Title: Stay of Execution
Fandom: Doctor Who
Characters: Charley, the Doctor (Eighth)
Prompt: 010 - hey, when we first met, I thought that time had come for me to die; but now I see, that you had come here to bring new life
Word Count: 450
Rating: G
Summary: A short coda to Storm Warning where Charley expresses her gratitude to the Doctor for taking her with him.
Author's Notes: Originally written for 50lyricsfanfic on LJ. Set shortly after Storm Warning. Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I'm just borrowing it for fun.
"Doctor?"
"Yes, Charley?" The Time Lord glanced up at his newfound companion from the console in the TARDIS' control room. A faint smile crossed his aristocratic features at the sight of Charley sitting by Ramsay, stroking the vortisaur's head much like one would with a cat.
"I just wanted to say thank you," she said after hesitating on her choice of words.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
"Saving my life. That's what you've done by letting me travel with you," Charley explained, standing and moving across the control room to join the Doctor at the TARDIS' central console. Ramsay made an indignant chirp at the sudden lack of attention, though it went ignored by Charley and the Doctor. "Isn't it?"
"Ah, yes, well--"
"I really do appreciate it, you know. I just wanted to let you know that."
The Doctor smiled again, though there was a vague hint of sadness in his expression as he looked away from Charley and turned back to the readouts on the console of his ship. "It's not a big deal, Charley."
"No, it is," she insisted, moving closer to the Time Lord. "If we hadn't met... Well, we've both seen what happened to the R101."
The Doctor closed his eyes for a moment with a quiet sigh before turning back to face Charley with a smile. "Charley, I'm glad you're here with me now. So don't even worry about what happened with the R101, all right?"
"All right," Charley said hesitantly, somewhat confused by the Doctor's behaviour and choice of words but unwilling to question it for the moment. If something was wrong, he would tell her. He had no reason to keep information from her, especially if it had something to do with how they'd met or her very presence on the TARDIS. "But thank you anyway."
Smiling much more genuinely, the Doctor activated the spatial hologram above the console to show the galaxy. He glanced over at Charley and then back to the starscape. "Where would you like to go now?"
Charley grinned widely and pointed to a binary star system. "There."
"Tannalis it is, then," the Doctor said as he programmed the coordinates into the TARDIS and set the time ship going. He'd try to avoid the subject of the R101 with Charley as much as he could, but eventually he knew he would have to tell her...that he would have to take her back to her death. But for now, travelling through time and space with her was enough. It would give her something memorable before she had to be returned to her fate.