"Doctor!" a familiar, grating voice shouted, immediately interrupting Rose and the Doctor and striking fear into their collective hearts. "The Doctor will be brought! The daleks demand the Doctor!"

"Doctor, what are we going to do?" Rose asked quietly as she stared up at his defeated, weary expression.

"We aren't going to do anything," he stated resolutely as he grabbed for the cane at his side and heaved himself upwards onto stiff, aching limbs. "You are going to stay here. Promise me that, Rose - promise me you will."

Rose could feel hot, angry tears welling up behind her eyes once more as she relinquished her hold on the Doctor's hand and stood up to her full height to glare at him in response. "You've been here all of this time ..." she muttered quietly as she leveled her eyes on him. "All of this time, all on your own, because you lied to me again." Rose's jaw tightened as she raised her chin in stubborn defiance and stated, "Well, not this time. This time, I'm not leaving you, no matter what you say." When the Doctor's gaze dropped from hers in bitter defeat, she added, "And when we both get out of this alive ... I'm definitely installing a truth field in the TARDIS - don't think I won't!"

That, at least, startled a small chuckle from him as he slowly raised his eyes to hers once more. He took a few stuttering steps forward, his gaze and his movements hesitant as though he wasn't quite sure how to approach her anymore. He slowly raised his shaking hand to the back of Rose's neck and pulled her forward into his arms as he buried his face against her should. "My impossible girl ..." he whispered bitterly into her hair. Too clever and too beautiful for me by far, he added silently I've missed you.

Rose squeezed her eyes shut tight as she wrapped her own arms cautiously around his middle and felt the first of her tears begin to seep out onto the familiar tweed of his jacket. Don't do this, Doctor, she begged him silently across their bond. Please don't say goodbye.

"It's time," he muttered definitively in response, stepping back and looking down on her with those wide, green eyes that betrayed all of the anguished longing that he wouldn't admit to, not even across their telepathic connection.

Rose answered those unspoken words in the only way that she knew how - she stood on her tip-toes and pressed a gentle, desperate kiss to his lips as she filled his mind with all of the bold confidence that she could possibly muster in that moment. She knew that she would have to let him face the daleks alone - the Doctor would never allow it to be any other way - but she also knew that there was no way that she would just let him give up and die the way that he clearly wanted to, not while she still had anything at all to say about it.

"Go," she whispered against his lips when she finally stepped away, not failing to catch the way that he subconsciously leaned back into her, clearly not ready to separate from her just yet after so long of being apart. "Give them hell," she added with a small, watery smile. "And don't you dare give up."

He smiled as he laced his stiff, wrinkled fingers through hers one last time and gave her hand a parting squeeze. She was pleased to note that there was a new, determined look in his sad green eyes that hadn't been there a moment before, and Rose felt hope flare through her as she allowed herself to believe that perhaps she had finally managed to get through to him after all.

She waited until the Doctor had completely left the room, his footsteps fading into silence as he slowly ascended the winding stairs towards the top of the bell tower, before she narrowed her eyes back on the glowing crack in the wall behind her. She glared at the jagged, golden line as though it were the sole source of the danger currently threatening her bondmate's life as she rushed forward and bent down to meet the thing at eye-level.

"Listen to me, you lot," she growled menacingly. "Listen! Help him. I know that you can, and I know that you can hear me right now, so just do it!" Rose had to bite back the many other hateful, bitter words that she could feel welling up within her chest as she contemplated all that the Time Lords had done ot the Doctor and the many, many things that they still owed him for. She closed her eyes and forced herself to take a deep, calming breath before she continued. She knew from long conversations with her husband about his people that irritating the pompous elite of Gallifrey would win her no favors.

"You've been asking a question ... and it's time someone told you you've been getting it wrong," she declared quietly. Rose knew that she could have given them the Doctor's true name just as easily as the Doctor himself could have done back when they had first arrived here. It would be such a small, simple thing to do in order to put an end to all of this chaos and destruction for good. But Rose decided in that moment that she would follow the example of her bondmate and not give either side the satisfaction of actually having their plan work out the way that they had intended it to. No, she had a plan that was even better - and an answer that would go far beyond what anyone else would have expected, just like the Doctor would have wanted.

"His name ... his name is the Doctor. All the name he needs - everything you need to know about him," Rose stated resolutely. "And if you love him - and you should - help him. Please." She hung her head as the tears began to flow once more and she felt the rest of her words being strangled into silence around the lump of emotion in her throat. She leaned her forehead wearily against the wall above the crack as she silently counted the seconds that ticked by.

When she got to number seven, there was a faint, shifting noise that had Rose's eyes immediately snapping open in alarm. She gasped in surprise as she was met with the sight of the swirling, golden haze that was currently seeping through the crack in the wall and slowly engulfing her in its embrace. She only just managed to reach out over her mental link to the Doctor in startled panic before the cloud of golden dust infiltrated her mouth and nose and quickly silenced all else with its overwhelming power.

The sensation that suddenly filled her was similar to that of the Bad Wolf as time steadily pulsed within her, but the energy was more concentrated this time - more purposeful. There was still a sense of eternity and endless possibility to it, but the burn that Rose felt in her bones felt as though it was coming from a single flame instead of that of every sun in all of existence.

Rose, what have you done? the Doctor demanded, his thoughts running wild and panicked through her own mind as he desperately sought out the cause for her sudden pain and uneasiness.

Doctor, hurry ... she called back distractedly as she gazed down in wonder at her own hands, which were now reflecting the same golden light as the crack in the wall.

Everything after that happened in a blur of light and sound and movement as Rose fought to separate the mess of glowing timelines converging and unraveling all around her. It was difficult to tell what was real and what was imagined as she dashed desperately for the stairs in an attempt to reach her bondmate. She didn't know what was happening to her, but she had a deep, instinctual need that seemed to be pushing her forward, moving her faster in an attempt to find the Doctor - now, before it was too late.

She eventually did find him - of that, she was certain - though the details of the process seemed to elude her. She didn't know if she had managed to rush up the stairs, or if he had ran down them. She didn't know if his face was old or new as his features seemed to blur and swirl together before her very eyes. She didn't know which one of them it was who eventually kissed the other in the end, either - she just knew that when their lips connected, there was a burning, searing pain that felt as though everything inside of her was exploding and reconverging all at the same time.

Rose knew that she lost consciousness somewhere along the way, but even in her sleep, her mind was filled with golden light and fiery combustions that seemed to go on into eternity, destroying and reforming her world into new, constantly shifting configurations.

When the haze finally lifted and she was able to see clearly once more, the steady sound of her rapidly-beating heart was the only sound that she could hear pounding away in her ears and filling her with a quiet sense of foreboding. Rose quickly realized that she was no longer in the town of Christmas, either, as she sat up and hesitantly gazed around the familiar setting of the TARDIS console room. The ship was groaning ominously in the back of her mind - almost as if the she was holding her breath, as though she were waiting for something to happen.

"Doctor?" Rose called out instinctively as she slowly raised herself to her feet. Every single one of her muscles felt sore, as though she had just finished running a marathon, but at the same time, a cocktail of endorphins were rushing through her system, flooding her with the type of manic, eager energy that she normally only ever associated with the Doctor.

As she fought to steady her erratic breathing and regain her bearings, Rose noticed that the console room floor around her had been littered with piles of old, worn clothes - chief among them, the Doctor's jacket, which looked as though it might have been serving as some sort of blanket or pillow for her while she had been lying on the floor.

"Doctor?" she called out again, her voice a little louder and more concerned as she peered at the glowing console controls and caught sight of the half-empty bowl of what looked like custard, with long strips of something that had been battered and fried floating in it. She turned her nose up slightly at the strange sight as she turned her gaze away and focused instead in the direction of the sound of quiet boot steps on the stairs before her.

"Doctor!" she sighed in happy relief as she finally caught sight of the familiar features of her bondmate as she knew him - the bright green eyes and floppy dark hair restored over a fresh jacket and bowtie.

"Hello," he replied quietly as he flashed her a small smile that refused to meet his eyes. Rose's own cheery grin began to falter and fall as she mentally reached for him and was met with nothing but a solid, cold wall of denial. He was purposefully shielding his thoughts from her in a way that he almost never did, and it instantly made her nervous.

"Doctor?" she called his name again in question as she hesitantly stepped closer. "What's wrong?"

"It's started," he stated, still watching her with that blank, empty smile on his face. "I can't stop it now, this is just the reset. A whole new regeneration cycle." His gaze dropped to his boots as he paused to gesture lamely at himself. "Taking a bit longer - just breaking it in."

He took a few steps forward, but ended up half-collapsing against the TARDIS console as he struggled to keep himself together against the weight that seemed to be pressing down on him. Rose was immediately at his side, one hand on his back and the other on his arm as she attempted to steady him further.

"Doctor, no, please ..." she whispered desperately. "This can't be happening. Please tell me this isn't happening ..."

"It all just disappears, doesn't it?" the Doctor murmured distractedly as he turned his wild, unfocused gaze back to Rose. "Everything you are, gone in a moment, like ... breath on a mirror." Another strange, empty smile began to turn up his features as the Doctor's gaze scanned over Rose's features, eventually settling on her lips. "Any moment now ... he's a-comin'."

"Don't say that, Doctor, stay with me," Rose begged, reaching out and twining her fingers around his neck to bring him closer. "Please, stay with me," she breathed in desperation as she pressed her forehead against his.

"Always," the Doctor replied with a small huff of unamused laughter. He leaned in to kiss her, but his lips just barely managed to brush against her own before his breath hitched and his head whipped around to focus on something that Rose couldn't see.

"Amelia!" the Doctor called out excitedly.

"Doctor?" Rose asked questioningly as she peered up at his wide, unfocused eyes that seemed to be tracking something invisible through the upper levels of the console room. "What's going on? Who's there?"

"The first face this face saw," he explained distantly as he turned away from her in order to follow the phantom that only he could see. Suddenly, his hand reached up as though to touch something - or someone - and Rose felt the tears that she had been fighting against finally break loose and slip down her cheeks as she watched a wide, heartbroken smile light up the Doctor's features.

When he finally turned back to her, there were tears in his eyes as well as he reached up and slowly unwound the old bowtie from around his neck. He rolled the stip of fabric into a tight ball and then pressed it firmly into Rose's hands, both of his gripping hers tightly as he stared deep into her eyes. "Keep an eye on it, Rose," he told her, his voice cracking quietly with emotion as his gaze roamed over her features once more. "And keep an eye on him, too."

Rose found that she could do nothing but gaze up at him in horror as his skin slowly began to glimmer and glow gold, just as hers had done earlier. "No, no, please don't change!" she cried as he stepped out of her reach and her hand raised automatically in an attempt to grab him back again. "Doctor ... don't go ..."

He was watching her with a small, sad smile on his face as he silently filled her head with devotion and reassurances, but his thoughts were immediately cut off as he threw his head back with a jolt and their bond flared between them. Rose gasped as a flash of fire shot through her and simmered like an ember in the back of her mind. When she was finally able to focus once more, she blinked and realized that there was a new man standing in front of her.

He was tall and skinny with a severe-looking nose and a pair of sharp eyebrows to match. His gray hair was cut into short curls around his head and his eyes were a bright, startling blue that were currently staring at her with an expression of wide-eyed shock.

Once again, Rose could do nothing but stare as she matched his look of surprise and watched as he slowly stepped towards her, his head tilting to the side slightly as though he were some sort of wild animal trying to assess if she was dangerous or not.

She held her breath as she counted the strange man's footsteps as he grew closer and closer until all of a sudden, she could feel the Doctor's presence in the back of her mind once more as he slowly eased himself back into all of the places that he had occupied before, as though he were slowly testing out the waters of her thoughts.

Doctor ...? Rose called out hesitantly to him, desperate to grasp onto any small reassurance that she could find that would convince her that her bondmate wasn't completely gone for good.

The strange man before her seemed to freeze in his tracks at her tentative mental touch and then his entire body convulsed as he bent backwards once more and grabbed painfully at his side.

"Kidneys!" he cried out through clenched teeth. "I've got new kidneys!" He was still staring at her, as though he were waiting for her to say or do something, but Rose had absolutely no idea what was meant to happen next. She had already been through a regeneration with the Doctor once before, but she found that it hadn't quite adequately prepared her for this. There had been no flames, no fire, no watching as his face slowly rearranged itself into new and unfamiliar features. He was just there one moment, and the next ...

"I don't like the color," the man before her declared, his already-severe-looking eyebrows coming together in a dark scowl as he glared at her.

"Of your kidneys ...?" Rose asked in quiet confusion. She furrowed her own brows as she noticed for the first time that this man seemed to be speaking in a Scottish accent - just one more new addition that managed to set her whole world slightly off-kilter.

Just then, the TARDIS gave a mighty jolt around them, sending them both rocking into the console as they fought to maintain their balance.

"What's happening?" Rose cried out in terror as the old ship groaned and rattled dangerously beneath their feet.

"We're probably crashing!" the strange man called back as he turned his scowl to the TARDIS controls and roughly flipped a few switches. "Stay calm," he commanded as he continued to focus down at the buttons near his hands. "Just one question - do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"

Thank you so, so much to everyone who has favorited, followed, and left comments on this story! I had an absolute blast writing this, and your appreciation and encouragement has made the process so extremely rewarding! The story will continue with Rose and the Twelfth Doctor in a new fic, coming soon. I hope you all have a fantastic day! Geronimo!

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