I love Michelle Gomez and I really, really doubt anyone will ever read this fic because a) Taggart fans will quickly realise it only vaguely touches upon two characters who were only in one episode and b) I don't know how many Missy fans are as obsessive as I am to have watched that one episode just for Michelle, haha!
Not my best piece of writing but hey! Here I am! Fangirling out about redeemed-ALIVE! Missy.
The Mistress gasps, feeling the darkness move with her as she sits up. Plastic if the crinkling is to be believed. She can't see a thing.
"Jealous ex much?" She mutters to herself between spluttering on the exhaust fumes still in her lungs.
She would have been sure to have died if her respiratory bypass system hadn't cut in.
Stupid human getting the drop on her. Maybe her past self was right about sentimentality.
No.
No.
That's not a path she can traverse anymore.
She is not him and she will not hurt herself by allowing him to have control over her.
The Mistress breathes in deeply, noting the way the bag moves in with her breath.
Airtight- she has to get out as soon as she can.
She might be superior physically to humans but she is by no means immortal.
Carefully she feels the bag in front of her, fingers blindly probing the surface.
A zip.
She follows it up.
There's nothing to undo it.
She follows it as far down as she can with her hands, wiggling her feet to try and feel if there's a tag to pull at the bottom.
Nothing.
Out of options she fists her hands around the plastic either side of the zip and pulls hard.
It rips easily, the sound seeming to echo in the silence of what is most likely a morgue.
There's no one around to see or hear fortunately. No one paying attention anyway.
The Time Lady looks down at herself and sighs.
"Time to take a leaf from the Doctor's book." She sighs, slipping from the bag and the table and stretching.
Wearing someone else's clothes the Mistress- no, she's Harriet now- finds herself back on the doorstep of the cottage she had bought for Susan in no time.
She hesitates a second- unsure of how to explain- what to say.
What can she say?
Desire to see Susan again- to check that she's okay wins over any kind of planning and she knocks four times, the same beat she has always used.
"Coming- just give me a moment." Comes her voice easily over the beating of Harriet's two hearts.
"Wait here while I check who it is Alice." Is whispered with the nerves of someone who has had far too many awful surprises recently.
Harriet licks her bottom lip, pulling it between her teeth a little- what is she going to say?
The Time Lady hears the locks clicking- the locks she had installed- and she tries to push a smile to her lips. It doesn't quite reach by the time the door opens and Susan is staring at her in horror and confusion.
"Wait." Harriet says, holding out a hand, gentle, "Please. I can explain- I just. Please let me explain everything Susan." And she can't control it at all but she wiping back tears, sad smile tearing from her lips as she looks at this beautiful human who she loves so deeply and- oh god- she's crying too.
"I hoped." Susan says, hands still on the edge of the door, "I hoped that you couldn't have just died like that." She sniffs.
The young girl- her granddaughter- Alice- peers into the corridor curious about the tears.
"You said she was dead, nan." She says quietly, inspecting the Time Lady with no small amount of suspicion.
"I had a friend once," Says the Mistress- the woman who used to be the Mistress- eyes only for Susan right now, "He had hope for me too. I loved him like all the stars in the sky- like the universe- like home. He told me that where there's tears there's hope." Harriet says softly, her hand coming up to brush the tears from Susan's face rather than her own.
She smiles a little at the contact.
"Please let me explain Susan. Please let me explain everything to you. To Alice. I'll tell you it all. The truth." She promises, leaning forwards, feet still not crossing the threshold as she takes the woman's hands.
"Please." Susan murmurs, lips curling up in a sad smile.
"Right now I feel like it's all I've ever wanted."
The Mistress explains everything.
Time Lords, Gallifrey, war, regeneration, murder, disguise, the Doctor, love, their daughter- everything.
And Susan doesn't quite understand but it's enough to have the human hold her and tell her it's okay- that she still loves her.
Alice seems to understand better and perhaps that's why she keeps her distance.
She thinks upon Susan's granddaughter quite a lot too- gently moving closer and closer to her until one day they're all sitting around the piano, Alice playing a tune her grandmother has taught her.
Harriet smiles, knowing that in turn it is one she taught Susan.
"You are getting very good Alice." She says with a smile because it's the truth and the girl needs more confidence after the mess of losing most of her family over a few days and gaining a grandmother who has been almost isolated from society for years.
"Thank you nan." She responds instantly, not thinking upon her words.
The Mistress smiles, seeing two different granddaughters in her place.
"You're welcome, my dear." She says, looking over to Susan who takes her hand in hers and squeezes it.
And like that these remnants of death and love and lies become a family- two women and a Time Lady living in a cottage.