"Doctor, Doct-, Doctor," Peri called frantically, looking round, searching desperately for her boyfriend in the dark. He had been right next to her nit two seconds ago, and now, he had vanished, just like the daleks that had been following them.
Her breathing was starting to stray into the territory of hyperventilation, her chest clenching in pain as she started to panic, she called out again, "Doctor…darling where are you?"
She ran, looking left and right, surely he hadn't left her, he wouldn't, he'd promised her and he never ever broke his promises, not to her.
From up ahead she heard a scream of agony, one that sounded all too familiar. Her heart skipped a beat painfully, as she rushed towards the scream, rough branches slapping across her face as she pushed through the dark, desperately seeking out the one she loved.
"Doctor?" she called out again, listening intently for any indication of his presence. Another scream from ahead was her only reply.
Her chest tightened, and she struggled to take in gasping breaths, attempting to calm herself, after all it wouldn't do for her to panic, if he was in danger. She'd promised him once that she'd save him and get very angry at whoever had hurt him, because as they'd both established she was utterly terrifying when she was angry. It was with these thoughts in mind that she managed to take a few more shaky steps into what turned out to be a wide, empty field, which under any other circumstances would be beautiful, with its brightly coloured flowers, not native to Earth of course, but beautiful all the same. The sky above her was a light purple, further proof that they were on an alien planet, though if she admitted it, the change in colour was welcome after the pitch blackness of the surrounding forest. But as it was the young American didn't seem to notice any of that, she was staring transfixedly in front of her, her eyes the only things that betrayed any emotion in her now mask like face. Her brown eyes normally so filled with joy and wonder and love, were filled with unshed tears, and a mix of both horror and heartbreak. There lying immobile on the grass, drenched in a pool of his own blood was the Doctor.
For a few seconds the girl stood frozen, as still as the body on the ground, before she moved, slowly at first, in a trance like state, but gradually picking up speed, until she was sprinting across the grass to his side. She looked his body up and down as she approached, searching wildly for the cause of the bleeding. There was none. Her legs gave out underneath her and she fell limply to her knees as the tears that had been threatening to overwhelm her finally did so.
Between sobs she seemed to speak, a broken mantra of the same words over and over again, "No…no…Doctor, you can't be…you promised…oh Doctor no…no…please".
It was a picture of utter and total devastation, rendered only worse when she collapsed completely, laying her head on top of his unmoving chest, one had over his second heart, "No, you can't be…dead, Doctor, please come back to me, I love you," she whispered to the lifeless body as the tears continued to flow.
Finally after what seemed like hours, she slowly let go and sat up, her eyes red and sore from the endless tears which were still falling slowly down her cheeks. She leaned in and kissed him tenderly on the forehead, whispering "I'm so sorry," before getting up and slowly turning her back on the only man she'd ever love. She knew what she had to do, she'd said once before that she'd rather die than live in a world without him and that was exactly what she planned to do.
She turned back briefly to glance at him one last time saying quietly "Goodbye darling, don't worry you'll see me again soon."
She was halfway to the entrance of the forest when she heard someone call her name softly, as though they'd just woken up, "Peri?"
She gasped, how could she have forgotten, she turned back overjoyed at the prospect of him still being alive, well he would look different of course and possibly act slightly different, though he had often assured her that his feelings would never change, no matter what he looked like. So overjoyed was she, that she didn't notice that the figure rising from the ground was familiar, but not in a good way, at least she didn't notice it until she launched herself into his arms, sobbing in relief.
"Well, little Peri, I bet you thought you'd seen the last of me, didn't you?" She stared up in horror as the face of Howard Foster leered down at her.
She couldn't help it, she screamed, a desperate choking sound as he laughed raucously, before leaning down with an all too familiar gleam in his eyes, to kiss her deeply, biting her lip and forcing his tongue into her mouth when she cried out in pain. His hands roamed her body, pausing only to rip off her sweater, before continuing their path downwards. She shuddered, the tightness returning to her chest, her breath coming in wild gasps, tears of fear streaming from her eyes, she couldn't breathe, she was trapped in his arms with no means of escape, she was going to…
"Peri? Peri my darling?" An anxious voice called from somewhere to her left.
Her eyes flew open and her chest heaved trying desperately to take in some much needed oxygen. She looked around frantically, trying to wrench herself out of his grip.
"Perrrri, Perrrri my darrrrling, look at me" the voice continued in a strangely hypnotic tone.
Peri felt her fear drain away, she knew that voice, knew it better than her own. It was the voice of the one person who would never hurt her or abandon her, the person she loved unconditionally and whom she had married not two weeks ago.
"Doctor?" she asked tentatively, turning her head to focus on the messy haired man next to her, looking into his blue grey eyes, which were filled with an enormous amount of pain and love and a hint of fear. Of course, that was because he could feel exactly what she did due to a psychic link they had created between the two of them.
He smiled in relief, "Yes my darling, I'm here, it's alright now, you're safe".
He gently caressed her hair, sweeping it away from her damp forehead, as he tried to search her mind for whatever had caused the fear, but she had sealed off the link, now that she was awake and in full control of her side of the bond. She was shutting him out. This thought almost caused him to chuckle; it was so like her, despite the enormous amount of fear and pain she had just experienced, her primary concern was with him feeling it too. But, he knew her well enough to know that she would tell him eventually, as she could neither lie to him, nor keep secrets from him and she trusted him completely, as he did her.
He was pulled away from this train of thought as his arms were suddenly filled with his trembling wife, and he put his arms around her reflexively, kissing her damp hair tenderly, as he waited for her to calm down, which she eventually did.
Peri pulled back from him, eyes still damp, hair sticking up in an adorable way as she whispered softly, "I'm sorry."
"Now, my dear Perri" he started, rolling the R's in her name in a comforting way "You have nothing to be sorry about, you were frrrightened, so it wasn't yourrrr fault, but if I may ask, what frightened you so my darling?" he looked at her questioningly, his hearts aching at the fear in her eyes.
"Oh, it was nothing, I was just being silly, it was just a stupid nightmare" she replied hastily, trying to pass it off as nothing.
It was all he could do not to sigh, he'd heard that one before, when was she going to realize that nothing she could say would make her silly in his eyes, especially not something that scared her like this. "I'm sure it's not silly at all, and besides" he said tapping her nose affectionately, "what have I said about nightmares?"
She gave him a small smile, and attempted to roll her eyes, in a semblance of her usual response to his nose tapping, "I know, I know, it's just that it feels silly, I shouldn't be having them anymore, not since…"she trailed off with a pointed gesture towards her hand. He grinned at that, but she hadn't finished "especially not one's about him".
The Doctor stiffened, but said nothing, as he still hadn't let his anger about this particular subject out, and he had no wish to frighten her, especially in this state. He looked at her encouragingly, as if to say 'yes, what about him?' She looked down at her knees, biting her lip, unsure of how to begin, " Well, umm…oh…" she trailed off in surprise as the Doctor reached out to her and pulled her onto his knees, holding her tight, whispering, "I do believe you once told me that starrrting at the beginning was good."
She turned her head slightly to send him a fake glare, "Oh very funny darling, Anyway" she started " In my nightmare it was dark, really, really dark and you were gone, and I was so scared because you weren't there and well, you know what I'm like. So I searched for you, but then I heard a scream, your scream and…oh Doctor it was horrible." She clutched at him, resting her head on one heart, while her right hand covered the other, listening to the calming beats of his twin hearts, as he stroked her back lightly, whispering words of comfort.
After a minute she pulled back smiling slightly, before leaning up to kiss him on the cheek, "Thanks."
"You're welcome my darling. But I hope you know that I'd never leave you."
She smiled tiredly, "I think I do, the amount of times you've repeated it to me, and anyway, it was just a nightmare, anyway" she paused trying to find the right words "Um, well, I ran, because I had to get to you, and I ended up in this clearing and when I got there, you were…"she trailed off, closing her eyes in pain.
He nodded in realization, and whispered "dead?", her look of sadness was the only confirmation he needed.
"So, I tried to help you, but there was so much blood, and I couldn't see where it was coming from, and I'm so sorry. And so then, you know how we said that we wouldn't be able to live without each other", he nodded, dreading the direction this was going in "well, I'd decided I was going to…you know, so I started walking away from you, but then you called my name, and I was so happy, but when I got to you, you were him, and he tried to…well you know that too…"
He glared at the ceiling, arms tightening around her, his anger momentarily overtaking him, damn that bastard for doing that to her, his precious, pretty, wonderful Peri, no one should ever have to go through that, least of all her. She snuggled to him helplessly, and he held her protectively against his chest.
"Well my darling," he started in calm voice "you know that that won't happen, afterrr all even if I do rrregenerrate it will most certainly not be into him, I can prrromise you that. And nothing in your nightmare can ever happen, as I will never leave you, so you rrreally have nothing to worry about."
She smiled into his chest, not moving from her position as she said sleepily "I know you won't…I told you it was silly."
He shook his head fondly, kissing her forehead "My dearrr Perrrpugilliam, you could never be silly, especially not when you have a nightmare like that."
She yawned, "If you say so darling." She tilted her head back, to allow him to kiss her, which he did passionately, telling her through the bond how much he loved her. She responded in kind, though her thoughts were hazy due to her state of fatigue.
He kissed her softly one last time before pulling back slowly to smile at her, "Sleep now my darling, you'll be perrrfectly safe, I'll prrrotect you from any other nightmares."
She looked at him sleepily for a moment before moving to lie down next to him, curling up into a ball on her side, slowly drifting back to sleep, mumbling a quiet "I love you" as she did so.
He smiled and leaned over her to kiss her nose, causing her to move her head in a sleepy protest, "And I love you, my darling Peri"
He watched her in silence for a few minutes, smiling softly as she slipped into another dream, much happier than the last, before sleep overcame him too.
The Doctor lay down beside his companion, pulling the blanket over the two of them, before turning to his side to spoon her gently, clutching her to him, vowing silently to rid her of those fears if it were the last thing he ever did.