The Doctor's Reward

Part 1

The TARDIS was a mess.

Bits of wiring and metal strewn about the floor. All the Doctor's tools and gadgets lying around, disassembled.

The lights had been turned off, the engines killed. Even the quiet, usually comforting hum of the TARDIS seemed unbelievably ominous. It was as if all the life and energy had gone out of the place.

Everything was dead silent, save for the occasional grunt coming from the Doctor, as he worked on his latest device. The very last one that he would ever make in his life.

Layers of sweat covered his pale and sickly skin. His hands shook as they fumbled with his sonic screwdriver, as he attempted to piece together the final parts of his newest device.

It was slow, hard work, especially in his current state, but he was making progress.

At least until a sudden pain knifed through his stomach.

"Aargh!"

The pain consumed him, like fire on wood. The Doctor lurched forward, device left forgotten on the floor. Every one of his nerves were on fire, every muscle strained in agony. For several moments, the world was black.

Then the pain disappeared. Just as quickly as it had arrived. The Doctor opened his eyes, the color of the world flooding back into his view.

That was, by far, the worst one he had yet. And he knew what that meant. He was getting closer to regenerating.

Reality shook him out of his thoughts.

No time to waste, he reminded himself.

It was a good few minutes later when he tightened the final screw onto his project.

The Doctor proudly held up the product of his work.

A circular object, with a large yellow button in the center of it. A thing that had haunted him for months. The dimension cannon, the very thing that had caused him to lose Rose.

It wasn't the same as the one before, however. It was an altered, upgraded dimension cannon. A new model that would allow him to pass through the walls of their universes, without causing any more tears in it.

He had spent weeks picking up parts for the new device, but never actually putting it together. Until now.

He had always been so fearful of what could have changed on the other side, that he had always put it off, convincing himself there would be another time.

What if Rose and his clone were already married? What if she didn't want to see him, hated him for leaving her behind again?

What if he couldn't stand the pain of leaving without her again?

But now this was his last chance.

The Doctor grimaced. His head was a pounding blur, everything felt strange to him, colder than usual. Nothing sounded better than just to sit down and wait for it to all pass. But he was running out of time.

Every second he wasted here was a second less he had to see her. He could feel the time ticking away, like sand in an hourglass; drifting through his fingers, slowly disappearing.

So The Doctor slowly, stood up... only to have his knees buckle and return to the unforgiving, hard floor. He could barely hold himself up at this point.

No time to lose.

He gripped onto the railings of the TARDIS, and forced himself back up into a standing position. He had to do it.  Grim determination filled every line of his face. The Doctor reached for the controls.