Offline: Click Here to Connect
Notes: Just something that came to me whilst arguing over the pros and cons of TGITF with a hopeless romantic. Chris, you rock my socks.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Mind-melding. That's what they call it on Star Trek. Humans call it telepathy and many call it witchcraft.
He calls it a gift. A gift and a curse.
Funny how those two things go together.
Like regeneration. Gift, curse. Life, and the ability to sustain it, will always be a precious gift. Living alone whilst watching everything and everyone around you die is not.
And suddenly a girl who called him an angel understood this, and so much more. Those memories and thoughts had been offline, but she'd made a connection. Just like opening a door.
She opened her heart to him and he did what he always did. He broke it. The connection was there. But not in the way she wanted.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Love. That's what they call it on every planet, in every solar system, in every universe. It's a gift, it's a curse, it inspires you to write poetry. Whatever. He doesn't indulge in it.
That doesn't mean he doesn't feel it.
Love for Susan. A family love, a love that meant he'd wanted the best for her even if he'd had to lie in the process.
Love for Sarah Jane that meant he'd protected her, laughed with her, cried with her, even if he'd left her behind.
Love for Rose. He didn't know what kind yet.
Love for Reinette. The little girl she'd been, the woman she'd become. But it was not the love she wanted.
He could fall in love, and perhaps he was, but that kind of love was best left alone. And yes, he loved her, he loved them all. But not in the way they wanted.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
A door once opens can be passed through both ways. A bridge can be walked over from both directions. A connection joins two things together, not just one to the other. How an 18th century woman could do something quite obvious yet so incredible, he didn't know. Yet suddenly she knew so much. As if a door had been opened. An error message no one else had ever read saying 'offline: click here to connect'. A gateway into memories buried, feelings pushed aside, love forgotten.
He'd lingered then, kept the connection open for longer, just wanting someone to understand after so many years of silence. Perhaps he'd been wrong about her after all. Maybe she was lonely too.
And yes, he would dance with her. But not in the way she wanted.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Quite short and probably like a million other fics, but I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless.