8 Seconds of Separation
Prologue
Coming of Age
"The age different between us..."
"Doesn't mean anything.
"I'm too old for you," came the tired sigh.
"Don't be ridiculous. You're only as old as you feel."
The woman laughed as she leaned back in her seat, smiling indulgently up at the young man before her. "More of your alien wisdom? I know what our theorists would have to say to that. Age is..."
"...as relative as anything else," he interrupted breezily and smiled. It was that smile that would be her undoing, she knew that. He was so confident, so sure of himself. No other so young would have dared to go before the High Council and tell them that each and every one of them was wrong. He was so sure there was a better way of doing things, so passionately devoted to trying to force the highly conservative Council to see how much could be learned from the so-called "lower" races of the Universe. He was determined that they begin to take a hand in what was happening beyond their world, instead of simply observing as the lower-beings fended for themselves.
His passion was infectious and invigorating and she was well aware that despite her age, there was no way she could hold out against him forever. Not when she so wanted the life he could give her, the love and joy he offered without thought or hesitation. He would have his way in the end, her determined and unconventional boy.
He sat down beside her and drew her hands up to his lips, kissing them one by one. "You, my dearest Patience, are like the finest of wines," he declared grandly. "Your age makes you all the more intoxicating."
She laughed again. "Oh, youare impossible. But in all seriousness, I'm nearly ten thousand and you not even two hundred yet. I haven't any more than this one lifetime left, where as you have all yours a head of you."
The young man shook his head. "You know I don't care about that."
"What if I do?"
That devastating, know-it-all grin. "Then you should take a page out of my book and be more sensible about it. Life is what you make of it, not how long it is. So, you only have this one lifetime left? Share it with me and I promise you, I'll make it everything you could possibly want."
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One lifetime.
It had gone by so quickly. Just short of two hundred years, so much shorter than any of her preceding twelve. It had passed in a flashes of laughter and discussion and quiet contentment where words were unneeded.
Her breath came shorter as the fever intensified and she knew she would not see another morning, but she wasn't sorry he'd eventually had his way as she'd always known he would. For all it had been too short, she had never laughed so much in any of her lives nor lived more joyously.
The room around her faded in and out of focus, her mind taking her back to the home of her childhood or the apartments in the Citadel she had shared with her first husband so many thousands of years ago. Only one thing remained constant, the beloved face of her young man. Older now, age had begun to take it's toll on this, his first form. But his eyes were still the same bright eyes, so clever and so deep. Still so young. Without even a single regeneration behind him, his lined face belied the impetuousness of youth.
"Doctor," the healer addressed her husband and Patience couldn't help but smile, just a little. It had been decades since he'd acquired the title and insisted on it's use to the exclusion of the name he detested. But still, the title that had become more of a nickname than anything else, continued to amuse her whenever she heard it.
"It won't be long now," continued the healer, kindly. "Her temporal focus is beginning to degenerate and..."
Her husband waved away further explanations with an impatient motion of his hand. No one had to tell him what was happening. His was widely known to be one of the most brilliant minds on Gallifrey, for all he was loathed by many for his unorthodox opinions and impatience with the slow procedures of the Council on which he now sat. The youngest member on it, and the most controversial.
Images flashed through her mind, as her consciousness began to float through time while her body slowly gave up the battle with age and illness. A girl with blonde hair laughed in the sun, confusing her for a moment before her place was taken by a dark-haired girl who's eyes were full of too many questions.
Patience smiled.
"Look after her, my love," she whispered softly.
"Look after who?"
"My daughter." His brows drew together in confusion and she struggled against her fading strength to continue speaking. "The one they will weave to take my place when I'm gone. She will be... so much like you. Promise me you'll look after her."
"If... if you want." She could see him swallowing past the threat of tears and wished she could give him more comfort.
"She'll be... far too much like you," Patience said, her eyes closing as images of the girl who had yet to be born faded from her mind like mist.
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They were already chuckling as he arrived, a few minutes late for the welcoming of the newest member of his house. Just as Patience had predicted, it was a girl. The laughter of the others echoed in his ears as he pressed forward to find she hadn't opened her eyes yet.
Somewhere behind him someone murmured something about a "throwback", the same term they'd used for him. And he remembered when he'd first opened his eyes too look up into the laughing faces of his house, knowing himself to be the source of their amusement though as yet unable to fathom why.
Well, that wasn't going to happen to Patience's daughter. He'd promised after all.
He forced himself to the front as her eyes began to flicker and when this child opened her eyes, it was to look up into his face. Devoid of laughter, he smiled at her in welcome.
The new widower felt too old to be a father, even though his wife had claimed this girl as her daughter. A grandfather, perhaps? Yes. Yes, he thought he might be able to manage to be a grandfather.
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Her heart beat too fast as she followed him across the field clutching her little bag of things to her chest. This was where the remnants of decommissioned TARDISes sat waiting to be harvested for parts once they were dead. Most of the shapes in the darkness around her were silent, the strange life-force that lay at the heart of the living space-and-time ships having faded beyond recall. But somewhere in this TARDIS graveyard there was one...
Oh, she was exited. He'd talked about it for so long, as long as she could remember. All her short life he'd complained bitterly about the stupidity of the Council and how much of the Universe he wanted to see for himself. And finally, it was all happening. His temper had snapped that morning and after nearly an hour of haranguing the lot of them, including the president whom he'd called a fool to his face, he'd become the first in the history of Gallifrey to resign his position on the Council in protest of it's policies.
Now, before anyone could guess his intentions, he was leaving. It was time to see the Universe. And even better, he was taking her with him.
"This one," he said quietly, stopping before one shape in the darkness that seemed as lifeless as all the others until she put her hand on it. Then she could feel it, the thrum of life that still resided somewhere deep inside.
Her heart skipped a beat as he unlocked the door and they stepped into the brightly lit control room. Still only a child, she'd never been inside a TARDIS before. Already she could feel the warmth of the telepathic connection with the life that powered the ship reaching out to her.
She'd dreamed of this. All her life she'd wanted to travel, to see what was out there. And best of all, to do so in a TARDIS, the ships like no other in the Universe...
She dropped her bag and ran toward the console in the centre of the room.
"Will it really fly, Grandfather?"
"Don't touch that! Yes, it will fly. This one's not too far gone yet. It's only a Type 40, a bit out of date. But all it really needs is a few minor repairs."
He joined her at the console and began flipping the controls that brought the systems online. The console lit up like the night time sky and the girl felt what she was sure was the ship's surge of joy at being woken from it's slow decline into oblivion.
She threw her arms around her grandfather as the ship engines ground to life, barely containing a squeal of excitement.
"It's really all ours?" she demanded breathlessly.
He chuckled indulgently at her excitement. "Yes, it's all ours. No one else wants the poor old girl, so she may as well be ours. Like her?"
"She's perfect."
They had a TARDIS all their own and an entire Universe out there to explore.