Disclaimer: I only own the rights to Doctor Who and Buffy in my little fantasy world. It's a crazy place.

A/N: This is the final chapter, dedicated to my darling reviewers (deep breath): timano, rocks and glass, pottingshedpixie, horsefly, yamiangie, forestwife, Mikkifavo, cheri1 and CentaurGirl42. (Phew.)

He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something about Buffy reminded the Doctor strongly of Rose. Perhaps it was her resourcefulness, or her courage, or her headstrong determination to roll with the punches; deal with whatever came at her.

Perhaps it was the blonde hair.

Either way, thinking about led the Doctor inexorably to dwelling on thoughts of Rose. He began to wonder how she was doing. Was she enjoying working for Torchwood (the institute that now seemed to permeate every single universe)? Was she happy with just Mickey, her parents and her new brother? (Maybe sister; the Doctor had no way of knowing.)

Did she miss him?

Inwardly, he shook himself. Of course she did, just as he missed her. But he had no time to worry about Rose and her new domestic affairs. He had to get on with the task in hand.

The task in hand was finding the armoury. When the Tardis had crashed, the dimensional stabilisers had halted, stuck wherever they were when the ship was dislodged from the vortex. Unfortunately, this meant that the Tardis could not conveniently move the console room to a point adjacent to the console room. This in turn meant that the Doctor had to trawl around the endless corridors of his vessel, hunting for it.

He was lucky. The armoury was only about three doors from the central chamber. But since the Tardis was of course dead, all the lights were out. Tutting, the Doctor retrieved his sonic screwdriver, adjusted the wave emitter to a wide beam of light, and used it as a torch.

Shelves upon shelves of weaponry were illuminated by an unearthly blue light. The Doctor passed slowly among the racks, searching for an appropriate weapon of choice. Of course, he did begrudge it slightly, but apparently evil lurked in the depths of this cave, and he didn't like evil. Also, Buffy had insisted that he go armed. At least she was considerate.

The Doctor ran his eyes over a host of murderous instruments, rejecting each of them as he went. Jathaar photon rifle…no. Ritual Acheron battle-axe…no. His eyes fell upon Jack's sonic blaster, which he had left on the Tardis when they landed on Satellite Five. He thought for a moment. Tempting…but no. He decided eventually on a broadsword. He knew his 'fighting hand' would appreciate it.

XXXX

Buffy and Willow were standing at the door of the Tardis when the Doctor opened it. They tried very hard to peer inside, but he pulled the door quickly shut behind him, grinning unapologetically. Buffy let out a low whistle as she laid eyes on the sword, then smirked.

"Where's your ray-gun?"

The doctor threw her a withering look. "Very funny." (He immediately regretted not bringing Jack's blaster). "So," he said, brisk as usual, "Allons-y!"

As they walked the few hundred yards to the cave, the two girls attempted to make conversation.

"I guess that as soon as this is over," Buffy began tentatively, "you're just gonna jet off back into time and space?"

"Hardly," the Doctor replied, suddenly solemn. "The Tardis is dead. Stone dead. I doubt I'm going anywhere any time soon."

"…How did that happen?" Willow asked after a while.

The Doctor sighed. "I didn't tell you this before, but…I'm not just from another planet…I'm from…another universe."

Buffy was completely undaunted. "Oh," she said, "like Vampire Willow."

Willow smiled nostalgically. "She was fun. Except for the hands."

For the first time in a few hundred years, the Doctor was speechless. He looked from Buffy to Willow, astounded at their nonchalance.

Willow smiled at him reassuringly. "I'm sorry. You were saying?"

"Um, right…" the Doctor managed eventually. "Anyway…the ship fell out of temporal orbit, and I ended up here. But she's broken, without a doubt."

"Can't you fix it?" Willow questioned. "Maybe Torchwood could…" She trailed off.

"Maybe," the Doctor said slowly, "but they're in London, and I'd really rather avoid them. Our last meeting did not end well."

"Oh." Willow took the hint, and stopped asking.

They had reached the cave, and stood warily at its blackened mouth.

"Okay," Buffy said, sounding more confident than Willow looked, "let's do this. Doctor, last chance. Are you sure you want--"

"Yes," the Doctor cut her off, "there's a good chance I'm stuck here, and if so, I need to know what's going on."

"Fine." Buffy placed her hands on her hips. "I just hope you can handle yourself."

The Doctor grinned and motioned for her to lead the way.

"Okay," Willow stammered, trying (and failing) to sound fearless, "time to face the Big Bad."

The Doctor spun round and pointed an accusatory finger at her.

"Don't say 'Wolf'! Don't you dare say 'Wolf'!"

Willow looked genuinely baffled and even more frightened than before. Buffy changed the subject by ducking under the police tape and stepping into the tunnel. The Doctor followed her and, reluctantly, so did Willow.

The tunnel was pitch-dark. The Doctor activated his torch once again, and light was thrown upon the rocky walls on either side of them, and the dozen or so Siasu demons staring them in the face.

Willow reacted first. Before the Doctor or Buffy could even raise their weapons, she lifted a hand and boomed imperiously,

"Incendia!"

A burst of flames flared into existence and two of the demons clapped claws to their faces, wailing inhumanly. At the sight of the fire, the whole horde of Siasu began to retreat. Willow advanced after them, her irises black and alive with supernatural energy.

The Doctor was impressed.

"The book said they don't like fire," Willow stated calmly in a voice that dwarfed her frame, "or loud noises."

With that, she brought her hands quickly together. A sound like a great thunderclap shot through the depths of the tunnel, causing Buffy to wince and the Doctor to wonder how stable this subterranean passage actually was. The Siasu had had enough; they turned on their heels and fled, doubtlessly to the cave itself, and their employer.

Without a word, Willow walked purposefully forward, ahead of her companions. They followed, the Doctor regarding Willow with a countenance expressing new-found admiration. For a long time, they walked in silence, interrupted only by the occasional Siasu attack, but the assailants were quickly dispatched by the Doctor's blade or Buffy's crossbow, if not by Willow's spells.

Eventually, the tunnel began to broaden until the walls fell away altogether. The Doctor squinted around fruitlessly. It was impossible to discern the exact size of the cavern through the gloom. However, he got a rough idea from the rows of green eyes that stretched far upwards, glowing menacingly. The chamber was obviously enormous, and full of Siasu demons. Hundreds of them.

The girls' eyes roved over the masses of Siasu. Buffy's jaw was set, but her glassy eyes betrayed a glimmer of fear. Willow swallowed hard, her magically-induced bravery dissipating.

The Doctor, however, was distracted by something else. A glint of blue amongst the sea of green. It moved slowly back and forth in the air, metres away from where they stood. A blue light, circular in shape.

Like an eye.

"No…" he whispered. "No, it can't be."

His worst suspicions were confirmed as the harsh metallic cry of his adversary echoed through the chamber.

"Human life detected. Exterminate!"

Suddenly, Willow held a ball of flames in her palm. It illuminated part of the cavern, and a ripple ran across the droves of Siasu as they backed away.

The Dalek was terrifying in the flickering firelight. Its eye-stalk swivelled, surveying each of the intruders in turn. It stopped when it reached the Doctor, who wore an expression of pure hate. There was an awful silence. Then the mechanical scream of the Dalek.

"Gallifreyian technology detected! Who is this Earthling?"

"You know me, Dalek!" the Doctor spat, "I am the Doctor!"

The Dalek rocked back in alarm. "Doctor!" It sounded like a curse in the Dalek's shrill tones.

The Doctor advanced towards the Dalek without any trace of fear. There was only room for contempt in his eyes. Looking the Dalek up and down, he observed that it was old and damaged. It was soiled and rusted, its polycarbide shell tarnished and fractured. But it was still defiant. Still deadly.

The Doctor marched over to it, pushing his face right up against its eye. He spoke slowly and purposefully, with no trace of his usual affable nature.

"What are you doing here?"

"I crashed on this planet many years ago. My weapons were disabled and my link to Skaro destroyed. I retreated into the earth, and went into stasis to repair myself."

The Doctor's expression remained unchanged. "And? Something must've woken you up."

"The seismic activity revived me. I enslaved these primitive creatures," the Dalek turned its upper segment to encompass the Siasu, "and now I am restored."

The Doctor glared into the blue orb. "Not for long, you're not."

He darted away from the Dalek, assembling his thoughts as he rejoined his comrades. The Dalek must have fallen through a rift, just as he had; it knew his name, after all, and the Time Lords did not have parallels through the multiverses.

As he contemplated this, the Dalek decided to take action.

"Exterminate!" it screeched, discharging its weapon. The Doctor spun round to see a flash of light fill his vision. It was over. The Dalek had killed him. The Oncoming Storm had come to an end.

No. He watched in amazement as the beam of light bent away to his left, centimetres from his face. He turned his head, tracing the diverted laser's course. It snaked towards Buffy, then to Willow. To Willow's upraised palm. She caught the beam, just has Rose had on Satellite Five, what seemed an age ago now. The energy crackled and wormed between Willow's fingers, and its harsh light became a rich amber glow. Her eyes were two infinite pools of blackness, and her countenance positively shone with power. Her lip curled slightly in concentration, and Willow hurled the energy back at its creator with added force.

The Dalek uttered an agonised scream as its armour was blasted asunder in a shower of golden sparks. The entire mass of Siasu demons retreated from the explosion, vanishing into obscure tunnels as though they had never been there. Willow's irises reverted to their usual grey colour, and she watched in awe (as did Buffy) as the monstrous Dalek writhed and shook in what remained of its casing, before falling still. The enmity in the Doctor's face became a grimace as his foe died. Then realisation swept over him, and his features shifted instantly.

"Hang on!" he yelled half to himself, running over to the carcass of the Dalek with a mad glint of hope in his eyes. He crouched behind the Dalek and pulled a panel from its shell. Of course, Dalek armour was protected by a deadlock seal, but this one was so badly damaged by Willow's magic that the panel came away easily.

The Doctor reached into the depths of the Dalek and with great difficulty managed to heave out a cuboid of metal with wires hanging from jacks on its surface. A cuboid with an eerie green light emanating from inside it.

The Dalek's power source.

"Oh, yes, yes, yes!" The Doctor cried euphorically. He stood and raced out of the cavern, the two bemused women following him uncertainly.

XXXX

He didn't stop running until he reached the Tardis. He darted inside, leaving the door open behind him. Buffy followed, staring around at the ship's impossible interior. Words failed her. She looked over to the central console, and down, where she could discern the silhouette of the Doctor under the grating, pulling out wires and laughing hysterically.

"It's from my universe!" he shouted to the dubious Slayer. "It should work!"

He shuffled about under the floor, making unrecognisable movements but a lot of noise. Finally, a charged humming sound filled the air and the room was thrown into light and colour.

"Ha!" the Doctor crowed, clambering up onto the floor and grinning at Buffy. "Now she'll fix herself. And if you don't mind, I'll be getting back to a universe that's a little less…weird."

Buffy smiled winningly as the Doctor busied himself around the central console. Then the inevitable baffling question rose to the surface of her consciousness:

"It's bigger…" she began.

"Yup. It's a spaceship," the Doctor interrupted, "I'd expect you to be able to handle this sort of thing."

He stepped away from his console and approached her. He laid his hands on her shoulders and studied her face seriously.

"Come with me."

"I can't. I have a job to do. I'm the Slayer. You know, the one and only? It's not the kind of thing you can just walk away from."

The Doctor looked vaguely sad, but acquiesced with a silent nod. He turned away from Buffy and ambled back to the console. Not knowing what to say, Buffy left through the door she had entered by without saying anything. Willow met her at the door, and together they started off towards Sunnydale itself. The strange whirring sound of the time rotor entered their hearing and they turned to see the Tardis fading away, carrying the Doctor off again into time and space.

A/N: C'est fini! Please, please, please, review!