Disclaimer: I've got a cardboard cut-out of Ten, but I don't think that counts...

A/N: Written for a contest on Livejournal, in which it came in second. Not betaed.

She feels him pry open the door and stagger inside. She gently closes her door behind him, deciding not to even chastise him for neglecting the action himself. He has enough to worry about. Still, she feels him project a weak sorry, and it hits her that he's so ill he can't even indulge in his regular habit of speaking his words out loud. He hasn't always done things that way, but for the past several years he seemed to have forgotten that with telepathy speaking his thoughts to her was unnecessary. She doesn't know whether he'll keep that tendency after today. She hopes so, she's grown quite fond of it over the years.

He tries to take a step towards the console, but suddenly his legs fails to support him, and he collapses hard onto her grated floor. He tries to push himself up and fails, his muscles refusing to obey. Hurts. Scared. Not ready. So much more. Want more adventures. More running. So scared. Hurts. Hurts. Hurts. Want a mint ice cream sundae with banana split and edible ball bearings. He's screaming in his head, so loudly that she can't help but pick up on his thoughts. She can't tell if he's projecting to her on purpose or if he just isn't strong enough to keep a psychic shield up.

Relax. Calm. Breathe. He curls up around the pain, his breaths come in ragged gasps, and he's shivering so hard. He's so scared. She's scared too. She's going to lose him again. She's lost him too many times. He saved her, so long ago, and he's never stopped. He's hardly been the gentlest, but he cares. They've lost so much as the only survivors of the war. She's afraid to let this him go. She wants to help him, to calm him down, to do anything to make his last moments more comfortable. She can't save him. She can't make the pain stop.

Rose. Want Rose. One more time. Don't want to be alone. Scared. Hurts. Rose. Where's Rose? She can give him that last gift. It takes a lot of energy to fly on her own, but she will do anything to help him. She scans the timelines, searching for a stable spot to land and find Rose Tyler. January First, 2005, Earth, London, just outside the Powell Estates. She materialises there after as calm a trip through the vortex as she can manage. "What?" he asks out loud. "We just landed! Why did we land? I didn't land! Where did we land?"

Go to her. She projects the thought, and feels another burst of willpower from him. He pushes up against the captain's chair, struggling into a standing position. Almost immediately, he sways on his feet, and she's sure he will collapse again. She knows that in his condition if he loses consciousness he won't be waking back up, at least not as he is. He knows it too. The next time he stumbles, she donates her own energy. She knows that if he regenerates inside with her shields down, it'll nearly kill her, but she takes that risk to give him one last happy moment.

As he shuts the door behind him, she knows it might be the last time. She knows how he's been recently, and she can see possible timelines. He might choose to die in Rose's arms, and finally be at peace, leaving her as a forgotten box on a street corner.

He returns, still so terrified. He chose regeneration over death. He chose her over Rose. He chose her over peace.