"EXTERMINATE!"
The Doctor closed his eyes, "Maybe its time."
A familiar whooshing caused the Daleks to go on high alert and the Doctor to stiffen.
"ALERT! TARDIS MATERIALIZING."
The Emperor shouted from behind on his screen, "You will not escape!"
The Doctor turned to find the TARDIS doors had opened and out from them stepped a glowing Rose. Her eyes alight with the TARDIS vortex flames, galaxies and universes within them. Her hair billowing behind her grown to fall majestically down her back in a flowing molten gold river.
He fell back as the TARDIS's energies searched out, Rose re-materializing closer.
"What have you done?"
Rose turned her head towards the Doctor,
"Only what was meant to happen."
The Doctor's eyes widened and gazed horrified at the golden glow of Rose's eyes.
"You looked into the time vortex. Rose, no one is meant to see that!"
"Oh Doctor, my Doctor, how wrong you are."
The Dalek emperor's voice held a similar horror. "This is the Abomination!"
"EXTERMINATE!"
As the beam headed toward Rose, she caught it in her hand soaking in the energy from the beam. The flames of the vortex fluctuated behind her.
"I am the Bad Wolf. I take the words and scatter them in time and space. A message to remind myself who I must become and to lead myself back to you."
Her skin shimmered like it was made of billions of microscopic diamonds.
"Rose, you've got to stop this! You've got to stop this now."
"Oh, but I'm not finished yet."
"You've got the entire vortex running through your head."
"Doctor, its so warm. I've never felt so..." a tear that glittered caused a golden tear streak down her cheek, "so very free."
Rose gazed into his eyes, "I promised Doctor, I'll always find my way back to you. I want you safe." A smile. "I want you to be happy. So I'll take the responsibility of your task from you, even if you hate me for it."
The Doctor couldn't fathom how Rose was keeping herself sane.
"Protected from your enemies."
"You cannot hurt me. I'm immortal." The Emperor of the Dalek's shouted.
Rose let out a laugh, "You are tiny. I can see the whole of time and space. Every atom of your existence and I divide them."
Rose raised her hands and the Daleks disintegrated. She flickered as if she weren't there and then she became solid.
She looked down at the Doctor, "I gave them a chance. They all must come to dust. The Time War ends."
The Emperor continued to shout until his last moment before he too became nothing but space dust.
"Rose, you've done it. Now stop."
"I can't. I have more questions to ask."
She flickered and she was gone for seconds more before she was back.
"Rose just let go!"
"I can't. I bring life!"
"But this is wrong, you can't control life and death."
"You're right, my Doctor." Golden teardrops fell, "It's too much. I can remember everything. I can feel it all. The stars. The sun and moon as they turn."
"The power is going to kill you and its my fault."
The Doctor bowed his head, he was going to lose her and he was only to blame.
"Oh my Doctor, it's alright that it hurts."
The Doctor looked up at her.
"I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that could be."
The Doctor stood, "That's what I see. All the time. Doesn't it drive you mad?"
Rose's sparkling gaze looked into his and all of the sudden it felt as if he were pulled into a warm embrace. His eyes fluttered close as he heard a song in his head, so familiar but always out of reach until this moment.
"My Doctor, let us be mad together."
The Doctor's eyes flashed open and he looked into the knowing Rose's gaze, a bittersweet smile on her lips that mirrored one of his own.
"Come to me, Rose."
She neared and when he was a step away, "I think you need a doctor."
The Doctor leaned forward and kissed Rose upon her lips, his mind connecting with hers.
Warmth, love and something at the edges.
A hallway full of doors, all open streaming with golden light that burned when he neared them.
'Doctor don't be rude.' A voice echoed.
Then he felt two arms wrapped around his neck pulling him into a deeper kiss.
'What I need most is my Doctor.'
He stepped back, his lips parting from hers.
Rose smiled, something tender and yet fiery in her gaze.
"Where do you think you are going, my Doctor?" She pulled him back down, "May I have this kiss?"
He was in shock, the transfer hadn't worked. The vortex energy stayed trapped inside Rose and yet...
He nodded at her question and he felt her lips upon his again.
His arms slipped around her waist and pulled her closer; and he wondered if this what she meant by feeling free.
She went slack against him. He didn't let her fall, but picked her up.
Still she glowed.
He wandered into the Tardis sitting upon the walkway, Rose in his arms.
He felt dazed, his gaze upon Rose. His fingers caressing the small curl at her temple that always annoyed her, he'd seen her pin it back. Her features seemed different and yet she still was his Rose.
She breathed, her heart beat strongly. His fingers grazed her cheeks to feel them fevership.
"It doesn't make sense."
"Doctor! Doctor!" Voices echoed outside the TARDIS, but the Doctor couldn't register them.
Time passed and he didn't know how much, which was odd. He'd always been able to see it and yet it was if...his mind was calm.
The Doctor looked upon Rose in his arms, the glow had faded. He cradled her cheek in his hand, it was still warm. Her eyes remained closed.
The Doctor shook his head and looked at his hands, no sign of regeneration.
"Doctor!"
The Doctor looked up.
He blinked in confusion.
Jack and Mickey stood before him alive.
Jackie had just started to turn in when the sound of pounding came at her door. She looked through the keyhole, lessons learned from the previous Slitheen experience.
A gasp escaped her as she saw the Doctor holding an unconscious Rose at the door. She opened it quickly, letting the Doctor pass by her and enter into Rose's bedroom right by the door.
"What's happened?"
She looked upon her daughter's features.
Rose's face seemed a little more sculpted and sharp but she still retained her full features. Long hair that nearly pooled to the ground, that was different. She was changed but she was still her Rose. If Rose hadn't warned her perhaps she'd have been more shocked.
Her hand checked her daughter's cheeks, "What a fever! I should call the ambulance."
"You can't! She's..." The Doctor looked solemn as he placed Rose on the bed.
"Changed. She told me as such."
His brow furrowed, "She knew before?"
Jackie nodded, "Somehow."
The Doctor left the bedroom and headed for the door.
"She is safe, isn't she?" Jackie looked back at her daughter, "Except for the fever?"
"Yes."
Jackie looked at the face of the Doctor completely drawn.
"Then why are you all like that, all solemn."
"She did the impossible...and yet she still breathes."
Jackie grabbed the sleeve of the Doctor before he could leave, "Where are you going?"
He paused, his face still turned away.
Jackie let out a scoff, "So is this it then? She changes and you abandon her?"
"No!" The Doctor turned his features fierce, before his face fell, "I just need...I just need to think."
Jackie's hands went to her waist and she shook a finger at him, "Think all you want but if I find you've broken her heart by not coming back I'll hunt you down myself."