The Lost Time Lord (A Doctor Who/Tenth Doctor Fanfiction)

Chapter Twenty: Something Else

Mickey figured out how to land the Zepplin and then we went back to the TARDIS. I followed the Doctor inside and he pulled the power cell out of his pocket and plugged it into the console. The console room lit up and he smiled, looking up at the ceiling. 

"Not bad, Doctor." I said, leaning back against the console. 

"Not too shabby if I do say so myself," He said, smiling over at me, "You know, you weren't so bad tonight either." 

"Yeah, I know, I'm brilliant." I said jokingly. He shook his head. 

"Honestly though, sometimes its...its scary just how alike we are."

"And yet we're so different all at the same time." I replied, glancing up at him. He nodded, moving to lean beside me. "Doctor...there's one thing I still don't understand-"

"Sorry, Mary, I would love know, truly, and we can talk about it in a moment, but I've only got five minutes of power here, so we've really got to go." He said. I nodded.

"Sure, yeah. Rain check." He nodded, walking out of the TARDIS. I bit my lip, opening my messanger bag and reaching inside, pulling out the locket by its chain. In the heat of the moment I'd broken the clasp, so unless I figured out how to fix it, there was no chance of me wearing it again. I dropped the locket into my palm, shoving it in my jacket pocket as I walked outside to join the Doctor. 

"Dad..." My eyes widened slightly as I came to stand beside the Doctor. Rose was standing with Pete, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Don't...just-just don't." Pete said, walking past her and continuing down the sidewalk. I moved over into her space, wrapping my arms around her shoulders. She put a hand on my arm, leaning her head against mine. 

"I'm sorry." I told her.

"Here it is." I looked up as Mickey and Jake rejoined us, Mickey carrying the Doctor's usual suit in his hands, "I found it. Not a crease."

"My suit! Good man!" The Doctor complimented. I moved away from Rose, rubbing my hands over her arms. "Now then Jake, we've gotta run, but one ore thing. Mrs. Moore, her real name was Angela Price. She's got a husband out there, and children. Find them, tell them how she died saving the world." 

"Yeah, course I will."

"Off we go then?" The Doctor asked, looking back at Mickey and Rose. 

"Uh..."Mickey spoke up, "Thing is, I'm staying."

I nodded, expecting this.

"You're doing what?" The Doctor questioned. I thought he had known too, but apparently not. Rose looked shocked as well. 

"You can't." Rose told him.

"It sort of balances out, 'cause this world lost its Ricky, but there's me."  He explained, his voice wavering, "And there's work to be done with all those Cybermen still out there."

"But you can't stay." Rose cried.

"Rose, my gran's here.My old gran, she's still alive, remember her?" 

"Yeah."

"She needs me." 

"Yeah, but what about me, what if I need you?" She asked, her tears falling down her face.

"Yeah, but Rose, you don't." He said, looking at the Doctor. "Its just you and him, isn't it? I didn't fully realize that till Mary showed me that I could be more than the tin dog, but...its true. We had something a long time ago, but not anymore."

"Well, we'll come back," Rose tried, "We can travel anywhere. Come and see you, yeah?"

"We can't," The Doctor told her, "I told you, travel between parallel worlds is impossible. We only got here by accident; we fell through a crack in time. When we leave, I've got to close it. We can't ever return."