As yet un-beta'd.

Chapter 4, Last of the Daleks

The Doctor chanced a look around the pillar where he and Rose were concealed. Two Daleks, and Sec in chains. He looked back at Rose, staring pointedly at the Dalek Tommy gun she was carrying.

"Would it help if ya pretend it's a sword?" she whispered, defensively. "There's a time to stand an' fight; ya know it, even though I know ya hate it. An' this is it."

"I'm gonna talk to them, first," he told her.

"We gave 'em their chance, Doctor; more than one, even."

"Sec's still alive," he argued.

The Daleks called them, again. "Come OUT! The Doc-tor and the A-bom-i-"

Rose squeezed his hand, biting her lip.

The Doctor stepped clear of the pillar, standing before the Daleks.

The Dalek on the right looked at him and announced, "The Doc-tor will DIE! It is the be-gin-ning of a NEW AGE!"

"Pla-net earth will be-come New Ska-ro!" the Dalek on the left declared.

"Oh, and what a world, with anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt," the Doctor practically spat, positioning himself so that both Rose and Laszlo would have a clear shot, if necessary. He pointed to the hybrid Dalek on the floor in front of them. "That's Dalek Sec!" he said. "Don't you remember?! The cleverest Dalek ever, and look what you've done to him. Is that your new empire? Hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?"

Sec himself knelt upright, addressing his captors. "My Daleks, just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you."

"In-cor-rect!" said the first Dalek. "We will al-ways SUR-VIVE!"

"Now," the second Dalek announced, "we will DE-STROY our great-est en-e-my, the DOC-TOR!"

Rose glanced at the Doctor, shifting her Dalek weapon where she stood concealed behind the pillar. She looked quickly to Laszlo. He still held both of his weapons, as well.

Sec pleaded with the Daleks. "But he can help you."

"The Doc-tor MUST die!" the first Dalek disagreed, as both aimed their weapons at the Doctor.

"No, I beg you, don't!" said Sec.

He stood, just as the second Dalek cried, "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"

Sec collapsed at their feet.

Rose carefully laid her finger over her gun's trigger, aiming for the Dalek on the left.

"Your own leader!" the Doctor chastised them, stepping dangerously close to Rose's line of fire. "The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness, and you destroyed him."

Rose held her breath as she watched them re-train their weapons on him, ignoring his protests."EX-TER-" began the first Dalek.

"Now!" yelled the Doctor, diving for cover.

Energy beams fired, but it was the Daleks that exploded.

The Doctor moved quickly forward to Sec, but hung his head as soon as he touched him.

Rose ran over to Laszlo, who let his weapons fall at his sides.

"Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed," Laszlo said as she stooped beside him. "One of the Dalek masters must still be alive."

The Doctor stood, but didn't turn towards them as he replied, "Oh, yes. In the whole universe, just one."

Rose couldn't think what to say, watching the Doctor until he snapped out of his thoughts and moved over to her and Laszlo.

"How're you doing?" the Doctor asked him.

"We're alive," Laszlo said.

Rose nodded. "Thanks to you, again." She turned to the Doctor. "But he's still runnin' a fever," she said.

The Doctor hesitated just a moment, before reaching out to help pull Laszlo to his feet. "First things first," he said, leading the way to the lift. "Going down."

The Doctor thought things over from a thousand different angles as the lift descended. Rose's eyes didn't leave him, but he was grateful that she kept silent.

One part of his mind rejoiced over the thought, two more down, one to go. The last of the Daleks. The real end of the Time War.

But he'd thought so before.

Still, what choice did he have? The others weren't convinced, even by Dalek Sec.

He looked briefly at the Dalek guns they carried.

The last of the Daleks. The last of its kind, just as the Doctor was the last of his own.

As the lift came to a halt, he met Rose's eyes. She made to unsling her weapon, but he shook his head. "He's the last," the Doctor told her. "It makes a big difference. Believe me."

He had to give it a chance.

Rose helped Laszlo out of the lift, discretely keeping abreast of the Doctor from behind the laboratory equipment.

There were no more of the pig-slaves in sight; the Daleks must have sent all of them up the tower, together.

When they were level with The Doctor and Dalek Caan, Rose saw an all too familiar sight. The Doctor was standing, unarmed, before a Dalek with its weapon aimed at him. With Laszlo propped against a pillar, Rose aimed her own weapon, once again.

"Dalek Caan," she heard the Doctor saying. "Your entire species has been wiped out. And now the Cult of Skaro has been eradicated, leaving only you. Right now, you're facing the only man in the universe who might show you some compassion."

Rose couldn't help the mental comparison between this Doctor and the one in the underground alien museum... how long ago, now?

"I've just caused one genocide," he continued. "I won't commit another."

Who's the one pointing the gun, this time, Rose asked herself. But she didn't want to fire. She was hoping with every part of her being that Caan would listen. The last Dalek...

"Caan, let me help you," the Doctor begged. "What do you say?"

Caan was silent, until he replied, "E-mer-gen-cy Tem-por-al Shift!", disappearing from sight.

Rose let her arms fall, eyes meeting the Doctor's. Before she could say a word to him, Laszlo collapsed against her side. She helped him down to the floor. "Doctor!" she called, noting Laszlo's rapid, shallow breathing. His eyes were closed tightly in pain.

The Doctor came quickly to her side, reaching out a hand to Laszlo's neck. "Pulse is racing," he said.

"It's time," Laszlo managed between wheezing breaths. "None of the slaves... survive for long," he panted. "I was lucky. Held on... for Tallulah. But now... she's safe," he said, meeting Rose's eyes for a moment.

Rose shook her head. "You're not dyin'," she told him. "Not now, after all this." She looked up at the Doctor, hoping he could prove her right. He was staring, unseeing at Laszlo. "Doctor, can't you do somethin'? Anythin'?" she asked.

He seemed to snap back to the present, and stood, taking off his trench coat. "Oh, Rose, just you watch me. What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one," he said, gazing around at the equipment. "Laszlo, just you hold on," he told him, as he began to run about the lab, already mixing up a solution. "There've been too many deaths, today," he said as he worked. "Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and age-old enemies. And I'm tellin' you, I'm tellin' you right now, I am not having one more death! Got that? Not one!"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a stethoscope.

"The Doctor is in."

For probably the first time since she had begun her internship, Martha Jones was glad of the ridiculously long hours she'd had to pull in the hospital. It was dawn, and she was only just now finishing up with the last of the less seriously injured Hooverville residents.

As she tied the bandage around the man's hand, she could hear some sort of commotion from outside the tent. Suddenly, Tallulah's head appeared at the entrance.

"They're here!" Tallulah said. "The Doctor's back!"

She vanished as quickly as she'd come.

Martha followed her patient out of the tent, and then looked around to see where Tallulah had gone. She joined her beside the fire, watching as the Doctor, Rose, and a third individual in an overcoat and hat approached.

"Laszlo?" Tallulah breathed. Then, with a shouted, "Laszlo!" she ran forward and embraced the man beside the Doctor.

Martha smiled weakly at the reunited pair, but instead of running up to greet the newcomers, she sat heavily on a crate and waited for them. Over to the left, the dead were arranged under blankets, awaiting the authorities. She swallowed back threatening tears as her eyes rested on Frank's hat, lying atop the nearest blanket.

Rose and the Doctor filled Martha in on all that had happened with the Daleks in her absence, as they took the ferry back to Liberty Island.

"I'm sorry," Martha said, as they approached the TARDIS, once more.

"What for?" asked the Doctor.

"That the Dalek got away," she said. "I know what that means to you."

The Doctor shrugged, "I expect we'll see him again."

"Time might still change 'im," Rose suggested. "Never know what the future holds."

They stopped before the doors of the TARDIS to get one last look at the Manhattan skyline.

Martha asked, "Do you reckon it's gonna work, those two? Laszlo an' Tallulah?" The Doctor had explained how he'd only managed to extend Laszlo's life, but that the half-pig transformation was permanent.

"I don't know," he answered, lightly. "Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York, that's what this city's good at," he said, gesturing towards the city with his and Rose's joined hands. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig-slave-Dalek-mutant-hybrid, too."

"The pig and the showgirl," Martha mused.

"The pig and the showgirl," the Doctor replied, smiling.

Those two are just too cute, Martha thought, watching him and Rose standing in the ocean breeze, gently swinging their hands between them, their pretend wedding rings glinting in the sun. "Just proves it, I suppose" she offered. "There's someone for everyone."

"Maybe," the Doctor answered, leading them back to the TARDIS with a grin.

The end.

More to come in "03 06AU The Lazarus Experiment".