Rose was getting on his nerves again. He had sent her away as he and Jack were desperately trying to stop the Dalek attack. Now Jack was dead. He had heard him die and felt both his hearts break. Jack had been there for him and had done more to keep him sane than Rose ever had, but now Rose lived and he wished it was Jack.

-DW-

He had picked Rose up as his companion after saving her life but with the one little word, run, he had made a mistake. She had fallen for him head over heels. At first he had welcomed the attention. He was alone and her flirting with him was a good distraction. He had even felt bad when he had made the decision to sacrifice her to stop the Dalek that would destroy the world single handedly. But that is when he began to see her for what he had overlooked before.

She was childish, not playful. The questions she asked weren't out of curiosity because she understood but because she didn't. She wasn't trying to help him when his mind, thick with over 900 years of information tried to connect the pieces, she was just pointing out things.

But then he had met Jack. Jack had saved Rose's life when she had yet again ignored him and had wandered off rather than staying put. He pretended to be annoyed with Jacks incessant flirting but it was refreshing to have someone who knew what they were talking about. He could work on fixing the Tardis, with Jack's help and not have to worry that the person helping him was going to press the wrong button and nearly kill him... Again.

So when faced with the impossible choice to build a delta wave and destroy half the earth, he had made the choice to send Rose away. If he had to listen to one more comment from her he was going to scream. He had preprogrammed a recording telling her it was impossible to get back to him and to have a good life. In actuality he planned on fixing Jack's vortex manipulator and getting the Tardis back hopefully before she noticed.

But as the end neared, there she was. And the stupid ape had even taken in the heart of the Tardis. He had watched in shock as she destroyed all the Daleks and then she said I bring life. He felt the horror as he felt Jack return to life. But she hadn't just brought Jack back for the rest of his life. She had been selfish and not wanting Jack to die again she had brought him back as a fixed point. Jack would never die.

He needed to stop her before she could do anymore damage. There was only one way he knew of to remove the heart of the Tardis, well two, but he couldn't murder her... Yet. So swallowing hard he had kissed her. But he had underestimated just how bad of a decision this was until he felt the power rage through him. The pain overwhelmed him completely and he quickly sent it back where it belonged as Rose collapsed.

He was dying, he was going to have to regenerate and it was all her fault. Swearing in every language that he knew, he drug her back onto the Tardis and dumped her onto the floor. He was going to have to take her home. He set the Tardis to go to the time vortex but he waited. As much as Jack pained him to feel now, he couldn't leave without him. He wanted Jack to be there. He waited and was relieved when the doors finally opened and Jack rushed in.

"I thought you sent her home," Jack said looking at Rose passed out on the floor still.

"She came back," He winced as pain flooded him.

Jack quickly stepped over Rose and rushed towards him.

"No stay back," He held up a glowing hand.

"Pretty," Rose commented waking up.

"What happened?" Jack asked him concerned but listening as he stepped away from him.

"I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny." He chuckled and saw tears filling Jack's eyes as Rose looked at him confused.

"Then, why can't we go?" She asked as she cocked her head to the side.

"Maybe you will, and maybe I will. But not like this." He told her honestly.

"You're not making sense." She pouted at him.

"I might never make sense again. I might have two heads, or no head. Imagine me with no head. And don't say that's an improvement. But it's a bit dodgy, this process. You never know what you're going to end up with..." He paused as pain ripped through his body again and Rose started to rush over. Jack grabbed her by the arm.

"Stay back," Jack hissed. Jack had never seen a regeneration before but he had heard Time Lords could change their faces and he was sure that is what was going on now.

"Doctor, tell me what's going on." Rose said fighting to get away from Jack.

"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that. Every cell in my body's dying." He explained patiently.

"Can't you do something?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm doing it now. Time Lords have this little trick, it's sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go..." He turned eyes away from Rose to look at Jack.

"Don't say that."

"Before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what? So was I." With that he gave into the energy that was over taking his body and felt the pain of it rip through him as every cell was torn apart and then reassembled. As the golden light faded he focused his eyes on Jack. He smiled as he saw the look of approval in Jack's eyes.

"Hello. Okay. Ooo, new teeth. That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona."