Chapter Two: A Right Pair
"So...what's you're story Doctor? I know you're an alien...Time Lord- whatever that is...and I know you're the last of 'em...and I know you've got a time machine," she smiled, "But who's the real you?"
"I think that's sort of a loaded question," he replied as he chewed on a piece of grass. "Some say I'm a warrior... others say I'm mad. My enemies would call me heartless, and maybe in some ways they're right. Truth is I don't really know who I am. Bit sad eh? 924 years old and I still have no clue... I guess if I had to choose a way to describe myself though, I might have to say I was the makings of the perfect monster." He wasn't sure why he had let all that just tumble out, but it was too late to stop it now.
"You don't seem like much of a monster to me," Lilly said quietly as she flipped over onto her stomach to look at him, "Someone as wonderful as you couldn't be as horrible as you make yourself out to be...from what I've seen, you're kind...just beautiful and smart and brilliant and just, well kind..." She smiled a bit at him before she frowned, "Wait...did you say you were 924 years old!?"
"Well thank you..." he murmured. 'If only she really knew,' he sighed inwardly. "Yes that's right. 924, give or take a few years... it's hard to keep track once you pass a certain age."
"Hmmm...924 years old and picking up a 26 year old...you dirty ol' man you...," she teased before bursting out laughing, "I'm sorry, that was mean...funny though...well sort of funny..."
The Doctor shifted uncomfortably. "I suppose it does sound terrible when you say it that way...never meant it to be taken that way though," he said awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"I'm only teasing you silly man...silly man, I like that one...," Lilly said with a role of her eyes, "I think it's sweet that you've picked up a stray like me..."
"Oh don't call yourself a stray...you aren't some dog," he said as he sat back up and looked at Lilly. "You're a self respecting, lovely, brilliant young lady. If anyone is the stray in this situation it's me...roaming the galaxy for years. I merely adopted you as mine, as many wandering strays due to humans."
"Oh...so now I'm adopted?" she giggled before flipping back over and laying her head in his lap, "Well either way...this is all brilliant...absolutely, completely, positively brilliant..."
"Oh just wait til we meet your first monster..." he chuckled, "We'll see how brilliant you think it is then."
"But don't you get it? That's still brilliant! Monsters...aliens...things that go bump in the night...knowing that we're not alone in this universe...it's amazing..." Lilly sighed, closing her eyes.
The Doctor smiled and brushed her hair away from her face; her head was still in his lap. He admired her brilliant mind and he hoped that she wouldn't regret her choice. "I suppose that's true. I've always felt that way too honestly."
"We're a right pair ain't we?" she laughed coarsely, her accent heavy. Her brown eyes opened and she looked up at him. "An ancient alien with a time machine and a reckless, crazy woman who's lost everything," she mumbled.
"Yeah, yeah I suppose we are... but you certainly aren't crazy Lilly," he sighed, "If either of us is crazy it would be me. I'm the mad man with a box..."
She laughed a little at this and closed her eyes; a small tear gently rolling down her cheek and she made to brush it away quickly. "Oh you are aren't you, silly man...," she murmurs. Somehow, and she isn't sure how, but she trusts the Doctor more than she knows she should for someone she's only just met; feels as though she's known him all her life, or her future, or whatever it may be- her life intertwined with his...destined even.
"I've always been told I was crazy," he chuckled. Something felt familiar about this woman. Something just felt right, having her with him. "I just prefer to think of myself as creative though..."
"Better way to look at it I suppose," Lilly sighed, opening her eyes again, "You said there were others...companions before me...what happened to them?"
The Doctor looked at her and then cut his eyes away, closing them tight. "Well... I've lost some of them, one is stuck in a parallel Universe, one walked away on her own accord, and the most recent doesn't remember that she ever met me. I erased her memories...she didn't want to remember."
"But why would you not want to remember...it's so wonderful...surely it couldn't have been her own choice..." she stated rather than asked, "I'm sorry though Doctor...I can tell you loved them...or rather love them...we never really die...memories live on..." Lilly brought a hand up to his cheek and caressed it lightly in a soothing way.
The Doctor cocked his head, looking at her deep in thought. "Why did you put it that way...You said 'we' never really die...you're putting yourself with those I've already lost." She was right though, he never stopped loving any of them; all of them were loved in different ways.
"Don't know...," she said, pondering her choice of words, "So these monsters..." Lilly hadn't meant to change the subject so suddenly, but something in the back of her mind was telling her 'He's not ready...move on...hurry!'
"What about them?" the Doctor asked reluctantly, not quite ready to let go of the previous subject, but he could revisit it later.
"Dunno...just wondering about them...anything truly terrifying? I mean I've seen the Daleks...and the Cybermen...and there was that giant star on Christmas last year...and the Titanic over London the year before that...and then the year before that there was another alien invasion with everyone standin' on the roofs...," she rambled.
The Doctor's brow wrinkled, "How do you remember all that?" he asked. "You shouldn't know about it...almost everyone has forgotten, or their memories have been wiped. They were covered up as government phenomenon... and yes... there is much, much more out there. Things that are much more terrifying."
"Government- shovernment," Lilly scoffed and waved her hand about before tapping her temple, "Got a good memory I have...besides, who could forget that? I mean you saved us all." Lilly's eyebrows knitted together for a moment. The Doctor had never told her that he was the one to save them.
"How-How did you know that?" The Doctor asked as he looked down at her in surprise.
"Hmmm? What?" she asked, looking up at him as she fiddled with some of the purple grass between her fingers.
"You know what I'm asking you...how did you know I saved you?" he asked as he stared at her, his eyes wide.
"Just a hunch I suppose," she said as she sat up and turned to him, "I mean that's what you do right? You save people...been doing so for nine hundred plus years..."
"How did you know how long..." the Doctor trailed off as Lilly sat up and looked at him. His wheels were turning, racking his brain for a possible way that she would know.
"Well you told me your age...just assumed that you've been doing this sort of thing for awhile," Lilly shrugged. 'You're giving too much of yourself away! Now's not the time...he doesn't need to know yet,' the voice in her head said.
The Doctor wasn't sure how he felt about her having an answer for everything... she was clever...too clever maybe. The Doctor felt uneasy. "Yeah... easy deduction I suppose," he mumbled.
"So...what else is on this magnificent planet besides you, me, and a field of purple grass?" she asked, changing the subject yet again.
"Well... we could go find out," the Doctor said as he stood up and helped her to her feet.
She took his hand with a smile and started tugging him forward. "Right. Andiamo!" she beamed, but felt the Doctor unmoving, "What? Do you not know Italian? I figured someone as old as you would know different languages...it means 'let's go'."
"I-I know..." he said as he felt a bit off. "I prefer French myself..."
"Well then," she smirked, "Allons-y Monsieur Doctor!"
"Allon-sy..." he smiled the realest fake smile he could muster. "How do you know many languages...?" he asked, his brow still creased.
"Always came natural to me...started off when I was small I think..." Lilly smiled.
"Oh good. It's always helpful to learn other languages." The Doctor said as he walked on with this odd girl until a small city came into view.
"Oh beau!" Lilly exclaimed before smirking up at the Doctor, "You like French...I can do French...or Italian...or German...or Spanish...I know a bit of Dutch and Martian as well..."
"Oh really...? Well, you're brilliant! I knew I saw good things in you!" the Doctor smiled, trying to shake off the feelings radiating from his stomach.
Lilly beamed at him as they continued to walk toward the city. 'Did I say I knew Martian? Tongue must have gotten ahead of my brain,' she thought to herself, 'Nobody knows Martian...well suppose Martian's do...and probably the Doctor.'