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The day had not gone as the Doctor had planned. He had simply wanted a nice walk through the woods, and perhaps to meet one of the Euripideans who supposedly lived in in burrows in the hills surrounding the forest.Well, he’d met them. And as it turned out, their reputation for being peaceable was drastically overstated.The natives had not appreciated an outsider entering their village, and he had been driven out at spear-point. They only turned back from their pursuit when the blizzard started.He pulled his frock coat tight around his body and braced himself as he walked straight into the wind and driving snow. Velvet really wasn’t a very warm material, he was discovering. And typically that wouldn’t bother him, but typically, he hadn’t received a head wound after tripping over a snow-covered rock.The Doctor gingerly touched the gash on his forehead. “Not bleeding anymore at least,” he noted, when his fingers didn’t find more blood. “Well, that’s one positive thing.”The snow swirling around him only added to his dizziness. He stumbled against a tree and waited for his head to stop spinning.“Almost to the TARDIS,” he told himself, though he wasn’t sure if it was the truth. He could feel the ship in his mind, but in his addled state, he wasn’t certain where exactly she was.With the cold settling into his bones, he pushed off from the tree and started walking again. The snow was thick enough now that he could barely see two feet in front of his face.For instance, he didn’t see the tree root sticking up out of the ground, not until he tripped over it. His arms flailed as he tried to stay upright, but it was no use.The fall knocked the wind out of him and multiplied the pain in his head by a hundred. The cold snow sucked at his strength, and the Doctor couldn’t find the energy to move out of the snowbank.The TARDIS’ hum turned shrill and alarmed, but the Doctor shook his head woozily. “Don’t worry, old girl,” he said, somewhat deliriously. “It’s nothing regeneration can’t fix.”Time shifted around him, and as the Doctor faded from consciousness, he thought he heard a woman say, “I want you safe, my Doctor.”oOoOoRose started shivering as soon as the dimension cannon dropped her on the unknown planet in the middle of a snowstorm. She pulled her coat tight around her and checked the readout, hoping that for once, she wouldn’t need to let the device cool down before she could hop home.The flashing digital numbers counting down from thirty disabused her of that notion, but it was the coordinate display that caught her attention. She’d set the coordinates for this hop herself, and she was nowhere near where she was supposed to come out.Rose sighed and slid the controls back into her pocket, then took out her torch and started walking. Her ears and nose were already starting to sting; if she stayed in one place until the countdown finished, she’d be frozen through.“Might as well explore while I’m here,” she muttered, moving the beam of the light back and forth.Wind whistled through the trees, but underneath it, Rose could hear something else. She tilted her head in the direction it seemed to be coming from. The hum sounded familiar…Rose nearly dropped her torch when she realised what it was. The TARDIS was here. Nearby, even. And if the TARDIS was here, then so was the Doctor.She’d finally made it home. In the middle of a bloody blizzard, but she was home.Rose reached for the TARDIS like the Doctor had started to teach her. Where are you, dear?The hum changed pitch, and Rose turned towards it. It was hard going, trudging through three foot snow drifts that had piled up beneath the trees, but knowing she was almost home made it worth it.“And when I get there,” she said, teeth chattering, “I’m going to take a long, hot bath and then curl up in front of the fireplace with a cuppa.” Talking made the cold hurt less, so she kept going, rambling on with a list of all the things she would do once she was home.A soft sound interrupted her daydreaming. Rose pressed her teeth together to stop the chattering so she could listen, and this time she was certain—that was a man.It was almost impossible to see in the storm, but following the sound, Rose found a man half-buried in a snowbank.“Oh, my god,” she mumbled, working quickly to dig him out. “Let’s get you out of here,” she told the man, hoping he was conscious enough to hear her. “I’ll get you someplace warm, and my friend is a doctor. He can take care of you.”The TARDIS sang, and Rose toppled back on her heels when she realised what the ship was trying to tell her. She studied the curly hair and green velvet frock coat; this man wasn’t familiar at all.But that didn’t mean anything. She held her breath and pressed her fingers to his wrist.
Two heartbeats.
Rose draped the Doctor’s arm over her shoulders and carefully stood up with him. “Well, I can still get you someplace warm,” she told him as she started for home. “And hopefully, the TARDIS can tell me what to do to take care of you myself.”oOoOo
The Doctor leaned against the balcony railing at the palace of Ralama. His eyes were fixed on the couple dancing below, as was the attention of everyone else in the room.
A blonde in a gorgeous red ball gown laughed as a tall man twirled her out, and then back into his arms. Even from where he stood, the Doctor could see how much they loved each other.
Something about them tugged at the Doctor’s time senses, and he focused on the timelines around them, rather than their dance. Gold lines swirled around them in wide swishes and curlicues. Those were not the straight timelines of a normal human—those were the lines of a time traveller.
And he was very familiar with one set of those timelines, although there were parts he had yet to experience yet. This was his future self.
The way the second set of timelines intersected with his own sent another shock through him. The man was his future self, and the woman he held in his arm was his future wife.
The shock jarred the Doctor out of the dream, and once his eyes recovered from the bright lights, he carefully sat up. A woman was asleep in the chair beside his bed, and somehow, he wasn’t surprised that it was the woman from his dream.Even if he hadn’t known how important she would one day be to him, she still would have entranced him. Her timelines were unlike anything he’d ever seen before. It seemed like every moment of time spun around her and through her, as though somehow, she had once touched the pure essence of Time.“Rose,” he said, the name coming to him without conscious thought.Rose jolted awake. “Doctor?” she whispered.She stood up and reached for his hand, and the Doctor felt a jolt of recognition when her fingers wrapped around his.She seemed weary and worried, so he tried to smile reassuringly. “As you can see, no permanent damage done.”To his surprise, she narrowed her eyes and thumped him on the chest. “I knew you’d get yourself into trouble while I was gone, but really, Doctor? What were you doing, wandering away from the TARDIS in a snowstorm? Were you trying to regenerate again?”He floundered in the face of her chastisement. “Well, it wasn’t exactly part of my plan for the day,” he offered finally.She raised an eyebrow. “You had a plan?”The Doctor laughed. “As much of one as I ever have,” he admitted.Rose leaned against the bed and shook her head at him. A typical day with the Doctor.“Let me guess,” she drawled. “You went off exploring without looking into some detail, such as the weather forecast, and then you discovered the less-than-friendly natives and had to run back for the TARDIS. Only the storm caught up with you, and you were left stranded in the cold, with that head injury keeping you from managing your temperature.”The Doctor pouted. “This isn’t exactly the first impression I’d hoped to make on my future wife.”Rose sat down, hard. In one sentence, the Doctor had dropped two bombshells.Resolutely setting aside the fact that he thought they would get married eventually, she looked at the Doctor again. His eyes danced with amusement, but at the same time his expression was guileless.“You haven’t met me yet,” she realised. It was a possibility that had never occurred to her.“Not that I recall,” he answered. “And though I’ve been prone to memory loss in this incarnation, I somehow doubt it would be easy to forget you.”Rose ignored the heat spreading over her cheeks and grabbed at another thought to put off the discussion of their relationship a bit longer.“But you knew my name.”His laughter was like music, and Rose wanted to hear it again. “I have a bit of a psychic gift in this body,” he explained. “Timelines often make things clear to me that would not otherwise be made known.”Rose bit her lip. “And… that’s how…” She let the words trail off and ducked her head to avoid the Doctor’s gaze.A moment later, he groaned. “I apologise, Rose. If I’d truly been paying attention, I would have noticed that hadn’t happened yet for you, either.” He waved his hand in a vague circle next to his temple. “I don’t suppose I could blame that on the head injury?”Rose knew without asking that he wouldn’t give her any more details regarding her future. Too much future knowledge was never a good thing, the Doctor always said.After a short pause, the Doctor spoke again. “If you thought I’d regenerated while you were away, I take it we’ve been separated for some time.”Rose sighed and tugged at the hem of her shirt. Speaking of future knowledge… “A few years. There was… Something happened, and I was trapped in a parallel universe. Neither of us could cross over.”She glanced over at the dimension cannon, still resting on the counter. She’d turned it off, thinking she was home, but now…“We built this thing, called a dimension cannon. I’ve been trying to get home for about a year now. Thought I’d made it, but I guess I’ll have to keep trying.”Rose closed her eyes, and the Doctor took the moment to study her. He could see the lines around her mouth and eyes, the tension in how she held herself.Her weariness made his hearts ache, so he said the first thing that came to mind. “It’s a pity you don’t know someone with a space-and-time ship who could track down a future version of himself so you could be reunited.”He grinned when Rose’s eyes flew open. “Would that be possible? It wouldn’t be too dangerous for there to be two of you in one place?”Her awareness of the Laws of Time impressed him, but for once, the Doctor could honestly dismiss those concerns. “Time Lords are protected from the paradox of meeting each other,” he explained. “After all, it is something of an occupational hazard of being a time traveller.”She nodded. “True.”The Doctor tossed back the thin blanket covering his legs and torso and slid out of the bed. Rose offered her hand, and once he was certain he could stand without falling, he gestured towards the door.“After you, Rose Tyler. I find myself selfishly interested in getting you home as soon as possible.”
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The Doctor activated the teleport on the Titanic, taking himself and Mr. Copper down to the planet below. The salute he gave Alonso was only half-hearted; too much had happened today for him to feel anything more than exhaustion and sorrow.A moment later, they were on Hampstead Heath. The Doctor stared across the ash-dusted ground, searching for the TARDIS. He sighed in relief when he found her—that was one thing that had gone right today, at least.“That’s my ship over there, Mr. Copper,” he said, pointing at the blue box.The older man was more concerned with the details of his new home, however. “So, Great Britain is part of Europey,” he said as they walked across the parkland, “and just across the British Channel, you’ve got Great France and Great Germany.”The Doctor shook his head. “No, no, it’s just—it’s just France and Germany. Only Britain is Great.” He imagined the cheeky smile Rose would give him if she’d heard that, and his hearts squeezed.Mr. Copper continued on, as if he hadn’t been corrected. “Oh, and they’re all at war with the continent of Ham Erica.”“No.” The Doctor pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth. “Well, not yet. Er, could argue that one.”They reached the TARDIS, and he reached out to touch his home. “There she is. Survive anything.” Like me. Always surviving, always alone.“You know, between you and me, I don’t even thing this snow is real,” Mr. Copper remarked. “I think it’s the ballast from the Titanic’s salvage entering the atmosphere.”The Doctor looked up at the cloudless sky. “Yeah. One of these days it might snow for real.”He tilted his head as a memory came back to him. He’d been stranded on a snowy planet once, injured and unable to make it back to the TARDIS. How had he managed to get home?“Doctor?”“Shhh!” The Doctor held up his hand. He thought he could hear… “Do you hear that, Mr. Copper?”The older man shrugged. “It’s just the wind, isn’t it?”“No no, that’s not the wind. I know that sound, and it is not the wind.”More memories trickled in, memories of hearing a voice as he passed out in the snow. Memories of a dream, a dream of love and happiness.The Doctor’s hearts pounded as hope roared through his veins. “Oh please, oh please,” he whispered as he turned towards the sound of the TARDIS engines.The wind did pick up then, only this was the wind that came as the ship disturbed time and space by moving out of the Vortex. The Doctor held his breath as the ship fully materialised.“But Doctor, that’s your ship.”“Yes it is, Mr. Copper. And unless I’m mistaken, you’re about to witness a Christmas miracle on the level of the people of UK giving up their annual war with the people of Turkey and laying down their weapons.”The light on top of the other TARDIS flashed, and then the door slowly creaked open. The Doctor was frozen in place, caught between his impatience and his desperate fear that he was wrong.But then he saw her, stepping out of the TARDIS. Rose spotted him almost immediately, and the smile on her face took his breath away.“It’s you,” she whispered.The Doctor crossed the three metres between them in two strides and picked her up. “Long time no see,” he said, his voice choking up on the words.She pressed her face into his neck and he could feel the smile on her lips. “Well, you know, been busy,” she bantered back.The Doctor hummed and swung her gently before setting her down on her feet. “Rose Tyler…”The younger Doctor had watched his joyful reunion with Rose, feeling only slightly bittersweet that he would have to live through years—centuries, maybe!—before he met her again. But when he heard the tenderness in his older self’s voice, he couldn’t bear to hear the confession he knew was about to come. Not when it would be so long before he could say the words himself.“I suppose it’s time for me to go.” His older self and Rose blinked and took a step back from each other. They both looked over at him, Rose a little sad and confused, and the Doctor slightly irritated by the interruption.Some of his satisfaction faded when Rose stepped away from the older Doctor and walked over to him. “Do you have to go?” she asked. “We only just met.”The Doctor shook his head. “We haven’t truly met, not yet.” A strand of hair fell into her face, and he couldn’t resist pushing it back over her ear. “The longer I stay here, the longer I have to wait to meet you in my timeline.”Rose bit her lip, and the Doctor felt some of his resolve fade. He glanced at the other man, and somehow the understanding on his face made this goodbye harder.“Thank you, Rose, for rescuing me.”She stepped closer to him and pressed a hand over his hearts. With the action, the Doctor felt one of them break a little.“I’ll always be there to pull you out of whatever scrapes you manage to get yourself into. I want you safe, my Doctor.”Those words triggered two memories, one recent and one yet to come. He had heard her say that just before he’d passed out… and one day, she would say them again as all of time wrapped itself around her.He took her hand and brought it to his lips. “Until we meet again.” Then he turned without looking at his future self and closed his TARDIS door behind him.Rose took a step back and watched the TARDIS disappear. Even though she knew he couldn’t stay, she hated to think of everything he would have to go through until they met again.A cool hand on her shoulder pulled her back to the present, and she turned slightly to lean against her Doctor.“He won’t forget you, not really,” the Doctor murmured in her ear.Rose wrapped her arms around his waist. “I just wish I could truly keep him safe,” she mumbled.“Oh, you do,” the Doctor promised her. Rose tilted her head back to look at his face as he explained. “Every time the war is at its darkest, he remembers… he knows that he has to keep going, because there’s something amazing in his future.” He took her hand and brought it to his lips, just as his previous self had done. “Rose Tyler…”“I suppose I ought to be going now.”The Doctor bit his lip to keep from snapping at Mr. Copper. He’d completely forgotten the man was still there, but that wasn’t his fault.“Only… Where am I going to go?”The Doctor pressed his tongue to the back of his teeth. “Do you still have that credit card?” he asked.Mr. Copper took it out of his pocket. “It’s just petty cash,” he protested. “Just for trinkets. I didn’t know what the conversion rate was, so I thought maybe a million?”Rose choked, and the Doctor had to agree. “A million pounds?” he asked, to clarify. Mr. Copper nodded. “Mr. Copper, a million pounds is over fifty million credits.”This time, it was the older man’s turn to goggle in surprise. “It’s… how much?” He took the card back from the Doctor and stared at it. “But… I’ve got money.”Rose giggled. “Yeah, just a little.”The Doctor chuckled. “I would say you’re set for life, Mr. Copper.” He pointed at the older man. “But you be careful, though.”“Oh, I will, I will!” Mr. Copper started backing away, most likely without even realising it.“No interfering,” the Doctor said, reinforcing his point. “I don’t want any trouble.”Rose took his hand and squeezed gently. “Just have a great life, Mr. Copper,” she said warmly.“I can have a house, with a garden and a door!”The Doctor blinked when Mr. Copper darted forward and hugged him. “Thank you, Doctor. Thank you!” He spun and hugged Rose, too. “And thank you, young lady! I don’t know who you are, but you have apparently made the Doctor very happy, and he deserves that.”Rose looked at the Doctor, and his hearts skipped a beat at the tenderness in her eyes. “Yeah, he does,” she agreed.“I can have a house with a kitchen and chairs.” Mr. Copper started skipping away, still rambling about all the simple pleasures of his new life. “And windows and plates…”“Mr. Copper!”The older man stopped and looked back at them when the Doctor called his name.“Merry Christmas.”The broad grin on Mr. Copper’s face stretched even wider. “Oh, Happy Christmas to you, too Doctor.”The Doctor watched him skip off, then he turned and pulled Rose close, resting his hands on her hips. “Are we finally alone?” he asked. “No one else to interrupt us?”Rose laughed and slid her hands up over his shoulders. “I think so,” she said, playing with the hairs at the nape of his neck. “Why? Were you going to do something you wanted privacy for?”The Doctor shifted closer to Rose, feeling her breath hitch in her lungs when he slid his hands under the hem of her jacket. “In a manner of speaking,” he said.Rose looked up at him through her eyelashes, a coy smile curling the corners of her mouth. Despite his plans, the Doctor couldn’t resist bending down to press a quick kiss to her lips. And then she sighed and swayed into him, and he couldn’t resist deepening the kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth to taste her.The Doctor poured all of his grief and loneliness and joy into the kiss, feeling Rose meet each of his emotions with her own turbulent memories of their separation. The kiss stretched on and on, gentling finally when they settled on the relief of being together again.Rose was panting when they finally parted, and he pressed his forehead to hers. “Rose Tyler,” he said, finally remembering there was something he’d been planning to say.Rose pulled back and looked up at him. “Yes, Doctor?”“I love you.”Her eyes widened, and he swept her up and swung her around in a few circles before setting her down. “I love you,” he repeated.Rose smiled, the purest, happiest smile he’d ever seen from her. “I love you too.”
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The Doctor circled the console slowly, sliding navigational controls into place. He’d put it off as long as he could—it was time to return to Gallifrey.A glimmer of reflection from the time rotor caught his eye, and he stopped to look at the man he’d become. The long curls and fanciful jacket had been replaced years ago as the war dragged on. The shorter hair and military coat better suited his life now… and he hated it.He looked away from his reflection and grasped the dematerialisation lever. It was time to end the war, no matter what it took.
And then?
The question haunted him. There was only one way to end the war, and he knew it. He would have to destroy both the Time Lords and the Daleks before the Time War destroyed all the universe.But what then? What would be left for him, if he ended it all? Could he continue on, as the last of the Time Lords?
Maybe I won’t need to.
That was the only hope he had as he threw the lever and sent his TARDIS spinning into the Time Vortex.The TARDIS whistled and the ship pitched sharply, sending the Doctor to the floor. “What’s going on, old girl?” he murmured as he pushed himself upright.The ship sang again, and this time he was prepared for the shift in direction. “We must be hitting some temporal turbulence.” It wasn’t overly surprising; the Time War was damaging the Web of Time more and more each day.The TARDIS’ song evened out into her typical soft hum, then he heard the grating noise as she moved back into real time and space. With a final thud, she brought them to their destination.The Doctor patted the console absently as he got to his feet. “Thank you, dear.”The feeling of her warmth and affection gave him courage to pull the door open. But instead of the red-orange hues of his native planet, the world outside was velvety blue and silvery white.The Doctor looked over his shoulder at the console. The time rotor was completely dark, and he strongly suspected that if he tried to leave this planet, she would refuse.For a moment, the anxiety of yet another unexpected thing tightened in his gut. As much as he didn’t want to return to Gallifrey, he wasn’t sure he could handle whatever awaited him here.He took a deep breath and pulled the door shut behind him as he stepped out onto the snow-covered street. They had landed just opposite a stone palace, decorated with garland and fairy lights. Music floated through the open windows, along with soft conversation and laughter.The Doctor studied the palace. Ralama, unless I miss my guess.Something buried deep in his memories awoke. A ballroom in Ralama… He was across the street and up the long stairway almost without realising it. Timelines had pulled him here, and he couldn’t wait to find out why.“Your invitation, sir?”The Doctor blinked at the royal guard, then smiled widely. “Yes, of course.” He pulled the psychic paper out of his pocket and showed it to the young man.The guard took it and studied it carefully before handing it back. “Thank you, Sir Doctor. Please enjoy the royal ball.”The Doctor kept his face clear as he took the wallet back, but as soon as his back was turned to the guard, he raised an eyebrow. Sir Doctor? That’s interesting…The TARDIS almost seemed to giggle in his mind, and he gave her a last look before entering the palace. Apparently his ship was not above interfering with his psychic paper, but as long as it had gained him entrance, he didn’t mind.Inside, the Doctor let his mind drift, following the timelines as best as he could. Almost without thinking, he climbed the stairs to the gallery overlooking the ballroom.He blinked when he reached the top of the stairs. He’d been here before…The music below called him forward, and he walked over to the railing that protected him from falling into the room below.There were several couples on the dance floor, but one stood out. A tall man spun a beautiful blonde around the floor. She laughed as her red skirt flared around her, and her partner smiled in answer. Neither of them was aware of anyone else in the ballroom—their attention was focused solely on each other.Timelines still teased him, and the Doctor couldn’t resist taking a peek. Gold lines swirled around the pair, twining through them like the path of a time traveller.He narrowed his eyes and focused more intently on the man’s timelines. There was something about them… something familiar. It took him a moment to place it, but finally he traced the timelines back to a point he was familiar with.Very familiar. This man was his future self.And now he couldn’t resist studying the woman in his arms. Who could possibly enchant him so much?Her timelines were incredible. They started as the single timeline of an ordinary human, but before long, they began to twist and spin around themselves—probably the moment she’d started travelling with him, he figured.But the most captivating thing about her timelines was the way they were entwined around his own. This man was his future self, and the woman in his arms was his future wife.The Doctor stumbled back a half step. He couldn’t… How could he possibly have a future like this, after what he was planning?His future self whispered in his partner’s ear, and she turned her head to look at him.Now he remembered her, the mysterious blonde who had rescued him after his foolish visit to Euripidus. He’d recognised her as his bond mate then, too, he remembered. But back then, he hadn’t known how much of a toll the War would exact on him. He hadn’t known the man he would become—a man who didn’t deserve Rose Tyler.Don’t. Don’t you dare think of yourself that way. Her fierce voice in his head was yet another shock in a day filled with them.Rose? He asked, reaching out tentatively for the bond he could feel echoing back across time.This time, the telepathic communication was just a sense. The feeling of being loved, being held, her desperate wish that she could protect him from what was coming.I love you, she told him finally.The Doctor shook his head, feeling like he was walking through cotton wool. He’d forgotten about Rose, as he’d known he would have to, and as he would have to again. But he remembered this—her fierce protectiveness of him.Like a wolf protecting her mate, he teased her.Rose’s chin tilted up. Yes.The older Doctor turned them and met his gaze. I know what you’re planning, he said soberly. It will be just as painful as you’re imagining, but when you’re done, Rose will be there. He smiled down at the woman in his arms. She doesn’t make up for the loss of our people, but she certainly makes it more bearable.The Doctor swallowed. He could see that. He couldn’t imagine how, but somehow this older Doctor had healed from the trauma of what they were about to do.Rose looked back at him. Go, Doctor, she told him. And no matter how bad it gets, remember that this moment is waiting for you.The Doctor stepped away from the gallery and melted into the crowd of guests working their way downstairs. Somehow, like always, the TARDIS had shown him exactly what he’d needed to see.