Franky was stumbling home - literally - after another drug, fight and sex fuelled evening with Luke. She could feel the cut on her lip bleeding, but she just wiped it with the back of her hand, not looking down at her hand to see just how much there was. She'd get in, and clean herself up, and get to bed to start it all in the morning. She'd been planning on spending the night at Luke's, but he'd asked her to get out at the last minute, that he had somewhere important to be in the morning, and that it was best she wasn't there. She knew what that was. Probably a drugs deal. While he let Franky tag along to most things, those were ones he said he couldn't trust her at. Couldn't trust other people around her. He said they'd hurt her, but she knew the real answer. They'd like looking at her, and he didn't like that. He got aggressive when guys looked at her, and Franky... she let him. Because what else did she really have? Who else did she have? The one person she trusted more than anyone else in the world was dead, and it was all her fault. Franky had been realising that more and more, and it hurt. She started seeing her too, and all she wanted to do was turn the clock back to when it happened. She couldn't even bring herself to say her name.
She was just about to turn the corner into her road, when she heard a strange whoosh-ing noise, like a motor powering down, and no sooner had it started, silence filled the street again. She hesitated for a few minutes, and was about to give up and just go home, sure her fathers would be asleep by now, but a man walked up to her. She hadn't seen him on the street before, and he really wasn't dressed like he was from this time period, let alone from this town. He was slightly dazed, confused, and looking at street signs before he realised Franky was standing there, and smiled widely.
"Ah! Hello! Seem to have come here by accident, took a wrong turn somewhere, I suppose, she does that..." He muttered, then cleared his throat. "So! If you could tell me where I am, I'll be on my way.
"Fuck off." Was Franky's answer, under her breath. She pulled out a cigarette from the belt on her skirt, and tried staring out the man, who instead of looking alarmed, just stared at her back.
"Well that's nice! All I ask is a simple question, and what do I get? Abused."
"I said fuck off you creepy git, just fuck off." She spat out again, and for a few moments, the man did look as if he was going to leave. But instead, he just peered closer, and Franky's eyes narrowed even more. "What is your problem! Are you deaf or something? Do I need to spell it out for you?"
"...Sorry, I'm awful at introductions. My name's the Doctor, I'm-" He didn't get a chance to say anymore, before Franky huffed, rolled her eyes, and quickly turned on her heel, heading in the opposite direction to what she was before. She didn't want to go home now. This wasn't fair. She'd tried getting help, it hadn't worked, it had been a waste of time and money. And now what? They were getting a doctor to track her down in the middle of the night? But even as she hurried down the street, the man was following after her.
"GO AWAY!" She yelled eventually, turning to face him, her hands bunched into fists. "You can't make me go with you! No-one can make me go with you! I don't need you, any of you, I'm fine on my own! In fact, I'm better on my own!" The Doctor took a step closer, but Franky retaliated, pushing him, and running. She'd left her phone at Luke's, but she needed him to come and get her. He was all she could trust. If she could just get to a phone box...
But instead of finding the familiar red phone box, she could only see a blue one, and she pulled hard at the doors, but it wasn't opening. "Fuck's sake!" She shouted, though no-one was around to listen. She started smacking the door hard with her palm, over and over again out of sheer frustration, clenching her teeth so that she didn't cry. Tears were for weakness. It's what Luke told her. You cry, and people know how to get to you. How to fuck you up even more. Her hand ached, but she continued to hit the big blue box until she heard the voice of the man behind her.
"You know, I don't go to your house and start screaming and smacking the walls." He came to lean on the blue box next to her, and Franky still just narrowed her eyes at him.
"What are you, some hobo or something?"
"...Something like that." The Doctor said, smiling thoughtfully. He started feeling around in his pockets for something, before producing a key, and slipping it into the lock. He stopped before he pushed the door, and looked at Franky thoughtfully. "Come on in, there's plenty of room."
Once she stepped in, Franky could hardly believe her eyes. What had been a tiny box, just big enough for one person, had stretched out into an expansive room, with what looked like a gigantic computer in the center, various lights flashing and displays bleeping. She was almost afraid to touch anything, but then she heard the door close behind her, and footsteps as this... doctor walked over to her. She could smell the musk of his tweed, and while it made her sick to her stomach, at the same time, she felt... strangely comforted.
"I'm tripping." She said at last, looking around at him. "This... this box is tiny, so I must be tripping. Or... Or dreaming. Or tripping while I'm dreaming. Or-"
"Or you're seeing exactly what's here." He said, taking a step closer to her. Franky weighed up her chances of running away, but seeing as the door was shut, she didn't try anything. Nevertheless, she gripped onto a rail next to her, taking a few steps back, afraid.
"What... Where am I? What's going on?"
"Oh... Complicated to explain, really. But this is my space ship."
"Spaceship." Franky's eyebrow arched, and the Doctor smiled warmly. "But... it's a box. And spaceships are science fiction."
"Oi don't call her that, she gets really upset when people think she's just a box. Gets even more upset if people say she doesn't exist. But between you and me... A box is exactly what she is." He added in a whisper, and a loud bleep made him roll his eyes. "Sorry dear..."
"This is too much, I'm... I must be losing it, first G-her. And now this. I have to go, I have to-"
"That looks like a nasty cut." He said suddenly, and Franky stopped, finally looking down at her hand. The blood that she'd wiped from her lip had turned crusty on her fingertips, so she could only imagine what the rest of her face looked like. She rubbed her fingers together, mesmerised, watching as the flaky blood came loose, and fell to the floor. Instead of answering him, she just shrugged. "You know... I'm not really a Doctor. By name, I suppose, but not by nature. But I'm very good at a cup of chocolate and a chat?"
Franky sat in a plush armchair, a steaming mug of hot chocolate on a small antique looking desk next to her, and the man known as the Doctor stood in front of her, examining her injuries. She told herself that she was still on something. After being led away from the large main room, she followed the Doctor down several corridors before they reached this room. This had just been a box, nothing more, nothing less.
"Hmm... This might sting a bit, hold onto something... tightly." He said, and as gently as possible, he wiped at a cut that was on her eyebrow, and it felt like hot coals were hitting her in the face.
"Fuck!"
"...That hurt, didn't it? Sorry, had to be done. Here, you try." He passed the cloth over to her, and she looked at him suspicious for a few minutes, before she moved it to the cut on her lip, wincing just as much. She watched as the Doctor took his own seat opposite her, then smiled again. "Well this is nice, isn't it? Don't normally pick up people for hot chocolate. With all the running about and saving the earth, sometimes it's nice to just put your feet up..." He trailed, then furrowed her brow. "I don't think I remember your name."
"I didn't give it." Franky said, looking down at her lap.
"Does that mean I'm supposed to guess?" He smiled playfully, and it was that smile again that calmed her down a little. Made her feel less on the spot. His smile wasn't like Luke's. Luke's smile ate away at your very insides, like some kind of parasite that was taking you over. Which when it came to her, she knew it wasn't that far from the truth. But the Doctor's smile... He wasn't going to hurt her. She was sure of that.
"...Franky. Franky Fitzgerald." She murmured, and he smiled even more.
"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Franky Fitzgerald." She nodded, looking down at her lap, still dabbing at her cuts. The sting was still there, but she was used to it now. The pain replaced the numbness, even for a while. She looked up at him at last, to see he was still watching her carefully, and calmly.
"So what is this...thing we're sitting in? If I'm not dreaming, that is."
"This? Well this is my time machine."
"Time machine?"
"Well, more of a space and time machine. No just going backwards and forwards. I can go up down, left to right, anywhere you want." He stood, taking the cloth from her again, and wiping at the blood on her hands. She looked down at her lap again, not used to someone taking care of her. She wanted to hate it, to kick off again, but instead she watched the blood transfer from her hands, to the cloth.
"I should be getting home." She muttered.
"Someone waiting at home?" He asked, and she shrugged. Her dads were there. But sometimes... sometimes she felt like they'd be better off without her. "There must be someone out there who's missing you. Friends, family..."
"No. No one." She interrupted, pulling herself up from the chair, and moving to the door. "I don't... You're not my therapist. You're nothing. I'm nothing, okay? And that's all I'll ever be. So just fuck off." Walking out of the room, she wandered through the halls, trying to find the main control room. She didn't want to be psychoanalysed, she didn't want anyone trying to fix her. She didn't deserve it. Not after what she did. Not after she killed G-...
"Franky, stop a minute, please!" The Doctor's voice stopped her in her tracks, but she didn't turn around, her hand hovering over the door. "I can show you different worlds. Different civilisations. You can walk on the moon, dance in the stars. Anywhere and anything, at your fingertips." He focused on her eyes again. "All you have to do is ask."
"Why? Why would you do that for me?" Her voice was wavering slightly, the tears threatening to spill. And it didn't help when he didn't answer, but after a long pause, she felt his hand wrapping around her own, and squeezing slightly.
"Because you told me you're nothing. And I won't believe that, and I won't let you either. There's not a single person on this Earth who isn't important."
"I just want to go home."
"Just one trip. To anywhere you want, anywhere at all. Then I'll drop you off on your doorstep, safe as sound." Now it was her turn to pause, and the only thing that suggested he'd won was when she pulled him towards the controls, and let go of his hand, leaning back against the railing again.
"Just one trip."
And that was how, some minutes later, the Doctor was throwing open the doors of the TARDIS, and Franky found herself stepping out onto the surface of the moon.
"Now! Don't wander off, wait right there, I'm going to grab us a picnic blanket!" He announced, hurrying back into the ship, as if it was every day he found himself on the moon. And really for him, it probably was. Franky took the few minutes on her own to look around her. She couldn't think of anyone else who would ever see a view like this. The stars were so close that she felt like she could reach out and touch them. And Earth... It was a huge mass of blue and white. And she felt so... insignificant, which couldn't help but depress her a little. But at the same time, she felt bigger than everyone else on Earth. It was her standing on a different planet, looking down at them, and not the other way around. She and the Doctor had this entire planet to themselves right now - what did everyone down there have? She heard a crash, and spun around to see the Doctor tumble out of the doorway, in a heap of tweed and check blanket. "Right! Got us some Jammie Dodgers too!"
As they sat on the blanket, Franky still stared down at the Earth, thoughts running through her mind a million miles a minute. She cleared her throat to get his attention, and once he was looking at her, she spoke.
"Have you... Got any friends? Other aliens or something?"
"Of course, everyone's got friends, haven't they?" He asked, and Franky looked down.
"Have you... Have any of them-"
"...These Jammy Dodgers taste a bit off, don't they?"
"Doctor..."
"Alright, alright. I suppose... Some. More than some, really. More like a lot. They travel with me, and then... " He smiled sadly at her. "Franky, I'm 903 years old. I'll always have to say goodbye one day." He watched her face fall, and sighed. "But... You've had to say goodbye recently, haven't you?"
"...It was my fault." Her voice faltered again, but this time, the tears were relentless, streaming down her cheeks before she was even able to get a word out. "It should be me dead, not her. I ran away, and if she hadn't been in that car... If they hadn't been chasing me, and had that accident... G- Gr-" She sobbed, still unable to say the name, and in frustration, threw her biscuit hard across the surface of the moon. The Doctor shuffled over, and nudge some of her hair away from her face, and cupped her cheek. The tears still fell, and slipped over his hand before falling to the ground.
"... I'm sorry for your friend, but listen to me, because this is very important - it wasn't your fault. This... guilt, this sense of responsibility... It's mourning. Regret. For the things you never said, for the things you can never say again..." His voice trailed, trying to work out how much to tell this girl falling apart in front of him. How much of himself to give away to make her feel better, and he realised it was worth it. One openess to another. "I had a friend, a best friend you might say, and I had to let her forget about me, forget about how brilliant and important she was. All the wonderful things she did. And it haunted me, it truly did, because she wouldn't have gained and lost so much if she'd never met me." He moved his hand down, and passed the almost empty packet of biscuits over to her. "But this regret... It will pass. It might take a very long time, but it will, eventually. Accepting you'll never see your friends again... It's hard. But it will get easier. But hurting yourself, letting... other people hurt you." She looked at him, and he gave her a knowing look. "It isn't going to make the pain inside go away. Only the passing of time can do that."
As the Doctor packed up the blanket, and moved back to the TARDIS, he noticed how silent Franky was, but that was okay. He'd given her a lot to think about. But he was about to step in when she spoke from behind him.
"Can't I come with you?" He looked around, and she was hugging herself. He raised a questioning eyebrow. "All of time and space... I could come with you. You wouldn't have to drop me off, you said yourself you've travelled with friends." He stepped back outside, and gripped her shoulders, gently.
"Normally I'd say yes. Yes with no hesitation. But right now, you don't belong here. You belong with the people that love and care about you. Travelling the stars won't bring her back. You could travel to the farthest reaches of the universe, but she'd still be with you. But I tell you what," He smiled brightly, taking her hand again and pulling her into the TARDIS. "I'll come back. Give me a year, give or take... well, give or take a few years actually, I'm not that great with my timing. But I promise, I'll come back, and if you still want to see the stars... You can come with me." She frowned, but considered it.
"...Fine. A year." She smiled ever so slightly, the first smile he'd seen on her face since she met him, and he copied it, walking over to the central console to start on the quick journey home.
To his word, once she stepped out of the TARDIS, it began to dematerialise before her eyes, the Doctor inside working hard, scrabbling around to find the right co-ordinates to get him exactly where he needed to be. And once he pinpointed the exact location - the same position, only sometime later - he let her land, and the TARDIS reappeared. Stepping out, he first took a look around to make sure he really was in the right place - and smiled that for once, the old girl had done her job right. He walked along the road he'd first met Franky, and by a stroke of luck, he heard the squeal of a child, and he followed it to find a very familiar girl, pushing a pram. He watched her continue down the road, until her eyes caught his, and her face lit up, and she walked in doubletime to reach him.
"Doctor, you came back." She smiled, a happy, genuine smile this time.
"I said I would."
"You said a year." She reminded him.
"I said give or take a year." He laughed, and she couldn't help but laugh too.
"You're only about...six months out, it's okay." She added, looking at him in awe. "You don't look any different."
"It was five minutes ago for me. But you... Look at you, Franky Fitzgerald... Smiling." She blushed a little, and looked down, embarassed. "And with a family, I see!"
"What? Oh, no! No, no, definitely not. Not yet, at least. I'm babysitting for a friend while she's at uni." She bent down and picked up the strawberry blonde child from the pram, pulling her onto her hip as she fussed. "Her name's Grace." It was her turn to give the Doctor a knowing look, and he recognised it, smiling softly.
"Beautiful name. And she is quite fond of her Auntie Franky."
"Well, she's a special little girl, course I'm gonna fuss over her." Franky smiled, her cheeks still a little pink, and she looked behind the Doctor, down the road to where the TARDIS sat. "Doctor..." She bit her lip, hesitating to speak, but he shook his head.
"I know. And it's okay. Just because I offer you the stars, doesn't mean you have to take them." He reassured, looking at Franky and Grace. "Living life is just as much of an adventure as seeing it through the doors of a rusty old space ship."
"Will you come back, though? Every now and again, just to say hello?"
"...I'll pop in now and again. For cups of tea and stuff. But you don't need me. Not anymore." He smiled, laughed, and shook his head to himself. "Franky Fitzgerald... The girl that grew up."