NOT THE ONLY ONE

A/N Thank you to lilli-glenanne for reviewing this chapter

Disclaimer I own nothing.

Please review.

Memories seeped through Rory's head.

A man older than Rory, wearing a long satin flowing robe that grazed the floor.

A woman wearing animal skins, who looked so out of place

"If she is gone, then what do I have left? I need you to-,"

"Protect you," the woman laughed, slightly mocking him.

"We are all that is left of our home, if Romana is dead. I can't live like this!"

Rory frowned, the words seemed familiar but who were those people? He was sure he did not say those words.

Then he saw her again in his mind: that smile, her beautiful blue eyes as clear as the oceans.

Looking totally breathtaking, dressed in a long blue velvet dress that stopped just above her knees.

One word stuck in his head, just one name: Romana. Words that meant nothing to him spun around his head; beautiful, noble, stubborn minded Romana.

What was wrong with him today? Was he losing the plot? His mind wandered as the animal skin woman was back in his head

"We should never have allowed Romana to stay, the woman in animal skins said.

"Allowed her? Have you ever tried to stop her once her mind is made up?"

"Are you listening to me?" Amy shrieked, but right then he no longer cared. He looked up at her with a stoic expression, the memories faded. Why was he thinking about Romana? He had only just met her hadn't he? He headed for the door "I'm going to find our daughter," and without another word he disappeared.

They were in the TARDIS and Romana and the Doctor were alone once more. Romana walked around the console and rested her head against his shoulder. "You are very quiet, Doctor," she said, softly into his shoulder. He hooked an arm around her waist.

"Where's Braxiatel'," he asked looking over the top of her head.

"With our daughter. He's very good with her."

She wished she could be. She had tried, but Romana could not accept her own child; she wanted her baby but she wasn't a baby anymore. Seven long years she had missed of her child's life, and now it was a struggle to bond with her, to feel that rush of love she felt when she gave birth to her.

"In that case, we better make the most of being alone," he said quietly. He cupped her face gently as he leaned in to kiss her. She immediately responded urgently, her lips firmly pressed against his.

Finally, pulling apart, the Doctor smiled at Romana. "When this is over, I want to take you somewhere, somewhere special, just the two of us. You choose."

"What about Kaatje?"

"Kaatje?" the Doctor gave her a questioning look.

"I'm calling our daughter Kaatje, unless you prefer for me to call her Ginger

The Doctor glared at Romana for a moment before she kissed him again, pressing her lips firmly against his, before he could respond to her.

After few moments they pulled apart. "That was, well... nice," he muttered.

"Nice?" Romana looked at him before hitting him on the side of the head.

"Ow," he whined.

"You said our kiss was 'nice'."

"It was very nice," he repeated, which earned him another clip round the head.

"Ow, ow, ow," he moaned

"Nice?" She asked again.

The Doctor quickly moved away as she followed him round the console

"Well, I may need another to tell you how nice."

"Ow," he cried. "Stop hitting me."

"Then stop been an annoying little boy."

"Better than been an annoying little princess," he spat back.

He kissed her, quickly, with a tenderness and passion that seemed to fill her body with warmth.

"Well I'm sure Braxiatel would be up for a bit of babysitting," said the Doctor.

Romana smiled.

"I did a scan on Melody," the Doctor spoke slowly. "She's human plus."

Romana frowned. "What does that mean?"

"She's human, but she has Time Lord DNA."

"How is that possible? Unless..." she glanced at the Doctor. Her thoughts drifted around in her head. Could the Doctor have been so desperate not to be the last that he was somehow responsible for this? She knew she should trust him, but she could not trust herself, yet alone anyone else.

"It was suggested to me that it happened within the Time vortex."

Romana shook her head. "No, that is impossible. It happened over thousands of years. It did not happen overnight," Romana sighed, "Is that the best defence you could come up with Doctor?"

The Doctor looked at her "no, no, no I didn't do this! It would be nice if you trusted me for once."

"And it would be nice if you would be honest for once," she shot back.

"Were you and Amy... because that's the only thing that makes sense... unless..."

"Unless what, and no me and Amy were not." The Doctor blushed, thinking of all Amy's advances towards him.

"Mild theory; are you sure your companions are even human?"

"Of course they are human. Completely human."

Romana did not look convinced, but she pushed the thoughts from her mind. It was not possible, not now, not after all this time. She stepped away from the console going to a quiet place in the TARDIS where she could reflect and think. She curled up on the edge of the chocolate leather sofa.

"Romana?" said a soft voice startling her a little. She looked up to see Braxiatel, looking at her with a sideways glance.

"Oh Braxiatel, I was just... well I was..."

"You were thinking. What is concerning you, my Lady?" Braxiatel asked, sitting on the sofa next to her, noticing she was shaking. He reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers.

It was enough for her to feel his comfort and he was there for her, but it did not stop the river of emotions that were at the tip of her throat, ready to pour out of her broken soul.

His face was a mixture of worry and concern as he summed up the state she was in. This was his friend, his best friend, and whatever hurt her also hurt him. He gently kissed her on the forehead before she pressed herself against his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her. She sobbed quietly into his shoulder, unable to control her emotions.

"I'm here," he whispered softly as he ran his fingers through her soft hair. Her body trembled against his as he felt her worries and fears.

She took a few calming breaths before pulling away.

"I am fine," she mumbled, not looking at him.

"We were always able to talk, Romana, and I hope that never has to change. Remember I am on your side, always."

"Brax," Romana whispered, trying desperately to force past the horrors to the back of her mind.

"I still see it in my head. I never recovered from losing you when you fell-," her voice started to crack as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"Oh, Romana," he said sadly wiping the tear from her face with his thumb, "now tell me," he said softly, knowing there was more she wanted to say.

"One of the Doctor's companions, Rory, he seemed a little familiar to me."

"Familiar, how?"

"I don't know Brax, They was just something about him, like he was not completely human."

"Then we should find him."

"Kaatje-," she started to ask

"You named her Kaatje?" he asked smiling at her.

"I never did at the time, she was snatched from my arms a few minutes old and I pleaded for them to not take her. I did." she whispered.

"It's all right, Romana, They won't get near her again. You two are both safe,"

"I have missed you so much Romana, that I would do anything to be with you again."

"I have Kaatje to consider now."

"I want you both with me."

Romana sighed. "I am sorry Irving, if me and the Doctor didn't have a child together then maybe, but I have to put her first. I do love him, but it's different... we are both different. I sometimes think our personalities are too different that maybe I am too damaged for him."

"What happened to you?" he asked, touching her face gently, wanting her desperately to open up about what had happened.

"Too much, Braxiatel," she sighed sadly.

"Gallifrey is gone?" Braxiatel asked,

"I thought I could save it. I had this great idea we would explore the other Gallifrey's, find a cure, and it all came to nothing, even after the cure. The Daleks invaded us. I thought I could save Gallifrey, but I destroyed it. The Time Lords revolted: they brought our saviour back from the dead. Hardly: Rasilion the 'saviour' of our people," she mocked.

"He had me locked up. I had nothing and no-one, Leela was killed, Narvin betrayed me; he was in charge, almost like he was my jailer, gave me little to eat, treated me like a common criminal. Then the beatings ordered by Rasilion, undertaken by Narvin. I thought he was someone I trusted."

Braxiatel looked at her with sadness. His hearts broke for her.

"Well I escaped Gallifrey. I thought I was lucky. I was captured by some people. I was tortured and made to be a weapon to kill the Doctor. I was alone and pregnant with his child and they took her away from me within minutes after giving birth.

Even now I feel broken. I was so alone," she started to shake, her bottom lip beginning to tremble and an ugly sob escaping from her mouth. "I don't feel anything towards her. I am trying to love her but she's a stranger to me."

Instantly he pulled her into his arms as she cried against his chest, and he held her close to him, wrapping his arms around her petite frame, trying his best to bring comfort to her. He was furious that anyone could inflict harm on her. Finally she looked at him as he gently wiped the tears from her face.

"Oh look at me, I look a mess."

"You look beautiful. You will recover and I will be here for you whenever you need me, any time."

He kissed her and she frantically kissed him back. He continued to kiss her leaving a trail of kisses softly down her neck while her hands tangled up in his hair.

"Brax," she mumbled against his neck, "we can't. I can't," but found she couldn't stop kissing him, she couldn't stop wanting him, needing him. She didn't know if this was her or the aftermath of her recent regeneration.

She felt his arms hook around her waist pulling her in closer as she grabbed the lapels of his shirt before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Brax," she mumbled into his mouth as he cut her off with more kisses.

She felt the old feelings she once had for Braxiatel building up, becoming stronger, too strong for her to resist him. Romana kissed him with such hunger all she could think about was how much she wanted him, that it had been such a long time since someone had wanted her and Braxiatel clearly did.

The Doctor did not understand, and why should he? He had not spent years trained to be a weapon, nor had his own people lock him up whilst the inflicted unfixable damage on him. The scars were mostly psychological now but a few remained even after regeneration; a reminder of all that she had suffered.

It was all right for the Doctor: he could come and go with no consequences, but Romana had responsibilities. Even now he acted like such a child; he was like Peter pan, the little boy that never grew up, and she almost felt like she was his Wendy, but Romana had to grow up and she had to grow up fast.

She pressed her soft lips against Brax's neck, kissing him softly as she nuzzled against his neck as the tears started rolling down her face and her body started to shake. She bit her lip hard and refused to cry, refused to let Brax see how damaged she was. Losing him had destroyed her all those years ago and now she was torn between him and the Doctor, but she didn't even feel like the Doctor understood her. What was it that had even drawn them together in the first place? She sure did not remember any more.

Braxiatel held her close to him. After all the years and all he had endured, this felt like it was now his prize. He knew he should have brought Romana's daughter back and left, but seeing Romana again brought back old feelings, feelings he could not ignore; she may have a new body but the feelings were still there. He loved her

"Romana," he said, softly, "are you crying?"

"No," she sniffled against his shoulder, before long she was sobbing uncontrollably.

He wrapped his arms tightly around her. "It's all right I didn't mean to make you cry."

"It's not you," she said, finally looking up at him.

"I'm too damaged for you or the Doctor. To have such a beautiful daughter. I can't even love her. I wish the Daleks had killed me because anything is better than this life. This existence. I can't live like this. I can't, I won't!"

More tears fell down her face as she cried harder into his shoulder.

"Shush," he whispered, softly, resting his hand on the small part of her back. He could feel her pain as she let it all out. He hated to see her like that but knew she needed to let it out

For the first time he wondered if coming back into their lives had done Romana more harm than good. She had baggage, and lots of it. Braxiatel, on the other hand, refused to talk about his because that would involve talking about feelings and Braxiatel did not do that.

"My co-ordinator was ordered to beat me with rods when I lost the Presidency and I was locked up," Romana started to say, "we had become friends once and yet he could look me in the eye and do that to me. I can't trust anyone anymore."

"You can trust me," he said quietly as he took her hand. "I will never hurt you. I could never hurt you."

For anyone to hurt her utterly hurt his hearts. He was still very much in love with her.

He had been in love before many times, but not like the way he loved Romana. She was not his first love, but his hearts had never burnt with desire like they did with her. Unfortunately he was forever in competition with his own brother for her love, affection and her beautiful hearts.

He had tried to forget her and there were others after Romana but he should have foreseen the problem back then: they weren't her, and he only found himself broken and disappointed with the huge gaping hole in his hearts left by Romana, which had never healed. It hadn't been her fault. It had been totally his for Time scooping them to a different Gallifrey, which lead to his big sacrifice so Romana would surive.

He looked down at the Time lady in his arms as he held her close to him, her arms wrapped around his waist as she rested her head against his shoulders, her ginger hair falling over his shoulders, blocking his view of her face. She had stopped crying now and was quiet, but he knew she thought an awful lot.

He couldn't lose her again and yet deep down he knew he would. He wanted to treasure every last moment with her; the way she felt in his arms, her kiss. Everything.

"Come away with me," he said softly

Romana bit her lip. "I can't."

All of a sudden the only thing she could think about was the Doctor and their little girl and both her hearts sank in her chest. Romana instantly sat up.

What was she even doing? She never wanted this, did she? But whether she did or didn't, she had let the kiss happen and now she felt guilty over it.

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