Archive of Our Own

The TARDIS landed with a bit more vigour than usual tossing her occupants down on the grating in a fit of giggles. The Doctor looked over at Rose, golden her hair splayed around her and an infectious smile on her face and felt his hearts beat double time. He never thought he could have all of time and space and Rose too. He felt lighter than since before the Time War and that was her doing. He still didn't understand how she could love someone like him and yet here they were. He jumped to his feet and pulled her up against him.

"Mauve alert," he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"And is it dangerous?" she asked, with a tongue teasing smile.

"Won't know until we open the door unless you…I dunno wanted to do something else?"

She laughed at his thinly veiled innuendo. Since things had progressed between them, he was much more open to this new aspect in their relationship. Rose was not complaining but she also knew they had a responsibility and one did not run from a mauve alert, even if the bloke was gorgeous and had mad shagging skills. "It's mauve and it's dangerous and this us!"

With a huge grin, he pulled her toward the door and took a step out, wincing slightly at the heat. Steam filled the air and there was an eerie red glow in the metal corridor. A computer voice announced a distress signal had been activated. The Doctor touched some of the metal and pulled his hand away.

"Blimey, it's like a sauna!" Rose exclaimed, as she followed the Doctor out and quickly removed her jacket as her skin began perspiring. She immediately assessed they were on a ship based on the grungy metal, ductwork, wiring, and that certain mechanical scent Rose identified with ships in space. There was an eerie red glow and Rose felt on edge, like there was something heavy hanging over this ship or maybe it was a feeling of being watched.

"Venting systems. Working at full pelt, trying to cool down wherever it is we are. Come on," he said and pulled her through a bulkhead door.

"Doctor…" Rose began to ask but was interrupted when two men and a woman looking bedraggled raced toward them, dressed in dirty and sweat soaked clothing and screaming at them to close the door they had emerged from.

The woman yelled, "Get out of there!"

The men looked slightly panicked and ordered them to seal the door they'd just emerged through and raced by them to make sure it was sealed.

"Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?" the woman demanded.

"Are you the police?" one of the man asked.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and muttered about stupid apes. "Why would we be police?

"Doctor," Rose warned and gave him the look that warned him he was being rude. "Sorry, when he's stressed he gets a bit rude. We got your distress signal. We're here to help."

"Why can't I hear any engines?" the Doctor demanded as he walked over and looked at a control panel.

The woman answered him. "It went dead four minutes ago."

One of the men snorted. "So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering, Captain."

A computer voice announced, "Secure closure active."

The crew looked disturbed at this announcement. Another young woman lumbered down the corridor toward them, bulkheads slamming shut behind her. "The ship's gone mad and who activated secure closure? I nearly got locked into area twenty seven." She turned to the Doctor looking amazed he was able to wear a leather coat in the heat. "Who are you?"

Rose looked at the brown haired woman who wasn't much older than her. Like the others, she was looking wilted and dishevelled. "Hi, I'm Rose and this is the Doctor."

Again, the computer made another announcement, this one more dire. "Impact projection forty two minutes twenty seven seconds."

While the woman in charge was trying to get control of her crew and telling everyone that everything would be fine, Rose wandered over to a window. "Doctor!"

"Your computer said we have forty two minutes. Forty two minutes to what?" he demanded, again shooting piercing glares at the crew.

"Doctor, you need to see this!" Rose said, with a slight edge in her voice. He raced over and stared at what was causing the red glow in this ship. It was a sun and the ship was far too close for his comfort.

The Doctor turned back to the captain and scowled. "Captain, forty two minutes until what!" he again demanded.

The Captain looked equally aggravated. "Forty two minutes until we crash into the sun."

"Fantastic," he grumbled and pulled Rose closer to him. "How many crew?"

The Captain, who they learned was named McDonnell, responded there were seven and the other woman crew member explained their purpose was to transport cargo across the galaxy and that everything is automated so that they're only job was to keep the ship space worthy."

"Typical," the Doctor groused. "Call your crew, I'll get you out," he grumbled and strode to the door leading to the compartment where he parked the TARDIS. Just as he reached it, the crew screamed at him to stop but he yanked it open only to be knocked down by a blast of heat. One of the crew members put on a welder's mask to get the door shut.

Rose ran over to him, kneeling by where he was lying on the floor. She touched his leather coat to find it hot to the touch. "Doctor, let's get this coat of you."

He brushed it off as nothing, grabbed her hand and stood up. He directed another glare at Captain McDonnell. "My ship's in that compartment!"

One of the male crew members named Riley responded. "In the vent chamber?"

"It's our way off of whatever stupidity you lot have gotten yourselves into!"

"Sorry, it's probably nothing but lava now," the other female crew member named Scannell explained.

"The temperature's going mad in there. Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising!" another crew member proclaimed.

"It's channelling the air. The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get," Scannell explained.

Rose gripped the Doctor's hand tighter worrying about the TARDIS and what this meant for them, memories of Krop Tor, still fresh in her mind. "So you're sayin' we're stuck here," Rose confirmed. "Been stuck in worse places. Right, Doctor?" she said and looked up at him.

The Doctor squeezed her hand back reassuringly. There was no way he was allowing foolish humans to endanger Rose. "Take me to the engines, now!" the Doctor demanded.

In the engine room, they found more bad news, sabotage. The Doctor paced and poked at components, all the while cursing. Here he was stuck on some old broken space cruiser about to be burned to a crisp with Rose, just when things between them had settled in and he had found some semblance of peace. It figured the universe would throw this at him just to even the score. Even worse though, Rose was stuck here too and with no TARDIS to take her to safety. It was a sensitive spot for him. Rose was a priority in his life as was her safety. He had promised Jackie he would keep her safe and look at where they were now. It added a great deal of pressure to an already stressful situation.

He threw a piece of machinery down and turned a stern eye on the Captain. "Well? Want to explain this?" he demanded.

The captain and crew looked upset and at a loss to explain it. "Where's Korwin?" the Captain finally asked. "Any one heard from him or Ashton?" As she talked to the crew, Rose moved to closer to the Doctor.

"Someone did this on purpose?" she asked.

"Looks it," he answered and tapped a control panel until an image came up. "The Torajii system. Not exactly a hop, skip and a jump from Earth."

He paused and turned to the crew. "You're still using energy scoops for fusion. Isn't that outlawed?" he accused, liking this situation less and less.

The Captain had a dark look on her face when she responded. "We're due to upgrade next docking. Scannell, engine report."

The Doctor's mood darkened. "Stupid bureaucratic apes," he muttered.

"What's it do, this energy scoop thing?" Rose asked.

"Operates off of plasma harvested from a star. It's dangerous and outlawed in the forty second century due to inefficiency. Course, ships using it had a nasty mortality rate as well."

After watching the crew bicker over the engines, the Doctor lost his patience. "Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries."

The Captain turned to him looking frustrated. "We don't have access from here. The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship."

"Yeah, with twenty nine password sealed doors between us and them. You'll never get there in time," Crewman Scannell added.

"Can't you, I dunno override the doors or bust them or somethin?" Rose asked.

"Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed," Scannell answered.

"Fantastic," the Doctor said sarcastically and pocketed his sonic knowing that it was useless in this situation.

Scannell began whinging, "Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance."

"Oh, Stop it! I didn't bring Rose here to listen you lot give up and just let yourselves burn! Who's got the passwords?"

One of the men spoke up "They're randomly generated. Reckon I know most of them. Sorry. Riley Vashti."

"Then what're you waiting for, Riley Vashti? Get on it!" the Doctor ordered.

It was more than a one person job and Rose volunteered to help him much to the Doctor's concern. He didn't like being separated from her and especially in a situation as dangerous as this. She was so brave sometimes it drove him mad but it was also one of the reasons he loved her so much. He pulled her to him into a passionate snog. When she pulled away breathing heavily, he leaned down to lay his forehead against hers. "Be careful."

Rose nodded and smiled. "You too."

Things went pear shaped from that point. The Doctor found one of the missing crewmembers, Korwin, writhing in pain in the infirmary and begging everyone not to make him open his eyes. . His body temperature was rising at an alarming rate. The Doctor hypo-injected Corwin with a sedative and ordered the crew to place him in stasis and regulate his temperature. Whatever was wrong with him had caused him to sabotage the ship. Concern for a pathogen effecting the crew began to be a reality and one that cut him to the core as he thought about Rose and how exposed she was here. He had to shove aside his worries about how fragile her human body was and instead focus on how strong and clever she was. No. He wouldn't allow whatever this was to harm her. All the while he thought about Rose, Corwin and the ships descent toward the sun, the computer continued its ominous countdown.

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Rose and Crewman Riley Vashti worked on unlocking the twenty nine doors toward the auxiliary engine room.

"So how does this work?" Rose asked, pulling her hair up into a pony tail and pulling her t-shirt away from herself to try and get cooler.

Crewman Riley was tapping away at a tablet. "Each door's trip code is the answer to a random question set by the crew. Nine tours back, we got drunk, thought them up. Reckoning was, if we're hijacked, we're the only ones who know all the answers."

"You set the codes while you was pissed," Rose repeated in disbelief. "You sure you know the answers then? I mean, what happens if you get it wrong?"

"Well, we only get one chance to get it right per door. Get it wrong, the whole system freezes."

Rose rolled her eyes. "I'm relyin' on a bunch bladdered crew that barely know how to run the ship."

"Oi! Give us a little credit!" he exclaimed and then turned to the tablet and smiled. "Ahhh this is easy! Date of SS Pentallian's first flight. That's all right. Go!"

The door opened with a click and Rose breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, there were twenty eight more to go.

Meanwhile, the Doctor had checked with the crewmember watching over Corwin and not getting much information. He was pacing like a caged animal and frustrated with the crew. While the crewman worked on Corwin, the Doctor checked in on Rose.

"Rose, talk to me. Where are you?"

"Area twenty nine, working on the door to twenty eight," she answered

"That's all? Rose, you've got to move faster," he snapped.

"Doctor, we're doing our best. This isn't like a stroll down the plaza on Barcelona," she snapped back at him.

Crewman Riley shouted out, "Find the next number in the sequence three one three, three three one, three six seven."

"What? You said the crew knew all the answers!" Rose reminded him perturbed.

"Yeah well the crew's changed a bit since we set 'em," he retorted looking frustrated.

Rose snorted. "Why am I not surprised. I mean who bloody well sets questions to unlock the door while they're pissed!"

Riley shot her a look. "A little less sarcasm and more helping if you please!"

The Doctor began pacing even more and shot a few dirty looks at some of the crew nearby who seemed equally unable to answer a question, which to him, was childsplay.

"Just type in three seven nine."

"What?" Rose asked. "You sure? We only get one shot at this."

"Time Lord me, yeah I'm sure. It's a sequence of happy primes. Three seven nine."

"Happy what?" Rose asked, looking confused.

"Just enter it already. You're wasting time!"

He could almost feel Rose's tension and concern and his voice softened. "Rose, Trust me." Riley entered it and the door clicked open. Rose cheered.

"See, any number that reduces to one when you take the sum of the square of its digits and you continue iterating until it yields one, is a happy number. Don't they teach recreational mathematics anymore?" he griped.

"Right, we're through!" Rose let him know as they made their way toward the next door.

"Good, keep moving, fast as you can and Rose, be careful. There may be something else on board."

"Of course there is," she said sarcastically, but looked over her shoulder now more nervous. "There's always got to be the bloody bogey man 'cos the ship crashin' into the sun isn't enough now is it!"

The ships computer announced the countdown to impact as thirty fifty, ramping up the tension.

At the next door, Rose felt sweat drenching her t-shirt. Whether it was from the heat or stress, she couldn't say. Even before the Doctor's warning to take care, she'd felt something nearby. At the time she thought it was just paranoia. Now, she wondered if it wasn't something else. She turned back to Riley. "Well?"

He groaned. "Oh, this is a nightmare. Classical music. Who had the most pre-download number ones, Elvis Presley or The Beatles? How are we supposed to know that?"

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After realising how long it could take to get through the doors and cursing a bit at the stupid humans who put that locking system in place, the Doctor knew it was time to rethink things. "We need a backup in case they don't reach the auxiliary engines in time," he told the crew as he again pace around the destroyed engines. It just about drove him barmy how they all looked defeated. "Come on, think! Assets, what have we got?"

Suddenly, Rose popped on the comm system needing help and asking him about Earth music trivia. He scowled at the question. "Are you kiddin' me? You need to know that now?"

"We do if you want the door unlocked!" she shouted back. "Come on, you're always braggin''bout that big Time Lord brain. Beatles or Elvis?"

"Elvis. Wait no, the Beatles! Wait bloody music remix, what was it…" he said, tapping his fingers on the engine and then scowled again. He cursed. "I don't have time for this. Figure it out and be quick about it!"

"Fine. I'll ask someone else!" Rose shouted again and pulled out her mobile.

A charming male voice purred over the speaker. "Hello gorgeous! You in the neighbourhood? Looking for a little Captain time?" Jack Harkness teased.

"Jack, I need your help," Rose replied not returning his flirt which was unusual for her. They'd kept in touch ever since Canary Wharf when all their lives were turned upside down and Jack had left the TARDIS. "I need to know who had the most pre-download number ones, Elvis Presley or The Beatles?"

"What? Are you drinking? What are you and the Doc down the street at the pub for trivia night? Never thought that was his thing but okay," he said, smiling into his mobile.

"Jack, this is serious. Just look it up," Rose said, tension evident in her voice.

"What's wrong? Where are you?" he said more seriously and with concern.

"Not on Earth…it's complicated," she responded.

"Isn't it always. So I gather this is a life or death thing. Hang on."

Rose rolled her eyes not believing their lives depended on Jack's ability to google. Finally, he came back on the line. "Elvis."

"You sure?" Rose asked surprised.

"Yep! Now you wanna tell me what's going on?"

"Yeah, after we're out of this. We'll buy you a drink and catch up."

"You better! I might have a few things to share as well," he said mysteriously.

Rose promised to be in touch just as Riley answered the question and the door clicked open. Just as Rose was feeling a little positive, a scream echoed down the corridor. She and Riley looked at each other as they made their way to the next door.

"Doctor! We heard a scream. What's going on?" she asked through the comm system.

The Doctor had his own hands full. While he was working with the crew to use the generator to jump, he'd received a comm signal from the crewman in the med bay telling him that the injured Korwin's body's biological make-up was changing. Before he could question her, she was calling for help. The Doctor and Captain McDonnell raced to Med Bay. On the way, the Doctor heard a voice growl out "Burn with me!"

He ran faster, as a scream sounded. He burst into the med bay followed by the Captain and another crewman who'd followed them. Korwin was gone and that reminded left of the crewman watching over his was an image burnt into a wall. He hit the comm and told Rose to hurry before looking at the image burnt into the wall.

"Endothermic vaporisation. I've never seen one this ferocious. It said Burn with me," the Doctor repeated, his mind working fiercely to suss out what this was.

The Captain and crewman could barely believe it. Korwin was the Captain's husband and she insisted he wasn't a killer much less capable of vaporising anyone. The Doctor looked at the bioscan result. Concern edged on fear as he realised how bad this was. Korwin had changed into something new, something that had a core body temperature of one hundred degrees and existed on hydrogen instead of oxygen.

He turned to the Captain. "Your husband hasn't been infected, he's been overwhelmed. Where's the ship been? Have you made planet-fall recently? Docked with any other vessels? What have you been doing?" he demanded.

The Captain was shaken but reiterated they were just a cargo ship. She turned away and accessed the comm system to warn the crew that Korwin was infected and dangerous. The Doctor was growing more suspicious.

"Are you certain nothing happened to provoke this? Nobody's working on anything secret? There anything you're not telling me?" he asked, arms crossed and a hint of the oncoming storm in his eyes.

The Captain insisted there was nothing special with the ship or the crew. The Doctor didn't believe her. There was something else going on there.

After hearing the scream and a an abrupt never mind just keep working from the Doctor, Riley and Rose worked feverishly to make their way through the locked doors and had made it through to bulkhead seventeen. Rose was still feeling nervous and especially being separated from the Doctor. She had a nagging feeling things were about to get worse. It was the same feeling she'd had on Krop Tor and at Canary Wharf. She didn't want to think too hard what that meant.

Riley breathed out as he looked at the next question. "Old Earth nursery rhyme: Who are the three little pigs afraid of?"

Rose paled. "The big bad wolf," she said softly, her mind whirling. It couldn't be. That was done with at the Game Station. Why was it here? Despite the heat and stress, she felt a chill down her spine. She had to talk to the Doctor about this. This was bad, very, very bad. The door opened and shook Rose out of her latest worries and they ran for the next door, shouting out to the Doctor they were heading to Section Seventeen.

"Hurry," was his short clipped response. If he wasn't shouting or insulting people it was bad and urgent. Rose pushed onward with Riley, worried what else was ahead of them.

As they worked the next door, the door from Section Eighteen opened and a figure wearing a helmet emerged.

"Is that Korwin?" Rose asked worriedly.

Riley shook his head. "No it's Ashton but he should be engineering."

"Burn with me!" the figure said in a guttural voice.

"Ashton?" Riley said nervously. "You need help with something?"

"Burn with me! Burn with me!" was his reply and he started to open his visor.

"Shit," Rose mumbled and grabbed Riley's hand. "Come on! We have to get out of here!" She yanked open a nearby door and they raced in. As it shut, they could see Ashton outside trying to get in. Riley hit another control and pulled Rose into another cramped space and shut them in.

"What is happening on this ship?" Riley asked," his voice panicked.

"Never mind that, where the hell are we?" Rose demanded, looking around and not getting a good feeling.

A computer announced, "Airlock sealed. Jettison escape pod."

"What!" Rose shouted. "I don't bloody think so! Doctor!" She hit the comm button again. "Doctor! We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock. One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've got to help us!"

By this time, the Doctor and the Captain had made it back to engineering to find one crewman missing and another charred shape on the wall. Rose's panicked voice shot a fire and determination through him. He hadn't lost her at Canary Wharf and he wasn't going to lose her now. "You," he said in an angry voice to the Captain, "jump start those engines and I mean now!"

Riley was in a duel of controls with the homicidal Ashton. The computer voice alternated between Jettison Held to Jettison Reactivated. Rose stood back and watched them hoping the Doctor would get there soon. Things were looking bad and she couldn't help but think how unfair it all was. They had only just fully admitted their feelings and torn down the barriers between them. After everything they'd been through with the Game Station, devils, possessed children and bloody Torchwood, it was coming down to a doomed ship and nutter crew members out to murder everyone. She tried to not lose hope and do what she'd always done, trust in the Doctor.

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In engineering, things were looking just as grim. Crewman Scannell couldn't jump start the engines and was running back and forth trying to find a solution. After he left, Korwin showed up and faced off against the Captain.

"Korwin? What are you? Why are you killing my crew? What did you do to him? What have you done to my husband?" she demanded.

Korwin stopped before he reached her, almost as if he recognised her. Captain McDonnell had a ray of hope and reminded him she was his wife. He repeated the word wife as if remembering before continuing toward her growling out that it was all her fault.

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The Doctor reached Ashton and demanded he identify his species and why he was attacking this ship and crew. It was too late. Ashton smashed the controls to the escape pod. The pod was being jettisoned. Ashton's only response to the Doctor was Burn with me. Before Ashton, or whatever he was now, could make good on its threat, it lumbered back in pain. It was connected to Korwin who had been frozen by Crewman Scannell. The Doctor watched as Ashton walked away and he raced to the door to see Rose screaming and pounding on the glass portal window.

Terror filled him as he realised he couldn't stop it. Rose and Riley were going to be jettisoned out toward the sun. "Rose!" he shouted in anger and desperation.

Rose could see the fury and fear in his fierce blue eyes. She leaned in and shouted, "I love you! No matter what I love you and I don't..." Her voice hitched "I don't regret any of it!"

"Rose!" he shouted ready to tear his way through the door. "No! I'll come for you!"

The pod was jettisoned before he could say anything else.

He stood at the tiny window, staring at the face of the woman he loved growing smaller and smaller with each passing moment. They'd come so far and fought so hard for what they had, he couldn't lose her now. Not without a one hell of a fight.

He pulled away from the window with difficulty. "Scannel!" he barked into the comm. "I need a spacesuit in area 17. NOW!"

"What for?" the man's voice replied.

The Doctor felt his hearts pick up speed in frustration and anger at the question. There was no time for this. "Just get it here!" he growled before pulling away from the comm and finalizing the plan in his brain.

He would save Rose. There were no other options.

Dwdwdwdwdwdwdw

"The wonderful world of space travel," Riley murmured, defeated. "The prettier it looks, the more likely it is to kill you."

Rose chuckled mirthlessly. "Some god-awful looking things can kill you too," she told him with a small smile. "He'll come for us," she told him, trying to sound reassuring.

"No," Riled replied. "It's too late. Our heat shields will pack in any minute, and then we go into free fall. We'll fall into the sun way before he has a chance to do anything."

"It's not too late," Rose told him, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You don't know the Doctor. We've gotten out of worse than this at the last minute. He'll come for us, I know he will. He'll try like hell anyway."

She tried to inject her voice with as much confidence as she could. She knew the Doctor would do everything he could to save her. The universe had been kind to them so far. So many times they should have lost one another and yet, they were still together. She knew it couldn't last forever, though. Someday, she would have to leave him, and with every passing second in the almost broiling pod, she wondered if that would be this day.

"You're lucky to have him. To have each other, really," he told her. "I've never found anybody worth believing in."

"Really? Nice bloke like you?" Rose asked, giving him a small smile. "No girlfriend? Boyfriend?"

Riley chuckled. "This job doesn't really lend itself to stable relationships."

"Yeah, well, neither does saving the world, but me and the Doctor, we make it work."

Riley glanced at her and smiled. "Then you two really are lucky."

"What about your family?"

"My dad's dead, and I haven't seen my mum in six years. She didn't want me to sign up for cargo tours. Things were said, and since then, all silent. She wanted to hold on to me, I know that. Oh, she's so stubborn."

Rose laughed, thinking of her own mother and surprised that the thought didn't bring a lump to her throat at that moment. "Yeah, well, that's a mum for you. My mum was the same way. She always wanted me to stay with her, never liked that I was off with the Doctor. I suppose…they just want to keep us safe, they want what's best for us."

"Where's your mum now?"

Rose glanced down at her hands. "Gone," she replied. "God, I miss her, especially now."

Riley gave her shoulder a small squeeze.

"You should call her," Rose told him firmly, fishing her mobile out of her pocket and holding it towards him. "You can use this, it calls anywhere. Then, when we get out of this, take some time off, go visit her. Life's too short, Riley. It can change in a moment, in a breath. There's not enough time to waste being angry at the people you love."

Riley smiled at her and took the mobile from her hand. "I think I will, yeah."

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

"I can't let you do this," Scannel told the Doctor as he checked and double-checked that the orange space suit was properly fastened.

"No power in this universe can stop me," the Doctor replied. "I'm going."

"You want to open an airlock in flight on a ship spinning into the sun. No one can survive that!"

"No human, maybe. Bit sturdier than that, me."

"You open that airlock, it's suicide. This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you."

"I have to try," he replied. "If I can boost the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should remagnetise the pod. Now, while I'm out there, you have to get the rest of those doors open. We need those auxiliary engines."

"Doctor, will you listen? They're too far away. It's too late."

He glanced up at Scannel, his eyes burning. "No, you listen, Scannel. Everything that matters to me is out there in that pod. She is the only thing that makes my stupid, miserable life worth living, and do you know what? I'm not going to lose her! So if all you're going to tell me is that I can't save her, that I have no hope, then kindly shut it while I go rescue the woman I love. Thanks."

Without another word, the Doctor pulled the helmet onto his head and entered the airlock. He stood there, waiting, head held high. This had to work, but even if it didn't…what was life worth without Rose?

"Decompression initiated. Impact in twelve fifty five."

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"Impact in eleven fifteen. Heat shield failing. At ten percent."

Once the decompression was complete, the Doctor opened the outer airlock door and he immediately was hit with a blinding stream of unfiltered sunlight. Grateful even for the meager protection of the sheilds, he gritted his teeth and climbed outside, clinging to the edge of the airlock as he reached for the row of buttons.

"Come on, come on!" he muttered, stretching out and managing to press two of the buttons even with his clumsy, gloved hands. He gripped harder on the sides of the airlock as the ship shuddered and jerked beneath him. He stretched beyond the buttons and reached for the metal box on the outside of the hull.

"Doctor, how're you doing?" Scannel's voice filled from the communicator inside his helmet.

The Doctor groaned with the effort. His hands couldn't quite grip the handle of the box, but if he let go of the airlock he would fall into the sun's gravitational pull. "I'm trying, but I can't reach!"

"Come on. Don't give up now!"

"Oh, now you're plenty supportive and encouraging!" he snarked back.

"Let's just say you inspired me," Scannel replied. "That's your Rose. You've gotta try!"

At the mention of Rose's name, a renewed sense of determination filled him completely. He cried out with the effort, but he managed to rip the cover off the box and pull the lever contained within.

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Rose was sitting with Riley, hugging him as he spoke to his mother, telling her he loved her and that he was sorry for how things ended, when there was a jolt. Her eyes shot up to the computer screen, where the word "remagnetising" flashed in bold letters.

"We're being pulled back!" Riley cried out. "Mum, I love you! I promise I'm coming to visit soon! Got to go!" He flipped the phone shut and wrapped his arms around Rose joyously.

"It's the Doctor! He did it!" Rose cried, hope swelling in her heart at the thought of wrapping her arms around the Doctor and never letting go.

The Doctor pulled himself back into the airlock, looking back and confirming that the pod was, indeed, being pulled back to the ship. At the sight of the pod growing closer, he sighed with relief but also stared directly into the sun. In that moment, he felt nothing but blinding heat engulf his brain and he cried out in agony, pulling himself further into the airlock. The pain in his head was nearly unbearable as the flames seared his consciousness and attempted to force down his ever-present mental shields.

"It's alive," he chanted to himself. "It's alive. It's alive!"

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"Airlock recompression completed."

Rose clambered out of the pod as quickly as her legs could carry her. She scanned the space briefly before her eyes fell upon the Doctor's prone form. He was wearing an orange space suit minus the helmet and was sprawled on the floor, his hands gripping his head.

"Doctor!" she cried as her heart sped up in panic. "Doctor, what's wrong, what's happened?"

The Doctor rolled onto his back. His eyes were screwed shut, but as he opened them briefly, Rose nearly stumbled back at the blinding white light that shone out of his normally warm, blue eyes.

"Get back, Rose!" he cried, his voice strained as he visibly twitched on the floor. He was jerking in pain, and wanted nothing more than to wrap him in her arms.

"What's happened?" McDonnell asked as she came to stand next to Rose and Riley.

"Bloody stupid apes!" the Doctor practically spat. "You should have scanned that sun for life but instead you stripped its surface for cheap fuel! That sun is alive, and they scooped out its heart! Now it's screaming!" He was writhing in pain, and Rose felt completely helpless, nearly in tears.

"Riley, get down to area ten and help Scannell with the doors. Go!" McDonnell barked at him, not taking her eyes off the Doctor. What do you mean? How can a sun be alive? Why is he saying that?"

"Because it's living in me!"

Rose felt the color drain from her face. He was infected, by whatever had taken the other members of the crew. She knew he was stronger in a lot of ways than a human, had mental capabilities she could barely fathom, and could probably hold it off for a while but she could see it was a struggle.

"Rose, you've got to freeze me, quickly."

"What?" Rose replied in disbelief as she crouched down next to him and traced her fingers across his damp, burning brow.

"In the stasis chamber. You've got to take it below minus two hundred. Freeze it out of me! It'll use me to kill you if you don't." He groped blindly for her hand and grasped onto it. "I can't do it, Rose, especially not to you." He cried out in pain and suddenly snatched his hand away, gripping his head in agony.

Rose turned to McDonnell. "Help me!" she barked, hoisting the Doctor up with her arm wrapped around him. McDonnel grasped onto his other hand. "And move! We've got to get this out of him!"

"Impact in seven thirty."

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

In the med center, Rose eased the Doctor to the floor as gently as she possibly could and raced to the stasis chamber, scanning the instruction manual. "Come on, come on," she murmured, taking in as much of the information as she could.

"Rose, where are you?" the Doctor cried, sounding panicked. She turned back and he was groping the air next to him, searching out her touch. Her heart ached for him and she immediately returned to his side.

"It's all right, Doctor I'm here, I'm right here. You're going to be fine." She glanced up at McDonnell. "Little help? Stasis chamber, minus two hundred, yeah?"

"No, you don't know how this equipment works. You'll kill him. Nobody can survive those temperatures!"

"He's not human, he'll be fine, we've been through worse," Rose replied, pulling him up and into the chamber. "You ready, Doctor?"

"Ten seconds," he forced out. "I won't be able to take it any longer. Just ten seconds, should be enough."

"Got it," Rose said, fiddling with the control panel.

"God, I can feel it! It's burning me up. I can't control it. Rose, you've got to get it out of me! I could kill you, I could kill all of you!"

"I've got you, Doctor," Rose told him quietly, gripping his hand through his glove. "You're going to be fine!"

"Rose," he began, his voice going quiet. "Remember what I told you, after the hospital, when that plasmavore nearly drained me dry? About what happens, when I'm close to dying?"

Rose's throat nearly closed in panic. He'd told her, about how he could change his face, how every cell in his body could change and he would literally become a new man. Rose knew, deep in her heart, that she would love him no matter what. But she wasn't ready to let this version of him go. They'd had such precious little time together, were only just becoming fully comfortable in their relationship. How different would he be? Would he still feel the same? Would he still love her?"

"You stay with me, Doctor," Rose told him firmly. "You hear me? I'm not letting you go just yet."

"I'm scared, Rose," he admitted in a near whisper. She felt the lump in her throat rise. He sounded so much like a scared little boy, and she wanted nothing more than to lace their fingers together and assure him that he could be brave. "I'm so, so scared."

"I'm here, Doctor," Rose murmured, squeezing his gloved hand. "I promise, I'm not leaving you. Now, are you ready?"

The Doctor chuckled mirthlessly. "No."

With one last squeeze to his hand, Rose used the controls to roll the Doctor completely into the chamber. She typed the number 200 into the keypad and pressed the button to activate the machine. Her heart completely broke at the Doctor's screams of agony as his body temperature fell.

"Heat shields failing. At five percent."

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

In Engineering, the masked figure of Korwin glanced up just as a computer monitor reports - "Power drain med centre, stasis chamber active." He pulled a nearby lever and the monitor changed, now reading "stasis chamber inactive."

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

Rose nearly began sobbing as the stasis chamber lost power, at only minus 70 degrees.

"No! Rose, what are you doing? You can't stop it! Not yet!"

"I didn't stop it! We lost power!" she shouted.

"It's been cut in Engineering," McDonnell stated, her voice going quiet. "Leave it to me," she told them as she bolted out of the room.

Rose's eyes welled up as she turned back to the stasis chamber, where the Doctor was still crying out in pain. She had no idea what to do now, and a haze of hopelessness began descending over her.

"Impact in four forty seven."

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

"Doctor, what do I do?" Rose cried out, nearly sobbing in panic. "I don't know what to do!"

"There's not much time. I'm sorry, Rose, I need you to go!"

"You must be joking!" Rose cried out. "I'm not leaving you!"

"Get to the front. Vent the engines. Sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them. I need you to do this Rose, it could stop them, and you're the only one who can! Please go!"

Rose hated leaving him under normal circumstances and she felt like she could barely survive if she did it now. But she trusted him, she knew she had to go.

"I love you, Doctor," she told him, trying to infuse her voice with as much of her feelings as she could. "I love you, remember that, no matter who you are or what you look like, alright? You're my Doctor."

"Rose…" he gasped out before once again crying out in agony.

Rose knew there was precious little time. She let go of his hand and sprinted towards the auxiliary engine room.

"Impact in four oh eight."

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

"I'm sorry," McDonnell's voice came over the comm.

"McDonnell!" Scannell cried out. "McDonnell!"

"Exterior airlock open."

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

"Impact in two seventeen. Primary engines critical. Repeat. Primary engines critical. Survival estimate projection zero percent."

"Rose!" the Doctor cried out, pulling himself out of the chamber and falling to the floor. His head was agonizing, they were burning through his shields and he couldn't stop it. He would regenerate, at least, and the creature in him would be little match for the regeneration energy.

He hoped Rose would still love him as a new man.

"Doctor, I'm nearly there! Hold on!"

"I can't fight it. I'm sorry, Rose."

His voice took on a low, gravely timbre.

"Give it back or burn with me…burn with me, Rose…"

"Impact in one twenty one."

"Got it!" Riley cried out as they opened the last door to the auxiliary engine room.

"Life support systems reaching critical. Repeat. Life support systems reaching critical. Impact in one oh six. Collision alert. Collision alert."

It's not working. Why's it not working?" Riley cried out as he and Scannell frantically typed commands into various keypads.

"Collision alert. Fifty eight seconds to fatal impact."

Rose burst into the room. "Vent the engines. Dump the fuel."

Scannel stared at her in disbelief. "What?"

"There are sun particles in the fuel. The Doctor said to give it back. Do it!"

The pair glanced at each other for a split second before doing as she said. Rose sighed in relief as a loud "BANG!" resounded through the room and she found herself praying to whoever was out there that this would work.

"Fuel dump in progress. Fuel dump in progress."

"There!" Scannell cried out. "The auxiliaries are firing!"

The ship lurched, nearly toppling Rose to the floor and finally, was pulling away from the sun just as the countdown reached one second.

"Impact averted. Impact averted. Impact averted."

"We're clear! We've got just enough reserves," Riley cried.

Rose barely had time to feel the relief flooding her. She immediately remembered the Doctor and began running back to the med center.

When she saw him, standing, his brow shining with perspiration but his eyes the same clear, crystal blue that she was used to and filled with so much love that she could barely breathe. She ran faster than she could ever recall and began laughing joyously as she leapt into his arms, kissing him firmly on the lips as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"You're all right," she murmured in between kisses, caressing her lips anywhere on his beloved face that she could reach. "Oh, my God, you're all right."

"I'm always all right," he murmured, holding her as tightly against him as he could. "As long as I've got you, I'm always all right."

"Doctor," Rose murmured once again, burying her face in his neck as his hand stroked through her hair. She pulled away so she could once again look into his familiar blue eyes.

She grinned at him, tucking her tongue between her teeth. "Nice spacesuit."

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

The TARDIS was like a shining blue beacon when they regained access to the section she had been locked into while the ship vented. She had survived virtually untouched by the crisis that had nearly been the doom of everyone else.

"This is your ship!" Scannel said with a chuckle. The mood was somehow an odd combination of celebratory and subdued, mourning their fellow crew while thrilled to be alive.

"Oh, look at her!" the Doctor grinned hugely, back in his jeans, jumper, and leather jacket. Pity, when all Rose wanted to do was peel them off him. They were both sweaty and dirty and exhausted, but she knew once they were alone again…well, they would be sweaty and dirty and exhausted in far different circumstances. "Barely a scorch mark on her! Well done, beautiful, well done!"

Rose shook her head to clear it of her rather scandalous thoughts and turned to Riley and Scannell. "We can't just leave you drifting with no fuel. You sure we can't drop you off?"

"We've sent out an official mayday," Riley replied. "The authorities'll pick us up soon enough."

"Though how we explain what happened…" Scannel breathed out.

"Just tell them. That sun needs care and protection just like any other living thing," the Doctor urged them. "And just…make sure you start scanning for life before you do anything, yeah?"

Before the two could respond, the Doctor stepped into the TARDIS. Rose could see him, fiddling with the controls. They had a few minutes, so she turned back to Riley.

" So, er, you're off then. No chance I'll see you again?"

Rose grinned. "Oh, you never know. Maybe if I ask real nicely, the Doctor will bring us for a visit. We'd love to meet your mum."

"Oi!" the Doctor called from inside the ship, and Rose's grin widened.

She turned to head into the TARDIS before glancing back at Riley. "I know you'll find someone worth believing in."

He smiled at her. "Reckon I already did."

Rose couldn't help it. She beamed at Riley and leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. The Doctor huffed audibly from inside the ship, and Rose pulled away. "See you," she told him before making her way into the ship and shutting the door behind her.

dwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwdwd

"Oh, God, I need a cool shower or a dip in the pool after this," Rose said as the Doctor put them into the Vortex. "I feel like I've just spent three hours in the sauna." She met the Doctor's gaze and gasped. The hunger in his eyes was unmistakable, and she barely had time to blink before she was in his arms and his mouth was sealing to hers.

Rose sighed into the kiss, returning the pressure until he pulled away, resting his forehead against hers. "I'm so glad you're all right," the Doctor murmured, his voice low and gravely.

"Me, too," Rose replied. "Way to leave it to the last second!"

"Oi!" he told her playfully. "Came through in the end though, yeah?"

"Oh, yeah," Rose agreed with a grin. "Just like always."

"I love you," he told her gently, in that tone that never failed to leave Rose weak at the knees.

"I love you," she replied with a gentle press of her lips to his. "Now," she began, pulling back and giving him a saucy grin. "Fancy that shower?"