Title: What Use Are Emotions?

Rating: K

Summary: Henry van Statten had been in love once. It seemed like another lifetime, but yes, he had been in love.

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who.

Author's Note: I noticed during Dalek the look of shock on van Statten's face after the Dalek spoke those words, and wondered why he looked that way. So I've written a fic to answer that question. It's the first time I've ever written a fic about a minor character, and I have also included no dialogue except for the quote in question.

What Use Are Emotions?

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?"

Henry van Statten had been in love once. It seemed like another lifetime, but yes, he had been in love.

It wasn't the most classic match. He was a nerdy, pasty kid with glasses who wrote maths equations for fun and had a thing for Princess Leia.She was the new girl in school, and everything about her was perfect. Her body was thin, but not like a stick insect. Her face was flawless and her teeth were white and straight. She was hoping to be a nurse one day so she could help mankind. And she fell in love with Henry van Statten.

The jump from study partners to friends to boyfriend and girlfriend was quite sudden. She didn't even laugh when Henry showed her his Star Wars memorabilia. They spent whole days together – having picnics, taking walks on the beach (though Henry forgot to put on sunscreen, and spent the next few days attempting to moisturise his skin), and just enjoying being in each other's company. On his 18th birthday, Henry ceased to be a virgin. On her 18th birthday, Henry surprised her by wearing his new contact lenses and growing a goatee (which, she remarked, made him look very sexy). Then they got the news that they had both gotten into good courses at college – but Henry's was on the other side of the country.

She transferred colleges to be with him. She knew his course was intense, so she didn't mind when he spent more time in the library than with her. She didn't say anything when he forgot their anniversary. And she didn't cry when he yelled at her to leave him in peace.

As the years passed, they slowly drifted apart. Henry had never thought that anything was wrong – he had been so caught up in his world that he'd assummed everything was fine. She hadn't told him anything was wrong – at least not directly. But Henry kept missing the signals, and slowly, he began to misuse his abilities. With the development of computers came the development of hacking into them, and nothing amused Henry more than sabotaging someone else's work from a distance.

Henry's obsession with aliens went from science fiction to reality. There had been so many mysterious events that had occurred over the last few years that had gone unanswered, or been dismissed as hoaxes. But Henry was determined. He poured through every source available to him, and slowly patterns began to emerge. He soon found himself in possession of knowledge he never could have dreamed of. Everything had been happening right under his nose! With this knowledge, he realised, he could gain access to alien technology and use it. And knowledge, as he was beginning to learn, was power.

She didn't know what was happening to him. Her normally quiet, reserved Henry was becoming a monster, and she didn't know what to do. He kept assuring her that nothing was wrong, but she knew that this man wasn't the Henry that she'd fallen in love with, and she didn't know if she could love the new Henry.

Finally, she called him. She told him they needed to talk. Henry found the timing of this qute inconvenient, as he was in the middle of examining a piece of what he suspected was alien equipment that he'd found on the street. She had told him that the situation was serious, and that he had to come. He had sighed, and done as he was told. It was the last time in his life that he'd let someone tell him what to do.

The coffee shop seemed like a strange place to Henry, even though for a long time it had been his second home for whenever he would meet her. She told him that she couldn't handle it anymore. She told him that he'd become cold, and, though she dreaded to say it, heartless. She asked him if he loved her, and though he said yes, she didn't believe him. She told him that he had one more chance with her. He had to change, or she would leave him. Henry refused.

She ran out of the coffee shop, distraught. She didn't see the truck coming. She didn't hear the cries of the crowd behind her. She only saw the ground as she hit it.

Henry had seen what love could do, so he made sure he'd never fall in love again. He spent more time in his room, and less with the outside world. He sought power and money, feeling that they could make him happy. He felt something missing, but didn't dwell on it long enough to realise what it was. As he built up his empire, he felt satisfied with his life. Who would have thought that nerdy, pasty kid with glasses would grow up to own the entire internet?

But when his base was infiltrated by a Doctor with no name and a young British girl, something changed in Henry van Statten. He saw something between them that he hadn't felt in a very long time.

When the Dalek asked the Doctor that fateful question, Henry van Statten was shocked. Here was an alien creature that had been genetically engineered to hate, and it was asking the most human question there was. It was a question he wished he'd asked himself all those years ago. Maybe then, his life would have been different. Maybe then he would have realised that love and emotion was worth more than knowledge and power. Even if the Doctor with no name had refused to open the door, Henry van Statten would have opened it for him. He wouldn't let anyone else, alien or not, make the same mistake he did.

The End

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I am so glad to have posted something - I just had 2 exams and that's why I've been absent from here for a few days.