The End of Time (Part Two) - Part 2

"Well, that's good, isn't it?" Wilf frowned, looking between them to see the Doctor looked horrified and Mac seemed stunned, "That's your people."

The Doctor just looked at Mac, swallowing hard before he grabbed Wilf's gun and ran from the room, putting it in his inner coat pocket.

"Doctor!" Mac shouted, pushing herself up to run after him, not understanding why he was trying to stop the Master.

She KNEW how guilty he felt over Gallifrey, and now it was coming back? What was wrong with that!? If it had been their enemies, it would have been one thing, but the Daleks were already back, why not return a planet of Time Lords to stop them? They had been OUTSIDE the planet when it had been time locked, hidden in the sky trenches and surrounding the planet, if it came back now, just a split second before that, the result would be the same, the Daleks (as many as had been) would be destroyed but their people would be back!

She caught up with him in another control room where he'd flipped on a radio system, allowing a four beat rhythm to play out.

"What's that?" Addams frowned.

"Coming from Earth," Rossiter reported, "It's on every single wavelength."

"But you said your people were dead, past tense," Wilf reminded the Time Lords.

"Inside the Time War," the Doctor nodded, getting to work on the equipment, having no time for Mac's plan to try and use non-tech to get it working again, too much was at stake to wait, "When the whole War was time-locked, like, sealed inside a bubble. It's not a bubble but think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or get out of the time-lock. Don't you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there."

"The drumming," Mac answered.

The Doctor didn't look at her, knowing that it would be too hard, she…she wouldn't listen to him right now if he told her why he had to stop Gallifrey, not with it being so close, not with her family about to come back, "If they can follow the signal, they can escape, before they die."

"Well, big reunion," Wilf chuckled, "We'll have a party."

"There will be no party."

"Doctor," Mac shook her head, "They're coming BACK, why are you trying to stop that? That's my family! Your friends! Our people!"

"You talk about your people like they're wonderful," Wilf agreed.

The Doctor swallowed and closed his eyes, "That's how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old," before he opened them and looked at Mac, "You weren't there Mackenzie, you were in the factories, you weren't on the front lines. You have no idea what they became. The war…it changed them, right to the core. Of all our enemies," he winced, "All MY enemies…right now those Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them."

"I don't understand," she shook her head, "They're our people, not our enemies!"

"I'm sorry," he looked at her, before spinning to Addams, "Right, you! This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?"

"Yeah," Addams blinked, started at the change in topic, "What about it?"

"So, you've got asteroid lasers!"

"Yeah, but they're all frazzled," Rossiter frowned.

"Consider them unfrazzled," he turned and flipped a lever, opening two doors, one on either side of the room, "Addams I'm going to need you on navigation. And you, Rossiter, get in the laser-pod. Wilfred?"

"Yeah?" Wilf blinked.

"Laser number two. The old soldier's got one more battle."

"Right," Wilf nodded.

"Doctor stop it!" Mac shouted, "Think about what you're doing!"

The Doctor just swallowed hard and pushed two large levers on either side of the control panel, starting up the ship.

"But now they can see us," Addams reminded him.

"Oh, yes," he nodded grimly, ignoring Mac.

'This is my ship and you're not moving it. Step away from the wheel."

"There's an old Earth saying, Captain, a phrase of great power, and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need."

"What's that, then?"

"Allons-y!" he cried, sending the ship down towards earth, making Mac stumble backwards into the other controls, clearly intent to do that as it stopped her trying to stop him, "Come on!" he looked out the window determinedly as the ship began to burn in the atmosphere, flying back towards the surface, "Come on..."

"Doctor!" Mac called above the noise, "Please stop!"

"You two," he continued to ignore her, looking over at Wilf and Rossiter, "What did I say? Lasers."

"What for?" Rossiter shook his head.

"Because of the missiles. We've got to fight off the entire planet!"

The two men's eyes widened as they hurriedly scuttled through the doors and down to the lasers, preparing, just in time as Addams shouted, "We've got incoming!"

The Time Lords looked out the window to see a massive amount of missiles flying right for them…

"You two!" the Doctor shouted over the comms. to Wilf and Rossiter, "Open fire!"

"Doctor!" Mac cried, knowing there was no way she could try and short out the controls around her without risking shutting down the steering or lasers or navigation or anything that was making the ship fly.

He quickly turned the ship to the side, both using evasive maneuvers and keeping Mac from rushing up to him, he knew this was terrible, he shouldn't be throwing her about like that, but…she didn't know, she had no idea what was coming and he didn't have the time to tell her what was going on, "Open fire! Come on, Wilf!"

He let out a breath of relief when the lasers began to fire, taking out the rest of the missiles…but it was short lived when Addams reported, "And there's more. 16 of them. Oh! And another 16."

"Go to the rear-gun lasers Mackenzie!" he ordered the woman, but Mac didn't move, "Mackenzie!"

Mac rolled her eye and huffed but ran to the back of the room to man the other laser.

"You two," he called to Wilf and Rossiter, "Open fire! NOW!"

Mac started firing at the missiles coming at them from behind while Rossiter and Wilf took out the ones in front of them. She struggled a bit, the Doctor's flying was erratic at best, and nearly had her flying into the wall beside her, but she hung on.

"No, you don't!" he spat, turning the ship into a spin, Mac unable to keep using the laser at that though Wilf and Rossiter were able to take out the last few missiles. The Doctor winced as the front windows shattered from flying through one of the exploding missiles, "Lock the navigation!"

"Onto what?" Addams snapped.

"England! The Naismith mansion!"

Mac grunted as she tried to make her way back across the room and up to the Doctor, "Doctor," she called, "Why are you doing this?"

"Mackenzie…"

"We're talking about our people coming back! What's so wrong about that? Our planet, our home!"

"Mackenzie..."

"Tell me why are you trying to stop this!"

"Because I have to!" he looked at her, "I'm sorry, I don't have the time to explain, but…I need you to trust me," he stared into her eyes, "Please Naery," he added in Gallifreyan, "I need you to trust me. To trust that I wouldn't be trying to stop this without a reason, without a true reason," he swallowed hard, "Please…"

Mac swallowed hard, seeing a desperation in his eyes, seeing a guilt and a…fear. Whatever was happening, he was truly afraid of it.

"Where are we?" she called to Addams, not promising to trust him or not trust him but just...see what happened so far, "How far away from our destination?"

The Doctor let out a breath and went back to piloting, thankful that she wasn't fighting him at the moment, and that was all he needed, because he knew that what was going to be revealed…was not something he wanted her to see. He HAD to stop the planet, even if he knew she was hoping that they'd get there too late. And too late was not an option.

"50 klicks and closing," Addams looked up at her from navigation, "We've locked on to the house. We are going to stop, though?" Mac glanced at the Doctor but he was silent, "Doctor? We are going to stop?!"

"Doctor!" Wilf called as he and Rossiter made their way back to the room, "Doctor, you said you were going to die…"

"He said what?!"

"But is that all of us?" Wilf looked at the Doctor intently, "I won't stop you, sir, but is this it?"

The Doctor was silent as he aimed the ship right for the mansion, pulling the entire thing up at the last possible second. He locked the controls and ran for a hatch on the bottom of the floor, lifting it. He looked at Mac a long moment before he took the gun out and jumped through it.

"Oh like hell…" Mac muttered, jumping after him. He hadn't explained even the smallest detail of what was going on and if this was a chance to get her planet back she wasn't going to let him stop it till she knew why.

The Doctor crashed through the glass domed ceiling of Naismith manor, falling with a grunt onto the floor on his stomach, only to hear an oomph from beside him as Mac landed as well, on her back, groaning and rolling onto her side, curling into a ball at the pain for a moment. He pushed himself up as quickly as he could and aimed his gun…

Right at the President of Gallifrey, Rassilon.

There standing before him was the President, with two women on either side of him, behind him, their heads bowed with their hands over their eyes like Weeping Angels, and two guards on the edges. They were standing in a white area of the room, like a portal or a vortex was opening and he could see them through it. It was just like the Void in Torchwood, but instead of sucking people in, the Time Lords were coming out. Behind them was the Master, standing beside some sort of machine that he'd made, the Whitepoint Star glistening inside it.

He panted, trying to keep the gun up in his shaking hands…but dropped his arm, struggling to try and stand.

"My Lord Doctor," the President took a step forward, "My Lord Master. And a wayward Time Lady," he eyed Mac as she tried to push herself onto her knees at least, but was failing, her back hurt quite terribly, "We are gathered for the end."

"Listen to me," the Doctor pushed himself onto the back of his legs, kneeling there, "You can't…"

"It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child."

"Oh, he's not saving you," the Doctor spat, "Don't you realize what he's doing?"

Mac rolled onto her arm, just barely able to push herself up a bit, looking at the Gate, "He's going to mend you like he did the humans…"

"Hey, no, hey!" the Master pointed at her warningly, "That's mine. Hush. Look around you," he opened his arms for the Time Lords, "I've transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them? Because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord. Oh, yes, Mr. President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think how much better you're going to look as me!"

The President gave him an unamused, almost bored, look before he held out his hand, covered in a metal gauntlet, and activated it. It began to glow, spreading out towards the Gate and suddenly…the humans returned to their prior disposition, humans once more.

"No, don't!" the Master whined, "No, no, no, stop it! No, no! No, no! Don't!"

"On your knees, mankind," the President barked, and the humans dropped to their knees.

"No, that's fine, that's good, because you said salvation. I still saved you, don't forget that."

"The approach begins," the President threw out his arms, smiling at the sky as the room began to shake and get brighter.

"Approach of what?!"

"Something is returning," the Doctor glared at the Master, "Don't you ever listen? That was the prophecy. Not someone, something."

Mac looked up, able to spot a red planet, THEIR red planet starting to blink into existence above them, "It's Gallifrey!"

The Master dropped to one knee, grinning as the humans fled the room, "But I...I did this. I get the credit! I'm on your side."

"Come on," Mac winced and looked over, hearing Wilf out there, seeming to try and battle his way into the room, "Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Mackenzie! Doctor..." but he was distracted in his quest to get to them by a technician that was trapped in the Vinvocci booth, "Alright! I've got you," he headed over and got into the other side, ignoring the Doctor calling a warning to him, "I've got you," he pushed, letting the other man out, trapping himself, "Come on. Go on."

The Master shook his head from his shock and stood, "But this is fantastic, isn't it? The Time Lords restored."

Mac opened her mouth to say something, when the Doctor spoke up, a glare on his face fixed on the Master, "You weren't there in the final days of the War. You never saw what was born. But if the time lock's broken, then everything's coming through, not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-Have-Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres, the War turning to hell."

"What?!" Mac demanded, staring at him in horror, she…she hadn't known that so many others had gotten involved, the Nightmare Child? All the others…she…she thought there was just the Daleks, just them! They never said ANYTHING about those others in the factories, just told them to keep making weapons against the Daleks! She let out a breath at that, if…if the Daleks, a handful of them, were the only ones to escape the War and not the others…it…what she thought the Doctor had done wasn't…wasn't quite as worthless…

"And that's what you opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending!"

"My kind of world," the Master smirked.

"Just listen!" he took a breath and swallowed hard, glancing at Mac now more than the Master, "Cos even the Time Lords can't survive that!"

Mac blinked, staring at him, "What do you mean?"

"We will initiate the Final Sanction," the President called, making Mac's gaze snap to him in horror, "The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue, until it rips the Time Vortex apart."

"That's suicide!" the Master shouted.

Mac let out a shuddering breath and looked at the Doctor to see him looking at her grimly, and looked down, tears in her eyes at that. The final sanction…they all knew what that meant. It meant death and destruction not just for their people, for their planet, but for the entire Universe as well. To rip apart the Time Vortex was to rip apart time itself, it would destroy EVERYTHING. Every single thing, every planet, every galaxy, every single life in the Universe would be destroyed, not just their people.

She closed her eyes tightly, shaking her head, not wanting to believe it but…the President himself had just said it. She let out a gasp as she realized what that meant. Her eyes snapped open to look at the Doctor as he kept staring at her…

He knew.

The Doctor had known what the President was planning…he'd done what he had not to stop the Daleks, but to stop their PEOPLE. He'd done it to save the Universe. A handful of Daleks could be stopped every now and then when they came up, the Doctor had done so numerous times, but…to stop their own people from doing what they'd been about to? That was a much greater threat to the Universe than she had ever thought possible. And he knew. She'd spent so long thinking he'd done what he had because he just wanted to stop the Daleks from spreading and in how they survived the destruction, she'd thought it was worthless to destroy Gallifrey when the Daleks survived…when really, he'd been trying to stop their president from killing every one else.

It…the planet HAD to be locked away to stop Rassilon. There would have been no way to get everyone off the planet in the time between the Final Sanction's decision and implementation. She realized it now. She'd been in the factories and all they'd had was a report that the High Council was meeting to discuss a way to end the war, only hours later they'd gotten the order for a time lock containment box, a transport box. She knew that the only time locks powerful enough to warrant a box like that were in the Archives and for the Doctor to get in there and get out and get off planet to activate it between the meeting and, well, now, would have meant doing all of it immediately, without pause. The time it would take to go back in time, to change anything…especially in the middle of the war, with all the other TARDISes being used, with all the distortions to time, it would have taken hours, possibly even days to get the TARDIS to do a temporal jump through all of that, to lock onto the proper date and get there.

The Doctor…he really had had ONLY one choice…to save the Universe, their people had to be stopped, sealed away, prevented from doing that.

The Daleks had NEVER been the Doctor's target, no wonder a few escaped, but every single Time Lord had been on Gallifrey…and THAT had been his target, their planet…in that sense, he'd done what he'd set out to do…he'd stopped them.

She swallowed hard, feeling like she couldn't breathe as she realized…he'd never told her, not when he found her again, not when she'd talked to him about how he'd run from her…and she knew why. She wouldn't have believed him. Especially her last body, it would have thought that he was trying to lie to her, to make her think he'd 'done the right thing' (which…he had), she would have thought he was trying to excuse himself or something like that. Even…even her new body would have been not quite so ready to believe him…had she not heard it from Rassilon's mouth herself.

"We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone," the President continued, "Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be!"

"Do you see?" the Doctor breathed, reaching out to touch Mac's hand, holding it tightly, "That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them."

Mac blinked and she could feel the tears falling from her eyes, he really did…he'd HAD to do it…and all that time she…she felt sick thinking of how terribly she'd acted to him, the things she'd blamed him for, how angry and unforgiving she'd been when the entire existence of the Universe was at stake.

"Then take me with you, Lord President," the Master offered himself up, "Let me ascend into glory," he dropped to his knees, pleading.

"You are diseased," the President merely sneered at him, "Albeit a disease of our own making. No more," the President held up his gauntleted hand again, closing his eyes as energy grew around it…only to open them when he heard a click to see the Doctor had stood, the revolver aimed at him, "Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one."

"But he's the President," the Master countered, "Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours!"

Mac closed her eyes, wrong thing to say, the Doctor hadn't really wanted to be President, it had just ended up being a last ditch effort to avoid execution that he'd even put a bid in for it. The Doctor spun around and aimed the gun at the Master instead.

"He's to blame, not me!" the Master nearly huffed, "Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, they go back. You never would, you coward. Go on then. Do it," he smirked as the Doctor turned back to the President, "Exactly. It's not just me, it's him. He's the link, kill him!"

"The final act of your life is murder," the President threatened, "But which one of us?"

The Doctor swallowed hard, looking down at Mac, but knowing that she was too emotionally overwhelmed with all of this to process what was happening. It was too much, he knew, for her to realize just how far that their leaders were willing to go for victory. It was too much and it had been too suddenly revealed. In a single instant her entire belief system had been shattered, everything she thought she knew thrown away, and every belief in their people just…destroyed. It was too much for her and he knew…he had to do this on his own, and that was right.

He started this with the time lock, he had to see it through. So he turned back to the President, ready to take his shot, ready to force himself (though it made him sick to think on it) to take someone's life to save the planet and the universe again…when he saw one of the women shifting. He watched as she lowered her hands, a slightly plump woman, with short brown hair and brown eyes. She was crying and it broke his hearts to see her, to see her like that, for her to see him like this.

He wanted his mother to be proud of him and here he was, about to kill someone in front of her and…and send her back into the time lock.

He saw her eyes flicker behind him and he blinked, realizing what she meant for him to do and spun around, aiming at the Master, "Get out of the way," he spoke, his voice thick with emotion.

The Master grinned and jumped aside as he fired, striking the device and killing the link to the time lock. The machine burst into flames, the Whitepoint Star falling out of it.

"The link is broken!" he shouted back at the President, pausing just a moment when he saw the woman smiling at him, PROUD of him, "Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell."

Mac looked up, seeing Gallifrey starting to flicker above them and closed her eyes tightly, this time...this time she wasn't doing a thing to stop it. This time...she was choosing to let it go...

"You'll die with me, Doctor!" the President threatened.

"I know," the Doctor stood there, accepting his fate.

"Doctor!" Mac gasped, trying to push herself up more, to stop him…

But then a voice spoke behind him, "Get out of the way," the Doctor didn't even hesitate in diving to the side, pulling Mac away from the scene as the Master fired a bolt of energy back at the President, right in the chest, "You did this to me! All of my life!" he fired another bolt, "You made me!" and another, "One!" he began to count, blasting the man again and again with each fire, stepping closer and closer to the white space with each move, "Two! Three! FOUR!"

The Doctor turned, shielding Mac as the room filled with light, the Master getting pulled into it as Gallifrey flickered and faded from above them…

~8~

"Doctor?" a voice called to the man as he slowly woke to find himself on the floor of Naismith Manor a short while later, "Doctor?"

He blinked blearily, slowly coming round to see Mac beside him, leaning over him slightly, shaking him gently to rouse him, "I'm alive?" he murmured, wincing a bit…yup, THAT felt alive, he shouldn't be in pain if he were dead.

"Yeah," she nodded, giving him a soft chuckle as she helped him sit up.

He just looked at her a moment, before starting to laugh, "I'm alive!" and pulled her to him to hug her tightly, "I'm still alive," he breathed in her ear and she could hear the tears in his voice at that…

When four knocks sounded.

They both froze, till they heard four more knocks, and four more…and turned to see Wilf was still in the Vinvocci booth. He knocked four more times, giving them a little wave when they saw him, "They've gone, then? Good-oh. If you could let me out..."

"Yeah," the Doctor swallowed and Mac felt her hearts breaking to see the hope leave his eyes, the joy replaced with despair, the just the utter devastation to realize he hadn't escaped like he'd hoped.

"Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise…"

Mac closed her eyes as the Doctor stood, stretching, "The nuclear bolt was left running," Mac murmured, "It's overloading…"

"And that's bad, is it?" Wilf guessed.

"No," the Doctor looked at the man sadly, Mac still kneeling on the floor, watching them both, "Cos all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass contains it. All 500,000 rads, about to flood that thing."

"Oh!" Wilf gave a nervous chuckle, "Well, you'd better let me out, then."

"It's hit critical Wilf," Mac told him, "Touch a control and it'll flood the booth with radiation. Even the sonic would set it off."

"I'm sorry," Wilf swallowed, tears in his eyes as he realized he was trapped and likely about to die from radiation.

"Sure," the Doctor whispered, still staring at the man…already knowing what was going to happen, what HE would do to save Wilf but just…unable to bring himself to move.

"Look, just leave me," Wilf tried to wave them off.

"Ok," he scoffed, his voice breaking, making Mac flinch, the poor girl still trying to process all of this, "Right, then...I will," he started to pace, "I'll take Mackenzie and we'll just be off, cos you had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck, oh, yes! Cos that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time."

"No, really, just leave me," Wilf pleaded, starting to realize what the Doctor was getting at, what he was planning, "I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time."

"Wrong thing to say Wilf," Mac looked at him, "Time Lords are old as well."

"But that's just it!" the Doctor pointed at the booth, starting to get upset, "Look at him. Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more!" he started shouting to the heavens, to fate itself, "So much more! But this is what I get. My reward? And it's not fair!" he raged and turned to a desk, pushing the items off of it, Mac closing her eyes in sorrow, the Doctor was hardly ever like that, that destructive, unless he was truly very upset, "Oh," the Doctor took a breath, shaking his head, "Lived too long," and started walking across the room towards the booth.

"No!" Wilf shouted, "No, no, please, please don't. No, don't. Don't...please don't! Please!"

"Doctor!" Mac got up and ran after him, ignoring the faint pain in her ankle as she reached out and grabbed his arm, "Don't…just…let ME do it," she looked at him, pleading with him with her eyes, she...she had so much to make up for with him, to apologize for what she'd done and how she'd treated him now that she knew the truth.

"I can't," he shook his head, staring at her sadly, "You JUST regenerated Mackenzie…I can't ask you to do that again."

"You're not asking, I'm offering."

"I can't let you waste a body on some stupid old Doctor," he tried to smile but couldn't manage it.

"I've got the bodies to waste though," she gave him a pointed look.

He just smiled at her but shook his head, "No," he told her, reaching up to put a hand on hers, squeezing it, "It's prophecy, it's on ME now," he told her, turning to Wilf as he let go of her hand, "Wilfred...it's my honor. Better be quick. Three, two, one!" he quickly stepped into the booth and pushed the button to release Wilf, the old man stumbling out and over to Mac as she steadied him…just as a red light began to pour into the booth the Doctor was in, filling it with radiation.

The two watched in horror and tears as the Doctor groaned, sliding down the walls of the booth and to the ground, curling in on himself as the pain got to be too much…before he lost consciousness again.

"Doctor!" Mac broke away from Wilf as the man clutched her, kneeling before the booth and watching intently, breathing out in relief when she saw the Doctor still breathing…then stirring as the machine switched off. He slowly unwound himself, sitting up and looking at them.

"What..." Wilf breathed, before smiling widely to see him alive again, NOT killed before regeneration like he knew the man had also feared, "Hello."

"Hi," the Doctor spoke, his voice gravelly and harsh, pained.

"Still with us?" he eyed the Doctor as the man winced, standing and gasping in pain.

"The system should be dead," Mac looked up at it, before her gaze settled on the Doctor sadly, "You absorbed it," she reached out to try the door and it opened easily this time, no need for one of them to get trapped in the second booth any longer.

"Oh," the Doctor muttered, "Now it opens, yeah."

"There we are then," Wilf smiled, not seeming to notice the solemn disposition of the Time Lords, "Safe and sound. Mind you, you're in hell of a state. You've got some battle scars there…" he trailed off as the Doctor lifted his hands to his face and wiped them down it, revealing his face all healed of the little nicks and cuts that had dotted his skin, "But they've..." he looked at Mac to see she still had a few scrapes, but they were already healing, "Your face! How did you do that?"

The Doctor just sighed and looked at his hand, seeing the cuts on that starting to heal over as well at a far more rapid pace than with Mac, "It's started."

Wilf watched, in tears, as the Doctor looked at Mac and just stepped over to her, hugging her tightly, clearly wanting comfort in that knowledge.

~8~

The Doctor and Mac stepped out of the TARDIS with Wilf to see Mrs. Noble over by the doorway to her house, smiling at them, "Oh, she's smiling," the Doctor mumbled, "As if today wasn't bad enough."

"Doctor," Mac gave him a pointed look.

"Anyway," he sighed, "Don't go thinking this is goodbye, Wilf. I'll see you again, one more time."

"What do you mean?" Wilf frowned at that, "When's that?"

"Just keep looking. I'll be there."

"Where are you going?"

"To get his reward," Mac told him, looking at the Doctor sadly, "He deserves it, he really does."

The Doctor smiled a bit at that as the two of them stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door behind them.

~8~

They'd gone to see Martha and her new husband Mickey Smith. Mac was…sad, to learn that she'd married Mickey instead of Tom. Not sad that Martha had married him, but sad that she hadn't realized it. She hadn't known that Martha had broken off her engagement with Tom, she hadn't know that Martha had started a relationship with Mickey or married him, yet they'd seen the two of them, seen the wedding rings on their fingers. But this wasn't about her, it was about the Doctor, it had been a trip for him. They'd stopped a Sontaran from attaching them, and gotten a small wave to them. She was fairly certain that Martha had worked out it was HER standing beside the Doctor, and she was sure that seeing them again, seeing the Doctor wave goodbye had tipped her off to what was about to happen. They'd seen a bit of a tear in Martha's eyes as they turned to go, her regenerated and him about to.

They'd seen Sarah Jane as well, the Doctor had saved her son from crossing the street on his mobile and nearly getting hit by a car. The boy had run off to his mother and pointed back at them, standing in the TARDIS doorway. She knew without a doubt that Sarah Jane had worked out what would happen next. There was a look in Sarah Jane's tear-filled eyes that told her that the man was about to regenerate.

They'd even gone to see Jack, though she'd stayed a bit further back for that one, she wasn't as used to being around Jack as the Doctor was. She hadn't been joking when she'd told him he came off as 'wrong' to her. But she hadn't wanted to begrudge the Doctor of seeing the man before he regenerated, so she'd hung back in the alien bar and watched as he sent a message about another man, Alonso, to Jack, the man apparently sitting right beside Jack moments later. He'd given Jack a small salute and headed off, back to her, and they'd gone back to the TARDIS for their next stop.

She had been a bit surprised but also not-surprised by one stop, to a Verity Newman, the granddaughter of Jane Redfern from 1913, someone the Doctor had known when he'd been human. She knew over practically every appearance the Doctor had made in Earth's documented and recorded history, she knew about Joan. The woman's granddaughter had taken her grandmother's journal and made it into a book about the experience. She'd been all too aware that the Doctor was the same man her grandmother spoke about. Mac knew she had no idea who she was, probably thought she was the latest companion and that was ok. This was about the Doctor.

It had been harder to visit Donna, she knew, to show up at the woman's wedding as she was taking pictures with her friends and Shawn. Sylvia and Wilf had been the only ones who noticed them and gone to speak to them. Apparently Naismith and his daughter were arrested. The Doctor had wanted to give Donna a wedding gift, a lottery ticket that she knew would win her the entire lot of the triple rollover. What was better was that the ticket had been bought using the quid loaned to them by Mr. Noble, Donna's father. Wilf had been devastated to see them go, it was like the man could tell how much pain the Doctor was in and trying to hide as his regeneration got closer. He'd been in tears when they'd left but they had to go. There was still another trip to make.

Rose.

Mac had remained in the TARDIS for that one. She'd watched from the monitor but…Rose was the only recent companion that had only really been on adventures with just the Doctor. She didn't feel right being there when the Doctor spoke to her. It had hurt to stand there and watch him in pain in the shadows of the alley he'd hidden in, waiting till Rose walked past with her mother. It was New Years, 2005, a date she'd selected, one of the safer ones to set down in. Rose's timeline was so fragile because of her involvement with the Doctor that it was safer to see her before she even met the Doctor.

He'd worked it out pretty quickly what year it was…when Rose told him, and wished her a great year. Rose had run off and the Doctor had stumbled his way towards the TARDIS. She'd shut off the monitor and rushed to the door, intent to help him, pausing only when she heard the Ood song sounding from outside. She'd raced to the doors and thrown them open to see Ood Sigma standing there in the snow, lifting the song to the Doctor as he fell to his knees before the TARDIS. Without saying a word, she moved over to the Doctor's side and helped him up, supporting him as he struggled to the
box.

"We will sing to you, Doctor," Ood Sigma reassured him, "The universe will sing you to your sleep. This song is ending. But the story never ends."

Mac held the door open, helping the Doctor inside, taking his coat from him to help and placing it over a Y-beam, her arm moving back around him as she helped him walk to the console, him letting go of her to lean on it.

"I'm sorry," she whispered to him as she stepped away, "For everything, I…"

"Don't," he offered her a strained smile, one she knew was genuine but just pained, "It was my fault…I kept things from you that I shouldn't have," he grunted, nearly hunching over…only to pull his arm away and stare at his hand sadly, resignedly, seeing it already glowing.

"It's time," she tried to step back, but he reached out and took her hand.

"I…I don't want to go," the Doctor murmured, looking at Mac with tears in his eyes, "Not now, not…" he swallowed hard, unable to continue.

"I know," Mackenzie nodded, watching him, "Be…before you do, there's something I have to say."

"No," he shook his head, "You…"

"Theta," she cut in, making him stop for use of his name, "I NEED to tell you this before…before you go. I need YOU to know."

He looked at her, pushing the pain of regeneration aside, seeing the serious look in her face and her eyes as she stood before him, "Alright."

She took a breath, "I…I forgive you."

There was so many bad memories between them, so much bad energy…so many misinterpretations and hidden information, half-truths and omitted truths. But she knew now, she knew everything, and her behavior was what she'd apologized for. He'd forgiven her. Everything he'd hidden from her…he hadn't asked for forgiveness because she knew him, he never thought he deserved it, but she was giving it to him now no matter what.

This time…this time was a fresh start, a new beginning, no secrets.

He blinked and smiled at her, "Thank you."

She nodded and stepped back, gently pulling her hand from his, "See you in a mo."

He nodded and took a breath, starting to pant as the energy started to build more and more before it burst out of him, forcing his head back, his arms out as the regeneration energy flew out like an explosion. The TARDIS shook as Mac ran to the console, trying to pilot the ship away from Earth, into the Vortex, cursing herself for not having remembered to do it BEFORE he'd started to regenerate. But before she could get it there, the controls sparked and went up in flames, flames and explosions that were spreading throughout the room, causing the beams to collapse, fires to spring up everywhere, the Doctor in the middle of it all.

Mac stumbled back, not wanting to get burned, and quickly tried to pat out the fire that had started at the bottom of her cardigan, looking up just as the Doctor twisted out of his regeneration…now a brown, floppy haired, slightly less-thin, man with dark green eyes and rather…delicate eyebrows…

Did he even HAVE eyebrows?

He did...if she squinted.

"Doctor?" she called tentatively.

He held up a finger to her for a moment, looking down at himself and patting his extremities to make sure it was all in order, "Legs. I've still got legs, good," he kissed his knee, "Arms. Hands. Ooh, fingers, lots of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey. Hair..." he quickly ran his hands through his hair and blinked, horrified when he felt how long it was, "I'm a girl!"

"Not quite," she offered.

He immediately gripped his Adam's apple, "No," he breathed in relief, "No...I'm not a girl," before he pulled his hair in front of his eyes to examine the color, "And still not ginger! And something else, something important," he started tapping his temples, "We're…we're…we're…" and he blinked, "WE're," he spun around, about to say something to her, actually was pointing at her…only to stop and just sort of stare at her.

"Doctor?" she repeated, not quite sure why he had just frozen, "Um…crashing?" she pointed to the console, thinking he might have been waiting for her to tell him what he'd forgotten…

"Crashing!" he suddenly cheered, rushing to the console, actually making her jump from the shout, before she cautiously made her way across the console to help him, "Ha ha!" he laughed, "Geronimo!"

To be continued…in…Endeavors in Wooing!

A/N: Lol, I hope you like the title of the next story ;) I'm VERY excited for it ^-^ But as for this chapter, poor Mac, to have the hope of getting her family and planet back and realize the truth of what the Doctor did, to have to choose herself to let it happen again to save the universe :( Definitely gives a new perspective of the war and the Doctor for her :)

On a lighter note...the official pairing name of the Doctor/Mac is...Thaery! Woo! ^-^

And to finish, I just wanted to say thank you to anyone who's read/reviewed/favorited/followed/anything this story :') It really means a lot to me to know that you're enjoying it so far, I'll do my best to give some good twists and fluff in Series 5 ;)

Some notes on reviews...

I actually don't think Mac is a hypocrite for claiming she could have shorted out the controls as she does have more than JUST paperclips in her pockets lol and quite a few of her items would work just as fast as a sonic ;) I'm not entirely sure the term/definition of hypocrite applies correctly in that situation, I sort of take hypocrite as someone who criticizes something and does it themselves, Mac says she can short it out...she really CAN. Looking at the moment, I can actually think of at least 7 non-sonic/human ways to short circuit that panel, some of which include...opening the base panel and ripping the wires that are hanging in there (non-sonic), using her ordinary screwdriver (from the Library) to stab the control panel and short it (non-sonic), she might even have a mini-water bottle in her pockets (like the half-sized ones, I carry one in my purse at all times) and pour it on the controls to short it (non-sonic), use her pocket knife to pry something open and cut wires (non-sonic). And likely many more as it's a salvage ship and probably has quite a bit of tools lying around that she could have grabbed to help. Just because she had a paperclip on her doesn't mean that's ALL she has lol :) Not to mention...Rossiter still had that guard gun (I think), she could have taken it and shot the controls or even grabbed Wilf's gun and done it. There are many, MANY ways to stop something without use of a sonic ;) If the Doctor hadn't been shouting and demanding release and struggling and being all distracting and let her take just a second to focus, she could have stopped the teleport controls so the Master couldn't follow them and THEN gotten the Doctor out. It wasn't a literal she could do exactly what he did with the sonic with just a paperclip as it's not a sonic, but she was saying she could have shorted out the controls in her own way just as quickly if he hadn't demanded she help him first :)

I actually have that in the first A/N for both Losing Hope and Finding Forgiveness that the episodes are all 1 chapter each, but the specials are 2 chapters. The End of Time is 4 because it's 2 separate episodes that are just a 2 parter special (4 chapters total) :)

I can say that I've got...4 more TLs that have title names coming ;)

Yup, Mac was very torn about what was happening :( I can't say if Mac will pull Amy aside, but she'll definitely make it VERY clear that what she's doing with Rory and the Doctor is wrong ;) She's a little jealous and we'll see some more of that to come ;) Aww, your dogs sound adorable ^-^