Close To The Edge
Author's Notes: This is actually set
after 'Yours is No Disgrace'. Apologies for the confusion, but my
muses insisted I write this out before I forgot it.
Dedicated to my beloved Steven, because you didn't let me fall.
Then according to the man who showed his outstretched arm
to space,
He turned around and pointed, revealing all the human race.
I shook my head and smiled a whisper, knowing all about the
place.
The sky was grey and overcast, hiding the sun from all view.
It seemed to fit somehow, the cold, dark day seemed in tune with
the sense of danger that was everywhere around. Encroaching
entropy, approaching nothingness. Despair and destruction echoed
on the wind, whistling mournfully through the massive steel
struts of the huge radio telescope.
Sarah looked up at it, and a strong feeling of dread coursed
through her, making her shiver from more than cold. She could see
a figure crawling slowly up one of the gantries purposefully. He
was dressed in a red frock coat, with a long scarf dangling from
his neck...Sarah gasped involuntarily.
"Doctor..."
Then the wind changed direction, and Sarah felt herself carried
along with it until she stood on top of the tower, watching as
the Doctor - her Doctor - desperately tried to unplug a thick
cable. His movements were slow, almost painful and there was an
aching melancholy in his usually cheerful face. The sight made
Sarah's heart ache. She wanted to reach out to him, help him,
comfort him...but she felt frozen in place, unable to move while
the man she loved wrestled with something more than the physical
task he was engaged in. The gantry he knelt on suddenly shook
violently and two of the hinges at one side detached themselves.
A gasp was wrenched from the Doctor's lungs as he clawed at the
cable, tearing it from it's housing before his balance failed him
and he fell.
Sarah tried to scream his name as she watched him slide off the
platform and dangle precariously from the hundred-foot high
tower. She sobbed soundlessly as the scene played out before her
eyes, she could see the Doctor's alien blood staining the strut
he gripped, she looked into his eyes, seeing not the terror she
expected, but rather a look of both regret and acceptance almost
as if he knew he would fall - and had known it from the moment he
began his climb. His grip slipped a little as even Time Lord
strength began to wear out...
"No!" Sarah screamed, at last released from the
torturous paralysis. She rushed to his aid, grabbing hold of his
arm and hauling him upwards with a surge of terrified,
adrenalised strength. His bright blue eyes were astonished and
strangely proud.
"Sarah...?" He whispered...
Sarah opened her eyes, finding herself looking up at the
Doctor.
"Sarah...?" He asked in precisely the same tone as her
dream, his mobile face was filled with concern. Sarah sat up and
took a deep, shuddering breath, surprised and relieved to find
herself back on the TARDIS, in the Doctor's room. Her heart was
beating ten to the dozen, and she was shivering violently.
"It...was just a dream." She said, but her words didn't
sound convincing, even to her own ears. The Doctor took her
gently in his arms, enfolding her in a comforting embrace.
"No." He said softly, gravely. Sarah looked astonished.
"What do you mean?"
"The TARDIS just passed through the outer edge of the
temporal boundary around Gallifrey. At that point, space-time is
in a state of flux, sometimes travellers can pick up images or
thoughts or even memories from the past or future." He
explained, gently massaging her shoulders as he did so. Sarah
felt her heartbeat slowing as she enjoyed the feeling of his cool
fingers on her bare skin.
"Like Déjà vu?" She asked.
"Yes, just like." He smiled as she relaxed back into
his embrace. She tilted her head back so her dark eyes peered up
at him.
"Did...you see some of that too?" She said, referring
obliquely to their link.
"Hmm? Oh, I got an impression of what you were seeing...you
called my name."
"Will that really happen someday?" She asked in a soft,
nervous voice.
"Oh, it might...and it might not. The Universe is full of
possibilities, Sarah Jane." He said, stroking her hair in
what he hoped was a soothing way.
Sarah chuckled quietly, "That means you don't know,
Doctor."
He tried to look affronted, but she just laughed and closed her
eyes. "Will I have another dream like that?" She asked
as she lay back down. The Doctor snuggled up behind her, wrapping
as much of himself as he could around her.
"Oh, I doubt it, we're well away from the boundary
now." He said, and then he kissed her softly of the cheek.
"I'll make sure you sleep well."
Sarah smiled, "Doctor?"
"Hmm?"
"I'd never have let you fall."
