A/N: So it's a little bit cheesy, but I'm assured it fits...

Chapter 25 - 15th July 2013, 21:45:21

The Doctor woke up, curled into himself on his side, pain shooting right through him to such a degree he didn't dare to twitch. He convinced himself to open his eyes, slowly, until he gained a perfect view of his human wife lying on the floor, blood everywhere.

"No, Rose!" he said desperately, wanting to reach out but he couldn't. "Rose!"

She suddenly shifted on the floor, blinking rapidly. He breathed a sigh of relief. "Rose, talk to me!" he begged.

She seemed to ignore him completely, looking down at her stomach in horror. "Oh my god."

"Rose!" he persisted.

She finally looked up at him, tears in her eyes. "Doctor..."

"You're bleeding, we need to..."

"No, Doctor, don't you see it?" she asked seriously, pointing at the floor where she sat in a puddle of her own blood.

"Don't play games!" he shouted, annoyed.

"No... Oh god, you never saw it. You were in surgery..."

"What!?"

"The memory!" she cried, gesturing to the blood again. "Two years ago in the Unit hospital. You and me went to the teleport in the basement, remember?"

He stared at her, stunned by the question. "What!?" he said again.

"You remember, don't ya? We got onto the creatures' ship, we found Leah and Jack, yeah?"

"Rose, we d-don't have time t-to…"

"No, just shut up!" she implored. "Listen, you have to remember. When we were escapin' we got stopped by this massive creature, it threw you against the wall, knocked you out, and you nearly got your arm severed off in the teleport… Can you remember that? Just think!"

17th February 2010, 19:50:00

Suddenly the creature was completely focused on Jack. It threw the Doctor across the room like it was tossing a ping-pong ball, the Time Lord flying through the air and smacking into the wall behind the teleport; knocked out on impact.

That was all Jack got to see as every single tentacle focused on him. He knew he wasn't going to last long, but he had to get Rose and Leah to the teleport…

Then Jack heard a sudden, strange, high-pitched whining. He turned his head in its direction, and instantly went cold inside.

The Doctor's right arm was in the teleport. The rest of his body was not.

15th July 2013, 21:46:03

The Doctor looked down at his arm, seeing through the fabric to where he knew a ring of red sat to denote it had been nearly cut off.

"But while you were out the creatures grabbed me, started suckin' the life out of me. We escaped but the creatures had you as prisoner, but…" She paused, swallowing. "… We stole you back, you went into surgery, yeah? But… do you remember it? D'you remember what happened next?"

18th February 2010, 00:08:47

"Why does my arm hurt?" he asked genuinely, looking at his plastered arm. "What's all this stuff on it?"

Rose sniffed, taking his working hand to squeeze it reassuringly. "You hurt it. But you'll get better. Just don't move it, yeah?"

"Why not?" he asked, and moved it. He instantly cried out in pain again, the tear tracks staining his face very quickly.

Rose swallowed, wiping his cheeks dry with her hand. "Don't move it, yeah? It hurts you."

"Mmm," he agreed, and then looked back at her. "Rose, you've been crying. Who made you cry?"

15th July 2013, 21:46:11

"You… you were so sad," the Doctor muttered.

"Yeah, d'you remember why?"

18th February 2010, 00:08:38

"Sorry I took so long. I... I need to talk to you... Because... Because I had..." She paused for a moment, swallowing her tears and wiping her eyes before managing to continue, "because I had a..."

15th July 2013, 21:46:20

The Doctor screwed up his eyes, desperately trying to place himself inside the memory to get that last word…

2nd March 2010, 10:46:25

"Doctor... I... I had a miscarriage. I lost a baby."

15th July 2013, 21:46:25

The Doctor's eyes snapped open, focusing on Rose's face inches from his own. "... You miscarried. A baby…"

6th March 2010, 19:46:30

"Get off of me," the Doctor grated, pushing her away. He was angry, now. "Don't touch me."

And within a second Rose was angry again too. "Why are you bein' like this?!"

Without a word, he turned and started to the door once more. Rose grabbed his arm again and yanked him back. "You can't just deny this, Doctor! You can't just run from everythin'!"

"Let go of me!" he yelled, yanking his arm out of her grip.

"Fine!" she screamed back. "I thought I knew you, I had you down as so many things but coward wasn't one of them!"

"I'm not a coward!"

"You weren't before now, but I don't even know you anymore!" she yelled. "Just talk to me!"

He turned again.

"Go on, run away from me, then!" she shouted, absolutely red in the face. "Leave me and Leah here!"

He spun back around in a second, furious with his finger in the air. "I'm having Leah and the Tardis is mine!"

"You are not havin' Leah!"

"Yes, I am! If you want to leave, then leave!"

"Fuck you, you heartless bastard!" she screamed, turned and ran out of the door.

"Who's running now?!" the Doctor yelled after her, but there was no reply.

15th July 2013, 21:46:30

"... I was broken," the Doctor croaked. "I… I couldn't cope. We argued… so much…"

6th March 2010, 19:52:36

"We can get through this, yeah?" Rose said, as if trying to convince everyone in the room as well as herself. "I still love you."

The Doctor didn't answer that.

"Doctor?" she prompted. "We can get through this, right?"

His eyes were filling up again. "Oh, Rose, I hate this."

"What?"

"... I... I don't think I love you anymore."

15th July 2013, 21:46:36

"... I said I didn't l-love you... anymore."

Rose's eyes disconnected from his. "... Yeah," was all she managed to croak.

The Doctor's eyes drifted to her belly. "You… you m-miscarried again... didn't you? I felt it…"

"Yeah… I guess the Via Purifico worked," she said quietly. "It made me miscarry."

There was a long pause as they both just stared blankly at nothing, taking it in.

"Hey," the Doctor suddenly said, looking back at her.

She flinched, staring at him apprehensively.

He offered her a smile in return. "It's okay."

Rose continued to stare at him. "... You're not mad?"

He continued to smile, genuinely even through his agony. "Come on. How... could I b-be mad?"

"... You were last time," she whispered.

"I didn't und-derstand it," the Doctor replied strongly.

"And now you do?"

"We've been together... for too l-long, Rose. We were b-barely into our… our relationship. I freaked out, and y-you... you couldn't handle me… me freaking out. We d-didn't know each other w-well enough."

Rose swallowed. "... So what's changed?"

The Doctor screwed up his face. "I think s-somewhere along... t-the way we grew up."

Rose suddenly giggled, her wet eyes lighting up. "Don't say scary words like 'grew up'."

The Doctor smiled again. "Sorry. B-but I'm okay. These... things h-happen. What about y-you?"

"I'm okay if you're okay," she said.

He nodded. "I l-love you."

"I love you too," she said, and hugged him. They held each other for a very long time, sharing a kiss.

When they finally pulled back, Rose's eyes were shining. "Hey, Doctor."

"What?"

"You can regenerate now."

He smiled, kissing her again. "Yeah."

"When do we do it? Can we do it now?"

He looked around at their surroundings, frowning slightly. "If I reg-generate here…"

"I'll look after you," she insisted. "I'll get everyone out."

"But… post-regener… ation s-sickness…"

"I'll look after you," Rose repeated. "Trust me."

He nodded. "Okay."

"So what do I do?"

He suddenly looked very awkward. "I'm r-really sorry... but I n-need you to… to help me k-kill myself."

Rose felt her body temperature drop instantaneously by about five degrees. She'd almost forgotten about that. "... How?" she croaked.

The Doctor gazed at her. She was shaking slightly. "Are you... sure you w-want to do this?" he asked, concerned.

Rose nodded quickly. "I'm fine," she insisted. "Tell me what I need to do."

He looked at her for a little longer, before inclining his head to the upturned bucket and scalpel.

Rose nodded, getting it immediately and forcing herself up to collect the knife and the bucket before dragging them back to the Doctor.

"Sit m-me up," he said.

She obediently and very carefully slipped her arms under his. She pulled, and he immediately screamed.

She stopped immediately. "Sorry!" she cried, freezing in position.

"K-keep... go-going," he gasped out.

She had no choice but to trust him. She pulled again and once more he screamed, but this time she tried her hardest to ignore it and continue pulling him until he was sitting up against the wall, gasping.

"Sorry," she said again, kissing his forehead.

"S'ok," he moaned. "B-balance my arm over… the... the bucket," he ordered her gently.

She did, picking up his dead left arm carefully with both hands, placing it over the bucket so it balanced on the rim.

"Bit c-closer," he said, and she pushed the bucket and his arm further towards him. He smiled at her weakly.

She felt like throwing up as she held the knife, the sharp blade facing outwards. She didn't need to be a genius to work out what happened next.

"Okay, n-now listen. Lo-look at... me," he said, and she quickly looked up at his face, trying not to cry. "You h-have to s-sever my br… brachial art-tery. I'll keep m-myself alive 'til every… every last drip of bl-blood is g-gone, so… so there's no m-more Magh… mar or alere fl-flamman l-left in my... b-body."

"Every drop?" Rose asked, but it barely came out as a whisper.

"Yes."

"But… we didn't have to before…"

The Doctor took a deep breath, trying desperately to control his faltering voice and forcing out the syllables. "The al… alere fl-flamman wasn't too p-potent and my blood was f-fairly clean. I'm... full of ch-chemicals now. Chemicals and re… reg-generation isn't a good… good mix. It m-might make the… the post-regeneration si-sickness worse, and I don't w-wanna be s-singing the… the Tweenies theme as y-you're trying to… to g-get us out."

She swallowed. "Please don't joke," she croaked.

He acknowledged that. "S-sorry."

Rose just nodded, signifying she understood. She couldn't think of a single word to say.

He took another deep breath, his eyes seemingly bulging in his skull with the pain he was in. "As s-soon as I… as I… s-start to g-go warm and t-turn… gold, grab me tight," he continued. "Ima… Imag-gine my b-body as you s-see it now, with… with all th-the p-power you… you can. But d-don't get in th-the… th… the way of th-the l-light."

She nodded again.

"Un… Unders-stand?" he asked, his eyes welling from the amount of pain he was in, sniffing.

She nodded a third time.

"S-say… yes," he prompted.

"... Yes," she whispered. "Ready."

"Okay, p-put the knife… on… on my a-arm."

She did.

"Up… uppa bit," he slurred. "B-bit more… There. P-Push as… h-hard as… y-you can…"

Rose tightly closed her eyes. "Ok."

"D-do it," he prompted.

She reached out a hand finding his leg. She gripped it, her heartbeat pumping in her ears. She pushed down on the knife, heard him wince, and after a few seconds there was a dribbling sound, like filling a bucket with a tap.

"Oh god, I can't," Rose whispered, trying to block off her ears.

She let go of the scalpel, which hit the floor as she blindly reached out for the Doctor's left hand. She opened her eyes to meet his gaze.

"You… can d-do this," the Doctor told her firmly.

"This is awful…"

"It's ok-kay. Rem-member... Tom and… and M-Martha's wedding?"

"What?" she asked, confused.

"Rem-member it?"

"Why are we talkin' about that?"

"C'mon," he said gently, smiling weakly. "H-humour me."

She sniffed, her entire body seemingly going dead. "Yeah, I remember."

"Remember... I… I w-wouldn't dance?"

"Yeah."

"What s-song... was… was it?"

"I can't remember," she sobbed out.

"Yes, y-you... can," he encouraged.

She sniffed again, pushing the hair out of her eyes. "Happy Together."

"Re… remember what y-you… swore... swore to m-me?"

She wiped a tear away. "I said… I swore that I'd make you dance to it."

"Rem-memb-ber what… what I p-picked for our first d-dance?"

She looked at him again. "... Happy Together."

He grinned at her. "You n-never even… even realised, d-did you?"

Not for the first time she couldn't resist a smile at his beautiful grin even in the messy situation.

"S-sing it," he suddenly said.

That caught her by surprise. "What?"

"Sing it."

"Seriously?"

"Please... sing it."

"I can't…"

"It'll h-help the… the reg-generation."

"Liar."

He widened his grin. "Okay, got… got me. But p-please do."

She sniffed again as more tears escaped. "You're tryin' to distract me."

"Yes," he replied honestly.

She took a breath, covering her face before cool, gentle fingers pushed her chin up back to look at him. All the while the tap continued to run, but she was never going to look at it. Instead she fixed her gaze to his; his two deep brown, warm, loving eyes staring right back at her.

"... You've never heard me sing," she said quietly, and forced a smile. "It's like a bag of cats."

He smiled back at that. "I've h-heard you."

"When?"

"In the… the shower."

"You listen to me in the shower?"

"You st-stare at me in… in the sh-shower," he countered. "I think I'm al-llowed to… to listen."

"That's different, that's… oh god," she whispered, covering her eyes again. "How can I sing now?"

"Please," the Doctor said again. "For… for me."

She sighed, moving her legs to reposition as she closed her eyes, running a hand down her face. She quickly opened them again to look at him, sitting there paling rapidly, his head lolled on the concrete wall.

"What?" he asked. "W-waiting for a c-cue?"

"Don't laugh."

"What d'you t-take… me... me for?" he asked seriously.

She sighed and closed her eyes again, wiping at her cheeks before opening her mouth, forcing out the words, but they came out with no power - a haunting, high-pitched melody over the sound of the tap running. "Imagine me and you... I do. I think about you day and night... it's only right, to think about the boy you love, and hold him tight, so happy together…"

"Keep g-going," the Doctor whispered.

She kept his hand tightly in his, taking a few more deep breaths to try and level her voice before she continued, "if I should call you up, invest a dime, and you say you belong to me, and ease my mind, imagine how the world could be, so very fine… So happy together…"

25th December 2006, 08:04:17

"Be honest...How do I look?"

"Umm... different."

"Good different or bad different?"

"Just...different."

"Am I... ginger?"

"No, you're just sort of... brown."

4th April 2009, 13:30:01

"Basically, we've been building this, um... This... This time travel machine, this er, dimension cannon, so I could... Well... So I could…"

"What?"

"So I could come back! … Shut up."

21st October 2009, 07:15:15

"She's beautiful. She's got your nose."

"So this is Leah. It's kinda depressing to know she grows up to be more pretty than me."

"... Thank you for this. For her."

25th December 2010, 19:30:46

"Tell me more about Gallifrey."

"Okay. D'you wanna hear a Time Lord joke?"

"Yeah?"

"What goes bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud, bang thud?"

"I dunno, what goes bang thud a lot of times?"

"A Time Lord committing suicide."

"... That's the best you've got?"

1st December 2011, 17:44:57

"Where the hell is your Mum?!"

"Hey wait, we can't both panic! One of us needs to be calm while the other freaks out."

"Good point. How about you panic for a bit while I'm calm, then I'll panic for a bit while you're calm, and we just take turns?"

"Okay, that's fair. Can I panic first?"

"Sure."

"Where the hell is my Mum?!"

24th October 2012, 22:04:44

"Yeah, you're sweet sometimes but you're not very romantic."

"I'm always romantic!"

"Name one romantic thing you've done for me in the past week."

"I... umm... What about Thursday night? You know, after dinner?"

"Doctor, letting me have your last Rolo is not romance."

"Me and you and you and me, no matter how they tossed the dice, it had to be… The only one for me is you, and you for me... So happy together…"

Rose finished the song, and suddenly realised that the sound of the tap running had stopped. She opened her eyes immediately and found him sitting there with his eyes closed, his entire skin blue. She gasped immediately, gripping his hand so tightly she thought she might break it as she slammed her eyes shut again and concentrated with every modicum of her being into getting back that body...

"C'mon, c'mon, please," she begged under her breath, creating an image in her mind of him. His body, his personality, his everything, and forced it out of her brain towards him through the bond. "Please, please, you can do it…"

His hand began to turn warm in her grip. She opened his eyes, just little, and saw the painfully familiar bright golden hue dancing on his skin.

"Yes," she implored. "Yes, come on!"

Suddenly his hand snatched away from her, the golden spiral erupting around his head and hands as he arched back, his arms forced outwards. Rose quickly backed away, curling into the foetal position to try and keep away from the light as it continued to spiral out, the sound almost deafening her. She could do nothing but watch and pray that it would be okay.

It seemed to go on forever. She even had enough time to think about what she'd do if he wasn't the same. What if he got a new face? What if it hadn't worked?

It didn't take her long to decide. Not now.

Whatever his face, she just wanted him to smile at her.

The golden light abruptly stopped, and for a moment Rose couldn't see his face - obscured by the afterenergy. So she remained silent and still, staring at the clouds of gold until they began to dissolve…

"Yes!" she cried in triumph, diving forward to him again, grabbing his wrist to check for a pulse. It was going, strong and normal, attached to a thin body topped with messy brown hair, sideburns and that big pouty bottom lip. She felt compelled to throw herself onto him and kiss each of these things, so she did. She even checked his eyes - both of which remained that beautiful brown - and kissed them too. She kissed his nose, his eyebrows, and even checked his chest hair which was all present, kissing that too.

She then drew back to look at him as a whole, his skin warm and glowing like she hadn't seen for months as he laid there with those bandages on his torso. She quickly pulled them off to reveal the skin was completely healed. The various scars he'd had before were also gone, except his appendectomy scar. For a brief moment she wondered why, but quickly realised that because he'd had his template directly from her she'd probably been the one who'd wanted to keep it.

He looked younger too; about her age. The hair seemed thicker than before, and his eyes were a little bigger. She felt she was obliged to check that the area below had all regenerated fine, and consequently realised that his eyes and hair weren't the only thing that she had unintentionally made a bit bigger.

"Jesus!" she exclaimed, and looked up at him again. "Doctor?"

As if on cue, his eyes flickered open. The size increase had made him look even cuter than before as he stared up at her, blinking in a daze.

"We did it!" she said triumphantly. "Doctor, you regenerated into the same body! Well, mostly, but I swear I didn't mean to make your…"

"Ei'lei'o'mifa miho holah'Sol," he interrupted quietly, and passed out.

"What? Doctor!" she cried, shaking his shoulder before she quickly forced herself to calm. He was speaking Gallifreyan. He had...

"Post-regeneration sickness," the man completed from behind her. "He just said to you that he couldn't speak Solian."

Rose turned quickly, and met with the man. Only this time she recognised him from her memory...

"Master," she whispered, stepping in front of the Doctor to protect him. "If you lay a finger on him…"

The Master sighed. "I thought we were through that. I'm sorry, but you need my help."

"What!?"

The Master looked at the Doctor, and then back at her. "... Now comes the hard part."

To be continued...

A/N: Aww, it's over! I'm at a loose end.

As you probably guessed, there is more to come. This series is never-ending. I'm enjoying it too much, that's what. Don't ask me when.

Thanks to everyone who read my drivel and especially to reviewers. You may all have this trophy of perseverance! :D I super appreciate everyone and I know I say this repeatedly but it's still true.

Here, have a next time!

Laura

Next time...

"The Doctor has many mind defences even when he's comatose. Getting past these will be hard, but it should be made easier by your bond with him."

"What d'you mean?" Rose asked. "Mind defences?"

"The place you are about to enter is purely the landscape of the Doctor's mind. His defences will take the shape appropriate to his subconscious," the Master explained patiently.

"Like what?"

"Anything from monsters, to games, to giant walls. You'll have to get past all of them before you can reach him - or whatever's left of him."