Timepiece
by LizBee

One

It was the perfect day, and it was never going to end.  Rose stood in the centre of the markets of Temnein and looked up.  Around her was a vast alien crowd: merchants, customers, dancers, travelers.  And above and around them were the raging winds of a gas giant, held at bay by a bubble in time.  It was like watching a storm through the window, seeing trees uprooted while you were warm and secure inside.

It wasn't safe here -- Rose watched with interest as a small child (at least, she assumed it was a child) picked the pocket of a passing alien -- but it was amazing.

She didn't even mind -- much -- that the Doctor had left her alone while he ran off to gawk at a computer or something.  "Try not to get kidnapped," he'd called as he disappeared into the crowd, "I'll be back to rescue you later."

So far she'd gone two hours without being kidnapped, and the little pickpocket had gotten a clout around the ear when he went for her purse.  Score one for the stupid apes.  Only she was starting to wonder when he'd get back, because she'd all but exhausted this section of the marketplace, and didn't want to move on without letting him know where she was.  She'd bought gifts for her mum, and a nice kind of crystal thing that was supposed to bring good luck, that she would hang in her room in the TARDIS.  Now she was considering the alien fashions, but seriously, it was time to move on.

Abruptly she became aware of a change in the sound of a crowd.  There was movement, heavy footsteps.  Rose turned to see what was happening, but a hand closed around her shoulder and a woman's voice said, "Are you Rose?"

"Yes, but--"

"Run."

Instinct compelled Rose to obey.

"This'd better not be a kidnapping," she managed to say as they pushed through the crowds.  On the edge of her vision, she could see uniformed figures behind them.

"The Doctor sent me."

And they were heading straight for the TARDIS.  Rose reached for her key, but the woman reached into her white robe and withdrew one of her own.  It hung on a chain, just like Rose's, and the door opened when she turned it.

"Hurry," the woman said, so Rose followed her in and closed the door, and watched in numb amazement as the stranger threw herself at the console, throwing levers and adjusting dials like she could pilot a TARDIS in her sleep.

And they were away.

"Who are you?" Rose demanded, catching her breath.  "Where are we going, and what have you done with the Doctor?"

The woman looked at her.  She was tall and beautiful, dark curls and fair skin, and she was looking at Rose like she'd just opened an unwanted gift.

"My name is Romana," she said, "and for now, we're making a strategic retreat.  As for the Doctor, he manages to get into trouble quite well without my help."  She looked around, frowning.  "I see he hasn't lost his love for amateur repairs.  Can't say I like the colours.  They're in trouble, you see," she turned her attention back to Rose, "which isn't unusual, but it is serious."

"'They'."

"The Doctor," said Romana, as if explaining to a slow child.  "In two of his incarnations.  It violates the laws of time, but I suppose that's the least of our worries right now."

"And you're ... what, a time agent?"

Romana snorted.  "Hardly."  And then, like it was something you could just announce casually, she said, "I'm a Time Lord."

"Liar," said Rose.  She could feel her heart pounding against her chest.  Her palms were sweaty.

"Well, I do have some final exams to take, but that's hardly significant."

"No," said Rose.  "He's the last one.  The last of the Time Lords," she added, just to make it clear.  "Everyone knows that.  They have, like, legends about it.  So you can't just come in here and expect me to believe you."  She was backing towards the door, which was stupid, but she wanted as much space between her and that -- woman -- as possible.  "So who are you really?  And why do you need me, because it wasn't to get into the TARDIS."

Romana looked slightly ill.  Kind of like -- and Rose didn't want to be having this thought -- but kind of like someone might look if you'd just told them they were meant to be extinct.  And suddenly she seemed much younger, and less sure of herself.

"They don't prepare you for this at university," she said.  "'Don't cross time streams', they say, and leave the rest up to your imagination.  Well, the punishments seem real enough..." She was approaching slowly, holding out her wrists.  "Look," she said gently, "two heartbeats."

Rose felt them fluttering beneath her fingers, and it was just like the Doctor only maybe a bit faster, but she said, "You can't be the only ones in the universe to have two hearts."

"But as a symbol," said Romana, "you have to agree it's compelling."

"The Doctor," said Rose.

"He's in the laboratories beneath Temnein.  Both of him.  The Temnons will do their experiments, and then they'll hook the Doctor up to their temporal phase devices.  They're partially organic, you see, and that bubble is hugely complex.  The Temnons have been stealing time travelers for years.  Hitchhikers, vagrants, the ones who won't be missed.  But a Time Lord?  Two?"

"It's like Christmas," said Rose.

"I don't know what that is," said Romana, "but it was not an opportunity to pass up."  She began to pace.  "I don't understand why he went back there in his future incarnation.  Unless he's mad, of course.  Or senile--"

Rose let that one pass, and just said, "He didn't say anything about having been there before.  Just that he'd heard about it.  He thought it'd be fun."

"Fun."

"Or, you know, an experience."

"Traveling with the Doctor is certainly that."

And suddenly Rose wanted to sit her done for a nice girly chat about the Doctor, and where Romana was from, and what was it like to be a Time Lord, and all the rest.  But Romana had closed up again, going all cold and elegant once more.  She turned away, saying something about needing to think, and walked out of the console room.

Rose let her go.  Romana probably had a lot to think about, what with accidentally finding out her whole species was going to be wiped out.  Rose bit her lip, and made a mental list of topics to avoid.  Daleks.  Time War.  Lonely god.  That time she caught the Doctor dancing to Elvis songs in his shorts.

And at the same time, she opened up the TARDIS records.  They were sketchy, highly unreliable and difficult to use -- for her, at least.  But eventually she found a mention of Romana, or at least, the jettisoning of her room, which was good enough.  As long as she didn't have a crazy alien imposter lurking in the TARDIS, Rose figured it couldn't be that bad a day.

Then, figuring that enough time had passed, she went looking for Romana.

She found her in the kitchen, drinking green tea and staring into space.

"So you found everything okay?" Rose said.  Stupid, but domestic and comforting.

"Yes," said Romana.  "Thank you." She rested her chin in her hands.  "The Temnons will be quite happy to feed us into their machines if we give them a chance," she said.  "You're less valuable, being a human, but you've traveled in time and been exposed to Time Lord technology.  I barely escaped."  Romana sipped her tea.  "It was your Doctor who saved me.  He told me to find you, take the TARDIS and get away, and damn the timeline."  She sighed.  "I can see he's only gotten worse with age."

"But we're going back for him, right?"

Romana looked at her like she was stupid.  "Of course," she said. 

Rose relaxed slightly.  "Good," she said.  "So ... do you have a plan?"

"Not yet," Romana admitted.  "But I'm quite sure something will present itself."

Romana's planning process was quite different from the Doctor's.  Slightly less chaos and hardly any screaming.

On the other hand, Rose thought, surveying the wardrobe room, it was much messier.

"Try this," Romana said, handing her a pile of black fabric.  Unfolded, it was revealed as a uniform, although with more sparkly bits than Rose usually associated with that sort of thing.

"Let me guess," said Rose, "we're going to be, like, visiting dignitaries?  And bully our way into the laboratories?"

Romana looked faintly crestfallen at having her thunder stolen, but she said, "That's essentially it, yes."

"Right."  Rose examined the uniform again, then threw it aside and followed Romana further into the wardrobe room.  "Thing is," she said, "visiting dignitaries in shiny uniforms are a bit ... showy."

Romana arched one thin eyebrow.  "'Showy'?"

"You're thinking that if we make enough noise, they won't dare shoot us or hook us up to their machines, yeah?"

Romana nodded.

"But don't you think," Rose said, "that the Doctor hasn't tried that already?"

"And what," Romana asked with all appearance of sweetness, "do you propose?"

Rose shrugged.  "One thing I've noticed is that no one ever pays attention to, like ... cleaning staff?"

Romana blinked.  "Cleaners?"

"Or technicians?"

"Technicians."

"Or ... something."

Romana pursed her lips and tilted her head.

"You're right," she said eventually.  "You're quite right."  She reached into the back of a shelf of clothes, retrieved a pair of grey trousers and threw them at Rose.  As Romana turned away to find clothes of her own, Rose thought she was smiling.

Romana was still smiling as she landed the TARDIS.  She smiled as she told Rose they were in a storage bay for private space vehicles.  She smiled as she booked them passage on an interstellar liner heading for Temnein.  She smiled at the man who told them that the journey would take a day (he smiled too, and blushed a vivid green).  She smiled as they were shown into their tiny berth that held little more than two narrow beds, a bathroom and a mini bar.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" said Rose.

"Yes," Romana said.  She was brushing her hair.  With Rose's brush.

"And modest, too."

"I've always thought false modesty was terribly unattractive."

"You and the Doctor must be a great pair," said Rose, lying back on her bed.  "Going around the universe being cleverer than everyone.  It's amazing you don't have people trying to kill you more often."  She looked up.  "So how'd you two get together, anyway?  I know he's had a lot of people with him, but I never thought..."  Rose trailed off, not sure what she was trying to ask.

Romana said, with a trace of smugness, "As far as I know, I'm the first Time Lord to travel with him."

"Oh.  That must be nice."

"There was his granddaughter, of course, but she was unqualified."

Rose sat up slowly.

"And of course," Romana added, "he never talks about her."

"Right.  Figures."

"I was sent to assist him with the search for something called the Key to Time."  Romana put the hairbrush down and started twisting her hair into an elaborate knot.  "And after we've found it ... I suppose ... I suppose," her voice faltered, "I shall go home and complete my studies."

"What?  Just like that?"

"It would be irresponsible to stay."

"But you don't really believe that, do you?"

Romana looked away.  "Of course I do," she said.  "Of course ... one might make an irresponsible choice now and then."

"Yeah.  One might."

"An excusable youthful error."

"Better than dropping out of school to shack up with Jimmy Stone."

"Who?"

So she filled Romana in on her short and uneventful life up to the moment the Doctor blew up Henriks (which Romana said was typical, and wasn't it sad when a person got too old to change), and Romana told her about going to university, until her voice lulled Rose to sleep.

Just before she lost consciousness altogether, she stirred herself to say, "You know, he's never even told me the name of your planet."

Silence.

"Gallifrey," Romana said.

"Nice," said Rose, and then she did fall asleep.

She was woken by a shudder, and for a second thought the TARDIS had landed, before she sat up and remembered everything that had happened, and saw Romana -- wide awake -- in quiet, urgent conversation with someone at the door.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"The Temnein," said Romana grimly.  "They're searching all incoming traffic for time travelers"  She was throwing their things into the bag.  "We need to get out of here."

Romana led Rose through the liner's drab corridors.  They passed a few people, fellow passengers and staff.  Everyone ignored them.

"Wait," Rose hissed.  Footsteps were approaching.  Heavy boots.  Rose unsealed the door of what she hoped was an empty storage locker, and pulled Romana inside.

They held their breath as the footsteps passed.

"How can we get off the liner?" Rose whispered.  "Steal an escape pod?"

"Escape pods are conspicuous and almost impossible to pilot.  It will have to be a shuttle."

"Sounds good."

"Of course," Romana added, "a shuttle will certainly be guarded."

"Times like this," Rose said, "and they don't come often, I ask myself, what would my mother do?"

"And?"

Rose straightened her spine, smoothed her hair, put her shoulders back and her chest out.

"Flirt, bribe and distract," she said proudly.

"How quaint," Romana said.

"Got any better ideas?"

"In the absence of K9?  No."

"Don't worry."  Rose reached for the door release.  "Just smile at the guards a bit.  That's like a weapon anyway."

Bribery was unnecessary in the end, which was good, since they were running out of money.  Flirtation and distraction, on the other hand, were maybe a bit too successful.  They got their shuttle.  Only the guard came too.

His name was Kev; he was a human from the Titan colony, and he was twenty-eight.  He'd gone into private security after failing to get into the police.  There was, he hinted to Rose, a tragic romance that had driven him so far from home.  But Temnein was weird and miserable; it was always day there, and there were rumours about what went on in the admin zone beneath the markets.  And now this business of seeking and snatching time travelers, and he was a pacifist at heart, and wanted to get away, maybe meet a nice girl and settle down (this was to Romana).  If she wanted to, that is.

"How long have they been taking time travelers?" Romana asked.

"Oh, days.  Well, a day.  I mean, I heard it had happened once before.  Earlier today.  On another liner.  On the other side of the system."

"What's it mean?" Rose asked as soon as he was distracted.

"I think they've learned something from the Doctor," said Romana.  "And now they need ... more energy."  She frowned.  "I took us back to a point two days before he was taken, to give us time to take the slow route to Temnein, but that whole planet is subject to massive temporal distortions.  I may have miscalculated..."

"Then," said Rose, swallowing her frustration, "we'd better hurry."

"Yes," said Romana with a hint of sharpness, "I'm quite aware of that."

"Right.  Sorry."

"If," Romana said slowly, "if we fail ... and we survive ... you might want to come with me."  She looked suddenly shy.  "I'll have to continue the search for the Key, and I'll need an assistant ... and I don't want to do it alone."

Rose couldn't think of anything worse, but at least she'd be able to get home.  Probably.  She shrugged and looked away.

"The Temnons have the TARDIS, too," Romana said sadly.  "My TARDIS, I mean, my home.  Not that they'll be able to get inside..."

"Well," said Rose firmly, "at least we'll have a way out then, yeah?"

"True," said Romana.  She turned away to start preparing the beacons that would get them through Temnein's outer defenses, and said no more.

They landed without incident on the outer edge of the markets.  Kev shook his head.

"If I were you," he said, "I'd have gone straight in the opposite direction.  Anywhere but here."

"We have business to attend to," Romana told him.  "But there is something you could do for us...?"

Kev looked intrigued but wary.  "Let me guess.  Guard the shuttle."

Romana laughed.  "Much more important than that," she said, but whatever it was, Rose couldn't hear.

"Is it just me," she said as they set out for the entrance to the subterranean city, "or is the wind picking up?"

"It's not just you."  Romana pointed upwards.  "The time bubble is weakening.  Stray seconds are leaking through.  The storm is coming in."

"We're on the core of a gas planet," said Rose, looking at the storms swirling overhead.

"Yes," said Romana patiently.

"That's not good."

"No.  But don't worry."  Romana looked pleased with herself.  "It's all in hand."

They changed into their drab technicians' disguises behind a convenient outcropping of rocks.  Rose was worried about surveillance cameras, and not just because she didn't want to end up on an alien pervert's website ... or whatever ... but Romana seemed unconcerned.  Which was either alien genius or blindness, Rose couldn't say which.

No one stopped them from entering the administration wing.  No one gave them a second glance as they emerged from a long, carpeted corridor into the bio-cybernetics labs.

"What now?" Rose asked quietly.

"We find out where they keep their biological components," said Romana.  She had looked over the computer for a moment, then got to work as if she'd been using it all her life.  Rose watched her for a moment, then went to keep a look-out.

"Come on," said Romana, grabbing her shoulder.  Rose jumped.  "This way."

One hall, then another.  A woman in a blue coat stopped and told them to fix her vid-screen, she'd been requesting an upgrade for an age, and now it wasn't working at all.  Romana promised they'd get to it as soon as possible, and the woman moved on.

They passed two guards, talking between themselves.

"Between you and me," said one, "I wish they'd hurry up and finish the integration.  At least he'd stop talking."

Rose glanced at Romana, and dared a thumbs up.  Romana nodded.

They turned down the corridor from which the guards had come.  There was a plain white door at the end.

Romana pulled something from her pocket and fiddled with the lock.

Rose said, "Hey, you have a sonic--" but Romana hushed her.  The door swung open.

The room was empty.

"Sorry," said a voice behind them, "were you looking for me?"

Rose and Romana turned.

Romana let him go and said, "As if I would listen."

"Yeah, well."  The Doctor grabbed Rose's hand.  "Not that I'm not happy to see you, really, really happy, but this isn't the place."

In the silence, Rose could hear footsteps approaching.  The Doctor shepherded them back into his cell and closed the door.  With a flourish, he pulled aside a loose panel.

"Very slack maintenance around here," he said.  "Take a left at the first junction, a right, another left, and exit out of the third access-way.  You'll end up the processing room.  That's where he'll be.  And don't get caught."

He was fitting the panel back into place when he paused and added, to Romana, "you know, I don't remember any of this.  It's very disconcerting.  I'm going to have to make a complaint."

Then the panel was closed, and Rose was alone with Romana again.

"Well?" Rose said.  "First left, right?"

Romana looked thoughtful, but she nodded, and they set off in silence.

Rose heard voices as they approached the processing room.  Distorted by distance and echoes, but the tones were definitely conversational.  Not, Rose thought, an interrogation or -- anything.

In fact, she decided, it sounded more like a lecture than anything else, and she suddenly had a good idea of which party possessed a low, booming voice and enjoyed having an audience.  The exasperated sigh that escaped Romana's lips confirmed Rose's suspicions.

"This," she whispered to Romana, "is the most pointless rescue I've ever seen."

"Sssh," said Romana.  But a moment later she added, "you'd think they were just waiting for us to turn up.  And will we get any thanks?"

"You can wait for it.  I've only got one lifetime."

"It will be, 'Oh, Romana, so glad you got here, we were just discussing the latest in--' oh, in shackles or something.  And then he'll offer us a jelly baby."

"Why?"

"To annoy me, I expect."

They fell into silence and approached the processing room slowly.

"...Other career options?  They have an opening for a president on the fourth planet in..."

"What happened to the last one?"

"Aaaah.  Bit of a funny story there."

Romana eased the access panel open a fraction.  Through the slim gap, Rose caught a glimpse of a lanky figure hooked up to an elaborate device.  He was still talking, but for a brief moment, his eyes met Rose's.

He looked -- dismayed.

But Rose had no time to ask if Romana agreed, because the access panel was roughly torn away, and they found themselves looking up at two heavily armed men.

"Blast," said Romana.

"Um," said Rose.  "We surrender -- ow!"

A guard had taken her arm in a tight grip; something touched her arm, there was a moment of pressure -- and then she lost consciousness.

*

Someone, somewhere, was having an argument.  Two someones. 

"--Your future self sent us straight into a trap."

"Well I'm sure I'll have a very good reason for it--"

"I've no doubt you'll come up with something."

Rose opened her eyes.  "Oh," she said, although it came out as more of a groan.  "My head..."

"That would be the temporal phase device," said Romana's Doctor.

"It's drawing temporal radiation from your body," added Romana.

"Starting with your brain."

"It's worse because you're human," said Romana.

"A Time Lord could stand this for years--"

"But I'm afraid you'll die quite quickly."

"Great," said Rose.  "At least when I'm dead, I won't have to listen to you two."

That shut them up nicely.

"And he didn't send us into a trap," she added.  "I know the Doctor.  My Doctor, I mean.  He makes mistakes, and he's a bit mad, but he wouldn't send me into danger if he didn't think I could handle myself.  Not me."  She paused.  "Anyway, I trust him."

"Thank you, Rose," said Romana's Doctor.  She couldn't see, but she thought he was smiling.  "That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said about me."

Romana made an exasperated noise. 

"That's all very nice―"

"No, really," the Doctor added, "you could stand to take a leaf from Rose's book."

"―But are we going to get out of this?  Doctor," Romana lowered her voice, "the field generators are overloaded.  They're pouring too much power into the system, and the temporal bubble is weakening."

"Well that's no good," said the Doctor.  "Why, if the temporal bubble collapses―"

"Yes, everyone on Temnein will die―"

"Everyone on this planet will die!  And worse – Romana," he dropped his voice to a dramatic whisper, "Romana, they'll be wiped out of time."

"Oh hell," said Rose.  She twisted around in a vain attempt to see the Doctor's face.  "Doctor, you need to be alive and exist to turn into my Doctor."

"I can't say I care for the hair."

"Doctor!" said Rose, simultaneously with Romana.

"Quiet," he said.  "I'm thinking..."

"Think fast," said Rose. 

"Shh!" hissed Romana, "I hear footsteps."

"I hear―"

Rose finished the Doctor's sentence: "K9!"

And the door was exploding inwards, and there was that crazy tin dog. 

"Greetings, Master," it said.  "Now effecting your escape.  Please do not move."

"K9!" cried Romana, sounding like she was on the verge of tears, "K9, hurry―"

"I am working at maximum efficiency, Mistress!"

There was a low hum, and a small explosion, and Rose heard the Doctor swing himself upright. 

"And about time too!" he was booming as he released Rose, "and where am I?  Hitting buttons and talking a lot, I expect―"

"Sounds about right," Rose said.

"Rose!  Talking about me behind my back!"

She swung around.

"Doctor!"

He caught her in an enveloping hug, picking her up and swinging her around.

"You!"  Rose punched his shoulder.  "What have I told you about wandering off?"

He let her go.  "Speaking of which, we shouldn't stick around.  The temporal bubble―"

"Is collapsing, I know."  Romana and the other Doctor were pulling the temporal phase device apart.  "I don't suppose you could―?"  Rose's Doctor took the weight of the piece she was maneuvering, letting her get past it to reach the equipment within.  "Kev is organising an evacuation."

"Oh, good," said Rose's Doctor.

"Who's Kev?" asked Romana's Doctor.

"That's not important," snapped Rose.  "Why aren't we evacuating with everyone else?"

"In a minute," said the Doctor (Romana's Doctor).  "This," he slapped the device they were constructing, "is a portable temporal phase machine.  Or rather it, will be."

"It'll hold the bubble together long enough for everyone to evacuate," Rose's Doctor added.  "Where's my sonic screwdriver?"

"Confiscated," Romana murmured.  "Use mine."

"I've always liked your sonic―"

"And I'll be wanting it back when you're finished," she added.

Rose moved to the door, to stand guard with K9.

"It's just you and me, kid," she said.

"Query―"

"Never mind."

The portable version of the temporal phase machine was quickly taking shape.  It worried Rose that the Doctor – her Doctor – wasn't speaking.  Nor was he concentrating on building the device.  When the other two were distracted, he was stealing little glances at Romana, like he was trying to memorise her.  Rose swallowed, her throat suddenly tight.  When this was all over, Romana would take the younger Doctor and leave, and she would be dead and gone before he met Rose.  Like his granddaughter.  Like the children he didn't want to talk about.

Like Rose herself, one day.

She bit her lip.  Not while she had a say in the matter, she promised herself.  Long as she was alive, she would be with the Doctor.  And one day she'd die, and he'd be alone, but maybe some future friend would get caught in a twist of time, and meet her, and realise.  And the cycle would continue.

Footsteps approached. 

"Danger!" squawked K9. 

"Guards," Rose hissed.  "Big and armed."

"Hold them back!" cried the Doctor.

"Initiating defense," said K9.  "Please stand back," he said to the guards.  "My defense systems are fully powered―"

A guard stepped forward, laughing, aiming a kick at the tin dog.  K9 shot him, and he collapsed, and then all hell broke loose.  Rose dropped to her knees and grabbed the fallen guard's weapon.

"Hope the green button's stun!" she said, squeezing the trigger.  Another guard collapsed.

"Life signs present," K9 said.

Three guards down.  Two remaining.  What kind of guards went around in squads of five, Rose wondered.  They usually came in sixes.

Then something struck her from behind, and she went flying.

"Rose!" cried the Doctor.  She didn't know which one.  But it was Romana's hand that snatched the weapon from her's and shot the sixth guard. 

"Get her to the TARDIS," she heard her Doctor order, "I'll get everyone out."

Then she was lifted up, her head cradled against a mass of wool and a soft, worn coat, and everything went black.

Rose woke up on the TARDIS, but it wasn't home.  It was white and stark, and she was in someone else's bedroom.

"My head," she said.

"You took a rather nasty blow," said Romana, standing up.  "But there'll be no permanent damage."

"The Doctor," she said.

Romana's eyes clouded.  "It's been twenty minutes," she said.  "We're running out of time."

"If he fails, if we're wiped out of history―"

Romana's jaw was set.  "Another five minutes," she said.  "If he's not here by then, we're leaving."

"But your Doctor will still be erased."

"But you and I will survive. We'll end up just where we started, not knowing any different."  Romana didn't sound any more excited at the thought than Rose was.  She sounded like she was repeating her own Doctor's words, and not believing them.  "And the universe will be a much darker place without the Doctor."

Rose sat up.  Her head swam a little, but she felt okay otherwise. 

"I'm going to get him," she said.

"You're not going anywhere!"

"He's out there," said Rose, "and he needs us."

In the console room – more white, but the hum of the TARDIS was familiar – the portable phase machine was hooked up to the console.

"It's not an arbitrary number," the Doctor told her.  "I can keep the bubble stable for another few minutes—"

"Four minutes, thirty-eight seconds," said K9.

"—But then the entropy will resume.  Any more power will simply hasten the process.  I can't say I'm looking forward to nonexistence.  It will be quite dull."

"Don't worry," said Rose.  "I'll be right back."

He called out to her, but she was already running away.

"Wait," shouted Romana, but Rose ignored her, until footsteps came from behind, and Romana grabbed her shoulder.

"I'm coming with you," she said.

The underground city was dark and empty.  Rose kicked some rubble out of the way.

"Doctor!" she called.  "Where's he meant to be?" she added to Romana.

"Near the docks, I should think, making sure everyone's leaving.  This way."

"If we get out of here alive," said Rose, "and if we still exist, I'm gonna kill him."

"So am I," said Romana.  "Doctor!"  There was a crack in her voice.  "Doctor, where are you?"

"Right here."  They swung around; the Doctor was sauntering towards them like he was strolling down the street.  "Had to get the sonic screwdriver."

"Blast your sonic screwdriver," said Romana.  "Of all the selfish, immature—"

"Also, I had to talk a guy out of sacrificing himself.  I think he's one of yours?"

Rose waved at Kev, trailing amiably in the Doctor's wake, then Romana said, "Time!" and started to run, and they all followed.

*

"Home, sweet TARDIS," said the Doctor as he unlocked the door.  "It hasn't changed a bit."

"Good old coral," Rose agreed, following.

"I have to admit, I've come to like it," said Romana.  "Oh, we made a bit of a mess in the wardrobe room."

"It needed a tidy anyway."

"And I'll make sure you – forget."

"That's my girl," the Doctor's smile was so bright and sad that Rose had to look away.  She busied herself sitting down, putting her feet up on the console, looking comfortable.  Looking anywhere but at the Time Lords.  "I don't remember a thing," the Doctor said, "so you'll do brilliantly.  As usual."

Romana blushed slightly.  She'd deny it, but Rose saw it.  "Why, thank you!"

"And, well, do take care, Doctor.  Try to stay out of trouble."

"You know me, I like a quiet life."  The Doctor put his hands in his pockets.  "Try—"

"I—"

"What?"

"Nothing," said Romana quickly, "you?"

"Nothing," the Doctor said.  "It's good to see you again, Romana."

Romana caught Rose's eye.  She looked slightly panicked.  Rose stood up.

"You take care of him," she said, nodding at the Doctor.  "He needs a good kick up the pants somedays."

"I know," said Romana.  "Really, the irrational attachment to archaic technology—"

"Not even like it's a proper antique, it's just rubbish—"

"And K9 helps him cheat at chess."

"I'm standing right here," the Doctor pointed out.  He took Romana's hands in his.  "Take care," he said.  "Do magnificent things."

Romana tossed her hair.  "Always," she said.

"Get me to take you to Paris.  You'll love it."

"Paris.  Right."  Romana nodded.  "Anything else, while we're stretching the laws of time?"

"Just this," said the Doctor, and he leaned forward and kissed her.

Rose looked away.

She didn't count the seconds, or check her watch, or speculate on the Time Lord lung capacity.  She did think about washing her hair, and wonder what had happened to the pack that had held her clothes and hairbrush.  She'd probably find another brush in the TARDIS, discarded by some previous friend who'd died or left or been left behind.

Eventually, the Doctor said, "Sorry.  Couldn't resist."

"Typically immature," said Romana, "or possibly senile.  Goodbye, Doctor."

He let her go, followed her to the door, and leaned against the frame to watch her walk away.  Rose joined him.

"Goodbye, Romana."

She turned back to smile at them.  Rose gave her a surreptitious thumbs up, and watched as Romana entered her own TARDIS.  They kept watch as the TARDIS dematerialised.  Rose crossed her arms and looked down.

"Is she dead?" she asked the Doctor.

He looked old, and sad.  "I think so," he said.  "Difficult to say, but – if she was alive, I'd know."

"I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago."  He closed the doors, and went to the console.  "What a day," his tone had become deliberately light, "where to next?"

Rose shrugged.  "Paris?"

The Doctor looked down at the console, and Rose wondered if she'd gone too far.  Then he looked up, grinning.  "Paris!" he said, "just the place.  Nineteen thirty-five, have we been there?  Great clothes, you'll love the clothes.  Rubbish politics, though.  Pretty good for temporal stability—"

Rose leaned against the console and listened to him ramble, and as they set out for the next perfect day.

end