Chapter Thirty Six

It has been a week since Commander Suissstra of the Kajorans surrendered.

Directly after his surrender to us, the Doctor forced him to gather up everyone on the mothership and they were marched into the TARDIS. The TARDIS put up a forcefield around the console and basically made a sort of force field corridor to the back door. Then she moved the cell block to the back door and sealed off the corridor beyond the cells so the lizards had nowhere to go except inside the cells. Oh, they cursed at us and swore to get even, but no one dared to oppose the Doctor. Once the grunts were inside the cells, the TARDIS sealed them up and the Doctor marched Suissstra up to his console, sat him down and while Jack held a blaster on him, he made the lizard send a message to all his troops, both on Earth and in the sky, ordering them to surrender and leave Earth alone. This past week has seen the Kajorans leaving the Earth while at the same time releasing the humans they were enslaving and keeping in storage. There's been much celebrating but I don't feel like joining in at the moment as I'm still trying to find word of mum or Tony and Simone and Gabrielle are trying to locate their families. Out of all the humans we rescued, they are the only ones who stayed since Ben and Billy were able to find their families and go home with them. Others are not so lucky. A lot of people have put messages out over the telly and radio telling everyone that they're alive and where they are if they have family out there and there are posters and flyers everywhere of missing family members.

Mind you, It's not just us. All over the world, the resistance is rounding up lizards and making sure they leave. And after Suissstra told them about the Doctor, they're doing just that. Suissstra and the men that were on his ship are still the Doctor's prisoners. He'll release them last unless something happens. He's using them for insurance to make sure that the others obey and every so often he makes Suissstra record another message to make sure the lizards still know they need to get the hell off Earth.

All that's left is for me to decide if I want to go back with the Doctor and Jack. At the moment, I'm wanting to go because it looks like mum and Tony are gone and there's nothing here for me now. The Doctor's leaving it up to me and he's been silent about it. No pressure on me and I appreciate that but I know he and Jack will be heartbroken if I decide to stay. As for Simone and Gabrielle, they're going to make sure that they're put somewhere safe before they leave.

What an emotional roller coaster it's been the past eleven years. Hard to believe it's finally over, but it is. And for that, I'm thankful.

Rose walked out of her room at resistance headquarters. She had been helping to bring the occupation to an end along with everyone else and she was exhausted. She had tried to use coffee and tea to keep awake but now the lack of sleep was catching up with her. She yawned and rubbed her left eye while she headed for the meeting room.

"Rose?"

She turned to see the Doctor coming up behind her, a concerned look on his face.

"Why don't you have a nap and let me take over for a bit? You look knackered and it's not good for you to deprive yourself of sleep."

"I went without sleep when I was in the mines," she said.

"Yes, but…this isn't the mines. All that is over and done with and you need to rest," the Doctor said gently. "The evacuation can continue without the great Rose Tyler heading it up.'

Rose laughed at that and the Doctor smiled. She headed back towards her room.

"No, not on a camp bed," he said. "In the TARDIS, on a proper bed. You deserve it after eleven years of torture."

"Too right I do," Rose said.

The Doctor smiled and put his arm around her back while he led her towards the TARDIS. Once inside, she lay down in her old room and the Doctor pulled the covers up over her. He gently kissed her forehead.

"I'm so proud of you," he said to her. "You deserve a nice, long rest so off to Slumberbye Land with you! Allons-y!"

He turned to leave when Rose called to him. He turned, a questioning look on his face.

"Doctor. I know you haven't bothered me about whether or not I'm gonna leave with you."

"Don't worry about that just now. Just get some sleep."

"No. I've decided. I want to come with you and Jack. There's nothing for me here now. Even if we do find mum and Tony, there's still nothing here for me."

The Doctor smiled and nodded. He walked over and gave her a hug.

"Jack and I will protect you, promise," he said to her.

"I was thinking…if Simone and Gabrielle can't find their families. Maybe we can take them as well. I'll look after them," Rose said.

The Doctor nodded and kissed her cheek.

"For the moment though, look after yourself, Ms. Tyler," he said to her.

"Yes, sir!" Rose said with a salute.

The Doctor chuckled warmly, gave her one more kiss on the cheek and walked over to the door. He winked at her, turned off the light and closed the door while Rose sighed and turned on her side so she could go to sleep.

Four hours later, Rose woke up. She sat up on the side of the bed and got her bearings. She felt more refreshed than she had in years, all the stress and trauma of the last eleven years now fading now that she and the rest of Earth were finally free. She got up, felt her way to the door in the dark and opened it. She walked out and down the corridor to the console room, smiling when she heard Jack and the Doctor laughing and talking softly. She entered and saw the two of them standing in front of the console while Simone and Gabrielle sat on the jump seat. The Doctor saw her and beckoned to her to come to him.

"Been wondering when you might get up," he said to her. "Bit of good news. We told Simone and Gabrielle that you wanted to look after them and they're all for it."

"I don't think my family is alive," Simone said.

"And mine's dead, I know it," Gabrielle said. "Will you take care of us then, Rose?"

Tears came to Rose's eyes and she hugged them while the Doctor and Jack shared a glance. The Doctor pointed to the front door and Jack nodded.

"Rose, stay here a moment, be right back," he said.

Rose nodded and Simone and Gabrielle made room for her on the jump seat.

"So, who here thinks I'm God's gift to the universe? Raise your hands!" Jack said, winking when they laughed at that.

Jack hugged Rose tightly and told her how happy he was that she was going back with them. Rose hugged him and kissed his cheek.

"Ooo, she kissed me! I got bragging rights!" Jack teased while Rose took his hand and squeezed it.

She looked over when the Doctor opened the front door.

"Oh, Roooooos-ah!" he said.

"Yeeeeees?" Rose said.

The Doctor opened the door wider and Rose let out a cry of joy when Jackie and Tony came inside. She sprinted towards them and Jackie caught her in a hug while Rose broke down and wept. The Doctor smiled and closed the door while Jackie held her daughter and Tony hugged her legs. Simone and Gabrielle came close to them and the Doctor stood with them, watching the joyful reunion.

"We were in some sort of freezer along with a lot of other people," Jackie said when Rose calmed down enough to listen. "We were just released and we saw the Doctor's message that you were looking for us. We contacted the people here and they went and gave us a lift here. I'm sorry, love, Pete, Jake and Mickey…"

"I know. I know they're dead," Rose said with a nod. "I was just holding out hope that you and Tony were alive."

She explained about wanting to return to the other universe and asked if she and Tony could come with her. She introduced Simone and Gabrielle to them and Jackie greeted them warmly.

"You lost your families?" Jackie said. "You can come with me then. I'll look after you. Tony and I can give you a home."

"Then that means you'll come with me?" Rose asked.

Jackie thought for a moment and shook her head.

"There's nothing for me here either, love. Pete was wonderful but he was a bit of a workaholic and I don't think he ever accepted me fully as his wife. If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at the mansion and see what it looks like now. Perhaps bring along some things, definitely some of Tony's toys but also some money so we can start over."

"Mum, I doubt the banks have any money in them now."

"Not the banks, love, the safe your stepfather had in his study. He kept money in that for emergencies. And this seems like the perfect time to use that money, yeah?"

"Yeah," Rose said before Jackie gave her another hug.

(Sixteen days later…)

The Doctor has finally found a gap in time and space that will allow us to go back over the void safely. It's not very big so even though the work isn't finished, we need to go now or risk being stuck here. Mum was able to salvage some furniture and toys for Tony and Gabrielle and we found a great deal of money in the safe that they can use when they get back to London. She's gonna try to get her old flat back and the Doctor's gonna try to land as close as he can to the day after the Canary Wharf battle so there'll be a good chance the flat will still be there and still have our furniture in it. We spent a great deal of time saying goodbye to Tom and Toby and the others who have stayed behind to help people and help rebuild the city. All over the world, there is a rebuilding and people are finally getting back to their lives. All that's left to do is release our prisoners. However, the Doctor has decided that it's too risky releasing Suissstra since he was the head of the invasion so he's going to take him to a prison planet after letting the others go. We're hoping that once we leave the Earth will be alright but we're all leaving that up to fate since the Doctor figures we'll never be able to return here once the gap closes. Not that I want to return, mind. My life is with the man I love and my friends and family are in the other universe. I even asked the Doctor if he wouldn't mind taking me to see Sarah Jane once we get back. Even though I didn't know her for very long, she's one of the people I missed the most and I want to make sure she's alright. That and I just want to ask her advice after all that's happened to me. I need some advice from someone like me who's traveled with the Doctor and bore the scars of fighting at his side.

Jack is going back to Cardiff but he promises to keep in touch. He has a team there and we're going to meet them briefly when we drop them off. He was another one I missed terribly but at least he's alive and he'll call me every once in awhile and make sure we're okay.

So…that's it, really. Nothing more to say. Eleven years of Hell are finally over for me and I'm finally home, truly home, with the man I love more than anything else in the universe. Both he and I will be growing our hair back. In fact, we're going to be wearing wigs because even though the Doctor is turning his nose up at a wig, he's not about to be seen going through time and space bald as a baby's bum (his words.) And so ends another part of my life, a painful and terrible part of my life but now begins a whole new chapter, a new day is dawning, one filled with hope and promise and for the first time in ages, I'm actually looking forward to waking up and beginning a brand new day, having adventures and once more, having a life that is truly worth living.

THE END.