room and down the hall to where Elliot was. Malokeh typed in the special code.

"If you've harmed him in any way…" Mo started.

Malokeh faced him. "Of course not. I only store the young."

Rose stared at him with curiosity evident in her eyes. "But why?"

"I took samples of the young, slowed their lifecycles to a millionth of their normal rate so I could study how they grew, what they needed, how they lived on the surface." Malokeh explained. He looked back at Elliot and smiled.

"You've been down here working by yourself, all alone? That must have been lonely." Rose asked. That was Rose, always thinking of others. And that's why he…

Go on… The rebel voice said smugly.

The Time Lord scowled.

Malokeh smiled at Rose. "My family, through the millennia, and for the last three hundred years, just me. I never meant to harm your child."

"Malokeh, I rather like you." The Doctor said, sticking his fist out. Malokeh put his fist on top, completing an old… well… 'handshake' that the Silurians would do.

Malokeh pressed one last button on the control panel and said "It's safe. We can wake him."

The chamber door opened and the Silurian stepped inside. He slowly removed the wires around Elliot's face and arms.

Mo stepped inside as Elliot slowly regained his consciousness. The young boy blinked and launched himself into his father's arm.

"W-where are we?" Elliot asked.

"Honestly, son… we're in the center of the Earth." Mo explained slowly. "And there are lizard men."

Elliot's mouth fell open and he slowly looked over Mo's shoulder. Malokeh smiled and waved. "Hello."

"Wow." Elliot said excitedly.

"Elliot. I'm sorry. I took my eye off you." The Doctor said sadly. Rose put an arm around him.

"It's okay. I forgive you." Elliot whispered, giving the Doctor a smile.

Maloekeh turned to look at the Doctor as he stepped out of the chamber. "You go on, Doctor, Rose. I'll catch up." He said.

Back in the court, Eldane, Amy, and Nasreen were still negotiating about the planet. Amy had her head down on the table, bored out of her mind. Nasreen was arguing that they could never share the planet, as Eldane was trying to explain all the benefits that sharing the planet would bring.

"You give us space, we can bring new sources of energy, new methods of water supply, new medicines, scientific advances. We were a great civilisation. You provide a place for us on the surface, we'll give you knowledge and technology beyond humanity's dreams. If we work together, this planet could achieve greatness." Eldane explained.

Nasreen smiled "Okay. Now I'm starting to see it."

The Doctor entered with Mo, Elliot, and Rose. He and Rose were clapping. They had been listening in on the conversation.

"Not bad for a first session. More similarities than differences." The Doctor said happily.

There was a bang somewhere behind them and Eldan faced the Doctor. "The transport has returned. Your friends are here."

The group stood up and faced the entrance. Rory entered first, followed by Ambrose, and then Tony. There was no Alaya, but Tony was carrying something wrapped in an orange blanket.

"Mum!" Elliot yelled, rushing forward to hug Ambrose.

"Something's wrong." Rose whispered. The Doctor also noticed that. Rory hadn't reacted to seeing Amy again, and the thing in the orange blanket was starting to worry the Doctor.

"Doctor… w-what's he carrying." Amy asked hesitantly, almost as if she was afraid of the answer. The Doctor slowly stepped forward, gripping Rose's hand and pulling her with him.

"No." He whispered. "Don't do this! Tell me you didn't!"

"No." Rose whispered as Tony set the bundle down on the ground. The Doctor dropped Rose's hand and knelt down next to the bundle and removed the blanket to reveal Alaya's still, peaceful face.

Rose gasped slightly and covered her mouth with her hand. She had knelt down next to the Doctor sometime earlier.

The Doctor looked up angrily, the oncoming storm beginning to show in his eyes. "What did you do?"

"It was me." Ambrose said. "I did it."

Elliot turned to face her, shocked. "Mum?"

"I just wanted you back." Ambrose said, putting her hand on Elliot's shoulder. Elliot pushed her away and walked over to stand next to Mo, who was staring at Ambrose, completely shocked.

The Doctor turned around and walked up to Eldane.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. You have to believe me, they're better than this." The Doctor said, trying very hard to convince Eldane.

"This is our planet!" Ambrose shouted.

The Doctor whipped around to face her. "We had a chance here!"

"Leave us alone!" Ambrose said, ignoring the Doctor.

"Ambrose, just stop!" Rose yelled, following the Doctor, who was walking over to Ambrose.

"In the future, when you talk about this, you tell people there was a chance but you were so much less than the best of humanity." He said angrily. Rose put a hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him down.

Restac and her many, many, troops marched in. "My sister!" Restac said. The Doctor pulled Rose to him, and she buried her face in in his shirt. He rubbed her back.

Restac slowed down as she neared the bundle. Slowly, she knelt down and removed the top of the blanket to reveal Alaya's face. She let out a little moan as she released that her sister was never coming back. Restac let go of the blanket and it fell back into place over Alaya's face.

She looked up to face the Doctor, who still had his arms around the weeping Rose. "And you want us to trust these apes, Doctor?"

"One moment." The Doctor said sadly. Rose pulled away and wiped her eyes. The Doctor grabbed her hand. "One woman. She was scared for her family. She's not typical."

Restac suddenly shot up to face Ambrose. "I think she is."

"One person let us down, but there is a whole race of dazzling, peaceful human beings up there. You were building something here. Come on. An alliance could work." The Doctor said hopefully.

"It's too late for that, Doctor." Ambrose said.

"Why?" Rose asked, voicing the Doctor's thoughts.

Ambrose sighed. She was visibly shaking. "Our drill is set to start burrowing again in" she glanced at her watch "fifteen minutes."

"What?!" Nasreen exclaimed.

"What choice did I have?" Tony said sadly. "They had Elliot."

"Don't do this." The Doctor said.

"Don't call their bluff." Rose finished for him.

Ambrose turned to face Restac. "Let us go back. And you promise to never come to the surface ever again. We'll walk away, leave you alone."

"Execute her." Restac ordered.

"No!" Rose yelled.

Thousands of different ways to escape flashed before the Doctor's eyes, but he couldn't make sense of it, so he did the most sensible thing.

"Run!" He grabbed Rose's hand. "Back to the lab! Everyone!"

"Execute all the apes!" Restac yelled. The Doctor quickly held up his sonic and extended it, shorting out quite a few of the guns, including Restac's. And then he ran. "This is a deadly weapon!" He yelled over his shoulder.

The Doctor pushed Rose out of the door and spun around, holding out his buzzing sonic. All of the guns sparked, and the warriors dropped them. One warrior clambered over to him and tried to get him with their poison. He ducked and ran, narrowly missing the Silurian's poisonous tongue.

He ran into the hall and found Rose waiting for him. "Run!" he grabbed her hand and yanked her forward, missing a shot from one of the Silurian guns.

"Run!" He said when he reached the group. "You too Rose! I'll cover you!"

She looked at him sadly but, for once, listened to him and ran.

The Doctor held out his sonic as the warriors ran around the corner. "Ah, ah, ah." He said, stopping them. "Don't make me use my very deadly weapon."

Restac ran forward and he held out his sonic. "One warning, that's all you get. If there can be no deal, you go back into hibernation. All of you, now. This ends here."

"This will end in out victory!" Restac hissed. The Doctor sighed.

"Like I said, one warning." The Doctor held down the button on the sonic, and deactivated all of the guns. "I've always hated guns."

"Me too!" Rose yelled from down the hall.

"I told you to run!" He yelled, running around the corner, down the hall, and grabbing Rose's hand.

They entered the lab and he shut the door with his sonic. "Elliot, you and your dad keep your eyes on that screen. Let me know if we get company. Amy, keep reminding me how much time I haven't got." He tossed Amy the stopwatch.

Amy looked at him as if he was the strangest thing on Earth, or under it. "Okay. Um, er, twelve minutes till drill impact."

He jumped over a box and stood in front of Tony. "Tony Mack. Sweaty forehead, dilated pupils. What are you hiding?"

Tony pulled back his shirt to reveal many swollen, green veins.

"Oh Tony." Nasreen sighed. "What happened?"

"Alaya's sting." Tony answered, panting hard. "She said there's no cure, I'm dying."

"You're not dying, you're mutating." He said, trying to hide his excitement at the fact that the Silurian's venom could mutate things. Rose elbowed him. "Decontamination program might stop it. Don't know."

He glanced at Eldane. "Can you run the program on Tony?"

"Doctor! Bunch of those creatures coming this way!" Mo shouted.

The Doctor looked around at everyone in the room. "So, question is, how we do stop the drill given we can't get there in time? Plus, also, how do we get out, given that we're surrounded? Nasreen, how do you feel about an energy pulse channeled up through the tunnels to the base of the drill?"

Nasreen looked at him sadly "To blow up my life's work?"

The Doctor glanced at her. "Yes. Sorry. No nice way of putting that."

Nasreen, very reluctantly, agreed as Amy reported the time they had left.

"Yes. Squeaky bum time." The Doctor said, running over to the controls. Rose laughed.

"Yes, but the explosion is going to cave in all the surrounding tunnels, so we have to be out and on the surface by then." Nasreen said worriedly. Yes, the Doctor had thought about that.

"But we can't get past Restac's troops." Rory said. Good ol' Rory. Always there to remind you about the things that you didn't want to think about. The Doctor sighed.

"I can help with that. Toxic Fumigation. An emergency failsafe meant to protect my species from infection. A warning signal to occupy cryo-chambers. After that, citywide fumigation by toxic gas. Then the city shuts down." Eldane said, somewhat sadly.

Rose looked at him, sympathy written all over her face. "You could end up killing your own people."

Eldane stood up straighter. "Only those foolish enough to follow Restac."

The Doctor quickly thought up a plan to make sure the Earth was ready for the Silurians. He told the group of humans to spread the word that in one millennia, the Silurians would come back. He told them to spread it as a story, a legend, a myth. Anyway to get the word out so that the human race would be ready for the return of the Silurians.

The Doctor quickly set the energy pulse, and canceled the energy barricade on the surface. Eldane set the toxic fumigation program, and the announcement started blaring throughout the underground city.

"There's not much time for us to get from here to the surface, Doctor." Rory said.

"Ah-ha. Super squeaky bum time!" He yelled, pressing another button on the controls.

Rose began laughing again, and the Doctor smiled at her. "Now, get ready to run for your lives."

Eldane walked up to the Doctor and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But the decontamination program on your friend hasn't started yet."

The Doctor turned to face Tony, who was strapped to an upright table. "Well go!" Tony said. "All of you!"

"We're not leaving you here!" Ambrose exclaimed.

Elliot ran into Tony's arms. "Now, you look after your mum." Tony told him. "You mustn't blame her. She only did what she thought was right."

A tear slipped down Elliot's face as he realized that he was never going to see his grandfather again. Tony then walked over and hugged Ambrose, who was crying. "I love you dad." She whispered.

The lights began to flash "TOXIC FUMIGATION INITIATED." The computer announced. "RETURN TO CRYO-TUBES." The soldiers began to march away.

"Okay, everyone follow Nasreen. Look for a blue box. Get ready to run." The Doctor said, taking Rose's hand in his own, opening the door of the lab.

"I'm not coming either." Nasreen said. "I'm going to stay here, hibernate, with Tony."

"B-but Nasreen…" The Doctor started.

"No, shush." Rose said. "Can't you see the obvious?" Nasreen smiled at Rose.

"This is perfect. I've got what I was digging for. I can't leave it when I've just found it." Nasreen said. "Come and look for us in the future."

And the Doctor finally saw it. It wasn't only the fact that Nasreen wanted to keep what she had dug for, she wanted to stay with Tony. Oh, Rose was a genius.

Amy came and grabbed them, and they ran, after giving a quick hug to Nasreen.

Rory ran past them, going to opposite direction. "Other way idiot!" Amy yelled. Rory whipped back around and followed them.

The quickly ran up to the TARDIS and the Doctor shoved everyone inside, except for Rose, Amy, and Rory, who were staring at something on the wall. The Doctor turned and saw the crack. The same crack from Amy's bedroom.

"No, not here, not now." He whispered.

"Not again." Was all Rose said.

He looked at her worriedly but chose to ignore her comment. "It's getting wider."

"Why is it be following me?" Amy asked, scared.

"Some sort of space-time cataclysm. An explosion, maybe. Big enough to put cracks in the universe. But what?" The Doctor began to think. "Where there's an explosion, there's shrapnel."

He pulled out a handkerchief. Rose tried to stop him, but he stuck his hand in the crack anyway. He struggled, and yelled, but eventually pulled something out. He wrapped it up and stuck it in his jacket.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, and he followed her gaze. A poisoned Restac was crawling into the room.

The Doctor jumped up. "She was there when the gas started. She must have been poisoned." Amy said.

Restac aimed her gun at Rory. "You will pay!" She yelled.

"NO!" Rose screamed, and jumped to push Rory out of the way. The beam from the gun hit her in the side, and half of it hit Rory's side. They both collapsed as Restac closed her eyes and fell limp.

"Rory!" Amy screamed as the Doctor yelled "Rose!"

The both knelt down next to them. The Doctor took Rose's hand in his own. "Rose? Can you hear me?" She was panting and writhing around in pain.

"I don't understand." She whispered. "It's not supposed to be like this. What about forever?"

He felt a tear slip down his cheek. "Sh, don't talk." He said, stroking her face with his thumb. He was vaguely aware of Amy trying to comfort Rory next to him. "We can still have forever. We'll get you into the TARDIS."

"I don't want to die." She panted.

"You're not going to die." He whispered, more tears streaming down his face. "Don't say that."

"Doctor… I…" she panted. "I l-love y-you." And she was still.

"Rose I… I love you too." He said, and began to sob. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen. He was supposed to have Rose back. They were supposed to have their forever. Their second chance. But the universe was just like his tenth regeneration. No second chances.

In his peripheral vision he saw Rory go limp and Amy begin to cry. He shook Rose. "No, this can't happen." He whispered. "NO!"

The light from the crack began to spill out, and he tried to drag Rose away, but the light was already around her and Rory's feet. "NO!' He screamed again. He tried to drag her away, but she wouldn't budge. It was like she was glued to the ground. The light began to move up her legs. "NO!"

Amy was sobbing some more, she hadn't noticed the light yet. He was vaguely aware of a flash behind him before something smacked him on the back of the head and he blacked out. A few minutes later he woke up on the TARDIS. "I'm sorry." He heard behind him, and then another flash. He could've sworn that was River's voice. But he would never know.

The Doctor jumped up and ran over to the TARDIS door. It wouldn't open. "What! NO! You like Rose too!" He yelled at his ship.

Amy began to bang on the door. "Rory!" She screamed. The Doctor ran over to the console and watched as the light began to engulf Rose and Rory.

He felt the tears begin to stream down his face as he ran through his memories to find his first meeting Rose was beginning to slip away.

He sat Amy down on a seat. "He'll be erased from existence!" She screamed at him.

"I know, Amy!" He yelled. "Believe me, I know! And this is your own personal history changing. You will forget him. But Amy, you have to try. Keep him alive in your memories. Remember everything you did together."

At the same time he was remembering every precious moment he had shared with Rose. Every sad, happy, hopeful, and fear-filled memory.

The TARDIS shook, and that was all it took for Rose to slip out of his mind. And the memories slipped away, one by one. Every impact she had left on him, every mark she had made on his life, and every moment they had shared together.

And Rose Tyler was no more.

I CRIED WRITING THIS.

DON'T KILL ME *hides*

Disclaimer

Thanks to all my bowties

Review!

Over and Out ~Greek-Whovian