AN: I've begun watching Doctor Who and it is amazing and I love it. A quick Dorabella/Edwin Bracewell minific set during Victory of the Daleks. For Lexi.

Twinkle

"Hey… Paisley."

The Scottish girl with the short skirt and the red hair –Amy, that's her name—stares down at you. Your chest is burning. Red hot. If you had a human heart, it would have given out by now from the fear.

"Ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?"

What? How can you fancy someone? You're a machine. A cold, hard, unloving machine. Machines can't—

"Hurts, doesn't it?"

Can't love.

Lively, deep blue eyes glance up at you.

"But a good kind of hurt."

Sunlight in the leaves of an ash tree.

Throat feels hot. Chest feels hot. This cold machine is burning, burning, burning up. And it will destroy the world and there is nothing you can do about it.

"Nothing?" she says. "Well, I think there's always something, Edwin." She slips off the stone wall and walks away…

"I—I really shouldn't talk about her."

No, you shouldn't. Dorabella is just a memory. Right? Just an imaginary person, or someone stolen. And besides, in your memories Dorabella is married. Older and married.

Amy the Scottish girl raises her eyebrows. "Oh. There's a her."

Yes. Yes, a her. A beautiful her. And funny, and smart, and…

"Come now, Mr. Bracewell. Can't an old girl like me have a little fun, too? Or… Oh, I see. You don't know how to have fun. Is that it, Edwin? Well, I can show you…"

"What was her name?" asks the Doctor. Another alien. But much better. He's not in danger of killing a whole planet.

"So what's your name, soldier?"

"Dorabella."

Beautiful Dorabella.

"Dorabella! It's a lovely name, a beautiful name."

"What was she like, Edwin?" Amy asks.

Such a smile. And her eyes… Her eyes were so blue… Almost violet. Like the last touch of sunset…on the edge of the world. Dorabella…

A grin. "We can't have Edmund finding out about this, now can we?" No, Dorabella, you said.

"Such a smile."

Her eyes twinkled. Always twinkled. But when she mentioned Edmund… the twinkle faded. But only just. Only just.

"And her eyes… Her eyes were so blue… Almost violet."

He hands her a bouquet of violets. They match her eyes, but not her personality. And those blue, blue eyes glow. "Thank you, Edwin. How sweet."

"Like the last touch of sunset… on the edge of the world."

"I can't stay, you know. I have to go to London within the week."

She touches his hand.

"I know, Edwin. And I'll miss you. But it's for the best."

In the last light of the day, he could have sworn her eyes were twinkling, but not in their normal way. In a very sad way. Then the light disappears and everything is as blue as her eyes, and he walks one way and she walks the other and when she wakes up he's gone missing.

"Dorabella…"

Machines can't love.

But he's not a machine.