DOCTOR WHO ` TORCHWOOD ` FANFICTION: CHAPTER ONE
"Mister Tennant!" I call and he turns around towards me.
"Yes, um, who're you?" David Tennant asks, walking over towards me. I hold out my Doctor Who covered notebook and a black sharpie; the notebook is opened to the back of the front cover, hiding the collage of pictures and quotes on the front.
"Could you please sign this," I ask as he takes his hands out of his coat pockets, taking it from me. "It's my birthday today so this is just totally amazing." I say, my Scottish accent bleeding through in my excitement. David smiles as he pulls the cap off of the sharpie… with his teeth. I try not to squeal at the sight of it, my fan girl crush on him already wanting to seep through the cracks.
"Of course," he says, glancing up at me as he signs. "How old are you turning miss…?" He says pausing as he writes. I blush, realizing he'd asked me before, but I had never answered him.
"Morgan," I say, "Emma Madeleine Morgan." He nods, his eyes moving back to the paper.
"And you're turning how old?" He asks, again. I mentally hit myself; I would have to stop doing that…
"Oh dear, you should know to never ask a woman her age," I say jokingly, "but since you'll probably never meet me again, I'm turning twenty." I look up at him, as I'd been staring at my feet, and see he's a foot or so taller than me, which I love. I brush my long blonde hair out of my eyes and rock back on my feet.
"Well, happy birthday Em-ma," David says, stretching the 'mm' part of my name, as if he'd wanted to call me 'Em' but changed his mind half-way through.
"Thank you," I say, smiling up at him. I'm surprised that we were standing quite alone with each other, I suppose I'd been so enraptured by our conversation that I hadn't noticed a couple of PC's pushing the mass of other fan girls away from me and David. I look back up at David and he seems just as surprised as me.
"Well, if you don't think this is too bold or anything Miss Emma," David says, "maybe you would join me inside?" He asks and I get a whole hoard of butterflies inside, my heart pounding in my ears and my stomach dropping to the ground.
"Are you…" David begins, looking at me with concern. I nod, trying to keep a level head.
"I'm fine," I say smiling, the anxiety pulling at me. "I don't know what to say…" I say, looking down at my feet, willing myself to calm down. I hear David laugh and his right hand comes into view.
"Come with me," he says, and whether it's my imagination on the reality I later came to disbelieve, I take his hand and he helps me over the barrier. Back on my feet, I stumble a little, David's free hand snakes out and catches my waist before I fall entirely. Blood rushes to my face, heating it, making me blush for what had to be the third or fourth time that night.
"You need to sit down, Em," David says, partially supporting me so I can stand. His tough is like ice and fire to me, making my legs want to give out. I meekly nod, wondering if he knows it's his fault I'm this weak. He lets me lean heavily on him now, my legs turning into rubber. His cologne smells faint, not at all overpowering. It's not long before I'm sitting down inside the foyer of the theater.
` START DAVID'S VIEW `
'What are you doing,' David thinks as he runs cool water over a paper towel for Emma.
'Changing history, it's against everything,' he thinks as he turns off the water.
'This is not at all the way of the time lords,' he thinks, wringing out the paper towel. For this man, wasn't David Tennant, no, he was the Doctor. Trapped on this version of Earth where people watched his life on TV, and had no idea that there was a place in the universe where those events really took place. Sighing, the Doctor let the paper towel drop back into the sink, leaning over it to support himself.
'What have I done?' He thinks, looking up into the mirror.
` End David's View `
"Em," I hear David whisper, I blearily open my eyes and smile up at him. It had been about fifteen minutes and I'd drifted off, I had been beginning to wonder if he was going to come back at all.
"You're back," I say and he smiles back warmly, brushing back the stray blonde hairs from my face before placing a cool paper towel on my forehead. The coolness feels nice, cutting back some of the heat from my blushing.
"I'll always come back," he says, somewhat solemnly. Before I can ask him what he means, and what's wrong, another face slides into my vision.
"What did you do this time?" The man asks, the man being John Barrowman, the actor who portrays Captain Jack Harkness in both Doctor Who and Torchwood.
"Perfect," David mutters, not realizing that I heard him. I give him the benefit of the doubt and feign not hearing him.
"He did nothing Mr. Barrowman," I say, trying to sit up, but I get pushed gently back down by David.
"Rest," he tells me, looking straight into my eyes sternly. I frown, but nod, leaning back onto the bench; it was comfortable anyway.
"You picked up a fan girl?" John asks, glancing at me before looking at David.
"She's not a fan girl," David says, a bit furiously. John seems taken aback, almost as much as I was, at David's outburst. I would have protested at this, as I was sort of a fan girl, but the angry look on David's face keeps me from saying anything. David looks down at me, and my face must have done something to him for he sighs, looking down at his feet.
"I have to go," David says suddenly, and he turns, brushing quickly past John heading for the exit. I sit up quickly, looking after him, glancing up at John who was staring after him as well.
"What's gotten into him…?" John asks himself. I don't get to hear what his answer is because I'm up on my feet, following quickly after David. I walk out of the doors and get blinded for a moment by camera flashes which all stop once the paparazzi realize I'm not famous. I then look around a moment, searching for David and see him disappear into the crowd.
"David!" I shout, rushing after him, pushing my way through the crowd. He doesn't turn so I guess he didn't hear me. I call again, louder and he seems to pause, but he doesn't turn or stop to face me. I swear inwardly, and put on a burst of speed, sprinting towards David. He turns 'round a corner ahead of me and I follow, running into him as he'd stopped. He'd somehow managed to find a dead end alley.
"Stop David," I say, breathless, he is too slightly and I can tell he's frustrated as he turns to face me.
"Please just go Emma," he asks me, looking directly into my eyes. I swallow with slight difficulty, his eyes were so powerful, but I hold my ground.
"Not until you explain what the bloody hell has gotten into you," I say and he looks away, seemingly ashamed.
"I can't," he says simply and I look at him, desperately searching his face. I walk over to him, cautiously, and look up into his face. It's cold, and dark; exactly like he'd had it when he was portraying the Doctor being sad about Rose being trapped.
"Yes, you can," I say placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "I'm not your enemy." I say and he looks down at me, his face twitching as if he wants to smile, but won't allow himself to. A car passes behind me and I turn to look at it, when I turn back he's somehow changed. Not physically, but the air around him seems… somehow more strong.
"I'm going to tell you something Emma; something that you cannot tell anyone for the rest of your life, something that could change everything, and nothing. Do you understand?" He asks me, looking at me with his head tilted forward and his hands in his front pockets as the Doctor always stands. I start to get this slowly creeping feeling that I know what he's about to tell me, but the audacity of it makes me quite skeptical. I slowly nod, wondering what I'd gotten myself into so quickly.
` START DAVID'S VIEW `
"The truth is, is that everything you've seen on TV; on Doctor Who, on Torchwood, it's all real." The Doctor says nervously, he'd totally taken everything over the edge. There was no returning now. She would accept him, laugh at him, or reject him; all of them would make her wholly insane for even listening, but then again... Was he insane for having lived all of it as he did?
"I know it's insane-"
"You got that right," she says, her eyes getting wide momentarily. She was obviously skeptical.
"But I have proof," the Doctor says and she narrows her eyes.
"Oh really, what proof would that be?" she asks, seemingly not sure of her first reaction at this point. She was obviously easily swayed.
"Two hearts of course," the Doctor says, somewhat uncomfortably.
'Too much at once and she won't believe you, too little and she won't believe you then either…' the Doctor thinks, waiting for her reaction. He wonders what's going on in her head.
` End David's View `
"Two hearts of course," David says and my heart nearly skips a beat. Two hearts… It's all too much for me to take in at once and my head starts swimming a little. I wonder, inwardly, whether I'm insane for wanting to believe his every word. I take a step forward, gazing at the right side of his chest where his other heart should be, if he indeed has two hearts. He stiffens, not knowing what I'm going to do, as I reach out timidly and open his suit coat. He looks down at my hands, interested; I reach to place my hand where his other heart should be if he's telling the truth but I retract my hand at the last moment.
'What if he's telling the truth? What do I do then? Do I go with him? Do we just go back to our normal lives? What happens?' All of these thoughts rush through my mind at once and I close my eyes against them all, my left hand curled into a fist at my collar, my right pressing softly against his chest. It takes a moment, his chest rising and falling against the touch of my hand, but I eventually feel something after what seems likes hours, even though it was really only a couple of minutes.
Thump-thump… Thump-thump… Thump-thump…. The feel of a strong heartbeat forms under my hand and I pull away, slightly frightened, but amazed and excited all at the same time. My mouth starts to water and my hands start to sweat; I place my hand on the left side of his chest now and get the same thing.
Thump-thump… Thump-thump… Thump-thump…. The two hearts beating strongly within him confirm what had been my fear, and my dream, ever since I saw the first episode of Doctor Who. It was all true; the Daleks, the Vash Tenerada, Gallifrey, it was all real.
"You're the Doctor, from Gallifrey and… everything," I say breathlessly, voicing only one of the realizations in the onslaught of thoughts that were rushing through my head. One sticking out clearer than most: 'He's been alone here on Earth for three years or more and I'm the first person he's ever told this to; a complete stranger...' My eyes tear up at the thought of how lonely he must be and I can't help but start crying.
"You must be so… so lonely having to hide your secret from everyone," I say between gasps.
"It's even more painful when the people you're hiding your secret from look so much like the people you once told everything…" he said, so quietly I almost didn't hear him. I then realize why he was so quick to call me Em.
"So, did you know me…?" I ask, knowing already by the way he looked at me with those pained brown eyes what the answer was. He nodded and let out a shaky breath.
"You were my companion, the other you got caught by the Master and I tried to follow. In that attempt I failed and got trapped here." He explained, scratching the back of his neck and avoiding my gaze. I couldn't find any words to say. It had always been my dream to travel with the Doctor and be his companion, and hopefully make him happy for once. Instead of breaking his heart like all of his other companions had. But it turns out that I had been his companion, even if I wasn't really me, and that I had done the same thing I'd always been hoping not to do.
"I'm so sorry…" I say, unable to put into words how I felt right then. He nods resignedly, rubbing his right hand along the back of his neck. He looked really tired at this point. I would have said more but footsteps approached and when I turned John Barrowman was standing behind me. As John began asking what was going on and if David was okay, David and I looked at each other, walking unwillingly with John back to the premiere. Before the night was over we'd snuck out of the season premiere of the new season of Doctor Who and had disappeared into his apartment.